Bosom'd in woods, where mighty rivers run, LEYDEN, Scenes of Infancy. KELSO, the largest town of the county of Roxburgh, is delightfully situated on the north bank of the Tweed, in the midst of a rich and picturesque district." The confluence of two broad and rapid rivers, hanging woods, rocks, and verdant declivities, ancient ruins, elegant modern buildings, distant hills and mountains, form a diversified and lovely scene, in which the works of man serve to heighten and embellish the most comely features of nature." Kelso evidently derived its name from Chalkheugh, the name of a remarkable cliff overhanging the Tweed, on the summit of which part of the town is built; it is VOL. XXV. locally pronounced Cawkheuch. Calch in the ancient British language, and Cealc in the Anglo-Saxon, like the Latin Calx, signifying chalk; and How in AngloSaxon and old Scots, and Heugh in modern Scots, signifying a hill or height. This etymology may be distinctly traced in the various forms in which the name appears in ancient records, where it is written Kalkhow, Kelquou, Calco, Calchou, Calcheowe, and Kellesowe. The earliest mention of it is at the time of the founding of its monastery in 1128, when it appears, from the charter of the royal founder, that there was then a church called "the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the bank of the river Tuede, in the place which is called Calkou." The monks of Kelso belonged to a reformed class of the Benedictine order, first established at Tiron, in France, in 1109, and hence called Tironenses. They were required not only to observe the rules of monastic life instituted by St. Benedict, but also to practise within the convent some mechanical art, in order to 799 preserve them from the corrupting power of idleness, and to provide by useful industry for the maintenance of the community, which was originally very poor. Accordingly the monks of Tiron, and the other monasteries of this order, consisted of painters, carvers, carpenters, smiths, masons, vine-dressers, and husbandmen, who were under the direction of an elder, and the profits of their work were applied to the common use. Their dress was at first of ash-coloured grey cloth, but it was afterwards changed to black. Independently of the religious considerations, which in that age operated with peculiar force in behalf of monastic institutions, a society thus constituted must have appeared highly advantageous in a civil point of view, as tending directly to the encouragement of industry, and the cultivation of many useful and ornamental arts, which, doubtless, contributed much to obtain for the monks of this order, that patronage and encouragement, under which they quickly increased in number and in wealth. In the year 1113 thirteen of these monks had been invited to Selkirk by David, who made a suitable provision for their support, and ordained that the abbots of Kelso should be chaplains to him and his successors. At this period the principal residence of the kings of Scotland was the castle of Roxburgh, a large and strong fortress, situated on a lofty eminence, overhanging the river Teviot on one side and having the Tweed at a small distance on the other, with the fortified town of Roxburgh on the adjacent rising ground. When David ascended the throne in 1124, he determined to remove the convent to the vicinity of this seat of royalty, from which Selkirk is distant sixteen miles: accordingly he chose the situation for them, already described; it was opposite the town of Roxburgh, within view of the royal castle, and distant from it about a mile. The abbey was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist. Although by the rules of the society the members were enjoined to poverty, the numerous rich endowments of pious princes soon tended to injure the primitive character of the establishment. "The possession of wealth naturally excites the desire, as it facilitates the acquisition, of power, honours, and distinction. Only half a century had elapsed from the time of the original foundation of the monastery, at Selkirk, yet by the liberality of its numerous benefactors, and, probably, by the skilful management and improvement of its property, by the intelligent monks, it had already reached a high degree of riches and splendour." The royal founder had bestowed on this house the monastery of Lesmahagow, with all its lands and all its men; as also the privilege of sanctuary which that monastery enjoyed; and this example continued to be followed, so that before the end of the thirteenth century, the possessions of these monks included thirtyfour parish churches, several manors, many lands, granges, farms, mills, breweries, fishings, rights of cutting turf, salt-works, and other property in different parts of the shires of Roxburgh, Selkirk, Peebles, Lanark, Dumfries, Ayr, Edinburgh, Berwick, and even as far north as Aberdeen. In 1329 David the Second granted to the monks the whole forfeitures of all the rebels within Berwick. The abbot of this house claimed the precedence of all the other superiors of religious houses in the kingdom; this, however, was disputed by the prior of St. Andrews, upon the plea of the greater antiquity of his monastery, and its being under the protection of the patron saint of Scotland, and its church that of the metropolitan see. This