Finding nothing to detain us at Bamff, we set out in
the morning, and having breakfasted at Cullen, about noon came to Elgin, where in the inn,
that we supposed the best, a dinner was set before us, which we could not eat. This was
the first time, and except one, the last, that I found any reason to complain of a Scotish
table; and such disappointments, I suppose, must be expected in every country, where there
is no great frequency of travellers.The ruins of the
cathedral of Elgin afforded us another proof of the waste of reformation. There is enough
yet remaining to shew, that it was once magnificent. Its whole plot is easily traced. On
the north side of the choir, the chapter-house, which is roofed with an arch of stone,
remains entire; and on the south side, another mass of building, which we could not enter,
is preserved by the care of the family of Gordon; but the body of the church is a mass of
fragments.
A paper was here put into our hands, which deduced from sufficient
authorities the history of this venerable ruin. The church of Elgin had, in the intestine
tumults of the barbarous ages, been laid waste by the irruption of a highland chief, whom
the bishop had offended; but it was gradually restored to the state, of which the traces
may be now discerned, and was at last not destroyed by the tumultuous violence of Knox,
but more shamefully suffered to dilapidate by deliberate robbery and frigid indifference.
There is still extant, in the books of the council, an order, of which I cannot remember
the date, but which was doubtless issued after the Reformation, directing that the lead,
which covers the two cathedrals of Elgin and Aberdeen, shall be taken away, and converted
into money for the support of the army. A Scotch army was in those times very cheaply
kept; yet the lead of two churches must have born so small a proportion to any military
expence, that it is hard not to believe the reason alleged to be merely popular, and the
money intended for some private purse. The order however was obeyed; the two churches were
stripped, and the lead was shipped to be sold in Holland. I hope every reader will rejoice
that this cargo of sacrilege was lost at sea.
Let us not however make too much haste to despise our neighbours.
Our own cathedrals are mouldering by unregarded dilapidation. It seems to be part of the
despicable philosophy of the time to despise monuments of sacred magnificence, and we are
in danger of doing that deliberately, which the Scots did not do but in the unsettled
state of an imperfect constitution. Those who had once uncovered the cathedrals never
wished to cover them again; and being thus made useless, they were, first neglected, and
perhaps, as the stone was wanted, afterwards demolished.
Elgin seems a place of little trade, and thinly inhabited. The
episcopal cities of Scotland, I believe, generally fell with their churches, though some
of them havencovered the cathedrals never
wished to cover them again; and being thus made useless, they were, first neglected, and
perhaps, as the stone was wanted, afterwards demolished.
Elgin seems a place of little trade, and thinly inhabited. The
episcopal cities of Scotland, I believe, generally fell with their churches, though some
of them have since recovered by a situation convenient for commerce. Thus Glasgow, though
it has no longer an archbishop, has risen beyond its original state by the opulence of its
traders; and Aberdeen, though its ancient stock had decayed, flourishes by a new shoot in
another place.
In the chief street of Elgin, the houses jut over the lowest story,
like the old buildings of timber in London, but with greater prominence; so that there is
sometimes a walk for a considerable length under a cloister, or portico, which is now
indeed frequently broken, because the new houses have another form, but seems to have been
uniformly continued in the old city.
