THE LEGEND OF THE ABBEY TOWER. 95 



upon something more than material strength. It is the compara- 

 tive absence of moral beauty which leaves nothing to qualify the 

 pleasure we take in contemplating the moss and the ivy, the rent of 

 violence and the colouring of age, that amalgamate such a ruin as 

 Rumsey Abbey, with the uncontrolled varieties of nature which 

 form the landscape around, — which make it more closely identical 

 with the rocks, trees, and verdure of its vicinity, and leave it, though 

 not so palpably useful, more poetical than ever. 



The abbey, however; of which we now more particularly speak, 

 is, in part, tolerably preserved ; for the choir is still used as the 

 parish church, and the great central tower retains its original form 

 and elevation. The nave, unroofed and left entirely open at one end 

 by the demolition of its western gable, formed a singularly roman- 

 tic avenue to the body of the building. The pavement having been 

 removed, the internal area of the nave became entirely grown over 

 with weeds and briar, except along the central line of the avenue, 

 which was preserved clear as a path to the principal entrance door. 

 This was situated in a wall of comparatively recent erection, which 

 filled up the western arch of the tower, and formed the outer bound- 

 ary of the existing church. The whole formed a picture of singular 

 beauty ; and, as if to complete its effect, it was enlivened at the 

 time of my visit, by an interesting group of figures, viz. a pretty 

 girl seated on a camp-stool with her sketch book, and an enamoured 

 youth looking over her. The leaded flat of the tower rising one 

 hundred and fifty feet above the church yard, commands a prospect 

 of the most fascinating variety ; though its beauties are rarely en- 

 joyed, save by those who have sufficient confidence in their virtue 

 or nerves, to risk an encounter with certain spirits, which, at various 

 times in each successive day, are supposed to perambulate the leads. 

 So strong is the superstition among the simpler inhabitants of the 

 parish, that the certainty of a long bill was insufficient to tempt the 

 mason and plumber of the place to undertake the repairs lately 

 deemed necessary, and now most efficiently performed by the work- 

 men of a neighbouring town, notwithstanding the several fits of 

 terror which daily interrupted the progress of the job, and, by the 

 time of its conclusion, had well nigh prostrated the fortitude of the 

 jobbers. It is true, the apparitions have never been seen by any 

 except these men of daring, who, were they not also undoubted 

 men of previous truth, might, on the present occasion, have suffered 

 under some calumniatory charge of hoaxing the credulous. As it is, 

 there are not wanting some secret indulgers in scepticism ; and the 

 vicar, the apothecary, and parish lawyer, have even ventured to 



