66 ELY. 



Ely. This, though not quite on so large 

 a scale as my first establishment I had 

 so tutored my mind as to regard it 

 equally as conducive to the domestic 

 happiness and comfort I was desirous to 

 renew in the enjoyment of which I in- 

 cluded my two children who, arriving 

 from school, helped to form our family 

 circle. 



Now, in Ely, as in all other Cathedral 

 towns, the distinction between the clergy 

 and laity was almost as strongly marked 

 as in the days of Abbots and Monks. 

 The richly -beneficed Prebends, walled 

 round in their cloisters or college, as it 

 is now termed, cut themselves off from 

 all social communication with the trading 

 population. Not being troubled with any 

 cure of souls, they thought it sufficient 

 condescension in monthly turn to con- 

 sume the produce of their own land, and 

 sought no further knowledge of such 

 people than the supply of household 



