Netley Abbey

If its character was somewhat changed before we parted, it is not my fault.

Still, be the drawbacks what they may, I shall ever mark with a white stone the day on which I for the first time beheld the time-worn cloisters of- Netley Abbey: A Legend of Hampshire.

I saw thee, Netley, as the sun Across the western wave was sinking slow, And a golden glow To thy roofless towers he gave; And the ivy sheen, With its mantle of green That wrapped thy walls around, Shone lovely bright in that glorious light, And I felt 'twas holy ground.

Then I thought of the ancient time, The days of thy monks of old, When to matin, and vesper, and compline chime, The loud hosannah rolled; And thy courts and long-drawn aisles among Swelled the full tide of sacred song.