erected into a species of showman's altar, and does duty for the effigy of Michael Scott, the wizard-he who

cleft Eildon hills in three,

And bridled the Tweed with a curb of stone

though legendary lore is by no means unanimous on this point; one version ascribing the deed to the wizard, another to the foul fiend himself, who was only vanquished by a vain endeavour to twist a rope of sand. To what base uses do we come at last! When Michael Scott, the philosopher and man of science, went as ambassador to Norway to bring to Scotland that Maid whose funeral obsequies were civil wars, how little could he dream that he should thus become showman's property! And as for his (or his familiar's) feat of cleaving Eildon hills in three, or carrying the mass away in a spade and dropping it in three parts, unfortunately for the credibility of the story, its anachronisms are betrayed by the fact that the Eildon hills were marked out in Roman times as distinguished by their triple summits, and were, on that account, called Tremontium, and formed a station for a Roman camp, which is still to be seen, and from which there is a magnificent view. I did not see it, it is true, for I had not the leisure to toil to the summit of the hill; but that the Eildon camp commands one of the most extensive views in the district, is plainly stated in Black and White;* and Sir Walter Scott himself said, 'I can stand on Eildon hill, and point out. forty-three spots famous in war and verse.' †

* See Black's Picturesque Tourist of Scotland, p. 152; and White's Northumberland and the Border, p. 316.

† See Cunningham's Memoir of Scott, originally published, in 1832, in The Athenæum.

CHAPTER XXXV.

SCOTT'S FAVOURITE ABBEY.

Ornamentation of Melrose Abbey-The 'East Oriel'-Scott
Criticised-Turner and Ruskin-Photography's Check upon
the
Painter-Legend of the 'Prentice Window-Scott's Mythical
Moonlight View-Mrs. Stowe and other Visitors-Old John
Bower and his Notable Device-His Topsy-turvy View—An
Acrobatic Feat-Old Tombstone-An Anti-Knoxian Minister
of Melrose-Tom Purdie's Tomb-A Faithful Servant.

T would be but a useless and unsatisfactory task to

I

as it appears before us seriatim, in our tour of the building. The elaborate devices, the decorated finials and brackets, the grotesque gurgoyles, the canopied niches (in one of which is a cripple on a blind man's back), the windows with their flamboyant traceries, the 'perpendicular' work crown of thorns, the open rosework balconies-all these would only form a rich catalogue, without presenting any adequate idea of their beauties. An elaborate list of them will be found in Grose, which, with few exceptions, holds good to this day. But, hackneyed as is the theme, it is impossible to pass over all mention of that architectural marvel, the eastern window of the chancel, the east oriel' as Scott wrongly terms it, apparently having in his mind the 'orient' east; though an oriel really has nothing to do with the east, and was always something either recessed or

projected, and not a window in a level wall.* I am not aware that any writer has ever been able to improve upon Scott's description, which so well expresses † the light character of the tracery, as well as the slender shafts (''twixt poplars straight') which pass straight up to the arch, and have been held to be a feature of the perpendicular style:

The moon on the east oriel shone

Through slender shafts of shapely stone,
By foliaged tracery combined;
Thou wouldst have thought some fairy's hand
'Twixt poplars straight the osier wand

In many a freakish knot had twined;
Then framed a spell, when the work was done,
And changed the willow wreaths to stone.

As exception has been taken to Scott's definition of oriel, so also one might be disposed to criticise his 'foliaged tracery' (which consists of the plainest cusps), and the comparison of it to the twined osier wands-a description which would better suit the beautiful south transept window, where the flamboyant tracery assumes those curves which would be more nearly imitated by twisted osier wands, than the rectilinear forms of which the greater portion of the tracery of the east window is composed. But whether faulty or no in some of its architectural technicalities, Scott's poetical description will outweigh a score in prose.

Turner, Nasmyth, Prout, Roberts, Clennell, Cattermole, and nearly every landscape painter of eminence, has depicted Melrose. Turner's best known view is

Elsewhere he speaks of each shafted oriel,' as though there were many oriels' in the building.

† Sir Walter, at any rate, was of this opinion; for, in his description of the window in his Border Antiquities, he says, 'Mr. W. Scott, in the Lay of the Last Minstrel, gives a most perfect idea of it; and then quotes the lines. (i. 97.)

THE 'PRENTICE PILLAR.

6

351

that engraved in the Illustrations to Scott,' and takes in the sweep of the river; and Ruskin mentions it as 'a bold and characteristic example' of Turner's method of drawing distant rivers.* As a whole, the best and most satisfactory engravings of Melrose are those from the sketches of Mr. Billings, of whom, however, it may be said, that he delineates architectural subjects with such professional exactitude and completeness, that the decorative work, in many of his representations of ruins, looks as sharp and fresh as though it were just new. This is the case with his sketches of Melrose. If the visitor, for example, should expect to see so perfect an east window as Mr. Billings has depicted, he will be very much mistaken. In Mr. Billings' engraving of the exterior and interior of this window, there is not a flaw or breakage to be detected in any part of the mullions or tracery; but the fact is, that the tracery is very defective, the upper portions having been sadly broken. This may readily be proved by a reference to the beautiful stereographs by Wilson and Moffat. Photography exercises a most wholesome check on art; and painters of well-known spots that have been brought home to the million' through the medium of photography, cannot any longer fudge' with impunity.

6

A legend--and by no means an uncommon one, either here or on the Continent, and one which is well known in connection with the 'Prentice Pillar at Roslin-has attached itself to this window, which is traditionally known in the neighbourhood as the 'Prentice Window.' The story runs thus, differing, in fact, but little to the usual formula provided for this popular tradition :-The builder found a difficulty with regard to the construction

* Modern Painters, i. 361.

or design of the window, and could not proceed with it until he had gone to Rome for information. This he did; but, in his absence, his apprentice completed the window, and engraved, upon a scroll near to it, this couplet :

The best mason of masonry,

Except the man that learned me.

The master returned, saw the window, and the couplet also, of which, unfortunately, he only read the first line; and when he had read it, being full of rage, he fell upon his apprentice and slew him. When the deed was done, he looked again to the couplet, and read the second line, in which the apprentice had assigned to him the preeminence. Struck with remorse at his cruel injustice and wicked deed, he then put an end to his own life. So runs the legend of Scott's wrongly-named 'East oriel.'

As to that other oft-quoted passage of his, commencing

If thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright,
Go visit it by the pale moonlight, &c.,*

we know that this was merely poetical imagery, and that (as Moore tells us) Sir Walter was a too practical and careful man to be haunting Melrose Abbey by moonlight. However, on the strength of his recommendation, it is the fashion to visit the ruins by the light of the moon; and they who endeavour to follow out the poet's suggestion are usually as unsuccessful as those who go up Snowdon to see the sun rise. I was told of one enthusiastic tourist who tarried five nights at The George,' determined to see the moon through

*Turner painted this moonlight view of Melrose for J. F. Fawkes, Esq., of Farnley Hall, Leeds.