Page:Scott - Tales of my Landlord - 3rd series, vol. 2 - 1819.djvu/245

yard which surrounded it, was still, as upon the present occasion, used for the interment of particular persons. One or two shattered yew-trees still grew within the precincts of that which had once been holy ground. Warriors and barons had been buried there of old, but their names were forgotten, and their monuments demolished. The only sepulchral memorials which remained, were the upright head-stones which mark the grave of persons of an inferior rank. The abode of the sexton was a solitary cottage adjacent to the ruined wall of the cemetery, but so low, and having its thatch, which nearly reached the ground, covered with such a crop of grass, fog, and house leeks, that it resembled an overgrown grave. On enquiry, however, Ravenswood found that the man of the last mattock was absent at a bridal, being fiddler as well as grave-digger to the vicinity. He therefore retired to the little inn, leaving a message that early next morning he would again call for the per-