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

Short Walks from Douglas. 45fingers." Governor Sacheverell says, " It doubtless has sufferedmuch from the outrage of the soldiers, as may begathered by the niches yet standing in the chapel, which hasbeen one of the finest in the world, and the images of thesaints reposited in them torn out. Some pieces of brokencolumns are still to be seen, but the gi-eatest part have beenremoved." Nothing remains of the great convent but a portionof the chapel, now used as a coach-house, with a Gothicwindow above the large doors ; and the piscina, in which thepriests washed the sacred vessels, is said to be fixed in thekitchen of the gardener's house. The remainder of the ruinsof the old building were removed by General Goldie, a formerproprietor, no doubt a gallant officer, but apparently notgreatly influenced by archaeological reverence.The Prioress of the Nunnery was a person of considerableimportance, a baroness of the island, possessing temporal aswell as spiritual power, and v^'ho held her own courts. Nodoubt discipline was well preserved among the holy sisterhood,and if any of them were unholy, they were promptlypunished. Tradition affirms that there were undergi-oundcaverns to which refractory nuns were sent, that they mightmeditate on their offence and mend their naughty manners.It is, of course, just probable that some of them came oatagain, and it is to be hoped were the better for the enforcedseclusion. A punishment even more terrible was sometimesawarded. "Waldron tells us, in the curious book quoted inthe introductory chapter, that if any nun of the NunneryAvas suspected of misconduct, she was taken to the How[Head] of Douglas, forced to climb to a hollow called a chair,where she sat till the tide ebbed and flowed. If she descendedunhurt, she was cleared of the aspersion. " In my opinion,"remarks Waldron, sensibly enough, " the number of the fortunatecould not be very great ;for, besides the danger ofclimbing (which few men can do above thirtyor forty paces),the extreme cold when you come to anj^ height, the horror ofbeing exposed alone to all the fury of the elements, and thehorrid prospect of the sea roaring through a thousand cavities,and foaming around you on every side, is enough to staggerthe firmest resolution and courage, and, without all question,has been the destruction of many of those unhappy ^Tetches."Many eminent persons appear to have been interred withirjthe precincts of the building. Two memorial stones are preservedin the gardens, portions, it is supposed, of the tombsof Matilda, daughter of Ethelbert. King of Wessex, and ofCartesmunda, the " fair nun of Winchester." who fled to tbe