ABBOTTSFORD AND MELROSE ABBEY. 101 



" tweeds ") and having a station at Melrose, a village 

 three miles from the Scott estate. Before arranging 

 for the drive to Abbotsford, the tourist takes a survey 

 of Melrose Abbey, a cloistered ruin of beauty and re- 

 nown. The dilapidated monastery was built in 1136, 

 under the liberal patronage of St. David, or David L, 

 of Scotland ; and a colony of Benedictine monks was 

 invited to conduct the ceremonies of the conventicle. 

 The English, in a foray over the border, destroyed the 

 structure in 1322, and scattered the pious band. This 

 hardship made the members all the more influential. 

 They were a highly educated class, and skilled in the 

 arts of an advanced civilization ; therefore, they natu- 

 rally became schoolmasters for the rising generations, 

 and cultivated the arts of peace among the warlike 

 dwellers on the Border. They shed a refining influ- 

 ence on every hand, and earned the protection and 

 patronage of those in authority. At length Robert 

 Bruce was moved to rebuild the Abbey, and through 

 the scattered monks to re-establish the ceremonials 

 arid hospitalities of the place. In the restored condi- 

 tion the monastery continued to flourish until the 

 throes of the Reformation despoiled the sacred vest- 

 ments and art treasures, and defaced the venerated 

 structure. 



While tenanted by monks of the Cistercian order, 

 the Abbey was often a place given to wine and wassail ; 

 and the following verse was perpetrated to satirize the 

 doings of the cloister : 



" The monks of Melrose made glide kail 

 On Fridays when they fasted ; 

 Nor wanted they gude beef and ale 

 As long's their neighbors' lasted." 



