A palisade, ornamented with antique and grotesque figures, carved in oak, encloses the front, before which a profusion of the choicest flowers and shrubs is tastefully arranged. The entrance and the windows, which are formed after the manner of ancient religious houses, are decorated with carving in the same material. The entrance-door is unique, and a great curiosity, being beautifully ornamented with well polished carved figures; the whole of which are of black oak, and kept particularly bright, giving the retreat a very uncommon appearance. The entrance-hall, stairs, and passages, are chastely in character; and the windows are ornamented with painted glass in the most appropriate manner. The gardens, in which nature and art are judiciously united, are extensive, and display much taste. The thick and umbrageous foliage of the lofty forest trees, that occupy a part of the lawn and gardens, is the safe asylum of numerous birds, which in this calm seclusion revel unmolested. A pair of beautiful wood-owls have found a safe and quiet shelter in the trunk of an old ivy-covered tree; and on a lawn a little further, is erected a pretty moss-covered alcove, furnished with a few well-selected books: it is nearly in the centre of the garden, and is open in front. The confidence of the birds is shown by some of them every year building their nests in this recess: indeed, these airy inhabitants appear to be quite tame and familiarized by the kindness of their amiable protectors. I believe the birds have much the larger portion of the produce of these beautiful gardens, as none of them are suffered to be molested. Through the lower part of the shrubbery, a brook, called Cyflymen, i.e. Speedy, murmurs over its pebbly bed, and is crossed by a rustic bridge, which leads to a bank covered with lichens, and furnished with appropriate seats, near which rises a pure fountain, whose waters are as clear as the crystal glasses which ornament its margin: in short, the beauty of the scenery, aided by a little enthusiam, might inspire the idea that “Here in cool grot and mossy cell, The rural fays and fairies dwell: Though rarely seen by mortal eye, When the pale moon, ascending high, Darts through yon limes her quiv’ring beams, They frisk it near these crystal streams.” The carved stone brought from the Abbey Crucis, and mentioned as being dug up at the time the bodies were discovered, stands near the entrance.