263 



duetions of two people, renowned for every 

 art and accomplishment, tlvat can raise or 

 adorn our nature. 



Next to them, and in some points of view 

 to us still more interesting, are the ruins 

 of abbeys and castles. I have named 

 them together, though nothing can be more 

 strongly contrasted than their two charac - 

 ters. The abbey, built in some sequestered 

 spot, and surrounded by woods, announces 

 religious calm and security. Its sanctity, 

 even in those early times of turbulence, but 

 likewise of superstition, was thought a suffi- 

 cient safeguard ; and its structure, though 

 solid and massive, seems designed for orna- 

 ment, not for defence. All the minute and 

 detached decorations of its outside, the pin- 

 nacles, the open-work, the high and spacious 

 windows divided into small compartments 

 :by the lightest partitions, and enriched with 

 all the relhietiients of Gothic scul pture, were 

 ill-adapted to defy hostile attacks. 



In the castle, every thing proclaims sus- 

 picious defiance; $e security of strength 

 .an4 ipr^autiou. A cq^oianding, or at least 



