ind one of dormitory, parlour, or
refectory."[405]

The nave is still used as the parish church. About 1782 it was in a
dreadful condition. The roof was full of holes, through which the birds
obtained free access, "distracting the attention of the worshippers in
time of sermon." They built their nests and reared their young under the
arches of the clerestory. A few of the gentry had "lofts" or galleries,
but the bulk of the worshippers brought their seats to church with them,
while the poorest sat upon stones on the earthen floor.[406] Things had
become so bad that the heritors thought of pulling down the abbey, and
building a "commodious kirk" with the stones.[407] This insane proposal
was averted from execution by the energy and wisdom of the Rev. Dr.
Boog, minister of the First Charge in 1782, and to him the country owes
the credit of preserving all that now remains. "He received much
assistance from the Dowager Countess of Glasgow, who resided at
Hawkhead, and through their joint exertions the Abbey was not only saved
from destruction, but was repaired in a way which, considering the
ignorance of that time on the subject of restoration, was highly
creditable."[408] Dr. Lees describes the condition of the building at
his induction in 1859 as dreadful: "The interior was like a vault in a
churchyard."[409] But thanks to the exertions of the Rev. Mr. Wilson and
Dr. Lees himself, several thousand pounds were collected and spent in
remedying this state of affairs. The church was made seemly as a
venerable temple for prayer ought to be. "The unsightly galleries were
taken down, the floor cleared of the accumulated rubbish of centuries,
the body of the church re-seated, the clerestory windows opened up, the
transept walls and windows restored, and the turrets rebuilt. Men of all
creeds contributed to the work, and when the Abbey, on the 27th April
1862, was re-opened for public worship, it could scarcely be recognised,
so changed was it from its former condition."[410] In closing his
splendid volume Dr. Lees adds, "We trust the time is not far distant
when the Abbey of the first Stewart will stand forth again in all its
pristine beauty--with transept, and choir, and tower, as in the days of
the founder." That hope will soon pass into a reality, and Scotland will
have a completely restored abbey church used as a parish church.

_Kelso Abbey (Roxburghshire)._--In 1113 David, Earl of Huntingdon, and
heir-presumptive to th