140 &um* of Itpgtone palace. 



A church may be seen among the trees, beside the 

 stream where it forms a small cascade that falls with a 

 pleasant murmur into the vale below. It is a church of 

 the olden time, with its primitive-looking porch, and 

 creeping vine. Prayers have been offered there ever 

 since the days of Alfred, and beside it the villagers have 

 been laid to rest for successive generations : a few bells 

 call the people to their matins and vespers, and some 

 images stand within the walls of the edifice. 



Prayers may not be offered now, for the good old 

 priest has received orders to close the doors, and to take 

 down the bells. It is sad to see the few images that have 

 long recalled to recollection the holy lives of those whose 

 memory they are designed to perpetuate, lying with the 

 ancient cross upon the ground, and, as if the air itself is 

 polluted, and may pollute them by its contact, the priest 

 and his attendants carefully cover them, even from their 

 own approach and veneration. The bells, too, which used 

 to ring out, that all might hear and make ready for the 

 house of prayer, are taken down and placed beside the 

 grey tower from whence they had long sounded in sea- 

 sons of gladness or sorrow. No one hears the passing 

 bell that was wont to call the neighbours to intercede 

 for him who lay weak and sinking upon his bed. 



The living partake of no religious rite, except baptism 

 to new-born infants and the communion to the dying ; 

 the dead may not lay in consecrated ground, neither are 

 words of peace, nor any hallowed ceremony spoken or 



