Page:The white doe of Rylstone - or, The fate of the Nortons. A poem (IA whitedoeofrylsto00wordrich).pdf/171

 From Bolton’s old monastic Tower.—P. 3.

It is to be regretted that at the present day Bolton Abbey wants this ornament: but the Poem, according to the imagination of the Poet, is composed in Queen Elizabeth’s time. “Formerly,” says Dr Whitaker, “over the Transept was a tower. This is proved not only from the mention of bells at the Dissolution, when they could have had no other place, but from the pointed roof of the choir, which must have terminated westward, in some building of superior height to the ridge.”

A rural Chapel, neatly drest.—P. 5.

“The Nave of the Church having been reserved at the Dissolution, for the use of the Saxon Cure, is still a parochial Chapel; and, at this day, is as well kept as the neatest English Cathedral.”

Who sate in the shade of the Prior’s Oak.—P. 5.

“At a small distance from the great gateway stood the Prior’s Oak, which was felled about the year 1720, and sold for 70l. According to the price of wood at that time, it could scarcely have contained less than 1400 feet of timber.”

When Lady Aaliza mourn’d.—P. 15.

The detail of this tradition may be found in Dr Whit-