A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain III

A TOUR THROUGH THE WHOLE ISLAND OF GREAT BRITAIN III

stacks without doors, not making use of any barns, only a particular building, which they call a barn, but, which is itself no more than a threshing-floor, into which they take one of those small stacks at a time, and thresh it out, and then take in another; which we have great reason to believe was the usage of the antients, seeing we read of threshing-floors often; but very seldom, of a barn, except that of the rich glutton.

Being down this hill, we pass’d a bridge over the little River Eye, at the mouth of which there is a small habour, with a town call’d Eyemouth, or, as some call it, Heymouth, which has of late been more spoken of than formerly, by giving the title of baron to the late Duke of Marlborough, who was Duke of Marlborough, Marquis of Blandford, and Baron of Eyemouth in Scotland; and, by virtue of this title, had a right of peerage in the Parliament of Scotland. But notwithstanding all this, I never heard that he did any thing for the town, which is, at present, just what it always was, a good fishing town, and some fishing vessels belong to it; for such it is a good harbour, and for little else; in Queen Elizabeth’s time, indeed, the French held it and fortify’d it for their particular occasion; because, being the first port in Scotland, they might safely land their supplies for the Queen-Mother, who stood in great need of their assistance against the reformers: But they were oblig’d to quit both that and all the kingdom some time after, by a treaty; Queen Elizabeth supporting the reformers against her.

From this bridge we enter upon a most desolate, and, in winter, a most frightful moor for travellers, especially strangers, call’d Coudingham, or, to speak properly, Coldingham Moor; upon which, for about eight miles, you see hardly

241

DANIEL DEFOE

a hedge, or a tree, except in one part, and that at a good distance; nor do you meet with but one house in all the way, and that no house of entertainment; which, we thought, was but a poor reception for Scotland to give her neighbours, who were strangers, at their very first entrance into her bounds.

The place call’d Coudingham, from whence this moor derives, is an old monastery, famous before the Reformation; the monks of Coldingham being eminent for their number and wealth; as for any thing else, this Deponet saith not.

Here was formerly a little cell, or religious house also, sacred to the memory of St. Ebbe, or Ebba, daughter of King Edelfrid, King of Northumberland; who, her father being taken prisoner by the pagan Mercians, gat into a boat in the Humber, with three other women, and, by their own prayers only, for skill we may suppose they had none, nor could they labour much; yet, putting to sea, were miraculously preserv’d, and carry’d as far as Scotland; where, under a great promontory, they were driven on shore by a storm, and their boat dash’d in pieces, as indeed, any one, though knowing the place, might very well be, for the shore is all rock and high precipices for a long way.

However, being on shore, they labour’d with their hands, made themselves a little hut to lodge in, and continuing their devout prayers, the country people sustain’d them with food, till at length, gaining an opinion for their sanctity and austerity, they were address’d from far and near for their prayers, and, by the charity of the people, got enough to build a religious house at Coldingham.

242

A TOUR THROUGH THE WHOLE ISLAND OF GREAT BRITAIN III

Here, as fame says, when the cruel Danes came on shore, the religious lady, who was wondrous beautiful too, it seems, cut off her nose and upper lip, and made all her nuns do the same, to preserve, by that means, their chastity. But the barbarous Danes, enrag’d at them for their zeal, fir’d their nunnery, and burnt them all alive; from this lady, who, it is said, was sainted for these miracles, the promontory, where she landed, is to this day call’d St. Ebba’s Head; and vulgarly by our sailors, who nickname e very thing, St. Tabbs.

Having pass’d this desart, which indeed, makes a stranger think Scotland a terrible place, you come down a very steep hill into the Lothains, so the counties are divided, and they are spoken of in plural; because as Yorkshire is divided into the East and West Riding, so here is the East, and West, and Mid Lothain, or Louthain, and therefore justly call’d Lothains in the plural. From the top of this hill you begin to see that Scotland is not all desart; and the Low Lands, which then show themselves, give you a prospect of a fruitful and pleasant country: As soon as we come down the hill, there is a village call’d Cockburnspeth, vulgarly Cobberspeth, where nature forms a very steep and difficult pass, and where, indeed, a thousand men well furnish’d, and boldly doing their duty, would keep out an army, if there was occasion.

The first gentleman’s house we met with in Scotland was that of Dunglass, the seat of Sir James Hall; a gentleman so hospitable, so courteous to strangers, so addicted to improve and cultivate his estate, and understood it so well, that we began to see here a true representation of the gentry of Scotland; than whom, I must say, without compliment, none in Europe,

243

DANIEL DEFOE

understand themselves better, or better deserve the name of Gentlemen. We began also to see that Scotland was not so naturally barren, as some people represent it, but, with application and judgment, in the proper methods of improving lands, might be made to equal, not England only, but even the richest, most fruitful, most pleasant, and best improv’d part of England: Nor, if I have any skill in the nature of improving lands, which I a little pretend to, or judgment of what land itself is capable of, is the county of Middlesex, or Hertfordshire, which is esteem’d the most completely improv’d part of England, and the richest soil, capable of any improvement, which this country of East Lothain is not also capable of, if they had the same methods of improvement, and the Scots were as good husbandmen as the English; and even this too might easily be brought to pass, would the gentlemen set about it, as this gentleman has, in part, already done, at their own expence.

