Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/147

 122 INTERIOR OF ABBOTSFORD.

Large portions of the &quot;Lay of the Last Minstrel&quot; were familiar to him, which he recited when any sur rounding object recalled them. Directing our atten tion to a rough, red stone in the wall, on which were the words, &quot; Here lye the race of the house of Year,&quot; or Carr, the present Dukes of Roxburgh, he told us that our &quot; great countryman, Washington Irving, said, there was a haill sarmon on the vanity of pomp in that single line/ &quot; After his agency as our guide had terminated, we were invited to his apartments, where we saw his wife, and a variety of drawings and casts from Melrose, several of which he had himself exe cuted ; and were pleased to have an opportunity of purchasing of him some engravings.

When we visited Abbotsford, it was rich with a pro fusion of roses and ripening fruits. Embosomed in shades, it presents an irregular assemblage of turret, parapet and balcony. The principal hall -is hung with armor, and the emblazoned shields of border chieftains. It is about forty feet in length, and paved with black and white marble. It leads to a room of smaller dimensions, called the armory, where are multitudes of antique implements of destruction, and curiosities from various climes. Scott s antiquarian tastes are inwrought with the structure of the building. Here and there is a pannel, richly carved from the oak of Holy rood, or the old palace of Dunfermline. We were also shown a chimneypiece from Melrose, and told that there was a roof from Roslin Chapel, and a gate from Linlithgow. In the drawing-room, dining-room, and breakfast par-

�� �