pencils of Claude, Wouvermanns, Rubens. &c., and several excellent paintings by Romney.*

Six miles north-east of Ulverston is the village of CARTMELL, in which is a church, of unusual size, dedicated to the Virgin. It was the church of a Priory, formerly established here. For the finish of its screenwork, the antiquity of some of the monuments, and the beauty of its architecture, it deserves the tourist's particular attention. The length of the body is 157 feet, and of the transepts 110 feet: the walls are 57 feet high. The Priory was founded in 1188, by William Mareschall, Earl of Pembroke—the same baron who is brought before us in Shakspere's "King John," and of whom there is a recumbent effigy in the round tower of the Temple Church, London. A short distance from the village is a medicinal spring, called Holywell.

FURNESS ABBEY.

"I do love these ancient ruins;

We

We never tread upon them, but we set
Our foot upon some reverend history;
And questionless here in this open court,
Which now lies naked to the injuries
Of stormy weather, some lie interr'd,

Loved the church so well, and gave so largely to't
They thought it should have canopied their bones
Till doomsday-but all things have their end."
WEBSTER (the Dramatist).

In a narrow dell, watered by a clear streamlet, and at a distance of six miles to the south-west of Ulverston,

* This distinguished painter, a contemporary and rival of Sir Joshua Reynolds, was born at Dalton, in Furness. He was, in Flaxman's opinion, the first of our painters in poetic dignity of conception. Many of his finest pictures are scattered over this part of the country. There is a good collection at Whitestock Hall, the residence of his daughter-in-law, near Hawkshead. Some of his paintings are amongst the master-pieces of the English School-for instance, his Infant Shakespere, attended by Tragedy and Comedy, and Milton dictating to his Daughters. Amongst his best portraits were those of Bishop Watson, Dr. Paley, Lord Thurlow, Wortley Montague, and William

stand the beautiful remains of FURNESS ABBEY, now the property of the Earl of Burlington. This establishment was a filiation from the monastery of Savigny, in Normandy, which belonged to the order of Benedictines. The monks, on their first arrival in England, seated themselves on the banks of the Ribble, near Preston, at a place called Tulketh, where the remains of the edifice they inhabited are said to be yet existing. Three years afterwards, that is in 1127, they removed to this abbey, founded by Stephen, Earl of Montaigne and Boulogne, subsequently King of England, who would never have assumed the English crown if his actions had always been governed by motives similar to those with which he countenanced the monks of Furness. "Considering every day the uncertainty of life" (thus runs the preamble of the foundation-charter, subscribed by the hand of Earl Stephen, and "confirmed by the sign of the holy cross"), "that the roses and flowers of kings, emperors, and dukes, and the crowns and palms of the great, wither and decay, and that all things, with an uninterrupted course, tend to dissolution and death, I, therefore," and so forth.

The brethren afterwards entered and took the dress of the Cistercian order, changing grey for white habiliments. This order, sometimes called, in honour of its founders, the Bernardine, became extremely numerous, so that, if their own historians are to be believed, they had 500 abbeys within 50 years of its institution, and altogether upwards of 6000 houses. One of their rules was not to permit another monastery, even of their own class, to be erected within a specified distance. Their houses were all built in secluded situations, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Waverley in Surrey was the first in England of the Cistercian rule, although that

Cowper. The poet, in a complimentary sonnet, affirms, that Romney had the skill to stamp on canvas not merely the outward form and semblance, but

"The mind's impression, too, on every face,

With strokes that time ought never to erase."

honour for a while was claimed by Furness. This Abbey was a mother monastery, and had under her nine houses (four of them being filiations from her), the principal of which were Calder Abbey, described in this volume, Rushin Abbey in the Isle of Man, and Fermor in Ireland.

