Abbotsford, the famous residence of Walter Scott. In 1811 Scott paid $20,000 for a farm of a hundred acres on the south bank of the Tweed. Of this property Lockhart writes, "The farm consisted of a rich meadow or haugh along the banks of the river, and about a hundred acres of ground behind, all in a neglected state, undrained, wretchedly enclosed, much of it covered with nothing better than the native heath. The farm-house itself was small and poor, with a common kail-yard on one flank, and a staring barn on the other; while in front appeared a filthy pond, covered with ducks and duckweed, from which the whole tenement had derived the unharmonious designation of Clarty Hole." Scott's choice of the place, however, was determined by a beautiful view of the Tweed and of ruined Melrose Abbey, three miles away. He changed the name to that of a nearby ford, formerly used by the abbots of that famous abbey. Adjoining land was bought later. Scott laid out the grounds with taste. He planted about fifty acres with young trees, and had the satisfaction of living long enough to cut good sized trees planted by his own hand. What Scott declared at first should be a cottage developed into an irregular rectangular building of proportions befitting a castle, and, like a castle, provided with turrets at every available angle. A fine entrance was adorned with trophies of the chase and ancient armor after the fashion of the Middle Ages. The property still belongs to Scott's descendants on a daughter's side of the family. Scott's library, rich in ballads and in books on witchcraft, is kept as he left it. Abbotsford is visited by several thousand people each year. No student should fail to read Washington Irving's Visit to Abbotsford. See SCOTT; MELROSE.