MERSE, a county of Scotland, called also Berwickshire. This last name it derives from the town of Berwick, which was the head of the shire before it fell into the hands of the English, and obtained the appellation of Mers or March, because it was one of the borders towards England. It is washed on the south and east by the river Tweed and the German Ocean, bounded on the west by Tweedale, and on the north by Lothian. It extends 24 miles from east to west, and the breadth amounts to 16. The face of the country is rough and irregular, exhibiting hills, moors, and moyses, with intermediate valleys, which are pleasant and fruitful. It is watered by many streams; and
particularly by the famous Tweed, which, rising from the same hills that gave birth to the Clyde and Annan, runs with a rapid course thro' Tweedale Forest and Teviotdale, and after a course of 50 miles disembogues itself into the German Ocean. Notwithstanding the length of its course, it is not navigable above Berwick, where there is a noble bridge over it, consisting of 15 arches: there was another at Melrois, where nothing but the piers now remain. A third, of five arches, is maintained at Peebles; and a fourth has some time ago been built at Kelfo. The shire of Berwick is generally distinguished into the three divisions of Mers, Lammermuir, and Lauderdale. The Mers is low, pleasant, and tolerably fruitful in corn. Lammermuir is a hilly country, abounding with game, and yielding good pasture for sheep and black cattle. Lauderdale is a tract of land lying on each side of the river Lauder, agreeably varied with hill, dale, and forest, producing good store of corn and pasturage, and giving the title of earl to the family of Maitland: but the most fruitful and populous parts of Berwickshire, are those that lie along the Tweed, and on both sides of the lesser rivers White Water, Black Water, and Eye. The seats of noblemen and gentlemen abound in this county. Berwick was the chief town until it fell into the hands of the English, and was annexed to their monarchy in the reign of King Edward IV. At present the principal town is Dun.