292 president's address. 



with his magnificent collections ; Spindleston, the retreat of the 

 loyal Earls of Der went water, still lovely, though rudely, and in 

 idle vengeance, stripped of its former splendour ; Lindisfarne^ in 

 the distance, the Insida sacra of Venerable Bede, with the ruins 

 of its Abbey and Abbey Church, the parent church of Durham, 

 and the model of its architecture ; the Islands of Fame, the 

 loiiely rescing-place of St. Cuthhert, where he died, and where his 

 Chapel and Cell are still seen, not uncared for ; and then, the 

 proud Castle, crowning its majestic rock, towering over the sur- 

 rounding district spread far beneath ; with the honoured Parish 

 Church, to which, before St. Cuthhert, Aidan resorted in his walks 

 of piety, and which bears his name ; its Chancel and Crypt,^ 

 flanked by the poor remains of the monastic houses once so 

 distinguished there ; and the Glorious Sea, studded with twenty 

 islands, lying at the Castle's foot, and filled with objects of 

 unrivalled curiosity and interest. 



No one day, no one week, could suffice for these things ; no 

 single valedictory address could do them justice. Each would 

 employ a separate visit and require a separate theme ; and the 

 multiplicity of objects before our eyes forced upon us the con- 

 clusion, that for your information other meetings must be held in 



* In the year 1817, this crypt was opened, and found to consist of a highly- 

 finished chamber, with a groined roof, having two narrow windows at the east 

 end, above the altar, the supporters of which are broken off. In the south wall 

 is a piscina, beneath a small window ; and the entrance door. In the roof is 

 an iron staple fit to suspend a lamp. 



In the north wall is a square opening three and a half feet high, leading to a 

 narrow vaulted chamber, finished with plaster and a stone cornice, and having 

 a window east. 



The first apartment has clearly been a chapel; but the purpose of the 

 second is a matter of conjecture. It may have been a receptacle for the dead 

 previous to interment, and it was called the Dead-house, or a chamber for the 

 dying brought hither for extreme unction. 



Here lies General Forster, condemned to death for high treason, A.D. 1715, 

 but delivered from prison, by his sister Dorothy, now lying by his side. She 

 rode to London, on a double horse, behind an Adderstone blacksmith, and 

 getting an impression of the prison key, liberated her brother, and liwe Ma- 

 dame Lavalette, remained a prisoner in his place. Such is woman's love 

 The smith's name was Purdy, and his descendants are still smiths of Adder- 

 stone. 



