retained some portions of Margaret's building, the nave, as we now see it, is of later date, and may perhaps be assigned to the reign of Margaret's son, David I., the founder of the Benedictine abbey. According to all precedent, Margaret would have begun her work with the choir, so that, when that was finished, it might be used while the nave was still in progress. The nave of Durham was completed before 1128; and in 1104 Alexander, brother of King David, was present at the removal of the relics of St. Cuthbert to their first resting-place in Carileph's choir. The church was therefore by that time sufficiently advanced to allow of its becoming a pattern for Dunfermline; and Durham was the church of all others most likely to be so used. The recorded date of the dedication

of Dunfermline is 1150. The reign of David I. extended from 1124 to 1153; and we have thus tolerable evidence that the existing nave is to be assigned to that period.

There are however, as has been said, some changes of later date. Many of the aisle windows are insertions of a later century. The massive buttresses are additions (one or two of the original flat buttresses remain); the north porch has been raised and groined. The upper part of the west front also is apparently of the fourteenth century, and may have been designed after the abbey and the church had been greatly injured by the troops of Edward I. The western towers-at least the walls of them-may be Late Norman, erected after the completion of the nave. But if this be so, they have been greatly changed; and the northern tower seems to have been converted, at some time subsequent to its first erection, into a tower of defence. It is higher than the southern tower, and is without buttresses or large windows.

The royal personages who, besides Malcolm and Margaret, were buried in the abbey church of Dunfermline, were their three sons, each of whom wore the Scottish crownEdgar, Alexander I., and David I.; Malcolm IV.; Alexander III., and Margaret, his first queen; and Robert the Bruce, with his queen, Elizabeth. Dunfermline thus succeeded Iona as the burial-place of the kings. Before the building of the new church, six large flat stones were to be seen in the churchyard, now covered by the north transept. These, according to tradition, marked the tombs of the kings; and in 1807 the ground was examined by the late Sir John Graham Dalzell. He came to the conclusion that the stones marked the bases of the tombs, and that the bodies were not interred beneath them. A discovery of very great interest was made in 1818, whilst the ground of the choir was being cleared for the building of the new church. In a low vault, a body was found, wrapped in two coats of lead, within which were fragments of fine linen, traversed by threads of gold. The bones thus enclosed were of great size; and the breast-bone had been sawn in two. It is known that King Robert the Bruce was buried in the choir of Dunfermline, before the high altar, in or below a tomb of white marble, richly gilt, which, according to the Chamberlain's accounts, was brought from Paris. Accordingly, it has been generally held that the remains discovered in 1818 were those of the great Scottish king; and the sawing of the breast-bone may have been designed for the removal of the heart, in accordance with the Bruce's well-known injunction to the "good Lord James " of Douglas. The evidence is not, perhaps, conclusive; but there is much reason for believing that those who made the examination looked upon the actual relics of King Robert.

Queen Margaret was canonised in 1249, and in the following year, in accordance with the usual custom on the recognition of a saint, her remains were translated from her tomb before the altar of the Holy Cross to a shrine placed in the choir. But says her legend in the Breviary of Aberdeen-as the procession passed eastward it was suddenly stopped. The shrine became so heavy that it could not be moved; and a mysterious voice was heard, declaring that King Malcolm's bones lay below, and that as the sainted queen and her husband had been one in life, so they must be in death. Accordingly, the king's bones were raised and placed in the shrine with those of St. Margaret. At once the shrine was readily moved, and was borne with great joy and triumph to its place at the back of the high altar. From that time there were frequent pilgrimages to Dunfermline. The relics

were, it is said, divided after the Dissolution.

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The "Queensferry," which crosses the Firth, preserves a recollection of the saint. There or at a spot a little west of the existing piers-it is said that the English exiles landed when, on their flight from York, they obtained the peace" of the Scottish king. On the south of the old landing-place was a rock called the Binks; and the seal of the "burgh" of Queensferry has a representation of this rock, with Queen Margaret in a boat, and three sea-mews in attendance. A block of freestone on the road to Dunfermline is known as "St. Margaret's Stone," since it served her, says the local tradition, for a resting-place on her way inland. In the rock near the tower of Dunfermline is a hollow called St. Margaret's Cave, with one or two niches at the sides, and a spring of pure water. There, it is said, the queen used to retire for prayer. It is, no doubt, the cell of some primitive recluse.

