OF Netley.]

TITCIIFIELD HOUSE—NETLEY CASTLE.

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(conduit) castelid in the middle of the court of it; the very same place wherethe late monastrie of Prajmonstratenses stoode, caullyd Tichefelde.” The ruinsof Titchfield House are still visible. Besides the religious establishments inthe town of Southampton, at a short distance from the town, to the north-eastof Netley, stood the priory of St. Dionysius. A few miles beyond South-ampton stood the ancient Saxon nunnery of Komsey, the church of whichwill repay with interest a visit from the antiquarian wanderer. Nearlyopposite Netley, on the other side of the water, stood the mother Abbey ofBeaulieu, deeply embedded in the wilds of the New Forest

NTctlcj) CTnstlc, or Jfort, isnot a building of any consider-able antiquity. The circum-stance of its not being men-tioned by Leland, proves thatit did not exist before the latterend of the reign of Henry VIII . It is commonly supposedto have been erected for thepurpose of guarding this partof the shore from invaders. Itstands in the midst of a thicketof trees, on a little hill close to the beach, and forms a striking object as seenfrom the water. The tower is a modern addition, built by the late proprietor,Mr. Chamberlayne, who is said to have taken the idea from one of Horace Walpole ’s letters, who recommended this adjunct to render the buildinghabitable. The castle itself consists of two small platforms. Behind thecastle stands a neat modem cottage, of an antique Gothic design, where tea,&c. is prepared for the visitors to the mins of Netley Abbey.

One reason of our want of information relating to the early history ofNetley Abbey, is the circumstance that no registers or chronicles of anymonastic houses in this neighbourhood are known to exjpt. Literature appearsnot to have flourished in this part of England. Among the manuscripts inour great public libraries, but a few can be traced to any of these monasteries,and we believe none to Netley. Leland mentions but one book in the libraryof Netley Abbey, which was a work of Cicero; but this is far from showing,as it has been supposed, that the library was ill furnished, because that anti-quary only noticed books of a certain class which he found in the course ofhis peregrination, and did not pretend to make an inventory of the contentsof the monastic libraries. Of Bomsey Nunnery, the most ancient of thereligious houses we have just enumerated, the history is equally obscure;

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