The Monastery

The Monastery

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Monastery, by Sir Walter Scott
#25 in our series by Sir Walter Scott
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Title: The Monastery
Author: Sir Walter Scott
Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6406] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on December 8,
2002]
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[Illustration: Halbert Glendinning Invoking The White Lady]
[Illustration: WAVERLEY NOVELS ABBOTSFORD EDITION]
THE WAVERLY NOVELS by SIR WALTER SCOTT.
Complete In Twelve Volumes
Printed from the latest English Editions Embracing The Author's Last
Corrections, Prefaces, and Notes.
THE MONASTERY.
INTRODUCTION--(1830.)
It would be difficult to assign any good reason why the author of
Ivanhoe, after using, in that work, all the art he possessed to remove the
personages, action, and manners of the tale, to a distance from his own
country, should choose for the scene of his next attempt the celebrated
ruins of Melrose, in the immediate neighbourhood of his own residence.
But the reason, or caprice, which dictated his change of system, has
entirely escaped his recollection, nor is it worth while to attempt
recalling what must be a matter of very little consequence.
The general plan of the story was, to conjoin two characters in that
bustling and contentious age, who, thrown into situations which gave
them different views on the subject of the Reformation, should, with
the same sincerity and purity of intention, dedicate themselves, the one
to the support of the sinking fabric of the Catholic Church, the other to
the establishment of the Reformed doctrines. It was supposed that some
interesting subjects for narrative might be derived from opposing two
such enthusiasts to each other in the path of life, and contrasting the
real worth of both with their passions and prejudices. The localities of
Melrose suited well the scenery of the proposed story; the ruins

themselves form a splendid theatre for any tragic incident which might
be brought forward; joined to the vicinity of the fine river, with all its
tributary streams, flowing through a country which has been the scene
of so much fierce fighting, and is rich with so many recollections of
former times, and lying almost under the immediate eye of the author,
by whom they were to be used in composition.
The situation possessed farther recommendations. On the opposite bank
of the Tweed might be seen the remains of ancient enclosures,
surrounded by sycamores and ash-trees of considerable size. These had
once formed the crofts or arable ground of a village, now reduced to a
single hut, the abode of a fisherman, who also manages a ferry. The
cottages, even the church which once existed there, have sunk into
vestiges hardly to be traced without visiting the spot, the inhabitants
having gradually withdrawn to the more prosperous town of Galashiels,
which has risen into consideration, within two miles of their
neighbourhood. Superstitious eld, however, has tenanted the deserted
groves with aerial beings, to supply the want of the mortal tenants who
have deserted it. The ruined and abandoned churchyard of Boldside has
been long believed to be haunted by the Fairies, and the deep broad
current of the Tweed, wheeling in moonlight round the foot of the steep
bank, with the number of trees originally planted for shelter round the
fields of the cottagers, but now presenting the effect of scattered and
detached groves, fill up the idea which one would form in imagination
for a scene that Oberon and Queen Mab might love to revel in. There
are evenings when the spectator might believe, with Father Chaucer,
that the
--Queen of Faery, With harp, and pipe, and symphony, Were dwelling
in the place.
Another, and even a more familiar refuge of the elfin race, (if tradition
is to be