controversy, which was long agitated, was not settled until 1420, when James the First decided in favour of the prior of St. Andrews. The convent at Kelso, at an early period, enjoyed a special exemption from excommunication, unless the interdict were issued by special command of the apostolic see; and, though the whole kingdom were inter ་ dicted, they might celebrate divine offices in their church, in a low voice, with the doors closed, and without ringing of bells." In token of their immediate dependence upon the Roman see, they paid an annual tribute. In 1203 the prior was raised to the higher dignity of abbot, and about the year 1240 the abbot and convent received authority from the papal see to excommunicate by name known thieves, and invaders of their estates and property, and whoever were guilty of injuring their church. After the death of Alexander the Third, and his grand-daughter, when Edward the First of England, Robert the Bruce, and John Baliol, each appointed forty commissioners, who were to assemble at Berwick, to examine the claims of the several competitors for the Crown, the Abbot of Kelso was one of those chosen by Baliol. On the 20th of August, 1296, the abbot and convent took an oath of fealty to the English monarch at Berwick, when their estates, forfeited by their previous hostility to his ambitious designs against the independence of their country, were restored to them. The miseries of the war, between the two countries, which soon after ensued, fell heavily upon the monks, The monastery, which, being situated so near the limits of the kingdom, had been a scene of daily hospitality and charity to the wayfaring and poor of both countries, was now exposed to the incessant attacks of military freebooters, who, converting the war into an opportunity and licence to commit every sort of disorder, returned the monks evil for their good, and made their peaceful halls and cloisters, a theatre of rapine, extortion, and bloodshed. In the end, the monastery was laid waste by fire, and the monks and laybrethren were reduced to the necessity of subsisting by the alms of the other religious houses in Scotland, until they recovered their estates, by the expulsion of the enemy. only from the public enemy, but from their exposed In the subsequent contests they suffered greatly, not situation on the frontiers of the kingdom; their property was open to the predatory attacks of the disorderly marchmen of either country, who were habituated to plunder, and paid little regard to law or truce. In times of general truce, the monks usually obtained letters of protection from the King of England, in which punishment was threatened to any of his subjects who should molest or injure them or their dependents, or property. In time of war, this part of Scotland was reduced to such distress, that permission was usually obtained by the monks, to buy provisions in England, and to convey them under protection to their monastery. In 1460 the castle of Roxburgh was taken from the English, who had held it from the time of Edward Balio in 1356. But the death of King James the Second, who was killed by the bursting of a cannon, during the siege, was deeply lamented. After his death the young King, James the Third, then only seven years of age, was crowned, and received the homage and oaths of allegiance of the nobles and chiefs of the army, in Kelso Abbey. All monastic communities originally enjoyed the privilege of electing their own superiors, but this power came to be gradually usurped by the King, who had not much difficulty in obtaining a mandate from the Pope, directing the monks to choose the individual whom he nominated. This soon led to the practice of granting the superiority and revenues of religious houses, to bishops and secular priests, who, not having taken the monastic vows, were not duly qualified to preside in a monastery. After this was introduced the still greater abuse of committing charges of this nature to laymen, and even to infants. The monasteries thus disposed of, were said to be held in commendam, or in trust, until it should be found convenient to appoint a regular superior. The Abbey of Kelso was thus held in 1511 by Andrew Stewart, bishop of Caithness; but on the night after the disastrous battle of Flodden, (9th September, 1513,) Andrew Ker of Ferniherst, an active and powerful By means of annual treaties peace had generally been maintained, from the year following the overthrow at Flodden; but in 1522 the conditions proposed to the Scots being such as they could not honourably agree to, the two countries were again engaged in active hostility. The conduct of the war, on the part of England, was intrusted to the Earl of Surrey, and a formidable invasion was threatened. The Abbot of Kelso accordingly endeavoured to find shelter in the favour of Margaret the queen-dowager, sister to Henry the Eighth, and prevailed on that princess to intercede for him with the English commander that he would spare the abbey and town; but the application proved fruitless; for on the 30th June, 1523, "Kelso was sacked, burned, and destroyed, by a body of the enemy, led by Thomas, Lord Dacre; when they demolished and reduced to ashes the Abbot's house, with the buildings around it, and the chapel of the blessed Virgin, in which were stalls or seats of elegant workmanship; They likewise burnt all the cells of the dormitory, and unroofed every part of the monastery, carrying away the lead which covered it; in consequence of which the interior and walls were, a long while after, thoroughly exposed to the injuries of the weather; and all religious services were interrupted. During this period the monks retired into one of the nearest villages, and celebrated the rites of their religion, in the greatest want and poverty." monks. In one of the tumults which took place in 1560, the excited populace defaced the images and burned the relics upon the steps of the high altar; they also demolished whatever remained of its internal furniture and ornaments. 