Dugald Butler

“ The history of the cathedral is closely connected with many of the stirring events in Scottish history. King Edward prostrated himself before its altar; Robert the Bruce within it received absolution, "while the Red Cumyn's blood was scarce yet dry upon his dagger"; and within its walls was held the Glasgow Assembly of 1638, when the Episcopate was abolished, and the Presbyterian government was restored. Robert Leighton has preached within its choir, in his low, sweet voice, and with those angelic strains of eloquence and devotion which lingered in the memory of his hearers to their dying day. ”

“ But the political events of a country of so narrow bounds and small resources as Scotland are insignificant unless they are associated with the development of principles and feelings that know no limits of place or power. How rich Scotland has been in such associations is testified by the general sympathy which attends her history and her literature, and gives a pride to her children that forms not the weakest safeguard of their virtue. ”

“ He was probably the founder of the early Celtic church at Paisley, and seems to have been an itinerant preacher round the district, regarding Paisley as his centre, where at last, "full of miracles and holiness, he slept in the Lord." It matters little whether these legends regarding miracles are historically correct, for the value lies in the moral of them. "The falsehood would not have been invented unless it had started in a truth, and in all these legends there is set forth the victory of a good and beneficent man over evil, whether it be of matter or of spirit." ”

“ The flying buttresses, with pinnacles enriched with crockets and foliaged finials; the niches, with their elaborate canopies and corbels composed of figures of monks and angels; the statues which formerly filled the niches, of which very few now remain; the decorated tracery of the south transept window, and the whole character of the work, both in its general scope and in its details, is of fine decorated design, and vividly recalls that of York, Beverley, and other English examples. ”

“ The abbey church, when complete, was cruciform, and comprised a seven-bayed nave, with side aisles, a transept, a choir with a lady chapel, and three towers, two western ones terminating the aisles and flanking the gable of the nave, and the great central tower rising from the crossing. The monastic buildings were also on a magnificent scale, but of the church and monastic structures there only now remain the Norman nave, the base of the Lady Chapel, and part of the refectory and kitchen. ”

“ Foreign war and rapine have wasted and destroyed our heritage of sacred places. Kelso, Jedburgh, Melrose, and Haddington fell before the English invader. Iona was ravaged by the Dane, while yet the island formed part of a Scandinavian diocese. Internal lawlessness and tribal fury have wrought like disasters. Elgin, once "the fair glory of the land," stands a forlorn monument of the savagery of a Highland chief. St. Andrews, Lindores, Perth, Paisley, and many others bear witness to the reckless outrage which cloaked its violence under the guise of religious zeal. ”

“ Early in the nineteenth century it was contemplated to raise the nave wall and erect a clerestory; two of the windows adjoining the tower on the north side were actually built, and still remain with massive buttresses, surmounted by high finials; the work was never finished, and could not be carried farther west, as there is no proper support for such a massive building. Tradition says that at one time the church extended farther west, and it seems not improbable that a western tower in the centre of the front may have been contemplated, and even begun. ”

“ One cannot look at their ruins and not recall that by their destruction a beauty has passed away from the earth; one cannot read of the rude forces that destroyed them, and not see that the judgment on things is always on character, and that the last testing principle is, "See—not what manner of stones, but what manner of men." While we deplore the forces that destroyed, we have also to deplore the indefensible lives of the monks which at their last stage stirred such forces to their depths. ”

“ Nothing has been left to chance, or to the sweet will of the co-operating craftsman, but the one master-mind has dictated every moulding and every combination, and has left the impress of his genius upon it all. ”

“ To the east of the transept is a choir of two bays, with aisles, and beyond which is an aisleless presbytery. The portions left are pronounced to be of a very beautiful design, both internally and externally. The exterior is simple but elegant, and of first pointed work; the interior shows evidence of more advanced design. The clerestory is of beautiful design; "each bay contains an arcade of three arches, the central one, which is opposite the window, being larger than the side arches. The arches are supported on detached piers, behind which runs a gallery. ”

“ Scotland, it has been maintained by those competent to judge, can show a continuous series of Christian structures, beginning with the primitive cells and oratories of the early anchorites, and extending through all the periods of mediæval art. It exemplifies two distinctive phases of artistic development—the first comprising the rise and decline of Celtic Art in early Christian times, and the second allied to the various stages of general European culture. ”

“ Men of all creeds contributed to the work, and when the Abbey, on the 27th April 1862, was re-opened for public worship, it could scarcely be recognised, so changed was it from its former condition." [410] In closing his splendid volume Dr. Lees adds, "We trust the time is not far distant when the Abbey of the first Stewart will stand forth again in all its pristine beauty—with transept, and choir, and tower, as in the days of the founder." That hope will soon pass into a reality, and Scotland will have a completely restored abbey church used as a parish church. ”

