^ S'* x ?.\oV x ?. W f.Uo ?.\^l f\WL f.W6 X?. t*rt X?.1 >> j> j> >> >> >> >> >> PAGE Monastic Houses, Lepers’ Hosp. 2 1 4 ,, ,, St. Anne’s, Bris lington... ... 214 ,, ,, College of West- fa ury-on-Trym ... 216 Monkbridge ... ... ... 355 Monmouth, Ann, Countess of, at Bristol ... ... 372 Morgan, Matthew ... ... 268 Municipal Constitution ... 237 Murder of Sawyer and Cokes 255 Nag’s Head Inn 293 Narrow Wine street ... ... 303 National Provincial Bank ... 281 Naylor, James 274 308 Nelson Street ... ... ... 355 New Cut 260 Newfoundland Street Chapel 309 Newgate Prison 304 Newman, Rev. Tho., Fatal Accident to , . . ... 82 Newton Chapel, in the Cathedral ... 55 90 ,, Family 298 Nicholas, St., Church of ... 123 Ninetree Hill ... 368 Norfolk, Duke of, at Bristol 155 Norman Architecture : — St. Augustine’s Abbey, 50, 57, 58, 59 94 All Saints’ Church 116 Tower of St. Peter’s Church 118 in St. James’s Church .. 139 in St. Philips’ Church ... 172 Norton Family 297 Oliver, William 195 Park Row 40 ,, Street .'. 348 Paul’s Street, Portland Square 365 Penn, Sir William ... ... 164 ,, Penn, William, at Bristol 196 Penpark Hole S2 Penrose, Llewellyn, hi s J ournal 425 Pepys, Samuel, at Bristol . . . 326 Perambulation of Boundaries 137 252 Pestilence in 1603-4 ... 144 328 Peter’s St., Church 1 IS 6 INDEX. PAGE Peter’s, St. Oblation of Shakes- peare’s Buckingham at 199 ,, Pump .. 296 ,, Hospital 297 Pews 137 383 Philip and Jacob, Church of St. 172 Philosophical Institution ... 345 Pie Poudre Court 245 Pickwick, W eller, and Winkle at the Bush Inn 278 Pile Street 258 Pilgrims to Compostella, &c. 224 Pithay 290 , , Baptist Chapel 295 Plume of Feathers Inn . . . 293 Poe’s Tales of Mystery ... 318 Police ... ... ... ... 355 Poor-rates ... ... ... 301 Pope, the poet, at Bristol . . . 267 Population ... ... ... 391 Portland Square 366 ,, Street Chapel .. 370 Porter, Jane 366 Post-office, Statistics of ... 284 ,, Anecdotes of Postal Operations 285 Powell, William, the actor ... 314 ,, Tablet to Memory of 91 Pressing to death . . . 265 304 Prichard, Dr. J. C 203 Prince’s Street 325 Prior’s Hill Fort ... 41, 43 368 Piickler-Muskau, Prince, at Redcliff Church 167 Pugsley’s, Mother, Field ... 369 Punishments of Criminals ... 305 Quakers’ Meeting House ... 195 Quay -bridge ... ... ... 331 Queen Street ... ... ... 205 ,, Square 320 Ray, the Naturalist at Redcliff Church 167 Redcliff 241 ,, Church 156 „ Hill and Street ... 261 Redcross Street 307 Redland ... ... 35 40 Red Lodge, Park Row ... 262 ,, Maids’ School ... ... 344 PAGE Ricart, Richard 263 Richard II. at Bristol 23 188 Rich, C. J 369 Riots of 1831 45 325 Robert, Earl of Gloucester 15 142 Robinson, Mrs. Mary ... 334 Roberts, W. I. ... ... 136 Rogers, Captain Woodes 262 323 Roman Catholicism in Bristol 351 Romilly, Sir Sami., at Bristol 278 Romsey’s, John, house in the Marsh 320 Rosemary Street Rowley Family Royal Fort ,, Road Royal Infirmary Royse, Dr. Geo. ... 192 131 132 44 370 ... 371 ... 372 Dean of Bristol, immorality of 76 Sabbath Observance in 1679 145 Sadler, Sir Ralph ... ... 220 Saracen’s Head Inn ... ... 253 Savage, Richard, the poet ... 119 School of Art ... 349 Scrope, Sir William ...28, 30 32 Selkirk, Alex 299 324 Seven Stars public-house . . . 259 Seyer, Rev. S. . . . ... ... 371 Shakespere probably at Bristol 2S8 Ship ward, John .. ... 105 Ship Inn, Small street . . . 283 Shot Tower ... 260 Shuter, the Comedian ... 315 Siddons, Mrs., at Bristol ... 315 Siege of Bristol, by Bolingbroke 30 Sieges of Bristol in time of Charles I. 34 42 Silas, St., Church ... ... 308 Slave Traffic ... 15,229 328 Slave Trade, at Bristol 259, 328 329 Small Street 281 Smith, Rev. Sydney 84 Smith, Mrs. M. A. , Murder of 336 Snigge, Sir Geo. ... ... 133 Southey, Robt. and S. T. Coleridge, their marriage at Redcliff Church 167 , , his Birth place ... ... 295 Southey, Robt. ... 338 371 Spensers, Royal Favorites 21 33 INDEX. 7 PAGE Spenser, Hugh 33, 242 273 Spicer’s Hall 310 Stafford, Sir John 189 Star Inn 301 Steep Street 41 354 Stephen, King, a prisoner in Bristol Castle 18 Stephen’s St,, Church ... 104 ,, Ringers ... 109 Stone, John, Mayor 152 Stokes’ Croft ... 366 Sturmye, Robert 310 Sugar, price of, in 1607 ... 145 Swan Inn ... 296 Tabernacle (Chapel) 307 Tailors’ Hall 291 Temple Church 150 ,, Street 252 Tennyson’s Locksley Hall quoted 318 Theatre, The 313 ,, New 349 Thomas, St., Church 149 ,, Street 259 ,, Bishop ... ... 266 Thorne, Nicholas and Robert 111 Tolzey, The ... 279 ,, Sir Walter Scott’s allusion to 289 ,, Court 245 Towgood, Richard 127 Tower Lane ... ... ... 176 ,, Street 179 Traitor’s Bridge 308 Trenchard Street 350 Tresilian, Sir Robert ... ... 26 Trinity Street 338 Turkish Baths 393 Tyndale the Reformer ... 333 Tyndale’s Testament 367 Union Street 296 Unitarians in Bristol ... ... 357 Victoria Rooms 349 PAGE Wade, Major, burial of wife of ,, Nathaniel 299 Wallington, Nehemiah, Ex 108 tracts from his Diary 191 271 Walls, Old Town 175 Warburton, Dean 79 Warr, de La, Lord .. ... 199 Wasbrough, Matthew ... 303 Watts, William ... ... 260 Wedmore, Helene de ... 158 Wellington, Duke of, in College Green 337 Welsh Back 310 311 Werburgh’s, St., Church ... 109 Wesley, John, at the Cathedral 95 ,, ,, at Temple Church 155 ,, ,, Accident to, at St. Nicholas Gate 169 Westbury-on-Trym, College of 38, 44 216 ,, ,, Church of 82 221 ,, ,, Nunnery 222 Western Daily Press 292 ,, ,, Telegraph ... 292 West, Benjamin ... ... 319 Wetherell, Sir Charles 46 84 Whitfield, Rev. George ... 110 ,, ,, at Redclfff Church 166 ,, ,, at Bristol ... 307 Whitson, Alderman 124 White’s Hospital 254 William of Wykeliam .. 161 William III., Equestrian Statue of 323 Wills’ Tobacco Warehouse ... 263 Wine Street ... 292 Wishat, Geo., at Bristol ... 127 Wolstan, Bishop, at Bristol... 15 Worcester, William ... 174 359 Wraxall, Sir Nathaniel ... 324 Wrestling in the Marsh ... 425 Wulstan, Bishop ... ... 218 Yeoman 36 3S Young, Tho 293 ,, C. M., the Tragedian... 314 E EE AT A. Page 15. — For “he ordered his son Eobert,” &c., read, “King Henry I. ordered his son Eobert,” &c. ,, 22. — For “this strange eventful history,” read, “his strange,” &c. ,, 42. — For “the Ship public house (still standing),” read “the Ship public house (lately demolished).” ,, 150. — For “The columns of the nave are in the Decorated style,” read “The columns of the nave are in the Perpendicular style.” ,, 152. — For “the Weaver’s Chapel,” read “ the Weavers’ Chapel.” ,, 161. — For “Laurington” read “Lamyngton.” ,, 177. — For “was to be found Trinity Hospital,” &c., read “ were to be found,” &c. ,, 180. — Last line of note, for “Perpendicular state,” read “Per- pendicular date.” ,, 211. — For “ owght to ey yn hys cote,” read “owght to ley (lie) yn hys cote.” ,, 213. — For “the guild oraternity,” read “the guild or fraternity. ” ,, 215 — Last line but one, for “Devau’s life,” read “Demaus’ life.” ,, 221. — For “conducted by Mr. Griffith, ’’read “lately conducted,” &c. ,, 262. — For “ an high opinion,” read “a high opinion.” ,, 282. — First line, for “in the three stages of the Tudor period,” read “ in three stages of the Tudor period.” „ 294.— For “83s. 6d.,” read “3s. 6d.” ,, 315. — For “St. Clement’s Almshouses,” read “St. Clement’s Almshouse. ” ,, 359. — For “fot hyt suffysyth,” read “for hyt,” &c. GUIDE TO BRISTOL. PHYSICAL SITUATION. Bristow, tlie Merchants’ Magazine, enclos’d With rocky hills, by Avon’s stream embrac’d ; Faire by industrious workmanship compos’d, As by great Nature’s wisdom firmely plac’d ; Viewing her verdant Marsh, may well disdaine Rome’s sometime glory, Mars his champian plaine.* The City of Bristol lies in 51° 27' N. Lat., and 2° 35' W. Long., | at the southern extremity of Gloucestershire, and the northern of Somersetshire, but is independent of both, having been constituted a county in itself by a charter of Edward III. It is intersected by two rivers, the Avon and the Frome, the chief of which is the Avon.f The ancient city has gradually * The Dove : or, Passages of Cosmography, by Richard Zouche, A.D. 1613, page 46. t Malte Brun, IX. 187. J This river is sometimes called the Lower Avon to distinguish it from the Upper , or Warwickshire Avon. “It rises,” says Mr. Skriue, “in the hilly district of North Wiltshire, bordering upon Gloucestershire, not far from Wootton Basset, but various springs are assigned for its origin as well as for that of the Thames, from whose numerous sources it is also not far distant. Emerging from the hills, it makes a compass to fall into the vale which leads from Christian Malford to Chippenham, after which its windings are numerous from the hilly nature of the country through which it passes, as it advances through the cloatliing district of Wiltshire, bordering upon that of Somersetshire, and for some space divides the counties. Its course is at first southward, and it makes a long compass by the west towards the north, and then to the west, at last encircling the city of Bath on two sides, from whence it pursues nearly the same direction, with frequent meanders, to Bristol. It then inclines to the north-west, as it conveys the abundant trade of that opulent city to the Severn, by its conflux constituting the Bristol Channel, at King-road.” — Shrine's Rivers, p. *234. B 10 GUIDE TO BRISTOL. scaled the acclivities by which it is surrounded, though some of these have been partially spared for the healthful recreation of the inhabitants. The physical situation of Bristol has frequently been compared to that of Ancient Rome; as likewise a classical parallel has been found for the winding shores of the Avon of Clifton, in the Yale of Tempe, in Greece. Rome stands on seven hills, the yellow Tiber ( Tiberis flavus ) running through and dividing the city into two parts. Bristol also is built upon seven hills, and the river Avon, of the same hue as its Roman prototype, dis- connects the upper part of the city from the lower. The hills are — 1. That on which the old city stands, the central point of which is the junction of the four streets, Corn Street, Wine Street, High Street, and Broad Street. II. That on which stood the castle to the east, which is bounded by the Avon on the south, the Froom on the north, and by a deep ditch or moat (now partly arched overj on the east. III. To the west, College Green, an eminence leading to the sleep ascent of Park Street. IY. To the south of the Avon, Redcliff Hill, on which are the famous church of that name, its churchyard, and several streets and places. Y. St. Michael’s Hill. YI. Kingsdown, part of which is in the city, on which are many modern houses and gardens. YII. Brandon Hill, all of which is in the city.* It admits of question whether the situation of Bristol was happily chosen, seeing that had it been established at the mouth of the Avon instead of eight miles inland, the sinuous and difficult navigation of that river would have been avoided, and the facilities for extended commerce increased without limit. The primitive adoption of the present site, however, was for the sake of this difficulty of access to the town, the river and rocks serving as a natural moat and rampart for security against unexpected maritime invasion. But, notwithstanding the disadvantages of a narrow tidal river, no seaport in England perhaps has gained a “The River Froom rises at Bodington and Rangeworthy, not far fronl Tetbury, in Gloucestershire, and running through Acton, Hambrook, and by Frenchay, to Stoke, meets a spring from the Duchess of Beaufort’s park, then to Stapleton, through Baptist Mills, enters Bristol at Traitor’s Bridge, and goes all through the city. Before the present Quay was formed and built, in 1247, the Froom ran from Froom Bridge through the site of the present Baldwin Street, beneath the walls, and emptied itself into the Avon under St. Nicholas Church.” — Heath , 65. * Heath’s History of Bristol. PHYSICAL SITUATION. 1 1 higher reputation for nautical enterprise than Bristol. Indeed it was this seafaring spirit that gained to it the distinguished charter which made it a county in itself in the year 1347. The following words from this Charter will give evidence of our assertion : — “ That in consideration of the good services, by their shipping and otherwise, done to us in times past, we have granted it to be, and be for ever called the County of Bristol, and to enjoy the liberties and freedoms underwritten,” &c. We shall give some signal instances of the adventurous voyages of Bristol ships further on. The name Bristol, or Brigstow, is usually interpretated pontis locus , or Bridge-Place.* * Seyer, vol. I., 279, Ingram’s Saxon Cliron., 432, Taylor’s Words and Places. HISTORICAL NOTICES. There is no historical record extant of the earlier population of Bristol proper, but the vestiges of ancient habitation on the banks of the Avon, at Clifton, allow the inference that its parentage was derived from the latter place, it being an ethno- graphical rule that population flows from the hills. According to Leland, St. Jordan, one of the companions of the primitive missionary, St. Augustine, who visited England about the year 596, was buried in a chapel within the precincts of St. Augustine’s, Black Canons, without the walls,* and Camden in adopting this information speaks of College Green in his time as being “ a large and green plain, shaded all along the middle with a double row of trees, among which is a pulpit of stone and a chapel, wherein they say that Jordan, companion of St. Austin, the English apostle, was buried; f but it is now a free school.” The chapel, preacher, and pulpit, reasonably imply an audience, but whether that audience was gathered from , or brought to the place is uncertain, but most probably the former. In the autumn of last year (1865) a variety of Roman coins were found by the workmen employed in lowering the ground on the north side of the cathedral, which discovery tends to show the occupancy of the place about or before the time of St. Augustine. It is only by indirect incident that Bristol makes the slightest appearance in history before the Norman Conquest. That the town was of some importance as early as the days of Canute, is fairly deducible from the fact that coins bearing the impress of that Anglo-Danish king, are or were lately in existence with the mark of the Bristol mintage. Ruding says “ the first of these bearing the name of Bristol which I have met with, is a Penny of Knut, of which there are four or five varieties.” ± About the year 930, the Honour of Gloucester, including the Lordship of Bristol, was granted to Aylward Snow, a Mercian nobleman, upon whose decease soon after the year 980, the estate Leland’ s Itin., vol. 5, 64. + Seyer, I. 225. i Pauling’s Annals of the Coinage, Vol. IV. p. 366. Seyer, I. 251. HISTORICAL NOTICES. 13 passed into the hands of his wife Algive, and his son Algar. The inheritor of this territory was Brictric, son of Algar, \\ lr> while acting as ambassador abroad attracted the affection of Matilda, subsequently the wife of William the Conqueror. Upon his refusal to marry this lady her love turned to hatred, and she did not forget the slight till her influence with her kingly husband had induced the latter to order the arrest of Brictric, who being carried to Winchester there died without issue, the qfteen taking possession of all his estates. Harold at Bristol. A.D. 1051. — In this year the powerful Godwin, Earl of Kent, being outlawed with his five sons, two of the latter, Harold, subsequently the last King of the Anglo Saxons, with Leofwinc his brother, fled in haste to Bristol in order to escape thence to Ireland. The King, Edward the Confessor, discovering the direction of their flight, ordered Earldred, Bishop of Worcester, to pursue and overtake them before they embarked, but a ship having been prepared by their brother Swayne, who was already at Bristol, the fugitives set sail before their pursuer arrived at the port. At the mouth of the Avon they were retarded by boisterous weather, but eventually reached Ireland in safety. Twelve years after this (1063) Harold was again at Bristol. He had long ago inherited his father’s title, and come to a reconciliation with the King. At this time Griffith, King of Wales, gave England much trouble, by forming an alliance with one of Edward’s refractory subjects, Algar, Earl of Chester, and with him ravaging the English borders. To counteract this rebellion and crush the invasion, Harold by the King’s command assembled about Christmas st numerous band of young and hardy soldiers, and equipping them with helmets and shields of hardened leather, set forward with rapid marches to Rutlilan, Griffith's head quarters in North Wales, and there burnt his palace and shipping and destroyed his town, causing Griffith to flee for his life to the southern part of the country. About the beginning of the ensuing summer, Harold in pursuit of his conquest raised another expedition, and sailing down the Avon from Bristol, compassed the coast of Wales, ravaging its borders with fire and sword. There being joined by his brother Tostig, who brought a “ host of horsemen,” he penetrated the country and defeated the Welchmen in every conflict. Griffith flying back to North Wales 14 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. was slain by bis own subjects for deserting them in their hour of need, and his head being sent to Harold was presented by him to Edward the King. 1067 or 1069. — While William I. was engaged in suppressing a rebellion in the North, one or more of the sons of Harold came unexpectedly from Ireland, and entering the mouth of the Avon with a naval force, disembarked, and advanced to lay siege to Bristol ; they were however bravely met by the townsmen, and driven back to their ships.* Then proceeding into Somersetshire they were opposed by Ednoth a Saxon noble, and a battle was fought in which Ednoth was slain, with many others on both sides. The invaders upon this once more sought their ships and sailed back to Ireland with a large booty. | 1069. — At this time the Prepositor, or Chief Magistrate of Bristol was Harding, “a royal Dane,” the reason of whose separation from his native country is thus recorded in “ Smyth’s Lives of the Berkeley Family.” “ There was sometime an ordinance made in Denmark, that if so the king of that land had any more sons than one, then should the eldest son and heir remain with the land ; and the younger brethren should be sent with a substance of goods into other lands, and there to live in avoiding all inconveniences of debates, that might chance betwixt them within their own land;” and for this cause this Harding, a second son of the King of Denmark, was sent into this land to King William the Conqueror, unto whom this King William gave great riches, and sent him to Bristol, there to inhabit. The year of our Lord, 10694 Hiding settled in Baldwin Street, and marrying one Livida had issue five sons, Robert, Nicholas, Elias, Jordan and Maurice, and three daughters, Agnes, Maud and Cicely. § This Harding as is well known was the progenitor of the present noble family of Berkeley. He died at Bristol the 6th November, 1115, or thereabouts. 1083. — Nov. 3rd. Matilda, Queen of England and Lady of Bristow departed this life, the honour of Gloucester reverting to her husband the King. || * Ingram’s Saxon Chronicles, 269. Seyer, p. 285. t Seyer, p. 285. + Page 70. § Seyer I. 291. Mr. Seyer enters into an elaborate and learned argu- ment to disprove the royalty of Harding’s extraction, and endeavours to show that if he was of kingly birth he was the son of a piratical sea king. Yol. I. 313. || Seyer, p. 319. HISTORICAL NOTICES. 1085. — At tliis period the slave traffic prevailed through England with remorseless activity, Bristowe being one pf the principal marts. Here might be seen the youth of both sexes of attractive form and feature, who had been purchased from all parts of the country and intended for profitable merchandise to Ireland, for which this port was conveniently situated. Young men and women were bound together by ropes, the pregnancy of the latter being secured for the sake of greater gain. Wolstan, Bishop of Worcester, frequently abode in the neighbourhood (no doubt at the monastery of Westbury) for two or three months together, and preached every Lord’s day in Bristol till his humane efforts to put down the traffic were crowned with success.* * * § 1087, Sept. 9th. — William the Conqueror died : whereupon Godfrey, Bishop of Exeter, who was constable of Bristol Castle, secured that fortress in favour of Robert Curthose, the late king's eldest son. This is the first time that the Castle of Bristol is mentioned in history. f 1089. — William Rufus being now in peaceable possession of the kingdom granted the royalty, or Honour of Gloucester, including the town and castle of Bristow, to his cousin, Robert Fitzhammon, whose father was Lord of Corboyle in Normandy.^ Robert, Earl of Gloucester, the illegitimate son of Henry I. having married Mabel the daughter of Fitzhammon, obtained by virtue of his marriage the Lordship of Bristol. Robert was one of the richest and most powerful barons of his age, and held innumerable possessions in England and Wales, as well as estates in Normandy. On his death bed “ he ordered his son Robert to take £60,000 out of his treasure at Falaise, of which Robert himself was the keeper, and to bestow rewards and donations on his servants, and his mercenary soldiers.” “ This sum,” adds Seyer, who quotes Odericus Yitalis, “ was equivalent to almost a million of our present money.” § The Castle of Bristol, which had been hitherto very inferior in strength and magnitude, was so improved (A.D. 1138) by Earl Robert as to become one of the most redoubtable fortresses in the kingdom. It stood on the “ Eastern side of the town at the end of St. Peter’s Street : * Will. Malmsb. Angl. Sac. Vol. II. 258. t Seyer I. 328. X Seyer, Vol. I. 341. § Seyer, I. 359. 16 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. the first and comer house of the present Castle Street on the left hand as you enter that street, stands on the outward edge of the Castle ditch ; and from thence the fortress extended to the bottom of Castle Street.” The area covered by this feudal stronghold was 6 acres, and it was fortified with a curtain wall which was strengthened by towers at intervals, and a deep surrounding moat. The dungeon tower, or keep, according to William of Worcester, who quotes his informant the porter of the Castle, was 25 feet in thickness at the base, and the dimensions from east to west 60 feet, from north to south 45 feet. This keep had a turret at each of its four corners, and in appearance and impregnability was worthy of comparison with the famous Julius Caesar, or White Tower of London. The grand hall was 36 yards in length and 18 yards in breadth, the measurement being made outside. The length of the castle within the walls, east and west, was 180 yards, the breadth from north to south, including “ the great garden, 100 yards ; the king’s table, which was a slab of marble in the hall, was 15 feet in length. There was a chapel for every day service, besides another and magnificent one for the king and the lords and ladies, situated on the north side of the hall.* No sooner was the castle finished than it became invested with the “red Earl of Gloucester’s” retainers, who were as lawless a band of miscreants as even that ill disciplined age could furnish. Taking advantage of the security afforded by refuge within its walls, they exercised the most violent rapacity against those men of property who were the king’s adherents. Scouring the country in every direction they spared no means of force or guile to get such within their toils. Inserting a pointed bit between their victims’ teeth and bandaging their eyes they conveyed them in captivity to Bristol, where by torture and starvation they compelled a heavy ransom. The highways, says Henry of Huntingdon, were infested by these Bristol marauders, who, undistinguished by any military dress, assumed a gentle and courteous demeanour in order to win the confidence of those they designed to outrage, and in this way their predatory practices were so successful that mistrust and apprehension everywhere prevailed, and a stranger was incontinently shunned as a possible enemy in disguise. These freebooting irrup- tions called for the interference of the king, who summoning his militia made quick marches to Bath, there to concentrate Seyer, I. 377. HISTORICAL NOTICES. 17 operations, for the siege of Bristol. Halting his army near the refractory city, he called a council of his Barons, to decide upon the most efficient method of reducing the place to submission. Some advised that the flow of the Avon should be intercepted in the narrowest part of its channel, and the town thus submerged, or threatened with submersion. Others that a small castle should be erected before each gate in the walls, and all exit and entry prevented till the town was starved into surrender. Neither of these expedients was adopted, but instead, the king capriciously broke up the siege, and having laid waste the surrounding country, undertook an expedition against Castle Cary and the Castle of Harptree in the neighbourhood, both of which he took by “ fire and sword.” * 1139. — In two civil wars has Bristol taken part, and in each instance against the ruling sovereign, (Stephen, and Charles I.), the earlier instance being as follows. Robert, Earl of Gloucester was, as already stated, the natural son of Henry I. and consequently half-brother to the Empress Matilda, f who was the daughter of the same king and Queen Matilda his wife. Stephen Count of Boulogne was the son of Adela the king’s sister, and the Count of Blois. His assumption of the throne was therefore in defiance of the prerogative of the lineal successor. The barons and chief ecclesiastics having es- poused the interest of Matilda, she accepted their invitation to come over from the continent and assert her hereditary right. She landed in England in the Autumn of 1139, having with her a strong guard of soldiers headed by her brother Gloucester. Stephen raising the siege of Marlborough Castle, which then occupied him, quickly appeared before the walls of the Castle of Arundel, where the Empress had been received. Notwithstand- ing the likelihood of a capitulation which would have brought her within his power, he unaccountably allowed her “to be conveyed honourably into Bristow, where she remained the space of two months and then got thence to Wallingford.” | 1140-41. — Was fought the battle of Lincoln, in which Stephen was taken prisoner. “ A very strange sight it was,” says Speed, “ there to behold King Stephen, left almost alone in the field, yet no man daring to approach him ; while grinding his teeth and * Seyer, I. 416. Gesta Stephani. t Second wife of the Emperor Henry IV. of Germany.— Speed, 464. + Speed, 473. 18 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. foaming like a furious wild boar he drave back with his battle axe whole troops assailing him, and massacring the chiefest of them, to the eternal renown of his courage. If but a hundred such had been with him, a whole army had never been able to surprise his person ; yet, as he was single, he held out, till first his battle axe brake, and after that his sword also, with the force of his un- resistable strokes, flew in pieces, and he was now weaponless, and (by an unknown, doubtless unnoble hand) stricken down with a great stone thrown at him, was seized on by William of Kahames, a most stout knight, and by Earl Robert’s command, preserved from any violence to his person, was carried prisoner unto Maud, the Empress, at Gloucester, and thence was sent bound unto Bristow, where in the castle he remained in safe custody.”* He was at first treated liberally, but afterwards on account of the insolence of some persons who said openly and reproachfully that it was not right for the Earl to keep the King otherwise than as they chose ; and likewise, because it was said that he had been found more than once beyond his appointed custody, especially by night, his guards being either deceived or gained over, he was secured by iron chains, j Matilda now assumed the sovereignty, her success hitherto having brought her the allegiance of all England except Kent. That county was the head quarters of Stephen’s queen, who had not yet lost hope of retrieving her husband’s affairs. Accordingly at the head of a powerful body of soldiers, she besieged Matilda, at Winchester, and forced her to fly thence with such indecorous haste as that in order to save her life she was induced to mount a horse astride, like a man, and take refuge after a hard fight at the castle of Devizes. Robert, Earl of Gloucester, was taken prisoner, and confined in the Castle of Rochester, but in no long time was released in exchange for King Stephen, at Bristol. He then passed over to Normandy to endeavour to gain succours from Geoffrey of Anjou, Matilda’s second husband, but in this negociation was unsuccessful. Earl Geoffrey, however, confided to his trust his eldest son Henry, then nine years of age, to be carried over to England for his education. The young prince, afterwards Henry II. of England, was brought to Bristol, where he remained four years under the training of one Matthews, a schoolmaster.^; “ It is still a common tradition,” says Seyer, “ that he went to school in Baldwin Street, and a * Speed, 476. * JStow, 146. Hollinshed, 55. tWm. Malmb. Seyer, 436. HISTORICAL NOTICES. 19 house on the southern side of that street used within memory to be shewn as the place of his instruction.” 1147. — Robert, Earl of Gloucester, died at Bristol, and was buried in the choir of the church of St. James’ Priory, which he founded.*' William, his son, inherited his estates, including the lordship of Bristow. 1148. — Robert Fitzharding commenced the monastery of St. Augustine’s, the church of which is now Bristol Cathedral. 1189. — William, Earl of Gloucester, haying died in 1183, left three daughters coheiresses of his vast estates. Prince John, the sixth and youngest son of Henry II.,f marrying A visa, the youngest of these ladies, acquired the honour of Gloucester, with the castle and town of Bristow, in dower. On acbount of their consanguinity, they being third cousins, the Church forbade their living together, and consequently on John’s accession to the throne Avisa was not crowned with him, or acknowledged queen, J that illustrious position being occupied in her stead by Isabella of Angouleme, to whom John was married during the lifetime of his first wife. 1216. — King Henry III. visited Bristol, when he granted the burgesses a new charter which allowed them to elect annually a Mayor, after the manner of London, and “ with him were chosen two grave, sad, and worshipful men, which were called Prepositors, there being neither Sheriffe nor Bayliffe.” The first Mayor was thereupon appointed, his name being Adam le Page, and with him Stephen Hankin and Rainold Hazard, as Prepositors, and the yearly elections of men to fill these offices have been continued without interruption ever since. § 1254. — Prince Edward, the eldest son of Henry III., having married Eleanor, sister of Alphonso, King of Castile, the town of Bristow, with many other places, was settled on him by his father. || 1263. — In this year the Barons’ war breaking out, of which Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, was the distinguished leader, Bristol was brought into important relationship with the conflict. The chief occasion of this war was a jealousy against foreigners, for whom the king and queen had shown so much practical liking as to promote them to the higher places of govern- * Seyer, I. 455. f Speed, 511. X Tyrrell, II. 470. Strickland, I. 331. Seyer, I. 503.* § Seyer, II. 7. || Speed, 614. 20 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. ment, which stations the proud barons of England reasonably thought had been preferably filled by themselves. The belligerents having plundered foreigners all over England, proceeded to more general measures of hostility. The prevalence they rapidly acquired reached its highest success at the Battle of Lewes (fought 19th May, 1264) 11 wherein the King and Prince Edward, and most of their family and friends, fell into the hands of Simon de Montfort and the associated barons.” Prince Edward was imprisoned in Wallingford Castle, but the queen finding that the watch and ward about were not the strictest, sent word to the garrison of Bristol Castle, who still held for the Royal cause, that a few knights might easily “ win him out.” In company with 300 horse, therefore, many knights of Bristowe, with their banners, came to Wallingford, and at sunrise on a Friday assaulted the castle. Having passed the first ditch they broke through the outer wall and got within. Here, after being assailed by a storm of arrows, they were fiercely told that unless they retired they should indeed indeed receive their prince, but that he should be projected to them from a catapult. Upon this threat they returned to Bristol.* The castle here soon after surrendered to the barons, but was retaken by Edward after the battle of Eves- ham, wherein Simon de Montfort was slain. Edward II. at Bristol. Let him account his bondage from that day, That he is with a diadem invested. A glittering crown hath made this hair so gray, Within whose circle he is but arrested. To true content this is no certain way, With sweeter cates the mean estate is feasted. For when his proud feet scorn to touch the mould, His head’s a prisoner in a gaol of gold. Drayton’s Barons’ War, IV. A.D. 1308. — The old Castle of Bristol became the scene of some of the tragic issues of the memorable reign of Edward II. It is well known that the jealousy excited by the infatuated and inscru- table regard of that ill-fated prince for his satellite, Gaveston, and subsequently the younger Spenser, was the incentive to his own and their destruction. “ Though,” says Hume, “ there had Robert of Gloucester, 549. Seyer, II. 62. HISTORICAL NOTICES. 21 scarcely been any national ground of complaint, except some dissipation of the public treasure. Though all the acts of mal- administration, objected to the king and his favourite, seemed of a nature more proper to excite heart-burnings in a ball or assembly, than commotion in a great kingdom. Yet such was the situation of the times that the barons were determined ; and were able to make them the reasons of a total alteration in the constitution and civil government.* When these turbulent barons had so far intimidated the king as to induce him to order Gaveston into exile, he qualified the sentence by making his favourite Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and even accompanied him to Bristol to see him embark. j* Upon the mqrder of this influential courtier four years after at Warwick Castle, the weak king, still incapable of sustaining the weight of government alone, transferred his lavish favours to Hugh Despenser, a young Englishman of good person and noble family. All the jealousies and heart-burnings that had cooled upon the immola- tion of the former minion of fortune, burned again to a “ white heat of animosity ” against the new favourite, and not against him alone, but his father also, whose offence was that he had participated in the king’s invidious bounties. The lay barons accordingly forced Edward into approval of sentence of perpetual exile and attainder against both these hated parasites. 1321. — By the following year, however, the king had concerted operations with the loyalists throughout the kingdom, which enabled him to gather forces sufficient to overpower for a time his adversaries, and resume his proper sway in the government. Many leaders of the adverse faction were thereupon brought to the block, the chief being the hitherto powerful Earl of Lancaster. The sentence against the Spensers was then revoked, and upon their return the escheats of the late attainted nobles were assigned to their benefit. This unpopular reversion excited the indignation of the king’s own party, who being joined in their enmity by Queen Isabella and her paramour, the “ gentle Mortimer,” open measures of hostility were speedily declared. Edward, after having in vain endeavoured to engage the citizens of London on his behalf, retired with the Spensers to Bristol, hoping there to find the succour denied him within the shadow of his throne. The queen upon this addressed a “ fair but mandatory letter to the mayor (of Bristol) to keep the city to the use of her and her Hnme, Vol. II. 332. fib. 331. 22 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. son that was to be their sovereign.’ 5 * Edward’s case was truly pitiable that not strangers only but his wife — his companion and equal, his guide and acquaintance — and not she alone, but his own son were pursuing him to a bitter death. Truly “to be weak is to be miserable, doing or suffering.” 1326. — Upon her approach to the city the hunted king, together with Hugh Despenser, early in the morning of the 1 6th of October, entered a little boat behind the castle, and escaping through the port retreated towards Wales. Failing to land at the Isle of Lundy, he reached Glamorgan, and took refuge at the Abbey of Neath. Meanwhile Isabella had arrived before the walls of the castle, which, under the command of the elder Spenser, held out for three days only. An unconditional surrender of city and fortress being made, the cruel and vindic- tive queen had scope for revenge. The gravity of Spenser’s age, which was 90 years, was no hindrance to her ordering him to be hung in his armour for four days, and to be afterwards cut to pieces and thrown to the dogs, his head being sent to the seat of his earldom, Winchester, and there fixed upon a pole.j* 1327. — In the following year, Edward having resigned his crown and kingdom to his son, his weakness was thus further weakened, and he was but a butterfly in the hands of tormentors. Being brought again to Bristol, and there made to undergo every cruel indignity that fiendish malice could invent, he was trans- ferred to Berkeley, where that last act of this strange eventful history was accomplished. The ominous raven often he doth hear, Who croaking, him of following horror tells, Begetting strange imaginary fear, With heavy echoes like to passing bells. The howling dog a doleful part doth bear, As though they claimed his last sad burying knells. Under his eave the buzzing screech owl sings, Beating the window with her fatal wings. When those depth and dead time of the night. Poor simple people that then dwelled near, Whom that strange noise did wond’rously affright, That his last shriek did in his parting bear ; As pitying that most miserable wight, (Betwixt compassion and obedient fear). Turned up their eye with heaviness opprest, Praying to Heaven to grant the soul good rest. * Harleian Mis. I. 84. + Stow, 224. HISTORICAL NOTICES. 23 Laws and Liberties of the Town. 1345. — William de Coleford, Recorder of Bristol, drew up in writing the laws and liberties of the town, which after being agreed upon by the mayor and principal citizens, were confirmed by a charter of 5th Edward III. Among these it was ordered, “ That no leprous man should stay within the precincts of the town, nor any common woman remain within its walls; arid if such woman be found, that the doors and windows of the house should be unhung, and carried by the sergeants of the mayor to the house of the constable of the ward, and there to be kept till the woman be removed.” Richard II. at Bristol. In Seyer’s History of Bristol (vol. II. p. 60) we read that “ Early in the year 1387, the king (Richard II.) accompanied his favourite, Robert de la Yere, into Wales, on his way to Ireland, at which time he visited Berkeley.” “ It is not probable,” adds the writer, “ that he should go to Berkeley without also visiting the Castle of Bristow.” This conjecture of Mr. Seyer is verified by a reference to Froissart, who gives an account of a long tarriance of the king on this journey at the castle of his great western city. This picturesque writer, who professes to quote from contemporary information, acquaints us that he came hither with what must have been a brilliant retinue, being “ followed by the queen, and all the ladies and damsels of her court.