the part of the old Roman Catholic clergy to
convey spiritual instruction to the people, and is creditable to
Archbishop Hamilton's memory.[384]

Referring to the disposal of the abbey property, Dr. Lees says:--

"The manner in which the Church property was gifted away forms a
scandalous episode in the history of Scotland. Men like Claud
Hamilton, who never had done anything for their country, became
enriched and ennobled through the spoliation. It is vain to picture
regretfully what might have been; but any one can see how much
better it would have been for Scotland if the whole community,
instead of a few unworthy individuals, had got the benefit of the
Church's wealth. Those who did get it have in too many instances
made a very miserable use of their ill-gotten gain."[385]

Prior to the Reformation the monastery consisted of a church, the
cloister and conventual buildings. The church comprised a long aisleless
choir, a nave with aisles, a north transept, a south transept, with St.
Mirin's Chapel attached to the south of it, and a tower and spire over
the crossing.[386]

The choir walls, containing an elegant sedilia and piscina, remain
standing to the height of 9 feet, and it is questioned whether the
choir was ever finished during the restoration. There is a
string-course all round; the building is of fifteenth century work,
and occupies the place of an earlier choir, which has been
demolished. The wall at the east end of the nave, which separates it
from the transept, may have been erected during the restoration of
the fifteenth century, with the intention of rendering the nave a
complete church until the transept and choir were restored. This
seems to have been in progress when the Reformation interrupted the
work. The design of the sedilia resembles that at St. Monans, Fife,
and adjoining the sedilia is the piscina, the aperture of which is
still visible.

The north transept is in ruins, but the north wall, with the remains
of a fine traceried window, still exists, as well as a traceried
window in the west wall. The south transept is also in ruins, while
the tower and spire have disappeared. St. Mirin's Chapel is well
preserved, but the openings connecting it with the south transept
are built up.

The nave survives as a whole, and contains six bays, divided by
massive piers, and surmount