town of Roxburghshire in Scotland, pleasantly situated on the river Tweed, in W. Long. 1° 20'. N. Lat. 55° 38'. Of this town Mr Pennant gives the following description. "It is built much after the manner of a Flemish town, with a square and town-house. It contains about 2700 souls, has a very considerable market, and great quantities of corn are sold here weekly by sample. The parish-church is darksome and inconvenient, being part of that belonging to the abbey; but a new one is building, in an octagonal form, 82 feet in diameter, supported by a circle of pillars.
"The abbey of Tyronensians was a vast pile, and, to judge by the remains, of venerable magnificence. The walls are ornamented with false round arches, intersecting each other. Such intersections form a true Gothic arch; and may as probably have given rise to that mode, as the arched shades of avenues. The steeple of the church is a vast tower. This house was founded by David I. when earl of Cumberland. He
Kempis. first placed it at Selkirk, then removed it to Roxburgh, and finally, when he came to the crown, fixed it here in 1128. Its revenues were, in money, above 2000l. Scots a-year. The abbot was allowed to wear a mitre and pontifical robes; to be exempt from episcopal jurisdiction, and permitted to be present at all general councils.
"The environs of Kelso are very fine: the lands consist of gentle risings, inclosed with hedges, and extremely fertile. They have much reason to boast of their prospects. From the Chalkheugh is a fine view of the forks of the rivers, Roxburgh-hill, Sir John Douglas's neat seat, and, at a distance, Fleurus; and from Pinnacle-hill is seen a vast extent of country, highly cultivated, watered with long reaches of the Tweed, well wooded on each margin. These borders ventured on cultivation much earlier than those on the west or east, and have made great progress in every species of rural economy. Turnips and cabbages, for the use of cattle, cover many large tracts; and potatoes appear in vast fields. Much wheat is raised in the neighbourhood, part of which is sent up the frith of Forth, and part into England.
"The fleeces here are very fine, and sell from 12 to 14 shillings the stone of 24lb. and the picked kind from 18 to 20. The wool is sent into Yorkshire, to Linlithgow, or into Aberdeenshire, for the stocking manufacture; and some is woven here into a cloth, called plains, and sold into England to be dressed. Here is also a considerable manufacture of white leather, chiefly to supply the capital of Scotland.
"From what I can collect, the country is greatly depopulated. In the reign of James VI. or a little before the Union, it is said that this county could send out 15,000 fighting men: at present it could not raise 3000. But plundering in those times was the trade of the borderers, which might occasion the multitude of inhabitants."
Over the Tweed at Kelso is a fine stone bridge of six arches: but the river does not in this place divide the kingdoms of Scotland and England from each other; for the Scots possess the country for several miles to the southward.