gives name to the whole. The
boundaries as now recognised are Lincolnshire on the north, Norfolk on
the east, Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire on the west, and
Cambridgeshire on the south, of which county it forms the northern
portion, with a jurisdiction partially separate; within its bounds
there are, besides the city of Ely, several towns and villages, as
Wisbech, March, Chatteris, &c. and the former great waste of marsh
and fen has become, by means of drainage, a fertile corn-growing
district of great importance. Ely is believed to have taken its name
from _Elig_ in the Saxon tongue, signifying a willow; or from _Elge_
in the Latin of Bede the historian, from the abundance of eels
produced in the surrounding waters. We now continue our sketch.

[Footnote 1: Bentham's History, i. 47.]

Etheldreda, or Audrey, a princess of distinguished piety, devoted
herself to the service of God in early life, but urged by her parents,
was married to Tonbert, or Tonberet, Earldorman, or Prince of the
South Gyrvii, or Fenmen, A.D. 652, who settled upon her the whole Isle
of Ely as a dower. Three years after her marriage Tonbert died, and
left Etheldreda in sole possession, who, after a short time, committed
the care of her property to Ovin, her steward, and retired to Ely for
the purpose of religious meditation, for which it was well adapted, as
being surrounded by fens and waters it was difficult of access. She
was again solicited to enter the marriage state, and, although for
some time reluctant, she was induced by her uncle Ethelwold, then king
of East Anglia, to give her hand to Egfrid, son of Oswy, king of
Northumberland, and she afterwards became queen by the accession of
her husband to his father's kingdom. After the lapse of twelve years
she gained the permission of her husband to withdraw from his court,
and retired to the Abbey of Coldingham, where she took the veil;
thence withdrew to Ely, and repaired the old church founded by
Ethelbert, at a place called Cratendune, about a mile from the present
city, (of which place however nothing is now known); but, shortly
after, a more commodious site was chosen nearer the river, where the
foundations of her church were laid, and the monastery was commenced.

The history of this distinguished princess as related by various
writers, would be interesting and amusing, if space allowed; it is to
be found in _Bede's Ecclesiastical History_, in the _Liber Eliensis_,
a very valuabl