arts, particularly in the manufacture of cloth and shoes. To this abbey belonged the churches of Selkirk, Roxburgh, Innerleithan, Molle, Sprouston, Hume, Lambden, Greenlaw, Symprink, Keith, Mackerstone, Maxwell, Gordon, and many others, along with their tithes and the schools of Roxburgh. The amount of its revenue at the Reformation, when it was suppressed, is stated to be £.2501 16s. and 3d. sterling, along with nine chaldrons of wheat, fifty-two chaldrons six bolls and two firlots of bear, ninety-two chaldrons, twelve bolls three firlots, and one peck of meal, one chaldron and three bolls of oats; one tedder of hay, and one pound weight of pepper. The priory of Lesmahagow in Clydesdale, founded by Lord Galloway, was a cell belonging to the abbey of Kelso. This mo The Churchmen of those remote times did not only monopolise all the learning which then existed, they were the great masters in the necessary and ornamental arts; not only the historians and the poets, but the painters, the sculptors, the mechanics, and even the jewellers, goldsmiths, and lapidaries of the times. From their proficiency in mathematical and mechanical philosophy, they were in an especial manner the architects of the age; and the royal and baronial castles, with the cathedrals, monasteries, and conventual houses, through Scotland, were principally the work of ecclesiastics.-From Tytler's History of Scotland. nastery, with all its possessions at the Reformation was granted by the crown to the ancestors of the present noble family of the Kerrs, the duke of Roxburgh, who is also superior of the town of Kelso, and proprietor of the beautiful castle of Fleurs, in the neighbourhood, among whose archives, is still preserved an original charter of the abbey, by Malcolm IV., the grandson of the pious founder. The style of architecture of Kelso Abbey is apparently much older than that of Mel-. rose, though both these abbeys were founded by the prince. That of Kelso is that of a plain and unornamented style called Saxon or early Norman, which was in general use throughout the island at the time the monastery was founded. Melrose on the other hand is of a rich ornamental gothic style, and was most probably built in 1322 A. D., by Robert Bruce, after the previous building was destroyed by the invasion of the English. There still remains of the abbey, the whole transept, the southern and western tower, which stood at the intersection of the transverse parts of the building, and a part of the north wall of the nave, in which there is an arch, which communicated between the cloister and body of the church. These remains are believed on good grounds to be parts of the actual structure built by the founder David I. of Scotland in 1128 A. D The Abbey is now close upon the town of Kelso, and near a beautiful bend which the Tweed makes, and over which is built a noble bridge, opening the road to Jedburgh. The abbey is apparently built in the form of a Latin cross, with the principal entrance to the west, of which only a segment remains. Some time ago, the modern part of the building was taken down, which was used since the Reformation till the year 1773 as the parish church, and thus was disclosed to view two lofty pointed arches of the ancient structure. After the abbey was discontinued to be used as a parish church, the duke of Roxburghe in 1816, caused the modern masonry to be removed, and in 1823, a subscription was raised by the noblemen and gentlemen of the county, to defray the expence of still further recovering the ruins and preserving them with cement. |