* These were the days of Chaucer, whose pictorial pen could alone delineate the gay scene that the old castle must have witnessed where so singular a devotee of pleasure as the effeminate Richard II. was the conspicuous figure. But as no description of the masquings, or love-makings, or tournamental pageantry of the occasion has come down to us through the medium of any local chronicler, we must rely solely upon Froissart, whom with- out further delay we will introduce. “ When King Richard arrived at Bristol, which is a handsome and strong town, he fixed his residence in the castle. Those in Wales, and at a distance, thought he had done so to favour the Duke of Ireland, who had made it to be reported he intended going from thence to Ireland, and to assist him with money to Johnes’s Froissart* III. 474, 24 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. increase his followers, for that had been agreed on by the Parlia- ment. It had been ordered that the dnke, on setting out for Ireland, where he was to remain three years, should have the command of 500 men at arms and 1,500 archers, paid by England, and which should be punctually remitted to him. But the duke had no inclination to go thither ; for, as the king was so young, he managed him as he pleased, and should he leave him he was afraid the king’s affection would be cooled. Add to this, he was so greatly enamoured with one of the queen’s damsels, called the Langravine, he could never quit her. She was a tolerably handsome, pleasant lady, whom the queen had brought with her from Bohemia. “ The Duke of Ireland loved her with such ardour that he was desirous of making her, if possible, his duchess by marriage. He took great pains to obtain a divorce from his present duchess, the daughter of the Earl of Bedford, from Urban VI., whom the English and Germans acknowledged as pope. All the good people of England were so much astonished and shocked at this, for the duchess was grand-daughter of the gallant king Edward and the excellent queen Philippa, being the daughter of the Princess Isabella. But this Duke of Ireland had a mother living, the Countess-dowager of Oxford, who, so far from approving her son’s conduct, greatly blamed him for his follies, saying that he would by them anger Heaven, who would one day punish him severely, when it would be too late to repent. She had the duchess home with her, and gave her as handsome an establishment as she could, so that all who loved the young lady were pleased with this conduct. “ You have heard that the Duke of Ireland kept close to the king during his residence at Bristol and in Wales, solely occupied night and day with the means of succeeding in his plans. He was assiduous in his attentions to the king and queen, and to all knights and squires who waited on them at Bristol and at the hunts in the neighbourhood, to draw them over to his faction ; for the king suffered him to act as he pleased : u The duke, during this period, took infinite pains in visiting all the gentlemen near to Bristol, and went frequently into Wales, where he complained to all who would listen to him, gentlemen or others, that the king’s uncles, from their ambition to obtain the government, had driven from the council the most noble and wisest members, such as the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Durham, the Bishop of London, Sir Michael de la Pole, Sir HISTORICAL NOTICES. 25 Nicholas Bramber, Sir John Salisbury, Sir Robert Tresilian, Sir John Beauchamp, and himself; that they had put to death, with- out any justice whatever, that valiant knight Sir Simon Burley ; and if they continued to govern as they had begun they would soon destroy all England.” “ He repeated this so often, and with such success, that the knights and squires of Wales, and of the adjoining countries, believed him. They came to Bristol, and demanded from the king if what the duke had told them had his approbation. The king replied it had, and begged of them, from their affection to him, to put every confidence in the duke, for that .lie would avow whatever he should do : adding, that in truth his uncles were too ambitious, and that he had his fears they intended to deprive him of his crown. * * * * The Welshmen promised their obedience, and declared themselves ready to go whithersoever the king should order them. * * * * The Duke of Ireland, when he perceived he had gained the king, and the greater number of those in Bristol, Wales, and the adjoining parts, pro- ceeded to say to the king, 1 My lord, if you will appoint me your lieutenant, I will lead 12 or 15,000 men to London, or to Oxford, which is yours and my city, and shew my strength to these Londoners and your uncles, who have treated you with such indignity, and have put some of your council to death, and, by fair words or otherwise, reduce them to obedience.’ The king replied he was satisfied, adding, 4 1 now nominate you lieutenant- general of my kingdom, to assemble men wherever you can raise them, and to lead them whithersoever you shall think will be most for the advantage of our realm, that all may see the whole of it is our inheritance and right. I order you to bear our banner, guidon, standard, and other our proper habiliments of war, which we ourselves should have done, had we taken the field.’ This speech greatly rejoiced the Duke of Ireland. “ The King of England issued his summons to many great barons, knights, and squires, in Wales, in the country round Bristol, and on the Severn-side. Some excused themselves by sending satisfactory reasons ; but others came and placed them- selves under the obedience of the king, notwithstanding they augured nothing good from the enterprise. While this army was collecting, the king and duke, in a secret conference, determined to send one of their confidential friends to London, to observe what was going forward, and if the king’s uncles still remained there, what they were doing. After pome consideration, they e HISTORY OF BRISTOL. 26 could not think on a proper person to send on this errand ; when a knight, who was cousin to the duke, and of the king’s as well as of his council, called Sir Robert Tresilian, stepped forth, and said to the duke, ‘ 1 see the difficulty you have to find a trusty person to send to London ; I will, from my love to you, risk the adventure.’ The king and duke, well pleased with the offer, thanked him for it. Tresilian left Bristol disguised like a poor tradesman, mounted on a wretched hackney : he continued his road to London, and lodged at an inn where he was unknown, for no one could have ever imagined that one of the king’s councillors and chamberlains would have appeared so miserably dressed.” “ When in London, he picked up all the news that was public, for he could not do more, respecting the king’s uncles and the citizens. Having heard that there was to be a meeting of the dukes and their council at Westminster, he determined to go thither to learn secretly all he could of their proceedings. This he executed, and fixed his quarters at an alehouse right opposite the palace gate : he chose a chamber whose window looked into the palace yard, where he posted himself to observe all who should come to this Parliament. The greater part he knew, but was not, from his disguise, known to them. He, however, remained there, at different times, so long that a squire of the Duke of Gloucester saw and knew him, for he had been many times in his company. Sir Robert instantly recollected him, and withdrew from the window ; but the squire, haying his suspicions, said, 4 Surely that must be Tresilian,’ and, to be certain of it, he entered the ale- house and said to the landlady, ‘ Dame, tell me on your troth who is he drinking above ; is he alone or in company ? ’ ‘On my troth, sir,’ she replied, ‘ I cannot tell you his name, but he has been here some time.’ At these words the squire went up stairs, to know the truth, and, having saluted Sir Robert, found he was right, though he dissembled, by saying, ‘ God preserve you, master ! I hope you will not take my coming amiss, for I thought you had been one of my farmers from Essex, as you are so very like him.” The squire hastened from the inn, and soon acquainted his master the Duke of Gloucester of the important discovery he had made. The duke, with much elation, instantly sent his informer w T ith four bailiffs to apprehend the detected councillor ; who upon being brought before him, (according to the same author,) was demanded thus, ‘ Tresilian, what has brought you hither ? How fares my sovereign ? Where does he now reside ? ’ Tresilian, HISTORICAL NOTICES. 27 finding he was discovered, and that no excuses would avail, replied, ‘ On my faith, my lord, the king hath sent me hither to learn the news; he is at Bristol, and on the banks of the Severn, where he hunts and amuses himself.’ 1 And where is your master, the Duke of Ireland ? ’ My lord,’ said Tresilian, ‘ he is with the king, our lord.’ The duke mused awhile, and then spoke, ‘ Tresilian, your actions are neither honest nor fair. You, and others of your faction, have done what has greatly displeased my brother and myself, and have ill-counselled the king, whom you have made to quarrel with his chief nobility. In addition, you have excited the principal towns against us. The day of retribution is therefore come, when you shall receive payment ; look to your affairs, for I will neither eat nor drink until you are no more.’ This speech greatly terrified Sir Robert. He was desirous to obtain pardon by various excuses, and the most abject humiliation, but in vain ; for the duke had received information of what was going on at Bristol, and his excuses were fruitless. Why should I make a long story ? Sir Robert was delivered to the hangman, who led him out of the palace to the place of execution, where he was beheaded, and then hung by the arm to a gibbet. Thus ended Sir Robert Tresilian.”* The Parliamentary History j - confirms Froissart’s account of the summary nature of this execution; but the former varies by saying that Tresilian was taken at an apothecary’s house in the palace yard, and not at an inn as stated by the latter. News of these proceedings being carried to the king, at Bristol, he was vehemently angry, and he ordered the Duke of Ireland to collect all the force possible, and march towards London. Accor- dingly, not long after, the duke left Bristol for Oxford, with an army of 15,000 men, who bore banners and pennons with only the arms of England, for the king would have it seen it was his personal quarrel. The Duke of Ireland’s arrival at Oxford becoming known to the king’s uncles in London, they summoned a council, in which it was determined to advance with an army against him. Information of their approach being conveyed to the duke, he was seized with sudden fear, and forsaking his com- panions in arms, he made a hasty and disgraceful retreat into Holland. Consequently no combat ensued betwixt the adverse forces,. The Dukes of York and Gloucester thereupon held a * Froissart, III. 484. t Parliamentary History, Vol. I. p. 457. 28 HISTORY OF BRISTOL, consultation, in which it was concluded to depute the Archbishop of Canterbury to Bristol, with a mediatory message to the king ; there to endeavour to persuade him to return to London, and come to peaceable terms with his disaffected nobles. “ The archbishop,” pursues Froissart, “ promised to accomplish the matter as well as he was able, and having soon made his preparations, set out for Bristol in grand array, becoming such a prelate, and fixed his lodgings in the town. The king lived very privately, for all those who used to be with him were either dead or banished. The arch- bishop was one whole day and two nights in the town before the king would see him, so sorely vexed was he with his uncles for having driven away the Duke of Ireland, whom he loved above all mankind, and for having put to death his chamberlains and knights. At length he was so well advised that he admitted the archbishop to his presence. On his entrance, he humbled himself much before the king, and then addressed him warmly on the subjects the Dukes of York and Gloucester had charged him with. He gave him to understand that if he did not return to London, according to the entreaties of his uncles, the citizens of London, and the greater part of his subjects, he would make them very discontented ; and he remonstrated that without the aid of his uncles, barons, prelates, knights, and commons from the chief towns, he would be unable to act, or have any compliance given to his will. The king did not remain in Bristol long after this, but, leaving there his queen, set out with his retinue towards London, the archbishop accompanying him.” * On July 29th, 1399, Bristol High Cross became the scene of a terrible tragedy in the execution of three of Richard the second’s councillors, namely, William Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire; Sir John Busliey, Speaker of Parliament, and Sir Henry Green, Knight. The circumstances as we glean them, are as follows. The King having resolved to pass over to Ireland, halted in his progress at Bristol. “ He had with him,” says Froissart, “full two thousand lances, knights, and squires, and ten thousand archers. During the time,” pursues the same historian, “ that King Richard was holding his court at Bristol and in that neighbourhood, there was a general insurrection of the people of England. The courts of justice were closed : at which many of the prelates, barons, and prudent part of the people, who only wanted for peace and to pay what was lawful, were much dejected. A stop was put to all Froissart, III. 497. HISTORICAL NOTICKS. 29 traffic, for merchants dared not travel for fear of being robbed, and having no court to fly to for redress. All these things were very prejudicial, and contrary to the usual custom of the country, for in general all people, labourers and tradesmen, lived peaceably and followed their occupations without hindrance, but it was now quite the contrary. When merchants went with their goods from one town to another, and had any money in their purses it was taken from them. The farmers’ houses were pillaged of grain, and their beeves, pigs, and sheep carried away, without the •owner daring to say a word. These enormities increased so much that there was nothing but complaints heard. The common people said, “ Times are so sadly changed for the worse since the days of King Edward of happy memory. * * * But now we have a good for nothing king, who only attends to his idle pleasures ; and, as it would seem he cares not how public affairs are managed, so that his inclinations are gratified. We must look for a remedy, or our enemies and ill wishers will be rejoiced and laugh at us.”* The state of popular feeling was accor- dingly ripe for receiving Henry Bolingbroke, who having left Paris, in company with the exiled Archbishop of Canterbury, was at this time hovering with three small ships on the Eastern coast of England. After two or three days delay he landed, on July the 4th, at Ravenspur in Yorkshire ; with him was a retinue of hardly twenty followers, but these were speedily augmented by the accession to his interest of the Lords of Lancashire. The potent Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, with their retainers, also joined beneath his banners : and marching through the country, before he arrived in Worcestershire, Henry found himself at the head of an army of sixty thousand men. Mean- while, in the words of Holinslied, “ the lord governor Edmund, Duke of York” (who had charge of the realm) “being advertised, that the Duke of Lancaster kept still at sea, and was ready to arrive, he sent for the Lord Chancellor Edmund Stafford, Bishop of Exeter, and for the Lord Treasurer William Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire, and other of the king’s privy council, as John Bushie, William Bagot, Henry Greene, and John Russell, Knights : of these he required to know what they thought good to be done in this matter, concerning the Duke of Lancaster being on the seas. Their advice was to depart from London, unto St. Albans, and there to gather an army to resist Froissart, IV. 63S. 30 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. the Duke on his landing ; but to how small purpose their council served, the conclusion thereof plainly declared, for the most part that were called, when they came thither, boldly protested, that they would not fight against the Duke of Lancaster, whom they knew to be evil dealt with. The Lord Treasurer, Bushie, Bagot, and Greene, perceiving that the Commons would cleave unto and take part with the Duke, slipped away, leaving the Lord Gover- nor of the realm, and the Lord Chancellor to make what shift they could for themselves : Bagot got him to Chester, and so escaped into Ireland : the others fled to the Castle of Bristol, in hopes there to be in safety.” The same chronicler further states that “the Duke of York, whom King Bichard had left as governor of the realm in his absence, hearing that his nephew, the Duke of Lancaster was thus arrived, and had gathered an army, he also assembled a puissant power of men at arms and archers (as before ye have heard) but all was in vain, for there was not a man that would willingly thrust out one arrow against the Duke of Lancaster, or his partakers, or in any wise offend him or his friends. The Duke of York therefore, passing forth towards Wales to meet the King, at his coming from Ireland, was received into the Castle of Berkeley, and there remained, till the coming thither of the Duke of Lancaster (whom when he perceived that he was not able to resist) on the Sunday, after the feast of Saint James, which fell upon the Friday, he came forth into the church that stood without the castle, and there communed with the Duke of Lancaster.” Here the doom of Bichard was sealed, and the next day, with united armies they proceeded towards Bristol, where they pre- sented themselves before the walls with an embodied force of a hundred thousand men. The town immediately surrendered ; and after four day’s siege of the Castle, Sir William Courtenay, the governor, consented to treat with the Duke of York, although he refused to submit to Bolingbroke. “There were enclosed within the Castle,” says Holinshed, “ the Lord William Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire; Sir Henry Green, and Sir John Bushie, Knights, who prepared to make resistance : but when it would not prevail they were taken prisoners into the camp, before the Duke of Lancaster. On the morrow next ensuing, they were arraigned before the constable and marshal, and found guilty of treason, for misgoverning the king and realm, and forthwith had their heads cut off. Sir John Bussell was also taken there, who HISTORICAL NOTICES. feigning himself to be out of his wits escaped their hands for that time.”* At this point it would be inexcusable to omit Shaks peare’s scenic representation of this tragical procedure. Richard II., Act III., Scene 1 . Bolin obroke’s Camp at Bristol. Enter — Bolingbroke, York, Northumberland, Percy, Willoughby, Put , Officers behind with Bushey and Green, prisoners. Bolingbroke. — Bring forth these men, — Bushey and Green, I will not vex your souls (Since presently your souls must part your bodies, ) With too much urging your pernicious lives, For ’twere no charity : yet, to wash your blood From off my hands, here, in the view of men, I will unfold some causes of your death. You have misled a prince, a royal king, A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments. By you unhappy’ d and disfigur'd quite. You have, in manner, with your sinful hours, Made a divorcS betwixt his queeu and him ; Broke the possession of a royal bed, And stain’d the beauty of a fair queen’s cheeks With tears drawn from her eyes by your foul wrongs. Myself — a prince, by fortune of my birth ; Near to the king in blood ; and near in love, Till you did make him misinterpret me, Have stoop’d my neck under your injuries, And sigh’d my English breath in foreign clouds, Eating the bitter bread of banishment : Whilst you have fed upon my signories, , Dispark’d my parks, and fell’d my forest woods ; From my own windows torn my household coat, Jiaz’d out my impress, leaving me no sign, — Save men’s opinions, and my living blood, — To shew the world I am a gentleman. This, and much more, much more than twice all this, Condemns you to death : — see them delivered over To execution and the hand of death. Bushey. — More welcome is the stroke of death to me, Than Bolingbroke to England. — Lords, farewell. Green. — My comfort is, — that Heaven will take our souls, And plague injustice with the pains of hell. Bolingbroke. — My Lord Northumberland, see them dispatch’d. Exeunt Northumberland and other's until prisoner •*. Holinslied, p. 499. 32 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. Walsingliam gives a most unfavourable representation of the character of Lord William Scrope. He says that it would not be easy to find a man in whom despotic cruelty and wickedness were more prevailing qualities. An equally disparaging account is given of him in “Dugdale’s Baronage,” where the following statements concerning him occur. “ It is said that this William was a person of a very malevolent and wicked disposition : but so far had he gained upon the affections of King Richard, that in the sixteenth year of his reign he made him vice-chamberlain of his household : about which time he (the Earl) purchased the Isle of Man from William de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, with the crown : it being a right belonging to the Lord of that island to be called king and to be crowned with a regal crown.”* Besides being invested with many other nominal dignities and munificent possessions by Richard ; that monarch constituted him Constable of Knaresborough Castle, and Warden of the Forest, with the Park there, late part of the possession of John, Duke of Lancaster, to hold till such time as Henry of Lancaster, Duke of Hereford, should by law recover them out of the King’s hands : and lastly Treasurer of the King’s exchequer. When Scrope fell within the compass of Bolingbroke’s power, it could in no wise have allayed the indignation of the latter, to remember that so much of the Lancastarian patrimony was held by his victim ; and although by a recent enactment, it was reckoned treason to slay the king’s treasurer, yet Henry dared all to wreak revenge on the unfortunate Earl. “ The gentleman commonly called Bussey,” says Leland, “came with the Conqueror out of Normandy. Bussey that was so great in King Richard the Second’s days, and was beheaded at Bristol, had his principal house and manor place at Hougheham, three miles from Grantham. Bussey’s wife, that was beheaded at Bristol, lyeth at Howheham, and divers of the Bussey’s in the same parish church.” \ Sir John Bushey the speaker, is generally represented to have been a cruel, ambitious, and covetous man : but by his servile arts and flatteries he obtained so great ascendancy over the weak nature of Richard, as to make the king subservient to his own tyrannical disposition. “ The said Sir John Bushey,” Grafton tells us, “in all his propositions to the king, did not only attribute to him earthly honours, but divine names, inventing flattering words, and unused terms, and Dug. Baron. I. 661. + Lei. Itin. YI. 65. HISTORICAL NOTICES. to a mortal man not convenient, for as often as he spake unto the king in his throne, he cast his hands abroad, asjhe had ador’d and worshipped God, beseeching his excelse, high and adorant majesty that he would vouchsafe to grant him this and that. And the prince being ambitious of honour, did not repress this insolency, but took great pleasure in his words, wdreof came much inconvenience.” * He procured the perpetual banishment of the Archbishop of Canterbury, persuading the king to allow that prelate to make no defence, assigning as a reason, that “ his wit was so great, and did so far excel all others,” that they might be circumvented by his eloquence. Bushey also rested not until he had obtained the destruction of the Earl of Arundel; although the imputed treason of that nobleman had been long revoked. He again impeached him in the House of Parliament impor- tunately crying out that judgement should be given against the traitor; saying, “your faithful commons ask, and require that it may so be. The Earl soberly turning his head, said mildly unto him : Not the King’s faithful commons require this, but thou, and what thou art I know well enough.” After Arundel’s death, “the King,” says Capgrave, “was tormented with dreadful dreams that he might not sleep. Eke he thought ever that a shadow of a man walked before him. Moreover this grieved him, that the common people talked that he was a martyr, and that his head was grown to his body. For this cause, in the tenth day of his sepulture, at the tenth hour at even, the King sent certain Dukes and Earls to delve up the body, and make a friar for to go betwixt the head and the body. And with this deed the king was more quiet. But for all this, he commanded the wax about his grave, and clothes, and other array to be taken away, and to leave the grave desolate.” (Chron. 266.) This deed occurred in 1396. Three years afterwards, Arundel’s fate was Bushey’s own. In the year 1400 the High Cross witnessed the sacrifice of another illustrious victim to the hopeless cause of Richard the Second. This was Thomas de Spenser, great grandson of Hugh, who suffered at the Castle, in the year 1326. Having entered into a conspiracy to dethrone Henry IV. in the first year of his reign, he was hindered in his design by his army perfidiously taking to flight before any collision with the king’s forces had occurred. Spenser, thus deserted, took refuge in his strong Grafton, I. 64o a 34 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. Castle of Cardiff : but finding even this unsafe he embarked on board a vessel in the hope to escape with his servants and treasure. A severer fate, however, awaited him. “ Having,” says our narrator, “ gained the Bristol Channel in fancied security, the captain inquired to what port he wished to proceed, and when he told him he intended to go beyond sea, refused to carry him anywhere but Bristol. De Spenser threatened the mariner with death ; and in course of their altercation twenty armed men, concealed in the hold, rushed upon deck and overpowered him and his attendants. He was then taken into Bristol, and delivered into the custody of the Mayor of that city. Henry wished to have an interview with him before he was put to death, but on the second day after his arrival, a multitude assem- bled and called aloud for the traitor to the king and realm, that he might be brought out to execution. The Mayor in vain endeavoured to oppose them ; they dragged their victim forth and beheaded him in the market place. His head was put upon London Bridge ; his body was buried in the midst of the choir at Tewkesbury under a lamp that burned before the host.*” Bristol in the Civil War of Charles I. No single episode of the civil war affected Charles more deeply, or proved more decisive of the ultimate event of the struggle, than the disloyalty of Bristol, and its delivery into the hands of the Parliament. Its final surrender by Prince Rupert drew from the king the pathetic and eloquent remonstrance in which he charged that bravest and faithfullest of all his servants with the want of those virtues which he indeed most signally possessed, and dismissing him from his service told him to “ get his subsis- tence somewhere beyond seas.” We will proceed to give a concise account of the process of military affairs during this cardinal rebellion. 1642. — In anticipation of the part soon to be enacted, the great tower of the castle was restored to its original impregna- bility, and ordnance planted on the top ; the circumvallation of the city was repaired and strengthened, and its various gates and portcullisses prepared for defence. A fort was erected near the river, thence called the Water Fort, on the southern skirt of Brandon Hill. This communicated by a line of wall with the fort * Arckceologia, Yol. XX. 39. Dugd. Baronage, I. 397. Iiapin, I. 490 HISTORICAL NOTICES. on that hill itself, where considerable remains of the redoubt are still to be seen. Brandon Fort was about 18 feet square, and as many high, and was the most elevated in situation of all the hill forts. It trended downwards to the S.E. corner of Berkeley Square, passed the top of Park Street, and proceeded upwards to the Windmill Fort, on St. Michael’s Hill. This was so called from its conversion out of the shell of a windmill, and was after- wards named the Royal Fort. The curtain then sloped easterly to Colston’s Fort, near the Montague Tavern, and thence onward to the fort at Prior’s Hill, near the west end of St. James’s Place and Somerset Street, Kingsdown. Hence it pursued its course by Stoke’s Croft Gate, across the river Frome to Lawford’s Gate. Then after reaching the Avon, near the end of Temple Back, it completed its circuit by taking in Temple and Redcliff Gates, and meeting the Avon again beyond the latter point. The whole compass of the outworks, by the statement of Prince Rupert, w’as four miles ; but according to the authority of another eye-witness, they were full five miles. The height of the curtain was in no place more than six feet, and the graff or ditch did not exceed seven feet wide and five feet deep. The Mayor, Richard Aldworth, having received a command from the king not to admit troops of either party, placed the gates of the city under double ward, and in order to their further security, iron rails bristling with spikes were fixed athwart their entrance, so that no horse could pass through. The loyalty of the good mayor, however, whether real or assumed, was counter- acted by the contrary feeling on the part of his wife. That lady, in company with other influential townswomen, came to the magistrates when sitting in council at the Tolzey, and presented petitions that Col. Thomas Essex might be admitted with the Parliamentary regiments he commanded into the city. This request w 7 as soon realized, (Dec. 5tli) Essex, after an affray at Frome Gate, effecting entrance at Newgate, whereupon he imme- diately took upon himself the governorship of the city and castle. He was soon (Feb. 16th, 1643) followed by Col. Nathaniel Fiennes (son of Lord Say and Sele) and two other officers, who brought with them five troops of horse and five companies of foot. Some suspicion of the fidelity of Essex being excited, Col. Fiennes caused him to be arrested while visiting at the house of his friend, Capt. Hill, at Redland, Fiennes himself then assuming the com- mandership of military affairs in Bristol. About the beginning of the first week in March, Prince Rupert , / 3.6 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. his brother Maurice, and others, with an army of 10,000 horse and foot, having marched from Basingstoke, arrived on Durdham. Down. For some time there had been a secret confederacy among the Royalists of Bristol, headed by Mr. Alderman Yeoman, of Wine Street, and George Boucher, a wealthy merchant of Christ- mas ^Street, to admit the king’s troops to the city, and it was the maturity of this plot that occasioned Rupert’s present appearance before the place. A correspondence with the Court, at Oxford, having been for some time carried on in relation to the conspiracy, the king had authorized Mr. Yeoman to raise forces and constitute commanders for the Royal service, and Boucher contrived an oath or protestation to be taken by each member of the association. “ After communication of counsels,” says Rushworth, “ and many messages interchanged between Oxford and Bristol, it was resolved, ‘ That upon Monday, the 7 th of March, in the night, Prince Rupert, with a strong party of the king’s forces, should advance to Durdham Down (not a full mile from the city), and those within the city were to seize two of the forts, viz., Froom- gate and Newgate, and having secured the guards there, were to open the said gates and to let in Prince Rupert and his troops, who were to have notice given them to approach by the ringing of St. John’s and St. Michael’s bells ; the confederates were to be distinguished by white tape in their hats, and the word to be Charles. According to which project, divers of them were met armed at Mr. Yeoman’s house, and others at Mr. Boucher’s, and waiting tlie appointed hour (which was three in the Morning) to fall upon their work. But that evening late, a little boy declared, that divers musquets were carried into Mr. Yeoman’s house ; whereupon a more diligent eye was kept upon them, and at last a guard ordered to search the house, who were first denied entrance, but afterwards let in, where they found a considerable number of men and arms : there was some small offer of resistance, but the most were endeavouring to escape over the top of the house ; and divers were taken both there and at Mr. Boucher’s. Prince Rupert with his forces came that night to the Down, expecting till five of the clock next morning the signal and opening of the gates ; but several pieces of ordnance being in the morning discharged that way, perceiving the design frustrated, his high- ness drew off.” * Information of this conspiracy being laid before Parliament, B-ushworth, Yol. Y. 154, HISTORICAL NOTICES. Col. Fiennes was empowered by commission to summon a Council of War, and proceed against the prisoners by martial law. Meanwhile, for twelve weeks, both Yeoman and Boucher were kept chained by their necks and feet in a dungeon in the Castle. Yeoman’s case was first tried, and a verdict of guilty being adjudged, sentence of death was passed upon him, and he was remitted once more to the castle dungeon, till his unhappy associate Boucher should likewise receive his trial and sentence. About a fortnight after a Martial Council was again convened, and the several articles being exhibited against him, the like convic- tion of treason was arrived at and sentence of death declared. A letter then arrived by drum from Patrick, Earl of Forth, the Lord Lieutenant of all his Majesty’s forces, directed to the Commander in Chief, and the Council of War in Bristol, declaring that should Yeoman and Boucher with their associates be brought to death “all for expressing their loyalty to his Majesty, and endeavouring his service according to their allegiance” that he (the Earl of Forth) intended “ speedily to put Mr. Stephens, Mr. George, Capt. Huntly and others, taken in rebellion against his Majesty at Cirencester, into the same condition.” In reply to this threatening communication, which was dated Oxford, the 16th of May, 1643, Col. Fiennes thus wrote. “ Having received a writing from your Lordship, wherein it is declared, that upon information of our late proceedings against Robert Yeomans, William Yeomans, and others, you intend speedily to put Mr. George, Mr. Stephens, Capt. Huntly and others into the same condition : we are well assured that neither your Lordship, nor any mortal man, can put them into the same condition ; for whether they live or die,, they will always be accounted true and honest men ; faithful to their king and country ; and such, as in a fair and open way, have always prosecuted that cause, which in their judgment, guided by the judgment of the highest court, they held the justest ; whereas the conspirators of this city must, both in life and death carry perpetually with them the brand of treachery and conspiracy. And if Robert Yeomans had made use of his commission in an open way, he should be put into no worse condition than others in the like kind had been. But the law of nature amongst all men, and law of arms amongst all soldiers, maketh a difference between open enemies and secret spies and conspirators. And if you should make the like distinc- tion, we do signify unto you, that we shall not only proceed to the execution of the persons already condemned, but also of 38 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. divers others, the conspirators unto whom we had some thought of extending mercy. And do advertise you, that if by any inhumane and mi soldier-like sentence you shall proceed to the execution of the persons by you named, or any other of our friends in your custody, that have been taken in a fair and open way- of war, then Sir Walter Pye, Sir William Croft, Col. Connesby, and divers others taken in open rebellion and actual war against the king and kingdom, whom we have here in custody, must expect no favour or mercy. And by God’s blessing upon our just cause, we have pawns enough for our friends security, without taking in any that have gotten out of our reach and power, although divers of yours, of no mean quality and condition, have been freely released by us. Given under our hands this 18th of May, 1643. “NATH. FIENNES, President, &c.” * Six days after this date his Majesty addressed a letter from his Court at Oxford to the Mayor and Corporation of Bristol, calling upon them to prevent the infamy that would be brought upon the city by the murder of those men, and commanding that they call upon the citizens to assist them (the Mayor, &c.) to “kill and slay all such who shall attempt or endeavour to take away the lives of our said subjects.” The King’s letter arrived too late, or at least says Bushworth, could not hinder the execution, for on the 30th of the same month Yeoman and Boucher were hanged in Wine Street, near the Guard House, f On Tuesday, July 18th, Prince Rupert commenced his march from Oxford towards the West, intending to lay siege to Bristol. On the following Sunday His Highness quartered at Westbury College, two miles from the city, and the same afternoon accom- panied by his life guards, Col. Washington, with his dragoons, Sir Arthur Ashton and other officers, he passed over Durdham Down towards Clifton Church. This position was within musket shot of the fort on Brandon Hill, a deep valley and two houses lying between. This was adjudged the fittest place to recognoitre the forts and line of the enemy on the western side ; and for discovering some eligible rising ground whereon to erect a battery. The place being found of some hopeful advantage, Col. Washing- ton, with his dragoons, 200 musketers and 100 pikes, were left * Rusk worth, Vol. V. p. 155. f Paisli worth, VoL V., 156. Evan’s Chron. Hist. Brist. 186. HISTORICAL NOTICES. 39 there all night to guard it, lest the enemy should fall out, either to possess the Church, or bum off the two houses, which sheltered them from the fort.