A dreadful tale is told of one company of nuns, who, in the consternation and terror which they endured at the approach of a band of Danes, mutilated their faces in a manner too horrid to be described, as the only means left to them for protection against the brutality of their foes.

They followed, in adopting this measure, the advice and the example of the lady superior.

It was effectual.
There was a certain abbey, called Crowland, which was in those days one of the most celebrated in the island.

It was situated near the southern border of Lincolnshire, which lies on the eastern side of England.

There is a great shallow bay, called The Wash, on this eastern shore, and it is surrounded by a broad tract of low and marshy land, which is drained by long canals, and traversed by roads built upon embankments.