MELROSE UNSUNG 101 



exceedingly ample. The stanch " Arno " lay at my 

 feet ; nor was I deficient in a gun, such as Manton 

 used to turn out in that age of flint. My attend- 

 ant, or groom, was of the freshest fashion, a youth 

 newly hired. John, who was whilom in my service, 

 understood the arts of travelling better than this 

 man. But, alas ! John was a backslider ; for when 

 I asked him if he had any objection to go to Scot- 

 land, " Pray, sir," said he, " is that the country as 

 is infested with eagles?" I candidly confessed 

 that there certainly were birds of that description 

 there. "Then, I am sorry, sir, but I must beg 

 leave to decline going," was his valorous reply. 



Tedious it were to recount the dawdling of a 

 long journey performed by the same man and the 

 same horses. I will not therefore utter such an 

 infliction. It is quite enough to say, that in the 

 end I ensconced myself in an hostel in the little 

 town of Melrose : inn, properly so called, there 

 was none, for Melrose was then unsung. It was 

 late, and I looked forth on the tranquil scene from 

 my window. The moonbeams played upon the 

 distant hill-tops, but the lower masses slept as yet 

 in shadow ; again the pale light catched the waters 

 of the Tweed, the lapse of whose streams fell 

 faintly on the ear, like the murmuring of a sea- 

 shell. In front rose up the mouldering abbey, 

 deep in shadow ; its pinnacles, and buttresses, and 

 light tracery, but dimly seen in the solemn mass. 

 A faint light twinkled for a space among the tomb- 

 stones ; soon it was extinct, and two figures passed 

 off in the shadow, who had been digging a grave 

 even at that late hour. 



