. . . . J----- and I then walked to the Tweed, where we saw two
or three people angling, with naked legs, or trousers turned up, and
wading among the rude stones that make something like a dam over the wide
and brawling stream. I did not observe that they caught any fish, but
J----- was so fascinated with the spectacle that he pulled out his poor
little fishing-line, and wished to try his chance forthwith. I never
saw the angler's instinct stronger in anybody. We walked across the
foot-bridge that here spans the Tweed; and J----- observed that he did
not see how William of Deloraine could have found so much difficulty in
swimming his horse across so shallow a river. Neither do I. It now
began to sprinkle, and we hastened back to the hotel.
It was not a pleasant morning; but we started immediately after breakfast
for
ABBOTSFORD,
which is but about three miles distant. The country between Melrose and
that place is not in the least beautiful, nor very noteworthy,--one or
two old irregular villages; one tower that looks principally domestic,
yet partly warlike, and seems to be of some antiquity; and an undulation,
or rounded hilly surface of the landscape, sometimes affording wide
vistas between the slopes.
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