, 1864-04-02
FROM WILSON'S TALES OF THE BORDERS.
Coldineham Abbey.

add that for several centuries it continued
to be one of the most famed and opulent of
the many religious houses with which Scot
land was studded. There are hoary chron-
iclers who tell how, many long years ago,
the Saxon Princess Ebba, sister of 0sway,
King Of Northumhria, was obliged to fee
from the dangers with which her fathers
kingdom was distracted-how she embarked
in boat which she found lying at the mouth
Of the llumber-and how her frail skiff,
destitute Of oar or rudder, bent its way over
the turbulent pillows, till it landed her in
safety on sandy beach on the coast of Ber-
wickshirc, little eastward from where st.
Abb's, N giant greatness, now rears his
venerable head above the waves. The same
veritable authorities record how the priests
who oficiated in lonely temple, which,
like the eyry of the eagle, was perched upon
the summit Of that stupendous cliff, looking
forth upon the stormy ocean, deserted with
astonishment and awe the little boat bound
ing triumphantly over the pillows, which
threatened every moment to engulf it in
their watery abyss; aud how the Princess,
filed with gratitude to Him who rules the
whirlwind aud directs the Storm" piously
resolved to dedicate to His service the re-
maindcr Of her life and fortune, and thus
became the foundress of Coldingham Abbey.
Time would fail US were we TO enumerate
the enormities which were carried on by
the inmates of this religious establishment
after the death Of the sainted Ebba; nor
shall We detain the reader by telling him
how the Deity, grievously incensed at the
turpitude and extent of their delinquencies,
commissioned feet of Scandinavian rovers
to land upon the neighboring coast, and
consume the monastery and its wicked in
habitants in one common confagratiOn |;
and how it lay in ruins for about two hun
dred years thereafter, monument of Divine
retribution. In the year 1908, King Edgar
Of Scotland caused much more splendid
edifice to be reared upon its foundations.
According to worthy Andrew Winton's ve-
racious 'Chronykil'-
"Coldyngham then founded he,
And rychely CART il dowit be;
To Onthbert, Ebb, and Mary bath,
This haly kirk be dedicate"
Therein he planted colony Of Bcnedictine
monks from, Durham, whence, at various
times thereafter, it continued to be supplied.
These worthy ecclesiastics aud their sue.
cessors, at the same time that they made
spiritual affairs their profession, were by no
means deficient in their regard to what was
considered to be Of tantamount Importance,
the levyiug Of sufficient supplies for the due
support of their monastery. In short, like
the brethren of a neighboring Border con-
vent, the monks Of COldingham
aMade guide kali
On Fridays when they fasted;
Nor wanted either beef or ale,
As lang US their neighbors' lasted"
Unlike the graver churchmen Of modern
times, they engaged eagerly in the sports Of
the chase. Starting forth from their cells
by break of day, they pursued the startled
deer from his covert in the woods which
sheltered the beautiful valley Of the Eye;
and, when the chase was over, planted in
triumph his antlered head upon the festive
board Of the refectory. Then, crowding
around it, they qualified their venison with
liquor from goblets which mantled high
with the pure and unadulterated juice Of
the grape; and concluded the business Of
the day amid the din Of "wassail, rout, and
revelry." 1 -fcgi J va ,fi .tJ ~
Now it happened, about the middle of the
fifteenth century, that there sprung up the
powerful and warlike clan Of the Homes,
who soon became proprietors Of many es-
tates adjacent to the Abbey lands, and ex-
ercised the authority Of more than Border
barons over the persons and property of the
greater part Of the inhabitants Of what wore
called the Eastern Marches, They soon
began to east invidious eyes upo!. the rich
possessions Of the monksj and, favorable
opportunity having at lcneth occurred, they
succeeded in getting ono Of their family
installed into the lucrative ONCE Of Bailiff
to the Priory. From that tperiod they began
gradually to Icncroach upon the power OF
the other officials, and to appropriate the
revenues to the furtherance Of their own
ambitious schemesj so that the persons Of
the poor monks, once plump and rosy, "with
good capon lincd," dwindled down to be the
very ghosts Of what they were, by reason
Of the scanty manner in which their larder
was supplied. About the year Of grace
l4S7, the king formed the design Of apply,
khn 40 Aha a,,ut,oxk If n o1iIanHi6