P L &s CA R D I N ABBET. 
l’ lu J‘“ rdi "‘ now belonging to the Earl of Fife, is 0 f f everal 
‘he fouth of the * 1 r ? hm S U P amon g ‘he hills, about an hour’s ride diftant, to 
in ‘he thirteenth rT? ° f 7™' W3S devoted b 7 Alexander II . King of Scotland . 
‘hofe religious or \ Ury \ al °" g WIth /everal other adjacent lands, to the fupport of 
‘he knowledw f ^ who ^ e e ftablifhments were not only the means of diffufing 
and °f cultivating ' C r Su P reme > as manifefted by the great Author of Chriftianity ; 
be tter difp 0 Qtion b ofe P leties °f ‘he heart, which promote and encourage every 
^culture and • , ^ their abodes were alfo ^ feminaries of art and fcience; 
teac hers might delict' 7 7 ? encoura S cd b 7 the monafteries, however the facred 
blif hments were often ft ^1 Tu *** “ contem P lative leifu ‘e. Thefe royal efta- 
fupported bv amn 7 7 ^ and the ^onafteries and convents 
^ir 0 „ s of Elgin were nee e endo ^^ ents - The rich province of Moray, and the en- 
thei r religious S, ^ by ^ fum P tuous and extent of 
Fria ‘s, in Elgin, eftabliftied J/ S * ‘ be k n 8 in S to a convent of Franci/can 
and afford fpacious apartment gander II. are many of them ftill habitable, 
ornamental, i n a nob i e Gothic S the remains of the adjoining church are highly 
within hft ft te^fte nt the^f ^ * pri ° ry : the Prior > a L°‘d of Regality 
alone ’- he waTtempor^and f J 31 ! eth ^ e . n * n tbe precinfts were accountable to him 
Wi'hout the concurrence of Eh^Bilhop^of with or 
Th - 
down! drctuy m afl°l‘ hC "“T™ b “ ildings ad j° ini "S “ *= church, ftretch 
field, and forming an. i r I- bl * Pbe wa ^ s » mclofing a verv fertile 
grown ruins, thofe fcoundarie^witho 't 77 ^ ^ h ° ary folem nity of mofs- 
ri ght to go. But this choice & n • U |, W - lcb n ° ne but tbe dignified clergy had a 
and pleafure ; and, in their Hate ofhol ' f' ‘V alolftered rnonks both recreation 
- ** - zsbec -rsxra 
penitential 
