VI.--<g>Doorway leading into the Sacristy.</g>--This is a double doorway--a specimen of the Early English--divided by a moulded shaft, with a circular opening, or quatrefoil, over it. The outer arch is deeply ‘recessed,’ consisting of five or six successive shafts, or mouldings, on either side, without capitals, and meeting above at the centre of the arch. The inner arches are foliated, and the cusps richly fluted. Clasping this elegant and massive structure, the ivy has so incorporated itself with the masonry, that--massive as it is--art must gradually yield to that natural process which seems to make every root of ivy, if once insinuated between the jointed stones, act like a fulcrum for their dislodgment-- “Ha, ha!” laughs the Ivy, “let men uprear Their ‘<g>Castles and Abbeys</g>,’ far and near; Pile upon pile, let their fabrics rise, Darkening the earth, and mocking the skies; Lifting their turrets so haughtily-- Boasting their grandeur--but what care I? Buttress and bastion, cloister and hall-- _I conquer them all--I conquer them all!_” VII.--<g>The Refectory.</g>[186]--Of this building enough remains to show, that, in their palmy days, the Abbots of Tinterne had a truly noble hall for their private and state entertainments. Of refectories in general, some account has been already given at page 51 of this volume. Of the style of architecture employed in this dining-hall, the numerous windows, with their mullioned partitions, tall shafts, and foliated arches, face-shafts, and corbel heads along the walls, from which sprang the lofty groined vault that covered and connected the whole, present a tolerably distinct picture. “Along the roof a maze of mouldings slim, Like veins that o’er the hand of lady wind, Embraced in closing arms the key-stone trim, With hieroglyphs and cyphers quaint combined, The riddling art that charmed the Gothic mind.” With regard to the minor details, we may notice the <g>dole</g>, a small double aperture, near the archway on the left; and on the opposite side, is another door through which the dishes were handed in from the kitchen. Near the dole is a low-arched doorway in the eastern wall, showing the passage by which communication was kept up with the adjoining offices, the hospitium, the locutorium, and the dormitories. The situation of the reading-desk, or lectern, will be seen by referring to the new <g>plan</g> of the abbey here introduced; and this closes our notice of the engraved illustrations. * * * * *