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MELROSE ABBEY.
Lord Haddington, who was afterwards created Earl of Hol-
derness, appears to have disposed of the possessions belong¬
ing to the lordship of Melrose, since we find that they were
granted by charter to Sir Thomas Hamilton (“ Tam o’ the
Cowgate”), a celebrated lawyer, who was created Earl of Mel¬
rose in 1619, and afterwards Earl of Haddington. Part of the
lands were conferred upon Walter Scott, Earl of Buccleuch; and
his descendants, about the beginning of the eighteenth century,
acquired by purchase the remainder of the Abbey lands in¬
cluded in the lordship of Melrose, which still form a part of
the extensive possessions of the same noble family.
At the abolition of heritable jurisdictions in 1747, the Lady
Isabella Scott was allowed the sum of £1200 sterling as com¬
pensation for her right to the bailiery of Melrose.
When King David I. laid the foundations of Melrose Abbey,
the ground on which Melrose now stands was occupied by a
village called Fordel. The present village is almost entirely
modern, and has little of the antique about it. In the centre
stands a cross, about twenty feet high, supposed to be coeval
with the Abbey. There is a ridge in a field near the town,
called the Corse-rig, which the proprietor of the field holds
upon the sole condition that he shall keep up the cross.
In the vicinity of Melrose are the Eildon Hills, the Tre-
montium of the Romans. The village of Gattonside, with its
numerous orchards, on the other side of the Tweed, is connected
with Melrose by a chain bridge. At Gattonside is Gattonside
House (General Duncan). Near it is the Pavilion (Lord Somer¬
ville), and Allerly (Sir David Brewster). A short way further down
the river, on a peninsula formed by a remarkable sweep of the
Tweed, stood the ancient monastery of Old Melrose. The estate
of Old Melrose was long possessed by a family of the name of
Ormestoun. It is now the property of Adam Fairholme, Esq.
of Chapel.