the marks of cannon-shot and fire are visible on the walls in some
places, the abbey having been bombarded by Oliver Cromwell, with his
usual zeal against every thing that adorned the country. Many Roman
medals of Vespasian, Adrian, &c. have been found about it. I hardly know
a more interesting place to visit than Melrose and its neighbourhood;
while the abbey affords a fine moral lesson on the instability and
perishableness of even the most magnificent works raised by human skill
and industry.

"Here naked stand the melancholy walls,
Lash'd by the wint'ry tempests, cold and bleak,
That whistle mournful through the empty aisles,
And piece-meal crumble down the towers to dust,"

When viewed by moonlight, the solemnity and grandeur of the effect is
charming. An enthusiastic friend of mine, on paying the abbey a visit a
year or two ago, had it lighted up with tapers. I subjoin a few passages
from a letter I received at the time from him;--"Yesterday, being
Valentine's day, in the evening I went to vespers, and had six tapers
burning at the high altar in the abbey; also several in each of the
(eight) confessionals, holy water, fonts, shrines, and altars.--The
church-yard, the abbey, were silent as the grave; you might have heard a
pin drop; there was not a breath of air stirring, so the tapers burnt,
beautifully." This must have strongly reminded the spectator of the
introduction to the _Monastery_, and the visit of the worthy
benedictine, accompanied by Captain Clutterbuck, for the purpose of
taking up his patron's heart. My friend adds, "not a taper has been
burnt in St. Mary's of Melrose since the days of Knox.--On Monday I went
to the tower of Glendearg; at the fountain, where Sir Piercie Shafton
and Halbert Glendinning fought, I got, with the help of my guide, some
curious stones, said to be the work of the _White Lady_." The
scenery is picturesque in the highest degree. "Yesterday I went to Old
Melrose. The windings of the Tweed there are beautiful; but the tolling
the abbey bell recalls me from my wanderings."

The impression made on Sir Walter Scott by the ruins may be inferred
from the following lines:--

"If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright,
Go visit it by the pale moonlight;
For the gay beams of lightsome day
Gild but to flout the ruins grey.
When the broken arches are black in night,
And each shafted oriel glimmers white;
When the cold light's uncertain shower
Streams on