called also the Sherifdom of Ettrick Forest, a county of Scotland, extending about 25 miles in length from east to west, and about 12 in breadth from south to north. It borders on the north with part of Tweeddale and Mid-Lothian; on the south and east with Tiviotdale; and on the west with Annandale. This county was formerly reserved by the Scottish princes for the pleasure of the chase, and where they had houses for the reception of their train. At that time the face of the country was covered with woods, in which there were great numbers of red and fallow deer, whence it had the name of Ettrick Forest. The woods, however, are now almost entirely cut down, and the county is chiefly supported by the breed of sheep. They are generally sold into the south, but sometimes into the Highlands, about the month of March, where they are kept during summer; and after being improved by the mountain-grass, are returned into the Lowlands in the beginning of winter.

This county, though not very populous at present, was once the nurse of heroes, who were justly accounted the bulwark of their native soil, being ever ready to brave danger and death in its defence. Of this we have a memorable proof in the pathetic lamentations of their wives and daughters for the disaster of the field of Flodden, "where the brave foresters were a' wed Statistical away." The rivers Ettrick and Yarrow unite a little above the town of Selkirk, and terminate in the Tweed, Scotland. For five miles above its junction with the Ettrick, Tweed is still adorned with woods, and leads the pleased imagination to contemplate what this country must have been in former times. The Yarrow, for about five miles above its junction with Ettrick, exhibits nature in a bold and striking aspect. Its native woods still remain, through which the stream has cut its turbid course, deeply ingulfed amidst rugged rocks. Here, certainly in a flood, stood the descriptive Thomson when he saw it

"Work and boil, and foam and thunder through."

On a peninsula, cut out by the surrounding stream, in the middle of this fantastically wild scene of grandeur and beauty, stands the castle of Newark, which has been supposed by many to be the birthplace of Mary Scot the flower of Yarrow.

The population of this county in 1801 amounted to 5070, and in 1811 to 3889; but the following is the population of the different parishes at two different periods, according to the Statistical History.

| Parishes | Population in 1755 | Population in 1792—1798 | |----------|------------------|------------------------| | Ettrick | 397 | 470 | | Galashiels | 998 | 914 | | Carry forward | 1395 | 1384 |

Selkirk