106 REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1901 



At the back of the mansion a charming old ** Queen- Anne" 

 like house, with a fine brass vane, stands hemmed in between 

 stables and coach-house, and in the latter was shown to us 

 a family coach of 100 years ago, bearing the motto " Patior 

 ut Potiar." 



Eagle's Ha'. 

 Near the mansion house is Eagle's Ha', which took its 

 name from the circumstance that a golden eagle was long 

 kept there in captivity. It was partly erected, but never 

 completed, with the object of providing a residence for two 

 maiden ladies, grand-aunts of Lady John. The hall was for 

 some years used as an armoury for storing the arms and 

 accoutrements of the Eagle Troop of the Berwickshire Yeomanry, 

 of which Lady John Scott's father was captain. The troopers 

 assembled here on the night of the false alarm (1804) and rode 

 to Duns — Captain Spottiswoode at their head — in order to join 

 the remainder of the regiment, and proceed to Dunbar. The 

 Eagle Troop used to have military exercise at Dod's Bent, 

 on the estate of Spottiswoode. It is said that an unskilled 

 trooper named Stewart, son of the farmer of Blythe, pricked 

 the laird with his lance, which accident suspended the operations 

 of that day, and invalided the captain. The emphatic prayer 

 of an old woman, when the yeomanry were on the march 

 through Duns, in expectation of encountering Napoleon, shows 

 the spirit which prevailed in the time of a threatened invasion 

 — ** The Lord grant that ye may return victorious, or return 

 no more." Alexander Brown — "Berwickshire Sandy" — born 

 in 1775 at Thimble Ha', a small farm on Spottiswoode estate, 

 of which his father was farmer, immortalised the Eagle Troop 

 in a song, which in bygone days was sung at many a merry 

 Lauderdale gathering. The opening verse runs: — 



" Besoath the hills o' Lammermoor, 



The farmers, lairds, and a' that! 

 Hae formed a band o' Yeomen true 



The Eagle Troop they ca' that ! 

 For a' that and a' that 



Wi' glittering swords and a' that ; 

 See Spottiswoode riding at their head, 



Wi' helmet, crest, and a' that ! " 



