churches in
various places. One of the best known of these settlements was Old
Melrose, the original shrine by the beautiful bend of the Tweed, a mile
or two down the river from the second and more celebrated Melrose. Here
Eata, "a man much revered and meek;" and Boisil, who gave his name to
the neighbouring St. Boswells; and Cuthbert, the most illustrious of
them all, served God with gladness. Of the latter, certainly the most
conspicuous Borderer of his day, something more must be said. Three
kingdoms claim his birthplace. The Irish Life of the Saint alleges him
to be sprung of her own blood royal; he is affirmed also to have come of
noble Northumbrian descent; whilst the Scottish tradition makes him the
child of humble parents, born and reared in Lauderdale, one of the
sweetest valleys of the Border. It is a fact, at any rate, that when the
light of record first falls upon him the youthful Cuthbert is seen as a
shepherd lad by the Leader; he is religiously inclined, and whilst his
comrades sleep, he spends whole nights in prayer and meditation. One day
he hears voices from out the unseen calling to him. Another night it is
a vision of angels that he fancies he beholds bearing the soul of the
sainted Aidan to the skies. Such was Cuthbert, a kind of mystic, a
dreamer of strange dreams, destined apostle and Bishop, and next to
Augustine himself the most illustrious figure in the annals of English
monasticism. The church of Channelkirk (anciently Childeschirche)
dedicated to the Saint, probably indicates his birth-spot. The Leader
valley is full of legends of his boyhood, the whole west of
Berwickshire, indeed, being haunted ground for Cuthbert's sake. Other
great names in the history of early Border Christianity are those of
Benedict Biscop, the founder of the monasteries of Jarrow and Monk
Wearmouth; Wilfrid, the founder of Hexham; and the Venerable Bede--the
"father of English learning"--whose "Church History of the English
People" is the greatest of the forty-five works that bear his name.

By far the most flourishing epoch in the religious development of the
Border was the founding of the great Abbeys under David I.--"St.
David"--as he is often called, though he was never canonized. Whilst
still a Prince, he founded a monastery at Selkirk, and after his
accession to the throne, there arose the four stately fanes of Kelso
(1128), Melrose (1146), Jedburgh (1147), and Dryburgh (1150)--those rich
and peaceful homes of a