BEAULIEU ABBET. 
T HIS abbey feems to have derived its name from the beauty of the fituation ; 
and that name being of French extraction, yields a high probability that the ec- 
c hfiaftics who firft fettled here were from that nation : for any annals that remain of 
the firfl; eftablilhments of Chriftianity in thefe parts are far from fatisfaCtory or diftinCt. 
fmall river of the fame name winds down through the level traCt of country which 
c °nftituted the abbey lands ; which ftill exhibit confiderable luxuriance of foil, and ate 
preferved in a well-advanced ftate of cultivation. 
The river Beaulieu falls into an ample bay formed by the firth of Moray, about half 
w ay between Inverness and Dingwall, the capital ot Ross-shire. I he profpeCt 
°f the environs is equally magnificent and beautiful. The hills flope gradually down 
t0 the firth, and are finely cultivated to the water’s edge. On the fmall promontories 
peninfulated rocks, the old caftles, the deferted ftrong-holds of the chieftains of 
ear )y times, give a wild romantic air to the intervening improvements, decked with 
Modern feats ; while the fmooth expanfe of the firth, enlivened with the final! vefiels 
fading up and down, forms a noble contrail to the profpect of wild, majeftic, rugged 
fountains, of ftupendous height, which tower beyond and croud into the weftern Iky. 
The Leornamonach, or Church Lands, lying along the banks of the Beaulieu river, 
form an extenfive territory, devoted at different periods to fupport the inftitutions of 
die Abbey, which flourifhed and were held in high veneration through great part of 
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 
The annals of this part of North Britain fcarce can be faid to reach in any thing, 
^ e yond the tera of the evangelical eftablilhments: and the written memorials of 
diefe ages were only to be found among the records preferved in the monafteries and 
at >bies. The fcanty materials to be gleaned from the remaining parchments are for 
die m 0 ft part 0 f too ]i tt i e importance to reward the toil of the refearchj they yield 
j'ttle more aid to hiftorical remark than the half-obliterated infcriptions of the remain- 
ln g tombs; which, though once intended to perpetuate the memory of the pious 
an d virtuous deceafed, who flourifhed there, yet now , . in broken fentences, leave un- 
didinguilhcd the characters which they were defigned to celebrate. On the diffolu- 
d°n of the Catholic inftitutions their records were fcattered, loft, or deftroyed ; and, 
fr °m a correfponding want of protection, the monumental memorials of their patrons 
ari d founders are fallen into irretrievable decay. They only ftrve to fhew, that the 
aj inals of the tomb are equally perilhable and tranfient as the life of man. 
This oblivion, into which at length the great and good muft fall, ftrongly impreffts 
011 the mind the vanity of all terreftrial honours, and the fleeting nature of every mor- 
concern. - •- • 
T 
The 
