trance into another life, he asked, "How near the time was when the brethren were to be awaked to fing the night praises of our Lord?" They answered, "It is not far off." Then he faid, "Well, let us wait that hour." And, figning himself with the fign of the crofs, he laid his head upon the pillow, fell into a lumber, and ended his life without a groan; thus, by a quiet death, in the year 670, departing to the presence of that God whom he had ever ferved with a fimple and pure mind..

Cedmon's memory remained in great veneration, not only at Streanfhalh, but also through the whole kingdom of Northumberland, where his name was long honourably used as an appellative or proper name, and, after the conqueft, was adopted as a furname; fo that there yet remain to these our days fome families in Whitby, and its neighbourhood, that are known by the name of Cedmon, or Sedman; a name with us the most honourable and antient of all others. Several fragments of this divine poet are ftill extant; one of the most confiderable of which is in the Saxon Chronicle, where there is a long quotation from one of his facred odes, used on a different occafion, viz. on account of a great victory gained, more than 250 years after his death, by our Saxon Monarch Athelstan, over Anlaffe, King of the Norwegians. There is fomething fo pathetic and fublime in the defcription of Anlaffe's flight, as fufficiently evinces it to be the work of a masterly hand. Long it excited the admiration, and puzzled the skill, of all the learned, who were at a lofs how to reconcile it with the language and style used in the other parts of this Chronicle: But Dr. Gibson, the late Bishop of London, in his accurate edition of that work, hath at laft fet the matter in a clear light, and proved, beyond all contradiction, that paffage to be the remains of one of Cedmon's odes. About the beginning of the year 670, King Ofwy, being afflicted with a lingering illness, felt much remorfe for the murder of his coufin Ofwin, whose innocent blood he had fpilt; and, by way of atonement for this crime, vowed, as foon as his health would permit, to make a pilgrimage to Rome, in which reputed holy place he hoped to get abfolution, propofing to fpend the remainder of his days, and to be buried, there, where the holy Apostles Peter and Paul had lived and fuffered martyrdom. But, his difeafe daily gaining ground, he was disappointed of his purpose, and departed this life that year on the 15th day of February, after having filled the throne of Northumberland twenty eight years. He died much lamented by all his fubjects; though none felt his lofs more heavily than the inhabitants of Streanfhalh, to which place he had for many years been a conftant benefactor. He was interred, according to his defire, in the church of St. Peter at that place: And his dowager, Queen Eanfleda, now renouncing the world, immediately after his death, took up her refidence in the Monaftery or Nunnery there, where, with Lady Hilda and her daughter Elfleda, fhe spent all the remaining part of her life; and was finally at her death alfo buried in the fame church, near the remains of her renowned father Edwin, and thofe of her late royal confort Ofwy.

As Lady Hilda advanced in years fhe grew in fame, and was regarded over the greateft part of Britain as a being of a fuperior fpecies to the reft of her fex; many miracles were attributed to her; and the yeneration which the

common

common people had for her was fufficiently expreffed by their caling thefe places where the refided, or in which the most delighted, after her name. Thus the Monaftery at Streanfhalh was called Hilda's Nunnery; for, though the Abbey was by King Ofwy originally dedicated to St. Peter, and the Monaftery to the bleffed Virgin Mary, yet have they through all ages, even till thefe our days, been much better known by the name of Hilda's. Thus alfo a large fpring, or well, near Swarthoue-Crofs, where fhe often used to refort when young, afterwards affumed her name. And thus alfo a well in Hilderwell chuch-yard, where she had a retreat, has not only ever since retained her name, but also communicated the fame to that whole village.

In like manner, a number of petrifications, much resembling fnakes without heads, being found in the rock under the cliff near Streanfhalh, the common people, ever fince the time of Hilda, have believed that these were all originally real fnakes, which abounded in the skroggs and rocks within the harbour, and all along the coaft, when Hilda and her Nuns first came from Hartlepool to refide at Streanfhalh; and that, being filled with terror thereat, fhe prayed to God that he would cause them all to crawl down the cliff, and be converted into stones. Hence, on account of this fuppofed miracle, they are to this day vulgarly called St. Hilda's ftones, having the appearance of fnakes rolled up in coils, but without heads. Thefe are what the naturalifts call Amonitæ, and, as we fhall endeavour to fhew afterwards, are no other than fuch petrefactions as are to be met with wherever any allum-rock is found. But in the early ages of the church, when ignorance greatly prevailed, it was usual to afcribe every uncommon production of nature, which could not be well accounted for, to the miraculous power of fome Saint. Though the present cliff is now much wafted away fince the days of Hilda, and though it may be a mile farther to the fouthward than it was immediately after Noah's flood, yet these Amonitæ are still found in great abundance more than fixty yards under ground, and most affuredly will be fo as long as any allum-rock remains on this part of the coaft.

