a Church and Mill existed on the Banks of the Jed, and it is equally certain that at that time magnificent Churches were erected in this district. We know very little of Christianity under the Romans in England; but it is known to have flourished and prevailed extensively, and that the persecution which raged against the Christians during the reign of Dioclesian extended to Britain, and many eminent men perished for their attachment to the faith. We know also, that about the beginning of the Fifth Century, British Ecclesiastics enjoyed great consideration in the christian world, and, by the propagation of their opinions respecting original sin and free will, raised a controversy which extended to every part of the world. where christianity was professed. The wars of the heathen Saxons extinguished almost every vestige of christianity in England. The Churches were levelled, and the Ecclesiastics were massacred, and the people lost the memory of that religion which, under the civilizing influence of Rome, appeared to have taken root within it. Through Gregory, I.,* Austin and other Monks were sent to England to preach christianity about the end of the sixth century. In the reign of Edward, the influence of christianity was extended to our own district, which then formed part of the kingdom of Northumberland. The venerable Bede gives a striking account of the council called by the sagacious King, to consider the new opinions, adopt them, or confirm the old. The eloquence of

*This Gregory declared, in his day, whoever should take upon himself the title of "Universal Bishop" over the Church of Rome, was the forerunner of Anti-Christ.

the missionaries of the new religion prevailed, and the High Priest moved, that the religion should be changed, and the Temples in which they formerly worshipped should be consigned to flames and to execration. The King and his Nobles were then baptized with many of the people. Civilization, morality, and a taste for literature, were its immediate fruits. A Christian Clergy were established, and Monasteries arose; the poor were taken into their protection, and were thus gradually drawn away from robbery and bloodshed. A power was reared which, at one time opposing the King, and at another the domination of the Nobles, favoured the emancipation, and contributed much to produce the freedom of the people.

In the course of the seventh century many Monasteries were founded in all parts of Britain. They were designed at first for the seats of Bishops and their Clergy, for the residence of secular Priests, and in all places they were the Seminaries of learning for educating the people. These Monasteries were so plundered and effectually destroyed by the Pagan Danes, that before the ninth century there were scarcely to be found a Monastery or a Monk throughout the whole land; but the Danes soon fell into the same error as their predecessors, and the rage for Monasteries broke out afresh during the tenth century. Although it is impossible to fix the date of the establishment of the Monastery here, we have no doubt whatever that our locality was the site of one of the earliest Churches. Perhaps the most correct view of the question is, that the early edifices suffered

from the Danes, and when the latter were converted to Christianity, they destroyed the Altars they had previously erected to Baal, and rebuilt the Church which they had formerly levelled. This is the more likely, as our locality was a favourite settlement of the Danes. From Dempster's Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, we learn that at the end of the tenth century there existed a Monastic Institution at Jedburgh, of which one Kennoch was Abbot. The same authority states that the Abbot was afterwards regarded as a saint, and his festival kept on the fourteenth of November of each year. If we are to believe this authority, and we see no reason why the statement should be discredited,—on the contrary, the state of the country and other circumstances at the time go amply to support the fact, we cannot help holding that an institution of the kind existed here long before David I. saw the light. It is one thing, however, to show that religious edifices existed, but quite another thing to make it appear by whom the present ruins were erected.

A careful examination of the ruins is satisfactory to my mind, that by far the greater portion of the present building was erected subsequent to the wars of Wallace and Bruce. The oldest part is distinguished by the coarse heavy round pillar, and the semicircular arch; and this style is to be found in the lower parts of the Choir, in a small part of the Virgin's Chapel: the two pillars which support the north wall of the tower, and the pillars farther north, and which, in the olden structure, contributed to form the north arm of the cross. The same style is still

B

to be seen in what remains of the south transept. In these portions there is not the least approach to the pointed style, and no ornament or decoration of any kind is to be found on these arches and pillars, except the zigzag moulding common to the early period. The old portion, too, seems to be built with a white coloured freestone, while the succeeding style is built with reddish freestone. Over the arches raised on the round heavy pillar, the pointed style prevails, and the experienced eye finds no difficulty in tracing the junction of these styles. The one is entirely distinct from the other both in material and style. Wherever the old style exists, there is no buttress; but whenever the pointed or Gothic is found, the early buttress is seen supporting the wall. My impression is that the Abbey was, with the exception of the old part noticed above, entirely destroyed during the succession wars, and that this is the more likely to have happened, from the fact that the Abbot. and his brother of Melrose, supported the claims of Bruce, and maintained the independency of the kingdom. In this we find a key to the unrelenting cruelty of the ambitious Edward to the Monastery of Jedburgh. While these wars continued, the Abbey was reduced to such a condition, that the members thereof required to be billeted on other houses in England. But when the independency of the kingdom was secured at the glorious contest on the field of Bannockburn,-in which struggle the cry of" Jeddart's here" was heard amidst the din of battle and the clash ofarms--the gallant Bruce, who did not forget his old friends, strove to repair the

Abbey whose occupants had suffered so severely for their long tried friendship to their king, and devotion to the liberty of their country.

In support of this view, I think I can produce one of the Abbots himself. It was customary in the early days-indeed we have examples of the practice in recent times-for persons to erect distinct portions of the religious houses, and on these parts the name of the party was affixed. One person would erect a pillar, another a window, a third a buttress, and so on, every piece of work bearing the name of the person who furnished the funds. In this way, also, our venerable ruin, as well as the newly-formed Chapel at the other end of the angle, seems to have been erected. As I mentioned before, over the old heavy pillars which are built with white freestone, is raised a new style composed of reddish stone. The same kind of stone has been used, and the same style followed in building up or contracting the wide space between the pillars on the ground, and higher up the deep splay-mouthed arches of the olden time have been narrowed. On all this reddish stone is found the name of the Abbot "John Hall." The name can be distinctly traced on the new work, building up the old arches on the north of the Choir: it is also found on the work between the Virgin's Isle and the Choir, and the bosses of the groins of the Virgin's Aisle exhibit the same name. The same name is found on a 66 Boss," which some Goth or other, whose head could not appreciate the value of the remnant of an ancient age, has placed over the door of the