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oldest in England, having been mainly built in the Ninth Century.
Recently it has been discovered that the foundations are giving away to
an extent that makes extensive restoration necessary, but it will be
only restored and not altered in any way.
But we may not pause long to tell the story of even Winchester Cathedral
in this hasty record of a motor flight through Britain. And, speaking
of the motor car, ardent devotee as I am, I could not help feeling a
painful sense of the inappropriateness of its presence in Winchester; of
its rush through the streets at all hours of the night; of its clatter
as it climbed the steep hills in the town; of the blast of its unmusical
horn; and of its glaring lights, falling weirdly on the old buildings.
It seemed an intruder in the capital of King Alfred.
There is much else in Winchester, though the cathedral and its
associations may overshadow everything. The college, one of the earliest
educational institutions in the Kingdom, was founded about 1300, and
many of the original buildings stand almost unchanged. The abbey has
vanished, though the grounds still serve as a public garden; and of
Wolvesley Palace, a castle built in 1138, only the keep still stands.
How usual this saying, "Only the keep still stands," becomes of English
castles,--thanks to the old builders who made the keep strong and high
to withstand time, and so difficult to tear down that it escaped the
looters of the ages.
A day might well be given to the vicinity of Winchester, which teems
with points of literary and historic interest. In any event, one should
visit Twyford, only three miles away, often known as the "queen of the
Hampshire villages" and famous for the finest yew tree in England. It is
of especial interest to Americans, since Benjamin Franklin wrote his
autobiography here while a guest of Dr. Shipley, Vicar of St. Asaph,
whose house, a fine Elizabethan mansion, still stands.
To Salisbury by way of Romsey is a fine drive of about thirty miles over
good roads and through a very pleasing country. Long before we reached
the town there rose into view its great cathedral spire, the loftiest
and most graceful in Britain, a striking landmark from the country for
miles around. Following the winding road and passing through the narrow
gateway entering High Street, we came directly upon this magnificent
church, certainly the most harmonious in design of any in the Kingdom.
The situation, too, is unique,
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