18 J&elfes&am <ourt. 



near it an aged church, may be seen by him who 

 knows their locality, from the summit of Stinchcombe 

 hill. The church is the waymark, for the walls of the 

 old court are low, and it is only when the wind favours 

 the sight of them, by causing the branches of near trees 

 to bend beneath its sway, that even the church-tower can 

 be discerned among the young green foliage of the 

 spring. The gardens of the once stately mansion are 

 gone to decay, or else, being overgrown with grass, are 

 fed upon by cattle; the windows were broken by the 

 fierceness of the flames when it was set on fire; and 

 though strong walls, still standing, tell of what has 

 been, not a trace remains of the great oriel window, 

 and the roof has long been gone. He who wishes 

 to trace the former extent of the building may just 

 discover the foundations in some parts ; but in others, 

 not even a few scattered stones, sunk deep in the 

 untrodden grass, would reveal that a mansion had stood 

 there. 



Yet Nibley Court once occupied that spot; there a 

 happy family dwelt, and busy scenes went on the 

 sports of childhood, and the daily incidents of domestic 

 life. There my ancestors resided. But all are gone, 

 and scarcely-discovered ruins, which, as regard all gran- 

 deur of appearance, might have belonged to a barn or 

 an out-house, alone remain. 



The yew-tree still lives, but that also betokens the 

 lapse of time. Its once ample boughs are few; they 



