148 Mr. Stuart on Melrose. 



On the floor of the chancel lies a slab of polished marble of a 

 greenish black colour, with petrified shells imbedded in it, and of 

 a semi-hexagonal form, which is beheved to cover the dust of Eang 

 Alexander II. who was interred beside the high altar of this church 

 in 1249. Within the church were likewise deposited the remains 

 of James, Earl of Douglas, slain at Otterburn, as well as those of 

 Sir William Douglas, the Knight of Liddisdale, the latter having 

 been interred before the altar of St. Bride's Chapel. 



In 1544 Mehose was partially destroyed by parties of English, 

 under Sir Ealph Eure and Sir Brian Lauton, when the tombs of 

 the Douglases were defaced, an insult wiped out on Ancriim Moor 

 in the following year. 



Then came the period of the Eeformation, when our church 

 lands became generally secularized. After passing through several 

 hands, the possessions of the Abbey of Melrose became at last 

 vested in the Earl of Haddington, in the reign of James YI., 

 from whose descendants they were acquired by the family of 

 Buccleuch about the beginning of the 1 8th century. 



It is probable from the pieces of burnt oak and melted lead 

 that have been found by digging upon the site of the Monastery, 

 that its buildings were destroyed by fixe. At various times the 

 ruins are said to have been used as a quarry for building houses 

 in Melrose, and at last, about 1618, a part of the nave was con- 

 verted into a Parish Kirk — a species of adaptation which has 

 invariably proved disastrous to old buildings. Many of the carved 

 stone images from the niches all over the building, which escaped 

 the fury of the Eeformation, remained till the Covenanting Icon- 

 oclasts turned their attention to them, when they were demolished. 



Of the brotherhood of Melrose, it has been alleged in an old 

 Scottish song — 



" O ! the Monks of Melrose made gude kale 



On Fridays when they fasted ; 

 They wanted neither beef nor ale 



As long as their neighbours' lasted." 



That they had the means of making good cheer without en- 

 croaching on the larders of their neighbours, may be gathered 

 from the following statement of the rent of the Abbey in 1561 : — 



Scots money, £1758. 



Wheat, 14 chalders 9 boUs. 



Bear, 56 chalders 5 bolls. 



Meal, 78 chalders 13 bolls 1 firlot. 



Oats, 44 chalders 10 boUs. 



Capons, 84. 



Poultry, 620. 



Butter, 105 stones. 



Salt, 8 chalders. 



Peats, 340 loads. 



Carriages, 500. 



