The Cathedral Close at Salisbury was the finest we had seen both for extent and beauty, the half-mile area of grass and the fine trees giving an inexpressible charm both to the cathedral and its immediate surroundings.  The great advantage of this wide open space to us was that we could obtain a magnificent view of the whole cathedral.  We had passed many fine cathedrals and other buildings on our walk whose proportions were hidden by the dingy property which closely surrounded them, but Salisbury was quite an exception.  True, there were houses in and around the close, but these stood at a respectful distance from the cathedral, and as they had formerly been the town houses of the aristocracy, they contained fine old staircases and panelled rooms with decorated ceilings, which with their beautiful and artistic wrought-iron gates were all well worth seeing.  The close was surrounded by battlemented stone walls on three sides and by the River Avon on the fourth, permission having been granted in 1327 by Edward III for the stones from Old Sarum to be used for building the walls of the close at Salisbury; hence numbers of carved Norman stones, fragments of the old cathedral there, could be seen embedded in the masonry.  Several gate-houses led into the close, the gates in them being locked regularly every night in accordance with ancient custom.  In a niche over one of these, known as the High Street Gate, there was a statue which originally represented James I, but when he died it was made to do duty for Charles I by taking off the head of James and substituting that of Charles, his successor to the throne, with the odd result that the body of James carried the head of Charles!

There were many old buildings in the city, but we had not time to explore them thoroughly.  Still there was one known as the Poultry Cross nobody could fail to see whether walking or driving through Salisbury.  Although by no means a large erection, it formed one of the most striking objects in the city, and a more beautiful piece of Gothic architecture it would be difficult to imagine.  It was formerly called the Yarn Market, and was said to have been erected about the year 1378 by Sir Lawrence de St. Martin as a penance for some breach of ecclesiastical law.  It consisted of six arches forming an open hexagon, supported by six columns on heavy foundations, with a central pillar square at the bottom and six-sided at the top—­the whole highly ornamented and finished off with an elaborate turret surmounted by a cross.  It was mentioned in a deed dated November 2nd, 1335, and formed a feature of great archaeological interest.

[Illustration:  POULTRY CROSS, SALISBURY.]

The old portion of St. Nicholas’ was in existence in 1227, and in the Chorister’s Square was a school established and endowed as far back as the year 1314, to support fourteen choristers and a master to teach them.  Their costumes must have been rather picturesque, for they were ordered to be dressed in knee-breeches and claret-coloured coats, with frills at the neck instead of collars.