SCOTT AND THE COPSEWOOD.

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His illustrious namesake, Dr. Samuel Johnson, also visited the spot; and, according to Peter Pindar—

Went to Hawthornden's fair scene by night,

Lest e'er a Scottish tree should wound his sight.

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But shortly after this the abundant foliage was considerably thinned; and when Sir Walter Scott, in 1803, published his ballad of 'The Gray Brother,' in which he speaks of the copsewood deep,' by Esk's fair stream, and of classic Hawthornden,' he thought it necessary to qualify his description by the following note: The beauty of this striking scene has been much injured of late years by the indiscriminate use of the axe. The traveller now looks in vain for the leafy bower,

Where Jonson sat in Drummond's social shade.

Upon the whole, tracing the Esk from its source till it joins the sea at Musselburgh, no stream in Scotland can boast such a varied succession of the most interesting objects, as well as of the most romantic and beautiful scenery.'

Afterwards, in 1831, when Sir Walter made his last literary efforts, he added this note: The beautiful scenery of Hawthornden has, since the above note was written, recovered all its proper ornament of wood.' And, in the thirty years that have since passed, this leading feature in the landscape has become more beautiful than ever.

The spot is wild, the banks are steep,

With eglantine and hawthorn blossom'd o'er,
Lychnis, and daffodils, and hare-bells blue :
From lofty granite crags precipitous,
The oak, with scanty footing, topples e'er,

Tossing his limbs to heaven; and, from the cleft

Fringing the dark-brown natural battlements,
The hazel throws his silvery branches down;
There, starting into view, a castled cliff,
Whose roof is lichen'd o'er, purple and green,
O'erhangs thy wandering stream, romantic Esk,
And rears its head among the ancient trees.

The mention of so lovely a spot may fitly close my record of A TOUR IN TARTAN-LAND.