Yes, many a chief of ancient days Sleeps in thy cold and hallow'd soil; ""Here lie those who, o'er flood and field, Were hunted as the osprey's brood; Who braved the power of man, and sealed Their testimonies with their blood." Across the lake (on the southern side) is the mountainous Bowerhope Law, also celebrated by Hogg, in the lines,— "But winter's deadly hues shall fade, On moorland bald and mountain shaw, Sleep on the breast of Bowerhope Law." Hogg also relates a story of a farmer who lived on it, and a watergoblin that lived in the lake. To the left of the traveller's road, near the end of the loch, stands Dryhope Tower, the early home of Mary Scott, the "Flower of Yarrow," daughter of Philip Scott, and wife of a furious admirer, Walter Scott of Harden, a noted gentleman freebooter. Allan Ramsay composed in her honor a song in which are the lines (sung to an old local air that bears her I wandered owre the braes of Yarrow, I kept my heart my own secure ; But Cupid's dart did then work sorrow, And Mary's charms on braes of Yarrow." Dr. Leyden, in his "Scenes of Infancy," relates the story of a child, captured by Walter of Harden, the husband of Mary Scott, who is said to have become a ballad poet, and Who "lived o'er Yarrow's Flower to shed the tear, To strew the holly leaves o'er Harden's bier." In later times, this lady's romantic title was borne by Mary Lilias Scott, of whom verses are, or were, sung (to the air "Tweedside "), beginning"What beauties does Flora disclose." Farther eastward, two miles to the left, up Douglas Burn, is Blackhouse, chief scene of "the ballad of 'The Douglas Tragedy,' one of the few to which popular tradition has ascribed complete locality," according to the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border." It is a wild, solitary glen. Opposite to its opening, and at some distance south of the route of this excursion, is James Hogg's home, "Altrive Lake," where he died in 1835. Not far beyond (and six miles from Tibby Shiels), is the Gordon-Arms Inn, and, beside it, the road over which the traveller is supposed to have come from Innerleithen. Lower down Yarrow dale, and close upon the traveller's road, is Hogg's other home, "Mount Benger," where he lived less time. About four miles beyond these places, and upon a hill-side near Yarrow Kirk, is the scene associated with that famous old ballad, "The Dowie Dens o' Yarrow." The hero of the tragic affair it describes was a brave knight, a Scott, - said to have been of Kirkhope. He once, according to the ballad, departed from home, saying to his lady, "O fare ye weel, my ladye gaye! O fare ye weel, my Sarah ! For I maun gae, though I ne'er return Frae the dowie banks o' Yarrow." He went to his death, and his lady mourned him "wi' a sigh" that "her heart did break,”. "A fairer rose did never bloom Than now lies cropp'd on Yarrow." This ballad suggests another more recent composition, by Mr. Hamilton, of Bangour, that it is, indeed, said to have inspired, — "Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny, bonny bride, I gat her where I dare nae weil be seen The influence of the scenery in this vicinity is said to have originated, with Wordsworth, much of his three poems relating to Yarrow, especially the last, "Yarrow Revisited," when in September, 1831, he accompanied Sir Walter Scott through the country, described only the day before the latter left Scotland for Italy. How earnestly, but how sadly in vain, he invoked health and happiness for his great companion; and how eloquently, poetically, and truthfully he addressed Scott in the verses, "For THOU upon a hundred streams, Of faithful love, undaunted truth, At parent Nature's grateful call, With gladness must requite Thee. "Flow on forever, Yarrow Stream ! Well pleased that future bards should chant To dream-light dear while yet unseen, To memory's shadowy moonshine." About three miles beyond the kirk is Hangingshaw, the site of the ancient baronial castle of the "Outlaw Murray," that, destroyed during the latter part of the last century, now presents only fragments. The ballad "Sang of the Outlaw Murray" tells how royally he ruled in his domains, where he entertained even the king. Many other poems, less known, are also associated with this romantic stream. Among them are Logan's "Thy braes were bonnie, Yarrow stream;" Macdonald's "Yarrow Vale," and the "Yellow-haired Laddie;" "Willie's drowning in Yarrow;" Mr. Scott Riddell's song, "The Dowie Dens o' Yarrow;" Professor Wilson's poetic prose, "We called thee, Yarrow, the Beloved of Bards of