The ruins looked more interesting than those of Bolton, though
not so delightfully situated, and now in the close vicinity of
manufactories, and only two or three miles from Leeds. We took a dish of
soup, and spent a miserable hour in and about the railway station of
Leeds; whence we departed at four, and reached
YORK
in an hour or two. We put up at the Black Swan, and before tea went out,
on the cool bright edge of evening, to get a glimpse of the cathedral,
which impressed me more grandly than when I first saw it, nearly a year
ago. Indeed, almost any object gains upon me at the second sight. I
have spent the evening in writing up my journal,--an act of real virtue.
After walking round the cathedral, we went up a narrow and crooked
street, very old and shabby, but with an antique house projecting as much
as a yard over the pavement on one side,--a timber house it seemed to be,
plastered over and stained yellow or buff. There was no external door,
affording entrance into this edifice; but about midway of its front we
came to a low, Gothic, stone archway, passing right through the house;
and as it looked much time-worn, and was sculptured with untraceable
devices, we went through. There was an exceedingly antique, battered,
and shattered pair of oaken leaves, which used doubtless to shut up the
passage in former times, and keep it secure; but for the last centuries,
probably, there has been free ingress and egress.
Pages:
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645