V i eWs.
mode, as the arched fliades of avenues*. The fteeple of the churj
is a Vaft tower. This houfe was founded by D avid I. when Earl of
Cumberland. He firft placed it at Selkirk, then removedittoitefaJ
and finally, when he came to the crown, fixed it here in 112S, l|
revenues were, in money, above two thoufand a year, Scots.' Till
abbot was allowed'to wear a mitre and pontifical robes; to be exenif
from epifcopal jurifdiition, andpermitted to be prefent at all gener|
councils.
The environs of Kelfo are very fine: the lands confift of gende]
rifings, inclofed with hedges, and extremely fertile. They have
much reafon to boaft of their profpe&s. From the Chalkheugh. il a
fine view of the forks of the rivers, Roxburgh hill, Sir John DouM
neat feat, and, at a diftance, Flciirus; and.from Pinnacle-hilliskdm
vaft extent of country, highly cultivated, watered with long reaches
of the Tweed, well wooded on each margin. Thefe borders ventured
on cultivation much earlier than thofe on the weft or eaft, and have]
made great progrefs in every fpecies of rural ceconomy. Turnips
and cabbages, for the ufe of cattle, cover many large traits; an|
potatoes appear in vaft fields. Much wheat is raifed in the neigM
borhood, part of which is fent up the firth of Forth , and part inffll
England.
The fleeces here are very fine, and fell from twelve to fourtel
ihillings the ftone, of twenty four pounds ; and the picked kfl
from eighteen to twenty. The wool is fent into Torkjhire, to Limm
gow, or into Aberdeenjhire, for the flocking manufadlure; and ionl
is woven here into a cloth, called plains, and fold, into Englani to*
V id e p . 3.7.
drefiel
refled. Here is alfo a confiderable manufacture of white leather,
hiefly to fupply the capital of Scotland..
From what I can colletft, the country is greatly depopulated. In
fe reign of James VI. or'a little before the union, it is faid that this
iunty could fend out .fifteen thoufand fighting men -. at prefent it
yd not raife three thoufand. But plundering in thofe times was
|e trade of the borderers, which might occafion the multitude of
habitants.
I cannot leave Kelfo, without regretting my not arriving there
1 time to fee the races, which had been the preceding week,
thefe are founded, not on the fordid principles of gaming, or
jffipation, or fraud; but on the beautiful bafis o f benevolence,
jid with the amiable view of - conciliating the affedtions of two
nations, where the good-and the bad, common to every place, are
ply divided by a rill fcarcely to be diftinguiihed.: but prejudice
jpr a time could find no merit but within its own narrow bourne,
me enlarged minds, however, determined to break the fafcination
I erroneous opinion, to mix with their fellow fubjedts, and to
ftrudt both the great vulgar and the [mall, that the riorthern and
¿uthern borders of the Tweed created in their inhabitants but a
.ere difference, without a diftindlion, and that virtue and good
jnfe were equally common to both. At thefe races the ftewards
cefeleited from each nation : a P ercy and a D ouglas may now’be
fen hand in hand; the example of charity fpreads, andmay it fpread,
I1® all its fweet influences, to the remoteft corner of our ifland !
What pleafing times to thofe that may be brought in co ntrail!
tan every houfe was made defenfible, and each owner garrifoned
Samft his neighbor ; when revenge at one time didlated an inroad,
N n 2 and
R a c e s *