For ever flourish; and thy vales look gay

With painted meadows, and the golden grain!

The Angler that repairs to the waters of Roxburghshire will ever find them pay ample tribute to his skill.

Selkirkshire.

THE TWEED runs into this county near the seat of Lord ELIBANK, and crossing it toward the east, is augmented by the small rivers that descend from the heathy and rugged hills of Caddon Head, and at the north-east angle receives the water of Gala. The Scenery on its banks has induced many Poets to celebrate its beauties. "The braw lads of Gala Water" is a famous Scots Song. The ETTRICK is formed by the confluence of all the waters that are poured from the mountainous regions in the south-west of this shire, and from the woods formerly on its banks, the county it ran through obtained the name of Ettrick Forest at present few trees are to be seen. The YARROW, a celebrated pastoral Stream, rises in the western part of the county, from two contiguous. Lakes, about six miles in circuit, called St. Mary's Loch and the Loch of the Lows, and joins the Ettrick near Selkirk. MARY SCOTT, "the flower of Yarrow," so highly extolled in Song, was a native of the Parish of Yarrow: she is said to have been the daughter of Mr. Scorт of Dryhope, and was married to Mr. SCOTT of Harden: from this Union sprang a Daughter, almost as much celebrated, who married the Heir of STOвS, commonly called "Gibby with

his golden Garters," the Ancestor of the ELLIOTS of Minto and Stobs.

These rivers produce plenty of good fish; and the quantities of Eels, particularly in those Lakes from whence the Yarrow issues, are incredible.

Stirlingshire.

THE FORTH is the first river of much note northward of the Tweed, and perhaps the most important of any in Scotland, from the profusion of its commerce, and its proximity to the Capital. Its proper rise is in the wild tract of mountains in the western Highlands, at the back of the great Ben-Lomond, towards the north-west extremity of this Shire: a little before it reaches Stirling, it is joined by the Tieth from the north-west: the two principal branches which form the Tieth descend each from a chain of Lakes; the one on the north, and the other on the south side of the lofty mountain Ben Liddie. The northern branch passes through and forms three Lochs, Doine, Voil, and Lubnaig; the last, or "the Winding Lake," bends round a point of Ben Liddie, the rock rising nearly perpendicular from the water's edge to an amazing height: almost opposite lived for some time the late Mr. BRUCE, while composing the History of his Travels; pleased, it is said, with tracing in the rude grandeur of this lake and rock a faint resemblance to the lakes and mountains of Abyssinia. The southern branch forms Loch Ketterin and Loch Vanacher, and joins the northern at Callendar; they descend together to Doune, famous

for its manufacture of Highland Pistols, which was introduced here by THOMAS CADELL in 1646. The ALLAN afterwards joins the Forth, flowing by Dumblaine to the south-west from Perthshire, where it rises near Gleneagles; and also the DEVON, rising in Kinross-shire, and running in the same direction : the Devon is, from the rugged nature of the ground, forced to take a very circuitous course, and although its track would measure forty miles, yet it falls into the Forth at Clackmannan within the space of only six from its source, in a straight line. The serpentine course of the Forth from Stirling to Alloa, which is towards the south-east, is most beautiful, and may be conceived when it is mentioned that the distance between the two places is twenty-four miles by water, and scarcely four miles by land: the incessant curves of this river, when viewed from any eminence, exhibit an apparent labyrinth of pools of water, which deceive the eye in seeming distinct from each other. Near the spot where the Forth becomes increased by the tide, the Carron, descending from the south-side of the Campsey hills, and tinged with the produce of its iron works, falls into it, as does the great canal from the Clyde, transporting the rich manufactures of Paisley and Glasgow, and the trade of the western sea. The Avon from the south joins the Forth, below where the Queen's Ferry is established. The Forth immediately spreads into a vast arm of the Sea, and receiving the ALMOND from the south, approaches Leith, the grand and crowded Port of Edinburgh, and at last discharges itself into the German Ocean.

The ENDRICK descends from the north of the Campsey hills. The BLANE proceeds from the Lennor hills; the Spout of Ballagan, a cascade of seventy feet, is a remarkable fall in this river: below the junction of the Blane with the Endrick, their united streams slowly meander through a tract of low land, which they frequently overflow and enrich, until they reach Loch Lomond, near Buchanan; at their fall into the Loch there is a good Salmon fishery. The rivers and waters of Stirlingshire produce Salmon and Trout in such abundance, that the Angler has no reason to fear a want of diversion.

Sutherlandshire.

THE DIURNESS, which rises on the southern mountains, terminates in a great inlet of the Sea, called the Kyle; the village of Tongue is here situated, and surrounded by morasses, lakes, and rivers, where the Sportsman may find an inexhaustible fund of amusement. The NAVER descends from a spacious Lake near the centre of the county, and, after running by several small villages, falls into the sea at Farr, where there is an excellent Salmon fishery. The STRATHY passes through a plain and fertile country, and glides into a bay covered by a large promontory; both of which bear its name. Halladale, and several smaller streams, descend from the mountains bordering on Caithness; from their south side springs the HELMSDALE, which, rolling over its rocky bottom toward the Ord of Caithness, becomes at that

place deep and dangerous to the traveller, having no bridge over it. At its mouth there is a good fishery for Salmon, rented by a Company in London at 133. sterling per annum. The BRORA, issuing from a beautiful Lake of the same name, forms several fine cascades; near this river are seen the remains of several of those circular towers, of which the use and origin have still baffled the researches of the Antiquary. Near the town of Brora is Dunrobin Castle, the Earl of SUTHERLAND's; and on the south side of an arm of the Sea, called Fleet Loch, is Skibo, famous for its gardens, as the former is for its beautiful situation. At Embo, a village in this neighbourhood, in 1727, a Female was burned for the imaginary crime of Witchcraft, which, so far as we know, concludes these frantic executions in Scotland. The last instance of national Credulity on this head was the story of the Witches of Thurso, who, tormenting for a long time an honest fellow under the usual form of Cats, at last so provoked him, that one night he put them to the rout with his broad sword, and cut off the leg of one less nimble than the rest; on his taking it up, to his amazement, he found it belonged to a female of his own species, and next morning discovered the owner, an old Hag, with only the twin leg. The horrors of the Tale were considerably abated in the place I heard it, continues Mr. PENNANT, by an unlucky enquiry made by one in company, viz. In what part would the old Woman have suffered had the Man cut off the Cat's Tail?