P r i o r y .
by Edward III. who had an apartment to lodge in, in his frequent
expeditions into Scotland. The arches in this latter building are
iharp pointed, the pillars round and cluftered, and the infide of the
arches prettily ornamented. Above are two galleries, but with
windows only in the upper ; that in the Eaft end has a magnificent
fimplicity, and the painted glafs an uncommon neatnefs, notwith-
ftanding there is not a fingle figure in it.
The choir was not founded till about the year 1354 5 the tabernacle
work in it is extremely pretty; But on the iiles on each fide
are fome ftrange legendary paintings of the hiftory o f St. Cuthbert
and St. Auguftine: one reprefents the Saint vifited by an unclean
fpirit, who tempts him in a moil; indecent manner, as thefe lines
import:
The fpyrit of Fornication to him doth aper;
And thus he chafteneth hys body with thome and with bryer.
A t the Weft end of the church is a large plain altar tomb called
the blue-Jlone: on this the tenants o f the dean and chapter by certain
tenures were obliged to pay their rents.
There had been only one religious houfe in this city ; a priory of
black canons founded by Henry I, replaced on the fuppreflion, by a
dean and four canons fecular; but what the tyrant Henry VIII. had
fpared, fuch as the cloifters and other reliques of the priory, fell in
after-times victi;ns to fanatic fu ry ; no remains are to be feen at
prefent, except the gateway, and a handfome building called the
Fratry, or the lodging-room of the lay-brothers, or novices.
Before this pious foundation, St. Cuthbert in 686 fixed here a convent
vent of monks, and a nunnery, overthrown in the general defolation
of the place by the Hanes.
But to trace the antiquity o f this city with hiftoric regularity, the
re a d e r ihould learn, that after laying afide all fabulous accounts, the
Britains called it Caer-Lualid, that it was named by Antonine, or the
author of his Itinerary Lugovallium, or.the city o f Lual on the vallum
or wall.
I T hatit was probably a place o f note in the feventh century, for
IEgfrid prefented it to St. Cuthbert with fifteen miles o f territory
around ; that the Danes entirely deftrayed■. it in the ninth century,
and that it remained in ruins for two hundred years. William Ru-
■fus, in 1092, in a progrefs he made into thefe parts, was ftruck with
the fituation, founded the caftle, rebuilt the town and fortified it as
a bulwark againft the Scots : he planted there a large colony from the
■South, who are faid to be the firft, who introduced tillage in that
part of the North.
| Henry I, in 1122, gave, a fum o f money to the city, and ordered
fome. additional fortifications. Stephen yielded it to David, King of
Scotland. After the recovery into the hands o f the Englijh, it underwent
a cruel fiege by William the Lion, in 1173 ; and was again be-
fieged by Robert Bruce,In 1315 ; and in the reign of Richard II. was
almoft entirely deftroyed by fire. The greater events from that
period are unknown to me,, till its reddition to the rebels in 1745,
on November 16th, when its weaknefs made it untenable, even had it
not been feized with the epidemic panic o f the times. It was retaken
by the Duke of Cumberland; on the 30th o f December fallowing, and
the fmall felf-devoted garrifon made prifoners on terms that preferved
K 2: them.
H i s t o r y .