wall"; Mr. Hind says, "the Vale of Lanherne did not rouse
my enthusiasm." Most visitors agree with the Rector of Lew Trenchard.
The mansion, now the convent, came into possession of the "great
Arundells" in 1231 by marriage with a daughter of John de Lanherne. It
was in the reign of Henry VII. that a later Arundell purchased
Wardour Castle, in Wiltshire, and gifted it to his son Sir Thomas, who
was married to a sister of Catherine Howard; and it is at Wardour that
the family of Arundell still flourishes. The family remained Catholic
through the Reformation, and the sanctuary lamp in Lanherne Chapel was
never extinguished; so that English Catholics have a very special
regard for this spot, where the light of their faith still burns
brightly after so many centuries. The front of the old house dates
from 1580; but many buildings have been added of late years for the
accommodation of the nuns, whose seclusion is very strict. It came
into possession of the Carmelites in 1794, when a party of nuns,
driven from France by the Revolution, came to England, having in vain
tried to find safety at Antwerp. They were given this mansion by
Henry, eighth Lord Arundell of Wardour.

Here they have been ever since, the settlement having been much
enriched and enlarged more recently. Their presence has drawn other
Catholics to the spot, so that the district is quite mediaeval in its
spiritual atmosphere; besides which many visitors not of the faith
come hither to worship in the beautiful chapel, and to try to obtain
glimpses of the fair recluses. Having once taken the veil, these nuns
never again leave the precincts. They attend the services in a gallery
concealed by a grating; they take exercise in a high-walled garden;
when they die they are buried in the convent cemetery. There cannot
fail to be a touch of sadness in thinking of these ladies thus
secluded from the "stir of existence," severed from the interests of
their brothers and sisters, not even having the fair country-side and
grand coast as a feast for their eyes, their lives spent in ceaseless
prayer and liturgy. It is strange that such things should be, and we
can only imagine the haven to be welcome to those who, in their
declining years, crave perfect peace and retirement after the stress
of uttermost sorrow or restless buffetings. There are paintings of
Vandyke and Rubens in the chapel. Outside the door is an old cross,
brought from Gwinear, which is supposed to be Anglo-Sax