Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 http://archive.org/details/historyantiquiti01bray gSTSOJSfSTM AM IB ST, En^rared tyr JdhnLe Kcux WE3TSfflISJ31ClEm A IB IB 1ST, Jt • MONVMBBT OV lUSHttf .DUDLEY Tlf ST NICHOLAS C Tr Uu Mf> , A'0»/.r. //>■ flXROU/Ji . ANG/.kzr.A KG. /" it and r ."A »>wu earl,) p* Mon.ton Put Jvnt !.itid by J ft/tab :r ■ in Jte*& t Z. n*t,:->; ' THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF THE ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. PETER, WESTMINSTER: INCLUDING OF THE ABBOTS AND DEANS OF THAT FOUNDATION. Ellugtrateti BY JOHN PRESTON NEALE. €J)£ SBf)oU of tf)t Etttrarg Pepartment BY EDWARD WEDLAKE BRAYLEY. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. UonHon : PUBLISHED BY THE PROPRIETOR, J. P. NEALE, BENNETT-STREET, BLACKFRIARS-ROAD ; AND SOLD BY LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1818. T. DAVISON, LOMBARD-STREET, WHITIiFRIARS, LONDON. TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES, REGENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, (BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESSES PERMISSION) IS MOST RESPECTFULLY AND GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS, Sir, The History of Ancient Nations being familiar to your Royal Highness, it cannot have escaped your enlightened Mind that the true Glory of a Kingdom is not more perpetuated by its Military Splendour, than by the Encouragement bestowed on Literature and the Arts. DEDICATION. The high veneration which has accompanied the names of Pericles and Augustus in their descent to posterity, is due as much to their protection of the Arts, as to their political, or military, renown ; for succeeding ages unite in grateful acknowledgments to the Rulers and Princes who have fostered genius, and under whose sanction those works of unrivalled talent were produced which transmit, and ennoble, the History of Countries now become the scenes of bondage and decay. Dynasties may cease, and a People themselves be destroyed, but the celebrity acquired by the patronage and cultivation of the Arts will exist till the latest period of time. The Work which I have now the Honour of dedicating to your Royal Highness, is intended to illustrate the Abbey Church of West- minster : a structure alike venerable from its age, architecture, and sculpture; and from being the sacred repository in which, together with the ashes of her Sovereigns, a grateful Nation has entombed the remains of those of her Sons who have been most distinguished for extending and confirming her Glories, her Religion, and her Laws. That under the auspices of your Royal Highness, our beloved Country may vie with the best ages of Greece and Rome, both in the freedom and liberality of her Institutions, and in the productions of Genius and Art, is the sincere and fervent prayer of Your Royal Highnesses Most obliged, and most obedient Servant, JOHN PRESTON NEALE. With the most lively sense of the gracious favour conferred by your Royal Highness, i« permitting this Work to bear the sanction of your Illustrious Name, the Author unites in every wish that can tend to the glory and prosperity of Britain, and render her as great in Arts under the cherishing influence of your Royal Highness, as she has already become renowned in /lrrns. June 17, 1818. fEUfoarfci SEeMafee 33ragleg. TO HIS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY (BY HIS ROYAL PERMISSION) IS MOST RESPECTFULLY AND GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED. May it please your Majesty. Sire, The History of Ancient Nations being familiar to your Majesty, it cannot have escaped your enlightened Mind that the true Glory of a Kingdom is not more perpetuated by its Military Splendour, than by the Encouragement bestowed on Literature and the Arts. The high respect which has accompanied the names of Pericles and Augustus in their descent to posterity, is due as much to the Protection given to the Arts by those Princes, as to their political and military renown. Succeeding ages regard, with grateful admiration, the Sovereigns who have fostered Genius, and under the sanction of whom those Works of unrivalled talent have been produced which transmit, and ennoble, the History of Countries now become the scenes of bondage and decay. Dynasties may cease, and a People themselves be destroyed, but the celebrity acquired by the patronage and cultivation of the Arts will exist till the latest period of Time. The Work which I have now the Honour of dedicating to your Majesty, is intended to illustrate the Abbey Church of Westminster: a structure alike venerable from its age, architecture, and sculpture ; and from being the sacred Repository in which, together with the ashes of her Sovereigns, a grateful Nation has entombed the remains of those of her Sons who have been most distinguished for extending and confirming her Glories, her Religion, and her Laws. That under the auspices of your Majesty, our beloved Country may vie with the best ages of Greece and Rome, both in the freedom and liberality of her Institutions, and in the productions of Genius and Art, is the sincere and fervent Prayer of Your Majesty's Most faithful, and most obedient Servant, JOHN PRESTON NEALE. With the most lively sense of the gracious favour conferred by your Majesty, in granting to this Work the honour of your Illustrious Patronage, the Author unites in every wish that can tend to the Glory and Prosperity of Britain, and render her as great in Arts under the cherishing Influence of your Majesty, as she has already become RENOWNED IN ARMS. February 15, 1823. EDWARD WEDLAKE BRAYLEY. MST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE HIS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY, ALEXANDER PAULO WITZ, EMPEROR OF ALL THE RUSSIAS, K.G. LOUIS XVIII, KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE, K. G. FREDERICK WILLIAM III, KING OF PRUSSIA, K. G. * HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF KENT, K. G. and K. P. HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE, K. G. and K. C. B. HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS LEOPOLD, PRINCE OF SAXE COBURG SAALFELDE. * HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE, PRINCESS OF SAXE COBURG SAALFELDE. HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS OF HESSE HOMBURG. HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS AUGUSTA. HIS LATE MAJESTY'S LIBRARY. * HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF BERRI. HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUCHESS OF BERRI. HIS IMPERIAL HIGHNESS THE GRAND DUKE NICHOLAS. HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BEDFORD, F. S. A. HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM AND CHANDOS, K.G. D.CL. F.S.A. * HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH, K. G. D. C. L. and F. S. A. HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, K G. F.R.S. and F.S.A. THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUIS OF ANGLESEA, K.G. D.CL. and F.S.A. THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUIS OF BUTE, D.CL. F. R. S. and F. S. A. THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUIS OF STAFFORD, K. G. and PR. B. I. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF BESSBOROUGH. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF BRIDGEWATER, F.R.S. F.S.A. and V. P. B. I. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF CHICHESTER, F.R.S. THE RIGHT HON. EARL ELDON, LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR, D.CL. F.R.S. and F.S.A. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF DARNLEY, D.CL. and F.R.S. " THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL GREY. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF HARDWICKE, K. G. F. R. S. and F. S. A. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF LIVERPOOL, K.G. and F. R. S. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF LONSDALE, K. G. * THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF MALMESBURY, K.B. and D.C.L. THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF MOUNT EDGCUMBE, F. R. S. F. S. A. and D. C. L. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF RADNOR, M.A. F.R.S. and F. S.A. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL SPENCER, K. G. F. R. S. and PR. R. I. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL STRADBROKE. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD VISCOUNT HOOD. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND REVEREND LORD ASTON, M. A. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD CLIFFORD, F.S. A. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD VISCOUNT EBRINGTON. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD GALWAY. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD GRENVILLE, CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, D.C.L. and F.S. A. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD MACDONALD. •THE RIGHT REVEREND THE LORD BISHOP OF CLOYNE, F.S. A. • THE RIGHT REVEREND THE LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER. THE RIGHT REVEREND THE LORD BISHOP OF KILLALOE. THE RIGHT HON. NICHOLAS VANSITTART, CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR JOHN LEACH, KNT. VICE-CHANCELLOR. THE VERY REVEREND JOHN IRELAND, D. D. DEAN OF THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF WESTMINSTER. THE LIBRARY OF THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF WESTMINSTER. Absalom, Mr. Philip, Duke-street, Grosvenor-sq. Adderly, Thomas, Esq. London. Akenhead, and Co. Messrs. Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Aldred, J. Esq. Yarmouth. Allen, Launcelot Baugh, Esq. Dulwich College. Ambrose, Mr. Charles, Chelmsford. Anderson, Mr. Piccadilly ; six copies. Ariell, S. Esq. Pail-Mall. Armstrong, C. Esq. Dulwich. Arnold, Dr. Lincoln's-inn-fields. Artaria, Mr. Manheim. Aslin, J. Esq. Spring-place, Kentish Town. Atcheson, Nathaniel, Esq. Chapel-place, Duke- street, Westminster. Austin, John Baptist, Esq. Hackney. Austin, William Henry, Esq. Hoxton-square. B. Brydres, Sir Samuel Egerton, Bart, and K.J. Bacon, John, Esq. Newman-street. A. Bailey, William, Esq. Great Surrey-street. Bailey, William, Esq. Althorp Park,Northampton- shire. Bale, Charles, Esq. Withyham, Sussex. Barlow, Mrs. Great Surrey-street. * Barnard, George, Esq. Gorstage, Northwich. Barnard, Charles Vincent, Esq. Pentonville. Barnes, Mr. J. Kingston, Surrey. Barret, G. R. Esq. Stockwell, Surrey. Barrow, Thomas, Mr. Weston-place, Pancras. Barton, Joshua, Esq. Tower-street. Belisarco, J. M. Esq. Cheltenham. Bensley, Joseph, Esq. Bolt-court, Fleet-street. Berridge, W. Esq. Berry, Richard Sparling Esq. Bolton Lodge, Lan- caster. Bigge, C. W. Esq. Lindon House, Morpeth. Blacketr, Lady. Blain, Samuel, Esq. Bland, Michael, F. R. S. and F.S. A. Blick, Rev. Mr. Tamworth. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. Bolland, William, Esq. Adelphi Terrace. Bond, John, Esq. Architect, Newmau-street. Bone, Henry, Esq. R. A. Berners-street. Bonsor, Joseph, Esq. Salisbury-square. Booker, Mr. Bond-street; two copies. Booth, Mr. James, Duke-street, Portland-chapel ; two copies. Borrett, George, Esq. Yarmouth. Bramah, Joseph, Esq. Pimlico. Bramwell, George, Esq. 22, Finch-lane, Cornhill. Brayley, Edward Wedlake, Esq. Islington. Brayley, Mr. John, Plumstead Common. Bree, Rev. Mr. Allesley, near Coventry. Briggs, H. P. Esq. Berners-street. Britton, John, Esq. F. S. A. Burton Cottage. Broadley, John, Esq. F. S. A. Kirk Ella, York- shire ; two copies. Broadley, Henry, Esq. Hull. Brockett, John Trotter, Esq. F. S. A. Newcastle. Brown, James, Esq. Crown-row, Mile-End. Bryant, William, Esq. West-place, Surrey. Burn, Joseph, Esq. Liverpool. Burton, Thomas, Esq. Excise Office. C. Capon, William, Esq. North-street, Westmin- ster, Architectural Draughtsman to his Royal Highness the Duke of York. Carpenter and Son, Messrs. Old Bond-street ; two copies. Carter, Rev. Thomas, Eton. Caulier, Henry, Esq. Bow. Chapell, Mr. J. jun. Walworth. Charlewood, Colonel, 1st Grenadier Guards. Churchill, Benjamin, Esq. Shrewsbury. Clarke, Thomas, Esq. Craven-street, Strand. Clarke, Mr. William, New Bond-street j twelve copies. Coke, Thomas, Esq. Coventry. Collingwood, Mr. J. Strand; two copies. Collins, Mr. E. Bath j two copies. Collinson, C. S. Esq. Chantry, Suffolk. Colnaghi and Co. Messrs. Cockspur-street. Coney, J. Esq. Trafalgar-street, Walworth. Connop, W. Esq. Durants, Enfield. Cooke, George, Esq. Loddiges's-place, Hackney. Cooper, Mr. Dartmouth-street, Westminster. Corbould, R. T. Esq. Holloway. Cotman, John Sell, Esq. Yarmouth. Cowie and Co. Messrs. Poultry ; three copies. Cox, R. W. Esq. Lawford, Essex. Cox, Mr. Bream s-buildings, Chancery-lane; three copies. Crakanthorp, Mr. C. Cumming-street,Pentonville. Cramer, A. Esq. Christ Church, Oxford. Cranmer, Charles, Esq. Percy-street, Bedford-sq. Cresy, Edward, Esq. F. S. A. Architect, Furnival's Inn. Croft, Rev. James, Hythe. Crosse, John, Esq. F. S.A. Hull. Cuthbert, George William, Esq. Portland-place. D. Dallaway, Rev. James, M. A. F. S.A. Earl Mar- shall's Secretary, Leatherhead, Surrey. Dalton, John, Esq. Swaffham. Danby, Thomas, Esq. London. Daniel, Thomas, Esq. Daveney, H. Esq. Norwich. Davison, Mr. Hornsey. Day, Henry, Esq. Cowes, Isle of Wight. Deeble, William, Esq. Islington. Delafosse, Rev. C. Richmond-green. Desborough, Henry, Esq. Clapham. Down, J. Esq. Noah's Ark Cottage, Ware. Dowdeswell, General, Pull-court, Worcestershire. Druce, , Esq. Billiter-square. Drury, Rev. Benjamin, Eton. Dunell, Mr. R. Islington. Dunlap, James, Esq. Charlotte-street, Blackfriars- road. E. Edmonds, Mr. Compton-street, Soho. Elmes, James, Esq. Architect. Ellis, Thomas, Esq. Stockwell. * English, Mr. S. Arundel Wharf, Strand. Evans, G. Freke, Esq. Laxton Hall, Northampton. F. Flint, Sir Charles AVilliam, Bart. Irish Office. Findlater, John, Esq. Bolton-row. Firth, James, Esq. Guildhall. Fletcher, John Henry, Esq. Walworth. Foot, Jeffery, Esq. Minories. Forbes, William, Esq. Lincoln. Forby, Rev. Mr. Fincham, Norfolk. Forster, Rev. Mr. Bourton-on-the- Water. Fothergill, T. Esq. West-square. Franks, Mr. Avery-row, Grosvenor-street. Freeling, Francis, Esq. F.S.A. Geueral l'ost-Office. Freeman, Messrs. Norwich. Fryer, William, Esq. Cornhill. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. G. Gahagan, T. Esq. Fort St. George, Madras. Garth, General, Windsor. Gastineau, T. F. Esq. Camberwell. Gayfere, Thomas, Esq. Master Mason, Abingdon- street, Westminster. Gibson, James, Esq. Mile-End. Ginger, Mr. AVestminster ; six copies. Glanville, Jeremiah, Esq. Clerk of the Works, Westminster Abbey. Glyn, Richard, Esq. Goddard, Godfrey, Mr. Yarmouth. Goddard, Godfrey, jun. Esq. 41, Stamford-street, Blackfriars-road. Grave, Richard, Esq. 40, Frederick-place, Hamp- stead-road. Greenaway, Captain, Feversham, Kent. Gregson, Jesse, Esq. Finsbury-square. H. Heathcote, Sir Thomas Freeman, Bart. Hoare, Sir Richard Colt, Bart. F. R. S. and F. S.A. Stourhead. Hackett, Miss, Crosby-square. * Hale, Thomas, Esq. Hornsey-lane. Halse, Edward, Esq. Crescent, Cripplegate. Hanson, Mr. Isaac, Kennington. Harman, Edward, Esq. Clayhill, Enfield. Harman, H. Esq. Higham Hills, Woodford. Harman, Jeremiah, Esq. Governor of the Bank of England. Harding, George Perfect, Esq. Hercules-buildings, Lambeth. Harding, Mr. Kentish Town. Harris, Mr. James, St. Paul's Church-yard. Harris, Mr. James, jun. AValworth. Harrison, George, Esq. Treasury. Harrison, Mr. F. Walworth. Harrison, Rev. Mr. Croydon-House. Hatton, E. F. Esq. Lincoln's Inn. Hawkins, John Sydney, Esq. F. A. S. 29, Upper Charlotte-street. Haydon, B. R. Esq. Lisson-grove, New-road, Pad- dington. Hays, Mr. Duke-street, Grosvenor-square. Heath, Charles, Esq. New Road. Heath, J. B. Esq. Henderson, J. Esq. Academy, Stockwell. Hendison, Mr. Blackfriars-road. Higham, Samuel, Esq. Old Jewry. Holgate, W. Esq. Oxford-road. Hollocombe, Mr. W. Deputy Verger, Westminster Abbey. Holman, Mr. Walcot-place. How, Ephraim, Esq. Hampstead-road. Howard, Col. the Hon. F. G. Leven's Park. Howell, David, Esq. Christ Church, Oxford. Hughes, Lewis, Esq. Westminster. Hunt, T. F. Esq. St. James's Palace. Hurst, John, Esq. Stockwell. Hurst and Robinson, Cheapside. Hurwitz, Hyman, Esq. Highgate. Hyde, Mr. I and J. Innes, Alexander Mac, Esq. 2d Life Guards. Isaacs, Moses, Esq. Jamaica. Jacob, Philip, Esq. Crescent, Cripplegate. Jackson, Mr. R. Peckham. James, Thomas, Esq. Croydon. Jennings, Mr. Poultry; six copies. Jones, Rev. John, Hereford. Jones, William, Esq. Albany, New-road. Jones, Mr. Martin, Narrow-wall. Joyner, J. S. Romford. K. Kay, Joseph, Esq. Architect, Gower-street, Bed- ford-square. Keddell, G. E. Esq. Bristol. Kettlewell, Thomas, Esq. Clapham. Knight, Mr. Windsor ; two copies. Knight, R. Esq. Pentonville. L. Lackington and Co. Messrs. Finsbury-square. Laing, David, Esq. Architect, Hatton-garden. Lane, Joseph, Esq. Manchester. Lambton, John George, Esq. M.P. Lambton Hall, Durham. Langley, C. T. Esq. Christ Church, Oxford. Leigh, J. Esq. Paradise-row. Leighton, Mr. Coldbath-square. Le Keux, John, Esq. Ash, near Farnham, Surrey. Le Keux, Henry, Esq. Dorset-street, Portman-sq. Lett, Thomas, Esq. Dulwich. Levy, S. Esq. Mount-place, Whitechapel. Lewis, James, Esq. Camden Town. Lewis, Thomas, Esq. St. James's. Linnell, J. Esq. Cirencester-place. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. * Long, Beeston, Esq. Coombe House. Longman, and Co. Messrs. Paternoster-row. Lukin, William, Esq. Gray's Inn. M. Major, Mr. Fleet-street; fourteen copies. Malton, Mrs. C. Sunning Hill, Berks. Manfield, William, Esq. Denmark-hill. Mapleton, Rev. J. H. Stamford-street. Markland, J. H. Esq. F. R. S. and F. S. A. Temple. Marsh, Charles, Esq. M.P. Richmond, Surrey. Matthews, T. Esq. Queen's-row, Kennington. Midgeley, James, Esq. Rochdale. Mills, , Esq. Molteno, Mr. J. A. Pall-Mall ; four copies. Moore, Mr. John, West-place, Lambeth. Morice, John, Esq. F. S. A. Morrison, Richard, Esq. Architect, Walcot, near Bray, Ireland. Moule, Mr. Thomas, Duke-street, Grosvenor- square ; ten copies. Munday and Slatter, Messrs. Oxford. Mure, James, Esq. Christ Church, Oxford. N. Neale, Edward Pote, Esq. Trinity College, Cam- bridge. Neville, the Hon. and Rev. George. Neville, the Hon. Richard, M. P. Newman, J. K. Bridge House, Cheltenham. Nichols, John, Esq. F. S. A. Nicholson, Alexander, Esq. Nicol, Messrs. Pail-Mall. O. Ord, James, Esq. Langton-Hall, Leicestershire. *Oakes, E. S. Cornhill. P. Phillipps, Sir Thomas, Babt. Middle-Hill, Worcestershire. Palgrave, William, jun. Esq. Yarmouth. Parker, William, Esq. Parry, F. C. Esq. Brompton. Parry, J. Esq. near Seven Oaks. Paxton, Sir William, Piccadilly. Pearson, Rev. Dr. East Sheen. Pierce, Mr. George, Richmond-buildings, Soho. Plaskett, John, Esq. Heme Hill. Piatt, Thomas, Esq. Stamford-street. Polehampton, Rev. Edward, Greenford, near Har- row, Middlesex. Popplewell, John, Esq. * Porden, William, Esq. Architect, Berners-street. Pote, Edward Ephraim, Esq. * Potts, Mr. Chenies-street, Bedford-square. Powell, Dr. Bedford-place, Russel-square. Preston, Edmund, Esq. Yarmouth. Preston, Isaac, Esq. Yarmouth. Price, Mr. Kingsland-place. Pridden, Rev. J. F. A. S. Pye, Charles, Esq. 27, George-street, New-road. Pye, John, Esq. Cirencester-place ; three copies. Pugin, Augustus, Esq. Great Russell-street, Bloorasbury. Q. Quincey, Joseph, Esq. Albion-House. R. Rainier, D. Esq. Anstey-row, Islington. Ramsey, R. Esq. Ranney, J. F. Esq. Yarmouth. Rees, Richard, Esq. Percy-street. Reeves, John, Esq. Parliament-place. Rennell, Rev. Thomas, Kensington. * Rennie, John, Esq. Engineer, Stamford-street. Reynolds, William, Esq. Carshalton. Rhodes, H. Esq. Architect, 15, Norton-street, Portland-place. Richardson, Mr. Cornhill ; two copies. Rising, Robert, Esq. Horsey, near Yarmouth. Roe, J. Esq. Warwick. Rogers, Mr. R. Rust, Mr. Samuel, Bennet-street. S. Sykes, Sir Mark, Bart. St. James's-Place. Sands, Robert, Esq. Sandhurst, near Bagshot. Scott, John, Esq. Waterloo-place, Regent-street. Scripps, W. A. Esq. South Molton-street. Searles, Robert T. Esq. Kent-road ; two copies. Serjeant, Mr. Gutter-lane ; two copies. Shaw, Edward, Esq. London. Sherwood and Co. Messrs. Paternoster-row. Shields, Charles, Esq. Architect, Peckham-Grove, Surrey. Skeat, Mr. Mount-street, Grosvenor-square. Skelton, Joseph, Esq. Oxford. Simco, Mr. Air-street, Piccadilly. Slack, George, Esq. Croydon. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. Slater, Matthew, Esq. Tooting, Surrey. Small, Mrs. R. Chapel-place, Ramsgate. Smalman, John, Esq. Architect, Quatford, Bridg- north. Smith, Rev. John, Vicar of Newcastle-upon- Tyne. Smith, J. Esq. Welford ; two copies. Smith, W. R. Esq. Richmond-green. Smith, Mr. Lisle-street. Smith and Parker, Messrs. Oxford. Soane, John, Esq. R. A. Architect, Lincoln's-inn- fields. Sowler, Mr. T. Manchester. Splitgerber, David, Esq. Amsterdam. Stephenson, Samuel, Esq. Queen -street, West- minster. * Stevenson, William, Esq. Norwich. Stokes, George, Esq. Blackheath. Stow, Daniel, Esq. Dulwich. * Surr, Mr. John, Aldersgate-street. Summer, Mr. J. Kingston. T. Taylor, George Watson, Esq. M. P. Earl Stoke Park, Wiltshire. Taylor, William, Esq. Ludgate-street. Taylor, James, Esq. Mile-End. Taylor, Miss, Grosvenor-square. Taylor, Mr. Holborn ; three copies. Taylor and Hessey, Messrs. Fleet-street. Thompson, Mr. J. R. Cold-bath-street. Thomson, Dr. Ipswich. Thornton, Edward N. Esq. Harleyford-place, Ken- nington. Thurston, Thomas, Esq. Croydon. Tomkins, E. Esq. Norwood. Tomlinson, Mr. Norwich. Tournay, Rev. Wm. D. D. Warden of Wadham College, Oxford ; and Prebendary of Westmin- ster. Turner, H. H. Esq. Percy-street. Turner, Rev. W. H. Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Tyrrel, Charles, Esq. Hawley Park, Suffolk. V and U. Vallarde, Mon. Paris. Vandergucht, Benjamin, Esq. Gower-street, Bed- ford-square. Varley, John, Esq. 10, Great Titchfield-street. Varrall, J. C. Esq. Paragon-place, Kent Road. Vine, James, Esq. 8, Grenville-street. Underhill, Mr. Hackney. W. Walmsley, Edward, Esq. 79, Gracechurch-street. Wanless, Mr. J.P, Courier Office. Watmore, Robert, Esq. Lambeth. Webber, C. G. Esq. Tavistock-place. Wells, J. Esq. M. P. Bickley, near Bromley, Kent. Wheler, G. H. Esq. White, Mr. Brownlow-street ; three copies. Whitmore and Fenn, Messrs. Charing-Cross. Wilkinson, Mr. E. C. Walworth. Willement, Thomas, Esq. 25, Green-street, Gros- venor-square, Heraldic Artist to his Majesty. Williams, Mr. Edward, Bookseller, Eton. Williams, J. Esq. Martigny. Winkles, Henry, Esq.39, Richard-street, Islington. Wintle, Rev. Robert, Culham, Oxford. Wolfe, John Lewis, Esq. Architect, Carlton Chambers, 12, Regent- street. * Wood, James Freeman, Esq. Spa-fields. Woodcock, Brooke, Esq. Beresford-street, New- ington Butts. Woolnoth, William, Esq. Islington; three copies. Wyatt, Jeffery, Esq. F. S. A. Architect, Brook- street, Grosvenor-square. Wyatt, Mr. James, High-street, Oxford. Wyon, Thomas, Esq. Chief Engraver of his Ma- jesty's Seals, Vauxhall-walk. * Wyon, Thomas, jun. Esq. Chief Engraver to his Majesty's Mint. An Asterisk is prefixed to the names of those Persons tvho died during the progress of the Work. PREFACE. There is no Edifice in the Kingdom which presents a more extensive field for Historical Research, and Graphic Illustration, than the Abbey Church of Westminster. It is alike Venerable from its Age, its Architec- ture, and the Uses to which it has been appropriated. Rising in solemn mag- nificence amidst the dignified structures connected with the seat of Govern- ment, and at only a short distance from the banks of the Thames, it forms the most important feature in the western division of the Metropolis. It was here that, after the Conversion of the Saxons, Christianity had one of its first Temples ; and its History, as connected with that of a great Monastic Establish- ment, founded by a Saxon King, and protected by a long line of our ancient Monarchs, abounds with interesting and curious particulars. Considered as a Building, it is distinguished in its architecture, not only by the more pro- minent beauties and peculiarities of the early Pointed style ; but also by the most florid richness of the Tudor period, which, in the Chapel of King Henry the Seventh, shines forth in exuberant splendour. But the interest is not confined to the grandeur of its Architectural display; nor to the cus- tomary observances of Sacerdotal pomp : — this majestic Pile has been adopted as a National Structure, and fixed on as the place for the celebration of the most impressive National Ceremonies. Within these venerable walls, from the time of the Norman Dynasty, both the Coronations and the Burials of our Sovereigns, have, with a few exceptions, been magnificently solemnized; and in this consecrated spot, in the immediate vicinity of the ashes and tombs of Royalty, a grateful Nation has placed the remains and monuments of her most distinguished Sons. It is here that the art of Sculpture has been more pecu- liarly displayed, than in any other Church throughout England; and here, also, are still preserved, though in a deteriorated state, some interesting- examples of the art of Painting in Oil, which afford the strongest ground to presume that Van Eyck had no due claim to the honour of that Invention; it having been known and practised in our own Country, as early as the reigns of Henry the Third and Edward the First. PREFACE. Though several attempts have, at different periods, been made to in- vestigate the History and Architecture of this Church, and to describe its Sepulchral Memorials, not any publication has hitherto appeared that can be said to correspond with the importance of its character, or do justice to the variety of subjects which it comprehends. In the Architectural Illustra- tions of this splendid Fabric, all preceding publications have been peculiarly deficient; and it was, principally, with a view to supply the admitted want of authentic perspective Representations, and judicious and correct Details, that Mr. Neale was induced to project and undertake the Work, which is now submitted to the world in a complete form. It was his wish, in an Age so honourably pre-eminent for its patronage of Literature and the Arts, that all the essential features of the Abbey Church should be specifically delineated; that the plates should be executed in the highest style of the English Burin ; and that the Historical and Descriptive departments should be fully commensurate with the fidelity and elegance of the Engravings. How far he has been successful in his aim, the judgment of the Public will best determine. The extent to which the Work has been carried, is much greater than was originally purposed ; but when, from various circumstances, the propriety of enlarging it became evident, Mr. Neale most liberally acquiesced in all the arrangements which were requisite to ensure its satisfactory com- pletion ; though aware that his expenses would, in consequence, be highly augmented. From a grateful sense of the support received during the course of publication, he has, likewise, been at a considerably increased charge in introducing into two of the views, the ceremonies of the Installation of the Knights of the Bath, in 1812; and of the Coronation of his Majesty, King- George the Fourth, in 1821. For the distinguished patronage with which he has been honoured, he begs leave to return his most ardent thanks ; and to assure his Subscribers that his future exertions in art, shall evince the inde- lible impression which their Encouragement has left upon his mind. In regard to the Literary part of this History, the whole of the respon- sibility is mine. I undertook to write it agreeably to the best of my judgment and abilities ; and to consider it, in every respect, as " my own Work." This engagement has been fulfilled; and without any regard to immediate interest, I have spared neither labour, nor research, nor time, in my endeavours to render it an unerring source of authentic Information. The years which I PREFACE. have passed in a sedulous application to this object, have not been unplea- santly spent; and notwithstanding the strict attention which it was necessary to bestow, in order to ensure the accuracy of the armorial and monumental details, I have always been ready to exclaim with Spencer, in his Prologue to the ' Fairy Queen/ " The ways, through which my weary Steps I guide In this Researche of old Antiquitie, Are so exceeding rich, and long, and wide, And sprinkled with such sweet Varietie Of all which pleasaunt is to Ear or Eye, That I nigh ravished with rare Thoughts Delight My tedious Travaile quite forget therebye." Antiquarian works are, perhaps, of all others, the least calculated to display the elegancies of a polished style ; for the flowery graces of com- position are seldom congenial with the simplicity required in descriptive delineations. Being convinced, however, that an harmonious diction is necessary to give pleasure to a cultivated ear, I have not been inattentive to the euphony of language ; though, as Truth and Perspicuity were my guiding principles, I have never sought to improve the cadence by superfluous ornament. In collecting materials for this Work, I have been chiefly indebted for Manuscript Information, to that invaluable repository the British Museum. I have also had recourse to the Records in the Tower, and in the Chapter- House, at Westminster; and to the Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library; though I must acknowledge, in all the latter instances, with but little success. Some communications of much value, have been made by particular friends ; but my hopes of increasing the interest of the Work by an examination of the Historical Archives belonging to the Church itself, have not been gratified. In my reference to Printed Authorities, I have been strictly attentive to the elucidation of facts; and by a careful comparison of testimony, where the case was ambiguous, have often been enabled to remove the perplexity attendant on contradictory affirmations. From the period of re-building the Abbey by Edward the Confessor to the present Era, this Church has been governed by a succession of Prelates of the most eminent talents and learning ; men who have not only distin- guished themselves in the fields of literary and polemical discussion, but PREFACE. many of whom have, also, with exalted renown, been employed by their Sove- reigns in the more intricate and thorny paths of civil polity and govern- ment. The Abbots were Mitred, or, as we should now say, they had the privilege of sitting in Parliament as Peers; and since the Reformation, four of the Deans have been advanced to the Archbishopric of York, and eleven others to different Sees in various parts of the Kingdom. The Memoirs of these distinguished persons are, in the following pages, con- nected with the general History of the Church of Westminster; and all the most important events relating to the Foundation are recorded under the successive dates at which they occurred. In the Description of this Edifice, I have entered more fully into the peculiarities of its style and arrangements than has ever been attempted by former writers ; and in every possible instance, referred to the Engravings in corroboration of the propriety of the details. From this united Illustration, the Reader, however imperfectly acquainted with the technical terms of Architecture, will have little difficulty in forming a complete idea of every part of the Building. In describing the Sepulchral Memorials, it has been my endeavour to represent them exactly as they are. I have never suffered myself to be biassed into panegyric, nor seduced into criticism, by the mere name of a sculptor; but have frankly stated the impression made on my mind and judgment by the monument itself, whenever its importance appeared to re- quire an opinion. The list of Sculptors, at the end of the second volume, includes the names of all those who have any performances in this Church ; as far, at least, as a most diligent inquiry has enabled me to discover: a reference to their respective Works is contained in the same list. The Descriptions, both of the Church and its Monuments, have, in every instance, been drawn up from my own notes, made on the spot, after attentive inspection. The proof sheets have been submitted to the revisal of the most judicious of my friends; and before they have been finally cor- rected for the press, I have again compared each account with the object described. By this means, many errors have been shunned, which a slighter degree of examination would have rendered unavoidable. At the commencement of this publication, I had no idea of giving the Inscriptions so fully as it has been found necessary to do; and from which it became expedient to adopt a smaller type, and to arrange the monumental PREFACE. details in double columns. The fact was, that when I began to compare them, as inserted in former publications, with the monuments themselves, I discovered so many errors in orthography and contractions, and so many omissions, both of words and entire lines, that being unwilling to risk the credit and authenticity of the Work on any preceding authorities, I resolved to make new copies of every Inscription throughout the Church, and this, by a simple mechanical process, was successfully accomplished ; although it became the daily labour of many months, and was an exercise of considerable difficulty ; the iron railings in front of the monuments not having been, then, removed. From the transcripts thus made, the Inscrip- tions were re-copied, and printed, literally; except when sculptural mistakes were obvious ; and that the lines have been connected in those epitaphs wherein there appeared no other cause for keeping them distinct than funereal display. Not a single Monument or Gravestone, either in the Church or Cloisters, on which the Inscription is legible, has been passed unmentioned ; and all of them have been described, as nearly as possible, in the order in which they are arranged. It is the more necessary to advert to these circumstances, because it appears from previous accounts, that occa- sional removals have taken place ; and that various Sepulchral memorials, noticed in former works, are not now to be found here. Another distinguishing feature in this History, is the correct Blazoning of the Arms. Keepe, the first who attempted it, is extremely erroneous ; and Dart has altogether declined it, except by the reduced representations in his prints ; in which many bearings are either too small to be understood, or defective in not exhibiting the proper colours. On the more ancient monuments, indeed, it is exceedingly difficult to determine the colours; many of them having been entirely altered by the action of the air and damps. Every attention, however, has now been given to discover the true blazoning; and the names of the numerous families, whose bearings are displayed in the quarterings and impalements, have been almost generally annexed. For the important assistance rendered in these particulars, my obligations are especially due to Mr. Thomas Moule, without whose very friendly and continued aid, I should probably have shrunk from the toil and difficulty of the requisite research. Since the late Coronation, a considerable improvement has been effected in the Interior appearance of the Abbey Church, by a general cleaning of PREFACE. the Monuments ; and the removal of the iron-work which screened them. In a few instances, however, as from the tombs of Queen Eleanor and Henry the Fifth ; and from all those which displayed the armorial badges and cognizances of the illustrious dead, this removal has been too indiscri- minately made. The drawings for this publication were completed before the iron-work was taken down. The History of Henry the Seventh's Chapel has been paged, and kept separately from that of the Abbey Church, not only from its having been a distinct foundation, but likewise to enable the Subscribers to include it in the first volume, and thus render the thickness of both volumes proportion- able. It comprehends many interesting particulars, which have not hitherto been submitted to the Public in a connected form. Having thus adverted to all the leading circumstances connected with this Work, it becomes my pleasing task to record the names of those Indi- viduals from whom I have derived information and aid during its progress ; and to whom the most grateful thanks of Mr. Neale and myself are now respectfully presented. To the very Reverend Dr. John Ireland, Dean of Westminster, for his many polite attentions, and liberal permission of an unrestrained access to the Abbey Church, our principal acknowledgments are due ; and we thus publicly avow the high sense which we entertain of his condescension and favours. George G. Vincent, Esq. Chapter Clerk of Westminster, will be pleased to accept our best thanks for his kindness on various occasions. To Benjamin Charles Stephenson, Esq. Surveyor-General; John W illiam Hiort, Esq. and the other Officers of the Board of Works, who have generously assisted in forwarding our pursuits, we return our sincere acknowledgments. John Bacon, Esq., Thomas Gayfere, Esq., and William Capon, Esq., are entitled to the expression of our particular obligations for much professional and friendly information. Our sincerest thanks are also due to Mr. Philip Absalom, whose assistance in the laborious employment of making transcripts from the monumental Inscriptions, and ascertaining the quarterings of the Arms, was peculiarly valuable. To Edward Ephraim Pote, Esq., the Rev. Dr. Samuel Parr, the Rev. Dr. Charles Parr Burney, F.L.S., Francis Chantrey, Esq. R. A. F.R. S., John PREFACE. Flaxman, Esq., R. A., Samuel Lee, M. A., Professor of Arabic in the University of Cambridge, Thomas Fisher, Esq., and Richard Thomson, Esq., we likewise return our warmest thanks for their various favours; and especially to the former Gentleman, from whose judicious remarks, during its progress through the press, this Work has derived many advantages. The Rev. James Dallaway, M. A. and F. S. A.; J. H. Markland, Esq., F. R. S. and F. S. A., Henry Ellis, Esq., F. R. S. and Sec. S. A., and John Caley, Esq., F. S. A., are most particularly entitled to our grateful acknowledgments for their friendly attentions and communications. EDWARD WEDLAKE BRAYLEY. Islington, March 15, 1823. LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL OFFICERS ON THE COLLEGIATE ESTABLISHMENT AT WESTMINSTER: MARCH, 1823. The DEAN : The very Reverend JOHN IRELAND, D. D. PREBENDARIES : The Rev. Charles Fynes Clinton, LL.D. Sub-dean. The Rev. William Harry Edward Bentinck, A.M. Thomas Causton, D. D. James Webber, B.D. Term Lecturer, Howel Holland Edwards, A.M. and Treasurer. The Rev. Joseph Allen, A. M. Archdeacon. ■ — William Short, D. D. Steward. The Right Hon. and Rev. Lord Henry Fitz:Roy, William Tournay, D. D. Warden of A.M. Wadham College, Oxon. The Right Rev. Father in God, William Carey, Andrew Bell, D. D. Lord Bishop of Exeter, D. D. George Holcombe, D.D. Head Master of the School : The Rev. Edmund Goodenough, D. D. Second Master : The Rev. Henry Bull, A. M. King's-Scholars : Forty. Steward of the Courts : James Wake, Esq. Receiver-General, and Coroner : John Henry Gell, Esq. Chapter Clerk and Registrar : George Giles Vincent, Esq. Auditor : William Egerton Gell, Esq. Deputy Coroner : Thomas Higgs, Esq. Commissary and Official Principal : Maurice Swabey, Esq. D.C. L. Registrar of the Consistory Court : Henry Birchfield Swabey, Esq. THE CHOIR: Precentor: The Rev. William Whitfield Dakins, D. D. Minor Canons : The Rev. John Pridden, A. M. F. S. A. the Rev. Thomas Champnes, the Rev. Richard Webb, A. M. the Rev. John Shelton, and the Rev. William Johnson Rodber. Lay Clerks : John Stafford Smith, Israel Gore, John Sale, Jonathan Nield, John Barnard Sale, Thomas Vaughan, John Barnard Sale, James Marquet, William Salmon, and William Knyvett. Organist and Master of the Choristers : Thomas Greatorex. Choristers : Eight. First Sacrist: Robert Atkins. Second ditto: Edward Marshall. First Verger (or Dean's) : Rob. Atkins. Second ditto (or Prebendaries'): John Catling. Surveyor of the Abbey Church : Benjamin Dean Wyatt, Esq. Clerk of the Works, pro tempore: Benjamin Glanvill. Beadle of the Sanctuary: John Fenn. Porter of the Great Cloisters : Edward Oxley. High Steward of Westminster : The Right Hon. Henry, Viscount Sidmouth, F. S. A. and D.C.L. Deputy High Steward : Edward Robson. High Bailiff, and Searcher and Bailiff of the Sanctuary: Arthur Morris, Esq. THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF THE ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. PETER, WESTMINSTER. VOL. J. B HISTORY OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH, OR WLt^tmimttx flbbt?. HISTORICAL PARTICULARS OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH, WESTMINSTER, FROM THE PRESUMED ERA OF ITS FOUNDATION BY KING SEBERT, TILL THE REBUILDING OF THE MONASTERY BY EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. THE true origin of all our ancient ecclesiastical buildings, and particu- larly of those founded in the Saxon times, is involved in considerable obscurity. The lapse of ages, the calamities of war and accident, and the superstitious craft of the monks, who to secure endowments, or obtain pri- vileges, scrupled not both to invent and to falsify records, have alike tended to this end ; and many reputed facts, which during the supremacy of papal power it would have been heresy to doubt, have in later and more en- lightened days been justly esteemed as but of dubious validity. Even charters themselves have been forged ; and traditionary legends incorporated with genuine grants, in order that the benevolence of the devotee might be the more strongly excited, and more valuable offerings procured from the fervent zeal of credulous piety. The community of monks established by our Anglo-Saxon Kings at Westminster, is by no means exempt from the general charge of corrupting ancient writings ; and the remote annals of St. Peter's Church are thus ren- dered far more questionable than the mere progress of centuries could pos- sibly have made them. Still, however, an attentive consideration of the various documents that have descended to us will tend to the developement of many facts which tradition has vitiated, or falsehood obscured. 4 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. The original site of Westminster Abbey, according to the united tes- timony of our ancient historians, was called Thorney Island ; it having been " overgrown with thorns, and environed with water." This fact is sub- stantiated by a Charter granted in the year 785, by King Offa, wherein Thorney Isle is expressly named in conjunction with Westminster ; the latter appellation having arisen from the new Minster being situated to the west, either of London, or of St. Paul's Cathedral. At what particular period a Church was first erected in this dangerous place, " in loco terribili" as it is termed in the more ancient grants, has been a subject of much controversial enquiry ; but the general opinion is, that it was founded by Sebert, King of the East Saxons, " who having embraced Christianity, and being baptized by Mellitus, Bishop of London, immediately (to shew himself a christian indeed,) built a Church to the honour of God and St. Peter, on the west side of the cittie of London*," sometime previously to the year 616. A much earlier origin, however, has been assigned to this fabric ; for in one of those legendary tales by which its antiquity and sacred character have been supported, a chapel or oratory is said to have been raised by the apostle St. Peter, upon the very spot where the Church now stands. The only authority for this event, however, was a dream of the monk Wulsinus, an aged man, " of great sanctity and simplicity of man- ners ;" whose visionary communication was, in a subsequent age, adduced in proof of St. Peter's traditionary visit to this Island, and thence made an argument in support of the right of dominion claimed over Britain by the Roman Pontiffs, in their assumed character of St. Peter's immediate suc- cessors. In another legendary account, which has been referred to by our great architect, Sir Christopher Wrenj", it is stated that the Temple of Apollo, which stood on Thorney Island, was ruined by an earthquake in the reign of Antoninus Pius ; but on this Sir Christopher remarks, " the Romans did not use (though in their colonies) to build so slightly ; the ruins of much ancienter times shew their works even at this age : the least fragment of cornice or capital would demonstrate their handy work. Earthquakes break not stones to pieces, nor would the Picts be at the pains ; but I suppose the monks, finding the Londoners pretend to a Temple of Diana, where now St. * Stow's " Surv. of Lond." p. 377, edit. 1598. f " Parentalia," p. 296. ENQUIRY INTO ITS ORIGIN. 5 Paul's stands (many stags' horns having- been there found in the ruins), would not be behind-hand in antiquity ; yet I must assert that when I began to build the new church of St. Paul, and on that occasion examined the old foundations, and rummaged all the ground thereabouts, I could not perceive any footsteps of such a temple, and therefore can give no more credit to Apollo than to Diana." John Flete, a monk of Westminster, who lived between the years 1421 and 1464, (and whose history of this place is yet remaining in the library of the Dean and Chapter,) affirms, on the authority of a nameless Saxon writer, that St. Peter's Church was first built by the British king, Lucius, about the year 184 ; and that afterwards, during the sanguinary persecution in Britain in the time of the Emperor Dioclesian, it was taken from the Christians and converted into an heathen Temple of Apollo. Sulcardus, who, as well as Flete, was a monk of Westminster, is stated to be the earliest writer on whose authority the foundation of St. Peter's Church has been ascribed to King Sebert *. His treatise, an ancient copy of which is yet preserved in the British Museum f, is very short, and is dedicated to the Abbot Vitalis, who presided here about the year 1080. He does not, however, expressly name the founder, but generally styles him, " Qiiidam Civium Urbis non injimus" and " Prcedives Christicola :" — the words " Saberctus Subrcgulus, London" appearing, says \\ idmore, to be a marginal note added by the transcriber. A considerable part of Sulcardus's history is occupied by a fabulous narrative of the consecration of the new Church by St. Peter himself, who is stated to have performed the ceremony to the exclusion of Bishop Mellitus, who had been previously appointed to execute it. The Saint, says the legend, descended on the opposite shore, on a stormy night, and calling on Edricus, a Fisherman, desired to be ferried over to Thorney, w hich was then flooded round by heavy rains. Having promised also to reward him for his compliance, the Fisherman obeyed, and St. Peter entered the Church, whence a light immediately appeared to issue of such transcendant brightness as to convert the darkness of the night into meridian splendour. The apostle * Widm. " Enquiry," p. 3. That is, with the exception of certain Charters, which are sup- posed to have been forged by the monks, and will be referred to in proceeding, f Cotton. Lib. Faustina, A. 3. 6 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. then consecrated the fabric amidst a company of the heavenly host, and a chorus of celestial voices ; and whilst the most fragrant odours spread around, the wonders of the scene were augmented by angels, who were seen ascend- ing and descending in the same manner as in Jacob's vision, recorded in the Scriptures. The astonished Fisherman, awe-struck by the miraculous as- semblage, was for awhile lost in admiration; but being at length restored to his powers by the Saint, he prepared to re-cross the river. On his return St. Peter unfolded his sacred mission and character, and commanded Edricus to make known to Mellitus all that he had seen and heard, and to direct him to refrain from a second consecration. The Fisherman, taking courage, re- quired his promised reward, and St. Peter bidding him cast his nets into the water, repaid his services by a miraculous draught of salmon ; assuring him that neither he nor any of his brethren should at any time want a supply of that kind of food, provided they made an offering of every tenth fish to the use of the newly-consecrated Church: the apostle then disappeared*. " When Mellitus was informed of this miraculous event," continues the legend, " he hastened to the Church, where he found the crism, the drop- pings of the wax-tapers, and other convincing signs of a real consecration ; he therefore desisted from proceeding in his appointed office, and in com- memoration of the miracle ordered the name of the place to be changed from Thorney to that of Westminster." The reputed foundation of this Church by King Sebert has been strongly controverted by Widmore, who, in his " Enquiry" into the time when it was first built, particularly objects to the above opinion the silence * However credibility might be outraged by this tale, the belief of it was so successfully in- culcated by the monks, that the offering of the tithe fish was frequently made by the Thames fishermen during several centuries; and even so late as the year 1382 this custom was still ob- served. Flete informs us, " that in the year 1231 there was a law-suit between the monks of Westminster and the minister of Rotherhithe, in Surrey, for the tithe of the salmon caught in his parish ; the plea of the monks being that St. Peter himself had given them the tithe of all salmon caught in the Thames at the time he had consecrated their Church." This tale was so far credited that the minister was constrained to give up to them one half of the tithe demanded. The extent of the claim over the river Thames made by the monastery was equal to that of the jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor of London, namely, from near Staines Bridge to Yenlade Creek below Gravesend ; and Flete assigns as the cause of the comparative scarcity of salmon in later times, that the fishermen (prevented by the ministers of the parishes adjoining to the river,) had not made their accustomed offering of the tithe fish to the Abbey Church. ANCIENT CHARTERS. 7 of Venerable Bede. That writer, be affirms, though he has mentioned the founding of the Cathedral of St. Paul by King Ethelbert, in the second book of his " Ecclesiastical History," " hath not, either there or elsewhere, one word concerning Westminster :" and " is it likely," he asks, " that Bede, who was himself a monk, and who esteemed the monastic state as the highest perfection of the Christian life, and who moreover had several materials for his history from Albinus, Abbot of St. Austin's, in Canterbury, and from Nothelmus, afterward Archbishop of Canterbury, but at that time a Pres- byter of London, should not know of Westminster, if in being in his time ; or not notice it, if it had come to his knowledge, when he had so fair an occasion ? Particularly when he was relating by what persons, and in what Princes' reigns, Christianity was planted, as in other kingdoms, so also in that of the East Saxons ; and who likewise hath mentioned the founding of many of our monasteries, and among the rest those of Chertsea and Berkyng, by Erkenwald, Bishop of London." " I do not forget," says Widmore, in another part of his Enquiry, " that there are Charters in the names of King Edgar, Archbishop Dunstan, and Edward the Confessor, published from the Cottonian, Lord Hatton's, and Sir Henry Spelman's libraries*, and from the archives of the Church of Westminster, which either mention or imply a foundation here in the time of King Sebert. But as to these Charters, that of king Edgar hath been proved to be spurious -j* from the style and phrases in it, which were brought hither by the Normans, and never used here before the Conquest ; that of Saint Dunstan, both from the same reason, and from the many incon- sistencies in its chronology % ; and those of the Confessor from the many Norman phrases also in them, and from the manner of affixing the seals to them§. With respect to these last Charters, there might be added, as a farther proof, the great difference between them and a Charter of the Con- fessor's, which is undoubtedly genuine, and is yet extant among the archives of the Church of Westminster." Besides the Charters thus alleged to have been forged, there are yet extant, among the records at Westminster, two Charters which W idmore * Vide"ReyneriApostolatus," p.C6. Dugd. " Mon." Vol. I. p. 59. Spel. "Concilia," Vol. I. f Hickcs's " Diss. Epistolaris," p. 66. J Wharton, " Ue Episcop. Lond." p. 79. § Hickes's Prcf. to his " Literatura Septentrionalis," pp. 37, 38. 8 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. conceives to be genuine; the one granted by Offa, the Mercian sovereign, in the year 785, and the other by King Edgar, about the year 960. These are written partly in the Saxon language, and partly in the Latin ; but make no mention, either direct or implied, " of the foundation of this Church by King Sebert, or in his time ;" although the monks, in an ancient transcript of Edgar's Charter, have foisted in a clause concerning the miraculous con- secration by St. Peter, not one word of which is to be found in the original* : a similar passage also occurs in an old transcript (made about the time of Queen Mary) of a Charter ascribed to Edward the Confessor, but on very questionable authority William of Malmsbury, who wrote his " De Gestis Pontificum" between the years 1120 and 1130, attributes the founding of the monastery at West- minster to Bishop Mellitus ; whilst Ailred, Abbot of Rievalle, or Rievaux, in Yorkshire, w hose history of " Edward the Confessor" was written within forty years afterwards, ascribes it to King Sebert, " since which time, down to the present, that Prince is by all, or almost all authors mentioned as the founder." Such, then, according to Widmore, is the main evidence on which the opinion rests, of King Sebert being the original builder of St. Peter's Church ; yet for the reasons above given, and others that will presently be quoted, he concludes it to be wholly insufficient to determine the question. " We must," he continues, " be content to be ignorant of the name or per- son of the first founder for want of historians relating to those times ;" and " as to his condition of life, there is reason to imagine that he was not any King, or person of the highest consideration. Sulcardus acknowledges that it was originally but a small Church, (Ecclesia non adeo magna ; J and when St. Dunstan, after it had been ruined by the Danes, repaired and furnished it again with monks, he made it only a little monastery for twelve monks J; though had it been originally a large place, his zeal for monkery, and his great power at that time, would, I believe, never have endured, but he would have restored it in a manner equal to its first foundation. I add to this, that * The whole sentence is as follows : — u Hanc largitatem ideo benigno animo renovamus, et concedimus Sancto Petro (principi Apostolorum, cui locus prcedictus dedicatus ac consecratus mira- biliter ah antiquis temporibus Dei providentia ab ipso Clavigero fait confirmatus ) ut ab omni seculari servitute in perpetuum sit liber." t Vide Widm. "Enq." p. 4, and App. No. II. { Will. Malm. " De Gestis Pont." p. 141. CONJECTURAL OPINIONS. 9 there is a treatise in the Saxon language, written about the period of the Norman Conquest*, concerning such Saints as were buried in different parts of England, and that there is hardly a monastery of any note at that time but what is said to have had one or more of the bodies of such Saints, yet none are assigned to Westminster ; which, had it been of such ancient erection, or founded by so considerable a person as King Sebert, would not, I apprehend, have been the case, but it must have come in for a share. " Who the persons were that first ascribed the foundation of this place to King Sebert, it is easy to conceive, namely, the monks of Westminster : they found, in the history of Bede, the names of King Ethelbert, and of Sebert and Mellitus, as the first planters of Christianity here among the East Saxons, and they added the rest, as conducive to the honour of the place, from their own invention In the subsequent part of his Enquiry, Widmore, alluding to the pre- cise period at which the alleged fabrication was made, remarks, that " there are but three eras assignable, with any probability, for this end, namely, the reign of King Edgar, that of Edward the Confessor, or the time immediately posterior to the Norman Conquest." After some examination, he infers that it was in one or other of the latter periods ; and that the monks invented the story either to induce the devout, yet credulous Edward, the more readily to bestow his munificence upon this Church, " by creating in him an high veneration for it, on account of its antiquity and the manner of its conse- cration ;" — or else, for similar reasons, to influence the Conqueror from in- vading its privileges, " and to occasion him, if not to increase his kindness, yet, at least, to forbear the doing it any injury." The insertion of one more passage from this author will shew the opinion which he himself entertained of the early foundation of this edifice. " Having thus, though unwillingly, set aside King Sebert, or any person in his time, from being, according to the received opinion, the first founder of this Church, I would now offer my own conjecture concerning this point, and it is this : that it was founded about the time when Bede died, or be- tween the years 730 and 740 ; and I am induced to think that it must be so old, and not any thing later, from the date of King Offa's Charter, that is, the year 785, which mentions the monastery as a place known at that time, * Vide Hickcs's M Diss. Epis." p. J \ J. VOL. I. f " Enquiry," &c. pp. 8, 9. C 10 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. and gives the name of the Abbot, namely, Ordbrightus. Now where I put the time of the foundation is but fifty years before, a shorter space than which we cannot, I think, well assign to it : besides, that was an age fruitful of monasteries in this Kingdom, the devotion of those times running much into such foundations." Whatever may be thought of the arguments of Widmore in regard to the forged C harters, the silence of Bede, and the want of early authority of validity sufficient to support the claim of King Sebert, it is evident that his own hypothesis is extremely vague and unsatisfactory, and far less deserving of belief than the current tradition w hich ascribes the origin of this Church to the above sovereign. Through a long succession of ages no other person has ever been mentioned as its founder ; and there is one circumstance which Widmore and his supporters have never adverted to, that, when con- sidered in a proper point of view, seems altogether decisive of the question. It is generally admitted that Sebert and his Queen, Ethelgod, or Actelgod, for the name is diversly spelt, were interred in this fabric, and that their reliques were twice translated ; once on the rebuilding of the Church by Edward the Confessor, and again after its re-construction by Henry III. Sulcardus distinctly affirms they were buried in leaden coffins, " plumbeh sarcophagis ;" and Walsingham, as quoted by Dart, corroborates the fact, by noticing that " on the last inhumation the coffins of lead were inclosed in touchstone." Ethelgod is stated to have died in September, 615, and Sebert, in July, 616 ; consequently if they were actually interred here, as all our historians agree, this Church must have existed at that era. The well- authenticated practice, also, of depositing the remains of a founder within the pale of his own foundation, renders it in the highest degree probable that Sebert was the real founder of this edifice ; and, as such, deserving of all the honours given to his memory and ashes by those Princes who enlarged the structure which was indebted to his piety for its origin. Dart, who, in his " JVestmonasterium," notices some of the objections which Widmore subsequently adopted and enlarged, closes his remarks by stating, in effect, that he sees no reason to deprive Sebert of the merit of being the " founder and benefactor" of this Church, since all the Charters mention him as such ; and, although it be now uncertain what particular lands were among his endowments, yet that it is not improbable he gave the following, viz : ENDOWMENTS BY SEBERT. 11 " Three Hides and a half of land about the Monastery, which (land) is confirmed by Edward the Confessor as one of the early grants of his prede- cessors, and is not unlikely to be of this Prince's gift. " Stanes (now Staines), or Stana, in the county of Middlesex, said to be found belonging to Westminster, as appeared by an ancient Charter of King OfiVs, which was extant in the time of King Edgar, but is now lost, as Avas then, I suppose, the land to this Church ; for King Edgar in his Charter does not confirm it as a former gift, though he mentions it having formerly belonged to the Church, but gives it as of his own gift. Edward the Second gave to the Abbot and Monks of Westminster the liberty of hunting in the land which that Monastery had in Stanes. " Tuddington, called also Toddington, and now Teddington, a small vil- lage on the Thames side, near Hampton Court, called an appurtenant to Stanes in one of the Charters of King Edgar ; and in another mentioned by itself, and found belonging to the Church of Westminster in King Offa's time, by the aforesaid ancient Charter. " Land at Ha/gefort, or Halweford, and at Ecclesfort, or Ecclesford, ap- pertaining likewise to Stanes ; and also land at Feltham belonging to the Church of Stanes ; which Church of Stanes he is likewise supposed to have granted, and which was confirmed by King Edgar, at the request of Arch- bishop Wilfred, with the before-named places as appurtenances." Shortly after the decease of Sebert, his three sons, as we are informed by Bede, relapsed into Paganism * ; and Bishop Mellitus, who had refused to admit them to partake of the sacramental bread unless they submitted to be baptized, was forced to abandon their dominions, and retire into France. * " Sebert," says Bede, " left behind him three wicked sons, that, being never baptized, came notwithstanding one day into the Church (St. Paul's) at communion time, and asked the Bishop what he meant that he delivered not of that same fine bread unto them, as he was wont to do unto their father Saba, and did yet unto the rest of the people. He answered, that if they would be washed in the water of life as he was, and the rest of the people there present, then would he de- liver unto them of this bread also; but, otherwise, neither was it lawful for him to deliver, nor them to receive it. This, notwithstanding, they would have enforced him, and when they could not prevail, were so enraged, that they expelled him their dominions, hardly holding their hands from doing him violence at that time. He, being thus exiled, went first unto Laurence, the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, and finding him in little better case than himselfe at London, departed into France, together with Justus, Archbishop of Rochester." — " Eccl. Hist." B. II. c 2 12 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Through the apostacy of these Princes, the establishment of Christianity in the East Saxon kingdom was greatly retarded ; and scarcely any records, on which a rational dependence can be placed, are now known to exist in regard to the affairs of this Church, through an extended period of more than three centuries. Invention, however, has not been idle in its endeavour to supply the deficiency ; and Sporley, a monk of Westminster (who lived between the years 1430 and 1490), has not only supplied the names of " a complete succession of persons who are said to have presided over the monastery during this space, but also distinguished which of them were provosts and priors, and which abbots, and has likewise noted the precise time of their continuance in authority, as well as in what year, and even on what day of the month many of them died *." This list is the more suspicious, inasmuch as Flete (whose history was compiled before Sporley wrote), though he has given an account of several persons as presiding here at some time during the period alluded to, frankly acknowledges that " whe- ther with the title of provosts, priors, or abbots, as also under what Kings, and for how many years each of them, he could not tell ; and that there were no histories to instruct him j\" Under these circumstances, and as Sulcardus affords but little corroborating testimony, a slight notice of each abbot seems all it can be necessary to insert ; and that more to gratify cu- riosity, than extend authentic information. Orthbright, the first person who presided over this Church, is said to have been appointed Abbot by King Sebert, in the year 604; and that he held that office till his decease on January the 13th, 616. From his time till the reign of King Offa the monastery was governed by Priors ; and Germanus, Aldred, Si/ward, Osmund, Selred, Orgar, and Brithstan, are named in suc- cession as presiding in that character. Not any particulars, however, of their individual actions are recorded; and all that we are told, at least un- connected with the general affairs of the Christian Church, is, that their supremacy continued for a greater or less number of years, and that they were all buried in their own monastery. During the abbacy of Aldred, the East Saxons are said to have been a second time converted to Christianity by a Northumbrian priest, named Cedda. Aldred's death is stated to have occurred in the year 675. * Widmore's " Hist, of the Church of St. Peter/' &c. p. 3. t Ibid. REPAIRED BY KING OFFA. 13 Notwithstanding the appearance of accuracy which the assignment of distinct periods of government has given to the above list, there is little doubt but that the whole is a fabrication ; for Sulcardus, speaking of the Mercian King Offa, expressly states, that " in his time, this Church had been long neglected, and was much decayed." Now Brithstan, the last Prior, as he is called, is said to have died in 785, which was almost thirty years after Offa had commenced his reign, and is the very year in which that monarch granted ten ploughlands at Aldenham, in Hertfordshire, to St. Peter's Church, " et pkbi Domini degenti in Torneia" in return, as it would seem, for " an hundred marks (C. mancusas) of fine gold in one bracelet," given on the part of the Church by the Abbot Ordbright*. In addition to this, Offa is recorded to have " collected a parcel of monks here," and to have " repaired and enlarged the Church ;" and " having a great reverence for St. Peter," continues Sulcardus, " he in a particular manner honoured it by depositing there the Coronation robes and regalia." He also gave and con- firmed various lands to the Church, and exempted it from the payment of the tax called Romescot, or St. Peter's Penny. Ore/bright, or Alubrith, the above Abbot, is said to have been promoted to the Bishopric of Seolsey, in Sussex, in 794, and to have been succeeded at Westminster by A Ifivius, who, after governing with great honour for twenty- four years, was made Bishop of Fountain, in Yorkshire : " this prelate," says Dart, " is particularly mentioned in the old Martyrology." He was suc- ceeded by Alfwius II., who, having held the Abbacy about seventeen years, died in April, 837, and was interred in this monastery. Algar, the next Abbot, was not appointed, as it appears, till 846, after a vacancy of nine years. This most probably was occasioned by the de- vastations of the Danes, who, at this period, were extending their ravages through all the southern parts of the kingdom. In 838-39, according to the " Saxon Chronicle," having in two battles defeated the generals of King Ethelwulph, they overrun Kent and Middlesex ; and London, Rochester, and Canterbury particularly suffered before they returned to their ships. In * Vide Widm. " Enquiry," App. p. 19, where the Charter is copied. Dart says, " West- monasterium," p. 8, " who the donor was (of Aldenham) we are not certain hut this Charter renders it evident that it was granted by King Offa. The Mancus is thought to have been, originally, a certain weight of gold, of the same value as the gold coin afterwards called the Mark* 14 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 842, also, as we learn from Asser*, there was " war against the Pagan Normans at Lundonia;" and again in 852, when " a great arm} of the Pagans, with CCCL ships, came into the mouth of the Thames, and wasted the city of London -j"." That the Church at Westminster suffered at these times there can be little doubt, since the fury of the Pagans was especially directed against religious establishments, whose peaceful possessors were sacrificed with " unheard-of cruelties." In 872, the Danes having made a treaty with the great Alfred, wintered at London, and made it a place of arms ; and here they appear to have maintained a garrison till about the year 886, when, after a short siege, it was forced to surrender to the above sovereign, who " honourably rebuilt the city," says Asser, " and made it habitable J." The dispersed members of the Church are supposed to have been shortly afterwards restored to their estates, which Alfred is stated to have augmented by additional grants. Algar dying in 889, was buried with his predecessors ; as were also Eadmerus and Aljhod, the two next Abbots ; of whom nothing more particular is recorded, than that the former died in 922, and the latter in 939. Alfric, or Alfzvold, the successor of Alfnod, after presiding about four years, was promoted to the See of Crediton, in Devonshire, in pursuance of the arrangements of a Council, called by Plegmund, Archbishop of Canter- bury, to settle the affairs of the West Saxon Churches, which had long lain desolate in consequence of the Danish invasions. After his removal, " this Church had no head over it, the monks were scattered and dispersed abroad, and the building and place entirely deserted and neglected ; occasioned, per- haps, by the hatred which King Edwy, or Edwyn§, had conceived against the * " Chron. of the Church of St. Neot," in " Decern. Scrip." f Ibid - t Ibid - § " Edwyn," says Bishop Godwin, " could in no wise brooke Dunstan ; and the undoubted ground of his dislike was this : Dunstan had so bewitched the former Kings with the love of monkery, that they not only took violently from married priests their livings to erect monasteries, but also spent very lavishly of their owne treasures, which they should rather have imployed in resisting the common enemy both of God and their country, the Dane. King Edwyn, perceiving all the wealth of the land to bee crept into monasteries, not onely refrained to bestow more upon them, but recalled divers of these prodigall gifts his predecessors had made, and when the monks refused to render them at his demaund, hee became a very bitter persecutor of them, and their patrons. Dunstan, therefore, seeing nothing before him at home, but daunger and disgrace, got him away into France, and there lived in banishment the space of a year." — " Cat. of Engl. Bishops," p. 64. RESTORED BY EDGAR AND ST. DUNSTAN. 15 monks*," whom he had expelled from various foundations, and whose places he supplied with secular clergy. This was done in despite of the influence and power of the celebrated Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury ; who having- been raised to offices of the highest trust by Edwy's immediate predecessors, had exerted all his means to dispossess the married priests of their benefices, and seat the monks in their vacant places. Though the measures pursued by Edwy were at first so successful that Dunstan was forced into exile, yet the clamours and intrigues of the monks w ere so great that the inhabitants of many of his provinces rose in rebellion, and he was obliged to submit to a divided empire with his brother Edgar, who was chosen King of Mercia. The mortification he experienced at this event, and still more the deep chagrin which he felt at the triumph of the monks, so preyed upon his health, that after a troublesome reign of little more than four years, he died in 957. The entire kingdom now devolved upon Edgar, who immediately recalled Dunstan, and appointed him Bishop of Winchester ; and in the following year, on the death of Brithelme, Bishop of London, he made him administrator of the vacant See. The authority which Dunstan was thus invested with, was wholly employed in his favourite design of expelling the secular and married clergy from all concern in ecclesiastical affairs. Vt itli this view, and " out of his zeal for monkery," Dunstan prevailed upon the King to restore the monastery at Westminster ; and when it was rendered again habitable, he " brought hither," most probably from Glas- tonbury, " twelve monks of the Benedictine Order f." He also bestowed money and lands on the restored foundation, and by his influence with Ed- gar, obtained from that sovereign the grant of various estates of more con- siderable value ; as well as rich presents of gold amounting in weight to fifty shekels. Sulcardus relates that St. Dunstan himself, when he had thus re-esta- blished the Abbey, presided over it many years ; yet this seems no farther probable than as " to the influence which his station and benefactions must naturally give him ;" a conclusion the more warrantable, since we are in- formed, by William of Malmsburj J, that when he had " fitted up and en- * Dart's " Westmonasterium," Vol. II. p. 6. t Will. Malm. " De Gest. Pont." p. 141. } Ibid. 16 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. dowed the place," he appointed for its Abbot Wlsius, or Wulsinus ; who was afterwards Bishop of Sherborne, and eventually sainted for his holiness and miracles. Flete asserts, that Wlsius was a monk of Westminster, and born in London ; yet it appears from Dugdale*, that he had belonged to the Abbey at Glastonbury. He was greatly favoured by Dunstan, who is said to have shorn him a monk with his own hands whilst Bishop of Worcester. He M as promoted to Sherborne between the years 966 and 970 ; and accord- ing to Flete and Sporley, he still continued to retain his Abbacy after his elevation to the Bishopric. The latter expressly states, that " having ejected the secular clergy at Sherborne, and placed monks in their room, he still governed both monasteries, and kept so tender a care over them, that his whole time was spent in visiting them alternately, insomuch that both com- munities seemed as one flock under one pastor." Widmore considers this representation as founded in mistake ; and that William of Malmsbury, whom he conceives to be the original authority, meant nothing more than that the monks of Sherborne, not Westminster, requested to have no other governor than himself, and that he therefore remained their Abbot till his deceasef. The monkish writers highly extol Wlsius for the sanctity of his life ; and affirm that on his death-bed he suddenly exclaimed, " I see the Heavens open, and Jesus Christ standing on the right hand of God !" and instantly expired. The time of his decease seems not to be correctly as- certained. Flete places it on the 6th of the Ides of January, 1004. He was buried in the Church at Sherborne, and many miracles are recorded to have been performed at his tomb; as related by Teignmouth, Capgrave, and other legendary writers. Alfwy, or Aldsius, the next Abbot, succeeded by the general choice of the monks, but no farther particulars concerning him are known, excepting that he purchased for his monastery two houses of King Ethelred, in Berwyc, for 100 marks of gold, and that he died on the 4th of the Kalends of April, 1017. In his time, says Dart, the Abbey was " miserably havocked," its " too near neighbour," London, having been thrice besieged in one year by the Danes under Canute, though as frequently relieved by the activity of King Edmund ; who, as well as his father Ethelred, is registered among the benefactors to this foundation. * " Mon. Angl." Vol. I, p. 9. t " Hist, of St. Peter's Ch." p. 7. INFLUENCE OF ABBOT WULNOTH. 17 As the death of Aldsius occurred after the assumption of the crown by Canute, the monks, from motives of policy, referred the vacant appointment to that sovereign, who had already admitted many Ecclesiastics to his coun- cils, and seemed attentive to strengthen his claims to the throne by the in- fluence of the church ; of the various orders belonging to which, according to Matthew of Westminster, " the Benedictines were his greatest favourites." At that period, one of the monks of this house, called Wulnoth, was cele- brated for " his great wisdom and fine elocution ;" and the convent, on the Kings recommendation, unanimously elected him Abbot. Canute, who had conceived an extraordinary liking for this prelate, being pleased with his conversation, " came frequently to visit him, and consulted him on all his affairs, allowing him the utmost freedom and familiarity of speech, for he was a man of singular sincerity." This familiar converse Wulnoth improved for the benefit of his Church, to which " on his account," continues the historian, " the King willingly gave many holy reliques :" — mult as sanctoram reliquias eidem condonavit *. Wulnoth not only enjoyed the favour of Canute, but likewise of his im- mediate successors, Harold Harefoot and Hardicanute ; and through this courtly interest he preserved his Church in such a state of security and protection as procured him the general esteem. Having sat Abbot thirty- two years, he died on the 19th of October, 1049, and was buried in this monastery. It was in his time that the monk Wulsinus is said to have had the Vision by which Edward the Confessor was induced to rebuild the Church. " His soul," says Sporley, " being endowed with such great ornaments and virtues, we presume to place among the College of Saints." The following estates and manors were given to this Church in the time between the decease of King Edgar and that of Canute, though whether by the respective sovereigns themselves, or by private individuals, has not been clearly ascertained. Leosne, or Lesnes, in Kent ; five Hides of land at Kel- vedon, in Essex ; Fenton-Parva, seven Hides of land at Sunbury, or Sudbury, four Hides at Hanzvorth, two Hides ait Littleton, or Littlyngton, East-Burnham with Sypenham, Hampstead, Greenjbrd, or Greenford- Magna, and the manor of Kingsbury, in Middlesex ; and Asenel, or Aslvwdl, in Hertfordshire. * Sporley. These estimable gifts consisted of an arm of St. Orias ; some remains of St. Edward, the King and Martyr ; a finger of St. Alphagc ; and a finger and some bones of St. Gregory ! VOL. 1. I) 18 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Although it must seem from the preceding testimony that a considerable degree of royal munificence had at different periods contributed to augment the endowments of this foundation, yet either from the dilapidations it sus- tained in the Danish wars, or from circumstances that are now unknown, it, was on the accession of Edward the Confessor but of small extent, and by no means distinguished for the value of its possessions. Such at least is the information given by the historian, Clifford, whose language, as quoted by Stow, in his brief account of this Church, is as follows : — " Without the walles of London, uppon the river of Thames, there was in times passed a little monasterie, builded to the honor of God and Saint Peter, with a few Benedict monkes in it, under an Abbote serving Christ : very poore they were, and little was given them for their reliefe. Here the King intended (for that it was neere to the famous citie of London, and the river of Thames that brought in all kind of marchandizes from all partes of the worlde) to make his sepulchre : he commanded that of the tenthes of all his rentes, the worke should be begunne in such sort as should become the Prince of the Apostles*." * " Surv. of Lond." p. 378, edit. \5Q8. CAUSE OF THE CONFESSOR'S PATRONAGE. 1.9 HISTORICAL PARTICULARS OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY FROM THE TIME OF THE REBUILDING OF THE CHURCH BY EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, TILL THE PERIOD OF ITS RE-CONSTRUCTION AND ENLARGEMENT IN THE REIGNS OF HENRY THE THIRD AND EDWARD THE FIRST. The reign of Edward the Confessor was an important era in the history of this foundation ; though, in common with other religious establishments of a coeval period, it was far more indebted for its increasing splendour to that fond belief in supernatural agencies which marked the character of the times, than to the pure principles of genuine devotion. Its annals teem with visionary relations, and, however absurd or even contemptible these legends may now appear, the historian cannot be permitted to pass them in silence ; since the eventual pre-eminence and national appropriation of this Church were owing to their influence over the judgment of the credulous Edward. The singular events which preceded the accession of this monarch, his long exile, his narrow escape from a premature death, and his subsequent exaltation to the throne, were circumstances well calculated to make a lasting impression on a mind naturally weak and fearful. The timid bigot is of all others the most superstitious, and most inclined to construe unexpected occur- rences into miraculous interpositions ; and especially so when the result has operated to his own advantage. Such was particularly the case with Ed- ward ; and with a disposition thus prone to the marvellous, he found a kindred spirit in the genius of his age, and abandoned himself to its guidance with as determined a zeal as though inspiration itself had prompted his enthusiasm. The primary cause of the patronage bestowed upon this Church by Ed- ward the Confessor, as well as the particular circumstances that attended its advancement, are thus stated, in substance, in the respective histories by Abbot Ailred, of Rievaux *, and the monk Sulcardus -f. * " Vita Ed. Conf." in " Decern. Scrip." t MS. in Cott. Lib. d 2 20 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Whilst Edward lived an exile in Normandy, and had but little ex- pectation of succeeding to the crown, he made a Vow, that " if God should be pleased to put an end to his troubles, he would go a pilgrimage to Rome, and return thanks to the Almighty at the tomb of St. Peter." The decease of Hardicanute, and the assistance of Earl Goodwin, whose aid he had secured by engaging to marry his daughter Editha, having led the way to the attainment of his wishes, " he bethought himself, in the midst of his state, of his solemn obligation ;" and assembling a council of several prelates and nobility, he recounted to them, that " Having been reduced to the lowest condition in consequence of the Danish usurpations, he had been forced to live an exile in Normandy without the least probability of ever re- turning ; notwithstanding which, relying upon the divine protection, he had vowed a pilgrimage to Rome in honour of the Holy Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul ; and, therefore, since God had restored him to the throne of his ancestors, and seated him there in peace and plenty, he judged it but right to express his gratitude to Heaven, and fulfil his oath. He then desired them to propose some method of administration in his absence, and appoint fit persons to represent him at the head of government." The council, from apprehensions that his absence might endanger the quiet of the kingdom, by giving an opportunity to the Danes to excite dis- turbances, as well as occasion a renewal of the contest for succession should he unfortunately die on his journey, strongly dissuaded him from such a hazardous undertaking; and proposed instead that an embassy should be sent to Rome, to procure the Pope's dispensation. Though greatly averse to this arrangement, Edward, after much importunity, consented ; and Aldred, Bishop of Worcester, Herman, Bishop of \\ iltshire, and the Abbots Wulfric and Elsin, with an honourable retinue both of ecclesiastics and lajmen, were dispatched to Leo IX. who then sat in the Papal Chair, " to represent the dangers that would spring from the King's performance of his vow, and re- quest the Holy Father would propound some means of enabling the King to disburthen his conscience without exposing his people and himself to so much hazard." Leo, who, on the arrival of the embassy at Rome, was found presiding in Synod, heard the deputation attentively, and judging the request to be reasonable, directed his letter to Edward, acquainting him that he " had absolved him from his vow, and from all negligences and errors in conse- VISION OF WULSINUS. 21 quence ," and enjoining 1 him, under the obligations of " Holy obedience and penitence," that he should in return give a part of the money allotted for the journey to the poor ; and with the remainder either erect anew, or repair a monastery in honour of St. Peter, the chief of the Apostles ; and furnish the brethren with a revenue and sufficient necessaries *. By the same authority he confirmed/the privileges which the King should establish, to the honour of God, on the occasion ; and condemned all infractors of the same to eternal malediction. Immediately after the return of the embassadors, the King', who is stated to have been " wonderfully pleased with the message," prepared to fulfil the Pope's injunction ; and was miraculously led to fix on this particular Church, through a Vision of the monk Wulsinus, whose simplicity of manners and superior sanctity were so great, that he afterwards acquired the title of Saint. This aged man being asleep was commanded by St. Peter, who appeared visibly to him, to acquaint the King it was his pleasure that he should restore that Church. " There is," said the Apostle, to employ the language of Ailred, " a place of mine in the west part of London, which I chose and love, which I formerly consecrated with my own hands, honoured with my presence, and made illustrious by my miracles. The name of the place is Thorney ; which having for the sins of the people been given to the power of the barbarians, from rich is become poor, from stately low, and from honourable is made despicable. This let the King, by my command, restore, and make a dwelling of monks ; stately build, and amply endow : it shall be no less than the House of God, and the Gates of Heaven \** * " Deinde precipimus tibi sub nomine sanctae Obediential et Penitentiae, ut expensas, quas ad istud iter paraveras, pauperibus eroges, et coenobium monachorum in honorern S. Petri Aposto- lorum principis, aut novum construas, aut vetustum emendes ; augeas, et suflicicntiam victualiam fratribus detuis reditibus eonstituas." f As the above translation varies from that given by Dart, " West." Vol. I. p. 15, the original passage is here inserted: — " Est mihi locus in oceidentali parte Londoniarum, a me electus mihi dilectus ; quern quondam mihi propriis manibus consecravi, mea nobilitavi presentia, divinis insuper miraculis illustravi. Thorneia nomen est loci : Qui quondam ob pecata populi barbarorum traditus potestati, pauperrimus ex divite, humilis ex sublimi, ex nobili factus est con- temptibilis. Hunc Rex me praecipiente in habitaculum monachorum suscipiat reparandum, sublimandum aedificiis, possessionibus ampliandum ; non erit ibi aliud, nisi domus Dei et porta Cadi." 22 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. The impression made on the King's mind by the relation of this Vision is said to have immediately determined him to rebuild the monastery as St. Peter had required. For this purpose he appropriated a tenth part of his entire substance, " in gold, silver, cattle, and all other possessions ; and pulling- down the old Church, constructed a new one from the foundations *." Sulcardus states that it was but a few years in building - , as the King pressed on the work very earnestly. Compared with the former edifice it was a very magnificent fabric ; and, according to Matthew Paris j*, it afterwards became a pattern much followed in the construction of other Churches. It was built in the form of a cross, to which form that historian seems to allude by the words, " novo compositioiris genere ;" the earlier Saxon Churches appearing to have had no transepts. Sulcardus says, " the new Church was supported by divers columns, from which sprang a multiplicity of arches and Sir Christopher Wren, from an ancient manuscript, " the sense of which," he remarks, " I translate into language proper for builders, and as I can understand it," describes it as follows : " The principal area or nave of the Church being raised high, and vaulted with square and uniform ribs, is turned circular to the east ; this on each side is strongly fortified with a double vaulting of the iles in two stories, with their pillars and arches. The cross building contrived to con- tain the quire in the middle, and the better to support the lofty tower, rose with a plainer and lower vaulting ; which tower then spreading with ar- tificial winding stairs, was continued Avith plain walls to its timber roof, which was well covered with lead." A\ hether Edward entirely rebuilt the whole of the monastery, as well as the Church, has not been ascertained ; though it seems extremely probable that he did, considering the great ardour with which he carried on the un- dertaking, and the vast sum which he appropriated to its support. Some remains of his building still exist, and will be described in their due place ; and it appears from a register book of the abbey, called the " Nigei' Qua- * ** Itaque decimari precepi omnem substantiam meam tam in auro et argento quam in pecudibus et omni genere possessionum ; et destruens veterem novam a fundamentis Basilicam construxi et constructam, dedicari feci quinto calendas Januarii." t This writer, speaking of Edward the Confessor, says : — " Sepultus est Londini in Ecclesia, quam ipse novo compositionis genere construxerat, a qua post multi Ecclesias construentes exeniplum adepti opus illud emulabantur." EDWARD'S BUILDINGS AND DECEASE. 23 ternus" fol. 5, that there must have been cloisters here in his time, or very shortly afterwards, since the famous Geoffrey de Mandeville, who fought at the battle of Hastings, " mentions his having- buried his first wife Athelais in these cloisters, and his intention to lie there himself*." Edward, also, in the same register, is said to have first built the parish Church of St. Mar- garet where it now stands ; the more ancient place of parochial worship having been in the north part of the body of the old Church. That a parish Church was erected there previously to the year 1140, is evident from a grant in the Harleian Library, quoted by Widmore, by which Abbot Herebert gave, for the service of the High Altar at the Abbey, sixty shillings of the profits of the Church of St. Margaret, " standing in the Abbey Church-yard j\" The precise year of Edward's commencing the re-construction of St. Peter's Church is not known ; yet, if the dates in Godwin's history be cor- rect, it would seem to have been about the year 1050, for in that year the Bishops Aldred and Herman, who conducted the embassy to Pope Leo, are stated to have been at Rome %. Edward, on the completion of his Church, determined to have it dedi- cated in the most solemn and impressive manner, and with that intent summoned a general assembly of all the bishops and great men in the kingdom to be witnesses of the ceremony, which was appointed to take place on the day of the Holy Innocents (December the 28th), 1065. Whether he was himself present is doubtful, as the accounts vary ; one writer affirming that he was seized with a sudden illness on the night before Christmas day, which prevented his attendance, and another that he sickened immediately after the consecration. Certain it is, that he died either on the fourth or fifth of January, 1066, and was shortly afterwards buried before the High Altar in the new Church §. * Vide Widm. " Hist." p. 11. + Ibid. p. 12. % " Cat. of Eng. Bish." p. 336. § The Saxon Chronicle, and Simeon of Durham, fix the time of the King's death as occurring on the 5th of January ; but Rob. of Gloucester states that he died on the 4th of that month, and was buried on the 12th. This latter historian gives the following particulars of his obsequies : — " With Edward the happiness of the English expired, liberty perished, and all vigour was in- humed. At his exequies, bishops, and a multitude of priests and ecclesiastics, with dukes, earls, and governors, assembled together. A crowd of monks went thither, and innumerable bodies of people flew hastily to his funeral. Here psalms resound ; there sighs and tears burst out; every where joy and grief commixed, are carried to the Church ; and that Temple of Chastity, that Dwelling of Virtue (the King) is honourably interred in the place appointed by himself." 24 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. When the King found his dissolution approach, he hastened to complete the endowments of the restored monastery ; and signed his last Charter, as appears from Sulcardus, on the very day when the Church was dedicated. The successive grants of estates, manors, and reliques * which he made to this foundation were ample beyond all precedent. He likewise invested it with extraordinary privileges, exempted it from episcopal jurisdiction, and all services and secular authority ; confirmed the gifts of his predecessors and every other benefactor ; secured to the monks the power of choosing their Abbots from their own body, agreeabty to the laws of St. Benedict ; bestowed many vestments and ornaments for the celebration of divine service ; and, lastly, pronounced an eternal anathema and punishment with the betrayer Judas, against all those who should contravene or violate the liberties thus given. Many other persons, also, influenced by the King's example, con- * The following curious enumeration of the reliques given to St. Peter's by Edward the Confessor, is extracted from Dart's " Westmonasterium," Vol. 1, p. 37. " Part of the place and manger where Christ was born, and also of the frankincense offered to him by the eastern magi ; of the table of our Lord ; of the bread which he blessed ; of the seat where he was presented in the Temple ; of the wilderness where he fasted ; of the gaol where he was imprisoned ; of his undivided garment : of the sponge, lance, and scourge with which he was tortured ; of the sepulchre and cloth that bound his head ; and of the mountains Golgotha and Calvary ; great part of the Holy Cross inclosed in a certain one particularly beautified and distin- guished, with many other pieces of the same, and great part of one of the nails belonging to it ; and likewise the cross that floated against wind and wave over sea from Normandy hither with that King. Many pieces of the vestments of the Virgin Mary ; of the linen which she wore ; of the window in which the angel stood when he saluted her; of her milk; of her hair; of her shoes, and of her bed ; also, of the girdle which she worked with her own hands, always wore, and dropped to St. Thomas the Apostle at her Assumption ; of the hairs of St. Peter's beard, and part of his cross. Reliques of St. Paul, viz. a certain cloth in which his head was wrapped when cut off, and one of the fingers and some of the blood of the same Apostle. Many bones of St. Andrew, and part of his cross. A bone of St. James the Great, and reliques of the Apostles Philip and James ; arms of the Apostles Bartholomew and Thomas, with reliques of the Apostles Bar- naby, Matthew, and Mathias ; great part of the body of St. Botolph, the Abbot, with one of his cowls, and other reliques ; the head, pouch, and ivory staff of St. Andwen, the Bishop ; and re- liques of the Saints Giles, Jerome, Ethelwold, Erkenwald, Theodoric, and many others. The head and other bones of St. Margaret, and of her clothes ; oil of the tomb of St. Katherine; and reliques of St. Cecilia and St. Tecle, with half a jaw, and three teeth of St. Anastatia." Such was the singular assemblage of remains which the superstitious piety of the King solemnly bestowed upon this Church ; and which the credulity of our forefathers led them to treat with veneration and worship. THE CONFESSOR'S MIRACLES. 