52 



shrubberies; now mixed and overgrown 

 with wild plants and creepers, that crawl 

 Over, and shoot among the fallen ruins. 

 Sedums, wall-flowers, and other vegetables 

 that bear drought, find nourishment in the 

 decayed cement from which the stones 

 have been detached: birds convey their 

 food into the chinks, and yew, elder, and 

 other berried plants project from the sides ; 

 while the ivy mantles over other parts, and 

 crowns the top. The even, regular lines 

 of the doors and windows are broken, 

 and through their ivy-fringed openings is 

 displayed in a more broken and picturesque 

 manner, that striking image in Virgil, 



Apparet dotnus intus, & atria longa patescunt; 

 Apparent Priami & veterum penetralia regum. 



Gothic architecture is generally consi- 

 dered as more picturesque, though less 

 beautiful than Grecian; and upon the 

 same principle that a ruin is more so than 

 a new edifice. The first thing that strikes 

 the eye in approaching any building, is the 

 general outline, and the effect of the open- 

 ings: in Grecian buildings, the general 



