Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-09-19
EUROPEAN LETTER.
THE LAND OF SCOTT

y
pie or have been often or better de-
scribed than Melrose Abbey. Hardly
any one of the slightest literary pre-
tensions can be found who cannot re.
call picture of it from some point
of view. Probably there are not more
than three or four ruins in all Europe
which can compare with Melrose in
interest. While it is complete ruin
tor it's unoccupied and without a
roof even, it is yet in so perfect a
state of preservation as TO show its
wonderful architecture, and to give a
good understanding of what its beau
ty must have been before it was wan
tonly and wickedly destroyed. 1t
has the additional charm of having its
ragged and crumbliDg walls so cover
ed with ivy, that beautiful mantle of
nature, that the harshness and desc
lation of the ordinary ruin are entire.
ly wanting, and from The dead past
seems to have sprung a joyous and
living present.
The structure whose ruins are so
much admired, was commenced in
1926, although building devoted to
some form OF religious worship had
occupied the same place IN the imme
date vicinity for eight hundred years
previous At first the Abbey was a
very small building, costing no more
than two thousand pounds of the
money Of that period. 1t was occu
pied by community Of Cistercian
monks, who were enjoined by the
rules of their order to constant and
faithful labor They therefore en-
gagged in agriculture, in transcribing
and Illuminating manuscripts, and
particularly in the construction aud
ornamentation of the grand buildings
whose ruins are now found all over
Scotland. There is no better pic
ture of patience and perseverance than
these pains-taking monks, laboring
faithfully year after year, with their
own hands, welding the mal!et and
slowly cutting out these wonderful
ornamental carvings of flowers, plants
and curious grotesque figures with
which both the outside and inside of
the church was covered. Much
of this work yet remains, that
even after the storms of hundreds of
years had beaten upon it shows the
wonderful delicacy and beauty it
originally had.
Entering through an iron gate on
the west side of the grounds we are
at once in the midst of the rufus. On
the right is long corridor which Is
filled with curious old monuments,
most of them so worn by time that
their inscriptions cannot be read.
Passing on through this and turning
to the right, we enter the cemetery by
narrow doorway under the south
window. The whole south front is
the best preserved side of any of the
building and although weather worn
and decaying is grand in its proper
tons. On one of the towers can yet
be seen part of the face of the old
clock, with one of its hands yet re-
naming. The paint has long since
even arc cracked and worn. The ven-
cradle and aged face. as it were just
dropping into the tomb, needs no in
scription of tempus fugit to impress
on us the fact that time flies. Pas
sing around to the east side we see
the east window which is a marvel of
beauty as it stands in the ruined wall.
1t is 81 feet high by % feet broad,
and is divided into five parts by per-
pendicular mullions, and these were
subdivided into large number of
smaller sections by delicate stone
work much of which remains until the
present day. On the extreme right
the massive corner is entirely covered
with a wonderful growth of ivy, which
completely obscures the stone work
and falls gracefully in sweeping
curves toward the ground On the
ruins on the left grass and flowers are
growing, and on corner of the wall
rose bush was in full bloom fifty feet
from the ground, while birds were
merrily singing and flying back and
forth from their nests in the ivy and
shrubbery on the ruined walls.
From within the ruins are equally
striking and impressive. Although
the sky is now the only covering of
the Abbey, one cannot look down its
vast length and see what must have
been the majestic spring of its grand
vauted ceiling, without feeling a thrill
of admiration, when he catches in his
imagination a glimpse of what must
have been the beauty of the building
when II was complete. In accordance
with the Romish custom ofthe period
in which the Abbey was built the
church is the form of Latin cross.
with length of 25S feet and an ex-
treme width ofl37.
Within the church are buried
many men who wero noted in their
time. Here was inferred Robert
Bruce's heart, and here are the re-
mains of the brave Douglas, the hero
of Chevy Chase. Here is also the
tomb of Scots Wizard of the North
Many of the inscriptions are very
quaint, both in thought and expires
sion. The brackets of a Mich are
supported by the figures of two
monks in flowing robes, and on the
fillet of one and beneath the other are
the following nearly obliterated in
scriptions, in abbreviated Latin: "Go.
ing whithersover he would" and
"When Jesus came the age of dark
ness ceased" Above the door of
stairway is a shield with a compass
and this inscription
CAS- the compass goes straight around
So does truth and loyalty without doubt
Look to the end, quoth John Muryo."
On small stone in the form of four
horse shoes fastened together is the
inscription, "Pray for the soul of
brother Peter, the treasurer" Wheth-
err "brother Peter" had discovered the
modern process of 'hypothecating"
the funds of the treasury and was af.
terward smitten with deathbed repen-
lance, we DO not know as this is all
the record he has left us.
The cemetery attached to the Alb
how which is now mart of a sheen