wrought out with the nicest touches. A coarse and hasty brush is not the
instrument for such work.


July 6th.--Monday, June 30th, was a warm and beautiful day, and my wife
and I took a cab from Southampton and drove to



NETLEY ABBEY,


about three or four miles. The remains of the Abbey stand in a sheltered
place, but within view of Southampton Water; and it is a most picturesque
and perfect ruin, all ivy-grown, of course, and with great trees where
the pillars of the nave used to stand, and also in the refectory and the
cloister court; and so much soil on the summit of the broken walls, that
weeds flourish abundantly there, and grass too; and there was a wild
rosebush, in full bloom, as much as thirty or forty feet from the ground.
S----- and I ascended a winding stair, leading up within a round tower,
the steps much foot-worn; and, reaching the top, we came forth at the
height where a gallery had formerly run round the church, in the
thickness of the wall. The upper portions of the edifice were now
chiefly thrown down; but I followed a foot-path, on the top of the
remaining wall, quite to the western entrance of the church. Since the
time when the Abbey was taken from the monks, it has been private
property; and the possessor, in Henry VIII.'s days, or subsequently,
built a residence for himself within its precincts out of the old
materials. This has now entirely disappeared, all but some unsightly old
masonry, patched into the original walls. Large portions of the ruin