Part 22 (2/2)

~hereditary~: transmitted from parents to children.

22. THE TERROR OF FAMINE.

~24 s.h.i.+llings a quarter~: this is not far from the present price of wheat, which gives us cheap bread. But in 1257 24_s._ would be equivalent to at least 20_l._ in our money.

~retainers~: those in the service of a n.o.bleman and wearing his livery and badge.

~Hanseatic merchants~: merchants trading with the Hanse cities in Germany (among which was Hamburg) who had formed a league for self-protection about the twelfth century.

~granary~: a place for storing up grain or corn.

23. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. PART I.

~460 feet~: the loftiest spire in England, that of Salisbury Cathedral, is about 404 feet.

~its length was at least 600 feet~: the present cathedral, the third on the site, is 500 feet long.

~shrine~: a receptacle for relics and other sacred things. (The word means a 'chest.')

~aisle~ (p.r.o.nounced _[=i]le_) is the side or wing of a church.

~scribe~: a writer. In those early times so few people could read or write that men often had to have recourse to professional writers.

~deed~: a written doc.u.ment relating to some legal transaction.

~conveyance~: a writing legally transferring from one person to another property, especially houses and land.

~Humphrey Duke of Gloucester~ was the youngest brother of Henry V., on whose death he was made regent in England in 1422. He died in 1447.

~St. Cuthbert~ was a monk, missionary, and bishop of Lindesfarne, an island off the coast of Northumberland, where he died in 687 A.D., and was buried in Durham Cathedral.

~sacristy~: a room adjoining a church where sacred vessels, vestments, &c. are kept.

24. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. PART II.

~Inigo Jones~ (born 1572, died 1652) was a celebrated architect.

~Portico~: a row of columns in front of a building.

~Exchange~: a building where merchants meet to transact business.

~nave~: the main body of a church, the aisles being on each side of the nave.

~King Charles II. returned~ at the Restoration in 1660.

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