/ 7 '# V/p/t> s Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/winklessarchitec01wink_1 WINKLES’S AKCHITECTTJEAL AND PICTURESQUE ILLUSTRATIONS OF T3TE CATHEDRAL CHURCHES OF lEnglanto anU Males ; THE DRAWINGS MADE FROM SKETCHES TAKEN EXPRESSLY FOR TniS WORK. WITH HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNTS. jRcfo lEtritfott. WITH TnE ADDITION OF THE MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL. VOLUME I. Hortbon : W. KENT & CO. (LATE D. BOGUS), 86, ELEET STREET. IIDCCCLX. LONDON: THOMAS HABBILB, SALISBUBY SQUAB J5, FLEET STREET. INDEX TO TIIE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. VOLUME I. Entrance to the Chapter-House at Salisbury 1 . Frontispiece. ienlt&buvt) ©at&ttirnl. Pago View of the West Front . . . . . I . . 1 Ground Plan . . 4 View of the Northern side . . * G South-Eastern view 8 The Lady Chapel ......... 14 View from the Southern to the Northern Transept * . .10 ©nnlevlntiji CalijtAtaL South-Western view ..... View from Trinity Chapel looking westward View of the Eastern end .... Ground plan The Undercroft ...... View in the Nave ..... Bechet’s Crown View from the Cloisters .... The Chapter-House ..... View of Saint Anselm’s Chapel . . 17 . 21 . 20 . 27 . 2S . 32 . 34 . 30 . 37 . 38 |i)otft (ffat&cljral. South-Eastern view . The Crypt View of the Chapter-House . i Ground plan ..•••••• Western Front Southern Transept View of the Nave . View from the Southern to the Northern Transept • The Choir looking Eastward • The Northern Transept, Central Tower, and Chapter-House . 41 . 42 . 43 . 45 . 47 . 48 . 51 . 52 . 53 . 04 INDEX. fibt. ^Bnul’s (SDat&cbral. Page View of tlie Soutliern Front from Southwark Bridge . . .65 Ground plan 70 The "Western Front ......... 72 North-Eastern view . . 74 The Crypt, Monument of Admiral Viscount Nelson under the Dome 75 Interior of the Dome looking towards the Northern Transept . 76 The Nave and Choir .78 mils ©at&dttal. North-Eastern view of the Cathedral from the road to Bath. . 81 Western Front, showing the Northern Porch and Transept . . 81 South-Eastern view ........ 86 Ground plan ......... 89 The Nave ........... 90 View from the Northern Transept .93 The Lady Chapel ......... 98 Entrance to the Crypt ..... • 101 The Chapter-House, interior .... • 102 View of the Chapter-House and Eastern Gate, with the Gallery leading to the Vicar’s Close ....... 104 * Homester ©at&chral. North-Western view ......... 105 Ground plan .......... 106 Western Doorway ......... 113 View of the Nave .115 View of the Crypt ......... 117 View of the Doorway leading into the Chapter-House . . 118 Northern Transept ......... 120 m'ndjcster ©atfic&ral. View of the Northern Transept The Northern Transept, interior ...... South-Eastern view ......... Ground plan .......... Western Front .......... The Nave looking cast ........ View across the Nave, showing the Font and Wykeham’s Monu- ment ........... View of the Choir Southern Aisle of Choir, showing Bishop Fox’s Monument . die v in the Presbytery, showing the Chantries of Bishop Wayn- fleto and Cardinal Beaufort . 121 125 127 128 129 130 131 134 138 140 INTRODUCTION. An eminent and learned prelate has drawn a beautiful analogy betwixt a church, as displaying the admirable effect of the principles of archi- tecture, and the Christian religion. “ The divine order and economy of the one seems to be emblematically set forth by the just, plain, and majestic architecture of the other; and as the one consists of a great variety of parts united in the same regular design according to the truest art, and most exact proportion, so the other contains a decent subordination of members, various sacred institutions, sublime doctrines, and solid precepts of morality digested into the same design, and with an admirable concurrence tending to one view — the happiness and exaltation of human nature 1 .” The introduction of Christianity to Britain is repeatedly affirmed on the most respectable authority 2 to have been occasioned by St. Paul the apostle. David, who preached to the Britons in the fifth century, is acknowledged as the patron saint of Wales ; St. Cuthbert is called the apostle of the north ; aud St. Patrick of Ireland. St. Columba is renowned in Scottish history as the chief agent in converting the northern inhabitants of the British islands, and from the extraordinary number of its monastic institutions England has been called “ The Isle of Saints.” In Wales, the best authorities for the more ancient histories of that country, mention with confidence the existence of bishoprics at Caer- leon, St. David’s, and Bangor ; and in Scotland a bishop of the isles is said to have been established within a century after the conversion of Constantine. The English name of Bishop, seemingly of Greek origin, is derived from the Anglo-Saxon biscop, a corruption of episcopus, and implies the head of the clergy, or persons publicly employed in the church; his jurisdiction was originally of a spiritual nature, and consisted chiefly of superintendence in religious ceremonies, in the discipline of the church, and the administration of the sacrament. The bishops, as vicegerents of Christ, and successors of the apostles, claimed the 1 Berkeley. 2 Tracts on the Origin and Independence of the Ancient British Church, by Bishop Burgess ; and Origines Britannicse, or the Antiquities of British Churches, by Bishop Stillingfleet ; — both works of great learning, displaying a knowledge of antiquities only to be acquired by deep study of the subject. a 11 INXKODUCTIOH. exclusive privilege of conferring the sacerdotal character in the conse- cration of ecclesiastical ministers. Their authority is also of a temporal nature, in common with peers of the realm 3 , and the dignity of their respective sees is sustained by large estates, not only within their own dioceses but sometimes in distant counties. The hundred of Oswaldslow, in Worcestershire, which lies chiefly in the centre of the county, consists of estates granted by King Edgar in the year 964 to St. Oswald, Bishop of Worcester, and contains certain parcels of land separated from the rest of the county, all which as they belonged to the church are included within this hundred. The Isle of Ely under the abbots of Ely, and afterwards the bishops, held the privileges of a county palatine till the reign of Henry VIII., when they were, in common with other jurisdictions of a like nature, considerably abridged by parliament. The bishop is custos rotulorum of the Isle, and has still almost sovereign authority within his franchise, or liberty. Its jurisdiction is distinct from that of the county of Cam- bridge, in which it is locally situated, in civil as well as in criminal matters ; the liberty contains a large district, having more powers and privileges than any other franchise, excepting that of the bishop of Durham 4 . Under the names of plough alms, kirk shot, soul shot, Borne scot, and Peter pence, contributions in the early period of church history, were constantly levied towards the support of the clergy. Whilst Bishop Marshall was engaged in completing the cathedral of Exeter, he required every housekeeper in the city to pay a sum yearly towards it at Whitsuntide : this probably was the origin of the payment of the diocesan farthing, which appears to have been required for centuries from every parishioner throughout that bishopric, and is still collected from the inhabitants of Exeter, although not applied as it formerly was to keep the cathedral in repair 5 6 . The principal source of ecclesiastical revenue was tithes, the origin 3 Archbishops and bishops, as well as the great barons, are called Thanes, or nobility, in Domesday Book. 4 The chief justico and chief bailiff, as well as other officers, are appointed by tho Bishop of Ely. The office of chief bailiff is one of considerable importance, being equivalent, within tho Isle, to that of high sheriff of a county, and the bailiff does every act which a sheriff of a county performs, excepting that he does not account before tho barons of the exchequer, and his appointment is pro termino vitce. 6 It appears that a confirmation of this farthing rate, printed by Thomas Petyt, * o' tho reign of Henry VIII., is pasted on one of the cases in the muniment room of the Cathedral. INTltODTJCTION. iii of which in England is said to be a grant of King Ethelwolf in the year 855, these were prsedial, and arose from the produce of the earth, a s corn, hay, and wood, now called the great tithes. About the year 1200, tithes were extended to every species of profit, including mer- chandize and military service, and to wages of every kind of labour, Sometimes the founder of a church granted a tithe of corn only, and at a subsequent period added to his original donation tithes of cattle, &c. The clergy reached the zenith in respect of territorial property about the conclusion of the twelfth century ; they, then, enjoyed nearly one half of England 0 . The district subjected to a bishop’s authority was originally called his parish, which in the early ages of the church implied the same as diocese. It is admitted by the most intelligent ecclesiastical anti- quaries, that the distribution of the kingdom into parishes, in the present acceptation of the term, did not originate in any specific decree 7 , but was the progressive work of ages, and nearly completed by the end of the twelfth century. A comparatively few parishes were, it is true, formed in the Anglo-Saxon era, but being too extended in their boun- daries for the accommodation of a dispersed population, were subse- quently divided in the Anglo-Norman period 8 . After the division of the great bishoprics into several dioceses, which was effected by Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the seventh century, the churches of the bishops began to be distinguished by the name of Cathedral, from the episcopal cathedra, or chair, in those churches; whence also the seat of episcopal power is called the see 9 . The extent and boundaries of the respective dioceses of the English bishops have been variously and accidentally decided, but they all 6 Hallam. 1 Attributed to Saint Honorius, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 636. 8 Baker’s History of Northamptonshire ; the same author mentions Stotesbury, near Brackley, as presenting a singular anomaly of a parish without either church or village. 0 Cader and Caer, the primitive words, were applied to heights, as Cader Idris, as well as to walled cities, as Caer Icon, and Caer lyell, or Carlisle. Carew, the historian of Cornwall, says, “ Who knows not Michael’s mount and chair. The pilgrim’s holy vaunt 3” Seat, settle, and saddle, have also the same meaning, as high settle, king’s settle, and bishop’s settle, or see. Sadberg, in Durham, an eminence cr seat, part of the original patrimony of the church, was anciently a county in itself, having its own sheriff, coroner, &c. a 2 IV UTTRODTJCTIOK. possess an equal and indelible character, deriving their power from the apostles and from the law. The establishment of a bishop was inferior in splendour only to that of a king. Bishopric is properly the dominion of a bishop, Bic signifying dominion; his appurtenances are all of princely denomination; he has his palace, his throne, his chancellor, &c. The bishop exacts implicit obedience in the government of his peculiar diocese, and observes the same towards the higher authorities of metropolitan and primate, titles conferred on bishops of the principal cities, whose jurisdiction extends over the provinces of Canterbury and York. The archbishops of Canterbury were anciently nominated by the Pope by bulls of provision ; and the pall, an emblem of ecclesiastical sove- reignty was conferred by the Pope, having first been laid on the tomb of St. Peter ; on receiving it an oath of canonical obedience and fidelity to Pome was required to be made ; without the pall, the archbishop could not hold a council, or consecrate a bishop, at which ceremony it was always worn 10 . A very fine intagliated brass figure of Archbishop AValdeby, on his monument in AVestminister Abbey, affords a most satisfactory example of the archiepiscopal costume. Waldeby was translated from Dublin to the see of Chichester ; and in 1396, he succeeded Archbishop Arundel as primate of England : he was archbishop of York but a short time, dying the very next year, he was buried in the chapel of St. Edmund the king. The full length figure of the archbishop is repre- sented enshrined within a light and tasteful tabernacle ; upon his head is a mitre enriched with Jewels, which was worn only upon most solemn occasions. In his left hand he bears the pastoral staff sur- 10 The precise form with which the insignia were delivered to Archbishop Dene, in the reign of Henry VII., is given in Collier’s Ecclesiastical History, vol. i. p. 701. The pastoral staff was put into the archbishop’s hands by a monk commissioned by the prior and convent of Canterbury, with these words, “ Reverend father, I am sent to you from the sovereign prince of the world, who requires and commands you to undertake the government of his church, and to love and protect her, and in proof of my orders, I deliver you the standard of the king of heaven.” After this, the archbishop received his pall by the hands of the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, commissioned by the Pope for that purpose, which was delivered to him with this form : “ To the honour of Almighty God and the blessed Virgin Mary, the holy apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, our lord Pope Alexander VI. the holy Roman church, and also of the holy church of Canterbury committed to their charge, we give you, in the pall, taken from the body of St. Peter, a full authority for the exercise of your archiepiscopal function, with the liberty of wearing this honourable distinction in your cathedral, upon certain days mentioned in the apostolical bulls of privilege.” INTRODUCTION". V mounted by a cross, always held by the bishop when giving tlio bene- diction, but on other occasions borne before him as a symbol of authority, and implying his pastoral jurisdiction. The two fore-fingers of the bishop’s right hand are extended as in the act of benediction, and upon his middle finger is a ring, which as well as the ornamented gloves was essential to a prelate. The ring was bestowed upon the bishop as a type of the marriage of Jesus Christ with his church, and accepted by him as a pledge of his fidelity to the charge. Over the mass habit, or chasuble, is seen the pall, worn, only by metropolitans, above all other garments ; it is in the form of a fillet about the neck, encompassing the shoulders, and having pendents before and behind, kept in their position by little laminae of lead rounded at their extre- mities and covered with silk. Sometimes the pall was fastened to the dress by large ornamented pins, which are to be seen on the sculp- tured effigy of Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury, on his tomb. 11 The pall upon the figure of Archbishop "Waldeby, is adorned in front by six crosses pattee fitchee: upon the left arm is the fannel, or maniple, embroidered, and fringed at the ends. Beneath the lower hem of the dalmatic are the ends of the stole, a long ornamented band, worn round the neck and over the alb, an under garment reaching down to the feet, a part of ecclesiastical dress from which the surplice of modern times apparently derived its origin and colour. The inta- gliated brass plates on the monumental slabs of prelates, would afford a very fine pictorial series of the peculiar costume of the various eras. 12 Archbishop Peckham, who had a taste for magnificence, is said to have expended 4000 marks at Home on his confirmation, and 2000 marks at Canterbury on his inthronization. The following extract from Godwyn’s “ Catalogue of the Bishops of England,” with un- adorned minuteness, gives a striking picture of the manners of the age, and shows with wdiat magnificence an archbishop took possession of his dignity. “ "William Warham, Bishop of London, was translated to Canterbury, November 29, and iuthronized March 9, 1504, with wonderful great solemnity. The day before his coming to Canterbury, 11 The apostolical sub-deacons of St. John do Lateran, in Borne, possessed the exclusive privilege of making the palls of white wool shorn from lambs, offered annually by the nuns of St. Agnes, on 21st of January, when they were received in form by two canons of the church and delivered to the sub-deacons. 13 The figure of Archbishop "Waldeby is engraved in Harding’s “Antiquities in Westminster Abbey." VI INTRODUCTION. the Duke of Buckingham, his high steward, came hither attended with seven score horse, to see all things iii readiness. The duke held also the office of chief butler, and being unable to do the duties of both, he deputed Sir George Bouchier to the butlership, and took great pains to see that nothing was wanting requisite for the performance of this ceremony in the most magnificent manner. The next day, which was Sunday, the Duke met the archbishop over against St. Andrew’s Church, and doing low obeisance to him, went before him to Christ’s Church. At the great gate near the market-place, the prior and convent received the archbishop honourably, and carried him to the church, whither he went from St. Andrew’s barefoot, said mass there, and was placed in his throne after the accustomed manner. -From the church he was attended by the duke, as he was thitherward. The cheer at dinner was as great as for money it might be made : before the first mess, the Duke of Buckingham himself came riding into the hall upon a great horse, bare-headed, with his white staff in his hand, and when the first dish was set on the table made obeisance by bowing his body. Having so done he betook him to his chamber, when there was provision made for him, according to his state. With the Archbishop of Canterbury sate the Earl of Essex, the Bishop of Man, the Lord Abergavenny, the Lord Brook, the Prior of Canterbury, and the Abbot of St. Augustine’s. The Duke of Buckingham at his table was accompanied by the Lords Clinton, Sir Edward Poynings, the chief justice of England, named Phineux, Sir William Scott, Sir Thomas Kemp, and others. A great many other guests were served in other places, noblemen and knights at one table, doctors of divinity and law at another, and gentlemen of the country at a third, besides an infinite number of meaner calling, placed by themselves, according to their several degrees.” Both archbishops and bishops enjoyed the regal privilege of coining, and although it was in some measure curtailed, the Archbishop of York continued to coin money, bearing the same stamp as the kings, till the reign of Elizabeth; the coins of Wolsey are marked w r ith the cardinal’s hat. Two publications on this subject are well known to antiquaries ; one by Samuel Pegge, entitled “ An assemblage of Coins fabricated by authority of the Archbishops of Canterbury,” was published in 1772. “A Tract on the episcopal Coins of Durham,” by Benjamin Bartlett, was printed by George Allan, Esq., of Darling- ton, in 1778, and was reprinted with notes, by John Trotter Brockett, in the year 1817. INTRODUCTION. vii Ancient episcopal seals are exceedingly curious and interesting historical records, representing not only the figure of the patron saint, hut that of the bishop himself; these are generally in form of an oval, pointed at the extremities, hut some, of the Anglo-Saxon period, are round, as that of Durham ; 13 none, indeed, that are of a pointed oval form are supposed to he older than the eleventh century : a form still retained in all episcopal and archdiaconal seals . 14 Eeligious institutions of royal foundation had commonly round seals ; those of Norwich cathedral priory are of this class. Bishops are distin- guished upon ancient seals by having the pastoral staff in their left hands ; abbots bear it in their right hands. Another distinction between the representation of bishops and abbots to be noticed on all contem- porary seals is the mode of wearing the mitre. It was the custom for bishops to wear their mitres with the broad side before, but abbots bore them with the horns in the front. The devices upon early seals are remarkable for their simplicity ; a series is interesting, as exhibiting a progressive improvement in design and execution : the more recent seals are often highly finished, being ornamented with subjects illustrative of the ecclesiastical architecture of the period, and frequently contain a group of figures upon each impress. At the base of the seal was then placed the bishop, praying to the patron saint of the convent, to be observed on a great number of epis- copal seals. The bishops of the fourteenth century introduced their own arms upon their seals, in a separate shield from that of their see, and afterwards impaled them with those of the bishopric in one shield. The popes have two seals ; that which is used for the bulls is always impressed in lead, and represents the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul; the private seal, called the fisherman’s ring, Vanello del piscatore, is impressed in red wax, and represents St. Peter drawing his net. The seals of bishops are of red wax, and those of the present time have no other device than the arms of the respective bishops impaled with those of the see. The archbishops and bishops of England claim the same privileges 13 Published by Dr. Smith in his edition of Bede. u it may not be uninteresting to the antiquary, or man of taste, to be informed that casts in sulphur of nearly the -whole series may be readily obtained. J. Doubleday, in Little Bussell Street, near the British Museum, has acquired a method of taking impressions from seals appended to deeds without injury to the originals, and ha3 upwards of 10,000 ancient seals so acquired, including nearly all those that have been engraved or described in tko “Vestusta Monumenta,” “ Archceologia,” and other celebrated works. Till INTRODUCTION. as peers of the realm, excepting that they do not sit on trial in cases of blood, being prohibited by the canons of the church from being judges of life and death. Bishops and abbots formerly sat in parliament, not only on account of their episcopal jurisdiction, but by prescription, arising from the importance of their secular baronies, which were unalienable from their respective dignities. Although a seat in parliament is now considered one of the most distinguished privileges of the peerage, the ecclesiastics of the middle ages viewed the service as a burden, and it has been observed, that the anxiety with which our ancestors endeavoured to get free from the obligation of sitting in parliament, is surpassed by that only with which their posterity solicit to be admitted there . 15 In the year loll the mitred abbots who possessed the privilege of sitting in parliament were more in number than the bishops; there were at that time twenty-eight mitred abbots and only nineteen bishops ; the mitres of parliamentary abbots were decided to be made of silver, partially gilt with gold, to distinguish them from the mitres of bishops which were of pure gold. The election of bishops is made by the king’s licence directed to the dean and chapter, who certify their election, under their common seal, to the king, the archbishop of the province, and to the bishop elect. The king’s assent is given under the great seal directed to the arch- bishop, commanding him to confirm and consecrate the bishop. The archbishop then grants a commission to his vicar-general to perform the ceremony. The bishop, on confirmation, has jurisdiction in his diocese, and, on consecration, has right to the temporalities. He has a consistory court, and holds a visitation once in three years, or by his archdeacon every year. The origin of Chapters of Cathedral churches may be traced to a very remote period, as a council of advice, or kind of parliament to the bishop, even before the establishment of parochial divisions. The Chapter consists of prebendaries, or canons, who confirm the bishop’s grants, but who are distinguished as possessing individual property, and by the enjoyment of separate benefices. The bishop as patron of the prebends does not nominate to all ; they are sometimes donative. At W estminster the king collates by patent, and some are in the gift of laymen, who present the prebendary to the bishop, and the dean and chapter then induct him to his stall in the cathedral clrurch. ; s Robertson’s History of Scotland, vol. i, INTRODUCTION. IN The dean is the head of the chapter, or bishop’s council, but in some Cathedral churches there is no dean, as at Llandaff and St. David’s, where the bishop is the head of the chapter, and in his absence the arch- deacon. There is also a dean without a chapter at Battle, and a chapter, without a dean at Southwell. The dean of the Chapel Royal has no jurisdiction, as was formerly the case with rural deans. In any attempt to ascertain the origin of the episcopal sees in England, it must soon be discovei’ed that the most important documents the early records and charters of the church, are of very doubtful autho- rity, and have been for the most part either forged or interpolated to serve particular purposes. 10 The history of the foundation of English bishoprics is buried in such obscurity that, with the exception of those sees instituted since the Reformation, there is scarcely a single bishopric of which it is pos- sible to give the precise date of its erection, but the authorities generally received have been considered amply sufficient in forming the following S&ronologi'cnl Hist of tfjt 35nglisf) 1. Canterbury. The archicpiscopal see of the primate and metropolitan of all England was established in the year 597, by Pope Gregory the Great, who sent the pall to Augustine. The province of Canterbury includes the bishoprics of Bangor, Bath and Wells, Bristol, Chichester, Lichfield and Coventry, Ely, Exeter, Gloucester, Hereford, Llandaff, Lincoln, London, Norwich, Oxford, Peterborough, Rochester, St. Asaph, St. David’s, Salisbury, Winchester, and Worcester. The province of Canterbury was finally settled by Pope Leo III., A.D. 803, when he denounced everlasting damnation against all who should attempt to tear the coat of Christ. 17 The arms of the archiepiscopal see represent the staff and pall, insignia formerly of great importance. 2. Rochester. The see of Rochester, the smallest in the kingdom, is next to that of Canterbury, the most ancient. Justus, the first bishop of Rochester, was consecrated by Augustine, A.D. 601, about ten years after he came first to England. The bishop of Rochester is chaplain and was formerly cross bearer to the archbishop of Canterbury, who claimed and 16 On the authority of Somner, Spelman, and Casauhon, celebrated antiquaries, who agree on this point. 17 Battelcy. b X INTRODUCTION. enjoyed for several centuries the entire disposal of this bishopric. The Cathedral church erected by Ethelberfc, king of Kent, was dedicated to St. Andrew, out of respect to the monastery of St. Andrew, at Rome, of which Augustine was originally a member, and the arms of this see are borne in reference to the instrument of martyrdom of the patron saint. 3. London. Melitus, the first bishop of London, was consecrated by Augustine, archbishop of Canterbury, A.D. 604, and in his time Ethelbert, king of Kent, built the Cathedral of St. Paul. The arms of this see, two swords in saltier, are emblematical of the martyrdom of the apostle. King Henry VIII., prior to the general dissolution of monasteries, determined to erect several of them into episcopal sees. The bishopric of Westminster was then taken from the diocese of London, and on the 17th of December, 1540, the abbey church of St. Peter was advanced to the dignity of a cathedral by the king’s letters patent. Dr. John Thirleby, the first and only bishop, was obliged to surrender his see, on the 29th of March, 1550, when the diocese, consisting of the county of Middlesex, was restored to London, and several estates, belonging to the dean of Westminster, were at the same time granted, in trust to be applied to the repairs of St. Paul’s Cathedral. This appropriation of the revenues of St. Peter’s Church is said to have suggested the adage of “ robbing Peter to pay Paul.” An act of parliament was afterwards passed which declared that Westminster should still remain a cathedral, under a dean and chapter, but be subordinate to the diocese of London. 4. York. The bishopric of York was founded by Paulinus, one of the mis- sionaries sent by Pope Gregory to England, as early as A.D. 627. Pope Ilonorius sent this prelate the pall in the year 634, and granted the archbishops of Canterbury and York the mutual power of ordaining each other. The first cathedral at York was dedicated to St. Peter, and the arms of the see, the crossed keys, are the well known emblems of the apostle. Two massy keys he bore, of metals twain The golden opes, the iron shuts amain. The arms of the archiepiscopal sees were originally exactly similar ; the present arms of the see of York were adopted in the time of Cardinal Wolscy. A bishopric wa3 established at Hexham, in Northumberland, in INTRODUCTION. XI A.D. 678, which continued till the year 821, ten bishops having, in that period, successively held the see. The town of Ilexham, with tho country about, consisting of five townships, called Hexhamshire, was afterwards given by Henry I. to the archiepiscopal see of York, and had the reputation of being a county palatinate ; by act of parliament, in 1545, the jurisdiction of Hexham shire was taken from the arch- bishopric, and united to the county of Northumberland. The archbishop, as primate of England, has the province of York under his care, consisting of the bishoprics of Carlisle, Chester, and Durham, as well as that of Sodor and Man, the bishop of which is not a peer of parliament. The extent of jurisdiction, although less in England, was formerly largest in Britain, the archbishopric having the entire kingdom of Scotland subject to it. The bishoprics of Lincoln, Lichfield, and Worcester, were taken from York; and it appears that the archbishop had formerly all the bishoprics northward of the river Humber subject to his authority, including the bishoprics of Bipon, Hexsham, Lindisfarn, the bishopric of Whitehaven, and all the bishopries of Scotland and the Orcades. The last continued till the wars in the reigns of the three Edwards, when the Scots bishops threw off their subjection. 18 The same authority states, that the kings of England have always allowed the priority to Canterbury, on the principle that a duarchy in the church was altogether inconsistent with a monarchy in the state. 5. Durham. A bishopric was originally established by Oswald, the Anglo-Saxon king of Northumberland, A.D. 635, who appointed Aidan, a monk of Icolinkill, the first bishop. St. Cutlibert, who is often styled the apostle of the north, received episcopal consecration from the archbishop of York, as the sixth bishop of the Northumbrian Saxons. St. Cutlibert afterwards procured a grant frcmEgfrid, king of Northumberland, of all the lands between the rivers Wear and Tyne, and retired to Lindisfarn, since called Holy Island, where he founded a monastery, the church of which became his cathedral. The see of Lindisfarn continued in esteem till Bishop Eardulph was obliged to leave it for fear of the Danes, in the year 875, when he fixed his episcopal chair at Chester le Street, on a branch of the river Wear, where it remained nearly two hundred years, but was finally removed to the city of Durham, a site unrivalled by any in the kingdom, in the year 1020, at which time the bones of 13 Drake’s History of York, p, 408. INTRODUCTION. xii St. Cutkbert were deposited in the Cathedral originally dedicated to Ins memory; King Henry VIII. ordered it to be named the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin. The arms of this see are those of King Oswald, the original founder, in whose memory they have been retained. 6. Norwich. A bishopric was founded by Sigibert, king of the East Angles, and the episcopal see placed at Soham, in Cambridgeshire, A. D. 630, but immediately after removed to Dunwich, in Suffolk, by St. Eelix, the first bishop of the East Angles. The see was divided into two bishoprics by Bisus the fourth bishop, when North Elmham, in Norfolk, was made a seat of the bishops of Norfolk ; and Dunwich, a seat of the bishops of Suffolk. A union of these dioceses took place under the bishops of Elmham, about A. D. 945, whence the episcopal chair ivas removed to Thetford, in 1075, in consequence of a determination of a council held by Archbishop Lanfranc, that all bishops’ sees should be placed in the most eminent towns in their diocese. The see was translated to Norwich by Bishop Herbert de Losing, formerly abbot of Kamsey, A.D. 1094, who purchased the bishopric of King William Kufus for the sum of £1900. The arms of the see, three golden mitres in an azure field, allude to the union of the bishoprics of Dunwich, Elmham, and Thetford, in that of Norwich. 