Towards
the north-east a deep marsh,--the name is yet preserved in
Moorfields,--extended to the foot of the Roman ramparts. On the western
side of the city, and at the distance of nearly two miles, the branches of
a small river which fell into the Thames formed an island, so overgrown
with thickets and brushwood, that the Saxons called it "_Thorney_," or the
"Isle of Thorns." The river surrounding Thorney crept sullenly along the
plashy soil; and the spot was so wild and desolate, that it is described
as a fearful and terrible place, which no one could approach after
nightfall without great danger. In this island there had been an ancient
Roman temple, consecrated to Apollo. And Sebert, perhaps on account of the
seclusion which Thorney afforded, resolved to build a church on the site,
and he dedicated the fabric to St. Peter the Apostle. This church is now
Westminster Abbey; the busy city of Westminster is old Thorney Island,
that seat of desolation; and the bones of Sebert yet rest in the structure
which he founded. Another great church was built by Sebert, in the city of
London, upon the ruins of the heathen temple of Diana. This church is now
St. Paul's Cathedral; and Mellitus being appointed the first Bishop by
Ethelbert and Sebert, the succession has continued to the present day.
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