Page:Notes ecclesiological and picturesque.djvu/18

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A TOUR IN DALMATIA.

Chapter I.

AUSTRIA PROPER, AND THE SALZKAMMERGUT.

I had long been desirous, as deeply interested in, and engaged on the history of, the Oriental Church, of observing for myself the mutual action and re-action of the Eastern and Western Communions in their border lands on the east coast of the Adriatic. As devoted to liturgical studies, I wished personally to examine, in the only country where it is still in use, the questions which arise from the venerable and mysterious Glagolita rite. And finally, as an ardent student of Ecclesiology, I promised myself no small gratification from the churches of Istria and Dalmatia, — and, above all, of Aquileia. At length, in the spring of last year, the opportunity, for which I had longed, presented itself.

I was happy enough to secure the companionship of my friend, the Rev. Joseph Oldknow, D.D., Perpetual Curate of Holy Trinity Chapel, Bordesley, whose many qualifications as a fellow traveller I had long since learnt, in the somewhat arduous tour in