* A cannonading was kept , up during the night on both sides, the enemy also sallying out from Brandon fort to fire the two houses, but were beaten in before effecting their design. I On Monday morning the Prince assembled the whole of his horse and foot on Durdham Down, the little army marching with very extending front in battalia in order to seem the more numerous, and presented themselves at the edge of the Down that the forts might see them. The like show was made on the other side of the town by the army of Prince Maurice. About eleven o’clock the same morning Rupert sent his trumpeter to demand the surrender of the town for the king ; to whom the Governor replied in writing, “ that being intrusted to keep the town for the King and Parliament, he could not as yet relinquish that trust, till he were brought to more extremity.” This answer being considered, preparations were immediately instituted for a general assault upon the city. Batteries were erected to play upon Windmill and Priors Hill forts. Col. Henry Wentworth was sent to relieve Col. Washington at Clifton Church, and to cast up a battery against the fort on Brandon Hill. “The place made choice of was the side of the hill below, on the right hand towards the river Avon, within musket-shot of their lower redoubt next the river, upon this two twelve-pounders were mounted. Col. Wentworth now sent Lieutenant- Colonel Thel- wall, of Col. Fil ton’s regiment, with 200 men to lodge himself in the bottom of Brandon Hill, where he was well sheltered by the ferns and bushes, and bolstered by the two hills before and behind.” J Night coming on a mutual but ineffectual firing was commenced. “ It was a beautiful piece of danger,” says our eye- witness, “ to see so many fires incessantly in the dark, from the pieces on both sides for a whole hour together.” No impression being made by the batteries of the besiegers, the next morning (Tuesday, July 2Gth, 1643) a Council of War was called, and it was thereby determined that the city should be stormed from all points at once, the time to be the ensuing morning at daybreak, and the signal the word “ Oxford.” In the * Warburton’s Prince Rupert and the Cavaliers, Vol. II. 239. t Ibid, 242. t Journal of an Eye Witness. A MS. among Prince Rupert’s papers. War burton, Vol. II., 245. I 40 % HISTORY OF BRISTOL. evening Prince Rupert sent for Lord Grandison and his other field officers, to his quarters at Capt. Hill’s house, Redland,* by Durdham Down side, to advise on the contemplated assault. Instructions were thereupon issued to all the foot officers, and alarms were kept up through the night. On Wednesday morning the assault commenced before three o’clock, by the firing of the Cornish men on the other side of the town, they having antici- pated the time given, through “ military ambition ’’ to gain the first advantage upon the enemy. A desperate endeavour was then made to win the works and line of Prior’s Hill Fort, the garrison of which was under the command of the subsequently celebrated Admiral Blake, but after an hour and a half fighting, and the loss of Capt. Howell and 19 men, no entrance could be effected. A like vigorous assault was made about the Windmill Fort, but through want of faggots to fill the ditch, and ladders to scale the work, the men began to fall back ; but being met in their retreat by Prince Rupert he brought them on again. Thence returning to bring up his own troop his highness’s horse was shot under him. Meanwhile operations had been more successfully pursued else- where in the line. Col. Washington finding a weak place in the curtain running between Brandon and St. Michael Hills, at the point corresponding with the present entrance to Park Row, there centered his attack, and breaking through made entrance for horse and foot. The enemy retreating before him, he rapidly advanced to Frome Cate, which, however, he was unable to force. Here he was in danger of being enclosed and cut off, for a galling flank fire from the walls and houses in his route had woefully thinned his troops, and Prince Rupert had not yet followed to his support. Halting outside the broken line, the prince had sent for a reinforcement of a thousand Cornish foot, on whose arrival he pressed on to second the troops of Washington. The enemy had now lost their opportunity. An ancient soldier has said that there is more hope of an army when the general is a lion and the soldiers but sheep, than when the general is a sheep though soldiers are lions. f An instance of this was on the present occa- * This house is still standing, and is that enclosed by a higb wall on the left-hand side of the acclivity leading from Lower Redland to Redland Green. + The idea is thus expressed ‘ £ Chabrias illud frequenter dicere solebat formidabiliorem esse cervorum exercitum duce leone, quam leonum duce cervo sentiens totam belli fortunam pendere a virtute et prudentia ducis.” I HISTORICAL NOTICES. 41 sion afforded. Col. Fiennes, the rebel captain, was as craven- hearted as he was lip-valiant. He had boasted that a flag of truce should be his winding-sheet, but seeing the enemy face to face he recoiled in dismay. By mid-day the assailants had won their way to the cathedral, which they invested, together with the adjoining churches of St. Mark and St. Augustine, from which fortresses they directed a sharp fire upon the enemy’s works in the neighbourhood. At two o’clock the governor made signs for a parley, and before ten at night a treaty was concluded by which he agreed to surrender the city on condition that the inhabitants should not be plundered, and that the garrison should be suffered to march out the next morning, the officers with their full arms, bag and baggage, and the common infantry without arms. In the hurry of his departure Col. Fiennes had neglected to acquaint Blake, the commander of Prior’s Hill Fort, with the nature or even the fact of his capitula- tion. “ When therefore,” says Mr. Dixon, “ at sunrise a body of Royalists appeared before the ditch to take possession of the little fort which they had vainly assailed the previous day, Blake replied to their summons with a volley of musketry that sent them back in reeling and broken columns. On hearing that the redoubtable commander of Prior’s Hill refused to admit the articles of surrender, Rupert declared that he would hang him on the spot. How different might have been his own career had he but carried this threat into execution ! Twenty-four hours longer Blake still held his post and kept the cavaliers at bay ; but then learning, from sources on which he could rely, the exact nature of the agreement with Fiennes, and that the Roundhead garrison was already on its march, he reluctantly quitted the position he had shown himself so well able to defend.” * General Fiennes was subsequently tried by court martial for his hasty surrender of Bristol, and was capitally convicted of cowardice, but his life was spared by the Lord-General Essex. f The loss of the victors seems to have exceeded that of the vanquished. Lord Clarendon estimates that about 500 foot soldiers, besides many tried officers, were killed in the several assaults. Col. Lunsford was shot on Christmas Street Steps, which were long afterwards known as Lunsford’s Stairs. Steep Street just by proved a specially fatal pass. From the windows * Dixon’s Life of Blake, 48. + See State Trials, vol. IY. col. 185—316. Clarendon, voL IV. 149. D 42 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. of the Ship public house (still standing) very many were shot, but the loyalists had their revenge by entering the enemies’ lodg- ments and putting them wholesale to the sword. Though the loyalists lost much blood they gained much money, for besides a contribution from the citizens to save the city from being sacked, as much as £100,000 was found in the castle.* In order to compose a difference that had arisen between Prince Rupert and the Marquis of Hertford concerning the government of the city, the king made a public entrance into Bristol early in August, and was entertained at Mr. Colston’s house, in Small Street.-)- The reduction of Bristol by Prince Rupert was followed by various other successes on the king’s side, and for a while the Royal cause was in the ascendant ; but the gathering might of Cromwell was a power destined to undo all that these victories had done, and make the victors the victims. 1645. — Sherborn having fallen into the power of the Parlia- ment, it was determined next to invest Bristol. Accordingly, on August the 18th, Sir Thomas Fairfax began his march, and on Friday, the 22nd, arrived at Clifton. Some days were occupied in arranging preliminaries for a siege or storming of the city ; Prince Rupert meanwhile leading or directing sudden sallies upon the enemy, and keeping fire upon them from the various forts. On Tuesday, Sept. 2nd, a council of war was called to debate whether the city should be stormed or not, which being put to the question was decided in the affirmative. The manner of storming was then resolved on, the details of which are too long to be here related, but may be found in Rushworth.J The garrison in the city amounted to 2,300 men, but not more than 1,500 could be brought upon the line at once, and many of these were inexperienced Welchmen. Rupert having anticipated for some time the approach of the enemy, had issued command for all the inhabitants to victual themselves for six months. There were 2,500 families within the walls of the city, and of these 1,500 were too poor to provide for themselves. To meet exigencies of this kind the prince imported 2,000 bushels of corn from Wales, and upon the certain approach of the enemy ordered all the cattle about the suburbs to be driven within the walls. On September 4th, Sir Thomas Fairfax sent a summons for * Garrard’s Life of Edw. Colston, 86. + Ibid. 92. t Vol. VI. 67. HISTORICAL NOTICES. 43 the surrender of the city, demanding an answer the same evening. Rupert in reply requested permission to send a jnessenger to the king to know his pleasure on the question. This overture was refused, whereupon the Prince convened a council of war, by which it was agreed to relinquish the city on the consent of the enemy to certain propositions. The first of these required that the garrison and any of the inhabitants should be allowed to depart unmolested, “ with their arms, flying colours, drums beat- ing, trumpets sounding, pistols cocked, swords drawn, matches lighted on both ends, bullets in their mouths, and as much powder as they can carry about them, with all their bag and baggage, horses, arms, and other furniture, ten pieces of cannon, fifty barrels of powder, and match and bullet proportionable.” This was consented to though with some reduction in the amount of ammunition allowed to be carried away. A further article required “ that no Churches be defaced, that the several members of the foundation of the Cathedral shall quietly enjoy their houses, and revenues belonging to their places, and that the ministers likewise of this city may enjoy their benefices without any trouble.” This article was also permitted, only with the limitation that the said ministers should continue in the “ protec- tion and obedience of the Parliament.” These and other modifi- cations in Rupert’s conditions of treaty being not sufficiently conformable to his original demands, he urged Fairfax for less limited concession, but this being refused, and the Prince being peremptory, negotiations were broken off. The enemy then prepared to storm the city. At two o’clock in the morning of 10th of September, a general assault was made upon the line, and by daybreak Prior’s Hill fort was taken. This capture, together with similar successes in other parts of the works, was equivalent to gaining full possession of the line. Thereupon the Prince sent his trumpeter to Sir Thomas Fairfax, to know whether he would treat or not ? A treaty being consented to, new, and less favourable articles were proposed by the Royalists. These were accepted : for the enemy, sensible of the advantage they had gained, refused the former terms.* Preparations were then made for the departure of the garrison, and on Thursday at two o’clock in the afternoon they marched out with Prince Rupert at their head. The number of the Prince’s foot was about 2000, of horsemen including his life- Rusliworth, Vol. VL 44 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. guards, noblemen, and gentlemen about 700. “ The Prince was clad in scarlet, was very richly laid in silver lace, mounted upon a very gallant black Barbary horse. Cromwell and some others attended at the port of the fort for his coming out, and waited upon him to General Fairfax, who stood with a convoy of horse without the line, and accompanied him over Durdham Down to Westbury, giving him the right hand all the way. That night the Prince quartered at Westbury, and departed for Oxford the following day. “ The General upon his return received the Royal Fort, which is one of the finest Citadels in England, in it 24 pieces mounted on 5 bastions, powder in quantity, victuals in abundance, of all sorts, 80 or 100 tons of beer, bread sufficient to serve almost 100,000 men a day ; upon the line, castle and forts, might be in all about 200 pieces of ordnance mounted, two or three hundred barrels of powder, two great magazines of arms, some say, three or four thousand, the city being the next to London in the kingdom : all this is the Lord’s doing, which ought to be marvellous in our eyes.” * The King was at Ragland when the news came of the loss of Bristol. The blow was one of the heaviest he had received, “ Tell my son,” he writes, “ that I shall less grieve to hear that he is knocked on the head, than that he should do so mean an action as the rendering of Bristol Castle and Fort upon the terms it was.” In the memorable letter in which he dismisses Prince Rupert from his service, the King passionately says, “ I must remember you of your letter of the twelfth of August, whereby you assured me that if no mutiny happened, you would keep Bristol four months. Did you keep it four days? Was there anything like a mutiny ? More questions might be asked, but now, I confess, to little purpose. My conclusion is to desire you to seek your subsistence until it shall please God to determine of my condition, some where beyond seas : to which end I send you herewith a pass,” &c. Three years after this King Charles was beheaded, whereupon the Mayor of Bristol proclaimed “that there was no king in England, and the successors of Charles the First were traitors to the state.” * Printed at London, Sept. 10th, 1666. King’s Col. Pamphlet quoted in Warburton’s Prince Rupert, III. 182. HI8TORI0AL N0TICE8. 45 ATTEMPT TO BURN THE CITY. In the year 1777, a malignant attempt was made to bum the city and the shipping in the river, by one John Aitken, otherwise known as John the Painter. Early on a morning in the month of January, the Savannah a vessel bound for Jamaica was seen to be in flames. On board the Fame another ship lying near, a quantity of combustible substance was soon after discovered, which confirmed the suspicion already conceived, that the Savannah had been wilfully fired. A like attempt was intercepted on board the Hibernia , by the detection of a bottle of turpentine and other inflammable matter. Then a druggist’s warehouse in a lane in Corn Street was found broken open, and combustibles therein placed with a match attached, which had been ignited but had gone out. Soon after six warehouses were burnt down in Bell Lane, together with the Bell tavern in Broad Street. This wicked incendiarism did not stop even here. Directly after, a fire burst out in three different places of the city at the same time, and the train of combustibles had been so subtly laid, that had it not been speedily discovered and the communication cut off*, the flames would have extended and caused infinite destruction of property. It was at first thought that an organised conspiracy of American origin was in operation, and a reward of £1,000 by Government and £500 by the city was offered for the detection of the conspira- tors. It was not long, however, before the incendiarism was found to be the work of one man, by the apprehension, through the vigilance of Sir John Fielding, of John the Painter. This miscreant confided to a pretended friend who had been purposely employed to worm out his secret, that he had been encouraged by one Silas Deane to set fire to the English dockyards, with a view to the destruction of English commerce, on behalf of America. His guilt being clearly evidenced he was condemned to death, and hung at Portsmouth, the scene of other of his incendiary exploits.* THE RIOTS OF 1831. John Foster has somewhere remarked that were it not for the restraint of civil law and man’s fear of man, the earth would soon * Annual Register, 1777. Gentleman’s Magazine, 1777. Horace Walpole’s Last Journal, II. 100. 46 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. roll round the sun without a human inhabitant. The world would become a Kilkenny cat-pit, in which Lust, Cruelty, Envy, and Revenge, would fight and devour one another until they became extinct, which would only be with the disappearance of human nature itself. Vitia erunt donee homines erunt. The passions are wild beasts, to which the law is a cage, and, woe ! when one bar of that cage is broken. Bishop Butler questioned whether it might not be casually possible for a whole community to run simultaneously mad. Had the good prelate lived at a later day, and his lot been cast in this his diocese in the year 1831, he would have received a practical answer by witnessing the sudden frenzy of a licentious mob, with all their wild passions madly broken loose, burning and plundering the city, proceeding to destroy his cathedral, and making a smoking ruin of the palace which he had restored with so much care and cost. The bars of the law were temporarily broken, and it was immediately seen that the most savage of savage beasts is a low ungoverned man. The immediate cause of the Bristol Riots was the unpopularity of the Recorder, Sir Charles Wetherell, excited by his active opposition to the Reform Bill. This occasioned, on his entry into the city to open the Assize Commission (October 29th, 1831), a turbulent crowd of the lowest classes to meet him, with the usual demonstrations of popular dislike, hootings, yellings, and even missiles. The time also — late on the Saturday afternoon — set at liberty many undisciplined fellows who loved uproar. The Recorder being to dine in the evening at the Mansion House, proceeded thither with the civic dignitaries, but the mob had become so tumultuous (stones succeeding to cries), that the authorities became alarmed, and left the mansion house by the roofs of the adjoining houses. To this fatal mistake may all the subsequent mischief be traced. The mansion house, and above all, its cellar, was at the disposal of the mob. Uncontrolled, and uninterfered with, parties might be seen coming out with a bottle of wine in each hand and one under each arm, to regale their friends, who stood by in knots of six and eight. On Sunday, parties of young fellows, mostly between 16 and 24, went about firing the Bridewell, Lawford’s Gate Prison, and the prison on the New Cut. As evening approached, the Mansion House was set fire to ; a wild delirium of destruction then took possession of the masses, who now proceeded to fire the whole of the Square. With a faint gleam of consideration for those they were injuring, which stands out in grim relief in the midst of HISTORICAL NOTICE8. 47 the surrounding horrors, they would knock at a house door and give the inmates half an hour’s warning to save what they could ; at the expiration of which brief notice they would begin their work of destruction. And here we may mention a brief instance which vividly demonstrates what may be done by individual energy, and also shows what might have been done in the way of prevention had such energy been more common. Among the terrified inhabitants of the Square who had this brief notice of the destruction of their property, was a lady, who, with one female servant, was the sole inmate of the house. She employed the brief interval, not in carrying off portions of her property, but in putting the kitchen poker in the fire, and when the rioters came to fulfil their threat, she stood in the passage brandishing the red-hot implement in their faces. They either respected her courage or dreaded the hot iron, or perhaps both, and departed ; and amid the smoking ruins on either side might be seen the uninjured dwelling of this heroine. While the square was in progress of burning, a party proceeded to the Bishop’s palace which they set on fire. By Monday morning two sides of the Square were, with the house above excepted, entirely consumed ; but by this time troops had arrived, the mob were exhausted with the effect of drink, excitement, and fatigue, and a few well-directed charges of the soldiers ended the Bristol Riots. Of the parties engaged in it about 80 were convicted, of whom four suffered on the scaffold, and the remainder were transported or imprisoned. The amount of compensation for damages as fixed by the Parliamentary Commissioners and assessed on the Citizens amounted to £68,208 Is. 6d. OLD CHURCHES. The Cathedral. Bristol Cathedral was originally the collegiate church of St. Augustine Black Friars, but on the dissolution of Monasteries was made the centre of an Episcopal See, the monastic offices being with adequate additions converted into residences for a Bishop, Dean, and Chapter. It is situated upon or near the spot where according to somewhat questionable tradition the oak stood under whose boughs St. Augustine, the missionary deputed by Pope Gregory, in 526 to convert the Anglo-Saxons, summoned the early British Christians to meet him in solemn synod. It is furthermore said, on the authority of Leland, that Augustine left behind him a disciple named Jordan, to take care of the infant church at this place. Jordan built here a chapel and a shrine, and dying was buried on the spot. The Abbey of St. Augustine was founded in A.D. 1142, by Robert Fitzharding, a burgess of Bristol, then residing in Baldwin-street. The father of Fitzharding is reputed to have been the son of a Danish King, a claim which Mr. Seyer has elaborately discussed, but one not important to here enter upon. It is more readily accepted that the noble family of Berkeley owe their English origin to Harding than that the latter was of royal blood, but both lineages may be true, though one is un- doubted and the other questioned. At the period of the erection of the present abbey, Prince Henry (afterwards King Henry II.) was receiving his education in Bristol*, and the inscription over the great gateway denotes that the fostering assistance of the royal youth was liberally afforded to the pious work here in pro- * 1142. Puer autem Henricus sub tutela Comitis Roberti apud Bristoviam degens, per quatuor annos traditus est magisterio cujusdam Mattkaei litteris imbuendus et moribus honestis ut talem decebat pue- rum instituendus. — Chron. Gerv. x. Script vol. I. col. 1358. OLD CHURCHES. 49 cedure.* * * § ** This interesting fact is confirmed by an inepeximus made by Edward II. of the charter of Henry II., the latter therein speak- ing of the Abbey of St. Augustine as “that which from his incipient youth he had aided and cherished by benefactions.”! Though it is unquestionable but the spot was frequently graced by the pre- sence of “ the king to be ” who here encouraged the busy Norman masons by his interest in their labours, we reluctantly dissent from Mr. SeyerJ in his affirmation that Prince Henry assisted at the consecration of the monastery. This took place in the year 1148 at which time it is satisfactorily ascertained that the Prince was with his uncle Geoffery in Anjou, whence he did not return until the following year ; having then been absent nearly two years and a half. § It may perhaps be considered a not unromantic coin- cidence that the epoch of the third crusade, which was preached by St. Bernard, of Clairvaux, was exactly contemporaneous and co-extensive with the period of the construction of the Abbey of St. Augustine. Michaud assigns the duration of this crusade to extend from the year 1142 to 1148 1| within which limits Damascus was besieged with prodigies of valour by Conrad of Germany, and those of the Crusaders who had not left their bones in the Valley of Jehosophat, had confessed the failure of their enterprise and returned to Europe. It was, as already stated, at the first of these dates that the present monastery was founded, and at the second that the dedication took place. * Rex Henricus secundus et Dominus Robertus films Hardinge filii, Regis Daciae hujus monasteri primi fundatores extiterunt. This indeed refers the prime agency in the work to Henry II., but it may reasonably be concluded that the assertion is merely a modest inversion of Ego et Rex meus.” Sir Richard Baker, however, in his Chronicle, affirms that “this King founded the church of Bristow,” but he afterwards says that Robert Harding builded the Monastery of St. Augustine’s in Bristow.” + Quam inicio juventutis mese beneficiis et protectione coepi juvari et fovere. Dug. vol. VI. p. 366. I History of Bristol, I. 444. § This indeed Mr. Seyer himself on the authority of several chroniclers afterwards asserts — “about the middle of May, 1149, Prince Henry with a large body of horse and foot returned to England after an absence of two years and four months. — lb. 456. If churchmen generally at this period shared in the estimate formed by St. Bernard of the religious qualities of Prince Henry, very little regret must have been felt at his absence from the ceremony of dedication. It is reported that when an infant and being brought up in the court of the King of the French, “ the blessed St. Bernard ” said in the royal presence concerning him, ** De diabolo venit et ad diabolum ibit.” — Chron. Mon. de Melsa. 153. fl Hist, of the Crusades, vol. 1, p. 329. 50 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. The ceremony of consecration is thus circumstantially narrated in a document preserved in Berkeley Castle. “ Upon E aster-day, then the Xlth of April, in the Xlllth yeare of the raigne of King Stephen, in the yeare of our Lord 1148, the fower bishops of Worcester, Exeter, Landaffe and St. Asaph, consecrated the church and buildings, which the said Bobert had built neere to the towne of Bristoll, dedicatinge them to God and to St. Augustine the English apostle, then newly, by the said Robert, built upon his manor of Bileswike, at the place once called St. Augustine’s Greene, and then inductinge the Abbots and Canons and (amongst other possessions) then endowed that church and monastery by his deed which he laid down upon the altar there, with the manor of Almondesburv, the manor of Horfield, the manor of Ashelworth, the manor of Cromhall, (since called Cromhall Abbots,) and with divers lands and tenements in Arlingham, with half of his fishings there, &c., &c., to hold in Frankalmoinge, and willed in his said deed that the same upon his blessinge should quietly bee enjoyed.” “ The first Abbot now stalled upon the foundation was Richard, who died 4 September, 1186.”* The only considerable portions of Fitzharding structure re- maining, are the curiously ornamented Chapter house with its columnar vestibule, the great gateway, and the gateway to the Abbot’s lodgings in the Lower Green. Of the same age, but less conspicious than these remains, are “the outer angles of the north transept, almost the whole south wall of the south transept, the * From Smythe’s MBS., dated A.D. 1637, quoted in Bigland’s Glouc., 1. 41. It may be useful to remind the reader that the regular Canons of St. Augustine Black Friars were an order instituted in England A. D . 1 1 05. Though restricted by statute, their rule was of less severity than that of the monks. It implied the abandonment of property by the applicant for admission, and that nothing be resumed by a canon leaving the order. Anything offered was to be accepted by the prior’s approbation. Punishment for contumacy and other offences was denounced by the Prsepositus, before whom complaints were to be laid. Labour from morning till sext, and from sext to nones reading. After refection, work till vespers. Two to be sent together on the convent business. Iso one to eat or drink out of the house. No idle talk, but silence at work. Evening communion. Not to fix their eyes upon women. Obedience to superiors, who if he spoke harshly was not to beg pardon. — Fosbroke. Their habit was a long black cassock with a white rochet over it, and over that a black cloak or hood. The monks always shaved, but these canons wore beards, and caps on their heads. The Austin Canons of Bristol belonged to the order of St. Victor . — Fuller VI., 236. OLD CHURCHES. 51 staircase in the north aisle wall, and a small portion of the south- west angle of the south aisle.” “ I do not mention,” continues Mr. Street, “ the abbey gateway because it is a distinct building. The archways and groining of this age are, in my opinion, original and unaltered. The fifteenth century architect, who carried the gateway tower above the arch, and who inserted a new label to the arch, could not have constructed the vaulting any more than his assistants could have worked the elaborate enrichments of this fine work. No example, as far as I know, exists of such accurate imitation of style as is involved in the assumption that men could be found in the fifteenth century who could not only copy perfectly the details of moulding and carving, but with rare archaeological knowledge could also copy with equal perfection a style of stone groining which had been given up for ages.” Judging from the existing features, the earlier church must have been an imposing edifice and calculated for long duration. Why therefore it was so quickly re-built is uncertain, but in the absence of any record of fire or other accidental agency in its destruction, we may conjecture that it was re-constructed in order to effect a change in architectural style, and thus to include features of a more splendid and advanced character (such as a groined stone vaulting instead of an open timber roof, and clustered columns for cylindrical piers) than had been comprised in the primitive edifice. Be this as it may, the rebuilding was gradual, the chancel and choir alone arriving at completion. That the nave was never re-edified, is evidenced by the “ Itinerary of three Gentlemen of Norwich,” who visited the principal cathe- drals of England in 1634, eight years before the outbreak of the Great Rebellion. In noticing the present structure they remark, “ The church is unfinished, and so much as is was begun and intended only for the choir and high altar.” We have further evidence that the nave was never re-edified, in the consideration that though the names of the rebuilders, and the dates of re- building the chancel, choir, and transepts have come down to us, we have neither date nor name to testify that the nave, with its aisles, was ever again erected. Nevertheless, though not completed, there can be no doubt but this important architectural member of the church was commenced, for the pointed arches imbedded in the rude western wall indicate their contemplated connection with the aisles of a nave, and the foundations of buttresses, recently excavated, demonstrate that the process of 52 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. reconstruction was actually proceeded with. Whether the abbacy of Knowle, who re-built the choir, was too brief an epoch to achieve his design, or whether adequate funds were not forth- coming, or whether it was hindered by the intensifying distractions of the realm at this period, cannot now be decided : possibly these causes in conjunction. Five years before Knowle’ s decease, (Obiit. 1332,) Edward the Second’s pitiable career was violently terminated at Berkeley Castle, and the king’s body would have been conveyed to Bristol for interment within these walls, but that Abbot Knowle’s fear of the vengeance of Isabella and Mortimer incited him to refuse the sepulture. Had this been granted, the offerings of devotees at Edward’s shrine, which were poured instead into the treasury of the more courageous Abbot of Gloucester, would have supplied means for magnificent completion of the ecclesiastical buildings had funds been wanted.* After a pause of five centuries the present generation of citizens have the distinguished privilege of witnessing the piling of the massive blocks of masonry that in culmination are to form a nave commensurate with the design contemplated by the builder of the chancel in the monastic period of this church’s history. By the zealous exertions of the Rev. Canon Norris, seconded by like energy on the part of his lay coadjutor Mr. W. Killigrew Wait, a project is being realized, which in consummation will exhibit a cathedral edifice complete in its members and worthy of the established fame of this city of churches. The new nave is to correspond in plan and dimensions, so far as ascertainable, with that designed by Abbot Knowle. It will be 117 feet long, by 69 feet wide inside the walls. It is to be covered with a * Edward II., when on a visit to Gloucester in the abbacy of John Thoky, was honourably received at the monastery, and as he sat at table in the Abbot’s hall, and was looking at the portraits of his royal predecessors which hung round the walls, he was asked pleasantly by the Abbot whether they should have his portrait among the number, when he gave this answer, that he hoped he should be found in a better place than that. This was not far, says the monkish annalist, from a true prophecy, for after his cruel death at Berkeley Castle, the neighbour- ing monasteries, namely St. Augustine’s at Bristol, St. Mary’s at Kings- wood, and St. Aldhelm’s at Malmesbury, each through terror of Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella refused to receive his remains. He was therefore carried from the castle in the Abbot’s carriage with the arms of the church depicted thereon, and being thus brought to St. Peter’s, attended by a procession of all the citizens, the Abbot and the whole convent having resumed their proper vestments, he was there interred not far from the high altar. — Histor et Cart, S. Pet. Glo. L 44. OLD CHURCHE8. 53 groined stone roof, and terminated by two grand western towers, each 16 feet wide, between which will be a fine doorway with, a rose window above it. Ornamented recesses, like those in the choir, will be provided in the walls of the aisles for side tombs.* The tanned and weather worn antiquity of the exterior of the sacred edifice, will scarcely prepare the stranger for the gloss of newness, or rather of renovation, that he will find within. The once orthodox, but now heterodox, baptism of whitewash having been lately removed, and appropriate colouring and gilding re- applied, the tall columns and embowering roof reveal themselves with primitive freshness ; also the general remodelling of the choir arrangements confirms the impression of recent construction, and heightens the contrast between within and without. The attention will be quickly arrested by the great east window, whose contour of flowing and geometrical lines “ Filled with panes of quaint device Innumerable, of stains and splendid dyes As are the tiger-moth’s deep damask wings” throw “warm gules” on the recumbent figures of war-worn knights, and crosiered prelates, and fill the place with irridescent illumination : — Soft and deep Along the awful arches sweep Such airs as sooth a hermit’s sleep. * Report p. 19 and “Bishop’s Pastoral. ” In his Report dated March 29, 1869, Mr. Street, the architect of the restoration, remarks, “The nature of the soil furnished us with foundations of the most solid description on the rock, and in the course of excavating for them we came on consider- able portions of the foundations of the old Norman nave. A continuous- wall was found on each side of the nave, giving the impression that at some date a nave without aisles must have existed. This nave would have been 109 feet in length by 29 feet 6 inches in width, it walls were 5 feet 9 inches thick. No traces were found of columns and arches, and I doubt whether a continuous foundation wall would have been built if they had been intended. At some time, however, another wall parallel with the other was built on the south side of the church, leaving a space of 10 feet 6 inches between and the south wall of the nave. Whether this formed a cloister or an aisle is doubtful, and cannot now, I fear, be ascertained.” “ The new nave which was commenced in the fourteenth century, was built outside and so as to enclose this old Norman wall, precisely in the way in which the work is now being built .” — Times and Mirror, April 3rd, 1869. 54 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. Three solemn parts together twine In harmony’s mysterious line ; Three solemn aisles approach the shrine. Yet all are one — together all, In thoughts that awe but not appal, Teach the adoring heart to fall. — ( Keble ). The chief speciality of the church is the uniform height of the vaulting, the central and two side aisles, though different in construction, being at their highest points exactly at the same elevation from the ground, a peculiarity it is said not to be elsewhere observed. This deviation from the usual plan of roofing is generally considered to be very happy in effect, though some have asserted otherwise. An example of this adverse criticism is implied in the following extract from Winkle’s Cathedrals : — “ The visitor is struck first with the stone vaulting, which is good, but not much more than half the usual height above the pavement; then with the uniform height of the vault- ing throughout the whole interior ; and, lastly, with the peculiarity in the plan of the vaulting in the side aisles. The architect, in order to counteract the pressure of the vaulting of the choir against the side aisles, constructed a series of horizontal buttresses or beams of stone, supported by pointed arches, and sustaining in part the vaulting of the side aisles, the ribs of which are made to converge till they rest upon the middle point of the stone beams in each compartment of the vaulting. This arrangement gives to these aisles from its intricacy a Moorish appearance, and has altogether an interesting and highly picturesque effect. If the whole of the vaulting in the transept, choir, and aisles, were raised upon pillars and arches of twice the height of those which now support it, perhaps nothing could surpass the effect which would then be produced.”* The same writer further complains that the cathedral has no clerestory, a defect, he says, “ anything but favourable to the character of the building, and the fame of the architect.” He then affirms “ we might have said with equal truth, that the side aisles are of the same height as the body, but this mode of expression might have led the reader into an error, for remembering the usual height of the bodies of cathedrals, he might have supposed that the side aisles were raised to that unusual height, and so the clerestory had been concealed. But the side aisles are not higher than those of many other cathedrals, Winkle’s Cathedrals, Vol. II. 126. OLD CHURCHE8. 55 and therefore the peculiarity is not in them, but in the body of the cathedral not being carried up as usual above them in elevation, or, as we observed before, in the absence of the clerestory.” To make fair the comparison with other cathedrals the writer should have remembered that the present edifice is only by accident a cathedral, and that he is associating buildings of a different class. Nor is the vaulting of this church of such inferior elevation. No one complains of a want of loftiness in the church of St. Mary Redcliff, and yet the nave of that structure is only 3 feet greater in height than each of the aisles of Bristol Cathe- dral : the former being 54 feet and the latter 51 feet* from the ground, which is only 9 feet lower than Lichfield and 11 feet lower than Wells Cathedrals, both of these being cathedrals by original design. The unprejudiced observer will rather admire the boldness of the mediaeval architect who untrammelled by servile adherence to authority, could plan and execute a style of structure which so well justifies itself to the judgment by its constructive utility, and to the eye bv the elegant sweep and symmetry of its curved and involuted lines. The re-construction of the church was commenced (as before hinted) by Edmund Knowle, the 12th Abbot, who held office between the year 1306 and 1332. He rebuilt the “eastern part of the choir with its two aisles and Lady Chapel.” “ The double chantry chapel ” (continues our authority, Mr. Godwin) “ at the south east, and the Newton Chapel at the south west, though raised upon the older Decorated building to assimilate with Knowle’s work, are both apparently of the same age, and are very late in the Decorated style: the former bordering very close upon the Flamboyant, and the latter returning to somewhat of the form of the Geometrical, but with unmistakable signs of the approach of the last great Gothic change which occurred about the middle of the 14th century. These I should refer to Knowle’s successor, Abbot Snow, (1332 — 1341,) to whom I should also attribute the Decorated work of the transepts and the western bay of the south choir aisle. ”f To John Newland or Nailheart, the 21st Abbot (1481 — 1515) is referred the erection of “ the central tower on the Norman piers, the remould- * This elevation has been kindly supplied to the writer by the Rev. Canon Norris, and is the accurate result of a measurement taken by his order, all previous accounts of the height of the church having varied. + Godwin, 18. 56 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. ing of these piers, and the first constructional interferences with the old nave by removing the eastern bays and commencing the work of rebuilding by building the abutting arches to the new tower.”