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Scott. The grave next to it is believed to be that of 

 Sir Ealph I vers, one of the English commanders slain 

 at the battle of Ancrum Eiver. Beyond a footpath at 

 the head of these graves, on the north-east side of a 

 heap of fragments, is a stone which was a favorite 

 seat with Sir Walter Scott, when he came to feast 

 on the grand and varied beauty of the scene. Under 

 the floor of the chancel repose the ashes of many 

 of the illustrious dead. Alexander II was buried 

 here, as was also Waldevus, the second abbot of the 

 monastery. The body of Douglas, the dark knight of 

 Liddesdale, otherwise called the Flower of Chivalry, 

 who was slain by a kinsman while hunting in Ettrich 

 Forest during the reign of David II, was brought here 

 for interment, after having lain one night in Lindean 

 Kirk. James, Earl Douglas, slain by Hotspur (Earl 

 Percy) at the battle of Otterburn in 1388, was also 

 interred here with great military pomp and every honor 

 that could be paid by the abbot and monks. The 

 English spoiled the tombs of the Douglases in 1544, 

 and for this they suffered severe retribution at Ancrum 

 Miur in the following year. But the chief deposit in 

 the Abbey, and that over which the ruin may well be 

 considered a fitting and appropriate monument, is the 

 " Heart of Robert the Bruce." In the King's last letter 

 to his son, written about a month before his death, he 

 commanded that his heart be buried in Melrose Abbey. 

 But subsequently to that he wished rather that it might 

 be sent to Palestine and buried in the Holy Sepulchre. 

 Sir James Douglass, entrusted with the sacred deposit, 

 set sail with a numerous and splendid retinue. In Spain 

 he encountered the Saracens ; and being too brave to 

 retreat, he was overpowred by numbers and fell. The 

 body was recovered and .brought back for burial; and 

 the heart of the Master he loved and served so well was 

 interred, agreeably with the former wish of the King, 

 under the High Altar of Melrose Abbey. The chancel 



