The Newtown bee., 1905-03-10

"If thou would'st view fair Melrose arigh Go visit it by the pale moonlisht;
 When distant Tweed is heard to rave, And the owlet to hoot OCT the dead mans grave. Then go-but go alone the while
 Then view St David's ruined pile;
 And, home returning, soothly swear,
 Was never scene so sad and fair!''
 Whether viewed by moonlight or broad daylight. Melrose Abbey is a magnificent ruin,-indisputably the finest in Scotland. It is located on the Tweed 37 miles south of Edin. burgh. Founded in the 18th century by David I of Scotland, that "sai1 sanct for the crown" it was destroyed by Edward II of England and rebuilt by Robert Bruce in the 14th century In the 18th century it was again de. stroyed and again rebuilt The fol- lowers of John Knox 'defaced it with malicious joy," and the soldiers of beautiful is the remnant of the sta ately pile and how fair it was in Sir Wal ter's eyes. Many were the hours that he spent here, sitting on broken col umn, still pointed out, or wandering about the ruined editice and adjacent churchyard. The heart of the noble Bruce is buried near the site of the high-altar by the grave of Alexander II of Scotland and the tomb of the re- puted wizard, Michael Scott, is in a chapel by the choir. The Abbey also contains the grave Of the warlike Douglas and Sir David Brewster is buried just outside in the churchyard.
 It was the boast of Melrose that no design was repeated in it's construc- tion. No two windows are alike, no two pillars. In series of some dozens of flowerlike designs forming a part of the exterior ornamentation no two are exactly the same. Within and with out the sculptured designs are such as might haunt an artists dream. For suggestive description of the crown of thorns window and a photograph of the same the reader is referred to the lectures of John L. Stoddard.
 Fifteen miles south of Melrose is the ancestral home of the Buccleucbs, the present owners of Melrose Abbey.
 Mine -and-twenty knights of fame
 Hung their shields in Handsome Hall" But the Last Minstrel sang of time long past. A small piece of wall by the side of a fine modern residence of stone is all that remains of Handsome Tower. A scion of the old hanging tree stands in the old courtyard seem- ingly quite unmindful of the tragic deeds of it's ancestor. A neat porter's lodge stands by the gate but we look in vain for the ''sounding barbican" crossed by William of Deloraine as he started on his midnight ride to visit the tomb of the wizard, Michael Scott.
 Every foot of the country through which he passed was dear to Scott. The road follows for a time the 
 Sweet Teviot! on thy silver tide
 The glaring bale-fres blaze no more."
 The Peel of Goldiland is a ruin now and Hawick, three miles from Brank- some, has become busy woolen-mak- ing town with little thought of it's TO- mantle past. Hassendean (Hazeldean) five miles below, where Deloraine left the Teviot was the home of "Jock O. the hero of one of Scott's finest songs:
 Why weep ye by the tide, ladie?
 Why weep ye by the tide2
 I'll wed ye to my youngest son,
 And ye sail be his bride.
 And ye sail be his bride, ladie
 Sac comedy to be seem
 But aye she loot the tears down fa'
 For Jock of Hazeldean." The Minto Crags, still the possession l of the Earl of Minto, were next passed | by the moss-trooper and some hours later he galloped into Melrose.
 Two miles up the Tweed from Mel rose is Abbotsford. This tract of