* The eastern window has elicited the special admiration of Pugin, but its merits are too obvious to need any personal recommendation. It is pure Decorated in style and singularly intricate and beautiful in design. The glass is both ancient and modern, being of the respective years of about 1320 and 1847, at the latter of which dates this window was completely restored. The old glass, some of the best in the country, was then studiously retained, the new being added to fill up deficiencies only. The *" two kinds are easily discernible apart by the difference in tone. “ The window,” says Mr. Winston, “ represents a stem of Jesse. The lower lights contain figures of the Virgin and Infant Jesus, as well as prophets and kings : in several of which figures portions of the original glazing may be observed. Each figure is enclosed in an oval panel, formed by the ramifications of a vine- branch, &c.” “ The four side windows of the chancel are filled with very rich and interesting ancient glass, of the same date and character as that in the east window.” The enamelled windows in the east of the north choir aisle are traditionally said to have been presented to the Cathedral by Nell Gwynne. The tradition is at least as old as Horace Walpole, who in mentioning his visit to this church in 1766, without hesitation declares them to be her gift. The arms contained however, are those of Dean Glenham, who was contemporary with that questionable favourite of royalty, and their presence tends to assign the insertion of the windows to the divine instead of the courtesan. The inference though is not logical or inevitable, and the reader may therefore form his own opinion. The reredos below the east window is a resuscitation of work of the fourteenth century, which had been supplanted by a wretched Corinthian altar piece of wood. There are two chapels in this Cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary, that called the Elder Lady Chapel at the western end of the north aisle being the oldest and most interesting. There is no original record of its date extant, but it is usally considered to be the work of David, the 5th Abbot, who died in the year 1234. Mr. Godwin, however, after a careful architectural analysis * Godwin, 19. 57 OLD CHURCHES. « assigns its erection to John the 3rd Abbot, who ruled the monastery from 1196 to 1215, the bold sections of the mouldings “consisting yf alternate rounds and hollows, with few intermediate fillets,” and the stiff carved work in the capitals and in the spandrils, the arches, together with the detached pillars of Purbeck marble, being all indications of earliness in the the style, which is Early English. The chapel is entered from College Green through a Perpendicular doorway inserted by Abbot Somerset (1526 — 1538). There are three Early English triplet windows and a fotigjh Decorated, the latter as well as the east wall and groined rdor also Decorated, being attributed to Abbot Hugh de Doding- ton, who died in 1294. The sculptures in this chapel will attract attention for their grotesqueness and vigour of execution — a goat blowing a horn and carrying a hare suspended from a stick over his back — a ram and an ape playing on musical instruments — a fox carrying off a goose — a fight with a dragon, &c. being among the designs in the spandrils. The more modern Lady Chapel now used as a vestry, and usually called the Berkeley Chapel, is situated at the east end of the south aisle. “ By a deed,” says Mr. Godwin, “ dated April 25th, 1348, Thomas de Berkeley founded a perpetual chantry in the abbey for his soul and the soul of Margaret his wife, who died in 1337, and whose death might therefore have given occasion for this chapel.” The roof of the ante-chamber partakes of the character of the side aisles of the cathedral, being with its “ detached curved ribs ” constructed on principles of carpentry applied to stone. Three ogee arches, ornamented with finials and spandrils of bold foliage, with niches between each arch, occupy the southern side. The chapel and vestibule are Decorated in style. In the former are two windows to the east, embellished with ball flowers. Between each window was a screen dividing two altars, one under each window ; the piscinas and steps of which may still be seen. The shields of the Berkeleys are over the entrance of the vestibule. The Newton Chapel, like the preceding Decorated in style, is the reputed work of Abbot Snow (1332 — 1341). “Its archi- tecture,” says Mr. Godwin, “ returns to somewhat of the form of the geometrical, but with unmistakeable signs of the approach of the last great Gothic change which occurred about the middle of the fourteenth century.” Chapter House. — The Chapter House, with its vestibule, E 58 HISTORY OR BRISTOL. exhibits some most interesting Norman work of advanced or transition date. The arches of the vestibule spring from clustered columns with cushioned capitals, and are studded with nail-head ornament. The chapter room is greatly enriched with zigzag, trellis, and other mouldings on the wall arcades and groined ribs of the vaulting. The room is now of two bays only, but from the dimensions given by William of Worcester, corroborated by indications supplied by the “ construction of the south east angle, as seen at the time the present east wall was built,” Mr. Godwin decides that there were originally three bays, the dimensions being then 75 feet by 25 feet, instead of 42 feet by 25 feet as at present. In the year 1831 on taking up the flooring, twelve stone coffins were discovered, supposed to contain the remains of the same number of Abbots. Preserved in the Canons’ vestry is an ancient slab of Norman date, representing the Saviour’s descent into hell. This formed the cover of one of the coffins then brought to light. Abbot's Residence .— -In Lower College Green is to be seen the archway to the Abbot’s lodgings. This is earlier in date, and less ornate in construction than the grand gateway of the abbey. It was in this part of the monastery that the concealed chamber described by Barrett, was discovered in the year 1744. It was situated under one of the apartments used by the Bishop, and its discovery was in this wise : — “ While the palace was re-building, a parcel of plate fell through the floor in the corner of one of the rooms, which by this accident was found to be decayed, and occasioned the floor being taken up, when to the surprise of the workman a room appeared underneath, in which were found many human bones and instruments of iron, it was supposed to punish the refractory and criminals. At the same time was discovered a private passage to this dungeon, originally constructed with the edifice, being an arched way just large enough for one person to pass in at the time made in the thickness of the wall, one end terminated in a dungeon, and the other in an apartment of the house which by all appearance had been used as a court ; but both entrances of this mural passage were walled up and so concealed that no one could suspect it to be any other than one solid thick wall.”* Barrett, 286. Godwin, 8. ♦ \ -*r' OLD CHURCHES. 59 Great Gateway . — Concerning the upper or abbey gateway,* though usually considered to be original Norman work, Mr. Godwin after examination concludes that, it is not so, but a “ Perpendicular restoration of the old work,” effected before the Reformation. “Thus,” he' says, “the hood mouldings whicli surround all the arches are not only of Perpendicular section, but at the crown of the arch are mitred into the confessedly Perpen- dicular string course of the same section, whilst the jointing of the masonry, in the south-western jamb is not continuous, but the outer order breaks joint with the other, and the courses are nearly double the usual height of Norman masonry : so that the so-called Norman gateway of College Green is no Norman gate- way, but a perpendicular restoration of the old work.” We have before (page 51) given the judgment of Mr. Street upon the originality of this fine architectural work, but Mr. Godwin’s careful account having formed the basis of our description, we have thought right not to ignore his argument in the present particular. The superstructure of the arch is assigned to Abbots Newland or Nailheart and Ellyot (1481 — 152G), whose statues occupy two of the niches of the southern side, their arms being beneath. On the northern side are statues of Henry II. and Robert Fitzharding. The latin inscription over the crown of the arch on this side is as follows : “ Rex Henricus secundus et Dominus Robertus filius Hardinge filii Regis Daciai hujus mona- sterii primi fundatores extiterunt.” (King Henry the second and Robert son of Harding, who was a son of the king of Denmark, were the first founders of this monastery.) The picturesque character of this fine gateway has been greatly impaired by the removal of the ancient bay windows, and the substitution of the present miserable sashes. At the south-west corner of the cloisters is a beautiful, though much decayed early English doorway, supposed to be the entrance to the refectory. Dimensions . — The principal dimensions of the cathedral and its adjuncts are as follows : entire length 174 ft., width (18 ft., height 51 ft., transept from N. to S. 117 ft., Elder Lady Chapel 52 ft. * “Take a walk to the College Gate,” says Cliatterton, “view the labyrinth of knots which burst rouud that mutilated piece, trace the windings of one of the pillars and tell me if you do not think a great genius lost in these minutiae of ornaments.” 60 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. by 19 ft., and height 26J ft., Chapter Room 42-| ft. by 25 J ft., and height 30 ft., Tower 127 ft. high. Bells . — The first bell was given by Abbot Newland, and has the inscription Sancte Clement ora pro nobis; on the end is Sancta Margarita ora pro nobis ; on the 3rd Sa. Katharina ora &c. ; on the 4th Claro vocor et Clarior ero ; and on the 5th, the largest, is the date 1570.* The Cathedral of Bristol is one of the six new cathedrals constituted by Henry VIII. out of the revenues of the Dissolved Religious Houses. The Foundation Charter is dated June 4th, 1542. By this it was ordained that the new establishment should consist of “ one Dean, six Canons, one of whom was to be the Sacrist, six Minor Canons, one Deacon, six Lay Clerks, one Master of the Choristers, two Masters of the Grammar School, four Almsmen, one Sub-sacrist (or Sexton), one Porter and Verger, one Butler, and two Cooks, f” The offices of the two latter classes of functionaries have long since been suppressed. The Diocese of Bristol was constituted by the annexation of the county and archdeaconry of Dorset, which was taken from the see of Salisbury : together with the appropriation of several parishes in Gloucestershire by division from the see of Worcester, and by the addition of three other churches or chapels which belonged to the Diocese of Bath and Wells. The statutes of the Cathedral are believed to have been drawn up wholly or in part by Day, bishop of Chichester, a man whose Protestantism has been impeached through several persons having been burnt in his diocese, for the sake of the reformed faith which they professed .J In 1836 Bristol and Gloucester were united in one Diocese. Upon the accession of Elizabeth, when orders were issued for the demolition of all accessories of popery, an injunction was received by the Dean and Chapter of Bristol to deface and hew down all tabernacles for images, both those in the roodloft and those on the walls, and the same walls after being made plain and plastered over to be inscribed with scripture texts. At this time the beautiful tabernacle work at the eastern end of the north aisle was no doubt defaced. * Willis’ Mitred Abbeys II. p. 226. + Britton, 23. X Athenee Cantab. I. 157. OLD CHURCHES. 61 The Deanery, which had been rebuilt chiefly by Dean Warburton at the expense of Ralph Allen, of Bath, has been demolished ( 1866 ) in order to street improvement. Incidents in the History of the Abbey and Cathedral. Not very much is recorded of the history of the monastery, and such particulars as are related of the conventual career of its in- mates are not generally of any remarkable value or interest. It might have been well perhaps for the sake of our respect for the religious fervour of the fraternity if such facts in their interior experience as have arrived to us had been long committed to oblivion ; for certainly we infer from these facts not much of the modest stillness and humility that most become the monastic life, where the warfare should not be carnal but spiritual, not against flesh and blood but against invisible powers. On the contrary we find less of the wrestling of Jacob than of those Israelites to whom Moses said, “ Sirs ye are brethren, why wrong ye one another,” for the contention among themselves as well as against the world without seems to have been of sad frequency. So true is it that the “ cowl does not make the monk,” that the man him- self must be a templum in templo , his soul the temple of Deity, and his heart the chauntry of devotion before he can realize these material counterparts from a house made with hands, before he can say ipse Deum manifesto in lumine vidi Intrantem muros, vocemque liis auribus liausi. Instead of presenting an uninteresting list of chronological and biographical details relative to the career of the monastery under its successive Abbots, we prefer to select such incidents as may be noteworthy in themselves, or as may illustrate the practical character of the foundation. The first Abbot. — From an anecdote related of Richard, the first Abbot, it may be inferred that he possessed much of the stern, uncompromising spirit that animated mediaeval churchmen when asserting their ecclesiastical prerogatives. The first Maurice, Lord Berkeley, in order to widen the moat round Berkeley Castle, intrenched a few feet upon the adjoining churchyard which by grant of Robert Fitzharding belonged to the Abbey of 62 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. St. Augustine, at Bristol. The jealous Abbot thereupon “ so prosecuted him with church censures that” (to continue the language of Fuller) “ he made him in a manner to cast the dirt of the ditch into his own face ” and not only brought him to penitence but impelled him to condonation by an additional be- stowal of land upon the abbey. David Hundred , the Quarrelsome Abbot. — Of the second, third and fourth Abbots nothing significant is related. David Hundred the fifth in succession was elected in 1216, and is said by all historians of the Abbey to have resigned or died in 1234. He however was deposed in that year. He appears to have been a man of unamiable temper, for at one time he was involved in so violent a dispute with Geoffry, Abbot of Coventry, as to occasion the interference of the Bishop of Worcester (William de Blois) who held an inquiry in the Chapter-room of Bristol, relative to the dissension. Moreover he was engaged in continual strife with his own convent, who in consequence of his many and various altercations with them made an appeal to the same prelate, the result being that he was displaced, the prior of the house, William Berkeley (or Bradstone), becoming his successor.* Erection of St. Augustine the Less. — In 1239, “the Mayor and Commonalty of Bristol, purchased from the convent for nine marks of silver, sufficient land in St. Augustine’s Marsh, for making a new quay or trench ; and in the following year, the Abbot and brethren commenced the Church of St. Augustine the Less, for the accommodation of persons dwelling within the precincts of the Abbey, whose communication with the town was about to be interrupted by the new trench. f Episcopal Censures. — In 1242, the Abbey was visited by Walter de Cantilupe, Bishop of Worcester, when, owing to the remissness of discipline among the members of the house, it was thought expedient to remove the prior, and some other officers, William Bradstone the Abbot tendering his resignation at the same time. A further visitation of the house occurred in 1278, * Annales de Theokesb, pp. 90, 93. The tomb of Abbot David is pointed out before the western opening to the Elder Lady Chapel. It is a marble slab lying even with the pavement ; upon it is incised a human skull and cross. — Barrett, 266. t Britton, 9. OLD CHURCHES. 63 when the convent was found damnably relapsed ( damnabiliter prolapsam) through misgovernment by John dc Marina. That Abbot being found too ignorant to read the Scriptures in common, he was displaced. Moreover it was ordained that for the future the Canons should not “ as bees fly out of the choir as soon as service was ended, as vagrants and vagabonds, but devoutly wait as became holy settled persons. The same Canons were also enjoined to refrain from detraction and obscene speech.” What- ever temporary reformation might have been effected by the good prelate’s censure, it did not preclude further episcopal interference hereafter, for owing to the visitation of Bishop Cobham, in 1320, the Canons were compelled to give up their hounds of which they kept a great number;* and judicial investigations were made con- cerning individual irregularities of a graver kind. Dower for the King's Daughter. — King Henry III. in raising a dowry for the marriage of his eldest daughter, called upon the Abbot of St. Austins to contribute five Knight’s fees or one hundred pounds. Visit of Edward I. — In the year 1284 this king visited the monastery, and bestowed upon it many costly gifts. Summonses upon Military Service , fyc. — The first recorded occasion of the Abbot of St. Austin’s, Bristol, being summoned to the king’s council, happens in the year 1300 to the Parliament appointed to be held at London on the second Sunday in Lent, 6 March, 28 Edward I. In the same year the Abbot, James Barry, was returned from the county of Gloucester as holding * “It was reported to the Bishop that they kept their hunters and hounds, and he sent down some one to inquire into the matter. The doors of that part of the building in which the animals were kept were all made fast, and the messenger returned and reported that he could see nothing of the kind. The suspicions of the Bishop, however, were not removed, and he determined to investigate the matter for himself. Keeping his determination in secret, he put on his scarlet coat — if huntsmen did wear scarlet in those days — and joined in the hunt. Subsequently he assembled the Canons and challenged them with the fact, and on their denying it, he pointed out to one, saying, ‘ ‘ I saw you go over such and such a fence,” to another, “you came to grief in that ditch.” The Canons were thus caught, and there was a document in existence in which they make a promise to keep no more hunters or hounds.” — Rev. Canon Nor ins. Som. Arch®. Proceed. Vol. XIV., p. 13. HISTORY OS' BRISTOL. 64 lands either in capite or otherwise, to the amount of £40 yearly- value, and as such summoned under a general writ to appear at Carlisle “ wfith horse and arms ” to perform military service against the Scots. The army accordingly mustered on midsummer- day and proceeded shortly after into Scotland. In the course of the campaign occurred the notable siege of Caerlaverock Castle, the chronicle of the taking of which was celebrated in Norman verse by Walter of Exeter, a Franciscan friar, and has been edited by Harris Nicolas. In 1310 the Abbot was again summoned to send his services against the Scots, the muster being at Berwick-upon-Tweed on the Nativity of the Virgin, (8 Sept. 4 Ed. 1.) In 1313 he was requested to lend £100 in aid of the war against the same people, and two years after 100 marks were demanded for the like purpose, In 1322 the Abbot was instructed to raise as many men at arms and foot soldiers as he could to march against the rebels or ad- herents of the Earl of Lancaster, the muster being at Coventry on the first Sunday in Lent. On this occasion too (14 Feb.) the mayor and bailiffs of Bristol were requested to provide 100 chosen soldiers with body armour, helmets, iron gloves, and other arms, who were likewise to join the royal troops at Coventry on the appointed day. The expedition was successful; Lancaster and his barons retreated before the king’s army : himself was taken prisoner, and on the 22nd of March beheaded at Pontefract.* The Black Death. — During the abbacy of Ralph Asshe (1348) the Black Death swept its desolating wings over England. The deadly severity of this plague is said to have destroyed nine- tenths of the people. The town of Bristol was so depopulated that the grass grew several inches in High Street and Broad Street : and the monastics were so thinned in numbers that few old enough to officiate as priests were left alive. Visit of Edward IV . — The following is a notice contained in a MS. calendar (quoted by Evans) concerning a visit of the victor, “ in the field by Tewkesbury” to the Abbey. “ In the year 1474 King Edward the Fourth came to Bristol and lodged in the Abbey, and got much benevolence of the townsmen and dwellers near it, to help him in his wars which he had in hand.” * Palgrave’s Parliamentary Writs, Vol. II., p. 552, &c. Annals of England, I., 373. OLD CHURCHES. 65 Visit of Henry VII . — Leland thus relates the reception of another illustrious victor — him of Bosworth Field — to the Abbey. In the year 1486 “ King Henry VII. was received with due procession by the Abbot and his convent, within the walls of St. Augustine’s Church, and on the morrow, when the king had dined, he rode on pilgrimage to St. Anne’s in the Wood.* And on Thursday next following, which was Corpus Christi Day, the king went in procession about the Great Green, then called the Sanctuary, whither came all the processions of the town also ; and the Bishop of Worcester preached in the pulpit in the middle of the aforesaid green, in a great audience of the mayor and the substance of all the burgesses of the town and their wives, with much other people of the country. After evening the king sent for the mayor and sheriff, and part of the best burgesses of the town, and demanded of them the cause of their poverty, and they shewed his grace that it was by reason of the great loss of ships and goods, which they had suffered within five years. The king comforted them that they should set on and make new ships, and exercise their merchandise as they were wont to do, and his grace would so help them by divers means, like as he shewed unto them, so that the mayor of the town told me they had not heard these hundred years from any king so good a comfort, therefore they thanked Almighty God that had sent so good and so gracious a sovereign lord. And on the morn the king departed to London ward.”f Claim of Sanctuary . — During the year 1401-2 twelve persons claimed Sanctuary, who each paid fourpence for the insertion of his name in the Sacrist’s Book. The Sanctuary appears, accord- ing to William of Worcester, to have extended lengthways from St. Augustine’s Church to Frog Lane, and in breadth, from St. Mark’s to the entrance of the Abbey .| Visit of the Duke of Buckingham. — In 1521, (6th April,) “ bounteous Buckingham, the mirror of all courtesy,” one of the exalted victims of Henry VIII., and whose tragic end Shakes- peare has so touchingly delineated, made an oblation at the Abbey “ to our Lady in one crusady,” 4s. 6d. * A chapel at Brislington now destroyed. + Lei. Collect, IV., 185. + William of Worcester, p. 188. Britton, 20. 66 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. Erection of the Abbey Gate-House. — This tenement ap- pears to have been superadded to the grand gateway during the abbacy of Robert Ely ot (1515 — 1526); which inference is deduced from his arms being carved upon the architrave.* Unruly Behaviour of the Canons. — From a period, begin- ning with about the year 1515 and extending with some intermission through many successive years, there occurred much acrimonious dissension between the brothers of St. Austin's and the Corporation of Bristol. Fox, bishop of Winchester, interposed in the quarrel, the occasion of which does not seem very clear, but in a letter of that prelate, sent by the hands of one Hannibal to Cardinal Wolsey, he recommends that some of the belligerent Canons should be brought to court, “ when Wolsey can order them after his wisdom,” or else that “a commission be sent,” and “three young fools, which sue for voices in the choir though they be not in sacris , be expelled.” “ This is a perilous matter,” adds the prelate, and he begs that Wolsey “ will see to it.” The letter is dated 20 July, 1515.j* These refractory choristers however, do not seem to have been collectively silenced or removed, for two of them having afterwards refused to pay “the king’s silver,” distresses were levied upon them by the collectors, who took from the one a “ pottinger,” and from the other “ a brasse panne or ketell.” The Abbot, espousing the cause of his dependents, arrested the muni- cipal officers for exercising their functions within his jurisdiction. The mayor and commonalty retaliated, and imprisoned the retain- ers of the convent. The Abbot, “ with a ryotous company,” then attempted to force the prison wherein his men were confined, but was repulsed. After upwards of one thousand pounds had been expended in legal proceedings, the dispute was referred to arbitrators, who decided that the choristers should pay their taxes, that each party should release their prisoners, that the mayor and council should attend divine service in the college as usual, that the Abbot and his successors, in token of submission for their contempt should thenceforth, upon every Easter Day in the afternoon, and Easter Monday in the forenoon, meet or wait for them at the door of the Grammar School at Froom Gate, and accompany them to the College. Abbot Somerset died in 1533.”f Visit of Archbishop Cranmer. — This occurred in 1532. One * Britton, 21. f Brewer’s State Papers, II., p. 194. Z Britton, 22. OLD CHURCHES. 67 historical notice of the circumstance informs us that the prelate tarried at Bristol “nineteen daies, reforming of many things that were amisse, and preached at St. Augustine’s Abbey, and other places.” Surrender of the Abbey. — This appears to have occasioned no great shew of reluctance on the part of the Abbot, the reason being, according to Richard Bishop, the Commissioner, that his individual interest had been secured by “a grantt that he hathe of the Kynges grace for terme of hys lyffe, by the whyche he thynkeyht that he may sell the howse and all, for the plate ys all solde and allso the tymber that grewe aboute the howse, so that he hathe within iij yeres taken above a hunderyd markes of plate and tymber and other implements, so that almost all ys gon.*” At the time of concession there were fourteen Canons in the house. f Pensions assigned to the Abbot and Chapter. — To Morgan Guilime (or Williams, whose character is clouded if Fuller may be credited, by his having four unmarried ladies in his keeping) was assigned the mansion-place of the manor of Leigh, now called Abbot’s Leigh, with the garden, orchard, and dovehouse adjoining together with 20 loads of firewood to be annually received from the same estate. Also £80 a year in money. To Humphrey Hickman, the Prior, and John Restall, student £80 each ; John Carye, Nicholas Corbett, £6 13s. 4d. each ; Henry Pavye, William Wynton, William Underwood, Richard Hill, Richard Orrell, Richard Kersey, Richard Hughes, £6 each, in sum £151 6s. 8d.J The First Bishop of Bristol was Paul Bush. He had been previously Prior of the monastery of Edyngton in Wilts, which house with twelve monks surrendered in 1539, when he had a pension of £100 per annum assigned him, but this was vacated on his accession in 1542 to the present bishopric. He was chaplain to Henry YIII., and therefore no doubt sufficiently acquainted with the face of that formidable despot. In con- sequence of the violation of his celibate vow Queen Mary on her accession issued a fiat to depose him from his see, but he had anticipated this course against him by voluntary retirement. He * Camden Papers, Supp. of Monast. + lb. 58. X Willis’s Mitred Abbeys, I. 66. app. 68 HISTORY OP BRISTOL. then became rector of Winterbourne, bis wife having died the same year that he resigned. He departed this life Oct. 11, 1558, aged 68, and was buried near Edith his wife in the north aisle of the Cathedral : over his remains is a stone skeleton, a mediaeval emblem of mortality. On a slab near to his tomb was to be read the inscription, “ Of your charitie pray for the soul of Edyth Bush, otherwise Ashely, who deceased 8 Oct. 1553.” The First Dean was William Snow, last prior of the Convent of Bradenstock in Wilts. Knightly Names of the first Minor Canons. — The names of the first six Minor Canons, were Sir Thomas Allen, Sir John Browne, Sir John White, Sir William Penn, Sir John Dyer, and Sir William Bowden, whose salaries were to be £10 each. Sir John Somner, was appointed 11 Charter Gospeller,” and Sir William Boyer, “ Epistoller,” who were to have each £6 13s. 4d. The organist’s salary, John Senny, was £10. The Deanery was valued at £100, and each of the six prebends at £20.* A Bankrupt Bishop. — The career of Dr. Cheyney the 3rd bishop, appears to have been one of incomplete happiness, not only on account of controversial, but of pecuniary troubles. He appears, notwithstanding the revenue derived from two sees (for he was likewise Bishop of Gloucester), to have been constantly in debt ; the costliness of his retinue, and his taste for magnificence, quite overpowering his income. To extricate himself from his embarrassments, he prayed in 1563 to be delivered from both his bishoprics, together with their expensive requirements. He says, “ I have already had enough of lording wherein I find nothing but splendidum miserium .” About Get. 1576, an exchequer process was issue%“to seize his lands and goods for £500 due to the queen for arrears of tenths.” He prayed the sheriffs to forbear executing their office, and in the meantime wrote to Lord Burgley to request time to be given him to make the requisite payment, resolving “ to have fewer men, to cut off his fare, and to be at less charges in order that his debts might be sooner liquidated.” He died 29 April, 1579, and was buried in Glou- cester Cathedral without any memorial. It was rumoured and believed that he died a Roman Catholic, but this has not been * Willis’s Cathedrals, II., 760. It may be hinted however that these prefixes of “ Sir” are clerical rather than baronial. OLD CHURCHES. 69 proved. Some doctrinal sermons which he preached in Bristol Cathedral occasioned some sharp controversy at the time.* Visit of Queen Elizabeth . — In Nichol’s Royal Progresses we have a detailed relation of the visit of England’s stately Elizabeth to Bristol in the year 1574; the following extract will show the manner of her reception at the Cathedral. “ The Sunday next the Queen went to the College, to hear a sermon, the speech was left out by an unlooked for occasion, but the hymn was sung by a very fine boy. THE SONG. Oh happy bower of bliss, 0 college thou dost see, The shadow gone, the substance come, nay sun doth shine on thee. Away you bosom snakes that sow dissension here, To make your nests where serpents breed ; this soil and coast is clear. Enchant no man with charms ; ye shall receive checkmate, If that you play with palt’ring pawns before so great a state. She hateth Hydra’s heads, and loves the harmless mind, A foe to vice, a friend to grace, and bent thereto by kind, Which grace and gracious God now guide her where she goes, With treble grace through troublous time to tread on all her foes.” Dr. Fletcher and Mary Queen of Scots. — Dr. Richard Fletcher (father of the dramatic poet associated with Beaumont) when Dean of Peterborough had, two years before his elevation to this see, (1589,) been appointed to attend the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, and his pertinacious efforts to induce her upon the scaffold to renounce the “vanity of her religion,” have been characterized as unmanly and unfeeling. Full details supplied from Fletcher’s own account, may be found in Gunton’s History of Peterborough. “ When the executioner took up the head and showed it to the assembly ; then said Mr. Dean, with a lowde voice, ‘ So perish all the Queene’s enemyes ! ’ ‘ Yes,’ said the Earl of Kent with a loud voice, ‘ Amen, Amen ; would to God that all the enemies of the Queen were in that state.’ ”f We may conceive that when, not long afterwards, the newly consecrated prelate trod the solemn avenues of this his cathedral, he must sometimes, in the religious gloom of an autumn twilight, have involuntarily recalled to his vision the tragic scene in which he had lately participated, and in musing upon these graves he might have thought of the impressive obsequies which he had conducted * Athen. Cantab. L 402. f Mignet, II. , p. 360. 70 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. over the ill-fated queen. He perhaps recollected but in his strong Protestantism declined sympathy with the aspirations of the Bishop of Lincoln, “ who was charged with praying at the solemnity that his soul, and the souls of all the rest there present might 1 be with the soul of that unrepentant papist departed,” though perhaps he would more readily have echoed the concluding words of the sentiment he had heard expressed by the same prelate, “ Let us give thanks for the happy dissolution of the High and Mighty Princess Mary, late Queen of Scotland and Dowager of France, of whose life and death, at this time, I have not much to say, because I was not acquainted with the one, neither was I present at the other; I will not enter into judg- ment further, but because it hath been signified unto me that she trusted to be saved by the blood of Christ, we must hope well of her salvation ; for as Father Luther was wont to say, many a one that liveth a Papist dieth a Protestant.” He offended Queen Elizabeth by marrying Lady Baker, his second wife; but her majesty eventually became so far reconciled as to visit him at Chelsea. His death was sudden “ having sat in commission till six in the evening, (16th June, 1596,) and deceased at seven. He was an inordinate smoker, and is said to have died while smoking — crying out to his man or boy, “ I die.” Dr. James of Bristol was appointed one of the executors of his will, but he appears to have died in a state of insolvency.* Visit of Queen Anne of Denmark . — A work before quoted presents an account of the procession of Anne of Denmark, Queen of James I., to the sacred edifice, in the year 1613. We extract the following metrical description of the ceremony on the occasion written by Robert Naile, a poetically inspired apprentice of Bristol, one of the soldiers in the train bands : No sooner had swift Phoebus’ steeds began their course to run, Shining with most resplendent rays upon our horizon ; But that each soldier did prepare to guard her Majesty Unto the Temple of the Lord with great solemnity ; Nor clad in arms, as erst they wear, with thundering shot that roar’d But with good hearts to sanctify the Sabbath of the Lord ; Who hath six days allotted us to purchase worldly wealth, The seventh alone he hath reserv’d for good of our soul’s health ; That we this day might praise his name and rest ourselves from sin, As God did rest when he had made the world and all therein. Birch’s, Yol. II. Eliz., p. 34. Athenae Cantab., I., p. 206. OLD CHURCHES. 71 'Quick from the Court unto the church this worthy guard was seen In ranks close standing one by one to safe conduct the Queen. But when the Mayor, grave and wise, in most triumphant sort, With all the reverend council came on foot unto the court, In seemly wise attired all with gowns of scarlet dye, For to attend unto the church her gracious Majesty; Who mounted like fair Cynthia bright into her sumptuous coach Drawn by four milk white coursers brave, and next her did approach The ladies on their tramping steeds, like fair Diana’s train, Hunting in the Arcadian woods, as do the poet’s fain. The reverend senate two and two all marching in a row, Foremost of all in their degrees unto the church did go ; Lastly on foot (before her Grace with all her noble train Of Lords and Knights) unto the church the worthy mayor came, The Queen then sat in chair of state with all the residue, In their degrees, the mayor and shriefes and the nobility ; Where learned Doctor Hobson did a goodly sermon frame, In setting forth God’s mighty works and lauding of his name ; Which sermon being finished she back returned to court, Guarded along from church again in most triumphant sort. NichoVs Progresses of James I. 2, 657. The Elixir of Life . — Of John Thornborough, the successor to Fletcher, (A.D. 1603) it is remarked by Fuller “ I have heard his •skill in chemistry much commended, and he presented a precious ■extraction to King James (I.) reputed a great preserver of health and prolonger of life. He is conceived by such helps to have added to his vigorous vivacity, though I think a merry heart (whereof he had a great measure) was his best elixir to that purpose.”* He was a greater favourite at court, than at Bristol, being constantly ■embroiled at the latter place with the corporation, but at the former he received as a new year’s gift from the king : a fair hason and ewer, with a pair of liverie pots worth £140, whereof he was not a little proud. ”■(• He died in 1641. An Episcopal Translator of the Bible. — Dr. Nicholas Fenton (who succeeded Dr. Thornborough in 1617), was one of the translators of the present English version of the Bible, his part being comprised in the Epistles of St. Paul and the Canonical Epistles. ;j; He had, says Fuller, “ a sound head and sanctified heart.” As prebendary of St Paul’s, he attended Sir Gervais Elvish, lieutenant of the Tower, to execution. Elvish was * Worthies, Wilts. + Camd. Papers, Carew Letters, 88. J Lewis’ History of the Bible. 72 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. condemned for his agency in the murder by poison of Sir Thomas Overbury, though the chief instigation of the deed has been imputed to the Earl and Countess of Somerset. Dr. Fenton died in 1626. A Persecuted Bishop , (1623-1632). — Robert Wright, the suc- cessor to Robert Searchfield, had been chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, and subsequently to James I. For his opposition to the Parliament in the civil war he was committed, with eleven other bishops, to the Tower. He was afterwards deprived of the bishopric of Lichfield (to which he had been translated (A.D 1632) from Bristol) with all his other ecclesiastical preferments. He then retired to Eccleswall Hall in Staffordshire, but did not remain unmolested, for his enemies pursuing him thither, besieged the place. The bishop made an obstinate defence, but was taken suddenly ill and died two days before the house surrendered. He has left in his handwriting a document containing “ A true relation of things that I, Bishop Wright of Lichfield and Coventry, have done in every place (for the benefit of posterity) where God blest me with any means since I left the university, as my soul shall answer at the last day.” Among the places adverted to are Bristol Cathedral and palace and the churches in the city.* Visit of Charles /. — A year or two before the good old church was made applicable to the purposes of a brewhouse and its accessories, Charles I. was an auditor within its walls : the ceremonial of his visit is thus described in the Life of Colston : — “ On Sunday, August 6th, 1643, Charles, in his coach of State in which were also seated his two sons (Prince Charles and the Duke of York) with Sir Edward Hyde, went to the cathedral from Alderman Creswicke’s in Small-street. The procession was preceded by his body guard, by Heralds and Pursuivants, in their gorgeous tabards, and the officers of his household ; followed by the trumpeters, the mace bearers, the wait players, the officers of the Corporation, in blue silk gowns ; the chamberlain, with his golden mace, the town clerk in his robes, the sword bearer with the pearl sword, and wearing the cap of maintenance, the mayor walking in his scarlet robes, bareheaded, before the carriage,. Cal. of State Papers, Dom. 1636 — 1637, p. 531. OLD CHURCHES. 