7. Lincoln A bishopric was founded at Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, A. D. 635, by King Cynegils, who appointed Birinus, sent by Pope ITonorius to convert the West Saxons, bishop of Mercia. In the year 678, a bishopric was erected at Sidnacester, or Stow, in Lincolnshire, and in the following year another at Leicester, but both these sees were again united to Dorchester about A. D. 919, which continued the seat of the bishop, till removed to the city of Lincoln, in the year 1070, by Bishop Kemigius, a Norman, and one of the followers of William the Conqueror. The arms of the see are evidently composed of those of the king at this period, having the Virgin Mary, to whom the Cathedral Church was dedicated, in the chief, or placed above the insignia of the kiDg. Out of this diocese the bishoprics of Oseney and Peterborough were taken by King Henry VIII., in the year 1541. 8. Winchester. The bishopric of Winchester was founded by King Cynegils, in 636, who fixed the Cathedral in this city, the capital of the West Saxon INTRODUCTION - . Iffl kingdom. The king also endowed the see with all the lands within seven miles of the church, which was dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. The arms of this see, a sword between two keys, the united emblems of the two apostles, are commemorative of this dedication. 9. Lichfield and Coventry. A bishopric was founded at Lichfield by Oswy, king of Mercia, A.D. 656. The see became so wealthy, that King Offa, in the year 7S0, prevailed on Pope Adrian to constitute Lichfield an archbishopric, with authority over the sees of Winchester, Hereford, Leicester, Sid- nacester, Elmham, and Dunwich ; that title was however laid aside on the death of Ofia. In the year 1075, Bishop Peter removed his episcopal chair to Chester, and his successor, Bishop Robert de Lindsey, translated his see from Chester to Coventry, in 1102. Bishop Hugh de Novant, in the year 1186, removed the see again to Lichfield, but it was agreed that the bishop should derive his title from both places, Coventry and Lichfield, Coventry having the precedence. Also that the convents should elect a bishop alternately, and that they should both make one chapter to the bishop, in which the prior of Coventry should be the head. At the dissolution of the priory of Coventry, in the year 1538, the style of the bishop remained the same ; but an act of parliament was then passed, constituting the dean and chapter of Lichfield the sole chapter to the bishop. The arms of this sec are blazoned on a red and white field, and consist of a golden cross potent, or cross of Jerusalem, between four small crosses, not unlike the ensign borne by Godfrey of Bouillon, chief of the first crusade, and have reference to the five wounds of Christ, with which the altars of the primitive churches were always marked. The bishopric of Chester was, in 1541, taken out of this diocese. 10. Hereford. An episcopal see was first established at Hereford in the year 680, when Bishop Putta, who was translated from Rochester, was made the first bishop of Hereford. The arms of the bishopric are those of St. Thomas Cantilupe, forty-fourth bishop of Hereford, and also chancellor of England. In memory of this saint’s miraculous powers, his arms, the same as the baronial family of Cantilupe, from which he was descended, were adopted as the armorial bearings of the see. 11. Worcester. The bishopric of Worcester was originally fouuded by Ethelred, king of Mercia, in the year 680. The bishops of Worcester were the XIV INTEODTF CHON. peculiar chaplains of the archbishop of Canterbury, and, by their office, performed the mass in all assemblies of the clergy where the metropolitan was present. The arms of the see refer to this important service, and consist of ten torteaux on a white field : the torteaux of heraldry, representing the holy wafers used in the sacrament, are called wastalls in ancient blazonry, and were thus adopted by the bishops as an official badge or ensign. Out of this diocese the bishopric of Gloucester was taken, in the year 1541. 12. Salisbuey. The first establishment of this see was at Sherbourn, in Dorsetshire, A.D. 705. The diocese then extended over all that part of the kingdom which is now divided into the dioceses of Salisbury, Bristol, Wells, and Exeter. The bishoprics of Wells and Exeter were first dismembered from it, and another see was erected at Wilton, in Wiltshire, the seat of which bishop appears to have been sometimes at Bamsbury, and sometimes at Sunning, both hi Berkshire. The see of Wilton having had eleven bishops, was again united to Sherbourn by Bishop Herman, who abolished the bishopric of Wilton, because the monks of Malmsbury would not suffer him to remove it to their abbey. It was during the reign of William the Conqueror that the episcopal see was removed to Old Sarum, where there already existed a dean. The patronage of the dean was translated to Sherbourn and Sunning, and Bishop Herman, who had before held the sees of Wilton and Sherbourn, was installed into that of Sarum. Bishop Eichard Poore brought the see from Old Sarum to Salisbury, 19 in the reign of 10 The editor solicits indulgence from the reader, in this note, that he may exculpate himself from a charge of error. In the Gentleman’s Magazine for February, 1835, the date of the foundation of this cathedral wa3 stated to have been omitted, and other as- sertions were made equally devoid of truth, to which it was thought necessary to send the following letter to the editor of the magazine in reply : — “ Sir, — As the acknowledged writer of a description of Salisbury Cathedral, al- “ luded to as ‘the few pages of letter-press’ in the last number of your magazine, I “ entreat you will forthwith do me the justice to correct some errors in your notice, “ seemingly not unintentional. In my brief account the date of the foundation is cer- “ tainly not omitted, vide p. 1. The number of marks which the building is recorded “ to 1 1 : i vo cost is also rightly stated at 40,000, the same amount as given in all previous “ histories of the Cathedral, and not 400,000 as you have misrepresented.” The letter concluded with an apology to the readers of the magazine for troubling them with the correction. No other notice was taken of this letter by the editor of the magazine than calling it a complaint in a subsequent number. If such, it was not of want of candour, but of downright misrepresentation. umtODUCTioir. XV Homy III.," 0 and his successor dedicated the Cathedral Church to the Yirgin Mary. The arras of the bishopric, emblematical of this dedi- cation, consist of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus. A part of this diocese was granted to the see of Bristol upon its establishment in 1542. 13. ClIICHESTER. Wilfrid, archbishop of York, having been expelled from his diocese by King Egfrid, was received by Edilwalch, king of the South Saxons, who granted him Selsey, a promontory in the British Channel, where he built a church, which he governed as Abbot ; Eadbert his successor was consecrated bishop of Selsey, A.D. 711. Stigand, chaplain to King William the Conqueror, and the twenty- third bishop of Selsey, in 1071, removed his see to Chichester, or Cissan Caster, a city built by King Cissa. The arms of this see a prester, or Presbyter John, is seemingly born in allusion to the power of the church, the book in hand, but the sword, or power, in the mouth, is emblematical of the eloquence necessary to enforce the doctrine in the book by which the church is maintained. 14. Exeter. A bishopric of Devonshire, was founded on the division of the see of Sherbourn, A.D. 910, when Aidulf, the first bishop, fixed his episcopal chair at Crediton, on the banks of the river Credy. A bishopric of Cornwall was at the same time established, when Athelstan the bishop fixed his see at St. Germans. Levingus, who became bishop of Devonshire, in the year 1032, after the death of Burwold, the last Bishop of Cornwall, united the two sees. King Edward the Confessor, in the year 1050, resolved to consolidate the pontifical chair at the city of Exeter, in the monastery of the blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, appointed Leofric, bishop of Crediton, It appears tliat every book, but one, embracing an account of Salisbury Cathedral, has been assailed in the same reckless maimer, and that a great many pages of the magazine have been occupied in this unworthy object. The inquisitive reader may turn to the Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. lxxxv. p. 35, where an inhabitant of Salisbury has given proof of the truth of what is here stated. 20 The popular tradition of the precise spot being determined by an arrow shot by a bowman from the ramparts of Old Sarum, is humorously illustrated in the Salisbury Ballad, written by Dr. Walter Pope, one of the chaplains to Seth Ward, bishop of Salis- bury, in the reign of Charles II. XVI INTRODUCTION. and his successors after him for ever, to be bishops there, 2 ’, in these words ; — “ I will therefore the see to be there, that Cornwall with its churches, and Devonshire with its, be together in one episcopate, and be governed by one bishop. So do I Edward place this privilege with my own hand upon the altar of St. Peter, and leading the prelate Leofric by the right arm, and my queen Editha leading him by the left, do place him in the episcopal chair, my dukes and noble cousins, with my chaplains being present.” The monastery of St. Peter, to which the united sees were thus transferred, and its conventual church erected into a cathedral, was founded by King Athelstan, in the year 932. The arms of the see consist of a representation of the crossed keys, the emblem of the patron saint, and a sword, indicative of the power of the bishop. 15. Bath and Weils. A bishopric was founded at Wells by King Edward the Elder A.D. 909, upon a division of the diocese of Sherbourn, when Adhelm’ abbot of Glastonbury, was consecrated the first bishop, by Archbishop Plegmund. Soon after the accession of William Kufus, a change was made in the state of this see by Bishop John de Villula, a native of Tours, in Prance. This prelate having originally practised at Bath as a physician, obtained affluence, and with the profits of his profession, purchased the see of AVells. In the year 1092 he transferred the episcopal seat to Bath, which, with all its privileges, he had also purchased of the king. He had procured a grant of Bath Abbey from King William Kufus previously to his removal of the see, for which removal he obtained the king’s consent by bribery, or, according to Matthew Paris, the his- torian, by “anointing his hand with white ointment.” Great dissensions arose between the canons of AVells and the monks of Bath respecting the change of residence and right of election ; even- tually the dispute was referred to Bishop Kobert, who in a decree made about 1139, enjoined that the bishops should take their titles from both churches, and be called bishops of Bath and Wells. That the monks of Bath and the canons of Wells should, on a vacancy of the see, appoint an equal number of delegates, by whose united votes the bishop should be chosen, the dean of AVells being the returning officer; that the bishop elect should be enthroned in both churches, but first at Bath ; 21 The charter of King Edward is printed in Caley’s edition of Dugdale’s Monasti- con, vol. ii. INTRODUCTION'. xvn that both these communities should form the bishop’s chapter ; and that all grants should be confirmed under these respective seals. Savaric, Archdeacon of Northampton, was elected bishop m 1192; this prelate was related to Henry, the Emperor of Germany, who, to oblige his kinsman, made it one of the conditions of the release of Kino 1 [Richard I., that the wealthy abbey of Glastonbury should be annexed to the see of Bath and Wells, and the Abbot of Glastonbury was then promoted to the bishopric of W orcester. Bishop Savaric, having obtained his desire, transferred his episcopal seat to Glastonbury. During the episcopacy of Joceline of Wells, the monks of Glastonbury obtained a dissolution of their union with the bishopric, and Joceline afterwards resumed the title of Bishop of Bath and Wells, which has ever since been used by the successive prelates of this see ; but in the reign of Henry VIII. an act of parliament was passed for the dean and chapter of Wells to make one chapter for the bishop. The ancient arms of the united bishopric of Bath and Wells were judiciously composed from the bearings of the two sees ; but the arms now used is the coat of the see of Wells alone, a saltier, or Saint Andrew’s cross, to which saint the Cathedral church is dedicated. 1G. Ely. The abbey of Ely, one of the richest monasteries of England, was founded by Etheldreda, daughter of Anna, king of the East Angles, in the year 673. This lady became the first abbess, and was afterwards canonized. In the reign of Henry I. the revenues of the monastery, originally very considerable, had greatly increased, and the “golden rhetoric” of the abbot prevailing with the king, Ely was made a bishopric and is the only instance of the conversion of an abbey into a see. In the year 1109 a diocese, comprising the Isle of Ely and the whole of the county of Cambridge, taken out of the jurisdiction of the see of Lincoln, was formed, when the manors belonging to the church were divided by the Bishop of Ely between himself and the monks. The bishop was accused of taking the larger share, and it appears to have been in a pro- portion of more than three to one in the bishop’s favour. The Bishop of Lincoln’s consent to the erection of the see of Ely was obtained by a grant to him and his successors of the manors of Bugden, Biggleswade, and Spalding, which originally belonged to the abbots of Ely. The arms of this see seem to be derived from those of the kings of the East Angles, three crowns, implying the regality of Norfolk, Suffolk, C INTEODUCTION. xviii and Grentebridge, or Cambridgeshire, and were probably assumed in memory of the original founder of the abbey. 17. Caelisee. The ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Carlisle, and a circuit of fifteen miles round the city, was granted to St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarn, and his successors, by King Egfrid, A.D. 685. In the year 1133 King Henry I. erected Carlisle into a bishop’s see, giving at the same time a jurisdiction of part of tlie counties of Cumber- land and 'Westmoreland, in the province of York. The same King made Athewold, prior of St. Oswald’s, the first Bishop of Carlisle. The arms of the see are the same as those of the ancient priory of Augustine Canons, a black cross, charged with a golden mitre in the centre, and borne on a white field. 18. Oxeoed. Tim see of Oxford constituted part of the diocese of Lincoln until the year 1512, when King Henry VIII. exacted a bishopric, which he endowed with the estates of the dissolved monasteries of Oseney and Abingdon, assigning at the same time the abbey church of Oseney as a Cathedral to the diocese. The abbey, situated in the suburbs of the present city of Oxford, or Oseneyford, was founded by Kobert D’Olley, lord high con- stable, in the reign of Henry I., and the last Abbot of Oseney was appointed bishop of the new see. The king, in the year 1516, translated the episcopal see to the Cathe- dral Church of Christ in Oxford, and granted some of the estates to the dean and chapter, which had been appropriated by Cardinal Wolsey to the maintenance of his college. 23 The arms of this bishopric, an ox passing a ford, and having in chief three demi ladies crowned, seems to be a punniixg allusion to the name of the city, and to some circumstance in the legend of Saint Pi-ideswide, the founder of the priory. 19. Peteeboeottgh. The see of Peterborough was erected by King Henry VIII. in 1542, and was wholly taken from the diocese of Lincoln. It was endowed with the estates of a monastery founded by Peada, son of Penda, king of Mercia, at Medehamstead ; the abbey church being dedicated to Saint Pctei’, the city was afterwards named Peterborough. n In “Britton’s Cathedrals” it is affirmed, that The See of Oxford originated with Cardinal Wolsey, although it was ostensibly founded by King Henry VIII., an assertion equal to saying that “ Tcnterdcn Steeple was the cause of Goodwin Sands,” AVolsey having certainly been dead at least sixteen years before the see was translated to Christ’s Church. INTEODUCTION. XIX The crossed keys, the emblem of Saint Peter, are borne, as the arms of the see, between four crosses : the dean and chapter being lords of the manor, the arms of the deanery are the same as those of the bishopric. 20. Chesteb. The bishopric of Chester was anciently part of the diocese of Lichfield, the bishop of which removed his seat to this city m the year 1075, and made Saint John’s Church his Cathedral. His successors were some- times styled Bishops of Chester. Chester was not erected into a distinct bishopric until after the dis- solution of monasteries, when King Henry VIII. fixed the see of a bishop here,' and translated Bishop Bird from Bangor ; at the same time the king appointed the abbey church of Saint Werburgh for a Cathedral, when the shrine of that saint was made into a throne for the bishop. The king named it the Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin, and Thomas Clerk, the last abbot, was made the first dean. The king added this bishopric to the province of Canterbury, but soon afterward, translated it to that of York. By a singlar circumstance which occurred not long after the original grant, the dean and chapter lost their estates. The arms of this see, three mitres, on a red field, are probably allusive of the three bishoprics of Chester, Lichfield, and Coventry, once united. 21. Gloucesteb. The see of Gloucester was one of six erected by King Henry VIII. in the year 1512, and was formerly part of the diocese of Worcester. By his letters patent the king ordained that the church of the dissolved monastery of Saint Peter, at Gloucester, should be for ever a Cathedral Church, and see episcopal ; and that the town of Gloucester should be henceforth called the city of Gloucester. The king at the same time nominated John Wakeman, Abbot of Tewkesbury, one of his chaplains, the first bishop, and endowed the bishopric with the estates of the monas- tery founded A.D. 681, in honour of St. Peter the Apostle. The arms of this bishopric are the emblems of the patron saint, derived from the metaphorical expression of Christ, recorded in the gospel of Saint Matthew. 3 23 The power of the keys implied the power assumed by the Pope of passing judgment on departed souls. Pope Julius II., whose disposition was more suitable to a soldier than to a pastor of the church, is described as throwing Saint Peter’s keys into the Tiber, exclaiming — The sword of Paul must us defend from foes, Sith Peter’s keys serve not to bear off blows. 15 INTUODUCTION. 22. Biiistol. This bishopric was founded by King Henry VIII. in 1452, and was endowed with the revenues of the dissolved abbey of Saint Augustine, in Bristol, the church of which was made a Cathedral. During the greater part of the reign of Elizabeth, the see was held in commendam by the Bishop of Gloucester. The arms of Saint Augustine’s bbey are now those of the see of Bristol ; the same heraldical charge, three crown in pale, is assigned to Edmund the Elder, one of the Anglo-Saxon kings of England, who was killed at Buckle church, near this city. There are four bishoprics in Wales, the origin of which is uncertain. The see of Saint David’s was once the metropolitan see of Wales. Archbishop Sampson, the last, removed on account of a pestilence to Dol, in Brittany, carrying the pall with him. The Welsh bishops still received consecration from the Bishop of Saint David’s till the time of Bishop Bernard, chancellor to Alice of Brabant, queen of Henry I., who first submitted himself to the see of Canterbury. The see of Llandaff is supposed to have been founded by Saint Du- britius, in the early part of tire sixth century, at which time it is said to have been a wealthy bishopric ; but the revenues were diminished by Bishop Dunstan, at the Deformation. The Cathedral Church of Bangor is dedicated to Saint Daniel, who was bishop here in the early part of the sixth century, but the founder of the see is unknown. Many of the estates were alienated by Bishop Bulkeley, about the time of the Deformation. The bishopric of Saint Asaph was founded by Saint Kentigern, Bishop of Glasgow, and his successor in the see was Saint Asaph, to whom the church is dedicated. The revenues of this wealthy see were wasted by Bishop Warton, previously Abbot of Bermondsey, and who was after- wards translated to Hereford. The western isles of Britain, divided into two clusters, were in the Norwegian language, called Sudor and Nordor, signifying southern and northern, the Isle of Man was included in the southern or Sudor. The two bishoprics of Sodor and Man were united under the Norwegian kings, and continued so until the Isle of Man was conquered by the English, since which time the Bishop of Sodor and Man has retained the united title, and the Scottish bishops were styled Bishops of the Isles. By an ordinance of King Henry VIII. the bishopric of Sodor and Man was declared to be in the province of York. SLOE U3)H AEi SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. The Cathedral Church of Salisbury is distinguished as the most uniform structure, as well as being the most perfect and original example in the whole series of magnificent edifices, devoted to the choral service of the church, in England. The erection of this church, at the commencement of the reign of Henry III., marks a decided epoch in English architecture, the very beautiful pointed style having then been brought to its utmost perfection. Excepting in the singular instance of Westminster Abbey Church, erected in the same reign, no comparison with that of Salisbury has ever been adduced, and this Cathedral, from its importance and magnitude, stands unrivalled as a point, whence the architectural antiquary may safely draw a conclusion, regarding the precise period of the great change in the ecclesiastical style of building. A very experienced critic has given it as his opinion, that this interesting church, so remarkable in its design for purity, simplicity, and grandeur, holds the same high rank in English architecture which the Parthenon bears in the Grecian. 1 The present Cathedral Church was founded by Bishop Richard Poore, A.D. 1220, the fifth year of the reign of Henry III. It is said that an inscription on the bishop’s tomb stated that the church was forty years in building, and that it was finished in the year I2G0. 2 It appears that his predecessor in the see, Bishop Herbert Poore, had been induced to make application to the king for leave to remove the Cathedral Church from Old Sarum, which was granted, and the ground had been fixed upon as a proper site for the intended edifice, during his prelacy, but it remained for Bishop Richard Poore to carry the magnificent plan into effect, 1 E. I. C. in the Gentleman’s Magazine for May, 1830. 8 In the northern transept of the Cathedral is a monument or cenotaph of Purbeck marble, ascribed by tradition to Bishop Poore, the munificent founder, and which was removed from the northern side of the altar. This bishop was in reality buried in the Cathedral of Durham, to which see he was translated in 1225. His heart was deposited in the priory church of Tarrant Crawford, in Dorsetshire, the place of his nativity, and where he founded a nunnery. Bishop Poore died in 1237, and his epitaph, in old Latin, will be found in Antiq. Sarisburiensis, p. 137. VOL. I. B SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. O /V and to the designs made under his inspection the whole merit of the building is certainly due. The first establishment of the see was at Sherbourn, in Dorset- shire, A.D. 705, when the diocese had episcopal jurisdiction over all the counties which now constitute the dioceses of Salisbury, Bristol, Wells, and Exeter. After the death of Ethelwald, the thirteenth bishop of Sher- bourn, this diocese was divided into several sees, Wells, Exeter, See. A.D. 905, by Piegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, at which time there was another see established at Wilton, in Wiltshire, the capital of Wessex, in the reign of Edward the Elder, the son and successor of Alfred the Great. The seat of the bishop was also at Ramsbury and at Sunning. The see of Wilton, after it had eleven bishops, was once more united to Sherbourn in the year 1056, and at the same time the see was removed to Old Sarum, the Sorbiodunum of the Romans, a place of great importance. A Cathedral was there founded, and completed by Bishop Osmund; but within sixty years afterwards the see was once more removed, and the city of Old Sarum became gradually deserted. 3 Godwyn’s account of the foundation of the present building, written in the quaint style of Elizabeth’s reign, is brief and satis- factory ; by this it appears that it was performed with considerable ceremony. In his life of Bishop Richard Poore, he says, “ This bishop considering the inconvenient situation of his Cathedral see, in a place so dry and bleake, as also wearied with the often inso- lences and malapert demeanour of the soldiers that guarded the earl’s castle, 4 forsooke the same, and sending for divers famous 3 Owing, it was supposed, to the extreme heat of the summer of 1834, the foun- dations of the original Cathedral at Old Sarum became distinctly defined, so as to give a perfect idea of the ground plan, which was in the form of a cross, and its various dimensions. It may not be uninteresting to compare the dimensions with those of the present structure; the extreme length appears to have been about 270 feet; the nave 130 feet, and the choir GO feet. The breadth of the nave with its aisles was 72 feet, each aisle being 18 feet wide. The length of the transept was 130 feet, and its breadth 60 feet. This discovery proved that the Cathedral stood on the north- western side of the fortress, as had been conjectured, and that it must have overspread a very large portion of the space between the bank running northward, and the path leading to the postern gate towards Stratford. * The disputes of the castellans and the clergy, which arose from the seizure of the castle by King Stephen, were carried to a great height, and even caused the death of Bishop Roger in 1139. SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. o o workemen from beyond the seas, began the foundation of a new church in a place then called Meryfield. 5 Pandulph, the pope’s legate, laid the first five stones ; the first for the Pope ; 6 the second for the king ; the third for the Earl of Salisbury : 7 the fourth for the countesse ; 8 and the fifth for the bishop. In this work,” continues the reverend author, “ though the bishop had greate helpe of the king, and divers of the nobility, yet was he so farre from ending it, as thirty years after his departure, it was scarcily finished.” 9 From this time the work was rapidly carried on, and the edifice, one of the most splendid memorials of the age in which it was erected, was sufficiently completed in the course of five years to have divine service celebrated in the choir. The Cathedral was consecrated on Michaelmas day, 1225, by Stephen Langton, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, when all the canons were cited to attend the solemnity. The bishop of Salisbury had himself previously consecrated three altars in the church, one in the eastern part to the Holy Trinity and All Saints, one in the northern part to the honour of St. Peter, and another in the southern part in honour of St. Stephen and the rest of the martyrs. 10 Three days afterwards Bishop Poore was translated to the see of Durham, but committed the care of the works at Salisbury to Elias de Derham, who had from the first acted as architect, and was still engaged in the superintendence of them. Robert Bingham succeeded to the see of Salisbury in 1229, and like the founder, applied himself with great diligence to the progress of the building. He is said to have obtained a royal grant that the produce of all fines due to the chapter should be applied towards defraying the expences of the church. The bishop carried on the building about eighteen years, but it was by no means completed at his death, which .took place in November, 1246, although he had incurred a debt of 1700 marks. 8 Part of his own manor, situated about two miles southward from the castle 6 Honorius III. 7 William Longspee, the natural son of King Henry II. by fair Rosamond. 8 She was Ela, daughter and heiress of William De Eureux, formerly Earl of Salisbury. 9 Godwyn’s Lives of the Bishops, p. 277. 10 About twelve other altars were erected in this Cathedral at different times. B 2 4 SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. William of York, a bishop high in favour with King Henry III., was appointed to this see in 1247, and after promoting the building with great anxiety for nine years, died in 1256. Giles of Bridport, his successor in the see of Salisbury, had the honour of completing this memorable undertaking, and, in the second year of his elevation to the bishopric, had the satisfaction of seeing this splendid fabric finished. The bishop appointed the 30th day of September, 1258, as a grand festival for the solemn dedication of the church to the Virgin Mary. The ceremony was performed by Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence of a large concourse of the nobility and neighbouring gentry. It thus appears that, up to this time, it had taken about thirty years to build the present Cathedral, and the expenses incurred during its progress are stated in an account delivered to King Henry III. to have amounted to 40,000 marks, or about 26,666/. 13s. 4 d. present money. 11 In the same year that the edifice was consecrated, the bodies of three bishops of Old Sarum, St. Osmund, Roger, and Joceline, were removed from the old Cathedral and deposited in this church. The plan of the Cathedral is that of the Greek cross, a form of very early introduction ; the church of St. Sophia, at Constantino- ple, erected in the sixth century after Christ, is in that form, which very happily combines variety with unity, and beauty with conve- nience. It is not easy to understand the remark made by a very intelligent writer on the subject, that the form of the cross, adopted in the plans of churches, is much more favourable to superstition than to beauty. 12 It may readily be asserted, that the great and essential beauty of cathedral architecture arises, in a great measure, from this very form having been generally adopted in the ground plan. A critic of the highest authority, and whose correct taste has never been questioned, uses almost these words in proof of his coincidence in that opinion. The transepts vary the long line of the building, by a conflexion of lines and angles, and preserve, by the partial exposure of parapets and pinnacles, the appearance of extent beyond what the eye can immediately comprehend, which is 11 The greater part of the tower, the spire, the chapter-house, and other portions of the building were erected subsequently to this period. 12 The Rev. James Dallaway. 1(j:p jcri:n( 'F. to mr man i men / ; ii) Jn ILa .1 o CJ _Bl c -A- CT Jil S L> _[ L ^ / HishfJouUm 2 Jlishf' JCoger if Ifish P IfnwJsJiamp d John Jr Montnajtr 5 Rob , I.ord Ifungcrford f> Jfish P Osmund. 7 CJia IJ.ord Staurt/m if Ji iiJlrr J.ord JlujulerCard !t Waiter dr h, JYy/e JO Sir John Chrnev JJ fV?‘ J.onnsprrJ 3 MJarl of Sulisbiuv 12 John JfJythe 13 BishPWoodviik Id BishP Mctford 15 Sir JLMompesson 15 JhshPStdcot or Co /mu 17 Ji ish P Jiridport Id WOV. n de York 10 Chape! of the JJungcrt'ord Eami/v 70 JI ish P It irJchaJn/Jton Z! Edwcuxl. Earl Hert ford 22 Sir Thof Gorges 23 BishP Roger or Motlival 2d fiishPAiidJey 25 Ji is hC Buigluzm 20 JlishP J'oore 27 JJish P UVyviU d: /mar. the Craves of Bishops, Jewell & does; 23 Thomas JJennet RJJFERENC E to Tin: JEAN. Nave A- its Aisles NortJi J*orch Consistory Court N.Transcpt S A isle SJJ° J)P Tower Choir S Aisles Small jY. Transept A'- A isle DP f DP DP dad)' Chapel Muniment Room Cloister Yard Chapter House AAA JJ C l) J-: F Ji I K M N SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. 5 a common and important character of ecclesiastical architecture, the grandeur of which is no more the result of dimension, than its beauty is of ornament. The architects applied both as accessories, but depended on neither alone for the merit of their buildings. 13 The extreme length of the Cathedral Church outside, from west to east, is 480 feet. The length of the grand transept outside, from south to north, is 232 feet, and the extreme length of the eastern transept is 172 feet. The foundation of the church is, by care of the architect in its mixture of composition, and by time, so consolidated together, that it deserves great commendation. 14 The walls and buttresses are of Chilmark stone, which is very little inferior to that from Portland, and was brought from a quarry about twelve miles west- ward from the city ; the middle parts of the walls are filled up with rubble, and such materials as were used in the foundation. The cylindrical shafts of the pillars are of Purbeck marble of fine tex- ture, but the groins and principal ribs of the vaultings are of Chilmark stone, filled in with hewn stone and chalk mixed, over which is a coat of cement uniting the whole in one substance. 