25 tributed by their donations at this period to augment the riches and possessions of the monastery. Among the numerous possessions and manors granted to this Church by king Edward, was Gyslepe, now Islip, in Oxfordshire, the place of his birth ; Windsor, in Berkshire ; Wheathamslead, Stevenage, and Cadwell, in Hertfordshire ; the whole of Rutland, which then formed a part of North- amptonshire ; Brentford, in Middlesex ; Petworth, in Suffolk ; and various other estates in the counties of Middlesex, Oxford, Worcester, Gloucester, Suffolk, and Herts. The simplicity and piety of Edward the Confessor, his munificence to- wards the Church, and above all, to use the phraseology of the times, his " abstraction from fleshly delights," rendered him a great favourite with the monkish historians, and they have not scrupled to attribute numerous miracles to his sanctity. He was so much in love, they tell us, with retirement and devotional reflection, that, being- once disturbed at a country seat by the singing of nightingales, he prayed that they might no more be heard in that place ; which petition, continues the legend, was granted accordingly. Even the time of his death, say these fabulists, was made known to him by the delivery of a Ring and message from St. John the Evangelist ; and within six years after his decease, according to Ail red and Matthew Paris, the following miracle was performed at his tomb. In the time of \Y illiam the Conqueror, when " all English prelates were sifted to the branne," a Synod was held in this Church by Archbishop Lan- franc (anno 1074), to examine, avowedly, into the qualifications and conduct of the clergy, yet with the covert design of making room for " the new come Normans," by ejecting such of the Bishops and Abbots as had but little learning and influence. At this Synod AY ulstan, Bishop of \Y orcester, was charged with being" a most illiterate and foolish man, and unfit for the station he held ; a very ideot, unacquainted with the French language, and incapable either to instruct the Church or counsel the King - ." His pastoral staff and ring were therefore demanded of him by Lanfranc, in the King's name ; but W ulstan, grasping his staff" with an unmoved countenance, made this reply : " I know, my Lord Archbishop, that 1 am entirely unfit for, and unworthy so high a station, being undeserving of the honour, and unequal to the task ; however, I think it unreasonable that \ou should demand that staff which 1 never received from \ou, yet in some measure I submit to your VOL. I. E 26 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. sentence, and will resign it ; but consider it just to make that resignation to King* Edward, who conferred it on me." Thus ending, he left the Synod, and crossing the Church to Edward's tomb, said, whilst standing before it, — " Thou knowest, O Holy King- ! how unwillingly I took this office, and even by force, for neither the desire of the prelates, the petition of the monks, or the voice of the nobility prevailed, till your commands obliged me : but see ! a new King, new laws ; a new Bishop pronounces a new sentence. Thee they accuse of a fault for making' me a Bishop, and me of assurance for ac- cepting the charge. Nevertheless, to them I will not, but to thee, I resign my staff." Then raising his arm, he placed the staff upon the tomb, which was of stone, and leaving it, went, arrayed as a monk, and sat with them in the Chapter House. "VV hen this became known in the Synod, a messenger was sent for the staff, but he found it adhere so firmly to the stone, that it could by no means be removed ; nor could either the King, or the Archbishop himself, disengage it from the tomb. Wulstan was then sent for, and the staff readily submitted to his touch ; which being considered as a consummation of the miracle, he was allowed to retain his episcopal dignity. Such implicit credit was given to this story, that, according to the annals of Burton Abbey, King John urged it to Pandulph, the Pope's Legate, as a proof of the right of the English Kings to nominate Bishops. The fame and reputation of Edward were so greatly raised by this and other miracles, that he was deemed worthy of a place in the Calendar of Saints ; and in the year 1158, Gervaise de Blois, the then Abbot, sent Osbert de Clare, " a man of extraordinary learning," and Prior of Westminster, to Rome, to solicit for his canonization. Innocent the Second, however, the sovereign Pontiff, whether from unbelief of the miraculous gift, or, as Dart intimates, from " the ill character of the Abbot, and his being so greedy of money himself, as to keep the prevailing argument back," refused his assent, and the design at that time failed. Laurentius, the successor of Gervaise, was more fortunate ; for having preached a sermon highly to Edward's praise before the nobility of the kingdom, the congregation, with one voice, " pray ed of the Abbot that he would take care that so glorious a light should not be hid from the world." In consequence of this importunity, Laurentius dispatched Osbert de Clare and other monks a second time to Rome, with a list of miracles wrought by the deceased King, and the name of Henry the Second, as a subscribing witness to their genuineness. Alexander the Se- TRANSLATION OF EDWARD'S BODY. 27 cond, who had succeeded Pope Innocent in the Holy See, was soon prevailed on to pronounce publicly his order for Edward's canonization ; and directing his Bull to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster, after excusing " the delay of his predecessor," he enjoined that " the body of the glorious King should be honoured here on earth, as he himself was glorified in Heaven." On the return of the deputation the sainted monarch was solemnly translated into a " precious feretry," which had been prepared by Henry the Second at the instigation of the famous Archbishop Becket. The ceremony was performed at midnight, on the 3d of the ides of October, 1163 ; this was almost seventy-seven years after the King's interment, yet, say the monks, his body " was found uncorrupted ;" and the garments which invested it were so little decayed that the Abbot made " three embroidered copes of the clothes in which St. Edward lay coffined *." At the same time, also, the identical Ring which had been sent back from Paradise by St. John the Evangelist, being taken off the King's finger, was given to the Church by Abbot Laurentius, and ordered to be kept in commemoration of the miracle f . The anniversary of this translation was solemnly observed till Henry the Third, in the following century, removed the body into a new shrine ; and Indulgences of nineteen years and one hundred aud three days, with partici- pation in all spiritual benefits, and remission of a seventh part of sins, were granted by different Popes to those who strictly and religiously kept it J. We have no accurate information as to the number of monks which Edward placed on this establishment, but that he enlarged the convent is evident from the testimony of William of Malmsbury §, who states that on removing the see of the Bishop of Crediton to Exeter, he translated the monks from the latter place to Westminster. The monastery at Exeter had been founded by King Athelstan ; and the causes assigned for the removal * " Laurentius quondam Abbas hujus loci de tribus pannis in quibus Sanctus Edvardus re- quievit tres Capas brudatas fieri jussit." Cat. of Reliques quoted by Dart, " West." Vol. I. p. 53. f " Laurentius dedit, &c. Regis Edwardi, annulo ejusdeni quem Sancto Johanni Evange- listo quondam tradidit quem et ipse de Paradiso remisit, elapsis duobus et dimidio, postea in nocte translations de digito regio tulit, et pro miraculo in loco isto custodiri jussit.'' Ibid. p. 51. \ Further particulars of the successive translations of St. Edward will be inserted hereafter in the account of his chapel and shrine. § " Qui ampliori monachorum conventu ibidem adunato Ecclesiam aidincationis genere novo fecit." " De Gest. Pont." fo. 134. L 2 28 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. of the Bishop's see were, according' to Godwin, " partly for the better safety of the Bishop and his successors, and partly to provide a more apt place for the monks." Edwyn, the Abbot who presided over this Church from the death of Wulnoth, in 1049, till his own decease on the 12th of June, 1068, had been brought up in this convent, and was made choice of to govern it on the recommendation of the King - , who was highly pleased with his virtue, piety, and learning, and spent many of his private hours in his company. This con- descension and friendship impressed the mind of Edwyn with sincere esteem, and after Edward's burial he went daily to visit his grave, and offer up his prayers for his eternal welfare. After the decisive victory obtained at Hastings over the brave but un- fortunate King Harold, William the Norman, on his arrival near London, made it one of his first cares to give thanks for his success at the Confessor's tomb in this Church : and to shew his respect for the memory of the deceased monarch, from whom he affected to derive his right to the throne, he made some rich offerings, among which are enumerated a pall to lay over his tomb, fifty marks of silver, a splendid altar cloth, and two caskets of gold. He also at a subsequent period caused him to be interred in a more curious and costly tomb of stone, and granted lands for the good of his soul. The Anglo-Saxon monarchs were accustomed to be crowned at W in- chester; but it would seem from a passage in William of Malmsbury, that the Conqueror, the better to ingratiate himself with the English by displaying his veneration for King Edward, fixed on the new Church at Westminster for the scene of his own coronation ; and here on Christmas Day, 1066, he received the crown by the side of Edward's tomb*. The ceremony was performed by Aldred, Archbishop of York, w ho was chosen in preference to Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury, the latter being then under the Pope's sentence of suspension from his ecclesiastical functions. On this occasion, according to Matthew Paris, many presents were made to the King by Abbot Edwyn ; whom Paris designates as " too much of a courtier and favourite with the new sovereign -f"." This alludes to the exchange made by Edwyn for lands in Essex of the manor of Windsor, which the King was desirous to * " Rex Willielmus — ibi regni susceperit insignia. Consnetudo igitur apud posteros evaluit, at propter Edwardi ibi sepulti memoriam regiam regnaturi accipiant coronam." " Malm." f. 134. | " Curialis nimis et aulicus, novo regi familiaris." Matt. Par. In " Vit. Ab. St. Albani," p. 4. ABBOTS GEOFFREY AND VITALIS. ^9 enjoy, " it being - very convenient," as the grant expresses it, " for his retire- ment to hunting ; by reason of the pureness of the air, the pleasantness of the situation, and its neighbourhood to woods and waters." Malmsbury says of this sovereign, that he " even exceeded King* Ed- ward in donation of lands;" and Dart, without sufficient consideration, has echoed the same praise by characterizing W illiam as " one of the greatest friends this monastery could boast of." It may be fairly questioned, how- ever, whether the worth of all the estates which he granted to the monks was by any means equal to the value of those of which he deprived them. Besides Windsor, he resumed a great part of Rutlandshire ; and the principal manors which he gave in return were Batriclisec, now Battersea, and Wandlesworth, now Wandsworth, in Surrey, and Wokendune and Feringe, in Essex ; he also granted some lands at Tilbury, with the marsh there ; lands at Cricklade, in Wilts; a Mill, with its appurtenances, at Stratford ; the New Kyrk, in Lon- don ; and several other Churches in different counties. The possessions and liberties granted to this Church by preceding Princes were likewise con- firmed by him in about seventeen successive Charters, some written in the Saxon language, and some in the Latin. Abbot Edwyn died on the 12th of June, 1068, and was buried in the cloisters. His successor Goiffridus, or Geoffrey, was by birth a Norman, and had been Abbot of St. Peter de Gymiges, or Jumieges, in Normandy, but accompanied Duke William in his English expedition. For some irre- gular conduct, the particulars of which are not known, this prelate was first admonished by the King, and afterwards by Lanfranc, Archbishop of Can- terbury ; yet persisting in his evil courses, he was in consequence deposed in the fourth year of his abbacy, and he retired, greatly mortified, to his original convent, where he died soon afterwards. The next Abbot, who was likewise a Norman, and who obtained his advancement through the commanding influence of the Conqueror, was named Vitalis. His nomination, however, if the Annals of Waverly be correct, did not occur till 1076. He had been previously Abbot of Bernay, in iNormandy, a cell to the Abbey of Fescamp, and was expressly sent for by the King to govern at Westminster. He had the character of a wise and prudent man, though but few particulars of his conduct are recorded. lie died on the 19th of June, 10S2, and w as interred in the south cloister. " In his time," sa\s Dart, " lived the famous Chronographer, 30 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Sulcardus, a man of excellent character, and much esteemed by Edward the Confessor, and the Abbots Edwyn and Vitalis." Besides " his Book on the Foundation and Charters of this Church," which is dedicated to the latter Abbot in these words, " Venerabili viro et semper Dei servo Domino Abbati Vitali Monachorum minimus frater Sulcardus salutem cum devoto famulata et obsequio," &c. he wrote a General Chronology, now lost, Sermons, Epistles, and other Tracts *" Gisleburtus Chrispinus, or Gilbert Crispin, who succeeded Vitalis, was originally a monk in the famous Abbey of Bee, or Bec-Helluin, in Nor- mandy ; which even at that period was much renowned for the school or college that had been settled there by Archbishop Lanfranc, previously to his being summoned into England by the Conqueror. Lanfranc himself had been a monk on the same foundation ; and under him, whilst Prior, and the Abbot Anselm, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, Gislebert received his edu- cation. Though descended from one of the most noble and ancient families in Normandy, the splendour of his talents added lustre to his rank ; and he has the character of being equal for his genius and learning to the greatest men of his time")". His ancestors were admitted to the Councils of the Dukes of Normandy ; and William, his father, who was held in singular favour by the King, Robert, his uncle, and Gilbert, his grandfather, are all distinguished as persons of memorable note J. Gislebert himself was parti- * " Westmonasterium," Vol. II. p. xi. William's letter to the Abbot of Fescamp, when he sent for Vitalis, is yet extant, and has been published by Mabillon in his " Analecta Vetera/' Vol.1, p. 219. It is as follows : " W. Rex Anglorum Johanni abbati salutem. Diu mecum cogitavi, mi dilecte, in cujus manu & custodia possem mittere & commendare Abbatiam Sancti Petri de West-monasterio: quia in maxima veneratione & habeo & ex debito habere debeo. Ibi enim jacet vir beatee memorial dominus meus rex Ethwardus ; ibi etiam tumulata est regina Etgith uxor ejus inelita : ego etiam ibidem, Dei dementia providente, sceptrum et coronam totius regni Anglici suscepi. Tandem, consilio Lanfranni archiepiscopi, meorumcpie procerum, Vitalem Abbatem, quamvis invitum, ad hoc coegi ut illam assumeret. Cum enim abbatiam de Bernaco ex minimo multum ut patet, subli- maverit ; intellexi ilium dignum esse abbatia de Westmonasterio, & utilitate & prudentia. Qua- propter liceat mihi istud fieri, quod de eo communi consilio meorum providi procerum, licentia tua & bona voluntate & conventus fratrum. Volo etiam tibi notum esse me elegisse Osbernum, fratrem scilicet Vitalis abbatis, ut habeat abbatiam de Bernaco : & hoc tua licentia mihi fieri liceat. Vale." f " Hist, of the Abbey of Bee," by Dom. J. Bourget. % Vide " Notes on Nicephorus Bryennius," pub, with " Joannes Cinnamus," p. 206. Paris, 1670. CHARACTER OF ABBOT GISLEBERT. 31 cularly famed as a sound theologist and a ready disputant ; and whilst tra- velling for improvement in France he met in the city of Mentz with a Jew, who was excellently versed in the old law and Hebrew language, and with whom he had a long disputation, which he afterwards reduced into method, and promulgated under the title " Of the Faith of the Church against the Jews*." Besides visiting the French universities, he also travelled into Italy and Germany. Through the " mediation," as it is called, of the King, of Lanfranc, and of several Norman nobles, he was chosen Abbot by the monks of this convent soon after he had made his book public, in which he is stiled only Procurator Coenobij. " In the time of this Abbot," says Dart, " William the Conqueror held a Council in this monastery, at which Council, Gilbert being present, he, with his brothers, petitioned the King for a Charter of Liberties, w hich the King, at the further intercession of Archbishop Lanfrank, and for the love he bare this Gilbert," as the words of the Charter are, " granted f." Henry the First employed Gislebert in different embassies and in the year 1102 he held a national Council here ; in his time, also, Bernard, Bishop of St. David's, was consecrated in this Church, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in order to gratify the Queen, who wished to be present at the ceremony. After a long life of piety and good deeds, and having presided over this monastery thirty-two years, he died on the 6th of December, 1114, and was buried in the cloisters, at the feet of his predecessor Vitalis. " He was of so great sanctity and humility," says Flete, " that no prelate of that age equalled him." His epitaph, as recorded by the same author, expresses so much of his character and attainments, that it is here inserted : Hie Pater insignis, genus altum, virgo senexque, Gisleberte jaces, lux, via, duxque tuis, Mitis eras, justus, prudens, fortis, moderatus, Doctor quadrivio, nec minus in trivio. * A copy of this tract, which is dedicated to Archbishop Ansclin, is now in the Cottonian Lib. Titus D. XVI. 2. It was also printed with Anselm's works, in 1537, at Cologne. f " Westmonasterium," Vol. II. xii. There is reason to believe, from a particular and curious circumstance which will be noticed in another section of this work, that Dart has mistaken the Conqueror for his son ; and that William Rufus was the real sovereign who on the petition of Gislebert granted the Charter alluded to in the text. \ Vide " Eadmerus," p. 32 j and " Pet. Blesensis Cont. Ingulphi," p. 130. 32 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Sic tamen ornatus, nece, sexta luce Deeembris Spiramen Ccelo reddis et ossa solo *. The following writings of this Abbot are yet remaining in manuscript in the British Museum "f. The second part of " The Dispute or Conference with the Jew ;" a disputation between a Jew and a Gentile, intituled, " De Fide Christi ;" a dialogue, " De Processione Spiritus Sancti a Patre et Filio ;" and verses on several subjects, as " De Confessione," — " De Corpore et Sanguine Domini," — " De Creatione sex Dierum," — and " DeRege quse- rente Uxorem." According to Bale, Leland, and other authorities, he like- wise wrote a Life of Ilelluin, the founder of the Abbey of Bee ; Homilies on the Canticles ; on Isaiah and Jeremiah ; on St. Jerome's Prologues to the Bible ; of the Fall of the Devil ; of the State of the Church ; Epistles to Anselm ; and a Treatise against the sins of Thought, W ord, and Deed J. After the decease of Gislebert, Henry the First appears to have retained the appointment in his own hands during several years, most probably that he might himself benefit by the Abbey revenues, as he was greatly in want of money about that period. At length, in the year 1121, on the recom- mendation of the sovereign, the Almoner Herebert, or Herbert, was chosen Abbot. He is supposed to have been in great favour at court, on account of Henry's granting to the lands attached to the Almoner's office several privileges and immunities, which also were afterwards confirmed by King Stephen. In the time of Gilbert, Bishop of London, surnamed the Universal, from his great learning, this Abbot, with the consent of his monastery, founded a small Nunnery at Kilburne, in Middlesex, (near Kilburne Wells,) where * It appears from " Du Fresne's Glossary," that by the Quadrivium and Trivium in these verses, is meant all the seven Liberal Arts, which were so called by the schoolmen of that day : — the Quadrivium, or four-fold way to knowledge, being constituted by Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy ; and the Trivium, or three-fold way to Eloquence, including Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic. t ' ' Cottonian Lib. Vespatian," A. 14. % Warnerus, or Warner, a monk of Westminster in the time of Gislebert, wrote " Collections of the Times ;" " Homilies," which Boston of Bury calls " most learned ;" and " Flowers of the Holy Fathers :" the latter was printed at Frankfort in ig4. Robert, a monk, or, according to some writers, a Prior of this Abbey, another contemporary of Gislebert, was in the year 1 102 made Abbot of St. Edmundsbury. IMPOVERISHED BY ABBOT GERVAISE. 33. had previous]} been the Hermitage of one Godwin, who was appointed the first warden, or custos, of the new foundation. It was dedicated to St. John Baptist, and Osbert de Clare, sometime Prior of Westminster ; and assigned to Emma, Gunilda, and Christina, three damsels belonging to the Chamber of Matilda, Henry the Second's queen*, and such other virgins as chose to lead a religious life there. They were enjoined to pray for the soul of Edward the Confessor, and for the prosperity of the Abbey ; some lands belonging to which were assigned to them for their support, as well as some corrodies, or allowances of provision. Several disputes arose between the Bishops of London and the Abbots of Westminster concerning' the juris- diction of this Nunnery ; but it was finally agreed, in 1231, that the power of admission and removal of persons, and of correcting abuses, should remain with the Abbots. Herbert died on the 3d of September, 1140, in the fifth year of King Stephen, whose natural son Gervaise, surnamed de Blois, was next pre- ferred to the vacant Abbacy. The character given of this prelate is, that " he was an unjust, insolent, arbitrary man, presuming too much upon his birth, and miserably oppressing the monks ; keeping the tithes due to the Abbey, and expelling several persons from the convent ; exercising himself after a military manner, not residing at his Abbey, but acting as a soldier, or fine gentleman; herding among laymen and slighting his own order He greatly misapplied the revenues of his Church ; and under pretence of granting the lands of the monastery in fee-farm, alienated many of its pos- sessions to his friends and relations, and particularly to Dameta, his mother, who was a Norman gentlewoman. Manors, livings, tithes, and ornaments were alike dissipated; and so extremely unprincipled and lavish was his con- duct, that the monks, in a complaint which they exhibited against him to Pope Innocent the Second, express their apprehensions that he would even make away with the regalia itself. The Pontiff admonished him, by his Bull, " to rectify what was amiss, and behave better for the future ;" yet this admo- nition had so little effect, that he still continued his profligate course till he was deposed, about the year 1159, by Henry the Second. In his time, also, the monastery was still farther impoverished through the devastations occa- sioned by the contentions between King Stephen and the Empress Maud, * " Tres Domicellas camera; Matildis bona? Reginae." Flete. f Dart's " West." Vol. II. p. xiv. VOL. I. F 34, WESTMINSTER ABBEY. whose brother Robert, Earl of Gloucester, either seized or ravaged all the Ab- bey lands in Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, and Oxfordshire. These estates, however, were afterwards restored to the monks through the intercession of the Empress with her son Henry ; and some of the lands which Gervaise had alienated were recovered by the prudent management of succeeding Abbots, yet the greater part continued in fee-farm till the era of the Disso- lution. In one respect the Abbey appears to have profited by the supremacy of Gervaise, as the King, his father, not only confirmed by a principal Charter all the gifts and privileges which had been granted by former Princes, and other benefactors, but likewise by other Charters gave more extensive rights to particular manors than had been previously enjoyed. He also discharged the Abbot from all services or appearances at the Court of Hustings and Folkmotes, on account of his possessions in the city of London ; and gave some small estates to the Church. Gervaise was the first Abbot that soli- cited the Papal Father to canonize King Edward, though unsuccessfully, as before stated. He died on the 25th of August, 1160, and was buried with his predecessors in the south part of the cloisters *. Laurentius, or Laurence, the next Abbot, was educated and resided for many years in the monastery at St. Albans "\ ; though Widmore and some other writers have confounded him with another Laurence, who lived in the same age, and was Prior of Durham. There is evidence, however, that the latter died in France, on his return from Rome, whither, in 1153, he had ac- companied Hugh Pudsey, the Bishop elect of Durham, who had judged it requisite to appeal to the sovereign Pontiff in consequence of the opposition made to his election by the metropolitan claims of the See of York. In this journey the Bishop was attended by a splendid train, as well of the eccle- siastics as of the lay-vassals of the Bishopric ; and the procession was conducted more in the spirit of the temporal Prince than of the humble Christian * In the time of Gervaise, one Hugh, sometime Prior here, was made Abbot of St. Ed- mundsbury. f Matt. Par. In " Vit. Abb. St. Albani." X See the recently published and very splendid " History of the County Palatine of Durham/' by Robert Surtees, Esq. Vol. I. p. xxiv. The following passage quoted by that gentleman fur- nishes a decided proof that Abbot Laurence, of Westminster, was a different person from Laurence, of Durham, of whom he is here speaking : — " Episcopus morarum impatiens, relictis cum Priore qui ejus aegritudini deservirent, viae indulsit." Galfr. Colding. c. 2. Ibid. note. / CONDUCT OF ABBOT LAURENTIUS. 35 Laurentius was promoted to this Abbey by the influence of Henry the Second, with whom, and with the Empress Maud, he is stated to have been highly in favour. At the time he was chosen, which was about the year 1159, when Dugdale mentions him as Abbot *, he found the monastery " miserably impoverished" through the cupidity of his predecessor Gervaise, who had not only " stripped the Abbot's house, but even made away with the Church vestments." He therefore borrowed to the value of two hundred marks, " in horses, furniture, vestments, &c." of Robert, Abbot of St. Albans ; from which circumstance Matthew Paris takes occasion to severely tax him with ingratitude and injustice in wrongfully detaining certain lands from that Abbey, and in using his interest with the King to vex the convent by continual suits The influence of Laurentius with the Empress and the King was suc- cessfully exerted in obtaining the restoration of the Abbey estates in Glouces- tershire and Worcestershire, which had been seized in the preceding reign. By the same influence he procured the repair of the cells and offices of the monastery, which some time before had been partly consumed by fire ; and the King is recorded to have granted money to make stalls in the New Work, but the particular building designated by that epithet is not known. About the year 1162 Laurentius was delegated with three Bishops to meet at the Castle of Winchester, to hear and determine a dispute between the convent of St. Alban's and the Bishop of Lincoln ; the latter requiring " solemn procession and visitation," which the monks refused to comply with, in consequence, as it would seem, of a recent exemption from all ec- clesiastical jurisdiction, which their Abbot had obtained from Pope Adrian the Fourth, the only Englishman that ever sat in the pontifical Chair. As the meeting separated without coming to any decision, and the dissentions became violent, the King found it necessary to interfere, and summoned a Synod to be held in St. Katherine's Chapel, in this Abbey ; where the question was solemnly argued, the business being opened in Latin by Lau- rentius, who defended the privileges of the monks. The claim was eventually compromised by the Bishop consenting- to resign all pretension to sovereign rule, on receiving the grant of some estate of the annual value of ten pounds ; and Fingest, in Buckinghamshire, was made over to him in consequence. * " Mon. AngL" Vol. J. p. 367. f In " Vit. Abb. St. Albani." F 2 36 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. The canonization of Edward the Confessor, which was obtained on the application of this Abbot to Pope Alexander the Third, as before related *, was not the only important advantage which he rendered to his monastery ; for he procured, also, for himself and his successors, the liberty of using - the Mitre, the Ring, and the Gloves, which had been anciently esteemed as ex- clusive parts of the episcopal habit, but were often, to the great displeasure of the Bishops, granted by the Popes to such Abbots as were considerable for wealth and power, or would pay largely to obtain these marks of dignity -f. But a far more substantial benefit resulted from wearing the Mitre than Laurentius could possibly have contemplated when he first applied for its use to the Holy See ; since the possessors of this privilege were in after ages admitted to sit with the Bishops in Parliament, and enjoyed every honour and immunity which that high situation was accustomed to command. Laurentius himself, however, cannot, strictly speaking, be deemed a mitred Abbot, as his decease occurred before it was known that the Pope had acceded to his solicitations. That Laurentius was a man of talents and learning may be naturally in- ferred from his having been appointed as well by the King, as by the Pope, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, to decide in several disputed causes. Whether any of his writings are now extant it is difficult to affirm, since Bale and Leland, in their respective accounts, have certainly mistaken him for his namesake, Laurence, the Prior of Durham Some of his Sermons and Homilies were in being in Flete's time, and Matthew Paris says, that at the request of Henry the Second, he compiled a " Life of Edward the Con- fessor," and having written it in an elegant style, he presented it to the King§; yet Knighton states that he intended it only ||. The fact probably was, that not having sufficient leisure himself for such a performance, he ex- cited his friend, Abbot Ailred, to undertake it, for Ailred's History was not only dedicated to Laurentius, but was also presented by him to the King on the very day of the translation of the Confessor's body, in the year 1163. He * Vide p. 26. t Widm. " Hist, of West. Abb." p. 29. \ Besides the Laurence that accompanied Bishop Pudsey to Rome, there was another of the same name, the Precentor Laurence, who opposed the Prior in his attempt to obtain the Bishopric of Durham : the election of Pudsey was owing to the mutual jealousy of these ecclesiastics. Vide Surtees' " Hist, of Durham," ut supra. § In " Vit. Abb. St. Albani." || Knighton's " De Event. Ang." Lib. I. c. 16*. WALTER, FIRST MITRED ABBOT. 37 died on the 11th of April, 1175, and was buried with his predecessors in the south walk of the cloisters. The determined opposition which Henry the Second maintained during many years against the encroachments of the Church and of the Papal See, led to various singular occurrences ; and among them to the summoning, in the above year, of a meeting- at Woodstock, where the King had a Palace, of the Priors and a great part of the monks of eleven different Abbies, which were then vacant, and of which Westminster was one. Here " to keep up the royal authority*," the King insisted that the new Abbots should not be chosen from the respective convents over which they were to preside, but from the monks of other foundations ; and in consequence of this display of regal power, Walter, the Prior of \\ inchester, was chosen Abbot of St. Peter's. Previously to his preferment, Walter wrote the " Lives" of two Bishops of Winchester, namely, William Gifford, and Henry, brother to King Stephen, which work has been quoted by Redburn in his " Breviarium Chrouicorum." " He was also," says Widmore, " one, and the chief, it seems, of the Priors, who stood up for the Priors' right against the Arch- deacons, that in those Cathedrals where Avere convents of monks, as the Deans did in the other churches, so they, and not the Archdeacons, should present to the Metropolitans, for consecration, the Bishops elect, and carried their point f." This Abbot, on his promotion to Westminster, received from the hands of the Bishop of London the Mitre and its appurtenances, which had been granted to his predecessor Laurentius ; and he himself procured from the Pope, in addition, the dalmatic, tunic, and sandals. He wore his new honours, for the first time, in a Synod held in St. Katherine's Chapel in this monastery, in the year 1176, but was shortly afterwards interdicted the use of them by the Pope's Legate, Hugo Patri Leonis, who conceived that he had not been treated by the convent with sufficient respect. At the same time the liberty of entering the choir was taken from the Prior +. It was in the above Synod that the memorable contest took place for precedency between the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, when, on the latter prelate en- deavouring to seat himself on the right hand of the Legate, he had his robes * " Decern Scrip." Col. 587. t " Hist - of West. Abb." p. 30. £ " Decern Scrip." Col. 588. 38 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. torn, and was dragged from his place, and trampled on by the servants of the other Archbishop *. This outrage caused the Synod to break up, and in the long process that followed great advantages were reaped by the Court of Rome, to which the rival Metropolitans made several appeals, though without obtaining a decision on their respective claims. Walter is said to have been too easy in granting out the estates of his Church in fee-farm ; and although but few particulars of his government are known, he appears to have been anxious to perpetuate his own memory by the establishment of a very pompous anniversary ; to defray the expenses of which he caused the profits of the manor of Paddington to be assigned. His death occurred on the 27th of September, 1190, according to Flete ; but Matthew Paris and Matthew of Westminster agree in fixing it on the same,, day in the year 1191 : he was buried in the cloisters. The election of the next Abbot was made before the King's Justices and the Bishop of London ; Richard Cceur de Lion, the sovereign, being then absent on his expedition to the Holy Land. The unanimous voice of the monks was declared in favour of their Prior, William Postard, who was chosen either on the 9th of October, 1191, or the 23d of June, 1192, for * The following particulars of this singular fracas are given by Holinshed : — " About Midlent the King with his sonne and the Legat came to London, where at West- minster a Convocation of the cleargie was called, but when the legat was set, and the archbishop of Canturburie on his right hand as primat of the realme, the archbishop of Yorke comming in, and disdaining to sit on the left, where he might seeme to give pre-eminence unto the archbishop of Canturburie (unmanerlie inough indeed) swasht him downe, meaning to thrust himselfe in be- twixt the legat, and the archbishop of Canturburie. And where belike the said archbishop of Canturburie was loth to remove, he set his buttocks iust in his lap, but he scarslie touched the archbishops skirt, when the bishops and other chapleins with their servants stept to him, pulled him away, and threw him to the ground, and beginning to lay on him with bats and fists, the archbishop of Canturburie yeelding good for evill, sought to save him from their hands. Thus was verified in him that sage sentence, Nunquam periculum sine periculo vincitur. The archbishop of Yorke, with his rent rochet, got up, and awaie he went to the king with a great complaint against the archbishop of Canturburie : but when upon examination of the matter the truth was knowne, he was well laught at for his labour, and that was all the remedie he got. As he departed so bebuffeted foorth of the convocation house towards the king, they cried upon him, " Go traitor that diddest betray that holy man Thomas, go get the hence, thy hands yet stinke of bloud." The assemblie was by this meanes dispersed, and the legat fled and got him out of the waie, as he might with shame enough, which is the common panion and waiting woman of pride, as one verie well said, Cito ignominia jit superbi gloria." — " Chron." Vol.11, p. 169. Edit. I8O7. ABBOT PAPYLION DEPOSED. 39 writers differ as to the exact date. Ralph de Diceto says, that the Bishop immediately gave him his benediction before the High Altar in St. Paul's Cathedral *, and the convent received him in procession, having" a splendid entertainment in the refectory. Flete states that he did various good offices to the monastery, yet the only particular which he mentions is, that in seven years he disburthened it of a debt of 1500 marks. He died on the 4th of May, 1200, and was interred near the former Abbots. Ralph Papylion, or de Arundel, as he is called by Flete and Mat- thew of Westminster, though for what reason does not appear, since Diceto informs us he was born in the city of London "f, was chosen to succeed Postard. He was bred in this monastery, and had the character of being a studious and ingenious man, as well as a famed preacher. W hilst Almoner here, he was by Abbot Laurence appointed Prior of Hurley, in Bucking- hamshire, then a cell to Westminster, to which it had been granted by its founder, Geoffrey de Mandeville, in the time of the Conqueror. He was elected at Northampton, in presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and King John, who had commanded the monks to attend him in that town ; where, according to Diceto J, Papylion was chosen Abbot on the 30th of November, yet Matthew of Westminster says, on the 11th of the Kalends of September, following - his predecessor's decease. The particular acts of this prelate are not recorded, but he is said to have had quarrels with the Court, and to have governed his convent with a high hand. He was also accused of dilapidations and incontinency ; and the clamour made by the monks occasioned a visitation and enquiry by the Pope's Legate, Nicholas, Bishop of Tusculum, who came to Westminster on the Thursday after Michaelmas, 1213, and passed eighteen da\s at the Abbey examining into the alleged charges. He then departed to Evesham and Bardeney, the Abbots of w hich he deposed ; and on returning - hither at the commencement of the new year, pronounced sentence of deprivation against Papylion, whose official seal was publicly broken in the Chapter- house, on the morrow after St. Vincent's Day, and himself degraded four- teen days afterwards. The manors of Toddington and Sunbury were asr signed to him for his support by the Legate, and Nicholas, Abbot of Wal- tham, who had been made the acting agent in his deprivation ; and this * " Decern Scrip." Col. C89. f Ibid. 708. ♦ Ibid. 40 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. assignment, with the exception of the Church of Sunhury, was confirmed by the succeeding- Abbot. He died on the 14th of February, 1223, and, not- withstanding his exclusion from its rule, was buried in the nave or body of this Church ; he being - the first Abbot that was interred within the walls*. He wrote some Sermons and Homilies ; the latter have been praised by Lelandf, but whether they are now extant is uncertain. On the morrow after the Invention of the Holy Cross, 1214, the vacant Abbacy was conferred upon William de Himez, or de Humeto, a Nor- man by birth, and the last of that nation who presided over this Church J. He was descended of a good family ; of whom Richard de Humeto was Con- stable of Normandy in the reign of Henry the Second, and William in that of his successor Richard. He had been bred a monk of St. Stephen's, at Caen, and was from thence made Prior of Frampton, in Dorsetshire, which was a cell subordinate to St. Stephen's. Whilst in that situation he was nominated Abbot of Ramsey, by King John, in 1207, but the monks on that foundation refusing to accept him as their head, the indignant sovereign kept their Abbey vacant till the Pope's Nuncio appointed Humez Abbot of Westminster, after the deposition of Papylion. In this appointment there was a direct violation of the regular forms of election ; and even Giraldus, as quoted by W harton, in his " Anglia Sacra," blames the manner in which the successor of the deposed Abbot was substituted ; though he allows the deprivation itself to have been an act of justice. Humez was probably a man of considerable abilities, since we learn from Rymer, that shortly after his promotion he was appointed by King John one of his commissioners to treat of a peace between him and the King of France § ; he also accompanied William de Trumpington, Abbot of St. Alban's, to the fourth Lateran Council, held in the year 1215, by Innocent the Third ; and at a subsequent period we find that he and the Bishop of Salisbury, the Prior of the Holy Trinity, and the Abbot of Waltham, were the arbitrators in some disputes concerning jurisdiction between the Bishop of Lincoln and the Abbey of St. Alban's, and which disputes were settled by compromise in the Chapter-house of this monastery^. * " Chron. de Dun." p. 139. X " Decern Scrip." Col. 669, and 1105. || Matt. Par. In " Vit. Abb. St. Alb." p. 1)6. f " De Scrip. Brit." p. 246. § " Faedera," Tom. I. p. 191. 1T Matt. Par. In " Vit. Abb. St. Alb." p. 130. EXEMPTED FROM EPISCOPAL JURISDICTION. 41 On Whitsun-Eve (May the 16th) in the year 1220, Henry the Third, who was at that time a youth of thirteen only, commenced the new buildings of the Abbey, by laying the first stone of a Chapel in honour of the Virgin Mary, at the east end of the Church, on the spot now occupied by Henry the Seventh's Chapel. He was not, however, though denominated the founder both by Matthew Paris*, and Matthew of Westminster the only contributor to that edifice, since it appears, from the archives in the posses- sion of the Dean and Chapter, that many spiritual benefits were granted by the Abbot and Convent to those who aided the work ; and that various rents and tenements w ere given by private persons towards its completion J. The memorable controversy which had existed so long between the Bishops of London and this Church, in regard to the claim of a complete exemption from ecclesiastical authority, was determined in or about the time of Abbot Humez. The question was brought to issue by Eustace de Fau- conbridge, who, after having been one of the King's justices, chancellor of the exchequer, treasurer of England, and tw ice embassador into France, was at length advanced to the see of London ; and was consecrated at West- minster on St. Mark's day, 1221 §. Soon afterwards he sent a requisition to the Abbot and Convent, demanding " procession, procuration, visitation, ordination, and every other kind of jurisdiction whatsoever." The Abbot replied, that " being by former bulls, and by royal and other charters, ex- empted from all services, the)' could shew no submission to his power ||." The Bishop appealed to the Pope, so likewise did the Convent ; but the cause was eventually referred to the arbitration of Stephen Langton, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester, Richard Poore, Bishop of Sarum, and the Priors of Merton and Dunstaple. Before * " Sabbatho autem, in vigilia Pentecostes, inceptum est novum opus Capellac Bcatac Yirginis apud Westmonasterium, rege Henrico cxistcntc fundatore, ct priinum lapidem opcris in funda- mento ponente." Matt. Par. " Hist- Maj." p. 310. Edit. 1G40. f " Rege Henrico tertio existcnte ad hoc persuasore, fundatore, et primi lapidis in fundaniento operis positore." Matt. West. " Hist." p. 109. Edit. 1570. J Widm. " Hist, of West. Abb." p. 57. § Godwin, speaking of Eustace, " Cat. of Eng. Bish." p. 1Q2, says ; of his electors and election the following verses were made : Omnes hie digni, tu dignior omnibus, omnes Hie plene sapiunt, plcnius ipse sapis. || Matt. Par. In " Vit. Abb. St. Alb." p. 130. VOL. I. G 42 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. th ese prelates the monks pleaded a general exemption ; and in support of their plea produced a grant from St. Dunstan, the charters of various Kings, and several Popes' bulls, with which (though later inquiries have proved that the grant was not authentic, and thrown a doubt on the validity of the charters*), the arbitrators were so fully satisfied, that they declared the Abbey to be wholly exempt from the Bishop's authority, and subject alone immediately to the Pope. In some measure, however, to content the see of London, they ordained that the manor of Sunbury should be assigned to the Bishop, and the Church there to the Chapter of St. Paul's : this arrange- ment was made, partly, in consequence of the Church of Staines, with its appurtenances, being at that time fully vested in the monks of Westminster. Humez died on the 12th of the kalends of May, 1222, and was interred in the south walk of the cloisters. Richard de Berkynge, the next Abbot, is supposed to have been brought up in this Convent, of which he was prior at the time of his election. It had hitherto been customary for the new Abbots to receive benediction from the Bishops of London ; but Berkynge, feeling himself at liberty through the late award, and prompted, perhaps, by a desire to shew the entire independence of his monastery, chose to receive his benediction from the Bishop of Winchester, which he accordingly did on the 18th of Sep- tember, 1222. Soon after the election of Berkynge, a popular tumult, occasioned by the misconduct of the Steward or Bailiff' of this Abbey, was made the pretext for a most unprincipled invasion on the rights and franchises of the city of London, the inhabitants of which had fallen into much disgrace, in conse- quence of the support they had given to Lewis, the Dauphin of France, during the troubles in the time of King John, when Prince Lewis had been invited into England by the Barons, to enable them the more effectually to resist the arbitrary measures of the sovereign, and prevent the threatened distribution of their possessions among his bands of foreign mercenaries. For awhile the adherents of Lewis were successful, but the death of John, and the accession of the youthful Henry, caused an important change in public affairs ; and the French prince, through the politic conduct of W illiam Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke, was constrained to shut himself up in * Vide Wharton " De Epis. Lond.'' p. 7Q. TUMULT AT WESTMINSTER. 43 London, and ultimately to abandon his claims to the throne, and quit the kingdom. He stipulated, however, that the city should retain all its privileges ; and this attention to their interest proved so gratifying' to the citizens, that on his departure for France, they lent him 5000 marks to dis- charge his debts. These occurrences, aggravated, as it seems, by the remarks of Hubert de Burgh, the Chief Justiciary, impressed the mind of the new King with such an unfavourable opinion of the Londoners, that he constantly sought rather to overawe them by his tyranny, than to conciliate them by his kindness ; and when on any occasion he could be induced to relax from his general system, he took especial care to be well paid for his seeming courtesy. The particulars of the tumult which led to his first, direct violation of the liberties of the city, are thus related by our ancient historians. At a great Wrestling-match and " plaie of defence," held, between the " citizens and their neighbours of the suburbs," on St. James's Day, near the hospital dedicated to that saint, the Londoners " had the upper hand ; and amongst other that were put to the foile, the Steward of the Abbat of West- minster, with his folkes, went awaie with the worst, to their great griefe. Wherevpon the same Steward deuised another game of wrestling , to be holden at Westminster, on Lammas Day, next following, and that whosoeuer could get the vpper hand there, should haue a ram (or bell-wedder, as some saie) for the prize*." At this second meeting, the Steward having " got together out of all parts the best wrestlers that might be heard of, there was hard hold betwixt them and the Londoners f ;" but in the end, the Steward, from a principle of revenge, fell upon the latter with an armed party, and put them to flight, several being wounded, and the rest beaten. This treachery so highly incensed the populace, that they rang the common bell to assemble the citizens, and, notwithstanding the efforts made to disperse them by Robert Serle, the mayor, who would have referred the injury to the dis- cretion of the Abbot, they resolved upon vengeance ; to which, indeed, they were particularly excited by a rich citizen named Constantine Fitz-Arnulfe, who, " blowing the coles of contention, as it were, with full bellowes," represented that " it was in vain to expect justice from magistrates regard- less of the honour of the city, and they ought therefore, without delay, to let * Holinshed's " Chronicles," Vol. II. p. 352. Edit. 1807 . f Ibid. G 2 44 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. their enemies know, that the inhabitants of London were not to be attacked with impunity/' He then put himself at the head of the multitude, and crying " Montjoye St. Dennis," (which during the late troubles was the watch-word of the French, of whom Constantine had been a strong partizan) proceeded to Westminster, where he caused the Steward's house, and some other buildings belonging to the Abbey, to be razed to the ground, after which he returned in triumph to London. This outrage induced Abbot Berkynge to make complaint to Philip Dawbeney, one of the King's council, but whilst at his house in the city, he was himself assailed by the populace, who took aw ay twelve of his horses, and beat his servants without mercy. Dawbeney vainly endeavoured to appease the tumult ; and the Abbot was constrained to leave the house by a back door, whence making his Avay to the Thames, he escaped in a boat with much difficulty, the mob having pursued and showered stones upon him in great abundance*. Soon afterwards Hubert, the Chief Justiciary, went to the Tower, with " a power of armed men," and summoning the mayor and principal citizens before him, inquired for the instigators of the late riots. Fitz-Arnulfe, who was present, with a courage worthy of a better cause, avowed himself to be one ; and said, that " they had done no more than they ought, and were resolved to stand by what they had done." Hubert being highly incensed at this speech, ordered him to be hanged on the following morning, which was the morrow after the assumption of our Ladyj\ This sentence was accordingly executed, though when Constantine " had the halter about his necke," he offered the vast sum of 15,000 marks of silver to have his life spared. With him were hanged his nephew, and one Geoffrey, who " made the proclamation devised by the said Constantine ;" yet so little was the Justiciary satisfied by this severity, that within a few days afterwards, he again entered the city with a strong band, and causing many others of the rioters to be apprehended, had them barbarously muti- lated, some by the loss of an eye, and others of a hand or a foot, without any form of trial or legal proceedings whatever. Even these cruelties w ere not thought sufficient to requite the offence, and the Justiciary having next degraded the mayor and aldermen, set a Custos over the city, and obliged thirty persons of his own appointing to become sureties for the future con- * Matt. Par. p. 384. t Fabian's " Chron." p. 326. Edit. 1811. VISITED UNDER PAPAL AUTHORITY. 45 duct of the citizens ; who were forced to give validity to this oppression by an instrument signed with their own common seal*. The King, also, according to Stow, " tooke of the citizens sixty pledges, whom he sent to divers castles, and caused a great gibbet to be made ; but after heavie threatening^, and paying many thousand marks -\," the city obtained a restoration of its privileges J. Much rancour and ill-will, as well against the Abbey as the govern- ment, were excited among the citizens by these arbitrary proceedings ; and this state of animosity was continually augmented through the measures pursued by the King, who, during the course of his long reign, made divers grants of privileges to this monastery, which directly infringed on the city charters. He appears, indeed, to have constantly acted on the ungenerous principle of increasing the prosperity of Westminster at the expense of the inhabitants of London. In the year 1233, certain Abbots of the Cistercian and Premonstratensian orders were appointed by the Pope to visit the monasteries which had ob- tained exemption from episcopal supremacy; but these visitors " behaving indiscreetly, and too rigidly," were appealed against by the monks of West- minster, of St. Edmund's Bury, and of St. Augustin, at Canterbury, and their powers were in consequence recalled. In the following January this Abbey was visited by the Bishop and the Prior of Ely, under a commission from the Holy See ; but " they did nothing more than leave some statutes for the behaviour of the Abbot, of the monks in general, of those in the Infirmary, and of the Obedientiarii, or such as were in offices." Matthew Paris mentions a strenuous controversy between Abbot Ber- kynge and the famous Robert Grosse-teste, Bishop of Lincoln, concerning- * Vide Brady's Hist, of Eng. App. f Howe's Stow. p. 179. \ It would seem from Fabian ("Chron." p. 326) that these despotic acts of the King and his chief justice resulted from a " conspiracy' which Constantine had planned ; and which, he says, being disclosed by a citizen named Walter Bockerell, was " so heinous and grievous to the King, that he was in mind and purpose to have thrown down the walls of the city ; but when he had well conceived that the persons which intended this conspiracy were but of the rascals of the c ity, and that none of the heads or rulers of the same were thereunto consenting, he assuaged his ire and grievous displeasure." The severity of the punishment inflicted gives an air of credibility to this statement, yet as no other writer has mentioned any thing of a concerted plot, it is still probable that Fabian was mis-informed; and the more particularly so, because he has not recorded a single word of the tumults which originated at Westminster. 46 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. the jurisdiction of the Church of Keswel ; the Bishop having' forcibly ex- pelled the monk M ho was rector there, and denied the Abbot's right to the presentation. The dispute was at length settled through the interposition of the King, by the assignment of the Church to the Abbot, and of the vicarage to the Bishop. Berkynge was a person of considerable abilities ; and he has the cha- racter of having been a reasonable scholar, though not so deeply learned in divinity as his predecessors Gilbert, Crispin, and Laurentius. He was a great favourite and counsellor to Henry the Third ; and the influence which he possessed over that sovereign is very rationally conceived to have been a leading cause of the rebuilding of the At>bey Church. He was also distinguished as a statesman ; and became successively a privy-counsellor, chief baron of the exchequer, and lord treasurer of England. In 1245 he was constituted one of the lords justices of the kingdom during the King's absence in his Welsh wars ; and in the same year was excused by the Pope, on the King's intercession, from attending a council which the Holy Pontiff had summoned ; for " that he with the Bishop of Carlisle were the King's deputies or regents of England when he went abroad*." Berkynge is particularly praised for his prudence and experience in business, his care for and good ordering the affairs of his house, his affection for the monks, and his successful exertions for the advantage of his Church ; and Flete estimates his character so highly, that he proposes him as an ex- ample to all succeeding Abbots. Matthew of Westminster extols him as a discreet, competently learned, and well-behaved man-j"; and Matthew Paris agrees in the same testimony. His benefactions to the Abbey were numerous, as may be seen from the particulars in Dart's History J; but the following summary from Widmore will be sufficient to display the more material benefits that attended his rule. " He used the interest he had at court to obtain several charters for this place, as the charter of liberties and privileges called the Great Charter§, because larger and fuller than any before it ; another for eight bucks yearly out of Windsor Forest |[ ; and a third relating to fines and returns of writs * Matt. Par. p. 605. This author has given a transcript of the King's letter on the occasion. t " Vir prudens, et competenter literatus, et multis moribus decoratus." X " Westmonasterium," Vol. I. p. 27. § Anno Hen. III. 19. || Ibid. % Anno 2/. BENEFITS CONFERRED BY ABBOT BERKYNGE. 4? " From the Pope he obtained power to give the solemn benediction to the people, and the first tonsure to such of the monks as went into holy orders : these ceremonials belonged of common right only to bishops. " He purchased and gave to the Abbey estates to the value of three hundred marks yearly; the chief of which purchases Mas the moiety of the manors of Morton-Folet, of Langdon, and of Chadesley, in Worcestershire, from some of the female heirs of the family of the Folets. " He made a composition with the convent for the enlargement of the monks' allowance ; and in this and other respects so much to their satis- faction, that they procured a confirmation of it from Pope Gregory the Ninth. " In the way of devotion, also, he ordered the feast of the reliques of his Church, and especially that of the Translation of the Confessor, to be celebrated with more solemnity and magnificence than formerly*." Abbot Berkynge died on the 23d of November, 1246, after governing his monastery with great ability during upwards of twenty-four years -j*. He was interred within a marble tomb before the high altar in the new built Chapel of the Virgin Mary. That he was not buried with his predecessors in the Cloisters, most probably arose from the state of dilapidation in which the Abbey buildings now were ; the enlargement and re-edification of the Church having been but recently commenced by the King. * " Hist, of West. Abb." p. 41. f Among the monks of Westminster who became eminent during the abbacy of Berkynge, and whom he has the credit of having introduced into Henry's service, were Robert de Gras, and Theobald ; both of whom were Priors of Hurley, in Buckinghamshire, a cell to this monastery. Le Gras was at different times employed abroad in the King's affairs ; and had been made Abbot of Evesham, and keeper of the great seal: he was afterwards, in 124-1, advanced to the see of Lichfield and Coventry, but died before consecration, at Riola, in Gascony. Roger Black, another monk of Westminster, who flourished in Berkynge's time, had the degree of doctor of divinity conferred on him by the University of Oxford : he composed various " Sermons," and died in the year 1241. 48 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. HISTORICAL PARTICULARS OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY FROM THE ENLARGE- MENT OF THE CHURCH IN THE REIGNS OF HENRY THE THIRD, AND EDWARD THE FIRST, TILL THE DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERY BY HENRY THE EIGHTH. The reign of Henry the Third constitutes a most distinguished epoch in the history of this Church, since the greater part of the edifice was then rebuilt in the elegant and lofty style of architecture which still forms its primary character, and which about that period was adopted in almost all the ecclesiastical buildings throughout Europe. Whether Henry was induced to commence the re-construction of the Abbey from a pious veneration for the memory of Edward the Confessor, as affirmed in the rhyming Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, or whether he was prompted by a desire to rebuild the Church, as intimated by a modern writer, " according to the new mode which came into fashion after the Holy War*," is an enquiry of more curiosity than importance: the question admits not of a certain answer at this distant time ; and it is sufficiently obvious that the King might have been impelled as forcibly to the under- taking by a variety of motives, as from any single and particular cause. Matthew Paris, speaking of this sovereign, under the date 1245, says, " the King in the same year commanded that the Church of St. Peter, at Westminster, should be enlarged, and the tower with the eastern part over- thrown; to be built anew and more handsome at his own charge, and fitted to the residue or western partf." Thomas Wykes, another contemporary historian (who was a Canon of Osney Abbey, near Oxford, and whose Chronicle has been published by Gale), corroborates this statement of the new work having been executed at the King's cost, though without dis- * Vide Wren's " Parentalia," p. 296. + " Eodem anno Rex — Ecclesiam Sancti Petri Westmonasteriensem jussit ampliari, et dirutis, cum turri, muris partis orientalis, preecipit novos videlicet decentiores suis sumptibus construi, et residuo, videlicet occidentali parti, coaptari." P. 661. ELECTION OF ABBOT CROKESLEY. 49 criminating the parts rebuilt : he says that " the King", with the proceeds of his own Exchequer, erected the Church from the foundations It appears from Madox that a new office, Avith two treasurers, was established by the King for the receipt of the money which he appropriated to the rebuilding of the Church ; and that in the year 1246, the sum of £2591 due from the widow of one David of Oxford, a Jew, was assigned by him to that usef. One of the above treasurers was Richard de Crokesley, a native of Suffolk, and a monk of Westminster, of which he was also Arch- deacon. Widmore mentions him as being the first with that title he had met with ; and he imagines that no such officer was appointed here " till after the year 1222, when the precinct of the Abbey, and the whole parish of St. Margaret (at that time larger than at present) were declared exempt from the Bishops of London, and made a peculiar jurisdiction J." Crokesley was a man of considerable ability, but he did not possess that integrity and ingenuousness which form the most valuable portion of the sacerdotal character. On the Sunday before Christmas, in the year 1246, which was about a month after the decease of Abbot Berkynge, he was, on the recommendation of the King, unanimously chosen to fill the vacant abbacy. This unanimity of the monks, however, was not so much the result of an inherent respect for his good qualities, as from an apprehension that the sovereign might leave their Church in the dilapidated state in which it then was, if his request were not complied with. For some time the King- held this Abbot in much esteem, and through his influence made several beneficial grants to the monastery; he also procured for him and his suc- cessors, from the Pope, the liberty of saying mass fully habited in episcopal pontificals §. In 1247, on the day of the translation of Edward the Confessor, a vessel of blood, which in the preceding year had been sent to the King by the Knights Templars and Hospitallers in the Holy Land, and was attested by Robert, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, to have trickled from our Saviour's wounds at his Crucifixion, was presented with great ceremony to this Church. It was conveyed, says Fabian, with most solemn procession, " ye Kynge with great noumbre of his lordys beynge present," from " St. Thomas, of * " Ecclesiam monasterii Westmonasteriensis, quam idem rex — de propriis fisci regalis exitibus— a fundamentis construxerat." " Chron." in Gale's " Scriptores." f Hist, of the Exchequer/' p. 549. X " Hist, of West. Abb." p. 63. § Matt. Par. p. 716. VOL. I. II 50 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Acres," in Cheapside, where it had previously been kept, " vnto West- mynster, in right solempne wyse, with processyon & other accordynge obseruaunces, to suche a relyke apperteynynge*." The credulous monarch, according to Matthew Paris, carried this inestimable gift with his own hands, and on foot, from St. Paul's to the Abbey f . The dislike which Henry had imbibed against the citizens of London was much aggravated by an event which happened in the year 1248. The expensive profligacy of his conduct had involved him in considerable pecu- niary distress, and he assembled a Parliament at Westminster for the purpose of obtaining aid. This, however, the Barons, " who looked," says Holinshed, " for reformation in his dooings^, refused to grant, and he was plainly told that they would not impoverish themselves to enrich strangers their enemies §." Shortly afterwards he was constrained, for want of money, to sell his plate and jewels at a great loss ; and being afterwards informed that the Londoners had purchased them, he exclaimed passionately, " If Octavian's treasure were to be sold, the city of London would store it up||.'* As a means, therefore, of lessening the affluence of those " rustical Lon- doners, who call themselves Barons on account of their wealth," he in the same year devised the expedient of granting an annual Fair to the Abbot of AVestminster, to be held at Tut-hill, or Tot-hill (now Tothill Fields), at St. Edward's tide, " and to indure for fifteen days ; and to the end that the same should be more haunted with all manner of people, he commanded by * Fab. " Chron." p. 334. Holinshed says, — " The King comming to the Church of S. Paule, in London, receiued there the same hloud conteined in a christalline glasse, the which he bare vnder a canopie supported with four staues, through the streets, vnto the abbeie church of West- minster : his armes were also supported by two lords as aids to him all the waie as he went. The masters of the Templars and Hospitallers had sent this relike to the King. To describe the whole course and order of the procession and feast kept that daie would require a speciall treatise ; but this is not to be forgotten, that the same daie the Bishop of Norwich preached before the King in commendation of that relike, pronouncing six years and one hundred and sixteene daies of pardon, granted by the bishops there present, to all that came to reuerence it. Also the same daie, and in the same church, the King made his halfe brother William de Valence, and divers other yoong batchelors, knights." — " Chron." Vol. II. p. 415, edit. 1807- f Vide " Hist." p. 736, and " Additimenta," p. 161, where our author has given a particular account of this memorable gift, and what was then said for the satisfaction of those who doubted its genuineness. Paris was himself present at the ceremony. J Hoi. " Chron." Vol. II. p. ilfj. § Stow's " Annals," p. 278. II Ibid. INCROACHMENTS ON THE CITY. 51 proclamation that all other faires, as Elie, and such like, holden in that season, should not be kept, nor that any wares should be shewed within the citie of London, either in shop or without ; but that such as would sell, should come for that time vnto Westminster: which was done, not without great trouble and paines to the citizens, which had not roome there, but in booths and tents, to their great disquieting and disease, for want of necessarie prouision, being turmoiled too pitifullie in mire and dirt, through occasion of raine that fell in that vnseasonable time of the year*." All re- monstrances to the King were at this period ineffectual ; and so far was he from attending to the just complaints of the citizens that he gave them fresh marks of his rapacity by compelling them to present him with valuable new year's gifts. Shortly afterwards he constrained the city to give him 2000/. sterling; which sum, according to Dartf, (who does not mention his authority,) the King applied towards carrying on the works of the Abbey Church. Fabian, speaking - of this time, says, that the King was somewhat aggrieved with the citizens, " for so muche as they, at his requeste, wolde not exchange with the Abbot of Westmynster such lybertys as they had in Middylsex of y e Kynges graunte for other to be had in other placysj." In the year 1249, the Pope, by his inhibitory letters directed to Abbot Crokesley, gave order that neither Archbishop nor Bishop should compel any of the King's officers to answer before them on any plea appertaining to the royal jurisdiction, or pass sentence against them for non-compliance. This inhibition was obtained by the King on account of the Bishop of Lin- coln having excommunicated the sheriff of Rutland for not obeying his command to apprehend a contumacious priest, whom he had previously excommunicated on an accusation of incontinency. " About the same season," says Holinshed, " the citizens of London found themselues greeued verie sore for such liberties as the King granted to the Abbat of Y\ estminster, to the great hinderance and decaie of the franchises of their citie. The maior and communaltie resisted all that they might against those liberties, and finallie by the good helpe and favour of the earles of Cornewall and Leicester they obteined their purpose §." What the particular privileges were that occasioned this application does not * Holin. " Chron." Vol. II. p. 4lG. f " Wcstmonastcrium," Vol. I. p. 26. % Fab. " Chron." p. 336, edit. 1811. § Holin. " Chron." Vol. II. p. 419- n 2 52 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. appear ; but Matthew Paris acquaints us that after the citizens had been sternly repulsed by the King, they carried their complaints to the above earls, " who sharply rebuked the King, and cursed and abused the Abbot in such manner as was a shame to his dignity, and a scandal to repeat." In the same year, on a day in Whitsun-week, Crokesley entertained the General-Chapter of Friars Preachers, which had then assembled in Holbourn to the number of about 400 persons, and because " they had nothing of their own had meat and drinke found them of almesse." Henry, in the year 1252, having been disappointed in his attempts to obtain money from the clergy and nobles, who had, says the historian, " tuned their strings after one note," obliged the Londoners to present him with 20,000 marks of gold ; yet, notwithstanding this gift, the unworthy sovereign, in whose mind integrity had no place, again obliged the citizens to shut up their shops for fifteen days, and carry their merchandize for sale to " St. Edward's Fair," at Westminster : " which thing (by reason of the foule weather chancing at that time), was verie greeuous vnto them; albeit there was suche repaire of people thither, that London had not beene fuller to the iudgfement of old ancient men neuer at anie time in their daies to their remembrance*." It has been supposed, and with great appearance of probability, that the determined support which the King gave to this Fair was for the purpose of enabling the Abbot the better to carry on the rebuilding of the Church ; since his own extravagant expenditure, and lavish donations to his foreign kinsmen, frequently bereaved him of all he acquired by his multiplied ex- tortions. In 1254, however, according to a document quoted by Widmore, he gave a more decided proof of his desire to forward the work, by com- manding his treasurer and the Barons of the Exchequer to apply 3000 marks towards that end j\ Abbot Crokesley possessed considerable address and elocution, and through those qualities he was several times employed by the King on mis- sions to foreign powers. Thus, in 1247, he was sent to the Duke of Brabant to make proposals of marriage between Prince Edward and the Duke's daughter. Two years afterwards he was dispatched to the court of France with the design, as avowed, of obtaining licence from the King to visit Pon- * Holin. " Chron." Vol. II. p. 426. t " Hist, of West. Abb." p. 58. 1 INTOLERANCE OF THE ABBOT. 53 tiniac, in that kingdom, in order to pay his devotions at the shrine of St. Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury*; but, as shrewdly suspected, on other secret business : this was certainly the case in 1256, when he was engaged with the Bishop of Salisbury on a private mission to Alexander the Fourth, on affairs connected with the kingdom of Sicily, which the Arch-Pontiff, with the insidious intention of draining England of its riches, had bestowed on Prince Edmund, the King's second son. Notwithstanding these employments, Crokesley, during a considerable part of the intervening time, was held in much disfavour by the King, in consequence of the measures which he pursued to obtain a despotic ascend- ancy over his monastic brethren at Westminster. " The discord," says Mat- thew Paris, " was so great between the Abbot and his Convent that it be- came a scandal and disgrace to all the Benedictines, and infected the whole kingdom, and religion itself." It has been already stated that Abbot Berkynge made a composition with the monks in regard to their allowance, and other things, so much to their satisfaction that they had it confirmed by Pope Gregory. This in- strument of his predecessor Crokesley endeavoured to abrogate, but he was resisted by the Convent, and for a time, through the King's interposition, he remained quiet. When the Abbot, however, was in France in 1251, he made suit to Innocent the Fourth, at Lyons, for liberty to disannul the whole com- position, as well as to re-unite the estates of the monastery into one interest, and to assume an unlimited authority over the entire foundation. The Holy Father, influenced by the insinuating manners of Crokesley, and most pro- bably by his rich gifts also, granted him the powers solicited ; but the monks, previously to his return, deputed the ablest among them to state their case to the King, and intreat his protection. Henry, enraged at the Abbot's conduct, with an oath exclaimed, " that he should never have his ends and then, in allusion to the favours he had shewn him, uttered with great vehemence the well-known text of Scripture : " Pcenitet me J'ecisse hominem" At length, after a long absence, and such a profuse expenditure that he greatly involved himself in debt, Crokesley returned to England, bringing * This prelate, finding his measures continually thwarted by the Pope and the King, had gone into voluntary exile in France, where, dying of grief in 12-42, he had been buried at Pontiniac ; and a few years afterwards was canonized by Innocent the Fourth. 54 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. with him a " large retinue of armed men, and thinking by force to reduce the monks to a compliance with his measures." Shortly after his arrival, the court being at Windsor, he hastened thither, and having sung mass in his pontificals before the King, was afterwards admitted to an audience, in which he produced his new powers for assuming the absolute control over, and sole government of his monastery. Henry, however, with a deep feeling of scorn at his delusive practices, reproached him with the utmost indig- nation ; adding - , " that he had promoted him without the least merit, and had unadvisedly joined him to his Council — " and how," he continued, " can I rely upon your fidelity who endeavour to oppress and trouble your brethren, and ancient social commoners ?" He then ordered him to be expelled from his councils, and forbad him his presence. The Abbot, though thus opposed, did not immediately desist from his purpose, yet apprehending some ill consequences from the King's dis- pleasure, he agreed to submit his claims to the arbitration of William Button, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and John Mansel, Prior of Beverley, the King's favourite chaplain : it appears, also, from Matthew Paris, that Richard, Earl of Cornwall, the King's brother, had interested himself in promoting this reference. Under the award of the above prelates, a new composition was made, " by which the things chiefly objected to by the Abbot, as the being obliged to find flesh for the monks' dinners from Twelfth Day to Septuagesima Sunday, the being restrained from visiting the estates assigned to the Convent's share, or from removing the monks who were officers of the monastery, from their respective offices, were altered or qualified in his favour*;" yet, the arbitrators having also directed the return of three manors which " the Abbot had wrongfully kept in his hands," Crokesley complained of the award as unjust, and threatened to appeal against it to Rome. The King, whose great seal had been attached to the new agreement, as well as the seals of the Abbot and monastery, and of the two arbitrators -j", was so greatly irritated by this conduct, that the historian describes him as even " mad with anger," and pouring forth the most opprobrious abuse against the Abbot, mingled with oaths and execrations, for having so immeasura- bly wronged and aggrieved his favourite Convent. Still more to evince his * Widm. " Hist." p. 69. from the original instrument in the Archives. f Ibid. CONDUCT OF HENRY THE THIRD. 55 displeasure at the perverseness of Crokesley, and to requite the monks for their vexations, he, by a new grant to the Prior and Convent, ordained that on any future vacancy, his officers should enter only on what belonged to the Abbot, and not upon the goods of the Abbot and monks jointly, as had hitherto been the custom. To prevent the threatened appeal, also, he caused proclamation to be made by a public crier through the city, that no person should lend the Abbot money, nor take his note or seal for security*. Previously too to his sending Crokesley on his mission to the Pope, about the affairs of Sicily, in 1256, he obliged him to take an oath, and subscribe an instrument, binding himself not to attempt anything to the prejudice of the composition which had so lately been madef. It does not appear that the Abbot attempted to infringe his oath; though he did not return from Home till the latter end of the following year, having " suffered much by the treachery of the French, and the danger of the way." Shortly afterwards he was again dispatched, with the Bishops of Worcester and Winchester, the Earl of Leicester, and others, on an embassy to the Holy See ; and before his return, became some time resident at the court of Paris, in order to watch the conduct of the French King, who was supposed to be secretly preparing- for war. In the year 1258, Crokesley seems to have entirely regained the King's favour; an event to which his subserviency to Henry's interest on a particular occasion greatly contributed. Matthew Paris, who relates the transaction, and highly censures the Abbot for his inconsiderateness, informs us that the King, " by fair and inveigling arts, so infatuated the man, that he prevailed on him to give an obligation, under the conventual seal, for the sum of 2500 marks ; thereby affording a precedent for other monasteries to be fleeced." This was at a period when Henry, though greatly in want of money, had been refused aid by the Parliament, through the flagitious breach of his solemn engagements to observe the provisions of Magna Charta and other ordinances which the Barons had devised for the general good. Crokesley 's bond was intended to become a precedent to other Abbots, yet when taken to the Abbot of Waltham, by Passeleve, Arch-deacon of Lewes, one of the King's minions, with a request that he would subscribe to a similar instru- ment, it was met by a direct refusal ; the Abbot saying, that " Westminster * Matt. Par. p. 817—842. t Rymer's " Foedcra," Tom. I. p. 598. 56 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. had such peculiar obligations to the King as might, perhaps, excuse thenl for so extravagant a compliance with his necessities ; but that neither him- self nor his convent would concern themselves with it." The Abbots of St. Alban's and Reading gave a like answer; so that Crokesley's example had not its expected influence. His servility, however, was rewarded by the situation of a baron of the exchequer*; and shortly after he was appointed one of the twelve persons on the King's part, who, in conjunction with twelve others to be chosen by the nobles, were to take in charge " the governance of the realm," as determined by the Parliament held at Oxford, in June, in the above year. By the same Parliament it was enacted that all " the Poictovins should avoid the land;" an ordinance that was especially directed against the King's relations, whose multiplied extortions and ty- ranny had become insupportable. Within a few days after, another Parliament or Council was held at Winchester, of which See the King's half-brother, Ethelmar, was the Bishop. Here, after an entertainment given by Henry's kinsmen, who vvere now on the eve of their departure, " there was a bruite raised that the Poictovins had practised to poison most part of the English nobilitie ; divers of whom were grieuouslie tormented with a certaine disease of swelling and breaking out, whereof some died, and other some verie hardlie escaped." Among the sufferers were Abbot Crokesley, and William de Clare, brother to Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester ; and the Earl himself very narrowly escaped with the loss of his hair and nails. Walter Scotenie, the earl's steward, was charged by William de Clare, when on his death-bed, with having administered the poison ; and though no certain proof of the fact could be obtained, he was declared guilty by a jury, and suffered accordingly f. The Abbot's decease took place on the 18th of July, 1258. His remains were very honourably conveyed from W inchester, says Matthew Paris, and buried in his conventual Church at Westminster. Flete informs us that he * Dugd. " Chron. Jur." and " Ann. Burton," p. 412. f " When those that were impannelled vpon that iurie," says Holinshed, '* were asked by the iudges how they vnderstood that he should be giltie, they answered, bicause that where the said Walter was neuer indebted, that they could hear of, either to William de Valence, or any of his brethren, they were fullie certified that he had of late receiued no small sum of monie of the said W. de Valence to poison both his maister and other of the English nobilitie as was to be thought, sith there was no other apparent cause why he should receiue such a gift at the hands of their enimie, the said William de Valence." " Chronicles," Vol. II. p. 448. ABBOTS CONFIRMED AT ROME. 57 was interred in St. Edmund's Chapel (near the north porch), which he had himself caused to be erected ; yet his body was afterwards twice removed, on different occasions, as will be mentioned hereafter, Matthew Paris, who was a contemporary with Crokesley, speaks very highly both of his person and accomplishments. He describes him as being extremely eloquent, with a happy voice and mien, and well skilled in the civil and common laws: to this he adds, that he was an especial friend of the King, and was much waited on by the great, whether at home or on his foreign embassies. Within four days after the decease of this prelate, the King granted the custody of the " Barony of the Abbot of Westminster" to Adam de Easton*; and the second day afterwards, issued his license to the monks to proceed to a new election. The choice fell upon the then Prior, Philip de Lewesham, who was so named from his birth-place, near Greenwich, in Kent ; but he being a man of a gross and corpulent habit, could not be prevailed on to accept the abbacy, till the monks had engaged to send delegates to Rome to procure him a dispensation from making a journey to that city. The necessity of this application to the Holy See was the consequence, says W idmore, of the monastery getting itself exempted from the jurisdiction of the Bishops of London, and becoming immediately subject to the Pope ; for by the 26th canon of the fourth Lateran Council (held in 1215) the exempt Abbots of Italy were to be confirmed by the Pope himself ; and iu 1257, the year before the election of Lewesham, this canon was extended to all other exempt Abbots, wheresoever, by a constitution of Pope Alexander the Third f. Many inconveniences, and a vast expense arose from, and were entailed upon Westminster by this ordinance ; yet it was not till after the lapse of 220 years, that the monks could get it dispensed with, and then only through the pressing solicitations of the King, Edward the Fourth, and the annual payment of one hundred florins to the Pope's collector J. Though some of the ablest of the monks had been dispatched to Home to excuse the non-appearance of Lewesham, they did not succeed without great opposition from some of the Cardinals, and at an expense of more than 800 marks. On their return, they found that all their labour was lost; * Newcourt's " Repertorium.'' f " Hist, of West. Abb." p. 71. X Ibid, from the Archives. VOL. I. J 58 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. the new Abbot having died at the latter end of October, and been consigned to his grave : the place of his burial is not known. It would seem that the King had still kept the temporalities of the abbacy in his own hands, since he is recorded to have assigned, about this period, 1000 marks from the Abbot of Westminster's estate, towards the further- ance of the new works*. In the two following years, also, he presented, on the plea of the Abbey being vacant, to two different Churches belonging to this foundation. In the beginning of December, 1258, Richard de Ware, or Warren, was chosen Abbot, by what was then called compr -omission ; which implies a choice committed to a few persons by consent of the elective body, and Avas a mode of appointment much in vogue at that era. Shortly afterwards he went to obtain confirmation at Rome, where he remained two years, having been obliged to borrow 1000 marks for his expenses, upon hard conditions f. The rebuilding of the Church had now been carried on about sixteen years ; and from a Latin document " in the hand of that time J," yet re- maining in the Archives, it appears that the entire charge of the operations from the commencement of the same, till the Sunday after Michaelmas, 1261, (45th of Henry III.) had amounted to 29,345/. 19s. Sd. independently of 260/. still remaining to be paid for French stone (probably Caen stone), lime, wages, and other things. The disputes between the city of London and the monks of West- minster, in regard to their respective privileges, were still continued ; and the King, in the autumn of 1262, " passed a quest," according to Fabian, " of xii knyghtes of Myddlesex, sworne vpon a iurye, atwene the abbot of Westmynster and the cyte, for certayne pryuyieges that the cytezens of Lodon claymed within Westmester : where, by the said iury, it was founden, before Gilbert of Prestone, than chief baron of the kynges excheker, that the shyreffes of London, at those dayes, myght laufully enter into the towne of Westmester, & al other tenementes y l the abbot thenne had w'in Middlesex, and vnto y € gate of the sayd abbey, and there to make summons, and distrayne, for lacke of apperance, all and eueryche tenaut of the sayd abbot§." ' The long series of aggravated oppressions Avhich the citizens had been * Cott. Lib. *» Faustina/' A. 111. f Widm. p. 72. from the Archives. X " Hist, of West. Abb." App. No. IV. § « Chronicles/' p. 351 . Edit. 181 1 . THE NEW CHURCH OPENED. o9 subjected to by the King, occasioned them to take a very decided part against him in the Barons' wars ; and after his defeat and captivity at Lewes, in the year 1264, they obtained a surrender of the several charters which he had given to Westminster to their disadvantage. Within two years after- wards, however, when the signal victory obtained by his eldest son, Prince Edward, at Evesham, had fixed him on his throne, he again renewed all his grants in favour of the Abbey. In the year 1267, the numerous obligations which the King had con- ferred on this monastery were in some measure returned by the loan of " the shrines of saints and other jewels and reliques of the Church of West- minster*;" which Henry pledged to certain merchants for great sums of money, in order to raise soldiers in France and Scotland. The attempts made by Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, to excite a new war against him, he was by this means enabled to resist, as well as to reduce the insur- gents in the Isle of Ely, whom he had hitherto unsuccessfully besieged. During the commotion, the earl obtained possession of London, and some of his troops greatly injured the King's Palace at Westminster ; " breaking the glasse windows and defacing the buildings most disorderlief." They also " spoiled the towne of Westminster, and the parish Church, and brake into the Abbey," which they plundered of goods that had been left there for safety, but did no damage to the property of the monks. W hen quietness was restored, and the pecuniary affairs of the King became more flourishing, he redeemed the rich jewels and other valuables belonging to the Church, and returned them honourably On the 13th of October, 1269, the new Church, of which the eastern part with the choir and transept appears to have been at that time completed, was first opened for Divine service ; and on the same day, the body of Edward the Confessor, " that before laye in the syde of the quere, where the monkes nowe synge§" Avas removed with great solemnity, " into ye Chapcll at the backe of the hygh aulter, and their laydc in a ryche shryne||," which the King had caused to be made for its reception. The vast pomp that ac- companied this ceremony may be appreciated from a passage in Thomas Wykes, who, speaking of Henry the Third, proceeds thus: — " This Prince * Holinshed's " Chron." Vol. II. p. 4?1 ; and Matt. West. p. 340. f Ibid. } The obligation by which the King bound himself to restore the borrowed articles may be seen in Rymer's " Fiedera," Tom. 1. p. 841. § Fabian's " Chron." p. 366. || Ibid. i ° 60 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. being- grieved that the reliques of Saint Edward were poorly enshrined and not elevated, resolved that so great a luminary should not lie buried, but be placed high on a candlestick, to enlighten the Church. He therefore, on the 3d of the Ides of October, the day of Edward's first translation, summoned the nobility, magistrates, and burgesses of the land, to West- minster, to attend so solemn an affair ; at which time the chest being taken out of the old shrine, the King, and his brother the King of the Romans, carried it upon their shoulders in the view of the whole Church, and his sons, Edward (afterwards King), and Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, the Earl of Warren, and the Lord Philip Basset, with as many other nobles as could come near to touch it, supported it. with their hands to the new shrine, which was of gold adorned with precious stones, and eminently placed in the Church *." The renown of the Confessor is so associated with miracles, that it would have been a miracle indeed if this translation had not been attended by one. Accordingly, we are told by Matthew of Westminster, that Be- nedict, a clerk of Winchester, and John, a layman from Ireland, being- possessed by devils, came purposely to receive benefit from this saint on the day of his removal; and that on seeing his chest exalted, the devils were instantly cast out ! After the ceremony of the translation was over, and many rich offerings had been made, the King gave a magnificent feast to a great multitude of all ranks and degrees of the assembled company f. * Dart, from Wykes's " Chron." p. 88. f The solemnity and splendour with which Henry the Third was accustomed to celebrate the day of St. Edward, and the festival of his translation, may be seen from the following particulars, as given by Dart, from Matthew of Westminster. " On the vigil of this saint the King with those nobles who attended the solemnity, were clothed in white garments, and spent the vigil in strict fasting, watching and prayer, and acts of charity, remaining all night in the Abbey Church : the next day he gave orders that solemn mass should be sung in the Church, the choir being clothed in vestments of the richest silk (which he had presented for the purpose), and the Church illuminated with innumerable wax tapers, and the finest music. The feast of his translation was likewise very magnificent ; and at these feasts the King generally took care to call his parliament, and transact the great affairs of the nation." Hist. p. 344. Strype, also, in his excerpts from the Tower records, informs us, that in the year 1255, when Henry was in the north, and prevented by urgent business relating to Scotland, from being present at the approaching solemnity of St. Edward's translation, he commanded, by his letters dated at Werk, — " Philip Luvel, his treasurer, and Edward of Westminster, his son, in the faith and love GIFTS OF HENRY THE THIRD. 