73 which was followed by the recorder, the aldermen, and members of the Common Council, also in their scarlet robes, and the chief officers of the army.” Another Persecuted Bishop. — Dr. Thomas Howel (who succeeded Bishop etf Westfield, in 1644) inherited the evil days of the diocese. He was chaplain to Charles I., and gained various preferments particularly the incumbency of St. Stephen’s, Wal- brook, London, in 1635. “In the beginning of the troubles he was first driven from the living last mentioned and then sequestered for his absence, saith Mr. Lloyd; which though a most unjust, was however no uncommon practice in those days; after that he was by persecution out of West Horsley; whereupon his majesty nominated him to this bishopric, in which he met with barbarous usage from the hands of the rebels. His palace which was then covered with lead, they uncased and sold the lead ; so that he was exposed to the weather by day and by night. His lady they knew to be then in child-bed, in which condition it rained freely upon her. After many other indignities, they pulled and hauled him violently out of the palace, of which they made a malt- house, and a mill ; for there they ground, as well as made, great quantities of malt for several years, as is well remembered by many yet living in Bristol. And suitably to this, a gentleman (who gives me this information) thinks he hath heard that they intended to put up a furnace for brewing, at the east end of the choir, in the place of the altar. In a word their usage towards him was such that he did not long survive their cruelty, but being a person of a mild and tender spirit, died soon after:”* namely in 1646, and is buried beneath a plain stone near the bishop’s throne. The only inscription is Expergiscar (I shall awake.) The Cathedral a Preaching House . — In “ Oliver’s time ” after the venerable Cathedral had undergone much undignified usage,, it became the preaching house of John Knowles, a puritan divine. He was an Oxford tutor and a man of good parts. No less than ten of his pupils became members of Parliament, and thirty con- spicuous preachers. Having incurred the enmity of Archbishop Laud, his license to preach was revoked, and he thereupon crossed the sea to New England. After ten years preaching in the “cold wilderness ” he removed to Virginia ; here he was disallowed the Walker’s Sufferings of the Clergy. 74 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. pastoral office in consequence of not holding with the prayer book .and surplice. To avoid a prosecution he fled, and that in so opportune a time as to escape being included in a massacre of about 500 whites by an insurrection of the Indians. Returning to old England he was appointed preacher in Bristol Cathedral. When the King had his own again he was outed, and soon after silenced with his brethren. Sale of the Cathedral Estates. — On June 22, 1648, Bristol Palace and Park, were sold to Thomas and John Clark, for £240, and the gate-house with its magnificent Norman arch was pur- chased on March 6, 1 629, by John Birch for £18 13s. 4d.* In 1655, the lead was stripped from the Cathedral and deposited in the care of the chamberlain, but a stop was put to any further spoliation, and an order made that the lead should be sold and the proceeds laid out in the necessary repairs of the edifice. A Bishop Condemned to Death. — Dr. Howell was succeeded by Gilbert Ironside, who dying in 1671, was followed in the see by Guy Carlton. Carlton had been condemned to death by the Commonwealth Parliament, but being confined in Lambeth palace after his sentence, he contrived to let himself down over the wall by means of a cord conveyed to him by his wife. The cord how- ever being too short and leaving some distance to drop he disloca- ted his ankle. Being conveyed away in a boat that was in readiness, he lay concealed till he was recovered, but his wife was obliged to sell the bed from under her to pay for his cure. He then got on shipboard and escaped abroad to Prince Charles. In the year 1671 he was rewarded for his sufferings in the royal cause by the bishopric of Bristol. In 1678 Carlton was translated to Chichester. One of the “ Seven Bishops .” — Dr. Lake, who succeeded Bishop Goulson (who died in 1684), was one of the seven bishops com- mitted to the Tower by James II, and subsequently he was of the -nonjuring party who refused the oath of allegiance to William III ►(He died Aug. 30, 1689.) Another of the Seven Bishops. — Another of the same famous Seven, Jonathan Trelawney, also occupied this See. His memory Barrett, 316. OLD CHURCHES. 75 Macaulay has specially delighted to honour, and the contemporary Cornish song, “And shall Trelawney die ?” has helped to float his name down the tide of history. A remark- able incident is related of the imperious and unfatherly severity of Bishop Trelawney’s character. His daughter Rebecca, conspicuous for her beauty, was betrothed against her inclination to John Francis Buller, to whom she had an aversion through his features being disfigured by the small pox. To this fearful disease he had indeed apparently succumbed, and having as was thought died, was literally laid out in his coffin at Morval. He was the last of a long line of distinguished ancestry and being then unmarried his family was considered extinct. “ His coachman entering the chamber to take a last look of his master, opened the window, and at once, as if by a miracle the fresh air brought new life, and the apparent corpse arose and recovered.” Subsequently he sought the hand of Miss Trelawney, though he was unsuccessful in winning her heart. The wedding day was notwithstanding appointed, but the clergyman engaged in performing the marriage ceremony was so shocked at the distress exhibited by the lady that he refused to proceed with the service ; on which the Bishop, her father, ordered him at once to do his duty, or he would himself perform the ceremony. Accordingly in spite cf a heartrending scene, the clergyman obeyed orders and the twain became man and wife.” There is a fine old picture at Morval, which represents Rebecca as the fairest of Eve’s fair daughters. In 1689, Trelawney was advanced to Exeter and subsequently to Winchester. He died July 19, 1721, and was buried at Plyns, in Cornwall. A Discontented Bishop. — Dr. Gilbert Ironside his successor was son of the former bishop of the same name. He took the diocese conditionally that he should hereafter be transferred to a richer. This mercenary conduct was much unlike that of Bishop Wilcocks (a native of Bristol), who on being offered a wealthier diocese than that of Rochester which he then occupied, replied, u Though my wife be poor I must not think of changing her for one more opulent.” While in Bristol “ he took to him a fair and comely widow for his wife, being the daughter of one Robinson of Bristol,” and in 1601, he was translated to Hereford. 76 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. An Immoral Dean. — Dr. George Royse, Dean of Bristol, died in April, 1708. He was provost at Oriel College. “ as I remember,” (says Kennett,) “ at the approach of the revolution he preached a bold sermon against popery in St. Mary’s, Oxford, where the Lord Berkeley, being one of his auditors, took him into notice and favour, and soon after recommended him to Dr. Tillotson, who took him for his chaplain at Lambeth, and gave him the good Rectory of Newington, county Oxford, and procured for him the Deanery of Bristol. In his latter years he sunk much into drinking, and kept an ill- woman, who even came over to Windsor and waited with him when he attended at chapel to Queen Anne, as I heard there from several people to my great surprise and grief.”* The “ Most Agreeable of all Bishops .” — To Dr. Smalridge, who succeeded Dr. Robinson in 1714, so many virtues have been imputed by his friendly contemporaries, that it is difficult to select from the many good sayings on his behalf. Bishop Newton, his sometime successor in this diocese, has used up all the words that are needed to delineate a perfect character in describing Smalridge, but he complains that notwithstanding his merits he never attained to any very great or lucrative preferments. The feeling prelate qualifies the complaint by stating that the good bishop had besides his bishopric only the Deanery of Christ Church, Oxford, though he was “ also,” he says, “ preacher at the New Chapel, in the Broadway, Westminster, which at that time was frequented by one of the best and politest congregations in town. He was besides appointed Lord Almoner to Queen Anne, but was removed by the ministers of George I. on account of party ; though surely no man ever exercised greater candour and moderation than he did towards all parties and persons, and is particularly commended for it by Sir Richard Steele and Mr. Addison in the Tatler; the latter of whom likewise makes very honourable mention of him in a letter to Dr. Swift, dated from Bristol, Oct. 1, 1718. “The greatest pleasure I have met with for some months is the conversation of my old friend Dr. Smalridge, who, since the death of the excellent man you mention, is to me the most candid and agreeable of all bishops ; I would say clergymen were not deans, comprehended under that title. We have often talked of you ; and when I assure you he has an exquisite taste of writing, I need not tell you how he talks on such a subject.” Brydges’ Restituta, I., p. 58. OLD CHURCHES. 77 In the 73rd number of the Tatler, Bishop Smalridge is described under the character of Favonius, and he again appears with that title in the 114th number of the same publication. Anecdotes of Bishop Seeker. — Dr. Seeker, afterwards Bishop of Oxford, and finally Archbishop of Canterbury, was consecrated to the see of Bristol in 1735. The interesting friendship that existed between this divine and the famous author of “ the Analogy,” gives an amiable aspect to the character of both prelates. While schoolmates at Tewkesbury, Seeker conveyed to the post office at Gloucester the celebrated anonymous letters of his friend addressed to Dr. Samuel Clark, and which the latter writer appended to his u Attributes.” In after life each made use of every opportunity to recommend the other to preferment, and, in their literary per- formances, the assistance rendered to one another was likewise mutual. In the course of a long and gracious conversation with the queen, Seeker took occasion to mention his friend Dr. Butler: the queen said she thought he had been dead. Mr. Seeker assured her he was not. Yet Her Majesty afterwards asked Archbishop Blackburne if he was not dead. His answer was : No madam, but he is buried. Butler was then in the retirement of his rectory at Stanhope, but the queen’s inquiries brought him from the shade into the sunshine of the royal court, and rendered his promotion sure. In 1734, at the first alarm of the rebellion, Dr. Seeker made a most able extempore speech in parliament to advocate the attainder of the Pretender’s son. He also, while Rector of St. James, preached a strong sermon in behalf of the reigning dynasty. The Prince of Wales, whose residence, Norfolk House was in the parish of St. James, became a constant attendant at the church. His unfortunate alienation from the king had previously occurred ; and the first time he appeared at public worship here, Dr. Seeker’s curate inadvertently began the service with the usual “ I will arise and go to my father.” This says our prelate’s biographer, quickly becoming the subject of con- versation, an additional assertion was joined to it, that the rector preached on the fifth commandment, “ Honour thy father and thy mother.” The Prince showed so little remembrance of the cir- cumstance that he bestowed upon Seeker several marks of his favour; several of his children were baptised subsequently by this divine. He also had the honour of crowning George III. and in the same year of marrying this long reigning king to the Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg. 78 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. When Foote’s notorious play, the Minor, appeared, the primate endeavoured, but unsuccessfully, to prevent its being acted. The Lord Chancellor however gave his grace permission and advice to alter the passages in it he might think improper. His grace replied “ he had no wish to see the next edition of the Minor announced by the author as corrected and prepared for the press by His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury.” Sarah, the old Duchess of Marlborough, had so high esteem for his “ understanding and integrity ” that she appointed him one of her executors and informed him that in common with the others she had left him £2,000. The prelate remonstrated with her for bequeathing so much of her estate to people who were not her relations, and especially blamed her leaving anything to himself, who he told her was as rich as her grace. The Duchess was some- what offended with this freedom and never mentioned the subject of her will again to him ; and he inferred that she had excluded his name from the executors. But it eventually proved she had not, and that each of them received £500 more than was pro- mised. The funeral rites over this remarkable dame were per- formed at Blenheim by Archbishop Seeker. He was a man of much benevolence ; it is said that after advance to the primacy, his private munificence extended to not less than £2,000 a year. He left likewise £11,000 to charitable institutions. He died Aug. 5, 1768, aged 75, and is buried at Lambeth. The Author of the “ Analogy .” — Joseph Butler was born in 1692, at the native town of Alfred the Great, Wantage in Berk- shire. Being intended by his father for a nonconformist minister he received his earlier education at a dissenting school at Tewkes- bury, where he had as a companion scholar, Thomas Seeker, who subsequently like himself became Bishop of Bristol. In 1714, he was entered a commoner of Oriel College, where through the interest of a friend he was afterwards appointed preacher at the Rolls Chapel. His celebrated fifteen sermons therein delivered, which have exerted such powerful influence in the formation of modem ethical doctrine, were so modestly esteemed by himself, that he left it as “ his positive and express will that they should be burned without being read by any one, as soon as might be after his decease.” In 1736 appeared the Analogy, of which a second edition came out the same year. In 1738 he was appointed to the see of Bristol. Here he resided twelve years, and it is related that he spent his whole income in the repairs of his palace. OLD CHURCHES. 79 Among the various improvements which he effected was “ the entire renovation of the private chapel, where, over the communion table, he placed the cross, at which offence was subsequently taken, when the charge of attachment to Romish usages was made against him. The ground of this cross was a large slab of black marble, into which a cross of white marble, of about 3 feet high, by 18 inches wide, was sunk.” Both chapel and cross perished in the riots of 1831. The sexton endeavoured to recover the latter from the smouldering ruins of the palace, but after a sufficient search found it broken into fragments. Dean Tucker relates of him that his custom was, when at Bristol, to walk for hours in his garden in the darkest night which the time of the year could afford ; he had frequently the honour to attend him. In 1750, Bishop Butler was translated to Durham, where he had hardly settled before his health gave way, whereupon he was advised to try the waters of Clifton. These proving inefficacious he removed to Bath, where he arrived on the 3rd of June, 1752. On Tuesday the 16th of the same month, he departed this* life, and was interred near his former throne at Bristol Cathedral, on the evening of the following Saturday. The funeral was a private one, “ the hearse was followed only by two coaches and six, the servants in livery going before it on horseback. The pall was supported by the Chancellor, Dr. Waterland, and four others of the senior clergy who were most known to his lordship, and followed by myself (Dr. Forster) and the rest of the family, in the same order in which we usually attended his lordship to the Cathedral at Durham. The Sub-Dean, Mr. Chapman, performed the service.”* Anecdotes of Dean Warburton. — On the 11th of Oct., 1757, Dr. Warburton was promoted to the Deanery of Bristol. The day he came to read in happened to be one on which the Rubric orders the Athanasian Creed to be read, which he omitted. Some of the chief men in the congregation took offence, and insisted upon his reading it and going through the whole ceremony on the Sunday next following, which he did. A doubt has been raised, whether he was in this respect “ a precisely legal Dean of Bristol ? His omission makes this questionable ; and so does his reading that Creed at a time when it was not appointed to be ready At the Deanery House, now destroyed, he prepared the third edition of the second part of the Divine Legation, which appeared * Bartlett’s Life of Bishop Butler, 218. 80 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. the year after he arrived here. This work he wrote according to his own declaration, “ to rub in the noses of dissenters and zealots,” against whom he had “ denounced eternal war, like Hannibal against Home at the altar.” Previously to this, he had annotated Shakespeare, with a want of success which brought down upon him a fountain of ridicule. One of his friends, Dr. Cumming, remarks, “ I could never forgive him for defacing the immortal Shakespeare by his many ridiculous and unlettered notes, though he made me a present of that and all his other works.” “ He ought,” says Quin the Player, “ to have stuck to his own Bible and not to have meddled with ours.” In 1760, Dean Warburton was promoted to a mitre, (which he accepted, although he had called the bench of bishops “ a wooden bench,”) being consecrated to the bishopric of Gloucester on the 20th of January in that year. Next month, in a letter dated from London, he says, “I brought as usual a bad cold with me to town ; and this being the first day I ventured out of doors, it was employed, as in duty bound, at court, it being a levee-day. A buffoon lord in waiting (you may guess whom I mean) was very busy marshalling the circle ; and he said to me without ceremony, 1 Move forward ; you clog up the doorway.’ I replied with as little, ‘ Did nobody clog up the king's doorstead more than J, there would be room for all honest men' This brought the man to himself.” Bishop Newton. — Dr. Thomas Newton, author of the well known “Dissertations on the Prophecies,” was consecrated to the see of Bristol in 1761. His collected works, including his autobiography, appeared in two large quartos after his death. Taking some exception therein to the Lives of the Poets by Dr. Samuel Johnson, the freedom of his remarks gave much offence to that chieftain of letters, and Boswell relates an anecdote of the doctor’s spleen on the occasion : — “ Tom knew he would be dead before what he has said of me would appear. He durst not have printed it while he was alive.” Dr. Adams : “I believe his Dissertation on the Prophecies is his great work.” Johnson: u Why Sir, it is Tom's great work ; but how far it is great, or how much of it is Tom’s, are other questions ; I fancy a consider- able part of it was borrowed.” Dr. Adams : “ He was a very successful man.” Johnson : “ I don’t think so, Sir ; he did not get very high ; he was late in getting what he did get ; and he did not get it by the best means. I believe he was a gross OLD CHURCHES. 81 flatterer.”* As Dean of St. Paul’s much of Bishop Newton’s time was spent in London, but he conferred a lasting boon upon Bristol, if no otherwise than by taking the lead in organizing the extensive Library in Queen’s Road, of which his signature as President appears first in the registry of membership. He died in 1782, and is buried in St. Paul’s, London. A Ghost Story . — Of the rise in the church of Dr. Blomberg, who held a prebendal stall in this cathedral, a curious story is related. When the English forces were in possession of Martinique, in the seven years war, his father, Major Blomberg, was detached from head-quarters to a distant part of the island, and while there died of a violent fever. The morning after his decease a Col. Stewart was surprised while in bed at head-quarters by the appearance of Major Blomberg in regimental dress, who in answer to an alarmed inquiry why he was not with his detachment at his post, assured his interrogator that he was no longer alive. “ I died yesterday,” said he, “ at seven in the morning;” and then delivered an earnest request that his friend, on his return to England, would attend to the welfare of his young son, then in the island, by seeing him put into possession of an estate to which he was entitled, the deeds of which were secreted in the private drawer of an old chest, in a house that he named in Yorkshire ; he then disappeared, leaving Col. Stewart in the greatest astonishment, but that gentleman directly called to Capt. Mounsey, who slept in the same room, and enquired if he had seen Major Blomberg, to which that officer replied that he had not only seen him but had heard everything he had said, which he repeated to Col. Stewart, and they both made notes of the event. Soon after advice arrived of the death of Blomberg, upon the same day and at the same hour as had been mentioned by Col. Stewart to his brother officers, who had hitherto treated the matter with derision. In company with his guardian, Col. Stewart, the boy, at the conclusion of the war, returned to England, and the story having reached the ear of Queen Charlotte, she appointed him one of her pages. The papers were found as indicated, and after a lawsuit against the undue possessor of the estate in question, young Blomberg was finally put in possession. He afterwards entered the church, became chaplain to the Prince of Wales, married and settled at Burrington G Croker’s Boswell, Vol. V., p. 185. 82 HISTORY OF BRISTOL, in Somersetshire, and was appointed a prebendary in Bristol Cathedral. The story is stated to be on the authority of Dr. Blomberg’s own handwriting.* Fatal Accident to a Minor Canon . — On Friday, March 27, 1775, the Rev. Thomas Newman, a minor canon of this cathedral, went in company with his sister, and a young lady to whom he was betrothed, and a male friend to view Penpark hole, a frightful cavern at Charleton, about five miles north from Bristol. When they arrived at the spot Mr. Newman had the curiosity to try the depth of the hole with a line, and as there was a considerable declivity towards the perpendicular fall, he went a little way down the more readily to cast in the line, and there, for greater safety, caught hold of a twig of an ash tree that grew across the aperture, but the ground being slippery and moist, his feet gave way, and the twig breaking he slid down the descent, and in the terrified sight of his friends present, who could afford him no assistance, was precipitated into this dreary abyss. On the morning of this fatal day he had done duty at Clifton Church, and consequently must have read the 88th Psalm, as it is one of those appointed for the day’s service — “ My life draweth nigh unto the grave. I am counted with them that go down into the pit. I am a man that hath no strength,” &c. Various attempts were made to recover the body, but it was not until thirty-nine days after the accident that it was found. He was interred at Westbury Church on April 27th, being his birth-day, when he would have entered his 26th year. G. S. Catcott, who was one of the adventurers who descended the hole in search of the missing body, states the depth “ from the surface to the bottom, when the water is low, to be near 200 feet.” When you view the place from hence, (the bottom,) objects only of the most dismal kind present themselves to view from every quarter. The deep water almost directly under your feet, rendered still more dreadful by the faint glimmering rays of light reflected upon its surface from the openings of the chasms above, and the black rugged rocks, horrid precipices, and deep yawning caverns over head, brought to my remembrance the following lines of Milton — “The dismal situation, waste and wild, A dungeon horrible on all sides round ; No light, but rather darkness visible Guppy’s Bristol Cathedral, 41, OLD CHURCHES. 83 Serv’d only to discover sights of woe, Regions of horror, doleful shades ; W here peace and rest can never dwell ; Hope never comes that comes to all, &c.” The mouth of this cavern has been long closed up, and is now discernible only by a grass grown surface of hollow ground shaded by a tree. Gratitude for Nothing . — Concerning Dr. George Pelham, (elected to the see of Bristol in 1803,) the following anecdote occurs in Earl Stanhope’s Life of Wm. Pitt. Applications for preferment have in general no feature of novelty : but there is something, as it seems to me, worthy of record in the plan of soliciting a favour by returning thanks for it as though already conferred. On that ground I give insertion to the two following letters. The writer of the first was Dr. George Pelham, Bishop of Bristol and son of the Earl of Chichester : — Bishop of Bristol to Mr. Pitt. W elbeck Street , Friday ( Feb. 8 ), 1805. “Sir, “I have heard from so many quarters that you have been kind enough to think of recommending me to His Majesty to succeed to the See of Norwich, that I can no longer refrain expressing my gratitude to you, if such is your intention ; and of assuring you that by so doing you will be conferring a lasting obligation upon me, which I shall ever have a pride in acknowledging. “ I am, Sir, &c. “G. BRISTOL.” Mr. Pitt to the Bishop of Bristol. Downing Street , Fnday, Feb. 8, 1805. “ My Lord, “In answer to the letter which I have just had the honour of receiving from your lordship, I am sorry to be under the necessity of acquainting your lordship that the report which has reached you respect- ing the See of Norwich has arisen without my knowledge, and that I cannot have the satisfaction of promoting your wishes. “I have the honour, &c. “W. PITT.” 84 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. Rev. Sidney Smith . — This humorist divine and divine humorist was appointed a Prebendary of Bristol Cathedral on 24th Jan., 1828. He entered on his duties in March, and preached several sermons between that and the 5th of November following, on which day he preached before the Mayor and Corporation. These civic dignitaries “ came expecting to hear the usual attack on Catholics made on these occasions, and were much startled and astonished at hearing religious toleration preached from the pulpit of their Cathedral, and from the lips of a dignitary of the church.” “ He preached” says an eye witness, “finely and bravely on this occasion, in direct opposition to the principles and prejudices of the persons in authority present; and ended by the beautiful apologue from Jeremy Taylor, illustrating Charity and Toleration, where Abraham, rising in wrath to put the wayfaring man forth from his tent for refusing to worship the Lord his God, the voice of the Lord was heard in the tent, saying, 4 Abraham ! Abraham ! have I borne with this man for threescore years and ten, and canst thou not bear with him for one hour?*’” The Author of “ Pen and Pencil Sketches ” remarks that Sidney Smith was at the Cathedral so popular as a preacher that the greatest difficulty was experienced in procuring a seat when he officiated — indeed such was the rage to hear him, that many persons would remain in their pews, for the purpose of securing them during the morning and evening services. “ I well remem- ber,” he says, “ seeing his portly figure ascending the pulpit stairs, but of his sermon I have little recollection. Mr. (now Lord) Brougham was present, as was also the celebrated Bobert Hall, and these well known characters, particularly the first, divided the honour of admiring attention with the preacher.” THE MONUMENTS AND TOMBS. Tombs of the Berkeley Family . — The most conspicuous monu- ment in the church is that situated between the choir and elder Lady Chapel, in the fourth bay from the north-east, being a high altar tomb with a groined canopy, under which lie the effigies of a knight and lady. At the head of this monument is the following inscription, superadded in the year 1742. “To the memory of Bobert Fitzharding, who laid the foundation of this church ; he * Life of Rev. Sidney Smith, Vol I. p. 269. OLD CHURCHES. 8d lies buried with his lady at the choir entrance, over whom in the arch of the doorway is a lively representation of the last judgment. The monument of Robert Fitzhardinge, Lord of Berkeley, descended from the Kings of Denmark, and Eva his wife, by whom he had five sons and two daughters : Maurice, his eldest son, was the first of this family who took the name of Berkeley. This Robert Fitzharding laid the foundation of this church and monastery of St. Augustine, in the year 1140, the 5th of King Stephen, dedicated and endowed it in the year 1170, 17th Henry II. From the said Robert Fitzharding, Lord Berkeley Augustus, the present Earl is the 22nd in descent.” This tomb was erected in the 14th century, and notwithstanding the inscrip- tion intimates that it was dedicated to the memory of the founder of the church, it is fully accredited that the figures represent Maurice, the 4th Lord Berkeley of that name, and Elizabeth his wife. Of him we shall shortly speak. The tomb of the founder of the monastery and Eva his wife is described “ to be the only gravestone that had any figure cut on a brass plate in the whole church, it lay originally at the choir entrance between the Abbot’s and Prior’s stall,”* that is between the columns of the choir just within the second bay east of the transept. Robert de Berkeley , the eldest son of Maurice I. and grandson of Robert Fitzharding, is buried in the north aisle of this church, “ over against the high altar, in a monk’s cowl.”* He was one of the barons who rebelled against John, though he afterwards made peace with that king. Falling again from his allegiance, “ he was excommunicated by Pope Innocent III. and his Castle of Berkeley and all his lands seized, and the profits of the same ordered for the maintenance of the castle of Bristol. In 18 John he obtained letters of safe conduct to come to the king (then at Berkeley Castle), f where upon hxs submission, he got a grant of his manor of Came, in Dorset, for the support of Juliana his wife.”| At Henry Ill’s accession to the throne, Robert, for a fine of £966 13s. 4d., made his peace, and was restored to all his lands except the castle and town of Berkeley, which, however, were afterwards granted to his brother Thomas in 1223. * Barret, 305. + Collin’s Peerage, III. 596. + Collin’s, III. 696. || King John was at Berkeley Castle on several occasions, viz. : — Oct. 29, 1200 ; March 5, 1211 ; and July 20, Aug. 18, 19, 1216. Rot. Litt. Patent, Vol. I. 86 History ok bristoL. He was twice married, and died May 13th, 1219 without issue, at the age of 55 years.* Thomas , brother and heir of Robert, son of Maurice I., is the next of his family here interred. His career does not appear to have been conspicuous, but he was a great benefactor to the canons of this college. He died Nov. 29, 1243, and is buried in the south aisle, in the “ arch next the rood altar,” that is in the Decorated recess, situated the third bay from the east. Maurice II., the eldest son and heir of the preceding, accompanied his father to the wars of France ; and he subsequently attended the King Henry III., well accoutred with horse and arms against Llewellyn ap Griffyth, Prince of Wales then in the field. Lord Maurice entertained Henry III. at Berkeley Castle in the 40th year of that sovereign’s reign. “The household and standing domestical family of this lord, lodged in house, consisted of 200 persons and upwards, ranked into their degrees of servants, milites, armigeri, valetti, garciones et pagetti, knights, esquires, yeomen, gromes and pages, besides husbandmen, liindes, and such other of lower condition. The wages of one of his esquires was 4-^-d. a day, and a horse in his stables or pastures : or 2-|d. a day for him instead, and two sutes by the yeare furred, or 23s. 4d. ; and for a gartion or boy to attend him l-|d. a day, which, besides dyet in his house, came to £13 4s. and l|d. by the yeare. ”f In 1279 Roger de Mortimer held jousts at Kenilworth, whither he proceeded “ with 100 knights well armed, and as many ladies going before singing joyful songs. Maurice, the eldest son of this lord, was killed at the jousts. ;f Maurice II. died April 4th, 1281, and “was buried in the north aisle of St. Augustine’s Abbey near Bristol, leaving Thomas his son and heir, then thirty years old.”§ Thomas II, son of Maurice II., and great grandson of Robert Fitzhardinge, is buried under an arch between the Berkeley Chapel and the south aisle, where there is an altar to his memory. This lord was a considerable benefactor to the Abbey of St. Austin’s by the gift of plate, copes, and other ornaments. At the outbreak of the Barons, he sided with Henry III., and was * Collin’s, III. 596. t Fosbroke’s Berkeley Family, 100. + lb. 130. § Collins’, III. 595. “Murray’s Handbook to Cathedrals,” and other Guides, state that the 2nd Baron Maurice is buried in the 4th recess from the east, but both Dugdale (I. 353) and Collins (III. 597) assert that he is interred in “the north aisle,” their authority being the “Great Cartulary” de- posited in Berkeley Castle. OLD CHURCHES. 87 with him at the Siege of Kenilworth. For his martial service against the Welsh, he had special liberty granted him by Edward I. to hunt within the king’s forests of Mendip and Kingswood Chase. Hunting was so favourite a diversion with him that “ he would stay out in the fields all night to watch for goats and foxes. His father’s falconry was, in youth, his peculiar care. He was also much skilled “ in running at the ring, with other hastiludes or spear plays.” “ His elder years were exercised at jousts and tournaments, a monthly exercise almost in those stirring days under so active a king.” He had also large experience of active warfare as well in Wales as in Scotland and France. At the Battle of Bannockburn in 1313, in which 100,000 English were defeated by 30,000 Scots under Robert Bruce, this Lord Berkeley was less fortunate than the king, the bishops and other lords, who saved themselves by flight, he being taken prisoner and had to pay a large ransom for his redemption. He was first married to Joan, daughter of the Earl of Derby. She, though 40 years a wife, never travelled ten miles from the houses of her husband in the counties of Gloucester and Somerset. She died 19 March, 1309, and was buried under this arch, for whose soul he gave ten quarters of wheat and beans, in dole to his poorest tenants on his different manors. He departed this life 23 July, 1321. His second wife is also buried with him. The annexed shield are charged with coats of the Berkeley, Ferrers, and De Quincey familys, the two latter being those to whom his successive wives were related. Maurice , 4th Lord Berkeley, and Elizabeth his wife are interred in the large altar tomb lying between the choir and Lady Chapel, in the fourth bay from the N.E. This tomb has a groined canopy under which lie the effigies of a knight and lady : it was erected in the 14th century, and notwithstanding the (late) inscription intimates that it was dedicated to the memory of the founder of the Abbey, it is fully accredited that the figures represent Maurice the 4th, and Elizabeth his wife, as just stated. He was a son of the 3rd Thomas, Lord Berkeley, who was concerned in the death of Edward II. At seven years of age he was taken by his father into Scotland and there knighted. In his 8th year he was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Hugh Despenser. Accompany- ing his father to the battle of Poitiers, he there received wounds from which he never recovered. “ It happened,” says Froissart, “ that in the midst of the general pursuit, a squire from Picardy, John de Helennes, had quitted the King’s division, and meeting 88 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. his page with a fresh horse, had mounted him, and made off as fast as he could. At that time there was near to him the Lord of Berkeley, a young knight, who for the first time had that day displayed his banner ; he immediately set out in pursuit of him.” “ When the Lord Berkeley had followed him for some little time, John de Helennes turned about, put his sword under his arm in the manner of a lance, and thus advanced upon the Lord Berkeley, who, taking his sword by the handle, flourished it, and lifted up his arm in order to strike the squire as he passed. John de Helennes, seeing the intended stroke, avoided it, but did not miss his own ; for as they passed each other, by a blow on the arm he made Lord Berkeley’s sword fall to the ground. When the knight found that he had lost his sword, and that the squire had his, he dismounted, and made for the place where his sword lay : but he could not get there before the squire gave him a violent thrust which passed through both his thighs, so that, not being able to help himself, he fell to the ground. John, upon this dis- mounted, and seizing the sword of the knight, advanced up to him and asked him if he were willing to surrender. “ The knight required his name, ‘ I am called John de Helennes,’ said he, ‘ What is your name ?’ ‘ In truth companion,’ replied the knight, ‘ my name is Thomas, and I am Lord of Berkeley, a very handsome castle situated on the river Severn, on the borders of Wales.’ ‘Lord of Berkeley,’ said the squire, ‘you shall be my prisoner. I will place you in safety, and take care you are healed, for you appear to me to be badly wounded.’ The knight answered, ‘ I will surrender myself willingly, for you have loyally conquered me.’ He gave him his word that he would be his prisoner rescued or not. John then drew his sword out of the knight’s thighs, and the wounds remained open, but he bound them up tightly and placing him on his horse led him a foot-pace to Chatelherault. He continued there out of friendship to him for fifteen days and had medicines administered to him. When the knight was a little recovered he had him placed in a litter and conducted him safe to his house in Picardy, where he remained more than a year before he was quite cured, though he continued lame, and when he departed he paid for his ransom six thousand nobles, so that this squire became a knight by the great profit he got by the Lord of Berkeley.”* Froissart I. 437. OLD CHURCHES. 80 To William Winchcombe his chaplain, ho gave a house opposite the gate of St. Augustine’s Abbey, with a garden and dove house, also houses in Broad Street, to pray in that monastery for the soul of the Lady Margaret, his mother, who is also buried in this tomb. He had four sons and three daughters, one of whom, Catharine, was a nun at Wherwall, Agnes and Elizabeth who died unmarried. His death occurred 18th June, 1368. Seizure of the Berkeley Tombs . — At this point may be noted the curious circumstance that in the reign of Edward III. Thomas de Berkeley petitioned the king that he might have a writ to the Abbey of St. Austin, Bristol, to obtain a deliverance of his monu- ments which had been arrested by Bichard Lovel, and other officers of the king. The cause of the arrest is not related, but an injunction from Chancery was issued to inquire into the merits of the case.