15 This church has an important advantage over many other edifices of the same character ; it is not so closely surrounded by buildings, which is too frequently the case, but is easy of access, and affords a delightful view from almost every point. As to outline and dimen- sions, a more splendid building can scarcely be imagined, while the lofty proportions of the spire become the more striking upon a near approach. The western front is a beautifully enriched specimen of the pointed architecture peculiar to this church ; the angles are termi- nated by tolerably massive square towers, surmounted by spires and pinnacles, and over the grand central entrance is a series of canopied arches, beneath the great western window, which is in three divisions. Near the western end, and attached to the northern side of the church is a bold and lofty porch, one of the most spacious and beautiful of its kind in the kingdom. A series of double lancet 13 Observations on the Original Architecture of St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford, p. 59. 11 Price’s Survey of the Cathedral, 1753, p. 23, 15 Price’s Survey, p. 24. 6 SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. windows is continued all round the aisles, and the clerestory is lighted by a course of windows having three openings, each forming an acutely pointed arch. The exterior of the Cathedral is enriched with a number of niches, or recesses for figures, situated in tiers at different heights ; many of the statues, larger than life, are still remaining, and by a calculation of the number of recesses all round the building, there must originally have been at least two hundred placed within them. At the intersection of the nave of the church with the grand transept rises the tower, one of the principal ornaments of the building, commencing from four lancet arches turned upon four very beautiful piers and clustered pillars, which scarcely gives an idea of adequate strength. The height, from the pavement of the church to the top of the arch, is about eighty feet; thence the tower rises in three stories, the first of which is connected with the roof of the church : it is very generally imagined that originally a lantern or dwarf tower, rose only about eight feet above the ridge of the roof. It is evident from Price’s Survey, before quoted, that the spire did not form any part of the original plan. 16 The upper part of the tower of the church, with its buttresses and the spire, said to be the first constructed with stone, are supposed to have been erected in the reign of Edward III. It is known that King Henry VI. in the year 1417, granted a licence to the chapter to acquire lands to the amount of 50/. per annum, for the purpose of repairing the spire, which was found to be in a dangerous state. The faces of the two upper stories of the tower are enriched with buttresses, pinnacles, and tracery, the lower story having a more substantial appearance. At each angle of the main tower rises an octagonal turret, terminated with battlements, and capped with a small crocketted spire; immediately behind these, for the purpose of connecting the square tower with the octagonal form of the spire, are four tasteful architectural ornaments rising in pinnacles. At the base of the spire are also four openings crowned with tabernacles. The walls of the tower of the church are about six feet thick 10 On the north-western side of the Cathedral formerly stood a bell tower, coeval with the foundation, which was removed about the year 1790, in order to afford a better view of the church. Drawjxty-Hablot Bromie. * - En/rsvoi HAILES ®UJMT CAT M 3E ID HAIL - NORTH SJ.J)K. SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. at their commencement ; for a short height the thickness is reduced to two feet, and the upper part of the walls is five feet thick. Four arches are turned from the angles of the tower to receive four sides of the superstructure. The spire, which is octagonal’ rises from the centre of the tower nearly two hundred feet, in four divisions, separated by ornamental bands, each of the angles having ribs enriched with knobs, thickly arranged and continued round the bands; the whole height from the pavement of the church to the top of the cross is about four hundred feet. It may not escape observation that the enrichments of the spire conduce in some measure to its beauty, although a contrary opinion has been advocated by an eminent critic in matters of taste, lately deceased : after admitting that Salisbury, the great archetype of spires, has never been equalled, Mr. Dallaway remarks, that the more beautiful specimens of a species of architecture, exclusively English, are extremely simple, and owe their effect to their fine proportions, unbroken by ornamental particles. Even that of Salisbury, he continues, gains nothing by the sculptured fillets which surround it, and those of the western front of Lichfield Cathedral are frosted over with petty decorations. 17 There is a flight of stone steps leading to the top of the tower, and thence wooden ladders admit of an ascent to within forty-two feet of the cross, from which point is an exit by a small door, and iron rings are hence fixed on the outside, the only means of ascent to the capstone of the spire, through which the standard of the vane passes. The stone, of which the spire is constructed, is about two feet thick to about the height of twenty feet, thence it is only nine inches in thickness to the top; but nearly the whole interior of the spire is filled with timbers, very curiously and ingeniously contrived, and strengthened in several parts by braces of iron to sustain its vast altitude. A settlement has taken place of the piers in the western sides of the tow ; er, by which the upper part has declined. It was ascertained, in the year 1681, that the centre of the apex of the spire was twenty-two inches and three eighths out of the perpen- dicular from the middle of the base, but no variation has been taken notice of since. IT Observations on English Architecture, p. 125. 8 SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. Price 18 mentions a custom which had prevailed from time immemorial. “ In the Whitsun holidays a fair is kept within the close of Sarum, at which time it was customary for people to go upon the spire, there having been, as I am well informed, sometimes eight, or ten persons there at a time ; but the late bishop, dean and chapter, put a stop to these practices, by which many lives were hazarded.” On the southern side of the church are the cloisters, muniment room, and chapter-house. The cloister, one of the finest ornamental enclosures in the kingdom, forms an exact square of one hundred and eighty-one feet nine inches in dimension within, by eighteen feet wide. The ambulatory is rendered beautiful, having large openings to the air, with the dividing mullion brought down to the floor. The eastern side of the cloister communicates by a vestibule and double doorway, the arches of which spring from a clustered pillar with carved capital, with the chapter-house, a strikingly elegant building both in form and finish. It is supposed to have been erected during the prelacy of Bishop Bridport, who died in 1262, the style of the sculpture and the architectural details being referable to that period. The room is octangular in plan, having a small clus- tered pillar in the centre, apparently sustaining the ramified ribs of the vaulted roof. It has eight large and lofty windows, all of which were formerly filled with stained glass, and the floor was originally paved with painted tiles ; much of this ornamental pavement still remains. An arcade is carried round the lower part of the walls, and a deep stone plinth surrounds the interior, forming a seat for the canons, the part towards the east, and opposite the entrance, being raised for the bishop and dignitaries. In the spandrils of the arcade which rises above the seats of the chapter, is a series of historical subjects from the Old Testament, sculptured in bold relief, and several of the busts which terminate the labels of the arches are curious examples of art, exhibiting much character and expression. In the chapter- house is a curious wooden table, evidently formed and fashioned nearly six centuries ago, for the use of the chapter; it is a beautiful specimen of ancient furniture. The supports of this table consist of eight jambs, having detached columns, with capitals, bases, and bands of the finest detail ; 18 In his Survey, p. 61. SALES IB imir (SAME HID) KAIL SOUTH FAS T SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. 9 there are also eight open pointed arches of graceful form ; and it appears that the whole table was originally painted in diversity of colour and gilt. 10 Over part of the eastern side of the cloisters is the Cathedral Library. The Library, which belonged to Old Sarum, was founded by Bishop Osmund, who was himself a great patron of learned men. The present library was originally built by Bishop Jewell, and was furnished with books by his successor, Bishop Edmund Gheast, in the reign of Elizabeth. Amongst the curious volumes now preserved is a beautiful copy of the celebrated Salisbury Missal, which was printed in 1527, and contains manuscript notes. 20 There are numerous memorials in the cloister, and a tablet to Francis Price, surveyor and clerk of the works of this Cathedral, who died in 1753. lie was author of a series of observations upon this church, and directed many repairs with great judgment. The Rev. John Ekins, D.D., Dean of Salisbury, who died in 1808, is also buried in the cloister. Within the close, a space which was formerly surrounded by a wall, is the residence of the bishop, dean, canons, and the several i9 Thc public taste baying been directed to specimens of ancient furniture, by several modern publications, it may not bo irrelevent to mention that there was also in the chapter-house a handsome old chaii-, made like a stall, with a moveable seat and carved knobs. This chair was supposed to have been constructed about the time of Henry Vlth’s reign, consequently was not so old as the table by two centuries. A particular description of both, by an artist of celebrity, is given in the Gentleman’s Magazine for April, 1833. 20 It is well known that the Liturgies compiled for the use of the churches of Salis- bury, York, Bangor, Lincoln, and Hereford, were considered as the standard texts for the performance of divine service in the other Cathedrals. The ordinale, or complete service of the church of Salisbury, was instituted by Bishop Osmund, in the year of our Lord 1077. The Use of Sarum not only regulated the form and order of celebrating the mass, but prescribed the rule and office for all sacerdotal functions. It was also named the Consuetudinary, and in the fourteenth century was used almost all over England, Wales, and Ireland. The whole province of Canterbury adopted that particular form of prayer, and the Bishop of Salisbury was consequently precentor of the choir when- ever the Archbishop of Canterbury performed divine service. The Cathedral Church of Salisbury supplies both curious and copious details in the history of its ancient service : no other Cathedral has preserved such a variety of books for its Use as Sarum. At the end of one of these service books of this church, printed by Caxton, it is stated, that “ as no rule is set down which had not been thoroughly debated and approved by the canons of Sarum and other skilful men, and confirmed by their hands and seals, whoever shall observe those rules shall scarcely err in the service of God.” VOL, I. G 10 SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. officers of the Cathedral. The deanery house is opposite the western front of the church, and at a little distance south-eastward from the Cathedral is the bishop’s palace, a part of which was erected by Bishop Bichard Beauchamp, about the year 1460. The palace has, since that period, undergone great change, but without entire demolition, and is an irregular building in different styles of architecture, having been enlarged or altered by almost every successive bishop of Salisbury. In the great hall of this palace Bobert Sidney, Viscount Lisle, lord chamberlain to Anne, queen of James I., was created Earl of Leicester, on Sunday, August 2, 1618. In the great drawing-room of the palace is preserved an interesting series of episcopal portraits, from that of Bishop Brian Duppa, who was promoted to this see in 1641, to that of the Bight Bev. Thomas Burgess, D.D., the present Bishop of Salisbury and Chancellor of the Order of the Garter. 21 The gardens of the bishop’s palace are on a large scale, compris- ing an area of several acres in extent, partly consisting of a lawn, with a canal in the centre, surrounded by a walk, and interspersed with fine large old trees. The following stanza, by Dr. Heylin, conveys the popular idea of the vast extent of the Cathedral: — As many days as in one year there he, So many windows in this church we see; As many marble pillars here appear As there are hours throughout the fleeting year : As many gates as moons one year does view, Strange tale to tell, yet not more strange than true. The uniformity of style in the architecture of this sublime and majestic edifice, it is admitted, adds greatly to the fine effect of the exterior appearance, yet it has been remarked, that the interior of this church is neither so grand, picturesque, or diversified, as that of many other Cathedrals. Time, by its slow and irresistible pro- gress, has imparted to tho edifice that sombre hue of antiquity 21 King Edward IV. annexed the chancellorship of the Order of the Garter to the bishops of this see, but in the new statutes of the Order, made by King Henry VIHth, the office was left solely at the king’s disposal, and might be given to a layman. King Charles II., after tho death of Sir Henry de Vic, restored it to this see, at the solicita- tion of Bishop Seth "Ward, who, in 1671, was made chancellor of the Order of the Garter, being tho first protestant bishop that held the office, SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. 11 which makes the old age of buildings the period of their greatest beauty. Revolutions, political and religious, have stripped the church of its sculpture and paintings, but fashion has, within these walls, done more mischief than revolutions, and, in the assumed names of taste and improvement, has destroyed part of the ori- ginal plan, and by a capricious change of the sites of its ancient monuments, has despoiled the Cathedral of some of its greatest ornaments. One of the principal alterations, made under the direction of Bishop Barrington, in 1789, by Mr. James Wyatt, was the opening of the Lady Chapel to the choir by the removal of the ancient altar and its screen, taking it for granted that the professors of architecture in the reign of Henry III. must have had false ideas of proportion, the Lady Chapel being then uni- versally kept distinct from the choir. This supposed improve- ment could not, however, be completed without also removing two chapels, one on the northern side erected by Bishop Beauchamp, and one on the southern side by Lady Hungerford, both built in the fifteenth century : it was at the same time necessary to alter the level of the pavement, when several stone coffins, with perfect skeletons, were disinterred, supposed to belong to the early bene- factors of the church. Many of the ancient monuments were re- moved, and have been ranged between the clustered pillars in the nave ; two porches were taken down, and the openings closed up. There is, at this time, it is believed, but one opinion respecting the desecration which was then called improvement ; another altar has been required to be placed on the site of the ancient one, at which the communion service is now performed ; the altar at the extremity of the Lady Chapel being in consequence dis- used. One of the most injudicious alterations has been evinced by its inutility, and a regard for propriety has dictated a restora- tion of the choir to something like its former state. 22 22 A design for an altar screen, enriched with simple hut appropriate ornaments, in the general style of the architecture of tho Cathedral, has been made by Mr. Buckler, and is appended to the Rev. Stephen Hyde Cassan’s Lives of the Bishops of Salisbury, 1824. The erection of a screen, formed with a view of concealing as little of the archi- tecture of the eastern end of the church as possible, according to Mr. Buckler’s plan, is very likely to he soon carried into effect ; thus a partial view will be obtained of the Lady Chapel, and by separating it from the rest of the church it will be brought to a conformity with the ancient Cathedral arrangements. SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. n The nave of the church, 2.29 feet in length, is light and lofty, 23 a view from the western end affords the finest display of its ele- gant proportion and admirable uniformity of design. The nave consists of ten arches on each side, springing from clustered pil- lars ; over the arcade is a triforium, or gallery of communication, which is surmounted by the windows of the clerestory, that give light to the b.cdy of the church. Between the pillars of the nave are ranged, on either side, the monuments which have all been removed from other parts of the church. Against the -western wall are two monuments, one to Thomas Lord Wyndham, of Ein- glas, who died in 1745, by Rysbrack, and the other to Daubigny Turberville, M.D., who died in 16SQ. Beneath the first arch of the nave on the northern side, is a slab, without an inscription, said to be one of those tombs which were brought from the church of Old Sarum. Under the third arch, on the same side, are two monuments ; the one, a basso relievo, represents a small figure in pontificals, and is said to be a tomb of one of the boy bishops or chorister bishops, formerly elected annually on St. Nicholas Day, in this church. 24 The other monument is said to be that of William, eldest son of the Earl of Salisbury, who was slain in Egypt, in the year 1250. An altar- tomb, under the fourth arch from the -west, is without any inscrip- tion, and beneath the sixth arch is another altar-tomb of unknown appropriation. Beneath the seventh arch is a tomb of John de Montacute, son of William Earl of Salisbury, who died in 18S8. Under the eighth arch i3 an altar-tomb which was removed from the Lady Chapel ; it is ascribed to St. Osmund, bishop of this diocese, who died in the year 1099. The monuments under the two last arches of the nave are those of Walter Lord Hungerford and Sir John Cheney. Under the westernmost arch, on the southern side of the nave is a monumental slab, brought from Old Sarum ; beneath the third arch is a monument attributed to Bishop Joceline, -who died in 1184, and whose remains were brought from Old Sarum in the year 1226. Under the same arch is the tomb of Bishop Roger, who died 23 It is 81 feet in height, but not so high as that of Westminster Abbey Church by 20 feet. 24 A particular account of the Episcopus Pwrorum, is given in Hone’s Every Day Book, vol, i. SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. 13 in 1139. 25 The space within the next arch contains an altar- tomb without an inscription, and whom it was raised to commemorate is not known. Beneath the sixth arch is a tomb appropriated to Bishop Richard Beauchamp, son of Walter Beauchamp, of Powick, steward of the household to King Henry V., and brother of William Lord St. Amand ; he was Dean of Windsor, and was master of the works at St. George’s Chapel, the design of which edifice is attributed to him. He was constituted Chancellor of the Order of the Garter by King Edward IV., and died in 1481. His remains were removed from his chantry chapel at the eastern end of the church. 20 Under the seventh arch of the nave is an altar- tomb in memory of Robert Lord Hungerford, who died in 1459 : beneath the next arch is the tomb of Charles Lord Stourton, who was executed in the market-place of Salisbury, in the year 155G, for murder. Under the ninth arch is the monument of Bishop Walter de la Wyle, who died in 1270 ; and the last in the series, upon the southern side of the nave, is the very interesting and curious tomb of William Longespee, Earl of Salisbury, the natural son of King Henry II. and Fair Rosamond; he died in 1226. Nicho- las Longespee, one of his sons, was Bishop of Salisbury, and died at an advanced age, in 1297 ; he also was buried in this Cathedral. Against the southern wall of the church is a monument and bust, in memory of Lord Chief Justice Hyde, who died in 1666 ; near which is a slab in memory of Bishop Alexander Hyde, who died in 1667. In this aisle was also interred Dr. Stebbing, Arch- deacon of Wiltshire and Chancellor of this Diocese, who died in 1763. The choir screen at the eastern end of the nave, was erected from designs by James Wyatt; but it is said to be composed of 25 It is related of this bishop that his first promotion in the church arose from the celerity with which he celebrated mass. “At a small church in Normandy, before Prince Henry, afterwards King Henry I., Roger, who was only a curate, ran over the prayers so expeditiously, that mass was ended before some thought it well begun ; every one applauded him, and declared they never saw so dexterous a priest. He was desired by the prince to follow the camp, and was soon afterwards entrusted with the management of his household .” — Antiquitates Sarisburiensis, p. 128. 20 In the prosecution of the barbarisms, dictated by bad taste in the year 1789, within the walls of this venerable structure, it appears that the actual tomb of Bishop Beauchamp was wantonly broken, and that the present monument was then brought from the transept. 14 SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. various parts of the Hungerford and Beauchamp Chapels, which were pulled down in 1789. In a gallery over this screen is an organ presented by his Majesty George III., built by Green. 27 The stalls and bishop’s throne are of modern design, and there are but few ancient monuments in the choir. On the northern side is a tomb bearing the figure of a skeleton, without inscrip- tion ; farther eastward is a monument ascribed to Bishop Robert Bingham, one of those eminent men who assisted in the erection of this church : he died in 1246, before it was entirely completed. The last object of interest on the northern side of the choir is the sepulchral chantry, erected by Bishop Edmund Audley; he died at Ramsbury, in 1524, and was buried in this chapel: this bishop was a patron of architecture, and besides rebuilding the choir of St. Mary’s Church in Oxford, he also erected a chapel in the Cathedral of Hereford, from which see he was translated to Salisbury in the year 1502. Bishop Audley’s Chapel is one of the few monuments in this church which has been suffered to remain in good preservation ; it is a fine specimen of the taste which the founder possessed and encouraged, consisting of an open screen on its northern and southern sides, the walls of the chapel abutting against the pillars of the choir on the east and west. On the southern side of the choir the monuments of peculiar interest are ranged in the following order, and in corresponding situations to those on the opposite side. An altar-tomb, in memory of Bishop John Capon, formerly Abbot of Hyde and Bishop of Bangor, whence he was translated to Salisbury : he died in 1557. A mo- nument of Bishop William de York, who died in 1256 ; and the remains of the Hungerford Chapel, erected in 1470, by Margaret, relict of Robert Lord Hungerford. The eastern end of the choir is terminated by three fine arches springing from clustered pillars ; the openings between the pillars were formerly closed by the altar-screen, which separated the Lady Chapel from the choir ; over the arches is the triforium, and above it is a clerestory window of painted glass, of very ordinary merit. While the alterations were in progress the King visited Salisbury, and hearing that the means depended on the contributions of the gentlemen of Wiltshire and Berk- shire, is reported to have said to Bishop Barrington, “ I desire that you will accept a new organ for your Cathedral, being my contribution as a Berkshire gentleman.” SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. 15 The subject designed by J. H. Mortimer, represents the elevation of the brazen serpent in the wilderness, and was executed by Pearson. The Lady Chapel, now forming the eastern end of the choir, is very elegant in its architectural design ; the vaulted ceiling springs partly from slender clustered pillars, and partly from single shafts of Purbeck marble, nearly thirty feet in height and only nine inches in diameter, a mode of construction which gives an extraordinary appearance of lightness to the building. At the eastern end is a painted window in three compartments, representing the Resurrec- tion, designed by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and executed by Eginton : the want of effect in all modern painted windows arises from a pre- tended improvement of concealing as much as possible the joinings of the several pieces, and of using large, instead of small, squares of glass ; neither are the colours sufficiently resplendent. It cannot be said of this window. Here rubies are and emeralds green, Here pearl and topaz bright. In the aisles of the choir and Lady Chapel, and in the eastern transept, are the following monuments of eminent persons which occur in succession. A large slab commemorates Bishop Robert Wyvil ; he died in 1875, and was buried near the bishop’s throne. Bis monument is inlaid with intagliated brass, representing the castle of Sherbourne, in Dorsetshire, which formerly belonged to the bishops of Salisbury ; the bishop himself is seen on the walls of the castle, while his champion in complete armour guards the entrance. Near this slab are other gravestones in memory of Bishop John Jewell, author of “ An Apology for the Church of England,” who died in 1571 ; and of his successor. Bishop Edmund Gheast, almoner to Queen Elizabeth, who died in 1577. Besides an altar-tomb ascribed to Bishop Richard Poore, the founder of the Cathedral Church, there is also a monument com- memorative of the Poore family, designed by the Rev. H. Owen, A slab bearing a cross fleury, sculptured in relief, is supposed to cover the remains of Bishop Roger de Mortival, who died in the year 1329. The monument of Sir Thomas Gorges, of Longford castle, who died in 1610, is the last of particular interest on the northern side of the church. 16 SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. On the opposite side are the following memorials of eminent persons, beginning at the eastern end of the south aisle, where is a tomb of Edward Earl of Hertford, who died in 1621, set. 83. On this monument is sculptured his effigies and that of his countess, who was the sister of Lady Jane Grey, and died in 1563. 28 Near it is an altar-tomb ascribed to Bishop Wickhampton, who died in 1284, which is more probably that of William Wilton, chancellor of the diocese in 1506. A very singular and tasteful architectural monument in memory of Bishop Giles Bridport, who died in 1263 ? fills a space between two clustered pillars : and the last monument of interest in the southern aisle of the choir is that of Sir Bichard Mompesson, of Bathampton, who died in 1701. In the northern transept of the Cathedral is a monument beneath a canopy, assigned to Bishop John Blith, who died in 1499. Here are also several monuments for branches of the Harris family, ances- tors and relatives of the Earl of Malmsbury ; that of James Harris, the author of “ Hermes,” who died in 1780, was sculptured by J. Bacon, R.A. ; a cenotaph to William Benson Earle, who died in 1796; and against the north wall is a monument to Walter Long, senior judge of the sheriff’s court, London, who died in 1807, by J. Elaxman, R.A. In this transept is a monument appropriated to Bishop Lionel Woodville, who died in 1484. In the northern aisle of the choir is a memorial of the Rev. John Bampton, canon resi- dentiary of this church, andjounder of the Bampton Lectures. Near it is a monument of James Earl of Castlehaven, who died in 1769. In the southern transept is a tomb enriched with sculpture, attributed to Bishop Richard Metford, who died at Pottern in 1407 ; he left an annual sum for the reparation of the spire of this Cathedral. Against the wall is a tablet in memory of Robert Hay, brother of James Earl of Carlisle, who died in 1625 ; near it are monu- mental slabs to Bishop Thomas, who died in 1766, and Bishop Hume, who died in 1782. In the small transept is a memorial of John Clarke, D.D., dean of this church, who died in 1757 ; another to Bishop Seth Ward. Edward Youth, D.D., Dean of Salisbury, and Bishop Davenant, who died in 1641, are also interred here. 23 John Duke of Somerset, who died in 1675, and Elizabeth Duchess of Somerset, who died in 1722, are also interred here. cattmieid: "S Ai^ESIB'linR.'Sr > ‘j I.Vv CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 21 by Gervase, an intelligent eye-witness, between tbc choir built by Archbishop Lanfranc, and the same parts rebuilt at the distance of about ninety years afterwards. The most remarkable points of difference which he mentions are, that the pillars of the new choir were of the same form and thickness with those of the old choir ; but that they were twelve feet longer ; that the former capitals were plain, while the latter were delicately carved ; that there were no marble columns in Lanfranc’s work, but an incre- dible number in that which succeeded it ; that the stones which formed the ancient arches were cut with an axe, but those of the new arches with a chisel ; that the vaulting of the aisles of the choir was formerly plain, but now pointed, with key-stones or bosses; that the old choir was covered with a flat ceiling, ornamentally painted , 0 while the new one was elegantly arched, with hard stone for the ribs, and light toph stone for the interstices ; finally, that there was only one triforium, or gallery round the ancient choir, while there were two round the modern one. The present state of the east end of this Cathedral corresponds with the account of Gervase. We still see large well-proportioned columns crowned with elegant capitals, nearly of the Corinthian order. Upon the abacus of these capitals rest the bases of slender marble columns, which mix their heads with other marble columns supporting the arches of the principal triforium. From their united capitals branch out triple clusters, which at a proper height form into ribs to sustain the groining. The arches on both the upper stories and in the groining are highly pointed, as are those also on the basement story, which latter sweep round the eastern extremity to form the apsis. In short, twenty years before the close of the twelfth century there was not a member of Anglo-Saxon architecture to be seen in the whole chancel and choir of this church, excepting the main arches of the crypt, which were probably so constructed from an idea of their being firmer than pointed ones .” 7 The Cathedral, situated near the north-eastern extremity of the city, was in early times surrounded by an embattled Avail, said to have been raised by Archbishop Lanfranc, and Avhich enclosed the 0 As is now the case in the Abbey Church of St. Alban’s. 7 Milners *s Treatise on the Ecclesiastical Architecture of England during the Middle Ages, p. 95, 22 CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, whole precints of tlic church ; amongst the many venerable and beautiful remains of architecture which this city contains, the precincts are far from being the least interesting. This boundary included three courts ; the court of the church, the court of the convent, and the court of the archbishop. Part of the walls, which extended about three-quarters of a mile, yet remain, as also two of the gate-houses; Christ’s-ehureli gate, rebuilt in 1517, and the gatehouse of the priory, called Porta Curia, which is of Anglo- Norman architecture. During the prelacy of Archbishop Peckham, many additions were made to the Cathedral under the direction of Prior Eastry; the choir screen is said to have been erected by him : its sculpture is particularly fine. He is also reported to have repaired the choir, and to have enriched it with carvings. He was prior of ChristV church from the year 1285 to 1331. The revenues of the convent and church of a permanent nature, arising from the rich donations of land and other property it had received, were then very con- siderable; although from that period the donations to the church began visibly to decrease, and even Bechet’s shrine had almost gathered in its harvest. Many of the offices adjacent to the Cathedral were cither constructed or enlarged during the time of the prelates, from Archbishop Reynolds, lord chancellor and lord treasurer, in 1313, to Archbishop Sudbury, who was advanced to the sec in 1375. In 1376 a great alteration was commenced by rebuilding the western transept; and under the direction of Archbishop Sudbury the nave of the church was pulled down in order to be rebuilt in the pointed style of architecture which then prevailed. The archbishop fell in an insurrection which happened in the early part of the reign of Richard II., and the work devolved upon his suc- cessor, Archbishop Courtenay, and was continued by Archbishops Arundel and Chichcley, under the superintendence of Prior Chil- lendcn, who presided over the convent, and directed the works, for twenty years, and died in 1411. Prior Molash, about the year 1430, furnished a large bell named Dunstan, to be hung in the tower recently erected at the south-western angle of the church, whence it obtained the name of Dunstan’s Tower. Archbishop Arundel had previously raised a CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, 23 spire on the north-western tower, and placed five bells within its walls. The tower afterwards bore the name of Arundel’s Steeple. 