66 In 1559 the revenues and property of the monasteries were taken possession of by the lords of the congregation, in the name of the crown. "Though the spiritual office of abbot must have virtually ceased when the Roman Catholic form of religion was abolished, yet the title still continued for a long time to be used as a temporal distinction, to designate such persons as were charged with the management of the confiscated property of the abbeys, or had enjoyed grants of them from the Crown." One of the Kers of Cesford enjoyed the title of Abbot of Kelso not long after the Reformation; and the lands and possessions of this abbey were finally conferred upon Sir Robert Ker, who was created a peer in 1599, with the title of Lord Roxburgh, and, with a few exceptions, are still enjoyed by his descendant, the Duke of Roxburgh. 1580. The shattered remains of this monastery are said to have again suffered from the blind fury of the mob in After this, certain buildings were clumsily constructed on the ruins; a low gloomy vault was thrown over the transept, and this was converted into a Protestant place of worship for the parish," A dark, cavern-like retreat, which must have appeared a dismal contrast to those, if any were yet alive, who had seen the lofty elegance and grandeur of the original edifice." In 1542 Kelso was again exposed to the horrors of Over this was built another similar vault to serve the war; the town and abbey were given to the flames by purpose of a prison, and this communicated with a small the army under the Duke of Norfolk. Two or three vaulted chamber called the inner prison, built in the years later, in consequence of the refusal of the Scots to head of the cross over another vault which formed a marry their infant queen to Prince Edward of England, kind of third aisle to the parish church. These buildKing Henry the Eighth sent a numerous army under ings continued to be thus used until 1771, when one the Earl of Hertford, who landed on the shores of Sunday, during divine service, a fragment of cement Lothian, and ravaged all the country between Edinburgh happening to fall from the roof, the congregation believand Berwick. During more than two years, a series of ing that the vault above was giving way, hurried out destructive hostilities were carried on by the garrisons impressed with such terror, that though the alarm of the towns and castles on the English frontier, in proved false, they could never afterwards be induced to conjunction with the warlike inhabitants of the neigh-assemble in the old church; their fears having been bourhood, "who made almost daily inroads into the southern districts of Scotland, when they pillaged and burnt the towns, villages, churches, and monasteries; destroyed the fruits of the earth; and slew the inhabitants, or carried them away prisoners into England, in order to obtain money for their ransom, or to exchange them afterwards with their captive countrymen." In September, 1545, the Mers and Teviotdale were again overrun by an English army of 12,000 men, who now utterly destroyed whatever had been spared or overlooked in former invasions. In their progress from Coldingham to Jedburgh, by Dunse, Eccles, Kelso, Dryburgh, and Melrose, separate parties of the enemy were sent off in different directions to destroy the villages and farm-steads; and in the course of a few days, two hundred and eighty-seven places, including the four great monasteries, the seats of religion and learning, and the pride and ornament of the country, were sacked, pillaged, and dilapidated. The only resistance made to this force was at Kelso, where three hundred men endeavoured, but in vain, to defend the abbey. It is uncertain whether it was on this occasion or in 1560, that the east and north sides of the tower were thrown down, and the choir almost entirely demolished; but the destruction was probably effected by a battery of cannon directed against it from the north east. After this, the shattered walls of the abbey church were still occasionally resorted to as a place of shelter and defence from the sudden incursions of the enemy. Some part also of the church continued to be used as a place of religious worship till after the Reformation, and the conventual buildings still afforded shelter to a few long kept alive by the remembrance of an ancient prophecy attributed to Thomas the Rhymer, "which bore that this kirk should fall when at the fullest." The ruins have been disencumbered of the rude modern masonry by the good taste of the last two Dukes of Roxburgh. The beauties of the fabric were thus exposed to view; but it was at the same time also discovered that some parts were