Just above
the cathedral there is a mill upon its shore, as ancient as the times of
the Abbey.
We went homeward through the market-place and one or two narrow streets;
for the town has the irregularity of all ancient settlements, and,
moreover, undulates upward and downward, and is also made more
unintelligible to a stranger, in its points and bearings, by the tortuous
course of the river.
After dinner J----- and I walked along the bank opposite to that on which
the cathedral stands, and found the paths there equally delightful with
those which I have attempted to describe. We went onward while the river
gleamed through the foliage beneath us, and passed so far beyond the
cathedral that we began to think we were getting into the country, and
that it was time to return; when all at once we saw a bridge before us,
and beyond that, on the opposite bank of the Wear, the cathedral itself!
The stream had made a circuit without our knowing it. We paused upon the
bridge, and admired and wondered at the beauty and glory of the scene,
with those vast, ancient towers rising out of the green shade, and
looking as if they were based upon it. The situation of Durham Cathedral
is certainly a noble one, finer even than that of Lincoln, though the
latter stands even at a more lordly height above the town. But as I saw
it then, it was grand, venerable, and sweet, all at once; and I never saw
so lovely and magnificent a scene, nor, being content with this, do I
care to see a better.
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