It seems to have contained a row of statues, as fourteen pedestals or corbels still occupy its base. The small circular window in the gable, filled with simple tracery (similar to a window at Dryburgh), is also a late feature. [Illustration: FIG. 779.--Melrose Abbey. Doorway in South Transept.] The south chapels of the nave have apparently been added during the repairs of the earlier part of the fifteenth century. The forms of the flying buttresses (see Fig. 766), which extend beyond the outer wall of the chapels so as to comprise them, show that the restoration of this part of the nave is all part of one design; and the arms of Abbot Hunter (Fig. 783), which occur on the niche-corbel of the east buttress, indicate that these buttresses were probably executed towards the middle of the fifteenth century. The tracery in the windows of the south chapels would tend to confirm the belief that they belong to the decorated period, but for the fact that this feature cannot be fully relied on in Scotland as an index of date, tracery similar to this being sometimes used at a later time. [Illustration: FIG. 780.--Melrose Abbey. Door Jamb in South Transept.] [Illustration: FIG. 781.--Melrose Abbey. Cornice under Gallery, inside South Window of Transept.] There is a distinct change in the design of the transepts from that of the nave, as if the former had been added to the latter at a later period. [Illustration: FIG. 782.--Melrose Abbey. North Transept.] This is observable in the west wall of the north transept (see Fig. 782), but still more so in the west wall of the south transept (Fig. 784). The window nearest the nave is of a different design from that of the one further off. The former (Fig. 785) may be older, and the latter (which is the same as the other windows of the choir and transept) was, probably, built at the same time as the latter. The stair turret is, doubtless, also of this date. It may be remarked, in connection with this point, that the bases of the two piers of the south aisle of the nave, next the crossing (see Fig. 784), differ from those of the remainder of the nave aisle (Fig. 786), as well as from the bases of the east piers of the transept (Fig. 787). These bases also differ from those of the nave piers (Fig. 788). The same Fig. also shows the exterior base of the choir. The pier at the angle of the south aisle with the transept has no wall-shaft to carry the vaulting, which springs from a corbel (see Fig. 784). The vaulting at this angle is also peculiar, and does not fit well with the aisle vaults further west, but has a straight piece of wall built in perpendicularly for the cross rib to stop upon (see Fig. 784). These points appear to indicate that the piers next the crossing are older than the remainder. The vaulting shafts of the main nave piers are somewhat unusual in design (Fig. 789), having in their lower part the appearance of a double shaft, although