ch to spend the years of her widowhood. The
general plan of the gardens has probably been but little altered since
the days when the nuns paced their shady paths in pious meditation. An
ancient manuscript of prayers, used by the abbess in the ninth century,
is preserved in the British Museum. Ealhswith's son, Edward the Elder,
levied a toll from all merchandise passing under the City Bridge by
water, and beneath the East Gate by land, for the better support of the
abbey founded by his mother. Before the bridge stood the East Gate, and
crossing we are in that part of the city known as the "Soke". In the
"Liberty of the Soke" the bishop of the diocese had his court, presided
over by the bailiff as his deputy. Thus the bishop's jurisdiction was
entirely independent of that of the civic authorities. Wolvesey was his
palace, and within its walls, now ivy-clad and crumbling to decay, he
held his court, with three tithing men and a constable to assist him.
Here also was his exchequer, and here he imprisoned those who offended
against his laws. All that now remains of the once celebrated episcopal
palace of Wolvesey--said, with no authority, to have been so named from
the tribute of wolves' heads levied upon the Welsh by King Edgar--are a
few ruined walls, of sufficient extent to give one an idea of the
strength of the castle in its original state. At Wolvesey King Alfred
brought together the scholars who were to aid him in writing the
"Chronicles of the Time"; and on the outer walls he hung the bodies of
Danish pirates as a warning to those who made periodical raids up the
valley of the Itchen.

In the hands of Bishop de Blois the palace became of great importance,
and withstood a siege by David, King of Scotland, and Robert, Earl of
Gloucester. De Blois was one of those who assisted at the coronation of
Henry II, and pulled down the tower when the bishop was absent from the
diocese without the royal permission, on a visit to Clugny. Although
shorn of much of its former strength, the palace remained a fortress
until the fortifications of Winchester were reduced to a heap of ruins
by Cromwell.

[Illustration: RUINS OF WOLVESEY CASTLE]

Beyond the City Bridge rises St. Giles's Hill, named after Giles, one
of those numerous hermit saints who played so prominent a part in
establishing the Christian faith in these islands. The hill is deeply
grooved by a railway cutting; on it was held for many centuries a kind
of open market or