Ears Of Wheat From A Cornucopia.

the province . A most providential circumstance attended the fall of the old steeple . A contract had been made Avith a tradesman for considerable repairs , and the operations were to have commenced an hour after the accident took place , * so

that many lives Avere in all probability spared by all-devouring Time having previously completed the Avork of destruction . This fragment of the abbey is described as having been " a huge , unseemly square tower , " measuring 32 ft . on each

side , and 103 ft . in hei ght . The following interesting * particulars respecting it appear in Captain Fullarton ' s " Historical Memoir of the Family of Eglinton and Winton , " as extracted from papers in an action betwixt the abbot and the third Earl

of Eglinton , who died in 1535 : — "As to the said stepill , it is altogether buyldit upon the bodie of the paroche kyrk of Kilwynning , fer distant from the queir and cloister , swa that nane may half pretext or collour to acclame the samyn , onless it

wer the parochin , quhairof I am ane , and , under the Kyngis Majestie , hes the rule and commandeament of the remnant : and I and my

predecessouris not onl y heritable bailies of the regalitie of Kilwynning , but alswa of the regality of Oonynghame , has ever in all tymes begane , alsweill in this commendatoris tyme as his predecessouris , quhen abbayis wes in greitter

veneration and mair sancttemonie predendit , had the ¦ said stepill for ane Avard an prisoun to poneis and kep malefactouris and prisouneris * quhairin the common bell hangis , to be rung onlie at command of me or my deputis , for convening of the parochin

and tenandis , aither for the Kyngis service , and in all tymes of trubbles , alsweill of wer * agains forane enemies , eweiil tumult , particular feides , or utherwoyis , as my predecessouris and I thocht ¦ convenyent . Thai and I had ever the use and

keiping of the stepill , mannit and fortefeit the samyn , had our deputis and servandis remayning and dAvelling thaii'in at our * plesour , Avithout any contradiction ; lykeas we half ever had alsweill in this commendatoris tyme as his predecessouris , the

said haill abbay and every pairt thairof patent to us , the principall hall and under placeis , as we plesit to hald our courtis , and for execution of our office of bailliory as occasion servit . "

A large arched gateway , situated a few hundred yards in a northerly direction from , and entering to the capacious square in front of , the western entrance , is all that remains of the " faire stone wall" that environed the monastery in the days of

its splendour , and which for many years survived the desolation of the costly structures it had served to protect . The ruins Avhich Ave have thus briefly described are distant about twenty-six miles from Glasgow ,

and fourteen miles from Ayr and , occupying the summit of a gentle eminence on the western bank of the Garnock , which flows through the town ot Kilwinning , the gable and tower * are prominent landmarks in the landscape , and are readily seen ,

by travellers passing by rail from Glasgow to Ayr . There is still in existence , not far from the abbey , a spring said to have been one of those Avhich . were blessed by the patron saint of the locality , and which at a subsequent period Avas rendered famous as the scene of an oft-repeated Popish miracle—a circumstance which is thus alluded to

by Bro . the Rev . Dr . Campbell , Chaplain of Mother * Kilwinning , in his statistical account of the parish : —It would appear that the usual artifices by Avhich superstition was encouraged and confirmed by the Romon Catholic Church , Avere not neglected

by the occupants of this monastery . The fountains Avhich had been blessed by St . Winning continued in high repute , and one of them was believed to give warning of the approach of Avar , by flowing with blood on such occasions . R . Hoveden and

Benedictus Abbas relate a portent of this kind as having occurred in the year 1184 . "Ineadem vero ebdomada quo rex in Anglia applicuit , quidam fons aquae vivas , juxta ecclesiam sancti vinini , in occidentalibus parfcibus terras regis Scotias , infra Cunmkarn , non longe a Castello de Irevin , mutafcus in sanguinem , manavit puro sanguine per ocfco dies

et tofcidem noctes sine intermissione . Efc dicebant indiginfo quod simile portentum ibidem contingere solebat contra effusionem sanguinis . Sed numquam antea tarn diu manavit ibi sanguinis manatio . " This fact was mentioned by Lord Hailes , among

the miscellaneous occurrences in the first volume of his Annals of Scotland . He was , in consequence , accused of credulity by the critics and , in a subsequent edition of his Avork , he declares that " the author must still remain under that

imputation , for * he cannot submit to acknowledge that he does not believe that a fountain , near Kilwinning , ran blood for eight days and eight nights , without intermission . A recent occurrence tends to prove the truth of the story . In 1826 , Avhen

the square or green , in the town of Kilwinning , to the west of the monastery , was being levelled , the workmen came upon an old leaden pipe , aboufc