DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61904#0201
MELROSE ABBEY.
189
The name of Melrofe is clearly derived from the Ancient
Britifti, Mellrofs, the projection of the meadow. Moel in Welih
and Maol in Irifh fignify fomething bald, naked, bare. Thus
Maol-Rofs, in the language of the Irifh monks who firft built
a church here, would fignify the naked promontory. Moel
in Welfh is now ufually applied to a fmooth mountain, as
Moel-Siabod : and we find Rofs continually fhowing its Celtic
origin where there is a promontory, as Rofs on the Moray-
frith, and Rofs in Herefordfhire from a winding of the Wye. But
fome old fculptor, on a (tone ftill preferved in the village, has
made a punning derivation for it, by carving a mef or mallet,
and a rofe over it. This ftone was part of a wall of the old
prifon, long fince pulled down.
The fite of Melrofe, like all monaftic ones, is fine. The abbey
{lands on a broad level near the Tweed, but is furrounded by hills
and fields full of beauty, and peopled with a thoufand beings of
romance, tradition, and poetry. South of the village rife the
three peaks of the Eildon hill, bearing aloft the fame of Michael
Scott and Thomas the Rhymer. On the banks of the Tweed,
oppofite to Melrofe, lies Gattonfide, buried in its gardens and
orchards, and ftill retaining its faith in many a ftory of the fuper-
natural; and about three miles weftward, on the fame bank of the
river, Hands Abbotsford, raifed by a magician more mighty than
Michael Scott. How is it poftible to approach that haunted
abode without meeting on the way the moft wonderful troop of
wild and lofty and beautiful beings, that ever peopled earth or
the realm of imagination ? Scotch, Englifh, Gallic, Indian,
Syrian come forth to meet you. The Bruce, the Scottifh
Jamefes, Cceur de Lion, Elizabeth, Leicefter, Mary of Scots,
James I. of England, Montrofe, Claverhoufe, Cumberland the
Butcher. The Covenanters are ready to preach and fight anew,
189
The name of Melrofe is clearly derived from the Ancient
Britifti, Mellrofs, the projection of the meadow. Moel in Welih
and Maol in Irifh fignify fomething bald, naked, bare. Thus
Maol-Rofs, in the language of the Irifh monks who firft built
a church here, would fignify the naked promontory. Moel
in Welfh is now ufually applied to a fmooth mountain, as
Moel-Siabod : and we find Rofs continually fhowing its Celtic
origin where there is a promontory, as Rofs on the Moray-
frith, and Rofs in Herefordfhire from a winding of the Wye. But
fome old fculptor, on a (tone ftill preferved in the village, has
made a punning derivation for it, by carving a mef or mallet,
and a rofe over it. This ftone was part of a wall of the old
prifon, long fince pulled down.
The fite of Melrofe, like all monaftic ones, is fine. The abbey
{lands on a broad level near the Tweed, but is furrounded by hills
and fields full of beauty, and peopled with a thoufand beings of
romance, tradition, and poetry. South of the village rife the
three peaks of the Eildon hill, bearing aloft the fame of Michael
Scott and Thomas the Rhymer. On the banks of the Tweed,
oppofite to Melrofe, lies Gattonfide, buried in its gardens and
orchards, and ftill retaining its faith in many a ftory of the fuper-
natural; and about three miles weftward, on the fame bank of the
river, Hands Abbotsford, raifed by a magician more mighty than
Michael Scott. How is it poftible to approach that haunted
abode without meeting on the way the moft wonderful troop of
wild and lofty and beautiful beings, that ever peopled earth or
the realm of imagination ? Scotch, Englifh, Gallic, Indian,
Syrian come forth to meet you. The Bruce, the Scottifh
Jamefes, Cceur de Lion, Elizabeth, Leicefter, Mary of Scots,
James I. of England, Montrofe, Claverhoufe, Cumberland the
Butcher. The Covenanters are ready to preach and fight anew,