The truth is, the soil hereabout is very good; and tho’ they have not marle, or chalk, or much lime-stone to mend and manure it, yet, the sea-ware, as they call the weeds, which the sea casts up, abundantly supplies; and by laying this continually on the land, they plow every year without laying their lands fallow, as we do; and I found they had as much corn, as our plowmen express it, as could stand upon the ground.

The first town of note, from hence, is Dunbar, a royal burgh, so they are call’d in Scotland, which is (much what) we call a Corporation in England, and which sent members to parliament, as our corporations in England do, only that in Scotland, as is generally to be understood, they had some particular privileges separate to themselves; as that, for example, of holding

244

A TOUR THROUGH THE WHOLE ISLAND OF GREAT BRITAIN III

a parliament, or convention of burghs by themselves, a method taken from the union of the Hans-Towns in the north, and not much unlike it, in which they meet and concert measures for the publick good of the town, and of their trade, and make by-laws, or Acts and declarations, which bind the whole body.

Nor have they lost this privilege by the Union with England; but it is preserved entire, and, perhaps, is now many ways more advantageous to them than it was before, as their trade is like to be, in time, more considerable than before.

This town of Dunbar is a handsome well-built town, upon the sea-shore; where they have a kind of a natural harbour, tho’ in the middle of dangerous rocks.

They have here a great herring-fishery, and particularly they hang herrings here, as they do at Yarmouth in Norfolk, for the smoking them; or, to speak the ordinary dialect, they make red herrings here: I cannot say they are cur’d so well as at Yarmouth, that is to say, not for keeping and sending on long voyages, as to Venice and Leghorn, though with a quick passage, they might hold it thither too: However, they do it very well. The herrings also themselves may a little make the difference, because they are generally larger and fatter than those at Yarmouth, which makes it more difficult to cure them, so as to keep in a hot country, and on a long voyage.

Between the town and the great road stands a little, but pleasant and agreeable seat of the Duke of Roxburgh, with a park well planted: And as the gentlemen of Scotland are now set upon planting forest trees, as well for ornament as profit, this park is, among the rest, very handsomely planted with young trees in vistas and walks, and will, when grown,

245

DANIEL DEFOE

add both to the value and beauty of the seat, which otherwise is but as a box. And here I would give an useful hint to the gentlemen who plant trees in Scotland, the want of which I have observ’d at several great houses and parks in that country, is the reason why they do not thrive, as they might otherwise do: The case is this. The gentlemen, at a great expence, get quantities of forest trees, either of their own raising, or from the nursery-men, as they call them in England. Those are set at a good length, perhaps, 12 to 15 foot high, handsome bodies, and good heads; and I acknowledge they are the best siz’d trees to plant, and that when set younger they seldom stand it, or come to the like perfection: But then these trees should be all secur’d by a triangular frame to each tree; that is to say, three large stakes set about them in an equilateral triangle, and fasten’d all together by three short cross pieces at the top; and these stakes should stand from 7 to 8 foot high.

In the center of the triangle stands the planted tree; which way soever the wind blows, the body bends from it to the cross piece, which joins the stakes on that side, and which make the triangle, and then can bend no farther; by which means the root is not shaken, or the earth mov’d and loosen’d about it, and then the tree will strike root, and grow.

But for want of this, the tree being left without support, before, as we may say, it can stand alone; and the winds, especially in winter, being very strong in that country, the tree is bended every way, the earth loosen’d continually about it, the root is often stirr’d, and the tree gets no time to strike root into the earth. And this is the reason why, in many of the gentlemen’s parks, I saw the trees stented and bauk’d; and

246

A TOUR THROUGH THE WHOLE ISLAND OF GREAT BRITAIN III

that, tho’ they had been planted many years, they could not thrive: If this caution may be of use, as I recommend it with a desire it may, the gentlemen will not think their time lost in the reading it.

On the south west side of this town, under the mountains, near a place call’d Dun-Hill, is the fatal field where the battel, call’d the battel of Dunbar, was fought, between Oliver Cromwell and General Lesly, who then commanded the royal army; where the desperate few, for Cromwell’s army was not above 8,000 men, defeated and totally overthrew the great army of the other side, kill’d 6,000, and took 10,000 prisoners, to the surprize of the world; but that is matter of history, and none of my business at present.

