ornamented with statues, &c. The beauty of the carved work, with which
the abbey is profusely decorated, is seldom equalled, and deservedly
celebrated:

"Spreading herbs and flow'rets bright,
Glisten'd with the dew of night;
Nor herb nor flow'ret glisten'd there,
But was carved in the cloister'd arches as fair."


There are in the external view of the building 50 windows, 4 doors, 54
niches, and above 50 buttresses. The abbey was much injured by the
English in 1322 and 1384. Richard II. made it a grant in 1389, as some
compensation for the injuries it had sustained in the retreat of his
army. It was also greatly defaced during the reformation. A stronger
proof of their infatuated and (partly) misplaced zeal cannot be adduced,
than the destruction of religious edifices by the reformers. There were
one hundred monks, without including the abbot and dignitaries. The last
abbot was James Stuart, natural son of James V., who died in 1559. The
privileges and possessions of the abbey were very extensive,.and it was
endowed by its founder, David, with the lands of Melrose, Eildon, &c.,
&c., right of fishery on the Tweed, &c.; and succeeding monarchs
increased its property. Sixty of the monks, it is said, renounced popery
at the reformation. In 1542, the revenue of the abbey was, "1758_l_.
in money, 14 chalders nine bolls of wheat, 56 chal. 5 bolls of barley,
78 chal. 13 bolls of meal, 44 chal. 10 bolls of oats, 84 capons, 620
poultry, 105 stone of butter, 8 chal. of salt, 340 loads of peats, and
500 carriages;" besides 60 bolls of corn, 300 barrels of ale, and 18
hogsheads of wine, for the service of the mass: a large quantity for the
entertainment of strangers; 4,000_l_. for the care of the sick; and