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Carlisle Cathedral
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The three travellers were sorely disappointed at their next
cathedral stage, CARLISLE, "nothing so fair and stately as
those we had seen." There were sixteen petty canons and
singing-men; there are now two minor canons and eight lay
vicars. The worthy Lieutenant now fairly looses his temper:-
"It is like a great wild country church, and as it appeared
outwardly, so was it inwardly, neither beautified nor
adorned one whit. The organs and voices did well agree, the
one being like a shrill bagpipe, the other like the Scottish
tone; the sermon in the like accent. The communion was
administered and received in a wild and irreverent manner."
Merry Carlisle had not forgotten the days of forays, when
the Black Wills of the Border carried off cattle from under
its castle walls.
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