On the banks of the Elwand Water, which runs into the Tweed, about two miles above Melrose, there is a picturesque glen called the Fairy Dean, which has become a favourite place of resort, from its association with the incidents in “The Monastery” by Sir Walter Scott. It has acquired an interest of a different kind from certain mineral concretions which have received the name of Fairy Stones, from their being found in that part of the rivulet which runs through the Fairy Dean.

When the Waverley Novels were not acknowledged by their author, facts or incidents to which they referred, were always welcome subjects of conversation at Abbotsford; and on one occasion when I happened to mention that singular stones were found in the Fairy Dean, Sir Walter Scott expressed a desire to see them, and to know how they were formed.