Chapter VI: Scottish Monasticism (4)

The design of the west wall of the north transept is different from
that of the other parts of the building, but the clerestory windows
are of the same design as the rest of the older church. "The wall
ribs of the vaulting include two windows in each; and the space
between the windows is occupied by two niches, each carried up from
a shaft--with late canopies, containing statues of St. Peter and St.
Paul, the former having the keys and the latter holding his sword.
These are the best preserved statues in the church, but they are not
of very remarkable workmanship."[466] The building or restoration of
the eastern part of the edifice is regarded as indicating, from its
style, work of the middle of the fifteenth century, and the vaulting
of the south transept appears to have been erected by Abbot Hunter
about the same time,[467] probably from 1450 to 1460. More of the
vaulting in the eastern part of the nave may have been carried out
at that epoch. The vaults all contain, besides the main and ridge
ribs, subsidiary ribs, or tiercerons, indicating a similarity to
English examples.[468]

The vaulting of the presbytery is peculiar, and points to a somewhat
later time; examples of vaulting similar to that of the presbytery
of Melrose may be seen at Winchester Cathedral, and other English
examples of the fifteenth century.[469]

The south chapels to the west of the fifth buttress west from the
transept, on which buttress another specimen of Abbot Hunter's arms
is engraved, are of comparatively late date.[470] "This buttress
belongs to the earlier part of the nave, and the chapel seems to
have been repaired when the additional chapels to the west were
erected. Besides the three hunting horns in the shield of Abbot
Hunter in the examples above mentioned, the arms engraved on the
fifth buttress contain two crosiers, saltierwise, and the initials
A. H. on the right and left; also, in chief a rose, and in base a
mason's mell for Melrose. The work in the chapels to the west is
inferior to that of those to the eastward, although copied from
them. The chapels each contain an enriched piscina, and these are so
inferior in style of workmanship as to lead to the belief that they
were inserted after the chapels were built. One of them contains the
initials of Abbot William Turnbull, whose date is the beginning of
the sixteenth century. A late piscina has also been inserted in the
south transept.

"Work in the nave and in the south chapels was apparently in
progress during the reign of James IV., as the royal arms, with the
letters I. Q. (Jacobus Quartus) and the date 1505 on the westmost
buttress testify."[471] On the south side of the cloister is a very
lovely doorway that leads into the church. To the right of this and
along the east wall of the cloister, are arched recesses of a late
style, and in the south wall is an arcade of trefoil form, with
nail-head enrichments. The latter is an example of the late revival
of early forms which prevailed towards the close of the Gothic
epoch.[472]

It has been stated that the arcade of the cloister formerly extended
150 feet each way. The cloister wall is now reduced to the portions
which abut against the nave and transept--50 feet on the east side
and 80 feet on the south side. "The former side contains a wall
arcade of seven arches. These are of the form called drop arches,
with crocketed ogee hood moulding, and have plain spandrils above,
over which there runs a straight cornice, enriched with flowers and
shells of all descriptions very beautifully carved."[473] Of these
Sir Walter Scott said:--

Nor herb nor floweret glistened there
But was carved in the cloister arches as fair.

The tower was doubtless erected about the same time as the
transept.[474] In the south transept are two inscriptions that have
given rise to much speculation and continue to exercise Border
antiquaries. One of these is carved over the doorway in the west
wall which gives access to the wheel stair, and part of the
inscription is carried down one side for want of room. It is the
following:--

Sa gays the cumpas evyn about,
Sa trouth and laute. do but duite.
Behald to ye hende q. Johne Morvo.[475]

The other inscription is carved on a tablet in the wall on the south
side of the same door:--

John Morow sum tym callit was I
And born in Parysse certanly
And had in kepyng al masoun werk
Of Santandroys ye hye kyrk
Of Glasgw Melros and Paslay
Of Nyddysdayll and of Galway
I pray to God and Mari bath
And sweet S. John kep this haly kirk frae skaith.

In the centre of the former inscription is a sunk panel containing a
shield with two masons' compasses, arranged somewhat like a saltier,
and beneath a figure resembling a _fleur-de-lys_.

The late Dr. John Smith, in the _Proceedings of the Antiquarian
Society of Scotland_, considers these inscriptions as applying to
one man, who may have been the master mason of the building. But Mr.
Pinches, in his account of the abbey, mentions that John Murdo, or
Morow, was engaged in building a church in Galloway in 1508. It thus
seems likely that these inscriptions are not earlier than that date,
and have been added to the building after its completion.[476]

An interesting view regarding John Morow will be found in _A
Mediæval Architect_, by Mr. P. MacGregor Chalmers. He believes that
the south chapel of the transept was that of St. John, and as John
Morrow's tablet is opposite this chapel, his prayer to "sweet St.
John" is most appropriate. Mr. Chalmers also points out that the
chapels at the east end of Glasgow Cathedral are dedicated to the
same saints and in the same order as those in the east aisle of the
transept at Melrose.[477]

Immediately beneath the site of the high altar at Melrose is the
resting-place of the heart of Robert Bruce, and to the south of it
is a dark-coloured polished slab of encrinital limestone said to
mark the grave of Alexander II., who was buried near the high altar
in 1249. Others maintain, however, that it marks the burial-place of
St. Waltheof or Waldeve, who was the second abbot of the monastery
founded by King David, and that it is the slab placed here by
Ingram, Bishop of Glasgow (1164-1174).

The chancel was also the burial-place of the Douglases. The Douglas
tombs were all defaced by Sir Ralph Evers in 1544. At the northern
end of the north transept a small doorway leads into the sacristy,
in which is the tombstone of Johanna, Queen of Alexander II., with
the inscription "Hic jacet Johanna d. Ross." Melrose is the
Kennaquhair of the _Abbot_ and the _Monastery_.