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Article THE MONK OF ST. DUNSTAN. Page 1 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Monk Of St. Dunstan.
THE MONK OF ST . DUNSTAN " . 4
Ik a remote county of England , there is an extensive tract of land , which , though now for the most part enclosed and brought into cultivation , still bears a name that indicates it to have been a large wooded highland . Not a tree , however , is now to be seen there ; the portion of it wdiich remains as waste ground is a range of hill
and valley , covered with furze , broom , and heather . In one part of it , many centuries since , stood the church and monastery of St . Dunstan in the Wood . The site of these buildings is still distinguished from the surrounding heath , not so much by the swelling heaps of earth that cover their mouldering foundations , as by a fresher and livelier green that clothes the sacred turf , like the smile of nature
resting on the sanctuary of this world ' s peace . But the simple peasantry of the neighbourhood attribute the peculiar aspect of the spot to other than natural causes ; looking no deeper than the surface , they imagine that sinful deeds , or the agency of wicked spirits , must have rendered the soil accursed , so that neither wild flowers , furze , nor heather , will flourish there . Many a tale of horror is told
of that lonely spot ; and these traditions have doubtless been kept alive by the gipsies , one of whose favourite haunts is this heath , even at the present day , and who must have found it answer their purpose to scare away from it all nocturnal intruders . Certain it is , that no peasant will venture near it after dusk , owing to the fearful sights and sounds which , they say , are to be seen and heard there at the witching hour , according to authentic reports handed down from generation to generation .
One of the tales before mentioned relates to a martyrdom said to have been perpetrated there , in commemoration of which the monastery was afterwards built . Other legends tell of still more fearful events , in which figure conspicuously a lady of rare beauty—a blackrobed monk—and an old witch , called the Crone of Dussindale . The following legend puts the last-named wild stories into a connected form , clothing them in a marvellous dress , as suited to the superstition and ignorance of past ages , whence its origin is derived .
The sequestered monastery of" St . Dunstan in the Wood " was a cell , belonging to a neighbouring Benedictine Priory . In the course of years , the celebration of the masses and obits appointed by the wills of the founders became irksome to the brethren of the order ; and those who were seloctod for these services regretted , in this lonely
and cheerless abode , the bettor entertainment and boon companionship that prevailed within the walls of their parent establishment . The solitude which the distant cell afforded was , however , so congenial to the studious and devout habits of one of the fathers , that lie took up his permanent residence there , and occasionally assisted by some of his brethren , he strictly performed the solemn duties of the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Monk Of St. Dunstan.
THE MONK OF ST . DUNSTAN " . 4
Ik a remote county of England , there is an extensive tract of land , which , though now for the most part enclosed and brought into cultivation , still bears a name that indicates it to have been a large wooded highland . Not a tree , however , is now to be seen there ; the portion of it wdiich remains as waste ground is a range of hill
and valley , covered with furze , broom , and heather . In one part of it , many centuries since , stood the church and monastery of St . Dunstan in the Wood . The site of these buildings is still distinguished from the surrounding heath , not so much by the swelling heaps of earth that cover their mouldering foundations , as by a fresher and livelier green that clothes the sacred turf , like the smile of nature
resting on the sanctuary of this world ' s peace . But the simple peasantry of the neighbourhood attribute the peculiar aspect of the spot to other than natural causes ; looking no deeper than the surface , they imagine that sinful deeds , or the agency of wicked spirits , must have rendered the soil accursed , so that neither wild flowers , furze , nor heather , will flourish there . Many a tale of horror is told
of that lonely spot ; and these traditions have doubtless been kept alive by the gipsies , one of whose favourite haunts is this heath , even at the present day , and who must have found it answer their purpose to scare away from it all nocturnal intruders . Certain it is , that no peasant will venture near it after dusk , owing to the fearful sights and sounds which , they say , are to be seen and heard there at the witching hour , according to authentic reports handed down from generation to generation .
One of the tales before mentioned relates to a martyrdom said to have been perpetrated there , in commemoration of which the monastery was afterwards built . Other legends tell of still more fearful events , in which figure conspicuously a lady of rare beauty—a blackrobed monk—and an old witch , called the Crone of Dussindale . The following legend puts the last-named wild stories into a connected form , clothing them in a marvellous dress , as suited to the superstition and ignorance of past ages , whence its origin is derived .
The sequestered monastery of" St . Dunstan in the Wood " was a cell , belonging to a neighbouring Benedictine Priory . In the course of years , the celebration of the masses and obits appointed by the wills of the founders became irksome to the brethren of the order ; and those who were seloctod for these services regretted , in this lonely
and cheerless abode , the bettor entertainment and boon companionship that prevailed within the walls of their parent establishment . The solitude which the distant cell afforded was , however , so congenial to the studious and devout habits of one of the fathers , that lie took up his permanent residence there , and occasionally assisted by some of his brethren , he strictly performed the solemn duties of the