The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-10-05

;: the intellectual, the spiritual legacy he left
" to tHe'werld is immortal And this is not
pie8chins unless you wish to call by that
name that which flashes in upon you from
,oat the very shadows Of these glorious old
abbey ruins.
There is no doubt that Melsose Abbey is
.Yeaty visited by more strangers and pill
grIirs from foreign lands than any other
gFeat.abbey. castle or palace in Scotland, not
:. excepting Hulyrnod Palace, in Edinburgh;
and briefly recalling its environment and
History will have interest TO many. The
:; y ale Of Melr0se, lying In the very heart OF
. the Valley of.'the Tweed, just below the
coutiuence OF Gala Water the Yarrow, Ell
Iitai- Water and the River Tweed, is perhaps
. seven miles long. The Tweed gently curves
arghnd II from
=. ABBOTsFoRD
=. On,fhe west, 10 the vicinity of Drygrange
:Gn the east, bordering and interSectmg
=. GeatTal spaces: Of about mile IN breadth,
Surprisingly rich in pastures, groves, or
ctiaIds, tamIets and mansions. These
protected by heights picturesquely diver
Slacd' with tend.r recesseS and wooded
e 'ItlaeS: WiTile Immediately behind the town.
.,tg-tlfa south, rise those weird Mons Tre-
% IQQutlumOf] the Romans, the EildOn Hills.
- frl1ition has IT. that they once formed
.>sinslt cone, which was cleft in three dur
!: 81 IN ecstacy of rage on the part of Scot
':fand's once famous wIard-a real char
: aelGr of flesh and blood and authenticated
:. bltck-art lOwer-Sir Michael Scott. They
ale nobls heights around and between
~ iie:h. banners Of mist are forever floating,
as it still signaling the oden Roman hosts,
:tiie wizards, the Picts and the Druids they
d. CIca knew. Sixteen grand terraces rib
their 10 ty sides, recalling these marvel
: Mlturt-riddles of the north, the weird
: ana wondrous parallel roads OF lone and far
The village of Melrose itself is a compact
little: m IS Of curious old houses on tie
ancient highway between Edin burgh and
'JedDQrgh.- The latter is the waplSl old Dor
DR. tUWn once called Jedhart, where in
l91CdeT DAYS they hanged all grades of stran-
gers falling into their hands before they tried
them, -fr0m:w hich genial custom JednarJ'
or Scaich justice" had its origin. Here
and there an occasional modern editice con-
tEasis strangely with: the bald, blackened
AND crazy structures about them, and the
latter squat in shrinking groups, patched
with glorious carvings stolen from the old
abbey, like lot Of bedraggled mendicants
clad in the finery of ruined patron.
..- One quaint, pretty street runs away from
the hamlet toward the manufacturing town
OF GalaShiels, to the west, as if ashamed OF
the squalor of It's company; blank, drear,
deserted triangular open space in tho center
OF tue VII &c renders 1t impossible for you
to -etFuto or out of it without suffering es-
pI.nage and levies; market-cross as old as
tle:a9bey itself rears its gray and grizzled
coiumn III a dreary corner OF the town
three or Tour thor0ughiareS shut in by ram
.slIac6le houses merge into one which leads
across the Tweed into near GattOnSide, the
oldest and sleepiest housing of odd and
sleepy folk in ali Scotland; and perched
above all, not a thousand feet from the alb
hey 1lself, Is a smart railway station looking
cQntenptuously down upon the huddled
III earHeSs aud decay below. From this, or
better from the Eildon Hills, MelroSe sets in
Meirose Vale by the Tweed like brown
and ragged wind-whipped gypsy tent.
EMBosoMED IN MEADow-GRAssEs.
Where quiyers like a silver thread a
Aes;aLt, Yagrant stream But this surpass-
ing ruin % which you have come was not
the first Melrose Abbey. Three miles be-
. low the MelrOSe of to-day the Tweed almost
forms an Island in the valley. This PENN
su'als a gentle eininPnce. Its Gaelic appel
laIun was Meal!-rOis, q" the projecting hill"
Hence Mairos,' and finally MelrUSe. The
locality is now known as Old Melrose. The
strong natural defens6s, with the seclusion
AMI iuXurlance of The vale, attracted col
ony OF missionary eccesiastics from the
-CHldee- Monastery OF Iona. in the Hebrdes,
who here founded rude ehaDter-hou~e in
tile seventh century. Its first abbot was
Eara. Old Mflr0Se became renowned, but
its brethren were banished in 1915 on their
refusal TO acknowledge Malcolm III as
their sovereign. A chapel dedicated to St
. Cuthbfrt alone survived the destruction
viii followed Nearly century later, in
1l36, magnificent monastery or abbey was
founded by the Scottish King David | for
Cistertian monks at the then hamlet of
forGei, now Melrose, the precise site Of the
Melrose Abbey of to-day. 1t was conse-
Grated in l146, and about two centuries later,
IN 1872, was nearly destroyed by Edward IL
Of England during one of his last f0rays
ncrth of the Border. The restoration. or
rather reconstruction, of the Melrcse Abbey
founded in 1875 gave Scotland this surpasS-
lug ruin of to-day. It's original completion
vas tie most ardent desire of Scotland's
greatest hero-patriot King Robert Bruce,
who, in 1926, granted to its Abbot all
tile iendal casualties and crown issues of
IeW,tdale"; and on the death of Bruce
at Cardr0ss in 1929, his heart. which was
emOalned 10 be carried by Sir James Doug
las to Palestine, was rescued from tbs
Moors, who slaughtered the chyalrols
Doqgas, and brought to and sepultured
IN the noble abbey which Bruce so loved
II IS authenticated that while the structure
Itself, covering the outlines of area existing
ana traceab!e at the present time, was COM
pleted IN ten Years aft-r its spoliatiou by
Edward II, the Cistertian monks whose
skill in that age in architecture and statuary