1858.] NETLEY ABBEY. 543 



jestic hills and bold beetling rocks^ nor yet in a deep, secluded 

 vale, like Kirkstall, near Leeds, but on a dry, airy spot on the 

 extremity of the extensive heath, having the broad estuary in 

 the background, and a fertile meadow betvreen its front and the 

 common before it. 



Its history as a religious establishment terminated in the days 

 of Henry VIII., who replenished the coffers of himself and fa- 

 vourites with the spoils of these noble monuments of ancient 

 piety. It has no modern history, its occupants since the Middle 

 Ages being the owl, the jackdaw, and the bat, or at best gipsies, 

 who may have received but cold shelter and no entertainment 

 on its damp earth-floors, under its arched, still existing roofs. 



Trees of great girth and height have grown on the rubbish 

 which covers the floors of the sacred edifices; deadly nightshade, 

 nettles, and brambles, with other rank and bad-smelling plants, 

 iill the area which was formerly trodden, by men engaged in the 

 worship and service of God, and whose dust is now concealed by 

 the mouldering ruins and coarse vegetation. 



The church, as usual, is the chief and most interesting part of 

 these ruins ; but it is not the most entire, — only the outer walls 

 are standing, and time and weather have made serious breaches 

 in them. 



None of the internal erections, such as columns, arches, 

 screens, or canopies, nothing either pertaining to the embellish- 

 ment or the permanence of such an edifice, are now in existence. 

 Huge lumps of stone, and mortar almost as hard as stone, are 

 scattered about, enduring the slow but certain process of disin- 

 tegration, whereby they are gradually converted into dust. The 

 vegetation speedily covers these, and hence there are very consi- 

 derable inequalities in the floor. The kitchen, with its arched 

 roof of stone, is, with the exception of the windows, almost en- 

 tire, and the refectory, which adjoins both the former and also 

 the church, has, though roofless, its walls mostly entire. These 

 two requisite offices are the least dilapidated portions of the 

 buildings. 



The inner walls, which surrounded the interior of the quad- 

 rangular court, are also stiU of considerable altitude, mostly ivy- 

 clad, and some portions of them bearing lofty trees. 



There are, besides these, several cloisters and halls, mostly en- 

 closed by the ancient walls. 