* Sir James , the second son of Maurice, 4th baron of that name died 13th June, 1404, and is buried in his father’s tomb, being that as stated, against the Lady Chapel under the arch. Thomas , 5th of his name, is the last of his family who is here interred. In the year 1513, he had a command at the battle of Flodden, in which the army of Scotland was slain. He died 22nd January, 1532, and by the injunction of his will was first buried in the church of Mangotsfield, and afterwards removed to the Abbey at Bristol, and buried near Eleanor, his first wife. He left £40 for a tomb to be erected over his body, and enjoined that a priest should sing over his remains for ten years. The identity of his tomb is uncertain, but it is probably one of those without effigies within the ornamental recesses in the north aisle. TOMBS OF THE ABBOTS OF ST. AUGUSTINE. David Hundred , (see page 62,) chosen 1216, and resigned 1234, is buried at the entrance of the Elder Lady Chapel under a marble slab, with an incised human skull and a cross. William Long , a monk of Keynsham, elected abbot in 1242, and died in 1264, lies buried in the North aisle on the left hand of Hugh Dodington. John de Marina died in 1286, and was buried in the chapter- house. * MS. Annals (in City Library), p. 175. The writer is indebted for information in this and other instances to Mr. J. F. Nichols, the Librarian of the King Street Library. H 90 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. Hugh Dodington died 1294, was buried in the “cross north aisle betwixt two other abbots.” James Barry died 1306, “was buried under a marble on the- south side of the rood altar.” Edmund Knoivle (see page 52) died 9th of June, 1332, was buried on the North side of the choir, near the high altar. His mitred figure lies within a Decorated recess in the holiest place of the sanctuary, and in contemplating it we cannot but think that the old abbot must have ordered his tomb with the like feeling that possessed the bishop at “ St. Praxed’s Church : ” And tlien how I shall lie through centuries And hear the blessed mutter of the mass, And see God made and eaten all day long, And feel the steady candle-flame, and taste Good strong thick stupifying incense smoke ! For as I lie here, hours of the dead night, Dying in state and by such slow degrees, I fold my arms as if they clasped a crook, And stretch my feet forth straight as stone can point, And let the bedclothes for a mort-cloth drop Into great laps and folds of sculptor’s work.* Henry Shellingford died 1388, “was buried in the nether tomb of the presbytery, which he caused to be made beside the high altar.” John Cerny died 1393, and “was buried in the over tomb of the presbytery.” Walter Newbury died 1463, and “ was buried against the North wall of the chapel, carved in pontificalia, lying on his back with crosier and mitre.” John Newland or Nailheart. — “ He is called the Good Abbot, being a person solely given up to religion and almsdeeds; and after he had ruled 33 years or thereabouts, he gave way to fate in a good old age, and was buried on the south side of the choir. Over is grave is his statua in Pontificalia graven or carved out from stone, lying on the back with a crosier in his hand and mitre on his head.”f His shield is a man’s heart pierced with three nails, and it may be seen carved under the keystone of the arch leading to the “ Abbot’s house.” TOMBS IN THE NEWTON CHAPEL. The ancient tomb of grey marble on the east side of this chauntry once exhibited two kneeling figures, but these, together * Bobt. Browning, vol. i., 372. t Wood’s Fasti. Willis’ Mitred Abbies, vol. i. OLD CHURCHES. 91 with the original inscription, were destroyed in the great Rebellion. The present inscription, which was affixed in 1748, represents the tomb to belong to “ Sir Richard Newton Cradock, of Barr’s Court, one of his Majesties Justices of the Common Pleas, who died December the 13th, 1444.” Judge Cradwell and his lady however are proved to have been buried in Yatton church, wherein is a sumptuous monument to their memory; and it is not certain to which member of the Newton family the present tomb was erected. Mr. Ellacombe assigns it “to Richard Newton, a grandson of the judge, the time of whose death 1500, would well accord with the design of the monument ; and it is not known where he was buried. If my view (he proceeds) be correct, the circumstance of his being called Richard, after his grand- father, might have led to the mistake.”* — Archce. Institute Pro- ceeding 's, Bristol , 242. On the south side of the same chapel is a handsome alabaster tomb with the recumbent effigies of a knight in armour with his lady, and below them two sons and four daughters : this is to the memory of Sir Henry Newton, (he died 1599,) of Barr’s Court, and his family. In speaking of the sculptures on this monument our “Norwich Tourists” (A.D.) 1634 observe, “This Knight tooke ye King of Morocco and brought him captive into England, who kneeleth in his Mauritanian Royal habit with his crown off his head holding the point of his sword and offering it up as a tropliie to his conqueror.” It appears however by an heraldic grant recited by Mr. Ellacombe, that Sir Henry Newton was not the personal hero who effected this valorous capture, but that the crest commemorating the feat belonged to Sir Anselm Gournay, “who was at the winnynge of Acom with Kinge Richard the First, where he toke prisoner a Ivynge of the Mores; but the male heirs of Gournay, becoming extinct the same crest was granted to Newton as the heires generate ” existed in him. j* A third tomb here situated is of freestone and is in memory of Sir John Newton, Bart., who died without issue in 1661. It is supported by two twisted pillars and has an image of the deceased in armour with a truncheon in his right hand 4 * The earlier name of the Newton family was Cradock, from Caradoc in Wales, but becoming possessed of Newton, also in the principality, they assumed the name of the latter property. + lb. 240. + See concerning this family Atkyn’s Glouces. 148. English Baronet* age, vol. iii. 146. Notes and Queries, vol. xxiii. p. 399. Journal of Archaeological Instit. Brist. p. 240. 92 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. MISCELLANEOUS TOMBS. The mural monument by Bacon to the memory of MRS. DRAPER, to whom some epistolary delinquencies of “ Poor Yorick ” are notably related, will always attract notice. Genius and Benevolence are bending pensively over her urn, but Prudence is not there. Had this virtue presided over her conduct the world would have had less opportunity for censorship. Whether the amatory feeling of Sterne towards “ Eliza ” was real or affected has been much debated, but the affirmative of its earnestness has been without hesitation adopted by Thackeray and by Mr. Forster, while Sterne’s late biographer, Mr. Fitzgerald, (in whose work the whole story is told,) with some diffidence argues for its mere sentimentality.* Mrs. Elizabeth Draper, wife of Daniel Draper, Esq., of Bombay, died at Bristol, Aug. 3rd., 1778, aged 35. At the entrance of the South aisle is interred LADY HESKETH, the poet Cowper’s amiable cousin, who died at Clifton, 15th January, 1807. Sir Egerton Brydges speaks of her as being in her prime “ a brilliant beauty, who attracted all eyes on her at Ranelagh.” Her hilarious disposition did much to enliven the poet’s habitual melancholy both in his earlier and later life. “A thousand times” he remarks to her in a letter dated 12th October, 1785, “ have I recollected a thousand scenes in which our two selves have formed the whole of the drama, with the greatest pleasure; at times too when I had no reason to suppose that I should ever hear from you again. I have laughed with you at the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, which afforded us as you well know, a fund of merriment that deserves never to be forgot. I have walked with you to Netley Abbey, and have scrambled with you over hedges in every direction, and many other feats have we performed together, upon the field of my remembrance, and all within these few years. Should I say within this twelvemonth I should not transgress the truth. The hours that I have spent with you were among the pleasantest of my former days, and are therefore chronicled in my mind so deeply as to feel no erasure. ”f The inscription over her remains is, or rather was, as follows: “Dame Harriet Hesketh, eldest daughter of Ashley Cowper, Esq., clerk of the Parliament, widow of Sir Thomas Hesketh, Bart., of Rutford Hall, in Lancashire. Born July, 1733. Died 15th January, 1807.” * Life of Sterne, vol. ii. 334 — 365, see also Thackeray’s English Humourists, and Forster’s Article on Sterne, in the Quarterly Review, t Southey’s Cowper, II. 102. OLD CHURCHES. 93 The epitaph to MRS. MASON, inscribed on a tablet in the Elder Lady Chapel, has attracted unusual admiration. This lady was “ Mary, the daughter of William Shermon, of Kingston- upon-Hull, Esq., and wife of the Rev. William Mason,” the poet; she died March 24th, 1767, aged 28. “Take Holy earth all that my soul holds dear, Take that best gift which Heav’n so lately gave ; To Bristol’s fount I bore with trembling care Her faded form : she bowed to taste the wave, And died. Does youth, does beauty read this line ? Does sympathetic fear their breasts alarm? Speak dead Maria ! breathe a strain divine ; Ev’n from thy grave thou shalt have power to charm. Bid them be chaste, be innocent like thee, Bid them in duty’s sphere as meekly move. And if so fair, from vanity as free, As firm in friendship and as fond in love ; Tell them, though ’tis an awful thing to die, (’Twas e’en to thee) yet the dread path once trod Heaven lifts its everlasting portals wide And bids the pure in heart behold their God.” “ He chose his wife,” says Mr. Forster, “ for her taciturnity, but however much he may have abhorred pretentious women he must have been mortified, when his unpoetical bride crumpled up and thrust into her pocket, a copy of complimentary verses with which he presented her on the morning of their marriage.” Gray describes her as “ a pretty, modest, interesting figure,” and when after a brief union of eighteen months she died of consumption in March, 1767, the sorrow of her husband testified to her worth. The celebrated epitaph upon her tomb in Bristol Cathedral must have owed its fame to the concluding stanza — for the only fine line in the previous portion is the invocation to his dead Maria to speak from the tomb, and this concluding stanza is now known to have been the production of Gray. He showed the original verses of Mason to Mr. Nicholls, saying, “ this will never do for an ending ; I have altered them thus : ” — “ Tell them though ’tis an awful thing to die, — ’Twas e’en to thee — yet the dread path once trod. Heaven lifts its everlasting portals high, And bids the pure in heart behold their God.” Also to be observed is a monument by Chantrey, to the memory of Dr. Crauford, and one by the same eminent sculptor to Mrs. Elwyn, two memorials to Bishop Butler, a bust of Southey by Baily, and an elegant piece of recent sculpture, by Tyley, to the children of 94 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. Mr. Walwyn. The two concluding lines of the metrical epitaph on the tablet to Powell, the actor, excited the indignation of the Prebendary, Dr. Elmer, then in office (Oct. 24, 1771), who caused an official letter to be addressed to their author, Colman, insisting upon their erasure, and saying that they were nonsense or some- thing worse. Colman wrote back an explanatory remonstrance, which had the effect of removing the Prebendary’s objections, who suffered them to remain.* FINAL REMARKS ON THE CATHEDRAL. The curious archaeologist will not omit to examine the stair-case to the rood loft, situated in the north wall, adjacent to the Lady Chapel ; it contains some boldly carved corbels of Norman work- manship ; also maybe noticed a Norman corbel in the south transept. These features are of course valuable towards identifying the site of the original building. Again, he may observe in the vestibule to the Berkeley Chapel, a niche with a chimney which was pro- bably used in days of the old faith as a fireplace for baking the sacramental wafer, f The grotesque carvings of the misereres or folding seats in the stalls are good characteristic specimens of the wild fancy of ecclesiastical artists of the period, (about A.D. 1500,) as exhibited in the propensity to satirise the relationship between the clergy and the laity. The subjects are chiefly taken from Reynard the Fox, which popular Romance of the Middle Ages satirically represents the struggle between intelligence and brute force, or between the ecclesiastical and baronial aristocracy. “Reynard was educated in the schools, and intended for the clerical order ; and at different times he is represented as acting under the disguise of a priest, of a monk, of a pilgrim, or even of a prelate of the church.” In one of the present examples he may be observed preaching to a congregation of geese, and addressing them in the words Testis est mihi Deus , quam capiam vos omnes visceribus meis. The richly intoned service of the cathedral is judged to be now one of the most effectively developed in England, the choral staff being well sustained by the habitual presence of the clerical body. This exhibits a much better fulfilment of duty than the state of things in 1834, when (Jan. 13) a letter dated Bristol, and addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, appeared in the * Colman’s Life, I. 260. + The writer is indebted for the indication of some of these details to the Rev. Edmund I. Gregory, M.A. Minor Canon. OLD CHURCHES. 95 Sun, a London newspaper, complaining of the “ general neglect, and almost total abandonment of our cathedral service.” The writer says, “ we have had neither Dean nor Prebendary in residence for many months, and on Christmas Day the entire duty of this establishment, comprehending, prayer, sermon, and sacrament, were imposed upon one solitary Minor Canon.” * It is a subject of regret with many lovers of sacred symphony that no “ musical festivals,” similar to those of Gloucester and Hereford Cathedrals, are held in this church; but the limited space hitherto available is a sufficient reason against the practice. That this objection did not always prevent an oratorio here is manifest by the following entry in John Wesley’s Journal : — “ 1758. Thursday 17. I went to the (Bristol) Cathedral to hear Mr. Handell’s Messiah. I doubt if that congregation was ever so serious at a sermon as they were during this performance.” As a small contribution to the folk lore of the district, we may mention that when the closed doorway adjoining the present entrance, was after many years disuse re-opened on Friday, Sept. 21, 1838, “it was probably to the consternation of many a Roman Catholic of the lower orders, who have a tradition which is also very prevalent in Ireland, and implicitly believed that at the Reformation a priest closed the door and made it so fast that .the Protestants have never since been able to open it.” j* BISHOPS OF BRISTOL. 1 Paul Busli ... consecrated 1542 2 John Holy man... do. 1554 "3 Richard Cheney clo. 1561 4 Richard Fletcher do. 1589 5 John Thornborough do. 1603 6 Nicholas Felton do. 1617 7 Roland Searchfield do. 1619 S Robert W: right ... do. 1623 9 George Coke do. 1632 10 Robert Skinner do. 1636 11 Thomas Westfield do. 1641 12 Thomas Howell do. 1645 13 Gilbert Ironside do. 1660 14 Guy Carleton ... do. 1671 15 William Goulson do. 167S 16 John Lake ... do. 16S4 17 Sir Jonathan Trelawny ... do. 1685 * MS. Annals, City Lib., 413. + Ibid. 96 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. 18 Gilbert Ironside consecrated 1689‘ 19 John Hall do. 1691 20 John Bobinson ... do. 1710 21 George Smalridge do. 1714 22 Hugh Boulter ... do. 1719 23 William Bradshaw do. 1724 24 Charles Cecil ... do. 1732 25 Thomas Seeker ... do. 1734 26 Thomas Gooch .. , do. 1737 27 Joseph Butler ... do. 1738 28 John Conybeare do. 1750 29 John Hume do. 1756 30 Philip Yonge ... do. 1758 31 Thomas Newton do. 1761 32 Lewis Bagot do. 1782' 33 Christopher Wilson do. 1783 34 Spencer Madan do. 1792 35 Henry Beginald Courteny do. 1794 36 Foliot Herbert Cornwall Walker ... do. 1797 37 The Hon. George Pelham do. 1803 38 John Luxmore ... do. 1807 39 William Lort Mansel do. 1808 40 John Kaye do. 1820 41 Bobert Gray do. 1827 42 Joseph Allen ... do. 1834 43 James Henry Monk first Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol united ... do. 1837 44 Charles Baring .. . do. 1856 45 William Thompson! 46 Charles James Ellicott ... do. 1863 DEANS OF BRISTOL. Installed 'William Snow 1542 John Whiteheare 1551 George Carew (deprived) 1552 Henry Joliffe (deprived) 1554 George Carew (restored) 1560 John Spirit 1570 Anthony Watson 1590 Simon Hobson 1598 Edward Chetwynd 1617 (Buried in the Cathedral.) Matthew Nicholas 1639 (Afterwards Dean of St. Paul’s ) Henry Glenham 1660 (Made Bishop of St. Asaph’s.) Bichard Toogood 1667 Samuel Crossman 1683 Bichard Thompson 1684 William Leveit 1685 ailed George Boyne 1693 Bobert Boothe 1708 Samuel Creswick 1730 Tho. Chamberlayne 1739 William Warburton 1757 Samuel Squire 1760 Francis Ayscough 1761 Cutts Barton 176J John Hallam 1781 Charles P. Layard 1800 B. E. Sparke 1803 J ohn Parsons 1810 Henry Beeke 1814 Tho. Musgrave 1837 John Lamb 1837 Gilbert Elliot, D.D. 1850 OLD CHURCHES. 9 T ST. MARK’S, OR THE MAYOR’S CHAPEL. On the Cotswold Hills, a few miles from Tetbury, stand tho ivy-draped ruins of Beverston Castle, which is said to contain one of the most horrible dungeons that even the rough days of feudalism could design. The lord of this castle was Robert de Berkeley, the founder of the Hospital of St. Mark, at Billeswick, the ancient name of the spot on which St. Mark’s Church stands, to which hospital this church stood adjacent and belonged. Robert de Berkeley was second son of Robert Fitzharding : his wife was Alice, the daughter and heiress of Robert de Gaunt, whose father, Gilbert, came into England with William the Conqueror, and whose mother was Alice, the daughter of Hugh de MontforcL By this powerful marriage connection Robert de Berkeley obtained the great lordship of Mere, in Somerset, whence he took the name of Robert de Mere. He left issue a son and a daughter — Maurice and Eva. Maurice assumed his mother’s surname of Gaunt, and to him the Hospital of Belleswick was indebted for its earliest charter. In consideration of the royal permission to marry Matilda, the only child of Henry d’Oilly, lord of Ilookneston, in Yorkshire, he engaged to serve the king with twenty knights,, himself being one. Maurice de Gaunt was one of the most power- ful of the mailed barons who coerced King John, and was a leading instigator of the contest between him and his discontented nobles, for which conduct his lands were confiscated and himself excom- municated. In the battle called the Fair of Lincoln (May 20th, 12 17), in fighting on the side of Lewis of France, he was taken prisoner by Ranulph, Earl of Chester, and after a year’s captivity, ransomed himself by the cession of his two capital manors, those of Leeds and Bingley, in Yorkshire. Though he became thenceforward a steadfastly loyal subject, his lands being restored to him oy Henry III., he nearly suffered prosecution for fortifying Beverston Castle without the necessary royal license, but was pardoned on render- ing explanation to the king. He died April 30th, 1230, on an expedition with Henry III. into France, and was buried at the Dominican friary on the Weir, Bristol, which he also founded.* * The only ancient reference that we can discover to the place of his interment is the Annales Theokesberia (p. 77), where, under the year 1230 it is stated, “Obiit Mauricus de Gant, et sepultus est Bristollis, apud Sanctum Augustinum et apud fratres Praedicatores. ” These friar preachers are in the immediate context of this statement said to have built their oratory in the parish of St. James’s, Bristol, which makes the information more definite. •98 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. Maurice de Gaunt was twice married, but leaving no offspring, liis sister Eva inherited his estates. She, marrying Thomas de Harptree, had a son and heir named Robert, who afterwards took the surname of Gournay. The hospital appears to have been left unfinished by Robert Berkeley, and to have been com- pleted by his son, who indeed is supposed by Barrett to have been its founder. The hospital at its institution was placed under the control of the canons of St. Augustine’s Monastery, and was ordained for the maintenance of a chaplain and the daily relief of one hundred poor; but according to the ordinance of Walter, Bishop of Wor- cester, with consent of Robert de Gournay and Henry de Gaunt, joint founders, it is expressed that the endowments of the house shall be for the support of a master and three chaplains, and that the alms to poor Christians agreeable to each of their deeds should -every day be observed ; and twelve scholars, to be admitted or removed at the will of the master, who were to officiate in the choir in black caps and surplices. At the admittance of each person into the brotherhood he had a red shield fixed on his habit, which was worn during the year of probation, after which a white cross was added, the vow of continence, obedience, abdication of property and other regulations of the order being previously solemnized.* Robert de Gournay, nephew and heir to Maurice de Gaunt, ordered the further maintenance of a master and two additional chaplains, and moreover rendered the establishment ■distinct and independent. Every hundred of the applicants for dole u was to receive bread to the weight of 451bs., with sufficient pottage, made with oatmeal : the bread to be made of equal mix- ture of beans, barley, and wheat.”! Leland observes that the governor of the house was sometimes called prior, and the house itself a priory of the order of St. Augustine, and it is so called often in the Gaunts’ deeds. He also affirms the religious belong- ing to this house were called Bonne-hommes, or good men.J There were only two other Colleges of Bonne-hommes in England, at Ashridge in Bucks, and at Edington in Wilts. Annexed to the College were a large orchard and garden, upon which Orchard Street and Unity Street, including the Grammar School, are raised. Upon the lower part of Stony Hill, adjoining, stood their Columbarium, “ Culver, or pigeon-house,” upon Barrett, 361. + Evans’s Chron. Hist. 55. Barrett, 363. OLD CHURCHES. 99 which Culver Street is now built.* The extent of the hospital grounds towards the north is still indicated by a niche in the angle of the corner house of Pipe Lane and Frog Lane, or Frogmore Street, with near it the remains of a winged lion carved in stone.f Sir Henry Gaunt, the first master or prior of the Hospital, is described by Leland “ as a knight sometime dwelling not far from Brandon Hill, by Bristow.”| Dying in the year 1268, his body was interred in the “ vesturye urider a flat stone/’ that is, in the south aisle, where his effigy on a restored tomb still appears. “ In the year 1728,” says Barrett, “ Godfrey, Bishop of Wor- cester, visited the house of St. Mark, Bristol, and found among other things that this house was founded originally for the support of an hundred poor in certain eatables and drinkables for ever every day in the year, and that for four years before it had been, it was to be feared not without God’s vengeance, damnably omitted, wherefore he ordered this alms to be given as at first appointed.” A similar complaint of depriving the poor of alms was made at a further visitation in the year 1284. In the year 1312 the master and friars (for by an extension of the charters a certain number of lay brethren had been included in the foundation) “ were all at vari- ance, accusing each other of great excesses and enormities to the Bishop, and the master kept W. de Caut (a friar) confined in prison till the Bishop ordered his release, and his being restored again to his place in the house.” § In the year 1534 this house or College of the Gaunts was re- signed by John Coleman, the master, and his brethren into the hands of King Henry VIII. Its value has been variously esti- mated from £112 to £184 per annum. Four hundred and twenty ounces of plate were included in the surrender. || In 1540 the estate was granted from the Crown to the Mayor, Burgesses, and Commonalty of Bristol for public uses. The church was then granted to the French Protestant refugees for their worship, who held it until the year 1721, when it was ■repaired and fitted up for the use of the Mayor and Corporation, the preacher being allowed a pound for every sermon. The chapel was restored in 1829. The church lies nearly north and south, instead of the usual position east and west. The general effect of the interior is very impressive. The emblazoned roof, rich fret- * Dallaway, 59. + Evans, 55. § Barrett, 369. U lb., 370. Itin., VII., 70. Barrett, 361. 100 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. work stalls of dark oak, carved tabernacles, the ancient tombs- with their sculptured canopies, and outstretched figures of church- men and warriors, the sombre illumination derived from the tra- ceried windows glowing with images of saints and martyrs, together with the traditional sanctity of the place, fill the mind with a kind of aesthetic awe and devotion not unmixed with a pleasing melan- choly, and we feel as if the dead past and the living present had visually met like disembodied shades with our embodied selves. The church is of mixed architecture, each style good in its kind and worthy of study. On the north and south sides is a range of grotesque corbels belonging to the early English building ; some of the windows are of the same style but of rather advanced design.. The great west window which occupies nearly the whole front is of eight lights and is a combination of the Decorated and Perpend- icular styles. The head is a wheel of twelve spokes ; the whole of the present tracery is modern but a reproduction of the old work. In the side aisle is “ a subarctuated window of three lights rich with ball flower : ”* this is pure Decorated. The tower was finished in 1487. The ante chapel is separated from the main aisle by a modern wooden screen supported by slender fluted pillars from which springs fan tracery. The pulpit of Painswick stone and the oaken stalls for the Mayor and Corporation are also modern. The east end of the church with its fine altar piece of late Per- pendicular niches and tabernacle work lately restored is asserted to have been reconstructed by Miles Salley, Bishop of Llandaff,f whose tomb is conspicuous on the south side of the altar. He died about 1516. On the right side of the altar are four fine sedilia, and iu the centre is a painting of the Dead Christ by King,, of Clifton. The greater part ot the glass in the chapel was, says Mr. Winston, “ I believe brought from Mr. Beckford’s house at Font- hill. Amongst other specimens of cinque cento work I may mention an excellent figure of St. Barbara in the east window, and a companion figure, of St. Catherine, of inferior merit. These, as well as most of the specimens of cinque cento, seem to be of Flemish workmanship. The scourging of Christ, in one of the south windows, is remarkable for the use made of “ sprinkled ruby n to represent His lacerated body. In another of the side windows — the first from the west — is some late French ornamental work. * Freeman’s Window Tracery, 82. + Nicholas, Vetusta Monumenta, p. 538. OLD CHURCHE8. 101 exhibiting cyphers, mottoes, and emblems of Henry II., of France, and Diana, of Poictiers, Some of the glass is dated 1543.”* * * § In the outer south aisle is a beautifully stained window contain- ing a figure in pontificals to represent St. Thomas a Becket. It is a copy of a painting by West, and was purchased from Fonthill Abbey ; having previously cost Mr. Beckford 280 guineas. The old oak ceiling is a splendid example of its class. It is divided in square compartments by deep moulded ribs, and at the points of intersection is enriched with gilt bosses, stars, spandrils, and corbels. The vestry was formerly a chauntry of the Poyntz family, of Iron Acton. Attached to the walls are eight niches with carved canopies, once filled with images. The roof is of fan tracery, and has two shields with coats of arms in the centre. Over the raised altar is a painted window. The floor is partly of encaustic tiles, supposed to be “ Moorish azuleias, brought from Spain. ”f This chauntry is a superlative example of Perpendicular Gothic (date from 1510 to 1520) in composition and detail, says Itickman, one of the most elegant models of that style remaining.^ In the year 1730 the entrance to a large vault under the floor fell in, and some bodies were discovered and examined ; a gold bodkin with some hair was found and taken away ; the vault was then closed up again. § 11 One of the bodies lying under the present fire-place was that of a female, clothed in white satin, with her robes fastened on the breast by a handsome gold clasp. These are supposed to be those of Dame Margaret, the wife of Sir Robert Poyntz, for whose obsequies, with his own and those of his family, he richly endowed the ‘ Chapel of Jesus ’ and the ‘ Church of the Gaunts’ by his will dated Oct. 19th, 1520. When King Henry VII. visited Bristol on Whit Tuesday, 1486, he dined at the residence of Sir Robert Poyntz, at Iron Acton. The house, which is of considerable extent, still remains, but is fast crumbling to decay and ruin.”|| In the north western corner of the dim side aisle or outer chapel is one of those curious apertures named Squints, or Hagioscopes, whose use in the days of the old religion was no doubt for a per- son there stationed to see the service at the high altar; but * Bristol Archl. Proc., 158. t Murray, Somerset, 150. $ Rickman, 4th ed. , p. 237. § Barret, 345. Evans, 311. J| Evans, 312. Churches of Bristol, 60. 102 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. whether that person was simply an attendant whose office it was to ring the sanctus bell at the elevation of the host, or whether he was isolated from the body of the congregation by reason of his undergoing penance, or because he was some leprous or otherwise infected person is undecided by archeologists. The present hagioscope is engraved in the Glossary of Architecture * The length of the body of the church, which is undivided by columns, is about 123 feet; breadth, 24-| feet; height of tower,. 86 feet.f MONUMENTS, One of the oldest monuments in the church is that to Sir Henry Gaunt, the first master of the hospital, whose much worn effigy is recumbent on a panelled tomb in the south aisle, bearing the date 1268. The tomb, however, is later in date than the figure. A low altar tomb with the initials J. C. is said by Barrett to be to John Carr, one of the founders of Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital, whose will is dated 1586.i The two cross legged effigies in chain mail now in the east chapel of the same aisle are believed by Dallaway to represent Maurice de Gaunt and Robert de Gournay, the founders of the hospital, of whom we have already spoken, but the first of these, as stated, was buried at the Blackfriars, in Rosemary Street. Other memorials near the present spot are an Elizabethan monument to William Birde, died 1590 ; a recumbent effigy in plate armour to Sir Richard Berkeley, of Stoke Gifford, died 1604; a curious statue, kneeling on one knee, of John Cockin, of Highfield, a youth who died in 1627, aged 11 ; an inscription to George Upton, died 1608; also to Margaret Throgmorton, died 1635; to William Swift, died 1628; to Dorothy Popham, died 1646; a quaint sculpture to Mary Baynton, died 1600; a mural monument to Elizabeth James, died 1599 ; a figure in aldermanic robes erected to Thomas James Mayor in 1605; figures to members of the Aldworth family : — Thomas, died 1598; John, died 1613; and. Francis, died 1623; an inscription to Sir Robert Georges, died 1619, and to Elena, his wife, died 1607 ; a handsome marble statue of Henry Bengough, died 1818 ; and finally a well executed bust of Sir John Kerle Eaberfield, six times mayor, died 1857. Under a delicately carved canopy on the north side of the Glossary, I., p. 350. 4 Barrett, 344. Pryce, 14S. OLD CHURCHES. 10.7 ohancel is a finely sculptured recumbent figure of Miles Salley, Bishop of Llandaff, who died in 151G; and adjoining is an altar tomb upon which, under an elegantly carved canopy, are effigies of Sir Thomas Berkeley, of Stoke Gifford, and Catherine, his wife. He died in 13 GO, consequently this tomb, which belongs in style to the early part of the fifteenth century, was probably erected at the time the chancel was re-edified by Miles Salley. We may remark, finally, that at the College Green entrance the visitor passes over the remains of Captain Thomas Bedloe, who has left a tarnished name from his connection with the notorious Popish Plot, in which Titus Oates was principal. Bedloe died at Bristol in 1681, in indigence, and was buried at the expense of the city, his goods having been seized for debt. ST. AUGUSTINE’S THE LESS. This church was built originally by the abbots of the adjacent monastery, and was intended as a chapel for the neighbouring inhabitants. The earliest mention that has been discovered of the primary edifice is in the Gaunts’ deeds, in the year 1240.* In the year 1480 the present edifice was erected, the old church being small and decayed ; and during the latter half of the last century the existing structure underwent repairs and alterations,, at which period it was also enlarged by an elongation of the aisles. The church is in the third or Perpendicular style of pointed Gothic, and is of good design and proportion. It consists of a nave and two aisles, with a modern porch on the north side. The tower is the best feature of the edifice, and is of pleasing design it is of four stages with open battlements and corner pinnacles, an octagonal staircase buttress, terminated by a turret, being at the north-east angle. On the South side, at the junction of the nave and chancel, remains the stone turret, which formerly gave access to the rood-loft. The ancient windows, with their florid tracery, are of good proportion and detail. All above the heads of the windows is modern — cornice, parapet, pinnacles, crosses, &c., alike poor in detail, and of incongruous design. f In the churchyard lie some of the Draper family. Also is to be seen the inscribed tomb of Mrs. Marianne Smith, who was poisoned by the notorious Mrs. Burdock. Barrett, 405. t Arclia?. Mag., 104. 104 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. ST. STEPHEN’S CHUBCH. A neighbouring fabrick of peculiar frame, That bears the protomartyr’s sacred name. Whose top like Cybel’s crown in turrets grows, And stones of Art at every turret shows. For holy service built, with high disdain, Surveys this lower stage of earthly gain. GoldwirCs Bristol. The original date of this church is uncertain, but it existed as ■early as the year 1304, a legacy in that year having been left to the then rector. It belonged to the Abbots of Glastonbury, and 'continued their property until the Dissolution. At their expense, and that of the parishioners, it was rebuilt on the original foundation between the year 1450 and 1490. The tower was erected at the sole munificence of John Shipward, a wealthy merchant, who was Mayor of Bristol in 1455. It is 133 feet in height, without the pinnacles, and it is generally allowed to be one of the handsomest parish towers in England. “ This tower,” says Mr. Freeman, “ is remarkable for having cesthetically dispensed with buttresses, those which it has having so slight a projection as hardly at all to influence the general effect. It has indeed almost the appearance of a Gothic version of the old Italian Campanile. However this may be, its idea, which is one quite peculiar to itself, though it may not altogether approve itself to our preconceived notions, must be allowed to be, in point of fact, magnificently worked out.”* The absence of buttresses seems to rank this with Mr. Buskin’s ideal class of towers, in all of which he requires it to be a “ point of chief necessity, that they shall seem to stand, and verily shall stand, in their own strength, not by help of buttresses nor artful balancings on this side or on that. Your noble tower must need no help, must be sustained by no crutches, must give place to no suspicion of decrepitude. Its office may be to. withstand war, look forth for tidings, or to point to heaven ; but it must have in its own walls strength to do this ; it is to be in itself a bulwark, not to be sustained by other bulwarks ; to rise and look forth, ‘ the towers of Lebanon that looketh toward Damascus,’ like a stern sentinel, not like a child held up in its nurse’s arms,” &c.* But apart from any theory of construction, it cannot fail to be admitted that the tower of St. Stephen, ascending from stage to stage with increasing profusion * Somerset Arch. Proc., 1851, p. 46. t Stones of Venice, I., 200. OLD CHURCHES. 105 of florid decoration, and finally crowned with a diadem of latticed battlements and pinnacles is of most august and impressive propor- tions, and is regally superior to most, if not all, of its stately brother- hood of English parish towers. Three of the pinnacles were blown down by a great wind which swept over the city in 1703; but these were re-edified, and the damage done at the same time to the tower and church was repaired at the expense of the inhabitants. The turrets, again falling into decay, were in 1822 removed, but have recently been reconstructed in pursuance of a partial restora- tion of the church. The interior of the building is still blocked up by odious pews, and defaced by an incongruous Corinthian altar piece, all of which detriments to its proper character have no doubt nearly reached their day of doom. The nave and chancel are divided on each side from the north and south aisles by seven uniform and finely- proportioned moulded arches, supported by clustered columns, having capitals embellished with demi-angels holding unfolded scrolls, A rood loft formerly separated the chancel from the nave, the steps by which it was approached being still undestroyed. The roof has recently been denuded of its coatings of paint and whitewash, and is once more revealed in its primitive excellence. It is of oak, and strongly resembles that of the Mayor’s Chapel, being flat and divided into square compartments by deep moulded ribs with rosettes at the intersections. The whole of the windows of the clerestory and aisles contain impoverished Perpendicular tracery and are modern, with the exception of two* at the western end of the south aisle, which are far superior in character. What was formerly called “ the great east window ” has been blocked up to the height of the transome bar, to afford accommodation for the Grecian altar-piece. The south porch has suffered considerable injury from time or violence. The roof is filled with elaborate fan-tracery, and there is some florid embellishment to the exterior. The monuments in the church are few, and some of these are of uncertain identity. John Ship ward, the builder of the tower, was buried in the chancel near the high altar, but there is at present no indication of the exact spot. His will is remarkable for its length, and for the multiform and careful directions it contains concerning his interment and obsequies. “ To each curate of the town personally attending the exequies and mass on the * Pryce’s Pop. Hist, of Bristol., p. 256. I 106 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. day of his obit ” he leaves “ eight-pence ; to each chaplain of the town so present, four pence ; and to each chaplain of the Church of St. Stephen, so present, twelve-pence; also to each of the said parties the like sums, they being personally present at his exequies, and mass day monthly, ( die Mensalis — properly sepulchre, or day of entombing — this was the ‘ monthes mynde’ or monthly celebration of the obsequies, anciently kept.)” He also ordered proportionate payments for the same services to the “ parish clerk of the town,” and to the clerk of St. Stephen, as also to the singing boys of the same church. “ Also to each chaplain of the Church of St. Stephen, devoutly to pray, repeat and sing by note daily, in the said Church of St. Stephen, placebo and dirige, and the mass of requiem, from the day of his obit to the day of his entombing, 6s. 4d. ; ” and to each clerk of the same church 3s. 4d. for the like. “ To each of the Order of Brethren of the town of Bristol, that they might be personally present at the exequies and mass on the day of obit and of sepulture, 40s. ; to each prisoner being in the Lord the King’s Gaol of Kewgate. in Bristol, on the day of his obit, fourpence, and to each man and woman, being in each of the almshouses of the town on the day of his obit, fourpence. He also requires to be distributed among the poor of St. Stephen’s parish £10 in blankets, sheets, and cover- lets.” 11 Also he wills and ordains that his executors shall provide four large wax lights, and four small wax lights, weighing ten pounds, to stand burning from the day of his burial until the day of his entombing, with two lamps with oil burning day and night, from the day of his obit until his sepulture, and twenty-four torches to be burnt around his corpse on the day of his burial and entombing, and twenty and four persons to hold such torches, each of such poor persons to have a coat of black frize and a cap of white frize, and fourpence in money counted ; and two torches burning at the saying of his mass of requiem in the said Church of St. Stephen, from the day of his obit unto the day of his entombing, the two poor persons holding the same to have two- pence daily (to wit) to each of them one penny and food and drink: the aforesaid twenty-four torches to be distributed and divided immediately after his sepulture : to the Church of St. Stephen, two torches ; to the Parish Church of All Saint’s, to the use of the Brethren of Jesus there, two torches ; to the Church of the Hospital of St. Bartholomew (Christmas Street) to use of the Fraternity of St. Clements there, two torches ; to the Chapel of the Blessed Mary, upon the Bridge of Avon, one torch ; and to OLD CHURCHES. 