"Huge halls, long galleries, spacious chambers, joined
By no quite lawful marriage of the arts,
Might shock a connoisseur; but when combined
Formed a whole, which, irregular in parts,
Yet left a grand impression on the mind,
At least of those whose eyes were in their hearts."
It is not my intention to lay open the scenes of domestic life at the
Abbey, nor to describe the festivities of which I was a partaker during
my sojourn within its hospitable walls. I wish merely to present a
picture of the edifice itself, and of those personages and
circumstances about it, connected with the memory of Byron.
I forbear, therefore, to dwell on my reception by my excellent and
amiable host and hostess, or to make my reader acquainted with the
elegant inmates of the mansion that I met in the saloon; and I shall
pass on at once with him to the chamber allotted me, and to which I was
most respectfully conducted by the chamberlain.
It was one of a magnificent suite of rooms, extending between the court
of the cloisters and the Abbey garden, the windows looking into the
latter. The whole suite formed the ancient state apartment, and had
fallen into decay during the neglected days of the Abbey, so as to be
in a ruinous condition in the time of Lord Byron.
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