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SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



magnificent Norman doorways, of great richness and beauty, and among the 

 finest of that style in the kingdom. The only decorated Gothic architecture 

 in the remains of this edifice is seen in the windows of the north transept, 

 which appear to have been renewed during the prevalence of that style. This 

 abbey never recovered from the destruction it suffered from the enemy in 1544; 

 and the establishment being suppressed at the Reformation, its revenues were 

 afterwards annexed to the crown. The church was dedicated to God, under the 

 invocation of the Virgin Mary. How powerfully Delille's description applies 

 to these ruins ! — " Tout parle, tout emeut dans ce sejour sacre !" — 



Melrose Abbey, so long the object of universal admiration, is said to have been 

 re-founded by the pious King David, in the early part of the twelfth century, and 

 about three hundred years after the destruction of old Melrose. Here a 

 community of Cistercian monks, whose order was then first introduced from 

 Rievalle, took up their residence. The site of this establishment, to which the 

 name of Melrose, so venerable for its antiquity, was transferred, is near the 

 foot of the Eildon Hills, on the right bank of the Tweed, and in the centre of 

 that beautiful and classic valley enclosed between the Eildon and Gatton 

 heights. The style of architecture, so conspicuous in this gorgeous edifice, 

 is the richest Gothic^such as it was when that style of religious building had 

 attained its highest perfection. In its dimensions, the building falls short of 

 many other sacred edifices — York Minster, for example — but the strength of its 

 masonry, the boldness of its sculpture, the exquisite finish of its most minute 

 embellishments, and that majestic beauty so impressive in a sacred edifice, are 

 unsurpassed — we might say, unequalled — by any existing remnant of its class 

 and character.* Here the zeal, industry, and genius of the indefatigable 

 Cistercians found abundant exercise during the space of five centuries. Besides 

 being strict in their monastic discipline, this brotherhood had the wisdom to 

 inculcate industry upon their order, as a virtue, and as a preservative against the 

 seductions of vice : hence they were the liberal patrons and diligent promoters 

 of learning and the fine arts — virtues which are sufficiently testified by the 

 existing monuments of their order in every part of the continent. Is it not 

 probable, then, that many of the resident monks may have employed themselves 

 in the pious work of erecting and embellishing so sacred an edifice? that the 

 masterly pieces of sculptiu-e which adorn its windows, walls, capitals, pinnacles, 



• The buttresses, ranged along the sides of the ruiiis, are all richly carved and tretted, containing niches 

 for the statues of saints, and labelled witli scrolls, bearing appropriate texts of Scripture; but of these 

 statues the greater number have been demolished. Melrose Abbey was reduced to its present ruinous 

 state, partly by the English barons in their hostile inroads, and partly by the ill-judged and intemperate 

 zeal of the reformers. — See various notes to " The Lay of the Last Minstrel." 



