94 CORNUS. 



hill; and this little descent inwards no doubt made the pond, the rain 

 water all running thither. 



" One of our company, a good botanist, fell to searching for sim- 

 ples, and, as he said, found some nice plants, which he seemed mightily 

 pleased with; but as that is out of my way, so it is out of the present 

 design. I in particular began to look about me, and to enquire what 

 every place was which I saw more remarkably shewing itself at a 

 distance. 



" The day happened to be very clear, and to our great satisfaction 

 very calm, otherwise the height we were upon would not have been 

 without its dangers. We saw plainly here the smoke of the salt-pans 

 at Shields, at the mouth of the Tyne, seven miles below Newcastle ; 

 and which was south about forty miles. The sea, that is, the German 

 ocean, was as if but just at the foot of the hill, and our guide pointed 

 to show us the Irish sea ; but if he could see it, knowing it in parti- 

 cular, and where exactly to look for it, it was so distant, that I could 

 not say I was assured I saw it. We saw likewise several hills, which 

 he told us were in England, and others in the west of Scotland, but 

 their names were too many for us to remember, and we had no 

 materials there to take minutes. We saw Berwick, East, and the 

 hills called Soutra hills. North, which are in sight of Edinburgh. In 

 a word, there was a surprising view of both the united kingdoms, and 

 we were far from repenting the pains we had taken. 



" Nor were we so afraid now as when we first mounted the sides of 

 the hill ; and especially we were made ashamed of those fears, when, 

 to our amazement, we saw a clergyman, and another gentleman, and 

 two ladies, all on horseback, come up to the top of the hill with a 

 guide also as we had, and without alighting at all, and only to satisfy 

 their curiosity, which they did it seems. This indeed made us look 

 upon one another with a smile, to think how we were frighted at our 

 first coming up the hill; and thus it is in most things in nature. Fear 

 magnifies the object, and represents things frightful at first sight, 

 which are presently made easy when they grow familiar. 



" Satisfied with this view, and not at all thinking our time or pains 

 ill-bestowed, we came down the hill by the same ro\ite that we went 

 up, with this remark by the way, that, whether on horseback or on 

 foot, we found it much more troublesome, and also tiresome, to come 

 down than to go up." — From the Borderers' Table Book, vi. p. 401. 

 One hundred and twenty-five years afterwards the Club make the 

 same excursion. They start, untended and on foot, from the " Tan- 

 kerville Arms," pass through Wooler by its high street, and find a 

 good post-road which leads them, between hawthorn hedges, to Earl. 

 Halting a moment in front of the mansion, to look upon the beautiful 

 and fertile vale that lies at their feet eastwards; they then round the 

 shoulder of the green sheep-covered hill above, by an almost unper- 

 ceived ascent, and gain the high ground which overlooks Middleton 

 Hall, half hid amid its sheltering plantations. There may be some 

 talk here of Earl Derwentwater and his sad story, — for the sheep 

 around recall it by their "beesting " mark, which is the same as was 

 used in the Earl's time, and before him. We descend the bank rapidly, 



