to accept John Bower's advice, and sketch it through his legs. As he will have to stand among the tombstones to perform this acrobatic feat, he may, when he has sufficiently recovered, divert his attention by spelling out the following epitaph on a tombstone that bears no date, but has evidently braved the storms of two centuries: THE EARTH GOETH ON THE EARTH, GLISTRING LIKE GOLD: THE EARTH GOES TO THE EARTH SOONER THEN IT WOLD; THE EARTH BVILDS ON THE EARTH CAST LES AND TOWERS: THE EARTH SAYS TO THE EARTH ALL SHALL BE OVRS.* The name of John Knox' upon another tombstone will also attract attention. He was the nephew of the cele * A good deal has been written about this inscription, or one something like it, for variations of it appear in many English churchyards, thewold' of the second line being often converted into 'mould,' e. g. 'The earth says to earth, we are but mould;' 'Earth goeth upon earth as mould upon mould.' In 1853, a correspondent of Notes and Queries introduced it as 'An unpublished epigram by Sir W. Scott,'-a novelty which, of course, was soon contradicted. It seems probable that the original lines may be dated back to the time of Edward III., and were affixed to a wall-painting (discovered early in the present century) in the chapel of the Guild of the Holy Cross at Stratford-upon-Avon. A facsimile was published at the time in an account of the paintings edited by J. G. Nichols, Esq. The lines are quoted in Wheler's History and Antiquities of Stratford-upon-Avon, p. 98, and in Longfellow's Outremer, p. 66. See also Pettigrew's Chronicles of the Tombs, p. 67; and Notes and Queries, 1st. s. vii. 498, 576; viii. 110, 353, 575; 3rd s. i. 389. brated Reformer, and was the minister of Melrose, where he died in 1623.* His successor, Mr. Thomas Forrester, a poet, was an anti-Knoxian, and was accustomed to insert a special petition in the litany, to this effect:"Good Lord, deliver us from all the knock-down race of Knoxes.' He also declared that the so-called Reformers had done more harm to the Christian religion than had been done by the Popes of Rome for ten ages. He also held that reading the liturgy was far preferable to preaching; and that those prayers ought to be used which were prescribed by the liturgy. His crowning sin was in saying that works of necessity might be done on the Sabbath; and in not only saying so, but also for bringing his corn on that day out of the field into his stack-yard. For this dereliction he was deposed by the Assembly at Glasgow in 1638; and Melrose knew him 6 no more. There is yet another tombstone in the graveyard of Melrose Abbey, which cannot be looked upon without crowding memories of the genius of the spot. It is that raised to the memory of Tom Purdie, the faithful friend and companion of an affectionate master, and it bears this inscription from Scott's pen :-"Here lies the body of Thomas Purdie, wood-forester at Abbotsford, who died 29th October, 1829, aged sixty-two years. "Thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things," Matt. xxv. 21.' I commenced my memories of Melrose with the mention of him who, in the words of his other humble admirer-Johnny Bower,' the guide of Melrose Abbey, may be said to have lent its beauties a tongue, and * The visitor's attention may also be arrested, as he walks through the town of Melrose, by the names of John Knox' and 'Walter Scott' emblazoned over the shop-fronts of a baker and a draper. A FAITHFUL SERVANT. 357 principally contributed to its being now more generally known, and rendered it an object of much greater interest, not only in its more immediate vicinity, but to strangers; and I may therefore fitly bring these Melrose memories to an end with this record of Scott's faithful servant, of whom, in the first crash of his shattered fortunes, his master was not forgetful, and could pen these lines in his diary :- Poor Tom Purdie! such news will indeed wring your heart, and many a poor fellow's beside, to whom my prosperity was daily bread.' A CHAPTER XXXVI. ABBOTSFORD. The Scottish Mecca-Tourists and Sights-Black-mail Gra- BBOTSFORD is the Mecca of the Scotch tourists, and during the summer months the stream of pilgrims is incessantly flowing towards Scott's shrine. The cost to each one, coming by rail from Edinburgh, and returning thither within the day, can scarcely be less than thirty shillings; and a statistician may therefore calculate the wealth that is made to filter through Melrose through the magic of a name.' Carriages for Abbotsford form a summer institution in Melrose, that must be exceedingly remunerative to the landlord of The George Hotel, especially when taken in connection with luncheons, and, above all, with that terrible item in a hotel bill, apartments,' which appears to be a noun of multitude, signifying many' curious additions to the normal necessities of a traveller. A one-horse carriage to Abbotsford will cost you five shillings, with eighteen 6 BLACK-MAIL GRATUITIES. 359 pence for the driver, and a sixpence for a turnpike. When you are there, Black's valuable Guide,' with some hesitation in pronouncing an opinion on so delicate a point, says that with regard to the gratuity payable to domestics, the amount will necessarily vary between prince and peasant, but 1s. for a single individual, and 28. 6d. for parties not exceeding six, may be regarded as fair medium payments.' Regarded by whom? there's the rub. Try the gentleman's gentleman who trots you through the show suite of rooms with a shilling for a single individual, and half-a-crown for parties not exceeding six, and note the expression of his features (which might be overlooked), and (which is more to the purpose) his consequent conduct. Experto crede. He was barely satisfied with half-a-crown from my wife and myself; but he turned upon a French family (with whom we had formed that confluent concourse of atoms which was necessary to make up the 'party' to view the rooms) and rejected their offerings with contempt. A scene thereupon followed, in which pantomime had to explain dialogue, and which terminated, as a matter of course, in the victory of the gentleman's gentleman, and the tax-paying of his opponents. Their intense delight, while going through the rooms, whenever they lighted upon any of the French presents to the illustrious novelist, must have been in strong contrast to the chagrin with which their tour of inspection was terminated by their enforced and involuntary present to that illustrious novelist's showman. If you wish to go round the gardens, that, of course, is an extra,' and we know that all extras must be paid for. If, however, you fall into the hands of a guide of the Tom Purdie school, you will not regret it, |