The attraction of the castled rock was such that few visitors sought the former spot, notwithstanding its picturesque and wild position.

How the church maintained itself on that elevated and unsheltered hill, despite such winds as swept it in the winter, was almost a miracle: but there it stood--as it had done for centuries--gray, solitary, sublime.

It was of considerable size, but small in comparison with its God's-acre, which was of vast extent, and only sparsely occupied by graves.

The bare and rocky moor was almost valueless; it is as easy for one duly qualified to consecrate a square mile as an acre; and the materials of the low stone wall that marked its limits had been close at hand.

In one or two spots only did the dead lie thickly; where shipwrecked mariners--the very names of whom were unknown to those who buried them--were interred; and where the victims of the Plague reposed by scores.