ts writing, nearly one
thousand years old, is as fresh as if it had been inscribed but
recently.

As already mentioned, the muniments room was formerly above St. Andrew's
Chapel. At a later date the library was placed in the Lady Chapel, and
was thence removed to the chapter house. Towards the end of the last
century Canon Cook and Chancellor Harrington left their valuable
libraries to the Dean and Chapter, and in order to accommodate the books
Dean Cowie restored the south side of the cloister, and built a new
library over it.

Here may be seen the Exeter Book, the Exeter Domesday, Grandisson's
Ordinale, Lacy's Pontifical, and other beautiful examples of
illumination. Also the original charter of Edward the Confessor
appointing Leofric Bishop of Exeter, signed by the King and Queen, Earl
Godwin, and a notable group of Saxon Thanes.

Among the printed books are a First Folio of Shakespeare, and the sealed
Prayer Book of King Charles II.

The library is open to the public after Matins on Tuesdays and Fridays.

#The Palace# is a building so closely associated with the cathedral as
to demand a brief notice. In it is the chapel of St. Mary, which seems
to have been frequently used in preference to the cathedral for the
celebration of espiscopal functions. Ordination services were often held
within its walls. It was originally built that services might be said
there for the repose of the souls of dead bishops of Exeter. A document
is quoted by Oliver, in which the parish of Alwyngton is called upon to
pay the officiating chaplain a yearly sum of four marks and that of
Harberton two. This chapel, now restored, is used for domestic purposes.
But at one time it was clearly regarded as pertaining to the cathedral,
for the Dean and Chapter, on the festival of St. Faith, presented to it
a pair of wax candles. Brantyngham, in 1381, mentions the "fructus et
proventus cantariae infra Palatium nostrum Exonie, pro animabus
predecessorum nostorum ipsius fundatorum." The old entrance was under
the great archway, and battlements, by gracious permission of royalty,
surrounded the whole. In the great hall feasts were held for 100 poor
people; but the palace now is shorn of a good deal of its grandeur. The
Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1845 decided to rebuild and repair what
remained.

[Illustration: THE BISHOP'S PALACE.
Alfred Pumphrey Photo.]

THE DIOCESE OF EXETER.

A chronological list of the bishops of the