192 WHIP AND SPUR. 



the sky, and dividing with the reality the rapt 

 admiration of the Poor Brother of St. John's. 



We stood by the water's edge, and he turned 

 toward the phantom spires reversed within it, 

 his talk wandering back to the days of the 

 church's troubles, — when the cathedral close 

 was a fortress, with strong walls and well-filled 

 moat ; when the beautiful west gate, which only 

 our own age was vile enough to destroy, kept 

 stout ward against the outer world, and pro- 

 tected the favored community who formed within 

 the walls a county independent of Lichfield and 

 of Staffordshire. Within the sacred pale no law 

 had force save that of the Ecclesiastical Court, 

 and then, as now, none could there be taken for 

 debt or crime save on the wan-ant of the dean 

 and chapter. 



He knew by heart the long list of bishops, 

 and would gladly have held me to hear of the 

 good deeds of Langton and Hackett. He was 

 fairly launched in his favorite enthusiasm, and 

 told warmly the more striking features of the 

 church's history, but he told them rapidly lest 



