The
Abbot's residence was in this quarter; and the clerical personage, before
alluded to, spoke of these as the oldest part of the ruins.
About half a mile on the hither side of the abbey stands the village of
Dalton, in which is a castle built on a Roman foundation, and which was
afterwards used by the abbots (in their capacity of feudal lords) as a
prison. The abbey was founded about 1027 by King Stephen, before he came
to the throne; and the faces of himself and of his queen are still to be
seen on one of the walls.
We had a very agreeable drive home (our drive hither had been
uncomfortably sunny and hot), and we stopped at Ulverton to buy a pair of
shoes for J----- and some drawing-books and stationery. As we passed
through the little town in the morning, it was all alive with the bustle
and throng of the weekly market; and though this had ceased on our
return, the streets still looked animated, because the heat of the day
drew most of the population, I should imagine, out of doors. Old men
look very antiquated here in their old-fashioned coats and breeches,
sunning themselves by the wayside.
We reached home somewhere about eight o'clock,--home I see I have called
it; and it seems as homelike a spot as any we have found in England,--the
old inn, close by the bridge, beside the clear river, pleasantly
overshadowed by trees. It is entirely English, and like nothing that one
sees in America; and yet. I feel as if I might have lived here a long
while ago, and had now come back because I retained pleasant
recollections of it.
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