REPORT 
 
 OF A 
 
 SURVEY OF THE DILAPIDATED PORTIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 HEREFORD CATHEDRAL, 
 
 IN THE YEAR 1841 : 
 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. ROBERT WH^LIS, M.A., F.R.S., 
 
 OF CAIUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, 
 AND JACKSONIAN PROFESSOR OF THAT UNIVERSITY. 
 
 HEREFORD : 
 PRINTED BY THOMAS N. WEBB, 
 1842. 
 
The Dean and Chapter of Hereford, in giving 
 to the Public this interesting and valuable report, 
 cannot refrain from expressing their thankfulness to 
 the Lord Bishop of Hereford, for having sug- 
 gested a reference to Mr. Professor Willis, as a 
 measure which could not be otherwise than satisfac- 
 tory to all parties, and for his kind intervention in ob- 
 taining the Professor's consent. To that gentle- 
 man they cannot adequately express the sense they 
 entertain of the zeal and ability which he evidenced 
 in the investigation of their venerable Cathedral, 
 and the obligation which they gratefully acknowledge 
 for the laborious and indefatigable attention which 
 he devoted to it. 
 
 Hereford, March 1, 1841. 
 
Cambridge, September 22, 1841. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 In compliance with your request, I 
 have examined the Cathedral of Hereford, and have 
 embodied the results of my observations in the accom- 
 panying Report, in rvhich I have endeavoured to des- 
 cribe the present state of the building, — especially of 
 the tower and its piers, — as well as to trace the history 
 of its several failures and repairs — an investigation 
 which will, I hope, possess some interest for you. In 
 pointing out the parts which require immediate resto- 
 ration, I have not ventured to indicate the exact man- 
 ner or extent of the repairs, which must of course be 
 left to the judgment of your architect, whose skill has 
 been already so successfully exerted in the similar 
 cases of Rochester and Armagh. Should I not have 
 succeeded in making myself intelligible in any portion 
 of the following pages, I shall have great pleasure in 
 supplying the required explanations, and remain. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 Yours most sincerely, 
 
 R. WILLIS. 
 
 The Very Rev. the Dean 
 and Chapter of Hereford. 
 
ON THE PRESENT STATE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CATHEDRAL OF HEREFOED. 
 
 AND ON THE 
 
 CAUSES WHICH HAVE LED TO IT. 
 
 Every part of the building exhibits settlements and 
 consequent distortions to a much greater degree than is 
 generally the case with buildings of the same age. Thus^ 
 the eastern gable of the choir inclines considerably to the 
 east, and the south wall of the Lady Chapel to the south ; 
 the walls of the north transept inchne northwards and 
 outwards in all du-ections, and the buttresses of its western 
 wall are also thrust northwards. The north porch, com- 
 monly attributed to Bishop Booth, is also considerably 
 inclined to the north, and the piers of the nave to the west ; 
 in short there is scarcely a vertical wall or pier in the whole 
 building, with the exception perhaps of the Audley Chapel. 
 
 When these several settlements are carefully examined, 
 
6 
 
 they appear to be of such a nature as would arise more 
 from compression of the ground or foundation upon which 
 they stand, than from weakness of the walls themselves, 
 for these walls and piers are not bent into a convex form, 
 as they would be if they had given way from constructive 
 weakness, but are thrust bodily over, sinking into the ground 
 on the yielding side. This may, for example, be observed 
 in the piers of the nave, near the great tower, both on the 
 north and south sides. 
 
 The greater part of these settlements however, can 
 be shewn to be of great antiquity, having as might be 
 expected, taken place very soon after the building was 
 finished, and there is no fear of their going any further, 
 except in those cases in which the original settlements may 
 have so weakened the walls, by fracturing and displacing 
 their materials as to allow them to sink under their own 
 weight or that of the subsequent additions. 
 
 For the purpose of examining the nature of the founda- 
 tions, excavations have been made by Mr. Cottingham, at 
 the bases of the piers on the south side of the nave, and 
 about that of the northern piers of the tower. From these, 
 as well as from an excavation in the centre of the nave, it 
 appears that at a depth of about seven feet below the present 
 pavement, there is a firm bed of gravel, which, from deeper 
 sinkings in the neighbourhood of the Cathedral, is ascer- 
 
7 
 
 tained to extend to a great depth, forming what must be con- 
 sidered to be an unexceptionable foundation ; and since the 
 new work of Mr, Wyatt, as well as the Audley chapel re- 
 mains perfectly upright, it is thus shewn that the ground 
 when properly treated admits of a solid bearing. Again, 
 as the settlements might have been supposed to have arisen 
 from springs of water immediately under the building, 
 search and enquiry has been directed to this point without 
 discovering any. Immediately upon the surface of the 
 bed of gi-avel, a wall about five feet high is placed. The 
 stones of which it is built are rough from the quarry and 
 are in seven courses; they are from 15 to 18 inches 
 long at the lower part, and rather less at the upper, and the 
 breadth of the wall is about four feet greater than the bases 
 of the piers which stand upon it ; two of these walls appear 
 to extend from one end of the Cathedral to the other — from 
 west to east, — the one receiving the northern and the other 
 the southern range of piers as well as the piers of the central 
 tower. The squared masonry of the bases of the piers rests 
 upon the upper surface of these walls. Of course the rough 
 structure of the walls prevents the detection of any settle- 
 ment or displacement ; but I am of opinion that it is rather 
 this basement wall, than the gravel below which has given 
 way, and allowed the piers to sink down and lean over 
 as they do at present. 
 
8 
 
 The walls of the Audley Chapel are, as already stated, 
 perfectly upright, but the south wall of the Lady Chapel, 
 agamst which it is erected, and into which its masonry is 
 bonded, declines very considerably to the south ; plainly, 
 therefore, this settlement must have existed before the Audley 
 Chapel was erected, and cannot have increased since the 
 year 1500 ; on the other hand, the eastern gable of the 
 Lady Chapel is in a state of ruinous disintegration, and re- 
 quires immediate repair to save it from the fate of the west 
 end of the Cathedral. The inclination of the walls and 
 buttresses of the north transept, and of Booth's Porch, are 
 original settlements, and nothing is to be apprehended from 
 them or from that of the eastern gable of the Choir, the en- 
 tire ponderous Norman wall of which, has evidently gone to 
 the east, and possibly its upper gable may have been re- 
 duced to such a ruinous condition as to have justified the 
 rebuilding of it by Mr. Wyatt. 
 
 But my attention has been more particularly directed to 
 the state of the tower, and to understand the result of ray 
 observations, it will be necessary to say somewhat of the 
 history of its erection. 
 
 It is clear that the piers and the four great arches that 
 rest upon them are of Norman work, and that at some sub- 
 sequent period, the present tower, which rises above the 
 roofs, was added. Whether a Norman tower was ever carried 
 
9 
 
 above the roof, and consequently taken down to make way 
 for the present erection, is uncertain; I am inchned to 
 think not. The line of demarcation between the Norman 
 wall and that of the added tower is easily traced. The up- 
 per limit of the Norman work is marked by a string course, 
 ornamented with a double row of little arch-heads, and the 
 additional work commences just above this, in a manner that 
 will be described below. The erection of this tower is not 
 recorded, but from the style of its ornaments, may be fixed 
 at the beginning of the fourteenth century. The date 
 usually assigned to it is a century earlier — it being sup- 
 posed the work of Bishop de Braos ; but this date, repeated 
 by every successive historian, merely rests on a passage of 
 Godwin, who in his biography of this Bishop,* says, " That 
 his effigy has a model of a tower in its hand, whence he 
 conjectures that he must have been the builder of the cen- 
 tral tower." This date is thus founded upon no document, 
 and being contradicted by the now well-understood archi- 
 tectural style of the tower, may be dismissed as possessing 
 no authority. It is much to be regretted that the period of 
 erection of no one part of this Cathedral has been recorded, 
 with the exception of its first foundation. It is established, 
 however, that Bishop Cantilupe died in 1282 and was bu- 
 ried in the Lady Chapel, that his reputed sanctity and the 
 
 * De PrsESulibu?, 1616, p 536. 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 miracles which were said to have been wrought at his tomb, 
 brought considerable sums to the church, and that his body 
 was removed to the north transept in 1287 ; also that he 
 was canonized in 1307. 
 
 The style of the north transept agrees with the suppo- 
 sition that it was erected for the reception of the shrine of 
 Cantilupe, between his death and the translation of his 
 body; and the superior magnificence of the design be- 
 speaks the increase of riches and consequence which this 
 event had brought to the Cathedral. To the same source 
 and the same circumstances may be attributed the new 
 tower, of which, if we place the date at about 1300, or a 
 little later, it will appear to have been undertaken imme- 
 diately after the completion of the north transept, and pro- 
 bably from the funds which still arose from the same pro- 
 fitable source. And this may account for the omission of 
 any recorded founder or benefactor in connection with 
 either the work of the north transept or of this tower ; 
 for it may be generally observed, with respect to the 
 buildings of the middle ages, that when they were carried 
 on by their monasteries, no record is preserved of the work, 
 but only when some considerable portion of it, as a tower, 
 a transept, or the vaulting of an aisle, was undertaken at 
 the expense of an individual. Thus it happens in the pre- 
 sent instance, that the building of the Lady Chapel and its 
 vestibule, the clerestory and vault of the choir and nave. 
 
11 
 
 all of them works of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, 
 are not recorded. To be sure Leland has recorded of 
 Bishop de Vere, who died in 1199, that he constructed 
 many remarkable edifices (on the authority of his epitaph), 
 and we may assign some of these works to him, if we 
 please. 
 
 To return however to the tower ; it is evident that at the 
 time of the addition of the present tower, the piers and 
 the four great Norman arches, upon which it was placed, 
 were in a state of great dislocation and settlement. 
 
 If the south-east pier be examined in connection with 
 the east Norman wall of the south transept, it will be seen 
 that the masonry of the latter wall near this pier, has been 
 dragged downwards by the settlement of the pier. This is 
 very visible on the inside of the building above the vault, 
 as well as on the outside of the clerestory. It is also shewn 
 by the bending downwards of the string mouldings in the 
 interior of this transept, and also by the difference of level 
 of the opposite impost mouldings of the small Norman 
 arch, which opens between this south transept and the south 
 aisle of the choir ; for we may assume that all these things, 
 namely, the courses of the masonry, the string mouldings, 
 and the two imposts of the arch, were originally respectively 
 level. But when the respective downward dislocations of 
 these three things are carefully measured, they are found to 
 be exactly the same, namely, three inches and a half ; and 
 
12 
 
 as thejr are situated at difFerent altitudes, we may conclude 
 that this pier has sunk bodily downwards into the founda- 
 tion through the vertical space of three inches and a half 
 with respect to the wall of the south transept which is of the 
 same age as itself ; but as the foundation is thus shewn to be 
 compressible, it must be supposed that the wall itself must 
 have sunk, although in a less degree, than the pier, and 
 therefore that the actual sinking of the pier must have 
 been greater than three inches and a half In fact, by 
 levelling the courses of masonry in the clerestory wall of 
 this transept, immediately above the vault, I find a dif- 
 ference of level of about ten inches between the southern 
 and northern extremities, which is manifestly due to 
 sinking, and not to inaccurate workmanship, because the 
 courses run nearly level over the piers, and sink in stages 
 over the window heads. 
 
 A great settlement or subsidence is thus shewn to have 
 taken place between the Norman pier and the Norman wall 
 in connection with it, as well as a positive sinking of each 
 into the foundation. The Norman waU of the choir has 
 also sunk to the same extent, and as the Early English string 
 moulding of its clerestory exhibits the same depression, we 
 must either suppose that the depression happened after the 
 clerestory was added, or that this string moulding was laid 
 upon the Norman wall without levelling it, a supposition 
 which is not inconsistent with the known roughness of the 
 
13 
 
 work of that age. The settlement of the south wall of the 
 south transept cannot now be measured, because a large 
 Perpendicular window was inserted on this side, and the 
 wall over it entirely rebuilt during the fifteenth century ; 
 most likely because this part of the wall had been entirely 
 shattered by the subsidence of the tower. Neither can the 
 settlements of the tower piers, with respect to the walls of 
 the nave, be ascertained, in consequence of the entire re- 
 building of the clerestory and triforium by Mr. Wyatt. 
 
 The two southern piers of the tower being in immediate 
 connexion with walls of their own age, their subsidence is 
 thus as it were recorded for our information. But the 
 two northern piers are now connected with the northern or 
 Cantilupe transept, which was built more than two cen- 
 turies later, and probably replaced a Norman transept 
 similar to the southern. 
 
 The eastern clerestory wall of this north transept, is, 
 however, not at all disturbed by dragging downwards with 
 the pier, and we may therefore conclude that the subsidence 
 of the piers had ceased before the year 1300, for it will 
 be shewn that the two northern piers had in themselves suf- 
 fered quite as much, if not more, from settlements than the 
 southern ones. If then, their j unction with walls two cen- 
 turies later, exhibits no signs of relative motion, we may 
 plainly infer that all the subsidence of the piers had taken 
 
14 
 
 place before these walls were connected to tliem. It is 
 true that the western wall of the north transept, exhibits a 
 great dislocation of form ; the entire mass of masonry 
 which forms the southern side of the lofty window, forty feet 
 high, has shrunk and slipped away from its junction with 
 the Norman wall, and settled downwards and northwards, 
 bulging out and bending the iron bars of the window, and 
 rendering an immediate repair necessary. But this is a 
 local settlement, unconnected with that of the Norman pier 
 and occasioned by the difficulty of establishing a firm 
 bond between new work and old, for the clerestory and the 
 upper part of this wall between the roofs exhibit no signs 
 of having been dragged downwards by the tower pier. 
 
 When the great piers themselves are examined below, 
 especially the two western, it is evident that they have 
 suffered great disturbances. The greater part of the original 
 Norman ashlering is now either covered by subsequent 
 casing, or has been removed and rebuilt ; nevertheless, the 
 Norman capitals, from which the four tower arches spring, 
 remain, and on several faces of the piers, the position of 
 the corresponding shafts can be ascertained. This is the 
 case with the southern face of the north-western pier. The 
 lower portion of the pair of Norman shafts remains with 
 the bases, and one of them still exists to the height of 
 thirty-three feet. These shafts are still vertical, but the 
 capitals, which undoubtedly were originally placed imme- 
 
15 
 
 diately over them, are now removed by settlements, together 
 with the entire western arch of the tower, through the 
 enormous space of ten inches and a half to the west. Also 
 two cylindrical piers of the nave on each side, and con- 
 tiguous to the piers of the tower are pushed bodily over, 
 so that their impost mouldings are now four inches and a 
 half to the west of their true position ; in fact every pier of 
 the nave has gone to the west in a slight degree. 
 
 The Norman nave-arches which rest upon them have 
 suffered a corresponding distortion of form, which is the 
 most evident in that arch which connects the first cylindrical 
 pier on the north side, with the half column that projects 
 from the tower pier ; for the half column has remained up- 
 right while the cylindrical pier has been pushed over as- 
 already described. 
 
 The Norman triforium aud clerestory which once sur- 
 mounted these piers, were destroyed by Mr. Wyatt, but the 
 nature of the settlements just described — namely, that the 
 capitals of the tower piers have gone so considerably to the 
 west, while the lower half of the same pier remains vertical, 
 and yet that all the piers of the nave are also driven to the 
 west, — demonstrates that the upper part of the pier must 
 have separat(id itself from the lower, by a diagonal fis- 
 sure extending from the upper eastern portion to the 
 lower westera, and that the western half of the mass so 
 separated, must have slipped downwards, and by pressing 
 
16 
 
 against the walls and columns of the nave, have produced 
 their present change of position. 
 
 And that the upper part of this pier with the entire 
 western tower arch sank in this manner downwards and west- 
 wards, will also be shewn from the present state of the Nor- 
 man string course over the great tower arches. I should also 
 mention that the capitals of the shafts on the western face of 
 the north-eastern pier have been similarly driven to the 
 north about four inches, and that the south-western pier has 
 undergone nearly the same settlement as the north-western. 
 Now the upper extremities of the great piers having thus 
 moved from their true position, the four great Norman tower 
 arches which rest upon them, are necessarily distorted 
 in a very great degree. 
 
 Two of these arches, the north and south, are smaller 
 than the east and west: the respective spans being about 
 nineteen and thirty-one feet. Immediately above these 
 arches, a Norman string course projects from the wall ; 
 this was of course horizontal when first executed, and 
 its deviations from horizontality serve to mark the extent 
 of the dislocations of the arches below it. The western 
 arch appears to have preserved its form tolerably well, 
 and in fact, as the two piers upon which it rests have gone 
 together towards the west, without diverging, this arch 
 appears to have settled bodily with them without change 
 
17 
 
 of form. The other three arches have suffered great dis- 
 turbance ; their original semicircular outline being now 
 converted into an ellipse by the sinking of the crowns, 
 occasioned by the divergence of the piers ; for since the 
 capitals of the north-west and south-west piers have each 
 moved ten inches to the west, and that of the north-east 
 four inches to the north, it follows that all the four arches, 
 except the west, have spread at tlie feet, and therefore must 
 have sunk at the crown. 
 
 I have levelled and examined the present state of the 
 Norman string course, and I find that its north-west 
 extremity is seven inches lower than its north-east, 
 shewing the sinking of the north-west pier, which has 
 been already detected from other appearances. Also the 
 north-east end is two inches higher than the south-east 
 end, and on this side the string course has sagged in the 
 middle so as to fall about six inches lower in the centre 
 than at the two ends, this is produced by the sinking of 
 the crown of the eastern arch j again, the south-east angle 
 is one inch and a half higher than the south-west, and the 
 string sags about four inches in the middle; over the 
 western arch the string course has been removed, but the 
 south-western angle is three inches and a half higher than 
 the north-western. These differences are too great to be 
 attributed to bad workmanship, and they all point to the 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 same facts that have been attested by the other appearances 
 described, namely, that the piers have all subsided and 
 that the north-western has suffered the most ; besides these 
 appearances, the masonry of the spandi-els — ^that is, of 
 the walls included between the Norman arches below, and 
 the string course above, — is ia a frightful state of disloca- 
 tion ; for the change of form in the arches has twisted and 
 fractured the stones in all directions, besides drawing them 
 asunder so as to open the joints in many places to the 
 extent of two inches or more. The rubble work in the 
 heart of the wall has lost aU cohesion. 
 
 Upon these arches, however, and in this state of ruin or 
 very nearly so, did the architect of the tower in 130O 
 proceed to erect his work. That this was the case is 
 shewn by the following evidence : — The masonry of the 
 new tower begins at the level of the Norman string or a 
 little above it, the junction of the two works being very 
 easily traced. About four feet above the Norman string, 
 a second or gothic string course is placed at the same level 
 as the passage or gallery which rims in the thickness oi 
 the wall all round the tower, and upon this string course is 
 supported the singular row of piers which constitute the 
 interior lining of the tower. 
 
 Now the Norman string course has been shewn to be 
 completely out of level at the corners, besides sagging in 
 
19 
 
 the middles. But this gothic string course on the contrary, 
 is now so nearly level with respect to the comers, that 
 the difference may be attributed to errors of workmanship, 
 and it has only sagged in the centre about half an inch on 
 the east and north, and not at all on the other two sides. 
 Also the lower bed of the first course of gothic masonry 
 which rests upon the Norman wall, is exactly shaped to 
 accomodate the sagging already described, but its upper 
 bed is straight and level, proving decidedly that the entire 
 present settlement of the Norman work had taken place 
 before the tower was added, with the exception of a slight 
 subsequent disturbance, of which I shall speak presently. 
 
 On the north and south walls, immediately above the 
 Norman string course, may be traced a regular series of 
 apertures in the face of the wall, about eleven inches square, 
 in which were evidently once inserted the beams of a floor 
 or ceiling. These apertm-es follow the sinking line of the 
 Norman work, and not the level line of the tower work ; con- 
 sequently they indicate the position of the original Norman 
 ceiling, which is now replaced by a vault of the fifteenth 
 century. As the lines of this vault cut through the level of 
 the floor, this last was necessarily removed to make way for 
 it. These holes on the north side, have been rudely stop- 
 ped up with blocks of tufa — the light substance used in 
 vaulting — from which, we may suppose that the beams were 
 
20 
 
 removed and the holes stopped when the vault was in pro- 
 gress, and consequently this material at hand. 
 
 At all events, the jointing of the masonry shews very 
 clearly that the floor beams were not removed at the time 
 the walls were carried up ; for it is evident that the new 
 masonry was built roimd and about the beams, in a way 
 that it is not easy to describe without drawings, but which 
 plainly shews that the beams were left undisturbed. 
 
 At each angle of the tower, and at the same level as 
 these beam holes, is a diagonal aperture higher than they 
 are, and extending nearly through the wall ; now the pur- 
 pose of the beam holes cannot be mistaken, and we have 
 seen that the new masonry was built round them without 
 disturbing them, and I conclude that these similarly diago- 
 nal holes also received some timber work, which in like 
 manner was allowed to remain undisturbed. 
 
