It was embowered in fine woods, which were interspersed in every direction with rising, falling, and swelling grounds.

The manor-house had evidently descended through a long line of ancestry, from a distant period of time.

The Gothic character of its original architecture was still preserved in the latticed windows, adorned with carved divisions and pillars and stonework.

Several pointed terminations also, in the construction of the roof, according to the custom of our forefathers, fully corresponded with the general features of the building.
One end of the house was entirely clothed with the thick foliage of an immense ivy, which climbed beyond customary limits, and embraced a lofty chimney up to its very summit.

Such a tree seemed congenial to the walls that supported it, and conspired with the antique fashion of the place to carry imagination back to the days of our ancestors.
As I approached, I was led to reflect on the lapse of ages, and the successive generations of men, each in their turn occupying lands, houses, and domains; each in their turn also disappearing, and leaving their inheritance to be enjoyed by others.