t
of the abbey, and there seems every probability that they formed
part of the structures of the abbey and of the Queen's House. They
are extremely picturesque as seen from the low ground to the west.
The lofty house on the right hand dates probably from the end of the
seventeenth century, and is a fine example of the period. The
adjoining buildings are considerably earlier, and in the lower
parts, where they are buttressed, they are probably of
pre-Reformation times. The upper portions are somewhat later, and
are very likely part of the work of Schaw. The porch to the latter
buildings is on the other side, and is quaint and well known from
being seen from the church. William Schaw died in 1602, and was
buried in the nave, when the monument to his memory was erected by
order of Queen Anne."[360]

_Paisley Abbey (Renfrewshire)._--In his history of this great abbey, the
Very Rev. Dr. Cameron Lees thus describes its situation:--

"In the heart of the busy town of Paisley stands the Abbey, its
venerable appearance contrasting most strangely with its
surroundings. Many chimneys--so many that it seems impossible to
count them--pour forth their smoke on every side of it; crowds of
operatives jostle past it; heavily laden carts cause its old walls
to tremble; the whirr of machinery and the whistle of the railway
engine break in upon its repose; while within a stone's throw of it
flows the River Cart, the manifold defilements of which have passed
into a proverb. But it is not difficult, even without being
imaginative, to see how beautiful for situation was once the spot
where the Abbey rose in all its unimpaired and stately grace. It
stood on a fertile and perfectly level piece of ground, close by the
Cart, then a pure mountain stream, which, after falling over some
bold and picturesque rocks in the middle of its channel, moved
quietly by the Abbey walls on its course to the Clyde. Divided from
the Abbey by this stream, rose wooded slopes, undulating like waves
of the sea till they reached the lofty ridge called the Braes of
Gleniffer, from the summit of which the lay brother, as he herded
his cattle or swine, could get views of the Argyleshire hills, the
sharp peaks of Arran, and the huge form of Ben Lomond. To the north,
on the other side of the Clyde, were the fertile glades of
Kilpatri