He also averred that it was forbidden to drive visitors
within the gates; so we left the fly at the inn, and set out to walk from
the entrance to the house. There is no porter's lodge; and the grounds,
in this outlying region, had not the appearance of being very primly
kept, but were well wooded with evergreens, and much overgrown with
ferns, serving for cover for hares, which scampered in and out of their
hiding-places. The road went winding gently along, and, at the distance
of nearly a mile, brought us to a second gate, through which we likewise
passed, and walked onward a good way farther, seeing much wood, but as
yet nothing of the Abbey. At last, through the trees, we caught a
glimpse of its battlements, and saw, too, the gleam of water, and then
appeared the Abbey's venerable front. It comprises the western wall of
the church, which is all that remains of that fabric,--a great, central
window, entirely empty, without tracery or mullions; the ivy clambering
up on the inside of the wall, and hanging over in front. The front of
the inhabited part of the house extends along on a line with this church
wall, rather low, with battlements along its top, and all in good keeping
with the ruinous remnant. We met a servant, who replied civilly to our
inquiries about the mode of gaining admittance, and bade us ring a bell
at the corner of the principal porch. We rang accordingly, and were
forthwith admitted into a low, vaulted basement, ponderously wrought with
intersecting arches, dark and rather chilly, just like what I remember to
have seen at Battle Abbey; and, after waiting here a little while, a
respectable elderly gentlewoman appeared, of whom we requested to be
shown round the Abbey.
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