THE TWEED AT DRYBURGH.. 289 
mitted ready access, both by the various proprietors 
on its banks, and the lessees of the fishings; the 
Abbey policies,in fact, which extend to nearly a mile 
on the south side-of the river, being the only portion . 
from which the public are excluded, and that from 
considerations with which their superiority in the 
way of commanding sport with the rod has little or 
nothing to do. 
Leaving the Dryburgh casts, which are crowned 
by the Monk’s Ford, the angler, pushing upwards, 
enters forthwith upon the Bemersyde fishing-grounds; 
which, in their alliance with those of Old Melrose on 
the opposite bank, form a fascinating combination of 
river-scenery high in order with salmon-holds and 
trouting-water of established celebrity. I do not 
know, throughout the whole course of Tweed, from 
its sources in Tweedsmuir down to the mouth of the 
Whitadder—a course of nearly a hundred miles in 
extent—of a spot where this combination is main- 
tained so admirably. For more than twenty years it 
has been my delight, two or three times every season, 
to visit it, rod in hand; and a personal acquaintance 
with the proprietors and occasional lessees of the 
salmon-fishings as well, has given me not a few 
opportunities to test its excellence as sporting water. 
Besides a score or two of kelts, I have abstracted 
from it several fish which I may be permitted to 
affirm were clean and seasonable. As to their having 
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