56 



Malmesbury Abbey in its Best Days. 



church having been ever willfully reduced to the state in which we 

 see it. 



It is unfortunate that no drawing or plan of the whole monastery 

 or of the church, as it was in its most complete state, has been pre- 

 served. From the fragments that remain it is of course possible to 

 construct a representation — at least an approximate one — of the 

 appearance it must have presented when entire. This is the case 

 with most of the old monasteries. There is, indeed, a very remark- 

 able absence of pictures or drawings of most of our ancient historical 

 buildings of all kinds. There is none, so far as I know, of some 

 that would have been very interesting, such as Devizes Castle, 

 Fotheringhay Castle, and many more. It is not impossible that, if 

 anywhere in the world, it might be in the Vatican at Rome, where 

 such relics of our monasteries, at any rate, might be found. I 

 remember being told in Rome that there were stores of documents, 

 relating to our Church Antiquities put away there, every thing in 

 former days having had to be referred to the Papal authorities. 



Of the original buildings of the monastery itself, which stood 

 on the North and North-west sides of the church, I believe that 

 nothing is now left, except the lower part of what is now called The 

 Abbey House. The ground on the North side of the church 

 falls away so much that the building most likely stood upon vaults 

 and arches. The ruins of the kitchen constructed in that way, were 

 standing in Aubrey 's time. Of the grounds, orchards, gardens, &c, 

 there is also no trace left. 



One of the appurtenances was a vineyard. This was originally 

 planted on a hill North of the abbey by a Greek monk named Con- 

 stantine, a mysterious person, supposed to be an Archbishop in 

 disguise, who had come here for refuge about the year 1030. There 

 is in old surveys frequent mention of vineyards in England, and the 

 name is constantly met with for fields or even streets in towns, as 

 at Bath. But the uncertainty of getting grapes to ripen out of 

 doors in our climate is such, (now at least), that some persons have 

 been led to maintain that the name vineyard merely meant an 

 orchard of such fruit-trees as are used for home-made wines, such 

 as gooseberries or currants. But there is no doubt that at Malmes- 



