CLAUDE-MURILLO-TINTORETTO.

fireplace hangs a large, sunny Landscape, in the classic style, said to be by Claude; and on the opposite wall are placed two noble works, "The Assumption of the Virgin," and "The Flight into Egypt," both by Murillo. The first of these is, perhaps, the finest picture in the collection, and is very similar to one in the Royal collection at Madrid. The figure of the Virgin advances with great force from a mellowing golden glory. Her attitude is simple and graceful; but the figure is too girlish. The colouring is beautiful. Her dress is of a lucid silvery grey, over which hangs a mantle of intense blue. Her long, streaming brown hair contrasts powerfully with the shadows of the face and neck, and gives to the flesh both delicacy and transparency. The groups of infant angels that surround the Virgin are amongst the best Murillo ever painted. The "Flight into Egypt" is another admirable work by this master, painted in his usual clear, brilliant manner. The attitudes are bold and natural,-that of the Virgin is simple and elegant; and the background landscape is judiciously subdued. We now come to the last picture of the collection,-the subject of which is "Vulcan, Venus and Cupids," by Tintoretto; a fine, rich work, broad in colour and effect, with the grouping of the figures boldly contrasted.

The reader can now stroll, for a quarter of an hour, about the grounds, and seek, in the charms of nature, a relief from the fatigue engendered by so long a sojourn amidst the beauties of art. The grassy slopes, and masses of branching foliage, will arise more verdant to the wearied eye. The peeps of the river, too, obtained through opening trees, or the bolder prospect of the noble stream, as seen from the summit of some neighbouring hillock, will break upon him with new interest and beauty.

Leaving Belvidere, the reader should continue onwards, in a westerly direction, till he reach a wayside house of entertainment, at the junction of a cross-road, where, if it should so please him, he may refresh before we hasten on to the ruins of the ancient abbey of Lesnes. He will at any rate probably solace himself with a foaming glass of thrice excellent ale, which we will venture to say he will here find, and be grateful for ere our day's walk is brought to a termination. Onwards we then speed along the road that leads us in the direction of the

LESNES ABBEY-RICHARD DE LUCY.

marshes, till we come up with another village hostelry on our left hand. Here, crossing a stile, we wander along by the verge of pleasant woods, which a penalty of twenty shillings, proclaimed by officious notices, given under the hands of the governors of Christ's Hospital, warns us not to enter; and in a few moments we stand within the limits of the ancient abbey, of which some extensive fragments of boundary wall comprise the sole remains. A modern farmhouse, with slated roof and dapper yellow walls, has recently sprung up on the site of the picturesque antiquated homestead of the abbey farm. It is what Carlyle would call "a sham" -a half-Gothic, halfSwiss-looking upstart, that contrasts painfully with the surrounding heaps of crumbling grey ruin, that still tarry here in sober state. One might moralise, perhaps, upon the subject, and talk about young life starting out from the midst of a withering decay were we in the vein for this kind of preaching.*

Lesnes Abbey was founded in the year 1178, by Richard de Lucy, Lord Chief Justice of England, in the reign of Henry the Second, and, during the king's absence in France, Regent of the kingdom. He discharged the duties of these high offices with prudence and integrity, and, when the cry to arms was sounded, daring the "proud dangers of war," he fought with distinguished bravery on the battle field. These were the times when men of all professions, even the meek servants of the church, were occasionally both statesmen and warriors by turn. The reader will recollect the anecdote of the Bishop of Beauvais, in the succeeding reign, who was taken prisoner whilst fighting, in complete armour, against Richard of the Lion Heart.

That the visitor, if he be at all given to antiquarian pursuits, may see what has been lost to him by the demolition of the elder homestead, we append a notice of the building, from the pen of a writer, who examined it only a few months previous to its destruction:-" The present farm house, standing on the site of the residence of the founder, was built by the abbots. It is in accordance with the architecture of the period, and in capital preservation rubble below, timber stud work above. A noble large hall, where may still be seen the refectory table and the dresser, both of solid workmanship, on which the platters and wooden trenchers used to repose. They are still used for the purposes they were originally constructed, and bid fair to last for ages yet to come. At one end is a very beautiful and grand staircase, which leads to the lodging rooms of the former dignitaries of the Priory; to the left of which is the parlour-a fine specimen of paneled woodwork-and beyond are the kitchen and offices."

