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283 ST. ETHELREDA 283 he steadfastly encouraged the queen to j)ersi8t in her celibate life, and even advised her to ask permission to leave the court and become a nnn. Few persons of the present day will approve of the conduct of Wilfrid in this matter, but none of his contemporaries seem to have thought him worthy of anything but praise. Egfrid never forgave him. After many painful scenes, an unwilling consent was wrung from Egfrid, no sooner given than repented. But before he could give orders to the contrary, Etholreda had fled to Coldingham beyond the Tweed, where St. Ebba (1) was abbess, she was sister of the late king Oswy, and aunt of Egfrid. Egfrid found life intolerable without Ethelreda, and determined to bring her bock with or without her consent. St. Ebba heartily sympathized with Ethol- reda, but seeing that should Egfrid insist on reclaiming his wife resistance would be impossible, advised her to escape from Coldingham in the disguise of a beggar. Etholreda did this, attended by two of the nuns from Coldingham, SS. Sewara and Sewenna. She did not go to her aunt, St. Hilda, at Whitby, as she would have opposed anything advised by Wil- frid, but decided to go back to her own lands at Ely. Many stories are told of her adventures on the journey, and they have often been the subject of sculpture and painted glass in the English monastic churches. On the first day of her flight, Etholreda was all but overtaken by her husband. She arrived at a headland, Colbert's Head, jutting into the sea, and her pious inten- tion was protected by the tide, which at once rose to an unusual height around the rock, making the place inaccessible to her pursuera Egfrid resolved to wait till the ebbing waters should leavo the path open to him, but instead of going down in a few hours, the waters remained at high tide for seven days. The baffled pursuer then realized that a power greater than his had taken Ethol- reda and her vow under His protection, so gave up the idea of compelling her to come back to him, and returned home. Another miraculous incident is re- corded of her flight. One very hot day, as she was travelling on foot, over- powered with fatigue, she stuck her staff into the ground, and lay down to rest on the open plain. When she awoke, the staff had put forth leaves and branches, and it afterwards became a mighty oak tree, larger than any other for many miles around. At length, after many days of weary walking, the saint arrived on her own lands of Ely. Here there was a piece of good, firm, rich land, supporting six hundred families, and sur- rounded to a great distance by fens, forming a more formidable rampart than walls or plain water would have done. Here, in 673, Etholreda built one of those large double monasteries which were so famous and so important in the early days of the English Church. Wil- frid, who never lost sight of his old friend, made her abbess, and gave the veil to her first nuns. He obtained special privileges for her from the Pope, and often visited her, and helped her with advice and suggestions useful in the management of hor large establishment. Hither came many of her friends and relations to live under her rule, or to place their daughters in her care. Hither came many holy men and priests to take her for their spiritual guide. Many of her old friends and courtiers followed her and her example. Her devoted steward, Oswin, who had been in her service from childhood, and did not care to remain in the outer world without her, recognizing his own unfitness for study and meditation, carried his spade to St. Chad at Lichfield, and begged, not for repose, but for labour. " You shall read in your cell," said he, " and I will dig for you." Ethekeda ruled over her monastery for seven years, setting a great example of piety and abstinence, and all other monastic virtues. Though such a great lady, and so delicately reared, she never wore any linen, but only rough woollen clothing. She denied herself the use of the warm bath, a luxury much in use among the English in her time, only permitting herself this indulgence at the four groat festivals of the year, and even then she only used the bath that had already served for the other nuns.