8 In the time of Prior Goldstone, who attained his elevation in 1449, the chapel of the Virgin Mary, now called the Dean’s Chapel, was erected. He also completed the south-western tower of the church, which had been commenced by Archbishop Chichelcy. Prior Selling, created in 1472, contributed greatly towards the embellishment of the building : he glazed the southern walk of the cloisters, and caused it to be painted with carols, or scripture texts. 9 The rebuilding of the magnificent central tower, called the Angel Steeple, 10 and afterwards Bell Harry tower, was undertaken by Prior Selling, in order that it might harmonize with the pro- portions of the recent erections. The tower was completed by his successor, the second prior Goldstone ; and Cardinal Archbishop Morton, who had studied architecture as a liberal accomplishment, contributed largely to the work. Thomas Goldstone, who was prior of Christ’s-church from 1494 till 1517, enriched the chapel of the Virgin Mary in the crypt, and furnished the design for the beautiful gate at the principal entrance to the close, which he nearly finished. He also gave costly hangings to adorn the choir. 11 The choir and all the eastern end of the church appears at this time to have been hung with tapestry, superbly embroidered, par- ticularly on high festivals. Describing St. Thomas’s shrine, Erasmus says, “ a coffin of wood which covered a coffin of gold was drawn up by ropes, and then an invaluable treasure was discovered : gold was the meanest thing to be seen there ; all shone and glittered with the rarest and most precious jewels of an extraordinary size, some were larger than the egg of a goose ; when this sight was shown, the prior with a wand touched every 8 In the prints by Hollar and others, which illustrate the early histories of this Cathedral, the ancient campanile, or hell tower, at the north-western angle, is repre- sented as crowned with a lofty spire. It was, however, taken down about the year 1704 and the whole town has lately been rebuilt. 9 The cloisters of the Abbey of St. Alban’s were about the same time also glazed, the pictures on the glass representing a series of scriptural subjects, with verses attached. 10 “ This tower,” says Gervase, who described the Cathedral as built by Lanfrane, “ is placed in the middle of the church, on the top pinnacle of which stands a gilded cherubim hence the appellation of the Angel Steeple. 11 Part of which now' decorate the Cathedral Church of Aix, in Provence, on high festivals. 24 CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, jewel, telling the name, the value, and the donor of it.” The stately pomp with which the feasts and solemnities of the archie- piscopal office were conducted was never more strikingly exem- plified than at the enthronization feast of William Warliam, in March, 1503, who was installed with very great solemnity, the Duke of Buckingham officiating as steward on the occasion. Archbishop Warliam was Lord Chancellor for the first seven years of the reign of Henry VII. ; but Was made to feel the encroach- ments of Wolsey, then Archbishop of York, on the dignity of his see. One memorable difference between these arch- prelates arose from Wolsey’s having a cross carried before him in the presence of Warliam, and even in the province of Canterbury, contrary to ancient custom, which was that the cross of the see of York should not be advanced in the same place with the cross of Canterbury, in acknowledgment of the superiority of the metro- politan see. In the year 1536 King Henry VIII. prohibited all high festivals of the Church between the 1st of July and the 29th of September, under a plea that the people were induced to neglect the harvest in order to attend them. This prohibition necessarily included tlio festival of the translation of St. Thomas, the period of the grand display of this convent’s riches, and its anniversary of the highest solemnity. The patron saint was also ordered to be no longer commemorated in any manner, and the 7th of July to be considered in the church service as only an ordinary day ; Archbishop Cranmer giving his support to the royal authority by supping publicly on flesh on the eve of the festival of Becket’s translation, which was formerly observed as a solemn fast. In the following year the king issued an injunction, setting forth that Archbishop Becket, having been a traitor to his prince, was not to be esteemed or called a saint ; that his images and pictures should be cast out of all churches throughout the realm ; that his name should be razed out of all books, &c., on pain of imprisonment at his grace’s pleasure. The destruction of his magnificent shrine immediately followed, and its treasures were appropriated to the king’s use. The dissolution of the monastery of Christ’s-church was finally effected on the 30th of March 1539; but most of its members were intended to be provided for in the new establishment of a collegiate church, CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. consisting of a dean and twelve canons, with other subordinate officers, having the same privileges as the convent. To this body the Cathedral was granted, together with all its buildings and gardens; the King reserving to himself the cellarer’s hall and lodgings, westward of the cloister. Queen Mary, zealous for the honour of the church whose cause she espoused, presented an altar screen to the chapter, which was erected in front of the Trinity Chapel, enclosing the choir. In the time of Queen Elizabeth persecution compelled many Flemish protestants to seek refuge in England, numbers of whom settled in the city of Canterbury. These were accommodated with the undercroft, or crypt, of the Cathedral, for the performance of divine service in their own language, according to their own forms. Honoured and enriched by the gifts of pious benefactors, this venerable structure was at length doomed, in its turn, to suffer from the assaults of an infuriated populace, in those times when Dark fanaticism rent Altar, screen, and ornament. In the year 1643, in consequence of an order of parliament, Richard Culmer, M.A., a minister of God’s word, but commonly called Blue Dick, headed a band of enthusiasts, who undertook to purify the Cathedral Church. They went to work on the great painted window of the northern transept, which had been presented to the church by King Edward IV. In this window, it is stated, there were pictures of God the Father, Christ, and his twelve Apostles, besides large pictures of the blessed Virgin Mary in seven glorious appearances, figures of St. George, the patron of England, and other saints. Flere also was represented, in full proportion. Archbishop Becket in his pontificals. The demolition of this figure of the cathedral saint and martyr was termed u rattling down proud Becket’s glassy bones.” But the destroyers, zealous in de- facing whatever they found relating to St. Thomas of Canterbury and the Virgin Mary, spared the beautiful memorials of King Edward IV. and his family, which yet remain in the same window. The effect of this very fine specimen of art, even under its present VOT. X, E 26 CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. dilapidations, is most admirable ; the details, delicately wrought, are calculated to bear even the closest examination. At the same period the font, which was enriched with sculpture, and had been presented to the church by that munificent prelate, JohnWarneiyBishop of Rochester, and founder of Bromley College, was broken to pieces. Various engraved brasses and other orna- ments were, at the same time, torn from the tombs, and the nave or body of the church was converted into a barrack for military. After the Restoration of Charles II. the Cathedral was repaired, and new stalls were erected in the choir for the dean and preben- daries of the church, besides other requisites for the performance of divine service in a suitable manner. The stalls were constructed in the prevailing Italian taste, and were notin accordance with the general character oi the architecture of the church. The stalls of the monks, with other ancient seats remaining in the choir, were taken down by order of the chapter in 1T0-1, and were replaced by new ones ; at the same time an archiepiscopal throne was given to the church by Archbishop Tcnison. On the enrichments of the panelling, Gibbons, the celebrated carver, appears to have been employed. In the year 1729 a Corinthian altar screen was substituted for that which had been presented by Queen Mary, and about the same time the chancel was paved with black and white marble ; but the expense of both was defrayed, not by the prebendaries, but by legacies bequeathed for the purpose. At the time of the extensive reparations of the Cathedral Church by Prior Goldstone, in the reign of Henry VIII., the exterior of the easternmost part, called Becket’s Crown, had been intended to be altered, upon a plan corresponding with other improvements of the edifice, and was probably meant to have been surmounted by pin- nacles. The progress of the work being suspended by circumstances attending the reformation of religion, it remained in an unfinished stale till the year 1748, when Captain II umphrey Pudner contri- buted largely towards its completion, and the chapter have the credit, in expending the money bequeathed to them, of giving this part of the church something like a finished aspect. Time has now begun to show the mark of his resistless power upon the exterior of the Cathedral ; the western transept, the Drawn Tyrllablot BroWne. Engraved TDyl£."WIn]fles. CAHTEHIBWMlf CATTH.E ©KAIL EAST !•: \ D _rX A J -L _Cj 21 id ^ tsiX _L _LLL ILd . REFERENCE TO THE FLAN A The Nave II Ihethoir C Bechets Crown 1 ) Cloisters K North Aisle K Soul/) 1)? G North side of Choir H South I)C I Xorth Transept K South DP L JV Thomas's Chapel M Ladv Chapel X S! Michaels Chapel O Anselms Chapel 1* Minor Canons (hap el Q Henry 4 Chapel H StaCrs to Jloot S Chapter House T Library' X Etierhal Auditory V.* ffeb ends Vestry' X Treasury Y Fasten) TYanscpt V. Baptistry & Font REFERENCE TO THE MORI J Archb? Beckham. 2 War ham 3 Dean Rogers 4 Barg rave 5 Turner 6 Boys 7 , Fotherby \Earl of Somerset ° 1 Duke of Clarence & their Ladies 9 Colonel Trade 10 S.T.ThorrduLrst 1 1 Lad}' TJwmhurst 12 Dame. Dorothy Thomkurst 13 Miss Ann Mules 14 Archb p Lang ton 15 Sir G.Roolce 16 Sd J. Rales 17 F Godfry 18 Archb? Reynolds 19 Rub ert Waller 20 Archb? Chichely 21 Eempe 22 Stratford 23 Sudbury 24 Bourduer 25 i Mepliam 26 Edward, the Black Tnnce 2 7 Henry IV & Jus Queen 28 Cenotaph of Courtney 29 Mon? of Cardinal Cfiaidlion 30 Dean Wotton 31 Archb ? Theobald 32 Condo & Archb? Bole CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 07 » northern side of the nave, with the arcade of the cloister; betray the perishable nature of the materials employed in their construction. Partial restorations have been made, and have been generally exe» cuted with reference to the character of the original design i instances of which may be mentioned as existing in the front of St. Anselm’s Chapel, the gable of the eastern transept, the pinnacles surmounting the buttresses of the nave, and in various other parts ; all of which are surpassed by the north-western tower of the church rebuilt from the ground ; the first stone of this important structure was laid on 3rd September, 1832. In every view of the city the Cathedral rises with magnificence ; but on a near approach there is a great want of that space which is absolutely necessary to give due effect to a building of such mag- nitude. The Cathedral, although of less elevation than that of York, is perhaps more pleasing altogether, in consequence of its unrivalled central tower, 234 feet high and 35 feet in diameter. The tower, having two series of windows of most elegant design, is no higher to the platform than that of York Cathedral, but is greatly superior, owing to its beautiful proportions. The Cathedral of Canterbury is built in form of a cross, with a semicircular apsis, or eastern end ; the total exterior length is 545 feet by 156 feet in breadth, taking its dimension at the eastern transept. The circular chapel on the east, called Becket’s Crown, is a unique example in the plan of this church. There arc not many situations where even the parts of the Cathedral can be seen to advantage on account of the contiguous buildings. The northern side, from the earliest time, appears to have been closely enveloped by monastic offices, and the other sides of the church can only be partially seen. The exterior walls contain several enriched entrances of various antiquity, of which that leading into the martyrdom is the most distinguished by ornament, and was probably constructed by Prior Henry Eastry, in the reign of Edward I. This was the doorway by which the Archbishop formerly entered the church from the palace, excepting on occasions of peculiar solemnity. From the martyrdom is a descent to the undercroft or crypt, one of the most interesting parts of the church ; it is of greater extent, and more lofty than any other in England. The extreme CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, 28 internal length of this curious and most beautiful structure is 230 feet from the western to the eastern end, and its breadth at the transept is 130 feet; 12 this also is cruciform in plan, and the prin- cipal part, 83 feet six inches from wall to wall, is divided into a nave and aisles by lines of short massive pillars supporting low arches upon the same plan as, and forming a support to, the choir above. 13 From the western extremity to the distance of 150 feet eastward is the oldest part of the crypt, but upon the subject of its precise date antiquaries do not at all agree. Its erection is with some propriety ascribed to Archbishop Lanlranc. The eastern part of the crypt under the Trinity Chapel is constructed with pointed arches, and the pillars vary in some degree from those more westward. The ancient capitals to the short and rudely formed pillars are enriched with fantastic devices, but it would be difficult to conjecture what these sculptures, existing in their original perfection, are intended to typify. Part of the groining of the arches has been painted, and the whole crypt appears to have been illuminated by lamps suspended from iron rings which remain at the intersection of the groins. The chief object of attraction formerly was the chapel of the Virgin Mary, or, as it was called, the chapel of our Lady Under- croft, situated beneath the high altar of the Cathedral, and en- closed on either side by open screen work. The present state of this chapel presents a strong contrast to its ancient splendour ; the only decoration now remaining is on the vaultings, which have been of a bright blue colour, ornamented with small convex mirrors rayonnated with gilding, and interspersed with gilded quatrefoils. In the centre are painted the royal arms, and as many as forty shields are emblazoned on the lower part of the arches. 11 The greater number appear to relate to the court of KingHenry VI., but as there arc many shields of antecedent and of subsequent date, it is probable that some alluded to earlier benefactors, and that 12 G'rimbald’s crypt at Oxford, with which Some points of similarity have been ob- served, is only 30 feet in length, by 20 feet 10 inches in breadth, 13 The formation of the Flemish Church in the undercroft occasioned the breaking open windows by which it is lighted; these, and the entrance in front of the eastern transept, have contributed to weaken the building. 11 These are, every one, particularly described in Willcmcnt’a Heraldic Notices of Canterbury Cathedral. CAM TIE IK IB© EOT € A T MC IS ©IK AT CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 29 additions were made at different periods, in compliment to the more eminent contributors at the shrine of the Virgin Mary. Simplicity and strength characterize the whole extent of the under- croft, but the piety of individuals has caused the introduction of several richly-ornamented monuments. Lcland, an antiquary of the sixteenth century, states that there were no less than ten arch- bishops of Canterbury buried in the crypt ; some large marble slabs with indications of mitred figures yet remain, but no en- graved effigies in brass are now to be found in any part of the Cathedral. Saint Dunstan, who died in the year 988, and of whom so many legendary stories are reported, is said to have been- buried in the crypt of this church, and it is certain that a tomb of great height was erected to his memory at the western end, but was demolished at the Reformation. 13 Archbishop Bechet, who was murdered in the church in 1170, w r as also buried in the crypt. He was canonized two years after his death, and in 1221 his body was removed to a rich shrine at the eastern end of the church. 10 . The screen of the chapel in the crypt which originally contained his remains, is executed in a style of superior excellence. A defaced monument in the crypt, of Isabel, Countess of Athol, the daughter of Richard do Chilham, who died at Chilham Castle, in 1292, is the most ancient tomb of a lay person within the walls of this Cathedral. The southern transept of the crypt was formerly a Chantry Chapel, founded by Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1863, who en- dowed it with the manor of Vauxhall, near London ; the whole surface of the vaulting of this chapel is covered with intersecting ribs. Joan, Lady Mohun, who died in 1395, is buried in the under- croft ; her tomb, near the eastern end of the great crypt, contains 15 The offerings at tlic shrine of St. Dunstan tempted the monks of Glastonbury to assert that they were in possession of his relies, which had been translated thither from Canterbury in tho year 1012. Archbishop Warham caused his tomb to he opened April 20th, 1508, when a leaden coffin was found, and a small plate on the breast of the body contained in it, inscribed, Hie Rcquiescit Sanctus Duustanus Archiepiscopus. — Gostliug's Walk, p.273 ; on the authority of Somncr, an antiquary of high character. The arch" bishop then sent letters to the abbot aud monks of Glastonbury, strictly charging them to desist from their pretensions. 10 Two large volumes containing an account of tho mirades wrought at his tomb were kept in tho church. so CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, her effigies under a canopy, and is said to have been constructed during her lifetime. 17 One of the arches on the southern side of the Lady Chapel in the undercroft is occupied by a monument of Archbishop Car- dinal Morton, who died in the year 1500. The semicircular sweep of the Anglo-Norman arch is enriched with canopied figures of saints, having also an inner moulding charged with his own device, the royal badges of the house of Tudor, and the Cardinal’s hat. The effigies of the archbishop rest on an altar-tomb beneath this superb canopy; the whole is much mutilated. St, John the Baptist’s Chapel, erected by Archbishop Cuthbert, is now walled up. That part of the crypt or undercroft which extends under the Trinity Chapel has eight large double columns and two slender pillars in the middle, some of the arches in this part are semicir- cular, and others pointed ; there is also at the extreme eastern end another crypt under Bechet’s Crown. Christ’s- church Gate, the principal avenue from the city to the precincts of the Cathedral, was erected in the early part of the reign of Henry VIII., and is a singularly fine specimen of enriched Tudor architecture. The spandrils of both the large and small arches of the gatehouse are charged with the arms of Cardinal Morton, of Archbishop Warharn, and oi the Priory of Christ’s-church : on the bosses of the vaulting to the archways are sculptured the badges of Priors Goldstone and Goklwell, and the arms of Wolsey, Archbishop of York. The massive wooden gates are also carved with the arms of the see of Canterbury impaling those of Archbishop Juxon on one side, and with the arms of the deanery of Canterbury on the other ; above the arches is an inscription, still legible, denoting the exact period of its erection : Ptoc opus constvuctum tst anno bo mint mtUesuno tiumgemessuno bcctmo septtmo. Above the inscription is a succession of compartments, contain- ing shields of the Boyal arms, and of those of several of the nobility 17 On the verge of the slab was inscribed, IJJo'.U - S):CU prie? J)£tr Im'.lC be ;3uransTjc que fut Dame be Jhtofjun. It is now almost obliterated a3 well as tbe anus which were painted in various parts. CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 31 and gentry of this county, thirteen in number. The whole front of this gatehouse is highly enriched with ornaments elaborately wrought in stone, but is much defaced. The western front of the Cathedral Church is the work of Prior Chillenden, a skilful architect, in the reign of Richard II., who superintended the rebuilding of the nave, under Archbishops Arundel and Cbicheley ; the entrance on this front bears some resemblance to the great porch of Westminster Hall, which was erected at the same period. The very ancient campanile or bell tower, on the northern side, 18 has been lately replaced by a magni- ficent tower, corresponding with that erected at the expense of Archbishop Chicheley, on the southern side. The bold graduated buttresses of the Chicheley tower are of very graceful proportion ; the building, 130 feet in height, is surmounted by an embattled roof, and pinnacles rising nearly SO feet above the parapet. The southern side of the nave is buttressed, and well lighted by eight lofty windows, having a similar number of open- ings in the clerestory between flying buttresses and pinnacles. At the base of this tower is the grand southern porch, a singular instance of such a position in cathedral architecture. The ceiling of this porch is ornamented by intersecting ribs handsomely dis- posed, and at each intersection is sculptured a shield of arms. The arms of Archbishop Chicheley being introduced, confines the period of its erection between the years 1413 and 1443, during which time he held this see ; and from the other arms its date is decidedly fixed to about the year 1422 . At the angles of the porch are grotesque water spouts. The lower parts of both the western towers are open to the nave and aisles, and the ceilings of both are enriched with tracery. The great western window is filled with painted glass, chiefly figures of apostles and kings. The nave of the church is formed 1S Known as Lanfranc’s, although of earlier date, and was also called the Arundel Tower. This magnificent tower is particularly described in “A Treatise on Construc- tion in Norman Architecture,” written, it is believed, by Mr. Buckler, and printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine for January and October, 1833. Canterbury (says the intelli- gent author) is still rich in the treasures of ancient architecture. But the destruction of its noblest and most interesting specimens, the Arundel tower, and a splendid relic of St. Augustine’s monastery, has severed the chain of illustration belonging to the records of its architectural history. CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL by a series of clustered pillars on each side, supporting pointed arches, above which are the clerestory windows, rendering it very light; the aisles are comparatively narrow. The shields of arms sculptured on the intersections of the vaulting ribs are evidently of the time of King Richard II., but those on the ceiling under the great central tower were put up at the latter end of King Henry Vlltli’s reign. The heraldic embellishments were carefully attended to in the restoration of the Cathedral, under the taste of the late dean, the Honourable and Very Reverend Hugh Percy, D.D. The undertaking embraced substantial repair in the most important points. Seven of the shields on the bosses of the nave were found to be totally defaced ; on these were sculptured armorial bearings appertaining to the present dignitaries of the church ; amongst these are the arms of Dean Andrews, under whom the restoration was commenced. 13 Attached to the easternmost pillars of the nave are ornamented braces constructed by Prior Goldstonc, to strengthen the angles of the central tower ; they are pierced with quatrefoils, and bear the motto of the Prior, — ttohis Homme Sit nonuTu lUO ha glortam. Cardinal Morton contributed largely towards its erec- tion. A flight of several steps leads from the nave to the choir and to the aisles, where also are steps leading to the Trinity Chapel. The various flights of steps and the different levels of the nave and transept constitute a peculiar feature in the architecture of this Cathedral. The choir screen, one of the most beautiful in the kingdom, was erected by Prior Henry Eastry. In niches on each side the arch of entrance are statues of the kings of England from John to King Richard II., in succession. One of these holds the model of a church in his hand. The organ now placed in a gallery over this screen is the same that was erected for the commemoration of Handel in Westminster Abbey Church in 1784. The choir with its aisles is remarkable for the peculiar cha- racter of the architecture, and interesting from the circumstance of its erection having been described by a contemporary historian, Gcrvase, of Canterbury. The Anglo-Norman imitations ol Corin- thian columns in the choir, and the pointed arches, are the earliest 10 Willcmcat’s Heraldic Notices, p. 85. CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. and most curious instances of the kind in the kingdom. In dimen- sion the choir is 150 feet by 40 feet. The introduction of pointed arches, at the eastern end of the Trinity Chapel, appears, at first view, to have be'en intended principally to give a narrow division of the colonnade, the same height of arch as to a wider one, so as to presere a uniformity in the line of columns : but as the choir contains both semicircular and pointed arches at various divisions on each side of the building, it is concluded, that at the period of its erection the architects were on the eve of bringing into general use a new style with pointed arches, but could not at once resign the semicircular arch, which had been so long considered as perfection in architecture. Between the architraves springing from the columns of the first story, rises a slender pillar, uniting with those forming the triforium, or gallery, on the second story, the arches of which take the pointed sweep. From the capitals of these pillars spring the ribs of the groins, on the third story, in which is another gallery, with pointed arches ; these at the extre- mity, on either side, at the termination of the apsis, taking an extraordinary sweep at their springing from the pillars. 20 The Trinity Chapel, situated eastward of the choir, may be regarded as one of the most singular architectural curiosities in England. The device of using double columns in this part of the building seems to have originated in a view to preserve lightness and gain additional strength. The foliage of the capitals of these double columns is sculptured with much taste and ability, and very ingeniously varied. The triforia are here continued, but owing to the contracted distance of the columns, the lower arches are exceedingly acute : the ornamental mouldings are principally the chevron and billet. 21 The windows of this chapel, of painted glass, are interesting from their antiquity, and from the extreme brilliancy of the colours ; but they arc so complicated in their design, that considerable time would be employed in the investigation and description of them. 23 They consist of a variety of circles and squares, each containing 20 Carter’s Ancient Architecture of England, p. 32. 21 Woolnoth’s History and Description of Canterbury Cathedral, p. 71. 22 Gostling, in his “Walk in and about the City of Canterbury,” explains many of the subjects by means of a diagram, p. 190 ; and a further elucidation will be found in Batteley’s edition of Somner’s “ Antiquities of Canterbury,” 1703. vol. i. r CANXJiKB UK'S CAT HJiDKA L. an historical subject, chiefly from the Old Testament; but tbe passion of Saint Thomas of Canterbury, with the legend of his miracles, is said to form a part. Richly ornamented borders, com- posed of the same brilliant colours, are so interwoven wdth the pieces of history, that the appearance of the whole, although extremely splendid, is confused. Labels with a name, or circum- stance, inscribed, denote the particular subject; as over a walled castle is to be observed BABILONE : but, from the great height of the windows, and the size of the letters being small, are not sufficiently legible to develope the chain of history intended to be conveyed by their means. These windows present some of the finest specimens of the early state of the art of painting on glass in the kingdom, having been probably executed in the reign of Henry III. ; they are chiefly composed of what is termed pot- metal, glass stained in the manufactory, the outlines and shadows being formed by the lead divisions, and the faces only painted . 33 The windows on the southern side of the chapel, and in the aisle of the choir on the same side, have been mutilated, and are nearly all plain glass : but those on the northern side having been better pro- tected externally by tbe contiguous buildings, have suffered much less from wanton destruction. In the Trinity Chapel is a tesse- lated pavement, the only indication of the shrine of St. Thomas-a- Socket ; there are also some very curious large tiles, with figures, representing the signs of the zodiac, rudely designed, and of very early execution. On the northern side of Trinity Chapel is a chantry, erected for the purpose of containing an altar, at which mass might be said, for the repose of the souls of Henry IY. and his queen: it is a beautiful little structure, vaulted and lighted by two windows. The extreme eastern end of the Cathedral Church is formed by a circular chapel, called Becket’s Crown. The same style of architecture is here preserved in the triforia, but the sup- porting columns are converted into slender clusters, attached to the wall between semicircular headed openings ; the ribs of the ceiling, springing from these clustered pillars, meet in the centre in a sculptured boss. The walls of this chapel were formerly 23 A rc-arrangemcnt of these curious windows, which would require additional glass, would very much improve the effect, Drawn "by Hablo t Browne TorWinMes's Cathedrals ^ Alf5 H 1C c K I : CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 85 painted in fresco, part of which is to be seen, representing St. Christopher, over the monument of Cardinal Pole. Here is a marble chair, formerly used in the ceremony of the enthronization of the archbishops of Canterbury. 24 From the northern arch are entrances to the prebends’ vestry, formerly the chapel of St. Andrew, the treasury, or deposit for r cliques, and auditory. A passage from the eastern transept, on this side the church, leads to the baptistry ; recesses in this transept formerly contained altars to St. Martin and St. Stephen. The situation of the baptistry militates against the idea of this being its original destination. Baptism, a ceremony of initiation, was customarily performed near the western entrance of churches and even in the porch. This building, which is octangular in its plan, was probably part of the prior’s lodgings. The small windows are all filled with painted glass, exhibiting little mitred figures, Avith crosiers, etc., not anatomically correct in their proportions, the heads of all being somewhat too large. The old font, before mentioned, is here preserved, the broken fragments having been collected by Somner the antiquary, Avho carefully restored it, in the reign of Charles II. Eastward of the bap- tistry is the Cathedral library, erected on the site of the prior’s chapel. The northern transept is called the Martyrdom ; and the precise spot, before the altar of St. Benedict, Avhere St. Thomas-a-Becket Avas slain, is marked on a marble slab in the pavement. In the Martyrdom King Edward I. Avas married to Margaret of France by Archbishop Winchelsea, in the year 1299. In the great northern AvindoAV of painted glass are figures, in the upper com- partments, of prophets, apostles, and canonized bishops, in splendid costume; beneath are portraits of King EdAvard IV., Queen Elizabeth Wid vile, Richard Duke of York, etc.: the background of the King’s portrait is per pale, murrey, and blue, seme of 7'oscs argent, rayonnated or P On the eastern side of the Mar- tyrdom is our Lady’s, or Jesus Chapel, but usually called the 24 The archbishops are now generally enthroned by proxy, and without pomp. 23 The stone work, at the back of the stalls, in the southern aisle, was formerly painted in stripes of the same colours, and ornamented with the royal badge. Of this decoration a very careful drawing was made by Mr. William Decble, about the year 1815. The Avhole is now obliterated. 