Camden tells us farther, that it was vulgarly believed, even in his days, to be owing to the virtue of Lady Hilda's prayers, that birds, in flying over a certain tract of land adjoining to Streanfhalh, had not power to proceed any farther, but there fell down, to the great astonishment of all beholders; being drawn to the earth by fome fecret quality or property inherent in the foil, communicated to it by the fervent and zealous prayers of St. Hilda. Now, it is not to be doubted but this tract of land adjoins to the cliff on the east fide of the Abbey: But, whatfoever virtue or power it might poffefs in Hilda's or in Camden's days, nothing is more certain than that this is now all vanished, and thofe fields are at prefent no more than common ground; not one of the inhabitants of Whitby, in thefe our days, has fo much as heard, much less knows, any thing of their being endowed with fuch a miraculous power. Yet this we must own, that, in great ftorms, the fea-gulls, and other birds that ufually frequent the fea, when much difturbed with the vehemence of the wind, and raging waves of the ocean, are frequently feen to take their flight therefrom, and to alight in fome of thofe fields in great numbers; where they

either fit till the weather grows more calm, or else, after fome little reft, take wing again, and fly farther up into the country. Nor can this be thought a thing any ways extraordinary; fince it is natural for all created beings, that we know of, to endeavour to avoid danger, and to provide for their own fecurity; which is no more than what is the cafe, on fuch occasions, with these birds.

It must also further be owned, that, at a certain time of the year, birds of paffage, and particularly woodcocks, are to be found in confiderable flocks in thefe fields, and fometimes even in the cliffs adjoining thereto; but, when we confider that these birds have then had a flight of more than 300 miles, from Jutland, or the coaft of Norway, and are much enfeebled and exhaufted before they reach the Yorkshire coaft, we need not be furprized at feeing them defirous of rest, or think it ftrange when we obferve them to alight in thofe fields, or on any other ground they firft come at; efpecially as many of them are found unequal to the tafk, and are obferved by our failors at fea to drop down exhausted and lifeless into the ocean, many miles from the land. Thofe that are fo fortunate as to reach the fhore, ftop in or near the cliffs, and generally continue there two or three days, before they recover ftrength enough to fly any confiderable way up into the country: Here it is they may at first coming be easily taken; and this I am perfuaded is the very thing that first gave rife to our Monkish miracle, which it seems was not exploded in the days of Camden; about which, however, that learned antiquarian had a good opportunity for getting information, as he spent more than three weeks at Whitby, fearching and examining the antiquities and records belonging to the Abbey.

I fhall only produce one inftance more of the great veneration paid to Lady Hilda, which still prevails even in these our days; and that is, the conftant opinion that the rendered, and still renders, herself visible, on fome occafions, in the Abbey of Streanfhalh, or Whitby, where the fo long refided. At a particular time of the year, (viz. in the fummer months) at ten or eleven in the forenoon the fun-beams fall in the infide of the northern part of the choir; and 'tis then that the fpectators, who ftand on the weft-fide of Whitby churchyard, fo as juft to fee the most northerly part of the Abbey paft the north end of Whitby church, imagine they perceive, in one of the higheft windows there, the refemblance of a woman arrayed in a fhroud. Though we are certain this is only a reflexion, caused by the fplendor of the fun-beams, yet fame reports it, and it is conftantly believed among the vulgar, to be an appearance of Lady Hilda in her fhroud, or rather in a glorified ftate; before which I make no doubt the papifts, even in thefe our days, offer up their prayers with as much zeal and devotion as before any other image of their moft glorified faint.

Lady Hilda was not more remarkable for her piety and holiness than fhe was for her extraordinary knowledge and learning; for, notwithstanding her sex, she was accounted the best scholar of the age in which the lived. The finer arts and sciences made Streanfhalh their particular retreat, and met with real encouragement from Lady Hilda to the utmost of her power. Her Nun

nery became, like Kolmkill and Lindisfarne, a nursery and feminary, whence the church was then, and for feveral ages after, fupplied with many pious. and learned teachers. No fooner was the established as Lady Abbess at Streanfhalh, than Bofa left the place of his abode at Hartlepool, and defired to be admitted as one of her difciples. Here he long continued under her care, and profited fo well by her instructions, that, in the year 678, the See of York being vacant, he was pitched upon by King Egfrid as the properest perfon at that time in his dominions to be made Archbishop of that place. Bofa did fo much honour to the character which Lady Hilda had given of him to her fovereign, that never any Archbishop filled the See of York with more dignity: He was, while living, revered by all, on account of his eminent virtues; and ever after his death considered as a faint, his name being, still to be found in our old English calendars.

