242 Mr. Georffe Tate on the Fame Islands. 



'O 



both curious and instructive, this paper would be incomplete 

 without some further details. 



Soon after the introduction of Christianity into Northumber- 

 land, these desolate rocks were selected by religious persons as a 

 retreat from the world. Aidan, who was the first Bishop of 

 Lindisfarne, and who held the see from a.d. 635 to a.d. 652, 

 occasionally retired to the Fame for the sake of solitude and 

 secret prayer. But St. Cuthbert, the popular Northumbrian 

 saint, gave celebrity to the island. His history and character 

 were remarkable. Originally a shepherd-boy, he was succes- 

 sively a monk at ** Mailross,^' Guest-master at Ripon, and rose 

 to be Prior to the fifth Bishop of Lindisfarne. In this office he 

 was distinguished by his piety, zeal, and self-denial, and by his 

 labours to convert and instruct the barbarous Northumbrians, 

 frequently taking journeys for this purpose into the desert and 

 mountainous parts of the county. His mind, however, was 

 deeply tinctured with the superstitions of the period ; and in 

 A.D. 676 he retired from the society of his fellow-men to the 

 solitude of the Fame. Here, near the sea-shore, he erected a 

 lowly Oratory, of a circular shape, and five perches in diameter ; 

 the wall was made of unhewn stone and turf, and on the out- 

 side was not higher than a man ; but within, the cell was deep- 

 ened by the excavation of the earth, so that the eyes might be 

 kept from wandering, and might gaze on nothing except the 

 heavens above. The roof was constructed of rough timber and 

 thatched over with bent-grass ; a slight partition divided it into 

 two parts, in one of which he lived, and in the other prayed. 

 To accommodate strangers who might visit the island for ad- 

 vice or devotion, he built a larger house, called the Hospitium, 

 close to the shore at the landing-place. In this lonely and rude 

 dwelling the hermit lived nine years, engaged partly in culti- 

 vating the soil and in raising barley with success, but chiefly in 

 practising austerities, in giving instruction and consolation to 

 those seeking his aid, and, according to the monastic histories, 

 in working wonderful miracles. 



On the deposition of Timberet, the first Bishop of Hexham, 

 St. Cuthbert was, in a.d. 684, elected his successor by a general 

 synod, which met at Twyford on the Alne ; but it was not until 

 Egfrid, king of Northumbria, attended by his nobility, had 

 sailed to the island, and besought him on bended knees to 

 accept the episcopate, that St. Cuthbert consented to become 

 Bishop of Lindisfarne, Eata being translated to Hexham. He, 

 however, had occupied his dignified position only two years, 

 when his passion for solitude revived. He resigned his see, 

 abandoned his duties and honours, and again retired to his Ora- 

 tory on the Fame, where, in the course of three months, he fell 



