admitted me to mine office.

And truly the lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places, dark
although--as I have said--the times are. The priory lies on the banks
of the glorious Avon, where the forests come nearly down to its banks.
Above us rises a noble hill, crowned with the oak and the beech,
beneath whose shade many a deer and boar repose, and their flesh, when
brought thither to gladden our festivals, is indeed toothsome and
savoury.

Our buildings are chiefly of wood, although the foundations are of
stone. The great hall is floored and lined with oak, while the
chapel--the Priory Church the people call it--excels for limning and
gilding, as well as for the beauty of its tapestry, any church in this
part of Mercia. Our richest altar cloth is made of the purple robe
which King Edgar wore at his consecration, and which he sent to the
thane Alfred of Aescendune for the Priory Church as a token of the
respect and favour he bore him. And also he gave a veil of gold
embroidery which representeth the destruction of Troy. It is hung upon
great days over the dais at the high table of the hall.

The monastery is well endowed with lands by the liberality of its
first founder, as appears in the deeds preserved in our great muniment
chest. We have ten hides of woodland, wherein none may cut wood save
for our use in the winter; five hides of arable land, and the same
extent of pasturage for cattle. Now for the care of the culture
thereof we have a hundred serfs attached to the glebe, who, we trust,
do not find us unkind lords.

There are twenty brethren who have taken the final vows according to