of &feeUftale. 47 



perhaps beet, and a variety of sweet-herbs, for such were 

 in use among the Saxons. At length the privations of 

 the monks of Skelldale ceased, as also the necessity for 

 labour. Hugh, Dean of York, bequeathed to them his 

 wealth, and benefactions having poured in successively, 

 from different quarters, the abbey became exceedingly 

 rich in land and cattle, with plate and costly vestments. 

 A wild and beautiful spot was also bestowed on Fountains 

 Abbey by the Percy family ; this was Walham Cove, 

 situated among the hilly and mountainous tracts of the 

 West- Riding of Yorkshire. It was included in lands 

 belonging to the manor of Walham, and possessed a 

 valuable right of fishing in the ample stream that flowed 

 from out an immense and perpendicular crag of lime- 

 stone, more than three hundred feet in height, that 

 stretched across the valley like a magnificent screen. 

 Thither the monks of Fountains Abbey used to repair ; 

 thither, too, many of those recluses, who wearied with 

 fights and forage in foreign lands, sought for rest within 

 the abbey walls, loved to muse and moralize upon the 

 passing waters. But they learned not wisdom from them, 

 nor read in things inanimate, lessons that might have 

 taught them to retain the habits of their predecessors. 

 Most of those devoted men, who had sought to worship 

 their Creator in privacy and stillness, were laid down to 

 rest. They had laboured with their hands while living, 

 and thankfully saw the blessings which they sought, 

 spring from out the earth they cultivated; those who 



