Many of these establishments had previously existed as parish churches or chapels before they were enlarged and made collegiate, and endowed by the munificence of the founders. PAISLEY ABBEY, RENFREWSHIRE. Paisley Abbey is fortunate in having found in the Very Rev. J. Cameron Lees, D.D., formerly one of the ministers of the parish, so able a historian. We are largely indebted to his work, _The Abbey of Paisley, 1163-1878_, for the following historical notices. The Abbey was founded by Walter, son of Alan, the High Steward of Scotland, who had accompanied David I. from Shropshire, and received lands from him in Renfrewshire. Having resolved to follow the example of his patron, and found a monastery on his estate, Alan entered into an agreement with Humbold, prior of Wenlock Abbey, in the native county of his family, to establish at “Passelay” a house of the Cluniac Order of Benedictines, being the same order as the house at Wenlock. Humbold therefore, in 1169, brought thirteen monks from the parent house, and, having settled them in Renfrewshire on an island of the Clyde called the King’s Inch, returned to Wenlock. There would at that time appear to have been a very ancient church in existence at Paisley, dedicated to St. Mirinus, an Irish saint of the sixth century, who had been a disciple of the great school of St. Comgal at Bangor. A new monastery was now to supersede the establishment of St. Mirin, but the name of the ancient saint was preserved in the dedication of the abbey. It was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin; to St. James, the patron saint of the Stewarts; to St. Milburga, the patron of the monks of Wenlock; and to St. Mirinus, the Celtic missionary of the locality. The monastery was at first established as a priory; but, in 1245, it was raised to the rank of an abbey by Pope Honorius III. The establishment was well endowed, and during the first half of the thirteenth century it was thoroughly consolidated under Abbot William, who presided from 1225 to 1248. During the prosperous reigns of Kings Alexander II. and III. the church was erected, but of the work of that period (the thirteenth century) there remain only a portion of the west front and part of the south wall of the nave, including the south-east doorway to the cloister, and three windows. The structure appears to have suffered severely during the War of Independence. It stood in the vicinity of Elderslie, the lands of Sir William Wallace, and doubtless met with a similar savage treatment to that allotted to the patriot leader. It is stated to have been burnt by the English in 1307, and the burning would appear to have led to a very complete destruction of the edifice, as the portions of the original work which survive are very small.