 The interior walls of the tower are of a very singular 
 construction : twelve piers of compact masonry on each 
 side, beside angle piers, are carried up to the height of 
 twenty-six feet, and connected half way up by a horizon- 
 tal course of stone, in long pieces, and by an iron bar, 
 which runs all round immediately imder this bonding 
 course. Upon these gigantic stone gratings, if I may 
 be allowed the expression, the interior wall of the tower 
 rests; and they also carry the entire weight of the bell- 
 
21 
 
 cliamber and bells. I believe this construction was entire- 
 ly adopted for the sake of lightness. 
 
 It is clear that it was never intended to be seen from 
 b<elow, for there are no means provided to illuminate the 
 chamber so formed, which at present derives all its light from 
 the apertures in the floor of the bell-chamber above it. The 
 external walls of the tower were at the time of its erection 
 buried in the roof, of which the pitch was much higher 
 tlian at present ; and if windows be now inserted in these 
 walls, I am of opinion, that besides weakening the tower 
 in a manner, which considering its antiquity and shattered 
 state, cannot be recommended, they will prove wholly 
 inadequate to supply sufficient light to the chamber in 
 question; for the piers of the grating are only fom- and 
 a half inches asunder, with the exception of the middle 
 one, which is eighteen inches. Moreover the piers of the 
 grating are of different widths, and their bases irregular, 
 and the whole has no decorative character ; and in addi- 
 tion to the fact that no light was supplied to this room 
 in the original, which plainly shews that it was never inten- 
 ded to be seen from below, I have shewn good reason 
 for supposing that the ceiling which concealed it was only 
 removed to make way for the vault, so that in fact it 
 never was seen from below. 
 
22 
 
 I have thus shewn, that notwithstanding the shattered 
 state of the piers and arches, the architect of the tower 
 imagined that they might be trusted with the support of 
 his new work. We may at least infer from this, that 
 the settlement had ceased to increase long before the 
 year 1300, for it does not even appear that any attempts 
 were made to repair or fortify the piers for the reception 
 of the new load, with the exception of the north-western. 
 The arch which connects tliis with the first pier of the 
 nave had a new arch mserted under it, and the arches 
 which connected this pier with the north transept, both 
 on the ground and at the triforium, were filled up, leaving 
 only a small doorway below. The ball-flower ornament, 
 which is given to this new pier arch and to a string course 
 on the west wall over this small doorway, senses to shew 
 that this work was done at the same time as the tower, 
 which is covered with a profusion of the same ball-flowers. 
 
 However, the confidence of the architect in his old piers 
 and arches was unhappily misplaced ; the new walls which 
 have been described as resting on the Norman string, 
 exhibit settlements and fractures not nearly so great as 
 those of the Norman work immediately below them, but 
 still of a very alarming character. In the interior of the 
 tower it is evident that the worst of them is due to the 
 fractures of the stones over the apertures, which as already 
 
23 
 
 described, were occupied originally by tlie beams and 
 ancient wood work. At the angles especially, the comer 
 piers of the gratings are carried by large stones which cover 
 the diagonal apertures, and are thus unsupported in the 
 middle, and these stones have fractured in every instance, 
 allowing the piers to descend more or less. Also the great 
 eastern arch, the crown of which had sunk so considerably 
 before the tower was added, appears to have sunk about an 
 inch subsequently, which has allowed the stone grating on 
 that side to descend, and has produced rents and fractures 
 at its junction with the walls. The outer surface of the tower 
 walls exhibits similar symptoms to those already described 
 of the interior. At the junction of the Norman and Gothic 
 masonry, the same sagging of the old work over the arches, 
 and the same shaping of the new course of masonry to 
 accommodate this sagging, may be observed, and it will 
 also be seen, that the worst and most alarming settlements 
 are in the old work. 
 
 Nevertheless it is evident that the dislocations of this 
 old work had proceeded so far as to destroy the cohesion 
 of the walls, and allow crushing of the stone work to begin, 
 which has proceeded, and probably continued from time to 
 time up to the present, and has now reached to such an 
 extent as to make a thorough repair and renewal of the 
 ashlering of this portion of the walls necessary to prevent 
 
24 
 
 the entire ruin of the tower. The upper part of the tower 
 was originally so substantially built, that when the older 
 portion has been reinstated, this will need comparatively 
 little repair to make it perfectly sound. 
 
 Having now disposed of the tower, I will return to its 
 piers in the church below. These piers have evidently been 
 subjected from time to time to a series of repairs and 
 casings which it is not very easy to understand. 
 
 I may here refer to a curious document preserved in the 
 archives of the Cathedral which will throw some light 
 upon their histroy In this is a bull of Pope John XXII., 
 dated 1319, by which the churches of Shenyngfeld and ' 
 Swalefeld are assigned to the uses of the fabric of the 
 church of Hereford in the usual form. But the preamble 
 recites that whereas sometime since the dean and chapter 
 of Hereford did, upon an ancient foundation which in the 
 opinion of skilfiil masons was held to be firm and solid, erect 
 a sumptuous building upon which more than 20,000 marks 
 were expended ; that now from the weakness of the foim- 
 dation, this building so threatens ruin, that the entire fabric 
 must be completely repaired from the foundations upwards ; 
 which they are unable to undertake, being also burthened 
 with debts incurred in the procuring of the canonization of 
 Thomas of Cantilupe, &c., &c. 
 
25 
 
 This document must allude to the tower and north 
 transept, which were both of them built upon or in 
 connexion with Norman work, the "fundamentum anti- 
 quum " here mentioned. It is important, as shewing that 
 the settlements in the new work, consequent upon its 
 erection on so shattered a substructure, must have begun 
 to shew themselves immediately after its completion. But 
 as the repairs which were intended to avert this threa- 
 tened ruin, appear to have been confined to the piers 
 below, and not to have been extended to the great arches 
 and their ruined spandrels, we may conclude that the 
 settlements were imputed to the failure of the piers alone ; 
 and it may be presumed that the movement was arrested, 
 since we find that the present vault was substituted for 
 the wooden ceiling sometime in the fifteenth century, to 
 judge by its mouldings and fashion, and probably at 
 the same time that the similar vault of the south transept 
 was erected, for if the tower were then in a threatening state, 
 it would hardly have been tampered with by such an altera- 
 tion. It must be confessed however, that the ribs of this 
 vault are remarkably thin and light, and that it stands com- 
 pletely fi:ee of the walls on all sides, resting merely upon 
 the four corbels. This vault must be taken down to obtain 
 proper access to the spandrel walls in the course of the 
 proposed repairs, but it may be replaced. 
 
 D 
 
26 
 
 I will now describe the present state of the four piers in 
 order: — I have ah'eady shewn that the south face of tihe 
 north-west pier was originally traversed by a fissure, whiich 
 allowed the upper western portion to descend ; and it is 
 easy to see that the whole of the Norman ashlering to tihe 
 west of the fissure has been removed and entirelj^ rebuiilt. 
 At the upper part, where the shattering and dislocation was 
 the greatest, the face of this new work is brought forwar'ds 
 a few inches ; but the remaining portion has the same faice 
 as the Norman work, which shows that this repair was raot 
 a mere casing hke some of the others, but an actual re- 
 newal of original ashlar. This repair is crowned by a 
 Gothic string moulding which lies immediately under the 
 Norman capitals ; one of these capitals having been, as I 
 suppose, crushed, has been replaced by a plain block of 
 stone, and the whole of the capitals on the eastern face of 
 this pier have been also removed and the new masorary 
 carried much higher than on the southern face. This work, 
 or at least the southern face of it, is probably an ancient 
 repair consequent on the threatened ruin mentioned in the 
 bull of 1319 ; but the remaining Norman face of this pier 
 seems in course of time to have again exhibited threatening 
 symptoms ; for it has been fortified in a very singular and 
 unsightly fashion by cramping against its face a shell of ma- 
 soniy nine inches thick. This masonry is -composed of very 
 
27 
 
 long aiid narrow stones set end-long, but is traversed in the 
 middle and terminated at the height of 33 feet by horizontal 
 courses which serve to bind the work, and probably contain 
 iron bands for the purpose of assisting in keeping the pier 
 together. This casing extends round three sides of the 
 pier occupying portions of the north and south faces, and 
 the whole of the east face ; but the original Norman shafts 
 still remain upon this latter face to the height of 23 feet, 
 and the surface of the Norman wall, beneath the casing, does 
 not appear to have been broken into. The whole work is 
 apparently the contrivance of a country mason, and as 
 such, its efficacy is not much to be depended upon. The 
 object of the vertical beds may have been to reduce the 
 number of horizontal joints, and thus to avoid or diminish 
 the shrinking of the work, which is always a source of 
 difficulty when new work is united with old. But more 
 probably the evil to be remedied, was a bulging out of the 
 Noman ashlering, like that which now appears on the north 
 face of the south-western pier, and on the spandrels of the 
 great arches, and these long stones were intended to act 
 like the splinters applied to a broken leg. 
 
 The north-east pier is repaired in a totally different 
 manner, being completely cased or enveloped in a coating 
 of solid masonry laid in the usual manner in horizontal 
 courses, which kave thickened out the pier upon the plan 
 
28 
 
 nine inches in every direction. Whether this masonry is 
 also a mere shell cramped against the undisturbed Norman 
 face of the pier, or whether the Norman ashlering has been 
 removed and the additional work properly bonded into 
 this pier, I cannot tell, but it is very desirable that this 
 fact should be ascertained, as its present efficiency depends 
 very much upon that circumstance. However this may 
 be, it is the work of two different periods. The southern 
 face of the pier shows a nearly vertical fissure or separation 
 of the masonry, and the lines of the beds will be found 
 on examination to be at different levels on the two sides of 
 the fissure which at the bottom and near the top is a mere 
 vertical straight joint. The western half of this casing is 
 the most recent of the two, and their line of juncture at 
 present exhibits the appearance of a dangerous crack. 
 This is occasioned by the inevitable shrinking of the late 
 work from the earher ; and as the pier shews no symptoms 
 of giving way in other respects, it does not appear to 
 impair its stability. 
 
 The south-eastern pier retains its Norman face on a 
 portion of the southern side, but the western and northern 
 faces, as well as the rest of the southern face, have been 
 entirely and substantially rebuilt; for although the present 
 face advances a few inches beyond that of the original 
 Norman pier, it is evident that the Norman ashlering was 
 
29 
 
 Ln this case removed. This pier is in excellent condition, 
 and appears to need no repair or alteration whatever. 
 This work may be attributed to the period immediately 
 succeeding the bull of 1319. The corbel which sustains 
 Ithe tower vault, and which rests upon the string moulding 
 ^hich caps this new ashlering, is formed in such a manner 
 ias to shew that it was intended to rest upon this string 
 course, and consequently must have been inserted after 
 the string course was completed; the repair therefore in 
 question, must have taken place before the tower vault 
 was inserted in the fifteenth century; but the western 
 face of this pier seems to have been subsequently under- 
 pinned. 
 
 The south-western pier retains on its northern face 
 a portion of the Norman ashlering, with about eleven feet 
 of the shafts; above, and to the east of these, the Norman 
 ashlering has been removed and rebuilt, probably in the 
 fourteenth century, when the other piers were repaired. 
 A long corbel is advanced near the upper part, which 
 carries a projecting pier of masonry, for the purpose 
 of supporting the original Norman capitals, which have 
 been respected and preserved as much as possible through- 
 out all these repairs and alterations. This pier, has at 
 some subsequent period undergone a second repair upon 
 its eastern face, which has been underpinned and brought 
 
30 
 
 forward about ten inches to the east. This work, which 
 is also carried round the southern part of the pier, only 
 extends to twenty feet in height, and then falls back with 
 a chamfer to the original face. It exhibits no signs of 
 settlement, and appears to have been finnly and substan- 
 tially executed ; but the junction of these three different 
 works upon the plain northern face of this pier, greatly 
 increases the shattered appearance of its masonry, for 
 each boundary line, at first sight, looks like a fissure. 
 Also the half round pier, which received the first arch 
 of the nave, has been rudely cut into for the insertion 
 of the pier of a pointed arch, which has been substituted 
 for the Nonnan arch on this side of the nave ; for as the 
 tower pier in question had dechned to the west, as already 
 explained, exactly as the opposite pier had done, the 
 Nonnan arch, on this side, must have been distorted and 
 shattered in the same manner as the opposite one, and 
 probably in so gi-eat a degree as to render it necessary to 
 replace it entirely. 
 
 In addition to the various repairs of the piers thus 
 detailed, most of the Norman arches in connexion with 
 these piers have been filled up with solid masonry, leaving 
 only doonvays. The only one in fact which remains 
 untouched, is the arch which opens between the south 
 transept and the side aisle of the choir. At what period 
 
tlnese and the other repairs were executed, it is not easy to 
 determine. However, these filhngs up, as well as the piers 
 of the oxeye masonry, are shewn in the plan of Hereford 
 Ciathedral given by Browne WilHs, in 1727. This is, 
 I believe, the oldest plan extant, for the Monasticon 
 contains no plan of this Cathedral. Perhaps some of 
 thiese works are due to Bishop Bisse, who is recorded in 
 thie former work as having caused the whole fabrick to be 
 repaired, and the choir new beautified throughout. He oc- 
 cupied the see from 1712 to 1721. The oxeye masonry is 
 so termed, because the centre of it is pierced by an opening 
 im the form of the ancient vesica piscis, called by work- 
 men, an oxeye. 
 
 This masonry completely fills up the two smaller arches 
 of the tower, namely, the north and south, and is itself sup- 
 piorted by two segmental arches branching from an octan- 
 g;ular central column. It was of course intended to support 
 tllie arches and tower in their evident state of delapidation, 
 but it is impossible to conceive a more injudicious or 
 uiseless work than it presents ; in fact, the masonry is so 
 a.bsurdly arranged, that it is unable even to support itself. 
 Its mass has settled in two parts upon its two segmental 
 airches, straightening them and descending and abandoning 
 t^he arch it was intended to support. The settlements and 
 fissures which now appear in this masonry, are merely the 
 
32 
 
 effects of this change of form, and as I do not beheve it has 
 had the slightest influence, either for good or evil, upon 
 the building — it may be with safety entirely removed. 
 
 I have thus attempted to develope the causes which have 
 brought the building to its present state; and have 
 endeavoured to show that the settlements are of great 
 antiquity, and that many of them are of such a nature, 
 that no apprehensions need be entertained from them, 
 they having taken place immediately after the completion 
 of the work and not having yielded since; also that 
 many of them have arisen from the injudicious junction 
 of the new work with old. But when the facts of the fall 
 of the west-end in 1786 and the evidently impending ruin 
 of the eastern gable of the Lady Chapel are considered, 
 there is too much reason to fear that some of these early 
 settlements may have extended so far in the first instance 
 as to weaken and destroy the integrity of the walls, so as 
 to allow them to sink aud be crushed under the weight 
 of the subsequent additions. This is evidently the case 
 with the four great Norman arches, the masonry of which 
 and of the spandrel walls above, is in such a state of ruin 
 as to make an immediate repair absolutely necessary for 
 the preservation of the tower. The piers upon which 
 these arches rest, have been as we have seen, subjected to a 
 series of repairs, many of which have been so substantially 
 
S3 
 
 executed as to make them perfectly safe. This is espe- 
 (cially the case with the south-eastern pier, which is in 
 (excellent order, and with the north-eastern, which exhibits 
 (Only an original vertical fissure, from which nothing need 
 }now be apprehended. The two westerly piers are not in 
 ;such good condition, and these, as we have seen, did in 
 the first instance, suffer much more from settlement than 
 the others. The mode in which the north-western pier 
 has been repaired or bolstered is unsightly, and may 
 conceal a state of ruin which it is inadequate to prevent. 
 Also the north-western portion of this pier exhibits some 
 fractures, from which there is too much reason to suppose 
 that the heart of the work is in a very unsound condition. 
 For which reasons it would be desirable to remove this 
 casing, and subject this pier to a thorough repair, in the 
 course of which, the real state of the internal parts will 
 become evident, and an opinion may be formed of the 
 necessity for a similar operation upon the south-western 
 pier, of which the northern face exhibits in some parts 
 signs of weakness, which may be merely superficial, but 
 which at all events call for examination and repair. 
 
 I do not think it necessary or expedient to restore the 
 original form of the Norman piers. The repairs, which 
 are, as I have shewn, themselves of a sufficient antiquity 
 to claim respect, have so far advanced the faces of theee 
 
34 
 
 piers in many places, and removed the Norman shafts 
 in others, and the settlements have so disturbed the cap- 
 itals from their true positions, that any attempt to restore 
 the original form and to replace the shafts must be attended 
 with very great expense. The existing mode of capping 
 the restored ashlering with a Gothic string, immediately 
 under the Norman capitals, answers every purpose of 
 uniting the two works, with a due regard to appearance. 
 
 ROBERT WILLIS. 
 
 Cambridge, Sep. 22, 184L 
 
EXPLANATION 
 
 OF 
 
 THE THREE DIAGRAMS 
 
 WHICH ACCOMPANY THIS REPORT. 
 
 The original Norman work is tinted Yellow, and the works 
 9f the Tower Light red, the suhsequent additions are distinguished 
 from each other, by different tints, as explained below: — 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 Plan of the tower piers, to shew the alterations of form 
 introduced by the successive casings and repairs. 
 
 The outline of the original Norman pier is shewn upon 
 each. 
 
 The north-east pier A, has received an ancient casing 
 from a to b, and a more recent one from h to d. It is 
 uncertain whether these two casings are bonded into the 
 Norman work, or whether they are merely cramped against 
 its face. As they are of different dates, this fact should 
 be ascertained for each. The arches which abut against 
 the pier at e and at f, have been filled up, leaving door- 
 ways only, and this work is merely inserted, without dis- 
 turbing the Norman face ; this has been ascertained bj 
 withdrawing stones. 
 
36 
 
 The south-east pier B still shews its Norman face, 
 from g to h, and the same is undisturbed beneath the 
 filling up of the arch from k to g. But from h to the 
 outer surface of the pier has been substantially rebuilt. 
 
 The north-west pier C, retains its Norman face all round, 
 with the exception of the ashlering above m, which has 
 been rebuilt, as is more clearly shewn by the elevation 
 of this pier at O (No. 2). At n, o, and p, the pier has 
 been bolstered up with long stones ; and at q, the archway 
 is filled up by masonry of the age of the tower. 
 
 The south-west pier D, retains its Norman face from 
 r to 5; from s to f the ashlering is rebuilt, and from t to v, 
 a second rebuilding appears, by which the face of the 
 pier is brought forwards, and extended beyond the origi- 
 nal Norman line. The north face of this pier therefore 
 exhibits the two junctions of the three works at s and t; 
 also at w the pier has been cut into and a more recent pier 
 inserted, and at x the archway is filled up with masonry 
 exactly similar to that at e. 
 
 No 2. 
 
 Section of the tower, with part of the nave and choir, 
 from west to east. 
 
 A B, the Norman string course, seven inches lower at 
 A than at B. 
 
37 
 
 C D, the Gothic string course, very nearly level. 
 
 a, h, c, d, e, holes in which the beams of the Norman 
 floor were inserted previously to the erection of the vault 
 k, m, n. The dotted line is the boundary between the 
 Norman and Gothic work. 
 
 /, g, the diagonal holes which extend into the heart 
 of the wall. 
 
 The piers of the nave at E and F, are pushed out of 
 the perpendicular, nearly five inches to the west, but G 
 remains vertical ; also the capitals at H and K, which 
 were once vertically over their respective shafts L and M, 
 are now ten inches and a half to the west of them, whence 
 it may be inferred that the portion O, P, now repaired 
 with newer masonry, together with the great arch above 
 must have slipped away from the poitions T, M, L, G, and 
 thus thrust over the work of the nave. The ancient repairs 
 upon the face of the pier, at Q and R,, are shewn by 
 the two tints, of which, the pink is the oldest, and probably 
 immediately succeeded the completion of the tower. 
 
 h, k, is the level of the gravel ; and the rough wall which 
 rests upon it, and serves as a foundation for the piers, is 
 shewn, as well as the manner in which the piers have been 
 pushed bodily over. 
 
 T, the casing of long stones cramped against the Norman 
 face. It must be recollected that the triforium and cleres- 
 
38 
 
 tory of the nave were entirely rebuilt by Mr. Wyatt, I have 
 not shewn them in the drawing of the pier. 
 W, the oxeye masonry. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 Section of the tower from north to south looking east. 
 
 A B, the Norman string course which sags in the 
 middle six inches. 
 
 C D, the Gothic string course very nearly level. 
 
 The masonry at E, the string course at F, and the im- 
 post at G, have all been carried down through the space 
 of three inches and a half by the pier H, which is thus 
 shewn to have sunk bodily into the foundation. 
 
 The total difference of level from K to L is ten inches. 
 
 The wall of the north transept tinted green, is two 
 centuries newer than the Norman work, but the wall at L 
 and the string course at M shew no symptoms of the 
 dragging downwards of the great piers, as at E, F, and G, 
 consequently this must have ceased before the wall was 
 erected. 
 
 But at N is a local settlement occasioned by the sinking 
 of the Norman arch immediately below it, which has also 
 thrust out the pier at P to the north. 
 
 It would seem that the casing on the west face of the 
 pier at R must have been subsequent to the bolsteiing of 
 the opposite pier, for the plan (No. 1, z, z,) shews that its 
 form is imitated from that produced by the latter at o, o. 
 
