leisurely, and thought it an extremely beautiful specimen of the
architecture of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; for certainly there
are some portions more ancient than others. A survey of the chapter-house
filled me with mingled sorrow and delight: sorrow, that the Revolution and
a modern cotton manufactory had metamorphosed it from its original
character; and delight, that the portions which remained were of such
beautiful forms, and in such fine preservation. The stone, being of a very
close-grained quality, is absolutely as white and sound as if it had been
just cut from the quarry. The room, where a parcel of bare-legged girls and
boys were working the respective machineries, had a roof of the most
delicate construction.[79]

The very sound of a _Monastery_ made me curious to examine the disposition
of the building. Accordingly, I followed my guide through suites of
apartments, up divers stone stair-cases, and along sundry corridors. I
noticed the dormitories with due attention, and of course inquired eagerly
for the LIBRARY:--but the shelves only remained--either the fear or the
fury of the Revolution having long ago dispossessed it of every thing in
the shape of a _book_. The whole was painted white. I counted eleven
perpendicular divisions; and, from the small distances between the upper
shelves, there must have been a very considerable number of _duodecimos_.
The titles of the respective classes of the library were painted in white
letters upon a dark-blue ground, at top. _Bibles_ occupied the first
division, and the _Fathers_ the second: but it should seem that equal
importance was attached to the works of _Heretics_ as to those called
_Litterae Humaniores_--for each had a division of equal magnitude.

On looking out of window, especially from the back part of the building,
the eye rests entirely upon what had once been fruitful orchards, abundant
kitchen gardens, and shady avenues. Yet in England, this spot, rich by