WARRIOR PRELATES-LESNES ABBEY FOUNDED.

Richard, for as he thought some sufficient reason, loaded his prisoner with irons, and shut him up in a dungeon in Rouen Castle. The Pope, hearing of this, wrote to the merciless conqueror, imploring him to have pity on "his son" the bishop. Richard, in reply to his holiness's exhortation, sent him the bishop's coat of mail, besmeared, as it was, with blood shed by the churchman in his last fight, with a label attached to it, on which was written this apt quotation from the Book of Genesis :-"This have we found; know, now, whether it be thy son's coat or no?"

A counterpart to the preceding anecdote is found in the life of Pope Julius the Second. Whilst M. Angelo was employed in modelling the statue of his holiness, he suggested to this reverend father of the church that a book should be placed in his left hand; to which the Pope replied, "No! a sword would be more adapted to my character; I am no book man."

De Lucy sided with the king in his quarrel with Archbishop à Beckett, and drew down upon himself a sentence of excommunication from the offended prelate. Like Henry, he also seems to have repented of his differences with this proud churchman after the latter had become a martyred saint. When the Lord Chief Justice had grown old, he began to think him that a good life might have a better ending, so, divesting himself of his robes of office, and casting away his sword, he assumed the cowl in the abbey he had just founded for canons regular, of the order of St. Augustine, and continued its prior until the day of his death. Strange to say, he had dedicated the church attached to the abbey to his old enemy Thomas à Beckett, who had been only recently canonised as St. Thomas the Martyr.

were

“ Few locations," observes the writer before quoted,* better adapted for the purposes of a monastic life than the site selected by De Lucy; for within its shady recesses might be found the seclusion favourable for study, and the quiet indispensable for pious contemplation. Lesnes Abbey was built on a gentle rise that overlooked the marshes, while in the distance flowed the majestic Thames, on whose placid bosom might be seen floating barques bound to foreign climes. The hills at the back of the Priory garden, which stood due south in a line with the refectory

* Mr. A. J. Dunkin.

THE SURROUNDING SCENERY-THE CHURCH AND CLOISTERS.

and cloisters, were covered with a dense forest, called Westwood, which perfectly sheltered the religious inmates from the biting blasts of the winds, and greatly added to the beauty of the scene;for the monks, those holy men, with all their reputation for sanctity and self-denying habits, were yet too good judges of the advantages to be derived from the contiguity of wood and water, and the burn and the brae,' to be indifferent to the locality of their domicile. Although professedly abstaining from luxuries, and satisfied with simples, yet they knew full well and duly appreciated the delicate flavours and different qualities of fish and fowl, wine and venison. The barns in which the rosy Prior stowed his sheaves and the goodly fruits of the earth, rest on their original foundations; and the stews, or fish-ponds, still remain on the east side of the Priory.

"The whole area of the church, cloisters, and lodgings of the monks, is still a market garden. From certain indications in the boundary wall, it would appear that the church was originally

LESNES ABBEY in 1753 (from the Archaiologia).

about 40 feet wide and 97 in length, and that the tower, a structure only about 17 feet square, abutted against the northern side of the church, between the nave and the chancel, of which it formed a component part. A doorway, apparently of the time of Edward the First, still exists at the south western corner of the garden, and seems to have been the principal entrance into the abbey, opening into the cloisters beneath the refectory, which stood on the southern side of the quadrangle, opposite the church; the kitchen adjoining. The dormitory surmounted the cloisters, and the rest of the buildings contained the chapter-house and the conventual offices. The convent garden still remains enclosed within its ancient boundary wall.”