CHICHESTER 263 



joy to men for centuries, had after all some sense 

 of humour ; and, with swords to hack in their hands, 

 relented when they looked at this wicked and most 

 comical fox. 



I was still occupied with this carving when some 

 person threw open a door, and called excitedly to our 

 guide that a drove of pigs had broken or got into the 

 cathedral grounds, and he was wanted at once to help 

 get them out. 



"I am not surprised," I remarked. "The whole 

 town swarms with pigs." " Market-day ! " he cried, 

 and, apologising for leaving us so unceremoniously, he 

 rushed away to give the assistance required. 



I followed and gained the street, then took shelter 

 from the driving rain under the ancient famous 

 Market Cross, a richly decorated stone pavilion, with 

 many empty niches from which the stone effigies of 

 great men were thrown down and shattered by the 

 destructive Cromwellians. 



This structure stands at the meeting of four streets 

 East, West, South, and North Streets. Formerly 

 the cattle-market was held at this spot, and the 

 narrow busy thoroughfares were then filled with cattle, 

 sheep, and pigs, and of people buying and selling. A 

 woman in a shop close by told me that about thirty 

 years ago, when she was a child, the calves were 

 always penned hi the street directly before the house 

 where she lived with her parents. The calves were 

 brought in the day before market-day ; and all night 



