Grampian Club > Monuments and monumental inscriptions in Scotland > Volume 1

274
SELKIRKSHIRE.
PAEISH OF SELKIRK.
In the market-place, Selkirk, a statue in freestone, by tlie late
Mr. Handyside Kitcliie, commemorates Sir Walter Scott as Sheriff
of Ettrick Forest. The following inscription adorns the pedestal : —
" Erected in August, 1839,
In proud and affectionate remembrance
of
Sir Walter Scott, Baronet,
Sheriff of this county
From 1800 to 1832.
By Yarrow's stream still let me stray,
Though none shall guide my feeble way ;
Still feel the breeze down Ettrick's break,
Although it chill my withered cheek."
In an open triangular space in the centre of the burgh, an elegant
memorial statue celebrates INIungo Park, the distinguished African
explorer. It was executed by Mr. Andrew Currie, an ingenious
self-taught sculptor and a native of the "Forest," and was reared in
March, 1839. The monument, twenty-eight feet in height, consists
of a colossal statue resting on a pedestal which surmounts a
massive plinth. In the statue Park is represented standing in an
easy attitude, with a sextant in his right hand, and in his left a
scroll, on which is inscribed the last sentence of his latest com-
munication to Lord Camden — :" All the Europeans but myself are
dead, but I will still persevere in the object of my mission, and
though I succeed not, I shall at least die on the Niger." He is