The Hermitage. 305 



structure, I could not help thinking of Coleridge's lines 

 in " The Ancient Mariner " : 



" The hermit good lives in the wood . . . 

 He kneels at morn, and noon, and eve 

 He hath a cushion plump : 

 It is the moss that wholly hides 

 The rotten, old oak stump." 



The hermitage itself is cut out of the solid freestone 

 rock some twenty feet in height, and is approached by 

 a flight of some seventeen steps also cut in the rock. 

 It contains three apartments, the cell, the chapel, and 

 the dormitory. The first is about twenty feet in length, 

 and about seven and a half feet in height, and it is 

 certainly not to be matched elsewhere in our country. 



Here and there are relics of sculptured effigies of 

 angels and cherubs, and crosses and other emblems. 

 The ceilings are beautifully groined, the arches spring- 

 ing from highly wrought pilasters. On an altar tomb, 

 to the right of the altar, just before a two-light win- 

 dow, is the recumbent figure of a lady, her hands 

 upraised. On the inner wall over the entrance is 

 inscribed, in old English characters, the Latin, Fuerunt 

 mihi lacrymce mece panes die ac nocte, " my tears have 

 been my meat day and night." Built up against the 

 side of the rock is a little chamber about eighteen 

 feet square, and in it is a wide fireplace. It is sup- 

 posed that this was the residence of a chantry-priest, 

 who lived here at a period subsequent to the original 

 date of the hermitage. 



The solitude of the place, the sense of sanctity, re- 

 inforced by the wealth of foliage, the shrubs, mosses, 

 and ferns surrounding it, combine to awaken feelings 

 new and unique ; the mind is filled with emotions 



U 



