544 NETLEY ABBEY. [September, 



To a serious^ contemplative mind, the reminiscences and as- 

 sociations connected with these ruins are not of a satisfactory 

 nature. Without so much as mooting the question in reference 

 to the utility of these institutions, their being consecrated to the 

 worship of God and to the instruction of his children is a fact 

 which cannot be gainsaid. Their present condition is a fact which 

 testifies too painfully two things, — firstly, that the intentions of 

 those who founded and endowed them have not been carried out, 

 neither in the letter nor in the spirit ; and, secondly, that edifices 

 reared and property bequeathed, and both consecrated for holy 

 uses, cannot be any longer so employed. 



That their present state is irremediable does not render their 

 ruin satisfactory. The antiquarian and man of taste may have 

 their feelings and tastes gratified by the conservation of these 

 remains, but the piously disposed would rather that such proofs 

 of desecration had never existed, or that they were speedily re-, 

 moved. Proofs they are of the munificence of former times, 

 when the noblest erections were devoted to religious and chari- 

 table uses ; and also of the degeneracy of modern times, when 

 the most sumptuous edifices are erected for the accommodation 

 of private individuals. While, however, the piety of long-past 

 ages is deserving of high commendation, it would be unjust not 

 to notice the efforts made in our own age to supply the growing 

 religious and moral wants of our rapidly increasing population. 

 This, one of the most amiable tendencies of the present time, 

 is favourably contrasted with that of the long past. Abbeys, 

 monasteries, and other religious houses, were endowed too often, 

 it is to be feared, with the spoils of oppression and robbery. 

 According to the old proverb, men then stole the goose and 

 gave the giblets in alms. A great part of Hampshire was de- 

 populated, families dispossessed and turned adrift to starve, or to 

 become at best the hangers-on of a proud, reckless chief, who, 

 to palliate the crimes of which he had been guilty, and to pro- 

 cure a salvo for his conscience from the miserable conscience- 

 keepers of those days, dedicated a portion of the fruits of rob- 

 bery to the honour of Almighty God. 



The botanist, if a dweller in our inland counties, will be gra- 

 tified to observe and to collect some of the plants that appear in 

 this charming walk. On the east side of the Itchin Ferry, ad- 

 joining the old-fashioned hamlet of Itchin, there is a plant of 



