f the
house, and occupies what was formerly the servants' hall. The
officiating priest who undertakes the duties here, lives in this portion
of the building, and leads a life of complete solitude, until he is
relieved by a successor. He never sees the face of one of the nuns; he
cannot even ask one of his own profession to dine with him, without
first of all obtaining (by letter) the express permission of the Abbess;
and when his visitor is at length admitted, it is impossible to gain for
him--let him be who he may--the additional indulgence of being allowed
to sleep in the house.[5]

The chapel is the only part of the whole interior of the building to
which strangers can be admitted: those who desire to do so can attend
mass there on Sundays. The casual visitor, when permitted to enter it,
is not allowed to pass beyond the pillars which support the gallery of
the choir above him; for if he advanced farther, the nuns who might
then be occupying it, might see him while they were engaged at their
devotions. The chapel exhibits nothing in the way of ornament, beyond
the altar furniture and a few copies from pictures on sacred subjects by
the old masters. Some of the more valuable objects devoted to its
service are not shown. These consist of the sacred vestments and the
sacramental plate, which are said to be of extraordinary beauty and
value, and are preserved in the keeping of the Abbess. The worth of one
of the jewelled chalices alone has been estimated at a thousand pounds.

Much of the land in the neighbourhood belongs to the convent, which has
been enriched by many valuable gifts. The nuns make a good use of their
wealth. Neither the austerities and mortifications to which their lives
are devoted, nor their rigid and terrible self-exclusion from all
intercourse with their fellow-beings in the world around them, have
diminished their sympathy for affliction, or their readiness in
ministering to the wants of the poor. Any assistance of any kind that
they can render, is always at the service of those who require it,
without distinction of rank or religion. No wandering beggar who rings
at the convent bell, ever leaves the door without a penny and a piece of
bread to help him on his way.

But the charities of the nuns of Mawgan do not stop short at the first
good work of succouring the afflicted; they extend also to a generous
sympathy for those human weaknesses of impatience and irresolution in
others, which they hav