VII.

The Childe departed from his father's hall:

It was a vast and venerable pile;

So old, it seeméd only not to fall,

Yet strength was pillared in each massy aisle.

Monastic dome! condemned to uses vile![w]

Where Superstition once had made her den

Now Paphian girls were known to sing and smile;[x]

And monks might deem their time was come agen,[27]

If ancient tales say true, nor wrong these holy men.