At a little distance from Sir ROGER'S house, among the ruins of an old
abbey, there is a long walk of aged elms; which are shot up so very
high, that when one passes under them, the rooks and crows that rest
upon the tops of them seem to be cawing in another region. I am very
much delighted with this sort of noise, which I consider as a kind of
natural prayer to that Being who supplies the wants of his whole
creation, and who, in the beautiful language of the _Psalms>_,
feedeth the young ravens that call upon him. I like this retirement the
better, because of an ill report it lies under of being _haunted;_
for which reason (as I have been told in the family) no living creature
ever walks in it besides the chaplain. My good friend the butler desired
me with a very grave face not to venture myself in it after sun-set, for
that one of the footmen had been almost frighted out of his wits by a
spirit that appeared to him in the shape of a black horse without an
head; to which he added, that about a month ago one of the maids coming
home late that way with a pail of milk upon her head, heard such a
rustling among the bushes that she let it fall.

I was taking a walk in this place last night between the hours of nine
and ten, and could not but fancy it one of the most proper scenes in the
world for a ghost to appear in. The ruins of the abbey are scattered up
and down on every side, and half-covered with ivy and elder bushes, the
harbours of several solitary birds, which seldom make their appearance
till the dusk of the evening. The place was formerly a church-yard, and
has still several marks in it of graves and burying-places. There is
such an echo among the old ruins and vaults, that if you stamp but a
little louder than ordinary, you hear the sound repeated. At the same
time the walk of elms, with the croaking of the ravens which from time
to time are heard from the tops of them, looks exceeding solemn and