3G CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. Dean’s Chapel, from its containing the monuments of several of the deans of Canterbury. The screen of open arches, surmounted by canopies, is a beautiful ornament. In this chapel are two windows towards the north, and one in the east, all of which are finely adorned with sculpture round the mouldings. The eastern window is surrounded by vine-leaves and grapes ; in it are several circles of stained glass, containing armorial badges of the Bourcliier family, besides the quarries of glass which are ornamented with the Bourchier knot and the device of Woodstock. The mother of Archbishop Bourchier was the daughter and heiress of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, and this badge appears to have been adopted in allusion to the archbishop’s descent. The cloisters of this Cathedral, differing from the usual arrange- ment, are situated on its northern side, having an enriched doorway leading from the Martyrdom. The ambulatory, 134 feet in dimension, is vaulted with a series of converging groins, having at the intersections of the ribs either bosses, composed of those beautiful varieties of foliage common in pointed architecture at an early period, or shields, sculptured with the arms of the benefactors to the church, in number eight hundred and eleven. These were originally emblazoned in their proper colours, and the whole, when perfect, must have produced an extraordinary splendid effect. The arms on these shields appear to have been selected in commemora- tion of King Henry IV., his family, the dignitaries of the church, the principal nobility, and those persons who, induced by their connection with the church, or county of Kent, had contributed towards the erection of this beautiful cloister, presenting an interesting memorial of the great and powerful landed proprietors of that period. The southern walk of the cloister, less likely to be intruded upon by the conventual attendants, -was formerly appropriated to meditation and prayer, and w'as glazed by Prior Sellingc, who, in order to fix attention upon devout subjects, painted the walls with texts of scripture. The area of the cloister is used as a cemetery, and various monumental tablets are affixed to the walls. The eastern walk of the cloister opens upon the chapter-house, a lofty apartment, ninety-two feet by thirty-seven feet in dimension, having on either side a continued series of pillars and arches, rising T FA©IL?S CATHJBPISAIL. ’ THU TATE S TUFJ7 FRONT sx. Paul’s cathedral. 73 by an enriched steeple of two orders, in light pierced work, covered with a dome formed by curves of contrary flexure, and terminated by a majestic pine-cone 222 feet from the ground. At the angles of these towers, on the western front, are colossal statues of the Evangelists with their attributes. In the south-western tower is the clock, and the great bell on which it strikes. 16 The diameter of this bell is about 10 feet : 17 on it are the words, “ Richard Phelps made me, 1716.” In the centre of the area before the western front of the Ca- thedral is a statue of Queen Anne, sculptured by Bird, in 1712 ; it stands on a circular pedestal, having four pilasters at equal distances, supported by trusses, on which are seated four allego- rical female figures, representing England, France, Ireland, and America. The fronts of the northern and southern transepts are terminated upwards by pediments, over coupled pilasters at the quoins, and two single pilasters in the intermediate space : each front is sur- mounted by five colossal statues of apostles. On the front of each transept is also a grand semicircular Corinthian portico, the south- ern raised on a semicircular terrace, having, on each side, piers of entrance surmounted by rich vases, ornamented with arabesque work, which are placed on elegant circular pedestals, enriched with cherubim heads, and festoons of fruit and flowers. It has been justly observed of these porticoes, that they are not inferior in beauty to the dome itself; they are objects equally admirable whether considered separately or in connexion with the building which they adorn, and diversify by affording a contrast of curved with the straight lines of the architecture, and of insulated columns with engaged pilasters. 10 The clock is of great magnitude, and is wound up daily ; the outward dial, 18 feet 10 inches in diameter, is regulated by a smaller one withinside. The length of the minute hand is 8 feet, and its weight 751bs. ; the length of the hour hand is 5 feet 5 inches, and its weight 441bs. ; the length of the hour figures is 2 feet 2^ inches. It appears that the art of making- large clocks is every day retrograding, and exhibits a singular instance of a branch of mechanical science, and one of very great importance, in which we are infinitely surpassed by the French, amongst whom the art of turret clock making, as an object worthy of public attention, is carried to an unrivalled degree of perfection. — Vulliamy's Considerations on the Subject of Public ClocJcs. 4to, 1828. ' 7 Its weight, which is not to be compared with the great bells of Oxford or Exeter, is generally stated at 4£ tons, but is also said to be only 3 tons 15 cwt., or S4001bs. YOL. I. L 74 st. Paul’s cathedral. The walls of the nave and choir are decorated with two stories, of coupled pilasters, arranged at regular distances, the lower range being of the Corinthian, and the upper of the composite order; the intervals between the Corinthian pilasters are occupied by large windows, and those between the composite pilasters, by niches ; the entire summit of the side walls is crowned by a regular balustrade. The projecting semicircle, which terminates the eastern end, is more highly enriched, and appears to have been completed in the reign of William III., as the royal initials are sculptured beneath the eastern window. Over the choir at the extreme eastern end is an ornamented attic, which breaks the line of balustrade. The dome, the most remarkable and magnificent feature in the building, is generally spoken of in terms of unqualified admiration; objections, it is true, have been raised to the columns of the peri- style, for their excess in height, over that of either of the orders beloWj and the objections are not groundless; but none, says Mr. Gwilt, can lament this violation of rigid propriety. The same gen- tleman affirms, that for dignity and elegance no church in Europe affords an example worthy of comparison with the cupola of Paul’s. The peristyle stands on an immense circular basement, rising about twenty feet above the roof of the church, and supported on the piers and great arches of the central area : the columns, thirty-two in number, are of a composite order, every fourth intercolumniation being filled with masonry, but so disposed as to include an orna- mental niche ; by which arrangement the buttresses of the cupola are judiciously concealed, and converted into a decoration of a beautiful character. The colonnade is crowned with a complete entablature and balustrade, which forms an entire circle, connecting all the parts in one grand and harmonious whole. Above the colonnade, but not resting upon it, rises an attic, the detail of which is simple and appropriate, and whence springs the exterior dome of a very bold and graceful contour ; it is covered with lead and ribbed at regular intervals. At its summit is another gallery of gilded iron work, from the centre of which rises a stone lantern enriched with columns and crowned by a ball and cross . 13 The view of the city 18 In 1826 a now ball and cross were placed on the lantern in lieu of the originals 4 which had become so decayed as to render this measure necessary. . •I ; 1PA W Ej’S (GAIT* IS m 10 i&AlO st. Paul’s cathedral. 75 of London from the stone gallery, round the dome., over the colon- nade, is very fine, but by no means equals the extensive prospect obtained at the superior elevation of the golden gallery at the apex of the dome round the lantern. The outward diameter of the dome is 145 feet, the inward diameter of the same is 108 feet. 19 The entire height from the ground to the top of the cross is 310 feet. The principal entrance to the crypt is by a flight of steps in the south-eastern angle of the great transept: in this, the basement story, vast piers and arches sustain the superstructure, the space being formed into three avenues corresponding with those of the nave, transept, and choir above. In the very centre of the crypt repose the remains of Admiral Lord Nelson, who fell at the battle of Trafalgar in the year 1805. The colours of his own ship, the Victory, were deposited in the same grave, which is covered with an altar tomb of granite, supporting a large square sarcophagus of blade and dark coloured marbles. In the crypt is also the grave of the architect, situated under the southern aisle of the choir. The nave and choir of the Cathedral are each flanked by three arches springing from piers, which are strengthened as well as decorated on their inner faces by pilasters of the Corinthian order, crowned by an entablature. Over this order of architecture rises a tall attic, the pilasters of which form abutment piers for the springing of the semicircular arches of the vaulting. The vaulting of this part of the church is light, elegant, and very judiciously constructed ; each division forms a low dome, supported by four spandrils, the face of each sphere being encircled by an enriched course of foliage. In the upright plane space on the walls a clerestory is introduced over the attic ; the aisles, which are low in comparison with the nave, are vaulted from the small pilasters, and terminated in a manner similar to that of the vaulting of the nave and choir. At the western termination of the nave is a small tran- sept, which on the south is occupied as a morning prayer chapel, and on the north as a consistory, or court of the chancellor of the diocese ; these are divided from the aisles by screens of ornamental 19 The diameter of the inside of the Pantheon at Rome is about 149 feet English measure, exclusive of the walls, which are about 18 feet thick, so that the diameter of the whole circle is about 185 feet; the roof of this ancient temple, now covered with lead, was formerly covered with plates of gilded brass. 76 st. Paul’s cathedral. carved work. In the story above tire consistory court is the Cathe- dral library : over the chimney-piece is a portrait of Dr. Henry Compton, Bishop of London, painted by Sir James Thornhill ; he is represented with a plan of the Cathedral in his hand ; this pre- late presented the whole of his books to the library. At the opposite extremity of the transept, and exactly corresponding in situation and dimension with the library, is another apartment, in which is preserved the model which was made under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren, and valued by him as the most perfect of all the designs he made for the Cathedral. The central area under the cupola is circumscribed by eight large piers, equal in size, but not equi- distant. The four larger openings occur in the spaces where the nave, choir, and transept diverge from the great circle, the lesser ones between them. These latter are surmounted by arches which spring from the architrave of the main order, but by extending the springing points, above, in the attic so as to break over the re-entering angular pilaster below, such an increase of opening is acquired in the attic, that the eight arches which receive the cantilever cornice of the whispering gallery are all equal . 20 Above the cornice a tall pedestal, or dado, receives the order immediately under the dome ; its periphery is divided into eight portions, of three intercolumniations each, pierced for windows; each of these divisions being separated from that adjoining it by a solid pier, one intercolumniation wide, decorated with a niche. The piers so formed connect the wall of the inner order with the external peristyle, and thus serve as counterforts to resist the thrust of the inner brick cupola, as well as that of the conical wall which carries the lantern. The ascent to the whispering gallery, as it is universally called* is by a circular staircase, constructed within the nortli-tvestern projection of the great transept. This gallery, composed of richly- ornamented iron-work, encircles the drum of the dome, and ex- tends to the extreme edge of the cornice. The staircase contracts on approaching the gallery to afford room for various passages, through the apertures of which the immense buttresses of the dome may be seen. 20 The mitering of the avchivolta over the eight great arches of the cupola is a sad abuse, it makes the lofty works which rise above them seem to stand on points.— Gwilt. S? PA UHL'S ieAfHSBlfJM st. taul’s cathedral. 77 Mr. Gwilt, an architect who has written an account of St. Paul’s Cathedral, seems to have exercised the strictest impartiality in the observations he has made relating to this great work ; he admits that Wren was a consummate mechanician, but as an architect he 'considers him by no means so distinguished. It is obvious to every one who has given the matter due consideration, that in estimating the merits of a building and the constructive skill of its architect, that is superior in which the greatest effects are produced by the use of the slenderest materials. Amongst the most elegant applica- tions of science ever introduced into a building is the conical wall, between the inner and outer domes, upon which the stone lantern of enormous weight is supported. This was truly the thought of a master, but however admirable the science which directed the use of the expedient, it has induced two defects which are scarcely pardonable. The first of these is, that the exterior dome is con- structed of timber, which however well attended to, must neces- sarily decay within a comparatively short period, should even the carelessness of plumbers spare it. The other defect is, the im- mense waste of section which it has caused, and the consequent loss of interior effect sustained. In the height of this cone are three tiers of circular perforations, not alone contrived to admit the necessary currents of air in order to keep the walls dry, but to light, and render visible, the framing of the timbers bearing the external dome, and also to keep them free from moisture. The framing of these timbers is most scien- tific ; each frame, thirty-two in number, stands on a stone abutment, with a circular perforation conjoined, with the three cones, at the springing lines. The whole frame is in three stages, three principal upright timbers rise through the said stages, with occasional struts and braces ; having from frame to frame successive tiers of hori- zontal timbers, running with the curvature of the dome, whereon the external covering of lead is laid. Although the appearance of the several frames from their seemingly complex admixture, in the circuitous line round the cone, may, at first view, confound and astonish the beholder, yet, upon examination, the nature of the carpentry becomes familiar to the eye, and from its simplicity, and 78 st. paxjl’s cathedral. true geometrical principle, satisfies the mind in the great security afforded to the whole by these auxiliaries of the dome. 31 The interior of the cupola is painted in two colours, relieved with gilding, by Sir James Thornhill; it is in eight grand compart- ments, representing the principal events in the life of St. Paul. The dome is pierced with an eye in its vertex, and through it a vista is carried up to the small dome in which the great cone terminates. When the whole height is seen through the opening from below, the gaze becomes truly fascinating ; this view is very justly considered the prime scenic feature of the whole building. The architectural embellishments of the more lofty parts of the structure are all painted and gilded. The western end of the choir commences at the piers supporting the cupola, which are wider than the other piers, and are flanked by Corinthian pilasters at the angles, having a square recess in the intercolumniation ; uniform with these, there are, at its eastern end, piers of the same dimensions, excepting that they are pierced for a communication with the aisles. In other respects the leading architectural features of the choir resemble those of the nave with the addition of the tribune, wherein the altar stands which is domed over from top of the attic. The choir screen is a Corinthian colonnade, supporting a gallery for the organ, and bears the following tribute to the memory of the architect. SVBTVS . CONDITVR. IIVJVS . ECCLESIiE . ET . VRBIS . CONDITOR . CHRISTOPIIORVS . WREN . QVI . VIXIT . ANGOS . VLTRA . NONAGINTA. NON . SIBI . SED . BONO . PVBLICO . LECTOR . SI . MON VMENTVM . REQVIRIS . CIRCVMSPICE. The organ was constructed in 1694 by Bernard Smydt, a Ger- man ; but was entirely taken to pieces and repaired in 1802. On each side of the choir is a range of fifteen stalls, exclusive of the bishop’s throne, on the southern side, and a stall for the lord mayor on the northern ; these are beautifully enriched with carving by Grinling Gibbons. 32 The pulpit was designed by llobert 21 Survey of the Cathedral Cliuvcli of St. Paul, by John Carter, F.S.A., an architect whose descriptive remarks are highly interesting, liis knowledge of the art of construc- tion giving his writings a precision and accuracy, not often to he obtained. 22 This artist, celebrated for his excellent carving, was introduced by Evelyn to Sir Christopher Wren and to King Charles II.; the king gaye him an appointment to the FAUTUdS cC ATMEBMAE j o TILE .Am) CHOIR. st. Paul’s cathedral. 79 Mylne, cleric of the works, and carved by Edward Wyatt ; it was erected about the year 1802. The reader’s desk, representing an eagle with expanded wings, supported by a pillar and enclosed within a railing, is a fine example of the kind, entirely brass, richly gilt. The apsis, or tribune, at the eastern end of the choir, is enriched with pilasters painted in imitation of lapis lazuli, with capitals, and ornaments of the entablature, richly gilded. The intercolumniation is panelled with marble. In the year 1773 a design was formed for decorating the Cathe- dral with the works of our most eminent painters and sculptors, when the presidents and members of the Royal Academy offered to fill some of the compartments with pictures without charge ; but the scheme, although approved of by his majesty, was dis- couraged by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London as savouring of “Popery.” About the year 1793 another suggestion to break the monotonous uniformity of the architecture in the interior of the Cathedral, was the admission of national monuments raised in commemoration of eminent characters. The two first monuments erected in this building were those of John Howard, the philanthropist, who died at Cherson, in Russian Tar- tary, in 1790, and Dr. Samuel Johnson, one of the most highly- distinguished critics of the eighteenth century, who died in 1784; both statues were the work of John Bacon, R.A./ 3 and occupy corresponding situations in the angles in the front of the smaller piers of the dome. In another angle is a third statue by the same sculptor, erected to the memory of Sir William Jones, an accom- plished scholar, who died at Bengal, in 1794. The fourth statue in a corresponding angle of the dome is that of Sir Joshua Rey- nolds, who died in 1792J 4 All the monuments in the church are of white marble, with the exception of the plinths of those which stand upon the pavement. board of works, and employed him in the ornaments of most of bis palaces, particularly, at Windsor ; but bis principal performance is at Petwortb. Gibbons died in 1721. 23 This eminent sculptor died in 1790 ; there are few of our Cathedrals without some specimen of his skill, but one of his grandest efforts is the monument of Lord Chatham, in Westminster Abbey, completed in 1783. 24 In the vaults of the Cathedral were also buried the following members of the Royal Academy : James Barry, R.A., who died in 1806. John Opie, R.A., who died in 1807. Benjamin West, President of the Royal Academy, who died in 1820 ; and Sir Thomas Lawrence, President of the Royal Academy, who died in 1830. 80 st. Paul’s cathedral. The expenses attending the erection of the Cathedral -were defrayed by an imposition on sea coal imported into London, the annual proceeds of which were sometimes less than the yearly charges for materials and labour, the deficiency was supplied by the contributions of the king, the nobility, the clergy and gentry, and by the sale of some of the old materials. The whole expense of erecting the edifice, deducting the money expended in attempts to repair the old Cathedral, was £736,752 2s. 3d., in addition to which the stone and iron inclosure which surrounds it 25 cost £11,202 Os. 6d. ; total, £747,954 2s. 9d. It appears that the dean and chapter of St. Paul’s are in no way responsible for the neglect or preservation of the building. When the Cathedral was rebuilt, a fund was provided for its preservation, called The Fabric Fund, and appropriated by Act of Parliament to the repairs of the Cathedral. It is placed under the direction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and the Lord Mayor, as trustees of the Fabric Money, and all business relative to the repairs or improvement of the building is solely under their management and control. A detail of the origin of one of the abuses at St. Paul’s is given in Mr. Gwilt’s account of the Church, in which it appears that the master carpenter levied a toll called stairfoot money, on all strangers who were desirous of ascending to view the works from 1707 to 1711 ; with laudable humanity he applied the proceeds to the relief of those artificers who were disabled by accidents on the works, and to the assistance of their families. The monies arising from this source were too strong a temptation for the dean and chapter ; without compunction they put a stop to the charitable disposition of the monies, and directed the future application of them for the benefit of the officers of the Church. 25 The superb iron balustrade which environs St. Paul’s Cathedral cost about 6d. a Pound, and was cast at Gloucester Furnace, about two miles from Lamberhurst, in Sussex; this was for a length of time the principal iron furnace in England, and was supplied with iron-stone dug in the immediate neighbourhood. ■ . ■ ■ WELLS CATHEDRAL. The city of Wells is very beautifully and romantically situated at the southern extremity of the almost mountainous forest of Men- dip, about five miles from the town of Glastonbury, and nineteen from the city of Bath. The name is said to have been derived from St. Andrew’s Well, a remarkable spring, which rises near the site of the episcopal palace, and, emitting a copious stream, surrounds that ancient structure with its transparent waters, and thence transmits them through the several parts of the city. It is traditionally indebted for its origin to the ardent religious zeal of Ina, king of the West Saxons, who here founded a church, and dedicated it to St. Andrew the Apostle. A college of priests was subsequently established by Kinulph, successor to Sigebert ; and Adhelm, who had been abbot of Glastonbury, was, A.D. 910, con- secrated by Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, the first bishop of Wells, with Somersetshire for his diocese. The city was in- corporated by Reginald Fitz-Joceline, the son of Joceline, bishop of Salisbury, and bishop of Wells in the reign of Richard I., and is divided into four verdereys, each of which is superintended by two verderers, an office originating in the ancient viridarii, who kept the assizes of the bishop’s forest of Mendip. 1 The original Cathedral of Wells, which had been erected by Wulfhelm, the successor of Adhelm, the first bishop, appears to have been much indebted to the munificence of Bishop Giso, one of the chaplains to King Edward the Confessor, who, having increased the revenues of the church, augmented the number of canons, and built the useful appendages of a cloister, hall, and dormitory. This bishop also enlarged and beautified the grand choir of the Cathedral: having presided at Wells eight and twenty years, he died A.D. 1087, and was buried on the northern side of the high altar in his church. John de Yillula, a native of Tours, in France, who succeeded to the bishopric, is said to have practised physic in Bath with great success before his advancement to the episcopal chair. This pre» 1 Collinson’s History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset, yol, iii., p. 375. VOL. I. M 82 "WELLS CAUiLJHtAL. late entirely demolished the cloister and other conventual buildings which Bishop Giso had erected for the use of the canons, and in the place where they had stood, built a palace for himself and his successors. This bishop being strongly attached to the city of Bath, whence he derived his fortune, determined to fix his ponti- fical seat there. In this design the prelate was encouraged by the monks of Bath, who petitioned him to unite the abbey with the bishopric, and gave him five hundred marks, with which he pur- chased the whole city of King William Rufus, and then assumed the title of Bishop of Bath. He died in 1122. Great contention afterwards arose betwixt the monks of Bath and Wells as to which city should be honoured with the episcopal seat ; the question being referred by compromise to the bishop’s arbitration, he ordained that the bishops of this diocese should neither be called bishops of Wells as they had been, or of Bath as they "were, but that taking their name from both churches, they should for the future be called bishops of Bath and Wells. That each of the churches, when the see "was vacant, should appoint an equal number of delegates, by whose votes the bishop should be chosen, and that he should be installed both at Bath and Wells. He rebuilt great part of the Cathedral, and dying in the year 1165, was buried at Bath. Joceline Trotman, or de Wells, a native of this city, and one of the canons of this Cathedral, was consecrated bishop of the diocese at Reading, before the end of the year 1205. But very soon after- wards having incurred the king’s displeasure by interdicting the nation, at the pope’s command, he was obliged to relinquish his bishopric, and spent five years abroad in banishment. After his return to his diocese, he applied himself to the enlargement of the church of Wells. He began his work about the year 1214, when he took down the greatest part of the church from the presbytery westward, and commenced rebuilding it on a more spacious and beautiful plan calculated to produce a noble and admirable effect; he rededicated it Oct. 23, 1239. This bishop not only rebuilt the western front of the Cathedral as it now stands, one of the most remarkable specimens of enriched architecture in England, but also built and endowed two costly chapels, one in his palace at Wokey, and the other at Wells. Bishop Joceline died 19th of November, 1242, and was buried in the middle of the choir. The entire plan WELLS CATHEDRAL. 83 or model of the church adopted by this bishop appears never to have been departed from, but to have been strictly followed in the works of successive bishops till its total completion by Bishop Stillington, in 1465. Ralph Shrewsbury, the thirtieth bishop of Wells, who succeeded in 1329, a century after its commencement, excelled almost all his predecessors in this see in works of liberality and munificence, and has the merit of continuing the original plan in his great benefactions to the Cathedral. The very beautiful architectural style adopted in the reign of Henry III., is remarkable for the vast skill and taste displayed in the construction and ornamental parts ; the boldness and lightness of all the edifices raised at this period are yet unrivalled, and com- mand a very high respect for the taste and ability of the architects. In Flaxman’s Lectures, that classical sculptor did not fail to commend highly the tasteful decorations of rich foliage and the gracefully disposed statues with which architecture of this period was enriched, but especially directed the attention of his pupils to this Cathedral as rebuilt by Bishop Joceline. The western front of the church equally testifies the piety and comprehension of the bishop’s mind ; and the sculpture, in Mr. Flaxman’s opinion, pre- sents the must useful and interesting subjects possible to be chosen. On the southern side, above the western door, are alti relievi of the Creation 2 in its different parts, the Deluge, and important Acts of the Patriarchs. 3 Companions to these on the northern side are alti relievi of the principal circumstances in the life of Christ. Above them are two rows of statues, larger than nature, in niches, of kings, queens, and noble patrons of the church, saints, bishops, and other religious, from its foundation to the reign of Henry III. Near the pediment is our Saviour come to judgment, attended by angels, and his twelve apostles. The upper arches on each side, along the whole of the western front and continued in the northern and southern ends, are occupied by figures rising from their graves, strongly expressing the hope, fear, astonishment, stupefaction or 2 There are many compositions of the Almighty creating Eve, by Giotto, Buon, Arnico, Buffalmaco, Ghiberti, and Michael ADgelo ; but this is certainly the oldest and not inferior to any of the others. — Flaxman. 3 The death of Isaac and the figure of St. John are particularly instanced by Mr Flaxman as beautiful compositions. 81 - wells CATHEDRAL. despair, inspired by tbe presence of the Lord and Judge of the world in that awful moment. In speaking of the execution of such a work, Mr. Flaxman admits that due regard must be paid to the circumstances under which it was produced in comparison with those of our own times. There were neither prints, nor printed books, to assist the artist ; the sculptor could not be instructed in anatomy, for there were no anatomists. Some knowledge of optics and a glimmering of perspective were reserved for the researches of so sublime a genius as Roger Bacon some years afterwards. A little knowledge of geometry and mechanics was exclusively con- fined to two or three learned monks in the whole country, and the principles of those sciences as applied to the figure and motion of man and inferior animals were known to none. Therefore the work is necessarily ill-drawn and deficient in principle, and much of the sculpture is rude and severe, yet in parts there is a beauti- ful simplicity, an irresistible sentiment, and sometimes a grace excelling more modern productions. It is very remarkable, adds Mr. Flaxman, that the sculpture on the western front of Wells Cathedral was finished in 1242, two years after the birth of Cimabue, the restorer of painting in Italy, and the work was going on at the same time that Nicolo Pisano, the Italian restorer of sculpture, exercised the art in his own country. It was also finished forty-six years before the Cathedral of Amiens, and thirty-six years before the Cathedral of Orvieto was begun, and it seems to be the first specimen of such magnificent and varied sculpture, united in a series of sacred history, that is to be found in Western Europe. It is therefore probable that the general idea of the work might be brought from the East by some of the crusaders. There arc two arguments strongly in favour of the execution being English — the family name of the bishop is English, Joceline Trotmanj and the style both of sculpture and architecture is wholly different from the tombs of Edward the Confessor and King Henry III., which were by Italian artists. 