as let into
the Cathedral floor, beyond the limits of which no female foot might
pass under pain of immediate severe punishment. _And yet it was a
woman who drew the admiring eyes of the modern world to the Farne
Islands, where the remains of his priory are still to be seen_.

Bound about the story of Grace Darling no particular odour of sanctity
gathers; and yet she, according to her light, served the same cause of
humanity as St. Cuthbert, and performed a deed of which even he would
not need to have been ashamed.

Very little indeed would be known of this most famous saint, but for
one whose name must be mentioned with all honour and reverent
admiration--_the Venerable Bede_. He twice wrote St. Cuthbert's life,
first in hexameters, in his "Liber de Miraculis, Sancti Cuthberchti
Episcopi," and in prose, in his "Liber de Vita et Miraculis Sancti
Cudbercti Lindisfarnensis Episcopi."

It is not known with any certainty where Bede was born, but it was
probably at Jarrow, in the year 673. When he was seven years old, he
was sent to the monastery of St. Peter, at Wearmouth, to be educated.
He was placed under the care of the Abbott Benedict and Ceolfrid. He
received his religious instruction from the monk Trumberct, and his
music lessons from John, chief singer in St. Peter's at Rome, who had
been summoned to England by the Abbott Benedict. While he was there a
great pestilence broke out, and every monk died, excepting Bede and
another. The boy, through all the death and mourning of that terrible
time, still chanted the service and songs of the church. From seven to
twelve or thirteen, he was a diligent student. Writing of himself at
this early age, he says, "It was always sweet to me to learn to teach
and to write."

When nineteen years of age, he took deacon's orders; and when he was
about thirty, was ordained priest by John of Beverley, then Bishop of
Hexham. He lived in Jarrow monastery a quiet and retired life, and
spent his whole time in the eager pursuit of knowledge. He questioned
all who came to him; he collected all stray facts and incidents; he
took care of, and wrought into his book all records of events that
floated to him, or that he was able to save from oblivion, and he it is
to whom we are indebted for almost all the information we possess of
the history of our country down to the year 731. His greatest work was
the "Ecclesiastical History of England," of which many versions have
been issued,