Descriptive account of the principal towns in Scotland

Dean of Guild, and Treasurer, are elected annually,
and form its Magistrates. The Town Council con-
sists of these Magistrates, of the four old Magistrates,
ten Merchant Councillors, five Deacons, and five Col-
leagues to these Deacons, elected by the Trade's,
(the former from Leets shortened by the Council,)
and five Trade's Councillors, elected by the Council,
— in all S3 persons.
Formerly, like other Royal Burghs, the Town had
a Provost, but has had none for more than a Century.
John Riddell of Haining, was, in December 1687,
nominated Provost by a commission from King James
the Seventh, and his privy Council ; and though he
only continued in office till the Revolution, yet, short
as his reign was, it had been one of such terror and
misrule, that the Town never again elected a Provost.
The Council, when they gave an account of their sett
to the convention of Burghs, in 1709, stated, that since
their last Provost, Haining's time, they had contented
themselves with two Bailies. Selkirk joins with Pee-
bles, Lanark, and Linlithgow, in returning a Member
to Parliament. The revenue of the Town is very con-
siderable, amounting to upwards of £800 sterling per
annum, arising from the rent of three large commons,
Mills, Feus, &c. Its last charter was granted by
James the Fifth, in the year 1538.
The name of this place, is derived from the Celtic,
JSheleck-grech, signifying the Kirk in the wood, ex-
pressing the situation of the place itself, and the state
of the surrounding country.
The citizens of this Burgh, like the other inhabi-
tants of the Sheriffdom of Ettrick Forest, rendered
themselves famous by adhering to the fortune of their