132 REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1904 



above the road, are visible the massive, square, and four- 

 storeyed ruins of Dryhope Tower, a former seat of powerful 

 Scotts, and birthplace of "The Flower of Yarrow," but now 

 the shelter only of browsing cattle. The frequency in this 

 district of the termination "hope" is noteworthy, because, 

 while usual in the valleys of the Yarrow and Ettrick to 

 distinguish place-names, it disappears to a great extent as 

 one crosses the single range of hills separating them from 

 the valley of the Tweed, where "hope" gives place to 

 "lea," as in Thornielee, near Galashiels. 



From this point on the route is gained the first view 



of St. Mary's Loch, so beautifully depicted 

 St. Mary's in the Introduction to the Second Canto of 

 Loch. Marmion. Though now separated from the 



adjacent Western lake, locally styled the Loch 

 of the Lowes, which, in spite of the difference of fifteen 

 inches in level, had originally belonged to it, it remains the 

 largest loch in the South of Scotland, measuring seven and 

 a half miles in circumference, and three miles in its extreme 

 length, while the broadest portion between Coppcrcleugh and 

 Bowerhope expands to nearly a mile. One's first impression 

 of the scene is that of silence and solitude, suggested by 

 Sir Walter's language : — 



"There's nothing left to fancy's guess, 

 You see that all is loneliness ; 

 Your horse's hoof-tread sounds too rude. 

 So stilly is the solitude." 



Lone truly is this mountain-tarn, without a tree or bush or 

 sedge to ornament its shore, or interrupt "the trace of silver 

 sand, that marks where water meets the land." Encircled 

 by hills, "shaggy with heath, but lonely bare," it reflects 

 their huge outline on a surface so pure and placid as to 

 have drawn from Wordsworth the familiar couplet : — 



" The swan on still St. Mary's lake 

 Float double, swan and shadow." 



Favoured with sunshine the party had ample opportunity of 