Old!" All these, and other poems, have their local attractiveness; but all pale their lesser lights before one, far greater and more brilliant, shining from beyond, - the first of the works of the "latest" Minstrel of Newark Tower, to which the traveller by this route is supposed to be approaching. And all other interest around it becomes little indeed before the fame and the influences of the first magic spell sung by that Minstrel, when, with his Lay, he spread the Great Magician's charms over the Border Lands around Newark, and revived their former people and their stirring life. One crosses the Yarrow into the pleasant grounds of "sweet Bowhill," and then soon arrives at "Newark's ancient pile" "renowned in Border story," and among the scenes described fully in the fifth chapter, in which the scenery and action of the "Lay" are sketched. That chapter informs how a traveller, if omitting this excursion to Innerleithen and St. Mary's Lake, may go directly from Edinburgh to Selkirk and Newark. After leaving Newark, the traveller bound on either excursion may go to Selkirk, and through more of this Midland Border Country, into, par excellence, The Land of Scott, around Melrose and Abbotsford. On the way to Selkirk and close to Newark, one may see across the river the cottage of Mungo Park, the traveller in Africa, and — after passing through the pleasant grounds and by the ducal mansion of Bowhill-Philiphaugh, seat of the Murrays, descendants of the "outlaw" celebrated in ballad literature, and site of portion of the battle named from it. The spot was occupied by a camp of the great Marquis of Montrose, who, in September, 1645, was moving southward towards England, after he had achieved memorable successes in Scotland. While he was writing despatches at Selkirk, his army was surprised here and routed by the Parliamentary and Presbyterian forces under Sir David Leslie; and thus ended the splendid military career of the great royalist. There is an old song, "Lesly's March," not always very piously worded, addressed to another Presbyterian corps, "The parliament's blythe to see us a' coming: " etc. There is also a ballad about the battle, commencing, – "On Philiphaugh a fray began, At Hairhead-wood it ended; The Scots out o'er the Græmes they ran, Sae merrily they bended." It is a Presbyterian ballad-song of triumph over "great Montrose, our cruel enemy." Another ballad, "The Gallant Grahams," is a A monument designates the most important portion of the field, that where the battle was decided. Nearly opposite Philiphaugh, at the confluence of the Ettrick and the Yarrow, is the Carterhaugh, the supposed scene of the fairy ballad "Tamlane," and of Scott's song "on the lifting of the Banner of the House of Buccleuch at a great football match on Carterhaugh." - Three miles of good road leads to the clean and rather pretty town of Selkirk, standing high on the south side of Ettrick. There, after the excursion just sketched, — example of one only of the excursions into romance-land, easily practicable in a single day from Scott's home at Abbotsford, there, at Selkirk, one may pause briefly, certainly long enough to see the statue in front of the court-house, and to do one's heart good by looking upon him whom it portrays, and by reading the inscription on the pedestal, stating that it was "ERECTED IN AUGUST, 1839, IN PROUD AND AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT, BARONET, FROM 1800 TO 1832. "BY YARROW'S STREAM STILL LET ME STRAY, On another side are Scott's arms and mottoes, "Parabit cornua Phoebe," and "Watch Weel;" and elsewhere thistle-wreaths, the Virgin and Child, and the sculptor's name, "Alex. H. Ritchie, Musselburgh." There is also at Selkirk a statue to Mungo Park. From this town there are a variety of routes to Melrose, only about half a dozen miles distant down the river, — Abbotsford being about half way. Travellers are, however, advised to go less directly, and visit the scenes of the "Lay," and of many Border forays. Up the Vale of Ettrick, and south-west from Selkirk, may be found a long reach of pastoral country, varied by several places of interest. A few miles up, is Oakwood Tower, sometime residence of Michael Scott, that wizard of power who "cleft the Eildon Hill in three;" whose magic book had such influence in the story of the "Lay." Farther on are the rough, boggy pastures, constituting "the lands of William of Deloraine," the stout rider, who sought the "book of might" at Melrose, and bore it to the Lady of Branksome. And yet farther up, stands Tushielaw Tower, once |