— 874 — 



is but an hour by train from the Scotch capital ; and at 

 4 p. m. on that day, we were confortably ensconsed in 

 the George and Abbotsford Hotel, in view of the lofty, 

 broken minarets of Melrose Abbey, so sweetly sung in 

 the Lay of the Last Minstrel. We did not even wait 

 for the pale moon to shed her pale light over the weird, 

 time-honored cloister of St. Mary : 



" If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright 



Go visit it by the pale moonlight ; 



For the gay beams of lightsome day 



Gild, but to flout, the ruins grey. 



When the broken arches are black in night. 



And each shafted oriel glimmers white ; 



When the cold light's uncertain shower 



Streams on the ruined central tower ; 



When buttress and buttress, alternately, 



Seem framed of ebon and ivory ; 



When silver edges the imagery, 



And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die ; 



When distant Tweed is heard to rave, 



And the owleb to hoot o'er the dead man's grave 



Then go — but go alone the while — 



Then view St. David's ruined pile ; 



And, home returning, soothly swear, 



Was never scene so sad and fair ! " 



Here is what our intelligent guide tells us : — " Mel- 

 rose Abbey, now the property of the Duke ofBuccleuch, 

 was founded in 113(> by David I. It was granted by 

 royal charter to the Cistercian order of monks, which 

 had a short time previously been instituted in France. 

 The monastery at Melrose was a mother church to all 

 Cistercian order in Scotland. In the retreat from Scot- 

 land of Edward II, in 1322, the English wreaked their 

 vengeance on religious houses, and they despoiled the 

 fair shrine of Melrose. In order to repair the abbey, 

 King Eobert made a grant to the abbot of Melrose of 

 £2,000 (1) for rebuilding the church of St. Mary. It 

 is to this destruction of the church that is due the 



(1) Equal to about £50,000 of our money. 



