Literary by-paths in old England . f you tell them of his many privatebenefactions to struggling authors — such asthose £5 notes to Thomas Cooper with the re-mark, If you dont pay me again 111 not hangyou — they only stare at you with that hard,unbelieving look of theirs. Gifts of the righthand unknown of the left are not held in honourin Ecclefechan. Ecclefechan is not an attractive village. Inthe olden days when a double row of beech treesgrew by the side of the open burn which randown the middle of the street, it may have beenmore picturesque, yet even in those days Burnscould describe it a
Literary by-paths in old England . f you tell them of his many privatebenefactions to struggling authors — such asthose £5 notes to Thomas Cooper with the re-mark, If you dont pay me again 111 not hangyou — they only stare at you with that hard,unbelieving look of theirs. Gifts of the righthand unknown of the left are not held in honourin Ecclefechan. Ecclefechan is not an attractive village. Inthe olden days when a double row of beech treesgrew by the side of the open burn which randown the middle of the street, it may have beenmore picturesque, yet even in those days Burnscould describe it as an unfortunate, wicked littlevillage. The beech trees are gone now, andonly a small part of the burn remains uncovered,the latter change being explained by an irontablet in the village, bearing this inscription: — 1875209 feet of the Burn below this spot was arched over byDr. George Arnott at his own expense. In approaching Ecclefechan from the railwaystation, the pilgrim enters the village by the 18 273 LITERARY BY-PATHS. north end; and in that case the house in whichCarlyle was born must be looked for on the righthand. The accompanying view of this housewas taken from the south end of the village, bothbecause such a standpoint showed the place at its best, and be-cause it gave thecamera the fairestchance to securejf * M a good picture. Hence the Carlylehouse is seen onthe left; and justabove it the burnflows from underthat archwayerected by Dr. George Arnott at his ownexpense. Although built more than a hundred yearsago, the house in which Carlyle was born, calledArch House on account of the wide archwayrunning from front to back, shows no signof decay. It was built by Carlyles father, anhonest mason, who left off rearing houses whenthe old taste for substantial buildings wentout of fashion. Nothing that he undertookto do, witnessed Carlyle, but he did it faith- 274
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Keywords: ., bookauthorshelleyh, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1906