61 It appears from a record cited by Bishop Kennet, tinder the date 1270, that the sum of 3754/. paid by the Lady Alice Lacy, for eleven years custody of her son's estate, had been applied towards the furtherance of the works of the Abbey Church*. Henry the Third died on the 16th of November, 1272, and within four days afterwards, with as much solemnity as the time would admit, he " was buryed vpon the south syde of Saynt Edwarde in Westminster - ]"." The following verses are given by Fabian, as having been " wryten in a table hangynge vpon ye tombe of the sayd Henry J." Tercius Henricus iacet hie, pietatis amicus : Ecclesiam strauit istam quam post renouauit. Reddat ei munus qui regnat trinus et vnus. The gifts which this sovereign made to St. Peter's Church, inde- pendently of the great sums he had caused to be expended in rebuilding it, were extremely munificent. They consisted, says the historian, of robes, jewels, and curious vessels, which were beheld with admiration and astonish- whereby they were held bound to the King, that they keep the said feast, together with the venerable fathers, the Bishops of Sarum, Norwich, Bath, Chichester, and the neighbouring Abbot and Prior, whom he had invited ; and that they solemnly celebrate it at the King's cost, and for the poll of the King and Queen, and their children, so much to be offered (scil. de 36 Almuciis nomine eorum offerri), in their name; and that they cause to be touched the silver cross upon the great altar at Westminster ; and that they offer one plate of gold, of the weight of one ounce, in the King's name, as is customary in the solemnity of the mass of the said Edward, as though the King himself was present ; and to fill the King's two Halls at Westminster in the said feast (with people), and cause them to be fed, as hath been accustomed to be done; and cause solemnly to come to Westminster, on St. Edward's Day, the procession of the Church of St. Margaret, and all the processions of the city of London, with wax lights, and their other processions, as the King hath likewise commanded the mayor and the other honest men of London." — " And that nothing, not even vows, might obstruct his solemnization of this feast the next year, viz. 1250", he obtained a Bull from Pope Alexander to enable him to dispense with a vow which he had made never to eat flesh on a Saturday. This is directed to ' His dear son in Christ, Henry, King of England,' and is to the following import. ' Whereas, &c. it is signified to us that you are bound by vow to abstain from flesh on Saturdays ; we yielding to your requests, indulge, by the authority of these presents, your excellency, that if the feast of the translation of St. Edward happen to be kept on a Saturday, it may be lawful for you to cat flesh, notwithstanding such a vow ; and We will, that you be bound for this, to feed an hundred poor on the same day.' This Bull hath a leaden seal, with strings of yellow and red silk." * " Parochial Antiquities," p. 2/1. f Fab. " Chron." p. 369. t I bi(l - m WESTMINSTER ABBEY. ment, and would liave copiously enriched even a royal treasury*. Among these valuables were the following, as particularized by Strype in his ex- tracts from the Tower records. " In the 28th year of his reign, he commanded Edward Fitz-Odo to make a dragon, in manner of a standard, or ensign, of red samit, to be embroidered with gold, and his tongue to appear as though continually moving, and his eyes of sapphires, or other stones agreeable to him? to be placed in this Church against the King's coming thither." Again, " In the 30th of his reign, he commanded the keeper of his exchequer to buy out of the monies there, as precious a mitre as could be found in the city of London, for the Abbot of Westminster's use ; and also, one great crown of silver to set wax-candles upon in the said Church." — And again, when the Queen set up " the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the feretry of St. Edward," — " The King caused the aforesaid Edward Fitz-Odo, keeper of his works at Westminster, to place upon her forehead for ornament, an emerald and a ruby, taken out of two rings which the Bishop of Chichester had left the King for a legacy." Among the additional privileges with which this sovereign invested the Abbots, were those of holding a weekly market at Tuthill (called Tout- hull in the grant) on Mondays, and an annual fair of three days continuance ; that is, on the eve, the day and the morrow of the festival of St. Mary Magdalen : this grant was dated at Windsor, in his 41st year. Henry, also, by different grants, gave eight bucks to the Abbot, with liberty to make a park in Windsor Forest ; and a warren of ten acres and a half. Even in dying, the advance of this Church was among the last subjects which occupied his thoughts; and by his will, he committed the completion of his plan to his eldest son (who had been named Edward from his favourite saint), together with 500 marks of silver to finish the Confessor's shrinef. In October, 1273, at the solemnization of the obsequies of Prince Henry, son to Edward the First, in this Church, the Archbishop of Canter- * " Donaria regalia, vel potius imperialia in pallis, gemmis et vasis mirificis qua? oculos intuentium in admirationem, et conla moverunt ad stuporem, ita ut inter omnes ecclesias cisal- pinas, et, si fas est dicere transalpinas ecclesia Westmonast thesauro regali copiosa abundaret." Matt. West. p. 321. t " Et fabricam ecclesiae beati Edwardi Westmonasterii lego et committo praefato Edwardo primogenito meo perficiendum ; ad feretrum vero ipsius Edwardi beati perliciendum lego quin- gentas marcas argenti, &c." Nichols's Royal Wills, p. 16. ITS PRIVILEGES MAINTAINED. 63 bury attended to perform the ceremony ; yet Abbot Ware would not permit him to officiate but at the especial request of Prince Edmund, the King's brother, and after a protestation from the Archbishop, that the indulgence " should not prejudice the privileges of the Abbey, nor be drawn into ex- ample." This was not the only occasion on which the Abbot strenuously upheld the privileges of his Church, as may be evinced from the following instances. In the year 1281, when Archbishop Peckham, as appears from Parker's " Antiquities," summoned a provincial council, to meet at Lambeth, the exempt Abbots refused to obey the summons ; and on the Archbishop per- sisting in his mandate, those of Westminster, St. Alban's, Waltham, and St. Edmund's Bury, appealed against it to the Pope, as an infringement of the rights of all the exempted Abbeys : the Archbishop, however, main- tained his authority ; and the adverse prelates were obliged to submit to his supreme command. Again, in the latter part of his rule, Abbot Ware had a memorable dispute with the Bishop of Worcester respecting the Priory of Great Malvern, which had been a cell to Westminster from the period of its foundation. The then Prior, being a vicious man, had been ejected by the Bishop, who directed the monks to choose another in his room ; but on the person thus chosen applying for confirmation to the Abbot, the latter, feeling highly indignant that such measures had been pursued without his concurrence, committed him to prison. This greatly offended the Bishop, and he im- mediately excommunicated the Abbot, together with all those whom he had employed in the affair ; he likewise appealed in support of his own power, to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and to the court of Rome. The Abbot, with the firmness that distinguished his character, resisted the Bishop's claims, and the difference was eventually adjusted by the interposition of the King ; when the right of Westminster over its cell was established, and the new election vacated. The Bishop, how ever, in the w ay of compromise, had some lands belonging to the Priory united to his see*. Abbot Ware was frequently employed, both by Henry the Third, and his successor Edward, on missions to foreign parts. In the year 1267, we find him at Rome : and on his return from that journey, as conjectured by Wid- * Widm. " Hist." p. 77; from *' Antiquities of Gr. Malv." 64 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. more, he brought with him the materials of the very curious mosaic, or tessellated pavement, which still interests, though in ruin, in the choir before the altar. In 1271, he was sent to the King of France, about the county of Agen*. In 1276, he was dispatched by Edward to the Pope, with powers to lay the King under an obligation to go himself to the Holy Land, or to send his brother in his stead in the next proper season for a passage thitherf. In 1278, he was commissioned to treat of a marriage between Margaret, the King's daughter, and the son and heir of John, Duke of Brabant ; and in the following year he was again sent to the Duke on the same business He also attended the second council at Lyons, held by Pope Gregory, in 1274 §. About the year 1280, Abbot Ware was appointed treasurer to the King, and he died whilst possessed of that office, on the 2d of December, 1283. His death was sudden, and according to the " Chronicle of Dunstaple," he was not much lamented by his Convent, on account of his austerity. He was buried on the north side of the choir, beneath the pavement which he had caused to be laid ||. * Rymer's " Fcedera," Tom. I. p. 873. t Ibid. Tom. III. p. 103. % Ibid. p. 131. § Prynne's " Hist, of Papal Usurpations." || By the direction of Abbot Ware, in the early part of his government, there was a work compiled, which, had it been now extant, must have afforded a very curious insight into the internal arrangements of this Church. It was a Collection of the Ancient Customs and Usages of the Monastery, in four volumes, made by William Halseley, the then sub-prior, between the years 1261 and 1266. The fourth volume, which is stated by Widmore to have been " unhappily de- stroyed by the fire in the Cottonian Library, in October, 1731," is described by Dart (" West- monasterium," Vol. II. p. xxvi.) as a fair manuscript on vellum, in folio. It treats, he says, " of the duties of the Abbots and other officers j and was kept as the most valuable, which appears by this note prefixed. — Pars quarto, et a tribus alijs partibus idcirco separatur, et perse Igitur in conclavi ponitur, quia secretiora nostri ordinis in ipsa continentur." — This may be translated, as follows, " The fourth part is therefore separated from the three others, and placed in a closet by itself, because of the secrets of our order in it contained." The ensuing verses are given by the same writer, as inscribed at the end of the volume. Hoc opus accepit in Caelis qui dominatur Et nomen praestat auctori quod mereatur, Secum regnare post finem mortis amare : Vel sic Inter Sanctorum turbas regnare suorum Fitiito Libro sit Laus et Gloria Deo. BURIAL OF QUEEN ELEANOR. 65 During the vacancy occasioned by the death of Ware, the King com- mitted the keeping of the " Barony of Westminster" to Malcolm de Harlow; and in the mean time the monks, by compr omission, elected Walter de Wenlock, one of their own brethren, on the vigil of the Circumcision, and this choice was approved by the King on the 22d of January, 1284. In February, the new Abbot, with a retinue of thirty persons*, proceeded for confirmation to Rome ; from Avhich city he appears to have returned in June, as his temporalities were restored on the 10th of that month. Flete has stated this Abbot to have been treasurer to the King, but Widmore, from the archives (14th of Edward I.) informs us, that he was treasurer to the Queen, only, and that he had the assistance of some of the monks in the execution of that office. In the year 1290, " vpon the euyn of seynt Andrewe, or the xxix day of Nouembre, dyed quene Elyanore the kynges wyfe, and was buryed at Westmynster, in the chapell of seynt Edwarde, at ye fete of Henry the thirde, where she hathe ii. wexe tapers brennynge vpon her tumbe, both daye and nyght, which so hath cotynued syne the day of her buryinge to this present dayef." The King was greatly affected by the decease of his consort, and he assigned various manors and hamlets (of the annual value of 200/.), to this Church, for the charges of a perpetual religious service and anniversary, in honour of her memory and virtues %. Dart says, that when the Queen was buried the Abbey was under interdiction, in con- sequence of a dispute between Abbot Wenlock and the Prior of Winchester, with the See of Canterbury, concerning the coronation ; and that the Arch- bishop would not officiate for that reason §. There seems, however, to be some great mistake in this, since the coronation had taken place so far back as August, 1274; and it is very improbable that the Church should have been interdicted in 1290, when the disagreement had originated so many years before. If the interdiction actually existed at this period, it must * Prynne's " Hist, of King John." f Fabian's " Chron." p. 393. X Widm. " Hist, of West. Abb." p. 78. The gifts of the King for the above purpose, consisted of the manors and hamlets following, viz. " The manors of Briddbroke, in Essex; Westerham and Edulinebrugge, in Kent; Turveston, in Buckinghamshire j Knolle and Grafton, with the hamlets of Alspathe, Buleys, Hulverlee, Witlakesfield, Kynewalds Hey, Notehurst, Langedon, and Did- ington, in Warwickshire." Westmonasterium, Vol. II. p. xxvi. § Ibid. VOL. I. K 66 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. have arisen from some other cause ; most likely from the schism respecting the monk Pershore, of which Widmore has given the ensuing particulars. " About the same time (that is, of the interment of Queen Eleanor) there was a controversy between the Convent and the Fryars-minors, on occasion of one William Pershore, who, having been first a monk at Per- shore (in Worcestershire), and afterwards a fryar, had left these last, and was entertained as a monk at Westminster ; which was, it seems, by the privileges granted to their order, not allowable. The Fryars had great friends : Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury, had been of this order, and was now conservator of their privileges ; and the Fryars applying to him on this occasion, he excommunicated the Abbot and Monks, and when these appealed to Pope Nicholas IV., who had also been a fryar, the matter went so far against them, that they were obliged to acknowledge the rights of the Fryars to reclaim a fugitive ; the Abbot was to submit himself to the Arch- bishop, and pray absolution ; the Convent was to deliver up Pershore, if in their power ; the Abbot and Monks suspected of letting Pershore escape, were to purge themselves by oath ; such as refused so to do, were to be sent to the Pope ; and the Convent was condemned in 200 marks, 100 being for costs of suit, and the other, if so much was requisite, for finding out or re- covering the deserter. The costs were afterwards made up for sixty marks, which were paid for the help of two poor houses of the Friars, Winchelsea and Lichfield*." On the 13th of December, 1291, the heart of Henry the Third was delivered by Abbot Wenlock to the Abbess of Font Everard, in Normand} , to which foundation that prince had promised it; his grandfather Henry the Second, and his uncle Richard Cceur de Lion, having been interred there : his body, however, was suffered to remain at Westminster, which he had himself appointed as its burial-place, by deed, in 1245, when he com- menced the rebuilding of the Church f. In the year 1297, according to Stow's Annals, the King offered at St. Edward's shrine the Chair, sceptre, and crown of gold, of the Scottish sovereigns, which he had brought from the Abbey of Scone. The Chair enclosed the celebrated prophetic stone, or palladium of Scotland, which the tradition of ages had named Jacob's Pillow, and which is still preserved * Widm. " Hist." p. 78, 79; from the Archives. f Ibid. p. 80. BUILDINGS DAMAGED BY FIRE. 67 within the frame-work of the present Coronation chair. King Kenneth, when he removed it to Scone in the year 850, is said to have had " cut in it*" the following distich. Ni fallat fatum, Scoti quocunque locatum Invenient lapidem, regnare tenentur ibidem f. Stow, under the date 1298, has this passage, " The 29. of March, a vehement fire being kindled in the lesser hall of the King's Palace at West- minster, the flame thereof being driven with the wind, tiered the monasterie adioining, which with the palace were both consumed Widmore states this fire to have happened in 1297, and says, " it did a great deal of damage to some buildings belonging to the Abbey: to assist the Convent in the repair of which, a license was procured from the Pope for the appropriation of two Churches in their patronage §. Dart, speaking of the same event, fixes it in March, 1299; when the fire, he says, extending westward from the palace, " seized the roof, and burnt down great part of the Church:" towards " the repairing of which the King and the succeeding Abbots con- tributed largely ||." Of these varying testimonies that of Widmore is undoubtedly to be preferred : Dart's account is not supported by any ancient authority ; and is indeed fully contradicted by the general tenor of his own history. This mistake arose from a misunderstanding of a passage in Flete, who states that Pope Clement the Ninth, on the solicitation of the King, the Abbot Wenlock, and the Convent, granted the " Churches of Kelvedon and Sabridgeworthe" towards the repairs^; not of the Church, which was not burnt, but of the monastic buildings, which had been partially consumed. In the year 1298, a bond for 250/. was given under the conventual seal of this monastery, towards the ransom of John de Saint John, governor * Dart's w West." Vol. II. p. 12. + Philemon Holland, in his translation of Camden's " Britannia," has thus amplified the above lines. Vide Scotia, p. 42. Except old saws be vaine And wits of wizards blind, The Scots in place must raigne Where they this stone shall finde. \ Howes's Stow, p. 207. § " Hist - of West - Abh -" P- 80. || " Westmonasterium," Vol. I. p. 28. 11 Flete " In Vit. Ab. Wenlock," in Cott. Lib. K 2 68 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. or general for the King", in Aquitain ; who, in attempting to relieve a besieged castle, had been taken prisoner by the French. The sum de- manded for his liberty was so exorbitant, that he, himself, had not the means to raise it ; and King Edward recommended his case to ten of the richest monasteries in England, when the Abbeys of Westminster, Glasten- bury, Peterborough, Evesham, and St. Edmund's Bury, agreed to con- tribute to his ransom ; but those of Ramsey, Abingdon, Waltham, St. Alban's, and Hyde, refused. The feelings excited in the King's mind by this opposite conduct, was shewn by his ordering, that the contributing monasteries should have all possible favour afforded them in the Court of Exchequer, and that the others should have justice done them, but no favour shewed*. In the year 1303, the King's treasury, " at that time somewhere within the Abbeyf," was robbed to the amount of 100,000/., which had been laid up for the service of the Scottish wars. The Abbot and forty-eight of the monks were in consequence committed to the Tower ; and notwithstanding their protestations of innocence, and request to be tried, twelve of them were kept two years in prison, the depositions against them being such, as caused great suspicion of their having been concerned in the robbery J. At length, on Lady Day, 1305, the King, who had come to Westminster to return thanks for his triumph over the Scots, gave orders for their discharge ; yet Walsingham remarks, that " the persons so directed to discharge them, detained them eight days longer out of pure malice." In September, 1305, a Council was assembled at the New Temple, to consider of the terms of a pacification between England and Scotland, the latter country having recently submitted to Edward's arms. The Council consisted of an equal number of commissioners, English and Scotch ; and Abbot Wenlock was one of the two Abbots whom the King appointed, with two Bishops, two Earls, and several lay Barons, to act on his part in this important transaction. During the last year of Wenlock's life, another contention arose re- garding the composition which had been made by Abbot Berkynge, and * Widm. " Hist." p. 81. t Ibid. Dart says, the treasury " was in the Cloisters," " West." Vol. II p. xxvii. \ Vide " Comp. Thesaurarii," anno 33d of Edw. I. and Rymer's " Fcedera," Tom. II. pp. 930, 938. GIFTS OF ABBOT WENLOCK. 69 occasioned so much dispute in the time of his successor, Crokesley. Several of the provisions of this agreement were kept unfulfilled by Wenlock, not- withstanding the frequent representations of the Prior, who at last appealed to the Pope. This conduct so exasperated the Abbot, that he not only deprived the Prior of his office, but likewise excommunicated him, together with one of the monks who had supported the appeal. To strengthen his own cause, also, he gave 200/. to Piers Gaveston, the great favourite of Edward the Second, who had then but recently ascended the throne. Some of the monks, said to be " the serious and better part" of their body, sided with the Prior ; and on a proper representation being made by them to the court of Rome, the Prior was restored, and the monk absolved. Before the business was entirely adjusted, however, the Abbot died; having previously covenanted with the monks to observe the composition as a matter of favour, though not of right*. The decease of Wenlock occurred on Christmas Eve, 1307, at his manor of Pyreford, or Purford, in Surrey. He was at that time one of the presidents of the Benedictines ; " who by a canon of the second Lateran council, were directed to hold triennial chapters, to form constitutions for the general regulation of their order, to appoint visitors, censure defaulters, and raise money for general purposes." The most eminent of their body being principals of monasteries, were chosen to preside at these chapters, which were usually held at Northampton, as a central place. This Abbot has the character of having governed his Church with much prudence ; and to have re-purchased the manors of Dwrhurst and Hardwick, with several hamlets in Gloucestershire, which had been granted in fee-farm by Gervasius de Blois, and were then held by William de Walesdun, at the annual rent of 341. He also recovered the offices of Ser- jeant of the vestry and of the butlery, which had been alienated by the same person ; and besides the gift to his Church, of several houses in King street, W estminster, he bequeathed to the Convent all his silver vessels, consisting of dishes, salts, &c. to the amount of fifty pounds weight. He was buried on the south side of the mosaic pavement in the choir j". * Widm. f Hist." p. 82. f The historian usually called Matthew of Westminster, and also Florilegus, from his work intituled, " Flores Historiarum," is supposed by Wharton and Bishop Nicholson, to have hardly survived the year 1307, in which he ended his history; though it was afterwards extended by 70 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. On the 28th of October preceding Wenlock's decease, the body of Edward the First was brought from Waltham, and interred with great magnificence in this Church, on the south side of St. Edward's Chapel ; his exequies being performed by the famous Anthony Bee, Patriarch of Jeru- salem, and Bishop of Durham, who had erected the palace at Eltham, and given it to Queen Eleanor. This prince was by no means distinguished for his attachment to the church ; the constant extortions of the court of Rome, and the general rapacity of the priesthood, having excited in him the strongest disgust against ecclesiastical tyranny. He therefore, to repress the power and insolence of the priests, and to prevent them obtaining possession of the entire kingdom, devised the statute of mortmain, that it might " be a bridle to their inordinate lusts and riotous excesse*." With the exception of the estates which he granted to found the anniversary for Queen Eleanor, his donations to this foundation were but few; and chiefly consisted of the Scottish regalia before-mentioned, and certain reliques of saints and martyrsf. The rebuilding of the Church was proceeded with during the whole of his reign, the new work being carried forward from the choir and transept to the nave. Sir Christopher Wren, but on what authority does not appear, says, that " the stone vault was performed twenty -three years" after the death of Henry the Third |. other persons, and particularly by Adam Murimuth, an eminent civilian, and canon-regular of St. Paul's, who continued it down to 1380. Widmore says, "if he were a monk of Westminster, as is generally supposed (and here his continuator Murimuth found the book) his name could not be Matthew ; for there is not one of that christian name in all the various lists of the monks from before the year 1300, yet remaining in the Abbey." In a manuscript of his history, how- ever, which belonged to the warlike Spencer, Bishop of Norwich, so early as the time of Richard the Second, the author is styled Matthew ; it is therefore probable that was his real name. Dart states, that besides his Flowers of History, he is likewise said to have written an " History of Westminster," and another of "St. Edmund's Bury." Bale, Pits, and Vossius, probably through mistaking the labours of some of his continuators for his own, affirm that he flourished in 1377' * Holin. " Chron." Vol. II. p. 554. f The following were the chief reliques given by this sovereign : the thigh-bone of St. Leonard, the Abbot ; a gown stained with the blood of St. Edmund, the Bishop and Confessor, and the knife with which he was embowelled, together with his mitre, ivory comb, &c. : a rib of St. Cecilia, and part of the oil of the tomb of St. Katharine, with other remains. Eleanor, his Queen, gave to the monks, a finger of St. Nicholas, the Bishop and Confessor, with other bones, and oil from his tomb. { " Parentalia," p. 296. ELECTION OF ABBOT SUDBURY. 71 On the 25th of February, 1308, at the coronation of Edward the Second, and his Queen, in this Church, the throng was so excessive, that Sir John Bakewell, or Black well, was pressed to death by the crowd. The monks regarded this accident as a judgment of Heaven in their favour, the un- fortunate knight having given umbrage to the Convent, by resisting certain of its claims. The successor of Abbot Wenlock was Richard de Kedyngton, or de Sudbdry, a native of Suffolk, who had been a monk in the priory of Sudbury (which was a cell to Westminster), in that county, and is thought to have been born in the neighbouring village of Kedyngton. He, like his two immediate predecessors, was chosen by compr omission, on the 26th of January, 1308 ; yet his abilities being considered as inadequate to the functions of the office, and his character being an immoral one, he was twice refused confirmation by the King. The monks, however, who managed his election, and who are represented as alike vicious with himself, having secured the property of the late Abbot, were enabled, by a bribe of 100/. to the profligate Gaveston, not only to obtain the approval of the sovereign, but also a letter from him to the Pope in favour of Sudbury. The papal court was then at Avignon, and thither the Abbot elect proceeded for his final confirmation ; yet his claims were so vigorously opposed by some of his monastic brethren, that the Supreme Pontiff would not conform to his wish till he had consented to pay the vast sum of eight thousand florins ! An evident proof, if such testimony were wanting, that lucre had greater influence over the court of Rome, than either religion or honesty. Sudbury did not return to England till 1311 ; in which year, on the 13th of April, his temporalities were restored. In the intermediate period, various irregularities were committed here ; and the King found it expedient to issue a commission to five persons, all or most of them Judges*, em- powering them to visit the monastery, to enquire into the causes of the prevailing disorders, and to punish the offenders. The government of Sudbury is not distinguished by any event of particular importance. Flete briefly remarks, that he followed the steps, and consulted the honour of his predecessor Wenlock in all things; and that * YVidm. " Hist." p. 84; from the Archives. 72 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. he could not find that any thing had been left by him for an anniversary, as had been customary with former Abbots. He died on the 9th of April, 1315, and was buried under the lower pavement in the choir*. At the time of his decease he had discharged only one fourth of the sum which lie had agreed to pay for his confirmation ; yet the remainder was rigorously exacted, notwithstanding the succeeding Abbot had made it his plea, and had influenced the King to support him in it, that Pope Clement the Fifth (with whom the agreement had been formed, and who died in the year 1314), had ordered that all monies due to him, which remained unliquidated, should be remitted after his deceasef. In 1321, however, after 5500 florins had been paid, the then Pope, John the Twenty-second, excused the pay- ment of the remaining 2500 florins. William de Curtlyngton, called also Carthington, and Curli?igton, who succeeded Sudbury, was elected on the 24th of April, 1315, per viam Spiritus Sanctis which is explained to mean by the special influence of the Holy Ghost J; this influence being conceived to be particularly exerted whenever all the electors quickly agreed in chusing the individual nomi- nated as a proper person. The King assented to his election, and by his letters, dated June the 11th, recommended him to the Pope. Shortly after- wards he proceeded to Rome, but the papacy being then vacant, he procured the attestation of William Deacon, Cardinal of St. Nicholas, to whom he had submitted his vouchers, that he had applied for confirmation within three months, the time limited for the purpose by an ordinance of Pope Nicholas the Third: this was at Valence, in Dauphiny, whither the Cardinals were then assembled. In the following year Curtlyngton returned to England, but no- thing remarkable is recorded of his government. He died on the 11th of September, 1333; and was buried before the altar of St. Benedict, in the soutli part of the transept. He built a new and handsome manor-house at * In the time of this Abbot lived John Bevere, a monk of Westminster, called also John de London, and Castor, and Fiber, " who wrote a History from the age of Eneas till nearly the end of Edward the First's reign ;" which Mr. Hearne was preparing for the press at the period of his own decease. Widmore says, he was living in 1310, but was then infirm, and that he found not any mention of him afterwards. " Hist, of West. Abb." p. 85. f Vide Rym. " Fcedera," Tom. III. p. 679. % Widm. " Hist." p. 86; from the Archives. RIGHT OF VISITATION DISPUTED. 73 Islip, in Oxfordshire, where Edward the Confessor was born, though not on the immediate site of the birth-place of that sovereign : he also rebuilt the manor-house at Sutton, in Gloucestershire*. On the decease of this Abbot, the Prior and Convent obtained the keeping of the temporalities by the payment of a fine of 100/. Thomas Henley, one of the treasurers of the monastery, was then chosen to succeed Curtlyngton, and had the King's assent on the 30th of September. He was afterwards confirmed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Pope's name, and obtained full possession of his new dignity on the 29th of June, 1334. In the following year he had license from Edward the Third to absent himself from the Abbey for seven years, in order that he might pursue his studies at the university of Oxford. Though this circumstance would seem to imply that he was very deficient in learning ; yet we learn from Reynerf, that he was twice chosen a president of the triennial chapter of Benedictines, held at Northampton, within a few years of that time ; namely, in 1340, and 1343. This prelate had a long contest with the King's treasurer respecting the right of visiting the hospital of St. James, which had been originally founded, at a remote period, for fourteen leprous maidens, by some citizens of London, and was endowed by them with two hides of land, held of the Abbots of Westminster. In the course of time the hospital had been visited by different Abbots, but as some of them were treasurers to the King, it was now contended that those visitations had been made in that character, and not in right of their abbatial dignity. Henley, on the contrary, affirmed that several Abbots who had not been treasurers, and in particular his im- mediate predecessor, had visited there, and had made regulations, corrected abuses, and devised penances for offenders. As the dispute could not be amicably arranged, it was, at length, in June, 1342, brought before a jury, who gave a full verdict for the Abbot on these grounds; first, that the hospital was within the parish of St. Margaret, where the Abbots had immemorially possessed an exclusive jurisdiction, * In the time of this Abbot lived Robert de Rending, a monk of We tminster, who wrote Annals from the 28th year of Edward the First (anno 1 299), to the year 1325 ; and which were continued by others to the year 13(x). Bishop Tanner considers Reading to have been the au- thor of the first part of the " Flores Hist." attributed to Matthew of Westminster. t " De Antiq. Benedict. Angliae." VOL. I, L 74 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. which had been confirmed to them by certain Bulls of Pope Clement the Third ; and secondly, that the Abbots, and no other persons, had solely exercised every kind of visitatorial power over the said foundation. Not- withstanding this verdict, the suit was continued by the treasurer, and was still pending, when both himself and the Abbot died. Widmore says, " an author" intimates that the next treasurer, William de Edyndon, Bishop of M inchester, " succeeded in depriving the Abbey of its right, through the indolence of Abbot Byrcheston*." The decease of Henley took place at Oxford, on the 29th of October, 1344; six days after which he was interred in this Church, under the lower pavement of the choir. He has the praise of having been a benefactor to the monks, by remitting nine dishes of meat, six conventual loaves, and three flagons of beer, which they had been accustomed to supply daily for the Abbot's table, whenever he was at Westminster, or at the manor-house of Neyte ; as also thirty pieces of oak timber, yearly, from their wood at llendon. He likewise gave a costly pastoral staff to the Abbey. Simon de Byrcheston, the next Abbot, was elected on the 10th of November, 1344; and having been confirmed by the Pope, he had his temporalities (which during the vacancy had again been in the keeping of the monks), restored on the 23d of March following. In August, 1345, the King granted him permission to absent himself from his Convent for three years, that like his predecessor,/he might pursue his studies at Oxford. During the short period that Byrcheston was Abbot, he ran the monastery greatly in debt by his wilful extravagance, and the support which he gave to dishonest retainers, and prodigal relations f. In one particular, however, he may be regarded as a benefactor ; since, on the condition of an anniversary for himself, at the annual charge of about eight pounds, he assigned to the Convent all the profits of St. Edward's Fair, which belonged to the Abbot's portion, to be applied to the work of the cloisters, and of the monks' parlour, which were then building ; and when those should be finished, to the repair and upholding the fabric of the Churchy. This Abbot died on the 15th of May, 1349, of the dreadful plague, * " Hist, of West. Abb." p. 88; and Cott. Lib. Cleopatra, A. xvi. -f- " Qui locum ilium ore alieno, propria superfluitate, fraude familiarium, atque parentum vastatione nimis oneratum reliquit." Cott. Lib. Cleopatra, A. xvi. f. 158. J Widm. " Hist." p. QO; from, the instrument in the Archives. BENEFACTIONS OF ABBOT LANGHAM. 75 which about that period had extended its ravages over great part of the globe. About that time, also, twenty-six of the monks fell victims to the same dire calamity; and are supposed by Fuller*, to have been all buried in one grave, in the south walk of the cloisters, under the remarkably large stone called Long Meg. The Abbot was interred in the east Avalk of the cloisters, near the entrance to the chapter-house. About a fortnight after Byrcheston's decease, the celebrated Simon Langham, afterwards Archhishop of Canterbury, and Cardinal of Praeneste, was chosen to succeed him ; and having within a few months been confirmed at Avignon, by the Pope, he had his temporalities restored on the 16th of September following. This distinguished prelate, who was a native of Langham, in Rutlandshire, does not appear to have been a monk of this Church before the year 1335 f. In 1346, he officiated as proxy for Abbot Byrcheston, in the triennial chapter of Benedictines, held at Northampton; and in April, 1349, he became Prior of Westminster, from which station he was raised to the abbacy, as above stated. The many eminent services rendered by Langham to this monastery, not only during the twelve years he continued Abbot, but likewise at various other periods of his elevation, have enrolled his name among its principal benefactors ; and he is spoken of, by its annalists, in strains of deserved eulogy. Soon after he was made Abbot, he paid 2200 marks to discharge the debts of his predecessors Henley and Byrcheston ; which debts had been contracted, partly by the former, in law charges to maintain the right of visitation over St. James's hospital, and partly by the latter, through extravagance and neglect : he also paid 200 marks for which the Convent stood engaged, and re-purchased the office of Serjeant of the cellar, which had been granted out and become an heir-loom. These acts he was enabled to perform, by living frugally, with the surplus produce of the abbatial estates. He likewise gave to the monks from the Abbot's portion, a garden railed the Bourgoigne, lying within the close, or precinct. His disinterestedness equalled his liberality; for he would never, says Flete, " accept any gift or present from the Convent, as had been usual with his predecessors ; but declared that he thought the monks' portion rather too small. He took care, too, that the misericordia, or superior dishes or * " Worthies/' Vol. II. p. 104. Edit. 1811. f Wic!m. " Hist." p. 91 3 from " Comp. Camer." anno Edvv. Ill 76 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. dinners, should be partaken of by the whole community, and not, as had been customary, serve only to feast a few." Besides remedying these and other abuses, he has the still greater praise of having restored the discipline of the Convent to such an excellent state, that, according to the same writer, he was " in the judgment of the old monks, worthy to be equalled to the founder." This change, however, he could not effect without great pains and study; the many insolent, perverse, and capricious tempers which he had to contend against, in so numerous a body, rendering it a matter of much address and resolution*. The superiority of Langham's talents and character obtained him the favour of Edward the Third, who in November, 1360, promoted him to the office of lord treasurer of England. In the following year he was made Bishop of London, but the See of Ely becoming vacant before he had received confirmation, he preferred the latter as the most beneficial, and was consecrated on the 20th of March, 1362. Within two years after- wards (February the 19th, 1364), the King, who had now experienced his wisdom and abilities as a statesman, appointed him lord chancellor; and on the 24th of July, 1366, the Pope translated him to Canterbury, " with the Kinges good likingt." On this occasion " some merry fellow made these verses ; Laetantur ceeli, quia Simon transit ab Ely; Cujus in adventum flent in Kent millia centum J." There does not, however, appear to have been any real foundation for the censure conveyed by the above lines; on the contrary, this prelate is treated with a particular respect in the " Lives of the Bishops of Ely," published by Wharton §. The successors to that See were certainly indebted to him for a grant from the King, directing that on a vacancy, " the stock and implements of husbandry belonging to the Bishopric should not be seized on, but only the profits or income of the estates." He also, while Bishop there, held a diocesan synod, in which he caused several canons to be passed to rectify abuses, and regulate the conduct of his clergy ||. Langhani was invested with his metropolitan pall, in St. Nicholas * " Quantaque industria quorundam insolentias, abusiones, singularitates, superfluitates, ct malitias extirpavit." Flete. t Godwin's " Cat. of Engl. Bish." p. 143. } Ibid. p. 272. § Vide " Anglia Sacra/' Vol. I. p. 66'3. || Widm. " Hist." p. 94. LANGHAM MADE CARDINAL. 77 Chapel, in this Church, by the hands of John Barnet, Bishop of Bath and Wells, who succeeded him in the See of Ely. He continued Archbishop but little more than two years, during which time he issued a decree to regulate the payment of tythes in the city of London; made a strict enquiry into the state of pluralities throughout his diocese ; and ejected (somewhat unfairly) that brilliant luminary of the reformation, John W icliffe, from the mastership of Canterbury Hall, at Oxford, in which situation he had been placed by the late Archbishop, Simon Islip, its founder*. In September, 1368, Pope Urban the Fifth conferred upon Langham the dignity of Priest-Cardinal, which appears to have been an unsolicited promotion ; but the Archbishop having accepted it without the knowledge of the King, the latter was highly displeased, and immediately seized on the temporalities of the See as on a vacancy. Being unwilling to contend the point, though instances had been known in which the Pope had allowed the persons so promoted to hold their former benefices in commendam, he retired to Otford (a metropolitan seat in Kent), and after living in privacy a few months, proceeded to Montifiascone, in Italy, where the papal court was at that time held. Shortly afterwards he received the title of St. Sixtus, and was presented by the then Pope, and his successor, Gregory the Second, with ecclesiastical dignities in this kingdom, to the amount of upwards of 1000/. per annum f: they consisted of the deanery of Lincoln; the arch- deaconry and treasurership of Wells ; the archdeaconry of York, and the prebend of Wistowe in that church. In the year 1371, Cardinal Langham was appointed by the Pope, with the French Cardinal de Beauvois, to mediate a peace between the crowns of France and England ; and in the same year he returned to this country as Nuncio for that purpose. His legation, however, was not successful in its main object; yet, whilst he continued in England, a peace was concluded, through his mediation, between the King and the Earl of Flanders. In the following year, on his arrival at the papal court, at Avignon, he was charged with not having sufficiently maintained the ceremonial of his dignity, as Cardinal, whilst in the Royal presence; but having cleared him- self of this, he was shortly afterwards made Cardinal-Bishop of Pneneste. On the decease of Archbishop Wittlesey, in July, 1374, the monks of * Widm. " Hist." pp. 94—97. t Ibid. p. 98, from the Archives. 78 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Canterbury (to each of whom Langham had given a piece of gold when passing through their city on his late journey), made a postulation for his being restored to that See*. This so highly exasperated the King, that he determined to banish the monks for their insolence, and confiscate their effects ; nor was it without some difficulty and expense that he could be prevailed on to depart from his resolution. In the following year, during the raging of a great plague in England, the Cardinal obtained from the Pope two bulls, granting full pardon of their sins to all who had made con- fession and died penitently. " It appears," says Widmore, " by letters yet remaining in the Archives, that about this time he was much set upon founding some chantries, both at Westminster, and at Kilburn, and on rebuilding the west part of the Church : for endowing the former he gave 1000 marks to purchase an estate of forty marks yearly ; and towards the other he gave 600 marks, and was very pressing to have the work go forward as fast as might bej*." The chantry at Westminster, as we learn from Bishop Godwin, was intended for four monks, who should daily say mass for the souls of himself and his parents % ; Thomas, his father, having been buried in the nave of this edifice §. Flete states that the manor of Bekeswell, and a mill at Mulesham, or Moulsham, in Essex, were secured to the monks with the money thus given . Cardinal Langham died at Avignon on the 22d of July, 1376, of a palsy, with which he had been seized a day or two before, as he sat at dinner. His body was first deposited in the new Carthusian Church, near Avignon ; but three years afterwards it was brought to Westminster, agree- ably to the directions of his will, and interred in the Chapel of St. Benedict, at an expense to the Convent of nearly 100/. besides the cost of his tomb. The Cardinal died very rich, and by his will, after making numerous bequests to different persons and foundations, he left the residue of his * " Anglia Sacra." Vol. I. p. 749. In the canon law, when a choice is made under cir- cumstances, where a known impediment exists, the electors are obliged to proceed by way of •postulation ; that is, the chapter beseeches the person to whom the right of confirmation belongs, to approve of the election, though it be not canonical. Wiquefort remarks, that when a part of the chapter elects, and another postulates, the number of postulants must be twice as great as that of the electors, to bring the matter to a postulation. f Widm. " Hist, of West. Abb." p. 99. % " Cat. of Engl. Bish." p. 144. § Dart's " VVestmonasterium," Vol. I. p. 30. ELECTION OF ABBOT LITLINGTON. 79 property, consisting- of silver and gilt vessels, money, robes, vestments, books, jewels, &c. his rings excepted, towards the building of the Abbey Church * 5 together with whatever remained unpaid of the revenues accruing from his ecclesiastical dignitiesj". Nicholas Litlington, the then Abbot of Westminster, and John Boukenhull, one of the monks, are named among the executors to his will, which is dated June the 28th, 1375. The value of his benefactions to this monastery amounted to the vast sum, in those times, of 10,800/. as recorded in the following lines. Res, iEs de Lang-ham tua Simon sunt data quondam Octingentena librarum millia dena. Flete represents this prelate as possessing- great capacity, superior wis- dom, and powerful eloquence ; and he is by other writers characterized as a man of extensive knowledge, and of a generous mind. He was well qualified for business, and, generally speaking, conducted himself with much pro- priety and honour in all the various stations of his life. He is said by Pits j, to have written a " Book of Customs," and some " Sermons," but it does not appear that any of his works are extant. When Abbot Langham was advanced to the See of Ely, in April, 1362, Nicholas Litlington, the Prior, was chosen to succeed him. He had been a monk here before his predecessor; and according to Flete, was a very active person, and had much benefited the Convent by procuring, in free gift, the custody of the Abbot's temporalities during three vacancies ; the first time by his favour with the Queen, and at the other times directly from the King. He had likewise, says Widmore, " improved the estate of the convent at Hyde, now Hyde Park, and also at Bamflete in Essex, without * " De residuo vero omnium rerum et bonorum meorum ubicunque reperta fuerint dispono et ordino per modum qui sequitur, videlicet, quod omnia bona mea in vassella argentea sive deau- rata, sive in pecunia numerata consistant, necnon vestimenta omnia ad divina officia deputata, non legata ac paramenta capellarum mearum et libros omnes et singulos, pannos aureos et deauratos et aurifrizata quaecunque, mitram quoque et signacula cruris deaurata et alia jocalia omnia, annulis exceptis, lego fabricae monasterii Westmonasterii prope Londoniam in Anglia." f " Residuum vero dictorum fructuum et omnia alia bona mea quaecunque et qualiacunque, ubicunque reperta fuerint, lego fabricae monasterii Westmonasterii predict!." + In his work, " De lllus. Ang. Scriptoribus," Dart says, that in the time of Langham's Abbacy, about 130O, " lived John H ilton, a monk of this house, said to be of great learning and piety j his works are contemplative, as appears by their titles/as The Clock of Wisdom: i>f God's Benefits: Sting of Compassion: and some Homilies." Westmonastcrium, Vol. II. p. xxxi. 80 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. any charge to the house ; for which service he had, whilst Prior, an anni- versary allowed him ; this was esteemed an unusual and very great favour*. The munificent bequests made by Cardinal Langham to this Church, enabled his executor, the Abbot, to expend considerable sums on the cloisters and out-buildings of the monastery; which he appears to have done in preference to bestowing them on the Church itself, as certainly intended by the Cardinal. By this means, and through the great quantity of rich plate and other valuables which Langham's bequests enabled him to bestoAv upon the Convent, he has obtained a considerable degree of that praise, which, of right, belongs only to the original donor. Still, however, his memory is deserving of high respect, since, in addition to the proceeds of his executor- ship, there is reason to believe that he expended much of his own income on the various edifices that were raised during his government. " In the January preceding his election," says Widmore, " an high wind had blown down most, if not all, of the Abbot's manor-houses ; these he rebuilt within three years, and better than they were before. No Abbot, indeed, ever set his mind more upon improving the buildings, and bestow- ing rich furniture upon the monastery. He built the present college-hall, the kitchen, the Jerusalem chamber, the Abbot's house ; the houses of several officers, as the bailiff's, the celarer's, the infirmarer's, and the sacrist's, the great malt-house, and the tower adjoining ; the stone wall of the infirmary garden, the water-mill, and the stone wall, or facing, to the mill- dam : he likewise finished the south and west sides of the great cloisters. " He gave to the great hall as much plate of different kinds as weighed ©ne hundred and four pounds ; and nearly an equal quantity for the use of the Abbots, his successors, together with forty pounds weight for the miseri- cordia room: for this benefaction it was agreed that he should always, at the grace after meals, be prayed for particularly, and by name. He like- wise gave to the Abbey a fine mitre, which cost 100 marks, a pastoral staff', value 15/., a great missal, and two large chalices for the high altar. He like- wise presented new furniture of all sorts, as priests' vestments, chalices, a censer, a bell, a basin, and a pix, all of silver gilt, to the Abbot's Chapel: besides service books, both to that and to the chapel of the infirmary''^. The manor of Burlingham, in Worcestershire, which was then held in fee * Widm. " Hist, of West. Abb." p. 102. f " Hist, of West. Abb." pp. 102, 103. RIGHT OF SANCTUARY VIOLATED. 81 farm at the annual rent of 11/. is also enumerated among the Abbot's gifts to the Church, as well as " two Books of the Coronations," marked N, and X, the initials of his name*. In the year 1378, the right of sanctuary possessed by this Abbey, was, for the first time, violated ; and the Church itself was made the scene of a most atrocious murder. The particulars of this event are thus related by our ancient chroniclers. At the battle of Nayars, or Najara, a small town on the frontiers of Castile, in Spain, the Earl of Denia, a Castilian nobleman, was made prisoner by Frank de Haule, and John Schakell, esquires to Sir John Chandois ; and he was afterwards adjudged to them as a lawful captive by the said knight, and Edward, the Black Prince, under whose banners the battle had been fought. The Earl was brought to England, where Frank de Haule dying, bequeathed his share in the prize to his son Robert, who, in con- junction with Schakell, permitted their prisoner to return to Spain, in order to procure money for his ransom. The Castilian, however, who had been obliged to leave his son and heir as an hostage with the two esquires, " departed this life before he made any payment, so that his lands fell to his sonne that remained in gage for the monie." Some years afterwards, when John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, had in right of Constantia of Castile, his wife, laid claim to the crown of Castile, he influenced the King, Richard the Second, to demand the young earl from his keepers, conceiving that by his means he should be better able to pursue his intended enterprize. Haule and Schakell having secreted their captive, refused to comply, and were in consequence committed to the Tower, from which they soon effected their escape, and took sanctuary at Westminster. The Duk« was greatly incensed at being thus thwarted; and in a consulta- tion with the Lord Latimer, and Sir Ralph de Ferrers (two of the Council which governed the kingdom during the minority of Richard), it was de- termined that Sir Ralph, with Sir Alan Boxhull, Constable of the Tower, should by force seize the two esquires at Westminster, and re-convey them to prison. " The morrow therefore after Saint Laurence daie, being the eleventh of August, these two knights, accompanied with certeine of the King's VOL. I. * Dart's " West." Vol. II. p. xxxi. M 82 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. seruants and other, to the number of fiftie persons, in armour, came into the Church at Westminster, whilest the said esquires were there hearing of high masse which was then in celebrating ; and first laieng hands vpon John Schakell, vsed the matter so with him, that they drew him foorth of the Church, and led him streight to the Tower. But when they came to Robert Haule, and fell in reasoning with him, he would not suffer them to come within his reach, and perceiuing they meant to take him by force, he drew out a falcheon, or short sword, which he had girt to him, and there- with laid so freelie about him, trauersing twise round about the monks quier, that till they had beset him on each side, they could doo him no hurt. Howbeit, at length, when they had got him at that aduantage, one of them clove his head to the verie brains, and another thrust him through the bodie behind with a sword, and so they murthered him among them : they slue also one of the monkes that would haue saued the esquire's life*." These barbarous acts, connected as they were with such a sacrilegious violation of sanctuary, occasioned a vast outcry among all ranks. The Abbey Church was shut up about four months, as profaned by the murder "j" ; and the Archbishop of Canterbury, with five of his suffragan bishops, openly pronounced excommunication against Sir Ralph Ferrers, Sir Alan Boxhull, and all others who were concerned with them, either as principals or abettors, with the exception of the Duke of Lancaster, whose near relationship to the King was the cause of his being especially exempted by name. This sentence, for a long time after, was repeated by the Bishop of London, at St. Paul's, on every Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday. The Duke Mas grievously offended at these proceedings against his * Holin. " Chron." Vol. II. p. 720 ; from Walsingham. The spot where Haule fell w;>.6 long pointed out by the following lines, inscribed on the pavement. M. Domini C. ter, septuaginta, his dabis octo Taurini celebrem plebe colente diem. Hie duodena prius in corpore vulnera gestans, Ense petente caput Haule Robertus obit. Cujus in interitu libertas, cultus, honestas, Planxit militiae immunis Ecclesiae. The festival of Taurinus here mentioned, was held on the llth of August. According to the Romish legends, Taurinus was Bishop of Evreux, in Normandy, in the first century. Haule was buried in the south part of the transept, f " Niger Quaternus," f. 88. ITS PRIVILEGES PROTECTED. 83 friends, and caused the Bishop of London to be summoned to a Council at Windsor, " but the Bishop would not come, nor yet cease the pronouncing of the curse, albeit the King" had requested him by his letters*;" upon "which the Duke said openly, that the " Bishop's froward dealings were not to be borne with, and that if the King Mould command him, he would gladly go to London and fetch that disobedient prelate, in dispite of those ribaulds (for so he termed them) the Londoners. These words procured the Duke much evill will, as well of the Londoners as of other ; for it was com- monly said, that whatsoever had been done at Westminster, concerning the murther there committed in the Church, was done by his commandementf." Shortly afterwards a parliament was held at Gloucester, in which Abbot Litlington protested with great boldness against the violaters of the sanctuary of the Abbey Church ; and it was ordained in the next parliament, which assembled at Westminster in the following year, that all the privileges of the Abbey should remain inviolable ; with a proviso, that the lands and goods of those who took sanctuary to defraud their creditors, should be liable to seizure in discharge of their debts. Though the Duke's protection seems to have been sufficiently powerful to secure the murderers of Haule from suffering in person, as they truly deserved, yet the two principals, Sir Ralph Ferrers, and Sir Alan Boxhull, covenanted to pay 200/. to the Abbe}' by way of penance. Sometime after Schakell was set at liberty, he having compounded with the King, who agreed to give him 500 marks in ready money, and lands to the annual amount of 100 marks, for the ransom of his captive. " This is to be noted," says Holinshed, " as a thing verie strange and wonderful, that when he should bring forth his prisoner, and deliver him to the King - , it was knowne to be the verie groome that had serued him all the time of his trouble, as an hired servant, in prison and out of prison, and in danger of life when his other maister was murthered. Whereas, if he would have vttered himselfe, he might have beene entertained in such honourable state, as for a prisoner of his degree had beene requisit ; so that the faithful! loue and assured con- stancie in this noble gentleman was highlie commended and praised, and no lesse maruelled at of all men J." In the last year of his life, Abbot Litlington, though at that time • Holin. " Chron." Vol. II. p. 721. f Ibid. % Ibid. 794. M 2 84 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. nearly seventy years of age, prepared himself, with two of his monks, to go armed to the sea-coast, to assist in repelling- a threatened invasion by the French. One of these monks, named John Canterbury, is described as being so extremely large, that when his armour was carried into London to be sold, on the invasion not taking place, no person could be found of sufficient size to wear it*. The Abbot died on the 29th of November, 1386, at the manor-house of Neyte near Westminster, and was interred in this Church, near the altar of St. Blaise. On the 10th of December following the decease of Abbot Litlington, William de Colchester was chosen to succeed him. This person, who became a monk here prior to the year 1360, was appointed Archdeacon in 1382, and allowed a chamber and garden to himself, a yearly salary of six marks, a corrody, or monk's provision, above his other allowances, and to be treated in all respects as one of the senior monks. These privileges appear to have been given him in reward for his active services in a protracted law- suit, relative to jurisdiction, between his Convent and the Dean and Canons of St. Stephens college, which had been founded within the royal palace at Westminster by Edward the Third. The cause was carried to Rome, where Colchester was employed to conduct it from July, 1377, till November, 1379, when the Papal court decided, that St. Stephen's chapel was subject to the jurisdiction of the Abbey, in the same manner as the other chapels in the parish of St. Margaret. The Dean and Canons of St. Stephen, being pro- tected by the sovereign, refused to acquiesce in this sentence, and the suit was continued till the year 1394, at which time, through the interference of the King and other personages of high rank, it was compromised ; the College agreeing to pay five marks, annually, to the Abbey, for exemption for the chapel of St. Stephen, the chapel of St. Mary beneath it, a little chapel on the south side, then used as a chapter-house, and the chapel de la Pewe ; the right to institute and instal the Deans within the College was reserved, however, to the Abbots of "Westminster. Colchester went a second time to Rome in the 3 ear 1384, most probably on business connected with the above suit ; and in 1391 he was employed abroad by the Kingy, though on what particular mission does not appear. * Widm. " Hist." p. 107. John de Reding, a monk of Westminster, who lived in the time of Abbot Litlington, wrote a continuation of Adam Murimuth's Chronicle after the year 1325, but differing from that published by Hall in \ J22. f " Niger Quaternus/' fol. 87. ABBOT COLCHESTER'S CONSPIRACY. 85 In 1393 he was one of the presidents of the triennial chapter of Benedictines, as he also was once or twice afterwards. In 1394, Anne, the beloved consort of Richard the Second, and sister to the Emperor Wenceslaus, was interred in the Abbey church with great pomp. In the following - year, likewise, John Waltham, Bishop of Salisbury, and treasurer of England, was buried here, in the Capella Begum, by royal command ; but the honour thus bestowed is stated by Walsingham to have occasioned much discontent, although the King presented a vestment to the Abbey valued at 1000 marks, and the Bishop's executors another vestment worth forty pounds, besides 500 marks to found an anniversary. In April, 1399, Abbot Colchester was constrained to accompany the King in his last ill-fated expedition to Ireland, together with some other prelates and noblemen, for the purpose, it would seem, of forming an ex- traordinary commission to settle various state matters that had been left unfinished by the parliament held at Shrewsbury in 1390. On Richard's return to England and imprisonment in the Tower, the Abbot, with fifteen other commissioners, was deputed by parliament to confer with the degraded monarch, and receive his resignation of the crown. At this conference, which took place on Michaelmas day in the above year, Richard " tooke a ring of gold from his finger, being his signet, and put vpon the finger of the Duke of Lancaster (Henry of Bolinbroke), desiring and requiring the Arch- bishop of Yorke and the Bishop of Hereford to shew and make report vnto the lords of the parlement of his Voluntarie resignation, and also of his intent and good mind that he bare towards his cousin, the Duke of Lancaster, to have him his successor and their King after him *." On the following day (September the 30th), the Duke of Lancaster was proclaimed King, under the title of Henry the Fourth ; and on the 13th of October he was solemnly crowned in Westminster Abbey. Before the ex- piration of the year, however, an extensive conspiracy was formed against him, the chief instrument and contriver u hereof, according to Hall, was the Abbot of Westminster. " Ye shall vnderstand," says the historian, " that this Abbat (as it is reported) vpon a time heard King Henrie saie, when he was but Earle of Derbie, and yoonge of yeares, that princes had too little, and religious men too much. He therefore doubting now, least if the King continued long in the estate, he would remooue the great beame that then * Holm. " Chron." Vol. II. p. 863. edit. 1807- 86 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. greeued his eies, and pricked his conscience, became an instrument to search out the minds of the nobilitie, and to bring them to an assemblie and coun- cell, where they might consult and commen togither, how to bring that to effect, which they earnestlie wished and desired, that was, the destruction of King Henrie, and the restoring of King Richard. For there were diuerse lords that shewed themselves outwardlie to fauor King Henrie where they secretlie wished and sought his confusion. The Abbat after he had felt the minds of sundrie of them, called to his house on a day in the terme time, all such lords and other persons which he either knew or thought to be af- fectioned to King Richard, so enuious to the prosperitie of King Henrie, whose names were, John Holland Earle of Huntington late Duke of Excester, Thomas Holland Earle of Kent late Duke of Surrie, Edward Earle of Rutland late Duke of Aumarle sonne to the Duke of Yorke, John Montacute Earle of Salisburie, Hugh Lord Spenser late Earle of Glocester, the Bishop of Carleill, Sir Thomas Blunt, and Maudelen a priest, one of King Richard's chappel, a man as like him in stature and proportion in all lineaments of the bodie, as vnlike in birth, dignitie, and conditions. " The Abbat highlie feasted these lords, his speciall frends, and when they had well dined, they withdrew into a secret chamber, where they sat downe in councell, and after muche talke and conference had about the bringing of their purpose to passe concerning the destruction of King Henrie, at length by the aduise of the Earle of Huntington it was deuised, that they should take vpon them a solemne iusts to be enterprised betweene him and 20 on his part, and the Earle of Salisburie and 20 with him, at Oxford, to the which triumph K. Henrie should be desired, and when he should be most busilie marking the martial pastime, he suddenlie should be slaine and destroied, and so by that means King Richard, who as yet liued, might be restored to libertie, and haue his former estate and dignitie. It was further appointed who should assemble the people, the number and persons who should accomplish and put in execution their deuised enterprise. Hervpon was an indenture sextipartite made, sealed with their seales, and signed with their hands, in the which each stood bound to others, to do their whole in- deavour for the accomplishing of their purposed exploit. Moreouer they sware on the holie Euangelists to be true and secret each to other, euen to the houre and point of death *." * Holin. " Chron." Vol. III. p. g, 10. HENRY THE FOURTH'S DECEASE. 87 Notwithstanding these precautions, and the raising of a strong power to carry their designs into effect, the conspirators were utterly foiled by a series of mischances ; the principal of which was the discovery of the plot by the Duke of York, who seeing a paper partially concealed in his son's bosom, took it thence by force, and finding it to be a counterpart of the in- denture, mounted on horseback, and hastened to Windsor, with intent to deliver it to the King. The Earl of Rutland, being sensible of his great danger, immediately rode to Windsor by another way, and arriving before his father, secured his own pardon by revealing to Henry the full particulars of the conspiracy. The King was by no means tardy in devising measures to disconcert his foes, and within a short period nineteen of the principal conspirators were seized and executed in different places, and the heads of the chief of them set up on poles over London bridge. The Bishop of Carlisle (Thomas Merks), who had been a monk here, was impeached and condemned for the same conspiracy, and is said to have died through fear rather than sickness, after the King had pardoned him. Hall subjoins, that the Abbot of Westminster " gooing betweene his mo- nasterie and mansion for thought fell into a sudden palsie, and shortlie after without speech, ended his life * ;" yet this account is decidedly inaccurate, as it has been ascertained from the archives that the decease of Colchester did not occur till October, 142[). It is stated, likewise, that Bishop Merks after his conviction was committed to the custody of this very Abbot f, which could not possibly have been the case had the latter been so deeply implicated as the historian affirms. In May, 1408, as appears from Martene's " Thesaurus Anecdotorum," Abbot Colchester was at Pisa, in Italy, most probably to attend the Car- dinals, who assembled there in that month on account of a schism in the Papacy J. On the 20th of March, 1413, Henry the Fourth, who had been some- time afflicted with a sort of apoplexy, was seized with his last fit whilst worshipping at the shrine of St. Edward in the Abbey Church. At this period he was preparing for a voyage to the Holy Land, having recently as- sumed the Cross in consequence of a prediction that " he should die at Jerusalem" which had been made to him in the early part of his life. Whilst * Holin. " Chron." p. 13. f Vide Kennet's " Hist, of Eng." Vol. II. p. 1396. \ Widm. " Hist." p. 110 83 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. still senseless he was carried into the Abbot's house, and on recovering his speech and seeing' himself in a strang-e place, he asked where he was, and was answered in the Jerusalem Chamber. The prophecy immediately oc- curred to his memory, and finding- his death to be approaching, he sent for the Prince of Wales, and after giving him some excellent advice in respect to his future government, he recommended himself to the protection of Heaven, and expired in a few moments. In October, 1414, Abbot Colchester was appointed one of the ambas- sadors from Henry the Fifth to the General Council which assembled in the following- month at Constance, in Switzerland, to determine the long-con- tinued schism in the Papal Church, the Pontificate having been now held by rival Popes for almost thirty-six years ; the other ambassadors were the Bishops of Salisbury, Hereford, and Bath and Wells, the Prior of Wor- cester, the Abbot of St. Mary's, at York, and the Earl of Warwick. Several more persons were afterwards added to the embassy ; the English prelates having found that the foreign Churches were represented by a more nu- merous delegation than their own. That the talents of Colchester were of a superior kind may be fairly presumed from the various public missions in which he was engaged. He died in the month of October, 1420, and was buried in the Chapel of St. John Baptist*. During- his Abbacy the rebuilding of the western part of the Church was occasionally carried on, though not with any great assiduity till after the accession of Henry the Fifth, who granted 1000 marks, annually, towards the charges (out of the hanaper and customs of wool), besides giving " money with his own hands Previously to this, about the 12th * In the same year thirteen of the monks died ; among whom was Ralph Selby, who became a monk of Westminster in 1399, but had previously been a prebendary and sub-dean in York Cathedral, and an arch-deacon of Buckingham and of Norfolk. William Sudbury, another monk here during the Abbacy of Colchester, formed tables and indexes to Lyra and Thomas Aquinas. In his time, also, lived Richard Je Cirencestre, who composed a Chronicle, or History of Britain, from the first invasion by the Saxons to the year 1348, which still remains unprinted. He wrote notes also on the Nicenc and Apostles' Creed ; but the work that has rendered him most celebrated, is a brief Commentary on the Itinerary of Antoninus, so far as regards the Roman stations in this kingdom, a copy of which was first published by Dr. Stukeley, and has since been illustrated by other writers. He became a monk of Westminster towards the middle of Edward the Third's reign, and died about the year 1401. t Widm. " Hist." p. 59. FUNERAL OF HENRY THE FIFTH. 89 of Richard the Second, part of the old building was taken down, and the work proceeded with, that Sovereign having given divers sums for the pur- pose, together with the revenues of the two alien Priories of Stoke-Clare and Folkstone : he also bequeathed most of his jewels to the same use*, but the injunctions of his Will were not suffered to be enforced. After the burial of his Queen, he likewise granted lands to this Church to the yearly value of 200/. for anniversaries for himself and his deceased consort. The successor to Colchester was Richard Harwedex, avIio was so called from the name of his birth-place in Northamptonshire. He became a monk of Westminster in 1398, and was made Abbot by Papal provision ; most probably on the recommendation of the King, he having been one of the treasurers of the money given by him towards rebuilding the western part of the Church. The carrying on of the new work had also been en- trusted to him for several years, during which he was stiled Custos Novi Operis. He resigned his Abbacy through age and infirmity on the 2d of April, 1440, and had a yearly allowance awarded him out of the abbatial revenues, which was afterwards confirmed by Henry the Sixth, and the supreme Pontiff, quia diu laudabiliter prcrfuit. Neither the period of his decease nor the place of his interment are now known. The most memorable event respecting this Church that occurred in the time of Harweden, was the very sumptuous funeral of Henry the Fifth, whose military achievements had rendered him the admiration and wonder of his age. This great Prince died at the castle of Vincennes, near Paris, on the 31st of August, 1422, and was brought to England with vast pomp in the following month, and interred at the feet of Edward the Confessor. Besides the 1000 marks mentioned above, he gave to this Church " a faire Psalter, with another book called Flores Historiarum, both very faire written and enlumined, and a royall sceptre of gold, for the Queene. The ring, also, that King Richard the Second gaue unto S. Edw. shrine being taken away, this King Henry restored againe ; in the which ring there was a rubie esteemed worth a thousande markes in value f." W id more says, that 100/. yearly, was given for Henry's anniversary ; but afterwards, in the 23rd year of his successor, lands were granted in exchange at Ledecombe Regis, in Berkshire, and Offord-Cluny, in Huntingdonshire J. * Rym. " Foedera," Tom. VIII. p. 76. t Howe's Stow, p. 362. I " Hist, of West. Abb." p. 113. VOL. I. N 90 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Edmund Kyrton, the next Abbot, obtained his preferment sometime between the 27th of May and the 20th of August, 1440. He was descended from a respectable family named Cobildik, or Cobledike, branches of which, as appears from a visitation made in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, were seated both in Lincolnshire and Suffolk, and gave the same arms, viz. argent, a cheveron, gules, between three cross crosslets, of the last. The name of their place of residence in both counties was Kyrton, and as this Church had lands in both, it is uncertain to which branch the Abbot should be referred. He became a monk here about the year 1403 ; and in 1423 he was head, or Prior of the Benedictine scholars at Gloucester Hall (now Worcester Col- lege) Oxford, and was held in much repute among those of his order. He was esteemed an excellent divine, and is recorded to have preached before Pope Martin the Fifth with approbation. In 1437 he again visited the Papal Court, being sent thither by the university of Oxford, along with Peter Norreys, the principal of a Hall in that university, who had been irregularly cited to appear before Eugenius the Fourth. Like his predecessor, he re- signed the abbatial dignity from age and infirmities on the 23d of October, 1462, and had a pension of 200 marks, annually, during the residue of his life. He died in October, 1466, and was buried in St. Andrew's chapel in this Church, the screen of which he had himself enriched with divers carvings and other ornaments *. George Norwych, one of the senior monks, succeeded to the Abbacy on Kyrton's resignation, though his name has been omitted by Dart and other writers on this Church f. He appears to have been an indiscreet and negligent character, and to have run the monastery so much in debt, that the brotherhood, in 1466, drew up a memorial to present to the King, soli- citing a visitation and enquiry into his conduct. This so much alarmed the Abbot, that he agreed to consign the administration of his office to Thomas Millyng, the then Prior, and two of his monks ; and to retire from the Abbey and live in some other house of the Benedictine order till his debts were * Nicholas Ashby, Prior of Westminster from 1435 to 1440, was in the latter year promoted to the See of Llandaff. t In the time of Ahbot Norwych lived John Flete, a monk of Westminster, who wrote a history of his Abbey from the period of its foundation to the year 1386 ; he was Prior here from 1440 till 1465, when he resigned, and he died soon after. EDWARD THE FIFTH BORN IN SANCTUARY. 91 redeemed, on a yearly allowance of 100 marks. He died in 1469, but the place of his burial is unknown. Thomas Millyng, who had become Prior in 1465, on the resignation of the historian John Flete, succeeded Norwych in the Abbacy in 1469. " Being yet a youth," says Godwin, " he became a monk at Westminster, and then went to Oxford, where he studied till he proceeded Doctor of Divinity, having in the mean time attained good knowledge in the Greek tongue*." Leland also speaks of his learning and acquirements in the Greek language \, which at that period was regarded as a rare accomplish- ment. At the time he was made Abbot, the Civil Wars between the houses of York and Lancaster were raging with much fury ; and on the 1st of October in the following year, Elizabeth Wideville, the Queen, was con- strained to take sanctuary at Westminster, Edward the Fourth having recently fled the kingdom, being unable to withstand the conjoined powers of his brother the Duke of Clarence and the great Earl of Warwick. The Queen, who came hither secretly by water from the Tower, was in an ad- vanced state of pregnancy, and on the 4th of November, " in greate penurie forsaken of all her friends, she was deliuered of a faire son, called Edward, [afterwards Edward the Fifth], which was with small pompe like a poore man's child christened, the godfathers being the Abbot and the Prior of Westminster, and the godmother the Ladie Scroope J." During the period of the Queen's distress, Millyng provided her with all things necessary: and these humane and respectful attentions so wrought on Edward's mind, that, after he had regained the crown, in April, 1471, he made the Abbot a privy- counsellor. The success of Edward in re-obtaining his kingdom, was forwarded in a very considerable degree by the efforts of those of his adherents who had taken sanctuary in this Abbey, (about the same time that his Queen sought refuge here) and who, on hearing of his near approach to London, quitted their constrained abode, and by their influence and persuasions inclined the city to open its gates without resistance. Edward entered London on the 11th of April, and marching to the Bishop of London's palace, near St. Paul's, had there his rival monarch, Henry the Sixth, delivered to him prisoner by the Archbishop of York. He next proceeded to the Abbey * " Cat. of Engl. Bish." p. 461. f " De Scrip. Brit." p. 483. t Holin. " Chron." Vol. III. p. 300. 92 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Church at Westminster, and having rendered " his most heartie thanks to God for his safe return, he went to the Queene to comfort her, who with great patience had abidden there a long time, as a sanctuarie woman, for doubt of hir enimies ; and in the meane season was delivered of a yoong Prince, whom she now presented vnto him, to his great hearts reioising and comfort. From Westminster the King returned that night vnto London againe, hauing the Queene with him, and lodged in the house of the Duchesse his moother *." Edward's favour to the Abbot did not terminate by his admitting him to his councils ; for, besides other testimonies of his good will, he raised him to the Bishopric of Hereford, of which See he continued in possession from August, 1474, till his decease in the year 1492. He was buried in this Church, in the Chapel of St. John Baptist. Though the King was by no means distinguished for religious prepos- sessions, the services rendered to his Queen by Abbot Millyng induced him to pay some attention to the Abbey Church ; and at different times he gave fourscore oaks, and about 250/. in money, towards the new building of the nave. The Queen also bestowed about 170/.; and the young Prince Ed- ward, during the last eight years of his father's life, gave twenty marks yearly for the same purpose. A small Chapel, likewise, was built by the Queen on a part of the site of Henry the Seventh's Chapel, and dedicated to St. Erasmus : its endowments were the manors of Cradeley and Hagley in Wor- cestershire, which Edward granted in the year 1478, for the support of two monks to pray for the souls of the King and Queen. John Esteney, who was a senior to Millyng, and had succeeded him in the office of Prior, was now (anno 1474) raised to the Abbacy by Papal provision, on the recommendation of the King. He was one of the three persons to whom the government of the monastery had been entrusted in consequence of the mismanagement and resignation of Abbot Norwych ; and by his care and frugality, after he himself became Abbot, he discharged a debt of 2700/. that had been contracted by his predecessors, besides paying 1000/. which the Convent had been fined for escapes out of their prison j\ A considerable part of the former debt had been incurred from the fees and charges entailed on the new Abbots by their constrained journeys to Rome to have their elections confirmed by the Pope. The great expense and * Holin. « Chron." Vol. NT. p. 311. f Widm. " Hist." p. II?. DISTRESS OF THE QUEEN OF EDW. IV. 93 inconvenience attending this arrangement had been long a subject of com- plaint, and many pressing entreaties had been made to the Papal Court to remit the ceremony, yet wholly without success till the year 1478, when, on the very earnest and repeated solicitations of the King, the journey was dispensed with ; for this indulgence, however, the Convent, by way of com- pensation for the first fruits and fees, was enjoined to pay 100 florins, yearly, to the Pope's collector. Previously to the time of this Abbot, it had not been customary to ordain Priests before they had attained the age of twenty-four, but Esteney obtained the Pope's consent that the monks of Westminster might be admitted into orders at twenty-one. This was one of the first instances of this kind of in- dulgence to communities or brotherhoods ; though similar dispensations had frequently been granted to individuals of high rank or great interest*. After the decease of Edward the Fourth in April, 1483, the Lords Rivers and Grey, with others of the Queen's kindred, were arrested at Stony Strat- ford and Northampton, by command of the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard the Third, as they were conveying the young King from Ludlow to London. This act being communicated to the Queen, who justly suspected the intentions of the Duke ; she immediately quitted the palace at West- minster, though it was then midnight, and took sanctuary in the Abbey, together w ith her youngest son, the Duke of York, and the five Princesses, her daughters. On this occasion, as we are informed by Sir Thomas More, she lodged herself and her company in the Abbot's Place ; and here, before morning, she was visited by the Archbishop of York, Thomas Rotheram, who was then Chancellor of England, and who, in some degree to dissipate her alarm, left the great seal in her possession. " The Queene," says the historian "j", " sate alow on the rushes all desolate and dismaied, whome the Archbishop comforted in best manner he could, shewing hir that he trusted the matter was nothing so sore as she took it for, and that he was put in good hope and out of fcare by a message sent him by the Lord Chamberlain Hastings. ' Ah ! wo woorth him (quoth she) for he is one of them that laboreth to destroie me and my blood.' — ' Madame (quoth he) be yee of good cheere, for I assure you, if they crowne anie other King than your sonne, whome they now haue with * Widm. " Hist." p. 1 17. -j- " Historie of King Edw. V. and Rich. III." Morc's Works. 94 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. them, we shall on the morow crowne his brother, whome you haue here with you. And here is the great seale, which in likewise as that noble Prince your husband deliuered it vnto me, so here I deliuer it vnto you, to the vse and behoofe of your sonne and therewith he betooke hir the great seale, and departed home againe, yet in the dawning of the daie. By which time, he might in his chamber window see all the Thames full of boates of the Duke of Glocesters seruants, watching' that no man should go to sanctuarie ; nor none could passe vnsearched *." Shortly afterwards a meeting of the Lords was held, when the Arch- bishop " brought the seale with him after the customable manner," he having- " secretlie sent for it again, fearing that it would be ascribed to his ouermuch lightnesse that he so suddenlie had yeelded vp the great seale to the Queene to whome the custodie thereof nothing perteined." For his in- discretion, however, in having thus parted with it, he was " greatlie re- proued" at a Council that was assembled immediately on the arrival in Lon- don of the Duke of Gloucester and Prince Edward, and the seal being taken from him, was committed to the care of the Bishop of Lincoln. By the same Council, also, the Duke was declared Protector of the King and realm. At the next meeting of the Council it was determined, on the motion of the Protector, that the Archbishop of Canterbury should endeavour to prevail on the Queen to suffer the Duke of York to be removed from sanctuary, on the grounds that it would be to the great dishonour and obloquy of all the nobles should it be thought that such a refuge was necessary, and that the King's special pleasure and comfort was to have his brother with him. Neither the Archbishop, however, nor the other spiritual lords would, at first, agree to the proposition made by the Protector, and supported by the Duke of Buckingham, of taking the Duke of York from the sanctuary by force should the Queen refuse to deliver him to their intreaties. " For it would be a thing that would turne to the great grudge of all men, and high displeasure of God, if the privilege of that holie place should now be broken, which had so manie yeares been kept, which both Kings and Popes so good had granted, so manie had confirmed, and which holie ground was more than fiue hundred yeares ago (by Saint Peter in his owne person in spirit, * The house of the Archbishop of York was then on the site of the present Whitehall. PRIVILEGES OF THE SANCTUARY. 95 accompanied by great multitudes of angels by night) so speciallie halowed and dedicated to God (for the proofe wherof they haue yet in the Abbeie Saint Peter's Cope to shew) that from that time hitherward was there neuer so vndevout a King that durst that sacred place violate, or so holie a Bishop that durst it presume to consecrate. And therefore (quoth the Archbishop) God forbid that anie man should for anie thing earthlie, enterprise to breake the immunitie and libertie of the sacred sanctuarie, that hath beene the safeguard of so manie a good mans life *." When the Archbishop " departed into the sanctuarie to the Queene," he was accompanied by several of the lords, the rest of the Council re- maining with the Protector in the Star Chamber till his return. The argu- ments which he employed, and the replies of the Queen, are repeated by Sir Thomas More at considerable length, and are extremely interesting, though too long for insertion here. They shew the Queen to have been a woman of much sagacity and shrewdness ; and the event proved that the opinion which she entertained of the Protector's designs was unfortunately but too correct. After endeavouring to convince her that her apprehensions were groundless, (as he himself actually believed they were) the Archbishop told her that should she finally refuse to deliver up the Duke of York, the lords would most probably " fetch him by force, and think no privilege broken ; so much dread," he continued, " hath my lord, his vncle, for the tender loue he beareth him, least your grace should hap to send him awaie." " A Sir (quoth the Queene, in reply) hath the Protector so tender zeale, that he feareth nothing but least he should escape him ? Thinketh he that I would send him hence, which neither is in the plight to send out ? And in what place could I reckon him sure, if he be not sure in this sanctuarie, whereof was there neuer tyrant yet so divelish that durst presume to breake ? And I trust God is as strong now to withstand his aduersaries as euer he was. But my sonne can deserue no sanctuarie, and therefore he cannot haue it ! Forsooth he hath found a goodlie glose, by which that place that may de- fend a theefe, may not saue an innocent. If examples be sufficient to ob- taine privilege for my child, I need not farre to seeke : for in this place in which we now be (and which is now in question whether my child may take benefit of it) mine other sonne, now King, was borne and kept in his cradle, and * More's " Hist, of King Edw. V. and Rich. III." 96 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. presented to a more prosperous fortune ; which I pray God long to continue. And as all of you know, this is not the first time that I haue taken sanctuarie ; for when my lord my husband was banished, and thrust out of his kingdome, I tied hither, being great with child, and heere I bare the Prince ; and when my lord my husband returned safe againe, and had the victorie, then went I hence to welcome him home, and from hence I brought my babe the Prince vnto his father, when he first tooke him in his armes. And I praie God that my sonnes palace may be as great safeguard vnto him now reigning, as this place was sometime to the King's enemie. — I can no more, but whosoever he be that breaketh this holie sanctuarie, I praie God short lie send him need of sanctuarie, when he mate not come to it. For taken out of sanctuarie would I not my mortall enimie were*." Though the Archbishop's eloquence made, at first, but little impression on the Queen, yet the strong conviction with which he spake, pledging both " body and soul" for the security of the young Duke, together with the countenance which the presence of the other lords gave to his words, had, at length, the effect of allaying some portion of her apprehensions. She felt, also, that if she persisted in retaining the Prince within the sanctuary against the opinion of the Council, it might tend to promote the very mis- chief which she feared. After musing a while, therefore, a prey to con- tending emotions, she suddenly determined to deliver up the Duke as a sacred trust. Then strenuously enjoining the lords to be attentive to his safety, she took leave of the Prince with the most affecting tenderness ; — " and therewithal she said vnto the child, ' Farewell mine owne sweete sonne, God send you good keeping ; let me kisse you yet once yer you go, for God knoweth when we shall kisse togither againe.' And therewith she kissed him and blessed him, turned hir backe and wept and went her waie, leaving the child weeping as fast." The Archbishop and the lords immediately led the young Duke to the Star Chamber, where the Protector took him in his arms and kissed him, saying, " Now zvekome, my Lord, euen with all my heart." Soon afterwards the Duke was carried to the Bishop of London's palace, where his brother Edward was then lodged, by whom he was received with much affection. The next removal of the two Princes was to the Tower (under pretence of * More's " Hist." 4 THE WESTERN FRONT BUILT. 