Clugny surrendered his rights, which had been reserved by the papal
bull,--the monks, through the Bishop of Glasgow, promising prompt
payment of the two marks for the future, and undertaking that the abbot
of Paisley should personally or by proxy visit Clugny every seven years
to make obeisance and render an account to his superior.[366]

William was probably the first abbot of Paisley, and he presided from
1225 to 1248. He established and consolidated the prosperity of the
convent, and obtained from the Popes several bulls conferring privileges
on the monastery.[367]

The following picture, drawn by a master-hand, has been applied by Dr.
Lees to the monastic life at Paisley during the prosperous reigns of
Alexander II. and III.

"In black tunics, the mementoes of death, and in leathern girdles,
the emblems of chastity, might then be seen carters silently yoking
their bullocks to the team, and driving them in silence to the
field, or shepherds interchanging some inevitable whispers while
they watched their flocks; or wheelwrights, carpenters, and masons
plying their trades like the inmates of some dumb asylum, and all
pausing from their labours as the convent bell, sounding the hours
of prime, nones, or vespers, summoned them to join in spirit where
they could not repair in person, to those sacred offices. Around the
monastic buildings might be seen the belt of cultivated land
continually encroaching on the adjoining forest, and the passer-by
might trace to the toil of these mute workmen the opening of roads,
the draining of marshes, the herds grazing, and the harvests waving
in security under the shelter of ecclesiastical privileges which
even the Estergoth and Vandal regarded with respect. If we exchange
for the 'Estergoth and Vandal' the marauding baron and Highland
chief, the picture is a true one of the surroundings of Paisley
Abbey in those peaceful years."[368]

"During the prosperous reigns of Kings Alexander II. and III. the
church was erected, but of the work of that period (the thirteenth
century) there remain only a portion of the west front and part of
the south wall of the nave, including the south-east doorway to the
cloister and three windows. The structure appears to have suffered
severely during the War of Independence. It stood in the vicinity of
Elderslie, the land of Sir William Wallace, and doubt