Indeed, the portal
arch may never have been closed since the Reformation. Within, we found
a quadrangle, of which the house upon the street formed one side, the
others being composed of ancient houses, with gables in a row, all
looking upon the paved quadrangle, through quaint windows of various
fashion. An elderly, neat, pleasant-looking woman now came in beneath
the arch, and as she had a look of being acquainted here, we asked her
what the place was; and she told us, that in the old Popish times the
prebends of the cathedral used to live here, to keep them from doing
mischief in the town. The establishment, she said, was now called "The
College," and was let in rooms and small tenements to poor people. On
consulting the York Guide, I find that her account was pretty correct;
the house having been founded in Henry VI.'s time, and called St.
William's College, the statue of the patron saint being sculptured over
the arch. It was intended for the residence of the parsons and priests
of the cathedral, who had formerly caused troubles and scandals by living
in the town.
We returned to the front of the cathedral on our way homeward, and an old
man stopped us, to inquire if we had ever seen the Fiddler of York. We
answered in the negative, and said that we had not time to see him now;
but the old gentleman pointed up to the highest pinnacle of the southern
front, where stood the Fiddler of York, one of those Gothic quaintnesses
which blotch the grandeur and solemnity of this and other cathedrals.
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