220 AUDUBON 



in our way until we suddenly turned southeast and 

 entered the little village of Roslyn. I say little, because 

 not more than twenty houses are there, and these are all 

 small except one. It is high, however, so much so that 

 from it we looked down on the ruined castle, although the 

 elevation of the castle above the country around is very 

 great. On inquiry, we were assured that the chapel was 

 the only remaining edifice worthy of attention. We 

 walked down to it and entered an enclosure, when before 

 us stood the remains of the once magnificent Chapel of 

 Roslyn. What volumes of thoughts rushed into my mind. 

 I, who had read of the place years before, who knew by 

 tradition the horrors of the times subsequent to the found- 

 ing of the edifice, now confronted reality. I saw the 

 marks of sacrilegious outrage on objects silent themselves 

 and which had been raised in adoration to God. Strange 

 that times which produced such beautiful works of art 

 should allow the thief and the murderer to go almost un- 

 punished. This Gothic chapel is a superb relic ; each 

 stone is beautifully carved, and each differs from all the 

 others. The ten pillars and five arches are covered with 

 the finest fret-work, and all round are seen the pedestals 

 that once supported the images that Knox's party were 

 wont to destroy without thought or reason. I went down 

 some mouldering steps into the Sacristy, but found only 

 bare walls, decaying very fast; yet here a curious plant 

 was growing, of a verdigris color. To reach the castle we 

 went down and along a narrow ridge, on each side of 

 which the ground went abruptly to the bottom of a narrow, 

 steep valley, through which a small, petulant stream 

 rushed with great rapidity over a rocky bed. This guards 

 three sides of the promontory on which Roslyn Castle 

 once was ; for now only a few masses of rubbish were to be 

 seen, and a house of modern structure occupies nearly the 

 original site. In its day it must have been a powerful 

 structure, but now, were it existing, cannon could destroy 



