"And pilgrims came from all the land, And eke from oversea, To pray at the shrine of the sisters twain, And St. John of Beverley."
Another noteworthy object is King Athelstan's _Fridstool_, or chair of peace; the centre of a sanctuary which extended a mile from the minster in all directions. Any fugitive who could once sit therein was safe, whatever his crime. When Richard II. encamped at Beverley, on his way to Scotland, his half-brother, Sir John Holland, having aided in the atrocious murder of Lord Ralph Stafford, fled to the _Fridstool_, nor would he leave it until assured of the king's pardon. "The Countess of Warwick is now out of Beverley sanctuary," says Sir John Paston, writing to his brother in June, 1473--the days of Edward IV. The chair, hewn from a single block of stone, is very primitive in form and appearance; and as devoid of beauty as some of the seats in the Soulages collection. Athelstan was a great benefactor to the church. You may see his effigy, and that of St. John, at the entrance to the choir and over a door in the south transept, where he is represented as handing a charter to the holy man, of which one of the privileges is recorded in old English characters:
#Als Fre make I The As hert may thynke or Egh may see.#
Such a generous giver deserved to be held in honour, especially if the eye were to see from the height of the tower, to the top of which I now mounted by the narrow winding-stair. While stopping to take breath in the belfry, you will perhaps be amused by a table of ringer's laws, and a record of marvellous peals, the same in purport as those exhibited at Hull. You can take your time in the ascent, for sextons eschew climbing, at least in all the churches I visited in Yorkshire.
A Scotchman's Observations--The Prospect--The Anatomy of Beverley--Historical Associations--The Brigantes--The Druids-- Austin's Stone--The Saxons--Coifi and Paulinus--Down with Paganism--A Great Baptism--St. John of Beverley--Athelstan and Brunanburgh--The Sanctuary--The Conqueror--Archbishop Thurstan's Privileges--The Sacrilegious Mayor--Battle of the Standard--St. John's Miracles--Brigand Burgesses--Annual Football--Surrounding Sites--Watton and Meaux--Etymologies-- King Athelstan's Charter.
