Melrose Abbey And Lodge.

MELROSE ABBEY AND LODGE .

By Bro . W . P . BUCHAN . "Many of the monasteries Avhich are said to owe their foundation to David , were restorations of decayed houses of the Culdees . Such was Melrose , which still preserved much of its old

sanctity in the estimation of the people , though ruined aud impoverished . Upon these the king bestowed partly the old possessions of the house , partly the estates forfeited by rebels , and in some few instances , portions of the demesne lands and

property of the croAvn . Even if he had given more of such property , I do not knoAV that he would have deserved the character which his successor gave him of ' Ane soir sanct for the CroAvn . ' However it may have become the fashion in later

times to censure or ridicule this sudden and magnificent endowment of a church , the poor natives of Scotland of the twelfth century had no cause to

regret it . Before they had nothing of the freedom of savage life , none of the picturesqueness of feudal society . For ages they had enjoyed no settled government . Crushed by oppression , "without security of life or property , knowing

nothing of the law but its heavy gripe , alternately p lundering and plundered ; neglecting agriculture , and suffering the penalty of famine and disease ; the churches venerated by their forefathers had gone to ruin , and religion was for the most part

degraded and despised . At such a time , it was undoubtedly one great step in improvement to throw a vast mass of property into the hands of that class whose duty and interest alike inculcated peace , and who had influence and poAver to

command it . Repose was the one thing most wanted , and the people found it under the protection of the crozier . "

" The donations of croAvn lands to monasteries were not altogether uncompensated ; the greater abbeys were for many ages the dwellings of the court , in its frequent progresses ; and in this Avay they paid a return for the royal munificence . But

if a sovereign is to look to something more than mere revenue from royal lands , it may be doubted whether they could be turned at that time , more to the benefit of the country than in the administration of the religious houses . "

David " was the founder of the law , still more than of the church in Scotland . We cannot get beyond him . We owe to him all the civil institutions and structure of our present society . "

" The oblations and offerings to the altar and the priest were as old as the introduction of Christianity ; but the first enforcement of tithes—the first division of parishes , or the appropriation of definite districts to a baptismal church—cannot be

placed higher in Scotland than the age of David I . ( 1124—1153 ) . To him we are indebted for the foundation and framework of our national

establishment and parochial divisions . * The " restoration" of Melrose by David took place A . D . 1136 , when a UOAV abbey Avas founded . " Anno milleno , centeno , ter qnoque deno Et sexto Ohristi , Melross fundata fuisti . "

This abbey took ten years to build , and in 1146 Avas dedicated to the Virgin Mary . The structure would likely be principally , or altogether , of wood , for they would hardly yet have the funds , & c , to do much in the stone way , and wood was plenty .

The monks who settled in the new abbey came from Rievaiix , or Rievalle , in Torkshire . They were of the Cistercian order ; being fond of agricultural pursuits , they could hardly have fixed on a better spot than the lovely banks of the Tweed ,

where they could daily see the trout or salmon disporting themselves , and no doubt many a good fish found its way into the stomachs of the brethren , who , of course , kneAV Avhat Avas good for them . I do not suppose that a single fragment of the

old abbey founded by David is now extant . The monastery was ransacked by Edward II . in 1322 , but was afterwards restored with the help of £ 2 , 000 , granted by Robert the Bruce , whose heart is said to be buried near the altar .

The abbey again suffered at the hands of Richard IL , in 1385 , who gave it to the flames as payment for his previous night ' s lodging ; cooling down a little , however , after the fire , the king seems to have taken pity on the roofless monks ,

for he granted them several privileges which they had , no doubt , requested of him . The hero of Otterburn—Douglas—was buried in the old abbey . We call up the proud , yet sorroAvful , march homewards from the chivalrous

battlefield of the victorious army , Avith the dead body of their gallant chief ; we can see the monks , headed by the abbot , receiving the sad cortege when all joined in " the last honours . " The structure of Melrose Abbey , of which we UOAV see the ruins , cannot be older than about the