107 the other parish churches and chapels of the town one torch, to be delivered and distributed according to the discretion of his executors where there shall be the gieatest necessity for the same to be delivered.” He also leaves to the Church of St. Stephen two missals, a silver gilt cup, and certain richly coloured vestments to be worn by the priests at the high altar. Likewise for a per- petuation of masses for his soul and the souls of his kindred, he leaves to the same church five houses in High Street, and similar property elsewhere. Also to the Mayor and Corporation for their assistance on such occasions 6s. 8d. to the former, and to the rest individually in proportion, &c., &c.* * * § These are but a few items of Shipward’s will, the whole being very lengthy, exact and curious in its details. While re-pewing the church in 1844, an elaborately sculptured tomb, supporting a male and a female figure, was discovered in a recess in the south wall. This was suggested to belong to John Shipward, but its style, which is Decorated English, indicates an earlier date. An engraving of this elegant tomb is given in the Archaeological Journal. | The base of the monument is divided into six compartments by trefoiled niches, each containing a small figure, the spandrils being occupied by shields. The tomb is surmounted by a large ogee-headed canopy, the inner margin of which is enriched by rosettes which run down the jambs and the plinths. There being no inscription it is impossible to tell whom this monument commemorates. In the same year a single effigy was also discovered in the south wall. This at present lies at the base of one of the western pillars of the south aisle. In this church formerly existed seven chauntries with endow- ments for singing masses to the souls of their founders 4 One of these belonged to Edward Blanket, § who, as well as two of his brothers, were largely engaged in the woollen trade in Bristol, and is said to have first introduced into England the manufacture of the coarse and comfortable woollen cloth now so well known by their name. || * Kington’s Battle of Nibley Green, 291. + Vol. III., p. 82. $. Barrett, 510. § lb. 62. || Mr. Smiles remarks that “it lias been supposed by some that the brothers Blanket gave its distinctive name to the now familiar woollen bedsheet but, he adds “that it is more likely that the blanket gave its name to the brothers.” These men, he tells us, were Flemings, who 108 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. At the eastern end of the south aisle is a sumptuous monument to the memory of Sir George Snigge Knight, Sergeant-at-Law, one of the Barons of the Exchequer, &c. He was Recorder of this City from 1592 to 1604. His body lay in state for six weeks at Tailor’s Hall, and was buried at the eastern end of the chancel, where the communion table now stands, and whence this tomb was removed to its present position.* Also, in this church may be found tombs to the memory of Martin Pring, merchant, who died in 1626. Hie terris multum jactatus et undis , for he had the command of a ship at 23 years of age for the discovery of the North-west passage, and “ was sometime General to the East Indeas,” &c.f Monuments or inscriptions may also be found to Dr. John Frankland, Dean of Gloucester, and Master of Sidney College, Cambridge; to Sir Humphrey Hook, of Kingsweston ; to Samuel Clarke, merchant; to Robert Kitchen; to Thomas Freke, merchant; Hugh O’Neil, artist, &c. By will dated 25th May, 1398, John Wyell (mayor in 1398} bequeathed “ to the Church of St. Stephen, one ring in which was set a stone, part of the very pillar to which Christ was bound at the scourging, to be kept among the relics for ever. In the register of burials is, “Vm. Rowke, executed at St. Michael’s Hill, 7th of August, 1589.” The Baptist Records of Broadmead contain the following entry of the interment here of the wife of Major Wade, who figured in connection with the Rye House Plot, and was the chief local agent in Monmouth’s Rebellion. “ Upon y e 1 9th day of y e 3rd Mo. r 1678, our aged S. Wade, wyfe to Major Wade, departed this life with many other of their countrymen planted themselves in England in the reign of Edward III. Having settled in Bristol and set up looms in their houses, “the magistrates, on hearing of their proceedings, tried to stop them by heavy fines, on which the brothers Blanket appealed to the King. Edward immediately wrote to the Corporation, that “considering the manufacture may turn out to the great advantage of us and all the people of our kingdom, you are to permit the machines to be erected in their (the Flemings’) houses, without making on that account any reproach, hindrance, or undue exaction.” This royal order had the effect of checking the oppressive interference of the Corporation. The brothers Blanket were accordingly enabled to proceed with their opera- tions, and blankets soon became an important branch of Bristol manu- facture. — Smile’s Huguenots in England 455. * Churches of Bristol, 203. + Barrett, 515. Churches of Bristol, 205. OLD CHURCHEfi. 100 at y e Week in Arlingham, in y c county of Gloucester, and was brought in a Coach, and buried with her Eldest son att St. Steven’s in this Citty, y c 22nd instant, att Midnight.” A stained glass window has been recently inserted at the west end of the church at the expense of the Merchant Venturers. The Guild of St. Stephen’s Ringers attached to this church is of very old foundation ; but the earliest copy of its Ordinances bear the date 1620; — the original is much earlier. The “Articles and Decrees ” are thirty in number, and are still read at the yearly meeting of the Company, 17th November. These provide “that none shall be of the said Society but those that shall be of honest, peaceable, and good conversation ; and such that shall be at all time and times ready to defend whatsoever shall be alledged against the said Company, as well in regard of any challenge as of any other wrong or injury that shall be offered and done by anyone, of what estate or condition soever he be : so that we may not only stop the mouths of those that would or shall exasperate themselves against us, but also gain credit and reputa- tion by our musical exercise, that others of our rich neighbours hearing these loud cymbals with their ears, may, by the sweet harmony thereof, be enlarged in their hearts to pull one string to make it more sweet. The 22nd item is as follows: — “If any one of the said Company shall be so rude as to run into the Belfry before he do kneel down and pray, as every Christian ought to do, he shall pay, for the first offence sixpence, and for the second lie shall be cast out of the Company.”* Is this pious exaction maintained ? ST. WERBURGH’S CHURCH. The architectural and mediaeval interest of St. Werburgh’s Church now chiefly consists in its tower and north porch, the rest of the building, through being much decayed and obstructing Small Street, having been taken down about the year 1760, and re-built with a curtailment of the chancel end. During the first 200 years of its existence the church was without a tower, this important feature being added in 1385, and is, though it has undergone repairs, now substantially the same as when erected. The body of the fabric also appears to have been re-constructed about the same time, since, by the will of Walter Derby, who was then mayor, £40 is given towards building the church itself. Smith’s English Gilds, 293. 110 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. The whole of the structure is in the Perpendicular style, the tower being of four stages, richly executed, of fine proportions, and with its openwork battlements and turrett presenting a good specimen of the Somersetshire type. The open porch on the north side has a roof with elegant tracery but the interior of the church has been shorn of much of its embellishments. Many benefactions have at former times been made to this church for “ obiits, chauntries, and to find lamps at the several chapels and altars within it.”* * * § Of these we mention only that of Simon Clerk, Mayor, who, in 1245, “ granted 12d. annually for a lamp to burn in the Choir of the Chapel founded and dedicated to the Virgin Mary ; ” also Mr. Humphrey Brown, who, by deed dated 10th of January, in 1624 settled £7 per annum for ever, issuing out of his farm of Elberton in Gloucestershire, for reading prayers at 6 o’clock every Monday morning throughout the year. This injunction, however, must have speedily experienced an interruption, for on the 11th of June in the same year, through the church having been defiled in some way by one Owen Charles, “ its doores were kept fast vntill the 11th of Julie following, on w ch day it was, by Doctor Wright, Bishop of Bristoll, reconciled and purged w th great solemnitie.”f Of those who have filled the pulpit of St. Werburgh’s, perhaps the most remarkable have been casual. Of these we mention the fervent George Whitfield, whose orphean eloquence threw a spell of enchantment not only over the rocky heart of the Kingswood savage, but over the still harder intellect of the Phila- delphian sage (Franklin). The occasion of his preaching in this church, which he did with “ much freedom to a large congre- gation,” was at the instance of Mr. Penrose, the then Bector.J An entry in John Wesley’s Journal shows that he also discoursed here : — “ Sunday, March 16, 1777. I preached at St. Werburgb’s, the first church I ever preached in in Bristol. I had desired my friends not to come thither, but to leave room for strangers. By this means the church was well filled, but not overmuch crowded.” § In the north aisle is the following inscription: — “Hie jacet Johannes Punchardon, qui obiit 10 Apr., A.D. 1379, cujus animae Deus, (fee.” * Barrett, 480. + Churches of Bristol, 236. X Memoirs of Lady Huntingdon, II. , 257. § Quoted in “ Churches of Bristol,” 234. OLD CHURCHES. Ill At the western end of the same aisle is the kneeling figure of Nicholas Thorn with a wife on either side and several children, and underneath a long Latin inscription. Nicholas and Robert Thorne were founders of the Bristol Grammar School in Unity Street. The former was a flourishing merchant in his native city, where he was conspicuous, while he lived, for the virtues of his character, and when he died for being one of the happy few whose good is not 11 interred with their bones.” He departed this life 19th August, 1546, in the 50th year of his age, and is here interred. Concerning his no less exemplary brother, who was bred a merchant tailor in London, where he died a bachelor in his 40th year, the following characteristic remarks of Old Fuller are worth quotation : “ Robert Thorne was born in this city (Bristol). * * * * I see it matters not what the name be, so the nature be good. I confess Thornes came in by a curse, and our Saviour saith ‘ Do men gather grapes of Thorns.’ But this our Thorn (God send us many coppices of them) was a blessing to our nation, and wine and oil may be said freely to flow from him. Being bred a merchant tailor in London, he gave more than £4445 to pious uses, a sum sufficient to build and endow a college, the time being well considered, being towards the beginning of the reign of K. Henry VIII. I have observed some at the church door cast in 6d. with such ostentation, that it rebounded from the bottom, and rung against both sides of the basin (so that the same piece of silver was the alms and the giver’s trumpet); others have dropped down silent five shillings without any noise. Our Thorn was of the second sort, doing his charity effectual, but with a possible privacy,” &c. On the west side of the south entrance is a monument to John Barker, mayor and alderman, who died in 1607. His figure, coloured, and in the robes of office, with a ruff round his neck, reclines with the head raised, and resting on his right hand. Overhead is a flat canopy supported by marble pillars. Mr. George Bowcher, who, with Sheriff Yeamans was hanged in Wine Street for conspiring to deliver the city into the hands of Prince Rupert, was buried in a corner of the south aisle. Barrett speaks of a small stone tablet having been placed to his memory with a metrical inscription, which he gives, but which has no inherent merit to entitle it to repetition. On October the 8th, 1668, Sir Henry Creswick, who resided at the house in Small Street, formerly occupied as the Times and Mirror Office, was here interred. Six knights attended the funeral : — 112 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. Sir Hugh Smith, Sir John Newton, Sir Humphrey Hook, Sir Thomas Langton, Sir George Newton, and Sir Robert Cann ; but no memorial of him is now discoverable. The same remark applies to the last of these names — Sir Robert Cann — who was here buried within an arched recess beneath the south window.* The patron of St. Werburgh’s is the Lord Chancellor ; the value is £70. ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH. The Church of All Hallow or All Saints is said by William of Worcester to have been founded before the Norman conquest; this is perhaps doubtful, but the four cylindrical piers at the western end of the nave refer the earlier structure back to the Norman period. No reliable mention of the Church has been found anterior in date to A. D. 1216, at which time it was as- signed to the use of the Guild of Calenders. These were a fraternity of religious and laity to whom was committed the custody of the archives of the town, and whose office it was to keep a monthly register of local events and public acts. William of Worcester says that one of the Calendar Brotherhood was his uncle, Sir Thomas Botoner, priest, (at whose deathbed he was present when a child of six years old, and so of too immature age to notice his person,) who was buried in the eastern part of the south porch of this Church : but he adds, I believe the bones of the said Sir Thomas were removed at the time of the erection of the new aisle, and that his tomb of freestone was likewise removed, j - This proves that the south aisle was rebuilt in the time of the writer just quoted (who was born in 1415 and died about the year 1484), and may therefore belong to about the middle of the 15th century. The Calendars were also a Guild of literature, and their library was the only public one in the town. Great cost and care had been bestowed on its formation, Sir John Gyllard, Prior of the House, who died in 1451, having alone expended the then princely sum of £217 towards its increase. “ To estimate fairly,” say the historian of Alhallowen, “ the value of this amount, I have but to tell the reader that there is now before me a document bearing date about twenty years later, wherein an agreement is entered into by a certain party to make well, workmanly, and surely, with good timber, a house in High Street, with floor, * Churches of Bristol, 237, 246. t Wm. Wor. p. 172, 190. OLD CHURCHES. 113 •windows, partitions, &c. : the said house having a shop, and hall above the shop with an oriel window, a chamber above the hall with an oriel window, and another chamber above that,” &c., &c., for all which the other party covenants to pay the sum sterling of £6 13s. 4d. Now the deed expressly states that this was the sum to be paid for building the whole , not merely a part of the house ; the only perquisite allowed the builder was the old timber. To estimate then the value of this disinterested prior’s benefaction and zeal, we must bear in mind that he gave towards the supply and maintenance of the library alone a sum equal to the cost of building thirty of the smaller houses in High Street, adorned, as they then were, with projections, graduating upwards and ter- minating in gables, ornamented with quaintly wrought timber and pargeting.”* The structure containing the library was over the north or Jesus aisle which was built by the same Sir John Gyllarde.f The whole of the books and documents are said to have perished in an accidental fire about the year 1446. Barrett has given a version from the original latin charter of this library, by which it appears that on “ every festival day, at two hours before nine and for two hours after, free access and recess may be granted to all willing to enter for the sake of instruction, and the prior, if duly required, shall lay open doubtful and obscure places of Scripture to all that ask him according to his best knowledge, and shall read a public lecture every week in the said library according to the appointment of the Bishop of Worcester.” Each book was secured by a chain, and three inventories of the whole collection were kept, one each by the mayor and dean for the time being, and the third by the prior or librarian. There were several altars and chauntries in this Church. In 1241, Alice Hayle left a tenement called the Green Lettice in High Street of £5 6s. 8d. yearly rental to find an annual celebra- tion of her requiem on the 10th of July at the cross or rood altar at the entrance of the chancel. J Also, about 1267, William Selke, Chaplain, granted 2s. rent of land in the parish of St. Stephen for finding a lamp to burn all night for his own soul and the souls of John his father and Isabel his mother. § In 1433, Martin Draper gave 12d. a year to maintain a lamp to burn there, and John le Gate gave 4s. per annum to find five tapers to burn before our Lady’s Altar. Sir Thomas Marshall, vicar, who died * Rogers’ Calenders, p. 101. t Barrett, 441. £ Ibid. p. 439. § From the original deed. 114 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. in 1434, Sir William Rodbert, vicar, who died 1453, Sir Nicholas Parker, vicar, who died in 1466, were among those who founded chauntries here. The last named gave 8s. yearly endowment to provide 101b. of wax for two tapers to burn before the high altar.*" The various gifts and endowments were of unusual value. It appears by the Church deeds that on the 14th of August, 1459, there were upwards of 423 ouncesf of silver plate belonging to these altars, besides an endless catalogue of crucifixes of gold, and silver, (some weighing more than 90 ounces,) chalices, tabernacles, candlesticks, censers, golden eagles, frontals, banners,, missals, albs, copes, tunicles, and chasubles, as also rubies and other precious stones. The fraternity of Calenders was peculiarly rich in illuminated books, some of which had cost nearly a life time in execution, and were of rare beauty and value. One of these entitled the Dawnse of Powles (Dance of Pauls) was so highly esteemed that stricter watch and ward were placed upon it than on any of the rest. It was nevertheless stolen, and for a time no correct surmise could be made by whom. After much unhappy guessing and abortive trouble in acting upon guesses, i>t was suggested by a more sagacious head that probably some one among a party of intending pilgrims to Compostella, who had previously been paying their devotions at Allhallows, might have taken the work in order to present at the shrine of St. James, such an one thinking that the robbery would be robbed of its villany in being done for a holy purpose. As the chartered vessel conveying the suspected pilgrims was far on its voyage, if indeed it had not reached the shores of Spain, it was resolved to under- take the perils of an overland journey in discovery of the missing treasure. Two of the brethren accordingly set out on the adven- * Barrett, 439. + On the 14th of August, 1549, the following jewels were weighed at All Saints’ Church, by which the riches belonging thereto may be estimated : — OUNCES- A great cup of silver, all gilt weight 159 A small cup, all gilt, with crucifix ,, 60 One pan of silver, all gilt, with a little cup and spoon ,, 44f Two censers, all gilt ... ... ... ... ... ,, 68 Two candlesticks of silver, part gilt, with a little pan, ) and a slip of silver, part gilt J ” 4 4234 — Barrett, 440. OLD CHURCHES. 115- turous expedition, and the long toil of travel to the shrine being passed, they had the delight to find among the costly gifts at the altar their “ precious Prymer.” Having repossessed themselves of the book they returned and secured it once more within a grating under an image of St. Christopher. Again, however, it was stolen, never again to be recovered.* One of the procurators of this Church, in 1437, was Jno. Leyneil. and his name, with that of his wife Katherine, is conspicuous in the warden’s book among the “ Good Doers ” for the amount and character of his benefactions. Besides endowing a chauntry in which a priest was to sing for ten years, and appointing an anniversary to be held in remembrance of them for the same space, they presented the Church with a map book of the worth of 10 marks, with a chalice, double gilt, weighing 25 ounces and valued at £7 13s. 4d., with a pair of silver cruets, with a corporas and case, the latter of “ blew ” velvet embroidered with gold, with a great pair of latten candlesticks, called standard for the choir “ whereof afore we had but 2 and now we have IY, and also, where we were moved to borrow in time of necessity, and now, blessed be God and them, we have none need for such stuff, the'which candlesticks weigheth 941bs. and cost 4 marks.” “ Item, moreover where our second suit of vestments were of Bawdekyn and nothing of fines unto the best suit the said Catherine considering this hath ordained and given to the house of Almighty God and of Allhallows and the church a finer suit of blue velvet, with flowers otherwise branches of gold with orfres of red velvet, and eagles of gold, that is to say, a chasuble, two tunicles, with their albs, and their apparels, and 2 copes, according to the same and it cost £25.” By the ancient office of the Mayor of Bristol it was appointed that upon All Hallowen Day the Mayor and the Sheriff of Bristowe were after dinner to assemble with the whole council at the Tolsey, “ with many othir gentils and worshipfull comeners, such as apperith there at that tyme, and fro thens go in to All Hallowen church, there to offre, and fro thens to walke all in fere unto the Maire’s place, there to have their ffyres and their drynk- yns with spiced cakebrede, and sondry wynes, the cuppes merilly serving aboute the hous ; and then fro thens every man departing unto his parish church to evensong.”! * Rogers, 200. Churches of Bristol, 84. t Smith’s English Gilds, 421. 116 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. Among tlie relics that the Calenders boasted themselves to possess were the candlestick and skull of St. Thomas a Becket — the authenticity of one at least of which seems fairly open to ■suspicion. At the Dissolution the riches of the house and church of the Calenders passed into the hands of Henry VIII. and Edward VH., the whole of the silver being coined for royal use at the mint of Bristol.* The patronage of the church is held by the Dean and Chapter of Bristol. The oldest remaining portion of the edifice are the four •circular piers with Norman capitals at the western end of the middle aisle. These sustain the houses that extend over this extremity of the aisle. The house on the south is the vicarage, and was originally built by Sir Thomas Marshall, Vicar and Calendar, about the year 1422. The south aisle was the chapel of the fraternity : the Perpendicular Eastern window of this is partly concealed by Colston’s monument. The north, called Jesus aisle, was re-built in 1782. The present tower was commenced in 1716, and occupied five years in building, costing £589 10s. Eight new bells were cast for the church in 1728. The pulpit is very handsomely carved, and probably dates about the time of James I. Several vicars of this church are buried in the middle aisle, but the incised brasses or other inscriptions to their memory have disappeared. Sir John Duddlestone, Bart., (concerning whom a quaint story is told of his being the first to greet Prince George of Denmark on his arrival at Bristol, by giving him a homely but hearty invitation to his house, which thereby gained his baronetcy,) lies buried with Susanna, his lady, under the first pew coming into the church, on the right hand, at the north door.f He was a wealthy tobacco merchant “in the house fronting the south side of St. Werburgh’s tower, the back part of which is now called Shannon Court.”;j; The most conspicuous, as well as interesting, monument in the church is to the memory of Thomas Colston, who was one of the honourable few whose goodness lives after them, being not •“ interred with their bones.” His sublime benevolence has been, and will ever be, a household word in Bristol as long as the city Barrett, 440. t Ibid. 445. Ibid. 445. OLD CHURCHES. 117 exists. An enumeration of his public benefactions is given on his tomb, but his private deeds of charity, which are known to have been unlimited, will always be undetailed. He died at Mortlake, in Surrey, and the funeral procession from that place to the present was a week on its melancholy march. It “ consisted of a hearse and G horses covered with plumes and velvet, attended by 8 horsemen in black cloaks, and followed by three mourning coaches with 6 horses to each, and 12 pages with caps and truncheons.” “ Where it rested on the road the rooms were hung with deep mourning, a large pall edged with silver, shields and eight large silver candlesticks were placed around the coffin ; and a lid with plumes of fine ostrich feathers, surrounded by a rail, enriched with silk escutcheons and accordant plumes. Upon this solemn garniture, the dark livery of death, a brilliant light was- cast from six wax candles in large silver candlesticks, and from four dozen tapers in silver sconces, which with escutcheons, were arranged around the room.”* A contemporary narrator, Silas- Tod, who was a Colston scholar on St. Augustine’s Back at the time his benefactor died, relates that orders were given to all the boys on the foundation “ to learn by heart the 90th Psalm to sing before the corpse as it entered the city, which was at Lawford’s- Gate, where we joined before the hearse, and sung before it the space of five hours, amidst a most numerous and crowded audience. It is impossible to describe in what manner the houses and streets- were lined with ranks of people, and although the rain descended in torrents, none paid any regard thereto, but the whole multitude seemed determined to see the last of so eminent a man. We came at last to All Saints’ Church, where he was interred under the communion table.”')* The effigy on his tomb is by Rysbach, from an original portrait by Richardson. On every Sunday a nosegay of such flowers as the season affords is placed on his monument, money having been left for the purpose. On the base of the tomb is inscribed, “ Edward, the son of William Colston, Esqre., and Sarah, his wife, was born in Bristol, Nov. 2, 1636, died at Mortlake, in Surrey, Oct. -21, 1721, and lies interred in All Saints’ Church, Bristol.” All Saints’ is a vicarage in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Bristol. Its value, £154. Population, 121. / Edward Colston and his Times,' 466. t Ibid. 467. 118 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. THE CHURCH OF ST. PETER. Very little is known of the early history of this church, but it appears to have been founded about the same time as the castle, the barbican of which stood at the chancel end. It is a rectory, and was granted by Robert Fitzhamon to the Abbey of Tewkes- bury, which grant was confirmed by a charter of King Henry I., -dated 1106. At the Dissolution the living passed into the possession of Henry Brain, merchant tailor, of London, the purchaser of St. Peter’s, and many other Bristol churches. In the year 1643 it narrowly escaped the fate of its great military neighbour, inasmuch that Col. Fiennes had given orders for the demolition of the churches of St. Peter’s and St. Philip’s on account of their proximity to the castle, but the appearance of Prince Rupert with 20,000 men before the city, prevented the mischievous procedure. The only portion that remains of the early fabric is probably the tower, which is a massive structure of Norman workmanship, in strong analogy with the vanished castle, the walls of the belfry being said to be more than six feet in thickness. The height of the tower, without the pinnacles, which are a later addition, is 79ft. The church has three aisles, the north and south being 96 feet long, the middle 111 feet; their height about 36 feet; the width of the whole body of the church is 54 feet.* In the year 1749, a faculty was obtained for repairing and beautifying this church, at which time were wrought many incongruous innovations and addi- tions that have only recently disappeared. On the north of the church, at the side of the fifth buttress, projects a rood turret, containing the staircase by which the priest ascended to the rood loft. There were formerly many incised brasses, but they have been nearly all abstracted. A very fine one, however, representing a priest (Robert Loud) in eucharistic vestments and bearing a chalice, may yet be seen at the east end of the south aisle. This is of the date 1461. In the middle aisle were three brasses to the memory of Andrew Nortion and his wives, Elizabeth and Ellen. He died 1527. f In the south aisle is a sumptuous tomb, with the kneeling figures of Richard Aldworth and his wife, who resided in the ancient house adjoining the church, now called St. Peter’s Hospital, where he died in 1634. Near this is a storied monument of costly work- Barrett, 518. f Ibid, 519. OLD CHURCHES. 119 manship, having a canopy supported by six fluted pillars, whose one time gilded capitals are now disfigured by whitewash. Upon the sculptured sarcophagus comprising the tomb lies the effigy of a lady, in the quaint costume of the reign of James I. Of her no account is given but that she belonged to the family of Newton, of Barr's Court. Mr. Ellacomb, however, supposes her to have been Antholin, wife of John Newton, brother to Sir Henry Newton, who died in 1599. Contrasted with, and lying at the foot of this sumptuous memorial is a humble but suggestive memento mori, in the form of a cadaver or skeleton, to the memory of some unknown person. From the middle aisle has disappeared a stone which had the following in- scription : “ Sir John Cadaman, Knight, was beheaded in the castle for killing Miles Callowhill, an officer of the garrison, while Prince Rupert had possession of Bristol, and was buried in this church the 9th of April, 1645.”* At the east end of the south aisle was a chauntry dedicated to the honour of the “ Blessed Mary of Bellhouse, to the fraternity of which, now newly established (A.D. 1500), William Spicer gave a garden and a house in Marshall (now Merchant) street, and others other benefactions. ”f In 1521, the Duke of Buckingham, executed for treason by Henry VIII., records in his roll of expenses “ an offering to our Lady of Bellhouse, Bristowe, 3s. 4d.”f In the burial ground of this church was interred Richard Savage, the poet, the story of whose life by Dr. Johnson has imparted so romantic an interest to his name. Savage, as is well known, died a debtor in Newgate, Bristol. He was arrested at the suit of a Mrs. Reed, coffee-house keeper, for a debt of £8. His confinement was not rigorous, his gaoler Dagge showing him great indulgence and kindness, allowing him the use of his own apartments and making him his companion in walks about the neighbourhood. During his so-called imprisonment he wrote a satire on the merchants of Bristol, which might be characterised by the adjective his name expresses. He died of a fever on the 1st of August, 1743, in the 46th year of his age, and was interred at the oxpense of his gaoler, assisted by some contributions from Lady * Barrett, 519. + Drake’s Bristol, 123. + Brewer’s State Papers, iii. , 500. 120 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. Huntingdon and her friends.* The burial register has the following simple entry : — “An. Bom., 1743, Aug. 1, Richard Savage, the Poet. No stone covers his grave, but the precise spot of his burial is traditionally said to be six feet from the south door of the church. y - CHRIST CHURCH. Christ Church, at the angle formed by the junction of Wine Street and Broad Street, replaces one of the four ancient churches- which surrounded the High Cross in the centre of the city. The original fabric dates back to Norman, if not Saxon, times, but the edifice that was demolished to make room for the present appears in its general features to have partaken of the Perpendicular style, and, according to the assertion of Barrett and the engraving in hi& History, was “ no very beautiful structure.” Southey, who was- born and spent his boyhood near its precincts, remarks, in a letter to a friend, dated March 6th, 1806 : — “ I remember the old church ; a row of little shops were built before it, above which its windows- received light, and on the leads which roofed them crowds used to stand at the chairing of members, as they did to my remembrance- when peace was proclaimed after the American war. I was christened in that old church*, and vividly remember our pew under the organ, of which I certainly have not thought these fifteen years before. was then rector, a humdrum somnificator, who, God rest his soul for it ! made my poor mother stay at home Sunday evenings because she could not keep awake after dinner to hear him. A worldly-minded man succeeded, and effected, by dint of begging and impudence, a union between the two parishes of Christ Church and St. Ewen’s, for no other conceivable reason than that he might be rector of both. * * * * There were quarter boys to this old church clock, as to St. Dunstan, and I have many a time stopt with my satchel on my back to see them strike.^; * * * * The church was demolished, and sad things- were said of the indecencies that occurred in removing the coffins * Besides what Dr. Johnson’s well-known Life of Savage supplies, many particulars concerning his imprisonment are contained in the ‘ ‘ Selections from the Gentleman' s Magazine ,” vol. II., 367. Also, see Lady Hunting- don’s Memoirs, vol. II. , 367, for additional information. + Notes and Queries, vol. XVI., 286. t These quarter boys are said to be still preserved, and are in the possession of a gentleman at Brislington. OLD CHURCHES. 121 for the new foundation to be laid. We had no interest in this, for our vault was at Ashton. * * * * Once more to Christ Church. I was present in the heart of a crowd when the founda- tion stone was laid, and read the plates wherein posterity will find engraved the name Robert Southey — for my father was church- warden — by the same token that that year he gave me a penny to go to the fair instead of a shilling as usual, being out of humour or out of money, and I, recurring to a common phrase, called him a generous churchwarden. There was money under the plate. I put some halfpence which I had picked out for their good im- pression; and Waites, the bookseller, a good medal of the present king.* Christ Church was consolidated with St. Ewen’s, which stood on the site of the Council House opposite, in the year 1787, the worth of the combined benefices being £390. The living of Christ Church from 1447 to 1588 was in the gift of the Abbot and Convent of Tewkesbury, when it passed to the city corporation. In a curious alliterative poem on the Deposition of Richard II., edited by the Camden Society, is an allusion to Christ Church in this wise, the spelling being modernised : — “And as I passed in my prayer where priests were at mass In a blessed borough that Bristol is named, In a temple of the trinity, the town even amidst, That Christ Church is cleped among the common people, Suddenly there sounded selcouth things,” These selcouth or strange things being the landing of Henry, Earl of Richmond. In the Procurator’s book is contained a charge of 4d. for ring- ing the bell upon the coming of Archbishop Cranmer in 1534. On July 2nd, 1543, the day of the Visitation of the Virgin, the Litany was first sung in English in a procession from this church to the Church of St. Mary Redcliff.'j* The present edifice was opened in 1790 ; it is built of freestone, and any attempt at exterior ornament has been expended on the western end and the tower, the rest being enclosed by houses. The style is nominally Grecian, with variations in accordance with modern exigencies and taste. There being no classical prototype to guide the construction of an ecclesiastical interior, the present is divided in the manner of a Gothic edifice into three aisles. The result is favourable, the proportions being symmetrical and chaste, Life and Cor., HI., 36. 4 Churches of Bristol, 101. 122 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. and the embellishment such as to gain admiration in any reason- able tolerator of the style. “ I am credibly informed,” remarks old Fuller, “that one Mr. Bichard Gregson, citizen, hath ex- pended a great sum of money in new casting of the bells of Christ Church, adding tunable chymes unto them. Surely he is the same person whom I find in the printed List of Compounders to have paid one hundred and five pounds for his reputed delinquency in our Civil Wars, and am glad to see one of his persuasion (so lately purified in Goldsmiths’ Hall) able to go to the cost of so chargeable a work.”* A heavy oaken chest originally secured by three locks is pre- served behind the organ. The register of this church as well as that of St. Ewen’s commence their entries in the first half of the sixteenth century. There are few monuments of general interest in this church. The principal is perhaps a tablet to the memory of Dr. Standfast, who was sequestrated in the civil war for his adherence to the king. He is declared to have suffered much persecution for his loyalty. At one time he escaped his pursuers at Thornbury by putting on the habit of a thatcher, and pretending to be busy in mending the roof of a house in that place. His living was given to one Evans, a tailor, and he himself imprisoned in Bristol Castle, “ for his disaffection to the Parliament of England and their pro- ceedings, which in his printing, praying, and preaching he had expressed.” From the east window, facing Broad Street, of St. Ewen’s Church, King Edward IV. witnessed the procession which con- ducted Sir Baldwin Fulford to execution. He may be remembered as the subject of a pathetic ballad by Chatterton, his punishment being the remorseless exaction of the penalty of being answerable for the surrender of a perfidious friend, who had offended the king. The remains of John Elbridge, Esq., a philanthrophist whose good deeds are of lasting interest to poorer citizens, are here in- terred. He was the original founder of the Infirmary, and also bequeathed £3,000 to endow his charity school for 24 girls in Fort Lane, St. Michael’s Hill.j He died in 1739. * Fuller’s Worthies, Bristol. 