SOUTHDEAN, a parish, in the district of Jedburgh, county of Roxburgh, 10 miles (S. by W.) from Jedburgh; containing, with the village of Chesters, 868 inhabitants. This parish, which is also called Chesters, derives the name of Southdean, peculiarly appropriated to the upper part, from its having formed the south valley in the ancient forest of Jed, which with very trifling exceptions was wholly cut down during the last century. The parish is pleasantly situated on the banks of the river Jed, is nearly thirteen miles in length and seven in breadth, and comprises about 25,000 acres, of which little more than 3000 are arable and in cultivation, 500 woodland and plantation, and the remainder sheepwalks and rough pasture. In the lower parts the soil is generally a light black earth, with gravel, but in some places a strong clay: along the banks of the river, gravel inclining to heath is predominant; and in the upper parts is a light and friable soil, with moss and stiff clay. The system of agriculture is much improved, and an additional quantity of arable land has been recently brought into cultivation. Considerable improvements have been also made by plantations, and by draining the sheep pastures, thus greatly benefiting the lands, and increasing the healthiness of the parish. About 15,000 sheep, principally of the Cheviot breed, are pastured; and there are about 1600 long-wooUed sheep, of which kind a few were introduced about thirty or forty years since. Black-cattle are also reared in considerable numbers, and the breed has been improved by the introduction of the short-horned bull from the south. The wool produced here was formerly sent into Yorkshire for sale, but is now uniformly bought by the manufacturers of Hawick, Galashiels, and Jedburgh; it is of excellent quality, and greatly esteemed. There are several quarries of red and white sandstone, the latter well adapted for ornamental buildings; and coal is supposed to e.xist, though some attempts lately made to procure it were abandoned on account of the expense. A vein of antimony was discovered on the lands of Abbotrule, but it has not been worked with success. Abbotrule is an ? ancient mansion pleasantly situated; Wolflee is a handsome mansion of modern erection, in the early English style of domestic architecture. The annual value of real property in the parish is £6172. Southdean is ecclesiastically in the presbytery of Jedburgh, synod of Merse and Teviotdale, and in the patronage of the Crown and Lord Douglas, the latter having two turns to one of the Crown: the minister's stipend is about £"234, with a manse, and a glebe valued at £40 per annum. The church, built in I69O, and in excellent repair, is conveniently situated. The parochial schoolmaster has a salary of £34. 4. 4., with about £'20 fees, and a house and garden. Many tumuli were formerly to be seen, but they have now almost disappeared in the progress of cultivation. There are still several remains of ancient fortifications, or peels, which were numerous in districts situated near the border; and also various sites of camps, some of them of circular form. Among the fastnesses at one of the extremities of the parish, admirably adapted for concealment, the Rev. Mr. Vcitch and Mr. Rryson, who suffered during the persecution of the Presbyterians, found shelter and a secure asylum. The scene of the Itaid of the Red Swire, the last of the border conflicts, is within the limits of the parish. Thomson, the poet, whose father was incumbent of Southdean, to which he was translated from Ednam about two years after the poet's birth, spent his childhood and part of his youth in this parish; and there is still, in the manse garden, a hawthorn-trcc of unusual size, which is regarded with veneration, being associated in the minds of the inhabitants with the memory of the author of The Seasons, The tree is now quite dead, and some evergreens are trained up the branches. It is believed that the original of Sir Walter Scott's Dandy Dinmont was the late Mr. James Davidson, farmer, of Hyndlee in the parish.