4 Thomas Beckington, who had been one of the canons of this Cathedral, was elected bishop of Bath and Wells in 1448, and continued in the peaceable enjoyment of his see until his decease in 1115. Of the manner in which this exemplary bishop employed 4 klaxmau’s Lectures on Sculpture. pKMlP * Jti iV.rwn T yTTahln t: 23ravme WS ILL I € ATP M TE ©TRAIL . ■WEST ER01TT SHKVTJfcTG- THE TTOB.TH TOUCH T3LA3TS EPT. See. WELLS CATHEDRAL. great part of' his time, and the vast revenues of his see, he has left splendid evidence ; and so long as one stone of his Cathedral remains, so long must his memory, his taste, and his liberality, be held in veneration. It has been happily conjectured that he imbibed his love for, and perhaps skill in, architecture from his first patron, William of Wykeham, bishop of Winchester, from whom Bishop Waynfietc is known to have acquired his knowledge of that science. Beckington’s munificence was scarcely inferior to that of either of those celebrated personages. lie repaired and beautified all the episcopal houses in his diocese, on most of which he caused his own rebus to be affixed. He also erected a considerable part of the cloisters of this Cathedral, and built and endowed a chantry chapel on the southern side of the choir ; the whole of the college of the vicar’s choral was rebuilt at his expense by his executors. His attention was not confined to the mere appendages of his Cathedral. Amongst other benefactions to the city of Wells he built “ the new Work,” a row of houses on the northern side of the market-place, and two large gatehouses at the eastern end ; he also granted per- mission to the inhabitants of the city to have a conduit near the cross, to be supplied by pipes from St. Andrew’s well, within the precincts of the palace . 5 “ Itis at Wells,” says Sir Harris Nicolas, in his Life of this Bishop, “ that the lover of the arts and the admirer of the zeal and disinterestedness of the prelates of the middle ages will be most impressed with respect for Bishop Beckington ; but whilst viewing the effects of his munificence will he be able to refrain from asking himself, why it is that the most opulent successors of those great men have so rarely imitated them ? Will his respect for the established order of things be sufficient to repress the reflexion, that with nearly the same revenues the modern clergy seldom indeed beautify or repair cathedrals, or found colleges. There is an indifference, an apathy about ancient ecclesiastical buildings in this country which is really surprising ; in proof of which it may be observed, that the repairs of churches are generally left to the superintendence of uneducated and in- competent men, who everywhere leave marks of their barbarous ignorance and want of taste. Whether this neglect of what are termed the Lady Chapel . v ‘. \To7ais Chap i */ X* Katherines Chapel C chapter Flows e. H JTorthBorch I CZoisterJTzrJb K Cl ock Rootn S-TVesOy for Winkleo ti Caihcdrole. Z,rigra.red "bj- B "Winkles. WELLS CATHEDRAL. 89 St. Edmund the King, who was shot with arrows, and afterwards beheaded in the year of our Lord 870. These subjects possess great merit from the elegance of the sculpture and intricacy of the design. An uniform parapet, with corbel table and cornice, is con- tinued all round the walls of the church over the clerestory and the aisles. Attached to an angle of the western buttress of the northern transept is a curious ancient clock, with figures in com- plete armour, which strike the hours on a bell. The whole of the Cathedra] from the western front, excepting the upper parts of the towers on that part of the edifice, to about the middle of the choir, from its similarity of style and general uniform character of the architecture, is reputed to have been erected by Bishop Joceline. Before the year 1264, the whole of the more eastern part of the building, together with the Lady Chapel, was nearly completed. This is satisfactorily proved from the style of the workmanship, as well as from the fact of Bishop Bitton, who died in 1264, having been buried in the new chapel of the Virgin Mary ; the windows, filled with beautiful tracery, are larger than those of the choir and aisles. The chapter house was built in the time of Bishop William de la March. In the year 1325, it appears that an indulgence of forty days was granted to those who contributed towards the new work of this Cathedral. The central tower is of this period ; and it is known that the upper part of the south-western tower was built in the reign of Bichard II., before the year 1386, at the expense of Bishop Harewell and the contribution of the dean and chapter of Wells. The same prelate also liberally gave one hundred marks towards the glazing of the compartments of the western window. The north-western tower, above the third row of statues, is also known to have been built by Bishop Bubwith, from the circumstance of his arms being sculptured on the western front of the tower. The total length of the nave is one hundred and ninety-one feet, its whole breadth, including the aisles, is sixty- seven feet, and in height this part of the church is sixty-seven feet. The choir is about one hundred and eight feet in length, and the transept is one hundred and thirty-five feet in length. The height of the nave is not so great as that of Salisbury, and there is a VOL. I. It 90 "WELLS CA'IHLDKAL. considerable difference in the length ; but the effect produced by entering it is not devoid of grandeur, in consequence of its admirable proportion and complete preservation. The nave is separated from its aisles by ten pointed arches on either side ; over each of the aisles is a triforium and clerestory, in one uniform style of architecture, with the groining of the ceiling very plain. The lancet arches of the triforium, or gallery over the aisles, are singularly characteristic of the early period of the original work in the Cathedral ; 13 but the windows, both of the aisles and clerestory, have evidently been altered since the reign of Henry III. The mullions are disposed in all the windows precisely in the manner which prevailed in the time of King Richard II., when Bishop Harewell is stated to have been engaged in carrying on the work of the Cathedral. In the great western window of the nave, over the entrance, are remains of numerous figures in painted glass; amongst which were representations of Jesus Christ, Moses and Aaron, King Ina, Bishop Shrewsbury, and Bishop Crichton, the last of whom repaired the window in the reign of King Charles II. Painted glass was an almost indispensable embellishment required for these lofty windows, and was employed to fill the immense spaces with the splendour of brilliant hues, which were disposed in various ornamental figures, harmonizing in style and character with the architecture of the structure. Attached to a window of the clerestory and above the triforium on the southern side of the nave, is a minstrel gallery, with appropriate embellishments. In the middle of the nave is an ancient marble slab in the pave- ment, which is said to cover the remains of Ina, king of the West Saxons, the reputed founder of the original Church of Wells. 13 In distinguishing the pure lancet style of architecture from any other, it will he evident to the critical observer, says Mr. Dallaway, in his Discourses, that the decorative particles were sparingly introduced, and that regularity of design and a simple uniformity are strictly maintained. A most beautiful instance was the nave of St. Mary’s Abbey Church, in York, built between the years 1270 and 1292, hut now dilapidated. There are engravings of the subject in the “ Vetusta Monu- ments, ” published by the Society of Antiquaries. P. F. Robinson, a distinguished architect, executed a very perfect plan and some beautiful drawings of the remains of the chapter house ; the carved ornaments of which are specimens of Anglo- Norman architectural sculpture, that have been pronounced equal to the work of any style or period. The same gentleman, who has devoted much attention to this abbey at York, communicated his researches to the Institute of British Architects, in July, 1835. MS A ’ WlDLltS WELLS CATHEDRAL. 91 Bishop Haselshaw, who died in the year 1308, was buried in the nave, near the altar for the celebration of matins. The slab of marble, sixteen feet in length, still remains ; but the intagliatefV brass with which it was inlaid is irrecoverably lost. The episcopal figure appears to have been ten feet long. In the southern aisle is a large mural monument to Bishop Hooper, who died in 1727, Bishop Ralph Erghum, formerly bishop of Salisbury, who died in 1400, was buried in the nave. The slab remains, with indents of an episcopal figure and two shields, with which the marble was originally inlaid. Near it is a tombstone for John Phreas, who was nominated to this see on the death of Bishop Beckington, but who died before his consecration. On the northern side of the nave, the space beneath the ninth arch from the western entrance is occupied by a monumental chapel, erected at the expense of Bishop Bubwith, wherein, after his decease on the 27th of October, 1424, he was buried. He en- dowed it with the manor of Bicknoller, and by will appointed three priests to celebrate a daily mass here for the good estate of his soul. This bishop also founded an almshouse near St. Cuth- bert’s Church, in the city of Wells, and erected a chapel in the Abbey Church of St. Peter, at Bath. 14 The monumental chapel is enclosed by an hexagonal screen in compartments, in one of which is the door ; the lower part is panelled with enriched arches, and is partially open, where the mullions are more complicated ; above the screen is a bold cornice of wreathed foliage. At the eastern end of the chapel in the interior, where the altar formerly stood, are canopied niches, now mutilated ; and at the western end are the arms of the see, impaling those of the bishop’s own family. On the southern side of the nave, immediately opposite to Bishop Bebwith’s chantry, is another very beautiful monumental chapel, erected by Hugh Sugar, LLD., treasurer of Wells, in the 14 Notwithstanding there were six bishops interred within the abbey church of Bath antecedent to Bishop Montagu, who died in 1618, namely, Johnde Villula, ob. 1122 i Godfrey, 1135; Robert, 1165; Reginald Fitz Joceline, 1191; Savarieus, 1205; and Roger, 1247 ; besides several priors of Bath and Dunster, and many distinguished per- sonages, there are no remains, no trace of any ancient monument whatever. Several stone coffins have been discovered in different parts of the structure, and in one taken from underneath the pavement of the northern transept was found a curious chalice, or cup used for the wine in the eucharist, — C'ollinson’ s History and Antiquities of the County of Somersetshire, vol. i. p. 67. 02 WELLS CATHEDRAL. reign of Edward IV., and who died in 1489. Tire design of this chapel is nearly similar to that of the last-mentioned, hut it is more highly enriched. Above the arches of the screen of enclosure is a bold and broad cornice, charged with demi-angels bearing shields of the founder’s arms — a pun on his name — three sugar loaves, surmounted by a doctor's cap : his initials ; and the emblems of Christ’s passion. The same initials and arms are repeated on shields upon the ceiling in the interior of the chapel. At the eastern end are five niches crowned with turretted canopies, and the whole surface of the interior is enriched with architectural ornaments, very delicately and beautifully wrought. Besides these two splendid chapels there are very few monuments, remarkable as works of art, in the nave. Against the great pillar on the western side of the above chapel is a curious stone pulpit, erected by Bishop Knight, who died in the year 1547, which Bishop Godwyn says “ he caused to be built for his tombe.” 15 In front of the pulpit are the arms of the bishop, and the following inscription : — PREACHE . THOV . THE . IVORDE . BE . FERVENT . IN . SEASON . AND . OVT . OF . SEASON . REPROVE . REBVKE . EXHORT . IN . ALL . LONG . SVFFERING . & . DOCTRYNE , 2tIJI0. 16 Bishop William Knight, who erected this pulpit, was frequently employed in embassies by King Henry VIII. : he also erected a cross in the market-place of the city of Wells, a description of ornament now fast disappearing. Near the entrance into the choir, under the great central tower, lies interred Bishop Robert Burnell, of the baronial family of that name, who died at Berwick-upon- Tweed, 25th of October, 1292 :' 7 and near the last lies Thomas Lovel, sub-dean of Wells, who died in 1524. The central tower is onehundred and sixtyfeethigh, and the total 15 Catalogue of the Bishops of England, p. 310. 16 In the nave of Strasbourg Cathedral is a celebrated stone pulpit; but in the ancient churches there was little preaching, and consequently but few pulpits in England before the Reformation. 17 lie was treasurer and chancellor of England in the reign of Edward I., by whom he was much esteemed, and employed in his "Welsh affairs. He built a great hall on the western side of the episcopal palace at Wells, which was demolished in the reign of Edward VI. At Acton Burnell, in Shropshire, are the remains of a castle, founded by Bishop Burnell, It is a quadrangular building, with a square tower at each corner. Iii this castle was a great hall, in which King Edward I. held a parliament in the year 1283. The Statulum de Mercaloribus enacted here, is from that circumstance better known as the statute of Acton Burnell. This hall was originally 183 feet long by 41 feet in breadth, but the gable ends only new remain. WlilLilLiS CAfMlBtAlLjo :e nort r atst SEP n 93 WELLS CATH33SAL. length of the church, from east to west, is about three hundred and seventy-one feet. Under the central tower the sides each contain a strong support in form of an insulated arch, which sustains another arch, inverted on its point, all united with the side piers, and having spandrils perforated with a circle in each, a more effectual and scientific abutment could not have been invented : that for the same purpose in Salisbury Cathedral is slightly different in its plan. As the massive walls of the nave, transept, and choir of this church, formed substantial buttresses to the exterior of the tower piers, these double arches, with open spandrils, are cal- culated to form an excellent counterpoise to the lateral pressure ; here the support is continued from the base to the top of the pier, but at Salisbury the abutment appears to act only on a small part of it. 18 The nave and transept of the church are of the same style of architecture, and of the same date of construction ; but all the building eastward of the choir is of a more ornamental and lighter style than that to the west, and exhibits greater delicacy in point of execution : this part of the church was evidently erected at a subsequent period to that of King Henry III. At the extremity of the northern transept is a monument in memory of Thomas Cornish, provost of Oriel College, Oxford, who was precentor and canon residentiary of this Cathedral, and died in the year 1513. The western aisle of this transept is used as a clock room and vestry. The curious and remarkable clock is said to have been made in the reign of Edward II. by Peter Lightfoot, a monk of Glastonbury Abbey, about 1325 : its dial not only shows the time of day, but the phases of the moon and other astronomical signs, the hours not being marked by figures and lines, but by long and short rays. 19 At the summit of this ancient clock is a re- presentation of four or five mounted knights, accoutred for a tournament, which, at the time of striking the hours, are put into action, and revolve round a centre by means of machinery attached. 18 See Plato 3. — An interior view of the grand transept at Salisbury Cathedral. 19 Soon after the date assigned to this complicated clock, King Edward III. invited clockmakers from Delft, in Holland, granting them his protection to exercise their trade without molestation in any part of his kingdom. The pendulum clock, it is well known, was the inyentionof Christian Huygens, a native of the Hague, where he died in 1695, act. 66. 94 WELLS CATHEDRAL, At one of the angles of this transept is also a figure of a man seated,, who, at the hours and quarters, strikes a bell. In the centre of the southern transept is a font. The font by right belongs only to parish churches, and as a special privilege was granted to conventual churches and monasteries. A door at the western extremity opens upon the cloisters, and against the southern wall of this transept is a monument of Bishop William de la March, who died in the year 1303. His effigy is boldly sculp- tured in his episcopal robes, in the act of benediction, and with his crosier resting on his left arm. Near this is a dilapidated monument of Joan, viscountess LTsle,who died in 1464 : she was the daughter and heiress of Thomas Chedder, and wife of John, viscount L’lsle, son of John Talbot, the celebrated Earl of Shrewsbury, under whom he served in France, and was slain at the fatal battle of Chastillon, in 1453. In the eastern aisle, which is called St. Martin’s Chapel, is a tomb of John Storthwaite, precentor and chancellor of Wells, who died about 1454 : upon it is his effigy, within a recess in the south wall. In an adjoining chapel, dedicated to St. Calixtus, is a monument for Dean Henry Husee, who died in 1305 ; his effigy, of alabaster, is in his canonical habit. Over the choir screen, which is of stone, is the organ originally built under the direction of Dean Crichton, in 1664, and repaired by S. Green, in 1786. On each side of the choir are six arches, the three westernmost, with the pillars whence they spring, are similar in their architectural character to those of the nave ; but eastward the arches are lighter in appearance and more elegant in proportion. The enriched groining of the ceiling, the elaborate screen work in front of the triforium, the stalls and bishop’s throne, are in excellent taste. The altar screen is extremely appropriate and low ; and by that means affords such a view eastward of the choir, as is rarely seen in our Cathedrals ; the light clustered pillars supporting the richly groined ceiling, form a beautiful architectural vista, ter- minated by a range of large windows, filled with stained glass, in the Lady ChapeL At the eastern end of the Cathedral choir, above the altar, is a window divided into many lights by mullions and branching ribs of varied tracery, also containing stained glass ; the heads of the arches to the bays, or grand divisions, are adorned WELLS CATHEDRAL. b5 with splendid canopies radiant with colour, and disposed suitably to the architectural design of the several compartments of the window. On the southern side of the chancel is a beautiful monumental chapel of Bishop Beckington, who died in 1405 ; it occupies the space beneath one of the arches of the choir, a richly ornamented canopy forming the roof, the ceiling of which is adorned with pendents, terminating in small bosses, delicately wrought. Amidst all this rich decoration the bishop is represented in alabaster, in pontificalibus, upon a large slab ; beneath this figure, laying in state, is another effigy, in stone, of a cadaver, or emaciated body, such as is not very uncommon on tombs of ecclesiastics, although it is rarely seen on monuments of the nobility. The slab is sup- ported by small pillars and arches, forming a canopy to the cadaver below. Thomas Chandler, who was chancellor of this diocese, wrote a life of William of Wykeham and dialogues in his praise, addressed to Beckington, and describes this bishop as the most elegant man of his time, and says that he was possessed of nearly every virtue which adorns human nature. Beckington is said to have materially increased his fame by a very learned treatise on the Salique Law, which is now extant : his high reputation recommended him to Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, his patron, to whom he held the office of chancellor, and it is probable that he was indebted to that prince for the appointment of tutor to King Henry VI. In the year 1443 he was also appointed keeper of the privy seal, but seems to have resigned that office in the ensuing year. His long services were at length rewarded by the wealthy bishopric of Bath and Wells being conferred upon him in September, 1443, and he was consecrated in the king’s new college of Eton by the Bishop of Lincoln, assisted by the bishops of Salisbury and Llandaff, on the 13th of October, on which day the chapel of the college was hal- lowed, and he sang mass in the same. Bishop Beckington must have been then nearly sixty years old, and whether from the advanced state of his age, or in consequence of the loss of his patron, the duke of Gloucester, or from a desire to die bishop of this diocese, in which he was born, an ambition neither extra- ordinary in its nature, nor of unfrequent occurrence, he was never 96 WELLS CATHEDRAL translated, but continued bishop of Bath and Wells until his decease. 20 Between the two easternmost pillars on the same side of the choir is a monument of Bishop Still, who died in 1607, erected to his memory by his eldest son Nathaniel, with an epitaph by Camden. This prelate was long the reputed author of “ Gammer Gurton’s Needle,” the first English comedy, but which appears to have been originally printed in 1551, when he was no more than eight years of age. In the northern aisle of the choir are three ancient tombs, respectively assigned to Bishops Brithelm, Kinewald, and Alwyn; the first of whom died in the year 973, the second in 976, and the last A.D. 1000; but they are all seemingly of subsequent date to the building of the present church. At the back of the stalls, under the third arch of the choir on the same side, is a tomb ascribed to Bishop Giso, who died in 1008, but it must be considered as doubtful. Near the second pillar westward from the back of the choir is a defaced monument of Bishop Ralph Shrewsbury, who died in 1363 ; it originally stood within the choir, but was removed about the time of the Reformation. 21 Between the two next pillars is a monument in memory of Bishop Richard Kidder, D.D., who, together with his lady, was killed in his bed by the fall of a chimney stack in the episcopal palace, during a violent storm on the night of the 26th of November, 1703. This monument was erected by the bishop’s daughter, who is represented by a figure reclining on an altar, and contemplating the urns supposed to contain the ashes of her parents. At the western end of the southern aisle are three episcopal effigies of very early execution, which are said to represent Bishops Burwold, Ethelwyn, and Brithwyn ; the first of whom died A.D. 20 Life prefixed to tlie Journal of Bishop Bcckington, 1442. 21 Bishop Ralph Shrewsbury granted to the prior of the hospital of St. John, in the city of Wells, and the friars of that house, in 1350, all the lands and tenements whereof he had been enfeoffed by William de Luttleton, William do Bath, and William de Bur- wardslcy, to the end that they should pay a stipend of six marks sterling per annum to a chaplain to say mass at the altar of Saint Martin, in the Cathedral Church of Wells, for the good estate of the said bishop while living, and for his soul after his decease ; and also for tho soul of John de Somerton, formerly abbot of Muchelney, and the souls of all his successors in that convent .— Collinson's History of Somersetshire, vol. iii. p. 402, WELLS CATHEDRAL. 07 1000, and the two latter, A.D. 1026. It lias been observed by- more than one writer on the subject, that sculptured figures of the thirteenth century are superior to similar performances of the two succeeding centuries : from this circumstance a conclusion arises, in direct opposition to the assertion that English art was derived from France or Italy. Had that been the case, the same gradation as in the workmanship of the parent schools would have been apparent : yet the custom of carving a figure of the deceased in bas relief on the tomb, seems likely to have been brought from France, where it was continued in imitation of the Romans. Nearly opposite the tomb assigned to Bishop Burwold is that of Bishop John Harewell, chancellor of Gascony and chaplain to Edward the Black Prince, who died in 1386, and was buried before the altar of St. Calixtus. His effigy of alabaster has been much defaced ; the bishop’s mitre is curiously decorated, but the head of the crosier, generally of rich workmanship, is gone. The monument of Bishop William Bitton, the second bishop of Wells of that name, is placed at the back of the cathedral choir, between the second and third pillars from the west. He died in the year 1374. The tomb consists of a marble slab, on which is sculptured an episcopal figure in high relief, and in the act of conferring benediction. 23 Angels, with censers, performing the service of Acolytes, fill the spandrils of the ornamented niche in which this bishop is enshrined. At the eastern end of the church towards the Lady Chapel is a small transept, on the north called St. John’s Chapel, in which is a monument erected in memory of Bishop Gilbert Berkeley, who died in the year 1581. He was very rich, but, adds Sir John Harrington, “ neither church nor the poor were the better for it.”" 3 On the eastern side of the same chapel is a monument and 52 It was an ancient custom for the bishop, before he received the eucharist in the sacrifice of the mass, to bless the people in a form of prayer appropriate to the feast of the day. This solemn observation was made on the fraction of the host, and as that was the time at which a blessing was asked for the living, so also it was the special moment when on the day of hurial the deceased was prayed for by name. This blessing was given originally by the imposition of hands, but, at a later age, that ceremony was disused, and the sign of the cross alone accompanied the benediction of the people. See a very interesting dissertation by John Gage, Esq., on St. iEthelwold’s Benedictional, an illuminated M.S. of the tenth century, in the library of his Grace the Duke of Devonshire. — Arc/usologicc, vol. 24. 28 Nugcc Antiques. VOL. I. O 9S WELLS CATHEDRAL, effigy of Bishop Robert Crichton, who had been in exile with King Charles II. at the Hague, as one of the chaplains to his majesty. He died on the 21st of November, 1672, cet. 78. On his monument are the arms of the see of "Wells combined with those of Bath. The arms now used by the bishops of Bath and Wells, it is needless to say, are the arms of the see of Wells alone. Near this monument is an altar tomb, with a cumbent figure of a priest represented in his canonicals, said to be in memory of Dean Forest, who died in 1446 ; and some mural tablets of members of the Brydges family, formerly of Wells. In that part of the small southern transept called St. Katherine’s Chapel is a monument attributed to Bishop William Bitton, who died in the year 1264, the first bishop of Wells of that name, and is said to have been buried in the chapel of the Virgin Mary. His tomb has since been removed, and to what part is doubtful. The episcopal figure is much mutilated, but had formerly been painted/ 4 Eastward of this ancient tomb, in the Lady Chapel, is a very light and elegant specimen of monumental architecture, erected to commemorate Bishop John Drokensford, keeper of the king’s ward- robe and privy-seal, and under-treasurer of the royal exchequer. This bishop of Wells died at Dogmersfield, in Hampshire, on the 13th of May, 1329. The altar tomb is surmounted by a canopy, consisting of eight buttresses, carried up in small pinnacles, and supporting intermediate highly pointed gables, the crocheted ridges of Avhich terminate in ornamental finials ; but there is neither effigy nor inscription. Bishop Drokensforcl’s chantry was endowed in the year 1328 Avith ten pounds, payable yearly to three chaplains, out of the manor of Middleton and the church of BerroAV, near South Brent, in Somersetshire. The AvindoAVS of the Lady Chapel are of painted, cr rather stained glass, and produce a most beautiful effect Avheii casting their brilliant hues on the fine architectural forms in this part of the Cathedral ; but through lapse of time, neglect, and spoliation, the AvindoAVS had become mutilated, and the pieces Avhich composed 54 This bishop appears to have been not inattentive to the worldly interests of his family, many of whom were in the church. William, his brother’s son, was made archdeacon of Wells, and became afterwards bishop. Richard Bitton was preeen- or ; Nicholas, the bishop’s brother, was treasurer ; John Bitton, another brother, was rector of Ashbury, in which he was succeeded by Thomas Bitton, There was also Thomas Bitton, dean of Wells, Avho was appointed bishop of Exeter, in 1291, WELL3 CATHIE BJEA1L , CHAPEL. WliLLS CAT II ED UAL. 99 the lights have been so ill-assorted, apparently without attempt at arrangement, that it is barely possible to describe or even trace the subjects represented . 25 Painted windows were frequently presented by wealthy and pious benefactors to Cathedrals and other churches ; in the early ages this custom was very prevalent ; the designs of the large windows very commonly exhibited pictorial legends or histories of saints and martyrs, of which a very remark- able specimen of beautiful execution remains in the windows at St. Neot’s in Cornwall, and which were lately restored at considerable expense by the patron of that church. It has been suggested that the use of stained glass made the mullions essential in the subdivision of the lights ; it is not improbable that it contributed to multiply these ramifications, by which means the various stainings were shown to better advantage, and different stories and figures would necessarily require separate compartments . 26 In the Lady Chapel is an ancient reader’s desk, or lettern, as it was called from the Latin word lectorium ; it is entirely of brass, and is tastefully formed, having ornamental brackets to hold the lights . 27 The conventual cloisters on the southern side of the church were chiefly the work of Bishop Bubwith, who presided over the diocese of Bath and Wells in the reigns of Henry IV., V., and VI. This prelate, according to Leland’s account, in his Itinerary , made the whole eastern part of the cloister, with a little chapel beneath, and 25 la the -windows were these arms, viz. 1. The see of Wells; 2. The see or priory of Bath ; 3. Both impaled after the union of the sees ; 4. The same, quarterly; 5. The deanery of Wells; 6. Edward the Confessor; 7. France and England, quarterly; 8. Bishop Harewell ; 9. Bishop Knight; 10. Bishop Beekington ; 11. Skirlaw; 12. Lake; 13. Laud; 14. Pierce; 15. Cornish; 16. Swan; 17. Sugar; 18. Forest; with many others, now mostly defaced — Collinsoris History of Somersetshire, vol. iii. p. 401. 25 In a window of the chevet, behind the high altar of the Abbey of St» Denis, near Paris, were formerly ten circular pieces of painted glass, representing the first Crusade, put up at the expense of Abbot Sugar, prime minister of Louis VII., king of France, contemporary with our kings Henry I. and Stephen of England, and in one there was the portrait of the Abbot himself. They are all engraved in Montfaucon’s great work, the “Munumens de la Monarchic Francoise,” published between the years 1729 and 1733, when they most probably were in existence, but they appear to have been des- troyed during the great Revolution in France in 1790. 27 The following extract from Tindal's History of the Abbey of Evesham, will explain the use of the lettern at an early period : — “ Thomas de Malbcrge, sacrist of the abbey, during the time of King Henry III., made a reading desk, about the year 1216, behind the choir, which the church had not before, and appointed stated readings to be held near the tomb of St. Wilsius.” 100 WELLS CATHEDIIAL. a great library over it, having twenty-five windows on each side. The western side of the cloisters was erected at the expense of the munificent Beckington, together with what, in the language of that time, was a goodly school, the schoolmaster’s lodgings, and an exchequer over it, having twenty-five windows towards the area. The same prelate also began to build the southern side of the cloisters, hut Thomas Henry, who was treasurer of Wells and archdeacon of Cornwall, finished the structure, strictly adhering to the style and execution of the original work. The northern side is bounded by the southern wall of the church, and there is no am- bulatory or other building on that side. Towards the area the arches of the cloister are supported by a series of graduated buttresses, between every two of which is a mullioned window, the tracery of which is disposed with taste. In the central area is the ancient lavatory, or bath of the monks, a fine specimen of one of the accommodations of conventual arrangement ; the water is walled round, but it is open at the top, and a pointed archway door affords admittance to a descent to three or four steps ; on one side is a square recess or ambrey, for keeping the linen used in washing, and the water is constantly running under an arch at the farthest end, whence it afterwards passes through the city . 29 Over the eastern cloister and communicating with the southern transept by a staircase in the buttress is a long room, forming an ante-room to the library, one of the most ancient book rooms in the kingdom ; it is well garnished with old folios, chiefly, it is believed, on divinity : the cases are all coeval with the room, and are exceed- ingly curious, although rude in their construction . 20 In the northern aisle of the choir, immediately eastward of the transept, is an entrance to an arcade leading to the crypt of the 28 There is an etching of this yery curious, and it is believed, unique accompani- ment to the conventual cloister in Carter's Ancient Architecture of England. 