Cuthbert's at Lindisfarne, on Holy Isle.
"The merry seamen laugh'd to see
Their gallant ship so lustily
Furrow the green sea-foam.
Much joy'd they in their honor'd freight;
For, on the deck, in chair of state,
The Abbess of Saint Hilda placed,
With five fair nuns, the galley graced.
"'T was sweet to see these holy maids,
Like birds escaped to green-wood shades,
Their first flight from the cage;
How timid, and how curious, too,
For all to them was strange and new,
And all the common sights they view,
Their wonderment engage."
Light-hearted were they all, except the Abbess and the novice Clare.
Fair, kind, and noble, the Abbess had early taken the veil. Her hopes,
her fears, her joys, were bounded by the cloister walls; her highest
ambition being to raise St. Hilda's fame. For this she gave her ample
fortune--to build its bowers, to adorn its chapels with rare and quaint
carvings, and to deck the relic shrine with ivory and costly gems. The
poor and the pilgrim blessed her bounty and shelter.
Her pale cheek and spare form were made more striking by the black
Benedictine garb. Vigils and penitence had dimmed the luster of her
eyes.
Pages:
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27