f the American church is situated, a poet of that
communion has these verses:

"When old Canute the Dane
Was merry England's king,
A thousand years agone, and more,
As ancient rymours sing,
His boat was rowing down the Ouse,
At eve, one summer day,
Where Ely's tall cathedral peered
Above the glassy way.
Anon, sweet music on his ear,
Comes floating from the fane,
And listening, as with all his soul
Sat old Canute the Dane;
And reverent did he doff his crown,
To join the clerkly prayer,
While swelled old lauds and litanies
Upon the stilly air."[10]

Ely minster was, however, not a cathedral in Canute's time; and it is a
strange poetical licence that can describe an evening just before the
Feast of the Purification as a "summer day."

Perhaps the greatest distinction belonging to the monastery at this
period was the honour of having educated King Edward the Confessor. He
had been brought here in his infancy and offered by his parents on the
altar; "and it was a constant tradition with the Monks that he used to
take great delight in learning to sing Psalms and godly Hymns, among the
children of his own age, in the Cloister, on which account he always
retained a favourable regard to the place, after he became King."[11] In
1036, the year after Canute's death, Edward and his brother Alfred came
over from Normandy to England, ostensibly to visit their mother, Queen
Emma, who lived at Winchester, but really to ascertain the feeling of
the nation with regard to the succession to the throne. Alfred fell into
the hands of Earl Godwin, by whose orders he was deprived of his eyes
and committed to the custody of the monks of Ely. He lived a very short
time after this cruel treatment, and died and was buried at Ely.

Abbot #Wilfric# (1045-1065) came from Winchester. He was a kinsman of
Edward the Confessor. Through this relationship, as well as from
personal connection with the place, the king greatly favoured the abbey.
He granted a confirmatory charter himself, and obtained a bull from the
pope confirming all the rights and privileges of the church. But several
of the possessions of the abbey were lost in Wilfric's time. In one
instance the High Constable of England seized a village belonging to the
monks. Proceedings were taken against him and sentence pronounced; but
he evaded even the king's orders, and at last actually secured the
possession of the village for his own li