in
remembrance that you did most cruelly slay me, and that you may the
better call to God for mercy, repent unfeignedly of your sins, and do
good works. The officer of Eskdale-side shall blow, 'Out on you, out on
you, out on you for this heinous crime!'" Failure of this strange
service was to forfeit their lands to the abbot of Whitby.

DURHAM.

[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF THE CATHEDRAL AND CASTLE.]

[Illustration: NORMAN DOORWAY IN DURHAM CASTLE.]

We have now come into a region of coal and iron, with mines and furnaces
in abundance, and tall chimneys in all the villages pouring out black
smoke. All the country is thoroughly cultivated, and the little streams
bubbling over the stones at the bottoms of the deep valleys, past
sloping green fields and occasional patches of woods where the land is
too steep for cultivation, give picturesqueness to the scene. We have
crossed over the boundary from Yorkshire into Durham, and upon the very
crooked little river Wear there rise upon the tops of the precipitous
cliffs bordering the stream, high elevated above the red-tiled roofs of
the town, the towers of Durham Cathedral and Castle. They stand in a
remarkable position. The Wear, swinging around a curve like an elongated
horseshoe, has excavated a precipitous valley out of the rocks. At the
narrower part of the neck there is a depression, so that the promontory
around which the river sweeps appears like the wrist with the hand
clenched. The town stands at the depression, descending the slopes on
either side to the river, and also spreading upon the opposite banks.
The castle bars the access to the promontory, upon which stands the
cathedral. Thus, almost impregnably fortified, the ancient bishops of
Durham were practically sovereigns, and they made war as quickly as they
would celebrate a mass if their powers were threatened, for they bore
alike the sword and the crozier. Durham was founded to guard the relics
of the famous St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, the great ascetic of the
early English Church, distinguished above all others for the severity of
his mortifications and his abhorrence of women. At his shrine, we are
told, none of the gentler sex might worship; they were admitted to the
church, but in the priory not even a queen could lodge. Queen Philippa
was once admitted there as a guest, but a tumult arose, and she had to
flee half dressed for safety to the castle. St. Cuthbert was a hermit to
whom the sight of huma