gently throws a mantle of Ivy to supply a new grâce) 
“ will flash upon that inward eye 
Which is the bliss of solitude.” 
To me it will never fail to recall a spot recently 
visited, where I saw this lovely plant waving in full 
luxuriance over a beautiful village church, which is, 
alas ! in ruins. I allude to the Gothic church of 
Ayott St. Lawrence, Hertfordshire, which a lamentable 
taste has suffered to decay, and erected in its stead, 
as a place of worship for the one true God, the 
exact model of a temple formerly dedicated to some 
heathen deity: this stands in freshness and beauty 
very near the old church, yet my attention was drawn 
to it but for a moment from that ruined specimen of a 
style which through a long lapse of years was conse- 
crated to Christianity, nearly to the exclusion of the 
classical orders ; and which on this account has been, 
I think not unaptly, termed (i the style of Christian 
architecture.” It spread with Christianity through 
almost the whole of Europe, and our own land pos- 
sesses in her cities and hamlets abundant and beautiful 
specimens of the order. Strange, that these hallowed 
associations should be deserted for a style whose name 
is linked with many a Pagan and unholy rite î 
