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without issue, the representation of the Fernie herst Kers came to an end and devolved on the fourth Earl of Lothian, who in 1701 was created Marquis of Lothian. Then the estate and title have come down to the present Marquis, who has done much for the preservation of the picturesque old castle of Fernieherst.

Not the least interesting of the memories which gather around Fernieherst is the visit of Scott and Wordsworth on 21st September, 1803. The visit is thus described by the poet's sister Dorothy: "Walked up to Fernieherst, an old hall in a secluded situation, now inhabited by

grandeur of the ever-changing ocean, even insipid. At first I was surprised, but the next moment I felt that the expression was natural." Continuing, she says "The valley of the Jed is very solitary under Fernieherst, we walked down to the river, wading almost up to the knee in ferns, which in many parts overspread the forest ground. We were accompanied by a young man from the Braes of Yarrow, William Laidlaw, an acquaintance of Mr. Scott's, who, having been much delighted by some of William's poems which he had chanced to see in a newspaper, had wished to be introduced to him; he

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farmers; the neighbouring ground had the wildness of a forest, being irregularly scattered over with fine old trees. The wind was tossing their branches, and sunshine dancing among the leaves, and I happened to exclaim, 'What a life there is in trees!' on which Mr. Scott observed that the words reminded him of a young lady who had been born and educated on an island of the Orcades, and came to spend a summer at Kelso and in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. She used to say that in the new world into which she had come nothing disappointed her so much as trees and woods; she complained that they were lifeless, silent, and, compared with the

Edinburgh,

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END OF VOL. I.

J.R.B.

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