MOUNT-GRACE PRIORY. 237 



contained the cells of those solitary monks, the doors of which, though 

 now walled up, may be distinctly traced, there being four on the east, 

 five on the west, and five on the north ; on the side of each door 

 there is'a small zigzag opening in the wall, communicating with the 

 apartment, which has no doubt been made in order that food might 

 be conveyed into the cell without the person being seen. 



Around this court, which measures eighty paces from north to 

 south, and seventy-three from east to west, there appears to have 

 been a shade or covering to shelter the religious in their processions; 

 and in the west wall, imder an arched recess, is the cistern where a 

 pump seems to have been fixed, and resembles one in a vaulted 

 vestiy at York Minster ; this was probably for the priest to perform 

 his ablutions in previous to commencing divine service. 



From the north-east comer of this court there is a small stream 

 of clear water, which at present runs in an open channel till it 

 reaches the centre of the court, from whence it is arched over and 

 conveyed beneath the building until it comes in front of the farm- 

 house, where it breaks out and terminates in a fine flowing well. On 

 the south of the first court or quadrangle the faint vestiges of many 

 buildings appear. 



At some distance, on the summit of the mountain that shelters the 

 monastery on the east, are the ruins of an ancient building called 

 the Ladys Chapel, which was founded A.D. 1515; the edifice has 

 been but of small dimensions, and from the present remains appears 

 to have contained nothing remarkable in point of architecture ; the 

 road from the monastery to this chapel which leads up the steep 

 brow of a lofty mountain is rugged, and by the growth of trees 

 rendered at present a painful and difficult ascent. 



Nimierous miracles are reported to have been performed at this 

 chapel, such as the sudden recovery to life of a child that had been 

 for some hours dead ; the immediate cure of many who were afflicted 

 with painful maladies, but these storis wear so much the appearance 

 of superstition that 1 forbear entering further into them. 



Such are the prominent features of these venerable ruins, every 

 part of which, even the loose fragments that lie scattered about, are 

 luxuriantly covered with ivy, and conspire with the surrounding 

 scenery to impress the mind with that calm composure and pleasing 

 melancholy which arises from visiting the sacred ruins of time. 



