"And we are near the well, I suppose?" said I.

"It is close at hand," answered the monk.

In effect we had not proceeded above fifty yards before the path brought
us into a circular space of green sod, in the midst of which was a small
square stone building, of plain but not inelegant shape, and evidently
of great antiquity. At one side of this building was an iron handle,
for the purpose of raising water, that cast itself into a stone basin,
to which was affixed by a strong chain an iron cup. An inscription in
monkish Latin was engraved over the basin, requesting the traveller to
pause and drink, and importing that what that water was to the body,
faith was to the soul; near the cistern was a rude seat, formed by the
trunk of a tree. The door of the well-house was of iron, and secured by
a chain and lock; perhaps the pump was so contrived that only a certain
quantum of the sanctified beverage could be drawn up at a time, without
application to some mechanism within; and wayfarers were thereby
prevented from helping themselves /ad libitum/, and thus depriving the
anchorite of the profit and the necessity of his office.

It was certainly a strange, lonely, and wild place; and the green sward,
round as a fairy ring, in the midst of trees, which, black, close, and
huge, circled it like a wall; and the solitary gray building in the
centre, gaunt and cold, startled the eye with the abruptness of its
appearance, and the strong contrast made by its wan hues to the dark
verdure and forest gloom around it.

I took a draught of the water, which was very cold and tasteless, and
reminded the monk of his disorder in the reins, to which a similar