time,[467] probably from 1450 to 1460. More of the
vaulting in the eastern part of the nave may have been carried out
at that epoch. The vaults all contain, besides the main and ridge
ribs, subsidiary ribs, or tiercerons, indicating a similarity to
English examples.[468]

The vaulting of the presbytery is peculiar, and points to a somewhat
later time; examples of vaulting similar to that of the presbytery
of Melrose may be seen at Winchester Cathedral, and other English
examples of the fifteenth century.[469]

The south chapels to the west of the fifth buttress west from the
transept, on which buttress another specimen of Abbot Hunter's arms
is engraved, are of comparatively late date.[470] "This buttress
belongs to the earlier part of the nave, and the chapel seems to
have been repaired when the additional chapels to the west were
erected. Besides the three hunting horns in the shield of Abbot
Hunter in the examples above mentioned, the arms engraved on the
fifth buttress contain two crosiers, saltierwise, and the initials
A. H. on the right and left; also, in chief a rose, and in base a
mason's mell for Melrose. The work in the chapels to the west is
inferior to that of those to the eastward, although copied from
them. The chapels each contain an enriched piscina, and these are so
inferior in style of workmanship as to lead to the belief that they
were inserted after the chapels were built. One of them contains the
initials of Abbot William Turnbull, whose date is the beginning of
the sixteenth century. A late piscina has also been inserted in the
south transept.

"Work in the nave and in the south chapels was apparently in
progress during the reign of James IV., as the royal arms, with the
letters I. Q. (Jacobus Quartus) and the date 1505 on the westmost
buttress testify."[471] On the south side of the cloister is a very
lovely doorway that leads into the church. To the right of this and
along the east wall of the cloister, are arched recesses of a late
style, and in the south wall is an arcade of trefoil form, with
nail-head enrichments. The latter is an example of the late revival
of early forms which prevailed towards the close of the Gothic
epoch.[472]

It has been stated that the arcade of the cloister formerly extended
150 feet each way. The cloister wall is now