a town of Scotland, in the county of Selkirk, and on the confines of Tweedale, seated on the south side of the river Tweed; with an ancient abbey, now in ruins. W. Long. 2. 32. N. Lat. 55. 32.

This abbey was founded by King David I. in 1136. He peopled it with Cistercians brought from Rivalé abbey in Yorkshire, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary. At the reformation James Douglas was appointed commendator, who took down much of the building, in order to furnish materials for a large house to himself, which still remains, and is dated 1590. Nothing is left of the abbey excepting a part of the cloister walls elegantly carved; but the ruins of the church are of most uncommon beauty. Part is at present used for divine service, the rest uncovered; but every part does great honour to the architect.—Alexander II. was buried beneath the great altar, and it is also the place of interment of the Douglasses and other potent families.—Its situation is extremely pleasant.

MELT of FISHES. In the melt of a living cod there are such numbers of those animalcules said to be found in the semen of all male animals, that in a drop of its juice no larger than a grain of sand, there are contained more than 10,000 of them; and considering how many such quantities there are in the whole melt of one such fish, it is not incredible, that there are more animals in one melt of it than there are living men at one time upon the face of the earth. However strange and romantic such a conjecture must appear, a serious consideration and calculation will make it very evident. An hundred such grains of sand as those just mentioned will make about an inch in length; therefore in a cubic inch there will be a million of such sands; and if there be 10,000 animals in each of those quantities, there must be in the whole 1,500,000 millions, which is a number vastly exceeding that of mankind, even supposing the whole as populous as Holland.