97 preparing for the coronation), " out of the which," says Sir Thomas More, " after that daie, they neuer came abroad." At a subsequent period, when the Protector was seated on the throne tinder the title of Richard the Third, he prevailed on the Queen to submit herself, and her five daughters, entirely to his direction ; and the Princesses were soon afterwards conveyed from the sanctuary * to the palace with due and courteous entertainment. Whatever were the motives that induced the Queen to this line of conduct, so contrary to her former sentiments, it is certain that her versatility was severely punished ; for Henry the Seventh, in the second year of his reign, caused her to be deprived of all her lands and possessions, and the latter portion of her life was spent in mournful seclusion at Bermondsey Abbey. During the remaining part of Esteney's government, no other event of particular importance occurred. In respect to the Abbey Church, the re- building of the western front had been slowly carried on under his own superintendence, and with the exception of the towers, was nearly finished, the vaultings being completed, and the great west window set up f. The charges were defrayed, principally, with the rentals of estates which had been appropriated to that purpose, and by annual contributions from the monks J. This Abbot died on the 24th of May, 1498, and was buried in St. John the Evangelist's Chapel. He was succeeded by George Fascet§, who became a monk here in 1474, and having filled divers conventual offices, was made Prior about the year 1493. He was unanimously elected to the Abbacy on July the 9th, 1498, but enjoyed his new dignity very little more than two years, his decease occurring before Michaelmas, 1500. He was interred in the Chapel of St. John Baptist. * Dart states, but without referring to his authority, that " During the Queen's stay here, this Church and Monastery were inclosed like a camp, and strictly guarded by soldiers under one Nuffield; and none were suffered to go in or out without special permission, for fear the Princesses should convey themselves over sea, and baulk Richard the Third's designs." Westmonasterium, Vol. II. p. xxxiv. f Widm. " Hist." p. 118. X Ibid. p. 60. Esteney's expenditure exceeded the money collected by about 600/. which gum was given to the Church by the next Abbot, his executor or administrator. Ib. § Dart is extremely inaccurate in his account of the Abbots throughout the whole of the 15th century, as well in the order of their succession, as in the dates of their elections. VOL. I. O 98 WESTMINSTER ABBEY". The next Abbot was that distinguished ecclesiastic John Islip, who was so named from his birth-place, Islip, in Oxfordshire. He was admitted a monk of Westminster in the year 1480, and having filled several annual offices, was chosen to succeed Fascet, as Prior, in 1498. On October the 27th, 1500, he was unanimously elected to the Abbacy ; and in the instru- ment of his election, he is characterized as a " provident and prudent man, acquainted with letters, of commendable life and manners, and of legitimate birth * " The early part of the government of Islip was rendered memorable by the foundation of the magnificent Chapel of Henry the Seventh ; which is attached to the east end of the Abbey Church, and was erected on the site of two chapels dedicated, respectively, to the Virgin Mary and to St. Erasmus. These chapels having been pulled down to make room for the new fabric, the first stone was laid on January the 24th, 1502-3, by the hands of Abbot Islip ; Sir Reginald Bray, K. G. ; Dr. Barnes, Master of the Rolls ; Dr. W all, chaplain to the King ; Master Hugh Oldham, chaplain to the Countess of Richmond and Derby, the King's mother ; Sir Edward Stanhope, Kt. ; and divers other persons -j\ The King himself was present at the ceremony, and most probably assisted in placing the stone, which had engraven on it the following inscription : " Illustrissimus Henricus septimus rex Anglice 8$ Francicz, § dominus Hibernice, posuit hanc pe tram in honore beatce virginis Maria? ; 24 die January : anno Domini 1502. Et anno dicti Henrici septimi, decimo octauo The circumstances which led to the erection of this Chapel have been thus (in substance) detailed by Widmore, from the archives and other authentic documents. Henry the Seventh having claimed and obtained the crown as heir of the House of Lancaster, and next relation to Henry the Sixth, designed from respect to that Prince to build and endow a Chapel to his memory at Windsor, and to erect a stately monument therein over his remains, which had, at first, been meanly interred in Chertsey Abbey, but were afterwards re- moved, by Richard the Third, to St. George's chapel §. With this view, and with the further design of making it his own burial-place, he procured * Widm. " Hist." App. p. 234—244. f Holin. " Chron." p. 529. + Ibid. p. 530. § The draught, or design, for Henry's monument is yet preserved in the British Museum. Cott. Lib. Augustus. HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL. 99 license from the Holy See to dissolve the two religious houses of Mottesfont, in Hampshire, and Luffield, in Buckinghamshire, in order to complete the endowments of his intended Chapel. He also made application to the Pope for the canonization of his devout predecessor, who, though of slender abilities, and more fitted for a cloister than a throne, was held in great repute for his superior piety and chastity. In this state of the proceedings the Abbot and Monks of Westminster petitioned the King, claiming to have the body of Henry removed into their Church, " as being that which he himself, in his lifetime, had chosen for his burial-place." This, however, was disputed by the establishments of Chertsey and of Windsor ; and the claims of all the parties were argued before the Privy Council, which, on the third hearing, unanimously decided in favour of Westminster. The King was present when the decision was made, and was influenced by it to erect his Chapel on the spot where it now stands. He likewise obtained the necessary license for the removal of Henry's re- mains from \\ indsor to the Abbey Church ; and this was actually done by the monks, in 1501, at an expense of 500/. ; but in what particular part of the fabric, the thrice-translated relics were deposited, is not known. The design of canonizing them was afterwards given up, the court of Rome requiring a far greater sum for that exaltation than the King was disposed to give. Shortly after the foundation of his new Chapel, Henry the Seventh granted various estates to the Abbey for the following purposes, namely, — for the maintenance of three additional monks to serve in this Chapel, and two lay brothers, as well as three supernumerary students in the university ; for distributions at his anniversary and weekly obits ; for fees or gifts to the Lord Chancellor, the chiefs of the law courts, and the Lord Mayor, Re- corder, and Sheriffs of London, if present at his anniversary ; or in their ab- sence, to the prisoners of the King's Bench and Marshalsea ; for the charges of his anniversary to be kept by the two universities, by the cathedrals of London, Canterbury, and Rochester, by the collegiate churches of St. George, Windsor; and St. Stephen, Westminster; and by thirteen religious houses, viz. Abingdon, St. Alban's, St. Augustin's, Canterbury; Ber- mondsey, the Charter-house, Christ Church, London ; Augustin Friars, Carmelites, and Grey Preachers ; Shene, Sion, and New Abbey, in the Tower ; for wax-tapers and torches to be used in the Chapel ; for sermons to be preached in the Abbey on Sundays and certain holidays; for twelve o 2 100 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. alms-men, a priest to say mass to them, and three old women to attend them ; and for some other purposes which the Abbot of Westminster was obliged by a solemn oath (to be taken in the chancery court the next term after his appointment), as well as under various penalties, to see performed. These estates produced a revenue of more than 1000 marks annually ; the principal part of which was derived from the dissolved houses of Luffield and Mottesfont, and of the college of St. Martin le Grand, and the free chapels of Tickhill, in Yorkshire ; Pleshey, in Essex ; Up-Camborne, in Berkshire ; and Playdon, by Rye, in Sussex. About the same time Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby, the King's mother, became a benefactress to the Abbey ; and having obtained a licence of mortmain for 150/. per annum, she conveyed 90/. of the said sum to this Church to found an anniversary for herself, for three monks to celebrate mass here ; and for the payment of the salaries of the professors whom she had established in the two universities, and of her Cambridge preacher. Henry the Seventh died on the 22d of April, 1509, having a few days previously to his decease delivered to Abbot Islip 5000/. towards finishing the new Chapel ; he also bequeathed 500 marks for completing the west end of the Abbey Church. In the year 1511, Islip visited the Priory of Great Malvern, which was subordinate to Westminster ; and again in 1516, at which time he suspended the Prior of that house for negligence in the execution of his official duties. In the year 1518, the Cardinals Wolsey and Campeius, the Pope's legates, having been commissioned by his Holiness to visit all the religious houses, whether exempted or not, gave notice of the day when their in- tended visitation of this Abbey was to be made ; and though some writers have stated that Wolsey, being displeased at having a divided power, waived the execution of the commission ; yet Polydore Virgil affirms that West- minster was then very strictly visited, in order to excite terror in other places, and induce the monks to purchase a remission of the visitatorial authority*. Whatever was the fact in the above instance, it is certain, that in 1525, Cardinal Wolsey, or his commissary, Dr. Allen, did actually visit this Abbey, and " received from the Convent 100 marks, at five yearly pay- ments, for such visitation *)*." * Poly. Vir. " Hist." p. 657, edit. 1570. f Widm. " Hist." p. 123, from a MS. Register or Lease Book, marked B. FUNERAL OF ABBOT ISLIP. 101 Henry the Eighth, in the year 1531, (about which period the authority that the Romish Church had so long and so unworthily usurped, began to be limited by the Parliament,) made an exchange of lands with the monks of Westminster, who most probably were induced to assent to the King's terms through apprehension of more unfavourable consequences. On this occasion the little Priory of Poughley, in Berkshire, (which had been dis- solved, among others, by Wolsey's influence, for the purpose of endowing the two colleges he designed to found at Oxford and Ipswich,) was granted to the Convent in exchange for about 100 acres of land, at W estminster ; the greatest part of which was formed into St. James's park, and connected with Whitehall, which had recently become the King's palace, and favourite residence *. Abbot Islip died on the 12th of May, 1532, and was buried within the Church, in a small chapel of his own building, and which still goes by his name. His funeral was exceedingly pompous, the Lord Windsor attending as chief mourner, and the King's heralds, Richmond and Lancaster, accom- panying the procession ; the ceremony continued two days ; the mass of requiem was sung by the Abbot of St. Edmundsbury, and the sermon preached by the vicar of Croydon -\. This Abbot has generally had the credit of having aided William Caxton in introducing the Art of Printing into England, the first book that ever was printed in this kingdom having been executed within the Abbey precincts ; * Holinshed says, " Chron." Vol. III. p. 775, under the year 1532, that the King having procured a confirmation of Cardinal Wolsey's feofment of York Place (or Whitehall) from the chapter of York Cathedral, " purchased also all the medows about Saint James, and there made a faire mansion and a parke for his greater commoditie and pleasure." f Dr. Hacket, speaking of this Abbot in his " Life of Archbishop Williams," has fallen into several mistakes ; his whole account of him, indeed, is drawn up in a strain of verbose panegyric rather than of historical truth. He states that Islip, for his fidelity and prudence, was made one of the executors to Henry the Seventh ; yet that was not the fact, as may be seen by referring to the monarch's will. Again, he says " This Abbot, a devout servant of Christ, and of a wakeful con- science, considered the office he bore, how he was the chief who had that house of God in pos- session ; therefore he enlarged the length of this Church at his own cost, from the entring in of the quire, or thereabout, to the west gate ," all which is erroneous, for the whole fabric had been so far completed, as to have the iron work fixed in the great west window before Islip was raised to the Abbacy. It is true that the building of the western towers was slowly carried on during his time; yet the expenses were not defrayed by him, but by the rental of certain of the Abbey lands, and of contributions made by the monks and other persons. 102 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. yet the honour of thus early patronizing an invention which has since wrought such vast changes in the situation of mankind, should rather be given to Abbot Esteney, or perhaps to his predecessor Mylling, as will appear from a comparison of dates. William Boston, alias Benson, who had been Abbot of Burton upon Trent, was appointed to succeed Islip in the spring of 1533, as appears from his taking the oath relating to Henry the Seventh's benefactions, on May the 12th, in that year, in the Court of Chancery. He was born at Boston, in Lincolnshire, and as was customary with the monks, he took that name on entering the cloister ; but when he became Dean of Westminster he re- assumed his patronymic, which was Benson. " It is certain," says Widmore, " that he was not bred a monk in this house, for he doth not any where occur, either as discharging any of the annual offices executed by the monks, or receiving any dividend on the various anniversaries, or as being furnished with any clothes by the Camerarius *." He was the first stranger w ho had become Abbot of W estminster for upwards of 300 years ; the last being William Humez, whose death occurred in 1222. Abbot Boston is supposed to have been a man not particularly strict in his principles, and this opinion is corroborated by the manner in which he obtained his appointment, namely, by purchase ; for we learn from the archives, that he assigned over three of the best manors belonging to the Abbacy, till the sum of 500/. should be paid to Sir William Pawlet, comp- troller of the household, and Thomas Cromwell, the Keeper of the King's jewels In the year 1534, the learned and eloquent Sir Thomas More, who was then in trouble for refusing to take the oath of the King's supremacy, was committed for some days to the custody of Abbot Benson ; of whom he re- lates, that when he had himself told him, it would be against his conscience to acknowledge the supremacy, he replied that " he had cause to fear his mind was erroneous, when he saw the great Council of the realm determine contrary to his mind, and therefore he ought to change his conscience %." Sir Thomas, having persisted in his refusal to take the oath, was beheaded on the 6th of July, in the same year. * Widm. " Hist." p. 126. f Ibid. p. 127. % More's " Works," p. 1430. DISSOLVED BY HENRY THE EIGHTH. 103 In 1536, two exchanges of land were made between the King and the monks of Westminster, and the respective agreements were confirmed by acts of parliament. By the first, the manors of Hyde, Neyte, Eybury and Todington (the former of which is inclosed in Hyde Park), the advowson of Chelsea rectory, some lands at Greenwich, and several meadows and closes near the Horse-ferry, at Westminster, were given by the Convent for the site, and many of the lands, of Hurley Priory, in Berkshire ; and by the last, Coven t Garden was granted to the King in exchange for the great wood, called Hurley Wood. About three years afterwards, on the 16th of January, 1539-40, this Abbey, which had now existed for upwards of nine hundred years, was surrendered to Henry the Eighth, by Abbot Boston and twenty-four of the monks, and immediately dissolved. Its annual revenues, at that period, ac- cording to Dugdale, amounted to 3471/. 0s. 2id*; but according to Speed, who includes the gross receipts, to 3977/. 6s. 4±.d.-\ The following is a copy of the Instrument of surrender from the original in the Augmentation office. Omnibus Christi fidelibus ad quos prresens Carta pervenerit, Willielmus permissione divina Abbas Sancti Petri VYestmonasterii in comitatu Middle- sexise, et ejusdem loci conventus, salutem. Sciatis nos prtefatos Abbatem et Conventum unanimi assensu et consensu ac spontanea voluntate nostris, dedisse, concessisse et hac presenti Carta nostra confirmasse excellentissimo principi domino nostro Domino Henrico octavo Dei gratia Angliie et Franciie regi, fidei defensori, Domino Hiberniie, et in terra supremo capiti ecclesire Anglicanae, totum praedictum monasterium nostrum, ac ecclesiam, claustrum, scitum, ambitum, circuitum et priucinctum ejusdem monasterii : nec non omnia et singula dominia, maneria, hundreda, grangias, mesuagia, terras, tenementa, prata, mariscos, pascuas, pasturas, boscos, parcos, war- renas, communias, vasta, jampna, bruerias, aquas, piscarias, redditus, rever- siones, servicia, annuitates, feoda firmas, ecclesias, capellas, rectorias, vicarias, advocationes,donationes, presentationes, jurapatronatusecclesiarum, capellarum, cantariarum, et hospitalium, pensiones, portiones, decimas, oblationes, feoda militum, escaetas, relevia, curias letee, visus franci plegli, nundinas, mercatas, ac alia jura, jurisdictiones, franchesias, libertates, privi- legia, possesiones, et hareditamenta nostra qiuecunque tarn spiritualia quam * " Monasticon," Vol. I. p. 1042. f " Chron." p. 813, edit. 1023. 104 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. temporalia, cujuscunque sunt generis, naturae vel speciei, seu quibuscunque nominibus sciantur, censeantur, vel cognoscantur, scituata, jacentia, vel existentia tarn in comitatibus Middlesexiae, Hertfordiae, Essexiae, Cantabrigiae, Lincolniae, Norfolciae, Suflfolciae, Berkeriae, Oxonii, Buckinghamiae, Bed- fordiae, Kantii, Sussexiae, Surriae, Somersetiae, Dorsetiae, Southamtoniae, Wiltesiae et Gloucestriae, ac in civitate Londoniae, quam alibi ubicunque infra regnum Angliae, ac in Wallia, et Marchiis eorundem. Ac etiam omnia et omnimoda ornamenta ecclesiae, jocalia, bona et catalla, et debita nostra quaecunque, quae in jure, ratione vel praetextu dicti monasterii nostri, seu aliter quoquo modo habemus, seu habere debemus, habenda, tenenda et gaudenda, totum praedictum monasterium ac omnia et singula praedicta dominia, maneria, terras, tenementa, redditus, reversiones, servitia, rectorias, vicarias, ecclesias, capellas, bona, catalla et cetera omnia et singula prae- missa superius specificata, cum suis pertinentiis universis, praefato domino nostro regi, haeredibus et successoribus suis in perpetuum. Et nos vero praedicti Abbas et Conventus et successores nostri totum praedictum monas- terium, ac omnia praedicta dominia, maneria, terras, tenementa et cetera omnia et singula praemissa superius specificata cum pertinentiis praefato domino nostro regi, haeredibus et successoribus suis contra omnes gentes warrantizabimus, et in perpetuum defendemus per presentes. In cujus rei testimonium huic presenti cartae nostras sigillum nostrum commune appo- suimus. Dat. in domo nostra capitulari, sexto decimo die Januarii, Anno regni dicti domini regis nunc Henrici octavi tricesimo primo. Willim. Boston, Abbas Westm. Dionisi Dalyons, Prior, Humfrid Charite, D. Ric. Morton, D. Thomas Elfryd, Wylam Elys, John C'pfer. Godhaps, William Melton, John Lawers, Johes Forster, Thomas Essex, Thomas Lovewell, John. Whethasted, Willms. Faythe, Johan. Godluck, Armell Hurley, Robert Barnard, Robert Chrome, Joh. Lathbury, Wylyam Latham, Wyllym Huse, John Verno. Symon Underwood, Wilm. Byrd, ERECTED INTO A BISHOPRIC. 105 HISTORICAL PARTICULARS OF WESTMINSTER ARREY, FROM THE PERIOD OF THE DISSOLUTION TO THE PRESENT TIME. Henry the Eighth, prior to the dissolution of the monasteries, had deter- mined to erect several of them into Episcopal Sees, and endow them with some portion of the estates that had belonged to the dissolved foundations. AVestminster was one of the favoured number, and on the 17th of De- cember, 1540, the Abbey Church was advanced to the dignity of a Cathe- dral by the King's letters patent, which directed that the establishment should consist of a Bishop, a Dean, twelve Prebendaries, and inferior officers. Thomas Thirlery, who was then Dean of the King's chapel, was appointed Bishop of Westminster ; and the entire county of Middlesex, with the ex- ception of the parish of Fulham, was appropriated for his diocese. The late Abbot, who now re-assumed his family name of Benson, was, in reward for his readiness to submit to the King's wishes, made the first Dean, and five of his monks were chosen Prebendaries. Four other monks were ap- pointed minor canons, and four more were selected to become the King's students in the university. The remaining monks had pensions assigned to them, decreasing from the sum of ten pounds to that of five marks, and were then dismissed. Within a few weeks after the foundation of the Bishopric, the King en- dowed it with a revenue amounting, according to the archives of the Church, to 586/. 13^. 4d. yearly ; though Strype has stated it to be of the annual value of 804/.* This endowment appears to have been granted wholly from the late possessions of the monastery. The Abbot's house was at the same time assigned to the Bishop as his palace. The patent for the endowment of the Dean and Chapter was not com- pleted till the 5th of August, 1542. The lands granted for their support VOL. 1. * " Memorials," Vol. I. App. p. 276. P 106 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. were of the annual value of 2598/. of which 2164/. accrued from the estates of the dissolved monastery of Westminster, and 434/. from those of Evesham and Pershore, in Worcestershire ; of Merton, in Surrey ; of Newstede, in Nottinghamshire ; of Mount-Grace, in Yorkshire ; and of Bardeney, Haver- holme, and Grymsby, in Lincolnshire. By this settlement, the Chapter had to maintain a more extensive choir than at present ; and was charged also with the payment of 400/. per annum, to ten readers, or professors, in the universities : namely, five in each ; of divinity, law, physic, Hebrew and Greek. The sum of 166/. 13*. Ad. was likewise to be paid for the stipends of twenty students in the universities ; and two masters and forty grammar scholars were to be supported in the school, at Westminster, on a similar plan to that subsequently established by Queen Elizabeth. The Dean and Chapter were afterwards exonerated from paying the salaries of the pro- fessors and King's university students, by surrendering lands, in the year 1542, to the annual amount of 567/. : some part of which appears to have been made over to Christ Church, Oxford ; and another portion to Trinity College, Cambridge. In the reign of Edward the Sixth, considerable apprehensions were en- tertained that both the Deanery and the Bishopric would be suppressed ; and Dean Benson is stated to have been chiefly instrumental in preserving the former, by granting long leases of many of the estates ; partly, to divers persons in trust for the Protector Somerset, and partly, to his brother the Lord Seymour. The anxiety of mind that was felt by Benson, " whose great concern," says Widmore, " seems to have been the possession, or en- joyment, of a large income," has been said to have accelerated his decease*, which took place in September, 1549 : he was buried near the entrance to the vestry. Bishop Thirleby, who, like the Dean, is reported to have greatly im- poverished his See by granting long leases of the estates, was constrained to surrender his Bishopric on the 29th of March, 1550. It was suppressed soon afterwards, and the diocese was re-united to London ; the Bishop of which, Nicholas Ridley, had several of the Westminster estates in exchange for those of his own Seef : the convict's prison, also, which stood between the west end of the Abbey and the Gate- house, was granted to the same prelate. The Bishop's palace was about the same time given to the Lord * Heylyn's " Hist, of the Reformation." f Strype's " Memorials/' Vol. II. p. 217. THE BISHOPRIC SUPPRESSED. 107 Wentworth ; a small parcel of the lands was sold to Bishop Thirleby ; and several estates were granted to Sir Thomas Worth, and other persons, in trust, to be applied to the repairs of St. Paul's Cathedral *. Immediately after his surrender of the See of Westminster, Bishop Thirleby was translated to that of Norwich, which he held till the year 1554, when Queen Mary advanced him to the Bishopric of Ely, and made him a privy-counsellor. Whilst in that situation, he was joined with the infamous Bonner (though much against his will) in the commission to degrade Arch- bishop Cranmer, previously to the execution of that prelate -f\ The accession of Elizabeth proved his downfall ; for on his obstinately refusing to take the oath of supremacy, he was sent to the Tower, and deprived of his Bishopric. After a short time he was released from the Tower through the intercession of his friends, and committed to Lambeth Palace, where he was treated with much kindness by Archbishop Parker, who considered him rather as a guest than a prisoner. " He lived in this sort," says Godwin, " the space of ten years and upwards, taking more pleasure (I assure myselfe) in this time of his imprisonment (for so some men will needs esteeme it) than euer heretofore in the middest and fullest streame of his highest honors J." He died on the 22d of August, 1570, and was buried in the chancel at Lambeth Church. On the suppression of this See§, its diocese was consigned to the Bishops of London ; who by this means obtained jurisdiction over various Churches that had previously been exempt from visitation ; Westminster itself being included in the number. As the King's letters patent, however, by which the See was dissolved, made no mention of the establishment of a Dean and Chapter, it became a question whether the latter could be legally continued * Strype's " Mem." Vol. II. p. 235. This appropriation of the Abbey estates is said to have given rise to the proverbial expression of " robbing Peter to pay Paul." f Burnet's " Hist, of the Reformation," Vol. II. p. 332. ; " Cat. of Engl. Bish." p. 282. § Widm. " Hist." p. 133. Dart states that whilst this Church continued a Cathedral, the Dean and Prebendaries had their respective houses, but kept residence only twenty-one days during three quarters of the year, and twenty-four days the other quarter : the Dean, if absent one day, paid ten shillings ; and if he neglected residence altogether, received no more than a regular stipend of forty pounds : a Prebendary, for non-attendance, forfeited one shilling per day ; and if wholly absent, had only his established payment of ten pounds. " West." Vol. II. p. 21, 22. p 2 108 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. or not ; and to remove all ambiguity, an act of parliament was eventually passed, which declared that Westminster should still remain a Cathedral under a Dean and Chapter, but be subordinate to the diocese of London. The second Dean of Westminster was Richard Cox, or Coxe, who was appointed soon after the decease of Benson, and was installed on the 22d of October, 1549. He was born at W haddon, in Buckinghamshire, and having commenced his education at Eton, was thence elected to Cambridge, in 1519, " and brought up awhile at Kinges College, euen until! Cardinal Wolsey in regard of his towardlinesse made choice of him for one to furnish his new foundation in Oxford*," of which he was made junior Canon in December, 1525. Being suspected of favouring the principles of Luther, and finding his situation at Oxford unpleasant, he returned to Eton, and became master of Eton school. Here he continued some years, and in 1537, commenced Doctor in Divinity. In 1543, he was made Dean of Osney, near Oxford, which had been recently erected into a Bishopric ; and on the removal of that See to Christ Church, he became Dean there. In 1544, he was appointed one of the preceptors to the Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward the Sixth, to teach him philosophy, morality, and divinity; and when Edward ascended the throne, he was rewarded for his attention by being made King's almoner, a privy-counsellor, a canon of Windsor, and Dean of Westminster. In August, 1553, just one month after the accession of Queen Mary, he was committed to prison on a charge of high treason, for engaging in the design of bestowing the crown on the Lady Jane Grey f. Within a fortnight afterwards, however, he obtained his release, and con- tinued to act as Dean of this Church for a short period, but finding his liberty again in danger, he withdrew to Strasburgh, in Germany ; at which place there was a congregation of English Protestants, as there was also at Frankfort, whither he soon removed, in order to oppose the celebrated John Knox in his strenuous endeavours to set aside the English liturgy in favour of the Geneva form. The ex-dean, who had himself assisted in the com- pilation of the liturgy, proved successful, through the united prudence and energy with which his measures were pursued. On the accession of Eliza- beth in November, 1558, he returned to England, and was made acquainted with the design to restore the reformed religion, which the Queen and part of * Godwin's " Engl. Bish." p. 285. f Vide Lord Burghley's " State Papers," p. 132. CONFERENCE ON RELIGION. 109 her Council had already determined on ; but which, from prudential motives, was for awhile concealed. He was likewise selected, with others, to assist Dr. Matthew Parker, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, in revising the liturgy of Edward the Sixth *, and shortly afterwards had the still greater honour of being appointed one of the nine Protestant divines, who were to manage the Conference on disputed points of religion with an equal number of Roman Catholics. The chief points to be discussed were, " the power of particular Churches to alter rites and ceremonies, the propitiatory sacrifices in the mass, and the propriety of worship in an unknown language." The Conference was begun in Westminster Abbey on the 31st of March, 1559, in presence of the privy-council, the two houses of parliament, and a vast concourse of people ; but the Roman Catholics, having reflected that they had acted imprudently in thus bringing the doctrines of their religion into question without being authorized by the Pope, refused to deliver their reasons for belief in writing, as it had been previously agreed ; and at last they put an end to the discussion by declaring, that it was not in their power to dispute on points already settled f. It is most probable, however, that the main cause of the Popish divines thus declining to proceed arose from their apprehension of being overpowered in argument ; yet two of them, the Bishops of W inchester and Lincoln, scrupled not to say, that " the Queen and Council ought to be excommunicated for suffering the Catholic faith to be argued before an unlearned multitude ;" and that " the faith of the Church ought not to be examined but in an assembly of divines J." After Bishop Thirleby had been displaced from the See of Ely, Cox was chosen to succeed him, and he was consecrated on the 21st of December, * The direction and management of this revision, according to Camden, was intrusted to William Parr, Marquis of Northampton j Francis Russel, Earl of Bedford ; John Grey, of Pyrgo ; and Sir William Cecil. The persons employed in executing it, besides Dr. Parker and Dean Cox, were Dr. May, Dr. Bill, Dr. James Pilkington, afterwards Bishop of Durham ; Sir Thomas Smith, Mr. David Whitehead, and Mr. Edmund Grindall, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. " Hist, of Eliz." p. 371. f The Protestant disputants, besides Cox, were Story, Bishop of Chichester; Whitehead, Grindall, Home, Sands, Guest, Ailmer, and Jewel : their Catholic opponents were the Bishops of Winchester, Lincoln, Carlisle, Chester, and Coventry and Litchfield ; Cole, Dean of St. Paul's ; Langdale, Archdeacon of Lewes ; Harpsfield, Archdeacon of Canterbury ; and Chedsey, Archdeacon of Middlesex. I Fox's " Acts and Monuments," Tom. III. p. 979, et seq. 110 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 1559. Having governed that diocese in an exemplary manner during up- wards of twenty-one years, he died on the 22d of July 1581, and was buried in his Cathedral Church. He was a learned and tolerably eloquent man, and has been praised by Lei and for his faith and integrity. He assisted in com- piling a Latin grammar, and was author of two " Orations," which have been printed in Peter Martyr's works. On the deprivation of Dean Cox in 1553, Hugh Weston*, who was then one of Queen Mary's chaplains, was appointed his successor ; and he was installed on the 18th of September in that year. This prelate was born at Borton Novery, in Leicestershire ; and having commenced his education at Baliol College, in Oxford, afterwards studied physic in Lincoln College, of which he became fellow and rector. He was afterwards Proctor of the University, and Margaret Professor of Divinity there ; and was next made Archdeacon of Colchester. In the early part of Queen Mary's reign he was much employed, having been chosen prolocutor in the first convocation after her accession ; and was frequently appointed by the court to preach in the most public places. He was also selected to attend several of the state criminals on the scaffold, among whom were Sir Thomas Wyatt, and the Duke of Suffolk ; and in the year 1554 was moderator in the disputation at Oxford, between the Bishops Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley, (who were then in custody), and the most eminent Popish divines of the two universities. In the year 1556, Queen Mary determined to restore this establishment to its former character ; and though her design was strenuously resisted by the Dean and Chapter, she pursued her purpose, and re-instituted the Monastery by a charter, dated at Croydon on the 7th of September, in the third and fourth of Philip and Mary. In this transaction the greatest pos- sible deference was shewn to the authority of the Holy See ; and the Chapter * About six months after the appointment of Weston, nine, out of the twelve Prebendaries belonging to this Church, were displaced ; some of them having fled beyond sea, and others having married. Among those who sought refuge on the continent were Grindall and Nowell ; the latter of whom had been returned to represent one of the boroughs of Looe, in Cornwall, in the first parliament of Queen Mary's reign, but was not allowed to sit, being in holy orders. The vacant Prebends were soon afterwards bestowed on Roman Catholics, among whom was a Spaniard, named Alphonsus de Salinas, who had been several years resident in England, and who, in 1556, had a bond for 30/. from Abbot Feckenham, in which the Abbot binds himself, his suc- cessors, and the house, for repayment ; as well as any other person to whomsoever the said monastery should come. CHARTER OF RESTORATION. Ill received a license from the celebrated Cardinal Pole, who was then the Pope's legate, empowering them to surrender their estates to the Queen, in order that they might be granted to the restored foundation*. When this was done, the Cardinal gave the new Abbot and monks possession with much solemnity ; and he afterwards drew up a code of regulations for the future government of the Abbey. It was then settled that the Abbot should not retain this office during life, as on the ancient establishment, but for the limited period of three years only ; and that no conge d'elire should be ne- cessary before the election, nor any royal assent be wanting to confirm it when made. * The following is a copy of the " Diploma histaurationis," &c. Rex & Regina omnibus ad quos, &c. Salutem. Cum Monasterium Sancti Petri, Westmonasterii situm, ordinis Sancti Be- nedicti, quod ab antiquissimo tempore per praedecessores nostras Reges fundatum & dotatum fuit, in nuper prseteritorum temporum calamitate penitus dissolutum & extinctum ; inibi postniodum collegium canonicorum secularium institutum & erectum fuerit. Nos summis desideriis expe- tentes, ut hujusmodi Ecclesiae Sancti Petri Sancti olim Monasterii, in quo insignia regalia asservari, & Reges inungi & consecrari solent, & corpora multorum regum preedecessorum nostrorum prae- fatorum tumulata existunt, remotis ab ea decano & canonicis secularibus inibi servientibus, Abba- teque et Monachis ordinis ejusdem Sancti Benedicti introductis de statu, in quo nunc reperitur seculari, transeat in eum in quo antea erat, regularem inibique Monasterium Monachorum, qui secundum regulam ejusdem Sancti Benedicti, aliaque ejusdem ordinis statuta & consuetudines vivant, & altissimo inserviant restituatur restauretur, seu denovo erigatur, cuicumque cessioni & resignationi de & super Ecclesia Sancti Petri praefati cum annexis, juribusque & pertinentiis suis universis & omni juri collegiis in ea introducto per decanum & canonicos capitulum inibi servientes in manibus Reverendissimi in Christo Patris Domini Reginaldi Poli Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis, Sanctissimi Domini nostri Papae & Sedis Apostolicae ad nos, & Regna nostra Anglian & Hiberniae & quaecumque loco eisdem subjecta, & ad partes adjacentes de latere Legati, consanguinei nostri cha- rissimi, & ejusdem collegii Ecclesiae Sancti Petri praefati, extinction!, suprcssioni, & dissolutioni, ac monasterii & ordinis regularis Sancti Benedicti in eadem Ecclesia restitutioni introductioni restau- rationi seu de novo erectioni, per eundem Reverendissimum Dominum legatum seu quoslibet alios ad id sufficienti facultate munitos faciendum & celebrandum, pro eo jure quod in Ecclesia & col- legio predictis ad nostram regiam coronam spectat & pcrtinet motu proprio nostris regibus, ad omnipotentis Dei & gloriosae Virginis Mariae & Beati Petri, totiusque curiae coelestis laudem, & gloriam, ac divini cultus augmentum consentimus nostrum que confensum praestamus, Omniaque si quae sunt impedimenta, quo minus praemissa fieri, & executioni demandari suumque debetum finem & effectum sortiri possint, per quascunque Regni nostri leges, statuta & ordinationes enjus- cunque tenons ilia existant quae hie haberi volumus propraemissis ac si de verbo ad verbum inserta forent introducta, eisdem motu & scientia peritus & Omnino tollimus & abolemus in cujus rei, &c. Testibus Rege & Regina apud Croydon, 7 Die Septembris Annis Regnorum Philippi & Maria; Tertio & Quarto. Vide " Reyner. Apos. Benedictin Angl." Tract I. p. 233. 112 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Dean Weston, having lost the Queen's favour by his opposition to the re- establishment of the Abbey, was removed from Westminster to the inferior Deanery of Windsor; and in the following- year (anno 1557,) he Mas de- prived of that benefice, by Cardinal Pole, on a charge of adultery. Shortly afterwards, on endeavouring to quit the kingdom with intent to appeal to the Court of Rome, he was seized, and imprisoned in the Tower till the accession of Queen Elizabeth. Being in ill health, he was then permitted to remove to a friend's house in Fleet-street, where he died in the beginning of De- cember, 1558. He was buried in the Church of the Savoy Hospital, in the Strand. It has been stated that Cardinal Pole " hated him for his bad morals*;" and Bishop Burnet represents him to have been a notorious drunkard -f\ Leland has bestowed much commendation on Weston's talents ; yet Bale ridicules and traduces them. On the removal of Weston to the Deanery of Windsor, the Prebendaries of Westminster were dismissed with pensions, and John Feckenham was appointed the new Abbot on Queen Mary's foundation. The family name of this prelate was Howman ; but in accordance with the monkish custom he had taken the name of his birth-place, which was Feckenham Forest, in Worcestershire, where his parents, who were poor cottagers, resided. A neighbouring priest instructed him in the rudiments of learning ; and on his recommendation, he was admitted a monk of Evesham, and was after- wards sent as a student to Gloucester Hall, at Oxford, which was then a seminary for Benedictines. On the dissolution of the lesser monasteries, be affixed his name to the surrender of Evesham (which bears date on the 17th of November, 1556,) and had 10/. per annum, granted to him as a pension, lie afterwards became domestic chaplain to Dr. Bell, Bishop of Worcester ; on whose resignation in the year 1543, if not earlier, he was entertained by the notorious Bonner, Bishop of London, in a similar ca- pacity. On the deprivation of the latter prelate in October, 1549, Fecken- ham was sent to the Tower, for refusing, according to Heyner, to administer the sacraments agreeably to the liturgy then in use. Stapleton, however, affirms that he was committed to that prison on account of his denying the doctrine of justification by faith only, and for defending the due observance of Lent. Whilst yet in custody, he was permitted to hold a solemn dis- * Widm. " Hist." p. 136. f " Hist, of the Reformation/' p. 284. ACTS OF ABBOT FECKENHAM. 113 putation with Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester ; but he was afterwards remanded to the Tower, where he continued till the accession of Queen Mary. This Princess made him one of her chaplains, and appointed him, in succession, Dean of St. Paul's, and Abbot of Westminster. He was installed on the 21st of November, 1556 ; at which time, likewise, fourteen monks were esta- blished here ; four of whom had previously belonged to the Abbey of Glastenbury. Feckenham was no sooner settled in his Abbacy than he began to act with much zeal. He repaired the Shrine of Edward the Confessor; and provided a paschal candle, which weighed 300 lbs. and was made with great solemnity, the master and wardens of the wax-chandlers' company attending the ceremony *. The privilege of sanctuary was again assumed by the Convent, and resolutely maintained ; and processions began to be very frequent. On the 31st of May, 1557, the ancient residence of the Abbots (which on the erection of the See of Westminster had been converted into the epis- copal palace,) was restored to Feckenham, in exchange for the manor of Canonbury, in Middlesex, by the son of the Lord Wentworth, to whom it had been granted by Edward the Sixth, on the suppression of the Bishopric f . During the remaining part of Queen Mary's reign, this Abbot was held in much favour at Court, although the moderation which he displayed formed a striking contrast to the sanguinary principles that swayed the major part of the Queen's Council. His influence was particularly exerted in favour of the Princess Elizabeth ; and some writers have affirmed that her life was saved through his spirited remonstrances with her bigotted sister, at a period when her destruction was meditated in order to ensure greater stability to the Roman Catholic religion. Elizabeth was not un- mindful of his services ; and when she ascended the throne would have re- warded him with a high rank in the Church, if he would have previously conformed to the Protestant faith ; but this he appears to have firmly and conscientiously refused J. Saunders has stated that in an interview which he * Widm. " Hist." p. 137. t Ibid. + Dart says, that when, on the death of Mary, Queen Elizabeth sent for Feckenham with in- tent to consult and reward him, he " was then planting those elms which are now in the Prebend's garden, and would not go till he had done what he was about ;" for which conduct, he seems to have been commended by those of his own Church. " West." Vol. II. p. xxxviii. VOL. I. Q 114 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. had with the new Queen, she offered him the metropolitan See of Canterbury ; yet his authority is not regarded as entitled to implicit credit. In the first parliament of Elizabeth (which met on the 23rd of January, 1559,) Feckenham w as the only Abbot that sat ; and he took " the lower place on the Bishops' form." Whilst he remained in the House he gave a strenuous and decided opposition to all the measures that were proposed in favour of the Reformation. He objected, in particular, to the bill for re- storing to the crown, the tenths, first fruits, and impropriations, which had been surrendered by Queen Mary ; he dissented to the bills for annexing* religious houses to the crown, and permitting the sovereign to take temporal possession of episcopal sees upon voidance ; and he made a very elaborate speech against the act for establishing the ecclesiastical supremacy of the crown *. This pertinacious obstinacy, at length, caused his committal to the Tower, in the following year ; yet, even when a prisoner, he continued to oppose, and wrote a tract against the oath of supremacy, which has been printed by Reynerf, and was replied to by Dr. Home, Bishop of Win- chester. He was afterwards committed to the custody of the Bishop ; but after a time was again sent to the Tower, and was thence removed to the Marshalsea, " where he had more liberty and air." His discharge soon fol- lowed, and for a while he resided privately in Holborn, w here he is said to have built a fountain or aqueduct. In consequence, however, of the restless spirit of the Catholics, (which led to repeated attempts against the life of the Queen,) he w as once more arrested, and, together with several other bigotted Romanists, was conveyed prisoner to Wisbich Castle, in Cambridgeshire. Here he passed the remainder of his days, living in great piety, and per- forming various acts of public beneficence. He died in the year 1585, and is supposed to lie buried in Wisbich Church. Camden describes him as " a learned and good man, who lived a long while, did great service to the * The heads of this speech are given in Camden's " Reg. Eliz." anno 1559- Among the Harleian Manuscripts (No. 2185) is another speech of Feckenham's, that was delivered in op- position to the bill for establishing the new Liturgy, and has been printed by Malcolm (" Lond. Red." Vol. I. p. 228), together with some Latin lines in praise of the Abbot, which are preserved in the same collection (No. 3258), and are intituled, " In laudem Joannis Feck'nam, Abbatis West- monasteriensis." f " Apos. Benedict. Angl." Reyner, speaking of Dr. Home's reply, calls it " lilrum impium plcnumque mendacijs>' MADE A COLLEGIATE CHURCH. 115 poor, and always solicited the minds of his adversaries to good M ill*." He appears to have been a person of much eloquence ; and was, unquestionably, well grounded in the principles of the Roman Catholic faith. These qua- lities occasioned him to be much employed, by Queen Mary's ministers, in arguing against Protestantism. His disputation with the Lady Jane Grey, when sent by the Queen to prevail on her to change her religion, may be seen in Foxf, and is curious ; though perhaps more to be depended on for the matter, than the precise manner in which it took place. Bishop Burnet represents him as endued with generosity and benevolence J. By an act which was passed in Queen Elizabeth's first parliament, (anno 1559), all the religious houses lately erected, or revived, by her sister, were vested in the sovereign, and Mere to be given up in the same condition as they Mere in on the first day of the preceding October, excepting as to the leases " fairly made" by the Abbot and Convent of Westminster, after that date. In pursuance of this act, the Abbey was surrendered to the Queen, with all its possessions; and the Abbot and monks were removed from Westminster on the 12th of July, 1559. The number of monks that were at that time on the foundation does not appear; one of them, Mho was named Robert Buckley, but who had changed his christian name to Sigebert, or Sebert, in accordance with a monkish custom then prevalent §, was living so late as the year 1609 1|. The unsettled state of ecclesiastical affairs induced the Queen to keep the Abbey in her own hands for several months, previously to its final esta- blishment as a collegiate Church ; but at length, on the 21st of May, 1560, she re-founded it, by charter, on a basis nearly similar to the establishment made by Henry the Eighth ^f. The persons composing the choir Mere indeed less numerous ; but the number and designation of the superior officers M ere essentially the same. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, and the Dean of St. Paul's, were commissioned to give possession to the new Dean and Prebendaries ; and the latter were solemnly installed * " Reg. Eliz." Anno 1559- t "Acts and Monuments," p. 1419, et deincept. % " Hist, of the Reform." Vol. II. p. 397. § Widm. " Hist." p. 129. || Ibid. p. 138- 5f Dr. Heylyn, in his " History of the Reformation," has affirmed that Elizabeth " pleased .erself with the choice of some of the best lands" before she confirmed the remainder to this Church j yet, from comparing the charters of the two Queen?, it will be seen that his allegation is wholly untrue. q2 116 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. on the 30th of June in the above year. The endowments consisted of all the lands and possessions that had belonged to the late Abbot and Convent. The first Dean on Elizabeth's foundation, was Dr. William Bill, who was born at Ashwell, in Hertfordshire, and had been educated at St. John's College, Cambridge ; of which he was elected fellow in the year 1523. In 1542 he was made Greek professor in that University ; in 1546, he became head of his College, but resigned that preferment in 1551, on being appointed master of Trinity College, by Edward the Sixth. From this situation he was expelled by Queen Mary ; whose sister, Elizabeth, re-instated him, soon after her own accession. She made him, also, her principal almoner; and at short intervals, constituted him Provost of Eton, and Dean of Westminster. He enjoyed his dignities but little more than a twelvemonth, his death occurring on the 15th of July, 1561. He drew up statutes for the regulation of this Church ; and by his will gave some plate to the College, and furniture for the beds of the scholars. He was buried in the Chapel of St. Benedict. He was a good and learned man, and has been much praised for his integrity, and his charity to the poor. Gabriel Goodman, the next Dean *, had been educated with his pre- decessor, at St. John's College, Cambridge ; and was appointed a Pre- bendary of this Church on its re-establishment by Elizabeth, in 1560. Widmore supposes that he was either chaplain to Cecil, the then secretary of state, or tutor to his children ; since it was on his recommendation that he obtained a Prebend here, and by the same interest was promoted to the Deanery on the 23rd of September, 1561. In the year 1566, a bill was brought into the House of Commons to take away the privileges of all sanctuaries in cases of debt; but the strong opposition that was made against it by the Dean and Chapter of West- minster, in behalf of their own Church, occasioned it to be thrown out, on the third reading. The Dean, himself, was permitted to address the house in defence of the right of sanctuary, and was supported in his arguments by two advocates, namely, Ford, an eminent civilian, and Plowden, whose name is still celebrated in consequence of the great knowledge which he acquired of the common law. * No account of this prelate, nor yet of Dean Andrews, his successor, has been given by Dart. CHARACTER OF DEAN GOODMAN. 117 About the year 1570, Goodman, in consequence of the frequent ravages which the plague made in the metropolis, procured for the Dean and Chapter of Westminster the privilege of becoming the tenants, in perpetuity, of the Prebend of Chiswick, in the diocese of London (which at that time he himself held) in order that some of the Chapter, with the masters and scholars on this foundation, might have a convenient place of refuge in case of the breaking out of any pestilential, or epidemical, disease *. In the year 1585, an act of parliament was passed to regulate the civil affairs of Westminster ; which city was then apportioned into twelve wards, to be governed by twelve burgesses, and the same number of assistants. The sanctuary and precincts of the Abbey were exempted, however, from muni- cipal control ; and the nomination of the burgesses was vested in the Dean and Chapter, as lords of the manor. Dean Goodman conducted himself with great discretion during the long period which he ruled over this Church ; and though the Puritans of the day were accustomed to report that he was too much swayed by the Lord Treasurer Cecil, (whom they styled, in derision, " the Dean of Westmin- ster^;") yet the deference he paid to his patron does not appear to have in- terfered with his duty. It was probably by his influence that Cecil, in the year 1594, settled a perpetual annuity, of twenty marks, on the scholars elected from this foundation to the two universities. This Dean has the character of having been " a wise, learned, and charitable man, and a lover of our religious establishments." He was much esteemed by the Archbishops Parker and \\ hitgift ; and was several times recommended by those prelates as a fit person to be advanced to a bishopric : the cause which rendered their recommendation ineffectual is not known. The Dean proved equally unsuccessful in his repeated endeavours to obtain the royal assent to the statutes which had been framed for the government of this Church by Bill, his predecessor. He died on the 17th of June, 1601, and was interred in St. Benedict's Chapel. The successor of Goodman was the very erudite Dr. Lancelot An- drews, who was born in the year 1555, in the parish of Allhallows Barking, London. His early proficiency in the learned languages, which he had chiefly attained at Merchant-Taylor's school, under Mr. Mulcaster, occa- * Widm. " Hist." p. 142. f Vide Strype's " Life of Arch. Parker." 118 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. sioned him to be selected by Dr. Watts, Archdeacon of Middlesex, to fill the first of the scholarships which that prelate had founded at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. Here, by his unwearied attention to study, as well as by his eloquent preaching - , he acquired distinguished reputation ; and was, on a vacancy, chosen fellow of his college. Afterwards, his skill in divinity be- came so celebrated, and " he was esteemed so profound a casuist, that he was often consulted in the nicest and most difficult cases of conscience." His success in converting various recusants, priests, as well as others, to the Protestant religion, whilst resident in the north with Henry, Earl of Hunt- ingdon, obtained him the patronage of Sir Francis Walsingham, who pro- cured for him the vicarage of St. Giles, Cripplegate, in London. Other preferments followed ; and he became a Prebendary and residentiary of St. Paul's, a Prebendary of the collegiate Church of Southwell, Master of Pem- broke Hall, and Chaplain in ordinary to Queen Elizabeth. This Princess was so much delighted with his eloquence that she made him a Prebendary of Westminster ; and, on the death of Goodman, advanced him to the Deanery, in which he was installed on the 4th of July, 1601. It is stated, also, that he might have been promoted to a Bishopric in this reign, had he not steadily refused to submit to any alienation of the episcopal revenues*. In the " Scrinia Reserata," of the amusing, but garrulous Bishop Hacket, we are informed that Dean Andrews was particularly attentive to the scholars on this foundation, whose exercises he would himself superintend, and often, for a week together, supply the place both of master and usher. He gave a strict charge that no lessons should be given but out of the most classical authors ; and " never walk'd to Chiswick for his recreation without a brace of the young fry ; and in that way-faring leisure had a singular dexterity to fill those narrow vessels with a funnel : and, which was the greatest burden of his toil, sometimes thrice in a week, sometimes oftener, he sent for the uppermost scholars to his lodgings at night, and kept them with him from eight till eleven, unfolding to them the best rudiments of the Greek tongue, and the elements of the Hebrew grammar ; and all this he did to boys without any compulsion of correction, or word of austerity f." * Vide Granger's " Biog. Hist." Vol. I. p. 347. f " Serin. Res." p. 45. Hacket, who was himself a scholar of Westminster, says of the Dean, " he was the first that planted me in my tender studies, and watered them continually with his bounty." Ibid. PREFERMENTS OF DEAN ANDREWS. H9 Dean Andrews was held in great esteem by James the First, who not only gave him the preference to all other divines as a preacher ; but likewise made choice of him to vindicate his sovereignty against the attacks of Car- dinal Bellarmin, who had replied to King James's " Defence of the Rights of Kings," under the name of Matthew Tortus, and in that character assailed him with much vehemence. The King requested AndreAvs to answer the Cardinal, which he did with great spirit and judgment, in a work intituled, " Tortura Torti ; sive, ad Matthaei Torti librum responsio, qui nnper editus contra Apologium serenissimi potentissimique Principis Jacobi," &c. Avhich was printed in quarto, in 1609, and is characterized, by the learned Casaubon, as being written with great accuracy and research. In November, 1605, the Dean was consecrated Bishop of Colchester, and at the same time made the King's almoner, in which place he acted with singular fidelity and disinterestedness. He was afterwards promoted to the See of Ely, anno 1609, and appointed a privy-counsellor, and whilst in that capacity he attended the King in his journey to Scotland *. After- wards, in 1618, he was advanced to the Bishopric of Winchester, and Deanery of the King's Chapel ; which two last preferments he held till his decease, on the 24th of September, 1626. He died at Winchester House in the seventy-first year of his age, and was buried in the parish church of St. Saviour, Southwark. * King James being particularly pleased with the facetious turn which Bishop Andrews dis- played in conversation, frequently admitted him into his company, and discoursed with him on very familiar terms ; an instance of which is here given from the life of the poet, AValler. On the day when the King dissolved his last parliament, Mr. Waller (who had been elected as burgess for Agmondesham, in Buckinghamshire,) went to see his Majesty at dinner, behind whose chair Bishop Andrews, and Neile, Bishop of Durham, were both standing. In the conversation that ensued, the King asked the Bishop, " My Lord, cannot I take my subject's money without all this formality in parliament?" The Bishop of Durham readily answered, " God forbid, Sir, but you should j you are the breath of our nostrils :" whereupon the King turned and said to the Bishop of Winchester, " Well, my Lord, what say you ?" " Sir," replied Andrews, " I have no skill to judge of parliamentary cases." The King answered, " No put-offs, my Lord ; answer me presently." " Then, Sir," said he, " I think it lawful for you to take my brother Neile's money, for he offers it." Mr. Waller said the company were pleased with this reply ; and the wit of it seemed to affect the King; for a certain Lord coming in soon after, his Majesty exclaimed, " O, my Lord, they say you lig with my lady!" " No, Sir," says his Lonbhip, in confusion, " but I like her company, because she has so much wit." " Why, then," says the King, " do you not lig with my Lord of Winchester there?" 120 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. The charities of this prelate were very numerous ; and his liberality to men of genius and learning has been spoken of in terms of the strongest praise. The high opinion which was entertained of his talents may be esti- mated from the following remark of Lord Clarendon, who, in his " History of the Civil Wars," speaking of the decease of Dr. Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, says, " if he had been succeeded by Bishop Andrews, or any man who understood and loved the Church, that infection would easily have been kept out, which could not afterwards be so easily expelled." Even the great Milton thought him worthy of his pen, and composed a Latin elegy on his death. In the eulogium on this prelate, written by Hacket, and which he af- fectedly calls " but an ivy-leaf, crept into the laurel of his immortal garland," is this passage. " This is that Andrews, the ointment of whose name is 1 sweeter than all spices.' This is that celebrated Bishop of Winton, whose learning King James admired above all his Chaplains ; and that King being of most excellent parts himself, could the better discover w hat was eminent in another. Indeed he was the most apostolical and primitive-like divine, in my opinion, that wore a rochet in his age ; of a most venerable gravity, and yet most sweet in all commerce ; the most devout that ever I saw when he appeared before God ; of such a growth in all kinds of learning, that very able clerks were of a low stature to him ; Colossus inter icunculas : full of alms and charity ; of which none knew but his Father in secret. A cer- tain patron to scholars of fame and ability, and chiefly to those that never expected it. In the pulpit, an Homer among preachers, and may fitly be set forth in Quintilian's judgment of Homer: Nomie humani ingenii modum excessit ? TJt magni sit viri virtutes ejus non cemulatione ( quod Jieri non potest ) sed intellect u sequi *." Though the acquirements of this prelate were so very extensive that the whole Christian world admired his profound learning, and particularly his knowledge of the Eastern languages, as well as of Greek and Latin, and many modern tongues, yet he was so far from being elated with his attain- ments, that he often complained of his defects ; and when he was preferred to the Bishopric of Colchester, his modesty was so remarkable that he caused the words of St. Paul, Et ad hoec quis idoneus? — ' and who is sufficient for these things' — to be engraven about his episcopal seal f. * " Serin. Res." p. 45. f " Gen. Biog. Diet." Vol. II. p. 223. edit. 1812. CHARACTER OF DEAN ANDREWS. 121 Among the many panegyrics written on this " stupendously pro- found prelate," as he is styled by a contemporary author*, that by Fuller is not the least remarkable. He tells us, " the world wanted learning to know how learned he was ;" and that " he was so skilled in all (especially Oriental) languages, that some conceive he might (if then living) almost have served as an Interpreter-generull at the Confusion of Tongues-\." The inscription on his monument in St. Saviour's Church was com- posed by one of his chaplains, and it celebrates, in nearly a similar strain of eulogy, his education, learning, preferments, and virtues : with the latter is enumerated his celibacy, as entitling him to a particular future reward. The lines which particularize his attainments and deserts are here given: Linguarum, Artium, Scientiarum, Humanorum, Divinorum, Omnium Infinitus Thesaurus, stupendum oraculum ; Orthodoxae Christi ecclesiae, Dictis, scriptis, precibus, exemplo, Incomparabile propugnacuhim. Idem ex Indefessa opera in studiis, Summa sapientia in rebus, Assidua pietate in Deum, Profusa largitate in egenos, Rara amoenitate in suos, Spectata probitate in omnes, jEternum admirandus. Annorum pariter & publicae famae satur, Sed bonorum passim omnium cum luctu denatus, Coelebs hinc migravit ad aureolam coelestem J. The funeral sermon on this prelate, which was preached by Dr. John Buckeridge, Bishop of Rochester, gives an extended account of his diffusive • " Hist, of King Charles," by H. L. p. 62. f " Church Hist." B. 11. p. 126. X The aureola referred to in the concluding line is, according to the Itomish Church, a distinct reward of virginity, in addition to the general crown bestowed on the elect. — In digging to make room for a corpse some years ago, some remains of Bishop Andrews were discovered j and the hair of his beard, and his silken cap, were found undecayed. It appears from his portrait, which is preserved in the Bodleian Library, at Oxford, that he wore his beard somewhat long and pointed, and had long whiskers on his upper lip. VOL. I. R 122 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. charities and bequests; and mentions, also, that he repaired the Dean's lodgings at Westminster. His " Sermons" on the fasts and festivals, and the more important doctines of Christianity, were collected, to the number of ninety-six, and published in a folio volume (1628), dedicated to "his sacred Majesty King Charles," by Laud, who was then Bishop of London, and the above Bishop Buckeridge, who had been translated to Ely. The same prelates, in the following year, dedicated a quarto volume to the King, con- taining several of the Bishop's " Tracts," and " Speeches" in the Star- Chamber. Most of his other works, which principally consist of " Sermons" and " Lectures," were printed subsequently, in two volumes, folio. His " Manual of Devotions," in Greek and Latin, was translated by Dean Stan- hope, and has been often reprinted. On the promotion of Bishop Andrews to the See of Chichester, he was succeeded in this Deanery by Dr. Richard Neile, who was then Vicar of Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, and clerk of the closet to James the First. This prelate was born about the beginning of March, 1561-62, in Westminster ; most probably in King Street, where his father carried on the business of a tallow-chandler ; " the family being ruined at that time, his grandfather having lost a considerable estate, an. 1539, a very good preferment at court under Henry the Eighth (hardly escaping with his life), for not complying with the six bloody articles*." He was educated in Westminster school, under Mr. afterwards Dr. Grant, the then head-master, and the celebrated Camden, the second master ; but " his father being dead, his mother, not able to bestow on him an university education, was advised to put him an ap- prentice to a booksellerf." This, fortunately for his future greatness, was * Le Neve's " Lives," &c. of '* the Protestant Archbishops/' P. II. p. 137 - } from an account communicated by the learned Mr. Tho. Baker, who obtained his information from a grandson of Bishop Andrews. f Widm. " Hist." p. 146, from a " Memorial," preserved in the archives of Westminster, " of sundry things performed by the Dean and Chapter," &c. during the five years of Neile's go- vernment here. This account is attested by seven of the Prebendaries, and is arranged under the several heads " of building and repairs, of increase of the revenue and furniture of the Church, of bettering the charters and register books, and of works of charity and hospitality." Speaking of Westminster school, our prelate says, " Myself have yearly sent out of this school (besides those six that have been elected) whom I have gotten placed in other colleges, besides Trinity College and Christ Church, some years two, some years three, and with some charge to me ; which I have carefully done in a thankful remembrance of God's goodness showed to me, in my being preferred ACCOUNT OF BISHOP NEILE. 123 prevented by Dean Goodman, on whose recommendation he Mas preferred (May the 18th, 1580), to one of the scholarships founded by Mildred, Lady Burleigh, at St. John's College, Cambridge : the Dean's letter to the master and fellows, describes him as " a poor and fatherless child," yet " of good hope to be learned." He afterwards became fellow of his college, and in 1600, commenced doctor in divinity. Previously to this he had succeeded to different livings, chiefly through the interest of Lord Burleigh, who made him his domestic chaplain ; and in 1598 he was appointed treasurer of Chi- chester Cathedral. Whilst resident with the Cecils, he preached before Queen Elizabeth, who was much pleased with him, and signified her intention to promote him ; yet it does not appear that he received any distinguished preferment from that Princess*. " In the beginning of the reign of King James," says Dr. Heylyn, " by the power and mediation of Archbishop Bancroft, he was made clerk of the closet to that King, that standing continually at his elbow, he might be ready to perform good offices to the church and churchmen : and he discharged his trust so well, that though he lost the love of some of the courtiers, who were too visibly inclined to the Puritan faction, yet he gained the favour of his master, by whom he was preferred to the Deanry of Westminster ; and afterwards successively to the Bishoprics of Rochester, Lichfield, Lincoln, and Durham, one of the richest in the kingdom ; which shews that there was in him something more than ordinary, which made that King so bountiful and gracious to himj\" As the patronage of the Cecil family liad first led to his advancement in life, so also was their influence exerted in his promotion. It was by the interest of Secretary Cecil, (then Earl of Salisbury), that he was appointed Dean of this church ; and it is not undeserving of remark, that he was from this school to St. John's College, Cambridge, by the honourable bounty of my foundress and patroness, the Lady Mildred Burghley, late wife of my old master the Lord Treasurer Burghley, and mother of my most honourable master, the Earl of Salisbury, now Lord Treasurer. By the goodness of which, my two most honourable masters, I am whatsoever I now am; and without the goodness of which my most honourable foundress and patroness, upon the motion of Dr. Goodman, the then reverend Dean of this Church, I think, I should never have been sent to the university; but that the best of my fortune would have been to have become some bookseller's apprentice in Paul's Church-yard, to which trade of life Mr. Grant, then school- master here, per- suaded my mother to have disposed of me." * Le Xeve's u Lives," P. II. p. 139. f Vide " Cyprianus Anglicus," p. Go. R 2 124 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. installed here on that very 5th of November, (anno 1605), which has become so memorable through the discovery of the Gunpowder-Treason Plot. On the 9th of October, 1608, he was consecrated Bishop of Salisbury ; and about that period he made Dr. William Laud, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, one of his chaplains. The subsequent rise of Laud, indeed, may be fairly attributed to his friendship ; since he introduced him to King- James ; and, besides other preferments, obtained for him the reversion of a prebend in this cathedral, which, though it fell not to him till ten years after, yet it fell at last, and thereby neighboured him to the Court*." On the 6th of December, 1610, Bishop Neile was translated to the See of Lichfield and Coventry ; and he then vacated this Deanery, which he had hitherto held in commendam with Rochester. In October, 1612, the King, by whom he had long been treated with distinguished favour, dispatched him to Peterborough, to convey thence the body of his unfortunate mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, in order to re-inter it in a more princely manner at Westminster ; and he returned with it on the 8th of the same month -f. In January, 1613-14, he was translated to the See of Lincoln, and re- ceived confirmation on the 18th of the following month. In 1617 lie attended the King in his progress to Scotland ; and on his return he was confirmed to the rich Bishopric of Durham, at Durham House, in the Strand (October the 9th), by the Archbishop of York, who was empowered by license from Arch- bishop Abbot, to perform that ceremony within the province of Canterbury. Whilst he continued in this See, he expended full 3000/. £ in repairing the palaces and houses belonging to it, which had before been in great decay. " But that which gave him most content," says Dr. Heylyn, " was his palace of Durham House in the Strand ; not only because it afforded him conve- nient room for his own retinue, but because it was large enough to allow sufficient quarters for Buckeridge, Bishop of Rochester, and Laud, Dean of Gloucester, which he enjoyed when he was Bishop of St. David's also ; some other quarters were reserved for his old servant, Dr. Lindsell, (after- wards Bishop of Hereford), and others for such learned men of his acquaint- ance as came from time to time to attend upon him ; insomuch as it passed commonly by the name of Durham College §." * Vide " Cyprianus Angl." p. 60. } Godwin's " Cat. Episc." f Le Neve's '* Lives," P. II. p. 143. § " Cyp. Angl." p. m 4> 75. INFLUENCE OF NEILE AND LAUD. 125 The strict friendship that subsisted between Neile and Laud was doubt- less cemented by the congruity of their religious opinions, which very strongly inclined to Arminianism ; as those doctrinal points of controversy were called, which having first produced a schism in the reformed church, were after- wards maintained by Jacobus Arminius, (who died in 1609,) the Divinity Professor in the university of Leyden. This intimacy was improved to their mutual advantage ; as may be gathered from various passages in Heylyn's account of Laud : for instance, in the spring of the year 1625, shortly after the accession of Charles the First, Laud was appointed to wait upon the new King as clerk of the closet, at the request of Bishop Neile, who had fallen sick ; " in which service," says his biographer, " though he continued not long, yet he made such use of it, that he grew so much into the King's favour, as to become, as it were, his majesty's secretary for all church con- cernments*." Again, in April 1627, Laud was admitted into the privy council ; " an honour," Heylyn remarks, " which he would not have accepted with so great cheerfulness, if his dear friend, the Lord Bishop of Durham, had not been sworn in, also, at or about the same time. So mutually did these two prelates contribute their assistances to one another, that as Neile gave Laud his helping hand to bring him first into the Court, and plant him in King James's favour, so Laud made use of all advantages in behalf of Neile, to keep him in favour with King Charles, and advance him higher f." The united influence of these prelates was shortly afterwards exerted against George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury ; who had very early op- posed the advancement of Laud, by complaining to the Lord Chancellor Egerton, that " he was at least a Papist in heart, and cordially addicted unto popery;" and that " he kept company with none but suspected papists^." The ill effects of this representation were warded off by the protection of " his constant and unmoveable friend," Bishop Neile ; but the grudge that Avas hence conceived against Abbot appears not to have been forgotten by Laud, when the latter had obtained power and the favour of the King. The tolerant principles of Archbishop Abbot, or, as his impugners phrase it, his " lenity and coldness," in regard to the true interests of the church, was supposed to have much favoured the views of the noncon- formists and puritans ; for he " considered the Christian Religion," says * " Cyp. Angl." p. 140. t Ibid. 169. \ Ibid. 61. 126 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Lord Clarendon, " no otherwise than as it abhorred and reviled popery, and valued those men most who did that the most furiously*." This conduct gave great umbrage to the High Commission Court ; which Rapin, speaking of this period, says, was " almost wholly composed of Laud's and Neile's creatures j* ;" by whose advice, in June 1626, King Charles (within a few days after the dissolution of his second parliament), issued a proclamation, strictly forbidding all his subjects, the clergy most especially, " from preach- ing or disputing against the controversial points of Arminianism, either for or against;" on the pretext that such sort of disputes served only to breed contention : but many Mere of opinion that Laud and Neile had obtained this injunction w ith the covert design of oppressing the orthodox ministers, who should disobey it ; whilst the disobedience of the contrary party should be connived at J. The pressing necessities of the King (who had in anger dissolved his two first parliaments, without obtaining the requisite supplies), led him to the violent measure of attempting to raise money by a forced loan ; and in imi- » tation of Queen Elizabeth, as we are told by Heylyn, who, when she had any business to bring about among her subjects, was wont to " tune the Pulpits" an attempt was now made, through the medium of the church, " to prepare the people toward a dutiful compliance with his Majesty's desires§." Certain " Instructions" prepared by Laud, were therefore sent to all the established ministers in the realm ; some of whom, with the most ready compliance, " did their parts according as they were required " Among these incumbents was Dr. Sibthorp, Vicar of Brackley, in Northampton- shire, who, at the spring assizes for that county, preached a sermon, " the scope of which was to justify the lawfulness of the general loan, and of the King's imposing taxes by his own regal power, without consent in Parliament ; and to prove that the people, in point of Conscience and Religion, ought cheerfully to submit to such loans and taxes xoithout any opposition ||." This sermon, when offered to the press, was, from a due regard to the established laws of the land, refused a license by Archbishop Abbot; but Laud, after some slight qualifications aud corrections, approved, and permitted it to be printed under the title of " Apostolical Obedience." The offence, however, that * " Hist, of the Civil Wars," Vol. I. p. 68. \ Ibid. § " Cyp. Angl." p. 161. f " Hist, of Engl." Vol. II. p 258. f Ibid. p. 1O7. II Ibid. BISHOP NEILE ACCUSED BY PARLIAMENT. 127 was thus given by Abbot, was too great for the supporters of prerogative to pass over unpunished ; and the Archbishop was commanded to retire to his house at Ford, in Kent ; which was " a moorish place," and, as Coke says, chosen on " purpose to kill him." However this may be, the disgraced prelate defended his conduct in an extended narrative of his own case, which, together with his increasing popularity, and his " remiss govern- ment," as it is termed by his enemies, so highly irritated the Court, that he was sequestered from all his metropolitan jurisdiction ; and the King, by a commission, dated the 9th of October, 1627, vested the archiepiscopal authority in the Bishops of London, Durham, Rochester, Oxford, and Bath and Wells : namely, in Montaigne, Neile, Buckeridge, Oxford, and Laud. The entire jurisdiction of the See of Canterbury was exercised by these prelates till the month of August, 1628 ; at which time, " on good reasons of state," the Archbishop was restored *. In December, 1627, Bishop Neile was translated from Durham to Win- chester, in which See he was confirmed on the 7th of February, 1628. In Charles's third parliament, which assembled on the 17th of the month fol- lowing, both Neile and Laud gave great opposition to the famous " Petition of Right," which had been prepared by the House of Commons, and sent to the Peers for their concurrence, in order to pave the way for a redress of national grievances. As these prelates were known to be " the King's coun- sellors in matters of religion," their opposition was regarded as particularly exceptionable, and shortly afterwards the Commons voted that they " should be named as those about the king, who are suspected to be Arminians-f." This was accordingly done in a " Remonstrance" that was presented to the Sovereign against the growth of popery : but the prorogation of parliament in the month of June prevented any further proceedings at that period. In the ensuing session, Neile was directly accused in the Committee of Religion for " soliciting and obtaining the pardons of Bishop Montague, Dr. Cosins, Dr. Sibthorp, and Dr. Manwaring [all of whom had subjected themselves to * The true cause of Abbot's suspension is not mentioned in the commission, which simply states, that " The said Archbishop could not at that present, in his own person, attend those ser- vices which were otherwise proper for his cognizance and jurisdiction ; and which, as Arch- bishop of Canterbury, he might and ought, in his own person, to have performed and executed." Vide Baker's " Chron." p. 460. f Rushworth's " Coll." Tom. I. p. 618. 128 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. the displeasure of the Commons, for inculcating the arbitrary principles of divine right], and Oliver Cromwell, who was one of this warm committee, informed the House that the Bishop of Winchester gave countenance to some divines that preached Jlat Popery ; and that it was by his means that Man- waring (who, by a censure of the last parliament, was disabled from farther preferments), was noAv advanced to a rich living. " If these be the steps to church preferment, said he, what are we shortly to expect*?" Sir John Elliot, also, speaking of Neile, positively pronounced, " that all the dangers which they feared were contracted in the person of that Bishop ;" and thereupon desired, " that a motion might be made to his Majesty to leave him to the justice of that Housej"." All the dangers which might have ensued from these charges were crushed by the dissolution of the parliament on the 10th of March ; the King having now determined to govern the nation without the aid of a council that had shewn so little deference to his authority. On the decease of Harsnett, Archbishop of York, in 1631, Bishop Neile, by the influence of Laud, was appointed to succeed him ; and he was confirmed in that See on the 19th of March, 1632. This is the " only instance," says Le Neve, " I have yet met with, of one man's passing through six bishop- rics Heylyn makes a merit of the Bishop's acquiescence in this trans- lation; though " his known sufficiencies," he tells us, had pointed him out for the place, he being " a man of an unsuspected trust, and one that must be able to direct himself in all emergencies §." In the following year (Au- gust the 6th), two days after the death of Archbishop Abbot, Bishop Laud Was nominated by the King to the See of Canterbury, to which indeed he had long been destined, and he was confirmed in that exalted situation on the 19th of September. From this period till almost the very eve of the meeting of the Long Parliament, did these prelates govern the affairs of the English church, and they thus afforded a remarkable example of the power of talents and education ; for to no other cause can their first rise be attributed, (the one being the son of a clothier, and the other of a tallow-chandler); however their subsequent advance may have depended on the accordance of their principles with the designs of the Court. Archbishop Neile died in the Close at York, on the 31st of October, * Le Neve's " Lives,'' p. 148 ; from Rushworth, Tom. I. p. 655. f " Cyp. Angl.'' p. 197. + " Lives," p. 151 § " Cyp. Angl." p. 227. CHARACTER OF BISHOP NEILE. 129 1640, in his seventy-ninth year, and was interred in the Chapel of All Saints, in his own cathedral ; but has neither monument nor inscription to record his memory. " He Mas a man," says Heylyn, " who very well understood the constitution of the Church of England ; though, otherwise, not so eminent in all parts of learning as some other bishops of his time : but what he wanted in himself he made good in the choice of his servants, having more able men about him from time to time than any other of that age*." In another part, this writer tells us, " he was of such a strange composition, that Avhether he were of a larger and more public soul, or of a more un- courtly conversation, it were hard to say ■f." On the translation of Neile to the See of Lichfield and Coventry, this Deanery was bestowed on Dr. George Montaigne, or Mountain, as his name is generally spelt ; though in the register of his matriculation at the university of Cambridge, he is called George Moonta%. He was born at Cawood Castle, in Yorkshire, in the year 1569, and became a scholar at * " Cyp. Angl." p. 59. f In a Manuscript by Bishop Neile, written to defend himself in Parliament, against the charge of Popery, Arminianism, &c. he says, " That he was born and baptized the same year the Articles of our Religion were made, viz. 1562; and had preached frequently in the Houses of the Lord William Burghley, and his son Rob. Cecill. When he commenced Doctor, he maintained these two questions, Auricular is Confessio Papistica non nititur verbo Dei. Animce Piorum erant in Calo, ante Christi Ascensum, against some suspected opinions then on foot, &c. By commandment of King James, he printed in English and Latin the Conference that he had with the Archbishop of Spulato, after he had discovered his intention to return to Rome. He moved King James, at his taking the Communion a few days before his death, to make a profession of his faith, the faith of the Church of England. Whilst Bishop of Durham, he brought many to conformity. He spared not any that refused the oath of allegiance, but put many into the Praemunire for refusing it. — As to the questions of Arminianiam (as after styled) he never meddled with them but once, when Dr. Baro, at Cambridge, being questioned by some of the Heads, wrote a Discourse to his (Dr. Neile's) Master, the Lord Burghley, Chancellor, to justify himself: which Discourse he read, and finding him of opinion, that God did elect propter prxvisam Jidem, he wrote about a sheet, and maintained, that, Qui destinavit fmem, disponit de omnibus tnediis ad finem conducentibus, and that Faith, &c. were Effectus, not Causot Electionis, &c." Le Neve's " Lives," p. 149, 150. Le Neve remarks, that the time of this prelate's decease was as remarkable as that of his birth, namely, " on the Eve of the Feast of All Saints, before the beginning of that Parliament which took away Bishops, the Common-Prayer, and Monarchy ; set forth a new Confession of Faith, a Directory, with a correction of the Thirty-nine Articles; and ended in an Extirpation of Monarchy, with a Settlement by way of Confusion." { Baker's MSS. as quoted by Le Neve. VOL. I. S 150 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Queen's College, Cambridge, in December 1586 ; five years after which he was chosen a fellow on the same foundation ; and in 1600 was appointed Junior Proctor of the university. Fuller says he was chaplain to [Robert] Earl of Essex, whom he attended in his voyage to Cadiz, " being, indeed, one of such personal] valour, that, out of his gown, he would turn his back to no man*." In 1607 he commenced Doctor in Divinity, and was some time a Lecturer in Gresham College, and afterwards Master of the Savoy. He is reported to have obtained the favour of King James by his ready wit, and entertaining conversation ; and that Sovereign made him one of his chaplains, and Dean of Westminster; in which latter post he was installed on the 10th of December, 1610. At this period the chief aim of his ambi- tion was to become Master of Queen's College, where he had been educated; and he was often heard to profess, that he would rather fill that situation than his Deanery. In order to obtain it he made great promises (particu- larly on the decease of Dr. Humphrey Tindall, in 1614, when there were several competitors for the vacant mastership), and gave " a fair piece of plate" to the fellows, with this inscription, Sic Incipio ; but being disap- pointed in his expectations by the election of Dr. Davenant, afterwards Bishop of Salisbury, he vowed it should be Sic Dcsino. After his anger had subsided, however, he founded two scholarships in the above college f. On the 18th of October, 1615, Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, was com- mitted to the custody of this Dean, on suspicion of being concerned in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury ; but on the 2d of November the Earl was sent to the Tower. In October 1617, Dean Montaigne was promoted to the See of Lincoln; in which he was confirmed on the 13th of December in the same year. In May, 1619, he was made King's Almoner ; and in the October following, he magnificently entertained his Sovereign in the episcopal palace at Bug- den. His next translation was to the Bishopric of London, which took place on the 20th of July, 1621. " Whilst residing in the latter," says Fuller, " he would often pleasantly say, that of him the proverb would be verified, ' Lincoln was, London is, and York shall be ; which came to pass accordingly, when he was removed to the Archbishopric of York, wherein he died J." Previously to the translation of Montaigne to York, he was for a short * " Worthies," Vol. II. p. 504. Edit. 1811. f " Le Neve's " Lives/' Vol. I. p. 120. + " Worthies," Vol. II. p. 504. ACCOUNT OF BISHOP MONTAIGNE. 131 time Bishop of Durham ; his removal to that diocese, as we are told by Heylyn, arising from the determination of King - Charles to advance his favourite Laud to the See of London, " which city he looked upon as the retreat and receptacle of the grandees of the Puritan faction ;" and in order to make them an example of obedience to the rest of his subjects, as requiring a Bishop over them of such parts and power as they should either be unable to withstand, or afraid to offend*." This business, which could not be intrusted to Montaigne, whom the King regarded " as a man unactive, and addicted to voluptuousness, and one that loved his ease too well to disturb himself in the concernments of the Church f ;" was some time delayed by his refusal to be removed from " the warm airs of the Court, to the cold regions of the north, which he looked on as the Avorst kind of banishment, next neigh- bour to a civil death : but having a long while strived in vain, and under- standing that his Majesty was not well pleased with his delays, he began to set forward on that journey, with this proviso, notwithstanding, that the utmost term of his removal should be but from London-house, in the City, to Durham-house in the Strand J." Before, however, he was actually confirmed in his new diocese, the See of York became vacant by the decease of Arch- bishop Matthews, and as " he affected this dignity with as much ambition as he had earnestly endeavoured to decline the other§;" the King acceded to his Avishes, and adAanced him to that Archbishopric. He was promoted to Durham about the end of the year 1627, and translated to York on the 1st of Jul) , 1628; but he died early in the following November, within a fort- night after his being in throned. He Avas buried in the chancel of CaAvood Church, Yorkshire, Avhere his memory is preserved by an inscribed monu- ment and bust. Bishop Montaigne was succeeded in the Deanery of \\ estminster by Dr. Robert Tounson, avIio Avas born in the parish of St. Botolph, Cam- bridge; and like his predecessor, had been educated at Queen's College, in that university. Like him too he Avas chosen a fellow on that foundation, and afterwards became chaplain to James the First, who promoted him to this Deanery; in Avhich he Avas installed on the 16th of December, 1617. Having presided here about two years and a half (during which time no event of im- portance occurred relating to this Church), he Avas advanced to the Bishopric of Salisbury, and Avas confirmed in that See on the 8th of July, 1620. lie * " Cyp. Angl." p. 174. f lbid - X Ibid. p. 17.5. § Ibid. 132 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. enjoyed his new dignity but little more than ten months ; his death happening on the 15th of May, 1621. His contemporary, Bishop Hacket, describes him as " a man of singular piety, eloquence, and humility*;" and Fuller states him to have been " of comely carriage, courteous nature, and an excellent preacher^." He left a widow and fifteen children, " neither plentifully provided for, nor destitute of maintenance ; which rather hastened than caused the advancement of John Davenant, his brother-in-law, to succeed him in the Bishopric of Salisbury J." His remains were interred near St. Edmund's Chapel, in this Church ; but he has neither monument nor in- scription to record his memory. The next Dean was Dr. John Williams, afterwards Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, Bishop of Lincoln, and Archbishop of York. This erudite and most distinguished prelate was born at Aber-Conway, in the county of Caernarvon, on the 25th of March, 1582. He was descended from an ancient and respectable family, who deduced their pedigree from the Princes of North Wales, in King Stephen's days ; but whose inheritance had been much lessened by various events, though his grandfather lived in good style at Coghwillianne (near the above town), and married the daughter of Sir William Griffiths, Knt. He was taught the rudiments of education, and " well-grounded" in the knowledge of Greek and Latin, at the public school founded by Dean Goodman at Ruthin, in Denbighshire, (the place of his nativity) ; but in his sixteenth year he was removed to St. John's College, Cambridge, by his kinsman Dr. Vaughan, afterwards Bishop of London. His attention to study whilst at college was, in the strictest sense of the word, indefatigable ; and having a most retentive memory, and an excellent judgment, the acquirements of his youth became as extensive and masterly, as experience and a life of toil confer on others in advanced age. " In four years," says Bishop Hacket, " he had ransacked not only the open courts and spacious lodgings, but the very closets and corners of the best arts and authors : nothing so great that exceeded him, nothing so little that escaped him. He plied his book as much in the night as in the day; nature con- tributing to this a strange assistance, that from his youth to his old age he asked but three hours sleep in twenty-four, to keep him in good plight of health. This we all knew who lived in his family §." Towards the close of * " Serin. Res." p. 44. f " Church Hist." B. X. p. go. i Ibid. § " Serin. Res." p. 7. " It would not quickly be believed/' continues the Bishop, " but ACQUIREMENTS OF DEAN WILLIAMS. 133 Elizabeth's reign he commenced Batchelorof Arts ; shortly afterwards (April the 14th, 1603), he was elected a fellow of his College ; in 1605, he became Master of Arts; and in 1609 he entered into holy orders. During all these years he pursued his studies with unremitting industry ; and besides obtaining a full knowledge of various languages, made himself acquainted with the most recondite stores of Theology, Metaphysics, Chronology, and History. The strength and versatility of his talents were now generally admitted, and he was several times employed by his College in the arrangement of divers affairs connected with its interests. His ready address and unwearied dili- gence rendered him mostly successful in these employments ; and whilst engaged in them, he became known to Archbishop Bancroft, and the Lord Chancellor Egerton ; and had also, in a slight degree, attracted the notice of King James. These circumstances had much influence on his future ad- vancement; for the King in May, 1611, presented him to the Rectory of Grafton -Regis, in Northamptonshire : in February, 1612 (at which time he was Junior-Proctor of his university), he was promoted to the Archdeaconry of Caermarthen, by Bancroft; and at Michaelmas in the same year, the Lord Chancellor appointed him his domestic chaplain, and confidential servant. In the following- year, towards the end of February, 1613, he was made Bachelor of Divinity, pro more, or by special grace, in order that he might become the opponent in the theological disputations devised at Cam- bridge for the entertainment of the Elector-Palatine, and other Princes and nobles, on account of the Elector's marriage with the Princess Elizabeth*. The disputations were held in St. Marj's Church, on the 3rd of March; and our newly-admitted Bachelor acquired the most eminent applause, as well for his general pow ers of argumentation, as for his acute and discriminating judgment. At this time he had become a regular inmate in the house of the Lord Chancellor, and by the vigour of his abilities, and his courtly behaviour, he that a cloud of witnesses will avouch it, that it was ordinary with him to begin his studies at six of the clock, and continue them till three in the morning; and be ready again by seven to walk in the circle of his indefatigable labours. That which makes the life of man short is, that sleep, like an exacting Publican, takes half of it away for toll and tribute : but here was one that paid very little custom to that common Publican of nature, and kept so much time continually going in his stock, that he lived almost twice as much as any man that lived no longer." Ibid. * " Serin. Res." p. 25. 134 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. gained the full favour of that renowned statesman ; by whose patronage he quickly obtained some valuable preferments*. Among - these were Prebends in the Cathedrals of Lincoln, Peterborough, Hereford, and St. David's; and a S'me-cure in Wales, " which was equal in profit to any endowment that he held." In the space of about five years, says llacket, that " he lived Avith so great and good a lord, he compassed a plentiful fortune to himself, from that bounty which denied him nothing, and commonly prevented him before he asked -\." Under the guidance of the Lord Chancellor he acquired an extensive knowledge of the laws, and was chosen by him to arrange various important causes before they had become subjects of open litigation. The Chancellor, also, in his last illness, intrusted him with all his private messages to the King; and within a short period of " the day of his death, told him that if he wanted money, he would leave him such a legacy in his will, as would furnish him to begin the world like a gentleman." To this he replied, " Sir, I kiss your hands ; I am far from want, unless it be of your lordship's directions how to live in the world if I survive you." " Well," says the Chancellor, " I know you are an expert workman: take these tools to work with, they are the best I have:" and " he gave him some books and papers written all with his own hands. These were as valuable as the Sybilline Prophecies : they were that old sage's collections for the well-ordering the High Court of Parliament, the Court of Chancery, the Star-Chamber, and the Council-Board : an inestimable gift, being- made over to the true heir- apparent of his wisdom * " The Chaplain," says Hacket, " understood the soil on which he had set his foot ; that it was rich and fertile, able Avith good tendance to yield a crop after the largest dimensions of his desires. He therefore began his part, as any wise man would, to demerit his Lord with all due offices and prudent bearing, and he got it faster than he sought it. He pleased him with his sermons : he took him mainly with his sharp and solid answers to such questions as were cast forth at table to prove his learning : his fashion and garb to the ladies of the family, who were of great blood and many, was more courtly a great deal than was expected from a scholar : he received strangers with courtisie, and laboured for their satisfaction : he interposed gravely, as became a divine, against the disorders of the lowest servants ; and unto all these plausible practices, the Back'bone was continual diligence." By these and other services, he at length grew into so much " sufficiency," that he became " the only jewel which the Lord Chancellor hung in his ear." Serin. Res. p. 27- t " Serin. Res." p. 29. J Ibid. p. 30. " Let every one wear the garland he deserves," says Bishop Hacket ; " as for my PROMOTION OF DEAN WILLIAMS. 