29 Every monastery in the kingdom had such an apartment, called a scriptorum, ■where their music and their missals were multiplied by means of copying, a practice of very ancient use. It is slated that Alexander, bishop of J erusalem, in the early part of the third century after Christ, built a library there, for the purpose of pre- serving the epistles of learned ecclesiastics, written one to another, and also their commentaries on the Holy Scriptures. Origen, an illustrious father of the church, was assisted in writing his admirable works by more than seven notaries appointed for his use, who, every one in his turn, wrote that which he uttered, and as many more scriveners, together with maidens, well exercised and practised in penning, who were to write copies.— Savage’s Librarian, WW WL.S-5 €AT®!E3DB.AlId . TO THE CRYPT. RAN WELLS CATHEDRAL. 101 chapter house: 30 this part of the Cathedral, it is generally stated, was erected in the time of Bishop de la March, a great favourite with King Edward I., who was treasurer of England at the time of his appointment to this see, in the year 1293. The chapter house is octangular upon the plan, and is about fifty-three feet in diameter. At the angles are elegantly-formed buttresses, presenting a salient angle, instead of the usual flat surface in front, and perforated for water spouts, which are conducted through the open mouths of lions, and are terminated with crocheted pinnacles ; the whole space between each support of the structure, excepting on the side next to the church, being occupied by large and beautiful mullioned windows admitting vast light into the interior. An open parapet surrounds the upper part. The ancient sacristy or crypt, an arched room forming the base- ment of the chapter house, is exceedingly curious in its architectural detail ; the vaulting is about fifteen feet in height. The immense groins or ribs of the arches all verge towards a central octagonal pier, to which, on its several faces, are attached slender cylindrical shafts, having very large capitals and bases. From these shafts the ribs take their spring, and centre in eight other pillars of a massive character, with large moulded capitals, hence the arches, all of the pointed style, are carried to small shafts connected with the outer walls of the edifice ; the effect of this disposition of the pillars in the vaulting produces a great variety of perspective and a pleasing degree of intricacy in the vieAv from any part of the room. -In this crypt or sacristy is a very curious old record chest of oak, strongly bound with iron ; and formerly there hung from the ceiling a very singular and ancient wooden lantern, which has been removed to the bishop’s palace. One of the peculiarities of Wells Cathedral is the approach to the chapter room, immediately above the crypt, and the floor of which is about twenty feet above the pavement in the northern aisle of the church. The access is accomplished by a noble flight of stone steps of considerable width, which after being turned eastward towards the chapter room, are continued up to the still higher level of the glazed loft or gallery of communication with the 30 The usual approach to the conventual chapter house wasfrom the cloisters. "Wells is believed to afford a singular instance of deviation from that arrangement. 102 WELLS CATHEDRAL. vicars close, a building which occupies a large space of ground oil the northern side of the Cathedral, and was built for the accom- modation of the choral members of the church . 31 There is scarcely any edifice of the kind in the whole kingdom more worthy of attention than the chapter house of Wells . 33 The octagonal form which has been adopted for the ground plan is extremely beautiful, and its elaborate style of decoration is no less calculated to display its architectural design to the greatest advantage. This building, the work of an architect of high and cultivated taste, appears to have been commenced in the reign of Edward I. According to Bishop Godwyn , 33 the chapter house, denominated a “ stately and sumptuous work,” was built in the time of Bishop de la March, treasurer of England, in that king’s reign ; but the expense, we are informed, was defrayed by the contributions of well-disposed people. Its erection was most probably carried on during the succeeding reigns of Edward II. and Edward III., but there is no record which evinces the date of its completion. The earlier style of architecture is most con- spicuous in the crypt or sacristy, beneath the magnificent chapter room ; the insulated cluster of shafts, in the centre of the chamber, rest on a broad plinth of solid masonry, and are about twenty feet in height ; all the capitals of the pillars which form the cluster are enriched with sculptured foliage in excellent taste. Hence the numerous ribs of the groined ceiling take their spring, and diverge into a variety of tracery, the creation of a richly furnished fancy. These ribs are entirely carved into extremely light conjoined mouldings, or members, which spread over the whole roof, pro- ducing a delightful effect, and are ornamented at every transverse intersection by a sculptured knot of wreathed leaves. The S1 Mr. Dallaway overlooked this instance, when he says that the chapter houses are always appreached from the cloisters. — Discourses , p. 199, 32 The chapter house of Southwell Minster, in Nottinghamshire, is almost of equal interest, and was erected about the same period. It is beautifully light and graceful in its enrichments ; around this room are stalls for sixteen prebenda- ries, and the prior of Tkurgarton also claimed a right to a stall. Southwell Church contains the monuments of live archbishops of York. The chapter houses at York, Lincoln, and Salisbury, are all built upon the same octagonal plan as that of 'Wells, but York is without the central pillar; Lincoln is the largest, but was equalled iu size by that of Westminster. In the last the parliament of England frequently sat, but it is now used for the deposition of public records, and is divided into two stories, 33 Catalogue of the Bishops of England. Brawn "by H Garland. for Wrn'kl e.'? s . Catlie dials . Engraved. WT. TunibrilL WEKaEdS CAMSIIAIL. CHAPTER HOUSE . WELLS CATHEDRAL. 103 plinth, or base of the outer walls is disposed in a continued seat appropriated to a series of fifty-one stalls, respectively belonging to the dean and prebendaries of the Cathedral, who constitute the chapter of the bishop. The stone canopies of the stalls at the back of the seat rise more than ten feet to the sill of the surrounding windows, and the whole height of this beautiful room, from the pavement to the soffit of the arch of the ceiling, is more than forty feet. The large windows of the chapter house are divided by mullions into four lights or openings of equal height, but without transoms or cross divisions, and the headings of the pointed arches are disposed in three circles of different sizes, the central circles being much the largest. The light admitted by these ample windows was doubtless originally tempered by variegated quarries of stained glass, in very general use at the time of the completion of this building. The grandeur of the room was necessarily increased in proportion to the absence of glare, the stained glass of the windows must have reflected a sombre lustre on the highly ornamental architecture, while the various colours diffused over the room formed a happy contrast with the gray tint of the walls, giving an air of solemnity to its whole aspect. In its present state there are few parts of the Cathedral arrangement that more forcibly interest the visitor. The vicars close or college, northward of the chapter house, is a connected range of building in perfect unison with the Cathedral, surrounding a spacious court yard ; this edifice is remarkable as a specimen of architectural taste, being extremely well adapted to the character of its situation. At the southern end of the court, nearest to the Cathedral, is a dining hall, with a buttery and other conveniences suitable to the purposes of the college. The portal or entrance into the close is upon the south, and at the northern extremity of the court, is the usual appendage of a chapel, with a small library over it, for the use of the vicars ; between these two buildings, which are not without architectural decoration, are twenty dwelling houses ranged on either side of the court, and corresponding in style and character with the hall and chapel at the extremities of the quadrangle. This close almost rivals the celebrated foundation of Cardinal Beaufort, at the village of St, 104 WELLS CATHEDRAL. Cross, near the city of Winchester, or that of St. Katherine’s Hospital, founded by Eleanor of Provence, queen of Iienry III. It owes its institution and endowment to Walter de Hull, archdeacon of Bath, and one of the canons of this Cathedral, who granted messuages and land in the city of Wells for the purpose of pro- viding a residence for thirteen chantry priests, who officiated in the Cathedral. For the better regulation of these chaplains, Bishop Shrewsbury, in the year 1347, made certain statutes, and the very next year proceeded with his improvement of the original plan by erecting a new college for the better accommodation of the vicars and choristers, adding considerably at the same time to its endowments. The vicars choral, in this church, were first appointed in the year 1237 by Bishop Joceline de Wells, who ordained one to every canon or prebendary, to supply their turns in chanting and celebrating divine service. The vicars college or close of the vicars choral of this Cathedral was afterwards much augmented by Bishop Becldngton, who is sometimes called the founder. At the Reformation this institution escaped in a great measure the general suppression of religious societies ; Queen Elizabeth, in 1591, refounded it, and by charter appointed the number of members to be not less than fourteen, nor more than twenty ; but the institution has been much injured and diverted from its original purpose. Upon the wall, over a door leading to the hall steps, was formerly a picture representing the vicars kneeling before the bishop, and addressing him in that humble posture. The vicars, after their re-establish- ment by Queen Elizabeth, placed another picture in their dining hall, commemorative of the enlarger and refounder of their college. In the windows of this hall is yet remaining the name of Pomroy, one of the benefactors to the college ; and on the mantle-piece of the same room is a carved scroll, bearing this inscription : — In bcstris . prcctlnts . Ijakcaits . com menba turn . Domtnum . Hitcum '• pomroy . quem - salbct . i&cus. &men. On the houses are the arms of the see of Bath and Wells, the arms and device of Bishop Becldngton, and those of his three executors, Hugh. Sugar, his chancellor, John Pope, a canon, and llichard Swan, provost of the church of Wells. ■ ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL, The diocese of Rochester, the smallest of any in England, is situated in the western division of the county of Kent, and is separated from that of Canterbury chiefly by the Medway ; but there are several parishes belonging to this see eastward of that river, its natural boundary being the Theyse or Teise, a small stream, which, after taking its course through the villages of Hun- . ton and Gillingham, falls into the Medway at Y aiding. A bishopric, with a college of secular priests, was founded at Rochester in the reign of Ethelbert, the Anglo-Saxon king of Kent, soon after Augustine the monk had landed in the isle of Thanet, and preached the gospel at Canterbury. The college was endowed with land, southward of the city, appropriately named Priestfield, but its revenue was small. A church was begun to be erected, A. D. 600, and was finished four years afterwards, when it was dedicated to the honour of God and the Apostle St. Andrew. 1 Rochester was almost destroyed in the year 676. by Ethelbert, king of Mercia, and the city suffered greatly during the invasions of England by the Danes in the ninth century ; but it appears to have recovered its importance in the reign of Athelstan, when there were three mint masters, two who superintended the king’s coinage, and one who superintended that of the bishop. The Cathedral Church, which was one of the earliest built in England after the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons, had become dilapidated in the reign of William the Conqueror. 2 1 King Ethelbert’s church was dedicated to St. Andrew, out of respect to the monastery of St. Andrew, at Home, whence Augustine and the other monts were sent by Pope Gregory to convert the Anglo-Saxons. See page 17 ante. St. Andrew suffered martyrdom, A.D. 69, at Patrce, in Achaia, by having been fastened with cords to a cross, composed of two pieces of timber crossing each other, in the form of the letter X. The relics of the Apostle were carried to Scotland by St, Rule, A.D. 369, and were deposited in a church built in honour of him where now the city of St. Andrew stands, and part of the cross was carried to Brussels by Philip the Good, who, in honour of it, instituted the order of the Golden Fleece, which bears for a badge St. Andrew’s cross, or the cross of Burgundy. 2 Agreeably to received usage, "William of Normandy is called the Conqueror, but it s believed there is not a single instance in the whole of Doomsday Book, one of the principal records of England, to sanction such a title. It is there uniformly stated Tost quam Rex unit in Angliam — since the king arrived in England — see Ilenshall’s Doomsday, 4to, 1799. VOL. I. P 106 ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL. Gundulf, a monk of tlae royal abbey of Bee, near Uouen in Normandy, was consecrated bishop of Rochester, by Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, on March 19, 1077. He was a prelate, not so much distinguished for his eminence in learning, as for his remarkable industry and unwearied zeal in promoting the interest of the church. Bishop Gundulf removed the secular canons from the priory of St. Andrew, and replaced them with monks of the Benedictine order. He at the same time conveyed to them part of the estates belonging to the see. Out of these manors the bishop reserved to himself and his successors a right to certain articles of provision, to be delivered annually at the bishop’s palace, on the festival of St. Andrew, under the name of senium, or a token of hospitality. 3 The claims of the bishops to the xenium were often contested by the monks, and afterwards the bishops consented to receive a composition in money instead of the provisions in kind, the corn being always estimated at the current price. Bishop Gundulf, by the assistance of his patron. Archbishop Lanfranc, acquired money enough to rebuild his Cathedral Church and enlarge the priory, and, although he did not live to complete the entire work he had undertaken, he laid the foundation of the future prosperity of his see. The present church, like most of the very ancient ecclesiastical edifices, is in its plan an improvement on the Basilicas of Rome, and is built in the real form of the cross of Christ, with a massive square tower at the point of intersection. 4 The interior space westward of the cross, on the plan, was the 3 The record is printed in Registrum Roffense, a collection of ancient charters neces- sary for illustrating the ecclesiastical history and antiquities of the Diocese and Cathe- dral Church of Rochester, by John Thorpe, London, 1769, fol. 4 Mr. Hope, in chapter 22 of his elegant work on architecture, has denominated our early architecture Lombard, as expressing the place in which this system of Latin church architecture was first matured. lie adopts it in preference not only to that of Saxon, first given to it in England, but equally in preference to that of Norman, subsequently conferred upon it, which only describes the least and most circumscribed continental province whence this architecture was more proximately wafted to the British shore. In Lombardy, says Mr. Hope, the crossing of the nave and transepts generally rises into an octagonal cupola ; this we see likewise in France and Germany. In England, the church built in the seventh century by St. Wilfrid, at Hexham in Northumberland, is described by Richard, its prior, as being furnished with a round tower or cupola, from which proceeded four aisles; and West Dereham Church, in Norfolk, still offers an octagonal tower or cupola. m©cmm§iriEi& CA^HlSlomAIL REFERENCE. A-Naye and cosies B_ Wes terh. Transep t C — Choir J)_ Chancel E_ Eos tan Transept 1C —Chapel used as the Consistory Court (r—StJEdrrmnds CluypeL \\ -Minor Cano nr Vestry I -Stairs to Crypt I£ -Gunchdphs Tower L -Yard M -Chapter Room PRINCIPAL MONUMENTS. 1 Ihslujp Glan.vdlrs Tom I Z_ Bishop Lawrences DC - N Bishop GunJj/Jphs DC / . Bishop Inplethorps DC ° % I Tomjbs of thr y j Le Warner family 8 - John de Shrppy 9- Waller dr Merton 10- Si William R.BisnopJowe 12 .Homo dr Hvthr 13 - John de BradPrU J/flL ord John Uennz/cer Id. Dame JlenmJJcer Drawn, jj R, Garland . for "VVmkles'a Cathedrals. "by 3.1V S cale of Feet . ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL. 107 nave, or body of the church, which, by the apostolical constitutions, represented the ship of St. Peter, and preserved its name. 5 1 his part of our Cathedral Churches seldom fails to produce a sublime effect by the simple grandeur of its outline and general amplitude of dimensions ; the space eastward of the cross, called the choir, in allusion to the choral service performed in it, is in the earliest edifices disproportionately short. The transept, a part of the church shorter than the nave, and running north and south on the plan, is fre- quently called the cross ; it will be observed that the choir does not extend to the outer walls, but is situated between the piers, and the aisles serve as passages to the Lady Chapel, almost always erected eastward of the high altar. The aisles of the transept are generally separated into distinct chapels by ornamental screens. The prin- cipal part of the nave of Rochester Cathedral, an interesting speci- men of Anglo-Norman architecture, is supposed to have been built by Bishop Gundulf, one of the most celebrated men of his time ; amongst the prelates of the early Norman reigns were many pos- sessed of consummate shill in architecture, which, aided by their munificence, was applied to the rebuilding of their Cathedral Churches. 6 The nave of Rochester is more ancient than that of any Cathedral in the kingdom, and still retains most of the peculiar features of the style in which it was originally built. The alter- ations by which the appearance has been most affected are the enlarging of the western window and the raising of the roof. 7 Bishop Gundulf removed the remains of his predecessors who had been buried in the old church into some part of his new fabric, which he caused to be completed for that purpose. He enclosed 5 Hope's Historical Essay on Architecture, 1835, p. 88. 6 No less than fifteen of the twenty -two English Cathedrals still retain considerable parts, which are undoubtedly of Norman erection, the several dates of which are ascer- tained. "With equal extent and magnificence many of the churches belonging to the greater abbeys were constructed in this era. Few indeed have escaped their general demolition at the Reformation. — Baliaway' s Discourses on Architecture , pp. 32 and 35. 7 Bishop Gundulf’ s chapel, in the white tower of London, affords perhaps the only instance of an Anglo-Norman building covered by the original vaulting. This chapel, fifty feet by forty in dimension, with aisles separated by an arcade, occupies the entire space from the second floor to the roof ; the vaulting of its centre is semicircular, coved at the eastern end, hut the impress of the frame-work or centering was either carefully avoided in the erection or was afterwards chiselled or nibbed down. This chapel, one of the finest and most perfect specimens of the Norman style of architecture now ex- tant in this country, was dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, and is now used as a record office. 108 ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL. tlie remains of Paulinus, the third bishop of this see, for whom he procured canonization, in a shrine of silver, at the expense of Archbishop Lanfranc : the number of rich offerings subsequently made at this shrine proved a fund of wealth to the church and monastery. St. Ithamar, the first English bishop of this see, died A.D. 655 : his remains were afterwards enshrined in the new church by Bishop John, about the year 1130, and the priory con- tained a legend of his miracles. Gundulf exchanged with Odo, bishop of Bayeaux and earl of Kent, some church land for three acres without the southern wall of the city of Rochester. Earl Odo is also said to have granted to the monks ground for a vineyard, the same which is now called “ The Vines.” By several charters it appears that the monks had a vineyard thereabouts. 8 King William the Conqueror, at his death, is said* to have given one hundred pounds and his royal robe to the Cathedral Church of Rochester as a proof of his regard for Bishop Gundulf, who, being of great celebrity as an architect, had been employed by the king in directing the buildings in the tower of London. When King William Rufus ascended the throne. Bishop Gun- dulf obtained several grants in favour of the church of Rochester, and from that king’s successor, Henry I., he procured many privi- leges for the monks of St. Andrew’s priory. In the grant of a fair to the city, held on the festival of St. Paulinus, the monks had per- mission to vend their merchandize after the king and his servants. Amongst other munificent acts. Bishop Gundulf founded an hospital at Chatham, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, an endowment still existing under the patronage of the dean and chapter of the Cathedral. He also founded and endowed a nunnery at Mailing, near Maidstone, the remains of which building attest its Anglo- Norman origin. The bishop also repaired the castle-walls of 8 In some of the old leases there is mention of considerable quantities of blackberries delivered by the tenants of the bishop, which wore used to colour the wine made from grapes growing in this vineyard. In parts of the weald of Kent the vine still grows wild in the hedges, and evidence of the vine having formerly flourished in England, is found in many names of places, as the Vineyard, near Gloucester, and the Vineyard, in Herefordshire, although it has been maintained that the vineyards of England were the apple orchards, and the wine, cider. The whole process of planting, pruning, stamping and pressing of vines, was represented in an ancient stained glass window, formerly in n house at Chilsvcll, near Nottingham, ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL. 109 Rochester and founded the tower which bears his name, one of the finest remains of antiquity in the kingdom. From a comparison of this tower and the keep of the tower of London, also built by him, with those of earlier construction, Gundulf is considered to have invented that description of castle architecture in which the lofty artificial mound was not deemed essential. The towers erected by Gundulf are very lofty, and contain four separate floors, the portal or entrance being many feet above the ground. His great merit consisted in various architectural stratagems, by which as much security was given to his towers as by real strength. 9 Rochester castle is interesting from its extent and the great preservation of its walls, the masonry of which is very good. King James I., in the year 1610, granted this castle to Sir Anthony Weldon, of Swanscombe, whose descendants have demolished the interior for the sake of the timber, but the walls defy destruction. Bishop Gundulf, after having held the see of Rochester thirty- two years, during the reigns of William I. and II. and Henry I., died on the 7th of March, 1107, and was buried before the high altar in his own Cathedral. Radulf, his successor, being appointed archbishop of Canterbury in 1114, Ernulf, abbot of Peterborough, was advanced to the see of Rochester. This bishop also was an architect, and erected the chapter houses both of Peterborough and Rochester. He Avas a great benefactor to the priory of St. Andrew, and built the refectory and dormitory of the convent. Bishop Ernulf is supposed to have been the author of “ Textus Roffensis,” a manuscript relating to the early history of his Cathedral. He died in the year 1124. The Cathedral of Rochester was entirely completed during the prelacy of his successor John, archdeacon of Canterbury, who was advanced to this see in 1125. The dedication of the church was celebrated on Ascension Day, the 7th of May, 1130, in the presence of King Henry I., many of the nobility and principal dignitaries of the church, including the archbishop of Canterbury, eleven English and two Nonnan bishops. 10 During the ceremony a dreadful fire 0 Rickman’s Discrimination of Styles in Architecture, p. 187, and Dallaway’s Discourses, p. 274-. 10 Bishop John, who built the church of Frindsbury, about two miles northward from this city, granted it to the Cathedral, for the purpose of supplying the was tapers, which burnt continually on the high altar. 110 ROCHESTER CATHEDRAE. "broke out in the city, and the new church was seriously damaged. A similar fate befell it in the year 1137, and again in 1379. In the year 1185, the thirty-second of the reign of Henry III., Gilbert Glanville, who had been archdeacon of Liseux, in Nor- mandy, was appointed bishop of Rochester. He was a patron of architecture, and besides building the palace, he rebuilt the cloisters of the monks with stone, and provided an organ for the church. The bishop, in 1197, exchanged Lambeth, in Surrey, then the pro- perty of this see, with Hubert "Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, reserving out of the exchange a part of the land, on which he erected Rochester-place, a mansion fit for the reception of the bishops of Rochester whenever they came to attend parliament. 11 Bishop Glanville for many years was involved in a controversy with the prior and monks of the convent, and during this period, it is stated, that the silver plates covering the shrine of St. Paulinus were converted by the monks into money ; they were, however, at last compelled to submit to their diocesan. These disputes con- siderably retarded the progress of the reconstruction of those parts of the Cathedral Church which had been destroyed by the fire. The choir rebuilt under the direction of William de Hoo the sacrist, was first used at the consecration of Bishop Sandford, on the 9th ofMay, 1227. All the eastern part of the church is recorded to have been rebuilt with the large gifts bestowed at the shrine of St. William of Perth, an alleged martyr, whose canonization was procured by Bishop Lawrence de St. Martin ; his body was then removed from the choir, where it had been originally buried, to the northern transept, and a rich shrine erected to his memory. This device procured a fund of wealth to the church, which continued productive for almost three hundred years. Hamo de ITythe, prior of the convent of St. Andrew, who had been chaplain to his predecessor, Bishop Woldam, was appointed bishop of Rochester in the year 1316, but he was obliged to wait two years and a half before his consecration, which was not performed till 1319. This prelate was confessor to king Edward II., and a 11 Stangate stairs, at Lambeth, were constructed by Bishop Shepey, in 1357, for the convenience of himself and retinue in crossing the Thames to Westminster. The last bishops of Rochester who resided at Lambeth, were Bishops Fisher and Hilsley. The palace afterwards fell into the hands of King Ilcnry VIII., who exchanged it with the bishop of Carlisle for certain houses in the Strand. ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL. Ill very great benefactor to the Cathedral. In the year 1343, in con- junction with Prior Shepey, who was afterwards bishop, he caused the massive central tower of the church to be raised higher and covered with lead. Four new bells were at the same time placed in the tower, which were named Dunstan, Paulin, Ithamar, and Lanfranc. Bishop IPamo de Hythe also rebuilt the shrines of St. Michael, St. Paul, and St. Ithamar, of marble and alabaster, to contain their sacred relics ; and presented to the church a magni- ficent mitre, which had once belonged to Archbishop a, Beckett. He rebuilt the refectory of the convent, and a mansion at Trottes- cliff, or Trosley, one of the bishop’s palaces near Maidstone. The great hall of the episcopal palace at Hailing was also erected by Bishop Hamo de Hythe. 12 In the year 1326, as King Edward II. was returning from Leeds castle, then the seat of Lord Badlesmere, steward of the royal household, he was met by the bishop of Rochester, near Boxley, who, after attending the king to his palace at Rochester, conducted the sovereign part of the way towards Gravesend. At the dissolution of religious houses, the priory of St. Andrew, at Rochester, was surrendered in 1542 to the king; and by a new charter, granted in June, 1542, the church, with part of the estates of the dissolved priory and other possessions, were vested for ever in a new establishment, consisting of a dean, six prebendaries, six minor canons, a deacon, sub-deacon, six lay clerks, eight choristers, with a master and grammar master, twenty scholars, two subsacrists, and six bedesmen. The last prior, Walter de Boxley, was appointed the first dean after the granting of the charter. The precincts of the Cathedral appear to have formerly occupied nearly half the area within the walls of the city. There were three gates leading into this liberty ; the cemetery gate which opened from the Market Cross upon the western front of the church ; St. William’s gate led from the High-street to the porch on the northern front of the transept; and the prior’s gate towards the vineyard, on the southern side of the church. The only part of the conventual buildings now remaining are the porter’s lodge, and fragments of walls wrought up in other edifices. The site of the bishop’s palace, which had been rebuilt by Bishop Lowe, in the 12 A gatehouse and considerable remains of the hall and chapel arc yet standing ; it is situated on the banks of the Medway, about four miles from Rochester, 113 ROCHESTER, CATHEDRAL. year 1459, is now occupied by a row of bouses. The deanery is situated where the prior’s lodging formerly stood, with its gardens extending south-eastward. The Cathedral of Rochester, like every other in the kingdom, suffered much injury at the time of the Reformation, in consequence of the rage which then prevailed for destroying everything deco- rated with a cross. To such an extent was it carried that Queen Elizabeth, in the second year of her reign, found it necessary to issue a proclamation against persons guilty jof the offence, and to give greater weight to her determination, signed each copy with her own autograph. 13 The fury of the popular party during the civil war, was extended to this Cathedral, although it certainly suffered less from their unreasonable bigotry, than some other sacred edifices. 14 The altar was then removed into a lower part of the church, and its enclosure broken down. The choir was repaired in the year 1743, at which time the pavement was relaid with Bremen and Portland stone alternately disposed. The stalls for the dean and prebendaries were recon- structed, and the bishop’s throne was erected at the expense of Bishop Wilcocks, who had been one of the chaplains in ordinary of King George I., and preceptor to the young princesses, daughters of the prince of Wales, afterwards King George II. 15 An exten- sive repair was commenced in the year 1837, and conducted under the direction of Mr. Cottingham, from funds supplied wholly by the dean and chapter ; a more careful and attentive architect could not have been selected, as the result has amply proved in a more correct restoration of the architectural peculiarities of this very ancient Cathedral than is usually exhibited. 13 F tiller's Churclt History, book ix. p. 66. 11 The Lords and Commons ordained that in all churches and chapels the altar tables of stone should, before tbo 1st of November, 1643, be utterly taken away and demolished, and that all rails which had been erected before any altar should be taken away. They also ordered that all tapers, candlesticks, and basins be removed, and all crucifixes, crosses, images, and pictures of any one or more persons of the sanctity or of llio Virgin Mary, and all images or pictures of saints or superstitious inscriptions should be taken away and defaced. Visitors were at the same time appointed under a warrant from the Earl of Manchester for demolishing superstitious ornaments. 