122 INTERIOR OF ABBOTSFORD.
Large portions of the "Lay of the Last Minstrel" were familiar to him, which he recited when any sur rounding object recalled them. Directing our atten tion to a rough, red stone in the wall, on which were the words, " Here lye the race of the house of Year," or Carr, the present Dukes of Roxburgh, he told us that our " great countryman, Washington Irving, said, there was a haill sarmon on the vanity of pomp in that single line/ " After his agency as our guide had terminated, we were invited to his apartments, where we saw his wife, and a variety of drawings and casts from Melrose, several of which he had himself exe cuted ; and were pleased to have an opportunity of purchasing of him some engravings.
When we visited Abbotsford, it was rich with a pro fusion of roses and ripening fruits. Embosomed in shades, it presents an irregular assemblage of turret, parapet and balcony. The principal hall -is hung with armor, and the emblazoned shields of border chieftains. It is about forty feet in length, and paved with black and white marble. It leads to a room of smaller dimensions, called the armory, where are multitudes of antique implements of destruction, and curiosities from various climes. Scott s antiquarian tastes are inwrought with the structure of the building. Here and there is a pannel, richly carved from the oak of Holy rood, or the old palace of Dunfermline. We were also shown a chimneypiece from Melrose, and told that there was a roof from Roslin Chapel, and a gate from Linlithgow. In the drawing-room, dining-room, and breakfast par-
�� �
