The Abbot

tapers ligh

as clad the

image is

has cease

d aisles are b

hrines to

is the pi

ssing on

IVI

orders of England, until he was pleased at length to spare them the pain of carrying him farther, and to choose his ultimate place of rest in the lordly towers of Durham. The odour of his sanctity remained behind him at each place where he had granted the monks a transient respite from their labours; and proud were those who could assign, as his temporary resting-place, any spot within the

ably expect to benefit by the fountain who did not extend their bounty to the saint's chaplain. A few rods of fertile land afforded the monk his plot of garden ground; an eminence well clothed with trees rose behind the cell,

of this monk in spiritual affairs had not been useless to the community, while the Catholic religion retained the ascendancy; as he could marry, christen, and administer the other sacraments of the Roman church. Of late, however, as the Protestant doctrines gained ground, he had found it c

larmed at this, and receiving no answer when he knocked and called, Roland began to look more at leisure upon the exterior of the little dwelling before he ventured to enter it. The flowers, which had been trained with care against the walls, seemed to have been recently torn down, and tra

omed to partake his unpopularity. Part of the roof had been pulled down from the house itself, and an attempt had been made with crows and levers upon one of the angles, by which several large corner-stones had been forced out of their place; but the solidity of ancient mason-work had proved too great for the time or patience of the assailants, and they had relinquished their task of destruction. Such dilapidated buildings, after the lapse o

d to protect the ancient shrines, while they desired to see them purified from the objects which had attracted idolatrous devotion. From time to time, therefore, the populace of the Scottish towns and villages, when instigated either by their own feelings of abhorrence for Popish superstition, or by the doctrines of the more zealous preachers, resumed the work of destruction, and exercised it upon some sequ

y mourn ye for its destruction? If you knew half the flagitious wickedness which has been perpetrated within that house, you would rather b

stice, and in others an act of policy, there is no doubt that the humour of demolishing monuments of ancient piety and munificence, and

therto saved him from the general wreck; but it would seem ruin had now at length reached him. Anxio

ts episcopal habit, which lay on the hearth like Dagon of yore, shattered with the axe and scorched with the flames, but only partially destroyed. In the little apartment which served as a chapel, the altar was overthrown, and the four huge stones of which it had been once composed lay scattered around the floor. The large stone crucifix which occupied the niche behind the altar, and fronted

every worshipper who shall quaff the fountain with sufficient belief in its efficacy. At this spot the Saint is said to have landed in his stone coffin, in which he sailed down the Tweed from Melrose and here the stone coffin long lay, in evidence of the fact. The late Sir Francis Blake Delaval is said to have taken the exact measure of the coffin, and to have ascertained, by

n exactly the opposite direction as regards Melrose, which the suppo

, saw with horror the profanation of the most sacred

s have dared to violate-would to God my weak strength were abl

he cross, and rested it upon the edge of the large stone which served for its pedestal. Encouraged by this success, he applied his force to the other extremity, and, to hi

n of the fragment, a voice, in thrilling and well-known accents, spoke behind him these words:-"Well don

s, but black in colour, and approaching as near to a pilgrim's cloak as it was safe to wear in a country where the suspicion of Catholic devotion in many places endangered the safety of those who were

h amongst heretics-thou hast kept thy secret and mine own amongst thine enemies. I wept when I parted from you-I who seldom weep, then shed tears, less for thy death than for thy spiritual danger-I dared not even see thee to bid thee a last farewell-my grief, my swelling grief, had betrayed me t

wouldst wish me, thou must thank the care of the pious father Ambrose, whose instructio

tar-the saints rain blessings on him!-they are just, and employ his pious care to counteract the evi

bert Glendinning holds mine inheritance, and that I am of blood as noble as runs in the veins of any

, my son, that thou art bold and sudden; and those who bear such temp

tience or endurance can you require of which he is not capable, who for years has heard his

ience, will soon ripen to that of effort and action-great events are on the wing, and thou,-thou

ther-I have lived to be dismissed, as

e; "thy mind will be the more hardened t

ge, "as thy look and words seem to imply. I have eaten her bread-I

and man will no longer abide the wickedness of this generation. Seest thou these fragments-knowest thou what they represent?-and canst thou think it is for thee to make distinctio

witness for me, blessed symbol of our salvation, bear witness, holy saint, within whose violated temple we stand, that as it is not for vengeance of my own that my hate pursues these people, so neither, for any favour or earthly affection towards any amon

o the stars which now began to twinkle through the pale twilight, while the long gray tresses which hung

e obscurely hinted at. Nor did she farther press him on the subject; for, having concluded her prayer or obtestation, by clasping her hands togethe

now, how wilt thou shift for thy night's quarters?-thou hast been more softly br

d think it no hardship. Since I was a wanderer with thee on the hills, I have been a hunter, and fisher, and

en are now worst sheltered, when they lodge in God's own house and the demesne of his blessed saints. We shall sleep cold here, under the n

their nurslings, and the children dependent on their care. It seemed as if she would not permit him to do aught for himself which in former days her attention had been used to do for him,

raw and inclement air? Poor child! thou hast made slight provision for a long journey; nor hast thou skill to help thyself by wit, when means are scanty. But Our Lady has plac

ngements for the evening. A pouch, which was hidden under her garment, produced a flint and steel, and from the scattered fragments around (those pertaining to

e said, "for

hing for me to endure a night's abstinence, and a small atonement for the necessary transg

er, she added, "Roland, you must not fast; you have dispensation; you are young, and to youth food and sleep are necessaries not to be dispensed with. Husband your strength, my child,-your sovereign

an epicure, in each morsel which he swallowed with a youthful appetite which abstinence had rendered unusually sharp. Roland readily obeyed her recommendations, and ate the food which she so affectionately and earnestly p

. To them the watch spent in prayer is a refreshing slumber, and the sense of doing the will of Heaven is a richer banquet than the tables of monarchs can spread before them!-But do thou sleep soft, my son," she said, relapsing from the tone of fanaticism into that of maternal affection and tenderness; "do th

e of the vestures which lay torn and scattered on the floor. With a zealous hand she selected all such as appeared to have made any part of the sacerdotal vestments, laying them aside as sacred from ordinary purposes, and with the rest she made, with dexterous promptness, such a bed as a weary man might willingly stretch himself on; and during the time she w

assed away since their parting; and expected to meet, in the tall, indulged, and wilful youth, whom she had recovered, the passive obedience of the child whom she had left in the Castle of Avenel. This did not fail to hurt

ises which they took most pains to acquire, and which came to me naturally, as if a knowledge of them had been my birthright? This may not, and must not be. I will be no reclaimed sparrow-

oland Graeme; and although wearied with the fatigues of t