A Night in a Cathedral

William Fulford (?)

General Description

Date: 1856
Genre: Short story

Bibliography

◦ Houghton, The Wellesley Index, pp. 723-731.

◦ LeMire, Eugene D., ed. The Hollow Land.

◦ Mackail, J. W. Life of William Morris .

Scholarly Commentary

Guest Editor: PC Fleming

Introduction

This is one of the works in The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine of which the authorship is least certain: it is by either William Morris or William Fulford. For a detailed discussion of the evidence of authorship for this story, and the other potential Morris piece (the essay on Ruskin), see LeMire's introduction to The Hollow Land, pp. xii-xxiii.

The setting of this story is Amiens Cathedral, which Morris, Fulford, and Burne-Jones had visited the year before, and about which Morris published an essay in the February issue. Trapped inside, the narrator spends the night in the darkness of the cathedral, amid his own thoughts and fears. The contemporary setting favors Fulford as the author, rather than Morris, whose stories in the Magazine usually have medieval settings.

Printing History

First printed in The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine , May, 1856.

Electronic Archive Edition: 1
Source File: Fulford010.raw.xml