OLD CLEEVE ABBEY. 95 
sage, apparently original. On the wall at the other end 
may still be traced a fresco painting, representing the 
erueifixion, the side figures being those of the Blessed 
Virgin and St. John, an ornament which, it is said, was 
invariably used in the refeetory halls of Cistercian monas- 
teries. To describe this hall with the minuteness its beauty 
deserves, would tax the patience of my audience far more 
than I am inclined to do. It is indeed a magnificent and 
beautiful room both in proportion and in detail, and would 
certainly lead us to suppose that in the 15th century the 
Cistercians had relaxed their rule of simple and coarse 
food, in which point they are said to have been more aus- 
tere than the monks of most other denominations. Besides 
what I have now described there are among the farm 
buildings a few other ancient fragments, but in so muti- 
lated a condition and of such small extent as to render any 
attempt at detailed description not only very diffieult, but 
unsatisfactory and uninteresting. 
I have thus given you a very brief description of the 
existing ruins of Cleeve Abbey, and I feel that I ought to 
apologise for offering to your notice so meagre and unsatis- 
factory an account of the ecclesiastical gem of this neigh- 
bourhood—a gem which, though small in comparison, vies 
in interest with its gigantie neighbour, Glastonbury. There 
the domestic offices and buildings have disappeared ; here 
they are particularly perfect. But in truth the Vallis 
Florida has proved to me not altogether free from thorns. 
The ruins are full of diffieulties, The construction of the 
gate-house ; the use of the Early-English hall, with its 
mysterious low side apertures ; the niche on the north side 
of the cloister ; and, above all, the Decorated round in 
what I have ventured to call the vestry, not to mention 
