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BOLTON ABBEY. 25

a kind of drizzling rain, which threatened to be of longer duration, and we were reluctantly obliged to give up all thoughts of returning home that night. Seated round a cheerful fire, talking over the pleasures and dangers of the day, our little party soon recovered its gaiety, nor se- parated until a late hour. The window of the apartment which I occupied looked towards the abbey; and as I gazed from it, I could not but feel surprised at the change which a few hours had made in the scene. Nothing could be more profound than the calm which had succeeded the storm. The moon was risen, shedding her silver light on all around, and the outline of the abbey was beautifully defined by her soft rays. I could not sleep, nor resist the wish, at this still and beautiful hour, when all around me were asleep, to revisit the scene of past pleasures, I proceeded about two hundred yards from the house, and then a feeling of the most perfect loneliness made me pause; I could proceed no further. Earth below seemed so peaceful, and the heavens above presented such an image of calm majesty; I alone seemed the only living being in the vast expanse. Evening certainly is the time for holy devotion; but Night, even when most beautiful, brings with her feelings of solemnity and awe. She speaks so forcibly of the end of all things, of our last long sleep! I had, however, seen Bolton by the pale moonlight. Beautiful

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