Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1835-12-03
WHOLE NO. 296.

even me JaGl'ic he has reared, and eat
up all the ornaments of his house, but
Death nor Time can injure the other
works he leaves behind.
] bade adieu to Abbotslnrd as the sun
was declining followed the stIe am
of the now babbIing Tweed, for il had
none OF that furious tide at this season,
which Scott sometimes describes, and
sought yet one other object of interest,
which the Lay of the Last Minstrel has
made known to every American reader
of the poem-l mean Melrose Abbey
Alter walk Of three or four miles, We
found ourselves in a vale sheltered OH
every side by hills-a place which the
Nonks had evidently selected for pleas
antness and secluslon-and soon the tow
ers of the Abbey were in sight; and
when we entered it, if not by the "pae
moonlight that Scott has enjoined as
the hour of visitation, 40 as to avoid "the
gay beams of ightsome day." which
"gild but to aout the ruins grey,"-u
was in the long twilight o: this season.
"When the broken arches are dark in night
And each shafied orieI gmners white;
When the cold lights uncertain shower
Streams on the ruined central tower;
W hen buttress and buttress alternately
Seemed framed Of ebon aud ivory;
When silver edges fhe imagery,
And the scrolls that teach ,!:cc to live and de-
have this quotation from the Lay of
the Last Minstrel, because 1t is poetry
in lts fictitious sense, but the very best
decrip,ion of n matter of tact-or
"Ihe Corbe's~were carved grotesque and grim;
Aud the pillars, with cluster d shafts so trim,
With base and capital furnish'd around,
Seem'd bundles OF Iances which garands had
bound,"-
and.
Thou would'sl have thought some fairy's hand
''rwixt poplars straight the oser wand
In many freaki-h Knot had twned;
Then framed -pell, when the work was done,
And chang'd the willow wreaths TO stone"
As our guide who happened to be an
intelligent man, quoted these aud other
passages, the accuracy of the descrip-
ton ! saw, was remarkable, and Scott
has with most happy facility, seized
upon existing objects to make out PO-
EN-, " which is connected with fact that it
seems like History itself. ] have not "A
doubt ihat two thirds OF the uneducHied
people about here, believe that the wiz
ard Michael Scott, whose familiar spirit
according to tradition cleft the Eilden
Hills in three, was buried here with tlie
fatal Book, that William Of Delorainr
possessed himself Of at dead of night, 81
vividiy has the Poet impressed upon the
mind, his imaEinatlOns as facts. And
the traveller on visiting any Of these
scenes for niles and miles around is
struck, as in visiting the seat Of Words
worth, with the idea, that, Scott by his
genius has given them all a charm, which
they had not beforehand has thus erec-
ted for himself monuments as imperisha-
ble as the hills of whirh he has written,
or so consecrated them, and associated
them with himself as to make his name
coeva with their existence. Though
MelrOse Abbey, therefore, every year,
may crumble more and more away, yet
the peaks of Eilden Hills will stand as
long AS earth can stand, and stand too as
monuments to his memory.
! Melrosc Abbey was built by David l.
in 1886 1t is built in the most ornate
style of gothic Architecture, and is
therefore decorated with an infinite vari-
ETY. of scul pture, most of which is excel
lently fine. The church which alone
remains, measures 287 feet in length and
l57 at the greatest breadth. il is said
to be the most finished building in Great
Britain of the kind-and the French
taste is visible in some OF its decorations.
The crowding Of other buildings around
1t, takes away from the impression il
would otherwise make; and this is per-
haps the reason why, (or il may be that
the fresh feeling is already gomez ! did
not admire so much as did, the solitary
ruins Of Fountain Abbey near Stud|ey
Park. 1t stands examination better 10
besure. The more you see It, the moro
YOU see to see. 1t is indeed a study
About such lovely spots rs these, and
Dry burg Abbey, Scott passed much Of
his youih-and here he felt the inspira-
lion that made him wr,e-and here too
DRY burgh Abbey are his remains.
In viewing the ruins of Great Britain,
particularly of Abbeys and Csthedrals,
the traveller has constant reason 10
mourn over that fanaiical spirit which
ha. demolished them, or stript them OF SO
many Of their ornaments. ITO cast
down the altars, and purge the kirk Of
all idolatrous monuments" was com
mon order during the reformation. Our
puriinn fathers levelled almost every
,b;op in the shape of an image. Oliver
Cromwell bombarded the walls Of this
.Corbells are the projections from which tbs
arches spring, usually cut In fantastic lace - msss.