CHAPTER XVI.
HEXHAM--THE NORTH TYNE--BORDER-LAND AND ITS SUGGESTIONS--HAWICK-- TEVIOTDALE--BIRTH-PLACE OF LEYDEN--MELROSE AND DRYBURGH ABBEYS-- ABBOTSFORD: SIR WALTER SCOTT; HOMAGE TO HIS GENIUS--THE FERRY AND THE OAR-GIRL--NEW FARM STEDDINGS--SCENERY OF THE TWEED VALLEY-- EDINBURGH AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS.
On Thursday, Sept.

3rd, I left Newcastle, and proceeded first westward to the old town of Hexham, with the view of taking a more central route into Scotland.

Here, too, are the ruins of one of the most ancient of the abbeys.

The parish church wears the wrinkles of as many centuries as the oldest in the land.

Indeed, the town is full of antiquities of different dates and races,--Roman, Scotch, Saxon, Danish and Norman.