The pointed angles of each tower;Yet still entire the Abbey stood, Like veteran, worn, but unsubdued.
XI.
Soon as they near’d his turrets strong, The maidens raised Saint Hilda’s song, And with the sea-wave and the wind, Their voices, sweetly shrill, combined, And made harmonious close; Then, answering from the sandy shore, Half-drown’d amid the breakers’ roar, According chorus rose:Down to the haven of the Isle, The monks and nuns in order file, From Cuthbert’s cloisters grim; Banner, and cross, and relics there, To meet Saint Hilda’s maids, they bare; And, as they caught the sounds on air, They echoed back the hymn.The islanders, in joyous mood, Rush’d emulously through the flood, To hale the bark to land; Conspicuous by her veil and hood, Signing the cross, the Abbess stood, And bless’d them with her hand.
XII.
Suppose we now the welcome said, Suppose the Convent banquet made: All through the holy dome, Through cloister, aisle, and gallery, Wherever vestal maid might pry, No risk to meet unhallow’d eye, The stranger sisters roam:Till fell the evening damp with dew, And the sharp sea-breeze coldly blew, For there, even summer night is chill. Then, having stray’d and gazed their fill, They closed around the fire; And all, in turn, essay’d to paint The rival merits of their saint, A theme that ne’er can tire A holy maid; for, be it known, That their saint’s honour is their own.
XIII.
Then Whitby’s nuns exulting told, How to their house three Barons bold Must menial service do; While horns blow out a note of shame, And monks cry ‘Fye upon your name! In wrath, for loss of silvan game, Saint Hilda’s priest ye slew.’-‘This, on Ascension-day, each year, While labouring on our harbour-pier, Must Herbert, Bruce, and Percy hear.’- They told how in their convent-cell A Saxon princess once did dwell, The lovely Edelfled; And how, of thousand snakes, each one Was changed into a coil of stone, When holy Hilda pray’d;Themselves, within their holy bound, Their stony folds had often found. They told, how sea-fowls’ pinions fail,
