182 BUCKLAND ABBEY. 



Our fathers heard with awe the Convent-bell, 



Whose music, " swinging slow with sullen roar," 



Awoke the echoes of this sylvan dell, 



Rebounding far round yon " wide-water'd shore.*' 



Devotion, wrapt in deep, monastic gloom, 

 Withdrew to this sequestered, wild retreat ; 



And reared a paradise of vernal bloom, 



Whose wreaths fantastic crown Pomona's seat. 



In cadence to the pealing organ 's strain, 



The mitred Abbot walked the pillared aisle ; 



And with his crosier led the choral train, 

 When, at the shrine, a virgin took the veil. 



If Superstition weave her magic spells 



To lure a novice to her gorgeous fane; 

 The wand divine of Truth the charm repels, 



And warns the victim to elude the bane. 



No more the Palmer with his staff appears ; 



No errant Knight is harboured as a guest ; 

 Nor way-worn Pilgrin, bent by weight of years, 



Seeks, in the Abbey cloister, food and rest. 



Though solemn temples with their rites decay, 



The Tavy yet to meet the Tamar flows ; 

 And warbling birds attune their am'rous lay, 



While Earth is ever green; and Heaven with lustre glows. 



\V. E. 

 Park Wood. 



NOTES. 



St. Francis, who instituted the Franciscan order, was followed by 

 St. Bernard, and a succession of enthusiastic admirers. The avowed 

 maxim of these austere Fanatics was " renounce the world, for the 

 joys of heaven." In other words relinquish the present duties of 

 life to be ready to partake of immortality. 



Francis and Poverty are depicted by Dante, in amatory strains, as 



" The fondest pair, in wedded union blest : 



Their concord and complacent looks benign ; 



Love, admiration, each by each caress'd, 

 Inspired beholders with a zeal divine; 



And kindled to a flame of holy fire, 



In San Bernard's venerable breast, 

 To emulate their flight the bold desire ; 



