ension of 300 florins out of
the revenues to Pietro Barlo, Cardinal of St. Mark's in Venice, to be
paid to him by Henry and his successors at the Feast of St. John the
Baptist, under pain of excommunication, in case of his failing to make
payment within thirty days after the appointed term, and total
deprivation if he persisted in his opposition six months after his
excommunication. When he got himself fairly installed as abbot he
declined to pay the stipulated pension to the Cardinal of St. Mark's,
and made some legal quibble the ground of his neglect. Trouble followed,
and since this, the appointment of its first commendator, the rights of
the abbey began to be invaded. Abbot George Shaw (1472-1498) endeavoured
to guard the monastery against encroachments; he built a refectory and
other structures, reared a lofty tower over the principal gate, enclosed
the church, the precincts of the convent, the gardens, and a little park
for deer within a wall about a mile in circuit.[378] Of this once
magnificent wall, with its four-sided beautiful stones and lofty
statues, very few fragments now remain, but there are still two tablets
that belonged to it. The central shield bears the royal arms, the
shields to the right and left of it the Stewart arms and the abbot's
own; and there is an inscription by the pious builder himself, which is
as follows:--

Ye call it ye Abbot Georg of Schawe
About yis Abbey gart make yis waw
A thousande four hundereth zheyr
Auchty ande fywe the date but veir
[Pray for his saulis salvacioun]
That made thys nobil fundacioun.

It has been thought that this inscription was designed by John Morow,
whose name appears on a tablet in Melrose Abbey.[379]

"The character of the lettering in design and workmanship is the
same as at Melrose. The references to the building operations, the
poetical form of the composition, the manner in which the names are
introduced, 'Callit was I,' and 'Ye callit,' and the devout
expressions with which they close, make it clear that the
inscriptions are the work of the same author."

The fifth line is chiselled away, and was possibly deleted because it
did not harmonise with the theology of the Reformed Church.

Abbot George Shaw was succeeded by his nephew, Robert Shaw, vicar of
Munkton, and a son of the Governor of Stirling. He was canonically
elected, and his election was approved by the Crown,--the Pope also gave
his co