verging to decay and threatening to fall. To prevent such a misfortune, a public meeting was held in January, 1823, when the sum of 500l. was subscribed for the purpose of repairing it. Mr. Gillespie Graham was employed to survey it; and upon his recommendation, the decayed parts were strengthened and repaired, the crevices filled up, and the top of the walls covered with a coating of Norman cement. This abbey furnishes a noble specimen of the early Norman style. It was built in the form of a cross, but the head of the cross, contrary to the usual practice, was turned towards the west, so that the eastern limb, of which only two arches are now standing, had the larger dimensions, commonly given in the Latin cross to its opposite part. “This, though a singular, was doubtless an economical plan of construction, by which a large and spacious choir was obtained for the celebration of divine worship without the necessity of extending the nave, used chiefly for pompous ceremonies and processions, to a proportionable length, and at a much greater expense. multitude to the demolition of this church; for being "The Scottish Reformers are guiltless of stirring up the occupied as a place of defence by the town's-people during the Earl of Hertford's invasion in 1545, it was destroyed by the enemy, sixteen years before the Lords of the Secreit Counsaill maid ane Act that all places and monumentis of idolatry sould be destroyed.' From the state of the ruin, it may be inferred that the cannon employed in battering it down was directed against it from the north-east. The two arches already mentioned, with their superstructure, are all that remain of the choir. They spring from massive Saxon piers, having slender circular half pillars attached to the three sides of the same; and these have moulded capitals, forming imposts for the springing of the arches. These two arches are in the south side of the choir, next the cross, and support a part of the wall which upheld the main roof. Within the thickness of this wall are two galleries, one over the other, open to the interior by an arcade of small round arches, springing from slender stone shafts. Narrow passages within the thickness of the walls, communicating with these galleries and with the stairs and other avenues, run round the whole building at different heights, opening at intervals to the interior. The choir had two side-aisles, with two rows of strong piers, or columns, supporting the arches and their superstructure. The transept and western division of the church have no side-aisles. The walls of the north and south transepts are still nearly entire; and more than half of the western part or head of the cross also remains, containing a segment of a most magnificent archway, enriched with a profusion of grotesque carvings, which, though much worn away and defaced, still display considerable elegance both of design and execution. The north entrance remains entire; and the numerous mouldings of its deep arch exhibit the dancette or zigzag, the billet, and other decorations of the Saxon style. The walls both within and without are adorned with a course of blank semi-circular arches, interlaced with each other, and some of them richly, and some sparingly relieved with ornaments. Over the intersection of the cross, in the centre of the building, rose a lofty square tower or lantern, upon four spacious arches, in the pointed style, with six windows in each of its sides, and open galleries within. Only the south and west sides remain, which are the grandest and most striking parts of the ruin. At each of the exterior angles of the cross the building projects a little, and forms a square tower, which contains a narrow winding stair, and finishes in a round turret at the top, except at the north angle of the west end of the fabric, which terminates in an octagonal turret. The corresponding south-west angle is demolished. There is no appear ance of buttresses in any part of the building, the walls of Saxon edifices being constructed with such strength and solidity as not to require supports of this kind. The windows, which are numerous, are almost all long, narrow, and circular-headed, without any appearance of tracery: one in front of the north transept forms a complete circle, and two in each side of the central tower are quatrefoils set in circles." In this notice of the Abbey of Kelso, we have followed the beautiful work of the Rev. James Morton, B.D., entitled The Monastic Annals of Teviotdale; a work which combines the acute skill of the accomplished historian and antiquarian with the feeling of the artist and the science of the architect. THE real price of every thing, what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it. What every thing is really worth to the man who has acquired it, and who wants to dispose of it, or exchange it for something else, is the toil and trouble which it can save to himself, and which it can impose upon other people. What is bought with money, or with goods, is purchased by labour as much as what we acquire by the toil of our own body. That money, or those goods indeed, save us this toil. They contain the value of a certain quantity of labour, which we exchange for what is supposed at the time to contain the value of an equal quantity. Labour was the first price, the original purchase-money that was paid for all things. It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all the wealth of the world was originally purchased, and its value to those who possess it, and who want to exchange it for some new productions, is precisely equal to the quantity of labour which it can enable them to purchase or command.