90. The masonry also formed a quarry for
the neighbourhood, and in 1618 the remaining portion of the structure
was fitted up as the parish church, "and in order to render it secure, a
plain pointed barrel vault was thrown across the nave, and was supported
by plain square piers built against the old piers on the north side. The
original vaulting seems to have been previously demolished."[452] A
great number of the stone images of saints which filled the numerous
wall niches were left untouched till 1649, when they were almost all
cast down and destroyed, but by whose order is unknown. Of the abbey
there now only remain the ruins of the church, and of it the most
competent authorities say:--

"No building in Scotland affords such an extensive and almost
inexhaustible field for minute investigation and enjoyment of detail
such as this. Whether we consider the great variety of the
beautifully sculptured figures of monks and angels playing on
musical instruments, or displaying 'the scrolls which teach us to
live and die,' or turn to the elaborate canopies and beautiful
pinnacles of the buttresses, or examine the rich variety of foliage
and other sculptures on the capitals of the nave and the doorway and
arches of the cloisters; or if, again, we take a more general view
of the different parts of the edifice from the numerous fine
standpoints from which it can be so advantageously contemplated, we
know of no Scottish building which surpasses Melrose either in the
picturesqueness of its general aspect or in the profusion or value
of its details. It occupies an important position also historically,
and it in part supplies an admirable example of that decorated
architecture, the existence of which in this country has been so
often denied, but of which, we trust, a sufficient number of
examples are now provided to render that reproach to Scottish
architecture no longer justifiable. We have to thank the fine red
sandstone of the district, of which the church is built, for the
perfect preservation of all the details of the structure. These
remain, even in the minutest carving, as perfect and complete as the
day they were executed."[453]

The cloister and domestic buildings, including the hall of Abbot
Matthew, were situated on the _north_ side of the church. They have
now entirely disappeared, leaving only a portion of the clois