135 The Lord Chancellor died on the 15th of March, 1616, and almost immediately afterwards his successor in office, the great Sir Francis Bacon, proffered to retain Mr. Williams in his own service; but this he as respect- fully declined, having' at that time determined to return to his rectory at Wal- grave, in Northamptonshire, which had been presented to him in May, 1614, by Bishop Neile. He also excused himself from attending the King- (who had -now appointed him his chaplain), in his northern progress, which was to commence in the April following, in order that he might take his degree as Doctor in Divinity, and give due entertainment to that far-famed proselyte, Marcus Antonius de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalato, who had lately arrived in England, and designed to be present at the Cambridge Com- mencement in the ensuing- July. Having accomplished these purposes with much honour to himself, he retired to Walgrave, where he lived nearly three years in great hospitality. His next promotion was to the Deanery of Salisbury, which was conferred on him, wholly unsolicited, by King James, in September, 1619. About this time he acquired the friendship of Villiers, Marquis of Buckingham (the King's great favourite), by his address in facilitating the marriage of that nobleman with the Lady Katherine Manners, daughter and heiress to the Earl of Rutland; and from his success in reclaiming her ladyship from the errors of the Church of Rome*. The Marquis was at that period " Steward of the City and College of Westminster," and as such was patron of the Deanery j"; which becoming vacant on the preferment of Dean Tounson to the Bishopric of Salisbury, was given to Dr. Williams, who was installed either on the 10th or 12th of July, 1620. It appears from Bishop Hacket that the new Dean made his predecessors, Abbot Islip, and Dr. Andrews, his particular examples in the attention and part, I attribute so much to the Lord Egerton, that I believe the master's papers were the marrow of the prudence and valuable judgment of Mr. Williams in all his negotiations. These notes I have seen, but they are lost, as it is to be feared, in unlucky and devouring times." Ibid. Fuller states, that after our prelate had " copied out the Chancellor's four books into his own brains," he presented them to King James by the hands of the Duke of Buckingham. " Ch. Hist." B. II. p. 225. * On this occasion Dr. Williams wrote a " Manual of the Elements of the Orthodox Religion}" of which twenty copies only were printed, and all of them were presented by the author to the Marquis. t Vide " Serin. Res." p. 44. 136 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. expense which he bestowed on the School and Church of Westminster, " The piety and liberality of the Abbot to this Domo," says the Bishop, " came into Dr. W illiams by transmigration ; who, in his entrance into that place, found the Church in such decay, that all that passed by, and loved the honour of God's house, shook their heads at the stones that dropped down from the pinnacles. Therefore that the ruins of it might be no more a reproach, this godly Jehoiada took care for the Temple of the Lord to repair it, to ' set it in its state, and to strengthen it*.' He began at the south-east part, which looked the more deformed with decay, because it was coupled with a later building, the Chapel of King Henry the Seventh, which was tight and fresh. The north-west part also, which looks to the great sanc- tuary, was far gone in dilapidations : the great buttresses, which were almost crumbled to dust with the injuries of the weather, he re-edified with durable materials, and beautified with elegant statues (among whom Abbot Islip had a place), so that 4,500 pounds were expended in a trice upon the workmanship. All this was his own cost: neither would he impatronize his name to the credit of that work which should be raised up by other mens collatitious liberality f." " For their further satisfaction, who will judge of good works by visions, and not by dreams, I will cast up, in a true audit, other deeds of no small reckoning, conducing greatly to the welfare of that College, Church, and Liberty, wherein piety and beneficence were relucent in despight of jea- lousies. First, that God might be praised with a cheerful noise in his sanc- * " Chron." B. II. c. 24. v. 13. f Among the archives at Westminster is a Chapter Act (of which the following is a copy), relating to an injurious and false report that was raised against Dean Williams, in regard to the charges of the above repairs. " Whereas there hath lately been divulged, as we have heard, an unjust report, that the right honourable and right reverend Father in God, the Lord Bishop of Lincoln, our Dean, should have repaired and new built our Church on the north side of the same, and south side of the Chapels belonging to it, out of the diet and bellies of the Prebendaries, and revenues of our said Church, and not out of his own revenues ; We, therefore, the Prebendaries and Chapter of the same, with one consent, do affirm, that we verily believe the same to be a false and injurious report : and for ourselves, we do testify, every man under his own protestation, that we are neither the authors nor abettors of any such injurious report, untruly uttered by any mean man with intention to reflect upon his Lordship. And this we do voluntarily record and witness by our Chapter Act ; dated this present Chapter, Decemb. 8, 1628. Theod. Price, Sub-Dean; Christopher Sutton, George Dayrell, Gabriel Grant, Jo. King, Rob. Newell, John Holt, Gr. Williams." Widm. " Hist." p. 213. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE LIBRARY. 137 tuary, he procured the sweetest Music, both for the organ, and for the voices of all parts, that ever was heard in an English Quire. In those days that Abbey, and Jerusalem-Chamber, where he gave entertainment to his friends, were the volaries of the choicest singers that the land had bred. The greatest masters of that delightful faculty frequented him above all others, and were never nice to serve him ; and some of the most famous yet living will confess, he was never nice to reward them : a lover could not court his mistress with more prodigal effusion of gifts. With the same generosity and strong propension of mind to enlarge the boundaries of learning, he converted a waste room, situate in the east side of the cloysters, into Plato's Portico, into a goodly Library ; model'd it into decent shape, furnished it with desks and chains, accoutred it with all utensils, and stored it with a vast number of learned volumes : for which use he lighted most fortunately upon the study of that learned gentleman, Mr. Baker, of High* gate, who in a long and industrious life, had collected into his own posses- sion the best authors in all sciences, in their best editions, which being bought at 500/. (a cheap pennyworth for such precious ware), were removed into this store-house. When he received thanks from all the professors of learning in and about London, far beyond his expectation, because they had free admittance to suck honey from the flowers of such a garden as they wanted before, it compelled him to unlock his cabinet of jewels, and bring forth his choicest Manuscripts. A right noble gift in all the books he gave to this Serapceum, but especially the parchments. Some good authors were confer'd by other benefactors, but the richest fruit was shaken from the boughs of this one tree, which will keep green in an unfading memory in despite of the tempest of iniquity. — I cannot end with the erection of this Library ; for this Dean gratified the College with many other benefits. When he came to look into the state of the house, he found it in a debt of 300/. by the hospitality of the table. It had then a Brotherhood of most worthy Pre- bendaries; Mountford, Sutton, Laud, Cnesar, Robinson, Darell, Fox, King, Newell, and the rest: but ancient frugal diet was laid aside in all places, and the prices of provisions in less than fifteen years were doubled in all markets : by which enhancement the debt was contracted, and by him dis- charged. Not long after, to the number of the forty scholars, the alumni of Queen Elizabeth's foundation, anno 1560, he added four more, distin- guished from the rest in their habit of violet-colour'd gowns, for whose VOL. I. T 138 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. maintenance he purchased lands. These were adopted children ; and in this diverse from the natural children, that the place to which they are re- moved, when they deserve it by their learning-, is St. John's College, in Cambridge. — And in those days, when good turns were received with the right hand, it was esteemed among the praises of a stout and vigilant Dean, that whereas a great limb of the liberties of the City [of Westminster] was threatened to be cut off by the encroachments of tlie higher power of the Lord Steward of the King's Household, and the Knight-Marshal with his tip-staves, he stood up against them with a wise and confident spirit, and would take no composition to let them share in those privileges which by right they never had ; but preserved the charter of his place in its entire jurisdiction, and laudable immunities.*" The acute penetration of Dean Williams in affairs of state policy was particularly exemplified by the advice that he gave to King James, in regard to the proper conduct to be observed towards his third Parliament ; which, after a lapse of nearly seven years, commenced its sitting on the 30th of January, 1620-21. The numerous monopolies that had been granted by the crown, and the vexatious suits and impositions which had in consequence been en- tailed on the people, were made particular subjects of complaint by the House of Commons ; and the censure of that body appeared so likely to fall upon the King's " beloved minion," the Marquis of Buckingham, by whose influence many of those " patent commissions for latent knaveries -j"" had been granted, that it became a matter of serious deliberation, whether the Parliament should not immediately be dissolved, and the necessary supplies obtained under the sole authority of his Majesty's prerogative. The Dean, however, counselled otherwise ; and, by his advice, the Commons were suf- fered to punish the principal extortioners; whilst the King, in one proclama- tion, " decn'd thirty-seven monopolies, with other sharking prouleries ; which returned a thousand praises, and ten thousand good prayers upon the Sovereign J." " Out of this bud," says Hacket, " the Dean's advancement very shortly spread into a blown flower : for the King, upon this trial of his wisdom, either called him to him, or called for his judgment in writing, in all that he deliberated to act, or permit, in this session of Parliament, in his most private and closest consultations." The ability and soundness of * " Serin. Res." p. 46, 47- f Ibid. p. 49- X Ibid. DEAN WILLIAMS MADE LORD KEEPER. 139 discrimination which he displayed on these occasions, led to his admission into the Privy-Council on the 18th of June, 1621. At that period there were various suitors for the Lord-Chancellorship ; the deprivation of Lord Bacon having heen resolved on by Parliament on the 3rd of May, and the Great Seal being then in the keeping of four Com- missioners. Sir Lionel Cranfield, Master of the Court of V\ ards, was the person expected to succeed ; but the King having directed the Marquis of Buckingham to make some inquiries respecting the emoluments of the situation, that nobleman referred to Dean Williams, whose report was drawn up with such great judgment, and exhibited so much knowledge in reference to the office, that the King, instead of fixing on either of the can- didates, appointed the Dean himself Lord Keeper ; and he was sworn in, and had the Great Seal delivered to him, at Whitehall, on the 10th of July. In the same month, also, he was nominated Bishop of Lincoln ; and he was confirmed in that See on the 10th of November following. In addition to these preferments, he was permitted to hold both the Deanery of V\ est- minster and the Rectory of Walgrave in commendam. " Into the Deanery," says Bishop Hacket, " he shut himself fast, with as strong bolts and bars us the law could make," as if with a provident foresight of the " changes which began to ring in the fifth year after ; else he had been sure to be thrust out of doors in a storm when he had most need of a covering*." The interest which the new Lord Keeper possessed in the King's favour was so high, that, about this time, he obtained the promotion of Dr. Dave- nant to the See of Salisbury ; of Dr. Carew to the See of Exeter ; of Dr. Donne, the " Laureat wit," to the Deanery of St. Paul's, and of Dr. Laud to the See of Gloucester^. The advance of the latter, according to Bishop * " Serin. Res." p. 62. It appears from the same work that " some suitors were so impor- tunate to compass this Deanery upon his expected leaving,'' that he was forced " to plead hard for that cummenda before he carried it." The chief cause of his success arose from his representing to the King, that it would not only be more convenient to himself to retain the Deanery, both from the " marvellous quietness" of his lodging, and from its nearness to Westminster Hall, but that likewise, it would be the means of saving a considerable expense to the crown j as he must other- wise have a house and diet provided him at the King's charge, as had been ever customary in respect to his predecessors in office. Dr. Heylyn, speaking sarcastically of the Dean's retaining his preferments, says, that he was now " a perfect Diocess within himself, as being Bishop, Dean, Prebend, Residentiary, and Parson ; and all these at once !" Vide u Cyp. Angl." p. 86. \ Vide " Serin. Res." p. 63. 140 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Hacket, (whose narration is so particular, that it admits not of a question, although it tacitly falsities the account given by Ileylyn, Laud's biographer*), was entirely owing to the Dean's importunity with the King ; he having been prompted to intercede by the Marquis of Buckingham, whose own solicitations in Laud's behalf had been repelled -j - . The consecration of the new Bishops was sometime delayed, through an unfortunate accident that befel the Archbishop of Canterbury, Abbot ; who, in shooting at a deer with a cross-bow, in Bramshill Park, Hampshire, (July the 24th), had wounded a game-keeper in the arm, and the wound being unskilfully treated, became mortal, so that the man died on the fol- lowing day. Hence it was argued by many divines, that the Archbishop, having thus been guilty of homicide, however involuntary, had become irre- gular, and was incapable of exercising his metropolitan functions. It was at length thought necessary, that a commission should issue to examine into the presumed irregularity; and the Lord Keeper, the Bishops of London, W inton, and Rochester, the Bishops elect of Exeter and St. David's ; the Judges, Sir Henry Hobart and Sir John Dodderidge ; Sir Henry Martin, Dean of the Arches; and Dr. Steward, an eminent civilian, were appointed for the purpose. These Commissioners were equally divided on the ques- tion of the irregularity of the Archbishop, and the majority were of opinion that some scandal might arise to the Church in consequence of the accident ; yet they all agreed that the archiepiscopal functions might be restored by the King, in virtue of his supreme power; though they were not unanimous as to the manner in which restitution should be granted. The King, how- ever, took the shortest course, and by a special pardon under the broad seal J, bearing date the 22d of November, 1621, " assoiled the Archbishop from all irregularity, scandal, and infamation ;" yet, to satisfy the minds of the Bishops elect (who, all but Laud, had argued for the irregularity), they were allowed to be consecrated by other hands, though under the Archbishop's commis- sion. The Lord Keeper himself was consecrated on the 11th of November, in Henry the Seventh's Chapel ; and the other Bishops on the following day in the Episcopal Palace of London. The disagreements between the King and Parliament had, about this time, become so great, that his Majesty, though advised by Williams to a * Vide " Cyp. Angl." p. 85. t " Serin. Res." p. 64. | Vide Rymer's « Foedera," Vol. XVII. p. 337—340. CONDUCT OF THE LORD KEEPER. 141 more temporizing course, determined on a dissolution ; which accordingly took place on the 7th of January, 1622. Soon afterwards several members of both Houses were imprisoned for the freedom of speech which they had exercised in respect to the royal prerogative. Among- them was the Earl of Southampton, Mho was committed to the custody of the Lord Keeper, and threatened with an information in the Star-Chamber. By the friendly exertions of the Keeper, however, he was soon released without further per- secution ; the learned Selden, also, another of the imprisoned members, was set at liberty through his intercession, and made Register of the College of Westminster *. The Dean exercised the duties of his office, as Lord Keeper, with exemplary assiduity, and from acting by the advice of the most eminent lawyers, on points where he was himself deficient, his decisions were gene- rally correct. His diligence was so great, that in one year " more causes had been finally ended than in all the seven years preceding." He likewise employed his influence to mitigate the excessive severity of the Court of Star- Chamber ; and in those days of bitter polemical contention, he obtained the King's grace for various obnoxious ministers, who had been confined, and threatened with prosecution for their indiscreet zeal, either in broaching new doctrines, or preaching intemperately on points of religious contro- versy. To prevent the spreading - of the schism, however, it was judged expedient that certain " Directions, concerning Preachers,'' should be pro- mulgated by the Bishops in their several provinces ; and such were accord- ingly issued on the 4th of August, 1622. By these Directions, which Hacket states M ere " in form and style, the Lord Keeper's ; in matter, his Majesty's command j*," it was ordered, among other heads, "That no Preacher, of what title soever, under the degree of Bachelor of Divinit}', at the least, do henceforth presume to preach in any popular auditory, the deep points of predestination, election, reprobation, or of the universality, efficacy, resistibility, or irresistibility of God's grace, but leave those themes to be handled by learned men ; and that moderately and modestly, by way * " Serin. Res." p 69. The Dean, by conferring on him this office, says Hacket, did not mean " to hinder his growth by a garment that was too little for him but perceiving " his for- tune in those days was not equal to his learning, he procured a chapman that gave him 400^. for his right to the place." Ib. f Ibid. p. Si); where the " Directions" are given at length. 142 WESTMINSTER ABBEY of use and application, rather than by way of positive doctrine, as being" points fitter for the schools and universities, than for simple auditories*." The rigid impartiality maintained by the Lord Keeper in his judicial character, was not always satisfactory to his patron, the Marquis of Buck- ingham, who wished that more favour should be shewn to those whom he was known to protect. He was offended, too, at the vehemence with which the Dean, impelled by his natural warmth of temper, occasionally repre- hended his measures ; yet, although he " looked upon him with a stranger countenance than before," he did not entirely withdraw his friendship till after his return from Spain, in September, 1623. At this time it would seem that Bishop Laud was the Lord Keeper's secret, and " sharpest," enemy ; and notwithstanding he had been " so much obliged to him, as soon as ever he saw that his advancer was under the anger of the Lord Marquis, he would never acknowledge him more, but shunned him, as the old Romans in their superstition walked a-loof from that soil which was blasted with thunder. It was an opportunity snatched to pluck him back, that was got so far before him. Hold him down, that he might not rise, and then he promised himself the best pre-eminence in the church ; for he saw no other rival. The Lord Keeper did often protest upon his hope in Christ, that he knew no other reason of their partingf." There is full reason to believe that Laud was privy to the romantic design projected by the Marquis and Prince Charles, of going secretly to Spain to bring home the Infanta ; and a tardy acquiescence to that ill- advised measure having been wrung from the KingJ, the Prince and Mar- quis left England for Madrid on the 18th of February, 1622. Twelve days afterwards the King first discoursed with the Lord Keeper about " his dear son's planetary absence ;" and laughingly asked him, " whether he thought this Knight-errand Pilgrimage would be lucky to win the Spanish Lady His answer implied a pre-sentiment of ill success; and that from the very cause which had afterwards so much influence in retarding the match ; namely, from a want of due courtesy between the Marquis and the Conde d'Olivarez ; who were the great favourites of their respective Sovereigns. * Heylyn says, that the above points were not to be discussed by any person " under the degree of a Bishop or Dean." Vide " Cyp. Angl.'' p. 98. f " Serin. Res." p. 108. t Vide Clarendon's " Hist." Vol. I. p. 11 — 15 ; and t' Serin. Res." p. 117. BREACH OF THE SPANISH MATCH. 143 M hilst the negociations were in progress, the Lord Keeper strenuously laboured, in conjunction with the King, to promote the desired match, by his politic conduct towards the recusant priests, and other Roman Catholics ; who, in consequence of the intercession of the Spanish ambassador, were promised a greater toleration, and were also favoured by a partial relaxation of the penal laws. Through his prudent care, likewise, the English Liturgy was translated into the Spanish language by " a converted Dominican*;" and having been then printed, it was extensively circulated in the Court, and amongst the Clergy of Spain, in order to convince the people of that country, " that the English had neither become atheists in throwing off the yoke of the Pope, nor cast away all religion with their dependence," as the Priests and Jesuits had made them believe f. The treaty for the match appeared so promising, that on the 18th of May, 1623, the Marquis of Buckingham Mas created a Duke, by patent, the King- being at that time particularly pleased with his success. Not many weeks, however, had expired, before the proceedings assumed a new form ; and whether from the subtle policy of the Papal See, the insincerity of the Spanish Court, the haughtiness of the Conde d'Olivarez, the uncontroul- able arrogance and altered mind of the new Duke, or from the united in- fluence of all these causes, the King deemed it expedient " to require his son's return :" vet, by the advice of the Lord Keeper, the royal letters were left undated, that the Prince might be guided by his own discretion in choosing his opportunity. The King's grand object in urging the Spanish match, had been to procure the restitution of the Palatinate to his son-in-law, the Elector ; and to promote that end he had agreed to many concessions in favour of the Romish Church, which his Protestant subjects considered to be unwise, and in their consequences highly dangerous to the reformed Religion. * Vide " Cabala/' p. 110. His name was John Taxeda : whilst the match was pending, the Lord Keeper took him into his house as his instructor in the Spanish language. f It appears from Spotswood (" Hist, of Scot." f. 530.), that when the Earl of Nottingham, attended by many persons of worth and quality, went into Spain at the commencement of the reign of King James, to receive the oath of the Catholic King to observe the Peace which had recently been made, it was reported on their return, " how much it was commiserated by the vulgar Spaniards that so many goodly persons should be trained up in no other religion than to worship the Devil " 144 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Hence a strong* feeling of discontent arose among the people ; and the Duke was particularly reflected on as being one of the principal contrivers of the projected alliance. It was remarked, also, says Hacket, that " his Majesty was resolved to be a Lover of Parliaments, and would close very graciously with the next that was called ; nor was there any likelihood that any private man's incolumity, though it were his Grace himself, should cause an unkind breach between him and his people*." These rumours Avere industriously reported to the Duke, by his " secret intelligencers," in England (of whom Bishop Laud was the principal j*), together with in- formation that the impressions made on the King's mind in favour of Par- liaments, was from the arguments of the Lord Keeper ; and this, in con- junction with the endeavours of the latter to forward the match after the Duke had determined to " set it back by degrees, and in the end to over- turn it," seems to have been a leading cause of the final estrangement be- tween the Dean and his patron. The Duke, indeed, is said by his friends to have resolved, that " the first action in which he would embark himself, after he came home, should be to remove the Lord Keeper from his place :£." Whether such a determination was then acted upon does not appear; but most probably it was postponed till a more propitious opportunity, as the Lord Keeper at that period stood very high in the King's estimation. His abilities, indeed, were found extremely useful in arranging the papers regarding the match that were laid before Parliament, in the beginning of the year 1624, and in the explanations which followed ; but although he assisted the Duke in attributing the failure of the negociations to Spanish insincerity, yet he absolutely refused to aid him in promoting war. This so highly offended that " great Lord, that he defied the Keeper to his face, and in the hearing of many, threatened to sink him ; — yet there his Lordship failed, and found it as hard to suppress him as to drown a swan§." * " Serin. Res." p. 125. f Laud, says Heylyn, " Cyp. Angl." p. 1 13, " was not sleeping all this while. It was not possible that a man of such an active spirit should be out of work, and he had work enough to do in being the Duke's agent at the Court." % Vide " Cabala," p. 89. § " Serin. Res." p. 168. The Duke of Buckingham, says Hacket, was now " mortally anti- Spanish, and his anger was headed with steel. He assayed the Lord Keeper to hale him to his judg- ment, as an eddy doth a small boat ; and would have used him to the King, to incline his Majesty POLICY OF DEAN WILLIAMS. 145 The King's favour was at this period so firmly settled on the Lord Keeper, that he expressed it in various ways, though much to the displeasure of the Duke, who had bitterly disappointed him in breaking off the match. On one occasion the King, in a strain of melancholy, said to the Earl of Carlisle, " that if he had sent Williams into Spain with his son, he had kept hearts-ease and honour, both which he lacked at that time." During the Christmas holidays, also, after the Prince's return, he caused it to be entered in the Council-book, " that the Archbishopric of York should be conferred upon the Lord Keeper on the next vacancy." Among the schemes entertained by the Duke of Buckingham, for raising money to carry on the projected war with Spain, were those of " selling the Crown Lands," and " sequestrating the Dean and Chapter estates of the several Cathedrals ;" but he had afterwards the good sense to relinquish those measures, through the representations of the Lord Keeper. The plan of appropriating the Dean and Chapter endowments was suggested by Dr. Preston, whom Rapin calls " the head of the Puritan party;" but who had found means to be appointed Chaplain to the Prince. Whilst it was yet in complete embryo, the Lord Keeper, to obtain possession of the secret, sent for Preston, and told him, " if he would busy himself no more in contriving the ruin of the Church, that he would the next day resign the Deanery of Westminster to him*." Preston, however, did not disclose the scheme ; yet the Lord Keeper obtained the information he desired from the Duke himself. In the course of the year 1624, a treaty was entered into with France, for the marriage of Prince Charles with the Princess Henrietta Maria, the posthumous daughter of Henry the Fourth ; and the ambassadors sent to this country to forward the negociations, and " entwine the rose and lily upon one matrimonial stem," were splendidly banquetted at Westminster by the Lord Keeper. Bishop Hacket gives the following account of his Lord- ship's treatment of the ambassadors f. " Now that the conferences about the Marriage were gone so far, and to renounce amity with that nation ; but he found him as inflexible as a dried bough. He vowed to his Grace, as he should have God to be his protector, that he would suffer all the obloquy of the world, before he would be drawn to the least ingratitude against his Lordship ; but when the King asked his judgment, he must be true and faithful." Ib. p. 167. * " Serin. Res." p. 205. f Ib. p. 210. VOL. I. U 146 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. seemed, as it were, to be over the last fire, and fit for projection, his Ma- jesty would have the Lord Keeper taken into the cabinet, and to make him known by a mark of some good address to the French gallants, upon the return of the Embassadors to London, he sent a message to him, to signifie that it was his pleasure, that his Lordship should give an entertainment to the Embassadors, and their train, on Wednesday following; it being Christmas Day with them, according to the Gregorian prae-occupation of ten days before our account. The King's will signified, the invitement at a supper was given and taken: which was provided in the Colledge of Westminster, in the room named Hierusalem Chamber ; but for that night it might have been called Lucullus his Apollo. But the ante-past was kept in the Abbey; as it went before the feast, so it was beyond it, being purely an episcopal collation. The Embassadors, with the nobles and gentlemen in their company, were brought in at the north-gate of the Abbey : which was stuck with flambeaux every were, both within, and without the quire, that strangers might cast their eyes upon the stateliness of the Church. At the door of the quire the Lord Keeper besought their Lordships to go in, and to take their seats there for a while, promising on the word of a Bishop that nothing of ill-rellish should be offered before them, which they accepted ; and at their entrance the organ was touched by the best finger of that age, Mr. Orlando Gibbons. While a verse was plaid, the Lord Keeper presented the Embassadors, and the rest of the noblest quality of their nation, with our Liturgy, as it spake to them in their own language ; and in the delivery of it used these few words, but pithy, ' That their Lordships at leasure might read in that book, in what form of holiness our Prince worshipp'd God, wherein he durst say nothing savour'd of any corruption of doctrine, much less of heresie, which he hoped would be so reported to the Lady Princess Henrietta.' The Lords Embas- sadors, and their great train took up all the stalls, where they continued about half an hour, while the quiremen, vested in their rich copes, with their choristers, sang three several anthems with most exquisite voices before them. The most honourable, and the meanest persons of the French, all that time uncover'd with great reverence, except that Secretary Villoclare alone kept on his hat." — Early in March, 1624-25, the King, whose health had been gradually declining, retired to his mansion at Theobalds, in Hertfordshire ; where, on the 22d of the month, he was waited upon by the Lord Keeper, who DEATH AND BURIAL OF KING JAMES. 147 endeavoured to excite him to cheerful discourse, but in vain. On the fol- lowing - day, after a consultation of the Physicians, and with the permission of Prince Charles, he kneeled down by the bed-side, and told his Majesty, " That he knew he should neither displease him, nor discourage him, if he brought Isaiah's message to Hezekiah, ' to set his house in order,' for he thought his days to come would be but few in this world." From that time he continued with the King almost night and day, preparing him by prayers and religious exercises for the great change that was shortly to ensue : and when the King died, on Sunday, the 27th, he closed his eyes with his own hands. The remains of the deceased Monarch, after lying in great state at Somerset House, during several weeks, were magnificently interred in Henry the Seventh's Chapel ; the new King, himself, (though not customary), at- tending as chief mourner. The funeral exequies were performed by the Dean; whose Sermon on the occasion was afterwards published under the title of " Great Britain s Solomon*." One of the first acts of King Charles was to command the Lord Keeper immediately to issue writs for a new Parliament, in order that " subsidies might be granted for maintaining a war with the King of Spain." This command the Lord Keeper obeyed ; but his unwillingness to engage the country in such an enterprize was so apparent, that the Duke of Bucking- ham, (who was fully as great a favourite with the new King as he had been with his Father), threatened, before many persons, " to turn him out of his office." This, however, was not done till after the dissolution of the Par- liament, (which had met on the 18th of June), in the following August; a measure which the Lord Keeper considered to be so extremely impolitic, in the then situation of public affairs, that he not only endeavoured to prevent it by argument in the Privy-Council, but also implored the King, with tears, to " remember a time when, in his hearing, his blessed Father had charged hi in to call Parliaments often, and continue them, though their rashness did sometimes offend him." The Duke's influence proved more powerful than the Lord Keeper's entreaties; and the Parliament was dissolved; the House of Commons * The text of this remarkable discourse was taken from the 2nd of Chronicles, chap. 9, ver. 2Q, 30, and 31. Bishop Hacket says, that " he never studied any thing with more care ;" having taken for his patterns, " the Sermon made by Bishop Fisher at the funeral of Henry the Seventh ," and " the Oration made by Cardinal Peron for Henry the Fourth of France." 148 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. having been censured in the Court as " spiteful and seditious ; and there- fore not fit to continue." This character was given to the Commons, partly on account of the charges which were made against the Duke ; and which were maliciously said to have been fostered by the Lord Keeper. This calumny was ably repelled by the latter, in two letters to the King ; yet Heylyn, in his life of Archbishop Laud, has again repeated it ; and erro- neously states, that the Dean, fearing to be made the object of complaint, *' applied to some leading members, and diverted them from himself to the Duke of Buckingham, as a more noble prey, and fitter for such mighty Hunters than a silly Priest*." The Lord Keeper, who for some time had been left out of all Com- mittees of the Privy-Council, was, on the 15th of October, informed by the Lord Conway, " That his Majesty, understanding that his Father had taken a resolution, that the Keeper of the Great Seal of England should continue but from three years to three years, and approving very well thereof, and being resolved to observe the order during his own reign, he expects that you should surrender up the Seal by Allhallow-tide next, alleging no other cause thereof : and that having been done, that you shall retire yourself to the Bishopric of Lincoln." Ten days afterwards the Lord Keeper, under a warrant from the King, dated at Salisbury, delivered up the Great Seal to Sir John Suckling, Comptroller of his Majesty's Household ; having first put it into a costly cabinet, the key of which he inclosed in a letter to the King, sealed with the episcopal arms of Lincoln "j*. Shortly afterwards Dean Williams removed to his Palace, at. Bugden, in Huntingdonshire ; where, having repaired and enlarged the mansion, and made great improvements in the park and grounds, he continued to reside, generally, till his imprisonment in the Tower, in 1637. His manner of living was splendid and hospitable ; and he expended from 1000/. to 1200/. yearly, in the encouragement of learning, and for other benevolent purposes. " Except Bishop Andrews," says Hacket, " there was not so great a giver of his order, to the supply of the learned, and of gentlemen of hard fortune." * " Cyp. Angl." p. 139. t In a Manuscript " penned by Archbishop Abbot," and quoted by Hacket, it is stated, " That the Countess of Buckingham told the Bishop of Lincoln, that St. David's was the man that did undermine him with her son, and would underwork any man in the world, that himself might rise." Vide " Serin. Res." P. II. p. 19. BISHOP LAUD OFFICIATES AS DEAN. 149 The disgrace in which the Dean was held at Court, if a proper judg- ment can be formed from divers letters extant in the " Cabala," appears to have been constantly fostered by misrepresentations and calumnies. One of the first affronts which he received after his retirement, was the being forbidden to assist at the Coronation, which had been appointed for Candle- mas-day (February the 2d), 1625-26 ; although, in virtue of his Deanery, he had a right to officiate at that ceremony. The circumstances that more immediately relate to the treatment which he met with on this occasion, are thus detailed by Dr. Heylyn. " Now in performing the solemnities of the Coronation, the Abbots anciently, and for many years past, the Deans of Westminster, had a special place. To them belonged the custody of the old Regalia, that is to say, the Crown, Sword, Sceptre, Spurs, &c. of King Edward, surnamed the Con- fessor, kept by them in a secret place in Westminster Abbey, not easily accessible to any, but such as know the mystery of it; and never brought forth but at the Coronation of a King, or his going to Parliament. W illiams, the late Lord Keeper, was at this time Dean ; but being under the King's dis- pleasure, Mas commanded to forbear his attendance at the Coronation, and to depute one of the Prebends in his place. This put him into some dis- pute within himself : he had no mind to nominate Laud, who was then one of the Prebendaries of that Church, because he looked upon him as his co-rival and supplanter in the Duke's good grace ; and to have named any other of a lower order, there being a Bishop in the number, would have subjected him to some discourse and misconstruction. He therefore, very wisely, sent unto his Majesty the names, degrees, and dignities of all the Prebends, leaving it unto him alone to make the election ; who thereupon, without any hesitancy, or deliberation, deputed Laud unto the service. Laud, being thus nominated, prepared all things ready for that great solemnity; and finding the Old Crucifix among the Regalia, he caused it to be placed on the Altar, as in former times. The Coronation being ended, his Majesty going in his Robes to Westminster Hall, did there deliver them to Laud (representing in that pomp the Dean of Westminster*), together with the Crown, Sceptre, and the Sword called Cortena, to be laid up with the * Fuller states, that at the Coronation " the King was led up in his doublet and hose, with a white coif on his head, to the Communion Table, where Bishop Laud brought forth the ancient Habiliments of King Edward the Confessor, and put them upon him." Vide " Church Hist." B. XI. p. 123. 150 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. rest of the Regalia in their old repository; which he receiving from the King, returned into the Abbey Church, offered solemnly on the Altar in his Majesty's name (as by his place he was to do), and so laid them up*." The second Parliament of King Charles assembled on the fourth day after his Coronation ; but the Dean, who in right of his Bishopric was entitled to a seat in the Upper House, was ordered to stay away ; neither was any writ of summons directed to him as a Spiritual Peer. Against the latter indignity he expostulated in a respectful letter to the King, and he was at length summoned to attend ; but that he might not offend his great enemies too irreparably, whilst the least chance remained of his being again received into his Majesty's favour, he was content to leave his proxy with Andrews, Bishop of Winchester. He boldly, however, in another letter to the King, protested against the " causeless malice" of the Duke of Buckingham, and disavowed, at the peril of his head, should it be found otherwise, the charges which that nobleman had made against him. In the next Parliament (the former one, after a stormy session of four months, having been dissolved in anger), he acted a more determined part ; and in despite of a letter requir- ing the contrary, from the Lord Keeper Coventry, he took his seat about the end of March, 1627, the Lords having petitioned the King, that both himself and the Earl of Bristol might have a writ of summons. When the famous Petition of Right came to be argued, Bishop Williams supported it with such powerful reasons, both constitutional and legal, that he greatly disposed the Peers to agree with the Commons, notwithstanding the strenuous efforts of the Duke of Buckingham and Laud to the contrary. He proposed, however, that a clause should be added, stating, that " They presented this Petition, with the care, not only of preserving their own Liberties, but with due regard to that Sovereign Power with which his Majesty was trusted for the protection, safety, and happiness of the People -\." The Commons refused to agree to the additional clause, chiefly from arguments founded on the ambiguity of the words " Sovereign Power;" and " it caused the Bishop to be suspected, at first," says Hacket, " as if he had been sprinkled with some Court holy-water J." However this may be, he was shortly afterwards admitted to a private interview both with his Majesty and the Duke ; who, in the then peculiar situation of the state, appear to have been willing, once more, to derive advantage from his * "Cyp. Angl." p. 144. f Vide " Acta Regia/' p. 118. % " Serin. Res." P. II. p. 77. PERSECUTIONS OF DEAN WILLIAMS. ldl counsel and great abilities. His biographer expressly states, that " with a little asking," he engaged to be " his Grace's faithful servant in the next Parliament ; and was allowed to hold up a seeming enmity, and his own popular estimation, that he might the sooner do the work*." The assassination of the Duke by Felton, in the following August, terminated every chance of Bishop \\ illiams being again received into the King's favour; for the management of public affairs was almost entirely com- mitted to the direction of Laud, whose very dreams partook of the rancour with which, " for fifteen years," he persecuted his former friend f. In- dependently of the presumed rivalship between these prelates, there was but very little accordance in the manner in which they attended to the concerns of the Church. Williams being disposed to govern by persuasion and argu- ment, was regarded by Laud as an encourager of the Puritans ; whilst the system of restraint, discipline, and ceremony, adopted by Laud, was by many persons thought to savour of a secret attachment to Popery. As Laud's increased influence at Court became more notorious, Bishop Williams was subjected to many frivolous accusations and vexatious law- suits, which were brought against him by those who sought to ingratiate themselves with his enemies; it being their policy "to empty his purse, and clip his wings by all the means they could invent." At length, " being storm-beaten without intermission," he requested to be informed by Lord Cottington, what conduct he should pursue to secure his peace, and obtain his Majesty's ordinary favour. He was answered, " that the lustre in which he lived gave offence, as it was not the King's intention that one whom he had plucked down should live so high: and that it would give more content if he would part with his Deanery, his Majesty not approving of his being so near a neighbour to Whitehall J." To these intimations he turned a deaf ear; and though divers means were afterwards resorted to, to compel him to resign the Deanery, he repulsed them all. lie was not suffered, however, during three years, to reside for any length of time in the College of Westminster ; though obliged by the local statutes, and his * " Serin. Res.'' P. IF. p. 80. t See various passages of his " Breviate." X Fuller states, that his adversaries beheld his profuse hospitality " with envious eyes ;" and that " one great Prelate plainly said, in the presence of the King, that the Bishop of Lincoln lived in as much pomp as any Cardinal in Rome, for diet, music, and attendance.'' " Church Hist." B. XI. p. 155. WESTMINSTER ABBEY. express oath, to attend there at the two Chapters, and the great Festivals. Among other experiments made to oblige him to relinquish this prefer- ment, was a visitation brought on by Dr. Heylyn, and the other Prebendaries of Westminster who were in the interest of Laud ; yet the subjects of com- plaint, though swelled into thirty-six articles, were all too frivolous to answer any other effective end, than to shew the malice of his enemies. The articles, says Bishop Hacket, " flew away over the Abbey, like a flock of wild geese, if you cast but one stone among them." In the last conference which Bishop Williams had with the King previous to the sad death of the Duke of Buckingham, his Majesty requested him to deliver his opinion, " how he might win the love of the Commons, and be popular among them *." His answer was, that " The Puritans were many and main sticklers ; but if his Majesty would please to direct his ministers, by his secret appointment, to shew some connivance and indulgence to their party, he might possibly mollifie them, and bend their stubbornness ; though he did not promise they would be trusty very long to any govern- ment." The King said, " he must needs like the counsel; for he had thought of it before, and would use it-\." About two months after this conversation, Sir John Lambe, Dean of the Arches, (who had been knighted, and other- wise materially served through the Bishop's influence), and Dr. Sibthorp, dining with the Bishop at Bugden, were informed by him of his Majesty's intentions ; and from this trivial circumstance arose one of the most ini- quitous and maliciously-pursued persecutions that ever disgraced the Court of Star-Chamber. The information thus communicated being immediately earned to Bisham, where his Majesty then was, Bishop Laud exaggerated it to the King, as a betraying of his secret counsels ; and notwithstanding that, after an inquiry into the charge had been made by a Committee of the Privy- Council, his Majesty had an interview with Bishop Williams in the gallery at Whitehall, and "forgave all that was past J;" yet, at the end of three years, a Bill was filed against him in the Star-Chamber, " for revealing the King's secrets, he being a sworn Counsellor. " The defence which the Bishop made against this charge, put the busi- ness nearly to a stand ; but after the decease of Noy, the Attorney-General, * " Serin. Res." P. II. p. 80. t Ibid. + Ibid. p. 1 14. THE DEAN SUSPENDED AND IMPRISONED. 153 Bishop Laud, with the Secretary Windebank, and Dr. Lambe, engaged a perjured solicitor, named Richard Kilvert, to carry it on, though he was not entered a prosecutor upon the record, as the law required. The flagitious practices of this man, seconded as they were by the weighty influence of his employers, occasioned the condemnation of the Bishop ; yet not on the original charge, (which was abandoned in the course of the proceedings), but on the still more unfounded one of " subornation of perjury;" which was afterwards softened into that of " seducing, or tampering with wit- nesses." The sentence was pronounced on the 11th of July, 1637 ; and Laud, who was now Archbishop of Canterbury, in a " patheticall Speech," as Fuller terms it, " aggravated the Bishop's fault, by shewing how the world was above three thousand years old, before it was ripe enough to commit so great a wickedness ; and that Jezabel was the first in Scripture branded with that infamie, whose false witnesses the Holy Spirit refused to name, otherwise than under the character of men of Belial*." The Bishop was then adjudged to pay 10,000/. to the King ; 1000 marks to Sir John Mounson (whose character he had been accused of libelling w hilst the cause was pending), to be suspended a Benejiciis $ Officiis; and to be committed to prison during his Majesty's pleasure j*." In pursuance of this sentence, Bishop Williams was immediately com- mitted to the Tower ; within a fortnight afterwards, he was suspended by the High-Commission Court, and all the profits of his preferments in the Church were sequestered to the use of the King. A writ of Privy-Seal was next sent to the Sub-Dean and Prebendaries of Westminster, requiring them to set apart all the profits, certain and uncertain, which of right accrued unto the Dean, and to pay the same into the Exchequer ; and that his Majesty's profits might not undergo any diminution, nor the Prebendaries of that Church suffer through the suspension of their Dean, a Commission was issued under * " Church Hist." B. XI. p. 157- f The length and extraordinary nature of the proceedings in this singular cause, render it impossible to enter into more detailed particulars concerning them in this work. Those who wish for more precise information will refer to the " State Trials;" and to the " Scrinia Reserata,'' p. 109 — 129 The Bishop's witnesses were imprisoned and intimidated; and the Judges Richard- son and Finch, decidedly influenced against him by the Court. Even the Bishop's submission to his Majesty during the progress of the case, and his endeavours to free himself from the power of the Star-Chamber by compromise with the King, were urged against him as evidences of guilt, vol.. I. x 154 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. the Great Seal, empowering' them to " let and renew leases, keep courts, and make grants of offices ; and finally, to act and do all manner of things which concerned the government of their Church, in as ample a manner as if the Dean himself had been present at the doing of them *." A similar course was pursued in regard to his other promotions : the profits of the Bishopric of Lincoln were ordered to be paid into the Exchequer, as in times of vacancy ; and the entire episcopal jurisdiction of that See was assumed by Archbishop Laud in his character of Metropolitan of the Pro- vince of Canterbury. The Bishop's enemies were determined on his complete ruin, and the success they had obtained was only the prelude to further oppressions. He petitioned that the fine might be taken out of his estates at 1000/. yearly, yet Laud prevented his obtaining that favour, and all his possessions at Bugden and Lincoln were seized under an extent, by Kilvert ; who, by the most nefarious practices and spoliation, made away with property to the value of upwards of 10,000/. without remitting any of the proceeds into the Exchequer, or accounting for more than the thousand marks adjudged to Sir J. Mounson f. The next charge against him was made in the High-Commission Court, and was intended to effect his entire deprivation. Some disputes having * The Commission was grounded upon a warrant, of which the following is a copy, sent by Laud to the King's solicitor. " Mr. Sollicitor, " It is his Majestie's pleasure, that you prepare a Commission to the Prebendaries of the Collegiate Church of Westminster, authorizing them to keep their Audits and other Capitular Meetings, at their usual times, to treat and compound with the Tenants for Leases, and to pass the same accordingly, choose Officers, confirm and execute all other lawful Acts, for the good and benefit of the College, and the said Prebendaries : And to take out the Common or Chapter Seal, for sealing such Leases and Grants as shall be agreed upon by the Sub-dean, and the major part of the Prebendaries ; and also to pass all the Premises under the style and title of the ' Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in Westminster,' during the suspension of the Bishop of Lincoln from the Deanery of Westminster : for the doing whereof, this shall be your warrant.'' " W. Cant." Lambeth- House, this 22nd day of November, Anno Dom. 1637- t Serin. Res." P. II. p. 128. NEW CHARGES AGAINST THE DEAN. 155 arisen at Grantham, in his diocese, in the year 1627, respecting- the due situation of the Communion Table, he addressed a letter to some Divines, in which he stated, ' that the proper place of the Table, when not in use, was the upper end of the Chancel ; but that, when used, it might be carried to any part of the Church, where the minister could be heard best by the congrega- tion :' and this opinion he maintained by references to various canons, injunc- tions, orders, &c. of the Church. Nine years afterwards, (and whilst the Star- Chamber cause was yet pending), Dr. Heylyn severely criticised the above letter for its deficiency of knowledge, and accused the writer of disaffection to the Church, and sedition. Bishop Williams, in reply, published " The Holy Table" a treatise which Lord Clarendon himself (who always speaks of the Bishop in a strain of disparagement), admits to be " full of good learning, and that learning closely and solidly applied ; though it abounded w ith too many light expressions This latter publication was made the ground-work of the new charge ; and four Bishops and three Doctors of the Civil Laws were sent to him in the Tower, to require his answer on oath, to a Book of Articles, " of twenty-four sheets of paper written on both sidesf." He at first demurred ; but was afterwards three times examined on the same interrogatories, in order, if possible, to entrap him into perjury. But his " prodigious memory," says Hacket, having enabled him to depose in the same words, on each examination, " this cause was laid asleep till God shall awaken it, and hear it on both sides at the last day J." When the Bishop found that his enemies were bent on his destruction, he endeavoured, through the mediation of the Queen, to procure terms for securing his safety ; but was answered by the Earl of Dorset (the Queen's Chamberlain), that "if he would be bandied no more in the Star-Chamber," he must leave his Bishopric and Deanery, and all his commendams, and take a Bishopric in Ireland or Wales, as his Majesty pleased ; that he must recant his book, secure all his fine, and never question any who had been employed against him §. The going to Ireland he absolutely refused ; and finding that it was insisted on, he told the Earl of Dorset, " that he had made a shift to hold out against his enemies here for seven years together ; but if they should send him to Ireland, he should there fall into the hands * " Hist, of Civil Wars," Vol. I. p. 75. f « Church Hist." B. XI. p. 159. \ " Serin. Res." P. II. p. 130. § " Serin. Res." P. II. p. 136. x2 156 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. of a man, [meaning the Earl of Strafford], who once in seven months would find out some old statute or other to cut off his head *." Every chance of accommodation having been thus destroyed, new ac- cusations were resorted to for accomplishing his ruin. The notorious Kil- vert had procured possession of a letter that was sent to the Bishop by Lambert Osbolstone, Master of Westminster School, which contained this passage ; " The Little Vermin, the Urchin, and Hocus Pocus, is this stormy Christmas at true and actual variance with the Great Leviathan," These expressions were interpreted to allude to Archbishop Laud and the Lord Treasurer Weston, between whom some quarrel was said to have taken place towards the end of the year 1635 ; and Kilvert instituted suits in the Star-Chamber against both the Bishop and Osbolstone, " for divulging scandalous libels against Privy-Counsellors." To support the charge against the Bishop, a note, hastily written to his own steward, was pro- duced, in which he says, " Here is a strange thing : Mr. Osbolstone impor- tunes me to contribute to my Lord Treasurer some charges upon the little Great Man, and assures me they are mortally out ; I have utterly refused to meddle in this business," &c. On this evidence, eked out with another letter of Osbolstone's, in which he inquires, " when will Lincoln come to Westminster to look after this gear?" the defendants were adjudged guilty of Scandalum Magnatum ; though Osbolstone made oath that Dr. Spicer and Judge Richardson were the persons alluded to by the words Hocus Pocus, and Great Leviathan ; and the Bishop declared that he had no recollection of such a letter ever having come to his hands. An additional fine of 8000/. was now imposed upon the Bishop, whilst Osbolstone was fined 5000/., and further sentenced to be deprived of all his ecclesiastical preferments, and " have his ears tack'd to the Pillory in the Palace Yard :" costs of suit also were awarded to be paid by both parties to the Archbishop of Canterbury f. Before this unjust cause was terminated, a fresh Bill, branching into ten heads, was filed against the Bishop ; who immediately demurred to five * Jf Cyp. Angl." p. 344. t Osbolstone escaped without losing his ears, by lying concealed at a friend's house in Lon- don till after the downfall of Laud j having previously left a note in his study, saying, that he " was gone beyond Canterbury," and causing a report to be spread that he had fled to the Continent. THE DEAN RESTORED TO HIS PREFERMENTS. 157 of the charges (as having already been decided on his first trial), and entered a defence to the others : but finding afterwards that the most material parts of his reply had been expunged by order of the Judges, he resolutely appealed from his persecutors to the " High Court of Parliament," whenever it should " be next assembled " and utterly denied the competency of the Star- Chamber Court " to degrade any Bishop, or Lord and Peer of Parliament." This unexpected step appears to have intimidated his enemies, and they eventually deemed it advisable to stay further proceedings. In the year 1640, after a lapse of twelve years, King Charles found it necessary to summon a new Parliament, which accordingly assembled on the 13th of April. The Convocation of the Clergy met on the following day in the Chapter-house of St. Paul's ; from which place, after electing a pro- locutor, they adjourned to Henry the Seventh's Chapel, and sat there till the 29th of May. The remarkable proceedings of this assembly (which after the abrupt dissolution of the Parliament on the 5th of May, was authorized to continue its meetings as a Synod, by virtue of the King's writ), gave rise to great tumults ; and his Majesty found it necessary to place a guard round Westminster Abbey, to protect it from the threatened vengeance of the populace*. Soon after the meeting of the Long Parliament, which began its sittings on the 3d of November, 1640, Bishop Williams was discharged from his imprisonment, and took his seat among the Peers, in consequence of an address to his Majesty from the House of Lords. Heylyn states, that on his release " he was conducted into the Abbey Church by six of the Bishops, and there officiated (it being a day of humiliation) as Dean of Westminster; more honoured at the first by the Lords and Commons than ever any of his order, his person being looked upon as sacred, and his words deemed as oracles - ]"." — Soon afterwards he was admitted to an interview with the King, who had a long and private conference with him; and who shortly after tacitly acknowledged his sense of the injustice with which the Bishop had been treated, by commanding, that " all orders filed, and kept in any Court or Registry, upon the former hearings and dependencies against him, should * Some interesting particulars of the proceedings of the Convocation, or Synod, may be found in Fuller's " Church Hist." B. XI. p. 167 — 171 5 and Htylyn's " Cyp. Angl." p. 420—465. f " Cyp. Angl." p. 464. 158 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. be slighted, cancelled, and erazed, that no monument or memorial of them might remain*." This was the more to his honour, inasmuch as it was done previously to the reversal by the Commons of all the iniquitous decrees of the Star-Chamber ; the severity and exactions of which Court, in the cases of the Bishop and of Mr. Osbolstonef, were among the principal arguments used to bring on its final abolition in July, 1641. After the question for the abolition of Episcopacy was begun to be argued in Parliament, the House of Lords, in March, 1640-41, appointed a Committee of ten Earls, ten Bishops, and ten Barons, to examine into " innovations in matters of Religion ;" and report on the measures necessary for settling the peace of the Church. An assistant or Sub-committee of about twenty persons (some being prelatical and some presbyterian), was also named to prepare matters for the cognizance of the superior Committee ; and Bishop Williams having been chosen to preside in both, the Sub-committee held its meetings in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster. Whatever good might have resulted from this assembly, it was wholly prevented by the intemperance of the presbyterian faction in the House of Commons ; who about the 20th of May, brought in a Bill for the abolition of all^ Deans, Chapters, Archdeacons, &c. This occasioned so much division in the Committee, that it never met again. Lord Clarendon has made a very serious charge against Bishop Williams, though it does not appear that the circumstances were such as to justify his Lordship's inferences. His Lordship says, "when, upon the trial of the Earl of Strafford, it was resolved to decline the judgment of the House of Peers, and to proceed by Bill of attainder, and thereupon very unreasonably moved, 'That the Bishops might have no vote in the passing that act of Parliament/ because they pretended it was to have their hand in blood, which was against an old canon ; this Bishop, without communicating with any of his brethren, very frankly declared his opinion, ' that they ought not to be 'present;* and offered, not only in his own name, but for the rest of the Bishops, to ' with- draw always when that business was entered upon ;* and so betrayed a fundamental right of the whole Order, to the great prejudice of the King, * " Serin. Res." P. II. p. 138. f After the restoring of Mr. Osbolstone to his livings, he was made a Prebendary of this Church, most probably on the recommendation of the Dean. THE DEAN'S REPUTATION CLEARED. 159 and to the taking away the life of the Earl, M ho could not otherwise have suffered*." This statement is directly at variance with Hacket's account, as will be seen from the following- passages : " They that fostered deadly enmities against Earl Strafford, laboured to remove the Bishops from the hearing of his cause ; this Bishop and his brethren minding to shew him all the pity and help they could. — Lincoln maintains that the Lords did them injury ; and that Bishops in England may and ought to vote in causa sanguinis^." The Bishop's arguments in support of this opinion are given by the same writer ; and it is not a little remarkable, as furnishing a direct negative to Clarendon's testimony, that they conclude with a prayer for the unfortunate Earl J. The reputation and principles of Bishop Williams have been yet more sullied by Lord Clarendon, who chiefly attributes to his " unhappy" casuistry, the final resolution taken by the King, to sign the warrant for the Earl's death. The Archbishop of York §, he says, told his Majesty, " that there was a private and a public conscience ; that his public conscience as a King might not only dispense with, but oblige him to do that which was against his private conscience as a man||." Not a single word of this sophistry, however, is to be found in Hacket ; whose relation of the question that was stated to induce his Majesty to sign the warrant, he professes to have had from the Lord Primate Usher, and the Bishops Morton and Williams : these Prelates, together with Bishop Potter, having been appointed by the Lords to satisfy the King's scruples It should be remembered also, that the Privy-Council had previously advised the King to consent to the Earl's death, as the only way " to preserve himself and his posterity" from the infuriated vengeance of the rabble, who were daily besetting the Parlia- ment, and demanding " justice" against the Earl. In the following November, whilst the House of Peers was debating on the measure of excluding the Bishops from their seats, the misguided po- pulace again assembled in considerable numbers at Westminster, crying out " No Bishops ! No Popish Lords !" and some of them having been repulsed * " Hist, of the Civil Wars," Vol. I. p. 274. t Vide " Serin. Res." P. IT. p. 153. + Ibid. p. 160. § Williams was not made Archbishop of York till December, 1641 ; the Earl of Strafford was beheaded on the preceding 12th of May. || " Hist, of the Civ. Wars," Vol. I. p. 202. % Vide " Serin. Res." P. II. p. 163. 160 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. in an attempt to destroy the organs and ornaments of the Abbey, threatened to come in greater numbers and pull down the Church. The efforts which Bishop Williams had made in favour of episcopal rights, appear to have been a leading cause of his translation to the metro- politan See of York, which had become vacant by the decease of Archbishop Neile. This promotion was conferred on the 4th of December, 1641 ; and the King, at the same time, gave him permission to hold the Deanery of Westminster, in commendam, for three years longer. The attempt made by the King to seize the five obnoxious Members of the House of Commons, about the end of December, led to fresh tumults at Westminster ; and the concourse of people being increased in the Christmas Holidays by the accession of the London apprentices, and other disorderly persons, it became no longer safe for the Bishops to take their seats in Parliament. A most violent attempt, also, was made to force the doors of the Abbey Church, which was defended by the Archbishop in person, and after " an hour's dispute," the rabble were driven away*. They still, however, continued to surround the Parliament House ; and by their vin- dictive threatenings and insults, led the Bishops to conclude that their own lives were endangered should they persist in attending their duty. The Archbishop became the object of their particular rage; for he having seized a youth who was extremely boisterous in his outcries against the Bishops, was surrounded by the mob, who " tore off" his robes ;" and " had he not been seasonably rescued, it was believed they would have murdered himf. * The following particulars of this tumult are given by FulWr in his " Church Hist." B. XI. p. 185-6. " As for the hubbub at Westminster Abbey, eye-witnesses have thus informed me of the manner thereof. Of those Apprentices who coming up to the Parliament cried ' No Bishops .' No Bishops, V some rudely rushing into the Abbey Church, were reproved by a Verger for their irreverent behaviour therein : afterwards quitting the Church, the doors thereof, by command from the Dean, were shut up, to secure the organs and monuments against the return of the Appren- tices ; for though others could not foretell the intentions of such a tumult, who could not certainly tell their own, yet the suspicion was probable, by what was uttered amongst them. The multitude presently assault the Church, under pretence that some of their party were detained therein, and force a pane out of the North door, but are beaten back by the officers and scholars of the College. Here an unhappy tile was cast, by an unknown hand, from the leads or battlements of the Church, which so bruised Sir Richard Wiseman (conductor of the Apprentices), that he died thereof; and so ended that day's distemper." Wiseman is said to have been a Kentish Knight; and to have had the charges of his funeral defrayed by a subscription raised among the London apprentices. t " Hist, of the Civ. Wars," Vol. I. p. 266 and 275. THE BISHOPS' PROTESTATION. 161 Immediately after this insult, the Archbishop, says Clarendon, "returned, in very just displeasure, to his house, the Deanery at Westminster, and sent for all the Bishops who were then in the town (it being within very few days of Christmas), and in much passion, and with his natural indignation, he proposed, as absolutely necessary, ' That they might unanimously, and presently, prepare a Protestation, to be sent to the House, against the force that was used upon them; and against all the acts which were, or should be done during the time that they should, by force, be kept from doing their duties in the House:' and immediately, having pen and ink ready, himself prepared a Protestation, which being read to them, they all approved ; and without further delay than what was necessary for the fair writing and engrossing the instrument they had prepared, they all set their hands to it*." The Archbishop then carried the Protestation to the King, at White- hall ; and his Majesty having given his approbation, it was delivered to the Lord Keeper Littleton, in order that he might lay it before the Peers as soon as they should again assemble. It had not, however, been intended that the Protestation should have been communicated to the House unless in the King's presence ; yet, either from design or inadvertency on the part of the Lord Keeper, it was presented whilst his Majesty was absent. Through this mischance, and from the tendency of the strong language employed in it, the Protestation was declared to " contain matters of high and dangerous consequence, extending to the deep intrenching upon the fundamental privileges, and being of Parliament :" — and the Commons on the same day (December the 30th) impeached the twelve subscribing Prelates^ of high treason. On the following day, the Archbishop and nine of his brethren were sent to the Tower ; but the Bishops of Durham and Coventry were, in regard to their age and infirmities, committed only to the custody of the Usher of the black rod. After this exertion of power, the Parliament quickly proceeded to divest the Bishops of their privileges ; and on the 14th of February, 1641-42, the King gave his assent to the Bill for depriving them of their seats among the Lords, and for incapacitating the whole of the Clergy from * " Hist, of the Civ. Wars," Vol. I. p. 275. •f These prelates were, Archbishop Williams, and the Bishops of Durham, Coventry and Lichfield, Norwich, St. Asaph, Bath and Wells, Hereford, Oxford, Ely, Gloucester, Peterborough, and Landaff. VOL. I. y 162 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. the exercise of any temporal jurisdiction whatever. The grand design of the Schismatics having been thus accomplished by the abolition of Episco- pacy, it was thought expedient to liberate the imprisoned Bishops, and they were all set free within three months afterwards. The dissensions between Charles and the Parliament had now become so formidable, that both parties meditated an appeal to arms ; and the King, about the end of March, retired from the capital to York, whither he was soon followed by Archbishop Williams, who, on the 27th of June, was in- throned in the cathedral church of that city. After his Majesty had been refused admittance into Hull, by Sir John Hotham, the Archbishop exclaimed so strongly against the disloyalty of that act, that the younger Hotham drew " his sword before some gallants, and vowed to cut off his head*." This threat was made known to the Arch- bishop by Dr. Ferne, whom he had formerly promoted to the Archdeaconry of Leicester; and who, on a particular night, gave him information that Hotham was drawing out a force to seize him at his residence at Cawood Castle by five o'clock the next morning. At the appointed hour the castle was sum- moned, and after a little parley, it was surrendered ; yet, to Hotham's great vexation, he found that the Archbishop had fled, with a small party of horse, during the night. Shortly afterwards the Archbishop obtained a passport from the King, who was at that period raising an army in York- shire, and retired to his birth-place, at Conway, in North Wales. Here, by his influence over his countrymen, he much aided the King's service, and at his own charge repaired, and additionally fortified, Conway Castle, which was in consequence intrusted to his keeping, under his Majesty's warrant. In December, 1644, the Archbishop was summoned to Oxford, in order to assist the King with his counsel (and probably, also, to deliver up the Deanery, his commendam expiring in that month) ; but his advice " to make terms with the Parliament" proved ungracious to the majority of the Court, though doubtless the best that could have been followed in the then critical conjuncture of public affairs. In the ensuing spring he returned to North Wales, and on the 9th of May had the mortification to be dispossessed of the custody of Conway Castle by Colonel Sir John Owen, who acted under orders from Prince Rupert. About fifteen months afterwards, on the total * " Serin. Res.'* P. II. p. 186. DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP WILLIAMS. 163 overthrow of the King's authority, Colonel Mitton, a parliamentary officer, advanced from Chester to Conway ; and having engaged to restore to their proper owners all the goods, plate, jewels, archives, &c. which had been deposited in the Castle for safety whilst it continued in the Archbishop's possession, he was assisted in reducing that fortress by the Archbishop him- self, and by his friends and servants *. After the lamentable execution of the King on the 30th of January, 1649, the Archbishop, whose health had been long declining, languished in privacy and sorrow till his own decease, on the 25th of March, 1650 ; on which day he had exactly completed his 68th year. He was buried in the chancel at Llandegay Church, where, some years afterwards, Sir Griffith Williams, his nephew and heir, caused a monument to be erected to his memory : it displays the effigies of the deceased, kneeling, and has a long Latin inscription (composed by Bishop Hacket), in which his erudition and character are thus commemorated : Omnes scientias valde edoctus : novem linguarum Thesaurus : Theologiae puree et illibatae medulla : prudentiae political cortina : Sacrae, canonica?, civilis, municipals sapiential apex, et ornamentum. Dulciloquii cymbalum, memorise tenacissimae, plusquam humanae : Historiarum omnis generis myrothecium. Magnorum operum, usque ad sumptum viginti mille librarum, structor. Munificentiae, liberalitatis, hospitalis lautitiri, Misericord i a; erga pauperes insigne exemplum. After the departure of Archbishop Williams for Oxford, in 1642, the affairs of this Deanery were managed by the Sub-dean with as much pro- priety as the disordered state of the times would admit; but in the fol- lowing year the House of Commons began to exercise a supreme authority over its concerns. On the 24th of April, 1643, the House appointed a Com- mittee " to receive information concerning, and to demolish any monuments of superstition and idolatry in this Church ;" and, on the 31st of May, the Committee was ordered to burn the copes, &c, (which were principally of * Much obloquy has been thrown upon the Archbishop for this actj but his motives and conduct have been satisfactorily vindicated by his chaplain and biographer, Dr. Hacket : vide " Serin. Res." Part II. p. 21?— 220. Y 2 164 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. tissue, or cloth interwoven with gold or silver), and to give the produce to the poor of Ireland *. On the 3d of June, in consequence of an unfounded sus- picion that the Dean had conveyed away the crown, it was resolved, " that the doors of the treasury, or room in the cloisters where the Regalia were then kept, should be opened, even against the consent of the Prebendaries, and that an inventory of what might be there found should be taken and pre- sented to the House "j"." The execution of this measure was intrusted to the well-known Henry Marten, (afterwards the notorious regicide), who is recorded by Wood, to have broken open the iron chest in which the crown and robes were deposited, and to have fantastically arrayed George Wither, the poet and satirist, in the regal habiliments ; from feelings of contempt and scorn for the office of royalty J. The Regalia, however, were not finally removed and sold till some time afterwards. On the 21st of August, in the same year, the Sub-dean and Prebendaries were ordered to grant the " use of the pulpit" on Sunday afternoons, to such lecturers as the Com- mittee should appoint. On the 13th of January, 1643-44, the House of Commons appointed a Committee of sixteen of the members, (to whom four more were subsequently added), to inquire into the affairs of this Church ; and on the 28th of Fe- bruary, seven Presbyterian ministers § were nominated to " keep a morning exercise" here, in place of the daily service. On the 22d of the following * Vide " Journals of the House of Com." f Widm. « Hist." p. 155. J " Athen. Oxon." Vol. III. col. 1238, Edit. 1817- It may not be uninteresting to give the entire passage in Wood's own language. After portraying the character of Marten at some length, he says, — " He was an enemy, also, to the kingly office, and all belonging thereunto, especially the Regalia, which he caused to be sold : for, being authorized by the Parliament, he forced open a great iron chest within the College of Westminster, and thence took out the crown, robes, sword and sceptre, belonging anciently to King Edward the Confessor, and used by all our Kings at their inaugurations, and with a scorn greater than his lusts, and the rest of his vices, he openly declared, that there should be no further use of those toyes and trifles ; and in the jollity of that humour, he invested George Wither (an old puritan satyrist), in the royal habiliments: who being crowned and royally arrayed (as well might become him), did first march about the room with a stately garb, and afterwards with a thousand apish and ridiculous actions, exposed those sacred ornaments to contempt and laughter." Many curious particulars concerning Wither and his writings may be found in the same work, and in Sir Egerton Brydges's " Censura Lite- raria." His poetical talents were of a far higher order of merit than has been generally imagined. § These were Dr. Staunton, and Messrs. Marshall, Palmer, Hearle, Nye, Whitacre, and Hill. APPOINTMENT OF DEAN STEWARD. 165 April, all persons belonging - to, or having- any dependence on this Church, were ordered to take the Covenant ; and two days afterwards, the brass and iron in Henry the Seventh's Chapel were ordered to be sold. In the ensu- ing month, " the plate lately found, belonging- to the College of Westmin- ster, was ordered to be melted, and the produce to be applied, by the Com- mittee, for the use of this Church, and to pay the servants and the workmen employed about it*:" and on the 9th of October, " two of the members were ordered to inform the House what superstitious plate was in the place where the Regalia were kept, that it might be melted and sold, and the produce employed to buy horses j\" After the license granted to Archbishop Williams for holding this Deanery in commendam had expired, in December, 1644, the King presented the vacant benefice to Dr. Richard Steward J, who was born about the year 1593, or 1594 ; most probably at Pateshull, in Northamptonshire, where his family had been sometime seated. He was of respectable lineage ; and in 1608, he became a commoner of Magdalen Hall, in the university at Oxford. In 1613 he was elected fellow of All Souls College; and having studied the civil law, and attained his degrees in that faculty, he was pro- moted, in 1628, to a prebend in the Cathedral of Worcester. In the follow- ing year he was made a Prebendary of Sarum, and appointed Chaplain in ordinary to the King. " While he remained in the university," says Wood, " he was accounted a good poet and orator ; and after he had left it a noted divine, an eloquent preacher, and a person of a smart fluent stile." In 1634 he was nominated Dean of Chichester ; and soon afterwards was made Clerk of the Closet in place of Dr. Matthew W ren ; whom also, in 1638, he succeeded as Prebendary of Westminster. About the beginning of 1640, on the decease of the celebrated Sir Henry Wotton, he was made Provost of Eton College ; and in March, 1641, he was confirmed Dean of St. Paul's, a situation which his Majesty had long designed for him. After the com- mencement of the Civil Wars, he suffered materially in his fortune, through his steady adherence to the King, on whom he constantly attended in habits of familiar and confidential intercourse. When he was advanced to this Deanery in 1644, the metropolis was under the control of the Parliament, * Widm. " Hist, of West." p. 156. + Ibid. \ Wood spells his name thus, Sleuart ; but with evident inaccuracy. Vide " Ath. Oxon." 166 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. from which circumstance, and through the subsequent overthrow of the royal cause, he was never installed, nor had ever possession of his seat. In 1645, being- then " a Commissioner in matters relating to the Church*," he was chosen, with other divines, to manage the Conference on affairs of reli- gion, before the lay Commissioners appointed to treat on articles of peace, at Uxbridge. On that occasion he strongly defended the constitution of the established church, and then " enlarged upon the original institution of Episcopacy ; using all those arguments which are still used by the most learned men in those disputes, to prove, that without Bishops there could be no ordination of ministers, and, consequently, no administration of sacra- ments, or performance of the ministerial functions ■j*." On the King's imprisonment, Dr. Steward fled to the continent, where, till the period of his decease, he became one of the private counsellors of Prince Charles ; his Majesty having advised the Prince to be governed by his opinion in all things regarding the Church : and we learn from Claren- don, that after the execution of the King, he steadily opposed the clause respecting " the admission of foreign divines into an English synod," which, by desire of the Prince of Orange, was to have been proposed in the intended Declaration from the Hague t. He died at Paris on the 14th of November, 1651 ; having been twice visited on his death-bed by his youthful Sovereign, Avho had recently returned to France after his almost miraculous escape from Worcester fight. He was buried in an open ground (in the suburbs of ^,t. Germain), which sometime before had been granted as a place of interment for protestants. In the modest epitaph, written by him- self, and inscribed over his remains, he is briefly stated to have been Dean of Westminster, and of the King's Chapel ; and to have assiduously laboured for the peace of the Church : — " assidue oravit pro pace ecclesice * Clarendon, « Hist." Vol. II. P. II. p. 583, Edit. 1720. f Ibid. p. 586. t lbid - Vol* 1H- p - L P- 3o6 - § Vide " Hist. & Antiq. Univ. Oxon." Lib. II. p. 182. Wood says, that after Dr. Steward had retired to France, " he became a great champion for the Protestant cause at Paris, where, at Le Hostle de Blinville he preached an excellent Sermon, Of the English Case, or Hezekiatis Reformation, in vindication of our's f and likewise, " another Sermon in defence of the Protestants against the Papists in an auditory of prelatists there. — Besides also, he, with that public-spirited Sir George RatclifF, did go very far in making an accommodation between the Jansenists and the reformed party." " Athen. Oxon." Vol. III. col. 296. Edit. I8I7. THE DEANERY GOVERNED BY A COMMITTEE. 167 The literary talents of Dr. Steward were principally confined to Ser- mons, and Tracts, partly religious, and partly political ; most of which remained in manuscript till some years after his death. In 1656, and 1658, were published " Three Sermons," by this prelate ; in 1659 " Trias Sacra, a Second Ternary of Sermons ;" and in 1661, " Golden Remains, or three Sermons," &c. all which were printed in twelves. His Sermon called " The English Case, exactly set down by Hezekiah's Reformation," was printed in 8vo. in 1659, and has a portrait of Charles the Second prefixed to it. The principal of his other works were, " A Discourse of Episcopacy and Sacri- lege," written in answer to a factious letter, and first published in 1647, in quarto ; and " Catholic Divinity, or the most solid and sententious Expres- sions of the primitive Doctors of the Church," &c. printed in 8vo. in 1657. A tract in one sheet, quarto, attributed to him, was published in 1682, under the title of " The old Puritan detected and defeated." It has been already mentioned that Dr. Steward was never installed in his Deanery in consequence of the usurpation by the Parliament. Through- out almost the whole period, indeed, in which he was the nominal possessor, it was governed by a Committee of Lords and Commoners, appointed under an Ordinance of Parliament, made on the 18th of November, 1645. In the declaratory preamble of that instrument, it is stated, that " Forasmuch as the Dean and Prebends of the College and Collegiate Church of Westminster (except only Mr. Lambert Osbolston), have deserted their charge, or have become delinquents to the Parliament, whereby the said College, &c. is destitute of government, and the School, Almsmen, Servants and Officers deprived of all means of subsistence, by reason no person is appointed to take care for the same ; for remedy whereof, be it ordained that the Earls of Northumberland, Pembroke, Nottingham, Denbigh, and Manchester; the Lord Viscount Say and Seal, the Lords Willoughby, North, Mountague, Roberts, and Howard ; Mr. Sollicitor, Mr. Rous, Sir Walter Earl, Mr. Wheeler, Sir Robert Harley, Mr. Maynard, Sir Gilbert Gerrard, Sir Wil- liam Strickland, Mr. Ashurst, Sir John Clotworthy, Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Gourdon, Mr. Lisle, Mr. Recorder, Sir William Massam, Sir Robert Pye, Sir John Trevor, Mr. SalloAvay, Mr. Hoyle, Sir John Dryden, Sir Henry Vane, Jun. and Bulstrode Whitlock, Esq. shall be, and are hereby appointed the Committee in this Ordinance." All the power and authority of the 168 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Dean and Prebends are next vested in the Committee, " or any seven, or more of them ;" except as to the granting of leases, which were not to extend " above the space of three years*." The Dean and Prebends, and every other member and servant belonging- to the Church, " that have absented themselves, or are delinquents, or have not taken the Covenant," are then suspended, " until both Houses take order to the contrary," (with the ex- ception of Mr. Osbolston, who Mas permitted to retain his " stipend, or al- lowance" as Prebendary), and the Committee authorized to appoint fit and able persons to " such offices and places as they shall find necessary to be continued for the use and service of the College." Some regulations for the government of the Scholars and Alms-men follow ; and a discretionary al- lowance " out of the revenues" is directed to be given to the ministers who shall deliver the daily morning lecture in the Abbey Church, or perform service there on the Lord's Daysf." In consequence of this Ordinance, 200/. was annually allowed to sup- port the Sunday preaching ; and fifty pounds yearly (with a prebendal house to reside in), were allotted to each of the seven persons who were nominated to maintain the regular morning exercise. The remaining houses of the Prebendaries were let to different persons ; and the Dean's house was some- time afterwards granted on lease to the celebrated President Bradshaw (the implacable judge of Charles the First), who resided there several years : there, also, he died, on the 31st of October, 1659. In September, 1649, the House of Commons passed an act for " the con- tinuance and maintenance of the School and Alms-houses of Westminster ;" under which, the government of the College was vested in fifty-six persons, two or three, only, of whom were noblemen. At that period the annual charge of the School, the Alms-houses, the weekly Poor, the Preachers, or Lecturers, the support of the Buildings, &c. was computed at upwards of 1900/. The fee or inheritance of several of the Church estates was after- wards sold, and the old rents only reserved to the College. No other altera- tions of importance were made in the government of this establishment during the remaining years of the interregnum. * By a subsequent Ordinance the term for granting leases was extended to twenty-one )ears. f Vide Appendix to Widm. " Hist." where the Ordinance is printed at length. ACCOUNT OF DEAN EARLES. 169 Soon after the restoration of Charles the Second, Dr. John Earles* was installed in this Deanery ; of which he had previously obtained a grant or promise from the Kingf, whom he had long and faithfully served during his exile on the continent. This prelate was born at York, in the year 1600 ; and was the son of Thomas Earles, gent., some time Registrar of the Archbishop's Court in that city. At an early age he was sent to Oxford, and entered a commoner of Christ Church College, where he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts in July, 1619. In the following year he was admitted a probationary fellow of Merton College, and became Master of Arts in July, 1624. In 1631 he was senior Proctor of the University, and about the same time was appointed Chaplain to Philip, Earl of Pembroke, (the then Chancellor of Oxford, and Lord Chamberlain of the King's household), who presented him with the living of Bishopston in Wiltshire. In 1642 he was created Doctor of Divinity ; and in 1643 he was nominated one of the ' Assembly of the Divines,' which had been constituted by Par- liament to new model the affairs of the Church. He did not, however, take his place in that, Assembly (which met in " the Abbey of Westminster," on the first of July), in consequence of a general inhibition which was issued from Oxford by the King J. In February, 1643-44, he was elected Chan- cellor of Salisbury Cathedral, but was shortly afterwards deprived of that office, as well as of his other preferments, through the ill success of the royal cause. About this period he assisted Dr. Duppa, Bishop of Salisbury, in the education of Prince Charles §; and after the fatal defeat at Wor- cester, in September 1651, he met that Prince at Rouen, in Normandy, who made him his Chaplain and Clerk of his Closet ||. He resided, subse- quently, at Antwerp and at Paris ; to which latter city " he had been called to attend the Duke of York (afterwards James the Second), in order that he might heal some of the breaches existing between certain members of the * That this is the true orthography of his name, and not Earle, as it is commonly spelt, appears from his own signature, as preserved among the archives of this Church, f Vide " Life of Dr. John Barwick," 8vo. J 72 4, p. 36l, 452. t Heylyn's " Cyp. Angl." p. 507, 508. § Vide Bliss's invaluable edition of the " Athenae Oxon." Vol. III. col. 716. H Ibid. col. 717. VOL. I. z 170 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Duke's household V After the Restoration his loyalty and faithfulness to the Stuarts were progressively rewarded ; first, by his being- put into pos- session of this Deanery in June, 1660; secondly, by his promotion in No- vember, 1662, to the See of Worcester ; aud lastly, by his translation to the Bishopric of Salisbury, on the 28th of September, 1663. As he still kept the Clerkship of the Closet, he was generally resident at court; and after the breaking out of the Great Plague in 1665, he accompanied their Ma- jesties to Oxford, where he died at his apartments in University College, on the 17th of November, in the same year; deeply regretted by everyone who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. He was attended to his grave " by an Herald at arms, and the principal persons of the Court and University;" and interred on the north side of the altar in Merton College Chapel. His monument is still in good preservation, and has a neat Latin inscription recording his learning and virtues. Burnet, speaking of this prelate, informs us, that " he was the man, of all the clergy, for whom the King had the greatest esteem ;" and the ex- cellency of his manners and character has been eulogized by several of his contemporaries. " This Dr. Earl," says Wood, " was a very genteel man, a contemner of the world, religious, and most worthy of the office of a Bishop. He was a person, also, of the sweetest and most obliging nature that lived in our age. His younger years were adorned with oratory, poetry, and witty fancies ; and his elder with quaint preaching and subtile disputes Lord Clarendon, who praises him for his elegance in the Greek and Latin tongues, says, that " he was a most eloquent and powerful preacher ; and of a conversation so pleasant and delightful, so very inno- cent, and so very facetious, that no man's company was more desired and more loved $/' This nobleman states also, that he was " an excellent poet, both in Latin, Greek, and English ; as appears by many pieces yet abroad : though he suppressed many more himself, especially of English, out of an austerity to those sallies of his youth §." * Wood's " Athen. Oxon." Vol. II. p. 770. f Ibid. Vol. III. col. 716, 717. Edit. I8I7. X " Account of his own Life," p. 26. Fol. Oxon. 175Q. § Ibid. The only poetical works of Bishop Earles now known to be extant, are the " Hortus Mertonensis" (printed in Aubrey's " Hist, of Surrey," Vol. IV. p. 167.) " Lines on the return of the Prince from Spain j" (printed in the M Musce Anglicance," Vol. I. p. 286.) " Lines, on the APPOINTMENT OF DR. DOLBEN. 