MUCI1ELNEY ABBEY. 107 



rarity of such documeuts may be taken to demonstrate the 

 infrequency of conduct which would necessitate them ; 

 and, secondly, that, when such conduct did occur, it was by 

 no means winked at by those in authority, but faithfully 

 exposed, fearlessly condemned, and sumniarily punished. 



Let us now, in conclusion, examine rather more minutely 

 the peculiarities of the lovely scene on which we have been 

 gazing in iniagination, during our retrospect of its for- 

 tunes and our musings on its fate. The buildings were 

 both extensive and magnificent. William of Worcester, 

 in his Itinerary, describes the church as measuring 104 of 

 his steps in length, and 30 in breadth : the chapel of the 

 Virgin Mary he notices, but the measurements are want- 

 ing. The length of the cloister, he says, was 54 of his 

 steps, and the breadth of similar extent. From some 

 edifices elsewhere remaining, whose dimensions he re- 

 cords, we learn that the worthy traveller's "step" was 

 not more than a space of two feet, in some instances not 

 more than a foot and a half ! We may, therefore, allow to 

 the church a length of about two hundred, and a breadth of 

 about fifty-five feet; and to the cloister an equal length and 

 breadth of one hundred feet. The greater part of the struc- 

 ture appears to have been speedily demolished, although 

 the foundations to a considerable extent may yet be traced, 

 and indicate the existence of a large and wealthy establish- 

 ment. I am indebted to my friend Mr. A. A. Clarke for 

 an accurate ground-plan, after J. Buckler, of the most im- 

 portant of these remains (Plate VII). Little of the edifice 

 itself is now visible, save those beautiful portions to which I 

 alluded at the commencement of my memoir, erected a very 

 few years prior to the final catastrophe. They consist of 

 a few rooms, belonging, it may be, to the Abbat's lodg- 

 ings, and of the north side of the cloisters (Plate VIII). 



