There was ample reason, I dare say, for the “nolo Episcopari” in 
this case. There was room enough, no doubt, for the teachings of 
the ministers of peace; but extremely little to be extracted in 
return in way of salaries. We read to-day of the woes and 
sufferings of the subject races in the Turkish Empire: you may 
find a not inapt parallel to them in the history of your own district 
six or seven hundred years ago. In the warfare carried on, 
churches were violated, and neither sex nor age, I fear, was 
spared. Again and again, from the page of the old chroniclers, 
ascends the cry of sorrow and distress. One can imagine the lines 
to have been penned with trembling fingers. Thus, in 1215, in 
the chronicle of Lanercost, we read of Alexander, king of Scotland, 
entering England with his army, and wasting all the county as far 
as Carlisle with fire and sword. They then turned aside to the 
monastery of Holm Cultram, stripped it bare of all that it possessed, 
and took from a poor monk, who was at the time sick in the 
hospital, the few scanty rags that covered him, And there were 
no special correspondents in those days, to spread the news 
of these barbarities. Force and violence reigned supreme. 
Bishops, when they were found, were as often in the saddle as the 
sanctuary. John Halton, who was bishop a little later, in the 
days of Edward I., seems rather to have discharged the duties 
of commander-in-chief of the Northern forces, or colonel of a Depot- 
centre. He was constable of Carlisle Castle, and charged with its 
repair. His letters, many of which remain, are filled with the 
details of constantly recurring wars. He has often to beg that his 
diocese may be exempted from payment of the tithes demanded by 
the Church of Rome. Some parishes are to pay two-thirds—Scaleby 
figures among these—others, as Arthuret, are exempted altogether, 
by reason of the hostile inroad of the Scots. What could be derived 
from parishes where frequently there was nothing left to tithe? It 
was the aim of Edward I. to improve this terrible condition of 
affairs ; to consolidate the two kingdoms under one crown; and to 
do with Scotland as he had done with Wales. An opportunity in 
the earlier years of his reign presented itself for doing so, in the 
circumstance that, on the death of Alexander, the crown descended 
