reduced to the portions
which abut against the nave and transept--50 feet on the east side
and 80 feet on the south side. "The former side contains a wall
arcade of seven arches. These are of the form called drop arches,
with crocketed ogee hood moulding, and have plain spandrils above,
over which there runs a straight cornice, enriched with flowers and
shells of all descriptions very beautifully carved."[473] Of these
Sir Walter Scott said:--

Nor herb nor floweret glistened there
But was carved in the cloister arches as fair.

The tower was doubtless erected about the same time as the
transept.[474] In the south transept are two inscriptions that have
given rise to much speculation and continue to exercise Border
antiquaries. One of these is carved over the doorway in the west
wall which gives access to the wheel stair, and part of the
inscription is carried down one side for want of room. It is the
following:--

Sa gays the cumpas evyn about,
Sa trouth and laute. do but duite.
Behald to ye hende q. Johne Morvo.[475]

The other inscription is carved on a tablet in the wall on the south
side of the same door:--

John Morow sum tym callit was I
And born in Parysse certanly
And had in kepyng al masoun werk
Of Santandroys ye hye kyrk
Of Glasgw Melros and Paslay
Of Nyddysdayll and of Galway
I pray to God and Mari bath
And sweet S. John kep this haly kirk frae skaith.

In the centre of the former inscription is a sunk panel containing a
shield with two masons' compasses, arranged somewhat like a saltier,
and beneath a figure resembling a _fleur-de-lys_.

The late Dr. John Smith, in the _Proceedings of the Antiquarian
Society of Scotland_, considers these inscriptions as applying to
one man, who may have been the master mason of the building. But Mr.
Pinches, in his account of the abbey, mentions that John Murdo, or
Morow, was engaged in building a church in Galloway in 1508. It thus
seems likely that these inscriptions are not earlier than that date,
and have been added to the building after its completion.[476]

An interesting view regarding John Morow will be found in _A
Mediaeval Architect_, by Mr. P. MacGregor Chalmers. He believes that
the south chapel of the transept was that of St. John, and as John
Morrow's tablet is opposite this c