IN TEE GLOAMING. 189 



mance and its reality, so interlaced that he had long 

 since ceased to ask what was real and what unreal. 

 All was unreal in the sense of being of more than 

 worldly consequence in his estimation, and all real 

 as a part of the training of his whole life. 



To him Lichfield Cathedral was no mere pile of 

 sculptured stone, built round with the facts of re- 

 corded history ; it was the fairy handiwork of times 

 and scenes long past, its walls raised by the hand 

 of pious enthusiasm, shattered and cemented by 

 the strife and blood of the civil war, hallowed by 

 the returning glory of the Restoration, blessed 

 by the favor of royal presence, and now made 

 admirable in his daily sight by the dignity and 

 grace of those holy men its dean and chapter. 



As it was the cathedral I had come to see, 

 and as I had come for no architect's measure- 

 ments, for no student's lore, only to bathe in 

 the charmed atmosphere of its storied past, I 

 had fallen upon a guide after my own heart, and 

 it was as pleasant as it was easy to lend full 

 credence to all he so honestly believed and told. 



In early life he had had gentler training, but 



