Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume I.djvu/43

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[31]

Our ancestors observed the effect without troubling themselves to ascertain the cause, and applied it to the purposes of religious instruction, by inscribing the following lines upon the wall:

" Doubt not but God, who sits on high,
" When a dead wall thus cunningly
" Conveys soft whispers to the ear."

The cathedral contains several curious ancient monuments, surmounted by the effigies of the departed great; amongst the rest are, a crowned figure representing Osric king of the Huicii, with an inscription explaining the reason of his bones finding a resting-place in this hallowed spot: "Osricus Rex primus fundator hujus Monasterii, 681."—Robert, the unfortunate eldest son of William the Conqueror. Richard, his youngest son. Aldred, the builder of the first abbey church of Glocester, which was afterwards destroyed.—Parker, the last abbot of the monastery.—The alabaster effigy of Edward the Second, under a very handsome canopy of free-stone. A beautiful tomb and figure in alabaster of abbot Scabroke; and another of the great Humphry Bohun Earl of Hereford, who died 1367, and his lady. The cloisters form a large square of one hundred and fifty feet every way, of elegant architecture, and