K 
 
 u ?to7i of f/ir'ftnvrr /hm, J(>r/7t To Svnm /ookmc/ Hasf . 
 
LETTEES 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE VERY REV. THE DEAN OF HEREFORD, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE REV. PROFESSOR WILLIS, 
 
 IN REPLY. 
 
 Letter from the Dean of Hereford 
 
 TO 
 
 Mr. Professor Willis. 
 
 Deanery^ Hereford, July 12th, 1842, 
 My dear Mr. Professor, 
 
 I learn from the Bishop that he sent 
 ;you a newspaper, in which was a Report of our Pro- 
 jceedings at the County Meeting; it was of course, a very 
 j imperfect Report, and did not fully detail our humble 
 « efforts; however, the result has more than answered our 
 (expectations, as it has removed the doubts and prejudices 
 Awhich existed in many quarters. 
 
40 
 
 My object in now writing to you is to request that you 
 will give me a little explanation of one point in your 
 admirable and most valuable Report, which has caused 
 me some little embarrassment. 
 
 You say in the last page, after declaring the necessity 
 of further examination behind the casings of at least 
 two of the Norman piers, " I do not think it neccessary 
 or expedient to restore the original form of the Norman 
 piers. The repairs, which are as I have shewn, themselves 
 of sufficient antiquity to claim respect, have so far ad- 
 vanced the faces of these piers in many places, and removed 
 the Norman shafts in others, and the settlements have so 
 disturbed the capitals from their true positions that any 
 attempt to restore their original form and replace the shafts 
 must be attended with very great expense." Now, as it is 
 obvious that at least two of the piers must be in great 
 measure refaced, and the estimate of the architect includes 
 the restoration of the shafts and piers, would it not be a 
 pity to reconstruct them in their present form, would 
 not the original form be equally or probably more efficient 
 to bear the weight, when so restored, and if so, would not 
 the uniformity of the whole four piers in their original 
 style be most desirable, especially as the capitals, with 
 one exception only, are perfect, and portions of the shafts 
 projecting and visible, I am of course aware that these 
 
41 
 
 must be restored to their perpendicular line. I should 
 be glad to know whether your remarks are merely in 
 reference to the question of expense, or to the safety of 
 ' the process of restoration, or the efficiency of the piers to 
 bear the weight when restored to their original form as 
 now intended by the architect, who proposes so to restore 
 them, feels confident of the practicability and safety of the 
 process, and has calculated the costs to meet the under- 
 taking. If there were funds for it would it be objectionable 
 to do it ? I confess I have no love for the mended por- 
 tions, and would gladly see the restoration if possible, but 
 I wish to be prudent, and shall be most thankfiil for your 
 explanation. If you could give it to me before the 
 diocesan meeting of the 21st, at Ludlow, it would be 
 the more valuable to me. I think 1 before asked if you 
 would allow your Report to be printed with other docu- 
 ments — ^you cannot fully know how much I value the in- 
 defatigable labour which you devoted to the investigation 
 of our fabric, and how thankful we all of us feel to you 
 for such important assistance, and remain. 
 My dear Mr. Professor, 
 
 Yom' obhged and faithful servant, 
 
 JOHN MEREWETHER. 
 
42 
 
 Mr. Professor Willis 
 
 TO 
 
 The Dean of Hereford. 
 
 Parker's Piece, Cambridge, January 20, 1842. 
 
 My Dear Mr. Dean, 
 
 My object in writing the Report was to 
 confine myself as closely as possible to the questions of 
 structure and history, with a view to discover how much 
 was to be feared from the present state of the building, 
 and how much was absolutely required in the way of repair 
 under the circumstances of very limited funds. Beheving 
 as I do, the south-eastern pier to be in a perfectly sound 
 state, and the north-eastern pier to be also quite safe, I did 
 not think myself justified m recommending the expenditure 
 of any portion of the funds upon them. Whether, sup- 
 posing an ample sum to be raised, these piers should be 
 restored to the Norman form is a question of taste about 
 which much might be said. I have endeavoured to shew 
 in the Report that the ashlaring of these two piers is 
 of considerable antiquity, and that in all probability it is 
 not a casuig under which the original Norman work 
 remains, but a replacing of the Norman ashlaring. 
 
 These piers will also be covered to a considerable height 
 by the stall work. In Hereford Cathedral, as in many 
 
43 
 
 others, there is a mixture of all styles. The choir is Nor- 
 man below and Early English above ; the north transept 
 Early Decorated ; the vault of the tower and of the Norman 
 sonth transept of Late Decorated work and so on, and all 
 these dissimilar portions are seen at once and do not admit 
 of being changed so as to make the whole Norman in 
 style. For this reason I do not as a question of taste 
 see the necessity of restoring the Norman face and 
 form of piers which are in a sound state. But as the 
 north-western and south-western piers, especially the for- 
 mer, are in a very unsightly garb and unsafe, the experi- 
 ment of restoration may be tried upon one of them, and it 
 will then be found whether the internal state of the piers 
 and the appearance when finished is such as to justify the 
 expenditure, and also how far the estimate may be relied 
 on, for in works of this nature it is not easy to predict 
 all the sources of expense as in the case of a new building. 
 
 I am delighted to hear that my labors have in any shape 
 contributed to the fiirtherance of so good a work. I can 
 assure you that I always look back with pleasure upon the 
 investigation, which has been to me a source of the greatest 
 possible interest. Pray send it to press if you think that 
 by its publication it will attract any additional interest 
 towards the works. I shall merely request that the proof 
 sheets be sent to me for correction ; as, in all probability, 
 
44 
 
 there may be errors and redundancies which have escaped 
 me in the haste of writing. 
 
 I have only now returned from London, and I feai- 
 this letter will be too late for your meeting. 
 
 I remain, yours most sincerely, 
 
 R. WILLIS. 
 
 PRINTED BY T. N. WEBB, HEREFORD. 
 
linirrCij at Stationers' liall. 
 
A KEY 
 
 TO PROPORTIONS OF THE PARTHENON, 
 
 " This perfect recovery of the hght that guided the Athenian 
 artists, can alone raise the arts connected with the geometry out 
 of the errors that ages of darkness have cast around them ; this 
 alone can restore them to their true position among the exact 
 sciences, and eventually place the arts of Europe on a level 
 with the present advanced state of general science." — John 
 Pennethorne, 1844. 
 
 It is left to others to determine the cause hitherto, 
 of the general very great " want of perception " of 
 the necessity for a public exhibition of diagrams, 
 models of curved solids, numerous simple apparatus 
 and their curved results, consecutively and per- 
 manently arranged in a Gallery for inspection and 
 comparison — for " experiment and observation " — for 
 a far more extended knowledge of practical geome- 
 try than an individual unaided can ever accomplish; 
 to instruct the mind and the eye, in reference to 
 proportion and form of definite curved lines and 
 curved surfaces, and their intersections, and projec- 
 tions, especially applicable to architecture ; for 
 unless true principles are accurately known, they 
 cannot justly be either appreciated, or with strict 
 propriety be introduced in design. 
 
4 
 
 It is however some encouragement to persevere 
 single handed, to be enabled to submit such a 
 number of facts in immediate connexion, and these 
 proved by geometrical construction and by calcula- 
 tion, which place beyond a doubt that the ancient 
 Greeks have recorded in the Parthenon, much 
 knowledge which has been since long lost, that 
 they had acquired of geometrical laws, and to which 
 their unrivalled success in architecture and the arts 
 must be attributed. 
 
 Mr. Penrose's Measurements of Upper Step, ivith 
 their differences and averages. 
 
 Feet. Difference. 
 
 1. East end at top 101-34l\ ^^^^ 
 
 West end at top 101-347 J 
 
 2)202-688 
 Average 101-344 
 
 2. North side at top 228-141 
 
 South side at top 228-154 
 
 2)456-295 
 Average 228-147 
 
 3. Inclination of upper step '023 
 
 Average of end on top 101*344 
 
 Average of end at bottom...^.J^101-367 
 
5 
 
 4. Inclination of upper step '028 
 
 Average of sides on top 228*147 
 
 Average of sides at bottom .... 228*170 
 
 On Proportion, 4 : 9. 
 
 These averages for the length of the bottom of 
 the upper • step at the ends, and the sides, form a 
 parallelogram of very nearly the proportion 4:9; 
 which proportion it is considered from the general 
 evidence the mason's lines by which the steps were 
 set, in reality originally was. Therefore : 
 
 To the average of ends at bottom 
 Allow for space for mason's line 
 to hang clear of work — for 
 any minute error in original 
 setting out and in workman- 
 ship — also for alterations by 
 time during more than 2000 
 years — and for any inaccuracy 
 in the measurements by Mr. 
 
 Penrose 
 
 The calculated full length of 
 ends as originally set out .... 
 
 101*367 
 
 •073 ! ! ! ! 
 
 101*440 
 
 6. Then the average of sides 
 of upper step at bottom 
 Allow for space for mason's 
 line, &c., as before, for 
 ends 
 
 228*170 long 
 •073 ! ! ! ! 
 
6 
 
 The calculated full length 
 of sides as set out 
 
 7. The half of -073 = -036 ; or less than one half 
 of an inch, being added all round bottom of 
 upper step as measured by Mr. Penrose, gives 
 a parallelogram for the mason's line of 
 
 101-44 feet by 228-24 feet 
 in the exact proportion of 
 4 : 9. 
 
 Setting off a Right Angle, &c. 
 
 There are various v^ays by which a right angle 
 may be formed, amongst which a right angled 
 triangle can be made and such a parallelogram 
 may be set off by the proportions 3, 4, and 6, 
 geometrically ; or by figures thus : 
 
 1 produced 3 times = 3 = one leg. 
 
 , ^ ^ I another leg and end 
 
 '{ of parallelogram . 
 
 4 + 1 . = 5 = hypothenuse. 
 
 4 + 5 . =9 = side of parallelogram. 
 
 Or, further, calculated from the full length of upper 
 step at one end of the Parthenon, thus : 
 
 Full length, equal j ^ 101-44 
 
 leg ^ • = 50-72 one | 
 
 2 
 
 50-72 
 
 = 25-36 one ^ 
 
 2 
 
 228-243 
 
7 
 
 25-36 + 3- or I 
 50-72 4- 25-36) 
 
 101-44+ 25-36 
 
 76-08 
 
 another 
 leg 
 
 = 126-80 = 
 
 Hypothenuse. 
 
 101-44 + 126-80 
 
 = 228-24 = 
 
 length of parallelogram = upper step at side. Or, 
 with one half, or one quarter, or any other definite 
 proportion of the full length of the end upper step, 
 between the mason's lines at the sides, the other 
 measures can be calculated, a right angle formed, 
 and the breadth and length of a parallelogram of 
 the upper step set off in the proportion of 4 to 9. 
 
 On the Curvature of Upper Step, Sgc. 
 
 Having advanced thus far, and supposing that 
 stakes or blocks of stone to be fixed outside at the 
 four angles of the temple, and to and from these 
 the mason's lines fixed and stretched, at ends and 
 sides, by which to guide the workmen to set the 
 blocks for the upper step:— the thought occurred 
 to the author that, although on a horizontal plane, 
 these mason's lines would appear as right lines ; 
 yet, as they would swag, on vertical planes they 
 would be catenary curves ; and that just as much 
 as these may be below a horizontal line at every 
 point, if set off" as much above, might give the 
 delicate curve of the top of the upper step, at any 
 number of points. 
 
 This very simple method on trial has been found 
 
8 
 
 to be correct. Exactly coinciding with Mr. Penrose s 
 points. Thus the ancient Greeks knew and applied 
 in architecture, catenary curves ! ! 
 
 The curve the full length at East end of the 
 upper step the author set off ; and also the curve of 
 the Entasis the full length of a column, at the 
 Architectural Museum, Canon Row, Parliament 
 Street, Westminster, for a lecture on the 28th of 
 May, 1855. 
 
 The model still remains there for the inspection, 
 and it is to be hoped, for the conviction of some of 
 those who have doubted the very existence and 
 have ridiculed the idea of such delicately varying 
 lines having ever been applied in architectural 
 constructions. 
 
 Other delicate curves, as for the architrave above 
 the columns, &c., may be set off in the same way, 
 with facility and great accuracy. 
 
 Such curves, although perfectly distinct on the 
 full sized scale, and even on a very minute scale, 
 the eye may be instructed to observe very delicate 
 variations in lines, they cannot well be represented 
 on the paper of a book. 
 
 On the peculiar arrangement of the exterior Columns 
 surrounding the Parthenon. 
 
 In order that the positions of the columns at the 
 sides and the ends of the Parthenon should per- 
 fectly harmonize, it was seen to be necessary to 
 make centres of fourth openings between columns 
 
9 
 
 at the sides, at the same distance from the angles, 
 as from the angles to the centres of the ends ; also 
 in counting from sides the middles of fourth open- 
 ings. 
 
 By setting off one half the length of the end of 
 the parallelogram from each angle along the sides, 
 the sides are thus divided into three spaces ; viz., 
 50-72 + 126-8 + 50-72 = 228-24 = the full 
 length of a side = the longest leg added to the 
 hypothenuse The ends into two 50-72 + 50*72 
 = 101-44. 
 
 Then the = 14-08888 = the general dis- 
 tance from centre to centre of columns. 
 
 There are 14 of these equal divisions on each 
 side; therefore 14-08888 x 14 = 197-24444 = 
 distance between the centres of second columns 
 from the ends ; and there are 5 of these equal divi- 
 sions at each end, therefore 14-08888 x 5 = 70-4444 
 = distance between second columns from each side. 
 
 Now, 228-24 — 197-24444 = 30-99555. 
 
 and, 101-44 — 70-4444 = 30-99555. 
 
 asain 99555 __ ^5. 49 •777 — the distance from 
 o 2 
 
 corner of the upper step (mason's line) to the centre 
 of the second column, both at the sides and at the 
 ends. 
 
 Next, 15-49777 — 14-08888 ] 
 
 and 14-08888 = 1-40888. 
 
 10^ J ^ 
 
 This, thus, twice derived number, is proposed to 
 be called the pivot. 
 
10 
 
 On the eocact position and dimension of the 
 surrounding Columns. 
 
 This number 1*40888, is the difference between 
 the sides of an inscribed and a circumscribed square 
 to a circle : and 1*40888 is also the side of a square; 
 the diagonal of which is 1*9922; and 1*9922 + 
 1*40888 = 3*4011 = the distance from the mason's 
 line to the line of centres of all the columns at the 
 sides and the ends of temple ; and also = to the 
 side of the inscribed square ; the diagonal of which 
 is = 4*8099 = the side of circumscribed square, 
 and = the top diameter of intermediate columns. 
 
 Again, 4*8099 + 1*40888 = 6*2188 = diameter 
 of intermediate columns at hottorn. 
 
 Further, the sum of the sides of the 
 
 inscribed square = 3*4011 x 4 = 13*6044 ; 
 
 and the sum of the sides of the circum- 
 scribed square = 4.8099 x 4 = 19*2399 ; 
 
 Sum of sides of both squares = 32*8444 
 
 Then 82*8444 — 1*40888 = 31*4355 = height 
 of shaft of column, and 81*4355 + = 88*1360 
 = height to abacas ; next 32*8444 + 1*40888 = 
 34*2538 = full height of column to top of abacas. 
 Further, 3*4011 x 2 6*8022 = breadth, or side 
 of square of abacas. And, 34*2538 — 31*4355 = 
 1-40888 x 2 = 2*8177 = height of curved portion 
 of capital. 
 
 To conclude, — ^ = -70444 = varsed-sine to 
 the chord, the side of inscribed square ; also it is 
 the side of a square, formed by producing sides of 
 
 I 
 
11 
 
 iniscribed square to sides of circumscribed square. 
 
 6'2 1 8 8 
 
 TFhe diagonal of this square = -9961, and — ^ — 
 
 4*8099 
 
 = 3-1094 = radius at bottom ; and last, — — = 
 2- 4049 = radius at top of column. 
 
 All this, when set out geometrically full size, 
 beecomes simple and quite obvious : or by diagrams 
 maay be illustrated. 
 
 By the process described every necessary dimen- 
 sidon is obtained for more than fifty thousand super- 
 fidcial feet of the surface of the Parthenon being 
 eaxecuted accurately ; or if the whole of the parallel- 
 opgram enclosed by the upper step be taken, more 
 thhan seventy thousand superficial feet! and, all this 
 inn proportion for a building of any other size, may 
 boe obtained by the same process from any given 
 leength for end upper step : and doubtless all the 
 pDrocess to execute every other proportion in the 
 teemple may now be rediscovered. 
 
 Very much of what is now given might be set 
 ODut and exhibited full size temporarily, at the Archi- 
 tdectural Museum ; and permanently, as well as the 
 ccurves of the upper step and the entasis of the 
 ccolumns, be placed in the British Museum, for which 
 sppace can be pointed out, in connexion with the re- 
 ranains of the Parthenon there ; for the inspection and 
 iiinstruction of the tens of thousands who visit that 
 TTemple of Knowledge. 
 
 The following comparison of Mr. Penrose's mea- 
 sisurements with the author's calculations it is hoped 
 ^^^vi\\ make this process distinct. 
 

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14 
 
 Capital of Columns. 
 I have not had the opportunity of sufRcientljiy 
 examining and studying Mr. Penrose's large book.t, 
 to enable me to determine the probable characterr 
 and source of the curved profile of the capital, onr 
 whether it is one line, or composed of two parts obf 
 different curves. In either case, I doubt not butt 
 that it will be found in the Septenary system, onr 
 connected therewith, and with curved and planae 
 sections of curved solids. 
 
 Flutes of Columns. 
 From a first trial, the sections of the flutes appeanr 
 to be elliptical. An arc of an ellipse whose diame-B- 
 ters are in the proportion of 4 : 9, appears applicablee 
 at the bottom of the column. The depths of thee 
 flutes it is considered may be deduced from thee 
 calculations made. The sections of the flutes at the e 
 top of the column indicate an arc of an isometricalil 
 ellipse. 
 
 With a mould to the horizontal section at thee 
 bottom of the column, the whole length of eachh 
 flute may be adjusted, or any number of ellipticald 
 arcs for horizontal sections at every point requiredd 
 in the height, may be easily practically determined.!. 
 
 The flutes of columns may have been introducedd 
 to mark more distinctly their profile, as well as too 
 multiply variety between the delicate curve of thee 
 entasis and a pefect right line ; similar to what mus;t;t 
 take place in the vibrations of a harp string.* 
 
 * The irregular lines of reflection of the entasis of the granit.e e 
 columns in Pall Mall, from the polished surface, does not add t;o o 
 their beauty. 
 
15 
 
 Modifications^ ^"C. 
 
 The delicate curves, the flutes, the inclination and 
 the increase in the size of the angle columns, may 
 have been introduced to hide as well as give va- 
 riety to, and to clothe the more simple and strictly 
 geometrical lavrs. For the same reason the quickest 
 point in the curve, of which a portion is the entasis, 
 is hidden in the ground ; and the points from which 
 tbe mason's lines were stretched are obliterated. 
 
 During the erection of such a work as the Par- 
 tlienon — wet and dry weather — heat and cold — 
 storm and calm — not to say wear and tare of moulds, 
 of whatever material they were made, may have pro- 
 duced some variation from the strict laws followed, 
 with such care by all the workmen employed, that 
 ilt is scarcely perceptible. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Before so many results as have been obtained 
 from the length of the end upper step of the Par- 
 thenon by the train followed, it will be manifest that 
 
 First — Such must have been the laws of the ori- 
 ginal design. 
 
 Second — The work must have been accurately 
 executed. 
 
 Third — That sufficient of the Temple must have 
 endured for twenty-three centuries. 
 
 Fourth — And that the measurements by Mr. 
 Penrose must clearly have been as carefully made 
 as the original work was executed. 
 
 This may be considered one of the wonders of the 
 Aworld. What other building will admit of such 
 close investigation ? 
 
16 
 
 If I had no other means to judge from than trie 
 excellent speech of His Royal Highness Prince 
 Albert, so recently at Birmingham, the eternal laws 
 of proportion and form to which I have so long in- 
 vited attention, would be of the greatest value there, 
 if adequately represented. 
 
 Will any one after knowing what His Royal 
 Highness has just said, venture to make the War an 
 excuse for delaying the commencement of an exten- 
 sive survey and exhibition of the results of the 
 laws of truth and distinctiveness of character, for 
 improving and varying by just principles every 
 object of art ? 
 
 The minute and delicate and other exact curves 
 and proportions in the Parthenon, doubtless tended 
 greatly to inspire the sculptor's mind, and to in- 
 struct the eye truly to observe. But, from the finest 
 specimens of sculpture, the eternal, natural, and 
 geometrical laws for the forms and the proportions 
 of the frame work (strictly the architecture,) of the 
 Parthenon, could never have been deduced. 
 
 To record all that is desirable on the parts re- 
 ferred to on this interesting subject, would require 
 a much larger work with several diagrams ; but it 
 is hoped that sufficient has been given to justify the 
 title — A Key to Proportions of the Parthenon — 
 even if the following test be applied : 
 
 " If the results obtained by calculations made according to the 
 theory, do not in every instance, mathematically agree with those 
 derived from measurements of the buildings, then the theory may 
 be laid aside as a mere speculative fancy unsupported by evi- 
 dence." — Pennetliorne. 
 
