It must have been no unfit residence for a king and his court,
when those three sides of the square, all composing one great fantastic
house, were in their splendor. The square itself, too, must have been a
busy and cheerful scene, thronged with attendants, guests, horses, etc.
After breakfast, we all walked out, and, crossing the English Bridge,
looked at the Severn over its parapet. The river is here broader than
elsewhere, and very shallow, and has an island covered with bushes, about
midway across. Just over the bridge we saw a church, of red freestone,
and evidently very ancient. This is the Church of the Holy Cross, and is
a portion of the Abbey of St. Peter and St. John, which formerly covered
ten acres of ground. We did not have time to go into the church; but the
windows and other points of architecture, so far as we could discern
them, and knew how to admire them, were exceedingly venerable and
beautiful. On the other side of the street, over a wide space, there are
other remains of the old abbey; and the most interesting was a stone
pulpit, now standing in the open air, seemingly in a garden, but which
originally stood in the refectory of the abbey, and was the station
whence one of the monks read to his brethren at their meals. The pulpit
is much overgrown with ivy. We should have made further researches among
these remains, though they seem now to be in private grounds; but a large
mastiff came nut of his kennel, and, approaching us to the length of his
iron chain, began barking very fiercely.
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