236 Report of the Meetings for 1893. 



day, and the ruin was reached. Mr Gunn had much to tell 

 about the hoary pile. The peculiar workmanship of the iron 

 door, or yett, as one member thought it should be designated, 

 first claimed attention, from which it was inferred by several 

 members that it had been " lifted" from some English stronghold 

 that had been looted by the early owners of the Tower. Some 

 members of the company gave themselves up to speculating 

 about the uses of various features noted in scrutinizing the 

 building, both outside and inside ; while others must have 

 been struck with the strength and defensibleness of the place 

 in olden times, when held by resolute and well-armed men. 

 Not a few feasted their eyes on the wonderful landscape that 

 lay unfolded to their view on the southern side, all clad in 

 summer greenery, and diversified by endless undulations and 

 by woods and food crops. 



The view was entrancing — Nature, romance, and history com- 

 bining to cast a spell of poetical and legendary enchantment 

 over the landscape. Scott had seen it with the poet's eye, but 

 he could never have beheld it when it was more beautiful than 

 as it lay under the eyes of the members of the Berwickshire 

 Naturalists' Club on that inspiring summer day. Yet Scott 

 associated it with sadness : — 



" That lady sat in mournfQl mood, 

 Looked over hill and vale. 

 Over Tweed's fair flood and Mertoun's wood. 

 And all down Teviotdale." 



The connection of Sir Walter Scott with the place was not 

 forgotten, and the present hen-house was pointed out, which was 

 said to be the only remnant left of the house in which Scott's 

 grandfather resided, though the modern look of the masonry 

 made some rather sceptical about this statement. The house 

 where Scott dwelt with his grandfather was of one Storey with 

 an attic, and covered with thatch. 



The following letter from the present tenant of the farm 

 of Sandyknowe, Mr George Heweit, to Mr Ealph Richardson, 

 W.S., Gattonside House, Melrose, describes the fate of the 

 old farmhouse in which Sir "Walter Scott resided : — 



Sandyknowe, Smailholm, Kelso, 



12th June 1894. 

 Dear Sir, — In reply to your inquiry regarding the farmhouse here 

 being occupied by Sir Walter Scott when a child, I believe that the 



