er to son. Children are held bound to maintain their parents in
their old age, and widows are specially cared for, and are
occasionally provided with another husband!"[382]

During the fifteenth century many altars were erected and endowed by the
burgesses, and the Chapel of St. Mirin, which occupies part of the site
of the south transept, was erected in 1499, and endowed by James
Crawford of Kylwynet, a burgess of Paisley, and his wife.

Abbot Robert (1498-1525) was received on 19th October 1525 as Bishop of
Moray in the cathedral of his northern diocese, and the next abbot was
John Hamilton, a natural son of the Earl of Arran, who had entered the
church as a monk of Kilwinning, and whom Magnus speaks of with contempt
as a "yonge thing." The earl was high in favour with the queen, who had
at the time the disposal of the church benefices, and he wished the
bishopric for his son. The queen, however, appointed Abbot Robert to the
see of Moray, and Hamilton to the abbey of Paisley. It was one of the
deeds of shame enacted in the Scottish Church which ultimately brought
its severe judgment.

Abbot John Hamilton (1525-1547) rebuilt at immense cost the first tower
that appears to have had insecure foundation, and fell. It seems to have
had an untimely end, falling, according to one account, with its own
weight, and with it the choir of the church, or, according to an another
account, being struck with lightning. In 1559, with Kilwinning and
Dunfermline, the abbey of Paisley was suppressed, and what that meant
can best be expressed in the words of Sir Walter Scott:--

"They fumigated the church with burnt wool and feathers instead of
incense, put foul water into the holy-water basins; they sung
ludicrous and indecent parodies to the tunes of church hymns; they
violated whatever vestments belonging to the abbey they could lay
their hands upon; and playing every freak which the whim of the
moment could suggest to their wild caprice. At length they fell to
more lasting deeds of demolition, pulled down and destroyed carved
woodwork, dashed out the painted windows, and in their vigorous
search after sculpture dedicated to idolatry, began to destroy what
ornaments yet remained entire upon the tombs and around the cornices
of the pillars."

Although the monks were expelled, the people of Paisley still continued
firm in adhering to the old faith, and the doors of the abbey were