Note 250 — Chapter VIII
Reading edition
The reader may perhaps smile at this, but it has long been my custom to carry some 8vo. edition of a monkish writer about me, when time or opportunity allowed me to spend a few hours among the ruins of the olden time. I recall with pleasure the recollection of many such rambles, and especially my last—a visit to Netley Abbey. What a sweet spot for contemplation; surrounded by all that is lovely in nature, it drives our old prejudices away, and touches the heart with piety and awe. Often have I explored its ruins and ascended its crumbling parapets, admiring the taste of those Cistercian monks in choosing so quiet, romantic, and choice a spot, and one so well suited to lead man's thoughts to sacred things above.