The ground formerly occupied by the garden was still marked by a few orchard trees.

At a greater distance from the buildings were detached oaks and elms and chestnuts, growing singly, which had attained great size.

The rest of the space between the ruins and the hill was a close-cropt sward, which the daily pasture of the sheep kept in much finer order than if it had been subjected to the scythe and broom.

The whole scene had a repose, which was still and affecting without being monotonous.

The dark, deep basin, in which the clear blue lake reposed, reflecting the water lilies which grew on its surface, and the trees which here and there threw their arms from the banks, was finely contrasted with the haste and tumult of the brook which broke away from the outlet, as if escaping from confinement and hurried down the glen, wheeling around the base of the rock on which the ruins were situated, and brawling in foam and fury with every shelve and stone which obstructed its passage.