Nor was Bofa the only prelate, remarkable for piety and learning, bred up under Lady Hilda; the obliged thofe under her direction to attend fo much. to the reading of the holy fcriptures, and to exercise themselves fo much in the works of justice, that many might be found at Streanfhalh fit for the ecclefiaftical function; that is, to ferve at the Altar. In short, five more Bishops were afterwards taken out of that Monastery, all of them men of fingular merit and fanctity, whose names were Aetla, Oftfor, Tatfrith, John, and Wilfrid. The first of these was appointed Bishop of Dorchefter; and Oftfer having applied himself to the reading and study of the fcriptures in both the Monafteries of Hilda, at Hartlepool and Streanfhalh, being yet defirous to attain a greater perfection, went into Kent to Archbishop Theodore, of bleffed memory; where having spent some more time in facred studies, he also refolved to go to Rome, which in those days was reckoned of great moment. Returning thence into Britain, he took his way into the county of Worcester, where King Ofric then reigned, and continued there a long time, preaching the word of faith, and making himself an example of good life to all that faw and heard him. At that time Bofelus, the Bishop of that province, laboured under fuch weakness of body, that he could not himself perform the epifcopal functions; for which reason this Oftfor was, by univerfal confent, chofen Bishop in his ftead, and, by order of King Ethelred, confecrated by Bishop Wilfrid, of bleffed memory, who was then Bishop of Mercia, because Archbishop Theodore was dead, and no other Bishop ordained in his place. Before the aforefaid man of God Bofelus, Tatfrith, a moft learned and industrious man, and of an excellent wit, had been chofen Bishop there, from the fame Abbefs's Monastery; but had been snatched away by an untimely death before he could be ordained. As for John, the fourth of the before-mentioned Bishops, he was firft confecrated to the See of Hagulftad, or Hexham, and afterwards tranflated to the See of York, from whence, after he had prefided there for fome years, he retired to Beverley, and lived a folitary life, dying with the greatest and best of characters, and was afterwards canonized. He was fucceeded as Archbishop of York by the before-mentioned Wilfrid, commonly called Wilfrid the younger, whofe life was fo remarkable for piety and holiness, that he alfo after his death was canonized, and his name put into the calendar among the faints.

Befides

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Besides thefe, many others of great note, both for erudition and holiness of life, received their education under Lady Hilda: The arts and sciences were fo well cultivated and established by her, that, for feveral ages after her death, Streanfhalh was regarded as one of the best feminaries for learning in the then known world. Hence it came to pafs that Alcuin, the greatest philofopher and divine of his age, who was born in the kingdom of Northumberland, and had his education in Yorkshire, principally in the Abbey of Streanfhalh, after founding the university of Paris, advised Charles the Great, then Emperor and King of France, to fend over fome of the young nobility, born in his dominions, to that part of England, where they might receive a more polite, liberal, and learned education than was at that time to be had in France, and whence they might transplant the flowers of Britain, (meaning fuch books as they wanted) that their fragrance might be no longer confined to Yorkshire, but also perfume the palaces of

Tours.

Bede tells us, "That this fervant of Chrift, the Abbefs Hilda, whom all that knew her called Mother, for her fingular piety and grace, was not only an example of good life to fuch as lived in her Monaftery, but also afforded occafion of reformation and falvation to many that lived at a diftance, to whom the fame of her integrity and virtue was brought. When this Lady (adds be) had governed the Nunnery at Streanfhalh many years, it pleased the merciful Provider for our falvation to give her holy foul the trial of a long fickness, to the end that, according to the Apoftles example, her virtue might be perfected in infirmity: For, in the 60th year of her age, falling into à fever, fhe was continually wafted with a violent heat, and never ceased to be afflicted with the fame for the fpace of fix years; notwithstanding which, during all that time, the never failed either to return thanks to her Maker, or publicly and privately to inftruct the flock committed to her charge; fo that, by her own example, fhe admonished all perfons to ferve God dutifully while in perfect health, and likewife to praise and humbly return him thanks when under any adverfity or bodily infirmity."

We have already obferved that Lady Hilda erected a Monaftery, or Cell, on Efkdale-fide, where a part of the Monks belonging to Streanfhalh constantly had their refidence; but a folitary place was yet wanting, where the herself, and fome of the Nuns with her, might have a retreat: And this fhe the rather wished for, as the continual refort of company that the fame of her character brought to Streanfhalh, much interrupted her devotion. After long confidering the face of the country, fhe was at length fo much pleased with the fituation of a low valley, near the extremity of the Abbey territories, about five miles from Scarbrough, a valley that was every where furrounded with hills, and thefe hills covered in a most delightful manner with wood, that she formed a refolution of there erecting a Nunnery, or Cell.

Though in a declining state of health, Hilda carried this plan into execution, in the year 679; and, as foon as the Convent was properly fitted up, retired there herself, with eight or nine of the Nuns belonging to Streanshalh; among whom was Bega, her particular favourite, who had been her conftant companion from the time that the first renounced the world, and took the

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