 THE END, 
 
 r'lUNTEI) BY W. DAVY AND SON, OILBEUT STllEET, OXFORD STREET. 
 
A KEY 
 
 TO 
 
 PROPORTIONS OF THE PARTHENON. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSEPH JOPLIN, Architect. 
 
 " I have found it ! I have found it."— Arcltimedes. 
 
 No. IT. 
 
 ^riTH SEVENTEEN DIAGRAMS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 
 (i, BRIDGE EOAD, ST. JOHN'S WOOD. 
 
 1856. 
 
A KEY 
 
 TO PROPORTIONS OF THE PARTHENON. 
 
 No. II. 
 
 At the conclusion of the First Part of this Work 
 it was intimated " To record all that is desirable, 
 would require a much larger work with several 
 diagrams." 
 
 Further progress having been made, a few wood 
 cuts being considered essential for easy comprehen- 
 sion, with an effort these and some additional facts 
 had been arranged ; 
 
 When on the 18th of January, 1856, I re- 
 ceived, to take home, Mr. Penrose's Work on 
 " Principles of Athenian Architecture," from the 
 " Architectural Museum," for a short time to ex- 
 amine and study. 
 
 This has added something more, which will 
 appear in the progress. 
 
 The Pivot. 
 
 It has been shewn that the distance 
 from the mason's line to the centre of 
 second columns each way from all the 
 
 angles is = 15-4977 
 
 And that the average distance from 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 centre to centre of all other columns 
 surrounding the Parthenon is = 14*0888 
 
 The difference— fAe? Pivot = 1*4088 
 
 This heing exactly equal ^ of 14-0888 
 
 and consequently is — of 15*4977 
 
 It was soon discovered that the Pivot would 
 
 divide the upper step at both the ends and the 
 
 sides into equal parts, thus : 
 Ends 101-44 
 
 72 
 
 Sides 228-24 
 
 162 
 and also 
 76-08 
 
 = 1-40888 the Pivot. 
 
 of end 
 
 or 
 
 f of side. 
 
 54 
 
 126-80 
 90 
 
 = 1-40888 ditto. 
 
 It was therefore thought possible that this being 
 thus so evidently a unit, may have been some 
 standard measure of the ancient Greeks. 
 
 The diagonal of a square whose side 
 
 is 1- is = 1-41421 
 
 the Pivot being = 1-40888 
 
 and if it be taken as a diagonal, it in- 
 dicates the side of a square approxi- 
 mating very closely to 1- or = -9961 
 
 also lithe Pivot = 1-40888 
 
 be the side of a square, the diagonal of 
 
 that square will be ,. = 1-9922., 
 
19 
 
 This is a very near approximation to the two- 
 feet English rule, standard measure. 
 
 This process of alternately making a measure 
 either the side or diagonal of a square, may be 
 continued either way, to increase or diminish mea- 
 sures in proportion. 
 
 These were then compared with the following, 
 iselected from recorded measures. 
 
 Table I. 
 
 English one foot 
 
 Nuremburg town foot 
 
 Derived from the Pivot 
 
 Nuremburg town foot 
 
 Florence foot 
 
 Table II. 
 
 Bargamo foot 
 
 Milan aliprand foot 
 
 Diagonal of a square whose 
 
 side is 1- foot 
 
 The Pivot (Parthenon) 
 
 Padua foot 
 
 Table III 
 
 English two feet rule 
 
 Diagonal of square whose 
 side is the Pivot 1*40888 
 
 Lucca Braccio , 
 
 Prague ell 
 
 Geneva foot 
 
 1-000 
 •997 Vega. 
 •9961 
 
 •996 Hutton. 
 •995 ditto. 
 
 = 1-431 ditto. 
 = r426 ditto. 
 
 = r41421 
 
 = r4088 
 
 = 1-406 ditto. 
 
 = 2-000 
 
 = 1-9922 
 
 = 1-958 Cavallo. 
 = 1-948 Vega. 
 = 1-919 Hutton. 
 b 2 
 
20 
 
 The previous were arranged before seeing that 
 Mr. Penrose gives : 
 
 / = -968 
 
 Eoman foot \ = '^^^ 
 
 { = -973 
 ( = 1-008 
 
 Greek foot = I'OU * 
 
 i ^ 1-0125; this he 
 adopts to measure upper step, but any reference to a 
 Greek foot less than the English foot has not been 
 observed in his Work. 
 
 The application of the Pivot as the side of a 
 square and its diagonal to give the distance from 
 the mason's line to the centres of all the columns 
 has been explained, but will be much better under- 
 stood by the diagram, figure 4, when that comes to 
 be described, at page 27. 
 
 Plan of Outline Upper Step. 
 
 Fig. 1 is the plan of the outline of the upper step 
 (mason's line), shewing how, from a given length, 
 for the end to obtain five equal divisions geometri- 
 cally, and then to set off a right angle by the 
 proportions 3, 4, and 5 ; and next, producing the 
 longer leg for the side of the parallelogram until it 
 
 * The measure I have taken for the breadth (mason's lines) 
 upper step = 101-44; and this = 1-0144; is a dose 
 approximation to this Greek foot given by Mr. Penrose as the 
 largest limit. 
 
21 
 
 Fig. 1. 
 
 72 
 
 iis in the proportion of 9 : 4. See page 6, first part 
 (of Key. 
 
 In addition to shewing the end, by bisection, 
 
22 
 
 divided into four equal parts, and AB being pro- 
 duced to C to obtain five equal parts, which are 
 applied in forming the right angled triangle ADE, 
 producing AE to F, and then setting off nine di- 
 visions, and completing the parallelogram — the 
 relative proportions of the sides of the right angled 
 triangle, viz., 54, 72, and 90, and of the parallel- 
 ogram, viz., 162 and 72, by the same unit of 
 measure the Pivot are given upon this plan, (these 
 will be referred to hereafter,) and also the angles 
 of a triangle whose sides are 3, 4, and 5, viz., 32°-4, 
 57° *6, and 90° are added. 
 
 The Plan of Upper Step with the Arrangement of 
 the Centres of Columns. 
 
 Fig. 2. The outline of this figure is the same as 
 the parallelogram in figure 1. 
 
 The peculiar arrangement of the centres of ex- 
 terior columns, explained from pages 8 to 11 inclu- 
 sive, is given in this plan, with the dimensions, 
 except the general distance between centres and 
 centres of columns 14 "0888. 
 
 15 15 
 
 This division - of - of sides, and - of - of ends 
 (explained in the next figure) is subsequently di- 
 vided by 10, for the Pivot. 
 
 Outline plans of figs. 1 and 2 were sent to the 
 Builder, with explanations, in February, 1854, but 
 returned on the 2nd of June in that year, before th e 
 Crystal Palace at Sydenham was opened. Comi- 
 munications had been previously made to Mr. 
 
24 
 
 Fi«'. 3. 
 
 Fig. 3 shews the geometrical process of obtaining 
 ^ of ^, as set out on fig. 2. The sides of the right 
 angled triangle being in the proportions of 3, 4, 
 and 6, and are on fig. 3 thus divided : 
 
 A perpendicular erected from ^ of the shorter 
 leg, cuts off ^ of the hypothenuse : and a perpendi- 
 cular let fall from that point of the hypothenuse on 
 to the longer leg, cuts off ^ of that. 
 
 Then from \ on the shorter leg draw the line 
 
 IT E, and then - of the perpendicular F C is cut 
 
 1 
 
 off. Next erect a perpendicular from the - of FG 
 
 1 1 . 
 
 to cross the hypothenuse at K, and - of - is cut off, 
 being I of I (the hypothenuse) of 228-24 = 14-0888. 
 This is applied in the divisions on fig. 2 ; the 
 general distance from centre to centre of columns ; 
 
25 
 
 and of centre to centre of openings between 
 columns. 
 
 On the Division of a Circle into 360°. 
 
 Before the appropriateness and harmony of the 
 divisions just explained and used in the Parthenon, 
 and others which are to follow, can be fully com- 
 prehended, it appears desirable to describe a process 
 for the division of a circle into 360° ; which peculiar 
 division, from facts found recorded in the Par- 
 thenon, prove it to have been known and practised 
 before that structure was designed, if there is no 
 other evidence when such a division was first made. 
 
 Yarious other divisions of a circle are of great 
 importance in giving harmonious variety and dis- 
 tinctiveness of character to forms and designs, on 
 which much might be written. 
 
 But to return to the peculiar division of 360°. 
 This number may be divided by all the digits 
 except 7, without a remainder. 
 
 The first step in such a division of a circle is to 
 draw a diameter across it ; the second, another 
 diameter at right angles to the first ; thus bisecting 
 the whole circle, and then each half, by which the 
 circular line is divided into four equal parts or 
 quarters. 
 
 The division of the end upper step, fig. 1, into 
 four equal parts, may be considered analogous to 
 this. 
 
26 
 
 Each of the quarters of the circle is then divided 
 by the radius into three equal parts. 
 
 In the division of a right line into four, three 
 parts are also obtained, which are required, as welL 
 as the four, by the process used in setting off a 
 right angle. 
 
 The next division of the circle required is the 
 trisection of ^ of ^ to obtain ^ of the quadrant. 
 
 This possibly may have first suggested the tri- 
 section of an angle ; which practically, can be 
 accomplished, as accurately, with proportionate 
 facility, and by as direct means, as simple bisection. 
 
 Or any angle, with proportionate facility, and 
 equal accuracy, can be divided practically into any 
 number of equal parts. 
 
 The process of dividing a right line into three, 
 and its third into three, is shewn in the diagram 
 fig. 3. 
 
 The last division of the circle to obtain one 
 degree of 860°, is to divide ^ of ^ into ten equal 
 parts. The first step in this last stage is by bisec- 
 tion, which gives a division equal to five degrees. 
 
 Here the same geometrical difiiculty would arise 
 as in the trisection ; but this, as has been stated, 
 can practically be as accurately made as bisection. 
 
 And the division of a given right line into Jive 
 equal parts can be accomplished geometrically in 
 the same way as the divisions into three and nine, 
 which have been explained. 
 
27 
 
 Thus we have a division by fine, analogous to the 
 five divisions used with the three and the four in 
 setting off a right angle, and which assists in the 
 peculiar arrangements of the columns surrounding 
 the Parthenon. 
 
 1 5 
 
 Each - of - is thus divided : 
 
 14-0888 
 
 1-40888 = Pivot. 
 
 10 
 
 So the Pivot may be considered to be obtained 
 by a division analogous to that by which one degree 
 of a circle is determined. 
 
 Fig. 4— (page 28). 
 
 Here a square is represented, whose side = 
 1*40888 (the Pivot) ; on one side of which is shewn 
 the diagonal == 1*9922 produced; and on the 
 other side the Pivot is the diagonal of a square, 
 whose side = '9961 ; perhaps equal to a smaller 
 Greek foot X 
 
 Fig. 5— (page 28). 
 
 A square, the side of which is derived from the 
 side and the diagonal of Pivot square fig. 4, is 
 the inscribed square to the circle at the top of the 
 shaft of the column, the side of which is = 3'4011. 
 
 Fig. 6— (page 28). 
 
 Is the circumscribed square to the same circle. 
 The side of this square = 4'8099, being equal to 
 the diagonal of square fig. 5. 
 
28 
 
 Pivot 
 
 1-40S3 1-9922 
 
 Cxeek 
 
 (7 
 
 Smaller F-^. 
 
 Insert bed S<f- 
 
 Plan of intermediate columns. 
 
 Fig. 7. 
 
 In this the figures 4, 5, and 6 are combined, 
 with the circles at top and bottom of the interme- 
 diate columns. The outer circle being in diameter 
 greater than the inner by 1-40888, the Pivot; or in 
 radius by -70444 = versed sine to side of inscribed 
 square, shewn by small circle. 
 
29 
 
 The square circumscribing diagonally, the square 
 circumscribing the circle at the top of the shaft, 
 gives the plan of the abacas, and the position of the 
 mason's line from centres of all the columns at 
 bottom on upper step. 
 
 Fig. 8. 
 
 Fig. 8 is formed from fig. 7, and something like 
 it is represented on a small scale on a fillet in Mr. 
 Penrose's Work {plate 22). 
 
 Fig. 9. 
 
 UiillJ 
 
 Is formed from the square of the Pivot, and the 
 inscribed and circumscribed square to the circle at 
 the top of the shaft of the column. 
 
 The law by which so much of the columns were 
 proportioned, may be indicated by a figure in the 
 fret on the architrave band, resembling this. The 
 
30 
 
 other lines of the fret may also have a reference to 
 the same. 
 
 What is there in this fret, except that it may 
 contain evidence of some knowledge that would 
 entitle it to so important a position as it occupies ] 
 (See plate 22, Mr. P.'s Work.) 
 
 Fig. 10. 
 
 This is formed from the square of the Pivot, the 
 inscribed and circumscribed square to circle at top 
 of shaft, and also circumscribed square to circle at 
 bottom of columns. 
 
 In another fret, something like this may have 
 indicated so much more of the law by which the 
 columns were proportioned. (See plate 22, Mr. 
 P.'s book.) 
 
 Figs. 8, 9, and 10 have been introduced since 
 having had Mr. P's. book to study. 
 
 To enter into the evidences in Mr. Penrose's 
 Work "on the Principles of Athenian Architec- 
 ture," (which he has not touched) of a knowledge 
 
31 
 
 by the Greeks not only of the plane conic sections, 
 but also of curved sections of cones and other 
 curved solids, geometrically, and of apparatus for 
 describing curves, &c., opens out far too large a 
 work to be attempted unaided. 
 
 For the increase of the Diameter or Radius of Angle 
 Columns. 
 
 It has been seen that the distance 
 
 from the centre of the second columns 
 
 each way from the angles = 15*4977 
 
 One tenth of which is = 1-54977 
 
 And one tenth of latter = -15497 
 
 for increase in diameter. 
 '15497 
 
 Then ~ = -077488, a very appropriate in- 
 crease in radius to the circles of intermediate 
 columns, both at top and bottom, for angle columns. 
 
 The increase to the angle columns should be a 
 parallel addition, as it would, if less at top, appear 
 more tapering than the intermediate columns. 
 
 On the Circumscribed Circle for Base of intermediate 
 Columns, and the increase for Angle Columns. 
 
 The diameter of intermediate columns at bottom 
 as given by the diagram and calculations is 6-2188. 
 
 But as the circle would be reduced in profile by 
 the parts cut off by the chords of the arcs of two 
 flutes, let the diameter be increased by the versed 
 sine to the chord of the flute, and the full diameter 
 
32 
 
 of the intermediate columns at bottom will then le 
 6-2188 4- -031 = 6'25 ; the exact measure given ly 
 Mr. Penrose. 
 
 The longest chord from cusp to 
 cusp of flutes, (parallel to diameter 
 of intermediate columns) = 6-2188 
 + -1549 = 6-3738 
 
 Additional increase for clothing 
 with entasis = -0042 
 
 6.3T80 = 
 
 Mr. Penrose's measure for diameter of circle of 
 angle column at bottom. 
 
 On the Heights of different parts of the Columns. 
 
 From the diagrams now introduced and the ex- 
 planations and dimensions given at page 10, the 
 different heights, and how practically ascertained 
 full size, will, it is hoped, be manifest. 
 
 Here it may be added, that the point of contrary 
 flexure in the profile of the capital is = -70444 
 (half the pivot) above the top of the shaft of the 
 column. See fig. 12. 
 
 Fig. 11. 
 
 Flutes of Columns, second notice. 
 
 The number of flutes in the columns is 20,* and 
 the number of degrees in each flute is 18°. 
 
 * See fig. 16. 
 
34 
 
 And — y = 20 the number of flutes. 
 
 1 o 
 
 The depth of flutes for intermediate columns may 
 be determined thus — The Pivot = ^"^iq^q^^ ~ 
 
 •140888 the depth of flutes. 
 
 15-4977 
 
 For angle columns = -15497 — depth 
 
 of flutes. 
 
 This, the plan of a flute, ^ full size, shewing 
 elliptical arcs as sections, at top and bottom as 
 intimated at page 14, will make evident this 
 method of determining and adjusting the flutes at 
 every part of their height with the greatest ease 
 and accuracy by one mould. 
 
 The mould will be horizontal at the bottom, and 
 be gradually inclined as the flute narrows, until 
 the angle is about 40°. No other curve is so ap- 
 plicable for this as the ellipse. 
 
 Second Notice on Modifications. 
 
 Doubtless every modification was made by a law 
 derived from something ascertained before, and to 
 answer some object. With respect to the columns, 
 the principal modifications are the following : 
 
 1st. The clothing of the shaft with an Entasis, 
 not only to increase the thickness by its deviation 
 from a chord, but also to give designed variety and 
 increased beauty in appearance by the varying devi- 
 ation of the edge of each flute from a right line on 
 the elevation ; and a trifle, as explained, may have 
 
35 
 
 been added to the dimensions determined, both at 
 top and bottom by the process I have followed. 
 
 ;2nd. The inclination of the axis of the columns. 
 This will have to be considered in reference to the 
 point of contrary flexure in the profile of the 
 Capital, and the full breadth of the temple at that 
 height. 
 
 J3rd. The abacas, as given by figure 7, is some- 
 thing less than that on the angle columns, and 
 about as much larger than those on the intermediate 
 columns. But doubtless that on figure 7 was the 
 leading law. 
 
 The modifications from right lines in the longer 
 curves for the steps and architraves may have been 
 determined by a convenient force, by which " the 
 stretched line" could be pulled. 
 
 Entasis, 
 
 Mr. Penrose gives the definition of " Entasis'' to 
 be "Me stretched line, or bended bow" ! 
 
 Yet it does not appear that it ever occurred to 
 him to try the catenary curve to any of "The 
 minute and beautiful curves which the refined 
 minds of the Greek artists led them to substitute 
 for the straight lines and circular forms," " with 
 which the Egyptians," — " the Romans and their 
 followers" (to the present time) " have been con- 
 tented." 
 
 c 2 
 
36 
 
 The greatest deviation of the Entasis from a right 
 
 1 
 
 line may with great propriety be -14088 = ^ 
 Pivot. 
 
 The word " Catenary," is not to be found either 
 in Mr. Penrose's " Glossary" or " Index." 
 
 The Architrave^ ^c. 
 Mr. Penrose gives the following measures with 
 great accuracy for the Architrave, viz., 
 
 15-227 feet. 
 
 13-966 — 
 
 13- 889 — 
 
 14- 210 — 
 
 14- 128 — 
 13-617 — 
 
 15- 263 — 
 
 100- 300 = Total length in front. 
 
 He also gives 
 for projection of 
 abacus "-447 "X 2 =^ '894 
 
 101- 194 = Total breadth of front 
 
 at this part. 
 
 The point of 
 contrary flexure 
 in the Capital falls 
 back from this 
 
 •79 X 2 = 1-680 = obtained from full 
 
 sized drawing |of 
 Capital. 
 
 99-614 = 100 times -9961, the 
 
37 
 
 side of a square, to which the Pivot 1-4088 is the 
 diagonal ! ! ! ! 99-61 = 100 times -9961 ! ! What 
 extraordinary accuracy in the work of the old 
 Greeks, and in the measurements of Mr. Penrose. 
 
 This breadth at the points of contrary flexure in 
 the profiles of the Capitals of the angle columns is 
 shewn in the next fig. 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 Second Notice on Capitals of Columns. 
 
 Having made from the dimensions given by Mr. 
 Penrose, a profile of the Capital, full size, I have no 
 hesitation in saying that portions of two catenary 
 curves will give the line as accurately as any hyper- 
 bolas, or other curves. This can practically be 
 made manifest. 
 
 It is right that it should be stated here that after 
 I had shewn the application of the two catenary 
 curves, full length, of the end upper step and the 
 entasis of a column, at the Architectural Museum, 
 Mr. Bruce Allen first thought of trying the cate- 
 nary curves to the Capital. 
 
 On this figure is given one end of the Architrave 
 as measured so accurately by Mr. Penrose, = 100-3 
 feet ; and also a vertical dotted line through the 
 point of contrary flexure between the two curves of 
 the Capital, shewing how much that point is before 
 the profile at the top of the shaft of the column : 
 which, in fact, is the same as the inclination of the 
 columns. 
 
10 0'3t. En fflisA M^P. 
 99'61. cJ'" 
 100- Oxcelc Small Ff' 
 
 Fiff. 12. 
 
 ...v.. . JO 0.00. CTeek: - 
 
 101 '4.-4 ifJn^UsTi^ 
 
 99 'CI . '^naglish. 
 
39 
 
 The breadth of the building at this height, be- 
 tween those points of contrary flexure in the profiles 
 of the angle columns being = 99-61 = 100 x -9961, 
 given in fig. 4; and particularly explained under 
 the head " Architrave, &c." 
 
 Points of Contrary Flexure. 
 
 Mr. Penrose gives in connexion with the profile 
 of the Capital two points, one at the top of the 
 shaft, and another in the midst of the fillets, already 
 particularly noticed, which he calls points of con- 
 trary flexure. 
 
 In reality, however, they are not points of con- 
 trary flexure. 
 
 Of this, and that the line was not truly con- 
 tinuous, the ancient artists appear to have been 
 aware ; for, the one point at the top of the shaft is 
 cut off from the curve of the Capital by the sinking, 
 &c., in the neck, and the other point is covered, 
 and the connexion of the two parts of the curved 
 profile of Capital broken by the five fillets. 
 
