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portions of the building.
At Hexham, Roman stones
were utiHzed in the construction of its walls.
He tells
also of its architectural beauty above ground, its
stately columns, the length of its aisles, and the ingenuity
and skill displayed in its newel stairs. But he
stops short in his narration, confessing that his descriptive
talent is all unequal to the task. The
singular crypts, so exactly resembling each other, both
at Ripon and Hexham, were probably a reproduction,
on a miniature scale, of the catacombs at Rome, and
AVilfrid doubtless emulated, as far as he was able, in
the churches which he built above them, the stateliness
and beauty of some of the Roman basilicas.
The privilege of sanctuary was possessed by Hexham.
It was acquired for that church by Wilfrid himself.
The frith-stol, or seat of peace, still remains there.
But he was not unmindful of the "living stones"
who were to be " builded together for an habitation
of God through the spirit." We read of his constant
journeys throughout his diocese, baptising and confirming.
We are told of the numbers of priests and
deacons whom he ordained as his fellow-helpers, indicating
the growth of something like a parochial system.
He was careful in the cultivation of church song, in
which he had the assistance of Eddi and yEona.
In his personal habits he was self-denying, even to
asceticism, yet no outward austereness ever marred
the graciousness of a manner which made him beloved
by all who came within the sphere of an
influence which extended widely over all ranks and
degrees of men, and all the various races who inhabited
the vast tract of country which, in name at