Ward & Lock's descriptive and pictorial guide to the Isle of Man ...

—Guide to the Isle of Man.which does not obstruct the view. Just within the railing,on the left hand is a cannon taken from the Russians in theCrimea, and close to it is a memorial in the form of anobelisk with this inscription :" Erected by public subscription, in memory of Brigadier-General ThomasLeigh Goldio, oftlie Nunnery, Lieutenant-Colonel of Her Majesty's 57th regiment.He commanded a brigade of the British Ai"my in the Crimea, and fellin the battle of Inkerman, Nov. 5th, 1854, in the 47th year of his age. Postfuncra virtus."The last phrase of the epitaph may console some of us, whofancy our merits are not sufficiently recognised ;after deathmay come appreciation.The large castle-like edifice, now known as the Nunnery, isa modern building, the property and residence of Major J. S.Goldie Taubman, uncle of the distinguished soldier whosememorial has just attracted our attention. The extensivemansion, as will be seen by the illustration, is almost coveredwith ivy, and the grounds are laid out with great taste. Wecan catch a glimpse, and but a glimpse, of some fragmentsof the old Nunnery, the name of which is preserved in theestate. We read in the legends of the island, that good St.Bridgetta, or Bridget, established a nunnery here about 567,or nearly thirty years before St. Augustine was sent by thePope to preach Christianity to the people of England. St.Bridget, it may be remembered, was the beautiful Irish maidenwho prayed that she might be made ugly, so that she might beholier ;and if for no otlaer reason than that, certainly deservesto be celebrated as a most remarkable woman. If St. Bridgetreally founded the Nunnery (and it is averred that she did,and lived and died there), the date given for that event isprobably incorrect, for the good saint would have been atthat time about 1 14 years old, and there is no record thatshe attained such a great age. But the dates in ecclesiasticallegends are generally open to correction, and we may as wellcredit the saintly Irishwoman with the foundation of thenunnery, as any other benefactor to the early church of theisland. All accounts agree that, if not at first, yet subsequently,it was a magnificent structure. Governor Sacheverell,who commanded the island in 1692, described the cloisters,some portions of which remained in his time, as very fine,the ceiling being sculptured with representatives of nationalobjects. "Nothing in the whole creation (!) but what isimitated in curious carvings on it." The pillars wex'e ofimmense size, and the edifice generally built in the most substantialmanner ; but in the turmoils of later times the handof man effected more than could be done by " Time's effacing