“ For the early architecture attention must be confined to the interior of the transept and crypt. The transepts are of the transitional style of the end of the twelfth century; the piers which carry the central tower are of the usual transitional type, having graceful capitals and square abaci supporting round arches; on each side of the north transept there are two original clerestory windows, and one of them has angle shafts, with carved caps and mouldings. The present large north window has remains of its original features, but its tracery is of late work. ”

“ The First Pointed style is represented in Scotland during the thirteenth century, but owing to the disastrous situation of the country during the fourteenth century, the number of "decorated" buildings is pronounced to be comparatively small. On the other hand, it is maintained that during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when the "Perpendicular" style prevailed in England and the "Flamboyant" in France, the architecture of Scotland was distinguished by a style peculiar to the country, in which many features derived from both the above styles may be detected. ”

“ Transept—the portion of a building crossing the nave and producing a cruciform plan. Transition—the period of a change of style, during which there is frequently an overlapping of the styles. Transom—the transverse horizontal piece across the mullions of a window. Triforium or blind story—the middle story of a large church, over the pier arches and under the clerestory windows; it is usually ornamented by an arcade, and fills the space formed by the necessary slope of the aisle roofs. Tympanum—the space between the flat lintel of a doorway and the arch over it, usually filled with sculpture. ”

“ The present north and south doorways in the choir are modern, although the south one is in the position of the old doorway. The choir has no triforium, but good plain masonry instead, undivided by wall shafts; the clerestory windows are small and round arched, are divided into two lights by a central mullion, and have plain tracery in the arch-head. The nave is divided, like the choir, into five bays, and has no triforium nor clerestory; there is a deep blank wall above the arcade arches. ”

“ Around the monastic buildings might be seen the belt of cultivated land continually encroaching on the adjoining forest, and the passer-by might trace to the toil of these mute workmen the opening of roads, the draining of marshes, the herds grazing, and the harvests waving in security under the shelter of ecclesiastical privileges which even the Estergoth and Vandal regarded with respect. ”

“ The church is cruciform, having choir and nave, both with side aisles, and north and south transepts without aisles. Over the crossing is the central tower. The choir and transepts are ruinous, and the restored nave is used as the parish church. The tower was originally crowned with a canopy or spire of open work similar to that of St. Giles, Edinburgh, and King's College, Aberdeen; and large picturesque gargoyles still break the line of the cornice on the top. Although the edifice has been so sadly damaged, it does not appear to have suffered at the Reformation. ”

“ Scotland was divided into thirteen dioceses—St. Andrews, Glasgow, Dunkeld, Aberdeen, Moray, Brechin, Dunblane, Ross, Caithness, Galloway, Lismore or Argyll, the Isles, and Orkney; but before sketching the history and architecture of each of the thirteen cathedrals, it will be necessary to indicate the general features of the various periods of Scottish architecture itself, as it is of this movement the structures themselves are all an expression. ”

“ Rule's was the cathedral built by this bishop, and took the place of an earlier Celtic church, founded by Bishop Acca. The square tower of St. Regulus was probably designed to fulfil the same purposes as the Round Towers of Abernethy and Brechin: (1) to serve as a belfry; (2) to be a keep or place of strength in which the sacred utensils, books, relics, and other valuables were deposited, and into which the ecclesiastics could retire for security in case of sudden predatory attack; (3) when occasion required, to be a beacon or watch-tower. ”

“ The Scottish churches are usually smaller in size than the English ones, and consist of single compartments without aisles. The east end frequently terminates with a three-sided apse—a feature which owes its origin to the Scottish alliance and intercourse with France. The leading and distinguishing feature is, however, the vaulting—the pointed barrel vault being almost universally employed. The windows of these churches are necessarily low, so as to allow the point of the arch-head to come beneath the spring of the main vault. The buttresses are generally somewhat stunted. ”

“ Men like Claud Hamilton, who never had done anything for their country, became enriched and ennobled through the spoliation. It is vain to picture regretfully what might have been; but any one can see how much better it would have been for Scotland if the whole community, instead of a few unworthy individuals, had got the benefit of the Church's wealth. Those who did get it have in too many instances made a very miserable use of their ill-gotten gain." [385]
Prior to the Reformation the monastery consisted of a church, the cloister and conventual buildings. ”

“ The choir, so far as the east is concerned, is well preserved, the buttresses and gable, the celebrated eastern window, and the remarkable vaulting of the presbytery being all in good order. The remainder of the choir, however, has been greatly wrecked by the fall of the central tower; but many of the windows of the choir and transept with their perpendicular tracery have escaped destruction, and afford the best example in Scotland of that form of design. ”