 Fig. 13. 
 
 The Law of the Inclination of the Columns. 
 
 In fig. 13 the line AD passes through all the 
 centres of the columns on the upper step at ends ; 
 and the line a h parallel to it, through all the 
 centres of the columns at the top of the shafts. 
 
 The lines A G and a h parallel to it pass through 
 
40 
 
 Fig. 13. 
 
 all the centres of columns at bottom and top off 
 shafts at sides. 
 
 The radiating lines to F, shew by the dark parts,, 
 the axis of each column with the direction of its 
 inclination projected upon the plan. 
 
 The quadrant of circle shews that E at] the^endl 
 and E at the side are at an equal distance from the 
 angle A, as explained in fig. 2. 
 
 The lines of inclination of the axis of 
 
41 
 
 columns at each side are parallel to each other, as 
 those marked G H. 
 
 As this agrees with what Mr. Penrose says, it 
 confirms this to be the law by which the peculiar 
 arrangement of the centres of the columns was 
 determined, and which gives a less distance between 
 the centres of the angle and second columns from 
 each corner, than the general distance, for which 
 Mr. Penrose says he was not able to account. 
 
 Mr. Penrose ascends by calculation " 5856 feet " 
 to give an idea of these several inclinations, which 
 can in this way, practically and simply be set out 
 full size, from a general inclination, to determine 
 the diagonal inclination of the axis of each column. 
 
 Mr. Penrose, in his Letters from Athens, gives 
 the inclination, -229. In his large Work, -135 
 and -134. 
 
 I obtain from the length of the Architrave and 
 the full sized profile of the Capital, '160 for the 
 inclination of the axis to the top of the shaft. Per- 
 haps -15497 may have been intended. 
 
 Second Notice on Proportion, 
 9 : 4. 
 
 Until examining Mr. Penrose's large Work re- 
 cently, I did not know that he had said anything 
 on this subject. 
 
 His measurements of the upper step not giving 
 this proportion exactly, he has suggested that the 
 difference may have been occasioned by the length 
 
42 
 
 of the Temple having been increased for some 
 reason beyond what it was at first designed. 
 
 He therefore reduces the length from 228*14:4 
 to 228*016 : these are shewn and the part cut off 
 the length, full breadth, on fig. 14. 
 
 Fig. 14. 
 
 101-44 M.asoji,s Line 
 
 Without knowing what Mr. Penrose had done, I 
 sought for a parallelogram in the proportion 9 : 4, 
 equally distant outside, the measures given by him, 
 and by which I obtained the positions of the 
 mason's lines ; which distance is shewn full size 
 above here, and also on fig. 15. 
 
43 
 
 From the measure of the breadth thus obtained, 
 between the mason's lines, all the results have 
 been deduced. 
 
 Fig. 15. 
 
 .peerage ^easvre ■ 
 
 ^ I V J Top edge 
 
 LoTxytT edgfe 
 
 VppoT &tep. 
 
 101'4* F.»J'(a5'KsA=iOO larger Creek 
 
 On the Inclination of Upper Step and the Position 
 of Masons Line. 
 
 Mr. Penrose, in his Letters from Athens, gives : 
 
44 
 
 " West front: bottom of upper step.... = 101*370 
 
 Since the face of the step shares 
 the inclination of the axis of the 
 columns to the extent of '023 " 
 
 He gives : 
 
 " West front: top of upper step = 101*347 " 
 
 -023 
 
 Thus making the inclination 
 -0115. 
 
 But in his larger work, plate 10, 
 he gives : 
 
 " Bottom of upper step = 101*356 
 
 At top = 101*341 " 
 
 -015 
 
 Thus making the inclination 
 -0075. 
 
 On plate 8 he gives : 
 " Average inclination = *007." 
 
 These are represented by the dotted lines on fig. 
 15, vi^hich also shews plan of angle on top edge of 
 upper step, and position of mason's line full distance. 
 
 However, it is thought that the proper inclina- 
 tion for the upper step would be a line parallel to 
 the tangent of the curve of the entasis at the bottom 
 of the column. This is shewn by the line marked 
 " lower edge " on fig. 15. 
 
 From this the mason's line would not be more 
 than suflficient to keep clear of the work when 
 stretched. 
 
45 
 
 Fig. 16. 
 
 i ! J'lexure in Capital . 
 
 i !c IOJ'016 
 
 101 '44 JMasons Li-Jie 
 
 Plan of Angle Columns. 
 
 This, fig. 16, shews the plan of the angle columns 
 at top of shaft and at bottom concentric with each 
 other on top of upper step, with the mason's line. 
 
 The breadths of the Temple at the ends, between 
 corresponding parts, are as follows : 
 
 1. From centre to centre of angle 
 
 columns = 94-6377 
 
 2. Outside of profiles of top of shafts, 
 
 shewn concentrical with plan at 
 
 bottom = 99-61 
 
 (This is the same as between points 
 
 of contrary flexure in Capitals = '9961 
 
 X 100, which see in fig. 12.) 
 
46 
 
 3 . Outside of profiles of plan of columns 
 
 at bottom 
 
 4. Top of upper step 
 
 5. Mason's line 
 
 = 101-016 
 = 101-344 
 = 101-44 
 
 101-44 
 
 — = 1-0144; possibly it is thought the tme 
 larger Greek foot. 
 
 This term having " suggested the idea that the 
 ancient measure of Greece is to be found in some 
 of its leading dimensions " : 
 
 It appears desirable that particular attention 
 should be directed to the fact that 1-0144, which is 
 so nearly equal 1-014, a limit of the measure of a 
 Greek foot given (but not adopted) by Mr. Penrose, 
 and which is exactly the 100th part of 101*44 feet, 
 which I have taken for the length of the upper 
 step, and from which I have derived so many 
 dimensions, and amongst the rest -9961, which 
 being multiplied by 100, gives another length in so 
 peculiar a position, as to render it also, it is sub- 
 mitted, probable, 100 times another Greek foot. 
 
 These measures are given at No. 2 and 5 in the 
 last article. From the smaller foot the larger may 
 be obtained, thus. This -9961, the supposed 
 smaller Greek foot. Then V -99612 x 2 = 1.4088 
 the Pivot. Next 1-4088 x 7J&= 101-44 the length 
 of the end upper step. 
 
 101*44 
 
 And = 1-0144 the larger Greek foot. 
 
 Hecatompedon. 
 
47 
 
 Averages. 
 
 The averaging principle, it is submitted, is liable 
 to increase errors, if either the largest or smallest 
 measure is in any case nearest the right one. 
 
 Although I have averaged Mr. Penrose's largest 
 measures, the measure fixed upon as the true 
 parallelogram of 9 : 4, is outside of the greatest 
 measures given by him, and therefore not likely to 
 be too small. 
 
 The accuracy with which, from the breadth thus 
 taken, so many facts are obtained — particularly for 
 the pivot, and the full height of the column = 34'253 
 
 Mr. Penrose's measurement being = 34'25 
 
 and, 
 
 Especially the exact measure of 100 times '9961, 
 being found in so peculiar a position as the breadth 
 of the Temple at the points of contrary flexure in 
 the Capital. 
 
 If, in reality, there is any variation from the 
 exact proportions of figs. 8, 9, and 10, has the 
 averaging principle had anything to do with it 1 
 
 Units of Measure. 
 
 1. In whatever way the length of the 
 
 upper step was first determined to 
 
 be = 101-44, its unit of measure 
 
 • 101-44 1 Ai 
 
 IS -j^ = 1-0144 
 
 101-44 . 
 
 2. — — gives a unit of measure = 25*36 
 
 which divides the side into 9. 
 
48 
 
 3. 25-36 X 5 = gives = 14-088 
 
 This is applied 38 times in the 
 division of the distances between 
 centres of columns. 
 
 4. 11^8 ^ the Pivot 3= 1-4088 
 
 This divides the ends into .... 72 \ 
 
 The sides into 162[ ^ 
 
 = the circuit of upper step into 468 times. 
 
 Shorter leg of triangle into.... 54 
 
 Larger ditto ditto into 72 
 
 Hypothenuse ditto ditto 90 
 
 The circuit of this triangle.... 216 times. 
 
 5. And 1-4088 is the side of a square, 
 
 which being added to its diagonal 
 1-9922, gives the side of the in- 
 scribed square = 3-4011 
 
 6. From 3-4011 + 1-4088 is obtained 
 
 the diagonal, the side for another 
 
 square 4-8099 
 
 7. Both 3-4011 and 4-8099 become units of mea- 
 
 sure, each being repeated four times, and 
 with their diiference, the Pivot, plus or minus, 
 in setting off the heights of the columns. 
 
 In this way the pivot is applied 720 times. 
 
 And more units can be deduced from these. 
 
 On the Division of an English Foot and Yard. 
 
 The divisions of a foot in length geometrically is 
 effected first by bisection, then again each half by 
 bisection. 
 
49 
 
 This is analogous to the division of a circle into 
 quarters of 90° each, and also of the division of the 
 length of the upper step of the Parthenon into 
 four. 
 
 The division of each fourth of a foot into 3 
 inches, is analogous to the quadrant of a circle 
 being trisectial. 
 
 If now we take three-fourths of the foot, or 9 
 inches, and multiply that by 4, we have 36 inches 
 for the yard ; which is analogous to the 36 divisions 
 of the circle of ten degrees each. 
 
 Possibly the inch was at first divided into ten. 
 
 But the division of an inch by repeated bisections 
 into 8ths and 16ths, may have been adopted as an 
 easier process. 
 
 The division of the inch into 10, would have 
 
 been preferable for calculations, and then — of an 
 inch would divide the yard into 360, analogous to 
 the 360° of the circle. 
 
 Fig. 17. 
 
 The Division of a Foot into Tenths, Sgc. 
 
 This being the scale used by Mr. Penrose, it may 
 assist the comprehension of those not accustomed to 
 use such a measure, as to the precise length of the 
 minute divisions which enter into the measurements 
 and calculations, and which determine with so 
 much accuracy the longer and smaller parts of the 
 Parthenon. 
 
 D 
 
50 
 
 Fig. 17. 
 
 ' ■■= -io ^f^f'ooL 
 
 = i- d." 
 
 LOO 
 
 J- a? 
 
 1000 
 
 Conchoids. 
 
 Mr. Penrose has noticed the symmetrical "Con- 
 choids" in his Work. 
 
 Although the catenary curves are unquestionably 
 the simplest and easiest of application to such 
 delicate and long curves as the upper step and 
 architrave, Sec, both at ends and sides, and also for- 
 the entasis of the columns ; 
 
 Yet the conchoids are more appropriate for re- 
 presenting such lines on drawings, with the utmost: 
 approach to accuracy that can be attained. 
 
 The conchoids and their reciprocals embrace tens^ 
 of thousands of useful forms for design and con- 
 struction. But until known by their appearance? 
 and construction they cannot be applied. 
 
 A cuspidated conchoidal line has been recently/ 
 executed as the entasis of the memorial pillar im 
 Ammerdown park, Somersetshire. The line is more 
 than 80 feet long ; and the moulds by which the 
 
51 
 
 masons prepared the work were within tV of an inch 
 of the true line in every part. 
 
 Mr. Carter Hall, ^c. 
 
 Soon after I had set out the delicate catenary 
 curves the full length of the upper step, and of the 
 entasis of the columns of the Parthenon, at the 
 Architectural Museum, Mr. Carter Hall presented 
 his copy of the " Principles of Athenian Architec- 
 ture" to that Institution; without which this work 
 would not have so soon, if ever, appeared. 
 
 Although Mr. Penrose has several times in his 
 work named some of my previous efforts and 
 discoveries, it does not appear that it ever occurred 
 to the forty-two noblemen and gentlemen whose 
 names are prefixed to that volume, that that work 
 might assist me in accomplishing something more. 
 
 Has any of those to whom they presented copies 
 discovered a single law by which so much of the 
 design of the Parthenon was made and constructed] 
 
 Amongst all the architects who have gone from 
 all parts to Athens, has any other measured the 
 Parthenon so accurately as Mr. Penrose, or deduced 
 SLTkj of the laws of construction therefrom ? 
 
 If this should be the case it would not be sur- 
 prising, as when steps of progress have been made, 
 there is evidence that that has been done sometimes 
 nearly at the same time by persons in different 
 parts entirely unknown to each other. 
 
 It is now more than thirtj/-three years since I 
 
52 
 
 made the discovery of what I have termed " The 
 Septenary system of generating lines." 
 
 But, up to this time I have not seen any evidence 
 that this, or any thing approaching it, has been 
 any where made by any other person : or, of much 
 that I have discovered since in connexion with the 
 Septenary system. 
 
 Often has the enquiry been made. What is the 
 use of the efforts I have so long been making 
 
 But without much previous research out of the 
 path of the schools and professors, I should not 
 have been prepared to make such discoveries as are 
 now recorded. 
 
 Why has not Professor Willis given " A Key to 
 the Proportions of Greek Architecture'"? 
 
 I returned Mr. Penrose's Work to the Architec- 
 tural Museum, ISth Feb., 1856. 
 
 Suggestions. 
 
 If the Committee of the Architectural Museum 
 will give instructions for some of these laws by 
 which the Greeks proceeded to be set out full size, 
 I will render all the assistance I can. 
 
 This should also be done at the British Museum, 
 in connexion with the remains of the Parthenon, and 
 which might be placed there to great advantage. 
 
 And, also at the Crystal Palace at Sydenham. 
 
 Thus thousands and tens of thousands might 
 have the opportunity of making further progress in 
 
53 
 
 applying beautiful lines and proportions to designs 
 and constructions. 
 
 If the young architect will only try to produce so 
 much of the plan and elevation of the Parthenon 
 for which the data is given in this work, and also 
 do the same from Mr. Penrose's or any other work, 
 he will discover a difference. 
 
 From the latter, if he has not already done it, he 
 may try at once. 
 
 On the principles now described, it will impress 
 them more upon his mind, if done in connexion 
 with setting out more of the work full size at the 
 Architectural Museum. 
 
 Other proportions for columns may be obtained 
 from other inscribed and circumscribed figures, and 
 compared with these, thus : 
 
 1 . The equilateral triangle. 
 
 2. The square (applied in the Parthenon). 
 
 3. The Pentagon. 
 
 4. The Hexagon. &c., &c. 
 
 From all distinctly different proportions, for 
 columns, &c. may be obtained. 
 
 My suggestions for a " Gallery of Geometrical 
 Models, &c.," was included in the list of the Com- 
 missioners for '51 Exhibition. In the first part of 
 this work I submitted that "War" ought not to be 
 an excuse for the commencement of what is so 
 much required. And now that Peace is hoped for, 
 there can be no plea for delay. 
 
 Wherever the position of such a Gallery may 
 
54 
 
 finally be considered best, the commencement of a 
 Collection, and an arrangement of diagrams, speci- 
 mens of forms, models, and apparatus, ought not 
 for one moment to be protracted. 
 
 These might be commenced in any room,, and 
 amongst the numerous buildings in the occupation 
 of Government surely one or more could be found 
 for such purpose. If not, why should not Govern- 
 ment take the empty galleries at the Palace at 
 Sydenham, in which to commence and exhibit this 
 branch of science, or any other collections 1 Why 
 keep even those articles which they may have on 
 hand out of sight, when there is such ample space 
 for displaying so much, unoccupied 1 
 
 Lastly, that these facts should have the revisal 
 of Mr. Penrose, and any other gentlemen competent 
 to examine them, in the process of setting out 
 details full size, and in extending the farther inves- 
 tigation of the Parthenon until the law for propor- 
 tioning every other part has been re-discovered. 
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 " Gothic or Classic ? " 
 
 Under this head recently in the " Builder," 
 Mr. Tite, M.P. and Mr. G. G. Scott shew clearly 
 how troublesome by " minutes " " copi/ " or ^uess " 
 
55 
 
 now, take the place of " Science " as so easily and 
 appropriately applied by the Greeks to determine 
 harmonious forms and proportions. 
 
 " Science " however still contains an inexhausti- 
 ble store of principles for form and proportion for 
 every purpose, and for every material, to which 
 design and construction can be applied — for But- 
 tresses, Pillars, &c., as well as Greek Columns, &c., 
 in endless variety, if sought for, and worked out, 
 without copying. Are there no young Architects 
 in the Institute who will try '? 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 7, first line, for + put x. 
 
 „ 10 and 13, fifth line from bottom, after 2-8177 
 read full height of Capital. 
 
 W. Davy & Son, I'lintt is, 8, Gilbert Street, Oxford Street. 
 
NOTICES 
 
 or 
 
 IN 
 
 ENGLISH CHURCHES. 
 
 BY y 
 
 WILLIAM HASTINGS KELKE, A.B., 
 
 RECTOR OF DRAYTON BEAUCHAMP. 
 
 St. Mary Overies, Lady Chapel. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 CHARLES COX, 12, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND. 
 AYLESBUEY: PICKBUEN. 
 
 1850. 
 
" Handle with reverence each crumbling stone, 
 Kespect the very lichens o'er it grown ; 
 And bid each ancient monument to stand, 
 Supported e'en as with a filial hand." 
 
 J'KINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STKl;l.T. 
 
THE PRESIDENT, 
 THE VICE-PRESIDENTS, AND OTHER MEMBERS 
 
 OF 
 
 %xx\\\ixhi^\ ttiiii irrljiBDlngual Inrntij 
 
 FOR THE COUNTY OF BUCKINGHAM, 
 
 THESE NOTICES OF SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS, 
 
 READ 
 
 AT THE THIRD ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY, 
 
 Held at Prince's Risborouffh, 29tA of August, 1850, 
 
 AND PUBLISHED AT THE DESIRE OF THOSE PRESENT, 
 ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 BY 
 
 ONE OE THE HONOEARY SECRETARIES. 
 
( vii ) 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE VALUE OF MONUMENTS 1 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES 3 
 
 STONE COFFINS 6 
 
 EFFIGIES 8 
 
 ALTAR TOMBS 11 
 
 CANOriES 12 
 
 THE MATERIALS OF MONUMENTS 13 
 
 THE FABRICATION OF MONUMENTS 15 
 
 INCISED STONE SLABS AND BRASSES 17 
 
 CROSS-LEGGED EFFIGIES 18 
 
 DIMINUTIVE EFFIGIES 21 
 
 MONUMENTS OF CHILDREN 23 
 
 EMBLEMATIC MONUMENTS AND DEVICES 24 
 
 CENOTAPHS 26 
 
 MEMORIAL WINDOWS 28 
 
 MURAL MONUMENTS 31 
 
 MURAL TABLETS 33 
 
 CLASSIC MONUMENTS 36 
 
 THE DESTRUCTION OF MONUMENTS 40 
 
 BURIAL IN CHURCHES . 46 
 
 THE ADMISSION OF MONUMENTS INTO CHURCHES 47 
 
 CONCLUSION 49 
 
( viii ) 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PVGE 
 
 MURAL TABLET : FRONTISPIECE. 
 
 ST. MARY OVERIES, LADY CHAPEL : TITLE-PAGE. 
 
 CRUSADER, ST. MARY OVERIES 5 
 
 TWO STONE COFFIN-LIDS, IXWORTH, SUFFOLK 6 
 
 STONE COFFIN . 7 
 
 THREE EFFIGIES IN BAS-RELIEF 8 
 
 SARCOPHAGUS OF ARCHBISHOP THEOBALD 9 
 
 TOMB OF EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE . . 10 
 
 TOMB OF AYMER DE VALENCE 12 
 
 MEMORIAL SLAB OF ROGER CHEYNE 16 
 
 MEMORIAL BRASS OF ELEANOR BOHUN 16 
 
 CROSS-LEGGED EFFIGIES, TEMPLE CHURCH 19 
 
 SMALL MEMORIAL SLAB 23 
 
 MEMORIAL HEART, PRESBYTERY, CHICHESTER 25 
 
 KING John's tomb, Worcester 26 
 
 SLAB OVER KING JOHN's GRAVE 30 
 
 MONUMENT OF SIR THOMAS LUCY THE YOUNGER, CHARLECOTE CHURCH 31 
 
 MURAL TABLET OF WILLIAM TODDE 33 
 
 GOWER's MONUMENT 35 
 
 SUTTON's MONUMENT 36 
 
 donne's monument 36 
 
 puritans destroying the cross in cheapside 40 
 
 lich-gate, beckenham 45 
 
 charlecote church 46 
 
 tailpiece 50 
 
SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS 
 IN ENGLISH CHURCHES. 
 
 The Value of Monuments. 
 
 Our cathedral and parish churches are noted for the 
 number and variety of sepulchral monuments they con- 
 tain, all of which are invested with some degree of in- 
 terest ; yet, comparatively, but few persons regard them 
 with any real attention. The sculptor and the antiquary, 
 the architect and the historian, know and appreciate 
 their importance 5 but their value is not confined to 
 such characters. They are replete with interest for all 
 persons of taste and reflection. Their effigies impart a 
 more correct and vivid idea than the most elaborate 
 description can convey, of the various costumes and 
 general appearance of ecclesiastics and military cha- 
 racters, of civilians and ladies, and of children, in suc- 
 cessive generations. Thus they constitute a connecting 
 medium between the present and the past. They pre- 
 sent to you feudal lords and ladies of by-gone days ; 
 they make you the companions of great and renowned 
 characters; they introduce you into various grades of 
 
 B 
 
2 SEPULCHKAL MONUMENTS IN CHUECHES. 
 
 society ; and make you contemporary with every past 
 generation. 
 
