BERWICK. THE BRIDGE, FROM THE NORTH-WEST.

THE view of Berwick Bridge from the north-west, looking towards Spittal and Holy Island, by Harding, is taken from a bank a little beyond the old town-walls, and to the right of the road in coming from Kelso and Dunse. The prospect from this bank is extremely beautiful and interesting; and the artist, who knows so well how to represent such a view with effect, has done it ample justice. To the left is seen part of the old town-walls, beyond which appear the tops of the houses and the spire of the Town-hall. To the right is "Tweed's fair river," hastening with rapid current-for the bare shoal in the midst of the stream informs us of its being ebb-tide-to mingle its waters with the briny sea. The houses seen to the right, at the end of the bridge, are part of the village of Tweedmouth. Towards the middle of the engraving, beyond the bridge, is the village of Spittal, built

"Upon the beachèd verge of the salt flood."

Following the line of coast to the southward, where here and there a light sail gives relief to the prospect, the land view is terminated by Holy Island, which, in consequence of the main land being seen beyond it to the south-west, appears like a promontory extending into the sea. The high ground which rises immediately behind the village of Tweedmouth, is Sunny-side Hill, over which the great north road used to pass, with a very steep rise on each side, but which has, within these last five or six years, been materially improved by cutting through the top of the hill, and by reducing the slope to the southward. The distant mill is that of Scremerston, a well-known land mark to the Tweedmouth fishermen.

Near the edge of the bank from which the view was taken, there is a fall of more than 100 feet nearly perpendicular to the shore of the Tweed. In 1798, Mr. Anthony Hindmarsh, of Alnwick, who was unacquainted with Berwick, in approaching the town at night time, on horseback, from the north-west, mistook his

road, and supposing the lights of Tweedmouth, on the opposite side of the river, to be those of Berwick, he rode over the edge of the bank; the horse was killed from the fall, but the rider most miraculously escaped unhurt. Like a thrifty man, when he found that his horse was dead, he took off the saddle and bridle, and, carrying them with him, scrambled up another part of the bank where the declivity was less precipitous.

From an early period there appears to have been a bridge across the Tweed at Berwick, though not on the same site as the present one. A wooden bridge, which stood about a hundred yards higher up the river, was carried away by a flood in 1199. It was re-built by William, King of Scotland, who then held possession of Berwick, after some objections on the part of the Bishop of Durham, to whom the south shore belonged. It was again carried away "with great force of water," says Leland, "bycause the arches of it were too narrow," after it had stood scarcely nine years. The present bridge of stone, after having been upwards of twenty-four years in building, was finished in October, 1634. It is 17 feet wide; and its length, from shore to shore, is 1164 feet. At each of the piers on both sides there is a recess for the convenience of foot passengers, who otherwise would often be exposed to danger at the meeting of carts and carriages. The Bishop of Durham's jurisdiction extends to the sixth pier from Tweedmouth, on the south side; and the coping stones of the recess there are always covered with turf, as a guide to bailiffs and constables, that they may not execute writs or warrants beyond the jurisdiction of their respective courts.

The village of Tweedmouth,-as well as the whole coast south of it as far as Bule-bay, with Norhamshire on the south of the Tweed,-though within the geographical limits of Northumberland, is yet held to belong to the county palatine of Durham, as part of the extensive possessions acquired through the fame of St. Cuthbert, whose bones to that see were worth more than

"Nine kings' rents,

For seven hundred year."

In 1204, King John began to erect a castle at Tweedmouth, in order to overawe that of Berwick, but it was destroyed before it was finished by William, king of Scotland. Tweedmouth is an irregularly built village, with a chapel, dedicated to St. Bartholomew. In 1831, the population, including Spittal, was 4971. Spittal, which is about a mile to the eastward of Tweedmouth, derives its name from a hospital which formerly stood there. It is mostly inhabited by fishermen ; and on account of the convenience which the fine sandy beach in its vicinity affords for sea-bathing, it is much visited by families during the summer season.

BERWICK.-FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.

THE view of Berwick from the south-east is taken from the Tweedmouth shore, at low water, about a quarter of a mile below the bridge. In the fore-ground is a group of salmon-fishers on the shore, examining the produce of their last haul; while two others in a coble are shooting the net. To the left are seen the chapel and some of the houses of Tweedmouth; to the right a few ships are perceived lying on the shore near Berwick quay, where the smacks usually take in and discharge their cargoes. The spire which towers above the houses, like the steeple of a church, is that of the Town-hall. As Berwick church, which stands towards the north side of the town, is without a steeple, it would seem that the inhabitants had determined to make amends for the deficiency by giving their Town-hall a steeple like a church.

The town of Berwick stands on the north side of the Tweed, by which it is separated from the county of Northumberland, and about half a mile from the mouth of that river. It is 336 miles north by west from London, and 54 south by east from Edinburgh. As a great part of the town is built on a declivity, which slopes down towards the river, and as most of the houses are covered with red tiles, the view that is first obtained of it, in approaching from the south, on a clear bright day, is very striking, though not very grand. It is almost the only town on the Scottish side of the Tweed in which the houses are so covered; in all the others the houses being, for the most part, roofed with slate.

Chalmers, in his Caledonia, vol. 2. p. 217, speaking of Berwick, says, "this place, lying at the mouth of the Tweed, on a dubious frontier, has an origin obscure, undignified, and recent." That its origin, like the origin of most other towns in Great Britain, is obscure, may be admitted; but the term "recent" can scarcely be applied with propriety to a town which was of such consequence in the reign of David I., as to be appointed one of the "Four Boroughs*," which, by their

*The other three were Roxburgh, Stirling, and Edinburgh,