There are two great cathedrals in London called Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's. Westminster is much the older of the two, for, as you have heard, St. Paul's was burnt down in the Great Fire and entirely rebuilt then, so that it is not yet two hundred and fifty years old, but Westminster is much more ancient. Long years ago, before the Saxons invaded England, there was some sort of church at this place built by monks. In those days there were not all the bridges there are now over the river, but only one, London Bridge, and as there was a ford or shallow place in the water near Westminster, many people who were travelling and wanted to cross the river came down here, where they could wade across without fear. In very early times Westminster was an island called the Isle of Thorney, from the brambles that grew over it. The island lay very low, so that when the tide swept up the river it stood but little above the water; and even after many years, when the ditch running round the island was dried up, yet still the land was marshy. It was an odd place to choose for the building of a church. Then, as you have read in history, came the invasion of the Saxons, and the monks had to fly and leave their church, for the Saxons were not Christians, and they came to harry and ravage and burn; but after a long time, when the Saxons had made themselves lords of London and settled down, the Saxon king himself became a Christian, and so he rebuilt the church by the river. There is an old legend told about Westminster which, whether you believe it or not, is pretty. It is said that on the eve of the day when the new church was to be consecrated and dedicated to St. Peter, one Edric, a fisherman, who lived close by, was awakened in the night by a voice calling him. He thought the voice came out of the darkness on the other side of the river, and as he often had to bring people across in his boat, he went to find the person who called. On landing he found a very venerable-looking man, who carried some vessels that looked like holy vessels used in church. Edric wondered, but said nothing, and rowed him across, and when they reached the church the stranger entered, and all at once the church was lit up by a radiant light, and a thousand lovely voices were heard singing like angels. Then when they ceased the light disappeared as suddenly as it had come, and the stranger turned and said: 'I am St. Peter, and I have hallowed the church myself. I charge thee to tell the bishop, and for a sign put forth upon the river and cast in thy nets, and thou shalt receive a miraculous draught of fishes.' So the fisherman did as he was told, and he found that the fishes enclosed in his net were so many that he could scarcely raise them from the water.