They are ushered in by a few pleasant words
"by way of advertisement," describing in four pages the delights of his
Lordship's rural retirement at Lilies, in Buckinghamshire; and this
portion of the work is so inviting that we quote it.]
If you would place yourself just midway between the three seas which
form the boundaries of southern England, you shall find yourself on a
small knoll, covered with antique elm, walnut, and sycamore trees, which
rises out of a vale famous in all time for the natural fertility of its
soil, and the moral virtues of its people. On this knoll, fitly called
by our ancestors "the Heart of South Britain," stood, distant about
half a mile from each other, two monasteries, known by the flowery
appellatives of Lilies and Roses; not unaptly setting forth a promise of
all that can recommend itself as fair and sweet unto the gentler senses.
These edifices have, for many centuries, been no more; but, on the site
of the first mentioned of the two, standeth a small mansion, of Tudor
architecture, bearing still its ancient name. Of the monastery little
memorial, beyond the name, remains; save only that under a small
enclosed space, erewhile its cemetery, now a wilderness of flowers, the
bones of the monks repose.
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