The spot selected in the present instance was admirably fitted for the retirement of monastic life. The dell is narrow, the situation one of extreme sequestration, and the inmates of the sacred edifice might thus consider themselves shut out by a double wall from the turmoils and distractions of the world. The ruins amply attest the former magnificence of the buildings, which were once so extensive as nearly to fill the width of the glen. The length of the church is 287 feet, the nave is 70 feet broad, and the walls in some places 54 feet high, and 5 feet thick. The walls of the church, and those of the chapter house, the refectorium, and the school-house, are still in great part remaining, and exhibit fine specimens of Gothic architecture; the chapter-house, 60 feet by 45, has been a sumptuous apartment; the roof, of fret-work, was supported by six channelled pillars, and the windows are yet remarkable for their rich border tracery. The great east window, the four seats near it, adorned with canopies and other ornaments, the piscina, and four nameless statues found in the ruins, are particularly worthy of notice. Unfortunately no mullions remain in the windows, and of the large arches the only perfect ones are the eastern arch under the central tower, and one at the north end of the transept. The observing visitor will notice that the doorway into the north transept, and five doorways out of the cloister court, have round arches indicating an earlier date than the rest of the structure; whilst that part of the building, termed by the describer from whom we are about to quote, a school-house, but which was perhaps a chapel, is characterised by arches with obtusely-angular heads, such as no other portion of the Abbey exhibits. The plan

engraved upon the large map will assist the stranger in his ramble over the ruins; the letters upon it refer to the following

EXPLANATION:

A. B. The Church.-N. Nave.-C. Chapter House.

room.

F. Cloisters.
G. Chapel.
H. Quadrangle.

T. T. Transept. There is a D. Refectory, or dining room. chapel in each part of the tran- E. Locutorium, or conversation sept. The high altar was before the east window A. The piscina (where the officiating priests washed their hands) and the sedilia (where they sat at intervals during the service) are in the south wall of the choir A. The great western tower was at B. The principal entrance to the church was in the north transept.

J. Another range of cloisters, now rased to the ground.

K. Kitchen.

L. Porter's Lodge and gateway.
M. Mill.

O. Oven.

R. Where the mill-race ran.

"The windings of the glen," says Mrs. Radcliffe, with her accustomed elegance of description, "conceal these venerable ruins, till they are closely approached-and the by-road that conducted us is margined with a few ancient oaks, which stretch their broad branches entirely across it, and are fine preparatory objects to the scene beyond. A sudden bend in this road brought us within view of the northern gate of the abbey, a beautiful Gothic arch, one side of which is luxuriantly festooned with nightshade. A thick grove of plain-trees, with some oak and beech, overshadow it on the right, and lead the eye onward to the ruins of the abbey, seen through this dark arch in remote perspective, over rough but verdant ground. The principal features are the great northern window, and part of the eastern choir, with glimpses of shattered arches and stately walls beyond, caught between the gaping casements. On the left, the bank of the glen is broken into knolls, capped with oaks, which, in some places, spread downwards to a stream that winds round the ruin, and darken it with their rich foliage. Through this gate is the entrance to the immediate precincts of the abbey, an area said to contain sixty-five acres, now called the deer park.

It is enclosed by a stone wall, on which the remains of many small buildings, and the faint vestiges of others, still appear-such as the porter's lodge, mills, granaries, ovens, and kilns, that once supplied the monastery; some of which, seen under the shade of the fine old trees, that on every side adorn the broken steeps of this glen, have a very interesting effect.

"Just within the gate, a small manor-house of modern date, with its stables and other offices, breaks discordantly upon the lonely grandeur of the scene. Except this, the character of the deserted ruin is scrupulously preserved in the surrounding area.* We made our way among the pathless fern and grass to the north end of the church, now, like every other part of the abbey, entirely roofless, but showing the lofty arch of the great window, where, instead of the painted glass that once enriched it, are now tufted plants and wreaths of nightshade. Below is the principal door of the church, bending into a deep round arch, which, retiring circle within circle, is rich and beautiful; the remains of a winding staircase are visible within the wall on its left side. Near this northern end of the edifice is seen one side of the eastern choir, with its two slender Gothic window-frames; and on the west, a remnant of the nave of the abbey, and some lofty arches, which once belonged to the belfrey, now detached from the main building.

"To the south, but concealed from this point of view, is the chapter-house, some years ago exhibiting a roof of beautiful Gothic fret-work, and which was almost the only part of the abbey thus ornamented, its architecture having been characterised by an air of grand simplicity, rather than by the elegance and richness of decoration, which, in an after date, distinguished the Gothic style in England. Over the chapter-house were once the library and scriptorium; and beyond it

* Unluckily it has lately been thought necessary to disturb the solitude of the glen by driving a railway right through it within a few feet of the ruins.