Page:The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland ( Volume 3).djvu/619

 Edinburgh (1570), the inscription on which was also composed by George Buchanan. That at Ormiston is as follows:—

Omnia quæ longa indulget mortalibus ætas Haec tibi Alexander prima juventa dedit Cum genere et forma generoso sanguine digna Ingenium velox, ingenuumque animum Excolint virtus animum ingeniumque Camenae Successu studio consilioque pari His ducibus primum Peragrata Britannia deinde Gallia ad armiferos qua patet Helvetios Doctus ibi linguas quas Roma Sionet Athenae Quas cum Germano Gallia docta sonat Te licet in prima rapuerunt fata juventa Nonimmaturo funera raptus obis Omnibus officiis vitae qui functus obivit Non fas nunc vitae est de brevitate queri

Hic conditur Mr. Alexander Cokburn primogenitua Joannis domini Ormiston et Alisonae Sandilands ex preclara familia Calder, qui natus 13 Januarii 1535 post insignem linguarum professionem Obiit anno ætatis suae 28 Calen. Septe.

PITTENWEEM PRIORY,.

Of the old monastery of Pittenweem, which was connected with that on the Isle of May in the Frith of Forth, only some altered fragments survive. The priory seems to have derived its name from its being built close to a cave or "weem" on the shore of the Frith of Forth, with which it had communication by a vaulted chamber in the garden and a long straight staircase. The monastic buildings surrounded a courtyard. On the south side was the prior's mansion (now restored and occupied by the Episcopal clergyman of the place). On the west side was the refectory, now converted into the Town Hall, and to the north of it the dormitories.

Some of the walls of these structures still exist, with two square projecting windows overlooking the courtyard. On the east side is the gatehouse, a battlemented structure with a round archway passing through it, now greatly decayed and covered with ivy. Beyond the courtyard to the north lay some outer grounds and a chapel.