171 The principal work of Bishop Earles which has descended to our time, and hy which his literary talents can be best estimated, is intituled " Micro- cosmography ; or a piece of the World discovered, in Essays and Charac- ters this has been reprinted at various periods. During- his exile on the continent he published, also, a Latin translation of the Eilon Basilike, under the title " Imago Regis Caroli, in illis suis JEfumnis et Solitudine." He likewise translated Hooker's celebrated work on " Ecclesiastical Polity" into Latin ; but the manuscript of this performance was, after his decease, " utterly destroyed by prodigious heedlessness and carelessness*." Widmore states, that during the short time Dr. Earles had possession of this Deanery, the Chapter expended upwards of 24,000/., in public, reli- gious, and charitable uses : namely, " in repairs of the Church, and fur- nishing it with proper ornaments ; in augmentation of Vicarages in their patronage ; in a gift to the King ; and for the redemption of slaves in Turkey f " The successor of Bishop Earles in this Deanery was the celebrated Dr. John Dolbex (afterwards Archbishop of York), who was descended from an ancient Welsh family, which had been long seated at Segrayd in Den- bighshire. He was born on the 20th of March, 1624-25, at Stanwick, in Northamptonshire, of which his father, Dr. William Dolben, was then Rector : the latter, also, was a Prebendary of Lincoln, to which dignity he had been raised through the interest of the Lord Keeper Williams, whose niece, Elizabeth Williams, (the Dean's mother), he had married. Young- Death of Sir John Burroughs ;" (who was killed at the Isle of Rhe, in 1 627.) " Lines on the Death of the Earl of Pembroke," (who died at Baynard's Castle, in April, 1(530); and " Lines on Mr. Beaumont," the Dramatist. The three latter pieces are printed in the curious Appendix to Bliss's edition of Dr. Earles' " Microcosmography," crown 8vo. J 8 1 1 . * Vide " Orig. Letter from Dr. Smith to Hearne," dated Sept. \?>, 1705 ; preserved in the Bodleian Lib. at Oxford. The translation was written on " loose papers, only pinned," and being put into a trunk, unlocked, was regarded " as refuse and waste paper," and " the servants lighted their fires with them, or else put them under their bread and their pics as often as they had occasion." Ibid. f " Hist, of West." p. 160. Among the archives is the copy of a Letter from Dean Earles to the Lord Mayor of London, acquainting him, that it " had been usual for his predecessors, after they had been sworn into office in Westminster Hall, to come to this Church, and offer up their devotions in Henry the Seventh's Chapel ; inviting him to do the like, and promising that he should be received here with all due respect." Ibid. p. l6l. z2 172 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Dolben received his early education at Westminster School, where he had been admitted a King's Scholar in 1636 ; he was thence elected to Christ- Church, Oxford, in 1640, and became a student the same year, on Queen Elizabeth's foundation in that College *, On the commencement of the Civil Wars, his youthful ardour induced him to take up arms for the King; and having given proof of his courage in the garrison at Oxford, he was appointed an ensign, in which capacity he received a severe wound in the shoulder from a musket ball, at the battle of Marston Moor, in Yorkshire, on the 2d of July, 1644. Soon afterwards he was still more dangerously wounded in the defence of York, by a ball which broke his thigh-bone, and occasioned him to be confined twelve months to his bed. It would seem that he again joined the army on his recovery, as, according to Wood, he attained to the rank of major in the King's service f. After the surrender of Oxford, however, and the general declension of the royal cause, he returned to his College, where he took the degree of Master of Arts, on the 9th of December, 1647. In the following year he was ejected from his student's place by the parliamentary visitors ; yet he still continued at Oxford, and shortly after his deprivation, was married to Catherine, daughter to Ralph Sheldon, elder brother to the benevolent Dr. Gilbert Sheldon, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. During the Protectorate, he continued to reside with his father-in-law, in St. Aldate's parish ; and having entered into holy orders, he assisted Dr. Fell and Dr. Allestree in keeping up all the cere- monies of divine worship, according to the Liturgy of the Church of Eng- land, in a private house opposite to Merton College Chapel J. The merit and sufferings of Mr. Dolben were duly rewarded after the * It has been remarked, " as a strong instance of hereditary attachment to those seminaries," that the Dean was the second in order of six succeeding generations, who have passed through the same places of education : and likewise, that since his time, " Westminster School has rarely been without a Dolben." Vide Chalmers's " Biog. Diet." Vol. XII. p. 198. f " Athen. Oxon." Vol. IV. col. 188. Edit. 1818. X In the mansion of Sir William Dolben, the present representative of this ancient family, in Northamptonshire, is a fine painting by the celebrated Sir Peter Lely, founded on the above circumstance ; in which Dr. Fell, Dr. Dolben, and Dr. Allestree are depicted in their canonical habits as joining in the Liturgy of the Church : a good copy from this picture was, a few years ago, presented by Sir W. Dolben to Christ-Church College, and is now placed in the hall there. The House wherein these religious worthies celebrated the Church Service belonged to the famous physician, Dr. Thomas Willis (whose wife was Dr. Fell's daughter) ; and is yet standing. PREFERMENTS OF DEAN DOLBEN. 173 Restoration. In July, 1660, he was appointed a canon of Christ-Church ; on the 3d of October he was created a Doctor in Divinity ; and on the 5th of November made Rector of Newington-cum-Britwell, in Oxfordshire. In April, 1661, his relative, Bishop Sheldon, gave him a Prebend in the Ca- thedral of St. Paul ; and in October, 1662, advanced him to the Archdea- conry of London : in November, the same year, he was collated to the vicarage of St. Giles without Cripplegate ; and, on the 5th of December, installed Dean of Westminster, in place of Dr. Earles. In November, 1664, he was chosen Prolocutor of the Lower House of Convocation, and soon afterwards appointed Clerk of the Closet to his Majesty. His next pro- motion was to the See of Rochester, in which he was confirmed on the 19th of November 1666, and he held it, in commendam with his Deanery, till he was advanced to the Archbishopric of York in August, 1683. This was the final gradation of his honours ; but it is yet to be mentioned, that some years previously he had been made Lord Almoner to the King, and displayed great integrity in that office. He died at Bishopthorp on the 11th of April, 1686, in his sixty-second year, of the small-pox, (which he had caught whilst sleeping at an inn on the north road), and was buried in York Cathedral. His widow caused a stately monument to be erected over his remains, on which is a long inscription, in Latin, (written by his chaplain, Leonard Welsted, B. D.), recording the principal events of his life, and briefly noticing his great eloquence and diligent attention to his episcopal duties. On the day of Dr. Dolben's instalment into this Deanery, the Chapter were induced, by his persuasions and influence, to assign an equal portion with their own, of the dividend of fines, towards the repairing of the Abbey Church : this was the more praiseworthy, from being done at a critical period, the roof and parts of the vaulting having then great need of reparation. There is yet extant, in the hand-writing of his friend, Sir William Trumbull, a particular account of the talents, &c. of this prelate, from which the following passages have been selected. " He was an extra- ordinary comely person, though grown too fat ; of an open countenance, a lively piercing eye, and a majestic presence. He had admirable natural parts, and great acquired ones, for whatever he read he made his own, and 174 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. improved it. He had such a happy genius, and such an admirable elocu- tion, that his extempore preaching was beyond, not only most of other men's elaborate performances, but (I was going to say), even his own. Not any of the Bishops' bench, I may say not all of them, had that interest and au- thority in the House of Lords which he had. He had studied much of our laws, especially those of the Parliament, and was not to be brow-beat or daunted by the arrogance or titles of any courtier or favourite : whilst his presence of mind and readiness of elocution, accompanied with good-breed- ing and an inimitable wit, gave him a greater superiority than any other lord could pretend to from his dignity of office." Wood tells us, " He was a man of a free, generous, and noble disposition ; and withal of a natural, bold, and happy eloquence*/' Widmore says, that during the twenty years he presided here, he resolutely maintained the due authority of his situation ; and was " held in great esteem by the old inhabitants of Westminster ; and spoken of as a very good Dean f ." His published works appear to consist only of three " Sermons," which were preached before Charles the Second on different occasions. On the translation of Dolben to the Archbishopric of York, this Deanery was conferred on the learned Dr. Thomas Sprat, who was born in the year 1636, at Tallaton, in Devonshire. He was the son of a clergyman in humble circumstances ; and, as he himself informs us, was first educated " at a little school by the church-yard side," from which he was removed to Oxford in 1651, and entered a Commoner at Wadham College. In 1657 he became Master of Arts, and having obtained a fellowship, he interspersed his severer studies with the softer graces of poetry and polite literature. In the former pursuit he took Cowley for his model ; and his Pindaric verses on the " Death of Cromwell" were printed in 1659, with those of Dry den and Waller : in the same year he published a poem on the " Plague of Athens." After the Restoration he entered into orders, and having been recommended by Cowley to the Duke of Buckingham J, that nobleman made him his Chaplain ; and by his interest at court, he was appointed, * " Athen. Oxon." Vol. IV. col. 183. Edit. 1818. f " Hist, of West. Abb." p. 162, 164. % Tbis was George Villiers, the second and last Duke of that name ; the witty and profligate companion of the Earl of Rochester. ACCOUNT OF BISHOP SPRAT. 175 also, a Chaplain in ordinary to the King*. On the incorporation of the Royal Society in 1665, he became one of its first members ; the philoso- phical conferences which led to its institution having been commenced at the house of Dr. Wilkins, his college tutor, afterwards Bishop of Chester. In 1668 he was made a Prebendary of this Church, but had little additional promotion till the year 1680, when he was appointed a Canon of Windsor. He was installed Dean of Westminster on the 21st of September, 1683 ; and on the 2d of November, 1684, was consecrated Bishop of Rochester, having license to hold his Deanery in commendam. After the accession of James the Second, in 1685, he was made Clerk of the Closet, and Dean of the Chapel Royal ; and in the following year he was appointed one of the Commissioners for Ecclesiastical affairs f : these successive preferments appear to have been bestowed as rewards for his political writings ; yet he did not support the measures of the crown to the extent which was expected. " On the critical day," says Dr. Johnson, " when the Declaration^: distinguished the true sons of the Church of England, he stood neuter, and permitted it to be read at Westminster, but pressed none to violate his conscience ; and when the Bishop of London was brought before the Commissioners, gave his voice in his favour. Thus far he suffered interest or obedience to carry him, but fur- ther he refused to go ; for when he found that the powers of the Ecclesi- * Dr. Johnson has related the following anecdote of Sprat, which he says was told him in his youth by his father. " Burnet is not very favourable to his memory ; but he and Burnet were old rivals. On some public occasion they both preached before the House of Commons. There prevailed in those days an indecent custom ; when the preacher touched any favourite topic in a manner that delighted his audience, their approbation was expressed by a loud hum, conti- nued in proportion to their zeal or pleasure. When Burnet preached, part of his congregation hummed so loudly and so long, that he sat down to enjoy it, and rubbed his face with his hand- kerchief. When Sprat preached, he likewise was honoured with the like animating hum ; but he stretched out his hand to the congregation, and cried, " Peace, peace! I pray you peace!'' — Burnet's sermon, says Salmon, was remarkable for sedition, and Sprat's for loyalty. Burnet had the thanks of the House ; Sprat had no thanks ; but a good living from the King, which, he said, was of as much value as the thanks of the House of Commons." Could the living here alluded to be that of St. Margaret, Westminster, to which Dr. Sprat was promoted about the year l66g ? f The other Commissioners were the Archbishop of Canterbury; the Lord Chancellor Jef- feries; the Bishop of Durham ; the Earl of Rochester, Lord High Treasurer ; the Earl of Sunder- land, President of the Council; and the Lord Chief Justice Herbert. % This was the famous Declaration for " Liberty of Conscience," issued by the King, in April 16S7, as the intended precursor of Popery. 176 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. astical Commission were to be exercised against those who had refused the Declaration, he wrote to the Lords, and other Commissioners, a formal pro- fession of his unwillingness to exercise that authority any longer, and with- drew himself from them : after they had read his letter, they adjourned for six months, and never met again*." Rapin says, " that Bishop Sprat was one on whom the court relied, and therefore his defection could not but trouble the King extremely." He adds, likewise, that " several have thought the principle of this proceeding was, to screen himself in time from the ap- proaching storm, of which he had received some intimation -j\" In the famous Conference between the two Houses of Parliament, re- specting the Abdication of King James, and the alleged vacancy of the throne, the Bishop argued in favour of his Sovereign ; yet, on the final set- tlement of affairs, he acquiesced in the new establishment, and was left unmolested. About the latter end of the year 1692, however, a strange conspiracy was formed against him, with a view of procuring his condemna- tion on a charge of high treason ; though with what hopes, or by what particular motives, the villains who conceived the plot were actuated, has never been discovered. Their names were Robert Young and Stephen Blackhead ; both of whom had been convicted of infamous crimes, and both, when the scheme was laid, were prisoners in Newgate. " These men drew up an Association, in which they whose names were subscribed declared their resolution ' to restore King James ; to seize the Princess of Orange, dead or alive ; and to be ready with 30,000 men to meet King James when he should land.' To this they put the names of Sancroft, Sprat, Marlborough, Salis- bury, and others. The copy of Dr. Sprat's name was obtained by a fictitious request, to which an answer, ' in his own hand,' was desired. His hand was copied so well, that he confessed it might have deceived himself. Black- head, who had carried the letter, being sent again with a plausible message, was very curious to see the house, and particularly importunate to be let into the study, where, as is supposed, he designed to leave the Association. This, however, was denied him ; and he dropped it in a flower-pot in the parlour. Young now laid an information before the Privy Council, and on May the 7th, the Bishop was arrested, and kept at a messenger's, under a strict guard, eleven days. His house was searched, and directions were given that the * Johnson'a " Lives of the Poets." f " Hist of Eng." Vol. II. p. 769. SUDDEN DEATH OF BISHOP SPRAT. 177 flower-pots should be inspected. The messenger, however, missed the room in which the paper was left: Blackhead went, therefore, a third time, and finding his paper where he had left it, brought it away. The Bishop having been enlarged, was, on June the 10th and 13th, examined again before the Privy Council, and confronted with his accusers. Young per- sisted, with the most obdurate impudence, against the strongest evidence ; but the resolution of Blackhead by degrees gave way. There remained, at last, no doubt of the Bishop's innocence, who, with great prudence and diligence, traced the progress, and detected the characters of the two informers, and published an account of his own examination and deliver- ance ; which made such an impression upon him, that he commemorated it through life by a yearly day of thanksgiving *." Young was tried in Fe- bruary, 1693, for subornation of perjury, and forgery in counterfeiting the hands of the several Noblemen whose names were attached to the Asso- ciation, and particularly the Bishop of Rochester's ; and being convicted, he was sentenced to stand three times in the pillory, and pay a fine of 1000/. After the failure of this infamous attack, the Bishop passed the re- mainder of his days in the quiet exercise of his function, and Avith little concern in political affairs. As he advanced in age he became infirm, and lived much in retirement ; yet, in the years 1709 and 1710, when the cause of Sacheverell, says Dr. Johnson, " put the public in commotion, he honestly appeared among the friends of the Church ;" and he was one of the six Bishops who voted in favour of Sacheverell, on his trial before the House of Peers. In September, 1711, he was appointed a Commissioner under the act for building fifty new Churches in and about London. He died at the Bishop's Palace, at Bromley, in Kent, on the 20th of May, 1713, in his seventy-seventh year. His death was sudden : he went to bed well on the preceding night, but, awaking about two o'clock in the morning, he called for some rosemary- water, and expired in a few minutes. He was buried in St. Nicholas Chapel, in this Church, where a monument was erected for him, which was afterwards removed into the south aisle. The inscription was written by the learned physician, Dr. John Freind ; and in elegant Latin gives an outline of his life, talents, and character. The literary acquirements of Bishop Sprat were very extensive ; and VOL. I. * Johnson's " Lives of the Poets." A A 178 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. he was alike distinguished for his wit and his eloquence. Besides the pieces above mentioned, and another poem on the death of Cowley, he was author of various works, each of which has been praised for " its distinct and characteristical excellence." His " History of the Royal Society," which was published in 1667, in small quarto, is " one of the few books," Dr. Johnson remarks, " which selection of sentiment, and elegance of diction, have been able to preserve, though written upon a subject flux and transitory." In the ensuing year, he published, " Observations on Mon- sieur Sorbiere's Voyage into England ;" and also the " Latin Poems" of his friend Cowley, to which he prefixed, in Latin, a " Life of the Author :" this he afterwards amplified, and placed before Cowley's " English Works," which had been, by will, committed to his care. In 1685 he published, ~~m folio, a history of the Rye-House Plot, under the title of " A true Account and Declaration of the horrid Conspiracy against the late King, his present Ma- jesty, and the present Government." This performance he deemed expe- dient to extenuate and excuse, after the Revolution, in two " Letters" to the Earl of Dorset ; in which, also, he explains and apologizes for his conduct in acting under the Ecclesiastical Commission. The " Relation of his own Examination," &c. when falsely accused in 1692 ; and ten " Sermons," in octavo, published in 1710, closes the list of his independent writings ; but there is little doubt of his having assisted his patron, the Duke of Bucking- ham, in composing the " Rehearsal," which was originally performed in 1671, and published in the following year. He likewise, in conjunction with Dr. Aldrich, Dean of Christ Church, assisted in revising the manu- script of Lord Clarendon's " History of the Civil Wars," when that work was first published by Henry, Earl of Rochester (Lord Clarendon's eldest son), in the reigns of King William and Queen Anne*. During the latter part of the time, almost thirty years, that Bishop Sprat governed the Deanery of V\ estminster, the Abbey Church underwent very considerable repairs under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren ; and some parliamentary aid was obtained to defray the expenses, in addition to the sums appropriated by the Chapter. This aid was derived from the duty on coals, a small portion of which was granted for the purpose by the * Vide " Epistolary Correspondence," &c. of Bishop Atterbury, Vol. I. p. 286. This very valuable work was edited by Mr. Nichols, and published in five volumes, octavo, between the years 1783 and 1 798. STATE OF THE ABBEY CHURCH IN 1713. 179 House of Commons, in 1697 ; on the motion of the Right Honourable Charles Montague, Esq., the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, and after- wards Earl of Halifax, who had been educated under Dr. Busby, in West- minster School. The reparations were then commenced, and they were proceeded on through a succession of years, with more or less celerity, as the funds became available *. The particular state of the Abbey Church at this period, as well as the extent to which the repairs were carried on during the government of Bishop Sprat, and the further reparations thought necessary by the architect, may be known from the following passages of a Letter addressed by Sir Christopher Wren to Bishop Atterbury, in the year 1713, shortly after the promotion of the latter to this Deanery -j*. After giving a general historical account of the Church, from the earliest times to the era of the Dissolution ; Sir Christopher proceeds thus : — " The Saracen mode of building, seen in the east, soon spread over Europe, and particularly in France; the fashions of which nation we affected to imitate in all ages, even when we were at enmity with it. Nothing was thought magnificent that was not high beyond measure, with the flutter of arch- buttresses (so we call the sloping arches that poize the higher vaultings of the nave) ; the Romans always concealed their hutments, whereas the Nor- mans thought them ornamental. These, I have observed, are the first things that occasion the ruin of Cathedrals, from being' so exposed to the air and weather; the coping, which cannot defend them, first failing; and if they give way, the vault must spread. Pinnacles are of no use, and as little orna- ment; the pride of a very high roof, raised above reasonable pitch, is not for duration, for the lead is apt to slip ; but we are tied to this form, and must be contented with original faults in the first design. But that which is most to be lamented, is the unhappy choice of the materials : the stone is decayed * In the Bodleian Library, in the collection of the late distinguished antiquary, Richard Gough, Esq., whose ' Sepulchral Monuments/ and enlarged edition of Camden's ' Britannia,' will ever testify liis extensive knowledge, and disinterested zeal in the illustration of our national antiquities, is a folio volume in manuscript, containing copies of all bills, &c. (attested by Sir Christopher's own hand), relating to the repairs of the Abbey Church, between the year ](iOS and 1"05. Some particular extracts from this curious volume will be inserted in the Appendix. f Sir Christopher's Letter has been printed in the " Parenlalia/' p. 2(J5 — 302, and is intituled ' An Historical and Architcctonical Account of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, in Westminster, and of the Repairs.' A A 2 180 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. four inches deep, and falls off perpetually, in great scales. I find, after the conquest, all our artists were fetched from Normandy ; they loved to work in their own Caen-stone, which is more beautiful than durable: this was found expensive to bring hither, so they thought Ryegate-stone, in Surrey, the nearest like their own, being a stone that would saw and work like wood ; but it is not durable, as is manifest : and they used this for the ashler of the whole fabric, which is now disfigured in the highest degree: this stone takes in water, which being frozen, scales off; whereas good stone gathers a crust, and defends itself, as many of our English free-stones do. And though we have also the best oak timber in the world, yet these senseless artificers would work (as in Westminster Hall, and other places), their own chesnuts from Normandy : that timber is not natural to Eng- land ; it works finely, but sooner decays than oak. The roof in the Abbey is oak, but mixed with chesnut, and wrought after a bad Norman manner, that does not secure it from stretching and damaging the walls: and the water of the gutters is ill carried off. All this is said the better, in the next place, to represent to your lordship Avhat hath been done, and what is want- ing still to be carried on, as time and money is allowed, to make a substan- tial and durable repair. " First, in the repair of the stone-work, what is done shews itself : be- ginning from the east window, we have cut out all the ragged ashlers, and invested it with a better stone out of Oxfordshire, down the river, from the quarries about Burford. We have amended and secured the buttresses in the cloyster garden, as to the greatest part, and we proceed to finish that side. The chapels on the south side we have done ; (and this, being at hand, is easier done than the upper part of the work) and most of the arch- buttresses all along as we have proceeded. We have not yet done much on the north side, for these reasons ; the houses on the north side are so close that there is not room left for raising of scaffolds and ladders, nor for passage for bringing materials : besides, the tenants taking every inch to the walls of the Church to be in their leases ; this ground, already too narrow, is divided as the backsides to the houses; with wash-houses, chimnies, privies, and cellars ; the vaults of which, if indiscreetly dug against the foot of a buttress, may inevitably ruin the vaults of the chapels, (and, indeed, I per- ceive such mischief is already done, by the opening of the vaults of the octagonal chapel on that side) ; and without means be taken to prevent all STATE OF THE ABBEY CHURCH IN 1713. 181 nuisances of this sort, the works cannot proceed ; and if finished, may soon be destroyed. — " And now, in further pursuance of your lordship's directions, I shall distinctly set down what remains to finish the necessary repairs for ages to come ; and, in the second place, (since the first intentions of the founders were never brought to a conclusion), I shall present my thoughts and designs, in order to a proper completing of what is left imperfect, hoping we may obtain for this the continuance of the parliamentary assistance. I have yet said nothing of King Henry the Vllth's Chapel, a nice embroidered work, and performed with tender Caen-stone ; and though lately built, in comparison, is so eaten up by our weather, that it begs for some compassion, which 1 hope the sovereign power will take, as it is the regal sepulture. " I begin, as I said, to set down what is necessary for completing the repairs ; though part thereof I can but guess at, because I cannot yet come to the north side, to make a full discovery of the defects there ; but I hope to find it rather better than the south side, for it is the vicissitudes of heat and cold, drought and moisture, that rot all materials, more than the ex- tremities that are constant, of any of these accidents : this is manifest in timber ; which, if always under-ground, and wet, never decays, otherwise Venice and Amsterdam would fall. It is the same in lead work; for the north side of a steep roof is usually much less decayed than the south, and the same is commonly seen in stone-work. Besides, the buttresses here are more substantial than those of the south side, which were indiscreetly altered for the sake of the cloyster ; and I find some emendations have been made about eighty years since, but not well. Upon the w hole matter, I may say, that of the necessary repairs of the outward stone-work, one-third part is already completed. The most dangerous part of the vaulting over the choir, now in hand, will be finished in a few months; but the roof over it cannot be opened till summer. The repairs of the stone-work, with all the chapels, arch-buttresses, windows, and mouldings of the north side, are yet to be done ; excepting part of the north cross-aisle. A great part of the expense will be in the north front; and the great rose-window there, which being very ruinous, was patched up for the present, to prevent further ruin some years since, before I was concerned, but must now be new done. — The timber of the roof of the nave and the cross is amended and secured with the lead ; and also the chapels ; but the whole roof and aisles, from the 182 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. tower westward, with lead and pipes to be new cast, remains yet, with all timber-work, to be mended ; as hath been done eastward from the tower already. The chapels on the north side must have their roofs amended, when we can see how to come at them, after the removal of one little house. " And now, having* given a summary account of what will perfect the repairs, let me add what I wish might be done to render those parts with a proper aspect, which were left abruptly imperfect by the last builders, when the monastery was dissolved by King- Henry VIII. — " It was plainly intended originally, to have had a steeple, the be- ginnings of which appear on the corners of the cross, but left off before it rose so high as the ridge of the roof ; and the vault of the choir under it is only lath and plaister, now rotten, and must be taken care of. Lest it should be doubted whether the four pillars below be able to bear a steeple, because they seem a little swayed inward, I have considered how they may be, unquestionably, secured, so as to support the greatest weight that need be laid upon them ; and this after a manner that will add to their shape and beauty. — " The pillars being once well secured from further distortion, it will be necessary to confirm all by adding more weight upon them ; that is, by building a tower according to the original intention of the architect. — In my opinion, the tower should be continued to, at least, as much in height above the roof as it is in breadth ; and if a spire be added to it, it will give a proper grace to the whole fabric, and the west end of the city, which seems to want it. I have made a design, which will not be very expensive, but light, and still in the Gothic form, and of a style with the rest of the structure, which I would strictly adhere to throughout the whole intention : to deviate from the old form would be to run into a disagreeable mixture, which no person of a good taste could relish. I have varied a little in giving" twelve sides to the spire instead of eight, for reasons to be discerned upon the model*. The angles of pyramids in the Gothic architecture, were usually enriched with the flower the botanists call Calceolus-\, which is a proper form to help * Sir Christopher's model is yet preserved in the Abbey Church, and will be described in the next volume. f This is the ' Ladies' Slipper,' or * Cypripedium Calceolus? of Linnaeus. Ray calls it ' Cal- ceolus Maria :' hence, probably, in ancient times, it was denominated, ' Our Ladie's Slipper." It is figured in Sowerby's " English Botany," plate I. STATE OF THE ABBEY CHURCH IN 1713. 183 workmen to ascend on the outside to amend any defects, without raising- large scaffolds upon every slight occasion : I have done the same, it being of so good use, as well as an agreeable ornament. " The next thing to be considered is, to finish what was left undone at the west front. It is evident that the two towers there were left imper- fect; the one much higher than the other, though still too low for bells, the sounds of which are stifled by the height of the roof above them : they ought certainly to be carried to an equal height, one story above the ridge of the roof, still continuing the Gothic manner in the stone-work, and tracery. Something must be done to strengthen the west Avindow, which is crazy; the pediment is only boarded, but ought undoubtedly to be of stone*. I have given such a design as I conceive may be suitable for this part: the Jeru- salem Chamber is built against it ; and the access from Tothill Street not very graceful. " The principal entrance is from King Street, and, I believe, will always continue so; but little can be done to make the north front mag- nificent, whilst it is so much incumbered with private tenements, which obscure and smoke the fabric, not without danger of firing it. The great north-window had been formerly in danger of ruin, but was upheld, and stopt up for the present with plaister : it will be most necessary to rebuild this with Portland stone, to answer the south rose-window, which was well rebuilt about forty years since. The stair-cases at the corners must be new ashlered, and pyramids set upon them conformable to the old style, to make the whole of a piece. I have therefore made a design, in order to restore it to its proper shape as first intended, but which was indiscreetly tampered with some years since, by patching on a little Doric passage before the great window, and cropping off the pyramids, and covering the stair-cases with very improper roofs of timber and lead, which can never agree with any other part of the design. " For all these new additions I have prepared perfect draughts and models, such as I conceive may agree with the original scheme of the old architect, without any modern mixtures to shew my own inventions ; in like manner as 1 have, among the parochial Churches of London, given some few examples (where I was obliged to deviate from a better style), which * In another part Sir Christopher says, " The great west window is too feeble, and the gable end of the roof over it is but weather boards painted." 184 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. appear not ungraceful, but ornamental, to the east part of the city; and it is to be hoped by the public care, the west part also, in good time, will be as well adorned; and surely by nothing more properly than a lofty spire, and western towers to Westminster Abbey." Dr. Francis Atterbury, the successor of Bishop Sprat in the Deanery of Westminster, was born on the 6th of March, 1662-3, at Milton, or Middleton-Keynes, near Newport-Pagnel, in Buckinghamshire; of which parish his father, Dr. Lewis Atterbury, was then rector*. He received his early education under the famous Dr. Busby, at Westminster School, where he had been admitted a King's scholar in 1676 ; and he was thence elected to Christ Church College, Oxford, in 1680. At both seminaries he was indefatigable in his studies ; and he very early displayed his knowledge of classical literature, and propriety of taste, by some elegant poetical trans- lations from Horace and Virgil ; and (in conjunction with Mr. Francis Hickman, B. A.), by a Latin version of Dryden's " Absalom and Aehitophel," which was first published in 1682. In 1684 he edited the " Av9oAoy per annum. * Vide " Literary Anecdotes," Vol. IV. p. 679 ; from which valuable work the principal materials for this memoir have been derived. f The controversy was commenced by Dr. Horsley, in " A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the district of St. Alban's," May the 22d, 1783, which produced Dr. Priestley's "Letters to Dr. Horsley in answer to his Animadversions on the ' History of the Corruptions of Christianity ;' with an additional evidence that the primitive Christian Church was Unitarian." Dr. Horsley replied in " Seventeen Letters from the Archdeacon of St Alban's, with an appendix, containing Short Strictures by an unknown hand ;" (now known to have been Dr. Townson) : Dr. Priestley rejoined in a second set of " Letters to the Archdeacon," &c. which was combated by " Remarks on Dr. Priestley's second Letters, with proofs of certain facts asserted by the Archdeacon." A third set of " Letters" was answered by Dr. Horsley in the notes and supplementary disquisitions which he attached to a collection of his " Tracts in Controversy with Dr. Priestley," which he printed in 1789, in octavo. Two editions of the latter work have since been published, the last of which appeared in 1812, and has an appendix by the Rev. Heneage Horsley (the Bishop's only son), a Prebendary of St. Asaph's. WRITINGS OF BISHOP HORSLEY. 215 The destructive excesses of the French Revolution, and the baleful spirit of irreligion' poured forth upon the world by that calamitous event, opened a new field for the exertion of Bishop Horsley's abilities. He became a determined and systematic enemy to every kind of conciliation with republican France, and was alike strenuous in opposing the extension of popular rights in his own country. His speeches in Parliament, always ardent, and powerfully impressive, from the forcible manner with which they were delivered, were, on some occasions, blended with a contemptuous sarcasm against the lower classes, that exposed him to deserved censure. The sentiment, perhaps, was less obnoxious in itself, than the way in which it was expressed was intemperate and galling ; and had the hurry of debate allowed time for reflection, his Lordship must have felt that it was his duty, both as a prelate and a senator, to convince by argument rather than to ex- asperate by insult. The consistency and decision of his conduct, however, were of considerable utility to Government ; and after the decease of Bishop Thomas, he was promoted, on ministerial patronage, to this Deanery, and to the See of Rochester : he was installed here on the 6th of December, 1793. His first " Charge" to the Clergy of St. David's, in 1790 ; his Speech in the House of Lords on the Catholic Bill, May the 31st, 1791 ; and his celebrated " Sermon," before the Peers in Westminster Abbey, on the 30th of January, 1793 (a few days only after the intelligence had arrived of the decapitation of the unfortunate Lewis the Sixteenth), are reputed to have been the more immediate causes which led to this advancement. In 1796, Bishop Horsley published a " Charge" delivered on his primary visitation at Rochester ; and in the same year, though without his name, a very valuable treatise " On the Properties of the Greek and Latin Languages." In 1799, appeared his " Critical Disquisitions on the XVIIIth Chapter of Isaiah ;" and in 1801, " Hosea, translated from the Hebrew; with Notes explanatory and critical." In the following year he was preferred to the Bishopric of St. Asaph ; and on his quitting the Deanery in the month of June, he was deservedly complimented by an address of gratitude from the " Precentor, Minor Canons, and Lay Clerks" of Westminster, for his ready attention to their different applications, and the various benefits which he had progressively bestowed upon them. In 1804, his Lordship republished his translation of Hosea, with large additions ; and in 1806, a tract on " Virgil's two Seasons of Honey." His labours were now verging 216 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. to a close ; and shortly after a fatiguing visitation of his Diocese, he made a journey to Brighton, where, on the 30th of September, he was seized with a complaint in the bowels, which brought on a mortification, and he died on the fourth day afterwards, October the 4th, 1806. His remains were con- veyed to London, and subsequently interred in St. Mary's Church, Newing- ton, in a vault which had been made for Sarah, his second wife, under the chancel. A monument, by the younger Bacon, has been since erected there to his memory ; with an inscription, in Latin, which had been written by himself : it principally records the virtues and sufferings of his lady, (who, after a lingering illness, had fallen a victim to the dropsy, in April, 1805), in elegant and affectionate language. For several years previously to the Bishop's decease, he had adopted a rigid plan of economy in order to liquidate some pecuniary burthens ; and had also insured his life to the amount of c£5000. But the latter advantage was lost to his family through his fatal illness, that prevented him from re- newing the policy, which expired two days before his death. The following particulars of his character have been given in a recent publication *. " Dr. Horsley was, throughout life, an indefatigable student ; he in- dulged no indolence in youth, and amidst an accumulation of prefer- ments, contemplated no time when he might rest from his labours. His mind was constantly intent on some literary pursuit or discovery, and setting a high value on the fame he had acquired, his ambition M as to justify the esteem of the public, and the liberality of his patrons. Knowing, likewise, how much his fame was indebted to his theological contest, he endeavoured, by laborious researches, to acquire that degree of accuracy which renders a controversialist invulnerable. It is evident that in the study of ecclesi- astical history, particularly that of the early ages, on which his controversy with Priestley hinged, his range was most extensive ; and it is no breach of charity to suppose, that he vexed as well as surprised his antagonist, by proving more intimate with the minutiae of antiquity, than him, who, from a wish to become the re-founder of a sect, had made the subject the study of his whole life. Dr. Horsley, on the contrary, appears to have pre- pared himself as the exigency of the times in which he lived demanded ; and whether the subject was theological or political, he quietly accumu- * " Gen. Biog. Diet.'* Vol. XVIII. p. 192. CHARACTER OF BISHOP HORSLEY. 21? lated a mass of knowledge, which his genius enabled him to illustrate with all the charms of novelty. While the ablest champion of orthodoxy which the Church had seen for many years, he was so much of an original thinker, and so independent of his predecessors and contemporaries, that his mode of defence was entirely his own ; and his style and authoritative manner, like Warburton's and Johnson's, (however dangerous to imitate), were yet, per- haps, the best that could be devised in the conflict of opinions with which he was surrounded. His writings possessed the most prominent features of his personal character, in which there was nothing lukewarm, nothing com- promising. He disdained liberality itself, if it prescribed courtesy to men whose arrogance in matters of faith led by easy steps to more violent mea- sures ; and who, while they affected only a calm and impartial inquiry into the doctrines of the Church, had nothing less in view than the destruction of her whole fabric. Such men might expect to encounter with a roughness of temper which was natural to him on more common occasions ; although, in the latter, qualified by much kindness of heart, benevolence, and charity. When he had once detected the ignorance of his opponents, and their mis- representation of the ancient records to which they appealed ; when he found they had no scruple to bend authorities to pre-conceived theory ; and that their only way of prolonging a contest was by repeating the same assertions without additional proofs, he frequently assumed that high tone of contempt and irony which would have been out of place with opponents who had no other object in view than the establishment of truth." Another contemporary writer (the indefatigable Mr. Nichols), has thus delineated his Lordship's character and talents : " His voice was deep, full- toned, and commanding; his enunciation distinct; and his delivery, in other respects, highly advantageous. His manner was rather dictatorial ; he was, notwithstanding, an argumentative speaker, equally clear and strong, and his positions were frequently illustrated by historical reference. His mind grasped all the learning of the ancient and modern world ; and his heart was as warm and generous towards all whom he had the ability to serve, as his head was capable of advocating their cause. His charity to the distressed was more than prudent ; he often wanted himself what he gave away ; but in money matters, none was more careless than the Bishop, and none so easily imposed upon. Though he was irascible, passionate, and easily moved to anger, yet he had much of the milk of human kindness VOL. I. F F 218 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. in his disposition. At table, and in the hours of relaxation from severe studies, he was a very pleasant and agreeable companion ; and he often bent both his mind and body to partake of the juvenile amusements of children, of whom he was particularly fond. As a senator, he was deservedly consi- dered in the first class. There were few important discussions in the House of Peers, in which his Lordship did not participate ; especially when the topics referred to the Hierarchical establishments of this country ; to that stupendous event, the French revolution ; or to the African slave-trade, of which he was a systematic opponent*." Many of Bishop Horsley's sermons and charges, besides those men- tioned above, were published in his life-time ; as well as other works, both mathematical and miscellaneous f . Since his decease, his " Sermons" have been printed in three volumes, octavo ; his " Speeches in Parliament," in * " Lit. Anecdotes," Vol. IV. p. 684, 685. f The principal of Bishop Horsley's mathematical publications were three volumes of Ele- mentary Geometry, which had been composed for the use of his son, when a student at Christ Church, Oxford ; and were printed at the Clarendon Press. They have the following titles, " Ele- mentary Treatises on the Fundamental Principles of Practical Mathematics," 1801 ; " Euclidis Elementorum Libri priores XII. ex Commandini et Gregorii versionibus Latinis," 1802; and Euclidis datorum Liber, cum additamento, necnon tractatus alii geometriam pertinentes," 1804. He also subjoined two papers to the first volume of his edition of Sir Isaac Newton's works, under the title of " Logistica Infinitorum," and " De Geometria Fluxionum." His curious Dissertation " On the Achronychal rising of the Pleiades," was appended to his friend Dr. Vincent's '• Voyage of Nearchus." His papers in the " Philosophical Transactions," are, " A Computation of the Distance of the Sun from the Earth," Vol. LVII. p. 179 ; " An Attempt to determine the Height of the Sun's Atmosphere from the Height of the Solar Spots above the Sun's Surface," Ibid. p. 398 ; " On the Computation of the Sun's Distance from the Earth by the Theory of Gravity," Vol. LIX. p. 153 ; " Observations on the Transit of Venus, and Eclipse of the Sun, June 3, 1769," Ibid. p. 183 ; " Difficulties in the Newtonian Theory of Light, considered and removed," Vol. LX. p. 417; Vol. LXI. p. 547 5 " Kootcivov EgahirQevovs, or, the Sieve of Eratosthenes, being an Account of his Method of finding all the Prime Numbers," Vol. LXII. p. 327 ; " M. De Luc's Rules for Measurement of Heights by the Barometer, compared with Theory, and reduced to English measure of length, and adapted to Fahrenheit's scale of the Thermometer ; with Tables and Precepts for expediting the Practical Application of them," Vol. LXIV. p. 214; " An Abridged State of the Weather at London, in the year 1774, collected from the Meteorological Journal of the Royal Society," Vol. LXV. p. 167 ; " Theorems concerning the greatest and least Areas of Po- lygons, inscribing and circumscribing the Circle," Vol. LXV. p. 301 ; " An Abridged State of the Weather at London for One Year, commencing with the month of March, 1775, collected from the Meteorological Journal of the Royal Society," Vol. LXVI. p. 354. EDUCATION OF DR. VINCENT. 219 one volume ; his " Charges," delivered at his several visitations of the Dio- ceses of St. David, Rochester, and St. Asaph, in one volume ; and his " Translation of the Book of Psalms," in two volumes, quarto. He was likewise the writer of several elaborate articles in the " British Critic." On the promotion of Bishop Horsley to St. Asaph, this Deanery was conferred on the learned Dr. William Vincent, who was then a Pre- bendary of the Abbey Church, and Head Master of Westminster School. This very worthy divine was born on the 20th of November, 1739, in Lime- Street Ward (of which his father was Deputy for twenty-seven years) in the City of London. His father was engaged in commercial pursuits, first, as a packer, and afterwards as a Portugal merchant; in which latter capacity he acquired some opulence, but was again impoverished by the failures oc- casioned by the great earthquake at Lisbon, in November, 1755. In that dreadful calamity he had also the affliction to lose his second son, Giles. Francis, his eldest son, continued the business of a packer after his parent's decease, and having the good fortune to prosper in it, he was enabled to assist his brother William in his expenses at College. " His school edu- cation, excepting a mere infantine initiation at Cavendish, in Suffolk," was received entirely at Westminster, whither he was sent at a very early age, and placed the last boy in the petty form. In his fourteenth year he was admitted on the foundation as a King's Scholar, and having passed through every gradation in the school, he was elected, in 1757, to Trinity College, Cambridge ; where, in 1761, he took his first degree in Arts, and obtained a fellowship. In the following year he returned to Westminster, and be- came an usher in the school, in which situation he continued till 1771, when on the resignation of the venerable Dr. Peirson Lloyd, he was appointed second master, in reward for the assiduity and steady conduct he had ob- served whilst in the more humble capacity of assistant. In the same year he was nominated one of the Chaplains in ordinary to his Majesty ; and in 1776 he took his degree of Doctor in Divinity. " The place of second master at Westminster school," says the Rev. Archdeacon Nares, in his memoir of Dr. V incent*, " is a situation of much labour and responsibility. Besides the daily business of the school, which, if not arduous, is at least fatiguing ; the person who holds that office has * Vide " Classical Journal," Vol. XIII. p. 222. F F 2 220 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. the entire care and superintendence of the scholars on the foundation, when out of school ; that is, of fort}' boys, rapidly growing up into men, and yearly drafted off, by elections of from eight to ten, to the two Universities. Yet, in this much occupied situation it was, that Dr. Vincent was prosecuting those studies which gradually established his reputation at home, as a scholar and a man of research ; and finally extended his celebrity over the whole continent of Europe." His principal objects of enquiry were theology, classical learning, and history in all its branches. Historical research was his peculiar delight ; and " geography, navigation, commerce, and even the military art of dif- ferent ages, as illustrating the history of men, and connecting the memorials of remote periods," were his favoured subjects of investigation. All his leisure hours (excepting by candle-light, when a weakness of the eyes com- pelled him to forbear), were devoted to study. Hence his extensive and varied attainments : but his general knowledge, his proficiency in foreign languages, and his intimate acquaintance with the Greek tongue, were almost altogether subservient to his passion for investigating the geogra- phical and historical antiquities of the East; and to this taste we owe those works on ancient commerce and navigation, on which his literary reputation is principally founded. In the year 1778, Dr. Vincent was presented, by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, with the vicarage of Longdon, in Worcestershire : this was his first clerical preferment, and he resigned it about six months afterwards on being collated, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, to the rectory of All- hallows, the Great and Less, in Upper Thames Street. In 1784, he was appointed Sub-Almoner to the King. The above were all the promotions he obtained during the seventeen years that he continued under master of Westminster School ; but at length, on the retirement of Dr. Smith, in 1788, he was nominated to the head mastership ; a situation to which his learning, assiduity, and comprehensive acquirements had given him peculiar claims. This appointment gave general satisfaction to the friends of the school ; although the full extent and force of his talents were as yet but inadequately developed. In the year 1792, Dr. Vincent preached a sermon at St. Margarets Church, Westminster, for the benefit of the Grey-coat Charity School. At that period, the alarm which had been created on the spreading of French WRITINGS OF DR. VINCENT. 221 revolutionary principles, was very great, and his discourse had an imme- diate reference to the aspect of public affairs. It was afterwards printed ; and " being remarkable for the clear and powerful statement of principles favourable to social order, and for explaining the necessity of the gradations of rich and poor, was welcomed on its publication by all the zealous friends of the British constitution*." In the following year it was printed by the author's permission, in the second number of the Crown and Anchor " Asso- ciation Papers," and twenty thousand copies were thus circulated. Pre- viously to this, his only publications had been an anonymous " Letter," addressed, in 1780, to Dr. Watson, (afterwards Bishop of Llandaff), on the subject of theoretical systems of Government; a small tract intituled, " Con- siderations on Parochial Music," printed in 1787; and a "Sermon," preached in 1789 before the Sons of the Clergy. In the year 1793, he became first distinguished in the learned world, " as a diligent investigator of historical facts, and an acute, though modest verbal critic ;" by a quarto pamphlet in Latin, on an almost desperate pas- sage in Livy. It was intituled, " De Legione Manliana, Qusestio ex Livio desumpta, et Rei militaris Romanae studiosis proposita ;" and his emendations were so happily conceived, as to obtain the general approval of the illus- trious Heyne, on the continent, and the no less acute Porson, at home f ." His next publications were two tracts, which appeared in succession, in the years 1794 and 1795, and proved the depth of his research into the phi- losophy of grammar : the first had the title of " The Origination of the * " ClassicalJournal,'' Vol. XIV. p. 190. f Ibid. p. 193. " It may appear extraordinary," says Mr. Nares, " to those who know Dr. Vincent only by reputation, that his curiosity should have been so deeply interested by a question which is, at least, as much military as critical : but his was the school of Markham. That able man, the son of an officer, and no less formed by natural talents to direct the movements of an army, than to govern a great school, or preside in the Church, was peculiarly versed in the mili- tary science and tactics of the ancients. All the famous movements and exploits of the great ge- nerals of antiquity, and indeed, of late times, also, were familiar to him ; and the former were the frequent subjects of his animated lectures to the upper classes at Westminster; by which means the battles of Homer, and the wars of Alexander and Csesar, were as well known to his best pupils, as any of the most public transactions of their own time. Dr. Vincent must have heard many of those instructions, and whether it was at all original in him, or derived entirely from his master, he never lost this bias 5 and we find him, in his latest works, as attentive to the particulars of every military transaction, as he could have been when he laboured to remove the difficulties which had obscured the stratagem of Manlius." Ibid. 222 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. Greek Verb, an Hypothesis ;" and the last, of " The Greek Verb Analysed, an Hypothesis, in which the source and structure of the Greek Language in general is considered." The leading idea which these essays were in- tended to illustrate, is, that the various inflections of verbs in the Greek, (and subsequently in other languages), were derived from some simple and very short original verb, signifying to do, or to exist; which being afterwards subjoined to radicals, denoting various actions or modes of being, formed their tenses, modes, and other variations*. In the year 1797, Dr. Vincent first published his elaborate and cele- brated Commentary on " The Voyage of Nearchus," from the Indus to the Euphrates ; which had been undertaken by the command of Alexander the Great, and is related by Arrian of Nicodemia, (the Greek compiler of the his- tory of Alexander) in his Indica, or general account of India. The authenticity of the narration had indeed been questioned by several learned men ; but our industrious commentator " has so victoriously defended it in the concluding section of his Preliminary Disquisitions, that Schmeider, the latest editor of Arrian, has translated the whole of his arguments into Latin, and subjoined them to the objections of Dodwell, as a complete and satisfactory refutation." Whilst preparing this work, the researches of Dr. Vincent extended to every possible source of information, ancient and modern, not excepting the oral intelligence of individuals, who had recently visited the coasts of India and Persia; his object being to illustrate every subject connected with Arrian's account of Nearchus, whether historical, geographical, or commercial. His labours in the astronomical part were aided by his friends, Dr. Horsley, and Mr. Wales; and the vast geographical collections, and other documents, of the late Mr. Dalrymple, who was then hydrographer to the Admiralty, were unreservedly submitted to his use. This work, though too recondite to be generally acceptable, greatly increased his reputation ; and his celebrity was yet farther extended by " The Peryplus of the Erythraean Sea," which he published in two parts, in the years 1800, and 1805 ; and which, with its annexed dissertations, &c. completed his design of making us acquainted with oriental commerce, and oriental geography, as they existed among the ancients. All three volumes are accompanied with maps, and other illus- * A similar theory had, about the same time, been promulgated in the " Encyclopaedia Bri- tannica," by a northern grammarian, which gave rise to an unfounded charge of plagiarism against Dr. Vincent. The idea appears to have been alike original in both writers. DR. VINCENT'S PROMOTION TO THE DEANERY. 22S trations, from original materials, which greatly tend to the elucidation of the text. In one or two instances, also, to supply the want of direct au- thorities, he has illustrated his remarks by charts, made out by himself, on the basis of his own reasonings and proofs. Both parts of the Peryplus were, by express permission, dedicated to his Majesty. Notwithstanding the eminent services which Dr. Vincent had rendered to Westminster School during the extended period of forty years that he had spent in fulfilling its laborious and important duties, it was not till the year 1801 that he obtained any dignified appointment in the Abbey Church. He was then advanced to a prebendal stall on the recommendation of Mr. Pitt, who, on his own retirement from office, had stipulated for the granting of this preferment. Shortly afterwards, the talents of Dr. Vincent were most successfully exerted in " A Defence of Public Education *," which he hastily wrote to controvert the opinions of Dr. Rennell, Master of the Temple, and Dr. LeAvis O'Beirne, Bishop of Meath ; both of whom had publicly averred that the systems of education pursued in our public schools were detrimental to the interests of religion. In this judicious and well-timed pamphlet, the stated exercises of prayer, and sacred instruction in use at Westminster, were specifically detailed ; and full proof given that the positions of the above two eminent divines had been hazarded without a proper knowledge of facts. Independently of the approbation of the most eminent characters, Dr. Vincent was indebted to his " Defence" for his promotion to this Deanery, on the translation of Bishop Horsley to St. Asaph. He first received notice of his appointment whilst on a summer excursion for the benefit of his health, which had been greatly injured through his constant exertion and want of exercise. Mr. Addington, the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer (now Lord Sidmouth), announced to him by letter, that his Ma- jesty had been pleased to nominate him to the Deanery of Westminster, "as a public reward for public services." This unexpected intelligence was particularly gratifying, as it removed him from none of his connections, and suffered him to pass the evening of his days in the society to which he had been so long accustomed. He was installed here on the 7th of August, * This little work passed through three editions in a period surprisingly short. It was, in fact, the only publication from which Dr. Vincent ever derived pecuniary profit ; and that profit, as the first fruits of his authorship, he good-humourcdly presented to Mrs. Vincent. " Class. Journ." Vol. XIV. p. 202. 224 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 1802 : but on this occasion the See of Rochester was bestowed on Dr. Thomas Dampier, and thus, for the first time in nearly one hundred and forty years, separated from Westminster ; a circumstance at which his Ma- jesty was pleased, at a subsequent period, to express his regret*. The promotion of Dr. Vincent to the Deanery, vacated, of course, the inferior situations of prebendary, and master of the school ; and the ease and relaxation which he in consequence obtained, had a material effect on the improvement of his health. Towards the end of 1803, he became rector of St. John's, Westminster, and was succeeded in the living of All- hallows by his eldest son. Two years afterwards he exchanged St. John's for Islip, in Oxfordshire (both those rectories being in the gift of the Dean and Chapter), where, during the remainder of his life, he regularly passed the summer months. The rectory-house at Islip, which is a substantial stone mansion, was rebuilt by the famous Dr. South, but not being- adapted to modern ideas of domestic convenience, Dr. Vincent expended upwards of 2000/. (eight hundred of which had been allowed for dilapidations), in making the necessary alterations to render it a comfortable residence. The leisure hours of the Dean were almost exclusively directed to the further investigation of oriental commerce, and in 1807 he published an en- larged and much improved edition of his three former works, under the general title of " The Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients in the Indian Ocean," in two handsome volumes, quarto. Three years afterwards he added a supplementary volume for the purpose of annexing to his work the Greek text of Arrian's Indica, with a translation of the account of Near- chus, and a translation of the Periplus. In the spring of 1815, Dr. Vincent began to feel symptoms of an internal decay, and he gradually became more infirm as the year advanced, till at * Some time after Dr. Vincent's promotion to the Deanery of Westminster, he made his tem- porary summer excursion for a few weeks to the neighbourhood of Windsor Forest. One day, whilst walking on the Terrace, his Majesty entered into conversation with him, and took notice of the late separation of the See and Deanery, adding, " that it had been done much to his own regret." The Dean expressed his gratitude for his Majesty's favour already conferred, and a per- fect contentment therewith. The King replied, " If you are satisfied, Mr. Dean, I am not. They ought not to have been separated ; — they ought not to have been separated." Yet, when Bishop Dampier was afterwards removed to Ely, the prime minister nominated Dr. Walker King, Pre- bendary of Westminster, to succeed Dr. Dampier at Rochester. CHARACTER OF DR. VINCENT. 225 length, on the 21st of December, his life finally closed. He was buried in Saint Benedict's Chapel, in the Abbey Church, where a monument has been erected to his memory. The disposition of this erudite divine was benignant and affable; no man, as his biographer has justly remarked, " could be better qualified to enjoy and to promote domestic happiness. Easy of access, friendly, social, without any of the reserve of the student, or any of the pride of wisdom, real or assumed, he was always ready to take an active part in the innocent gratifications of society. With the learned, equally ready to inquire and to communicate, but never ostentatious of knowledge ; with the ignorant, and even weak, so very indulgent, that they hardly suspected their inferiority ; certainly were never made to feel it painfully. Never ashamed to ask for information when he wanted it ; and most frankly ready to confess ignorance, if consulted upon any subject to which his mind had not been particularly applied. Never, perhaps, was ' I know nothing of it,' so often said by one who knew so much. His entire contempt for every species of affectation produced these sometimes too sweeping declarations, in which he was hardly just to himself*." His person was above the common size, and he had a majestic and dignified aspect ; though blended, in his latter years, with a certain heaviness of look, which arose from the intensity of his studies, and weakness of his sight. He had a clear, sonorous voice, and a fluent, yet correct delivery ; advantages which rendered his precepts doubly im- pressive, whether delivered in the school, or in the pulpit. Several sermons and tracts, besides those mentioned above, were pub- lished, at different times, by Dr. Vincent ; and, since his decease, a volume of his " Sermons" has been printed by his eldest son, the Rev. William St. Andrew Vincent. He also furnished his friend, Mr. Nares, with many valuable articles for the British Critic ; in which review he took a decided part against the learned Jacob Bryant, Esq. in the famous controversy on the site of Troy and the Trojan war : he likew ise contributed various Papers to the Classical Journal and the Gentleman's Magazine. * " Classical Journ." Vol. XIII. p. 224- + A list of these papers, and of all his critiques in the Review, may be seen in the Classical Journal, Vol. XIV., p. 210 — 214. Cumberland, the dramatist, has inserted the following eulo- giumon the Dean, in his " Memoirs" of his own life. " Vincent, whom I love as a friend, and honour as a scholar, has, at length, found that station in the Deanery of Westminster, which, VOL. I. G G 226 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. During the time that Dr. Vincent presided over this Church, all its glories had nearly been levelled with the dust, in consequence of an acci- dental fire, which broke out in the roof of the lantern, on the 9th of July, 1803, whilst the plumbers, who had been repairing the lead flat, were absent at dinner-hour. The immense volumes of flame and smoke which ascended from this venerable pile, had a most awful and threatening appearance ; par- ticularly when it was recollected that the fire was raging over the junction of the four long timber roofs which extend along the opposite divisions of the edifice. The ready assistance, however, that was obtained, and the ju- dicious measures resorted to, soon arrested the progress of the conflagration, and the damage was principally confined to the spot where the fire began. The necessary repairs and restorations were almost immediately commenced, and till they were sufficiently completed to admit a return to the choir, Di- vine Service was performed in Henry the Seventh's Chapel. The whole expense was defrayed by the Dean and Chapter ; and amounted to about i,'3500. Great credit is due to Dr. Vincent for the assiduous attention which he displayed in forwarding the work ; and to him, likewise, must the honour be ascribed, of first earnestly recommending the noble restoration of the above Chapel, which is now carrying on under the direction of a Committee appointed by the House of Commons. Dr. John Ireland, the present Dean of .Westminster, was born at Ashburton, in the county of Devon, on the 8th of September, 1761. He received his early education at the Free Grammar School in that place, and was thence removed, in 1780, to Oriel College, Oxford. In 1793 he be- came Vicar of Croydon, in Surrey. In August, 1802, he was promoted to a whilst it relieves him from the drudgery of the school-master, keeps him still attached to the inte- rests of the school, and eminently concerned in the superintendence and protection of it. As boy and man he made his passage from the very last boy to the very captain of the school ; and again from the junior usher, through every gradation, to that of second, and ultimately of senior master ; thus, with the interval of four years only, devoted to his degree at Cambridge, Westminster has, indeed, kept possession of his person, but has let the world partake with her in the profit of his re- searches. Without deserting the laborious post, to which his duty fettered him, his excursive ge- nius led him over seas and countries far remote, to follow and develope tracts, redeem authorities, and dig up evidences long buried in the grave of ages. This is the more to his honour, as his hours of study were never taken but from his hours of relaxation, and he stole no moment from the instruction of the boys to enrich the understanding of the man." WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 227 prebendal stall in this Church ; and on the decease of Dr. Vincent was ad- vanced to the Deanery, in which he was installed on the 9th of February, 1816. The principal of his printed works is a volume intituled, " Paganism and Christianity compared, in a Course of Lectures to the King's Scholars at Westminster," octavo, 1809. % ©hronologual ©able of t&e dmess of the Erection of tfie principal ^artjs of WLt%tmi\\$ttK ®Mt$* PARTICULAR BUILDINGS. PERIODS. IN WHOSE REIGN. Abbey Church founded, and Monas- \ tery built J The eastern part of the Church, inO eluding the Choir and Transept, > rebuilt J Eastern parts of the Nave and Aisles, \ rebuilt J Great Cloisters, Abbot's house, and "> principal monastic buildings erected J Western part of the Nave and Aisles, "> rebuilt J West front and great Window built Great west Window rebuilt, and \ western Towers completed j Between 1050 and 1065 1269, 1307 1340, 1483 1715, 1735 ^Commenced in July,"| < 1809, and now carry- f L ing on J King Sebert. Edward the Confessor. Henry HI. Henry III. and Edward I. / Edward II. Edward HI. 1 Richard II. ("Edward III. Richard II. \ Henry IV. V. and VI. lEdward IV. Richard III. Henry VII. Henry VII. and VIII. George I. and II. George III. The Prince Regent.. & Chronological ZMe of \\)t &bbota, ^riota, SStjsfcop, ano ISeanjs of a&esstmlnjster, from tf)e pttsumeti iFounUatiort f tj)e &Weg CC&urcf) m 604, to t|>e Year 1818: WITH A LIST OF CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS. ABBOTS, PRIORS, &c. ABBOT. Orthbright PRIORS*. Germanus , Aldred Syward . Osmund Selred Orgar. . Brithstan * This list of Priors is of doubtful authenticity. ABBOTS. Ordbright, or Alubrith. Alfwius Alfwius II, Algar , Eadmerus. Alfnod... Alfric, or Alfwold. VVlsius, or Wulsinus. Alfwy, or Aldsius. Wulnoth When Appointed or Elected 004 675 684 726 744 765 796 820 846 940 , about 960 1017 Died or Removed. Died Jan. 13, 616 675 684 705 744 765 785 {Made Bishop of \ Seolsey 794 Made Bishop of Fountain's 820 Died April 837 Died. 889 Died 922 Died 939 {Made Bishop of 1 Crediton 944 ] , Made Bishop of - V Sherborne, between ) ^966 and 970, but> ) retained his abbacy A and died Jan. 1004' Died April 1017 Died.. .. Oct. 19, 1049 Where Buried. Westminster Westminster Westminster Westminster Westminster Westminster Westminster SOVEREIGNS. Westminster . . . Seolsey , Fountain's , Westminster , Westminster , Westminster , Westminster , , . Crediton Sherborne , Westminster , Westminster Kings of Essex. Sebert. f"Saxred, Seward, and < Sigebert. Sigebert the Little. f Sigebert the Good. 1 Swithelm. Sebba, Siger. Sebba, and Siger. Sebba. Sighard. Offa Offa. Seolred. Swithred. Kings of Mercia. Offa. Offa. fOffa. Egfrid. Ce- < nulph. Cenelro. £Ceoluph. Bernulph. ("Ludican. Witglaph. J Kings of England. I Egbert. ( Ethelwulph. Ethel- \ bald. Ethelbert ( Ethelred. Alfred. Edward the Elder. Athelstan. J Athelstan. I Edmund I; ("Edgar. <> Edward II. (.Ethelred. ( Edmund II. I Canute, r Edmund II. \ Canute. Harold I. J Hardicanute. ^Edward the Confessor. 8 ©frtonological %ahu. ABBOTS, PRIORS, &c. Edwyn. Goiffridus or Geoffry Vitalis Gislebertas Crispinus, or Gilbert Crispin Herebert, or Herbert .. Gervaise de Blois Laurentius, or Lawrence Walter , When Appointed or Elected William Postard Ralph Papylion, or de Arundel .. . William de Huraez, or de Humeto , Richard de Berkynge , Richard de Crokesley Philip de Lewesham Richard de Ware, or Warren Walter de Wenlock Richard de Kedyngton, or de Sudbury William de Curtlyngton, Carthington or Curlington Thomas Henley ... . Simon de Kyrcheston Simon Langhara (afterwards Cardinal) Nicholas Litlington William de Colchester Richard Harweden Edmund Kyrton George Norwych Thomas Millyng John Estency George Fascet John Islip William Boston, or Benson (after- wards Dean ; BISHOP. Thomas Thirleby . .1049 , 1068 , 1076 . 1082 ,1121 .1140 1159 1175 / Chosen Oct. 9, 1191,") \ or June 23, 1192/ Chosen Nov. 30, 1200.. Died or Removed. Died .. ..June 12, 1068 Deposed 1072 Died ....June 19, 1082 Died ....Dec. 6, 1114 Died .... Sept. 3, 1140 Deposed Aug. 26, 1159 Died ..April II, 1175 /Died Sept. 27, 1190 1 or 1191 Died ....May 4, 1200 Where Buried. , Westminster 1214 /Consecrated Sept"! \ 18, 1222J Dec. 1246 July 24, 1258 Dec. 1258 J Chosen by com pro ) I mission, Jan. 1 , 1 284 / " if ;ompro- "J >ril 24, } 1315 J ("Chosen by compro- < mission, Jan. 26. L 1308' Chosen by compro- mission, Apr: . .. Sept. 1333 Nov. 10, 1344 . .. May, 1349 , .. April, 136 Dec. 10, 1586 1420 f Between May and \ Aug. 1440 1462 1469 1474 ..July 9, 1498 Oct. 27, 1500 1533 Dec. 17, 1510 Deposed 1214 Died 12 Kal. May, 1222 Died .... Nov. 23, 1246 Died July 18, 1258 Died Oct. 1 258 Died .... Dec. 2, 1283 Died Dec. 24, 1307 Died ....April 9, 1315 Died ..Sept. 11, 1333 Died .. ..Oct. 29, 1344 Died .... May 15, 1349 ( Made Bishop of Ely ") March 20, 1362, > (Died July '^2. 1376 j Died Nov. 29. 138G Died Oct. 1420 Resigned April 2, 1440 5 Resigned Oct. 23, 1462. Died 1466 Died 1469 I Made Bishop of ^Hereford in 1474, (Died 1492 Died May 24, 1498 Died.. Michaelmas 150(1 Died May 12, 1532 /Abbey surrendered \jan. 16, 1539-40 "Surrendered his Bi-" )■-'... i nil March 1550. Died 22, 1570 is Bi- - ) l> 29V Aug.f Normandy .... Westminster .... Westminster .... Westminster ..Westminster .... Westminster .... Westminster .... Westminster 'Westminster. He"' was the first Ab- bot who was bu- ried within the Abbey Church, . all his predeces- sors having been interred in the fc Cloisters. j Westminster Westminster Westminster . Westminster . Westminster , Westminster . Westminster , Westminster , Westminster SOVEREIGNS. C Edward the Confessor. { Harold IL I William I. William I. William I. S William I. and II. I Henry I. f Henry I. ^Stephen. 5 Stephen. \ Henry n. Henry II. /Henry II. \ Richard I. Richard I. John. John. • . . Avignon . Westminster , Westminster , Westminster , Westminster , Westminster , Westminster , Westminster , (See Deans) Larabetl John. Henry III. Henry III. Henry III. Henry III. Henry III. Edward I. Edward I. and II. Edward II. Edward II. and III. Edward III. I'dward III. Edward III. Edward III. Richard II. 5 Richard II. Henry IV. and V. Henry V. and VI. Henry VI. Edward IV. Edward IV. Edward IV. / Edward IV. and V. \ Rich. III. Hen. VII. Henry VII. Henry VII. and VIII. Henry VIII. Henry VIII. Edw. VI. & ©Jjtonologtcal Cable. ABBOTS, DEANS, &c. DEANS. William Benson Richard Cox or Coxe Hugh Weston ABBOT. John Feckenham DEANS. Dr. William Bill Dr. Gabriel Goodman . Dr. Lancelot Andrews. Dr. Richard Neile *. Dr. George Montaigne, or Mountain Dr. Robert Tounson Dr. John Williams (Lord Keeper) . . Dr. Richard Steward Dr. John Earles Dr. John Dolben* Dr. Thomas Sprat *. . . Dr. Francis Atterbury ' Dr. Samuel Bradford *. Dr. Joseph Wilcocks*. Dr. Zachary Pearce * . Dr. John Thomas * . . . Dr. Samuel Horsley * Dr. William Vincent , Dr. John Ireland . . . When AppointedorElected Died or Removed. Dec. 17, 1540 Died Sept. 1549 Installed Oct. 22, 1549 Installed Sept. 18, 1553 Installed Nov. 21, 1556 . May 21, 1560 , Sept. 23, 1560 Installed July 4, 1601 Installed Nov. 5, 1605 Installed Dec. 10, 1610 Installed Dec. 16, 1617 {Installed June 10 or") 12, 1620 J Dec. 1644 June 1660 Installed Dec. 5, 1662 Installed Installed Installed Installed Installed Installed Installed Installed Installed Dec. 21, June 16, June 7, July 2, May 4, July 19, Dec. 6, Aug. 7, Feb. 9, 1683 1713 5 Deprived 1553. } I Died July 22, 1581 J C Removed to Wind- < sorl556. Died Dec. (.1558 1 r Church of theSa- - ! > < voy Hospital, > J (. London. J 5 Deposed July 12,7 I 1559. Died 1585 J Died ....July 15, 1561 Died June 17, 1601 C Made Bishop of ") / Chichester 1605, > (.Died Sep. 21, 1626 J C Translated from Ro- 1 J Chester to Lichfield C 1610. Died Oct. 31, f (l640 ) f Made Bishop of Lin- J J coin Oct. 1617. > I Died Nov. 1628 > f Made Bishop of Sa- ) \ lisbury, 1620. Died > ^ May, 1621 ) 3 Resigned, Dec. 1 644 1 I Died March25,16. r i0 J Died Nov. 14, 1651 r Made Bishop of < Worcester, 1662. (.Died Nov. 17,1665 f Translated from Ro- J Chester to York J1683. Died April til, 1686 j i } Died May 20, 1713 f Banished 1723.Died ) \Feb. 15, 1731-32 J 1723 Died May 17, 1731 1731 Died March 9, 1756 ("Resigned June 24, 1756 ^ 1768. Died June (.20, 1774 1768 Died Aug. 22, 1793 C Translated to 1793 } Asaph. Died Oct (.1806 18021 Died ....Dec. 21, 1815 1816 St.") t-4, \ Where Buried. . . Westminster Ely Cathedral 'Church of the Sa-" voy Hospital, Henry VIII. Edw. VI. Edward VI. Q. Mary. Q. Mary. Wisbech . Westminster , Westminster St. Saviour's, South wark. York Cathedral . Cawood, Yorkshire . Westminster \ Llandegay church 1 I Caernarvonshire. / Paris, (St. Germain's) , Oxford (Mert. Col.) York Cathedral . Westminster . Westminster . Westminster . Westminster Bromley, Kent Bletchingley, Surrey . . Newington, Surrey Westminster SOVEREIGNS. Q. Mary. Q. Elizabeth. Q. Elizabeth. Q. Elizabeth. Q. Eliz. James I. James I. James I. James I. James I. Charles] I. Charles I. O. Cromwell. Charles II. Charles II. C Charles and James II. I William III. Q. Anne. Q. Anne. K. George I. George I. and II. George II. George II. and III. George III. George III. George III. P. Regent. George III. P. Regent. The Abbots from the time of Richard de Berkynge had the privilege of sitting in the House of Peers. * All the Deans in the above Table, whose names are followed by asterisks, have been permitted to hold the Deanery of West- minster, in commendam, with the Bishopric of Rochester. PREFERMENTS OF DEAN ANDREWS. 119 Dean Andrews was held in great esteem by James the First, who not only gave him the preference to all other divines as a preacher; but likewise made choice of him to vindicate his sovereignty against the attacks of Car- dinal Bellarmin, who had replied to his " Defence of the Rights of Kings," under the name of Matthew Tortus, and in that character assailed him with much vehemence. The King requested Andrews to answer the Cardinal, which he did with great spirit and judgment, in a work intituled " Tortura Torti; sive, ad Matthaei Torti librum responsio, qui nuper editus contra Apologium serenissimi potentissimique Principis Jacobi," &c. which was printed in quarto, in 1609, and is characterized, by the learned Casaubon, as being written with great accuracy and research. In November, 1605, the Dean was consecrated Bishop of Chichester, and at the same time made the King's almoner, in which place he acted with singular fidelity and disinterestedness. In 1609, he was promoted to the See of Ely, and appointed a privy-counsellor, and whilst in that capacity he attended the King in his journey to Scotland*. Afterwards, in 1618, he was advanced to the Bishopric of Winchester, and Deanery of the King's Chapel ; which two last preferments he held till his decease, on the 24th of September, 1626. He died at Winchester House, Southwark, in the seventy-first year of his age, and was buried in the neighbouring parish church of St. Saviour. * King James being particularly pleased with the facetious turn which Bishop Andrews dis- played in conversation, frequently admitted him into his company, and discoursed with him on very familiar terms ; an instance of which is here given from the life of the poet, Waller. On the day when the King dissolved his last parliament, Mr. Waller (who had been elected a burgess for Agmondesham, in Buckinghamshire,) went to see his Majesty at dinner, behind whose chair Bishop Andrews, and Neile, Bishop of Durham, were both standing. In the conversation that ensued, the King asked the Bishop, " My Lord, cannot I take my subjects' money without all this formality in parliament?" The Bishop of Durham readily answered, " God forbid, Sir, but you should ; you are the breath of our nostrils :" whereupon the King turned and said to the Bishop of Winchester, " Well, my Lord, what say you?" " Sir," replied Andrews, " I have no skill to judge of parliamentary cases." The King answered, " No put-offs, my Lord ; answer mc presently." " Then, Sir,'' said he, " I think it lawful for you to take my brother Neile's money, for he offers it." Mr. Waller said the company were pleased with this reply ; and the wit of it seemed to affect the King ; for a certain Lord coming in soon after, his Majesty exclaimed, " O, my Lord, they say you iig with my lady!'' " No, Sir," says his Lordship, in confusion, " but I like her company, because she has so much wit." " Why, then," says the King, " do you not lig with my Lord of Winchester there?'' 120 WESTMINSTER ABBEY. The charities of Bishop Andrews were very numerous ; and his libe- rality to men of genius and learning has been spoken of in terms of the strongest praise. The high opinion which was entertained of his talents may be estimated from the following remark of Lord Clarendon, who, in his " History of the Civil Wars," speaking of the decease of Dr. Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, says, " if he had been succeeded by Bishop Andrews, or any man who understood and loved the Church, that infection would easily have been kept out, which could not afterwards be so easily expelled." Even the great Milton thought him worthy of his pen, and composed a Latin elegy on his death. In the eulogium on this prelate, written by Hacket, and which he af- fectedly calls " but an ivy-leaf, crept into the laurel of his immortal garland," is this passage. " This is that Andrews, the ointment of whose name is ' sweeter than all spices.' This is that celebrated Bishop of Winton, whose learning King James admired above all his Chaplains; and that King being of most excellent parts himself, could the better discover what was eminent in another. Indeed he was the most apostolical and primitive-like divine, in my opinion, that wore a rochet in his age ; of a most venerable gravity, and yet most sweet in all commerce ; the most devout that ever I saw when he appeared before God ; of such a growth in all kinds of learning, that very able clerks were of a low stature to him ; Colossus inter icunculas : full of alms and charity ; of which none knew but his Father in secret. A cer- tain patron to scholars of fame and ability, and chiefly to those that never expected it. In the pulpit, an Homer among preachers, and may fitly be set forth in Quintilian's judgment of Homer : Nonne humani ingenii modum excessit? Ut magni sit viri virtutes ejus non cemulatione (quod fieri non potest) sed intellectu sequi *." Though the acquirements of this prelate were so very extensive that the whole Christian world admired his profound learning, and particularly his knowledge of the Eastern languages, as well as of Greek and Latin, and many modern tongues, yet he was so far from being elated with his attain- ments, that he often complained of his defects ; and when he was preferred to the Bishopric of Chichester, his modesty was so remarkable that he caused the words of St. Paul, Et ad hoec quis idoneus t — ' and who is suf- ficient for these things' — to be engraven about his episcopal seal -\. * " Serin. Res." p. 45. f '< Gen. Biog. Diet." Vol. II. p. 223. edit. 1812. INDEX. A. ABBEY CHURCH, Westminster. See West- minster Abbey. Aber- Conway , or Conway, 132 ; 162 — 163. Abjuration, Act of, signed by King William on his death-bed, 191, note. Abbots of Westminster, privileged to sit in Par- liament, 36 — and to say mass in episcopal vest- ments, 49 — obliged to travel to Rome for con- firmation, 57. Abbot's House, Westminster, built, 80 — made a bishop's palace, 105 — given to Lord Went- worth, 106 — restored to Abbot Feckenham, 113. Abbot,George, Archbishop of Canterbury, thought to favour the Puritans, 126— suspended from his archiepiscopal functions, 127 — guilty of accidental homicide, 140 — assoiled by James I., ib. Adams, — — Esq., 207. Adrian, Pope, an Englishman, 35. Addison, Joseph, Esq., 199 — 202. Ailred, Abbot of Rievaux, 17 — his history of Ed- ward the Confessor, 36. Aldenham, given to the Abbey, 11. Aldred, Prior, 12. • Bishop of Worcester, 20, 23. — — — Archbishop of York, crowns William the Conqueror in the Abbey Church, 28. Aldrich, Dr. Dean of Christ Church, J 78 — vin- dicated from a charge of interpolation, 200. Alexander III., Pope, orders all exempt abbots to be confirmed by the popes, 57. IV., Pope, gives the kingdom of Sicily to Prince Edward, afterwards Edward I., 53. Alfnod, Abbot, 14. Alfred the Great, restores the monks to Westmin- ■ ster, 14. Alfric, or Alfwold, made Bishop of Crediton, 14. VOL. I. Atfwias, Abbot, made Bishop of Fountain's, 13. Alfwius II., Abbot, 13. Alfwy, or Aldsius, Abbot, buys two houses for his monastery, 16. Algar, Abbot, 13, 14. AUestree, Dr., privately joins with Dr. Fell and Dean Dolben, in celebrating divine worship at Oxford, 1/2, and note. Almoners Office, privileges granted to the, 32. Alspathe, hamlet of, given to the Abbey, 65, note. Andrews, Dr. Lancelot, his proficiency in lan- guages, 117 — made Dean of Westminster, 118 — his attention to the scholars, ib. — held in great esteem by King James, 119 — his pre- ferments and death, ib. — anecdote of, ib. — his charities, character, and great learning, 120, 121— his writings, 122. Anecdotes, of King James and Bishop Andrews, 119, note — Dean Williams and the Lord Chan- cellor Egerton, 134 — Bishop Sprat, and Dr. Burnet, 1 75, note — Dr. Bentley, and the Lord Chancellor Parker, 204 — the bishops John Thomas, 21 1 — of George III. and Dr. Vin- cent, 224. Anne, Queen of Richard II., interred at West- minster, 85. Anne, Queen, 187 — her desire of religious conci- liation, 189 — her intention to recal the Pre- tender, 191 — dies, ib. Apollo, temple of, stated to have stood on Thor- ney Island, 4, 5. Apprentices, the London, cause a great riot at Westminster, 160, and note. Arbuthnol, Dr. 193, note. Archbishops of Canterbury and York, remarkable dispute between, respecting precedency, 37. 