2 PAPERS, ETC. 



and Pickerklge, opens wide before him, and he ouly relin- 

 quishes the charms of the more distant prospect for the shady 

 lanes, the luxuriant Vegetation, the tall trees, the lovely 

 river, and the snugly sheltered homesteads, of which his 

 descent into the lowlands soon gratifies him with the closer 

 view. After passing the hamlet of West Ling, and when 

 he is within half a mile from Durston, he may observe in 

 a rneadow on bis right band some curious inequabties of 

 the surface, contracting and expanding with that certain 

 definiteness and regularity of outUne which assures bim of 

 the presence of design ou the part of the constructors, 

 though it is more than bkely that he may be unable to 

 ofFer an explanation of .the intention which not the less 

 certainly actuated them in their labours. On bis left, at 

 ' the dlstance of a field from the road, is a modern mansion, 

 and adjoining to it are some agricultvu-al buildings and 

 court and garden walls of an earber age. These last are 

 the only features which the place now presents of occu- 

 pation more ancient than his own, save the roads and 

 hedgerows that may have been there for centuries. 



Quiet, and still, and lonely is the present aspect of the spot, 

 and yet it was once a scene both of contemplative privacy 

 and of active industry ; and they who owned and occupied 

 it were members of a Community that bad a long and 

 Singular history, and bore a distinguished part in the great 

 World of men and of things. It was the site of the Priory 

 and Preceptory of Buckland, Mynchin Buckland, or Buck- 

 land Sororum, one of the Commandries of the Order of S. 

 John of Jerusalem. It was the focus of an influence sensibly 

 and deeply and widely feit. A few crumbling fragments, now 

 recognized with üifficulty, once formed the boundarybetween 

 it and the surrounding world. And the green undulations 

 which attracted our traveller's notice were long centuries ago 



