queen, in which to spend the years of her widowhood.  The general plan of the gardens has probably been but little altered since the days when the nuns paced their shady paths in pious meditation.  An ancient manuscript of prayers, used by the abbess in the ninth century, is preserved in the British Museum.  Ealhswith’s son, Edward the Elder, levied a toll from all merchandise passing under the City Bridge by water, and beneath the East Gate by land, for the better support of the abbey founded by his mother.  Before the bridge stood the East Gate, and crossing we are in that part of the city known as the “Soke”.  In the “Liberty of the Soke” the bishop of the diocese had his court, presided over by the bailiff as his deputy.  Thus the bishop’s jurisdiction was entirely independent of that of the civic authorities.  Wolvesey was his palace, and within its walls, now ivy-clad and crumbling to decay, he held his court, with three tithing men and a constable to assist him.  Here also was his exchequer, and here he imprisoned those who offended against his laws.  All that now remains of the once celebrated episcopal palace of Wolvesey—­said, with no authority, to have been so named from the tribute of wolves’ heads levied upon the Welsh by King Edgar—­are a few ruined walls, of sufficient extent to give one an idea of the strength of the castle in its original state.  At Wolvesey King Alfred brought together the scholars who were to aid him in writing the “Chronicles of the Time”; and on the outer walls he hung the bodies of Danish pirates as a warning to those who made periodical raids up the valley of the Itchen.

In the hands of Bishop de Blois the palace became of great importance, and withstood a siege by David, King of Scotland, and Robert, Earl of Gloucester.  De Blois was one of those who assisted at the coronation of Henry II, and pulled down the tower when the bishop was absent from the diocese without the royal permission, on a visit to Clugny.  Although shorn of much of its former strength, the palace remained a fortress until the fortifications of Winchester were reduced to a heap of ruins by Cromwell.

[Illustration:  RUINS OF WOLVESEY CASTLE]

Beyond the City Bridge rises St. Giles’s Hill, named after Giles, one of those numerous hermit saints who played so prominent a part in establishing the Christian faith in these islands.  The hill is deeply grooved by a railway cutting; on it was held for many centuries a kind of open market or annual fair, which attracted the wealthy merchants of France, Flanders, and Italy.  The fair generally lasted a fortnight, during which time all other local business was suspended, the shops closed, and the mayor handed over the keys of the city to the bishop, who claimed large fees from the stall holders.  Thirty marks were paid for repairs needed at the Church of St. Swithun, and similar sums were demanded by the abbeys.  Bishop Walkelin was granted the tolls of the fair for three days by William Rufus, his kinsman; but in