ABBOTTSFORD AND MELROSE ABBEY. 103 



When silver edges the imagery, 



And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die ; 



When distant Tweed is heard to rave, 



And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave. 



Then go but go alone the while 



There view St. David's ruined pile, 



And home returning, soothly swear, 



Was never scene so sad and fair." 



The good people of Melrose are timid about fol- 

 lowing Scott's formula; they are not given to viewing 

 the Abbey at night. In fact, they declare the night 

 air in the vicinity of the ruin to be unwholesome, and 

 hint that on certain crispy nights in autumn the nar- 

 row galleries are visited by phantom monks who chant 

 weird music to the accompaniment of lute and harp. 

 The belief is that specters and goblins haunt the place, 

 and do not relish having their nocturnal orgies viewed 

 by mortal eyes. The testimony is that spirits have 

 been seen flitting in dark corners of the crumbling 

 pile ; and the suggestion that the mysterious move- 

 ments may have been produced by the wings of bat 

 or owl is treated with derision. Scott's advice to "go 

 alone" to the ruined pile, and at night, is treated with 

 contempt, the idea being that we have no right to 

 trifle with the powders of darkness ! A brave citizen 

 stated that he should not be afraid to visit every part 

 of the dilapidated building at midnight, if there were 

 any good reason for so doing, but he should not go 

 unbid. Why should he disturb the repose of the 

 dead at night? Scott might do it, but he would not. 

 He believed the low musical notes, like the subdued 

 chants of a choir, were produced by the wind while 

 forced through the fluted corbels. He did not think 

 that the spirits of departed monks revisited the conse- 

 crated place. 