 Even where there is no effigy, the reflective mind and 
 feeling heart will find the tombs of such persons 
 powerful incentives to useful and interesting medi- 
 tation. 
 
 But these memorials are especially valuable as con- 
 temporaneous records ; they not only strengthen and 
 confirm the evidence of parish registers, but frequently 
 furnish additional information. And, what is still more 
 important, they carry back their evidence for centuries 
 before parish registers commence. Their inscriptions 
 often afford information that cannot elsewhere be found ; 
 and even when there is not a word upon them, they 
 may be the means, by the character of the sculpture, 
 the costume of the effigy, by the armorial bearings or 
 other devices about them, of establishing important 
 facts. National events have thus been confirmed or 
 illustrated ; parochial interests have been adjusted ; 
 charitable bequests have been secured from spoliation 
 or rescued from total ruin ; * dormant titles have been 
 resumed ; and lost property has been recovered. Who 
 then can say that he is not personally interested in the 
 preservation and the study of sepulchral monuments? 
 They may prove equally useful to the rich and the 
 poor ; to the learned and the ignorant ; to the trades- 
 man, the merchant, and the artist ; to the country gen- 
 tleman, and to Dr. Dry-as-dust, the prosy antiquary. 
 All classes of the community are directly interested in 
 
 * Important information respecting a charity left to the poor of 
 the parish in which the author resides, was obtained from the monu- 
 ment of the donor. 
 
ORIGIN OP MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 3 
 
 them, may study them with advantage, and should do 
 what in them lies to secure them from injury and pro- 
 mote their better preservation. 
 
 The Origin of Monuments in Churches. 
 
 Sepulchral monuments were originally constructed to 
 contain the remains of the dead or to mark the exact 
 spot; of their interment ; consequently, in the primitive 
 age of Christianity, when the presence of a dead body 
 was considered defiling to the House of God, such 
 memorials were necessarily excluded from churches. 
 Burial within churches arose out of the doctrine of 
 prayer for the dead; such prayer, it was conceived, 
 would be more effectually secured in those who came 
 to church to worship, if they were perpetually reminded 
 of the departed by the presence of their tombs. Burial 
 in churches, thus regarded as a special privilege, was 
 first granted to distinguished ecclesiastics, to the 
 founders and other liberal benefactors of churches.* 
 The first instance on record in England is that of 
 Augustine, the Roman missionary to the Anglo-Saxons, 
 who was buried in the church of SS. Peter and Paul, 
 founded by himself, and standing just without the walls 
 of Canterbury. He was first interred outside the 
 church, then in an unfinished state, but after its com- 
 pletion his body was removed into the porch.f After 
 this example the practice gradually increased. From 
 
 * Chauncy's History of Herts, vol. ii. p. 485. 
 
 t lb. Hasted's Kent, vol. iv. p. 676, n. Weever, pp. 243, 244. 
 
 B 2 
 
4 SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 the porch burial proceeded to the body of the church, 
 but was at first limited to recesses made for the purpose 
 in the walls of the lower part of the church. 
 
 The aisles and nave becoming filled, or the chancel 
 being considered a more holy, and therefore more 
 privileged part, tombs were, as a special favour, ad- 
 mitted into it. Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 introduced, a.d. 1075, vaults in the chancel, and per- 
 mitted sepulture even under the high altar.* In the 
 year 1091 the body of Augustine was removed and re- 
 interred near the altar, and an epitaph inscribed on his 
 coffin. 
 
 Additional space was soon required as interments 
 multiplied or persons of rank desired separate burial- 
 places for their family. To meet such cases distinct 
 aisles and chapels were added to churches, and ex- 
 clusively devoted to this purpose, and were oftentimes 
 endowed with an annual stipend in perpetuity, or for a 
 limited period, to ensure the daily services of a priest 
 to chant requiems for the souls of those buried therein. 
 In a few centuries our churches thus became crowded 
 with tombs, adorned with various monumental devices 
 according to the character of religious opinions, and the 
 several styles of architecture extant at the respective 
 periods of their erection. Many — very many — of these 
 ancient memorials have perished, yet happily there are 
 still left us numerous examples of each successive era 
 from the Conquest to the present time. These are to 
 be looked for, not only in magnificent cathedrals where 
 they usually abound, but in all our ancient churches 
 scattered over the face of the country. Early and 
 * Kennett's Parochial Antiquities, p. 593. 
 
OEIGIN OF MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 5 
 
 beautiful specimens may not unfrequently be found in 
 the most obscure and remote districts, where the humble 
 and dilapidated appearance of the church would lead 
 the stranger to expect nothing worthy of notice ; but on 
 entering the hallowed temple — 
 
 " Around are tombs of many an age and date ; 
 O'er gaudy blazonry carved cherubs weep ; 
 Languages dead and living celebrate 
 
 Virtues and races wrapped in death's dull sleep. 
 
 Rigid in marble lies the Norman knight, 
 
 His cold hands clasped as in perpetual prayer. 
 
 His helmet hangs above, no longer bright, 
 
 His breastplate, 'dented with old blows, is there. 
 
 Beside him sleeps the dame he bravely won. 
 
 In courts and minstrel's lay once wont to shine ; 
 
 And there he lies, his valiant day's work done, 
 Who wore the blood-red cross in Palestine." 
 
 Mrs. Acton Tindal. 
 
 Crusader. — St. Mary Oven'es. 
 
6 SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 Stone Coffins. — Ixworth Abbey, SuiFolk. 
 
 Stone Coffins, c. 1070-1400. 
 
 The earliest monuments in churches of the Norman 
 period consisted merely of the stone coffins in which the 
 remains of the departed were deposited. Sometimes 
 the coffin was sunk into the ground, and the lid, form- 
 ing part of the pavement and ornamented with crosses 
 or other emblematic devices, was the only part that 
 appeared. Sometimes the whole coffin, having the sides 
 and ends as well as the lid ornamented with sculpture, 
 was placed aboveground, either on the floor of the 
 church, or in an arched recess made in the wall for its 
 reception. The founder of a church was often thus 
 interred with the coffin resting on the foundation-stone. 
 The lid, which was generally formed to the size of the 
 
STONE COPFINS. 
 
 7 
 
 coffin, but sometimes of larger dimensions, was fre- 
 quently coped, or raised to a ridge in the middle, and 
 occasionally the ends were sloped in like manner. The 
 monument of William Eufus in Winchester Cathedral 
 is a well-known example of this kind ; and those lately 
 discovered in Aylesbury Church, ornamented with a 
 simple and elegant cross, exemplify a large class be- 
 longing to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In the 
 fourteenth century the sculpture on stone coffins became 
 more elaborate and more rich in decoration, the whole 
 slab being frequently covered with beautiful tracery and 
 symbolic devices. 
 
 Stone coffins of the earliest date are generally without 
 inscription. When inscriptions were used they were 
 variously arranged — sometimes on each side of the cross 
 — sometimes above its head or below its base — some- 
 times forming a border legend around the verge of the 
 coffin-lid. 
 
 Stone Coffin. 
 
8 
 
 SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 One of tlie enrly Abbots of Rocjer, Bishop of Sarum, Andrew, Abbot of Petcrbo- 
 VVestminster.— Cloisters, 1193. —Salisbury Cathe- rough,l 199.— Peterborough 
 Westminster. dral. Cathedral. 
 
 Effigies, C. 1100— continued. 
 
 The earliest attempt at monumental effigy appears to 
 have been made towards the beginning of the twelfth 
 century by representing the person commemorated 
 recumbent on the covering slabs of stone coffins. The 
 figure w^as rudely sculptured in low relief, the back- 
 ground being sunk in the stone, and the effigy rising 
 no higher than the surrounding margin. The effigy 
 in Westminster Abbey supposed to represent Gilbert 
 Crispin, who died in 1114, is the earliest known example 
 of this kind. 
 
 A bolder and more elaborate style was soon acquired, 
 and the effigy, executed in higher and higher relief. 
 
EFFIGIES. 
 
 9 
 
 seemed to rise out of the stone till it became a perfect 
 and distinct statue. Henceforth it was wrought out of 
 a separate block of marble or stone, and then affixed to 
 its destined tomb. From economical or other motives, 
 however, effigies in various degrees of relief continued 
 in use long after perfect statues were adopted to com- 
 memorate persons of rank and distinction. Some 
 remaining specimens of partial effigies are exceedingly 
 curious, and evince the fanciful taste of the sculptor or 
 his employer. The sculpture is sometimes so contrived 
 as to make it appear as if the face, feet, or other 
 portions of the body within were disclosed through 
 apertures in the coffin-lid. 
 
 Effigies, whether representing the whole or part of 
 the persons commemorated, were attired in their ap- 
 propriate costume, and probably were designed to por- 
 tray their features and personal appearance. 
 
 Sarcophagus, said to be Archbishop Theobald's. — Canterbury. 
 
ALTAR-TOMBS. 
 
 11 
 
 Altar-Tombs, c. 1200-1600. 
 
 The commencement of the thirteenth century intro- 
 duced a new style of monument, called altar or table 
 tombs, which M^as but an easy transition from the 
 improved character of the stone coffin. These tombs 
 were of an oblong shape, and stood from two to four feet 
 high. The sides and ends were formed of gothic panels, 
 ornamented with shields of arms or other decorations. 
 
 Before the close of the century niches were added, 
 containing representations of saints or angels, or the 
 effigies of the children of the deceased. A recumbent 
 marble or alabaster statue of the person commemorated 
 was generally laid on the covering slab, which projected 
 over the tomb, with a chamfered or sloped edge con- 
 taining the inscription. 
 
 " There erst was martial Marmion found, 
 His feet upon a couchant hound, 
 
 His hands to heaven upraised ; 
 And all around, on scutcheon rich. 
 And tablet carved, and fretted niche, 
 His arms and feats were blazed." 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 If the deceased had been married, the effigies of 
 husband and wife were generally placed side by side, 
 sometimes clasping each other's right hand, but more 
 frequently with the hands of both raised in the attitude 
 of prayer. 
 
 The altar-tomb in Salisbury Cathedral of William 
 Longspee, Earl of Salisbury, who died 1226,* is an 
 early example of this kind of monument; that of the 
 Black Prince, shown on the opposite page, is a fine 
 specimen of the fourteenth century. 
 
 * Dugdale's Bar., vol. i. p. 177. 
 
12 
 
 SEPULCHKAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 Tomb of Aymer de Valence. — Westminster Abbey. 
 
 Canopies, c. 1250-1700. 
 
 Soon after the introduction of altar-tombs they were 
 strikingly embellished by the addition of canopies. 
 These frequently display the finest architectural taste 
 and most exquisite workmanship. Being supported 
 
CANOPIES. 
 
 13 
 
 over the tomb by lofty columns, they give the whole 
 monument the appearance of a magnificent state-bed, 
 whence this kind of sepulture has not inaptly been 
 described as a perpetual lying-in-state. The tomb in 
 York Minster of Walter de Grey, Archbishop of York, 
 who died a.d. 1255, is one of the earliest canopied 
 tombs. The canopy is supported by eight slender 
 pillars of black marble, eight feet high, but the tomb, on 
 which lies a full-length effigy of the prelate, with a 
 crozier by his side, is scarcely higher than a common- 
 sized stone coffin. The canopy in Tewkesbury Abbey 
 over the tomb of Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Glou- 
 cester, who died 1359, and that in Canterbury Cathedral 
 over the tomb of Lady Mohun of Dunbar, who died 
 1395, are exceedingly rich and elegant.* 
 
 The Materials of Monuments. 
 
 These early magnificent monuments were not always 
 constructed of stone or marble. That noble effigy of 
 the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral is wrought 
 of brass and was originally gilt. The tomb of Wilham 
 Longspee, already mentioned, is made of wood, richly 
 painted, diapered and gilt; but the effigy is of grey 
 marble. It was originally in the church of Old Sarum, 
 where the Earl died, but was removed to its present 
 position when the new cathedral was built. f The effigy 
 
 * A woodcut of Hugh le Despenser's monument is given in the 
 Pict. History of England, vol. i, ; and a well-executed print of 
 Lady Mohun's in Dart's History and Antiquities of Canterbury 
 Cathedral. 
 
 ■j" Hutchin's History of Dorset, vol. iii. p. 2. 
 
14 SEPULCHKAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 of Robert Curthose in Gloucester Cathedral is of oak. 
 It is doubtless very ancient, though probably not miade 
 till many years after his death. It was in good preser- 
 vation till the Rebellion, when it was broken in pieces 
 by Cromwell's soldiers ; Sir Humphry Tracy, however, 
 purchased the fragments, and having carefully joined 
 them together, restored the monument to its original 
 place in the cathedral after the return of Charles II.* 
 
 The effigy in Westminster Abbey of William de 
 Valence, Earl of Pembroke, who died a.d. 1296,'(' is of 
 wood plated with copper and enamelled, an art intro- 
 duced from the Continent about this time.^ 
 
 The effigy of Sir John de Hautville in the church of 
 Chew-Magna in Somersetshire, is " cut in one solid 
 piece of Irish oak." He was a renowned warrior in the 
 reign of Henry III., and, by traditionary fame, of 
 gigantic strength and stature. A huge stone, called 
 Hautville's quoit, weighing upwards of thirty tons, is 
 asserted to have been thrown by the sturdy knight from 
 his residence to its present place, a distance of more 
 than a mile.§ 
 
 A metallic composition, called latten or laten^ a 
 material more costly and durable than brass, though now 
 generally bearing that name, was often largely used about 
 altar-tombs and canopies. Scrolls and inscriptions, 
 instead of being cut in the slab of the tomb, were often 
 engraved on narrow plates of this metal, which were 
 sunk into the chamfered edge of the slab, or other 
 
 * Atkin's History of Gloucestershire, p. 95. 
 
 t Dugdale's Bar., vol. i. p. 776. 
 
 X Oxford Manual of Brasses, p. 6. 
 
 § Collinson's Somerset, vol. ii. pp. 92, 107, 482. 
 
THE MATEEIALS OF MONUMENTS. 
 
 15 
 
 parts of the tomb. Angels, and other small figures 
 called weepers, placed in niches around the sides of 
 tombs, were often made of this metal. 
 
 The Fabrication of Monuments, temp. Ric. II. 
 
 Full and minute directions were given to the artists 
 who constructed these monuments, and often by the 
 persons themselves for whom the tombs were destined. 
 Two curious documents of this nature may be seen in 
 Rymer's Fcedera, containing the orders of Richard II. 
 respecting the fabrication and erection of monuments for 
 himself and his consort, Anne of Bohemia, then de- 
 ceased. The various materials for these monuments, 
 the mode of their construction, and the place of their 
 erection, are minutely specified. These documents, 
 dated a.d. 1395, show that the unfortunate monarch 
 had the satisfaction of seeing his own sepulchral monu- 
 ment executed before his own untimely end.* 
 
 Another document in the same work, giving equally 
 minute directions, shows that England at this time had 
 become celebrated on the Continent for this kind of 
 monumental architecture. Joan of Navarre, after her 
 marriage with Henry IV., king of England, being about 
 to raise a monument in the Cathedral of Nantes to her 
 former husband, the Duke of Brittany, instead of em- 
 ploying native artists, had the monument executed in 
 this country by three English artists, viz., Thomas 
 Colyn, Thomas Holewell, and Thomas Poppehowe. 
 She subsequently obtained for them a letter of safe 
 
 * Rymer's Foed., vol. vii. pp. 795 and 797. 
 
16 SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS IN CHUECHES. 
 
 conduct from the king, and sent them with the nnoiii- 
 ment into Brittany, to erect it on its destined site»* 
 * Ryraer's Feed., voL viii. 510. 
 
 Memorial Slab of Roger Oheyne, Esq., Inlaid Brass Monument of Eleanor 
 A.D. 1414, Bohun, wife to Thomas of Woodstcclk, 
 
 Cassington Church, Oxford. Duke of Gloucester. — Died 1399. 
 
INCISED STONE SLABS AND BRASSES. 
 
 17 
 
 Incised Stone Slabs and Brasses, c. 1200-1770. 
 
 The lids of stone coffins, being ridged and sculptured 
 in relief, were doubtless found inconvenient for the pave- 
 ment of churches. This inconvenience probably ori- 
 ginated the use of incised stone slabs, which afforded 
 equal facilities for memorial and ornamental devices 
 with coffin-lids ; and having an even surface and parallel 
 sides, were well adapted to form part of the pavement. 
 They came into use about the beginning of the thir- 
 teenth century ; and soon after their introduction were 
 considerably improved by the devices being engraved 
 on metal plates sunk in the slab, instead of being figured 
 on the stone itself. 
 
 These memorial slabs exhibit great variety in the 
 character and number of their devices. Some are re- 
 markably plain and simple — a cross, a heart, a chalice, 
 or some military or civil emblem, constituting the sole 
 memorial upon them. Others are elaborately executed 
 and profusely ornamented. The effigy of the deceased 
 is sometimes represented under an elegant canopy, ac- 
 companied with the figures of angels, emblematic de- 
 vices, armorial shields, scrolls, labels, and various minor 
 decorations, all tastefully arranged and delicately exe- 
 cuted. Some of these brasses, as they are technically 
 called, measure nearly ten feet by five, and are entirely 
 covered with rich decorations. The legend or inscrip- 
 tion generally forms a neat and appropriate border 
 around the verge, but occasionally it is arranged in 
 straight lines near the lower extremity of the slab. 
 
 A few of the brasses in this country were the produc- 
 tion of foreign artists. They differ from those executed 
 
 c 
 
18 SEPULCHEAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 by native artists, inasmuch as they consist but of one 
 plate, or of several so joined as to have the appearance 
 of but one ; while those of English workmanship, which 
 are more boldly though perhaps less delicately executed, 
 are composed of separate plates for the effigy and its 
 various accompaniments. 
 
 The earliest brass on record is that of Simon de Beau- 
 champ, who died a.d. 1208. It was in St. Paul's 
 Church, Bedford, and is mentioned in Leland's Itine- 
 rary, vol. i. p. 11 2. 
 
 The number of brasses in England is far greater than 
 in any other country, being probably not less than four 
 thousand, and vestiges remain of as many more now 
 destroyed.* These memorial slabs, whether inlaid with 
 metal plates or not, are seldom found above stone coffins. 
 Occasionally they lie over a brick grave, but generally 
 over graves made in the natural earth. One slab, some- 
 times with but one device upon it, often commemorates 
 two or more persons. 
 
 Cross-legged Effigies, c. 1100—1350. 
 
 Many ancient effigies are found with one leg crossing 
 the other, generally the left drawn over the right. This 
 peculiar posture is acknowledged by all antiquaries to 
 be symbolical, but the uncertainty of its meaning has 
 given rise to much learned discussion and ingenious 
 conjecture ; and notwithstanding the flood of light re- 
 cently thrown on all branches of archaeology, the subject 
 still appears involved in obscurity. For a long time 
 the attitude was supposed to denote the effigy of a 
 * Oxford Manual. Introduction, xii. 
 
CROSS-LEGGED EFFIGIES. 
 
 19 
 
 Knight-Templar; but this theory was demolished by 
 the cross-legged effigy being often found to commemo- 
 rate a married man, whereas the Knight-Templar was 
 vowed to celibacy. It was next assigned to the ordi- 
 nary Crusader, but the same kind of effigy was found to 
 commemorate persons known never to have joined the 
 Crusade. It was now evident that the emblem 
 
 c 2 
 
20 SEPULCHKAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 was still more comprehensive; so it was next con- 
 jectured that it might represent warriors pledged to 
 serve in the Holy Land, but who died before they were 
 able to fulfil their engagement. This theory has shared 
 the same fate with its predecessors by the recenit dis- 
 covery of some cross-legged ladies. Three female effigies 
 of gigantic stature, two measuring six feet six inches, and 
 the other seven feet, have been found built up im the 
 churchyard wall of Cashel in Ireland. They are sup- 
 posed to be of English manufacture ; and an interesting 
 account of them is given in the Archaeological J ournal, 
 vol. ii. pp. 122-129. 
 
 The meaning of this cross-legged attitude still remains 
 most provokingly mysterious, and may safely be oifFered 
 as the antiquary's prize enigma. I am, however, per- 
 suaded that it has some reference to the Crusades. It 
 appears only during the period of these expeditions, and 
 for about fifty years afterwards — a time during which 
 many connected with the Crusades would doubtless sur- 
 vive them. Perhaps it may have been assigned accord- 
 ing to some such regulations as these: — 1. To those 
 who had actually served in the Crusades. 2. To those 
 who had vowed to serve, but who died before the ac- 
 complishment of their design. 3. To those who served 
 by deputy, in the same way as a lady or an ecclesiastic 
 was allowed to serve in the country's warfare by substi- 
 tute. 4. To those who greatly assisted the expeditions 
 by liberal contributions. 5. Lastly, to children born 
 while their fathers were engaged in the Crusade— if, 
 indeed, those small cross-legged eflfigies which are often 
 met with really represent children.* 
 
 * See Grose's Antiquities, vol. i. pp. 145-147. 
 