15 lie was also dean of Westminster, and in his time the western front of the abbey church of Westminster was restored and the towers completed, from designs by Sir Christopher Wren, T ir ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL. 113 The church stands at a short distance southward from the High- street of Rochester, and eastward from the ancient castle; the walls of the Cathedral precinct running parallel with the castle ditch. It is a building which exhibits specimens of architecture of four dis- tinct eras ; the nave and western front were chiefly the work of the Norman Bishop Gundulf, as well as a massive bell tower, which stands between the transepts on the northern side, and bears his name. The northern side of the western transept was built by the monks Richard de Eastgate and Thomas de Meopham, subsequent to tbe fire which happened in the year 1179 ; and the southern side by the monk Richard de Walden, about the year 1200. The choir and eastern transept were erected in the reign of Henry III. by William Hoo, sacrist of the church, with the produce of offerings made at the shrine of Saint William. The western front of the Cathedral, one of the most perfect specimens of early Anglo-Norman architecture, was constructed with consummate ability at a period when the art had arrived at a high point of perfection. The central doorway is formed by a very beautifully recessed semicircular arch, composed of enriched moulding, and supported by four pillars, the capitals of which consist of wreathed foliage, with birds and animals intro- duced. 10 The pillars are annul ated, or encircled by ornamental bands, and rise from a plain plinth, which has possibly been constructed in the room of an enriched base which had become de- cayed. Two of the pillars take the form of caryatides, and present statues of King Henry I. and his Queen Matilda, the daughter of Malcolm III., king of Scotland, without question two of the most ancient statues remaining in England. The figure of the king holds a sceptre in his right hand, and in his left a book. The queen is represented holding a scroll, typical of the grants made to the priory 10 The capitals of the pillars of the Lombardic style were in general compositions of scrolls and foliage differing from and much less bold than those of the ancients, or were combinations of animals and human beings, sometimes simply imitated from Nature, in other instances monsters and grotesque. Of the grotesque sort many curious speci- mens are enumerated in Hope’s “ Historical Essay on Architecture,” as existing in Italy, France, and Germany. In England the most remarkable are those in the under- croft of the Cathedral of Canterbury, and in St. Grymbald’s crypt, at Oxford. Behind the altar of Romsey church, in Hampshire, are several pillars with sculptured capitals, two of which are historical, and record on scrolls the name of the architect, ROBERT. ME FECIT. These last mentioned capitals are described in the “ Archcelogia.” vols. xiv. and xv. VOL. I. Q 114 ROCHESTER, CATHEDRAL. by those sovereigns. All the mouldings of the arch are highly enriched with sculpture, representing arabesques, medallions of heads and animals, with foliage intermixed. The lintel, across the imposts of the doorway, bears a representation of the twelve Apostles ; and in the tympan above is a fine bas relief, in the early Greek style, of Jesus Christ holding a book, and in the act of giving the benediction. Such figures were anciently placed on the porch or entrance of the church as a security against the influence of evil spirits. The centre compartment of the tympan, which is of oval form, bearing the figure of Christ, is supported by cherubim and seraphim, and the four symbols of the Evangelists are disposed round this medallion. Other remains of this very ancient front consists of arcades pre- senting peculiar enrichment in the instance of the semicircular heads of the arches, which are sculptured lozenge-wise, an ornament noticed by Chaucer, as 6C hacking in masonries the small pillars also exhibit a vast variety of design in the capitals .' 7 Originally, it appears, there were four octagonal towers upon this front, which rose above the roof to the height of two stories, enriched with arcades in several courses, and terminated by pin- nacles ; these have been rebuilt, or partially removed, with the exception of one of the southern towers nearest the centre. On the front of the northern tower is a statue of Gundulf, the founder, but much mutilated. The large window, which occupies the whole space between the central towers, was inserted about the time of Henry IV., or per- haps a little earlier. It is divided into two principal compartments, 17 One of the peculiarities of Anglo-Forman architecture is the covering the sur- face of the walls with projecting ornaments of great diversity in the detail. Upon this remarkable difference from the antique Mr. Hope has made some observations. The severity of ancient arheitccture required that the two component sides of an entire edifice, situated right and left of the common central point or line, should correspond not only in the general dimensions but peculiar designs of their ornamental parts. If there had been a thousand columns in a single row, each would have a capital and base similar in its minutest embellishment to all the rest. The architects of the middle ages were less strict; bassi relievi inserted in different sides of a single front correspond not even in size, seldom do they in subject; if one contains figures, that opposite perhaps only displays foliage. In the same way the opposite shafts or jambs of the same porch are often of a wholly different design ; and as to the capitals, when these are highly wrought or with figures, it appears that making two alike would have been considered as poverty of invention,— Hops’ s Essay, p. 201 ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL. 115 each forming four lights, having a main transom in the centre, and another at the springing of the arch. The heading of the window is distributed in minor lights or openings formed by sub-divisions. Although a very fine window, its position is greatly to be lamented as destroying the beautiful character of the architecture on the western front ; most of the windows of the nave are of the same date. Other parts of the church are so surrounded by buildings that little more than one portion can be seen at a time ; they are extremely plain and almost destitute of ornament. On the northern side of the choir, close to the eastern side of the transept, is a tower now unroofed, and called Gundulf’s Tower, having usually been considered to have been built by that cele- brated architect. The whole length of the Cathedral from east to west is three hundred and six feet, the width of the western front is ninety- four feet, and the height of the tower one hundred and fifty-six feet. The earth has accumulated at the base of the western front so as to cause a necessity for a descent of several steps into the church at this entrance. The piers and arches of the nave are of Anglo-Norman architecture, with the exception of those nearest the transept ; the arches are enriched with chevron mouldings, but the capitals of the pillars are plain, and the disposition of the shafts on the massive piers are dissimilar, not any two on the same side being exactly alike, although the opposite piers uniformly correspond in their arrangements. The triforium presents a series of arches enriched with chevron and other mouldings of a similar description, and the face of the Avail is not without ornament ; above are the Avindows of the cle- restory. A very fine open timber roof is supported on corbels representing angels bearing shields of arms ; besides those of the bishopric, the priory, and city of Rochester, are the arms of the priory of Christchurch and of the archbishopric of Canterbury. The alteration of Bishop Gundulf 5 s design by the introduction of the present western AvindoAV is clearly to be distinguished by the abrupt termination of different arcades at the western end, some having been divided through the very centre of the arch. The two easternmost arches of the nave are in the pointed style of architecture, and the central tOAver, Avhich rises from the inter- section of the nave and transept, is sustained by obtusely pointed 116 ROCHESTER, CATHEDRAL. arches rising from piers of solid masonry, environed by shafts of Petworth marble, connected by fillets of the same material. A spire, which had been erected in 1749, has lately been removed. The western transept is erected in the pointed style of architec- ture. At the northern end is a triforium, the lancet-formed win- dows of which have each a screen in front, divided into three arches of unequal height, supported by slender shafts of Petwcrtli marble. The vaulting of the transept is of stone, and groined. Many of the smaller shafts and imposts of arches are supported by corbel heads, chiefly of ecclesiastics, not inelegantly sculptured. In the eastern wall is a recess under a large pointed arch, within which formerly stood an altar to St. Nicholas. The southern end of this transept exceeds in lightness of style and enrichment that on the north ; and the roof is of framed timber, in imitation of vaulting. On the western side is the chapel of St. Mary, in which the consistory courtis now held ; and on the eastern side is the muniment room. The whole length of the nave, which is so remarkable for its antiquity, is one hundred and fifty feet, measuring from the western porch to the steps of the choir, and in breadth between the pillars thirty-three feet, and between the walls seventy-five feet. 19 When the choir was rebuilt in 1227, it was extended to a greater length by several feet than the nave itself : the length of the choir is one hundred and fifty-six feet. The length of the ■western transept is one hundred and twenty-two feet, and that of the eastern ninety feet. From the floor of the nave is an ascent of ten steps to the choir ; the organ, which is placed over the screen, was built in 1792 by Green, and its case v r as designed by the Eev. — Ollive. From the screen to the eastern extremity of the choir, the archi- tectural style is uniform, consisting of two stories of pointed arches, the lower rising from slender pillars of Petworth marble, with plain capitals, and attached to solid piers by fillets. Above the larger arches is a triforium, or gallery, extending round the whole 19 Tlio length of the nave of Hereford Cathedral, also of Anglo-Norman architec- ture, is one hundred and forty-four feet ; Gloucester is one hundred and seventy- four feet in length; while that of Durham, oftmagnificent proportion, and very hold in its detail, is two hundred and sixty feet; but the nave of Ely Cathedral, completed at a very late period of the Anglo-Norman era, and of a very plain description, is no less than three hundred and twenty-seven feet long, excelling that of every other Cathedral in its extent. m.<® chestIe satieb m. ail ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL. 117 choir and its transepts. All the windows, excepting those imme- diately contiguous to the altar, consist of single lights of the lancet form. The others, which are divided by mullions, were undoubtedly once filled with stained glass, remains of which are still existing. The eastern transept is divided into aisles; its extremities were formerly shut out from the choir by screens, which were occasionally hung with tapestry. The northern side of this transept is called the chapel of St. William, from the shrine of the saint, which was here deposited. The vaulting both of the choir and its transept is of stone, the ribs springing from capitals of tall shafts of Petworth marble. The altar was originally placed at a distance from the eastern wall, and its position is ascertained by a triple stone seat in the southern wall under the third window. These stalls placed on the southern side of altars were intended for a priest, deacon, and sub-deacon, to sit in during the celebration of high mass . 20 On the front of this triple seat are the arms of the see of Rochester ; of the priory of Christchurch, Canterbury ; and of the priory of St. Andrew, at Rochester. Beneath these shields were formerly representations of three episcopal figures, and this inscription : — @ alti'tutro tJtbtnaq gaptencte ct snencte Sei quant tnccmprcljcitstbilta sunt 3>uhiu'a tjtts ct tnbcsugalcs btc cjus. The crypt of this church is very spacious, extending under the buildings of the choir eastward of the great transept, and was the work of William de PIoo. There are remains of fresco painting in that part of the crypt beneath St. William’s chapel. Within a circle is a representation of a vessel sailing and a large fish in the water below. On one side is a monk, with uplifted hands as if in prayer ; under the whole is a shield of gold charged with an eagle displayed, sable. The entrance of the present chapter-house is near the southern end of the eastern transept; its pointed arched doorway presents 20 By one of the constitutions of Archbishop Langton, made in 1222, every large parish church is enjoined to have two or three priests, according to the extent of the parish and state of the church, and three stalls on the southern side of the altar arc not uncommon in ancient churches. One of the most elegant of these triple stone scats, formerly in the chancel of Chatham church, is engraved in the third volume of the “ Yctusta Monumenta and there are four stalls in the church at Maidstone, and in that of Cottcrstoclc, in Northamptonshire, ns ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL. the finest specimen of canopied niches, with efiigies, to be seen in England. The sculpture is very rich, and is continued from the base in detached recesses rising above each other, and contains figures, of which the lowermost are supposed to represent King Henry I. and his queen Matilda. Above on each side are Bishops Gundulf, Ernulf, Lawrence de St. Martin, and Hamo de Hythe, to the last of which the erection of the doorway is attributed. 21 The hollow moulding surrounding these figures is perforated and entwined with foliage. Over the effigies of the bishops are represented cherubim and seraphim glorifying Christ, whose figure is sculptured standing beneath a canopy on the apex of the arch. Branches of foliage forming the outer mouldings appear to spring from piers ornamented with graduated buttresses on the sides of the doorway. A library is contained in cases on the northern side of the chapter room. Amongst the manuscripts are “ Textus Roffensis,” and the “ Costumale Rofiense,” the last written chiefly by Prior John Westerham, who died in the year 1320. It contains many particulars relative to the ancient tenures, services, etc., of the manors, within the diocese of Rochester, which belonged to the priory of St. Andrew, together with the valuation of the Peter- pence payable from Cathedral Churches in England to the popes. The monuments of the bishops of Rochester now remaining in this Cathedral are interesting from their antiquity as well as from the style of execution. A very plain stone chest, on the southern side of the choir, near the altar, is supposed to be the tomb of Bishop Gundulf, who died in 1107. Westward from this is a monument of Bishop Inglethorp, who died in 1291. The cumbent figure of the bishop, and canopy under which it reposes, are both cut out of a single block of Petworth marble, highly polished ; the canopy is enriched with crockets, 21 Costumale Roffense, p. 176. — There is also an engraving of this doorway in “ Carter’s Specimens of Ancient Sculpture and Painting,” a work of admirable design, tending to elucidate obscure and doubtful points of history, as well as to preserve por- traits of eminent personages. Sculptors from Italy are supposed to have traversed Europe at an early period in the exercise of their art, and have brought it to this country, since an advance of excellence in sculptured designs of this period is very perceptible ; and in the attitude of some of the monumental effigies of the thirteenth century, which are conceived to have been designed by or after these foreign artists, a graceful simplicity is preserved, and in the drapery a freedom of arrangement not always found in the more elaborate and finished productions of a succeeding age , — Bloxani on the Monumental Architecture and Sculpture of Great Britain , p. 129, m © m AIL . T WHO 'NT WINCHESTER. CATHEDRAL. 129 simplicity and chastity of design strikingly characteristic of the architectural taste in the reign of Edward III. There are no towers upon this front, but in other respects the general design of the porch and of the large western window much resembles that of Canterbury Cathedral, erected at a later period . 10 Large hexago- nal turrets, which terminate in small crocketted spires, are carried up at the angles of the nave, and between the buttresses of these turrets, the principal porch or entrance of the nave is deeply re- cessed, and is surmounted by a gallery, with an open-worked parapet; the original use of this gallery was for the convenience of the bishop, who, attended by his clergy, here gave his solemn benediction, on particular occasions, to the people assembled in front of the church. Immediately over the gallery is the great western window, of equal width with the nave, and rising almost to the vaulting. The great breadth of the window is distributed into three chief divisions, which are again divided into three subordinate divisions and crossed by four transom mullions, a manner of arranging the different lights adopted in several of the principal windows constructed in the succeeding century, and after the more flattened arch became fashionable, as at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, &c . 11 The wall of the highly pitched gable of the roof is panelled in numerous compartments, and is surmounted by an enriched tabernacled niche, containing a perfect statue of Wil- liam of Wykeham, who is supposed to have completed the work on this front, which w r as begun by Bishop Edington. The two porches opening upon the aisles of the nave are recessed and constructed in corresponding taste between large buttresses which support the outer angles of the western front ; these buttresses are carried above the parapet of the walls, and are surmounted by ornamental finials. 10 See page 22 ante. 11 The composition is considered to be good, and the mouldings well relieved in the specimens enumerated, but this style is denounced, by a very competent judge of pointed architecture, as betraying a closeness and heaviness of design, amounting to degeneracy when compared with the florid style of the windows constructed in the preceding age. This deterioration of beauty, Mr. Wilson says, was partly occasioned by the lights between tbe upright mullions being divided into so many heights or panels, a mode which originated in the works of the celebrated William of Wykeham, in the nave of his Cathedral at Winchester. The obtuse arch was- also too often allowed to cut off the varied tracery, which so much adorned the windows of earlier date. — Pugin’s Specimens of Gothic Architecture. 130 WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL. The extreme length of this front is one hundred and eighteen feet, all the lower parts of which are encircled with tabernacle work; under two prominent canopies, now mutilated, were formerly statues of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, patrons of the church, which have never been restored . 12 On entering the nave are seen the triumph and skill of Bishop Wykeham in the vast extent from the western porch to the cen- tral tower. It appears that this celebrated architect preserved as much of the Anglo-Norman building, particularly of the nave, as he found he could convert into the new style. He did not destroy Bishop Walkelyn’s work, but formed his pointed arches by filling up and otherwise adapting the old semicircular arches of the origi- nal second story in the Avails of the nave, and the Anglo-Norman pillars may be clearly traced not only at the steps leading up to the choir, but amidst the timbers of the roof on both sides of the nave throughout the greater part of its extent, corresponding in every respect with those remaining in the transept ; a circumstance which demonstrates the prudence, economy, and skill of this muni- ficent prelate. The bosses at the intersections of the groining in the ceiling of the nave are charged with various shields of arms, Avith badges and devices denoting the different benefactors of the several compartments. Plere are the arms of Beaufort, 'Wykeham, and Waynflete, Avith the king’s device of the white hart. At the western extremity of the northern aisle is a chamber, or tribune, which seems to have been erected for the minstrels who attended on great occasions, Avhen the king, a legate, or some prelate was received at the Cathedral in state by a procession of the Avhole convent, at Avhich times the church was hung from one end to the other with tapestry, representing passages of scriptural 12 A description of the Cathedral, for the use of visitors, commences singularly enough with strong observations on the disgraceful neglect of this front, before which the earth and rubbish is suffered to accumulate, and the notice of the stranger is very properly directed to the decayed state of the gallery and the mullions of the window, the broken glass in which, it appears, has been mended with fragments of opaque colouring; the destruction of the canopies is also stated in terms of censure; and for the state in which the front is left by the dean and chapter offers this barren apology that “ it was not possible to lower the alley and the ground near it to the level of the church pavement without destroying the monuments and trees which at present occupy them, and without other inconveniences.” The reader is requested to compare this miserable pretext in favour of a few gravestones, with the truly lamentable destruction of very beautiful monuments at Salisbury.— See p. 11 and 13 ante, wawcMisssinEm c.Mr mis 1© trait THE NAVE LOOKING E A ra.'ved'fcy B "WinMes a ;dt is not unworthy of notice ; it abounds with an intermixture of Florentine and Tudor enrichments. The monumental chapels of Cardinal Beaufort and of Bishop Waynflete fill the middle arches of the presbytery, a part of the Cathedral erected by Bishop Godfrey de Lucy, about 1190, and who is himself buried under a tomb of gray marble, opposite the entrance of the Lady Chapel. The architectural arrangement and detail of the parts and enrichments of the monuments of Beaufort and Waynflete bear great resemblance ; the former, erected forty years before the latter, is more simple in design, more chaste in its ornaments, more delicate 21 See “ Gentleman’s Magazine for 1816;” and an engraving of the Monument, by Skelton and Winkles, in the “ Oxford Founders,” 1831. Drawn. Vy R Ga.rland for AVmltleaa Cathedrals, Engrared "bv"W. E.Albu:t. W1IC IHIIE S T ISM. CA1T ffl3EBffi.A3L . "VTF.W LN T IfF. Pl'iKSB'YTE'RY, SH HAVING TTl K C H AN TRIES OF BISHOP WAY N FLEET AND CAEDINAI. WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL. HI and beautiful in its execution. Cardinal Beauforl, bishop of Win- chester, the son of John of Ghent, duke of Lancaster, was Lord chancellor and one of the guardians of King Henry VI. 22 He possessed a most munificent spirit, which has cast a lustre on his character, and finished that part of Winchester Cathedral which had been left incomplete by his predecessor Wykeham ; and also repaired Hyde Abbey, which had been founded by Alfred the Great. The cardinal refounded the celebrated hospital of Saint Cross, and erected at his own expence the greater part of the present building. He died the 14th of June, 1447. The cardinal’s monument is on the southern side of the pres- bytery ; a sumptuous canopy covering the tomb and figure of this extraordinary prelate rests upon eight clusters of delicately-formed pillars, four at the angles of the monument, and two intermediate on each side. Round the base is an open panelled stone fence enclosing the tomb. Each side of the monument has one large and two smaller arches ; the latter, divided in height and width, contain the doors ; but the former are open. These arches and pillars sup- port a canopy of matchless elegance and beauty, with pinacles rising to the ceiling of the presbytery. This, the most elaborate part of the design, consists wholly of an abundance of large tabernacles divided by smaller niches, with their intermediate compartments and other ornaments, supported by flying buttresses, sometimes united, terminated by pinnacles proportioned to their size ; the whole canopy rising in the centre in the same degree as the arched ceiling under which it is placed. The head and foot of the monument are united with the clusters of pillars supporting the arches of the aisle. The extent of violence upon the more delicate enrichments of this superb monument has been such as to leave not a single niche and scarcely one pinnacle entire. The sculptured figure of Cardinal Beaufort rests on an altar tomb, which is panelled with quatrefoil compartments deeply cut, and having at the back a plate of gilt brass ; he is represented with a placid and dignified countenance, and is properly habited ; the feet of the figure rest against a stone bearing the arms of Beaufort, surmounted by a cardinal’s hat. The monument of Bishop Waynflete, the illustrious founder of 22 The cardinal accompanied King Henry into France, and performed the ceremony of crowning the young monarch in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, at Paris, in 1431. 142 WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL. Magdalene College, Oxford, on the northern side of the presbytery, corresponds with Cardinal Beaufort’s, and is of the same propor- tions, uniting in a similar manner with the arch and pillars of the Cathedral. The canopy of this monument .is in the same manner raised upon eight piers by arches over them ; but in the lower part is an additional screen of enclosure to the sides of the chapel, which interrupts the view of the tomb and figure of the prelate, and renders the design more complex. This is one peculiar difference between these monuments, and another is in the angular cluster of buttresses, each of which presents a large tabernacled niche, with a pedestal for a statue rising from the base. The upper part, cr canopy of the tomb, unlike that of Cardinal Beaufort’s, consists entirely of per- forated compartments, highly enriched with crocheted pinnacles and finials. The form and arrangement of the design is on the same plan, with nearly the same proportions and number of compartments. There are indeed more ornaments, which are more minute, and it is on the whole less simply elegant than the other monument; but the details have not been designed with less care or executed with less skill. Bishop William of Waynflete succeeded Cardinal Beaufort in the see of Winchester, and his enthronement was honoured by the presence of King Henry VI., who had employed him in affairs of critical importance, and who afterwards appointed him lord high chancellor. He resigned this office in 1460, a short time before the fatal battle of Northampton. On the accession of Edward IV. he was treated with respect in consequence of his high character and talents, and he lived to see the great union of the houses of York and Lancaster. Besides the foundation of Magdalene College, the largest excepting Christchurch, and the most perfect and beautiful in the University of Oxford, he established a free grammar school at Waynflete, his native town; and was a considerable benefactor to Eton College, Winchester Cathedral, and other places. His munificent spirit induced him to employ the ablest architects, and he himself was distinguished by profound and correct judgment in the art of design. The bishop died the 11th of August, 1486, and was buried in this chapel with great funeral pomp. The sculptured figure of Bishop Waynflete lies on an elevated tomb within the chapel, which is supported at the angles by wreathed WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL. 143 pillars, having the ends and sides panelled, and enclosing within quatrefoils branches of lilies, his favourite device. The head of the bishop is represented supported on cushions, his eyes raised to heaven, his hands closed as in prayer with a heart between them, in allusion to the sursum corcla of the liturgy. He is exhibited in much humbler attire than Bishop Wykeham, but has jewels on his gloves, a ring on the middle finger of the right hand, his pastoral staff is of singular form, and the mitre is richly ornamented. At his feet is an angel bearing a shield charged with his arms, impaled with the see of Winchester, and within the garter, they are also sculptured on the middle compartment of the ceiling. It is probable that the three niches, divided by tiers of open arches, yet remain- ing at the eastern end of the chapel, were intended for statues of Saint Mary Magdalene the patron saint, and Saint Peter and Saint Paul, as on the seal of his college at Oxford, and that an altar once stood beneath them. This chapel, an interesting example of Bishop Waynflete’s elegant taste, is kept in fine preservation by the president and fellows of Magdalene College, Oxford. The last reparation in 1828 was made under the skilful direction of Mr. Buckler. 23 Between the chantries of Beaufort and Waynflete is the monu ment of one of the family of De Foix, lord of Wineall, near this city Three chapels, enclosed by screens, form the eastern extremity of the Cathedral ; that in the centre, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was originally built by Bishop de Lucy, but was extended to a greater length by Priors H unton and Silkstede, whose initials and rebuses appear on the groining of the ceiling. The walls on each side the Lady Chapel, from the altar to the space occupied by the stalls, are covered with legendary paintings ; the subjects relate to different miracles wrought by the intercession of the Virgin Mary. The battle between the renowned Guy, earl of Warwick, who was devoted to the Blessed Virgin, and Colbrand, the Danish champion, represented on the walls of this chapel, is nearly defaced, as well as many others, under the idea of their idolatrous tendency. The in- 23 According to the statutes the college was to be called Saint Mary Magdalene College, to the honour and praise of Christ crucified, the Blessed Virgin his mother, Saint Mary Magdalene, Saint John the Baptist, the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, the glorious confessor Saint Swithin, and other patrons of the Cathedral of Winchester. WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL. 144 scriptions that accompany these paintings, have at the end, in se- veral instances, a reference to an account formerly extant. 2 * On the southern side of the Lady Chapel is Bishop Langton’s chapel, profusely enriched with carvings in oak of armorial sub- jects, vine branches, &c. The vine is represented growing out of a tun, denoting Winton, his see. Amidst these ornaments, the bishop’s motto. Halts ttht ©f)UStt, is frequently repeated. In the middle of the chapel is the tomb of Bishop Thomas Langton, the predecessor of Bishop Fox, who died in 1500. The northern chapel, at the eastern end of the Cathedral, is supposed to have been a chantry of Adam de Orlton, who was bishop of Winchester for eleven years, and died in 1345, but there is no monument to his memory at present existing. In the chapel on the northern side is a monument of Dr. Peter Mews, a bishop of Winchester, who had served as a captain in the royal army du- ring the civil war, and who signalized himself at the battle of Sedgmoor, where he commanded the artillery. He died in 1706. On the opposite side of the chapel is a monument of Richard Weston, earl of Portland, K. G., lord treasurer, who died in 1634, with his figure in armour, of bronze. 25 Bishop Morley, who died in 1684, is buried in the northern aisle of the nave ; 20 and Sir George Pretyman Tomline, Bart. D.D., bishop of Winchester, who died on the 14th of November, 1827, set. 77, at Kingston Hall, Dorsetshire, is buried near the western end of the southern aisle. His successor, Charles Richard Sumner, D.D., is the present bishop of Winchester, &c. 24 The subjects are engraved in “ Carter’s Specimens of Ancient Sculpture and Painting.” One is the Annunciation. Others occur in credible historians ; butthey are chiefly derived from unauthenticated legends, and at present are only valuable for the information they convey concerning the customs of former times. 25 A fine portrait of the Earl of Portland, by Vandyck, is at Gorhambury, in Hertfordshire, and his character is given in “ Pennant’s Journey from Chester to London.” 20 The ancient palace of the bishops of Winchester in Southwark, having been dilapidated during the civil war, an act of parliament w r as passed in 1663, to enable George Morley, bishop of Winchester, to lease out the houses in Southwark for other purposes, together with two parks and other demesnes at Bishop’s Waltham, in Hampshire ; and by the same act a mansion at Chelsea, built by James, duke of Hamilton, was purchased as a residence for the bishops of this see, and called Win- chester House. George Tomline, bishop of Lincoln, who was translated to Winchester in 1820, obtained an act of parliament to enable him to sell the episcopal palace at Chelsea, belonging to this see, and in 1821 it was sold for £6,000. END OF VOLUME I.