about. He used to call himself
the Noble Errington, {p.174} but of late has assumed the title
of Duke of Hexham. Hard by the town is the field of battle where
the forces of Queen Margaret were defeated by those of the House
of York, a blow which the Red Rose never recovered during the
civil wars. The spot where the Duke of Somerset and the northern
nobility of the Lancastrian faction were executed after the
battle is still called Dukesfield. The inhabitants of this
country speak an odd dialect of the Saxon, approaching nearly
that of Chaucer, and have retained some customs peculiar to
themselves. They are the descendants of the ancient Danes, chased
into the fastnesses of Northumberland by the severity of William
the Conqueror. Their ignorance is surprising to a Scotchman. It
is common for the traders in cattle, which business is carried on
to a great extent, to carry all letters received in course of
trade to the parish church, where the clerk reads them aloud
after service, and answers them according to circumstances.

We intended to visit the lakes in Cumberland, but our jaunt was
cut short by the bad weather. I went to the circuit at Jedburgh,
to make my bow to Lord J. Clerk, and might have had employment,
but durst not venture. Nine of the Dunse rioters were condemned
to banishment, but the ferment continues violent in the Merse.
Kelso races afforded little sport--Wishaw[103] lost a horse which
cost him L500, and foundered irrecoverably on the course. At
another time I shall quote George Buchanan's adage of "a fool and
his money," but at present labor under a similar misfortune; my
Galloway having yesterday thought proper (N. B., without a rider)
to leap over a gate, and being lamed for the present. This is not
his first _faux-pas_, for he jumped into a water with me on his
back when in Northumberland, to the imminent danger of my life.
He is, therefore, to be sold (when recovered), and another
purchased. This accident has occasioned {p.175} you the trouble
of reading so long an epistle, the day being Sunday, and my
uncle, the captain, busily engaged with your father's naval
tactics, is too seriously employed to be an agreeable companion.
Apropos (des bottes)--I am sincerely sorry to hear that James is
still unemployed, but have no doubt