38, and note. Arminius, Jacobus, 125. Arminianism, what, 125. — the people forbidden to dispute on, 126. II H INDEX. Arriaris Indica, 222, 224. Asewel, or Ashwell, given to the Abbey, 17. Ashby, Nicholas, a monk of Westminster, made Bishop of Llanclaff, 90, note. Assembly of Divines, meet at Westminster, 1 68. Atterbury, Dr. Francis, progress of his education, 184 — his marriage and promotions, 185 — in- flexibility of his temper, and controversy on the rights of convocation, 186 — created D. D. by diploma, and made Dean of Carlisle, 187 — his disputes with Hoadly, ib. — defends Sache- verell, 188 — chosen prolocutor, and made Dean of Christ Church, 1 89 — his opinion of the Quakers, ib. note — appointed Dean of West- minster and Bishop of Rochester, 190 — ac- cused of promoting discord, ib. note — favours Queen Anne's design of recalling the Pre- tender, I9I — and offers to proclaim him king, ib. — opposes the government, and accused of high treason, 192 — committed to the Tower, and treated with great rigour, 193 — proceed- ings against him in Parliament, 194 — deprived of his ecclesiastical rights, and sentenced to perpetual exile, 195 — refused permission to walk through the Abbey Church, and conveyed to France, 1 96 — becomes principal agent for the Pretender, 197 — his attachment to his country finely described, ib. — melancholy de- cease of his daughter, ib. — dies at Paris, I98 — his remains interred in Westminster Abbey, ib. — his epitaph and character, ib. 199 — his steady attachment to the protestant religion, 200 — his principal writings, ib. , Dr. Lewis, 184 — drowned, ib. note. Aubrey, the historian of Surrey, 170, note. Aureola, explained, 121. Aylesford, Earl of, patronizes Dr. Horsley, 212. B. Bacon, Sir Francis, afterwards Lord Verulam, 135 — deprived of the chancellorship, 139. the sculptor, 216. Baker, Mr. of Hampstead, his books purchased by Dean Williams, 137. , Mr. Thomas, 122, note. Bakcwell, or Blackwell, Sir John, pressed to death, 71. Bamjiete, a possession of the Abbey, 79. Bancroft. Archbishop, 120, 123, 133. Banks, Sir Joseph, 213. Barnes, Dr., Master of the Rolls, 98. , John, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 77. Baro, Dr. 127. Barons of London, the citizens so called, and why, 50. Bates, Joah, Esq. 211. Bathurst, Lord, his indignation at the proceed- ings against Bishop Atterbury, 195. Baltersea, or Batrichsea, given to the Abbey, 29. Beaumont, the dramatist, 171, note. Beauvois, Cardinal de, 77- Bee, Anthony, Patriarch of Jerusalem, buries Edward I. 70. Bee, or Bec-Helluin, in Normandy, a famous Abbey, 30 — college founded at, by Archbishop Lanfranc, ib. Bekeswell, manor of, 78. Bellurmin, Cardinal, his attack on King James answered by Dean Andrews, 11 9. Benedict, a clerk of Winchester, dispossessed of devils, 60. Benedictine Monks, first placed in Westminster Abbey, 15. Bentley, Dr., his controversy with Boyle, on the Epistles of Phalaris, 185, 186. Bcrkynge, Richard de, elected abbot, 42 — great tumult in his time, 42 — 45 j distinguished as a statesman, 46 — his great benefactions to the Abbey, and decease, ib. 47. Bernard, Bishop of St. David's, consecrated at Westminster, 31. Berwick, Duke of, 199. Bevere, John, a learned monk, 72, note. Bill, Dr. William, 109, note — made Dean of Westminster, 116 — his death and character, it. Birch, Dr. 191, note. Bishops, in danger from a riotous mob, 159, 160 — their intemperate protestation, 161 — im- peached, and committed to prison, ib. — divested of their episcopal rights, ib. — liberated, 162 — resignation of, opposed, 206. Bishops of Lincoln, claim precedence over St. Alban's Abbey, 35 — claim compromised, ib. Black, Roger, an eminent monk of Westminster, 47. Blackhead, Stephen, his infamous conspiracy against Bishop Sprat, 1 76 — attests the bishop's innocence, 177- Black-well, Sir Charles, 209. Bletchingley Church, 209. Bliss, Mr. Philip, his edition of the ' Athen. Oxon.' 169, note. Blood of Christ, deposited with great ceremony in Westminster Abbey, 49 and 50, note. Blunt, Sir Thomas, 86. Bockerell, Walter, discloses a conspiracy against Henry III, 45, note. Bonner, Bishop of London, 107> 1 12. Boston, or Benson, William, made Abbot by pur- chase, 102 — surrenders the Abbey to Henry VIII., 103 — appointed the first dean of West- minster, 105 — grants long leases of the estates, 106 — dies, ib. INDEX. Boukenhull, John, an executor to Cardinal Lang- ham's will, 79- Boulter, Hugh, Primate of Ireland, 202. Bourguigne, a garden at Westminster, 75. Borven, the printseller, 194. Bolingbroke , Lord, 191 — impeached of high trea- son, 192 — restored in blood, 196. Boxhull, Sir Alan, violates the right of sanctuary, 82 — excommunicated, ib., and fined, 83. Boyle, Charles, fourth earl of Orrery, 185 — his abilities, 166, note. Bradford, Dr. Samuel, appointed Dean of West- minster, 200 — his education and preferments, 201 — made Dean of the order of the Bath, ib. — dies, ib. — his writings, 202, and strictness of discipline, ib. note. Bradshnw, President, resides in the deanery at Westminster, 168. Bray, Sir Reginald, K. G. 98. Brentford, given to the Abbey, 25. Briddbroke, manor of, given to the Abbey, 65, note. Brithstan, Prior, 12, 13. Bromley College, 207. Palace, repaired by Bishop Thomas, 209. Bryant, Jacob, Esq. his controversy on the site of Troy, 225. Brydges, Sir Egerton, 164, note. Buckeridge, Dr. John, Bishop of Rochester, 121, 124. Buckingham, Countess of, her opinion of Bishop Laud, 148, note. , Duchess of, natural daughter to James II. 1 99. , Marquis of, see Villiers. Buckley, Robert, surnamed Sigebert, the last monk of Westminster, 115. Bugden Palace, James 1. entertained here, 130. Buleys, hamlet of, given to the Abbey, 165, note. Burford stone, its quality, 1 80. Burgh, Hubert de, the chief justiciary, 43 — his cruelties in London, 44. Burlingham, manor of, given to the Abbey, 81. Burnet, Bishop, 175, note, 186, note, 188, I89. Burroughs, Sir John, 1/1, note. Button, William, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 54. Byrcheston, Simon de, elected abbot, 71 — his ex- travagance, and death by the plague, ib. C. Cadwell, given to the Abbey, 25. Caen stone, its qualities, 180, 181. Calceolus, its use in architecture, 182, 183. Camden, the antiquary, second master of West- minster School, 122. Campeius, the Pope's legate, 100. Candle, a paschal one weighing 3QI0lbs., 113. Canonbury, exchanged with Lord Wentworth, 113. Canonization of Edward the Confessor, how ob- tained, 26, 27. Canterbury, archiepiscopal See of, vested in com- missioners, 127. Canute, King, his gifts to Westminster, 17. Captive, a Spanish one, his noble behaviour, 81 —83. Carew, Dr. made Bishop of Exeter, 139. Carr, Robert, Earl of Somerset, committed to the Tower, 130. Caroline, Queen, 205. Carte, the historian, impeached with Atterbury, 193, note. Caverly, Lady, refused the communion, 202, note. Cawood Castle, 1 62. Caxton, William, the introducer of printing into England, 101. Cedda, a Northumbrian priest, converts the East-Saxons, 12. Cecil, Lord Burleigh, styled Dean of Westmin- ster, in derision, 109, note; 117. Chadesley, a moiety of, given to the Abbey, 47- Chandois, Sir John, 81. Chapter Act, made in favour of Dean Williams, 136. Charles I. attempts to raise a forced loan, 126 — determines to govern without a parliament, 128 — departs secretly for Spain, when Prince of Wales, 141 — crowned at Westminster, 149 —-assembles the Long Parliament, 157— re- verses the proceedings against Dean Williams, 158 — signs the death-warrant of the Earl of Strafford, 159 — assents to the abolition of episcopacy, 161 — appeals to arms, 162 — be- headed, 163. II., when Prince of Wales, visits Dr. Steward on his death-bed, 166 — restored, l6"y. Charters, forged ones respecting Westminster, 7, 8. Chedsey, Archdeacon of Middlesex, 109, note. Chesnut, its qualities, 180. Chesterfield, Lord, 191, note. Chisxvick, made a peculiar of the Dean and Chap- ter, 117. Christianity, establishment of among the East- Saxons, retarded by the apostacy of Sebert's sons, 11, 12 — Dr. Priestley's opinion of its early corruptions, 214 — controversy concern- ing, ib. and note. Churches, fifty new ones ordered to be built, I89. Circncestre, Richard de, author of the Com- mentary on Antoninus, a monk of Westmin- ster, 88, note. H H 2 INDEX. Civil Wars, Lord Clarendons history of the, re- vised by Bishop Sprat and Dr. Aldrich, 178 — vindicated from the charge of interpolation, 200. Clare, Osbert de, Prior, sent to Rome, 26, 33. Gilbert de, Earl of Gloucester, excites war against Henry III., 59. William de, brother to Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, poisoned at Winchester, 56. Clarendon, Lord, his commendation of Bishop Andrews, 120 — his unjust charges against Bishop Williams, 158, 159 — his character of Dean Earles, 170. Clayton, Sir William, Bart, patronizes Dr. Pearce, 209. Clement V., Pope, bribed by Abbot Kedyngton, 71. . Cobledike, family of, 90. Cock-pit, Westminster, Bishop Atterbury exa- mined here, 192, 193. Colchester, William de, chosen abbot, 84 — his journeys to Rome, ib. — accompanies Richard II. to Ireland, 85 — conspires against Henry IV. ib. 86— dies, 87. Coles, Dean of St. Paul's, 109, note. College of Westminster, its government vested in commissioners, 168. Commemoration of Handel, described, 211, 212. Committee of Lords and Commoners appointed to govern the deanery of Westminster, 167 — names of the commissioners, ib. on religion, meets at Westminster, 158. Communion Table, controversy respecting its pro- per situation, 155. Compromission, explained, 58. Conde d'Olivarez, 142. Conference, a religious one, in Westminster Ab- bey, 109. Constantia, of Castile, 81. Conway Castle, fortified for Charles I., 162— -re- duced by Colonel Mitton, 163. Conway, Lord, 148. Copes, in Westminster Abbey, ordered to be burnt, 1 63 — three embroidered ones, made of the sepulchral vestments of Edward the Con- fessor, 27. Convocation, or Synod, assembled in Henry the Seventh's Chapel, 157. Coronations, two books concerning, given to the Abbey, 81. Cosins, Dr., 127. Council, held at Westminster, 31. Constance, in Switzerland, general council as- " sembled there, 88. Covent Garden, exchanged with Henry VIII. 103. Coxvley, the poet, 174, 178. Cox, or Coxe, Richard, appointed Dean of West- minster, 108 — his education and promotions, ib. — opposes John Knox, ib. — appointed ma- nager of a religious conference, 109— made Bishop of Ely, ib. — his decease and writings, 110. Coxe's ' Memoirs of Walpole,' 188 — his opinions controverted, 194, note. Cradeley, manor of, given to the Abbey, 92. Cranfield, Sir Lionel, master of the Court of Wards, 139. Cranmer, Archbishop, executed, 107, 1 10. Cricklade, lands at, given to the Abbey, 29. Crokesley, Richard de, Archdeacon of Westmin- ster, chosen abbot, 49 — privileged to perform mass in episcopal vestments, ib. — entertains the general chapter of friars preachers, 52 — employed on foreign embassies, ib. — his de- spotic conduct, 53 — and quarrels with the monks, 54 — lends money to the king, 55 — dies of poison, 56. Cromwell, Oliver, accuses Bishop Neile for coun- tenancing popery, 1 28. , Thomas, 102. Cumberland, the dramatist, 225, note. Curtlyngton, William de, elected abbot, 72— dies, ib. D. Dalrymple, Mr., the hydrographer, 222. Dameta, mother of Gervais de Blois, Abbey lands given to, 33. Dampier, Dr. Thomas, made Bishop of Roches- ter, 224, note. Danes, their ravages, 13, 14, 16. Dart, his opinion as to the real founder of the Abbey, 10 — his inaccuracy, 97, note — his omissions, 116. Davenant, Dr., Bishop of Salisbury, 130, 132, 139. Dawbeney, Philip, a privy counsellor to Henry the Third, 44. Dayrell, or Darell, George, a Prebendary, 136, 137. Deacon, William, Cardinal of St. Nicholas, 72. Dean and Chapter of Westminster, endowed by Henry VIII, 105, 106 — compelled to surren- der their estates to Queen Mary, 110, 111 — refounded by charter of Queen Elizabeth, 1 15 —their expenses, 17 1. Deaneries, rights of, 195, note. Deanery of Westminster, management of, vested in the sub-dean and prebendaries, 1 63— sepa- rated from the See of Rochester, 224. Denia, Earl of, made prisoner, 81 — noble con- duct of his son, ib. 83. INDEX. Didington, hamlet of, given to the Abbey, 165, note. Distich, a curious one, on Jacob's Pillow, 67, and note. Divine worship, privately celebrated at Oxford, 172. Doddridge, Dr., 199. Dodivell, Mr., 222. Dodderidge, Sir John, 140. Dolben, Dr. John, made Dean of Westminster, 171 — wounded atMarston Moor, and at York, 172 — ejected from college, ib. — his promotions after the Restoration, 173 — made Archbishop of York, ib. — dies of the small-pox, ib. — his character, 174. , Dr. William, If I. , Sir William, 172, note. Dominis, Marcus Antonius de, Archbishop of Spalato, entertained at Cambridge, 135. Donne, Dr., made Dean of St. Paul's, 139. Dorset, Earl of, chamberlain to Queen Henrietta Maria, 155, I78. Dragon, an embroidered one, 62. D r yden, the poet, 174. Duncombe, Sir Charles, refused the communion, 202, note. Dunstan, St., his passion for monkery, 14, note — expels the secular clergy, and places Bene- dictine monks in Westminster Abbey, 15. Durham House, Strand, 124. Duppa, Dr,, Bishop of Salisbury, 169. Dwrhurst, manor of, re-purchased, 69. E. Eadmerus, Abbot, 14. ■Earles, Dr. John, made Dean of Westminster, 169 — his promotions, and services on the con- tinent, ib. — his death and charcter, J70 — his writings, ib. 17 1. , Thomas, gent., ] 69. East-Burnham, given to the Abbey, 17. Easton, Adam de, made keeper of the Barony of Westminster, 57. Eccksfort, or Ecclesford, given to the Abbey, 1 1. Edgar, King, his charters and grants to West- minster, 7, 8 — recals Dunstan from banish- ment, and promotes him, 15 — his gifts to Westminster, ib. Editha, Edward the Confessor's queen, 20. Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, canonized, 53, note. Edricus, a fisherman, his tale of the miraculous consecration of Westminster Abbey, 6. Edulinebrugge, manor of, given to the Abbey, 65, note. Edward I., his gifts to Westminster Abbey, 66, 67 — commits the abbot and monks to the Tower on a charge of robbery, 68 — buried in the Abbey Church, 70. II., crowned at Westminster, f\. III., 73, 74, 76. IV., flies the kingdom, 91 — regains the crown, ib. — his gifts to the Abbey Church, 92 — dies, 93. V., born in the Abbey sanctuary, 91 — delivered to the Duke of Gloucester, and lodged in the Tower, 97. , Earl of Rutland, discloses a plot against Henry IV., 87. — — the Black Prince, gains the battle of Nayars, 81. the Confessor, his bigotry, 19 — primary cause of his patronizing the monks of West- minster, and rebuilding the Abbey, ib. 22 — his charters, grants, and death, 23, 25 — his mi- racles, ib. 26 — canonized, and his remains translated, 27 — history of, written by Abbot Ailred, 36 — laid in a new shrine, 59 — casts out devils, 60. Edwyn, Abbot, his esteem for King Edward, 28 — dies, 29. Edwy, or Edwyn, King, banishes St. Dunstan, 14, note — forced to divide his kingdom, 15 — dies, ib. 9 Edytiton, William de, Bishop of Winchester, 74. Egerton, the Lord Chancellor, 125 — patronizes Dean Williams, 133 — and presents him with his papers, 134 — dies, 135. Eikon Basiliht. translated into Latin, 171. Eleanor, Edward I.'s queen, buried at Westmin- ster, 65. Elector-Palatine, his marriage with the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Jame3 I., 133. Elizabeth, Queen, commits Bishop Thirleby to the Tower, 107 — favoured, when Princess, by Abbot Feckenham, 113 — removes the monks from Westminster, 115 — settles the Abbey as a collegiate church, ib. — traduced by Dr. Hey- lyn, ib. note. Elliot, Sir John, 127. Elthum Palace, built by Anthony Rec, Bishop of Durham, 70. Episcopacy, bill for the abolition of, 158 — finally abolished, 162. Epitaphs, on Abbot Gislebert, 31 — on Robert dc Ilaule, 82 — on Bishop Andrews, 121 — on Bishop Atterbury, 198. Essex, Robert, Earl of, 130. Estency, John, made abbot, 92 — his frugality, ib. — dies, 97. Ethelbert, King, the founder of St. Paul's, 7. INDEX. Ethelgod, or Actelgocl, Queen, buried at West- minster, 10. Ethelmar, Bishop of Winchester, 56. Eugemus IV., Pope, QO. Exeter, monks of, removed to Westminster, 27- Ei/bury, exchanged with Henry VIII., 103. F. Fabian, the historian, probably misinformed in respect to a conspiracy, 45, note. Fascet, George, made abbot, 97 — bis decease, ib. Fauconbridge, Eustace de, Bishop of London, claims jurisdiction at Westminster, 41 — cu- rious lines on, ib. note. Feckenham, John, made abbot, 112 — sent to the Tower, ib. — repairs the shrine of St. Edward, 1 13 — befriends the Princess Elizabeth, ib. — the only abbot that sat in parliament in Eliza- beth's time, 114 — opposes the reformation, ib. — dies in Wisbich Castle, ib. — his character, 115. Fell, Dr. privately celebrates divine worship at Oxford, 1/2, and note. Felt ham, given to the Abbey, 11. Felton, assassinates the Duke of Buckingham, 151. Fenton-Parva, given to the Abbey, 17. Feringe, given to the Abbey, 29. Feme, Dr., Archdeacon of Leicester, his grateful conduct to Archbishop Williams, 162. Ferrers, Sir Ralph de, violates the right of sanc- tuary, 82 — excommunicated, ib. — and fined, 83. Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, his memorable say- ing, 203. Finch, Judge, 153, note. Fingest, given to the bishops of Lincoln, 35. Fitz- Arnulfe , Constantine, a London citizen, his imprudent conduct, 43 — his courage, and exe- cution, 44. Fitzwilliam, Lord Viscount, 211. Flete, John, a monk of Westminster, writes a history of the Abbey to 1386, go, note. Flesh-meat, Henry III. privileged to eat on Sa- turdays, 6l, note. Flores Historiarum, the, found at Westminster, 70, note — given by Henry the Fifth to the Abbey, 89. Folkmotes, of London, the abbots of Westmin- ster exempted from attending, 34. Folkstone Priory, its revenues granted to West- minster, 89. Font-Everard, in Normandy, Henry II., Richard Coeur-de-Lion, and the heart of Henry III. buried there, 66. Ford, the civilian, 116". Fox, John, a prebendary, 136. Freind, Dr. John, a learned physician, 1 77. Fuller, his quaint saying on Bishop Andrews, 121. G. Gardiner, Stephen, Bishop of Winchester, 109. Gaslrell, Dr., Bishop of Exeter, his honourable conduct, 195. Gate-House, Westminster, 106. Gaunt, John of, Duke of Lancaster, violates the sanctuary of the Abbey Church, 81. Geoffrey, or Goiffridus, Abbot, deposed, 29. George I. treats Bishop Atterbury with coolness, 192. II. buried in Henry the Vllth's Chapel, 205. III., his conversations with Bishop Pearce, 206 — patronizes the commemoration of Handel, 211 — his opinion of the separation of the deanery of Westminster from the bi- shopric of Rochester, 224, note. Germanus, Prior, 12. Gervaise de Blois, Abbot, a son of King Stephen, 33 — deposed for his profligacy, ib. — dies, 34. Gibbons, Mr. Orlando, an eminent organist, 146. Gifford, William, Bishop of Winchester, life of, written by Prior Walter, 37. Gilbert, Crispin, or Gis/ebertus Crispinus, Abbot, his illustrious birth and character, 30 — his travels and death, 31 — manuscript writings of, 32. of Prestone, Chief Baron of the Exche- quer, 58. the Universal, Bishop of London, 32. Gloucester, Duke of ; See Richard III. Godolphin, the Lord Treasurer, satirized by Sa- cheverell, 188 — his injudicious impeachment of that priest, ib. Goodman, Gabriel, made Dean of Westminster, 116 — pleads in defence of sanctuary, ib. — his character and decease, 1 1 7 — founds a school at Ruthin, 132. Grafton, manor of, given to the Abbey, 65, note. Grant, Dr. Master of Westminster School, 122. , Gabriel, a Prebendary, 136. Gras, Robert de, an eminent monk of West- minster, 47, note. Greenford, or Greenford-Magna, given to the Abbey, 17. Grey, John, of Pyrgo, 109, note — 115. , Lady Jane, 108. , Lord, arrested, 93. Griffiths, Sir William, Knt. 132. Grindall, Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, 109, note — 110, note. INDEX. Grosse-teste, Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, his con- troversy with Abbot Berkynge, 45. H. Hacket, Dr. his mistakes about Abbot Islip, 101, note — educated at Westminster School, 118, note — his epitaph on Archbishop Williams, 163. Hagley, manor of, given to Westminster, 92. Halgefort, or Halweford, given to the Abbey, 11. Halseley, William, the sub-prior, his curious work on the ancient customs and usages of Westminster, 64, note. Hamilton, Dr. principal of Edinburgh College, 212. ■ Anne, ib. Hampstead, given to the Abbey, \ J. Handel, the Musician, his Commemoration, 21 1, 212. Hanworth, given to the Abbey, 17. Harcourt, Lord Chancellor, 190, 191, and note. Hardwick, manor of, repurchased, 69. Hardwicke Papers, 194. Harlow, Malcolm de, made keeper of the Barony of Westminster, 65. Harley, Earl of Oxford, 189, 190. Harpsfield, Archdeacon of Canterbury, 109, note. Harsnett, Archbishop of York, 128. Harweden, Richard, made Abbot, 89— -resigns, * ib. Haule, Frank de, 81. — Robert, committed to the Tower, 81 — escapes, and takes sanctuary at Westminster, ib. — murdered in the Abbey Church, 82 — his epitaph, ib. note. Hearle, Mr. a presbyterian minister, 164, note. Helluin, manuscript life of, 32. Hendon Wood, 74. Henley, Thomas, made Abbot, 73 — maintains his right of visiting St. James's Hospital, ib. — his decease, 74. Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV. of France, 145. Henry I., King, employs Abbot Gislebert in divers embassies, 31 — keeps the Abbacy va- cant, 32. II. deposes Abbot Gervaise, 32 — restores the Abbey lands, 32 — resists the Papal en- croachments, 37- III. lays the first stone of the Virgin's Chapel, 41 — violates the liberties of the city, 42-45 — rebuilds the Abbey Church, 48-49 S pawns his plate to the Londoners, and grants an annual fair to the Abbots of Westminster, 50 — plunders the citizens, 51, 52 — reproves Abbot Crokesley, 54 — pledges the shrines and jewels of the Abbey Church, 59— privileged to eat flesh on Saturdays, 6l, note — his de- cease and gifts to the Abbey, 61, 62 — his heart conveyed to Normandy, 66. Henry IV. crowned at Westminster, 85 — con- spired against, ib. 86 — punishes the con- spirators, 87 — dies in the Jerusalem Chamber, 88. ■ V. his gifts towards rebuilding the Abbey Church, 88 — his funeral, 89. VI. delivered prisoner to Edward IV., 91 — buried at Chertsey Abbey, QS — removed to Windsor, ib. — dispute respecting his remains, 99- VII. deprives Edward the IVth's Queen of all her possessions, 97 — builds a chapel at Westminster, 98 — his grants to the Abbey, 99 — his death, 100. VIII. exchanges lands for St. James's Park, 101 — makes a palace at Whitehall, ib. note —obtains various estates from the Abbey in exchange, 103— erects Westminster into a Bishop's see, 105 — and endows it with lands of the dissolved monastery, ib. 106. , Bishop of Winchester, life of, written by Prior Walter, 37. , Earl of Huntingdon, 118. , Prince, son to Edward I., his obsequies celebrated at Westminster, 62. Herbert, Lord Chief Justice, 75, note. Herebert, or Herbert, Abbot, his appointment, 32 — founds a nunnery at Kilburne, ib. — his death, 33. Herman, Bishop of Wiltshire, 20, 23. Herring, Archbishop of Canterbury, 205. Heylyn, Dr. his sarcastic remark on Dean Williams, 139, note — his account of the coro- nation of Charles I., 149. Hickman, Mr. Francis, B. A. 184. High and Low Churchmen, why so distin- guished, 1S7> note. High Commission Court, how composed, 126 — suspends Rishop Williams, 153. Hill, a presbyterian minister, 164, note. Hoad/y, Rishop, 186, note—\b7, 205, note. Hobart, Sir Henry, 140. Hody, Dr. 186, note. Holborn, an aqueduct, or fountain here, made by Abbot Feckenham, 114. Holt, John, a Prebendary, 136. Holland, John, Earl of Huntingdon, conspires against Henry IV. 86. , Thomas, Earl of Kent, 86. Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, 113. Home, Dr. Bishop of Winchester, 109, note — 114. INDEX. Horse-ferry, at Westminster, exchanged with Henry VIII. 103. Horsley, Dr. Samuel, his education and early preferments, 212 — his edition of Newton's Works, 213 — secedes from the Royal Society, ib. — his controversy with Dr. Priestley, ib. 214 — patronized by Lord Thurlow, and made Bishop of St. David's, 214 — appointed Dean of Westminster and Bishop of Rochester, 215 — translated to St. Asaph, ib. — dies, 21 6 — his character, ib. 217 — particulars of his writings, 218 and note. , Rev. Heneage, 214, note. Hough, Dr. President of Magdalen College, 202, note. Hotham, Sir John, refuses Charles I. admission into Hull, 162. , the younger, attempts to seize Arch- bishop Williams, 162. Hubern, Sir John, 202, note. Hull, Charles I. refused admittance into, 162. Hugh, Prior of Westminster, made Abbot of St. Edmund's Bury, 34, note. Hulverlee, hamlet of, given to the Abbey, 165, note. Humez, or Humeto, William de, made Abbot, 40 — his descent and abilities, ib. — his decease, 42. Hurley Priory, granted to the Abbey, 103. Wood, granted to the Abbey, 103. Hutton, Dr. 213. Hyde, now Hyde Park, 79. , manor of, exchanged with Henry VIII. 103. 4 I. Infanta, the Spanish, 142 — negociations for her marriage with Prince Charles, 143. Innocent II. Pope, admonishes Abbot Gervaise, 33. IV. Pope, grants despotic authority to Abbot Crokesley, 53. Ireland, Dr. made Dean of Westminster, 226 — his promotions, 227- Islip, John, elected Abbot, 98 — his character, ib. — suspends the Prior of Great Malvern, 100 — dies, 101 — his pompous funeral, ib. — errors respecting, ib. note. , Simon, Archbishop of Canterbury, 77. , or Gyslepe, given to the Abbey, 25 — birth- place of Edward the Confessor, ib. J. Jacob's Pillow, brought from Scotland and de- posited in the Abbey Church, 66, 67. James I., anecdote of, 119, note — entertained at Bugden, 130 — rescinds monopolies, 138 — makes Dean Williams Lord Keeper, 13Q — and holds him in great esteem, 145 — dies at Theo- balds, 147 — his funeral, ib. II., his declaration for liberty of conscience> 175 — arguments on his abdication, 176. Jejferies, Lord Chancellor, 175, note. Jerusalem Chamber, built by Abbot Litlington, 80 — Henry IV. dies here, 88 — a committee on religion meet here, 158. John XXII., Pope, 72. de St. John, governor of Aquitain, great ransom required for, 67, 68. Johnson, Dr. his anecdote of Bishop Sprat, 175, note. Jortin, Mr. his " Miscellaneous Observations," 208. K. Kedyngton, or Sudbury, Richard de, chosen Abbot, 71 — confirmed through bribery, ib. — dies, 72. Keene, Mr. surveyor of the works at Westminster, 211. Kelvedon, given to the Abbey, 17. Kennet, Bishop, 186, note. Kilburne,now Kilburne Wells, a Nunnery founded here, 32, 33. Kitvert, Richard, a perjured solicitor, 153— squanders the property of Bishop Williams, 154. King, John, a Prebendary, 136, 151. Kingsbury, given to the Abbey, 17- Kippis, Dr. 186, note. Knolle, manor of, given to the Abbey, 65, note. Knox, John, his attempt to set aside the English Liturgy, 108. Kynewalds Hey, manor of, given to the Abbey, 1 65, note. Kyrton, Edmund, made Abbot, 90 — his abilities, and death, ib. L. Lacy, Lady Alice, pays 37541. towards building the Abbey Church, 61. Ladies' slipper, introduced into architecture, 182, note. Lambe, Sir John, Dean of the Arches, persecutes Bishop Williams, 152, 153. Lanfranc, Archbishop, holds a Synod at West- minster, 25 — founds a college in Normandy, 30. Langdale, Archdeacon of Lewes, 109, note. INDEX. Langedon, hamlet of, given to the Abbey, 165, note. Langham, Simon, made Abbot, J5 — his services to the Abbey, ib. — made Archbishop of Canter- bury, 76 — ejects Wicliffe, 77 — chosen Car- dinal, ib. — dies at Avignon, 78 — buried at Westminster, ib. — his valuable bequests to the Abbey, 79. , Thomas, father of the Cardinal, buried at Westminster, 78. Langton, Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, 41. Latimer, Lord, 81. , Bishop, 1 10. Laud, Dr. William, introduced to James I. 124 — great friendship between him and Bishop Andrews, 125 — accused by the Commons, 127 — made Archbishop of Canterbury, 128 — his promotion to Gloucester aided by Dean Wil- liams, 139, 140 — his enmity to the Dean, 142 —a secret agent of the Duke of Buckingham, 144 — undermines the Lord Keeper, 148, note — represents the Dean of Westminster at the coronation of Charles 1. 149 — his enmity to Bishop Williams, 151, 153 — assumes juris- diction over the See of Lincoln, 154. > Laurence, or Laurentius, Abbot, educated at St. Alban's, 34 — obtains the restoration of the Abbey estates, and repairs the monastery, 35 — privileged to wear the mitre, :i6 — his works, ib. — dies, 37. , Prior of Durham, 34. Layer, executed for treason, 193. Ledecome Regis, lands at, given to the Abbey, 89- Le Neve, his curious remark on Bishop Neile's decease, 129, note. Leo IX. Pope, absolves Edward the Confessor from his vow of making a pilgrimage to Rome, 20, 21. Leonis, Hugo Patri, the Pope's Legate, 37. Leosne, or Lesnes, given to the Abbey, 17. Letvcsham, Philip de, chosen Abbot, 57 — dies, 58. Lewis XVI. beheaded, 215. Library, a collegiate one established at West- minster by Dean Williams, 13"- Lindsell, Dr. Bishop of Hereford, 125. Lines, on a White Fan, by Bishop Atterbury, 185, note. Litlinglon, Nicholas, made Abbot, 79 — improves the monastic buildings, and presents the Abbey with rich plate, and other effects, ib. — his decease, 84. Littleton, or Littlyngton, given to the Abbey, 17. Littleton, the Lord Keeper, his inadvertency, and its fatal consequences, 161. VOL. I. Liturgy revised, by whom, 109, note. Llandegay Church, 163. Lloyd, Dr. Pierson, 21 9. London, City of, deprived of its privileges, 44 — plundered by Henry III. 51, 52. Londoners, the, support the Dauphin of France, 42 — barbarously punished, 44. Long Meg, a grave-stone so called, 75. Long Parliament, the, commences its sittings, 157. Lord Mayor of London, extent of his jurisdiction, 6, note — invited to Henry VII.'s Chapel, 17 j, note. Lowth, Bishop, patronizes Dr. Horsley, 213. Lucius, King, said to have first built St. Peter's Church, 5. Luffield Priory, its estates presented to West- minster, 99, 100. M. Malcolm, author of the ' Londinum Redivivum,' 1 14, note. Malvern, Great, a cell to Westminster, 63— dis- pute concerning its jurisdiction, ib. Mancus, or Mark, its value, 1 3, note. Mandeville, Geoffrey de, buried in the Cloisters at Westminster, 23. Manners, Lady Katherine, reclaimed from popery, 135. Mansel, John, Prior of Beverley, 54. Mansfield, Lord, 206. Manwaring, Dr. 127* Marescal, William, Earl of Pembroke, forces the French Dauphin to leave the kingdom, 42, 43. Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby, her gifts to Westminster, 100. Marshall, Mr. a presbyterian minister, 164, note. Marten, Henry, the regicide, his scorn of royalty, 164, note. Martin V. Pope, 90. Martin, Sir Henry, Dean of the Arches, 140. Mary, Queen, re-establishes Westminster Abbey, 110, 111. , Queen of Scots, re-interred in Westminster Abbey, 124. Matilda, Henry H.'s sister, 33. Matthews, Archbishop, dies, 131. Matthew of Westminster, or Florilegus, extols Abbot Berkynge, 46 — some account of, 69, 70, note. Maty, Dr. his " Memoirs of Lord Chesterfield," 191, note. Maud, the Empress, 33, 34, 35. Maudelin, a priest, his likeness to Richard II. 86. Mau, Dr. 109, note. Mellitus, Bishop of London, baptizes King Sebert, 4 — informed of St. Peter's miraculous consecra- I 1 INDEX. tion of the Abbey Church, 6— said, by Will. of Malmsbury, to have been himself the founder, 8 — retires to France, 11. Merks, Thomas, Bishop of Carlisle, a monk of Westminster, 87- Middleton, Dr. his disingenuousness in quotation, 208. Milling, Thomas, chosen Abbot, Ql — succours Edward IV.'s Queen, ib. — dies, Q2. Milton, writes an elegy on Bishop Andrews, 120. Miracles, of St. Peter, 5, 21 — of Edward the Confessor, 25, 26, 60. Mitre, &c. privilege of. wearing the, granted to the Abbots of Westminster, 36. , a precious one, made for the Abbots of Westminster, 62. Mitton, Colonel, reduces Conway Castle, 163. Monks of Westminster, names of, who signed the instrument of surrender to Henry VIII. 104. — — , the corrupters of ancient writings, 3. Montacute, John, Earl of Salisbury, 86. Montague, Charles, Esq. afterwards Earl of Halifax, 179. Montaigne or Mountain, Dr. George, made Dean of Westminster, 129 — his promotions and pleasant saying, 130 — dies Archbishop of York, 131 — his character, ib. Monument for Henry VI., the draught, or design for, still preserved, 98, note. Moore, Dr. 193, note. Morice, Mr. High-Bailiff of Westminster, 192, 193, note. , Mrs. daughter of Bishop Atterbury, dies in France, 197. Mortmain, Statute of, devised by Edward I., to check ecclesiastical rapacity, 70. Mottesfont Priory, its estates granted to West- minster, 99, 100. Moulsham or Mulesham Mill, ?8. Mounson, Sir John, 153, 154. Mountford, Thomas, a Prebendary, 136. Murder, a cruel one committed in the Abbey Church, 82. Murimuth, Adam, a Canon of St. Paul's, 70, note. N. Nnres, Rev. Archdeacon, his account of the duties of the Second Master of Westminster School, 219, 220. Nearchvs, voyage of, 222. Neile, Dr. Richard, Bishop of Durham, hia sycophancy, 11 9, note — educated at West- minster School, 122 — patronized by the Cecils, 123 — made Dean of Westminster, ib. — his promotions, 124 — unites with Laud against Archbishop Abbot, 125 — accused with Laud by the House of Commons, 127 — made Arch- bishop of York, 128 — dies, ib. — his character, 129 — and defence against the charge of Popery and Arminianism, ib. note. Newcastle, Duke of, 205. Newell, Robert, a Prebendary, 1 37. New Kyrk, the, given to the Abbey, 29. Newton, Dr. Bishop of Bristol, 206, 211, note. Neyte, manor-house of, 74, 84. , manor of, exchanged with Henry VIII. 103. Nicholas HI. Pope, 72. ■-, Bishop of Tusculum, the Pope's Legate, passes eighteen days at Westminster Abbey, 39. Nichols, Mr. his Epistolary Correspondence of Bishop Atterbury, 1 78, note. Nicolson, Bishop, 186, note — 187. Nightingales, disturb Edward the Confessor when at his devotions, 25. Norreys, Peter, 90. North and Grey, Lord, 199. Northington, Lord, 206. Norton-Folet, a moiety of, given to the Abbey, 47. Norwich, George, made Abbot, 90 — his extrava- gance, ib. — dies, 91. Notehurst, hamlet of, given to the Abbey, 165, note. Nothelmus, Archbishop of Canterbury, J. Nottingham, Earl of, goes into Spain, 143, note. Nowell, Robert, a Prebendary, not allowed to sit in Parliament, 1 10, note. Noy, Attorney General, 152. Nuffield, appointed to guard the Abbey Church, 97, note. Nye, Mr. a presbyterian minister, 164, note. O. O'Beirne, Dr. Lewis, Bishop of Meath, 223. Offa, King, his charters to Westminster, 3, 8, 13 — enlarges the Church, and deposits in it his coronation robes and regalia, ib. Offord-Chiny, lands at, given to the Abbey, 89. Oldham, Hugh, Chaplain to the Countess of Richmond and Derby, 98. Orange, Prince of, 166. — * < — — , Princess of, 1/6. Ordbri^ht or Alubrith t Abbot, made Bishop of Seolsey, 13. Order of the Bath, revived, 201. Orford Papers, 1 98, note. Or gar, Prior, 12. INDEX. Orleans, the Regent Duke of, 19I. Ormond, Duke of, impeached of high treason, 192. , Prior, J 2. Orthbright, Abbot, 12. Osbolstone, Lambert, master of Westminster School, prosecuted and fined for Scandalum Magnatum, 156 — goes 'beyond Canterbury,' ib. note, 167, 168. Osborne, Miss Catherine, married to Bishop At- terbury, 185 — lines on her fan, ib, note, Overbury, Sir Thomas, J 30. Owen, Sir John, seizes Conway Castle, 162. P. Paddington, manor of, assigned to the Abbey, 38. Palace of Henry III. at Westminster, defaced, 59 — burnt, 67. Palmer, Mr. a presbyterian minister, 164, note, Pandulph, the Pope's Legate, 26. Papiliun or De Arundel, Ralph, elected Abbot, 39 — deprived for his misdeeds, ib. — dies, 40. Pardon, six years of, granted to the worshippers of the blood of Christ, 50, note. Paris, Matthew, monk of St. Alban's, his account of the Abbey Church, 22 — and of a miracle at Edward the Confessor's tomb, 25 — his ac- count of the rebuilding of the Abbey Church by Henry I II., 48 — present when Christ's blood was deposited in the Church, 50. Parker, Archbishop, his kindness to Bishop Thirleby, 10/ — assists in revising the Liturgy, 109. — , Lord Chief Justice, and Lord Chancellor, his generous conduct to Dr. Pearce, 204. Parliament, beset by the rabble, 159, 160. Parr, William, Marquis of Northampton, 109, note. Passeleve, Archdeacon of Lewes, 55. Puwlet, Sir William, 102. Pearce, Dr. Zachary, Dean of Westminster, 203 — his education and promotions, 204, 205 — resigns his Deanery, but compelled to retain his Bishopric, 206 — his decease and bequests, 207 — stanzas addressed to, ib. note — his writ- ings, 208. , William, Esq. 207. Peck/tarn, Archbishop, holds a provincial council at Lambeth, 63 — excommunicates the Abbot and Monks of Westminster, 66. Pembroke, Philip. Earl of, 169. Pershorr, W illiam, a monk and friar, great controversy concerning, 66. Petition, of Right and Remonstrance, 127 — sup- ported by Dean Williams, 150. Petxuorth, given to the Abbey, 25. Phalaris, Epistles of, controversy concerning, 185 — and its origin, 186, note. Piers Gaveston, bribed by Abbot Wenlock, 69. Pilkington, Dr. James, 109, note. Pitt, Mr. recommends Dr. Vincent to a Prebend, 223. Plague, destroys the Abbot of Westminster and twenty-six monks, 75. Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, holds a general council, 14. Ploxvden, a celebrated lawyer, 116. Poictevins, the, banished, 56 — supposed to have plotted to poison the English nobility, ib. Pole, Cardinal, the Pope's Legate, devises regu- lations for the government of the Abbey, 111. Polydore Virgil, 100. Poore, Richard, Bishop of Salisbury, 41. Pope, the poet, 184, 193, 196, 197. Postard, William, elected Abbot, 38 — his decease, 39- Postulation, explained, 78, note. Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury, 159, 200, 205. Poughley, Priory of, granted to the Abbey in ex- change for St. James's Park, 101. Preachers, curious directions to restrain, 141. Prebend's garden, elms planted there by Abbot Feckenham, 113, note. Prebendaries of Westminster, a learned brother- hood, 137 — empowered to act during the sus- pension of Dean Williams, 153, 154 — declared delinquents, 168. Preston, Dr. the head of the Puritans, 145. Pretender, the, purposed to be restored by Queen Anne, 191 — attempts in his favour, ib. 192, 193. Price, Theodore, Sub-dean of Westminster, 136. Priestley, Dr. his controversy with Dr. Horsley, 213, 214. Pringle, Sir John, 213. Print, a curious one of Bishop Atterbury, 194. Printing in England, first executed within the Abbey precincts, 101. Prophecy, a juggling one, 87- Pudsey, Hugh, Hishop of Durham, his pompous journey to Rome, 34. Pulteney, Earl of Bath, 205, 206. Pyreford or Purford, a manor of the Abbots of Westminster, 69. Q. Quadrivium, explained, 32, note. Quintilian, his judgment of Homer applied to Bishop Andrews, 120. i i *2 INDEX. R. Ratcliff, Sir George, 1§6, note. Heading, Robert de, a learned monk of West- minster, 73, note. Reding, John de, an eminent monk of West- minster, 84, note. Regalia, first deposited at Westminster by King Offa, 13 — kept in a secret place, 149 — sold by order of the Parliament, 164. Rehearsal, the, by whom composed, ] 78. Reliques, curious list of, given to the Abbey Church, by Canute, 1/ — by Edward the Con- fessor, 24, note — by Edward I. 70, note. Rennell, Dr. Master of the Temple, 223. Richard I. 66. • II. resigns the crown, 85 — his gifts to the Abbey, 89. — — III. arrests the Lords Rivers and Grey, 93 — declared Protector, 94 — becomes King, 97. Richardson, Judge, 153, note — 156, Ridley, Nicholas, Bishop of London, 105, 1 10. Rivers, Lord, arrested, 93. ' Robbing Peter to pay Paul,' origin of this saying, 107, note. Robert, a monk or prior of Westminster, made Abbot of St. Edmund's Bury, 32, note. , Earl of Cornwall, 54- , Earl of Gloucester, seizes the Abbey lands, 34. , Patriarch of Jerusalem, attests the ge- nuineness of Christ's blood, 49. Robinson, William, a Prebendary, 136. Rochester, Earl of, 1/5, note. , Henry Earl of, puhlishes Lord Cla- rendon's Civil Wars, 178. Romescot, the Abbey Church exempted from pay- ment of, 13. Rotherham, Thomas, Archbishop of York, de- livers the great seal to Edward IV.'s Queen, 94 — prevails on her to deliver up her sons to the Duke of Gloucester, ib. 96. Royal Society, progress of its institution, 1 75 — Bishop Sprat's History of, 178 — dissensions among the members, 213. Rupert, Prince, 162. Rnpibus, Peter de, Bishop of Winchester, 4 1 . Russel, Francis, Earl of Bedford, 109, " ote - Rutland, Edward, Earl of, 80. Rutlandshire, given to the Abbey, 25 — resumed by the crown, 29. Rye-house Plot, Bishop Sprat's History of, 1 78. S. Sachrvcrell, Dr. 1 77— tried in Westminster-hall, 188 — his sentence a triumph, ib. Salinas, Alphonsus de, a Spaniard, made a pre- bendary of Westminster, 110, note. Salmon, tithe of, on the Thames, when instituted, 6 — law-suit concerning, ib. note. Saner oft, Archbishop, 201. Sanctuary, the Abbey, right of, violated, 81, 83. Savoy Hospital, Strand, 112. Schakell, John, makes the Earl of Denia prisoner, 81 — imprisoned in the Tower, ib. 82 — his captive ransomed, 83. Schaub, Sir Luke, his correspondence, 194. Schmeider, 222. Scotenie, Walter, executed for poisoning William de Clerc, 56. Scottish crown, sceptre, and coronation chair, offered by Edward I. at St. Edward's shrine, 66. Scroope, Lady, godmother to Edward V. 91 . Sebert, King of the East Saxons, founds a Church at Westminster, 4, 5, 8, 10 — buried in the Abbey Church, ib. , wickedness of his three sons, 1 1. Setby, Ralph, a monk of Westminster, 88, note. Selden, the learned, imprisoned, 141 — made Register of Westminster College, ib. Selred, Prior, 12. ' Serle, Robert, Mayor of London, 43. Settlement, Act of, 191, and note. Seymour, Lord, 106. Sheldon, Gilbert, Archbishop of Canterbury, 172, 173. — — , Ralph, ib. , Catherine, ib. Sheriffs of London, their power in Westminster, 58. Sheriff of Rutland, excommunicated, 51. Shrine of Edward the Confessor, 59, 62 — re- paired, 1 13. Sibthorp, Dr. his libellous Sermon, 126. Sidmouth, Lord, 223. Smalridge, Dr. Dean of Christ Church, 188, I89 — his conciliatory character, 190, note — refuses to sign the declaration of the Bishops, 192. Smith, Dr. 171, note. , Dr., Provost of Queen's College, Oxford, 209. , Sir Thomas, 109, note. Somerset, the Lord Protector, 106. House, remains of James I. lie in state at, 147. Sorbiere, Monsieur, 178. South, Dr. builds the rectory-house at Islip, 224. Southampton, Earl of, imprisoned at Westminster, 140. Sovoerby, his " English Botany," 182, note. Spanish commiseration, curious instance of, 143, note. Spelman, Sir Henry, 7. INDEX. Spenser, Lord Hugh, 86. , Bishop of Norwich, 70. Spicer, Dr. 156. Sporley, a monk of Westminster, his suspicious list of Abbots, &c. 12. Spotswood, the historian, 143, note. Sprat, Dr. Thomas, his education and pursuits, 174 — installed Dean of Westminster, 175 — appointed a Commissioner in Ecclesiastical Affairs, ib. — unjustly accused of high-treason, 176 — dies suddenly, J 77 — ms writings, 178. Stackhouse, his ' Life of Atterbury,' 186, 187 — his description of Atterbury's person, 199. Stanes or Staines, given to the Abbey, 1 1 . Stanhope, Sir Edward, Knt. 98. Stanzas, to Bishop Pearce on his celebrating the 50th year of his marriage as a Jubilee, 207, note. Star-Chamber Court, its severity mitigated, 141 —its iniquitous decrees reversed, 158 — abo- lished, ib. Staunton, Dr. a presbyterian minister, 164, note. St. Edward's day, kept with great solemnity by Henry III. 60, note. St. Edward's Fair, in Tothill Fields, institution of, by Henry III. 50 — the citizens of London obliged to carry their goods thither, 52. St. Erasmus's Chapel, built, 92. St. James's Hospital, subordinate to Westminster, 73. Park, formed by Henry VIII. 101, and note. St. John the Evangelist, his miraculous message, 25. St. Katharine's Chapel, Westminster, synods held at, 35, 37. St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, when built, 23 — exempted from episcopal jurisdic- tion, 49. St. Martin le Grand, college of, its estates given to Westminster, 100. St. Peter, said to have founded a chapel at West- minster, 4— his miraculous consecration of the Abbey Church, 5, 6 — appears in a vision to Wulsinus, 21 . St. Stephen's College, founded by Edward III. within the Royal Palace at Westminster, 84. Steele, Sir Richard, his character of Atterbury, 199. Stephen, King, 33, 34. Stevenage, given to the Abbey, 25. Steward, Dr., an eminent civilian, 140. , Dr. Richard, appointed Dean of West- minster, 165 — his promotions, and steady ad- herence to Charles I., ib. — his opinions on episcopacy, 166 — dies at Paris, tb. — his writ- ings, 167. Stoke Clare Priory, its revenues granted to West- minster, 89- Story, Bishop of Chichester, 109, note. Strafford, Earl of, 156 — attainted by Parliament, 158 — beheaded, 159, note. Stratford Mill, given to the Abbey, 29. Suckling, Sir John, 148. Sudbury, William, a learned monk of Westmin- ster, 88, note. Suffolk, Duke of, 1 10. Sulcardus, a monk of Westminster, his account of the foundation and consecration of the Abbey Church, 5, 6 — and of its rebuilding by Edward the Confessor, 19, 27 — his character and writings, 30. Sunbury, or Sudbury, given to the Abbey, 17 — assigned to the bishops of London, 42. Sunderland, Earl of, 175, note. Sundon, Lady, patronizes Bishop Pearce, and Bishop Hoadly, 205, note. Surrender of Westminster Abbey to Henry VIII., instrument of, 103, 104 — ditto of the estates of the Dean and Chapter to Queen Mary, 111. Surtees, Robert, Esq., his splendid history of Durham, 34, note. Sutton, Christopher, a Prebendary, 136, 137- Swift, Dean, supposed to have been concerned with Atterbury in writing a libellous pamphlet, 192. Synods, held at Westminster, in the Abbey Church, 25 — in St. Katherine's Chapel, 35 — 37, 157- Sypenham, given to the Abbey, 17- Syward, Prior, 12. T. Taurinus, Bishop of Evreux, 82, note. Taxeda, John, translates the Litany into Spanish, 143, and note. Tedding/on, given to the monks of Westminster, 11. Temple, the New, a council held at, 6"8. Tesselated pavement, brought by Abbot Ware from the continent, 64. Theobald, an eminent monk of Westminster,-47. Thirleby, Thomas, appointed Bishop of West- minster, 105 — extent of his diocese, ib. — im- poverishes and surrenders his bishopric, 106 — made Bishop of Ely, 107 — imprisoned at Lam- beth, and death, ib. Thomas, Dr. John, made Dean of Westminster, 208 — his education and preferments, 209 — dies, 210 — his bequests, and character, ib. Rev. G. A., 210. Rev. J., 208. Thomas, John, three bishops of that name, 211, note. Thorney Island, the ancient name of Westmin- ster, 4. INDEX. Tilbury Marsh, given to the Abbey, 29. Tindall, Dr. Humphrey, 130. Todington, exchanged with Henry VIII., 103. Totkill Fields, or iut-hill, abbots of Westminster privileged to hold an annual fair here, 50 — a weekly market, 62 — and a fair on the festival of St. Mary Magdalen, ib. Tounson, Dr. Robert, made Dean of Westmin- ster, 131 — and Bishop of Salisbury, ib. — his decease and character, 132. , Dr. 214, note. Treasury of Edward I. (within the Abbey), robbed, 68. Trelawny, Sir Jonathan, bart., Bishop of Exeter, 186. Trevor, Sir John, Master of the Rolls, 186, 187. Trivium, explained, 32, note. Trumbull, Sir William, his character of Dean Dolben, 173. Trnmpington, William de, Abbot of St. Alban's, 40. Tumult, at Westminster, a great one, its origin and consequences, 42, 45. Turveston, manor of, given to the Abbey, 65, note. U, Usher, the Lord Primate, 159. V. Valence, William de, charged with giving money to poison the English nobility, 56, note. Vaughan, Dr., Bishop of London, 132. Venerable Bede, 7, II. Verses, in memory of Henry III., 6l. on Archbishop Langham, 76, 79* Villiers, Marquis of Buckingham, patronizes Dean Williams, 135 — protects monopolists, 138 — departs secretly for Spain with Prince Charles, 142 — created Duke of Buckingham, 143 — displeased with the Lord Keeper, 144 — projects the sale of the crown lands, and the sequestration of Deaneries, 145 — reconciled to Dean Williams, 151 — assassinated, ib. , George, second Duke of Buckingham, 174, and note — composes the Rehearsal, 178. Villoclare, Secretary, his haughty conduct, 146. Vincent, Dr. William, made Dean of Westmin- ster, 219 — chiefly educated at Westminster School, and made second master, ib. — his chief objects of study, 220 — appointed head master, ib. — vindicates the British constitu- tion, 221 — account of his principal writings, ib. 222 — his defence of public education, 223 — and honourable appointment to the Deanery, ib. — conversation with the King, 224, note — repairs the rectory at Islip, ib. — his death and character, 225 — eulogium on him by Cumber- land the dramatist, ib. note. — recommends the restoration of Henry VII.'s Chapel, 226. Virgin Mary, chapel of the, first built at West- minster, 41, 47. , her image richly decked, 62. Vitalis, Abbot, sent for to govern at Westmin- ster, 29 — his death, ib. W. Wake, Dr., 186, note. , Dr., Archbishop of Canterbury, 204. Wall, Dr., 200. — , Dr., chaplain to Henry V II., 98. Waller, the poet, 119, 174. Walpole, Sir Robert, writes against Sacheverell, 188, note — his administration opposed by Bishop Atterbury, 192 — details the particu- lars of Bishop Atterbury's plot, 193 — censured in Atterbury's epitaph, 198. Walsingham, Sir Francis, 118. Walter, Abbot, first wears the mitre, and other honours, in St. Katherine's Chapel, 37 — grants out the Abbev lands in fee-farm, 38 — his death, ib. Walt ham, Abbot of, refuses to lend money to Henry III., 55. , John, Bishop of Salisbury, buried in the Abbey Church, 85. Wandsivorth, or Wandlesworth, given to the Abbey, 29. Ward, Everard, 194. Ware, or Warren, Richard dc, made abbot by compromission, 58 — excommunicated by the Bishop of Worcester, 63 — employed on various foreign missions, ib. 64 — dies, ib. Warner, Bishop, the founder of Bromley Col- lege, 207. Warnerus, or Warner, a monk of Westminster, his works, 32, note. Watson, Dr., Bishop of LlandafF, 221. Watts, Dr., Archdeacon of Middlesex, 118. Welsted, Leonard, B. D. I73. Wenceslam, Emperor of Germany, 85. Wenloclc, Walter de, made abbot by compromis- sion, 65 — excommunicated, 66 — committed to the Tower on a charge of robbing the King's treasury at Westminster, 68 — dies, 69 — his services and bequests to the Abbey, 69. Westerham, manor of, given to the Abbey, 65, note. Westminster, why so called, 4 — St. Peter said to have founded a chapel here, ib. — great tu- mult at, and its consequences, 42, 45 — spoiled by soldiers, 59 — becomes the seat of a Bishop, 105 — its civil affairs regulated by 7 parliament, 117 — its privileges maintained, 138. INDEX, Westminster Abbey, founded by King Sebert, 4 — miraculous consecration of the church, 5, 6 — enquiry as to its real founder, 6, 10 — Church repaired and enlarged by King Offa, 13 — monks dispersed, 14 — made a convent of Benedictines by St. Dunstan, 15 — state of in Edward the Confessor's time, 18 — how re- built, 22 — solemnly dedicated, 23 — supplied with monks from Exeter, 27 — William the Norman crowned here, 28 — its revenues mis- applied, 33 — its charters confirmed, with addi- tional privileges, 34 — its estates restored, and the monastery repaired, 35 — exempted from episcopal jurisdiction, 41, 42 — visited by a papal commission, 45 — obtains new privileges, 46, 47 — Church partly rebuilt by Henry the Third, 48 — made an exempt jurisdiction, 49 — a vessel of Christ's blood deposited here, ib. 50 — dissensions between the abbot and monks of, 53, 55 — its abbots obliged to be confirmed at Rome, 57 — cost of rebuilding the Church to the year 1261, 58 — its ancient customs and usages recorded in a work now lost, 64, note —the new Church opened for divine service with vast pomp, 59, 60 — Henry III. buried here, 61 — his rich gifts to the Church, 62— monastic buildings partly destroyed by fire, 67 — irregularities of the monks, 71 — cloisters and monk's parlour built, 74 — bequests to, of Cardinal Langham, 79 — monastic buildings improved, 80 — the Church profaned by a bar- barous murder, and shut up, 82 — the western part of the Church rebuilt, 88 — Edward the Fourth's queen takes sanctuary here, 9 1 , 94, 97 — the monks privileged to take holy orders at the age of twenty-one, 93 — great west win- dow of the Church erected, 97 — Henry the Seventh's Chapel built, 98, 100 — visited by papal commission, 100 — surrendered to Henry VIII., 103 — the Church advanced to the dig- nity of a Cathedral, 105 — re-established as an Abbey, 110, 111 — surrendered to Queen Eli- zabeth, and re-founded as a collegiate Church, 115 — the Church repaired by Dean Williams, 136 — visited by the French ambassadors, 146 — defended by a guard, 157 — attacked by a riotous mob, 159, 160 — superstitious monu- ments in, ordered to be destroyed, and copes burnt, 163 — its plate melted, 165 — a morning lecture established here, 108 — assembly of di- vines meet here, 169 — Church repaired, 1/1 — again repaired, 1/8 — state of the Church in Queen Anne's time, 1 79 — '84 ; charges of re- pairs to 1733, 202 — west front of the Church completed, 203 — choir fitted up, 21 1 — theatre of Handel's commemoration, ib. — damaged by fire, and repaired, 226. Westminster, Bishopric of, founded and endowed by Henry VIII., 105— surrendered and sup- pressed, 106 — its diocese consigned to the See of London, 107- Weston, Hugh, made Dean of Westminster, 110 — removed to Windsor, 112 — accused of adul- tery and drunkenness, ib. — his decease, ib. , Lord Treasurer, 156. Wharton, Duke of, 195, 199 — his character of Bishop Atterbury, 200, note. Wheathampstead, given to the Abbey, 25. Whiston, accused as a promulgator of Arianism, 189, note — his character of Dr. Bradford, 202, note. Whitacre, Mr., a Presbyterian minister, 164, note. Whitehall, (formerly York Place), becomes the palace of Henry VIII., 101. Whitehead, Mr. David, 109, note. Whitgift, Archbishop, H7. Wicliffe, John, the great reformer, ejected from his mastership at Oxford, 77. Wideville, Elizabeth, queen of Edward IV., takes sanctuary at Westminster, 91 — her distress, 93, 95 — delivers up her sons to the Archbishop of York, 96 — submits to Richard III., 97 — retires to Bermondsey Abbey, ib. Widmore, his Enquiry into the origin of West- minster Abbey, 6, 10 — controverted, ib. — his opinion on the first appointment of an arch- deacon of Westminster, 49 — his account of the building of Henry the Vllth's Chapel, 98. Wilcocks, Dr. Joseph, appointed Dean of West- minster, 202 — his exemplary conduct at Lis- bon, ib. 203 — made preceptor to George II.'s daughters, ib. — promoted to the See of Ro- chester, and declines further preferment, ib. — his death, ib. , Joseph, Esq., author of ' Roman Con- versations,' 203, and note. Wilkins, Dr., Bishop of Chester, 175. Williams, Dr. John, his descent, and indefati- gable studies, 132 — his promotions, 133 — pa- tronized by the Lord Chancellor Egerton, ib. 134 — obtains the friendship of Villiers, Mar- quis (and afterwards Duke) of Buckingham, 135 — made Dean of Westminster, ib. — repairs the Abbey Church, !36 — establishes a library at Westminster, and increases the scholarships, 137— his good advice to James I., 138— ap- pointed Lord Keeper, 139 — and Bishop of Lincoln, ib. — consecrated in Henry VII. 's Chapel, 140 — his upright conduct, 141 — pro- motes the Spanish match, 143 — displeases the Duke of Buckingham, ] 44 — yet dissuades him from his projects, 145 — entertains the French ambassadors, ib. 146 — prepares James the First for death, 147 — calumniated, and de- prived of the Great Seal, 148 — forbidden to INDEX. assist at the coronation of Charles I., 149 — supports the Petition of Right, 150 — recon- ciled to the Duke of Buckingham, 151 — ha- rassed to resign his Deanery, but refuses, ib. — advises King Charles to moderation, 152 — persecuted in the court of Star-Chamber, ib. — heavily fined, suspended, and committed to the Tower, 153 — his possessions seized and illegally squandered, 154 — prosecuted in the High Commission Court, 155 — fined on a charge of scandalum magnatum, 156 — appeals to parliament, 157 — released from imprison- ment, and all proceedings against him or- dered to be cancelled and erased, ib. 158 — falsely accused by Lord Clarendon of betray- ing the rights of episcopacy, 1 59, and of caus- ing the death of the Earl of Strafford, ib.— made Archbishop of York, 160 — defends the Abbey from a riotous attack, and his person endangered, ib. — writes the ' Bishops' Protesta- tion,' and sent to the Tower, 161 — his life in danger, 1 62 — flies into Wales, ib. — resigns his Deanery at Oxford, ib. — his decease and cha- racter, 163. Williams, Elizabeth, niece to the Lord Keeper, m. — , Griffith, a Prebendary, 136. , Sir Griffith, 163. William, King, the Norman, crowned at West- minster, 28 — his grants to the Church, 29 — his letter to the abbot of Fescamp, 30, note. III., and Queen Mary, 185. Wilton, John, a learned monk of Westminster, 79- Windebank, Secretary, 153. Windsor, granted to Westminster Abbey by Ed- ward the Confessor, 25 — exchanged for other lands by Abbot Edwyn, 28. Wiseman, Sir Richard, a Kentish knight, killed in a riot at the Abbey Church, 160. Wither, George, the poet, invested in regal ha- biliments at Westminster, 164. Wittlesey, Archbishop of Canterbury, 77- Witlakesfield, hamlet of, given to the Abbey, 165, note. Wlsius, or Wulsinus, Abbot, made Bishop of Sherborne, 16 — his sanctity and miracles, ib. Wokendune, given to the Abbey, 29. Wolsey, Cardinal, his visitation of the Abbey, 100. Wood, Anthony, author of the ' Athen. Oxon.' 164. Woodstock, a council at, held by Henry the Second, 37. Worth, Sir Thomas, 107- Wotton, Sir Henry, J 65. — his ' Reflections on Learning,' 185. Wren, Matthew, Dr., l65. , Sir Christopher, his opinion on Roman buildings, 4 — his account of the Abbey Church in Queen Anne's time, 179, J 84. Wulnoth, Abbot, a favourite of King Canute, 17. Wulsinus, a monk, his dream, 4. Wulstan, Bishop of Worcester, retains his See through a miracle, 25, 26. Wyalt, James, Esq., 211. ■ , Sir Thomas, 160. Wykes, Thomas, a canon of Osney, 48 — his ac- count of the ceremony of translating the body of St. Edward, 59, 60. Wynne, Sir Watkin Williams, 211. Y. Yates, Sir Joseph, 210. , Lady Elizabeth, 209. York Cathedral, Archbishop Williams inthroned here, 162. York, Duke of, son to Edward III., his conduct regarding a conspiracy, 87- — — , Duke of, afterwards James II., 169. Place, now Whitehall, 94, note. Young, Robert, his infamous conspiracy against Bishop Sprat, 176 — punished, 177. CORRECTIONS. Page 17, line 15, for sanctoram, read sanctorum. — — 50, note f, line 1, for Additimenta, read Additamenta. 103, line 7, for Berkshire, read Buckinghamshire. 194, line 1, for gates, read grates. END OF VOLUME THE FIRST. T. DAVISON, LOMBARD- STREET, WH1TKFKIARS, LONDON. HISTORICAL AND Architectural Account OF KING HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL, AT WESTMINSTER; WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE Sculpture an* Monuments IN THAT EDIFICE. v « AN HISTOKICAL ACCOUNT OF KING HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL. HISTORICAL PARTICULARS OF HENRY THE SEVENTH^ CHAPEL; FROM THE PERIOD OF ITS FOUNDATION TILL THE YEAR 1822. The Chapel of King Henry the Seventh, or more properly speak- ing, of the Virgin Mary, to whom it was dedicated, is the most florid example of the Pointed Style of Architecture that exists in this Country : it is likewise the most perfect example ; nearly the whole fabric having recently undergone a complete repair, at the National expense. Leland calls this Chapel ' Orbis Miraculum,' or the Miracle of the World ; and though the justness of his encomium may reasonably be questioned, it cannot be denied, but that the architectural splendour of this edifice is of the highest order. The boldness and ingenuity of the design, and the scientific principles evinced in carrying it into execution, excite our admiration in a very extraordinary degree ; nor is the interest at all decreased by its exube- rancy of ornament, the Pointed Style admitting of that extreme variety which, in Classic Architecture, would be esteemed a defect. In the construction of the vaulting, and in the airy elegance exhibited by its pendant drops and elaborate tracery, we discover the most profound geometrical skill, united to luxuriant invention and good taste ; its sculptured figures, various in attitude, and correct in form, have been distinguished by the approbation of one of the most eminent Artists of the present time * ; and its casts in metal, as displayed in the figures and alto-relievos on Henry's Tomb, have, probably, never been exceeded. * Flaxraan : — in his Lectures at the Royal Academy, delivered in 1821. A 2 4 HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL. Though built at so late a period as the commencement of the 16th century, there are very few contemporary documents known to be extant, relating to this Chapel ; and of those few, but little satisfactory use has hitherto been made. Future inquirers, perhaps, will be more fortunate, and accident may bring to light those particular deeds and contracts which were entered into for the construction and embellishment of this edifice ; but which, on the present occasion, have been sought for in vain. Henry the Seventh, when advancing in years, and firmly seated on the throne, appears to have been alarmed by the ' compunctious visitings' of a guilty conscience ; and though still governed by an intense avarice, to have thought it necessary to make his peace with Heaven, by sacrificing a portion of his treasures in works of Charity and Devotion ; and in instituting a perpetual observance of those religious, or rather superstitious, rites and cere- monies Avhich originated in a belief of the power of the Romish Church to obtain pardon for sin. The ' weal of his soul' was to be secured by the chaunting of psalms, the saying of collects, and the establishment of masses, requiems, anniversaries, &c. intermixed, however, with the more useful distri- bution of alms to the poor. That his views might not be defeated from the want of intercessional agency, he determined to add a new Saint to the Calendar, by procuring the Canonization of Henry the Sixth ; and application for that purpose was made to the Papal See. There was also another motive for this application; namely, a desire to advance the honour of his own lineage : for, although he was chiefly indebted to the Yorkists for his advance to the Throne, his prejudices against them induced him to rest his title upon his descent from the House of Lancaster, and as next heir to his devout predecessor ; who was held in much esteem for his superior sanctity, and whose reliques were reputed to have wrought Miracles. Henry's first intention was to build and endow a Chapel for the above Sovereign at Windsor (whither his body had been removed from Chertsey by Richard the Third), and to erect a stately Monument therein over his remains*. With this view, and with the further design of making it his own burial-place, he solicited permission from the Holy See to dissolve the two * In the British Museum, Bibl. Cott. Augustus II, is a beautiful drawing, in outline, of the Monument intended for Henry the Sixth. COMMENCEMENT OF THE BUILDING. 5 religious houses of Montesfont in Hampshire, and Luffield, in Buckingham- shire, in order to arrange the endowments of his intended foundation. In this state of the proceedings, the Abbot and Convent of Westminster peti- tioned the King, claiming to have the body of Henry removed into their Church," as being the place he himself, in his life-time, had chosen for his own burial." This, however, being disputed by the establishments of Chertsey and of Windsor, the claims of all the parties were argued before the King, in Council ; and on the third hearing, unanimously decided in favour of Westminster. By this decision, the King was influenced to erect his Chapel on the spot where it now stands. He likewise obtained from Pope Julius the Second the requisite license for the removal of Henry's remains to the Abbey Church ; yet it is extremely questionable w hether this was ever carried into effect* : the design of canonizing him was certainly given up, the Court of Rome requiring a greater sum for that exaltation than the King was dis- posed to pay. Henry the Seventh's Chapel must have been commenced sometime previously to the month of January 1502-3 ; as the first stone was then laid; and it was completed in about twelve or fourteen years after that period. The Chapel of our Lady, or St. Mary, which had been founded by Henry the Third, in 1220 ; an adjoining Tavern, called the White Rose ; and a small Chapel, dedicated to St. Erasmus, which was built by Elizabeth Widville, Edward the Fourth's Queen, were all taken down to make room for the new structure : it seems probable, also, that a part of the site had been once occupied by the Poet Chaucer, to whom ' a Tenement in a garden,' adjoining to St. Mary's Chapel, was leased by Robert Harmodesworth, Chaplain, in 1399, for fifty-three years, at the yearly rent of fifty-three shillings and sixpence, with liberty to distrain for a fortnight's arrears t. * Widmore, vide " Hist." p. 121, states, from the ' Sacrisl's Accounts,' that tlie body of Henry VI. was actually removed hither from Windsor, in 1501, by the Convent, at the expense of 500/. Yet this could not have been the fact ; for the licence of Pope Julius to remove the King's remains bears date on the 13th of the Kal. of June, 1504 ; and Henry the Seventh, in his own Will, dated in 1509, expressly mentions his intention to translate ' right shortly,' into the Monastery of Westmin- ster, ' the bodie and reliquies of our Vncle of blissed niemorie King Henry the Vlth.' In the Will of Henry the Eighth is also mentioned the King's intention to repair Henry the Sixth's Tomb; which, according to Ashmole's Berkshire, t: stood between the Choir and the Altar, under an arch on the south side." f A copy of the original Lease was engraved by the direction of Dr. Rawlins'on, in 1/52. 6 HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL. Holinshed has recorded the ensuing particulars relating to the com- mencement and expense of this Chapel : — An. Reg. 18 ; 1503. " In this eighteenth year, the twentie fourth daie of Januarie, a quarter of an houre afore three of the clocke at after noone of the same daie, the first stone of our ladie chapell within the monasterie of Westminster was laid, by the hands of John Islip, abbat of the same monasterie, Sir Reginald Braie knight of the garter, doctor Barnes maister of the rolles, doctor Wall chapleine to the kings maiestie, maister Hugh Oldham chapleine to the countesse of Darbie and Richmond the kings mother, sir Edmund Stanhope knight, and diuerse others. Vpon the same stone was this scripture ingraven : ' Illustrissimus Henricus Septimus rex Anglise & Franciae, & dominus Hiberniae, posuit hanc petram, in honore beatae virginis Marias, 24 die January ; anno Domini 1502 : Et anno dicti regis Henrici septimi decimo octauo.' The charges whereof amounted (as some report, vpon credible information as they say) to foureteene thousand pounds*." Stow's account of this building is merely a repetition of the above ; but he adds ; " the stone for this worke (as I have beene informed) was brought from Huddlestone quarrie in Yorke shire j*." In the Will of Henry the Seventh, which is now preserved among the Exchequer records in the Chapter-House at Westminster, there are various interesting particulars concerning this Chapel, and the King's Tomb. The following extracts will illustrate the subject ; and the exordium will shew the state of the King's mind, when within a few days of his expected dis- solution. This Instrument was began at Richmond, on the last day of March, 1509; and completed at Canterbury on the 10th of April following. It commences thus : " In the name of the m'rciful Trinitie the fader the son and the Holie Gost thre P'sones and oon god,We Henry," &c. " being entier of mynde and hool of bodie, the laude and praise to owre lord god, make this oure laste wille and testament in the maner and fourme hereafter ensuing.'' — He then recommends his Soul to the merciful hands of Him who redeemed and made it, and to the Lord Jesus Christ, and proceeds in these words : — " And howebeit I am a synfull creature, in synne conceivied, and in synne have lived, knowing p'fitely that of my merits I cannot atteyne to the lif eu'rlasting, * Hoi. " Chron." Vol. III. p. 529. Edit. 1808. f " Survay of Lond." p. 380. Edit. 1598. EXTRACTS FROM THE KING'S WILL. 7 but oonly by the merits of thy blessed passion and of thi infinite m'cy and grace, Nathelesse my moost m'ciful redemer, maker, and salviour, I truste that by the special grace and m'cy of thi moost blissed moder euir Yirgyne, oure lady saincte Mary, in whom after the, in this mortall lif hath eu'rbeen my moost singulier trust and confidence, To whom in al my necessities I have made my con- tinue! refuge, and by whom I have hiderto in al myne adu'rsities eu'r had my sp'ial comforte and relief, wol nowe in my moost extreme nede, of her infinite pitie take my soule into her hands, and it p'sent vnto her moost dere Son : Whereof s wettest lady of m'cy, veray moder and virgin, Welle of pitie and surest refuge of al nedefull, moost humbly, moost entierly, and moost hertely I beseche the : And for my comforte in this behalve, I trust also to the singuler mediations and praiers of all the holie companie of heven ; that is to saye, Aungels, Archaungels, patriarches, prophets, Apostels, Eu'nge- lists, martirs, confessours, and virgyns, and sp'ially to myne accustumed avoures I calle and crie, Sainct Michaell, Sainct John Baptist, Saint John Eu'ngelist, saint George, saint Anthony, sainct Edward, saint Vincent, saint Anne, saint Marie Magdalene, and Saint Barbara; humbly beseching you not oonly at the houre of dethe, soo to aide, soccour and defende me, that the auncient and gostely enemye, ner noon other euill or dampnable esprite, haue no powar to invade me, ner with his ter- riblenesse to annoye me ; but also with your holie praiers, to be intercessours and mediatours vnto our maker and redemer, for the remission of my synnes and saluacion of my soule. " ffor the King's 1 "And forasmoche as we haue receved oure solempe coronacion, and holie Sepulture." J Inunccion, within our monastery of Westm'., and that within the same monasterie is the com'en sepulture of the Kings ofthisReame; and sp'ially bicause that within the same, and among the same Kings, resteth the holie bodie and reliquies of the glorious King and Confessour Sainct Edward, and diuse other of our noble progenitours and blood, and sp'ially the body of our graunt Dame of right noble memorie Quene Kateryne, wif to King henry the V th ., and doughter to king Charles of ffraunce ; and that we by the grace of God, p'opose right shortely to translate into the same, the bodie and reliques of our Vncle of blissed memorie King Henry the. VP\ ffor theis, and diuse other causes and consideracions vs sp'ially moevyng in that behalf, we Wol that whensoever it shall please our Salviour J~hu Crist to calle vs oute of this transitorie lif, be it within this our Hoyme, or in any other Reame or place vvithoute the same, that oure bodie bee buried within the same mo- " The King's \ nastery ; That is to saie, in the Chapell where our said graunt Dame laye buried ; the Chapell." J which Chapell we have begoune to buylde of newe, in the honour of our blessed Lady. " The King's"! And we wol that our Towmbe bee in the myddes of the same Chapell, before the high Towmbe." 5 Aultier, in such distaunce from the same as it is ordred in the plat made for the same Chapell, and signed with our hande: In which place we Wol, that for the said Sepulture of vs and our derest late wif the Quene, whose soule God p'donne, be made a Towmbe of Stone called touche, " The King's •» sufficient in largieur for vs booth: And upon the same, oon ymage of our figure, and Ymage." j an other of hers, either of them of copure and gilte, of suche faction, and in suche maner, as shalbe thought moost conuenient by the discrecion of our executours, yf it be not before doon by our self in our daies. And in the borders of the same towmbe, bee made a conuenient scrip- ture, conteignyng the ycres of our reigne, and the daie and yere of our decesse. And in the sides, and booth ends of our said towmbe, in the said touche vnder the said bordure, wee Wol tabernacles bee graven, and the same to be filled with Ymages, sp'cially of our said avouries, of coper and gilte. Also we Wol that incontinent after our decesse, and after that our bodye be buried within the said towmbe, the bodie of our said late wif the Quene bee translated from the place where it nowe is 4 8 HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL. buried, and brought and laide with oure bodye in our said towmbe, yf it be not soo doon by our self "The grate ^ in our daies. Also we Wol, that by a conuenient space and distaunce from the for the towmbe."/ grees of the high Aultier of the said Chapell, there be made in lenght and brede aboute the said tombe, a grate, in maner of a Closure, of coper and gilte, after the faction that we have begoune, whiche we Wol be by our said Executours fully accomplisshed and p'fourmed. And within the same grate, at owre fete, after a conuenient distaunce from our towmbe, bee maid an Aultier, in the honour of our Salviour Jh'u Crist, streiglit adioynying to the said grate, At which Aultier we Wol, certaine preists daily saie masses, for the weale of our soule and remission of our synnes, vnder such maner and fourme as is couuenanted and agreed betwext vs, and th'abbot, Priour and Conuent, of our said monasterye of Westm . and as more sp'ially appereth by certaine writings indented, made vpon the same, and passed aggreed and concluded, betwix us and the said Abbot, Priour and Conuent, vnder ourgrete Seale and signed with our owen hand for our partie, and the conuent Seale of the said Abbot Priour and Conuent for their partie, and remayneng of recorde in the Rolles of our Chauncellary. " The finisshing of "\ eralpalrcnofZit& .ZoruOm I'uhli.ehM Jan'jiSiJ. by J<£NeuU iSJiennett Strfikck/riarsJifadSiBiv'se/iobtnton Ic&Cheapelki. by JjPN&Zle. DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERIOR. 43 ornaments and the pendants, are all occupied by corresponding tracery; as are, likewise, those which intervene between the pendants and the side walls. The scantlings of the stones with which the Vaulting is constructed, vary according to situation, but, in general, the thickness of each stone may be stated at from ten to fourteen inches; the pannelling and ornaments, however, are in some parts so deeply relieved, that this thickness is reduced to less than three inches. Roofs of timber, covered with lead, extend over the Vaultings, both of the body of the Chapel and of the side aisles. The beautiful proportions and ornaments of the clerestory windows have been already described in the account of the exterior; and, as their internal architecture is so nearly similar, further notice is unnecessary. The west window, which is of far superior magnitude to any other, can be seen only from the inside ; or from the leads over the Porch. It is separated, in the upright, into three principal divisions, and transversely, into five ; but the lower division, which is not glazed, consists of pannelled arches, whose head-lines merge into small circles, including quatrefoils and minute ornaments: all the transoms are embattled. The upper lights of the side divisions are wrought with elegant tracery; but the central division is nearly plain. At the basement of the lower pannelling is a range of fourteen demi-angels, supporting the King's badges, crowned, as before described. These figures surmount the cornice over the entrance gates; and, together with them and the window itself, occupy the whole expanse of the west end of the nave*. All the windows of this edifice were originally filled with Painted Glass; and it is a remarkable fact, that it was thought to possess so much excellence as to be referred to, as an example, or pattern, in the Indentures for glazing the Chapel of King's College, at Cambridge; which was founded by Henry the Vlth, but not completed till several years after the decease of Henry the Vllth, who directed his Executors to advance whatever sums might be necessary for the purpose. In the earliest of those Indentures, which was made on the last day of April, in the 8th of Hen. VIII. [anno 1516] between Dr. Robert Hacombleyn, * Vide the ' Section of the West End,' Pi-ate LV: the frame-work of the timber-roof, and the mode of its arrangement, are shewn in the same Plate, and in Plate LIV. F 2 44 HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL. Provost of King's College, &c. on the ' one partie,' and Galyon Hoone, Richard Bownde, Thomas Reve, and James Nycholson, * Glasyers,' on the other part, it was covenanted that the latter should " glase and sette up, or cause to be glased and sett up eightene wyndowes of the upper story of the great churche within the kynge's college of Cambridge, whereof the wyndowe in the este endeof the seid churche to be oon, and the windowe in the weste ende to be another; and so seryatly the resydue with good, clene, sure and perfyte glasse and oryent colors and imagery of the story of the olde lawe and of the new lawe, after the forme, maner, goodenes, curiousytie, and clene- lynes, in every poynt of the glasse windowes of the kynge's newe chapel 1 at Westminster ; and also accordyngly and after suche maner as oon Barnard Flower glasyer late deceased by Indenture stode bounde to doo." — The same glaziers agreed, also, to ' delyver or cause to be delyvered' to Ffraunces Wylliamson and Symond Symondes, ' glasyers/ or to " either of them, good and true patrons, otherwyse called a vidimus, for to fourme glasse and make by other four wyndowes of the said churche ;" — which the said Wylliamson and Symondes had, by another Indenture, dated on the 3d of May, in the same year, undertaken to execute, ' after the forme,' &c. " of the Kynge's newe chapell at Westminster;" and for which they were to be paid, " for the glasse, workmanship and setty ng up of every foot of the seid glasse by them to be provided, wrought and sett up after the forme abovesaid, sixtene pence sterlinges*." It may be inferred from the above passages, that the windows of this Chapel were embellished with Historical Imagery, both from the Old and the New Testament; yet, whatever might have been the subjects, the only figure of particular importance that now remains, is that of Henry the * Walpole's " Anecdotes of the Arts," Vol. I. App. Symondes was an inhabitant of St. Mar- garet's, Westminster; and John a More, one of his securities, is described as of the same parish : the other glaziers resided in Southwark and London. " As much as we imagine ourselves arrived at higher perfection in the arts," says Walpole, " it would not be easy for a Master of a College now to go into St. Margaret's parish, or Southwark, and bespeak a dozen or two of windows so admirably drawn, and order them to be sent home by such a day, as if he was bespeaking a chequered pave- ment, or a church Bible. Even those obscure artists, Williamson, Symonds, Flower, Hoone, &c. would figure as considerable painters in any reign ; and what a rarity in a collection of drawings would be one of their vidimuses !" Ibid. p. 172. Whenever the contracts for embellishing the win- dows of Henry the Vllth's Chapel are discovered, it will probably be found, that some or other of the above persons, and particularly Flower, were employed in executing and ' setting them up." ACCOUNT OF THE PAINTED GLASS. 45 Seventh, in the middle compartment of the upper east window; he is clad in crimson drapery, and wears a similar cap to the statue upon his tomb: a label, inscribed with a sentence in black letter, proceeds from his mouth, but the words having been inverted in the re-glazing, it cannot now be read : at his feet is a small angel. Strype, speaking of these windows, says, " every light is composed of diapered and well-painted glass, each pane containing either a red rose, the badge and cognizance of the House of Lancaster, or a text the initial of the royal builder's name*. At the present time, however, but few panes, comparatively, are thus ornamented ; much of the glass having been broken, or removed, whilst the Chapel was in a state of dilapidation. What remains has been distributed in the different windows; all of which, except those at the west end, were rebuilt, and new glazed, during the late repairs-]-. The small lights in the clerestory windows contain fleurs de lis, roses, lions, &c. In the lower east window, are numerous lozenge-shaped panes having the initials ft. crowned ; and it is remarkable that Henry's favourite cognizance, the Dragou, is represented as forming the cross part of the Among the larger specimens, are the arms of Henry the Vllth, and Eliz. of York, his Queen: the red rose-tree, with ft. beneath; the rleur de lis; the portcullis; and white and red roses, both separate and conjoined: over most of these badges is the royal crown : in the other chapels and side aisles, the * Strype's " Stovv's Lond." Vol. II. p. 1 1 : Edit. 1720. f Among the small panes formerly in these windows, were several depicted with the cognizance of Margaret Tudor, mother of Henry VII, viz. a root, or knot, of daisies j and others, having an initial surmounted by a crown with a branch going through it, in allusion to the finding of Richard the Illd's crown in a hawthorn bush after the battle of Bosworth field. Not any of them are now pre- served in this Chapel ; but in the east window of the Abbey Church, there is a broken piece of glass which has been substituted for a martlet in Edward the Confessor's arms, whereon the latter subject is represented. It is a curious fact, that the large Painting on glass of the Crucifixion, which now forms the west window of St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, was expressly designed for this Chapel; it having been executed by order of the Magistrates of Dort, in Holland, who designed it as a present to Henry the Seventh ; but that monarch dying before its completion, it passed into other hands. It includes the portraits both of Henry and his Queen, who are kneeling at their devotions, under the figures of St. George and St. Katharine, their patron Saints. The time stated to have been occupied in executing it was five years : the portraits were copied from original pictures sent over to Holland for that purpose. 46 HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL. King's initials are the only subjects. In the west window, the upper circles, and the spandrils of the tracery, are enriched with the King's badges, crowned ; an ostrich feather, several times repeated ; and two small figures in long mantles : the arched heads of the regular divisions contain the pinnacles, &c. of various canopies. In regard to the colours, some of the blues are rich, and the reds particularly fine : the shadowed parts are mostly thick, and but imperfectly vitrified. The ponderous folding Gates which open into this Chapel from the ves- tibule, are generally said to be made of brass, gilt, yet that is not absolutely the fact, the internal framing being of massive oak, through which the brass- work is strongly riveted and screwed. They assimilate so nearly, both in workmanship and decorations, with the screen round the Founder's tomb, that hardly a doubt can be entertained of their having been wrought by the same artizans who executed that curious inclosure ; but whose names are no longer remembered. These Gates are all hung under stone arches ; the great or central pair are pointed at the top, and the side ones very slightly so : between them, and at the sides, are octagonal pillars, surrounded by triplicated bands, and on their summits, is either a lion, a dragon, or a greyhound. Below the cornices of the smaller arches, are compartments of rich pannelling ; the rose and portcullis are sculptured in the spandrils : those of the great arch include quatrefoils in circles, and other orbicular forms. The central Gates are divided into sixty-two perforated compartments, of an oblong figure; besides six others at the turn of the arch, which are imperfect: the former include the following badges, &c. frequently repeated, viz. rose-branches intersecting a crown ; the portcullis, chained and crowned ; a root of daisies intersecting a coronet; three fleurs de lis; a falcon perched within an open fetter-lock, (which was a badge of Edward the IVth); three lions passant guardant ; and the initials 3£. conjoined by a knot, and crowned, but the letters are reversed*. The frame-work is studded with roses, dragons, and small knots, which form the heads of the screws and rivets : the badges and other figures are similarly relieved on both sides. In each of the smaller gates, * In the ' Section of the West End,' Plate LV, the Gates and all their ornaments are minutely represented ; but in Plate LIX, figs. 10 and 1 1, are different compartments, wherein all the varieties of badges are delineated more at large : the lock, in fig. 11, is that of the smaller gates on the north side. DESCRIPTION OF THE STALLS AND SEATS. 47 there are only twenty-eight pierced divisions ; all which are occupied by heraldic insignia, like those in the centre. A kind of buttress, in the pointed style, forms the line of closure in all the gates. On each side the nave, upon a raised flooring, extending from the west end to the great piers, is a row of oaken Stalls; surmounted by canopies most elaborately wrought; and of such considerable elevation, that the vaulting of the aisles is entirely hidden by them : in front are reading desks; and under the latter, on the pavement, are rows of Seats. The Sub-sella? (which turn back on hinges) both of the stalls and seats, display a very whimsical arrange- ment of historical, grotesque, and other carvings. Though the subjects are but little in unison with the sacred character of the building, there is far less impropriety here, than in many of the old choirs; wherein these ornaments " were made the reciprocal vehicle of satire between the regular and the secular clergy," and in which " the vices of either, be they what they might, were exhibited in images grossly indecorous With one exception, indeed, in which the ' Foul Fiend,' is grotesquely represented in the act of bearing off a Friar on his shoulder, there does not appear to be any conventual allusions in these carvings; and their general character is more humorous than indelicate t. * Dallaway's " Anecdotes of the Arts," p. 72. f In these Sub-sellce there are generally three compartments in high relief, viz. a central and two side ones ; the latter being mostly bordered by the foliage which branches out from the middle one : the figures are generally seated, or placed in inclined positions to accommodate them to the space. The principal subjects are as follow : — On the North side: under the principal stall ; Bacchanalians diverting themselves in a Vineyard: at the sides, Bunches of Grapes. Under the lesser stalls: a grotesque Fiend bearing off a Friar on his shoulders ; at the sides, a brawling Woman and a Monster beating a Drum. A Boor soliciting a Woman's favours by giving her money from his pouch, her hand being extended to receive it : at the sides, a Dragon devouring a plant, and a Hog playing on a pipe. A naked Man playing on a Violin, and a Woman, also naked, sitting before him, who appears to have been blowing some instrument, now broken : at the sides, Flowers. A Dragon, very finely carved : at the sides, a Dragon collared, and a Hedge-hog. An Eagle perched on a stump, to which two animal Monsters are chained and padlocked : a Cock in armour riding on a Fox, and a Fox in armour riding on a Cock. A Group of Apes, one of whom is seated on a small vessel, which another is pulling away: at the sides, grotesque Figures riding on a Ram and a Horse. A Monkey seated on the steps of a Wind-mill, and another winnowing corn in a basket. The Judgment of Solomon j at the sides, the Woman changing the dead child, and the quarrel between the Women. A Mermaid, with a mirror and comb: at the sides, Pomegranates. Fruit; Flowers; Foliage; Snakes, and animal Heads ; a fiery Monster amidst foliage ; a grotesque Mask ; Dragons and Foliage. — On the lower 48 HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL. Neither the Stalls nor Seats are all of the same period, as may be readily distinguished from the workmanship : those, which are co-eval with the completion of this edifice, extend to the third arch on each side ; the others were constructed on the revival of the Order of the Bath by George seats : Wild Men, fighting : at the sides, Foliage. David, with the Head of Goliath, before Saul : at the sides, David with the sling, and Goliath ; and Goliath seizing men over the walls of a castle. A gro- tesque Mask swallowing leaves. The Arms, crowned, of Henry VII, supported on the right, by a Dragon ; the left supporter, a Greyhound, has been broken off : at the sides, a bunch of Pomegranates, but the principal one is gone, and a Rose-branch. Clusters of Fruit, Foliage, and Flowers. Boys play- ing; Monsters' Heads; Dragons ; Dragons fighting; grotesque Animal Heads, in foliage; Flowers entwined by Snakes ; grotesque Masks ; a Phoenix ; Dragons and Snakes ; a Bear and a Lion ; bunches of Fruit, Foliage, and Roses. On the South side: under the principal stall; a Family Group, naked, in a garden ; at the sides, Roses. Under the lesser stalls : a grotesque Fiend seizing a Miser, whose riches are falling from a full-charged money-bag: at the sides, Fighting Cocks, and a Monkey beating a Drum. A Woman defending herself from the advances of a rude Boor, who is endeavouring to disarrange her kerchief and petticoats: at the sides, Flowers. Samson rending asunder the Lion's jaws: at the sides, Lions; one of which is preying upon a Sheep. A Dragon, finely carved : at the sides, a Dragon, coiled, and a Hedge-hog. Dragons seizing a wild Man : at the sides, a Boy assailed by Turkeys, and a Man tear- ing open a Lion's jaws. A Man attacked by a Bear ; Flowers and Foliage ; a couchant Lion. A group of Boys ; one is naked, with his head between another's knees, whilst a third is flogging him with a rod. Dragons fighting; a grotesque Scroll-like Head. A Monster amidst foliage ; Age, and Youth; a scaly Monster; Lions' Heads devouring Snakes; Snakes and Foliage; and a Snake entwining a Dragon. — On the lower seats: a Woman with a distaff knocking down a Man, who is attempting to save his head from her blows: at the sides, are two Zanies, one of whom is grinning ludicrously, and the other stretching his mouth open with both hands. A Woman chastising a Man, who seems to have broken her spinning wheel, with a rod, on his bare posteriors : at the sides, Pomegranates. A Woman repelling a male Figure (the head gone) from raising her garments : at the sides, a laughing Boy, and a Youth with a bird. A grotesque Man, naked, with a shield, guarding himself from another Figure, who is aiming at him with a bow and arrow. Boys sitting, with their hands tied together over their knees : at the sides, a Youth, with a shield and a banner; and a Youth riding on a Cock-horse. Grotesque Animals, playing. A group of Monkeys, one of which is fondling her young one: at the sides, a Bear, chained, playing on the bag-pipes ; and an Ape, chained, with a bottle. Foliage entwined by a Snake ; Monsters ; a Dragon ; a Lion ; Flowers ; a grotesque Mask swallowing leaves ; Foliage ; an Eagle grasping a Snake ; a wild Boar, and a grotesque Animal playing ; a group of Monsters and Snakes amidst foliage; the Head of Hercules; a Monster entwined by a Snake; a Dragon; a Mon- ster's Head devouring foliage, and another grasping a Snake; Foliage, and grotesque Heads. Some of the above Carvings are particularly bold and spirited, and the foliage is free and unre- strained ; but the human figures are, in general, clumsily proportioned, the limbs and body being too bulky for the height. DESCRIPTION OF THE STALLS AND SEATS. 49 the First. In their present state, there is one large stall at the west end, on each side; and fifteen lesser ones, running- eastward : the seats near the pave- ment are ranged in three divisions, which are separated from each other by as many flights of steps, five, or six, in a flight, for the conveniency of ascending to the stalls ; there are seven seats in the first division, on each side, and five in each of the others. The reading desks are supported by pannelled wains- cotting, with open arches, having perforated tracery in the heads: the soffits under the desks are likewise ornamented with tracery; within the compart- ments of which, in the two first divisions on the south side, are numerous small roses, fleurs de lis, pomegranates, and portcullisses, curiously carved in relief. At the base of the side pannelling of the principal stalls, are quatre- foils charged with roses and leaves, a castle, and a pomegranate; and in the upper parts, are branches of the Spanish nut, with fruit: the cornices are enriched with trailing vine branches, and bunches of grapes. At the sides of the steps, are small sitting figures, carved in oak, in monkish apparel, each sustaining a label. It would seem, also, from the grooves, &c. that, formerly, there were other figures at each extremity of the desks, though one only is remaining; namely, that of Henry the Seventh, who has some animal, now disfigured, lying couchant behind him. These figures are on the ledge of the principal stall on the north side : the King is looking towards the east; he is crowned, and arrayed in a long mantle with a deep collar*. Great ingenuity of design is displayed in the Canopies, not any two being alike ; but their very elaboration detracts from their gracefulness : they are mostly of an octagonal form, and consist of per- forated arches, pannelling, tracery, twisted columns, clustered pinnacles, and small domes. At the last Installation, two of the Canopies were displaced from their original positions near the west end, and affixed against the great piers, eastward, over new stalls, where they yet remain; but the stalls them- selves have been removed. It would seem, also, from the sty le of workman- ship, and other circumstances, that all the Canopies which surmount the stalls made in the reign of George the First, originally formed the back fronts of those which are known to be coeval with the Chapel. Since the Stalls were appropriated to the use of the Knights of the Bath, small plates of gilt copper (each measuring about 9 inches by 6± inches) have been fixed against the backs of each, emblazoned with the arms of the Knights by whom they have been occupied; and similar plates, with the arms and * Vide Plate LIX3 fig. 7 : in which, also, a part of the pannelling and cornice is shewn. 50 HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL. names of their Esquires, are fastened on the seats next the pavement. On the domes of the canopies are the shew helmets, crests, and swords of the Knights ; and over them, on a line with the demi-angels, surrounding the Chapel, are large silken Banners, painted with the arms of those who belonged to the Order at the period of the last Installation, in the year 1812*. Over the large stall on the south side, is a still larger Banner than the others, embroi- dered with the arms of England, as borne by George the First ; and above that on the north side, is a similar Banner, with the arms of Prince Frederick, his grandson. The Communion Table, which is of oak, stoutly framed, and evidently of the Tudor period, stands immediately before the west end of King Henry's Monument. Divine Service is only performed in this Chapel on particular occasions : when it was last celebrated here, the Abbey Church was occupied by the scaffolding for the Coronation of George the Fourth. * In the " View, looking East Plate LII, the interior of this Chapel is represented as it appeared during the last Installation, on the 1st of June, 1812. On that occasion, the late Princess Charlotte of Wales was seated in the box erected against the Screen of Henry the Vllth's tomb. A gallery, also, was erected over the Screen for the accommodation of the Choir ; and of the visitors introduced by the Tickets of the Knights and of the Church. His Royal Highness the Duke of York, who is first and principal Knight of the Order, is shewn as Great Master, on the north side of the annexed Print: the likeness, both of the Duke, and of the Princess Charlotte, is attempted to be pre- served. The late Duchess of York sat in a gallery at the west end of the Chapel. Under what circumstances this Chapel was first appropriated to the use of the Knights of the Bath, is unknown ; but there does not appear to have been any fixed place for the Installation of the Knights till after the revival and new-modelling of the Order, by George the First, in 1/25. Before that period it had not been customary to make Knights of the Bath, except at the solemnity of a Coronation, or on the creation of a Prince of Wales, or a Duke of York of the blood royal ; nor were they restrained to any particular number. By the above Sovereign, however, they were limited to thirty-six ; and all vacancies occasioned by deaths were supplied by new nominations, without respect to time. But a still greater alteration was made by his present Majesty, George the Fourth, in 1815 ; when, in consequence of our military and naval successes in the late wars, the Order was enlarged into two Classes : the first class to consist of Military Knights Grand Crosses, including the Sovereign, the Princes of the Blood-royal, and sixty Knights Companions, twelve Civic Knights Grand Crosses, and nine Honorary Knights, foreigners. The second Class to consist of an indefinite number of Knights Commanders, including Officers in the service of the King and of the East India Company. On the Coronation of Queen Mary, the ceremonies of the creation of the Knights were per- formed in the Tower, and the oath was read to them as they ;JEE> TOMB OF HENRY THE SEVENTH. 