for passengers, for a distance of about 50 miles, making for the latter of a penny per passenger per mile, which ended in reference to and an arbitration by Henry Houldsworth, Esq., of Coltness; and finished the halcyon days of travelling for the ungrateful public between the Modern Athens and the city of St. Mungo.

The Line commences at Carlisle, in connection with the Lancaster, Maryport, and Newcastle Railways, and runs northward through Lockerbie and Beattock in the county of Dumfries, to a point near the Ferry of Float, in Lanarkshire, diverging from that point eastward to Edinburgh, and westward to Glasgow. The Trunk Line from Carlisle to the Fork at Ferry of Float is in length 73 miles; the Branch to Edinburgh is 26 miles; and that to Glasgow 31 miles ;-in all, 130 miles. The Company have likewise acquired, by purchase or amalgamation, lines extending to above 50 miles, serving as branches or feeders, and they have obtained leases of 58 miles more, forming a grand total of 2394 miles of railway;-the share capital of the whole is £5,237,554, with power to borrow one-third more, or £1,766,962, amounting together to the enormous sum of £7,094,416.

The following résumé of the various branches in connexion with the Caledonian Railway, with the lengths and dates of opening, will be useful ·

Carlisle to Wishaw and Coltness Junction, 84 Miles, opened (principally) 15th Feb., 1848.

Branches to the Caledonian, separate Companies, but managed and wrought by the Caledonian:

Messrs. LOCKE & ERRINGTON were the Engineers, and Messrs. STEPHENSON, BRASSEY & Co. the Contractors for the whole works of the

Caledonian line proper. The important and responsible office of the Company's legal advisers is held by Messrs. HOPE, OLIPHANT, & MACKAY, W.S.

The carriages of all the three classes are the best of their respective kinds: those of the third class are very roomy and comfortable; the second class have cushioned seats and backs, with glazed windows; and the first are fitted with every appliance which modern art can

furnish to render travelling a luxurious enjoyment.

HE train on leaving Carlisle sweeps

by a gentle curve, passing the ancient cathedral, the castle, and Port Carlisle on either side of the line, and carries the tourist towards

ROCKCLIFFE STATION, which is situated four miles north-west of the city, crossing the river Eden by a viaduct of seven arches, each of forty feet span, four only of which stand in the water. Rockcliffe is a parish in the county of Cumberland, bounded on the north by the River Esk, on the north-west by the Solway Frith, and on the southwest by the Eden, the latter of which is navigable to the village of Rockcliffe, which is situated opposite to Port Carlisle. Within reach of the tide is a remarkable spring, with a scum floating on its surface, which turns paper to a complete golden hue; and the banks of the river produce a medicinal plant termed Mother of Thyme.

For some distance after leaving Rockcliffe there is nothing worthy of particular observation, if we except a very severe cutting through hard marl at Ellersby Scaur.

The traveller is now on the confines of the Border, celebrated in the annals and songs of the olden time, and rendered immortal in the Minstrelsy of Scott. The Esk* for about one mile forms the boun

⚫ The Esk is a river of no common beauty, even in its upland regions. Over a great part of its entire course, it has a shelving or gravelly bottom, and glides along amidst lovely Woodland scenery, and smiling, luxuriant haughs, which in former ages have often reechoed to the shouts of war.

dary line between Scotland and England; it then enters Cumberland, and having become an English river, receives from its fatherland the tribute of Glenzierburn, and from the land of its adoption the river tribute of Line river, and having flowed past Kirk Andrews and Longtown, pours along towards the Solway Frith at a point about one and a-half to two miles from Sarkfoot, the extreme verge of Scotland.

The Esk is approached by a long timber platform on either side, and is crossed on a viaduct of seven arches. Garriston Suspension Bridge, one of the celebrated Telford's works, will be observed when crossing.

Branches of the line to Longton and Canobie, by way of Netherby, the fine residence of Sir James Graham, diverge from the main line near the Esk. This mansion is pleasantly situated on an elevation near the river, and enjoys several extensive prospects. It was erected about the year 1760, but many additions have since been made. The pleasure-grounds and gardens are arranged with considerable taste. The Græmes of Netherby were formidable borderers in olden days.*

The line runs almost on a perfect level for nearly four miles and a half, traversing a portion of the Solway Moss. This proved a very unmanageable part of the undertaking in the hands of the contractors, and many thousand tons of earth were "tipped" into it before it acquired anything like consistency. The Solway Moss† has been the

* “A MS.,” observes Sir Walter Scott, "concerning the Græmes and others of that clan, runs thus: 'They were all stark moss-troopers and arrant thieves; both to England and Scotland outlawed, yet sometimes connived at, because they gave intelligence forth of Scotland, and would raise 400 horse at any time, upon a raid of the English into Scotland.***

A saying is recorded of a mother of this clan to her son (which is now become proverbial): Ride, Rowly (Rowland), hough's i' the pot ;" that is, the last piece of beef was in the pot, and therefore it was high time for him to go and fetch more.