-SMITH'S Wealth of Nations. WELSH TRIADES. I. The Book of Triades, (in British, Trioedd Ynys Prydain, or The Threes of the Island of Britain,) seems to have been written about the year 650, and some parts of it collected from the most ancient monuments of the kingdom. It is called, by some writers, and by the translator of Camden, The Book of Triplicities. The Britons, as well as other nations of old, had a particular veneration for odd numbers, and especially for that of Three. Their most ancient poetry consists of three-lined stanzas, called Englyn Milur, The Warrior's Verse. Their most remote history is divided into sections, being combinations of some three similar events. All men of note, whether famous or infamous, were classed together by threes; virtues and vices were tripled together in the same manner; and the Druids conveyed their instructions in moral and natural philosophy to the people, in sentences of three parts. [Royal Tribes of Wales, by Philip Yorke, Esq., of Erthig. Wrexham, 1799; unpublished.] THE three foundations of genius: the gift of God, man's exertion, and the events of life. The three primary requisites of genius: an eye that can see nature, a heart that can feel nature, and boldness that can follow nature. The three indispensables of genius: understanding, feeling, and perseverance. The three properties of genius: fine thought, appropriate thought, and finely diversified thought. The three things that ennoble genius: vigour, fancy, and knowledge. The three supports of genius: strong mental endow. ments, memory, and learning. The three ministers of genius: memory, vigour, and learning. The three marks of genius: extraordinary understanding, extraordinary conduct, and extraordinary exertions. The three friends of genius: vigour, discretion, and pleasantry. The three things that improve genius: proper exer tion, frequent exertion, and prosperous exertion. The three effects of genius: generosity, gentleness, and complacency. The three things that enrich genius: contentment of mind, the cherishing of good thoughts, and exercising the memory. The three things that exalt genius: learning, exertion, and reverence. The three supports of genius: prosperity, social acquaintance, and praise. The three things that will insure prosperity: appropriate exertion, feasible exertion, and uncommon exertion. The three things that will insure acquaintance: complacency, ingenuity, and originality. The three things that will insure praise: amiable conduct, scientific learning, and pure morals. The three primary points of the benefit of science: its being patronized by the world, its virtue in improving the world, and its perfection in supporting itself. The three marks of the propriety of a science: just cause, just organization, and just conformity. becoming, and when it is necessary. The three times of science: when it is just, when it is The three to whom science is suitable: he that delights in it, he that understands it and he that deserves it. The three radical parts of an art: nature, benefit, and originality. The three primary points of nature and originality: where it cannot be better, where it cannot be otherwise, and where there is no necessity for its being otherwise. The three intentions of poetry: increase of good, increase of understanding, and increase of happiness. The three foundations of judgment: bold design, frequent practice, and frequent mistakes. The three foundations of happiness: a suffering with Contentment, a hope that it will come, and a belief that it will be. The three properties of just thinking: what is possible, what is commendable, and what ought to be. The three foundations of learning: seeing much, suffering much, and studying much. The three fountains of knowledge: invention, study, and experience. The three fountains of understanding: boldness, vigour, and exertion. The three foundations of thought: perspicuity, amplitude, and justness. The three ornaments of thought: clearness, correctness and novelty. The three canons of perspicuity: the word that is necessary, the quantity that is necessary, and the manner that is necessary.-CATHRALL's History of North Wales. TO THE SNOWDROP. And still o'er nature's slumb'ring breast, Snowdrop! thy form is found. Thou comest now, a welcome guest, Pale firstling of the year, Shall never-failing joys o'er ransom'd spirits pour! M. M. one THE delicacies of food and clothing are enjoyed with little concern for those to whom the necessaries of life are scarcely attainable; and it has thus passed into a proverb, that " half of the world knows not what becomes of the other." One of our first moral writers has been pleased to speak in a manner somewhat disrespectful of those moralists and poets like Thomson, who have noticed and lamented this disposition in the human mind, to enjoy its own blessings rather than disquiet itself with the calamities of others. I allude to Adam Smith;-but was he well employed on this occasion? It is the province of sympathy to render us alive to the