manding a delightful view, there is an elegant cottage erecting, after a model of some of our most beautiful English ones, in the gothic style; quite a new plan of building in Scotland.

pied by Miss R

It is to be occu

of Elgin, a lady

who has displayed much taste in the model of her cottage, as also in the situation which she has chosen.

LETTER XI.

College Elgin, July.

FEW monastic ruins can boast the stately grandeur of Pluscardine, which reposes in a valley of the same name, situated three miles from Elgin. It is sequestered at the foot of steep hills, and shaded by high embowering trees. Here reigns

"Silence and solitude, twin sisters old."

"The pealing organ and the nightly prayer
No more is heard. The solitary owl
Her vigils keep, and, moping, lonely sings
The solemn dirge of desolation drear,
Amid the ruins of these mould'ring walls."
CRERIE.

This priory was founded by Alexander. the Second, in the year 1230, in honour of the patron of Scotland, and was called

Vallis Sancti Andrea.. The monks were of the order of St. Bennet, and the house was subject to the Abbey of Dunfermline. The number of the monks were only fourteen, the younger sons of families of distinction in the neighbourhood, with a prior at the head.

This ruin is now the property of the Earl of Fife, who, with much liberality, has employed masons to repair the mutilated parts of this beautiful fabric.

When I stood in the centre of this vast building, I was opposite the spot where formerly was placed the altar. On the left hand of the body of the church, it was evident the walls had been painted in fresco. A catholic priest informed me, the subjects had been taken from St. John the Evangelist. Part of the monastery, containing a long gallery, together with the dormitory, are now demolished. The cemetry still contains a few mutilated tombs: one in particular is marked, as having contained the body of a monk, from the sign of the cross, which is rudely carved on the stone, and

bearing a nearly defaced Latin inscription. There is a cell visible in the cavity of the wall, where penances were performed. Scrambling up some decayed steps, I came to the walls of the dormitory, from whence I discovered the broken fragments of what had been the prior's house, leading to the dormitory, and by a winding staircase, led into an open court, overshadowed by five tall ash-trees, which was a place for exercise and recreation. Looking over the broken high arched window of this ruinous edifice, the green branches of the trees waving over them, cast "a dim religious light," by no means unpleasing.

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This priory, divested of all florid ornament, is, like Elgin cathedral, chaste, classic, and superb, and may be considered one of the most perfect specimens of that description of building. It was esteemed by a traveller* of correct taste, as bearing a

*The author of that elegant and classical work, "Remarks on Italy.”

Mr. Forsyth's description of, and reflections on,

greater resemblance to the antique and sequestered monasteries in Italy than any other ruin in Great Britain.

Rome and the Coliseum, must come home to every bosom, and every heart must contract in exclaiming -it is too true!

"Every nation" he remarks, "has undergone its revolution of vices; and, as cruelty is not the present vice of ours, we can all humanely execrate the purpose of amphitheatres, now that they lie in ruins. Moralists may tell us that the brave are never cruel; but this monument says 'No.' Here sat the conquerors of the world, coolly to enjoy the tortures and death of men who had never offended them. Two aquaducts were scarcely sufficient to wash off the human blood which a few hours' sport shed in this imperial shambles. Twice in one day came the senators and matrons of Rome. to the butchery; a virgin always gave the signal for slaughter; and when glutted with bloodshed, those ladies sat down in the wet and streaming arena to a luxurious supper!

"Such reflections check our regret for its ruin. As it now stands, the Coliseum is a striking image of Rome itself; decayed, vacant, serious yet grand; half gray and half green, erect on one side, and fallen on the other, with consecrated ground in its bosom, inhabited by a beadsmun; visited by every cast; for moralists, antiquaries, painters, architects, devotees, all meet here to meditate, to examine, to