The clan of Græme, always numerous and powerful on the Border, were of Scottish origin, and deduce the descent of their chieftain, Græme of Netherby, from John with the bright sword, a son of Malice Græme, Earl of Menteith, who flourished in the fourteenth century, Latterly they became Englishmen, as the phrase went, and settled upon the Debateable Land.

+ Solway Moss is a level area in the parish of Kirke-Andrews-upon-Eske, Cumberland, about seven miles in circumference, and scarcely less remarkable than the Frith which it adjoins. The substance of this morass is a gross fluid, composed of mud and the putrid fibres of heath, diluted by springs, which rise in every part of it. Its surface is a dry crust, covered with mosses and rushes, and trembling with the least pressure. It is bounded on the south by a cultivated plain, declining gently through the space of a mile to the Eske. This plain is rather lower than the moss itself, being separated from it by a breastwork, formed by digging peat. The bursting of the moss through this peat breastwork, over the plain between it and the Eske, occasioned a dreadful inundation in November, 1771, which

scene of many a conflict between the English and Scots, and most of the names, both of persons and places, are familiar to the readers of

Border history.

At the distance of nine miles and a half from Carlisle, and ninety miles and a half from Edinburgh, we reach

GRETNA STATION, celebrated all the world over for the run-away couples united there in matrimony. The Smith's shop, where the nuptial chains were forged, is scarcely half a mile from the station. Gretna Green marriages were first practised by a person of the name of Paisley, who may be called the founder of the Gretna Green system. From the statistical account of the parish, drawn up by the Rev. James Roddick, we learn that marriages were effected here to the number of 300 or 400 annually, the parties being chiefly from England, and the majority of them from the lowest ranks of the population. The "Scotch Marriage Act," which became law Jan. 1st, 1849, put a stop to this matrimonial nuisance. It is very curious that one of these knot-tiers, Murray, who keeps the Inn, should have had a daughter who eloped with a gay Lothario last year. The father was wroth when the blow fell on himself, but did not withhold a helping hand to hundreds of fugitive lovers.

The parish is intersected by the Portpatrick and Carlisle, and the Glasgow and London mail-roads, and is the junction of the Glasgow, Dumfries, and Carlisle railway line, and Caledonian. There are in the parish four villages or hamlets, Old Gretna, Gretna Green or Springfield, Rigg of Gretna, and Brewhouses. Old Gretna stands on the east bank of the Kirtle, in a hollow, about half a mile from the Solway; Rigg stands on the west bank of the Kirtle, opposite the former hamlet; Brewhouses, situated on a slight inland bend of the Frith, between Redkirk and Tordoff Points, is noticeable only as a tiny seaport. Gretna Green, originally called Meg's Hill, is in reality a farmstead in the vicinity of Springfield; but in popular parlance, is very generally identified with that village. The reasons which have placed the little hamlet of Gretna Green amongst the famous of British

devastated the whole of this extensive district, consisting of several hundred acres of land. The eruption burst from the place of its discharge like a cataract of thick ink, and continued in a stream of the same appearance, intermixed with great fragments of peat, filling the whole valley. The plain, thus covered, however, was soon reclaimed, and is again under cultivation.

villages, are not merely the "border marriages." Lying in the frontier of Scotland, conterminously with the debateable lands between the Sark and the Esk, down to the period of the union of the crowns, it was the frequent scene of feuds and forays; and even after that date, down to half a century ago, or even later, it was the retreat of nume

rous bands of desperate and incorrigible smugglers. The low duty upon whiskey in Scotland, compared with the high duty in England, afforded the idle and dishonest every encouragement to smuggling; and the populous village of Springfield, a mile from Gretna on one side of the border, and Longtown, a still more populous place, on the other, once contained hordes of persons who lived entirely by this illicit

commerce.

Leaving Gretna, the train pursues its onward course, crossing the river Sark, the boundary line of the two countries, on a viaduct of two arches, 40 feet in span and 36 feet high, and entering an extensive cutting of 150,000 cubic yards. The approach to Kirkpatrick is perceived by a fine prospect of the Langholm Hills, and the monument to Sir John Malcolm. Four miles from Gretna we reach KIRKPATRICK STATION, 13 miles from Carlisle, and 86% from Edinburgh. Two miles and three quarters from Kirkpatrick the train stops at