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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 10, No. 290, December 29, 1827 by Various
page 16 of 55 (29%)
"Here naked stand the melancholy walls,
Lash'd by the wint'ry tempests, cold and bleak,
That whistle mournful through the empty aisles,
And piece-meal crumble down the towers to dust,"


When viewed by moonlight, the solemnity and grandeur of the effect is
charming. An enthusiastic friend of mine, on paying the abbey a visit a
year or two ago, had it lighted up with tapers. I subjoin a few passages
from a letter I received at the time from him;--"Yesterday, being
Valentine's day, in the evening I went to vespers, and had six tapers
burning at the high altar in the abbey; also several in each of the
(eight) confessionals, holy water, fonts, shrines, and altars.--The
church-yard, the abbey, were silent as the grave; you might have heard a
pin drop; there was not a breath of air stirring, so the tapers burnt,
beautifully." This must have strongly reminded the spectator of the
introduction to the _Monastery_, and the visit of the worthy
benedictine, accompanied by Captain Clutterbuck, for the purpose of
taking up his patron's heart. My friend adds, "not a taper has been
burnt in St. Mary's of Melrose since the days of Knox.--On Monday I went
to the tower of Glendearg; at the fountain, where Sir Piercie Shafton
and Halbert Glendinning fought, I got, with the help of my guide, some
curious stones, said to be the work of the _White Lady_." The
scenery is picturesque in the highest degree. "Yesterday I went to Old
Melrose. The windings of the Tweed there are beautiful; but the tolling
the abbey bell recalls me from my wanderings."

The impression made on Sir Walter Scott by the ruins may be inferred
from the following lines:--

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