initials, scratched over the once polished surface. The cathedral and
its relics must have been far less carefully watched, at some former
period, than now.

Between the nave and the choir, as usual, there is a screen that half
destroys the majesty of the building, by abridging the spectator of the
long vista which he might otherwise have of the whole interior at a
glance. We peeped through the barrier, and saw some elaborate monuments
in the chancel beyond; but the doors of the screen are kept locked, so
that the vergers may raise a revenue by showing strangers through the
richest part of the cathedral. By and by one of these vergers came
through the screen, with a gentleman and lady whom he was taking round,
and we joined ourselves to the party. He showed us into the cloisters,
which had long been neglected and ruinous, until the time of Bishop
Dennison, the last prelate, who has been but a few years dead. This
Bishop has repaired and restored the cloisters in faithful adherence to
the original plan; and they now form a most delightful walk about a
pleasant and verdant enclosure, in the centre of which sleeps good Bishop
Dennison, with a wife on either side of him, all three beneath broad flat
stones. Most cloisters are darksome and grim; but these have a broad
paved walk beneath the vista of arches, and are light, airy, and
cheerful; and from one corner you can get the best possible view of the
whole height and beautiful proportion of the cathedral spire. One side
of this cloistered walk seems to be the length of the nave of the
cathedral. There is a square of four such sides; and of places for
meditation, grave, yet not too sombre, it seemed to me one of the best.
While we stayed there, a jackdaw was walking to and fro across the grassy
enclosure, and haunting around the good Bishop's grave. He was clad in
black, and looked like a feathered ecclesiastic; but I know not whether
it were Bishop Dennison's ghost, or that of some old monk.