DOWM THE ROAD I^t DAYS OP YORE 55 



common people in Durham were very ignorant 

 and great profaners of the Sabbath Day, and, 

 indeed, over almost the whole of England the 

 greatest ignorance and vice were under the noses 

 of the bishops. He would not pretend to give 

 a reason for this, but the fact was apparent. 



Durham Avas a very healthful place— the soil 

 dry, the air wholesome; but the Cathedral 

 dignitaries performed worship rather as a grievous 

 task than as a matter of choice, a thing not 

 infrequently to be observed in our own days. 

 The woman who showed the shrine of St. 

 Cuthbert did not uiulerstand Mr. Murray when 

 he referred to the Resurrection, a fact that 

 gave him a good opportunity to enlarge upon 

 the practically heathenish state of Durham's 

 ecclesiastical surroundings. 



All this sightseeing, and these reflections and 

 observations at Durham (and a good many more 

 from which the reader shall be spared) were 

 rendered possible by a lengthy halt made by 

 the coach in that city. Thus there was ample 

 time for seeing the cathedral—" very noble and 

 delightful to the eyes of those who had a taste 

 for antiquity or Gothic magnificence," he says. 



After they were wearied with sauntering in 

 this old Gothic abbey, they went down to the 

 river side. There the person who was fond of 

 rural pleasures might riot at large. Comparisons 

 drawn on the spot betAveen the choristers of the 

 grove, Avho sang from the heart, and the minor 

 canons and prebendaries of the cathedral, who 