DIMINUTIVE EFFIGIES. 
 
 21 
 
 Diminutive Effigies. 
 
 Some of the diminutive monuments frequently met 
 with are scarcely less embarrassing to antiquaries than 
 the cross-legged effigy. These are small figures, gene- 
 rally about the size of young children, but possessing 
 certain characteristics peculiar to manhood. I will 
 notice a few instances. 
 
 In a niche in the upper part of the south wall of the 
 Church of Mapouder, in Dorset, is a small recumbent 
 effigy in stone, scarcely two feet long, yet it is clad in 
 mail armour, cross-legged, and with sword and shield, 
 and a, lion at its feet. In the hands, raised over the 
 body, is a heart.* 
 
 A similar cross-legged effigy, of small proportion, is 
 mentioned as existing at Little Easton Church, Essex.f 
 At Dartington, Devon, is the effigy of an ecclesiastic 
 only two feet eight inches long.| Another in Tenbury 
 Church, Worcestershire, is thus described in Nash's 
 Collections:—" Under an arch in the north wall of the 
 chancel is the figure of a child in complete armour and 
 a surcoat ; between his hands, which are raised on his 
 breast, a large heart ; his legs crossed, and at his feet a 
 talbot."§ 
 
 Under an early English trefoil-headed recess in the 
 Church of Horsted Keynes, Sussex, lies an effigy sculp- 
 tured in sandstone, which, with the lion at his feet, is 
 only two feet ten inches long. It is cross-legged, clad 
 
 * Hutchin's Dorset, vol. iii. p. 278. f lb. J lb. 
 
 § Collections for a History of Worcestershire, vol. ii. p. 420. In 
 the Archaeological Journal, vol. iii. p. 239, Tenbury is erroneously 
 said to be in Grloucestershire. 
 
22 
 
 SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 in armour, and with a sword, but no shield* The 
 effigy in Salisbury Cathedral, called the Boy-bishop, is 
 about three feet and a half long, is attired in episcopal 
 robes, and holds a crosier in his left hand. 
 
 These diminutive effigies were formerly supposed to 
 commemorate children, who, for some unknown reason, 
 were thus represented. The cross-legged figures were 
 supposed to have been connected with the Crusades : 
 and the effigy of the " Boy-bishop " was accounted for 
 by supposing it commemorated a boy who had died 
 while engaged in a profane juvenile sport of the middle 
 ages, equally demoralizing to the urchins who joined in 
 it, and disgraceful to their elders who encouraged it. 
 A more extensive knowledge of archaeology has shown 
 that these diminutive effigies were probably never 
 intended to represent children, but owe their small 
 dimensions to some other cause — such as, to economy, 
 or to the want of space, or to the circumstance of the 
 person commemorated being elsewhere interred, or 
 having only a portion of his body near the monument. 
 
 Thus, where the small effigy holds a heart, that mem- 
 ber of the body alone is thought to be there entombed. 
 This theory, which was first advanced many years ago, 
 has lately been ably discussed, and all but proved by a 
 writer in the Archaeological Journal.* 
 
 Diminutive effigies in every variety of costume are 
 exceedingly numerous on brasses, and have never, on 
 account of size, been considered the memorials of 
 children. 
 
 * A'^ol. iii. p. 234-239. See also Hutchin's Dorset, voL iii. 
 
MONUMENTS OF CHILDEEN. 
 
 23 
 
 Monuments of Children, c. 1300— contintied. 
 
 Early memorials of children exist, both incised on 
 slabs and sculptured in stone and marble. 
 Coiiin-lids measuring from two to three 
 feet in length are occasionally met with. 
 As these coffins were designed to contain 
 the remains of the deceased, they could 
 only, from their dimensions, have been 
 intended for children. Towards the middle 
 of the fifteenth century examples are fre- 
 quently met with. An interesting one exists Early Brass 
 in the Chantry Chapel of Elford Church, in ("^'^^^ 
 Staffordshire. This is a boy of the Stanley family, said 
 to have been killed by a tennis-ball. The effigy is 
 habited in a loose tunic reaching to the ankles, with a 
 tight sleeve down to the wrist, and a loose half-sleeve 
 above it ; his shoes, strapped and buttoned over the 
 instep, resemble those of a child in the present day. 
 In one hand he holds a tennis-ball. His head rests 
 upon a cushion, and his feet upon a young talbot whelp. 
 The monument is sculptured in freestone, and measures, 
 the cushion and dog inclusive, four feet two inches ; the 
 length of the effigy being three feet nine inches. It for- 
 merly stood in a recess on the north side of the church. 
 
 Effigies of children are more commonly found on 
 the monuments of their parents. A child dying within 
 a month from its birth is generally represented on its 
 monument as shrouded in its chrisom, a white vesture 
 put on it by the priest at baptism, just before he 
 anointed it with chrism, or consecrated oil.* An ex- 
 
 * Wheatley, pp. 367 and 526 ; and Edward VI. 's Liturgies, pp. 
 112, 113, Parker Society's edition. 
 
24 SEPULCHEAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 ample on brass exists in the Church of Chesham B(ois, 
 and another in alabaster in that of Stoke Mandevi lie, 
 Bucks. 
 
 Emblematic Monuments and Devices. 
 
 At an early period an emblem or device, either with 
 or without an inscription, sometimes formed the only se- 
 pulchral monument of the deceased. The most ancient 
 memorials of this description were crosses of various 
 forms, and used alike on the tombs of laics and eccle- 
 siastics. Beautiful floriated crosses abounded in the 
 fourteenth century, often having the head or bust of the 
 deceased portrayed over them, or at the intersection 
 of the arms. Crosiers, chalices, and other ecclesiastical 
 insignia denote the monuments of Bishops, Abbots, and 
 Priests. If a Bishop or an Abbot was lord of the 
 manor, the figure of a sword was added to the crosier. 
 
 The various offices, professions, and trades of the 
 laity were in like manner appropriately described by 
 emblematic memorials. It has lately been advanced 
 with apparent success that a pair of shears, which liad 
 previously been considered emblematic of a clothier's 
 tomb, is in reality the symbol of a lady's.* 
 
 A lion at the feet of a gentleman denoted courage 
 and generosity ; a dog at a lady's feet indicated fidelity 
 and attachment ; a dragon pressed by the feet or the 
 pastoral staff of an ecclesiastic denoted antagonism 
 against the evil spirit. A shield of arms, a heart, 
 or a monogram, sometimes constituted the entire 
 memorial. Skeletons and emaciated figures, em- 
 
 * Archaeological Journal, vol. v. pp. 254-257. 
 
EMBLEMATIC MONUMENTS. 
 
 25 
 
 blematic of the decaying nature of man, fr^uently 
 occur on monuments. To symbolize the transient 
 nature of earthly advantages two effigies of the de- 
 ceased were portrayed, one exhibiting him in full 
 strength and vigour, dressed in his richest apparel and 
 accompanied with the insignia of his rank and office ; 
 the other representing him shrouded in his coffin, or 
 emaciated to a skeleton. Archbishop Chicheley, founder 
 of All Souls' College, Oxford, who died in 1443, is 
 thus represented on his tomb in Canterbury Cathedral. 
 The founder of a church is often represented holding a 
 model of the edifice in his hands. But these early 
 monumental emblems are too numerous and varied to 
 be even glanced at here. They constitute an important 
 branch of monumental study, and deserve diligent in- 
 vestigation. The Evangelistic emblems so frequently 
 occur, that we should remember they are, for St. Mat- 
 thew, an angel ; St. Mark, a winged lion ; St. Luke, 
 a winged ox ; St. John, an eagle — each generally hold- 
 ing an uninscribed scroll. 
 
 Chichester. Carving on the Floor of the Presbytery. The inscription is, " Ici gist 
 le couer Maud de." 
 
26 SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 King John's Tomb, Worcester. 
 
 Cenotaphs, C. 1100— cotitinued. 
 
 Although sepulchral monuments, when first intro- 
 duced into churches, either enclosed or rested on the 
 remains of the persons they commemorated, yet it be- 
 came no uncommon practice at an early period to erect 
 cenotaphs. We must not therefore always conclude 
 that a person lies buried near his monument, or that he 
 died at the period of its erection. 
 
 A monument was sometimes erected in a church 
 in honour of its founder, its principal benefactors, or of 
 
CENOTAPHS. 
 
 27 
 
 other distinguished persons connected with it, though 
 their bodies were elsewhere interred. 
 
 There are three effigies in as many churches to com- 
 memorate Queen Eleanor, the wife of Edward I. : one 
 in Lincoln Cathedral, where part of her remains were 
 entombed ; another in Westminster Abbey ; and the 
 other in Blackfriars' Church, London. King John 
 was buried in the Lady Chapel of Worcester Cathedral, 
 and a stone slab with his effigy in relief laid over his 
 grave.* Many years afterwards a handsome altar-tomb 
 was raised to his memory in the middle of the choir. 
 But by far the greater portion of ancient cenotaphs in our 
 churches, if they can be so designated, originated in the 
 destruction of conventual houses. The effigies, or other 
 portions of the monuments of persons interred therein, 
 were often rescued by the family of the deceased or by 
 other persons, and borne to some neighbouring church, 
 where they were deposited in recesses, or other con- 
 venient receptacles often made for the purpose. Con- 
 sequently, they are often found resting on a part of the 
 wall, with no grave or tomb near, and belonging to a 
 different period of architecture from that of the c^iurch 
 and the recess containing them. This accounts for the 
 fact of so many effigies, evidently belonging to a period 
 when inscriptions were generally used, being now found 
 without any. They have been separated from tombs, 
 which, with their inscriptions, have long since shared 
 the fate of the churches or chapels that once protected 
 them. 
 
 See page 30. 
 
28 
 
 SEPULCHEAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 Memorial Windows, c. 1400-1550. 
 
 About the commencement of the fifteenth century 
 coloured-glass windows, long previously used in churches, 
 began to be applied to monumental purposes. As to 
 material, this was entirely a new mode of commemo- 
 rating the departed, but it afforded the happiest facili- 
 ties, not only for the rich exhibition of the various 
 devices already in use, but also for depicting, beau- 
 tifully and distinctly in natural colours, historic and 
 other scenes which could not be shown, except imper- 
 fectly and obscurely, if at all, on any previous descrip- 
 tion of sepulchral monument. In some instances small 
 and simple devices, resembling those on the plainer 
 kind of monumental slabs, were introduced into win- 
 dows as the sole memorial. Sometimes the portraiture 
 of the deceased, or a representation of his patron saint, 
 or his heraldic shield, with a legend stating the time of 
 his death, constituted the desired memorial. 
 
 In other instances these windows were of a most 
 costly and magnificent description. The whole window 
 was j-ichly emblazoned in various colours, illustrating 
 some appropriate Scripture event, accompanied with 
 scrolls, labels, and the usual monumental emblems and 
 embellishments. 
 
 But few of these memorial Mandows are left us: they 
 suffered more than any other kind of monument at the 
 Kebellion. They were easily destroyed, and were 
 specially offensive as containing "pyctures supersticious." 
 
 A few, however, still exist, and portions of many 
 more, so as to convey to us a vivid idea of what they 
 were in their perfect state. 
 
MEMOKIAL WINDOWS. 
 
 29 
 
 The east window of the chancel of Fladbury Church, 
 Worcestershire, contains the armorial bearings of De 
 Montford, Le Despencer, and other distinguished indi- 
 viduals of their party, to commemorate their being slain 
 at the battle of Evesham.* 
 
 In Elmley Church, Worcestershire, is a window com- 
 memorative of several of the early rectors of the parish. 
 It exhibits their portraitures, kneeling, with labels and 
 legends.f 
 
 In Great Malvern Church were twelve memorial 
 windows. One of them, containing the effigies of two 
 knights, in an imperfect inscription intimates that they 
 were munificent benefactors to the church.J 
 
 In Weever's time there were several memorial win- 
 dows in the Church of Great Chart, Kent. He de- 
 scribes a window in the north chapel of that church, 
 containing sixteen kneeling effigies of men, of whom he 
 says, " Now as it goes by tradition from the father to 
 the Sonne, these were the builders of this church." 
 
 In the east window of the same church was the fol- 
 lowing inscription: " Memoriale venerendi patris Do- 
 mini Jacobi Goldwell Episcopi Norwicen." In the 
 window of another chapel attached to this church is his 
 portraiture in kneeling attitude, with an inscription 
 stating that he founded this chapel in the year 1477.§ 
 
 Lysons describes a chapel in Luton Church, built by 
 Sir John, afterwards Baron, Wenlock, in the east win- 
 dow of which was his portrait and the following inscrip- 
 tion : — 
 
 * Nash's Collections, vol. i. p. 449. f lb. p. 386. 
 
 X lb. vol. ii. p. 129. § Weever, p, 296. 
 
30 
 
 SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 " lesii Christ most of myglit 
 Have mercy on John Le "Weiilock, Knyght, 
 And on his wife Elizabeth, 
 Wlio out of this world is past by death, 
 Which founded this chapel here. 
 Help them with your hearty prayer, 
 That they may come to that place 
 Where ever is joy and solace." 
 
 He died fighting at the battle of Tewkesbury, May 4, 
 1471 * 
 
 * Dugdale's Baronage, vol. ii. p. 264. 
 
 The Slab over King John's Gi-ave. 
 
Monument of Sir Thomas Lucy the younger, in Charlecote Church, near Stratford. 
 
 Mural Monuments, c. 1550— continued. 
 
 The sixteenth century introduced a new style called 
 Mural monuments, from their being either recessed 
 into the wall, or reared against and firmly bracketed to 
 it. The larger monuments of this description consist 
 of a kind of altar-tomb, surmounted by a low, heavy 
 canopy, with a horizontal or arched pediment resting 
 on Grecian pillars or pilasters. They have often the 
 appearance of an old fashioned fire-place, with its heavy, 
 cumbrous chimney-piece. Some of the earlier monu- 
 ments of this kind have recumbent effigies, but gene- 
 rally they are placed in kneeling attitude, and almost 
 always so towards the close of the century. 
 
 An open book on a lecturn generally stands before 
 the effigy ; and when man and wife are commemorated 
 
32 SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 they face each other, the husband on the right and the 
 lady on the left, with a double lecturn between theui. 
 Their children are figured either behind them, or on 
 the side of the tomb below. The effigies were gene- 
 rally represented in their natural colour, and the deco- 
 rations of the monument were painted and gilt. 
 
 Sir Thomas Lucy's monument in Charlecote Church, 
 though with a recumbent effigy and without canopy — 
 rare occurrences in such monuments — sufficiently illus- 
 trates the monumental characteristics of the Elizabethan 
 period. His widow, in kneeling attitude, is doubtless 
 placed before the tomb to indicate that she was still 
 living at the time of its erection. Their children, six 
 sons and eight daughters, are figured before and behind 
 her, on the plinth or side of the tomb. 
 
 Monuments of this kind are often very large, and 
 seriously interfere with the due celebration of Divine 
 Service, 
 
 The small Mural monuments at this period resembled 
 as far as practicable the general characteristics of their 
 more magnificent contemporaries. Coloured busts of 
 the deceased, with enormous ruffs round the neck, and 
 sometimes the head covered with hat and feathers, were 
 placed in heavy niches, or more frequently in deep 
 recesses formed in the wall of the church or chancel, 
 from six to ten feet above the floor, and appearing as 
 though the rest of the body were immured in the wall. 
 They generally front the congregation, and attract the 
 attention by their prim and staring appearance. 
 
 Skulls, crossbones. Death with a scythe or darts, and 
 similar emblems of mortality, are the prevailing monu- 
 mental adornments of this period. 
 
Mural Tablets, 14:50— (continued). 
 
 Mural tablets were constructed of metal, of wood, or 
 of marble. The earliest in use were those of metal, 
 which were introduced about the middle of the fifteenth 
 century, and closely resembled, in design and execution, 
 their prototypes on pavement slabs. About the middle 
 of the succeeding century, and subsequently, they con- 
 sisted almost invariably of quadrangular plates enclosed 
 in stone or wooden frames. The figures, drawn in pro- 
 file, are generally kneeling before an open book on a 
 desk ; and the inscription is given below, as in the 
 above cut. 
 
 At Bletchly, Buckinghamshire, is a tablet of this 
 description, to commemorate Dr. Sparke, Rector, who 
 
 D 
 
34 SEPULCHEAL MONUMENTS IN CHUECHES. 
 
 died A.D. 1616. His portraiture is engraved on a copper 
 plate, enclosed in a wooden frame, and affixed to the 
 chancel wall. Another curious mural brass at Tinge- 
 wick, in the same county, to commemorate Erasmus 
 Williams, Eector, who died a.d. 1606, is thus described 
 by Lysons : — " He is represented in half-length portrait, 
 with uplifted hands in the attitude of prayer, and 
 habited in a gown. On each side of him is a pillar, on 
 which hang astronomical, musical, and geometrical in- 
 struments, painting utensils, various books, &c. On 
 the top of one of the pillars is a globe, on the other an 
 owl. There are various other devices, as a sun and 
 rainbow, &c., and several texts of Scripture. Under- 
 neath is a long inscription," of which the first four lines 
 run thus: — 
 
 " This doth Erasmus Williams represent, 
 Who living all did love, dead all lament ; 
 His humane arts behind his back attend, 
 Whereon spare hours he wisely chose to spend." 
 
 Wooden tablets were in use about the close of the 
 fifteenth century. The devices were generally heraldic, 
 which, with the inscriptions, were painted upon them. 
 
 There was one in the chancel of Barmston Church, 
 Yorkshire, to commemorate Sir Francis Boynton, knight, 
 who died a.d. 1617. It contained the armorial bear- 
 ings of Boynton, Aton, Kossel, De la See, Monceaux, 
 and Kelk ; and under these a long elegy in Latin verse, 
 by Isaac Gilpin, on the virtues and lamented death of 
 Sir Francis Boynton, who, by the tone and expressions 
 of the elegy, might be considered as having died a 
 pagan.* 
 
 * Poulson's Holderness, vol. i. p. 209. 
 
MURAL TABLETS. 
 
 35 
 
 Wooden tablets probably never were numerous, and 
 being of such frail materials, would soon perish or be 
 easily destroyed. 
 
 Stone and marble tablets, which probably came into 
 use about the same time as wooden ones, and still con- 
 tinue in vogue, are too common and well known to need 
 the slightest description. Their style of construction, 
 and the character of their devices, of course have varied 
 according to the prevailing taste at the time of their 
 erection. 
 
 Gower's Monument. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 SEPULCHEAL MONUMENTS IN CHUKCHES. 
 
 Classic Monuments. 
 
 A classic taste, as it was called, having been for many 
 generations the fashionable bias, became in the eighteenth 
 century a perfect mania, and displayed itself in every 
 possible manner. The " Gothic " style of English archi- 
 tecture was now totally supplanted by that of classic 
 character. The country-seats of gentlemen, built in 
 classic fashion, were duly embellished within and with- 
 out with representations of heathen deities and idolatrous 
 
CLASSIC MONUMENTS. 
 
 37 
 
 scenes of classic celebrity. The adjoining shrubbery 
 generally afforded a characteristic grove, containing a 
 classic temple dedicated to Yenus, or some other deity 
 of scarcely higher reputation ; while immodest statues of 
 these classic gods and goddesses met you in the adjacent 
 walks at every turn. 
 
 Had this classic mania stopped here, I should not have 
 alluded to it. But it proceeded to the House of God. 
 The temple of the " great goddess Diana " became a 
 model for new churches, and the sepulchral monuments 
 of Pagans, excluded even from their own temples, were 
 copied for Christian memorials within the courts of the 
 Lord's House. Some of these monuments blend toge- 
 ther in the same composition almost every style of an- 
 cient architecture, except that of our venerable churches, 
 which alone was too " Gothic " to be admitted. Reared 
 against the wall, or standing detached, they present a 
 huge, incongruous pile, and half fill the aisle or chancel 
 of the church in which they are erected. But their size 
 and construction, objectionable as these are, do not con- 
 stitute their worst feature. This consists in the adop- 
 tion of Pagan emblems, which at this period appear 
 alike on monuments of every size. Roman urns, fune- 
 real flames, Egyptian pyramids, broken pillars, naked 
 cupids with trumpets or inverted torches, and various 
 other emblematic allusions to heathen rites and cus- 
 toms, were deemed appropriate ornaments for Christian 
 memorials. The very deities of ancient idolaters were 
 summoned into the Lord's House to give these monu- 
 ments a more classic character. " Amends seems to 
 have been made," says Grose, " to the heathen gods for 
 turning them out of the Pantheon, by admitting them 
 
38 
 
 SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 into our churches." And Mr. Barry, the eminent 
 architect, lately remarked, that if all such inappropriate 
 monuments were to be removed from our churches, 
 " more than two hundred would require expulsion from 
 Westminster Abbey, and the entire collection, with two 
 exceptions, from St Paul's Cathedral." Indeed all our 
 cathedral and most of our parish churches have been 
 thus disfigured (I might say profaned) by this unfor- 
 tunate classic, or rather Pagan taste. 
 
