198 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[2nd §, No 10., Mar, 8°56. 
it appears that, at Ely and Lincoln, where the 
galilee takes the form of a porch, it was in the 
one place occupied by those unhappy persons who 
were looked upon as little better than heathens; 
and in the other place was reserved for public 
penitents, corpses waiting for interment, and 
women visiting their monkish relatives. At 
Durham, as we know, the galilee takes the shape 
of a large chapel (50 by 78 feet, Raine*), and 
in style is a wonderfully beautiful specimen of 
the Alhambresque-Norman (if I may be allowed 
to coin a word); and it was reserved for that 
sex which the patron saint of the cathedral held 
in such horror, and whose members were so rigo- 
rously punished if they presumed to trespass, even 
in male disguise, over the boundary-cross of blue 
‘marble. From this it is clear that the galilee 
porch or chapel was always considered as ‘“ some- 
what less sacred than the other portions of the 
sacred edifice.” (Bloxam.) Comparatively speak- 
ing it was “ looked down upon;” it was the despised 
portion of the sacred building ; it was at the far- 
thest distance (either literally or figuratively) 
from the altar or holy place. And this is the 
reason why, as it seems to me, this porch or 
chapel was called “the galilee,” that is to say, 
“the despised place.” 
For what was the geographical Galilee but the 
despised place ? Not only locally, but figuratively, 
it was considered to be “ far off” from “the holy 
city.” We know how little worthy of honour the 
Jews esteemed it (John vii. 52.), and how the 
early Christians were called “Galileans” as a 
term of reproach, and how Julian made a law 
that they should always thus be called. The very 
fact that Galilee was made the scene of the 
greatest part of our Saviour’s sojourn upon earth, 
— that by men of Galilee was He received (John 
iv. 45.), and to them displayed His epiphany of 
miracles; that His word “began from Galilee” 
(Acts x. 37.), and that He was accounted asa 
Galilean by Pilate, who transferred Him for trial 
to the Galilean Herod Antipas; that His apostles 
were Galilean fishermen, and that the chief part 
of His followers lived there ; insomuch that, after 
His resurrection, He was seen there by “above 
five hundred brethren at once” (1 Cor. xv. 6.) ; 
while, a week after this, the disciples. at Jerusalem 
could only number one hundred and twenty 
* Mr. Raine is justly severe on Wyatt the architect, 
who, among other heathenisms, proposed to pull down the 
galilee to make room for a carriage-road to the western 
entrance and to the cathedral! Dean Cornwallis was 
barely in time to prevent this act of Vandalism from being 
consummated ; for Mr. Raine tells us that “ on his arrival 
in Durham in the summer of that year (1796), to keep 
his annual residence, he found the galilee actually stripped 
of its lead, that the demolition of its walls might be com- 
menced.” But these were “the good old days, when 
George the Third was king.” 
(Acts i. 15.): all these facts must have still 
further ‘tended to mark out Galilee 4s a place to 
be despised by the inhabitants of “the Holy 
City.” (Is. xlviii. 2.) As “the Galilean” meant 
“the despised person,” so “the galilee” (as I 
conjecture) means ‘ the despised place,” farthest 
off, both literally and figuratively, from “ the holy 
place.” 
With regard to the galilee being partially, or 
wholly, reserved for females, we may note the 
following points that seem to bear upon the con- 
nection between “ the Galilee” and women. She 
who was “ blessed among women” was a Galilean, 
and passed the greater part of her life in Galilee. 
At the miracle in Cana of Galilee she was there ; 
and, as it would seem, was either akin to one of 
the parties, or was on terms of friendly intimacy 
with them, or she would not, as we may suppose, 
have spoken to the servants on the want of wine. 
It was “ women from Galilee” who watched and 
wept by the cross of Christ, and found their way 
to His tomb. From the first to the last in His 
life upon earth we find the women of Galilee ; 
and thus a peculiar relationship might have been 
suffered to spring up between “women” and 
‘‘galilee,” which, taken in conjunction with “ the 
galilee,” meaning “the despised place,” might, in 
those dark ages, and in those exclusive Cuth- 
bertian churches, where women are regarded as 
unfit persons to approach the holiest places, have 
led to “ the galilee ” being set apart as the peculiar 
place for*the women. 
Having had occasion to refer to the miracle at 
Cana in Galilee, I will here take the opportunity 
to notice (what appears to be) an error in Mr. 
Trench’s most valuable Notes on the Miracles. 
At p. 98. (2nd ed.) he says: 
“The presence at that feast of Himself and His dis- 
ciples, who were just arrived from a journey, and whose 
presence might therefore have been in some degree unlooked 
for, may have increased beyond previous calculation the 
number of the guests; and so, the provision made for 
their entertainment may have proved insuflicient.” 
It seems doubtful whether, in the words that I 
have italicised, Mr. Trench refers to our Lord and 
His disciples, or to the disciples only; but how- 
ever this may be, we are expressly told by St. 
‘John (ii. 2.) that “both Jesus was called (7. e. in- 
vited) and His disciples to the marriage.” The 
disciples were probably either five in number, or 
(as Mr. Trench would seem to think from the 
foot-note at p. 96.) only two, Philip and Nathanael. 
But, how would the unexpected arrival of even 
siz uninvited persons “have increased beyond 
previous calculation the number of the guests,” 
and made the provision for their entertainment 
insufficient, when, according to the custom at 
Jewish marriages, a supply of wine must have 
been prepared sufficient to last the ordinary guests 
through the seven or eight days to which the 
