The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-09-30
AbhOfafOrd.
WALTER SCOTS HOUSE AND TOMB.


An Edinburgh correspondent Of the Lor'
don Times writes:
The next point OF attraction is, OF course,
Abbotsiord-the realization OF that dream
which prompted the Great Magician 10
make himself border laird. The mansion
stands on the banks OF the Tweed, about
two miles above Melrose. The situation is
| beautiful, and the view Of the house, rs
seen from the riverside on either bank, IS
very impressive. II is buried in woods, and
Is surrounded by lawns and gardens, amid
| which the gray towers and crowfoot gables,
designed in the Scottish baronial style, rise
grandly.
But the visitor who proceeds to make
closer acquaintance with this shrine OF bal
lowed memories can hardly escape feeling
OF disappointment, and even OF melancholy.
He is invited to enter the grounds by q
postern in q wooden doorway forming a
back-garden entrance. he 10 conducted to
the house by a seml-subterranean passage,
which suggests that he is being led surrep-
titiously to the kitchen-door. He is ushered
| into a low-roofed and cherries chamber,
whence be a. cends by the back stairs TO the
level OF the main floor Of the house. "A
door is thrown open, and it is almost with
a shock that he finds himself at once In Inc
sanc.um Sdnctorun, the private study OF
the author OF Wauerley, with its simple
furniture, IFS clumsy desk, and heavy leath-
ern chair, its antique cabinet, and lis gene
raj air OF hard work.
You would like to be left alone here TO
realize the scenes OF which It's walls were
the silent witnesses but your guide nur-
ries you onward, and you are forced to pro-
| ceed under his or her mechanical guidance
| to the other rooms OF the house. Inere Is
the library, with its costly treasures ana lis
cabinet OF curiosities; the drawlng-yoom,
with its pictures and its ebony furniture,
presented by George w.; the armory, WIN
| its quaint curiOsities; the dlnlng'roon,
with its grotesque cornices and us sacred
memory that here the darling wizard oil
the North" breathed his last, within sight
and sound OF the ripple CT the Tweed. Inc
entrance hall is one OF the most Interesting
parts OF the house, with its antique vans
coting from the dismantled palace OF LIN
| llthgow. This Is also receptacle Tor GU
riOsities suits OF armor, ancient
kettles and arms, and other relics, among
which the ponderous keys OF the Tolbooth-
the Heart OF Midothian-hold the cniei
place.
However interesting many OF the details
may be, the general effect is Disappointing.
| You have come to do homage at a SHRINE OIL
genius, and you witness only museum OF
curiosities-at the fixed rate OF one shiillng
head. III charge must be made 1or sucl
exhibitions, it is perhaps better that the fate
should be uniform; but one may imagine
the horror with which Sir Walter Scol'
would have regarded the possibility OF hl'
study and his library being turned INTO
public show.
One is disturbed by no such incongrul'
ties In visiting ScotPs tomb In Dryburgh
Abbey, The place-one OF the most charm
ing of the ecclesiastical ruins OF Scotland
strikes one as being in all respects ut rest
iug.place for the romantic poet and the ms
torical antiquary. He sleeps appropriated.
among bis own kin in st. Mary's aisle
the most beautiful corner OF the rum
for his mothers ancestors-the Hali0ur
tons OF Newmains (once owners OF the
Abbey are buried there; and th'
poet lies between the remains o.
| his wife and those OF his eldes
son. The drive from Melrose to Dry
burgh by the Bemerside road is magnificent
There is a more direct road, but the longer
| one is much to be preferred on the score o
| picturesqueness. The view from Bemer
| side bill is one that will not soon be forgot
ten, embracing. as it does, a long ana Variet
stretch OF the valley OF the Tweed--up
wards towards Melrose and downwards to
wards Dryburgh. The situation OF Dry
burgh Abbey is exquisite. IL stands In
wooded meadow, encompased by loop OF
link OF the Tweed, which here makes wid'
| circuit.