Morning journal and courier., 1890-09-27

a market-cross as old as the abbey itself
rears its gray and grizzled column in a
dreary corner of the town; three or four
thoroughfares shut in by ramshackle
houses merge into one which leads across
the Tweed into near Gattonside, the odd
est and sleepiest housing of odd and slee-
py folk in all Scotland; and perched above |
all, not thousand feet from the abbey
itself, is smart railway station looking
oontemptuously down upon the huddled
dreariness and decay below. From this,
or better from the Eildon hills, Melrose
sets in Melrose vale by the Tweed like a
brown and ragged wind whipped gypsy
tent, embosomed in meadow grasses where
quivers like silver thread a hesitant, va
grant stream.
:. But this surpassing ruin to which you
have come was not the first Melrose Alb
bey. Three miles below the Melrose of to-
day the Tweed almost forms an island in
the valley. This peninsula is a gentle en-
inence. Its Gaelic appellation was Meall-
rois, "the projecting hill" Hence 'Mail-
ros," and finally Melrose. The locality is
now known as Old Melrose. The strong
natural defences with the seclusion and
luxuriousness of the vale attracted a colo
ny of missionary ecclesiastics from the
Culdee Monastery of Iona, in the He
ufIu6S, WHO uoIo IOuuutQ u Iuu6 cQdppeI-
house in the seventh century. Its first
abbot was Eata. Old Melrose became re-
nowned, but its brethren were banished in
1915 on their refusal to acknowledge NAL
colin Ill. as their sovereign. A chapel,
dedicated to st. Cuthbert, alone survived
the destruction which followed. Nearly
century later, in 1136, magnificent mon
astery or abbey was founded by the Scot
tish King David I. for Cistertian monks at
the then hamlet of Fordel, now Melrose,
| the precise site of the Melrose Abbey of
to-day. 1t was consecrated in 1148, and
about two centuries later, in 1922, was
nearly destroyed by Edward IL, of Eng
land, during one of his last forays north
of the Border. The restoration, or rather
reconstruction of the Melrose Abbey
founded in 1136 gave Scotland this sur
passing ruin of to-day. Its original COM
| pletion was the most ardent desire of
Scotland's greatest hero patriot, King Rob-
ert Bruce, who, in 1926, granted to its alb
bot ''all the feudal casualties and crown
issues of Teviotdale;;" and on the death of
Bruce at Cardross, in 1929, his heart,
| which was embalmed to be carried by Sir
James Douglas to Palestine, was rescued
from the Moors, who slaughtered the chiv-
alrous Douglas, and brought to, and sep
ultured in, the noble abbey which Bruce
SO loved. 1t is authenticated that while
the structure itself, covering the outlines
of area existing and traceable at the pres.
ent time, was completed in ten years after
its spoilation by Edward H., the Cister-
tian monks, whose skill in that age in
architecture and statuary will remain the
wonder of all time, and who regarded Law.
ish ornamentation of ecclesiastic edifices
as one of the highest expressions of reii-
gious feeling, were zealously employed
| over two hundred years upon its decora-
ton. Of all the religious edifices created
during the period of the middle-pointed
style, which prevailed from the thirteenth
century to about the middle of the fif-
teenth, or to the time of the reformation
in Scotland, Melrose Abbey was incompar-
ably the most magnificent and stately, ex-
quisitely chaste and marvelously beauti.
full.
Surprising in its day and time of mas
sive feudal piles and vast religious struc-
lures, it still holds the same regal promi
nence among all the countless impressive
ruins throughout Great Britain. The i'm
mediate surroundings of the abbey ar,
distressing to the stranger. On one sid,
is grazing ground for sheep. On anoth
, er, a drear, forlorn, modern graveyard
with thin and meager headstones, i,
crowded against it. On another, thatchet
novels and cabins huddle beneath it
graceful buttresses. And on another
that Cerberus- horror, guarding all that i
sweet, sacred and beautiful, in Scotland,
J combined inn and toll gate, lays in wait q
? the only entrance. Scarcely tree, shru
% plant is there to kindly hide the squalo
. uudA Aayarice, or soften tho Aartfui Iavugc
of time. If you love to contemplate tn
glorious in pure art, Melrose is a never
ending feast. If, in your liking, evel
marvellous ruins must be set in the tende
framework wrought by natures recoverin!
and rehabilitating hands, You will be bit
terly disappointed. The church itself il
J in the form of the cross of st. John of Je
tusalem. Its length from east to west i
two hundred and fifty-eight feet, the eros
aisle one hundred and thirty-seven feet
while the breadth of the nave is sixty
) nine feet between the walls From tn
center of the Latin cross rises a squar
tower eighty-four feet high, of which tn
west side only remains. This tower rest
5 on a lofty pointed arch, the summit o
which terminates in a stone balustrad
with quatre-foil rails, under which is
bas-relief frieze of roses. The nortl
l transept is roohess. The eastern part O
) the nave is still covered and was used dun
j, ing the first quarter of this century as
parish church; but the western part
roofess and the great west entrance
4 gone. In the south wall are eight win
dows, sixteen feet by eight, well preserve
and of wondrous beauty. The roof abov
: the eastern part of the choir, and the mai
velous east window at its end, are still a
Il most perfect. This least orier' is the on
: everybody has seen through Sir Waite
Scott's description in the Lay of the La
Minstrel:"
''The moon on the east oriel shone
Through slender shafts of shapely stone,
4 BY foliage tracery combined.
Thou wouldst have thought some fairy'S hand
f 'Twixt-poplars straight the osier wand
In many a frcakish knot had twined;
. Then framed a spell. when the work was done.
: And changed the wilow-wreaths to stone"
Il Indeed the keynote of the wondrous a
exhibited in Melrose Abbey seems to ha,
been this very foliage tracery combined
= The pedestals for all statues, and the
l. must have been upwards of two hundre'
q are composed of five members of cornic
supported by palm-boughs, terminating
the foot in a point with triple roll. II
IS tracery of the window mullions is in fol
h age. The pedestals and canopies of Il
" buttress inches are all ornamented in ga
: lands of flowers. In the arch of the dos
o once leading to the cloisters the work upC
Is the fillet is of marvellous conception NJ
l. execution, the flowers and foliage beiI
ar separated from the stone behind and su
, pended in twisted garland. There is !