228 FORD ABBEY. 



in misapplying his means of well doing. ** Every 

 false principle in religion is a reed of Egypt, false and 

 dangerous. A hope that is easy and credulous is an 

 arm of flesh, an ill supporter without a bone." So 

 writes Jeremy Taylor, in reference to Jer. 17. 5. 



It may be observed that the venerable sage Jeremy 

 Bentham occasionally indulged himself in visiting 

 the calm retreat of Ford Abbey. Remote from the 

 noise and smoke of the metropolis, he devoted his 

 leisure to the contemplation of Truth, in the tranquil 

 shade of its cloisters ; or tasted the sweets of hospi- 

 tality, withhi the precincts of its majestic hall. 



This Abbey derives its foundation from a descen- 

 dant of William the Conqueror. That monarch had 

 conferred extensive domains, in the county of Devon, 

 on Baldwin de Brionies, the Norman ; whom, for his 

 signal services, he created Earl of Okehampton. 

 Albreda, the conqueror's niece was married to this 

 nobleman ; and the issue of their marriage was a son, 

 named Richard, and a daughter called Adelicia. 

 Richard, on his father's demise, succeeded to his ti- 

 tles and possessions. In the year 1132, he founded 

 a house for Cistercians, at Brightley, in the parish of 

 Sampford Courtenay ; and provided for its habitation 

 a colony of twelve monks, and a superior, from Wa- 

 verly Abbey, in the county of Surrey. In a short 

 time, their founder and benci'actor died ; and thus 

 left destitute of patronage and subsistence, in the de- 

 sert and barren spot, where the convent was situated ; 

 they determined to abandon Brightley, and return to 

 Waverley. They had actually commenced their 

 journey, when Adelicia, now sole possessor of her 

 brother's estates, in compassion to their forlorn con- 

 dition, presented them with the manor ofThorncombe, 

 and built them a house at Harteseath ; which was 

 completed in 1142, and was dedicated to our Lady. 

 The place in which the Abbey was erected was soon 

 after called Ford, from its contiguity to a ford, a 

 passage through the river Axe. By descent from 

 the founder's family, the Courtenays became the na- 



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