4 Churches of Bristol, 106. OLD CHURCHES. 123 THE CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS. The Honourable Horace Walpole’s recorded impression of the exterior of this church that it “ is neat and truly Gothic ” will hardly at the present time meet with any cordial acceptance. It is the third building erected on the same foundation, and a more emasculated reproduction of the grand old Gothic style would be hardly possible. The spire indeed is a redeeming feature and worthy of better relationship. The height of this is 205 feet from the ground. The earlier structure is said to have been founded in the later Saxon period, but no authentic details are extant. In the year 1503 the church appears to have been rebuilt, for in the will of Thomas Knapp, an eminent merchant and one time mayor of the city, £20 is given “towards rebuilding of Nicholas Church.” The fabric stood upon the ancient wall of the town — the east end -the floor of which was much higher than the ground level of the church, standing upon St. Nicholas Gate. Owing to this superior elevation of the chancel, the high altar was approached by an ascent of twelve steps of white and black marble, by which arrangement a peculiar dignity was acquired. The removal of the old gateway in 1762 having entailed the demolition of a part of the church, it was thought judicious to rebuild the whole edifice, which was effected at an expense of £6,000. The old crypt or cemetery was happily preserved, and is the only archasological feature of interest that remains. This consists of two aisles, divided by five clustered pillars. From these spring the ribs of the vaulting, which have boldly carved bosses at the intersections. One of these is said to represent Queen Philippa, another the Madonna and child, and a third our Saviour. The date of the present crypt is about 1503, at which time the church was partly rebuilt.* There are, however, portions that indicate an earlier style of architecture, there having been a crypt here for several centuries previously. About A.D. 1200 Richard WombstroAg sells his house and cellars for 30 marks, to build a chantry to the blessed Virgin, for the souls of his father and mother: this has been explained to be the crypt of St. Nicholas. Also in 1273 Walter Derby, mayor, gives a lamp to burn before the image of the Virgin in a chantry in the crypt of St. Nicholas for ever.j Archaeolog. Proe., Bristol, 122. MSS. City Library. 124 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. “ There was a religious guild or fraternity of the Holy Ghost, ,r states Barrett, “ within the crowd of St. Nicholas cum capella, in honorem Santae Cruets ibidem ; they received rents with the brotherhood and casualties, £18 5s. per annum. The expenses of the priest and clerk for celebrating the Holy Ghost mass and anthems, yearly salary was £6 13s. 4d., which, with wine, ringing the bells, and cleaning the crowd, amounted to about £9 per annum in toto, and costs £ fer the drynking of the brootherhoode on Holy Rood day ’ amounted to £5 6s., where the wheat in 1529 is charged 21d. per bushel, candles Id. per pound, 14 gallons of milk, Is. 2d., double ale 2d. per gallon, &c.”* In the crypt is buried Alderman Whitson, who was a princely benefactor to the city. Besides serving the office of mayor, he was four times elected member of Parliament for Bristol. He died in the 72nd year of his age, A.D. 1629. Out of his estates he bequeathed to 52 poor childbed women £52 per annum ; to the Redmaids hospital, £120 ditto; to the Merchant’s almshouse, £26 ditto; 20 poor housekeepers, £52; to poor widows, £26; to the use of merchants and poor tradesmen, interest free, £500. f In the floor are several incised monumental slabs of some archaeological interest. Two stone coffins may also be seen, one of which was discovered in 1821 in its original situation against the north wall. This is to the memory of Mabel and Richard le- Draper, and is dated 1311. The body of Mabel appears to have been burnt (?) only ashes and a skull being found in the tomb; but Richard was buried entire as his skeleton remains.! The old Communion table and three gilded figures that belonged to the altar of the preceding church are here preserved. In the year 1823, the crypt was restored, at which time a brass plate with the following inscription was fixed in the south aisle : — “ This crypt is traditionally an ancient cemetery of the original church of St. Nicholas, which was founded in the reign of Canute the Great about the year of our Lord MXXX; it appears to have been repaired and beautified during the reign of Edward III., in the year MCCCLXI, ahead of his Queen Philippa being still perfect in the keystone of the first groin in the south aisle. It was afterwards used by the fraternity of the Holy Ghost as a chapel in the year MDCIII, and was religiously preserved, when * Barrett, p. 497. t See “Nichols’ Life of Whitson,” for the fullest account of his career and benefactions. t Ibid 127. OLD CHURCHES. 125 the ancient church was taken down and rebuilt in the year MDCCLXVIII; so long a period of time, having injured some of the arches, the foundations were carefully examined and repaired, and the whole building was restored to its original strength and beauty, MDCCCXXIII.” Eight chambers are enumerated to have belonged to this church, one being to Richard Spyces, four to Everard le French, another to William Spencer, and two others to Thomas Knappe.* It was anciently the custom of the Corporation to go to Nicholas Church on the eve of the day of its patron Saint to hear even-song, and on St. Nicholas’ day to hear mass and offer, and hear the Bishop’s sermon, and receive his blessing. The corpora- tion after dinner, assembled at “the Counter,” (afterwards the Tholzel or Tolzey), and while they waited the coming of the Bishop, they amused themselves by playing at dice. It was the business of the Town Clerk to find them dice, and he received for every raffle one penny. And on the arrival of the Bishop, his choir sang there, and the Bishop gave his blessing. And he and the whole of his chapel were entertained with bread and wine ; and afterward the Corporation went again to St. Nicholas, to hear the Bishop’s even-song. f In the calendar of Ricart, who was Town Clerk in the 18th year of Edward IV., is also preserved a curious ordinance for the regulation of Christmas observances at Bristol, at that time. By this it was ordered among other in- junctions that after the ringing of the curfew of St. Nicholas no person should carry any kind of light through the street, nor to be armed with any weapons, on pain of certain penalties. The interest of this document will justify its quotation in detail : — Ordinances for the Observance of Xmas at Bristol in the Reign of Edward IV. “ Item. — The Mayir of Bristol shall by usage this quarter the next market day before Christmas day, or else on Christmas eve, do make open proclamation for good rule and governance, to be had and kept within the said town during the holy days under this manner of form. “ The mayor and the sheriff charge and command on the king sovereign lord’s behalf, that no manner of person of what degree or condition that they be of, at this Christmas go a mumming Barrett, 497. t Smith’s Gilds, 422. 126 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. with close visages, nor go after curfews rung at St. Nicholas without light in their hands, that is to say sconce light, and that they go no wise with weapon defensibly arrayed, whereby the king’s peace may be in any mannerwise be broken or hurt, and that upon pain of imprisonment and making fine and ransom to the king.” “ Item. — Another proclamation for conservation of the king’s peace ordained, stablished, an enacted by the Common Council of Bristol, to be proclaimed at all such time as the mayor and sheriff for the time being shall think it necessary in especial against good-tides, festivals, and Christmases to be proclaimed in this wise : The mayor and sheriff charge and command on the king our sovereign lord’s behalf, that no manner of person and persons go or walk within this town of Bristol with glaythes, spears, long swords, long daggers, custile or Basselardes by night or by day, whereby the king’s peace in any mannerwise may be troubled, broken, or offended, but the persons that, both officers and qther, that come riding into the town, or going out of the town, and that upon pain of forfeiture of their weapons, and their bodies to prison. To the accomplishment of the which premises the Mayor, Sheriff, and Common Council of Bristol foresaid charge and command all manner, burgesses of this Town of Bristol on the king our sovereign lord’s behalf, to be aiding, helping, supporting, maintaining, and favouring to any execution of the same, and that upon pain that may or will befall thereupon.”* During Lent, 1528, Bishop Latimer preached three sermons in Bristol, one being in the old church of St. Nicholas. These discourses occasioned great strife and debate “ among all manner of sorts of people from the highest or lowest within the same town,” being reported to contain “certain systematic and erroneous opinions ” such as that “ in hell there was no fire sensible ; the souls that be in purgatory to have no need of our prayers, but rather to pray for us ; no saints to be honoured, no pilgrimage to be used, and our blessed lady to be a sinner.” These charges Latimer met in detail and duly qualified. He himself states that the popularity he acquired among the people here was such that the mayor invited him to preach again at Easter, but that this invitation was nullified by the jealous intervention of the priests.j* * Notes and Queries, Dec. 21, 1861. + Wordsworth’s Ecclesiast. Biog. III., p. 42, &c. OLD CHURCHES. 127 In 1539 some further heretical doctrines so called, were set forth in the same church by George Wishart, who subsequently suffered martyrdom in Scotland. By his preaching many people of the town were persuaded to his views. Being accused by the dean of the diocese, he was convicted of heresy, and upon his recantation was sentenced “ to bear a faggot in St. Nicholas Church aforesaid, and the parishe of the same the 13 July, and in Christe Church the 20 July above said following, which was duely executed in the time aforesaid.”* In “ Walker’s Sufferings of the Clergy” is to be found a bio- graphical sketch of Richard Towgood, who was sequestered Feb. 10, 1654, from the vicarage of St. Nicholas for his loyalty and firm adherence to the royal cause. On account of his pertinacity in preaching and praying against the Parliament, lie was besides being deprived of his living, several times committed to prison, and was even condemned to be shot to death, and it was not without some difficulty that this sentence was reversed. When imprisoned in the Castle of Bristol, his sentence was to remain there without fire or light or the allowance of any friend to visit him.” At the restoration he was made Dean of Bristol, and on the death of Dr. Ironside in 1671 lie was offered the bishopric which he refused. He died April 21, 1683, in the 89th year of his age, having been sixty years a preacher in Bristol. f He was sometime master of the cathedral school and then removed to the vicarage of All Saints. One Constantine Jessop, son of John Jessop, of Pem- broke, was sometime (puritan) minister of St. Nicholas. He “ succeeded John Owen in the minister of that factious town in Essex called Coggeshal, whence after he had exercised his parts for a time he was translated to Wimborne Minister in Dorsetshire, of which county he wasr an assistant to the commissioners for the ejection of such whom they then (1654) called scandalous and ignorant ministers and schoolmasters. The author of the “ Satirical Panegyric on the late Lord Jeffryes” speaks of having with his “own eyes” observed his ensanguined hero when he visited the city on the western assizes, breathing death like a destroying angel, go to St. Nicholas Church with as much devotion as any in Bristol,” and when there to “make as low obeysance, and as just responds as Mr. Mayor himself (God bless him).” But even this devotional attention did not prevent say the “ Secret Memoirs,” his gaping and staring at the fine ladies, as if he had forgot what he came about ; and when * Macrie’s Life of Knox, I., 383. + Walker, II., 4. t Wood, III., 540. 128 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. he returned to his quarters, he talked in such a loose manner as if he had been at a play house instead of a church.* It may be mentioned that three structures, the theatre in King Street, Bristol bridge, and the present church, were all being rebuilt at the same period, the former being finished first. The person who first rode over the bridge, and who placed the crowning stone to the church spire, was George Catcott, the friend of Chatterton, whose vanity and ambition it is presumed were gratified by thus becoming “the observed of all observers.” An amusing relation of the incident by a contemporary journal is as follows : — “ George Catskin is noted as the man who in this city is the most ambitious of acquiring a name, in search of which, he has twice lately risked his neck. 11 Fii'si . — When the arches of our new bridge were turned, he gave the workmen a very handsome treat to have the unspeakable honour to be the first man that ever rode over that bridge, so exalted like Mordecai the Jew on the horse of Ahausuerus, he rode triumphantly over a few tottering planks, his horse being guided by one of the labourers, who acted the part of Hainan in this grand scene. “ And secondly , upon finishing a lofty spire for the church of St. Nicholas, George performed likewise a very capital part, which was no less than mounting between two and three hundred feet in the air to have the satisfaction of placing the last stone on that structure ; on the top of which he has fixed a plate of brass informing any who are fool-hardy enough to venture there, that he George Catskin placed the last stone on that pile anno domini 1770.”f CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. With even clearer evidence than that Goodwin sands were occasioned by the erection of Tenterden steeple it might be demon- strated that the spire of St. John the BaptisPs Church is the reason of the continued, if not of the original existence of the only remaining ancient gateway of the city, seeing that this portal would long ago have been sacrificed to business exigencies, had it not been for the pious burden it enthrones. The present church occupies the site of one that was to be found here in the year 1174, at which date the latter was given with others to tlie priory of St. James, Bristol, and the Monastery of Tewkesbury. William of Worcester, referring to the existing * Merciful Assizes, 331. + Town and Country Mag. 1771, p. 316. OLD CHURCHES. 129 structure, remarks “the gate of St. John the Baptist, upon which is erected a square tower with a spire of freestone above it and two battlements upon the tower, contains in length, 17 steps and was built anew with the church of St. John, by Walter Frampton, a noble merchant of the city of Bristol.”* * * § He else- where states that this munificent burgess is buried in a raised tomb in the church over the crypt. f Of the family of Framp- ton, four members were successively named Walter, the second of whom was mayor of Bristol in the year of his father’s death 1357, which office he served likewise in the subsequent years 1365 and 1374. To this second Walter the origin of the present structure may be referred, which according to local annals was founded in the year 1388 or the year after.;}: The style of architecture, however, indicates that the author of the re-founda- tion of the church, could not have lived to see its erection, as the Perpendicular details belong to a period more than half a century later than the presumed time of his death. It might have been a feeling of filial piety that induced Walter Frampton, the second of his name, to provide funds to re-construct this sanctuary, his father and his mother having been interred within its precincts. The will of the founder is dated A.D. 1388, in which he bequeaths a large property to his wife Isabella, with the curious and un- complimentary provision that if the said Isabella shall marry again quickly, or (which Heaven forbid), she commit fornication and this be proved, then his executors if they survive shall take possession of and retain the whole of the legacies bequeathed to her, and totally exclude her from any benefit of her inheritance, that is, after three ''proclamations have been made with sound of trumpet at the High Cross. § He also bequeaths “sixty-two tenements to be sold, and the price divided into four parts ; one to be given in marriage dowry to poor maidens ; one to the relief of poor blind and lame ; one to be laid out in the repair of the highways and bridges; and the residue among religious mendicants, four orders of whom were established in Bristol. |] * Corry’s Bristol, I. 287. Retrospective Review, II. ser. VoL II. p. 473. + Itin 208. + Ecclesia parochialis Sancti Joliannis Baptistoe, cum volta inferius archuata cum capella Sanctae Crucis, in qua ecclesia famosus mercator burgensis villae predict;® in tumulo jacet desuper sepultus, et fecit de novo fundari et construi tarn ecclesiam quam portam pulcram, &c. p. 248. § Barrett, 4S6. Corry’s Bristol, I. p. 287. Dallaway, 87. Bristol Memorialist, p. 292. || Nicolas Test. Vetusta, p. 763. 130 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. The church is a simple rectangle, undivided by aisles, but the nave is separated from the chancel by a tall pointed arch, which is the principal relieving feature of the edifice. In the north window of the chancel is a delicately wrought episcopal mitre in stained glass, once belonging to Wells Cathedral. A wall, in which are two Tudor doors, was built in 1572, separating the vestry from the chancel, but it is supposed by some that the present vestry has been, from the beginning, a priest’s chamber. Contained in the vestry is an old hour glass, an instrument which was often placed near the pulpit, subsequently to the Reformation, and especially during the Commonweath to regulate the length of the sermon : this article is rare and curious and is with the stand in perfect preservation. The crypt, dedicated to the Holy Cross, is entered by a small doorway on the north side. Immediately within is a stoup or holy water vessel for the purpose of aspersion on entry, and another of these occurs, with a carved demi-angel above it, in connection with an altar tomb in the south-west wall. In the eastern portion of the crypt the moulded ribs of the vaulting spring rectagonally and diagonally from the clustered mural columns, but in the western division these ribs or groinings ascend immediately from the ground without the support of pillars or capitals. The apex of the roof is about 11 feet from the floor,. The date of this crypt seems architecturally to correspond with the superstructure, and has been pronounced by Mr. Freeman “to be of the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century,”* but is usually reputed to belong to the earlier of these epochs. The devotional uses to which this very interesting sub -structure to the church was in former years applied is exhibited by the following extract from an ancient vellum book preserved in the vestry : (the date, A.D. 1465, of the institution of which Register was probably coincident with the opening of the rebuilt church). “ Be it known also that the last day of Septembre, in the yere of oure lorde god MCCCCLXY In the worship of the holi Rood, Saint John Baptiste, and Saint Martyn, the confessor, Master Thomas Clynt, parson of this church, William Spencer, Nicholas Wargyn, John Bagod, William Howell, John Gaywode, Robert Straunge, Ric. Bayley, Willm Withyngton, and Thomas Rowley founded and stablished in the croude of this church perpetuel to endure a Britherhed, and that a preest shall devoutely daily saye or do to be seid masse in the seid croude for the pro- Som. Arch. Proc. 1867, p. 18. OLD CHURCHES. 131 sperite and welfare of all ye Brithery and Sistrey being on lyf belonging to the seid Brithered. And for all the soules that ben past out of this world. Provided alwey that the preest there for the tyme beyng shall saye every monday a masse of the holy goost and every Wednesday a masse of requiem for all cristen soules. And every friday a masse of the lioli crosse. And fro Alhalwen tyde to candilmesse, the masse to begyn evry daye atte houre of vii. And fro Candilmasse to Alhalwen tide the masse to begyn atte houre of vi. And atte begynnyng of evry masse before his confiteon the preest there being in his awbe shall exhorte the people to pray for the soules whos names be conteyned in his bederole.” “ Here folwen the charges that the proctours of this church for the tyme being, be bonde to do and duly kepe duryng the terme of XXXVIII yere for the soules of John White Barbour, and Maude his wife, Water Rowley and Martyn his wif, Willm Chestre and Agnes his wif, John North and Alice his wif, for certeyn tenements in Seint Bartholomews Aley, that Harry Chestre and Thomas Rowley, have given to the sustenacion of the Britherhed in the croude of this churche, as it appereth in parcelles before written.” “ First, the said proctours for the tyme beying be bound to lette and ordeyn to be seid on the Fridaye, atte afternone in Ester weke in due and convenyent tyme a dirige by note in the crowde with the parson of this churche or his depute with the preestes and the clerk of this church. The parson to have for him and the light burning about the herce, VId. “Also every preeste beyng atte dirige and masse, lid. “Also to the clerke for his servyce, and for ryngyng of the grete belle in tyme of the dirige in long peles, and at the masse tyme on the morn a long peel, I Vd. “Also the proctours for the tyme beyng must offre atte masse, Id. “Also the proctours for the tyme beyng be bound the same Saturdaye to dele to poure people in the same parysh in ferthung brede, IXd. “Also the same proctors, the same daye, to the prisoners of Newgate be bounde to dele in brede, Xd. Sum Ills IVd. Note. — For leave to copy the above and subsequent extracts from the singularly interesting Proctors’ Book, the writer is anxious to express his indebtedness to the courtesy of the Rev. I. Sadler Gale, the incumbent of the church. 132 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. In the vellum book whence the foregoing is extracted, certain payments are ordered to be made from the rental of a tenement in .St. John’s Lane, for the yearly performance on the Thursday of Easter week, of a dirge and mass for the souls of Nicholas Exeter, and his wife, with others whose names are given. The great bell was to be rung in “ long peel ” during the solemn service, the lights were to be “ burning about the hearse, and the bellman was to go to the High Cross in the centre of the town and cry aloud to the people to pray for the souls of these departed. (“ Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by ?”) On the day after, doles of bread were made to the poor of the parish. A payment in the same book is also recorded for ringing the bell on the approach of Cardinal Pole to the city. On the north side of the chancel is a raised tomb supporting the outstretched figure of a burgher in a long robe buttoned down the front. A border inscription denotes this to contain the remains of Water Frampton, three times Mayor of Bristol, and founder of the present church, whose will is dated A.D. 1388. His chauntrey priest was enjoined to pray daily for the “ good state of our sovryn lord the Kynge of England and for the good state of the Mavre of Bristowe. And for the soules of Water Frampton and Elizabeth his wife (the parents of the founder) for the Kynis (kinsmen’s?) soulys and for all cristen soulys; the parson to have for him and his lyht brennyng aboute the herse viii d.” “Also the bellman to goe abought the towne exorting the peo- ple to pray for the soulyes above named, ii d.” The usurpation of the name of Rowley by Chatterton as the imputed author of the young poet’s own productions has given an adventitious interest to the memorials of this family herein con- tained. Level with the floor of the middle aisle are brasses of a male and a female figure with a hiejacet inscription denoting that Thomas Rowley, merchant and sheriff, died 33 Jan. 1478 and Margaret his wife, died 1470. There is no account of any priest or poet of that name connected with the church we are considering, and the Rowley of Chatterton, was certainly Chatterton himself. Very little is known concerning the family, but the extracts we have quoted from the vellum book in the vestry will show their interest and participation in the devotional practices of the church. In the crypt is a large tomb supporting the effigies of a man and his wife, and sculptured on the front are eleven children ; this has been generally referred to the Rowleys, but if correctly, some OLD CHURCHES. 133 later members of the family than the figures on the brasses must be represented, the style of the tomb being of an advanced era and belonging to the following century. Its identity however is un- certain, as is also that of the altar tomb on the south-west side of the crypt. Passing over some memorials of no particular interest, we mention the fact of the interment here (in the crypt) of the remains of Sir George Snigge, eldest son of Baron Snigge, Recorder of Bristol. He was drowned at ten o’clock of the night of December, 27th, 1610, in attempting to cross the ferry at Rownham, on horse back, on his way from Sir Hugh Smith’s at Ashton. His body was not found until the 10th of June follow- ing, when it was taken up at the graving place, without either hands or legs.* * * § In 1649, the bells were recast and a new frame constructed for them. The weather-beaten statues on either side of St. John’s Gate are accounted to represent the royal brothers Brennus and Belinus, sons of Dunwallo, an early king of Britain. According to Ricart’s Calendar of Bristolf “ Brynne first founded and bilded this wor- shipful town of Bristol, that now is Bristowe, and set it upon a litell hill ; that is to say, between Seint Nicholas Yate, Seint Johnne Yate, Seint Leonard’s Yate, and the Newe Yate. And no more was bilde, not many years after.”J This Brennus was r the leader of the Gauls, who, in B.C. 390 crossing the Apennines, defeated the Romans with an army of 70,000 men against 40,000. Had he marched at once upon Rome the Roman name and nation might have been swept from the earth, but spending the night on the field in cutting off the heads of the slain, he gave the citizens time to secure the capitol until Manlius finally saved it. § It must be admitted that Brennus’ destruction of Rome is better authenticated than his construction of Bristol, but even the latter fact admits of much plausible argument in its favour. This how- ever cannot here be pursued. Perhaps there is no episode in profane history of more dramatically impressive interest than the massacre on this invasion of Rome of the eighty fathers of the city * Churches of Bristol, 133. + Compiled about 1479, when Iticart was Town Clerk of Bristol. J Evans 3. Also, in the “Eulogiuin Historiarum ” A. D. 1366, recently edited under the auspices of the Master of the Bolls, — “Brennius civitatem condidit in occidentali parte Britannise et earn nomine suo appella scilicet, Brenston, nunc vero per syncopen Bristow vocitatur.” Vol. II., p. 242. § Smith’s Gk. and Rom. Biog., I., 503. 134 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. in their halls, seated in their ivory chairs, and robed in the splendid vestments of their state offices. Then, the sacking and burning of Rome, the famous night attack on the Capitol, the great ransom offered, the false balances brought by the enemy, and finally the insolence of Brennus who, upon remonstrance being made, pas- sionately flung his sword into the defective scale, exclaiming “va3 victis.” The pictorial narration of Livy has made all this a school- boy story. That the chief actor therein should only be the traditional founder of Bristol adds an interesting prestige to our ancient city. King Henry VII was met at this gate “ ad portam Sancti Johannis, by a pageant of many mayden childern, richely besene with Girdells, Beds, (beads), and Onches, wher Justicia had the wordes that herafter ensueth.”* These words however, we spare the reader, and have no doubt that the King likewise would have been gratified by being spared their tedious infliction. Queen Elizabeth on her ovation through Bristol, in August, 1574, stayed at this gate while being addressed by three boys who severally (in the pageantry of the occasion) represented Salutation, Gratulation, and Obedient Good Will. The first of these having delivered his horrible hexameters, the second boy presently reminded her Majesty “ That a sottle sneak of late, with sopple sugred words Hath sleely crept in brestes of men and drawn out naked swords. Disunion is his name, &c. But to lessen her peril and dismay and to reassure her high- ness, they bombastically declared that even feeble youth and tender babes would unsheath their swords in her defence, which they instantly illustrated by drawing their own. The queen having listened to their wearisome orations proceeded to her lodgings, at the Great House on St. Augustine’s Back. In 1825 the crypt of St. John’s Church, after having been severally used as an engine house, a sugar warehouse, and an auctioneer’s wareroom, was cleansed at the expense of the rector, the process costing about £60.* The church of St. Lawrence, which was contiguous on the west, to St. John’s Arch, was incorporated with St. John’s in 1580. MSS. Annals, p. 109. OLD CHURCHES. 135 THE CHURCH OF ST. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL. The period of the erection of this church is sufficiently indicated by its architectural style, which is neither Christian nor Pagan, but an indescrible combination of both. The earlier structure is said to have been founded by Robert Fitzhamon, to whom William Rufus had granted the Castle of Bristol. He was also the founder of Tewkesbury Abbey, to the abbot and chapter of which the present church was tributary until granted at the Dis- solution to Henry Brayne. It is now in the patronage of trustees. The first notice of the church occurs in 1174, when it appears to have been one of those that were the fee of William, Earl of Gloucester, the grandson of Robert Fitzhamon. The list of rectors begins in 1193, Richard Cumbrain being earliest. One of the most eminent schoolmen of the 15th century, John Free, was Rector of St. Michael’s in 1464. He is credited by Leland to be the first of Englishmen who, by honest effort, helped to enlighten his countrymen by the resuscitation of the study of polite letters. He learned or taught the study of herbal medicine in the Uni- versity of Ferrara, Florence, and Padua, and proceeding to Rome gained great favour there with Pope Paul II. By that pontiff he was appointed Bishop of Bath (having dedicated to his kindness a latin translation of Diodorus Siculus), but died at Rome in 1465 before his consecration.* According to a custom instituted in 137 6,*j* it was usual on Michaelmas day for the whole town council, after they had dined, to assemble at the High Cross, and “ fro thens the new maire, with all the whole company, to walke honourably to Seint Mighels Churche, and there to offre. And then to retorne to the new maire’s hous, every man taking his leeve of the maire and to retray home to their evensong. The tower, which is in the Perpendicular style, and belongs to the 15th century, is the only portion of interest that now stands of of the old church. Evans states that the carved heads, terminating the label course of the western entrance, are intended to be likenesses of Edward III. and Queen Philippa. § The present church was opened on Sunday June 22nd, 1777, the mayor and corporation attending in state. The first sermon was preached by the vicar, the Rev. Mr. Wilkins, his text being “ Surely I will *Leland’s Script., 166. Pitseus, 655. Tanner, 595. Fuller’s Worthies, 213. + Evans, 94. £ Smith’s Gilds, 418. § Evans, 89. Bristol Arch. Proc. 134. 136 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up unto my bed: I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.” Psalm 132, v., 3, 4, 5. There are no monuments here of public interest. In the churchyard, near the entrance to Church Lane, a flat stone covers the grave of William Isaac Boberts, a banker’s clerk of this city, who died at the early age of 20, in December, 1806. Southey more than once commends his genius, which has chiefly mani- fested itself in a volume of poems published after his death. His moral qualities were not inferior to his intellectual, both of which were of a kind to make it a worthy subject of regret, even beyond the circle of his private friends, that he should have passed from this world before the full developement of his powers. As a specimen of his muse we supply the following : — ODE WRITTEN ON THE BANKS OF THE AVON. Scenes of delight that glad my soul When sunbeams smile or tempest roll ; To hail your glooms I fly the haunts of men ; And wandering pensive and alone, I love to hear the tempest moan, Swell the deep echoes of the distant glen. How grandly desolate that hollow dell, Array’d in Autumn’s mournful tint appears ; And there the spirit wakes the solemn shell, Whose tones the midnight wanderer starting hears. For oft is heard a plaintive strain forlorn, To pause and swell along the leafless glade ; And Fancy listens as the numbers mourn, The vandal triumph o’er her sacred shade ;* For here when Avon’s murmuring stream Blush’d as it caught the orient beam ; Would Druids’ harpings hail the morn And here in Valour’s bloodiest hour, Did Freedom’s warrior sternly pour The shrill sharp breathings of his trumpet horn. Yet now no more these rocks among, The Druid’s sweeping mantle flies ; And echo has forgot the song That swells the pomp of sacrifice. But when the moon in silvery pride, Bends from the oar to gild the wave ; Silent their hoary shadows glide, And wave the spells that burst the grave,” &c. * “The devastation made on the rocks upon the Clifton side.’ OLD CHURCHES. 137 The vestry book of St. Michael’s commences in 1575, and characteristically with such volumes it contains many interesting entries of church receipts, charges and expenditure. By the kind favour of the Rev. Canon Knight, the esteemed rector, we are enabled to supply some of these details. First, may be mentioned the charges for interment as settled at the above date : — “ Every burial that shall be in the chancel of the church, was to pay the parson or his deputy, 6s. 8d.” “ The same burial shall pay to the clerk for his fee, 2s.” “ Every burial that shall be in the inner cloyster of the same church shall paye for breaking ground, 3s. 4d.” “ The clerk’s fee 12d.” “A grave in the nether cloyster,” acquired 20d. to the parson and 8d. to the clerk. The following miscellaneous items, though not momentous, are well worthy of publication as affording a comparison between past and present worth of labour, and of house rental, or as illustrating some interesting civic incident or custom. In 1644, is received “of Mary Butt, for a year’s rent of her house, due 25th March, 8s. In the same year, “ Paid for two days work for a man to wall up the windows in the tower, and hire nf scaffolding, 4s. 8d.” “ Paid Wm. Wright for 151b. of solder and a days work upon the tower and gutters of the church, 15s.” “ Paid Phillip Poor, with his man and boy for a day and half to white lime the church, 5s. 6d. By another entry also in 1 644, it is ascertained that the three bigger bells, weighing collectively 16 cwt. were re-founded in this year at a cost of £13 2s. 6d., and among the charges of the same date there are, “ Paid for ringing at the Queen’s (Henrietta Maria), the Princes, the Lord Hoxton and Prince Rupert’s coming to town, 5s. 6d.” “ Paid for ringing at the gunpowder treason, the Queen’s holy- day, and the 29th of March, 5s. lOd. “ Paid for holly, ivy, and other herbage, to White, 2s. 6d. “In 1648, money for a year and a half’s rent for a house in horse (now Host) street, 15s.” In 1651, “Paid Gregory Woodward, for 7J days work to the churchyard wall, at xxd. a day, 12s. Id.” “ Paid a labourer, 2 days, 2s. “ Paid for four days work to mend ye pewcs, 7s. 1654, “Paid for the ringers on perambulation (of the boundaries) day, 2s. 8d.” “ 6 dozen cakes for the boyes, 6s.” L 138 HISTORY OF BRISTOL. It has not hitherto been noticed that in olden days the church- yard of St. Michael’s contained an anchorhold or hermitage for a recluse. According to a passage in Bishop Poore’s “ Regular Inclusarum,” the name anchoress is thus obtained ; — haying quoted the text “ I am become as a pelican in the wilderness,” he proceeds — “ the night fowl in the eaves betokeneth recluses who dwell under the eaves of the church, that they may understand that they ought to be of so holy life that the whole holy church, that is, all Christian people, may lean and be supported upon them, and that they may bear her up with their holiness and pious prayers. And an anchoress is for this reason called anchoress, and anchored under the church as an anchor under a ship, to hold the ship so that neither waves nor storms may overwhelm it. In like manner shall anchoresses, or the anchor, hold the Holy Church Universal, which is called a ship, so firm, that the devil’s storms which are called temptation, may not overwhelm it. Every recluse is bound by this covenant both by reason of her name of anchoress, and because she dwelleth under the church, as if to underprop it, lest it should fall.”* “We can without much difficulty picture to ourselves” remarks a writer upon the subject “ from authorities picked up here and there, how these recluse houses looked when they were tenanted, and what kind of life it was their tenants lived. The cell had always a little altar at the east end, before which the recluse paid her frequent devotions, besides hearing the daily mass through her church window. The little square unglazed window was closed with a shutter, and a black curtain with a white cross upon it also hung before the opening, f through which the recluse could converse without being seen. The walls appear to have been sometimes painted — of course with devotional subjects. If we add a comfortable carved oak chair and a little table, an embroidery frame and such like appliances for needlework, a book of prayers, and another of saintly legends, not forgetting Bishop Poore’s “ Ancren Biwle,” a fire on the hearths in cold weather, and the cat, which Bishop Poore expressly allows, purring beside it ; we have our scene, and we need only paint in our recluse in black habit and vest, seated in her chair, or on her knees beside the church window listening to the chanted mass or receiving her basket of food from her servant through the open “ parlour win- dow,” or standing before its curtain conversing with a stray knight * Ancren Biwle, p. 143 f lb. p. 51. OLD CHURCIIE8. 139 errant, or putting her white hand through to give an alms to some village crone or wandering beggar, to complete our picture of the interior of an anchorhold.*” The only mention that we find of the hermitage in St. Michael’s churchyard, occurs in A.D. 1237, (which is the year Bishop Poore, author of “ The Rule for Hermits, died)f when it appears that the nun who had obtained occupation of the cell, had been placed therein by the burgesses of Bristol, without sufficient authority, for which presumption they and the recluse herself were obliged to crave pardon from the Abbot of Tewkesbury 4 CHURCH OF ST. JAMES. The Church of St. James originally belonged to a Benedictine priory, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. James the Apostle, ft is recorded that Robert, Earl of Gloucester, devoted one-tenth of the stones which he had imported from Normandy for the con- struction of his castle, to the building of this priory, which was formerly of considerable extent, but of which now the church alone exists. /