of &ogamonl)'53 



that was calculated as much for a season to add to her 

 employments, as it afterwards contributed to her repose. 



River scenery has ever been a passion with me. I 

 can gaze unwearied on the tranquil flowing of deep, clear 

 waters, now shaded with old trees, that droop their 

 branches to the water's edge, and now by rock and 

 underwood, where roses and wild honeysuckles, harebells, 

 and primroses mingle their beauty and their fragrance. 

 Such is the tranquil Avon, passing in gloom and depth, 

 dark, silent, and unruffled, among rocks and trees ; or 

 murmuring in its onward course, with that calm sound of 

 moving waters which seems to tell of peace and solitude. It 

 is flowing now, through a spacious and level meadow, with 

 tall elms, and cattle feeding on its margin, and in the 

 distance, high spiral chimneys appear at intervals among 

 the trees. They belong to the ancient nunnery of 

 Lacock, which the Lady Ela founded ; not standing as 

 many stand, with smokeless chimneys, lone and tenant- 

 less, over which the creeping ivy and wild wall- flower 

 seek to hide the rents of ruin, but dwelt in still ; a 

 place where the living may think of those who are resting 

 in the cells beneath, who have neither heard the winds 

 of winter, nor felt the cheering sunbeams for more than 

 six hundred years. 



This spacious and level meadow, with its tall elms and 

 cattle, was once a glade ; this bright river, now journey- 

 ing in shade and sunshine along peopled districts, flowed 

 once in silence and in loneliness through the ancient 



