290 
THE LADIES’ MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
London, within the walls ! I never saw anything more incongruous. It 
was like a cobbler s stall fixed in the centre of the court-yard of a palace; 
and it reminded me of what I have heard of the booths and small shops, 
which used in former times to disgrace Westminster Abbey. In one 
corner was a bust of a former Earl of Buchan, by whose orders we were 
told this sacrilege was perpetrated, with a flattering inscription under it, 
which I had hardly patience to read; for among his other qualities it 
eulogised his good taste! The guide also was a very bad one, ignorant 
to a degree that could scarcely be conceived, and as garrulous as a parrot; 
she would not allow us to enjoy the beauties which the ruins, disfigured 
as they are, still possess. The tomb of Sir Walter Scott, interesting 
from its simplicity, is placed in a recess covered with turf, and with a 
monumental tablet at the back. I was very sorry, however, when I saw 
it, that the great novelist had not rather chosen Melrose (to which I 
understand he had an equal right) for his resting-place; as there the 
quiet and repose of the place, and the circumstance of its having been 
immortalised by his pen, would have rendered it peculiarly appropriate; 
whereas, it seems almost like profanation to let such a man lie among the 
frippery at Dryburgh. 
Among the other incongruities of Dryburgh Abbey, is a vault deco¬ 
rated by busts, which the woman misnamed most absurdly. A female 
bust with the hair plaited, and twisted into a knot behind, she told us 
was Yirgil; and another with a high-peaked hat, and a lace ruff, she 
said was Alfred the Great! There were some noble trees in the grounds 
near the abbey; and among others, some fine cedars of Lebanon, and a 
large upright cypress, above twenty-five feet high. On returning we 
crossed the ford in the carriage with the greatest ease, and proceeded 
along a beautiful road to Earlstone, the whilome residence of Thomas the 
Rhymer, so often mentioned by Sir Walter Scott, in his Border Min¬ 
strelsy. Among the beautiful villas which stud the sides of this road, is 
Cowdenknows, celebrated in the old song the 44 Bonnie Broom of Cow- 
denknowes.” 
Thirlestane Castle is the ancient seat of the Earls and Dukes of Lauder¬ 
dale, but it is now undergoing repair in very good taste by Mr. Burns, 
the great Scotch architect. We visited the rooms, which still remain 
unaltered, and found them in the style of James I., with thick stuccoed 
ceilings, frequently concave in the centre, as though to form a small 
dome there, with the other part flat. The walls are immensely thick, 
and there is a large outside stair. The house is built so as to form three 
pavilions, like that at Traquair; and the ground round it would form a 
fine situation for terraces or a terrace-garden. The kitchen-garden has 
