he
distinguished men, however, connected with the abbey was Ralph Strode,
"the Philosophicall Strode," to whom and the "moral Gower" Chaucer
inscribed his Troilus and Cresseide. He was a friend both of Chaucer
and John Wiclif.[328] Andrew Forman was superior of Dryburgh, and was
much occupied with affairs of Church and State under James IV. and James
V. He was appointed in 1501 to the bishopric of Moray, holding at the
same time the priories of Coldingham and Pittenweem, with the
commendatorship of Dryburgh. He became afterwards Archbishop of Brouges,
and finally Archbishop of St. Andrews. He is said to have written (1)
_Contra Lutherum_, (2) _De Stoica Philosophia_, (3) _Collectanea
Decretalium_.[329]

The monastery had the usual buildings around the cloister; the
church was on the north side, and stood about ten steps above the
level of the cloister garth. The sacristy, chapter-house, fratery,
and other apartments stretch from the transept southwards along the
east side; above these, on the upper floor, were the dormitories,
entering by an open staircase from the south transept. Along the
south side of the cloisters lay the refectory, which, on account of
the slope of the ground, was raised on a basement floor of vaulted
cellars. On the west side of the cloister garth are now only a few
vaulted cellars. A small stream runs along the S.W. side of the
monastic buildings, and beyond the stream are the remains of what
seems to have been a detached chapel.

The oldest portions of the structure are those forming the eastern
range; they are of Transitional date or about the beginning of the
thirteenth century.[330] The sacristy has a stone bench round the
walls and three steps in the floor. It has a door from the transept
and an outer semicircular-headed doorway of Transition character
from the cloister. Access is also obtained by a small door in the
north side to a wheel-stair leading to the upper floors, and visible
as a projecting turret at the S.E. angle of the transept. The east
window of the sacristy is pronounced remarkable, having two
round-headed windows surmounted by a visica-formed aperture. It has
a piscina in the south wall near the east end. The apartment next
the sacristy may originally have been a parlour, but is now
appropriated as a mausoleum. There is an ambry in the south wall
near the east end, and t