4

[Illustration: Plan of Exeter Cathedral

A. Lady Chapel.
B. Choir.
C. Screen.
D. North Transept.
E. South Transept.
F. Chapter House.
G. Nave.
H. North Porch.
I. Bishop's Throne.]

[Illustration: EXETER]

THE CITY

Just as the five cities of Colchester, Lincoln, York, Gloucester, and
St. Albans, stand on the sites and in some fragmentary measure bear the
names of five Roman municipalities, so Isca Dumnoniorum, now Exeter,
appears to have been a cantonal capital developed out of one of the
great market centres of the Celtic tribes, and as such it was the most
westerly of the larger Romano-British towns. The legendary history of
the place, both temporal and ecclesiastical, goes far back to the days
when, for a late posterity, it is difficult to separate fact from fable.
It is, however, quite established that here was the capital of the
Dumnonii, the British tribe whose dominions included both Devonshire and
Cornwall, and who named their capital _Caer-uisc_, the city of the
waters.

With the coming of the Saxons, the river, the Roman Isca, became the
Exa, and the city was called Exanceaster, modified in due course to
Exeter.

In point of position, on a mound rising from the river, it was a
splendid site for a fortress in the days of hand-to-hand warfare, and
the military value of the site lends support to the statement of some
writers that the Romans utilized the British fortifications and built a
castle. In few places of its size can one see so clearly the extent of
the old walled town, while the disposition and formation of its outer
ring of houses, on the lower slopes of the mound, show very clearly the
limits of the mural circumvallation before the city burst asunder its
tight-fitting belt of stone, within which, for the safety of its
populace, it had been imprisoned for centuries.

Climb the higher parts for a bird's-eye view of the city, and the scene
is entrancing. We look down upon the calm-flowing Exe threading its way
through the valley till it debouches at Exmouth; on the riverside
beneath us is the quay, with coasting schooners and barges moored
alongside, and sundry bales of merchandise heaped upon the wharf, as
though the people were playing at commerce to remind the world at large
that Exeter was once an important port, although some ten miles from the
river's mouth.

But the Exe, in a quiet way, has much to boast of in the nature of
beauty and romance, part