philosopher and the politician."[1] One of Richard's fraternal acts was
placing himself at the head of a formidable confederacy, to which Henry
was obliged to yield. The papal power was at this time at its greatest
height; Richard had been elected King of the Romans, and from the spoil
obtained by the monstrous exactions of his court, he may be presumed to
have erected the above nunnery. Of this system of pious plunder we have
many proud architectural memorials; though to rob with one hand, and
found religious houses with the other, reminds one of the trade of a
waterman--to look one way and row the other.

[1] Sir James Mackintosh.

The nunnery was richly endowed with several of the neighbouring manors;
the remains are now used as the out-offices of an adjoining farm. Little
can be traced of the "studious cloister," the "storied window," or the
"high embowed roof;" but the ivy climbs with parasitic fondness over its
gable, or thrusts its rootlets as holdfasts into its crumbling wall. The
dates of these ruins claim the attention of the speculative antiquary.
The chimney, though of great age, did not of course belong to the
original building; the earliest introduction of chimneys into this
country being stated, (but without proof,) to be in the year 1300. The
upper window, and the arched doorway are in the early English style
prevalent at the date of the foundation; the former has the elegant
lancet-shape of the earliest specimens.

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A DREAM OF THE BEAUTIFUL.