Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-09-28

very collage tracery combined The
pedestals for all statues, and there must
have been upwards of zoo, are composed of five
members of cornice, supported by palm
a0us Point 'eT WITH triple i ns roll Io0' The
tracery of the window mulions is in foli-
age. The Dedestals and canopies of the buttress
inches are all ornamented in garlands OF flowers.
In the arch of the door once leading to the cOis-
ters, the work upon the illet is of marvellous
conception and execution. the flowers and foil
age being separated from the stone behind and
suspended in q twisted garland: There is no
more superb stone-work in all Europe than in
the mouldings, pinnacle-work and foliage of the
remaining seats of the cloister The
side;;aisless are formed by ljght-clus,-
tered pillars richly and capitalized ,.n with
deIcatey in the mouldings. One might safely
say that the entire decoration of this marvellous
interior is simply an unsurpassed nature study
or foliage, plants and flowers, wrought in stone
to as accurate a semblance though under the
most perfect representation by psuCil. To my
mind, solemn magnihcence and splendors has
never elsewhere been more perfectly welded to
the very incarnation of the beautiful through art
Setting entirely aside the religious associations,
those impressive emotions which ever arise at
the sepulture of the mighty dead, or still those
more touching and exquisite emotions which are
the outgrowth of q consciousness that the eyes
and hearts of countless men and women of
transcendent genius have feasted upon the
splendid shrine, have yours and mine, /
know of no other spot in the three Kingdoms
where one may come and SO worship alone,
with the immortal soul of art whispering
sweetly through the silent lips of chiseed
stone.
almost as bewitching the most delicate
pressions of nature itself, Dryburgh abbey, but
four miles distant down the Tweed, holds and
fascinates the wanderer with far more tender
and subtle charm. The founding OF Dryburgh
is OF remoter antiquity than that of the
original Culdee house of Old MelIose. Before
the advent of Christian missionaries the place
was resorted to by the Druids Tor the celebration
of their mystic rites-as Darachbruach,
oaks, - Dryburgh's Celtic name. implies.
Modan, Culdee presbyter, set up the first
Christian establishment of Dryburgh, in 522.
For 62S years thereafter its history is insgnif-
cant. Then monks from Alnwick, under the
patronage OF Sir Hugh de Morville, constable of
Scotland under King David l., founded here
sions. This was burned along with Melrose
abbey by Edward H., and restored by aid
granted by King Robert Bruce. Twice, in 1855
and in 1864, it was
PILLAGED AND DEVASTATED
by the English. The reformation Of doughty
John Knox sixteen years later, did the rest. The
ruins of Dryburgh abbey show that the walls OF
the completed edifce stood on different levels
and that the structure illustrated at least four
different styles of architecture. This is seen in
the massive Roman arch, with its ample, square
sides; the deep-splayed and always impressive
Saxon arch; the pillared and intersected Nor
man arch, and the early English pointed arch.
The church was originally in the form of a cross
with short transepts, and small but exquis-
itely decorated choir. while the interior was
divided by light AMI graceful colon
nades into central space and side
aisles. OF the transept portion of but one,
the north, called St. Mary's aisle, is still stand
ing: but there is no more beautiful specimen of
the early Gothic to be found in Scotland than is
this the solemn and secluded burial place OF
Scotia greatest minstrel, the noble author OF
'.Waverly.' The chapter house. tiny chapel
OF St. Modan, q Norman arch which formed the
western doorway, are yet standing. A stately
yew, over 800 years old, still stands upon the
lawn, opposite where once the abbots sat at
their parlor easements, to mock the huge pile Of
stone as it crumbles into the earth.
You feel more than you can see at Dryburgh.
The whole place is instinct with repose. The
horizon is close. not half mile away in either
direction. II is fringed with the boughs and verdi
ure of sheltering trees, save where, far to the
south, the Eildons peer down from above their |
cloud mists into the sunny copse. The Tweed,
moving in silence for miles above, here sweeps |
wide and grandly over cleaning shadows, and |
sings its endless song just at the edge of
the abbey. You come to the place |
through a hushed and silent avenue,
an kle-deep in the spring time with hawthorn |
blossoms white as snow. in these grazing days |
their place is filed by the browns and puces of !
rustling drift from the beach, elm and sycamore.
Only the lodge keepers habitation reminds of |
earthly activities. Nature alone holds sway. |
Bloom and birds, grasses and vines, odor and 1
song, russell walls and emerald masses of moss,
oriels of ivy. fllets Of vines, pointed arches !
of roses, towers OF trees leaping from |
tho old walls themselves, reach the |
eye and sense tenderly. slumberously. pulsing |
with hush and palm. Melrose exalts, Drybur Oh |
soothes. The entire spot is ruin merged into /
Elysium, hallowed by one humble grave. And |
so sweet and hushed is all. that even your |