churches, in most instances levelled to the ground, but its extensive lands were alienated, its sacred vessels of gold and silver were taken away and some of them sold, and many of its valuable records, manuscripts, furnishings, and books of devotion were either committed to the flames, laid aside in private dwellings, or carried away into foreign lands. The barons and other nobles, taking advantage of the religious excitement of the times to aggrandise themselves, not only encouraged the Reforming clergy and people in the destruction of the great religious houses, but sometimes they took part in the work of demolition themselves, so that the abbots, priors, and other ecclesiastics being compelled to fly, there might be none left to demand restitution.1 As an evidence of what took place at that eventful period of Scottish ecclesiastical history, the following may be adduced:— "An Act was passed (by the Estates of the Realm, A.D. 1560) for demolishing cloysters and abbey churches, such as were not as yet pulled down; the execution whereof was for the west parts committed to the Earles of Arrane, Argile, 1 On the 28th March 1561, the Lords of the Congregation “past to Stirling, and be the way kest down the Abbey of Dunfermling" (Regist. de Dunf., Pref., p. xxv, from Pitscottie). and Glencairn, for the north to Lord James, and for the in-countries to some barons that were held most zealous. Thereupon issued a pitifull vastation of churches and church buildings throughout all parts of the realm; for every one made bold to put to their hands, the meaner sort imitating the ensample of the greater and those who were in authority. No difference was made, but all the churches either defaced or pulled to the ground. The holy vessels, and whatsoever else men could make gain of, as timber, lead, and bells were put to sale. The very sepulchres of the dead were not spared. The registers of the Church and bibliotheques cast into the fire. In a word, all was ruined, and what had escaped in the time of the first tumult, did now undergo the common calamity; which was so much the worse that the violences committed at this time were coloured with the warrant of public authority." (Spottiswoode, Hist. of the Ch. of Scotland-London, 1655-lib. iii. pp. 174, 175.) Lord Hailes, though not doubting the truthfulness of Spottiswoode's statement, remarks that he gives no authority for it. When Lord Hertford was sent by Henry VIII. to invade Scotland in the year 1544, he surprised and plundered Leith (the Scottish army being on the Borders), and gave Edinburgh for three days to the flames. "One hundred and ninety-two towns, parish churches, castel-houses, and 243 villages were cast down or burnt, and the country was reduced almost to a desert."-(Haynes, State Papers, 43 and 52, July-November 1544. Cf. Tytler, vol. v. p. 310, footnote.) In 1545 the same General destroyed the monasteries of Kelso, Melrose, Dryburgh, and Jedburgh. The Cecil Papers state that the Earl of Hertford destroyed between 8th and 23d September 1545, 7 monasteries, 16 castles, 5 market towns, 243 villages, 13 mills, and 3 hospitals (R. O. Scotland, Henry VIII., vol. viii., No. 86). The first General Assembly of the Reformed Church met at Edinburgh on December 20, 1560 (December 21), and at page 1 of the Compendium of the Laws of the Church of Scotland,' No. 4, there appears the following: "The parishioners of Restalrig appointed to repair to Leith kirk, and the kirk of Restalrig ordered to be razed and demolished, as a monument of idolatry." "The Cathedral of Channery, where the Bishop's seat is, was demolished at the Reformation."―(Forbes on Ch. Lands and Tithes— Edinburgh, 1705—p. 79.) "The Black Book of Paisley, an edition of Fordun, was carried to England by General Lambert, and bought by Charles II. for £200. It is now in the British Museum."-(Walcott, Anc. Ch. of Scot., p. 297.) "The Chartulary or Writes of the Bishoprick of Dunblane are not to be found. Sir James Dalrymple conjectures they have been carried over sea at the Reformation by George Thomson, or some other churchman of that diocese.”—(Forbes on Ch. Lands and Tithes, p. 78.) As many leading churchmen in those times fled to France and other parts of the continent of Europe, probably they carried many records with them, some of which may yet be found by archæologists in the libraries of these places. IT CHAPTER XIV. Concluding Remarks-Death of David is now more than 630 years since the remains of David de Bernham were peacefully laid within the precincts of the Monastery of Kelso. That religious house, situated near the confluence of the Teviot and the Tweed, and sheltered by noble trees and wooded heights, although on the borders of Scotland, was yet within the extensive diocese of Glasgow, but being a mitred abbacy, was probably not under the spiritual jurisdiction of its bishop. Here, therefore, and not at St Andrews, where he should have been interred, and where the St Andrews ecclesiastics desired that his interment should take place, did they lay the body of David de Bernham. He had evidently been spending his closing days in the neighbourhood, although little or nothing is known as to how he was employed. In the year 1251 he went to York, accompanied by several of the Scottish nobility, to be present at |