Here we turn’d out of the way to see the Marquess of Tweedal’s fine park, and which is, indeed, the main thing, his fine planting at Yester, or, as Antiquity calls it, Zester; I say the park, because, tho’ there is the design of a noble house or palace, and great part of it built; yet, as it is not yet, and perhaps, will not soon be finished, there is no giving a compleat description of it.

The old Earl of Tweedale, who was a great favourite of King Charles II. tho’ not much concern’d in politic affairs, at least, not in England, yet took in from the king the love of managing what we call forest trees, and making fine vistas and avenues: The very first year after the Restoration the king laid out, with his own hand, the planting of Greenwich and St. James’s parks, and several others, and the said earl had seen them, and was extremely delighted with the method.

247

DANIEL DEFOE

This occasion’d his lordship, as soon as he went down into Scotland, to lay out the plan and design of all those noble walks and woods of trees, or, as it might be call’d, forests of trees, which he afterwards saw planted, and of which a gentleman, whose judgment I cannot doubt, told me, that if ever those trees came to be worth but six pence a tree, they would be of more value than the fee simple of that estate; not meaning by that estate the land they grow on, but the whole paternal estate of the family: Nor is it unlikely, if it be true, that his lordship, and his immediate successor, planted above 6,000 acres of land all full of firr-trees; and that, where-ever it was found that any tree fail’d, they were constantly renew’d the next year.

It is certain, that many of the trees are, by this time, of much more value than six pence a tree; for they have now been planted near three-score years. And tho’ it is true, that a firr-tree is but a slow grower, and that most, if not all the trees I speak of, are firr; yet it must be allow’d that, the trees thriving very well, they must, by this time, be very valuable; and, if they stand another age, and we do not find the family needy of money enough to make them forward to cut any of them down, there may be a noble estate in firr timber, enough, if it falls into good hands, to enrich the family.

The park itself is said to be eight miles about, but the plantation of firr is not simply confin’d to the park, nor, indeed, to this estate; for the family of Tweedale has another seat near Musclebro, at Pinkey, where the same lord planted also a great number of trees, as his successors have likewise done at another seat, which they have in Fife, near Aberdour.

248

A TOUR THROUGH THE WHOLE ISLAND OF GREAT BRITAIN III

The house, however, must not be forgot; and if it shall be finish’d, as they now tell us it will soon be, it will not suffer itself to be forgot, for there will be few finer palaces in Scotland; I mean, if it be finish’d according to the magnificence of the first design.

As the success of this planting is a great encouragement to the nobility of Scotland to improve their estates by the same method, so we find abundance of gentlemen of estates do fall into it, and follow the example: And you hardly see a gentleman’s house, as you pass the Louthains, towards Edinburgh, but they are distinguish’d by groves and walks of firr-trees about them; which, tho’ in most places they are but young, yet they shew us, that in a few years, Scotland will not need to send to Norway for timber and deal, but will have sufficient of her own, and perhaps, be able to furnish England too with considerable quantities.

We saw an example of this at the Earl of Hadington’s house at Tinningham; where, tho’ the trees are younger than at Yester, yet, they seem to follow them apace, and to thrive so much, as that they may, one time or other, overtake them. The like we saw in Fife, at Sir William Bruce’s, and at several other places in this part of the country.

From this town of Dunbar to Edinburgh, the country may be reckon’d not only as fruitful and rich in soil, but also as pleasant and agreeable a country as any in Scotland, and, indeed, as most in England; the sea on the right hand, at a moderate distance, and the hills on the left, at a farther distance; and even those hills not extremely high, not barren, not desolate mountains, as I have given an account of some farther south,

249

DANIEL DEFOE

and have more to speak of farther north. But these hills are passable and habitable, and have large flocks of sheep, in many places, feeding on them, and many open roads lie over them, as from Edinburgh, and other parts towards England; as particular to Yester, and to Duns and Coldstream on the Tweed; another way to Kelsoe, where also there is a ford and a ferry over the Tweed, and likewise by another way to Tiviotdale, to Peebles and Jedburgh, of which hereafter.

The greatest thing this country wants is more enclos’d pastures, by which the farmers would keep stocks of cattle well fodder’d in the winter, and, which again, would not only furnish good store of butter, cheese, and beef to the market, but would, by their quantity of dung, enrich their soil, according to the unanswerable maxim in grazing, that stock upon land improves land.

Two other articles would encrease and enrich them, but which they never practise.

1.Folding their sheep.

2.Fallowing their plow’d land.

The first would fatten the land, and the latter destroy the weeds: But this is going out of my way. They have, indeed, near the sea, an equivalent which assists them exceedingly, namely, the sea weed, they call it the sea ware, which the sea casts up from about November to January in great quantities, and which extremely fattens and enriches the lands, so that they are plow’d from age to age without lying fallow: But farther from the sea, and where they cannot fetch it, there they

250