57 St. Mary Magdalene and St. Barbara are repre- sented. The former has long flowing hair : in her right hand is a closed book : in her left, the box, or vase, of precious ointment ; with which, accord- ing to the Scriptures, she anointed the feet of our Saviour. St. Barbara is distinguished by her three- windon ed Tower, significant of the Trinity, which she sustains in her right hand. The 2d Compartment includes the figures of St. Christopher, a gigantic native of Canaan; and St. Anne, the mother and instructress of the Vir- gin Mary. The former is represented, agreeably to his legend, as bearing the Saviour, under the form of a Child, upon his shoulder, across a river: in his left hand he holds the branch of a tree, in allusion to the great staff, which he is said to have carried in proportion to his strength ; and which on one occasion he set in the ground, where, ** to the conversion of many," it " presently waxed green, and brought forth leaves, and flowers, and fruit." St. Anne is reading in an open book: her countenance is venerable and strongly marked. In the 3d and last Compartment, are con- tained St. Edward the Confessor, crowned; and St. Vincent. St. Edward has been distinguished by the Ring, now gone, which he is reputed to have given, in Alms, to St. John the Evangelist when in the disguise of a Pilgrim. St. Vincent is in monkish vestments: he is pointing, with his right hand, to an open book, which he holds displayed, in his left hand. These figures are about eighteen or nineteen inches high, and like the statues upon the tomb, and other metal work, have been very richly gilt ; but the gilding, from the effects of time, is now only partially visible. They have been selected, as the description indicates, both from Sacred and from Legendary History, yet there can be little doubt that their respective stories, and presumed intercessional power, were fully believed in by the King; and it is deserving of remark, that they are all mentioned by name, with the exception of St. Christopher, in the prefatory part of his Will, as being his more especial avoures, or Patrons. It is probable that St. Christopher was associated with the others, in consequence of his having been regarded as the particular protector of Churches from Tempests and Earthquakes ; a distinction which he is thought to have obtained by his prayers, when on the point of martyrdom. In the general design and execution of these figures, there is such great merit, that it may be questioned whether they are exceeded by anv works of similar art in this country. Their atti- tudes are easy and graceful : the drapery is finely disposed, and the folds true to nature : the coun- tenances are expressive; and the finishing, though minute, is spirited and free. In all the spandrils, on the outside of the wreaths which inclose the above Compartments, are rose-branches, with an open rose on each. The fasciae of the plinth are of metal, neatly wrought with roses, lilies, and other flowers; and at the four angles are grotesque masks. At the west end of the tomb is a large full-leaved Rose, crowned, supported by a Dragon, holding a leash, in the sinister gamb; and a Greyhound, collared : at the east end, is a shield of arms, crowned, between two Genii ; and another, surrounded by a Garter : these are all casts in metal. Inscriptions : On the North Side of the Tomb : Hie iacet Henricvs eivs nominis Septimvs, Anglie quondam Rex, Edmvndi Richemvndie Comitis Filivs, qvi Die xxii Avgvsti Rex creatvs, statim post apvd Westmo- nasterivm Die xxx Octobris Coron'tvr, Anno Domini MCCCCLXXXV. Moritvr deinde xxi Die Aprilis, anno etatis mi. Regnavit Annos xxiii. Mensis Octo : Minus vno Die. On the South Side : Hie iacet Rcgina Elizabetha, Edwardi IIII. qvondam Regis Filia, Edwardi V. Regis qvondam nominati Soror : Hen- rici VII. olim Regis conivnx atque Henrici VIII. Regis Mater inclyta. Obiit avtem svvm Diem in Tvrri Londoniarvm Die xi Febrvarii, Anno Domini M. DII. XXXVII annoi vm etate fvneta. On the Frieze : Septimvs hie sitvs est Henkicvs gloria regvm Cvn'torvm, ipsivs qvi tempestate fvervnt : Ingenio atqve Opibvs gestarvm et nomine rervm; Accessere qvibvs natvrae dona benignae : Frontis bonos, faeies avgvsta, heroica forma : Ivnctaqve ei svavis conivnx perpvlcra, pvdica, Et foecunda fvit, foelices prole parentes, Henricvm qvib : Octavvm terra Anglia debts. Arms: cast in metal. Between the Angels at the west end of the tomb, on a large shield, surrounded by a Garter : France and England, quarterly. On the lower Shield, between the Genii: Quarterly of Four, viz. 1st. France and England, quarterly : 2d, and 3d, a Cross; Ulster; 4th, Barry of Six, three Pallets betw. two Esquires based dexter and sinister; an Inescutcheon ; Mortimer: the whole for Elizabeth of York, Henry's Queen. Elizabeth died in the Tower, in child-bed of a daughter, who was born on Candleniass day, and named Katherine: " she lived," says Holinshed, "but a short season after her mother; whose funeral was solemnized with great pomp." Her body, by the King's orders, was embalmed, &c. and closed in lead ; and then placed within a coffin. It was conveyed, with many ceremonies, to West- minster, in a 'chair or hearse;' with her Effigy laid upon it, in regal attire, and the hair dishe- velled. On the decease of the King, her remains were removed from the Abbey Church, in which they had been temporarily deposited, and interred with those of her deceased husband in this Chapel. II 58 HENRY THE SEVENTH S CHAPEL. King Henry enjoined by liis Will, that there should " bee maid," within the " grate at oure feet, after a convenient distance from our tombe, an Aultier in the honour of our Salviour Jhu Crist, streight adioynyng to the said grate, at which Aultier we wol certaine preists daily saie masses for the weale of our soule and remission of our synnes ;" and in a subsequent page he gave the fol- lowing directions for the ' garnisshing' of the same. " The garnisshing ~\ " Also we wol, that our Exeeu- of the Aukier ' tours, except it bee p'founned by oure- within the King's I self in our life, cause to be made for the grate." * ou'parte of the Aulter within the grate of our tombe, a table of the lenght of the same Aultre, and half a fote longer at either ende of the same, and v fote of height with the border, and that in the mydds of the ou'half of the same table, bee made the ymage of the Crucifixe, Mary and John, in maner aceustumed ; and vpon bothe sids of tbeim, bee made as many of the ymagies of our said aduouries, as the said table wol reeeiue ; and vnder the said Crucifixe, and ymages of Marie and John, and other aduouries, bee made the xn Apostels : All the said table, Crucifixe, Mary, John, and other ymags of our Aduouries and xn Apostellis, to be of tymber, cou'ed and wrought with plate of fyne golde. " Thebequeste of? " Also we geue and bequethe to the same Aultier." J the Aulter within the grate of our said Tombe, our grete pece of the holic Crosse, whirl), by the high prouision of our lord god, was conveied, brought, and delive'd to us, from the Isle of Cyo [Scio] in Grece, set in gold, and gar- iiisshed with perles and precious stones ; And also the preciouse relique of oon of the leggs of saint George, set in silver parcell gilte, which came to the hands of our broder and Cousyn, Loys of ffraunce, the tyme that he wan and recou'ed the Citie of Millein, [Milan] and geuen and sent to vs by our Cousyne the Cardinal of Amboys, legate in ffraunce: the which pece of the holie Crosse, and leg of saincte George, we Wol bee set vpon the said Aulter for the garnisshing of the same, vpon al principal and solenipne fests and al other fests, aft' the dis- cretion of oure Chauntrey preists singing for vs at the same Aultier. " Also we geue and bequeth to the same Aulter, if it be not doon by our self in our life, oon masse boke hande writen, iii suts of Aulter clothes, iii paire of Vestements, a Chales of gold of the value of oon hundreth marcs, a Chalece of siluer and gilte of xx vnces, two paire of Cruetts silver and gilte of xx vnces, two Candilstikks siluer and gilte of c vnces, and other two Candilstiks siluer and gilte of lx vnces, and iii eorporacs with their cases ; vi ymages, oon of our lady, another of Saint John Euangelist, saint John Baptist, saint Edward, saint Jerome, and saint ffrauneeys, euery of theim of siluer and gilte of the value of xx marcs ; and oon paire of Basons silver and gilte of the same value, a bell of siluer and gilte of the value of iii 1 '. vi '. viii and a pax brede of siluer and gilt, of the value of iiii marcs." Among the Archives of the Dean and Chapter, are an Indenture, and a Bond*, bearing date on the 11th of March 1516, under the Covenants of which Torrysany, who is described de civile fjlo- rencie pictorem, ' byndilK himself to " make and work, or doo to he made and wrought," a ' gar- * Copies of these Instruments have been printed in the second Volume of the " Architectural Antiquities ;" but applied, inadvertently, to Henry's Tomb, with which they have no immediate concern. nishmentS&n ' aiolter,' and various ' ymages,' " and the same at his owne propre costs clerely to set up w'in the new Chapell which the forsaid late King caused to he made at Westm r ." in any such place as the Executors should assign, before the 1st of November, 1519 ; " fforall the which p'misses to- gedir vv l the workemanship fynysshing and setting up of the same," &c. " the forsaid Peter know- lachith and confessith him by these p'nts to have receyved and had of the said lordes and execu- tours beforehand at thensealyng of these enden- tures the some of Oon Thousand pounds St'ling." According to the Indenture, all the work was to be wrought and coloured agreeably to a ' Patron :' there were to be " ffoure basements of blake marble square," 1 foot in length, and I foot and a half high ; and " in the same iiij other base- mentts of white marble squared with levys and crests:" these were to support " iiij pillours of copper gylt wrought with bases cuppes[capps?-| capitells and other garnyshments ;" and having square crests, also of gilt copper, " wyth portculli'es and fflow- redelis," and " upon the same" was to be " a vault of white marble, w- Archytraves and frese and crests," &c. and " upon the said crests, he the forsaid Petir shall sett iiij Aungels of Erthe bakid in an oven after the colour of white marble, ev'y of them kneeling of the heith of ij foote of assize ffrom the knes upward of the which iiij Aungells oon shall holde the pillour w' a cock upon the same all of copper gilt in the oon hand and the scourge of copp. gilt in the other hand another Aungell shall holde the crosse of copp. gilt in oon hand and the iij nayles of copp. gilt in the other hande an othir Aungell shall holde the spere of copp. gilt in the oon hande and the hammer of copp. gilt in the othir hande and the iiij"' Aungell shall holde in oon hande a spere staff with a sponge on the ende of copp gilt and in the other hand the pynsons of copp. gilt." Upon the same crests also, " upon- the former parte and the hynder parte," were to be set the Royal arms, the Arms of Henry and his Queen, and the Arms of England and Spain, properly coloured all on ' scochyns' of white marble, surmounted by ' crowns Imperyall ;' and having rose-branches, in marble, at the sides — " And all the saide garnysshmeut shall contayne from the nether parte of the said iiij basements of blake marble vnto the upper parts of the crests next the saide iiij Aungels ix foot of assize and in length also ix foot of assize and also that under all the sade- garnishment shall be made an awlter of the height of iii foote di' of assize and of length vi foote of assize and brede iij foote and iiij ynches of assize and the base- ments of the same awlter shalbe made of blake marble and upon the same basements iiij square pillours of white marble with levys and crests with their proportions all coloured as app'tey- neth to the worke and under the saide awlter shalbe set xvj pillours of copper gilt wrought accordir „' to the saide patron and upon the saide pillours shalbe leyde & set a blake marble stone and under the same awlter shalbe leyde a bakvn ymage of erthe coloured of Crist dedr and upon the bakesyde of the saide awlter shalbe set a table of copp. gilt in length and brede after the proporcion of the worke and in the sides of the same table shalbe made ij historyes the oon of the resurreccion of oure Lorde ou' the foreparte all gilt and upon the bakesyde of the same table shall be made the hystory of the nativite of oure Lorde in lykewise gilt and at ev'y ende of the same table shall be set a square pillour of copper gylt wrought w levys bases and capitells according to the proporcion and height of the saide Awlter." All the materials were to be supplied by Torrasany : the marble was to be of' oon p'fite colour;' the copper, ' good pure fayre and clene ;' and the gilding to be done with ' fyne golde.' TOMB OF HENRY THE SEVENTH. 59 It has been concluded that the Altar, &c. thus covenanted to be made by Torrigiano, was that which stood within the grating, at the foot of Henry's Tomb; but this is certainly a mistake. Among the Burghley Papers in the British Museum, (vide ' Bibl. Lansd.' No. 116, — 13.) is a MS. indorsed, ' mbranes for the Right Hon'' 1 '', the Lord Tres'. touching Kynge Henry;' which appears to have been drawn up with a view, prin- cipallv, to the repairing of the royal tombs at Windsor. — After slightly describing the Tomb of Henry the Vllth, in this Chapel, it proceeds thus: " At the hedd of the said Tome standeth the Avlte' vppon 4 pyllasters of white marbell and basesters of raetle & gylte. The backe of the said Aulter [&] both the sydes sto- ries metle & gylte, two pillasters metle & gylte at either end of the said backe, 4 pillers bearinge the Roufe w lh . petistales, vazes of metle & gvlte & white marbell, the Rofe also white marbell, the amies about the said Avlter white marble & gilte, and the west end of the garnishment about the Roofe is metal & gilte." This description alludes, most clearly, to the Altar made by Torrigiano ; and for which it is im- possible there could ever have been room between thehead of Henry'sTomband the Screcnor grating. It must therefore have stood without the Screen, on the west side; and is unquestionably the very- work which Sandford, by an inferential error, has had engraved as the Monument of King EDWARD tiie SIXTH, whom we know to have been buried at the head of his grandfather, and under this very altar. Edward was born on the 12th of October, 1537; and he died in his ICth year, on the 6th of July, 1553 : Camden, speaking of his death, (vide " Reges, Regina;," &c.) adds, " ad caput avi Hen- rici Septimi rcquiescit, sub altar'i ex cere dcaurato, 8< artifiviose claborato." This curious work, according to Sandford, was destroyed by the ' fanatics' during the Civil Wars : and Dr. Ryvcs, in his " Anglice Ruina," under the year 1643, ascribes a part of that act of ' prophanation' to Sir Robert Harlow, " who, breaking into Henry the Seventh's Chappell, brake down the Altar-stone which stood before that goodly Monument of Henry the Seventh ; the stone was Touchstone all of one piece, a Raritie not to be matched, that we know of, in any part of the world ; there it stood for many years, not for use, but only for ornament ; yet it did not escape the frenzy of this man's igno- rant zeal, for he brake it into shivers." Dart's affirmation, that Queen Mary erected " a stately Monument," meaning this Altar, over her brother Edward the Sixth, is altogether erroneous. The Screen*, or ' Closure,' round Henry's Tomb, and which Dart terms the Sacel/um, is wholly constructed of gilt brass and copper; having a stone plinth for its base. It is a very singular and elaborate performance ; and in its perfect state, must have excited great admiration by its richness and elegance*. This extraordinary specimen of the art of Founding, is of an oblong form, and measures, at the base, from west to east nineteen feet two inches, and from north to south eleven feet three inches: the height, to the top of the pinnacles, is about ten feet six inches. Its design, which is in full accord- ance with the embellishments of the Chapel, is de- rived from the Tudor Style of Architecture. It is almost wholly of pierced work, including pointed arches, tracery, quatrefoils, and various other forms. At each angle, is a large octagonal column ; the shaft, which is hollow, is perforated into numerous angular forms, like diapering; and had anciently within each interstice, either a Rose or a Portcul- lis; all which have been stolen. On each side of these columns, and likewise on the outer sides of the columns of the door-ways, are small niches; within which, under handsome canopies, were, formerly, thirty-two Statues of brass, gilt, repre- senting Apostles, Saints, and Martyrs ; only six of which now remain, viz. St. Edward, St. Bar- tholomew, St. John the Evangelist, St. George, St. Basil, and St. James. Widmore says (vide" Hist, of West. Abbey," p. 141) that in the year 15/0, " several things were stolen from the monument of King Henry the Vllth ;" and he supposes them to have been " several of the little gilded images belonging to it.'' The " Thief," he adds, "one Raymond, was prosecuted by the Church." On each side of the Screen within a project- ing portal, is an arched doorway, with folding gates: each portal is surmounted by a branch up- holding a large Rose, crowned; but several of the crosses, &c. have been broken : above the cornice, within a pierced shield, are the Royal arms : having the Dragon and the Greyhound for Sup- porters; the latter is collared: underneath is the motto, Dtcu Ct mon Orotct. Independently of the doorways, the sides of the Screen arc each divided into eight principal compartments, and each end into six compartments, by buttress piers; and these are again numerously sub-divided, and orna- mented with tracery, quatrefoils, dragons, grey- hounds, roses, portcullisses, &c. in profusion. From the buttress piers, likewise, spread the groins of a projecting cornice. The upper frieze exhibits the Rose and the Portcullis, in alternate succession, • In the * North-east View' of the Chapel, Plate LI IX, the South side and part of the East end of the Screen, are shewn as they now remain ; except only, that a small portion of . the coping, lias been introduced between the pinnacles at the East end, in order to give an idea of its original state. u 2 60 HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL. within each of its pierced quatrefoils. This was surmounted by an open-work coping, or battle- ment ; only a few parts of which now remain on the north and west sides. At the east end, cross- ing the inside, near the top is a stout metal bar, that seems to have formed one of the supports of the Altar. On the transverse bars, which divide the principal upright compartments into two parts, is the following Inscription, cast in old characters, on plates of metal ; some of which have been taken away: but as the Inscription is repeated on the inside of the Screen, the deficiencies are here supplied from that source. ©cptim' . Jpcnric' . tumulo . rcq'ejxcit . i' . ijsto . ©ui . rcffu' . gplenoor . lumen . rt . orbi# . exit Err. • bigil . rt . sapiens; • comi# . btrtuti;s . amator. GEgrccri' . forma . gtrenu' . atq' . potent, ©ui . pep'tt . pace' . regno . qui . bella . pctcgit. Pluii'a . qui . birtor . semper . ab . Ijoste . reoifc ©ui . natas . binis . ro'iunrit . rccrib' . ambag. i&cgibus . rt . cu'etis . teocrc . iunctus . crat. ©ui . sacra' . hoc . strutit • tc'plum . statuitq' . scpulcru'. JPro . sc . proqu' . sua . co'iucrc . prole . Domo. Hujstra • accc' . atqu' . annos . ttcs . plus . co'plcucrat . a'ntjS. Bam . tubus . octcnis . recria • sceptra . tultt. ©uinoccics . o'ni . ccntcnus . flujrerat . ann'. <£urvcbat . nonus . cum . benit . atva . Dies, ©eptima . tff . mensis . luv . turn . tulcrebat . aprilis- (£um . clausit . summu' . tanta . corona . oicm . Bulla . oearrc . prut* . tantu . tibi . jsecula . rcrrcm. &ncrUa . bit • similem . Postcriora . oabunt. The first of the small Chapels on the north side of this Edifice, is wholly occupied by the ill- designed, and cumbrous Monument of George Villiers, K. G. 1st Duke of Bucking-ham ; and Catherine, his Duchess, (daughter and sole heiress of Francis, Earl of Rutland) by whom it was erected about they ear 1634. Villiers was the accomplished court favourite, both of James the First and Charles the First ; to the latter he im- parted a taste for the Arts, whilst he was yet a Prince, and the magnificent collection formed by Charles when a Sovereign, owed its basis to his advice. His own munificence prompted him, when at Antwerp, to purchase from Rubens at the vast sum, in those days, of 10,000/. a collection of foreign Masters, which had been made by that great painter : this was the first assemblage of pictures ever brought to England. He fell by the hand of an assassin, being stabbed on the 23d of August, 1628, when at Portsmouth, and on the eve of embarkation in the Fleet destined for the relief of Rochelle. Felton, his murderer, was a Lieutenant of the navy, under his own command. The Duke was buried in the vault beneath his tomb, on the 18th of September 1628: his age was thirty-six. Catherine, his Lady, was interred in the same vault on the 8th of April, 1643. This Monument is so totally irreconcileable with every thing like regular design, that it is almost impossible to describe it intelligibly. The architectural part is principally of black marble ; but all its smaller statues, and some of its orna- ments, are of white marble. The figures on the tomb, and at the base of the obelisks, are casts in brass, gilt; but they appear like bronze from the effects of time. The basement consists of a plinth and step, supporting a large Sarcophagus, on which are the recumbent effigies of the Duke and Duchess : the former is arrayed in a long ermined cloak, and plate armour highly embossed with ciphers, and anchors in saltire; the latter is in her robes of state : both have coronets, and rest on em- broidered cushions : the Duke wears a collar of the Garter : at their feet is a small figure of Fame. Near the angles of the tomb are four pedestals, surmounted by lofty obelisks based on metal skulls; and by the side of them, sitting in mournful atti- tudes, are Mars, Neptune, Pallas, and Benevolence: these figures are of a large size, but their propor- tions are clumsy, and their attitudes tasteless and constrained. Various ciphers and devices, as an- chors, palm-branches, masks, &c. in metal, which were fixed against the obelisks, have been stolen. The back-ground, which is carried up almost to the vaulting, is composed of a divided entablature, supported by two pilasters on each side, and sur- mounted by three pediments, at different heights, and diversely formed; the middle one being ellip- tical, and the others angular. On the pilasters are rams' heads and the initials GV. DB, and K. DB, in ciphers ; and between them, in front of a semicircular-arched niche, are three Statues, kneeling on cushions, of the surviving children of the Duke ; viz. two girls and a boy, in dresses of the time, with their hands as in prayer: somewhat higher, and within the niche, is a boy, nearly naked, in a reclining posture, leaning his right elbow on a skull; in his left hand is an expiring torch. Two inscribed tablets next meet the eye ; and at the sides of the pediment which incloses the uppermost tablet, are weeping Genii. On the middle of the next pediment, is a large shield of arms, upheld by two females, who are seated on the pediment in reclining positions: these figures, with those of the kneeling children, are the best executed of the whole : near them, at the sides, are military ensigns and weapons. On the upper pediment is a funereal lamp. Inscriptions : Ferenni Memorise Celsissimi potentissimiq.' Principis Georgii Villiers, Dveis, Marchlonls, Comitis Bvckvng- ham lev, Comitis Coventriae, Vicecomitis Villiers, Baronis MONUMENTS IN THIS CHAPEL. 61 Whaddon, Angliae, Hiberniae, Walliae Thalassiarchae, omnivm arcivm propvgnacvlorvmq'. maritimorvm ac classis Regiie Moderatoris, Eqvorvm Regiorvm Magistri, qvinq.' portvvm et appendicvm Domini Tvtelarii, Castri Dovernensis Prae- fecti, omnivm Regiorvm Saltvvm Theriotrophiorv'. ac nemo- rvm Cis-Trentanorvm Ivstitiarii, castri Regii Vindesorii Prae- sidis, Monarchae Britannico ab intimis Cvbicvlis, Senatvvm Sanctiorum Angliae, Scotiae, et Hiberniae Consiliarii, Eqvitis nobilissimi ordinis Periscelidis, Consilii polemici Domini Prae- sidis, Academiae Cantabrigiensis Cancellarii dignissimi. Tantvs tamen Heros omnibvs Corporis et Animi Dotibvs memorabilis ; dvobvs potentissimis invicem Regibvs intimvs, charissimvs omnibvs, Togae ivxta sagiq'. Artibvs florentissi- mvs, literarvm et literatorvm favtor amplissimvs: in omnes bene meritos Liberalitatis inexhavstae, deniq.' singvlari hvma- nitate, et omni morvm svavitate incornparabilis ; immani teter- rimi parricidae facinore trvcidatvs: commvni invidiae (qvae semper virtvtis et honoris comes individva, innocentissimo sangvine svo immeritissimo litavit. Catharina vero Heroina splendidissima, Comitis Rvtlan- diae filia et haeres vnica : Prolis, svmmae spei, vtrivsq.' sexvs D. D. D. D. Mariae, Caroli (qvi in cunis obijt) Georgij, Fran- cici novissimi posthvmiq'. feiicissima ab ipso mater, facta: sva- vissimam charissimi conivgis svi memoriam, qva pietate, qvo honore potvit prosecvta : hos Titvlos (non vanitati litatvra, sed o,)timorv\ prineipv'. mvnificentiam testatvra) praefigendos cvravit : tristesq.' exvvias, et qvicqvid ipsivs adhvc caelo non debetvr, honorario hoe Monvmento maestissimainclvsit. Anno Epochae Christianae, CI3 DC xxxuu. Arms: sculp. On a Cross five Escallops; in the first Quarter, a Martlet for DirF. Villiers: Imp. two Bars ; on a Chief, Quarterly, 1st and 4th, two Fleurs de Lis, 2d and 3d, a Lion of England, Manners. At the ends and sides of the Sarcophagus there were formerly three tablets of metal, proba- bly of dates, which have been removed ; but against the opposite wall, within a framing, is affixed a tablet of gilt copper, thus panegyrically inscribed hi honour of Villiers : P. M. S. Vanae multitudinis Improperium hicjacet; cujus tamen, Hispania Prudentiam, Gallia Fortitudiiiem, Belgia Industriam, Tota Europa mirata est Magnanimitatem : Quern, Daniae & \ t> t . Sweeiae | RegeS Inte g errimum 5 Germanise ~\ Transilvaniae & > Princip. Ingenuum ; Nassavviae J Veneta Resp 3 . iti svblevata, Belgio svstentato, Hispanica classe profligata, Hi- bernia pvlsis Hispnnis, et rebellibvs addeditionem coactispacata, Redditibvs vtrivsq.' Academiae lege annonaria plvrimvm adavc- tis, tota deniq.' Anglia Ditata prvdentissimeq.' annos XLV administrata : Elizabetha, Rcgina victrix, trivmphatrix, pietatis stvdiosissima, fcelicissima, placida morte septvagenaria solvta, Mortales reliqvias, dvm Christo ivbente resvrgant im- mortales, in hac Eeclesia eeleberrima ab ipsa conservata et denvo fvndata deposvit. Obiit XXIIII Martii, Anno Salvtis MDCII : Regni XLV. /Etatis LXX. Memoriae yEternae Elizabethje, Anglia, FrancieF, et Hibernioe Rcgince; R. Henrici VIII filiae, R. Hen: VII nepti, R. Ed : 1 1 1 1 pronepti, Patriae parenti, Religionis et bonarvm artivm altriri, plvrimarvm lingvarvm peritia, praeclaris tvm animi tvm corporis dotibvs, regiisq.' virtvtibvs supra sexvm Prineipi Incomparabili ; Jacobvs, Magna? Britanniae, Franciae, et Hiberniae Rex, Virtvtvm et Regnorvm haeres, bene merenti pie posvit. On the Base : West Side : Regno consortes & vrna, hie obdormimvs, Elizabetha et Maria Sorores, in spe Resvrrectionis. Arms: sculp, and painted. North side: centre shield; Scotland. Imp. Quarterly ; France and England: Supporters : a Unicorn Arg. ducally gorged and chained Or; and a Lion, crowned, Or. Crest : a Thistle, leaved Prop, flowered and crowned Or. Motto : Brati Paeifui. Dexter Shield gone : sinister shield : Gu. a Lion pass, guard. Or, for Eleanor of Guyennc. — South side: centre shield; Quarterly, France and England within a Garter. Supporters : a Lion, crowned, Or; and a Dragon, Or. The Crest, which was a Lion of England, crowned, on a chapeau, is gone. Motto : Diru et mon Droit. Dexter shield : Gu. two Lions pass, guard. Or, Henry I. Sinister shield, gone. — Small Shields on the Frieze : South side; 1. Edward the Confessor. 2. Henry I. Imp. Gyrony of Eight Or, and Az. an Inescutcheon Gu. for Adcliza of Lou- vain, 'i. Henry I. Imp. Scotland, for Matilda, his 1st Queen. 4. Quarterly of Four, viz. 1st. Arg. a Man's Heart Gu. on a Chief Az. three Mullets of the Field, Douglas ; 2d, Or, a * When the sketch of the North aisle, engraved in Plate LVII, was taken, the iron-work round this monument was yet remaining, though in a broken state : it was surmounted by a continued range of fleurs de lis and roses; and on the frieze were the initials E. R. intermixed with falcons and lions, several Lion ramp. Gu. Aberncthy ; 3d, Arg. three Piles Gu. Wishart ; 4th, Or, a Fess Chequie Arg. and Az. on a Bend Gu. three Buckles of the Field, Stuart of Bonkill; over all, an Escutcheon of Pretence Az. charged with a Lion ramp Arg. crowned Or, M.'Doual ; Imp. Quarterly, France and England. 5. Quarterly of Four, viz. 1st and 4th, Az. three Fleurs de Lis Or, within a Bordure Gu. charged with ten Buckles of the Second, Barony of D'Aubigny ; 2d and 3d, Or, a Fess Chequie Arg. and Az. within a Bordure engr. Gu. Stuart of Davingstone; over all, an Escutcheon of Pretence Arg. charged with a Saltire engr. betw. four Cinquefoils Gu. Lenox: the whole Imp. Douglas, Aberncthy, Wishart, Stuart of Bonkill, and M.'Doual, as before. 6. Quarterly of Four, viz. 1st and 4th, D'Aubigny, Stuart of Davingstone and an Inescutcheon, Lenox; 2d, Gu. three Lions ramp. Arg. Earldom of Boss ; 3d, Gu. three armed Legs, conjoined in triangle, Prop. Isle of Man : Imp. Scot- land.— East end : ] . Quarterly, Old France and England ; over all, a Label of Three Arg. each Point charged with three Ermine Spots, John of Gaunt. 2. John of Gaunt ; Imp. Gu. three Catherine Wheels Or, Boet. 3. Quarterly, France and England, within a Bordure, Gobony Arg. and Az. Beaufort; Imp. Gu. three Lions pass, guard. Or, within a Bordure Arg. Plantagenet, E. of Kent. 4. Beaufort; Imp. Gu. a Fess betw. six Martlets Or, Beauchamp of Alcester. 5. France and England within a Bordure Az. charged alternately with Fleurs de Lis and Martlets Or, Edmund Tudor, E. of Rich- mond ; Imp. Beaufort. — North side : 1. Quarterly, France and England; over all a Label of Three Arg. each Point charged with a Canton Gu. Lionel, Duke of Clarence ; Imp. Or, a Cross Gu. Ulster. 2. Barry of Six, Or and Az. on a Chief of the First three Pallets betw. two Esquires based dex- ter and sinister, all of the Second ; an Inescutcheon Arg. Mor- timer; Imp. Plantagenet, as in 1. 3. Mortimer ; Imp. Plan- tagenet, as in 3, East end. 4. England ; Imp. Katharine of Valois. 5. Quarterly, Old France and England ; Imp. Quarterly, viz. 1 st and 4 th, Or, a Lion ramp. Sab. 2d and 3d, Or, a Lion ramp. Gu. Philippa of Hanault. 6. Quarterly, Old France and England, over all, a Label of Three Arg. each Point charged with three Torteaux. E. of Cam- bridge; Imp. Quarterly of Four, viz. 1st and 4th, Gu. a Castle, triple-towered, Or, Castile; 2d and 3d, Arg. a Lion ramp. Gu. Leon. — West end : 1. Quarterly, Old France and England, within a Bordure Gu. charged with Lioncels ramp. Or; a Label of Three, on each Point as many Torteaux; Rich. Earl of Cambridge : Imp. Quarterly, Mortimer and Ulster. 2. Plantagenet, as in 6, North side; Imp. Gu. a Saltire Arg. Nevile. 3. Quarterly, France and England, Imp. Quarter ly of Six, viz. 1st, Arg. a Lion ramp. Gu. crowned Or, Luxem- burgh ; 2d, Quarterly of Four. viz. first and fourth, (Ju. an Estoile Arg.; second and third, Old France: the whole for Baux, Duke of Andrce; 3d, Barry of Ten Arg. and Az. a Lion ramp. Gu. crowned Or, Cyprus; 4th, Arg. three Btndlets Gu. a Chief Or, surmounted by another Arg. charged with a Rose Prop. Ursins ; ,5th, Gu. three Pallets Vaire, on a Chief Or, a Label of Five Points Az. .V/. Paul ; 6th, Arg. a Fess and a Canton Gu. Widville. 4. France and England ; Imp. Quarterly of Four, viz. 1st, Quarterly, France arid Eng- land; 2d and 3d, Ulster; 4th, Mortimer : the whole for Eliz. of York. 5. France and England, Imp. QuarterU of Six, viz. 1st, Gu. three Lions pass, guard. Or, a Label of France; Ancient Earls of Lancaster ; 2d, Old France, a Label of Three Gu. Angoulcsmc ; 3d, Gu. a Lion pass, guard. Or, times repeated. Originally, also, there were standards at each angle, and in the middle of each side : the whole had been gilt. An elevation of the north side of Elizabeth's Monument is shewn in Plate LIX, A ; on a similar scale to that of the Queen of Siots, marked B, in the same Plate. I 66 HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL. Guyenne; 4th, Quarterly of Four, viz. first and fourth, Or, a Chief indented Az. Butler; 2d and 3d, Arg. a Lion ramp. Sab. crowned Gu. Rochford ; 5th, England, a Label of Three Arg. Thomas de Brotherton ; 6th, Chequie Or and Az. Warren and Surrey. — Shields under the Canopy : East side; 1. Arg. a Chev. Gu. betw. three Bulls' Heads, Sab. armed Or, Bulletin or Boleyn ; Imp. Quarterly Sab. and Arg. Hoo. 2. Bulleyn ; Imp. Or, a Chief indented Az. Butler. 3. Bulleyn ; Imp. Gu. a Bend betw. six Cross Cros- lets, Fitchee, Arg. Howard. 4. Howard, Imp. Arg. a Chev. betw. three Griffins' Heads, erased, Gu. Tilney. 5. Howard, Imp. Paly- wavy of Six, Or and Gu. Molins. — West side: 1. England, Imp. Quarterly, Castile and Leon, for Eleanor of Castile. 2. England, Imp. Or, four Pallets Gu. for Eleanor of Provence. 3. England, Imp. Lozengy Or and Gu. for Isabel of Angoulesme. 4. Gu. two Lions pass, guard, Or, Henry II.; Imp. Eleanor of Guyenne. 5. Gu. a Chief Arg. over all, an Escarbuncle of eight Rays, pomette and florette, Or, Jeffrey Plantagenet ; Imp. as 4, for the Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I. On the base : South side ; 1. Az. an Harp Or, stringed Arg. Ireland. 2. Sab. ten Bezants, Earldom of Cornwall. — North side; l.Az. three Garbs Or, Earldom of Chester. 2. Quarterly of Four, viz. 1st and 4th, Or, a Lion ramp. Sab.; 2d and 3d, Or, a Lion ramp. Or. Principality of Wales. At the outer angles of the cornice, are the Royal Supporters, sejant, bearing shields, charged with the Rose, Fleur de Lis, Thistle, and Portcullis, crowned. At the upper end of this aisle, on the altar step, are two small Monuments of alabaster, in memory of Sophia and Maria, the infant daugh- ters of James I. The former, who was born at Greenwich, and died three days after her birth, is represented lying under a laced quilt, in a cradle, the head of which is turned to the spectator, and has on it the following Inscription and arms, with borders of sculptured foliage. Sophia, Rosvla Regia piaepropero Fato deeerpta, et Jacobo Magna; Britannia;, Franciae, et Hiberniae Regi, Annaeq'. Reginae, Parentibvs erepta, vt in Christi Rosario reflorescat, hie sita est, Junii xxm. regni R. I. mi. cio dcvu. Arms: sculp, and painted. In a Lozenge; Quarterly of Four, viz. 1st and 4th, France and England, quarterly: 2d, Scotland : 3d, Ireland. The other Monument consists of a plinth, (having projecting pedestals at the angles) sur- mounted by an altar tomb, upon which is a re- clining figure of the Princess Maria, in the dress of her time, with a lion couchant at her feet. Her head is reposed on the left arm, her elbow being supported by an embroidered cushion. She was born at Greenwich, in June, 1605; and died at Stan well, in Middlesex, in December, 1617. At the sides, are ornaments of Lions' heads, with foli- age, and two Lozenges with the royal arms, as on the Cradle of her sister. On the four pedestals were as many small statues of winged boys, or Genii ; three of which, but all broken, now remain. Inscription : Maria, filia Jacobi Regis Magna? Britanniae, Franciae, et Hiberniae, et Annae Reginae, primeva Infanta in Coelum re- cepta ; raihi Gavdivm inveni, Parentibvs desiderivm reliqvi, Die xvi Decembris, ciodcvii. Congratvlantes condolete. Vixit annos n : menses v : dies vm. Both Monuments were formerly inclosed by an iron-railing, having brass columns, gilt, surmounted by balls on the standards ; and on the coping, the rose, the thistle, and the lily, also in brass, gilt. In the same vault with the above children, were interred, according to Dart and others, the remains of their royal parents, viz. Queen Anne of Denmark, who died at Hampton Court, on the 2d of March, 1618-19, in her 45th year; and King James the First, who died at his Palace of Theobalds in Hertfordshire, on the 27th of March 1 625, in the 60th year of his age. It is stated, however, in the Register of this Church, that King James was buried, " in King Henry the 7th's vault j" probably a mistake for Chapel. The leaden urn, inclosing the bowels of the above Queen, is said by Dart to have been removed into the vault of General Monk, in this aisle. There is not any memorial for the above Sovereigns. Within a square recess in the east wall, where the altar stood, is an inscribed pedestal sup- porting a boldly-sculptured Sarcophagus, which was placed there by command of Charles the lid, in memory of Edward the Fifth and his bro- ther, Richard, Duke of York. These Princes are generally said to have been smothered in the Tower, at the instigation of their uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard the II Id ^ yet there is strong reason to believe that this story was a calumny, invented by the Lancastrians for sinister purposes ; and that Perkin Wurbeck, who was put to death by Henry the Vllth, for assert- ing his claim to the Empire, was the real Duke of York, and the true heir to the crown. Even the tale of finding their bones, is a strange one, after an interment of nearly 200 years, without any re- cord of their burial-place ; or the least proof by which they could be identified. All we know for certainty is that the bones of two youths, the one conjectured to have been thirteen, and the other, eleven years of age, were discovered in a wooden chest, at ten feet below the stairs, which formerly led to the Chapel of the White Tower, in July 1674; that the workmen scattered them among the rub- bish, which was afterwards sifted, and the bones preserved; and that Charles the lid, in 1678, commanded that they should be deposited in this Chapel, and the following Inscription placed upon their monument. H. S. S. Reliquiae Edwardi V. Regis Angliao, et Richardi Dvcis Eboracensis. Hos Fratres Germanos.Tvrre Londiii si . conclvsos, iniectisq'. Cvlcitris svffocatos ; abdite et inhoneste" tvmvlari ivssit Patrvvs Richardvs Perfidvs Regni Praedo : Ossa desideratorvm, div et mvltvm quaesita, post MONUMENTS IN THE SOUTH AISLE. 67 Annos cxc & I, Scalarvm in rvderibvs (Scate istae ad Sacellvm Tvrris Albac nvper dvcebant) alte defossa, indiciis Certissimis sunt reperta: xvn die Jvlii A°. D"'. mdclxxiiii. Carolvs II. Rex clementissimvs, acerbam sortem misera- tvs, inter avita Monvmeiia, Principibvs infelicissimvs ivsta Persolvit. Anno Dom'. 1678. Annoq*. Regni sui 30. Monuments in the South Aisle. The first Monument in the South aisle is that of the illustrious Lady, Margaret, Countess of Leno.r, who was the only daughter and heiress of Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, by Margaret, Queen of Scots, daughter of Henry the Vllth, and widow of James the IVth of Scotland. She was born at Harbottle Castle, in Northumberland, in the year 1515, at which place her parents, having been forced into exile through the dissensions among the Scottish Nobility, then resided. Her beauty and high descent attracted the attentions of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, who sought her in marriage ; but was for that offence, as it was regarded by Henry the VHIth, her uncle, committed to the Tower, together with the lady herself, where he died. Some time after her re- lease, she was married to Matthew Stuart, Earl of Lenox; through which alliance, and the marriage of their second son, Henry, Lord Darnley, to Mary, Queen of Scots, her grandson James, be- came King of Great-Britain ; and the rival crowns of England and Scotland were united in his person. She died on the lOlh of March 1577, and was interred here in a small vault ; wherein, also, were deposited the remains of her third son, Charles Earl of Lenox, who died at the age of twenty-one : this young nobleman was married to Elizabeth, 2d daughter of Sir William Cavendish, of Chatsworth, by whom he had the Lady Arabella, who died in the Tower, in September, 1615, a victim to state jealousy: she was buried in this aisle on the 27th of the same month. This Monument is of alabaster, and has been wholly painted, and gilt. It consists of a pan- nellcd basement, supporting an elevated tomb, on which is a recumbent figure of the deceased, in her robes of state. Her mantle is fastened over the breast, by a large jewel, and wrapped across her limbs in broad folds. Her head rests on a cushion, curiously embroidered ; and at her feet is a lion couchant. She wears a stiff collar, with a small plaited ruff, close to the throat : the former is wrought with quatrefoils within lozenges, and the front of her stomacher is worked similarly. She has on a close coif, surrounded by a coronet, now broken; her hands, which were uplifted, as in prayer, are also broken. At the sides of the tomb, are kneeling figures of her children, viz. four sons and four daughters, in the costume of the times ; of the former, Henry, Lord Darnley, and Charles, Earl of Lenox, the only two who attained to manhood, are represented in armour. Henry, also, has a long cloak ; and had formerly, a crown suspended over his head, but the latter has been destroyed, or stolen. Large shields of arms adorn both the sides and ends of the tomb, and at the angles are small obelisks, now broken. On the iron-railing which formerly surrounded this tomb, were small badges and armorial standards. The south side, as it now appears, is represented in Plate L1X, D. Inscriptions : Heer lyeth the noble ladye Margaret, Covnicssc of Levenox, Davghter and sole Heire of Archibald, Earle of Angvise, by Margaret Q. of Scottes his Wife, that was eldest Davghter to King Henry the 7 ; whoe bare vnto Mathew Earle of Levenox her Hvsbande, 4 Sonnes and 4 Davghters. This Ladye had to her Great Grandfather K. Edward the 4 : to her grandfather K. Henry the 7 : to her vncle K. Henry the 8 : to her Covsin Germane K. Edward the 6 : to her Brother K. James of Scotland the V : to her Sonne Kinge Henry the First, to her Grandchild K. James the 6. Havinge to her greate grandmother and grandmother 2 Qveenes, both named Elizabeth ; to her Mother Margaret Q. of Scotts ; to her Avnt Marye the Frenclie Q : to her Covsins- Germanes Mary and Elizabeth, Qveenes of England; to her Neece and Davghter in law Mary Q. of Scotts. Henry second Sonne to this Lady was K. of Scotts, and father to James the 6 now King : this Henry was mvrthered at the age of 21 yeares. Charles her yovngest Sonne was Earle of Levenox father to the Ladie Arbell; he died at the age of 21 yeares and is here Intombed. Memoriae Sacrvm Margarets Dovclasije Mutthai Slvarti Levcnos'ia Comilis Vxori, Henrici 7 Angliae Regis ex filia nepti, potentiss'. Regibvs cognatione conivnetissimaa ; Jacobi C Scotor'. Regis aviae, matrona: sanctissimis morib'. et invicta animi patientia incomparabili P. obiit Martii deeimo, 1577. Margareta potens, virtvte, potentior ortv, Regibvs ac proavis nobilitata svis. Inde Caledoniis Avslralibvs inde Britannis vEdita Principibvs, Principibvsq'. parens. Qvoa mortis fverant solvit laelissima morti, Atqve Devm petiit : nam fvit ante Dei. Absolvtv' : cvraThomx Fowleri, hvivs Dnac Execvtoris : Octobr. 24, 1578. Arms: sculp, and painted. South and North sides: Quarterly of Four, viz. 1st and 4th, Az. three Flcurs de Lis Or, within a Bordure Gu. charged with ten Buckles of the Second, D'Aubifrny ; 2d and 3d, Or, a Fess Chequie Arg. and Az. within a Bordure, engr. Gu. Stuart of Daoingttone ; over all, an Escutcheon of Pretence Arg. charged with a Saltirebetw. four Cinquefoils Gu. Lenox: Imp. Quarterly of Four, viz. 1st, Az.a Lion ramp. Arg. crowned Or, M.'Doual ; 2d, Or, a Lion ramp. Gu. Alwrnctlqi; :3d, Arg. five Piles meet- ing in the Nombril Point, Gu. Withart; 4th, Or, a Fess Chequie Arg. and Az. on a Bend Gu. three Buckles of the Field, Stuart of Bonkill; over all on an Escutcheon of Pre- tence Arg. a Man's Heart, Gu. on a Chief Az. three Mullets of the Field, Douglas. — West end: in a Lozenge: Quar- terly, M.'Douat, Abcrnrthy, YVistiari, Stiuirt of Uonkill, and Douglas, as before. Supporters : dexter side, a Savage Man wreathed about the Temples and Loins ; sinister side, a Buck. Motto : Jumuis Durriere. — East end ; under a Crown : Quar- i 2 68 HENRY THE SEVENTHS CHAPEL. terly of Four, viz. 1st, Quarterly, D'Aubigny and Stuart of Davingstone, as before; an Escutcheon of Pretence, Lenox: over all a Label of Three ; 2d, Gu. three Armed Legs con- joined in triangle, Prop. Isle of Man ; 3d, Gu. three Lions ramp. Arg. Earldom of Ross ; 4th, Quarterly, MsDoual, Abcrnethy, Wishart, and Stuart of Bonkill, with an Ines- cutcheon of Douglas, as before : the whole Imp. Scotland. Supporters: dexter side, a Fox Prop.; sinister side, a Uni- corn, Arg. ducally gorged, chained, and armed, Or. Motto : In my Defence. The Monument of Mary, Queen of Scots, whose beauty, accomplishments, character, and untimely fate, have so frequently exercised the pen of History, was erected by her son King James, within a year or two after his accession to the English Throne. This Princess was born on the 7th of December 1542. She was the daughter and heiress of James the Vth, of Scotland, who dying when she was only a week old, she suc- ceeded to his crown. She was married on the 28th of April 1558, at the early age of fifteen years and a few months, to Francis, Dauphin of France, who became King in the following year, and died on the 6th of December 1560. After her return to Scotland, she was married, secondly, to Henry, Lord Darnley, on the 29th of July 1565 : this unfortunate Peer was basely strangled and then blown up with gunpowder, on the night of Feb. 10, 1567, by the contrivance of James, Earl ofBothvvell; and not without a suspicion that the Queen herself was privy to the foul crime. Soon afterwards, she was induced, either by force or guile, to enter a third time into the nuptial bonds, with Bothwell, her late husband's reputed mur- derer; who is said to have previously violated her person, and kept her in restraint : but the conse- quent ignominy was so great, and her subjects so offended, that she was compelled to appoint a vice- roy, and resign the throne to her infant son by the Lord Darnley. She eventually sought refuge in England ; but Queen Elizabeth, without granting her an interview, committed her to the keeping of George, Earl of Shrewsbury ; under whose care, and at whose houses at Hardwicke andChatsworth, in Derbyshire, she remained seventeen years a captive. She was then transferred to the custody of Sir Amias Paulet and others ; and in about a year afterwards, was tried and condemned to die for engaging in a treasonable correspondence with the Queen's enemies. She was beheaded in the hall of Fotheringhay Castle, in Northamptonshire, on the 8th of February, 1587 : but there is no doubt that she fell a victim, more to Elizabeth's maxims of state-policy, and jealousy of having a Catholic successor, than to any other cause. Her remains were first buried in Peterborough Cathe- dral j but King James, soon after his accession to the British crown, had them privately removed, and deposited in a vault in this Chapel. This Monument is an elaborate and costly architectural pile : like that of Elizabeth, it is principally a composition from the Corinthian order, and of similar design ; but its dimensions and elevation are much greater, the armorial crests which surmount the upper entablature reaching almost to the vaulting of the aisle. It is con- structed with different-coloured marbles. The basement is raised on a two-fold step, or plinth j and has four projecting pedestals on each side, near the ends : on these stand eight columns, sup- porting the entablatures and canopy, beneath which, upon a sarcophagus, ornamented with lions' heads, &c. is a recumbent Statue of the Queen, of white marble, very finely executed. Her head reposes on two embroidered cushions ; and her hands are raised as in prayer, but several of the fingers have been broken off. She wears a close coif with a narrow edging, and a laced ruff, and a tucker, both plaited. Her features are small, but peculiarly sweet and delicate. Her mantle, which is lined with ermine, and fastened over the breast with a jewelled brooch, is folded gracefully over her knees and legs. The borders of her stomacher are wrought with chain-work : and her vest has a row of small buttons down the middle, with knots on each side. Her shoes are high-heeled, and round at the toes: at her feet is the Scottish lion sitting, crowned, supporting the emblems of sove- reignty. The columns which sustain the canopy are fancifully diversified, as to materials; the shafts of four of them being of black marble ; and their bases and capitals of white marble, and the shafts, bases, &c. of the four others, directly the reverse. Be- neath the lower entablatures, are circles sur- rounded by small cherubs ; and upon them, over the cornice, are shields of arms and small obelisks. The under part of the semi-circular canopy is divided into several ranges of small pannelling, thickly ornamented with roses and thistles, in complete relief. In the spandrils at the sides, are angels, draped, holding chaplets : on the summit, are large shields, with the royal arms and sup- porters of Scotland ; and at the angles, are four unicorns, now broken and somewhat displaced, supporting smaller shields, charged with badges. The south side of this Monument is shewn in Plate L I X, B. Inscriptions : On the Sarcophagus and Base : D. O. M. Bona? Memoriae, et spei seterna?, Marije Stvartje Scotorvm Rcgince, Franc'tcr. Dotarice, Iacobi V. Scotorvm Regis filise, et haeredis vnicse Henricii VII Angl. Regis ex Margareta, maiori Natv filiae, (Iacobo IIII. Regi MONUMENTS IN THE SOUTH AISLE. 69 Scotorvm matrimonio copvlatae) Proneptis, Edwardi IIII Angl. Regis ex Elizabetha filiarv'. svarvm natv maxima ab- neptis : Francisci II Gallorv'. R. conivgis. corona? Angl. dv'. vixit certae, & indvbitatae haeredis, et Jacobi Magnae Britan- niae Monarchal potentissimi matris. Stirpe vere Regia & antiqvissima prognata erat, maximis totivs Evropae Principib'. agnatione & cognatione conivncta, et exqvisitissimis animi, et corporis dotibvs, & ornamentis cvmvlatissima ; (vervmvt svnt variae rervni hvmanarv'. vices,) postqvam annos plvs minvs viginti, in cvstodia detenta, for- titer,'et strenve. (sed frvstra) cvra malevolorvm obtreetatio- nibvs, timidorvm svspicionibvs, et inimicorv'. capitalivm insi- diis conflicta" esset, tandem inavdito, & infesto Regibvs ex- emplo, securi percvtitvr; et contempto Mvndo, devicta morte, lassito carnifice, Cliristo servatori animae salvte. Jacobo filio spem regni, & posteritatis, & vniversis caedis infavstae specta- toribvs exemplv'. patientiae com'endans, pie, pntienter, intre- pide, cervicem, Regiam, secvri maledictae svbiecit, & vitae cadvcae sortem ; cvm ccelestis Regni perennitate com'vtavit. VI Idvs Febrvarii, Anno Christ!, M D LXXXVII. jEtatis XXXXVI. Si generis splendor rarae si gratia formce, Probri nescia mens, inviolata fides, Pectoris invicti robvr, sapientia candor, Nixaqve solantis spes pietate Dei: Si morvm probitas, dvri patientia fraeni, Maiestas, bonitas, pvra, benigna mams, Pallida fortvnae possint vitare tonantis Fvlmina, quae montes, templaqve sancta petvnt, Non praeniatvra fatorvm sorte perisset ; Nec fieret mcestis tristis imago genis. Jvre Scotos, thalamo Francos, spe possidet Anglos ; Triplice sic triplex, ivre corona beat. Fcelix, liev nimivm fcelix, si tvrbine pvlsa Vicinam sero conciliasset opem. Sed cadit vt terram teneat, nvnc morte trivmphat, Frvctibvs vt sva stirps, pvllvlet inde novis. Victa neqvit vinci, nec carcere clausa teneri ; Non occisa mori, sed neqve capta capi. Sic vitis svccisa gemit fcecvndior wis, Scvlptaqve pvrpvreo, gemma decore micat. Obrvta frvgifero sensim sic cespite svrgvnt Semina, per mvltos, quae latvere dies. Sangvine sancivit foedvs cvm plebe Iehova, Sangvine phcabant nvmina sancta patres. Sangvine conspersi qvos praeterit ira penates; Sangvine signata est qvae modo cedit hvmvs. Parce Devs, satis est, infandos siste dolores; Inter fvnestos pervolet ilia dies. Sit lieges mactare nefas vt sangvine postliac Pvrpvreo nvnqvam terra Britannia flvat. Exemplvm pereat caesae cvm vvlnere Christae: Inqve malvm praeceps avthor et actor eat. Si meliore, svi post mortem, parte trivmphet, Carnihces sileant, tormina, clavstra, crvces. Qvem dederant cvrsvm svperi, Regina peregit. Tempora laeta Devs, tempora dvra dedit. Edidit eximivm fatn properante Iacobvm, Qvem Pallas, Mvsae, Delia, fata colvnt. Magna viro, maior natv, sed maxima partv ; Conditvr hie Regvm filia, sponsa, parens. Det Devs vt nati, et qvi nascentvr ab illi, jEternos videant hinc sine nvbe dies. //. iV. Gemcns. At the West end: I. Pet : 2. 21 . Cliristvs pro nobis passvs est, relinqvens exemplvm vt seqvamini vestigia eivs. At the East end : 1. Pet.: 2. 22. Qvi cvm malediceretvr non malediee- bat: cvm, pateretvr non comminabatvr ; tradebat avtem ivdi- canti ivste. Arms: sculp, and painted. On the large shields at top: Scotland, within a Collar of St. Andrew. Supporters : two Unicorns Arg. ducally gorged and chained, Or. Crest : a Lion sejant, full-faced, Gu. crowned Or, holding in his dexter gamba naked Sword Prop, and in the sinister, a Sceptre; both erected palewise. Motto: my Defence. — At the four angles are as many Unicorns sejant, bearing Shields charged with Roses, the Thistle, and the Fleurde Lis. — Over the lower cor- nice: North side; I. Scotland . Imp. the House of Lorraine, namely, 1st, Quaiterly of Eight, viz. 1st, Harry of Eight Arg. and Gu. Hungary: 2d, Az. Semee of Fleurs de Lis Or, a Label of Three, Gu. Naples: 3d, Arg. a Cross Potent betw. four Croslets Or, Jerusalem ; 4th, Or, four Pallets Gu. Ar~ rugon: 5th, Az. Semee of Fleurs de Lis Or, within a Bor- dure, Gu. Anjou : 6th, Az. a Lion ramp, reversed, Or, crowned, armed and Langued Gu. Guelders : 7lh, Or, a Lion ramp. Sab. crowned Gu. Julicrs : 8th, Az. Semee of Crosses Patee fitchee, two Barrs (or Barbels) hauriant, en- dorsed, Or, Barrc: over all, an Escutcheon of Pretence, Or, on a Bend Gu. three Eagles, displayed, Arg. Lor- raine. 2. France, Imp. Scotland. — South side: 1. Quar- terly of Four, viz. 1st, Quarterly; first and fourth, Az. three Fleurs de Lis Or, within a Bordure Gu. charged with ten Buckles of the Second, Barony of D'Aubigny : second and third, Or, a Fess Chequie Arg. and Az. within a Bordure, engr. Gu. Stuart of Davingstone : over all an Escutcheon of Pretence Arg. charged with a Saltire, engr. betw. four Cinque- foils, Gu. Lenox ; 2d, Gu. three armed Legs conjoined in tri- angle, Prop. Isle of Man ; 3d, Gu. three Lions ramp. Arg. Earldom of Boss ; 4th, Quarterly of Four, viz. first, Az. a Lion ramp. Arg. crowned Or, M. c Doual ; second, Or, a Lion ramp. Gu. Abcrnethy ; third, Arg. five Piles, meeting in the Nombril point, Gu. Wishurt ; fourth, Or, a Fess Chequie Arg. and Az. on a Bend Gu. three Buckles of the Field, Stuart of Bonkill ; over all, an Escutcheon of Pretence Arg. charged with a Man's Heart, Gu. on a Chief Az. three Mullets of the Field, Douglas: the whole Imp. Scotland. 2. Scotland, Imp. France and England, quarterly. — Small Shields on the Frieze: 1. Scotland, Imp. France and England quarterly, within a Bordure Gobony Arg. and Az. Beaufort. 2. Scot- land, Imp. Or, three Bars wavy Gu. Drummond. 3. France, Imp. Scotland. 4. D'Aubigny, Imp. Scotland. 5. Scotland, Imp. France and England, quarterly. Eleven other small shields that were on the frieze have been taken away. The Tomb of the venerable Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, and mother of Henry the Seventh, by her 1st husband Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, stands next to that of the Queen of Scots, eastward; and like that, w as, till lately, surrounded by an iron- railing, ornamented with heraldic devices and standards. This Lady was the grand-daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; and at the time of her decease, is reputed to have been allied, eitlier in blood or affinity, to thirty Kings and 70 HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL. Queens. Her 2d husband was Sir Humphrey Stafford, a younger son of Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham ; being left a widow, she was again married, to Thomas, Lord Stanley, who, after the battle of Bosworth Field, placed the crown of Richard the Hid on the head of her son, to whose success he had mainly contributed; and for which service, Henry created him Earl of Derby, in the same year. She was of a pious and benevolent disposition, and a great Encourager of Learning; as her splendid foundations of the two Colleges of Christ and St. John, at Cambridge, sufficiently testify. She also instituted a Divinity-lecture- ship in each University, which is still called by her name ; and patronized the newly introduced inv ention of the Art of Printing. She died at an advanced age, in the Palace at Westminster, on the 30th of July, 1509; having, among other charities, directed a weekly distribution of alms to the poor ; which they still receive on Saturdays in the College Hall, at Westminster. Her funeral Sermon was preached by the celebrated Bishop Fisher, her Confessor; who was afterwards beheaded for re- fusing to acknowledge the supremacy of Henry the Vlllth. The following is an extract from her Will, as printed by Nichols. — " Item. We will that our executonrs, assone as they convenyently maye aftir our decesse, doo make, or cause to be made, in the chapell there, as our body shall be interred, a convenyent tombe, by their discrecians, and oon aulter, or II. in the same chapell, for the said II chauntery masses there perpetually to be said, at the houres and tymes, and with all suche prayers and observaunces, as is afore rehersed." The Tomb of this illustrious Lady,is supposed to be the workmanship of Torrigiano ; but the real fact has not been ascertained : in the arrangement of the pannelling and flowered wreaths, it cor- responds with that of Henry VII. It is raised on a step, and is principally composed of black marble. On each side, between ornamental pi- lasters, are three compartments, formed by wreaths of flowers, boldly-sculptured, and inclosing ar- morial shields of gilt-copper, crowned; flowers, also, occupy the spandrils : at each end of the tomb is a similar compartment. On the slab, is a recumbent figure of the deceased, with her hands uplifted as in prayer : her head lies on two small cushions, surmounted by a perforated canopy; at her feet is a Hind, couchant. The features are petite; but so strongly characterized by the wrinkles of age and other marks, that there cannot be a doubt of their verisimilitude; and the hands are equally true to nature. She wears a kind of hood, drawn to a point over her forehead, and falling on her shoulders : a short barbe covers her neck : the foldings of her mantle are arranged with graceful simplicity. The whole figure conveys the idea of its having been modelled from real casts of the original. It is entirely of copper, and has been richly gilt; but the gilding is now only partially visible. On each side, lying loose on the tomb, is a slender pillar, pierced with arches, &c. in the Pointed style : these, also, as well as the canopy, which they appear to support, are of gilt-copper. The south side of this Tomb is delineated in Plate LIX ; C : round the verge is the following In- scription ; which was composed by the learned Erasmus, and for which, as it is entered in an an- cient Computus, or Account-book, belonging to St. John's College, he had a reward of 20s. Margaretje . Richcmondiac . Septimi . Henrici . Ma- tri . Octavi . A viae . Qvae . Stipendia . Constitvit .Trib : Hoc . Coenobio . Monachis . et . Doctori . Grammatices . Apvd . Wymborn . Perq : Angliam . Totam . Divini . Verbi . Prae- coni . Dvob: Item. Inter . Praetib: Litterar' ; Saerar'; Alteri . Oxoriiis . Alteri . Cantabrigiae . vbi . et . Collegia . Dvo . Christo . et . Ioanni . Discipvlo . Eivs . Strvxit . Mo- ritvr . An . Domini . M. D. IX . Ill . KAL. IVLII. Arms: cast in metal. West end : Quarterly, France and England, within a Bordure, charged with Fleurs de Lis and Martlets, alternately, Edmund Tudor: Imp. France and England, within a Bordure, Gobony; Beaufort. — South side: I . Quarterly, France and England, Imp. Quarterly of Four, viz. 1st, Fiance and England; 2d and 3d, a Cross, Ulster; 4 th, Barry of Six, on a Chief, three Pallets betw. two Esquires, based dexter and sinister, an Inescutcheon, Mortimer: the whole for Elizabeth of York. 2. Quarterly France and England, Imp. France, for Katharine of Valois. 3. Quar- terly, France and England: over all a Label of three Points; Arthur, Prince of Wales. — East end: Quarterly of Four, viz. 1st and -1th, Quarterly of Four, namely; first and fourth, on a Bend, th ree Bucks* Heads, cabossed ; Stanley : second, on a Chief, indented, three Plates, Latham ; fourth, Chequie; Warren : 2d and 3d, three armed Legs, conjoined in triangle, Isle of Man: over all, an Inescutcheon charged with a Lion ramp. Montault: the whole for Titos. Stanley, E. of Derby : Imp. Beaufort. — North side: 1. Beaufort; Imp. England, within a ISordure, for Holland, Earl of Kent. 2. Beaufort ; Imp. on a Fess betw. six Martlets, three, two, and one, a Mul- let for Diff. Beauchamp of Blctsho. There was another shield on this side, which has been long stolen : it appears from Keepe, to have been charged with France and England ; Imp. Quarterly of Four, viz. Castile, Leon, Arragon, and Sicily. Weever states, that Lady Margaret erected an Almshouse for poor women, " which was after- wards turned into lodgings for the Singing-men of the College," within the Abbey Almonry. Near the contiguous pier, towards the north, is a high pedestal, on which stands the Statue of a Female, that was brought from Italy by Sir Robert AValpole, and erected here in memory of the Lady Catherine, his first wife. It was exe- cuted by Vallory of Rome, in imitation of an ancient figure in the Villa Mattei ; but the drapery is separated into too many minute folds : the posi- tion is contemplative. INTERMENTS IN THE ROYAL VAULT. 71 Inscription : To the Memory of Catherine Lady Walpole, Eldest Daughter of John Shorter, Esq', of Bybrook, in Kent, and First Wife of S r . Robert Walpole, afterwards Earl of Orford, Horace, her youngest son, Consecrates this Monument. She had Beauty and Wit without Vice or Vanity, and cultivated the Arts without affectation. She was devout, tho' without bigotry to any sect ; and was without prejudice to any party, tho' the Wife of a Minister, whose power She esteemed but when She could employ it to benefit the Miserable, or to reward the Meritorious. She loved a private Life, tho' born to shine in public : and was an Ornament to Courts, untainted by them. She died Aug: 20, 1737; Between the easternmost piers, against the back of the stalls, is a large mural Monument of white and dove-coloured marbles, in memory of George Monck, K. G. 1st Duke of Albemarle ; and Christopher Monck, K. G. the 2d Duke, his only son and successor, in pursuance of whose Will it was erected. The former was the well- known Parliamentary General, who has become so famous in History, through the skilful intrigues, and consummate address, (not, however, un- rningled with hypocrisy) with which he effected the Restoration of the exiled family of the Stuarts. For this service, he was created Duke of Albe- marle, and Earl of Torrington ; and made Captain General of the King's forces. He died on the 4th of January 1669-70, aged 61 years ; and was interred with great pomp, at the expense of Charles the Second, on the 29th of April following, in a new Vault in the north aisle. Christopher died at Jamaica, on the 19th of December, 1687; and was buried near his father, on the 4th of July, 1689. This Monument was designed by Kent and sculptured by Scheemakers ; but it has no par- ticular merit either in design or execution. From an elevated basement, projecting circularly, rises a lofty rostral column, surmounted by the arms, supporters, and coronet of the deceased; this is turned to the spectator nearly in a line with the diagonal of its capital, so that the prows of the Roman vessels which appear to intersect the shaft, are shewn in complete relief. On the left of the column, is a standing figure of General Monck, in plate armour, but without a helmet: a long cloak hangs loosely from his shoulders, and in his right hand is a baton : he wears a cravat of point-lace, below which is seen the collar of the Garter. On the right is a mourning female, sitting, and leaning upon an oval Medallion of Duke Christopher, who is also distinguished by the pendant George. The ac- cessory ornaments are military weapons, grouped; and palm-branches bound by a ribband. The fol- lowing Inscription is on the lower part of the base; but it is remarkable that there is no Epitaph what- ever, for the persons whom the Monument was designed to celebrate. Grace, Countess Granville, Viscountess Carteret, Relict of George IA Carteret, Baron of Hawnes, and Youngest Daughter of John Granville, Earl of Bath ; John, Earl Gower, Viscount Trentham, Baron of Sittenham, Grandson of Lady Jane Levison Gower, Eldest Daughter of y" s J . Earl of Bath; [and] Bernard Granville, Esq. Grandson of Bernard Granville, Brother to the said Earl of Bath, Have erected this Monument in pursuance ofy e Will of Christopher, Duke of Albemarle. Arms: sculp. Within a Garter: a Chev. betw. three Lions' Heads, erased ; Monck, Supporters : a Lion and a Dragon, both holding Branches of Palm. Within a glazed wainscot case, standing near the East wall, is a fVax figure of King Charles the Second, in his state robes, who died on the 6th of February, 1684-5 : at the age of 55; and was buried on the 14th, in a new Vault made be- low this spot. In the same Vault the remains are deposited of Queen Mary, Consort of William III., ob. Dec. 28, 1694; aged 32: buried March 5, 1695-6. King William III.; ob. March 8, 1702-3; aged 52: buried April 12. Prince George of Denmark, the husband of Queen Anne, ob. Oct. 28, 1708; aged 56: bur. Nov. 13, and Queen Anne, ob. Aug. 2, 1714; aged 50: bur. Aug. 24. The following persons, together with two in- fant children of George the Second's, and a still- born child of the present Duke of Cumberland, have been deposited in the Royal Vault that was made under the Nave of this Chapel, after the decease of Queen Caroline, in the year 1 737. Queen Caroline, Consort to George II., born March 1, 1682: died Nov. 20, 1737; bur. Dec. 17: aged 55. Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales, 1st son of George I., and father of his late Majestv George III.; born Jan. 19, 1707: died March 20, 1750-1; bur. April 13, 1751 : aged 45. Caroline Elizabeth, 3d daughter of George II.; born June 10, 1713: died Dec. 28, 1757: bur. Jan. 5, 1758: aged 44. Eliz. Caroline, 2d daughter of Fred. Pr. of Wales; born May 30, 1713 : died Sept. 4, 1759; bur. Sept. 14: aged 46. King George the Second; born Nov. 30, 1683: died Oct. 25, 1760: bur. Nov. 11 : aged 76. Wil- liam Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, 2d son of George II., died Oct. 31, 1765; bur. Nov. 10. Frederick William, 5th son of Fred. Pr. of Wales; died Dec. 29, 1765; bur. Jan. 4, 1766. Edward Augustus, Duke of York, 2d son of Fred. Pr. of Wales ; died Sep. 17, 1767; in his 28th year: bur. Nov. 3. Louisa Anne, 3d daughter of Fred. Pr. of W. died May 13, 1768; in her 20th year: bur. May 21. Augusta, Prin- cess Dowager of Wales, and mother of George III., died Feb. 8, 1772; bur. Feb. 15, aged 52. Al- fred, 9th son of George III., died Aug. 20, 1782; bur. Aug. 27. Octavius, 8th son of George III., 72 HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL. died May 3, 1783; bur. May 10. Amelia So- phia Eleonora, 2d daughter of George 11., born May 30, 1711 : died Oct. 31, 178G; bur. Nov. 11 : aged 75. Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumber- land, 4th son of Fred. Pr. of Wales: died Sept. 18, 1790; in his 45th year: bur. Sept. 28. The remains of the Princes Alfred and Octa- vius, were removed into the Royal Vault, in the Mausoleum erected by his late Majesty George the Third, at Windsor; on the 10th of February, 1820, a few days previously to the interment of that Sovereign. The situations of all the Coffins are shewn in the Ground Plan of the Abbey Church. It has been stated by Dart, and other writers, that King Henry the Seventh expressly directed by his Will, that no persons should be interred in this Chapel, but those of the blood Royal : there is not, however, any such passage in that instrument ; and several hundred persons have been buried here who were not of Royal descent. The Registers of the Church, p re- viously to the reign of James I, have been lost or destroyed; and from that period till after the Restoration, they are compiled, only, from imperfect lists. From the entries contained in them, it would seem that the first person, not of royal blood, whose remains were deposited in this Chapel, was Chari.es, Marquis of Buckingham, and Earl of Coventry, son of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham : he was buried on the 17th of March, 1626: the second was Philip Feilding, Esq. son of William, Earl of Denbigh, by Susan, the Duke's sister, who was deposited in the same vault, on the 19th of January, 1627-8; and the third was the Duke of Buckingham himself, after his assassination in August, 1628 : both the former died young. General Admeasurements of this Chapel. Interior: length of the Nave, 103 feet 9 inches ; breadth of ditto, 35 feet 9 inches; height of ditto, to the vertex of the vaulting, 60 feet 7 inches. Length of the aisles, 62 feet 5 inches; breadth of ditto, 17 feet 2 inches: entire breadth of the Chapel, 70 feet 1 inch. Height of west window, 45 feet; breadth of ditto, 31 feet. Entrance Porch, or Vestibule: extent from north to south, 28 feet 4 inches ; breadth of ditto, 24 feet 9 inches. Exterior: extreme length, 115 feet 2 inches ; breadth, to the extremities of the Buttress Towers, 79 feet 6 inches. Height of the Buttress Towers, 70 feet 8 inches: height to the apex of the roof, 85 feet 6 inches : ditto, to the top of the western Turrets, 101 feet 6 inches. A LIST OF THE PUBLICATIONS AND ENGRAVINGS RELATING TO HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL. There are very few Publications extant relating to this Chapel, independently of those con- nected with the general Histories of the Abbey Church of Westminster. " The Will of King Henry VII," Lond. 17/5, 4to. was published by the late Thomas Astle, Esq. with a Preface of thirteen Pages, but without his Name. In its Orthography, it varies greatly from the Original, which is intituled, " The testament of Kyng Henry the vij">," and is now pre- served in the Chapter-House, at Westminster. It contains many particulars relating to this Chapel and its decorations. A Manuscript copy of this ' Testament,' but with considerable variations in orthography, is likewise in the British Museum. In the various Editions of Stow's " Survay of London," &c.j in Camden's " Reges, Regime, Nobi/es," &c.; Keepe's " Monumenta TVestmonastcriensia ;" Dart's " JVestmonasterium ;" Malcolm's " Londinum Redivivum ," and other general Works on London and Westminster, this Chapel and its Monuments are described, though by no means satisfactorily. The second Volume of " The Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain," by J. Britton, F. S. A. contains " An Essay towards an History and Description of King Henry the Seventh's Chapel ," illustrated by nineteen Engravings, consisting of general Views, Elevations, Details, Plans, &c. " Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Details of King Henry the Seventh's Chapel, at Westmin- ster, with a Concise History and Description, by L.[evvis] N.[ockalls] Cottingham, Archt. Vol. 1." Lond. 1822. Atlas Folio. This Volume contains 45 Prints of the Exterior of this Edifice, including Mouldings and Ornaments, drawn from actual admeasurement, and executed Lithographically. The same Artist intends to complete his Publication by a second Volume, which will comprise " A Complete Illustration and Display of the Interior" of the Chapel, in 35 Plates, Atlas Folio. A few Copies of the Work will be printed in Elephant Folio. The principal Engravings are as follow: — " The South-east Prospect of King Henry the Vllth's Chapel. R. West, delin. 1737. W. H. Toms, sculp. 1739." Size: 12 inches by 9 inches.— A ' Ficw' of the Chapel by Schynvoet " The Inside View of King Henry the Vllth's Chapel" was published by Bowles in 1 724 j and re-published, many years afterwards, by Robert Wilkinson, Cornhill. Size: 1G inches by 10 inches. In Sandford's " Genealogical History" are Views of Henry the Vllth's Monument and Screen; together with the Altar at the west end of the latter, mistakenly engraved as the Monument of Edward VI. " The Monument [or rather the Monumental Screen] of King Henry the Filth and his Queen," was also engraved by Geo. Vertuc, Lond. 1735; from a Drawing by Gravelot. Size: 17 inches by 13| inches. In Carter's " Ancient Sculpture and Painting," Vol. I, are two Prints of the circular Compartments in alto-relievo on King Henry's Tomb; with explanatory Descriptions by John Sidney Hawkins, Esq. A " Plan of the Royal Vault," in the South aisle, with the Coffins of Charles II, Mary II, William III, Prince George of Denmark, and Queen Anne, was engraved by Sturt, from a drawing by William Illidge, in the time of Dean Atterbury, to whom it is dedicated. K GENERAL INDEX. " A Plan and Perspective of the Royal Vault, built in 1 737/' under the Nave, was drawn by F. Warre, and engraved by P. Fourdriniere. — " An Exact View of the Royal Vault, &c. made for Queen Caroline ; sold by Geo. Forster, 1737." — " An Exact Plan, &c. with the Coffins of the late Queen and the Prince of Wales :" printed for Dickenson, in 1771. " The Arms of the Knights, and of various Gentlemen — Esquires to the Knights, of the most Honourable Order of the Bath, on 140 Plates, worked off from the Arms now fixed up in Henry 7th's Chapel, in Westminster Abbey. Printed in the Year 1725." Folio. In Pugin's Specimens of Gothic Architecture, selected from various Ancient Edifices in Eng- land," Lond. 4to. 1821—1823, are various architectural details, &c. from this Chapel. GENERAL INDEX. A. ABBEY CHURCH, Westminster, 5— made a Cathedral, 18 — made Collegiate, 19 — endan- gered by fire, 21, 22 — ceremonies here at Henry the Vllth's funeral, 53, 54. Alcocke, Bishop of Ely, his skill in Architecture, 9, note. Almsmen, of Hen. VII, 11, note — 14, note — 15. Altars, in the Abb. Ch. under the lantern-place, 13— in Hen. Vllth's Chap. 8, 17, 18, 34, and 58. Alto-relievos, 29, 31, 33, 34, 35 — very cu- rious, 56, 57. Angels, of baked earth, 58. Armour, arms, &c. of Hen. VII, offered at his funeral, 53. Avoures, or Avouries, of Hen. VII, 7, 52, 56 — inquiry into the proper signification of that name, 56, note, B. Banners, of the Knights of the Bath, 50 — of va- rious Saints, 53. Basso-relievos, 28, 29, 34, 56. Bath, the, Order of, revived and new-modelled, 21, 50 — again altered and enlarged, 50, note. Stone, used in the restoration of Henry the Vllth's Chap. 23, 24— its qualities, 52. Bolton, Will. Prior of St. Bartholomew's, his buildings and rebus, 10. Bothivell, James, Earl of, his viilany, 68. Bray, Sir Reginald, his claim to the honour of erecting Hen. Vllth's Chap, disputed, 9, 10 — his decease, ib. Buckingham-House, built by John Sheffield, D. of Buckinghamshire and Normanby, 61. Burghley Papers, quoted, 59. Carvings, grotesque and curious in Hen. Vllth's Chap, described, 47, 48 — statue of Hen. VII, 49. Chamberlain, the Lord, his consent required for interments in Hen. Vllth's Chap. 19 — takes forcible possession of the Chapel, 21. Chantry ftlonks, established, 12, 13. Chapel of Henry VII : Historical particulars of, 3 to 27 — its origin, and why built at Westmin- ster, 4, 5 — the first stQne laid, 6 — extracts re- lating to, from the King's Will, 6 to 8 — conjec- tures as to its architect, 9 to 11 — its Endow- ments, 12 to 16 — completion and ancient ap- pearance of, 16 to 18 — vested in the Dean and Chapter of AVestminster, 18 to 20 — appro- priated to the Knights of the Bath, 21 — its ruinous state, and particulars of its late reno- vation, 22 to 27 — Architectural description of, 27 to 52 — Exterior: its striking effect, 27 — walls and buttress towers, 28 to 30 — cross- springers, clerestory windows, cornice, and pa- rapet, ib. 31. — Interior: its elegance, 32 — porch, or vestibule, ib. 33 — aisles and oratory, 33 to 35 — nave, its statues, sculpture, and side chapels, 35 to 40 — vaulting, pendants, &c. 40 to 43 — windows and painted glass, 43 to 46— its brazen gates, 46 — stalls, seats, desks, carv- ings, &c. 47 to 50 — pavement, 51 — different kinds of stone used in the building, 52 — mo- numents in the nave and chapels, 52 to 63 — ditto, in the north aisle, 63 to 66 — ditto, in the south aisle, 66 to 71 — interments in the royal vaults, 71 — general admeasurements, 72. Chapel of St. Mary, or our Lady, 3, 5, 6, 18, 26. Christ's Image, in baked earth, 58. GENERAL INDEX. College of Arms, claims of its Heralds at funerals, 21. Committee, the, for the inspection of National Monuments, meet at the Deanery, 23 — List of the Committee in 1808, ib. note — Hen. Vllth's Chap, restored under their recommendation, 25, 27. Communion Table, of the Tudor times, 50. Courser, a ' goodlie' one of Hen. Vllth, offered at his funeral, 53. Cross, the Holy, a large piece of, bequeathed by Henry to his Chapel, 58. Crucifixion, the, a large painting of, on glass, in St. Margaret's Church, West. 45. , the, emblems of, 58. D. Darnley, Henry Lord, afterwards King of Scots, 67 — strangled and blown up with gunpowder, 68. Dean and Chapter, of Westminster, particulars of their claim to Hen. Vllth's Chap. 18 to 20. Demi- angels, described, 34, 36. Douglas, Margaret, Countess of Lenox, her high descent, 67 — her statue described, ib. E. Edward VI, buried in Hen. Vllth's Chap, under the Altar erroneously called his Monument, 59. Ejfigy, or Picture, of Hen. VII, borne at his fu- neral, 52, 53 — ditto, of Elizabeth, his Queen, 57. Elizabeth, Queen, particulars of her grants to the Collegiate Church of Westminster, 20 — her judicious policy, 64 — her statue described, ib. costs of her monument, 65. , of York, Queen of Hen. VII, her portrait on glass, 45 — her decease, 52, 57 — her statue described, 55 — her funeral, and effigy, 57. Estimate, a curious one, of an intended Tomb for Hen. VII, 55, note. F. Fabric Fund, of Westminster, 23, note. Fees, funeral, paid by the royal family, 20. Fisher, Bish. of Rochester, preaches the funeral Sermons of Hen. VII, and Margaret, his mo- ther, 53, 54, 70 — beheaded for denying the su- premacy of Hen. VIII, 70. Fotheringhay Castle, Mary, Queen of Scots, be- headed there, 68. Foxe, Bishop, his knowledge in architecture, 10, 1 1. Founding, some fine examples of this art, 46, 59. G. Gardens, curious, of Hen. VII, 54. Gates, brazen, of Hen. Vllth's Chap, described, 46. George I, revives the Order of the Bath, 24, 50. IV, alters ditto, ib. note. Glass, painted, at King's Coll. Chap. Cambridge, 33— in Hen. Vllth's Chap. 44, 45— in St. Mar- garet's Church, ib. note. Grants, of Parliament, for the repairs of Hen. Vllth's Chap. 26, and note. Grenville, Lord, suggests an application to Par- liament for restoring Henry's Chapel, 22. Greenivich, the birth-place of Queen Elizabeth, 64 ; and of the Princesses Sophia and Mary, daughters of James I, 66. Good, and Evil, personified, 56. H. Henry VI, his intended canonization and monu- ment, 4 — his remains still at Windsor, 5, note; and 15, note — his reputed miracles, ib. — a pre- sumed statue of, 36, note; and 39. Henry VII, his motives for building a Chapel at Westminster, 4, 5 — deposits the first stone, 6 — extracts from his Will, 6 to 8 — represented in an Initial letter, 11, note — his endowments and grants to his Chapel, 11 to 16 — his de- cease, 17 — his badges, supporters, cognizances, &c. 28 to 50 — his funeral described, 52 to 54 — his penitence before death, 54 — account of his tomb, statue, and patron saints, 54 to 57 — his bequests to the Altar within the Screen, 58. I AND J. Illuminations, curious and splendid, 7, 1 1, 12, 16, notes. Indentures, concerning Hen. Vllth's Chap, par- ticulars from, 1 1 to 1 6, and notes — ditto, con- cerning his tomb, 54 ; and altar, 58. Inscriptions, on the turrets, 26. Iron-work, of Queen Elizabeth's Mon. described, 65 — ditto, of the Mon. of Marg. Douglas, 67. Julius II, Pope, grants a licence to remove the remains of Hen. VI, 5. K. Killigrew, the Rev. Henry, paves Hen. Vllth's Chapel, 5 1. K 2 GENERAL INDEX. Knights, of the Bath, Hen. Vllth's Chap, appro- priated to their use, 21 — last Installation of, 50, note — their arms and banners, 49, 50 — various particulars concerning their respective creations, and first admission into this Chapel, 50, 51, note. M. Maintenance, three caps of, borne at Hen. Vllth's funeral, 53. Mary, Queen of Scots, some particulars of her history, and death, 68 — her statue described, ib. Masses, 10,000, directed to be said by Hen. VII, in honour of the Trinity, the five wounds of Christ, the five joys of our Lady, the nine orders of Angels, &c. 52. Metal, casts in alto-relievo, on Hen. Vllth's tomb described, 56, 57. Miracles, of Hen. VI, 15, note. Monck, Geo. K. G. 1st Duke of Albemarle, his address in promoting the Restoration, 71 — his statue described, ib. P. Palls, various, placed on Hen. Vllth's coffin, in token of homage, 53. Patron-Saints, or Avoures, of Hen. VII, 7, 56, 57. Pope, his Epitaph on Edmund, last Duke of Buck- inghamshire and Normanby, 61, 62. R. Richmond and Derby, Margt. Beaufort, Countess of, mother of Hen. VII, her descent and cha- racter, 69, 70 — her statue described, 70. S. Saints, Apostles, Martyrs, &c. statues of, in Hen. Vllth's Chap, described, 36 to 39. Sandford, his mistake as to Edw. Vlth's Monu- ment, 59. Screen, of brass and copper, a very curious one, forming part of the Monument of Henry VII, 8, 13— described, 59, 60. Screens, of stone, described, 36, 40. Shields, ancient forms of, 28, and note. Solomon, Judgment of, 47, note. Stalls, and Seats in Hen. Vllth's Chap, described, 47 to 49 — grotesque carvings on the sub-sellce, 47, 48, note. Stanley, Thos. Earl of Derby, crowns Hen. VII in Bosworth Field, 69. Statues, in marble, of the Children of Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, 62 — of Queen Elizabeth, 64 — of Mary, Queen of Scots, 68 — of Cathe- rine, Lady VValpole, 70 — of Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, 71. , in metal, of Hen. VII, and Elizabeth, his Queen, 55 — of various Saints, 59 — of Villiers, 1st Duke of Bucks, and Catherine, his Duchess, 60 — of Mars, Neptune, Pallas, and Benevo- lence, ib. — of Lodowick Stuart, Duke of Rich- mond and Lenox, and Frances, his Lady, 63 — of Faith, Hope, Charity, and Prudence, ib. — of Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby, Mother of Hen. VII, 70. St. Dunstan, and the Devil, 37. St. George, his leg cased in silver, gilt, given by Hen. VII, 58. 's Chap. Windsor; when vaulted, 41. Stuart, Esme, Duke of Rich, and Lenox, his heart deposited in Hen. Vllth's Chapel, 63. V. faulting of Hen. Vllth's Chap, described, 40 to 43. Villiers, Geo. 1st Duke of Bucks, buys Rubens's pictures, 60 — stabbed by Felton, ib. — his sta- tue described, ib. Vincent, Dr. Will. Dean of Westminster, his ex- ertions to restore Hen. Vllth's Chap. 22 to 25. Vineyards of Hen. VII, 54. Virgin, the, Chapel of, 3, 18, 19, 26, note — ditto, statues of, 18, 38. W. IFarbeck, Perkin, Duke of York, put to death by Hen. VII, 66. fVhite-Rose Tavern, at Westminster, 5. TFhite Tower, the Chapel of, the bones of two youths discovered here, 66; and afterwards de- posited in Hen. Vllth's Chapel, ib. Will of Henry VII, various extracts from, 6 to 8; 17, note; 30, note; 52, 58. INDEX TO THE MONUMENTS AND INTERMENTS; AND TO TIIE NAMES MENTIONED IN THE INSCRIPTIONS AND HISTORY. N. B. The Names printed in Italics refer to the Monuments and Interments. Abingdon, 24. Albemarle, Monck, Duke of, 66, 70. Albany, Chas. Duke of, 50. Alcocke, Bp. of Ely, 9, 10. Alfred, Prince, 71, 72. Amboys, or Amboise, Card. 58. Amelia Sophia, Dau. of Geo. II, 72. Anglesea, Jam. E. of, 61. Anne, of Denmark, consort of James I, 66. Anne, Queen, 30, 33, 63, 71. Anstis, quoted, 51. Aroun, or Arran, E. of, 53. Arundel, Earl of, ib. Ashmole, quoted, 5, 41. Astle, Thos. Esq. 8, 1 1 . B. Bacon, Lord, quoted, 54. Baker, Hen. Esq. 23. Barnes, Dr. 6. Bath, 15, 24. Beaufort, Marg. Coun. of Rich- mond and Derby, 69, 70. Beaumont, Sir Geo. 23. Bell, John, ' Peintor,' 55. Bentham's, Ely, quoted, 9. Belve, Chas. Esq. 23. Bog, Maitland, ' Carver,' 26. , David, ditto, ib. Boleyn, Queen Anne, 64. Bolton, Will. Prior of St. Bar- tholomew's, ' Master of the Works' of Hen.VIIth'sChap. 8, 9, 10. A. Bosvvorth Field, 29, 45, 69. Boucher, quoted, 56. Bounscough Priory, 55. Bownde, Rich. ' Glasyer,' 44. Braie, or Bray, Sir Reginald, 6, 9. Brandon, Sir Thos. 53. British Museum, 4, 10, 11, 18, 52, 55, 59. Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, 36, 38, 60, 61, 63. , Catherine } Duchess of, 60, 61. , Edw. D. of, 63. ■ , Eliz. Duch. of, ib. , George, 1st Mar- quis of, 22, 23. Buckinghamshire, Sheffield, D. of, 61, 62. Bybrook, 71. C. Cadwallader, 29, 56. Caley, John, Esq. 8. Cambridge, 9, 43, 44. Camden, quoted, 59. Canonbury, 10. Canterbury, 6: Archbp. of, 53. Carew, Reg. Pole, 23. Carewe, Sir Edmond, 52. Caroline, Queen, consort of Geo. II. 11, 19, 21, 36, 71. — — — — Eliz. Dau. of Geo. II, 71. Carpentier, quoted, 56. Cavendish, Sir Will. 67. , Eliz. ib. Charles I, 51, 60, 61. 11,51, 62, 64, 66, 71. • , of France, 6. Charlotte, of Wales, D iu. of Geo. IV, 50. Chatsworth, 67, 68. Chaucer, 5. Chertsey, 4, 15. Chesterford, 14, 15. Christ College, Camb. 70. Cole, J. 30. Collins, 30. Coombe Down, 24. Cottingham, quoted, 9, 28. Critz, John de, ' Painter,' 65. Cumberland, Hen. Fred. Duke of, 72. , Will. Augustus, Duke of, 71. Cyo, or Scio, Isle of, 58. D. Dallaway, quoted, 9, 30. Darcy, Lord, 53. Darnley, Lord, afterwards King of Scots, 67- Darrell, Sir Edward, 52. Dart, quoted, 30, 36, 45, 59, 66. D'Aubignie, John, Lord, 62. David, King, 47. Deanery, of Westminster, 23. Delvo, L. 62. Denbigh, Feilding, E. of, 72. Denmark, Geo. Prince of, 71. Derby, Earl of, 53, 55. Dodford, 14. Douglas, Marg. Coun. of Lenox, 67. INDEX TO THE MONUMENTS. George II, 21, 36, 71. 111,26, 71, 72. IV, 50. Glanvill, Jeremiah, ' Clerk of the Works,' 26. Gloucester, Rich. Duke of, after- wards Rich. Ill, 66. Goliath, 47. Gower, John, Earl, 71. ■ , Lady, J. Levison, ib. Granville, Bernard, Esq. 71. , Geo. Lord, ib. ■ , Grace, Viscountess Carteret, ib. , John, E. of Bath, ib. Guy, Will. Prior of St. Bartho- lomew, 10. I AND J. Illingworth, 54. Ireland, Dr. John, Dean of West- minster, 26. Islington, 10. Islip, Abbot, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 16. James, 30. I, 19, 21, 60, 61, 62, 66. II, 61, 62, 64. IV, of Scotland, 67, 68. ■ V, ditto, ib. Jennings, Rob. ' Mason,' 55. Johnson, 56. Julius II, Pope, 5, 15, 16. Douglas, Archibald, E. of Angus, 67. Dryden, 61. Dugdale, quoted, 56. E. Edward 111,21. IV, 52, 65, 67, 68. V, 34,57, 66. VI, 19, 20, 59, 67. Elizabeth, Queen, 18, 19, 20, 34, 64 to 66, 67. of York, Queen Con- sort of Hen. VII, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 13, 52, 53, 55, 57, 67. Caroline, Dau. of Geo. II, 71. Erasmus, 70. Essex, Earl of, 53. Ewen, Nicholas, ' Copper-smith and Gilder,' 55. F. Feilding, Philip, Esq. 72. Felton, 60. Fenn, 14. Finche, 55. Fisher, Bish. of Roch. 53, 54, 70. Flaxman, John, Esq. R. A. 3, 23. Flower, Barnard, ' Glasyer,' 44. Fotheringhay, Coll. of, 9. i Castle, 68. Fox, Bish. of Win. 10, 11. Francis, Dauphin of France, and afterwards King, 68. Frederick JVilliam, son of Fred. Pr. of Wales, 71. Fuller, quoted, 15. Fynes, Sir Thos. 52. G. Gabriel, the Angel, 38. Gainsbury, Cath. Duch. of Buck- inghamshire, 62. Gaunt, John of, Duke of Lan- caster, 69. Gayfere, Thomas, ' Abbey Ma- son,' 23, 24, 25, 26, 27. George 1,21, 30, 49, 50, 60. H. Hacomhleyn, Dr. 43. Hales, James, ' Carver,' 55. Halifax, Geo. Savile, Marquess of, 34, 64. Hammersmith, 15. Hampton Court, 66. Harbottle Castle, 67. Hardwicke, 68. Harlow, Sir Robert, 59. Harmodesworth, Robert, 5. Harrow on the Hill, 10. Henry III, 5, 62. V, 6, 32, 42. VI, 4, 5, 7, 34, 39, 43. VII, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 19,20,36, 38,41,42,43, 45, 49, 52 to 60, 65, 66, 67, 69. VIII, 5, 21, 43, 55, 57, 64, 65, 67, 70. — , Prince of Wales, 50. I, of Scotland, 67. Holinshed, quoted, 6. Hollar, 30. Holmes, John, e Carver,' 26. Hoone, Galyon, ' Glasyer,' 44. Hope, Thos. Esq. 23. Howard, Sir Edward, 52. , Thomas, Duke of Nor- folk, 63, 67. , Thomas, Lord, of Bin- don, 62. Huddlestone, 6, 51. Hylmer, John, * Free Mason/ 41. K. Kateryne, Queen of Hen. V, 7. Katharine, Queen of Hen. VIII, 54. , Duchess of Bucking- hamshire : vide Sheffield. Kennet, Bishop, quoted, 10. Kent, Geo. ' Architect,' 71. Killigreio, Hen. 51. King's College, Camb. 9, 43. Knight, Rob. Payne, Esq. 23. L. Lancaster, John of Gaunt, Duke of, 69. Lane, Richard, ' Mason,' 24, 26. Langtoft, quoted, 56. Latimer, Bish. quoted, ib. Leland, quoted, 3. Lenox, Marg. Coun. of, 67. , Matthew Stuart, Earl of, 62, 67. , Charles, Earl of, ib. , Eliz. Coun. of, ib. Lewis, King of France, 58. Lobons, John, ' Mason,' 55. Locke, Will. Esq. 23. Long, Sir Chas. ib. Louisa Anne, Dau. of Fred. Pr. of Wales, 71. Luffield, 5, 14, 16. M. Manchester, Hen. Earl of, 63. INDEX TO THE MONUMENTS. Margaret, Countess of Rich- mond and Derby, 6, 13, 45, 55, 69, 70. Mary, Queen, 50, 59, 64, 67. , Queen of Will. Ill, 71. , Dau. of James I, 34, 65, 66. , Queen of Scots, 64, 65, 67, 68. Maynard, John, ' Peintor,' 55. Monck, Geo. 1st Duke of Albe- marle, 66, 70. , Christ. 2d Duke, 70. Milan, 18, 57. Montpensier, Anth. Philip, Duke of, 62. More, John a, 44. Mottesfont, 5, 1 6. Mountague, Ckas. 1st Earl of Halifax, 63, 64. Hon. George, 63. N. Nares, quoted, 56. Newland, Prebend of, 14. Norfolk, Thos. Duke of : vide Hoxuard. Northumberland, Earl of, 53. Nycholson, Jam. ' Glasyer,' 44. O. Octavius, Prince, 71, 72. Oldham, Hugh, the Rev. 6. Orford, Rob. Earl of, 70. Orleans, L. P. Duke of, 62. Oxford, Earl of, 65. Owen, Sir David, 52. P. Pageny, Master, e Sculptor,' 55. Parker, quoted, 9. Parliament House, 51. Patrick, ' Blacksmith,' 65. Paulet, Sir Amias, 68. Paul's Cross, 14. Peterborough Cathedral, 63. Philip and Mary, 19. Pierce, Messrs. 24. Playdon, 14. Pleshy, ib. Pope, 61. Portland, Isle of, 24. Powtran, Maximilian, ' Sculp' tor,' 65. Prior, 61. R. Rawlinson, Dr. 5. Raymond, 59. Reading, Abbey of, 53. Reve, Thos. ' Glasyer,' 44. Richard III, 4, 45, 69. , Duke of York, 34, 66. Richmond, 6, 8, 52. , Edmond, Earl of, 69. Palace, 10. Richmond and Derby, Marga- ret, Coimtess of, 6, 13,45,55, 69, 70. Richmond and Lenox, Lodowick Stuart, Duke of, and Frances, his Lady, 40, 63. , Esme, Duke of, 63. , Maria, Duch. of, ib. Rochelle, 60. Rome, 16. Rossi, Chas. R. A. 23. Rubens, 60. Rutland, Francis, Earl of, 60, 61. Rye, 14. Rymer, quoted, 16. Ryves, Dr. Bruno, quoted, 59. S. Saints, various: vide pp. 37 to 39. Sandford, 59. Savile, Geo. Mar. of Halifax, 34, 64. Savoy Hospital, 10. Scala Coela, Church of, 16. Scheemakers, P. ' Sculptor,' 62, 71. Sedley, Sir Chas. 61. ■ , Catharine, 62. Sheffield, John, Duke of Buck- inghamshire and Normanby, and Katharine, his last Du- chess, 61, 62. . , Edmund, last Duke of B. and N. ib. Sheffield, Sophia, John, Robert, Hen. Maria, and Edmund, 62. Sherife, Drawswere, ( Carver,' 55. Shorter, John, Esq. 71. Shrewsbury, Earl of, 53. , Geo. Earl of, 68. Solomon, King, 47. Sophia, Dau. of James I, 65, 66. Speed, quoted, 10, 11. Stafford, Duke of Bucks, 69. , Sir Humphrey, ib. ' , Geo. Marquess of, 23. Stamford, 14. Stanhope, Sir Edmund, Knt. 6. Stanley, Thos. Earl of Rich, and Derby, 55, 69. Stanwell, 66. Stow, quoted, 6, 10. Strand, the, 51. Strutt, quoted, 56. Strype, quoted, 30, 45. Stuart, Esme, Duke of Rich- mond and Lenox, 63. , James, Duke of R. and L. ib. —— — , Lodowick, Duke of R. and L. and Frances his Du- chess, 40, 62, 63. — — , Matthew,Earl of Lenox, 67. , the Lady Arabella, 67. St. Alban's Abbey, 23, 53. — Anne, 7, 37, 56. — Anthony, 7,37, 56. — Barbara, 7, 38, 56. — Bartholomew, 59. 's Priory, 7, 9. — Basil, 59. — Benet, or Benedict, 13. — Bride's, Lond. 15. — St. Christopher, 39, 56. — Edward the Confessor, 7, 38, 45, 56, 57, 59. — Erasmus's Chap. 5. — Francis, 58. — George, 7, 18, 38, 45, 56, 57, 59. i Chap. Windsor, 41. — James's, 64. Park, 61. — - Jerom, 38, 57. — John Baptist, 7, 37, 38, 55, 57. the Evangelist, 7, 36, 37, 56, 57, 59. INDEX TO THE MONUMENTS. St. John's Goll. Camb. 70. — Katherine, 34, 37, 39, 45. — Lawrence, 34, 37. — Margaret's Ch. West. 45. — Martin le Grand, 14, 1 6. — Mary Magdalene, 7, 38, 56. — Michael, 7, 56, 59. — Paul, 38,39. — Paul's Cath. 29, 52, 53. , Dean of, 52. — Peter, 18,38. — Romulus, 34, 38. — Sebastian, 36, 38. — Vincent, 7, 56. Surrey, Earl of, 53. Swaffham Market, 14. Symondes, Symond, ' Glasyer,' 44. T. Theobalds, 66. Thirlby, Bish. of West. 19. Thorney, Roger, 55. Thorn burgh, 14. Torrigiano, Pietro, or Peter Tor- rysany, 4 Painter, Graver, and Sculptor,' 17, 54,55, 58, 59, 70. Teasdale, John, sen. ' Carver,' 26. , jun. ditto, ib. Totternhoe, 23. Tower of Lond. 50, 66, 67. Townley, John, Esq. 23. Tudor, Edm. Earl of Richmond, 13, 69. Tudor, Margaret, 45. Tykhill, 14, 16. V. AND U- Vallory, ' Sculptor,' 70. Vertue, Robert, ' Mason,' 55. , Will. ' Free Mason/ 41. Villlers, Geo. \st Duke of Bucks, and Catharine his Duchess, 60, 61. — — , Charles, Mar. of Bucks, 71. , Mary, Charles, George, and Frances, 61. Vincent, Will. Dr. Dean of West. 22 to 26. — — , Geo. G. Esq. Chapter Clerk of West. 23. Up-Lambourne, 14. Urry, quoted, 56. Ursula, 2d Duchess of Bucking- ham, 62. W. Wales, Augusta, Princess Dow. of,7\. , Frederick Lewis, Prince of, 50, 71, 72. ■ , Henry, Prince of, 50. , Charles, ditto, 51. Walker, Humphrey, 1 Founder,' 55. Wall] Dr. 6. Walpole, quoted, 44, 55, 65. Walpole, Sir Robert, 70. -, Catherine, Lady, ib. 71. Warbeck, Perkin, Duke of York, 66. Westmacott, Rich. R. A. 23. West Smithfield, 10. Whitehall, 50, 51, 64. Widmore, quoted, 5, 18, 59. Widville, Eliz. Queen of Edw. IV, 5. Wilcocks, Dean of West. 22. William III, 63, 64, 71. Winchcomb, Abbot of, 53. Windsor, 4, 5, 15, 41. Woburn Abbey, 23. Wolsey, Cardinal, 54. Wren, Sir Christ. 30. Wyatt, James, Esq. 21, 23, 26, 31. Wylliamson, Ffraunces, ' Gla- syer,' 44. Wymborne, 70. Wynkyn de Worde, 74. Y. Ymber, Laurence, 'Karver,'55. York, Edw. Augustus, Duke of, 71. , Frederick, Duke of, 50. , Frederica-Charlotte-Ulri- ca-Catharina, his late Du- chess, ib. , Richard, Duke of, 9. , Richard, Duke of, son of Edw. IV, 34, 66. INDEX TO THE ARMS. A. Abbey of Westminster, Beauchamp, of Alcester, Cambridge, Rich. E. of, D. 12, , 65 * p *n i , »r. ^ A j t c<, D'Aubigny, Barony of, Abernethy, 65, 67, 68. , of Bletsho, 70. Castile^ and Leon, 65, g5 6 7 68,69. Andree, Baux,D. of, 65. Beaufort, 65, 69, 70. 66, 70. Derby Thos Stanley Angoulesme, 65. Boleyn, or Bulleyn, 66. Chester, Earldom of, Earl' of 70 ■— , Isabel of, ib. Brotherton.Thos.de, 66. 66. Douglas, 65, 67, 69. Anjou, 96. Butler, 66. Clarence, Lionel, Duke Drummond 69 Arragon, 69, 70. of, 65. ' C. Cornwall, Earldom of, v B- 66. E ' Barre, 69. Cadwallader, 29, 56. Cyprus, 65. Eleanor, of Castile, 66. INDEX TO THE ARMS. Eleanor, of Guyenne, 66. — — , ofProvence, ib. Edward the Confessor, 65. F. France and England, 57, 62, 65, 66, 69, 70. G. Gaunt, John of, 65. Guelders, 69. Guyenne, 65. H. Henry I, 65. II, 66. ■ Vll, arms, badges, and supporters of, 11, 28, 29, 31, 33 to 40, 42, 45 to 48, 57. Howard, 66. Hungary, 69. I. AND J. Ireland, 62, 66. Jerusalem, 69. K. Katharine, Daughter of James II, 62. Katharine, ofValois, 65, 70. Kent, Holland, Earl of, 70. L. Lancaster, ancient Earls of, 65. Latham, 70. Lenox, 65, 67, 68, 69. Lorraine, House of, 69. Louvain, Adeliza of, 65. M. M. c Doual,65,67,68, 69. Man, Isle of, 65, 68, 69, 70. Manners, 61 . Matilda, the Empress, 66. Molins, 66. Monck, 66. Monthermer, 64. Montault, 70. Mortimer, 57, 65, 70. Mountague, 64. N. Naples, 69. Nevile, 65. P. Philippa of Hanault, Queen of Edw. Ill, 65. Plantagenet, 65. — , Earl of Kent, ib. , Jeffrey, 66. Portcullis, 28. Provence, Elea. of, 66. R. Richmond, Edm. Tudor, Earl of, 65, 70. and Derby, Mar- garet, Countess of, 46, 70. Rochford, 66. Roet, 65. Ross, Earldom of, 65, 68, 69. Rouge Dragon, 29. S. Scotland, 62, 65, 66, 69. Sheffield, 62. Sicily, 70. Spain, 58. Stanley, 70. St. Paul, 65. Stuart, of Bonkill, 65, 67, 68, 69. — — , of Davingstone, 65, 67, 68, 69. T. Tilney, 66. V. AND U. Villiers, 61. Ulster, 57, 65, 70. Ursins, 65. W. Wales, Arthur, Prince of, 70. , Principality of, 66. Warren and Surrey, 66, 70. Widville, 65. Wishart, 65, 67, 68, 69. Y. York, Eliz. of, Queen of Hen. VII, 45, 57,65, 70. Marie Josephine Louise de Savoie, Reine de France et de Navarre, consort of Louis XVIII, who died at Hartwell, in Buckinghamshire, (whilst the Bourbons were in exile), on the 15th of November, 1810, aged 57 years; was buried on the 26th of the same month, in this Chapel. Her remains were afterwards removed to the Island of Sardinia, agreeably to her desire before death. The figure of Time, on the Duke of Buckinghamshire's Monument, (vide pages 61, 62) was executed by L. Delvaux, or Delvo, as he is there named ; and that of the Duchess, by Scheemakers. ADDITIONAL SUBSCRIBERS. William Burrell, Esq. Broome Park, Northumberland. J. B. Huntington, Esq. Somerton, near Yarmouth. Richard Percival, Jun. Esq. Highbury. L LIST OF PLATES. Plates. L. Henry the Seventh's Chapel : North-East View Ditto : East End .... View, looking East, shewing the Installa- tion of the Knights of the Bath, in 1812 ... View, looking North- west, shewing the Screen of Hen. Vllth's Monument Section of the North- Side Section of the West End, shewing the Brass Gates, Royal Vaults, &c LVI. South-East, and South Chapels LVIL The North Aisle, shew- ing Queen Elizabeth's Monument LVIII. Monument of Henry Vllth LIX. Monuments and Details LI. LII. LIII LIV. LV. Draughtsmen. J. P. Neale Ditto Ditto Ditto Do. Architectural Admeasurements by J. R. Thomson Ditto Ditto Ditto Ditto Details by Ditto. Monuments by J. R. Thomson. . . . Engravers. To whom Inscribed, J.Cleghornand R. Rone . . W. Radclyfife Hen. Le Keux J. Rofife Ditto J. Cleghorn . , R. Sands Ditto Henry Moses J. Carter Right Hon. Lord Mac- donald Thos. Gayfere, Esq. . . His Royal Highness the Duke of York. . Benjamin Wyatt, Esq. Jeffry Wyatt, Esq. F. S. A John Broadley, Esq. F.S. A Robert Rising, Esq. . Matthew Slater, Esq. Joseph Kay, Esq. . . . To Front Page 27 .... 30 50 42 36 43 40 64 56 68 The following Scales are to be substituted for those given in Plates LIV, and LVIII. Plate LIV: Scale of t Plate LVIII: Ditto 10 15 -) — SO 2b 30 35 — i — bO Feet. Ditto. THE END. T. DAVISON, LOMBARD -STREET, WHITEFRIARS, LONDON. JSIAH WESTLEY