Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-27
,ly chaste and maryelously beau

roundlngs OF the abbey are distressing u
the stranger. On one side is a grazing
ground for sheep. On another. drear, for.
lorn, modern graveyard, with thin and
meager headstones, is crowded against 1t.
On another, thatched novels and cabins
huddle beneath its graceful buttresses. And
on another, that Cerberus-horror, guarding
all that is sweet, sacred and beautiful, IN
Scotland, combined inn and tollgate, lays
in wait at the only entrance. Scarcely a
tree, shrub or plant is there to kindly hide
the squaIor and avarice, or soften the hurt
| full ravages of time. If you love to con-
template the glorious in pure art, Melrose
is a never-ending feast If, in your liking,
even marvellous ruins must be set In the
! tender framework wrought by natures re-
covering and rehabilitatIng hands, you
will be bitterly disappointed. The church
itself is in the form of the cross of st. John
of Jerusalem.
THE CHURCH AND TOWER.
Its length from east to west if 25S feet, the
cross aisle, 1877 feet; while the breadth oil
the nave is 90 feet between the walls. From
the center of the Latin cross rises square
tower 81 feet high, of which the west side
only remains. This tower rests on lofty
pointed arch, the summit OF which ter
inmates In a stone baiustrade with quatre-
foil rails, under which is bas-relief frieze
OF roses. The north transept is roohess.
The eastern part of the nave is still COW
cred and was used during the first quarter
of this century as parish church; but the
western part is roofess, and the great west
entrance is gone. In the south wall are
eight windows 16 feet by 8, we'll preserved
and of wondrous beauty. The roof above
the eastern part of the choir, and the mar.
velous east window at its end, are still
almost perfect This ''east oriel' is the one
everybody has seen through Sir Walter
Scott's description in the Lay Of the Last
Minstrel"
The moon on the east oriel shone
Through slender shafts of shapely stone,
BY foliage tracery combined.
Thou wouldst have thought some fairy's hand
'Twixt popars straight the osier wand
In many freakish knot had twined;
Then framed a spell. when the work was DONE
And changed the willow-wreaths to stone.
Indeed, the keynote of the wondrous art
exhibited in Melrose Abbey seems to have
been this very foliage tracery combined" I"
The pedestals for all statues, and there must
have been upward of 200, are composed of
5 members of cornice, supported by palm
boughs, terminating at the foot IN a
point with a triple roll. The tracery
OF the window millions is in foil
buttress inches are all ornamented in gar
lands of flowers. In the arch of the door
once leading to the cloisters, the work upon
the fllet is of marvellous conception and ex-
ecution, the flowers and foliage being sep
arated from the stone behind and suspended
in twisted garland. There is no more
superb stonework in all Europe than in the
molding, pinnacle work and foliage OF the
remaining seals of the cioister. The side
aisles are formed by light clustered pillars,
richly capitalized, with garlands of flowers
and foliage disposed delicately in the mold
ings. One might safely say that the entire
decoration of this marvellous interior is SIM
ply an unsurpassed nature study of foliage,
plants and flowers, wrought in stone to as
accurate semblance as though under the
most perfect representation by pencil. To
nv mind, solemn
MAGNIFICENCE AND SPLENDoR
has never elsewhere been more perfectly
welded to the very incarnation of the beau
tiful 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 consciousness that the eyes
and hearts of countless men and women of
splendid shrine, as have yours and mine,
know of no other spot in tie three king
doms where one may come and SO worship
alone with the immortal soul of art whis-
pering sweetly through the silent lips of
chiseled stone.
If Melrose Abbey furnishes examples of
art almost as bewitching as the most deli
cate expressions OF nature ITSELF Dryburg
Abbey, but four miles distant, down the
Tweed, holds and fascirates the wanderer
with far more tender and subtle charm.
The founding of Dryburg is of remoter an
tiquity than even that of the original Culdee
house of Old Melrose. Before the advent of
Christian missionaries the place was resorted
to BY the Druids for the celebration of their
mystic rites-as Darachbruach or burgh,
''the bank cluster of sacred oaks" Dry
burg's Celtic name, implies. Modan,
Culdee Presbyter, set up the first Christian
establishment of Dryburg in 522. For 62S
years thereafter its history is Insignificant.
The monks from Alnwick, under the patron
age of Sir Hugh de Morville, Constable of
Scotland under King David L, founded
here Premonstratentian Abbey of splendid
dimensions, This was burned along with
Melrose Abbey by Edward IL, and restored
by aid granted by King Robert Bruce.
Twice, in 1885 and in 1854, it was pillaged
aud devaSteQ DIV the English. Line Reform
alton of doughty John Knox, 16 years later,
did the rest
VARIOUS ARCHITECTURE.
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 Norman arch;
and the early English pointed arch. The
church was originally in the form of a cross
with short transePts, and a small but ex-
quisitely decorated choir, while the interior
was divided by light and graceful colon
nades into central space and side aisles.
OF the transepts portion of but one. the
north, called St Mary's Aisle, is still stand
ing; but there is no more beautiful speci-
men of the early Gothic to be found in
Scotland than is this, the solemn and secluded
burial place of Scotia's greatest minstrel,
the noble author of "Waverly." The
chapter house, tiny chapel of st. Modan,
a Norman arch which formed the western
doorway, are yet standing. A stately yew,
over 500 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.
EDGAR L. WAKEMAN.