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MELROSE ABBEY.
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and, again, in the same year, it was destroyed by the Earl of
Hertford. At the period of the Reformation it suffered severely,
from the misdirected zeal of
the reformers* Its chief
dilapidations, however,
must be attributed to the
hostile incursions of the
English, and to the wanton
mischief or sordid utili¬
tarianism of later times.f
The estates of the Abbey
were granted by Queen
Mary in 1556 to James
Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell,
by whose forfeiture in 1567,
they reverted again to the
Crown ; and the usufruct,
with the title of Commen-
dator, was conferred, the
following year, upon James
Douglas, second son to Sir
William Douglas of Loch-
leven.£ In 1609, the Abbey
and its possessions were
erected into a temporal
lordship for Sir John Ram¬
say, who had been created
Viscount Haddington, for his services in preserving James
VI. from the treasonable attempt of the Earl of Gowrie.
* The following verse, from a once popular ballad, shows that, at the time of the
Reformation, the inmates of this Abbey shared in the general reproach of sensuality
and irregularity thrown upon the Romish churchmen:—
“ The monks of Melrose made gude kail
On Fridays when they fasted;
Nor wanted they gude beef and ale.
As lang’s their neighbours’ lasted.”
t The same remark is applicable to the dilapidations of the other monasteries of
Teviotdale. In some instances the heritors seem to have availed themselves of the
venerable ruins as a quarry for materials to build or repair modem churches and
schools. Fragments of sculptured stones frequently occur in private dwellings. A
better spirit now generally prevails.
J Monastic Annals of Teviotdale, p. 215.