There are considerable remains of the domestic buildings of the abbey. The most important is the long line of the refectory, raised on a considerable substructure, with a range of tall, graceful windows between projecting buttresses. At the west end, flanked by a turret on one side, and on the other by a gateway leading into the cloister court, is a larger window, of which the beautiful flowing tracery is nearly perfect. Trees and underwood are mingled with the ruins, and tufts of fern and wallflower have touched the broken walls with colour. The whole scene is picturesque, and full of "subjects" for the artist. The abbey was greatly injured, and in part destroyed, by the order of Edward I., during his great invasion of Scotland, in 1303;* and

* Edward had established his court at Dunfermline. His newly-married queen, Margaret of France, joined him there. See Lord Hailes, and Burton, "Hist. of Scotland," chap. 22.

the remains of the refectory, besides the adjoining gateway and other fragments, belong to a subsequent period, and indicate the great reparation and rebuilding which had become necessary. This reparation must have extended over the greater part of the fourteenth century, for the great west window of the refectory cannot be earlier than 1360 or 1370.

The wooded glen of Pittencrief winds away from the abbey ruins; and in it, on a projecting rock, are the traces-they cannot be called ruins-of King Malcolm's Tower-the first stronghold of Dunfermline. Nothing remains but an angle of the south and west walls; and all we can conclude about the building is that it was one of

those square towers which abound in Scotland, and to which it is hardly possible to assign a certain date. The tower-hill has fine trees on it, and on the north side the glen is steep and rugged, and is deeply tree - shadowed. In the glen, about a hundred yards south-east of the tower, rise the ruins of the palace, displaying a long front towards the wooded walk. The earlier part, with its narrow windows, has been regarded as the work of Robert the Bruce, who was frequently at Dunfermline, and who certainly built there. The rest of the palace seems to belong to the second half of the fourteenth century. The Bruce's son, afterwards David II., the hero of the prophecy, "Iste manu fortis Anglorum ludet in hortis," was born at Dunfermline, March 4th, 1323, but whether in the old tower of King Malcolm, or in the newly-raised fortress (as it then was), is uncertain. In later days the palace, perhaps for the sake of the forests in its neighbourhood, was a favourite abode of James VI. His daughter Elizabeth, afterwards Queen of Bohemia, was born there, August 19th, 1596; and the roofless chamber is still pointed out in which, on November 19th, 1600, the unfortunate Prince Charles first saw the light. It is fitting that the birth-place of the "royal martyr" should not be without its legend. We are told how, in the fading twilight, a figure like an old man came into the room where the infant lay, and flung a dark cloak over him. The nurse shrieked, and when the king appeared to investigate the matter, he knew by certain signs that it was the "auld enemy" who had thus thrown his shadow on the child. Another story asserts that a cloak dipped in blood was one day blown in at the window, and stained the pillow on which the infant prince was resting. The last royal occupant of the palace was Charles II., who here signed the National League and Covenant.

These are the figures which present themselves, and the associations which fill the mind, as we wander under the abbey walls and ruins, and through the rocky glen of Dunfermline. They are removed altogether from the bustle and the interests of the modern town; but we must turn to that for a few moments. Dunfermline stands on the edge of an important carboniferous district, the coal in which was worked at a very early period, since in 1291 William de Oberwill, of Pittencrief, grants to the abbot and. convent the privilege of working "one coal-pit," wherever they chose, except on arable land. There are now about twenty-two collieries in the neighbourhood, and the readiness with which coal is procured has led to the modern prosperity of Dunfermline. It is the principal place in Scotland where table-linens are manufactured. The weaving of damask was introduced here in 1718, and until the year 1845 only hand-looms were employed in the work. Then a great change began, and at present there are eleven power-loom factories in the town, in which more than 5,000 persons are employed. The annual value of goods manufactured is about £850,000. There are besides many lesser establishments in Dunfermline-iron and brass works, soap works, and dye works.

The population of the borough in 1861 was 14,963. In 1877 it had become 15,839. Dunfermline contains. some extensive and costly modern buildings. The "County Buildings" are crowned with a spire, which rises to the height of 132 feet. There are new Corporation Buildings, and many others of importance.*

*These particulars are from the article "Dunfermline" in the newly-published "Encyclopædia Britannica" (1877).