Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume II.djvu/67

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Hollis-Castle; below, an elegant and tasteful rustic summer-house, fitted up by the Duchess of Buccleugh, discloses itself from the midst of a grove that covers a promontory pushing its rocky bosom into the river. But we found the scenery, if pos- sible, still more beautiful and diversified, when we crossed the river, and pursued its eastern bank; where for a mile the eye is regaled with an extra- ordinary succession and delicious combination of water, wood, and rock. But. the repast is too rich to last long; the Esk soon changes its character, and instead of the romantic, assumes the gentle; the banks retire to a distance from the stream, sink into gradual declivities, and unite smoothly with the meadows ; the rocks disappear, and the widened waters flow calmly over their pebblybottom through an extensive flat of rich pasture land.

Two turnpike-gates, at the distance of twenty yards from each other, now applied for their re- spective tolls; and on enquiring the reason of these demands so immediately succeeding each other, we found that they were separate concerns; one stand- ing in Scotland, the other in England the interve- ning space, called Scotch dike, dividing the two king- doms from each o:her. We could not quit this boundary of Caledonia, little as we had seen of the country, without casting ci one longing ling'ring

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