evils of those around us. This he would admit. So is it equally the province of reason and good sense to save the mind from too deep an interest in afflictions, which we can neither prevent nor remedy. This we concede on our part. No doubt, therefore, it is the perfection of the human character to be at once equal to its own happiness, and yet sensible to those miseries of our fellow-creatures, which its exertions can alleviate. But surely it remains to be remarked, that it is not in any deficiency of attention to ourselves, that human nature offends. This is not the weakness of mankind, or the aspect under which they need to be regarded by a moralist with any pain. If there be sometimes found those who are formed of a finer clay, so as really to have the comforts of their own existence diminished and interrupted by sympathising too long and too quickly with the calamities of those around them, such may surely be considered as exceptions to be set apart from their fellow mortals, as those more amiable beings, who are not likely, by their example, to injure the general cause of reasonable enjoyment in the world; and whom the more natural prevalence of careless selfishness renders it not easy often to find, and surely not very possible long to censure.-PROFESSOR SMYTH'S French Revolution. THE NEW FOREST, HANTS. THERE can be no doubt that Great Britain, in its original state, was, like other countries, almost wholly one continued forest; and indeed in those early times, when Cassibelaunus, Caractacus, and Boadicea defended their people against foreign invaders, a wide and extensive plain appears to have been as uncommon a feature of the land as a large forest is in the present day. FitzStephen, a monk of Canterbury, who lived in the reign of Henry II., tells us that even in his time (A.D. 1190) a considerable forest lay around London, "wherein were woody groves, in the covers of which lurked bucks and does, wild-boars, and bulls." As, however, the country became more thickly inhabited, and gradually advanced in civilization, the woods and forests were of course felled to make way for cornfields and pasturage, or to provide materials for general architecture and ship-building, as well as for all the various other objects of human industry, for which a supply of timber is required. Yet so late as the time of Henry VII. we are informed that almost the third part of England was uncultivated, and inhabited only by stags and deer, and wild-goats. It may then naturally seem extraordinary that William the Conqueror, as our first king of that name is usually styled, not content with the large and magnificent forests which the crown already possessed in all parts of England, should deem it requisite to make an addition to the vast extent of lands then occupied by forests. Yet such unquestionably was the case. Taking advantage of the power which the forest-laws gave him, of con verting, at his sole will and pleasure, any portion of the country into a Royal Forest for hunting, Williant selected for the purpose that extensive tract of land, which was then known by the name of Ytene, but afterwards, in consequence of its being the last forest attached to the royal domains, received the title of the New Forest, which title, as we know, it still retains. With regard to the exact motive which guided the king in his choice of this territory, historians are not agreed. But it seems most probable that he fixed on it because it was near to his favourite residence at Winchester, and lay very coaveniently situated for a speedy passage at any moment across the Channel to his possessions in Normandy, to which, in consequence of their frequently troubled state, he was so often compelled to repair. But however desirable this tract might appear in the royal eyes, there was much in the circumstances of the case which, had the king been of a different disposition, might naturally have prevented him from gratifying his wishes with regard to it. It is clear that the district was already, in some degree at least, an inhabited and cultivated country, being laid out in parishes, occupied by villages, and adorned with sacred as well as domestic buildings. To convert it, then, into a royal forest, its general character must of course be miserably changed. But this was no obstacle to the selfish monarch. Naturally imperious, he seldom allowed the interests or comforts of others to interfere with his own pursuits or pleasures. And being, like the rest of his Norman countrymen, passionately fond of the chase, he had set his mind on a particular spot, as peculiarly suited for the exercise of his favourite diversion; he consequently laid aside all consideration for the feelings or rights of his English subjects, and took full possession of the object of his choice. speaking of the prosecution of this measure, those writers who lived nearest to the time, describe the devastation which was caused by it as grievous in the extreme. They tell us that the Conqueror laid waste at least thirty miles of cultivated lands, taking them away, as they express it, from God and man, and converting them to the use of wild beasts and the sport of his dogs; in the course of which he demolished thirty-six, or as some assert, above fifty parish churches, destroyed many villages, and driving out the inhabitants from their homes, In |