 At this era memorial after memorial occurs without 
 the slightest recognition, either in the epitaph or devices, 
 of the Christian faith ; while but few, either of the most 
 costly monuments or the humblest tablets, are to be 
 found without some allusion to Paganism. In two 
 churches, sixty miles apart, and in different counties, 
 I lately noticed the following epitaph : — 
 
 " Had Juno, Venus, and Minerva praise? 
 Such thou wert once, yet who thy fame will raise ? 
 Shall wit and beauty meet superior foes ? 
 And must this urn thy sundry gifts enclose? 
 Low lies thy dust ; thy soul, lo ! heavenward flies, 
 And claims her seat above the starry skies." 
 
 This epitaph, which, but for its barbarous poetry, might 
 have been written by Horace, was in each instance on 
 a large marble tablet, embellished with various Pagan 
 devices, and surmounted by a huge urn, with a flame 
 issuing from it. One of these tablets, dated a.d. 1803, 
 was raised to a lady by eleven of her children, and placed 
 in a most conspicuous part of the church. Surely such 
 memorials would convey the idea that they were erected 
 by Pagans, who desired to inculcate idolatry, or to mock 
 revealed religion. 
 
CLASSIC MONUMENTS. 
 
 39 
 
 The stranger in passing through the ancient catacombs 
 at Rome readily distinguishes a Christian from a Pagan 
 memorial, where there is no inscription, by the cross 
 being figured on the one, and an urn on the other. 
 Take this test into our churches, and how large a pro- 
 portion of the persons there commemorated would appear 
 to have died in Paganism ! 
 
 " The Cross, the Christian's earliest badge, 
 The banner of his fight of faith, 
 The emblem that adorns his tomb, 
 To mark his confidence in death." 
 
 Why have we abandoned the sign of the cross on our 
 sepulchral monuments ? It is not the symbol of Popery, 
 but of Christianity. The urn, as alluding to the burn- 
 ing of the dead, is the symbol of Paganism, and of 
 nothing else. Ignorance of the meaning is the only 
 imaginable excuse for displaying this, or any other 
 Pagan emblem, on a Christian monument. 
 
 After passing this general censure on the sepulchral 
 memorials of the last and present century, it is gratify- 
 ing to be able to qualify it in some measure by readily 
 admitting that there are honourable exceptions. 
 
 There are some that deserve more of admiration than 
 censure, and many that, as specimens of statuary, sur- 
 pass all that have preceded them. Chantrey's well- 
 known monument of " The Sleeping Children " in Lich- 
 field Cathedral merits, both for design and execution, 
 the celebrity it has obtained. It is a lovely monument, 
 representing two children locked in each other's arms, 
 as in peaceful slumber. A happy conception, which, 
 so unlike the hideous figures of skulls and cross-bones, 
 sweetly harmonizes with the Christian's belief and con- 
 
40 SEPULCHEAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 isolation, that death, even to the body, is but a calm 
 sleep till the general awakening at the resurre'Ction 
 morn. 
 
 The Destruction of Monuments. 
 
 Having concluded this brief account of existing 
 monuments, some notice must be taken of the vast 
 number destroyed. Many have perished by the natural 
 effects of time ; more have been purposely destroyed. 
 Weever, who lived when the facts were fresh in the 
 memory of living witnesses, gives the following account 
 of the destruction amongst the monuments at the time 
 of the Reformation : — " Towards the latter end of the 
 raigne of Henry the Eight, and throughout the whole 
 
DESTRUCTION OF MONUMENTS. 
 
 41 
 
 raigne of Edward the Sixth, and in the beginning of 
 Queene Elizabeth, certaine persons of every county were 
 put in authority to pull downe, and cast out of all 
 Churches, Roodes, graven Images, Shrines with their 
 Reliques, to which the ignorant people came flocking 
 in adoration. Or any thing else, which (punctually) 
 tended to idolatrie and superstition. Under colour of 
 this their Commission, and in their too forward zeale, 
 they rooted up and battered downe Crosses in Churches 
 and Churchyards ; . . . they defaced and brake downe 
 the images of Kings, Princes, and noble estates ; erected, 
 set up, or pourtraied, for the onely memory of them to 
 posterity, and not for any religious honour. Marbles 
 which covered the dead were digged up, and put to 
 other uses. Tombes hackt and hewne apeeces ; Images 
 or representations of the defunct, broken, erazed, cut, or 
 dismembered ; Inscriptions or Epitaphs, for greedinesse 
 of the brasse, or for that they were thought to bee anti- 
 christian, pulled out from the Sepulchres, and purloined ; 
 dead carcasses, for gaine of their stone or leaden coffins, 
 cast out of their graves, notwithstanding this request cut 
 or engraven upon them. Propter misericordiam Jesu 
 requiescant in pace" * 
 
 This destruction of sepulchral monuments, which was 
 neither in accordance with the principles of the Re- 
 formation, nor sanctioned by its leading promoters, was 
 effectually arrested in the second year of Elizabeth's 
 reign by a Proclamation commanding the severe pu- 
 nishment of such offences.f During the puritanical 
 
 * Weever's Funeral Monuments, pp. 50, 51. 
 ■\ Heylyn's History of the Reformation, vol. ii. p, 339. Weever 
 gives a transcript of the proclamation, p. 52. 
 
42 SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 ascendancy at the Rebellion the havoc among supulchral 
 monuments was more extensive, and sanctioned, or at 
 least unrestrained, by the authorities of the time. The 
 parliamentary soldiers, encouraged, and sometimes com- 
 manded by their leaders, entered the cathedral and 
 parish churches, and barbarously demolished or defaced 
 all such monuments as offended their fanatical taste 
 and revolutionary principles. A contemporary writer 
 says : — " In every place they made it their first business 
 to rob and deface churches, and violate the sepulchres and 
 monuments of the dead." The Parliament, moreover, 
 appointed Commissioners to "reform" the churches, 
 and that this ofiice was no sinecure may be gathered 
 from the notes of one of them, William Dowsing, who 
 kept a journal of his proceedings. A few extracts from 
 this curious document, now printed, and to be seen in 
 the British Museum, may be interesting here. Refer- 
 ring to the Church of Toffe, or Tofte, he says : — 
 
 " Will. Disborogh, Church Warden, Richard Basby, 
 and John Newman, Constable, 27 superstitious pictures 
 in glass, and ten other in stone, three brass inscriptions. 
 Pray for y^ soules, and a cross to be taken of the steeple 
 (65. 8d.), and there was divers Orate pro animabus in y^ 
 windowes." 
 
 At Cambridge. — " Trinity parish, Mr. Frog, church- 
 warden, December 25, we brake down 80 Popish 
 pictures." 
 
 " At Clare, we brake 1000 pyctures superstitious." 
 
 " Cochie, there were divers pictures in the windows 
 which we could not reach, ifeither would they help us 
 to raise the ladders." 
 
 " 1643, Jan. 1. — Edwards Parish, we digged up 
 
DESTRUCTION OF MONUMENTS. 
 
 43 
 
 the steps, and brake down 40 pictures, and took off ten 
 superstitious inscriptions." * 
 
 Such was the zeal with which one of these church 
 reformers discharged his office : — ab uno disce omnes. 
 
 When we consider the efforts made at the Reforma- 
 tion to remove the remnants of Popish superstition from 
 our churches, the most charitable person will be con- 
 vinced that the havoc made in them at the rebellion 
 must have been exceedingly wanton and disgraceful. 
 
 " The civil fury of the time 
 
 Made sport of sacrilegious crime ; 
 For dark Fanaticism rent 
 Altar, and screen, and ornament, 
 And peasant hands the tombs o'erthrew." 
 
 Great as was the destruction of sepulchral monuments 
 by these lawless fanatics, it has probably been fully 
 equalled through the negligence and apathy of the ap- 
 pointed guardians of churches, who have suffered them 
 to be injured or destroyed with impunity. Lists of 
 them, which have been taken throughout the kingdom 
 at different times since the rebellion, clearly prove that 
 the ancient monuments have been gradually but exten- 
 sively diminishing during the last century and a half ; 
 while the fragments often found amongst the rubbish in 
 and near the churches, too plainly indicate that the 
 devastation has been continued to a recent date. But 
 all destroyed monuments have not been cast aside 
 amongst the useless rubbish. They have been most 
 ingeniously applied to various purposes, and have been 
 discovered in very unexpected positions. 
 
 * Burn's History of Parish Registers, p. 92. 
 
44 SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS IN CHUECHES. 
 
 I lately saw three stone coffins in Yorkshire which 
 had been converted into drinking- troughs for cattle. 
 "It is reported," says Chauncy, " that Sir Leonard 
 Hyde paved his kitchen at Sandon with gravestones 
 taken out of the church of Throcking, and, being 
 patron, embezzled the glebe ; and from that time 'twas 
 observed his estate wasted and his name extinguisht." 
 But who would have expected to find courtly knights 
 and dames of the feudal times in such positions as 
 these ! A lady, richly attired and holding in her 
 hands a model church, having left the honourable posi- 
 tion she once occupied in the window of a church 
 she probably founded, was discovered in the buttery 
 window of a neighbouring mansion. A knight and 
 lady of the Compton family, engraved on brass, dis- 
 gusted with the cold, damp floor of the church, where 
 their prototypes lay buried, were found to have en- 
 sconced themselves at the back of a fireplace in a small 
 cottage. Another knightly effigy in brass, disdaining 
 to continue prostrate on the floor of the church, and 
 having a sad propensity to low company, was detected 
 looking shamefully bright and contented over the 
 kitchen chimneypiece of the adjacent parsonage.* 
 
 But memorial brasses have more commonly been 
 torn up and sold to tinkers to diminish the church-rate : 
 with the same laudable spirit of economy the church- 
 yard walls, as at Tottington in Norfolk,! have been 
 covered with the lids of stone coffins ; and beautifully 
 sculptured monuments have been used in the walls of 
 
 * Oxford Manual, p, 11. 
 
 f Burn's Hist, of Parish Registers, p. 93. 
 
DESTRUCTION OF MONUMENTS. 
 
 45 
 
 churches to save the parish the expense of a few stones. 
 The broken canopy of an altar-tomb was discovered 
 thus built up in the chancel wall at Drayton Beau- 
 champ, Bucks ; and, on removing some old wainscoting 
 from the opposite side, three skulls, with other portions 
 of human skeletons, were found in one of the sedilia. 
 It is not alone at Stratford-on-Avon that the warning 
 is needed — 
 
 " Blest be the man that spares these stones, 
 And curst be he that moves my bones." * 
 
 We may easily conceive, from the brief notices now 
 adduced, that multitudes of sepulchral monuments have 
 unnecessarily perished, either by intentional destruction 
 or through the negligence of their proper guardians. 
 There is something exceedingly revolting in this reck- 
 lessness about such memorials. Common respect for 
 the dead ought to have secured them from every un- 
 necessary injury. 
 
 If we desire the memorials of our friends and of our- 
 selves hereafter to be respected, let us do as we would 
 be done by, and we shall then need no legal compul- 
 sion, no stronger argument, to restrain us from injuring 
 the monuments of others. 
 
 Lich-Gate, Beckeiiham. 
 
 * From the covering slab of Shakspeare's grave. 
 
Charlecote Church. 
 
 Burial in Churches. 
 
 While the tombs already existing in churches should 
 be scrupulously respected, yet the continuance of such 
 interment is by no means commendable. Houses of 
 Prayer ought never to have been converted into Burial- 
 places. This improper proceeding — the genuine off- 
 spring of Popery — has resulted in the most serious and 
 painful consequences. The soil immediately under the 
 floor of some of our old parish churches is one mass of 
 human dust and corruption. This subject is unpleasing, 
 but necessary to be impartially considered. It must 
 not be shunned from feelings of false delicacy. Living 
 worshippers must not be driven from the House of God 
 
ADMISSION OF MONUMENTS INTO CHUKCHES. 
 
 47 
 
 by the offensive presence of the dead. These sacred 
 courts, consecrated to our risen and ascended Lord, 
 should rather aspire to resemble heaven than a sepulchre 
 for perishing mortality. 
 
 This objection to burial in churches is no novelty. 
 Many great and good men long ago have condemned it ; 
 and by their injunction to be otherwise interred, have 
 left us a noble example. Among these worthies were 
 Archbishops Sancroft and Seeker ; the Bishops of Lon- 
 don in succession, from Dr. Compton to Dr. Hayter ; 
 Dr. J oseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich, and Sir Matthew 
 Hale, who used to say, " Churches were for the living, 
 and churchyards for the dead," * 
 
 The Admission of Monuments into Churches. 
 
 The memorials of departed Christians might still be 
 admitted into churches, subject to proper regulations, 
 although burial in future were excluded. The nature 
 of such regulations is obvious from our acquaintance 
 with existing monuments, which afford abundant ex- 
 amples of almost every size, and form, and character. 
 Many of these, as we have seen, are admirably adapted 
 to the purpose, while others are fraught with objections 
 that render them unfit for imitation. A sober, unpre- 
 judiced discernment will at once direct us what to adopt 
 and what to repudiate. 
 
 First let us notice what should be avoided : — 
 1. Monuments which, from size or position, may 
 interfere with the due celebration of Divine Service. 
 
 * Burn's History of Parish Registers, pp. 88, 89. 
 
48 
 
 SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 2. Monuments differing in form and character from 
 the general principles of ecclesiastical architecture. 
 
 3. All emblems, decorations, and inscriptions which 
 necessarily would remind the beholder of Paganism or 
 of Popery. 
 
 4. Emblems of mere mortality ; such as skulls, cross- 
 hones, and emaciated figures, as being suggestive rather 
 of annihilation than of immortality. 
 
 Let us now notice what kinds of memorial are 
 adapted for admission into churches : — 
 
 1. Stained-glass windows. This kind of memorial is 
 not only ornamental to the church, but affords the hap- 
 piest facilities for scriptural illustration and emblematic 
 commemoration. (See p. 28.) 
 
 2. Stone slabs forming part of the pavement. The 
 memorial and decorative devices may be either engraved 
 on the slab, or on metal plates sunk into it. (See illus- 
 trations and notice of this kind of memorial, pp. 16-18.) 
 The effigy, as in Eleanor Bohun's slab, might be 
 omitted, and the space under the canopy occupied with 
 inscriptions. 
 
 3. Altar-tombs and sculptured effigies are well 
 adapted for cathedral and large churches. The monu- 
 ment of Edward the Black Prince, shown on a large 
 scale at page 10, is an admirable model. 
 
 4. A font, or other durable requisite, constitutes a 
 suitable memorial in a church. The memorial inscrip- 
 tion may be incised in the base or pedestal. 
 
 5. Mural tablets should be constructed on the prin- 
 ciples of Gothic architecture, and harmonize with the 
 prevailing style of the church. They should, if pos- 
 sible, be recessed into the wall, and resemble the pis- 
 
ADMISSION OF MONUMENTS INTO CHURCHES. 
 
 49 
 
 cina or sedilia, which, in the hands of a skilful archi- 
 tect, afford excellent models, from the simplest to the 
 most elaborate design. 
 
 A tablet of this description, very creditably sculp- 
 tured by Messrs. Thompson, of Aylesbury, was recently 
 erected in Sherrington Church, Bucks. An illustration 
 of it, slightly varied from the original, is given as a 
 frontispiece. It is figured on a large scale, that the 
 design may be readily seen. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 In concluding these brief notices of sepulchral 
 monuments, it is gratifying to observe that the 
 various kinds here advocated have recently been more 
 or less extensively adopted. Several, designed and 
 executed in good style by the late Mr. Rickman, to 
 whom we are indebted for the revival of Gothic archi- 
 tecture, were erected in various churches during the 
 early part of the present century. One of these, a 
 small mural tablet of simple design, was affixed in 
 St. George's Church, Everton, in the year 1815. An 
 altar-tomb in Gothic style, richly decorated, was erected 
 a few years since in York Cathedral, to commemorate 
 Archbishop Markham, who was buried a.d. 1808, in 
 Westminster Abbey. More recently, a similar tomb 
 with a recumbent efiigy was erected in Canterbury 
 Cathedral to the memory of Archbishop Howley. 
 Memorial fonts, stained- glass windows, and incised slabs 
 and brasses, are daily becoming more generally adopted. 
 Mural tablets are not unfrequently constructed in cor- 
 rect style, and inscriptions are gradually assuming a 
 more modest and edifying tone. 
 
 E 
 
50 SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 All these circumstances are exceedingly gratifying. 
 They are cheering signs of advancement towards that 
 truer taste — that more Christian character in sepulchral 
 commemoration, which alone the writer desires to 
 advocate. 
 
 Having long and frequently been a pilgrim to the 
 tombs of our forefathers, he has often been intensely 
 pained to find so many of those memorials, which 
 might have afforded profitable lessons of deep and 
 touching interest, rendered almost loathsome by the 
 associations which alone they are calculated to awaken. 
 The Christian's tomb, brightened as it is by the resur- 
 rection of his Divine Master, should neither be pro- 
 faned with pagan allusions nor darkened by the mere 
 recognition of bodily decay. 
 
 " No more a charnel-house, to fence 
 The relics of lost innocence, 
 A vault of ruin and decay ; — 
 Th' imprisoning stone is roll'd away : 
 
 'Tis now a fane, where Love can find 
 
 Christ everywhere embalm'd and shrin'd ; 
 
 Aye gathering up memorials sweet 
 
 Where'er she sets her duteous feet." — Christian Year. 
 
 PlilNTED ny W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET. 
 
ESSAY XIL 
 
 THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE CATHEDRAL 
 CHURCHES OF ENGLAND 
 
 CONSIDEEED HISTORICALLY. 
 
 BY CANON VENABLES. 
 
ABSTEAOT OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Object of the Essay — Definition of a 
 Cathedral church : not structurally , 
 different from any other church. j 
 
 English Cathedrals before the Con- | 
 quest : Ba^iilican in form and ar- [ 
 rangement ; the causes of their 
 destruction — The prse-Norman Ca- 
 thedral of Canterbury : changes 
 introduced by the Normans : Ed- 
 ward the Confessor's Abbey of 
 Westminster : Lanfranc's Cathedral 
 at Canterbury — The majority of 
 English Cathedrals Norman in 
 plan and in structure: their cha- 
 racteristics ; the transepts, their 
 chaijels and aisles ; the chapels of 
 the Choir — Norman Crypts: their 
 purpose — Norman Towers — The 
 development of the Eastern limb of 
 English Cathedrals: its object and 
 history ; Canterbury the first in- 
 stance — The Choir of Lincoln — 
 Lady Chapels : their position — 
 Winchester, Bristol, &c. : the 
 shrines of local saints at the east 
 end — The Presbytery of Ely, &c. — 
 
 The Angel Choir of Lincoln, &c. 
 
 — The disuse of the apse, and 
 substitution of the square east end : 
 possible reasons for the change — 
 The eastern screens and feretories 
 
 — Shifting of the Eitual Choir 
 eastward— Western screens — Types 
 of Cathedrals free from Norman 
 influence: Salisbury, Wells, West- 
 minster — Modifications of Cathe- 
 drals subsequent to the thirteenth 
 century: York, Exeter, Lichfield, 
 Chester, Worcester, Bristol, Old 
 St. Paul's, Ely. 
 
 The introduction of the Perpendicular 
 style — Adaptation of Winchester, 
 Gloucester, Canterbury— Minor al- 
 terations-Large west windows. 
 
 Subsequent vicissitudes of Cathedrals 
 
 — The Keformation — The Great 
 Kebellion — The last century — 
 " Wyatt the destructive." 
 
 Eestorations of the present day — Hope- 
 ful prospects for Catliedrals — their 
 necessity in the Diocesan System— 
 End. 
 
THE 
 
 AECHITECTURE OF THE CATHEDEAL 
 OHUECHES OF ENGLAND 
 
 CONSIDEEED HISTOEICALLY. 
 
 nSera rj o'lKodofi^ (TvvapiJ.o\oyovfjLivr) av^fi els VMhv ayiov ev Kvp'Kf, 
 
 This Essay has for its subject the Architecture of the Cathedral 
 Churches of England considered historically. In other words, 
 it is an attempt to trace the gradual development of these 
 magnificent structures from the simple and unadorned idea of a 
 primitive Christian church, to examine into the intention of the 
 various parts which go to make up the complicated wliole, 
 the motives that dictated the successive modifications in their 
 plan and arrangements, and the causes that led to the struc- 
 tural changes which were continually in operation during the 
 five centuries that witnessed their foundation, progress, and 
 completion in their present form. These changes will be found 
 to have an intimate connection with the political and ecclesi- 
 astical movements of the centuries in which these buildings 
 were erected, and to reflect the revolutions through which the 
 Church and Nation of England have passed, and the mutations 
 of religious opinion, in a manner which invests them with a 
 new and peculiar interest. I shall have to say something also 
 as to the founders and builders of these magnificent structures, 
 and the sources from which the funds were provided for their 
 original erecti(m, and for that course of alteration, and, in the 
 eyes of its promoters, improvement, that was carried on almost 
 without interruption from the period of their first foundation 
 up to the time of the Eeformation : " nulla dies sine lined." 
 
310 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XII . 
 
 The title of this Essay seems to confine our investigations 
 to Cathedral churches ; but it must not be thought that these 
 limits liave been unduly transgressed if some facts and illus- 
 trations are drawn from churches not comprehended under 
 that designation. The truth is that the popular distinction 
 between Cathedral and other churches is based on an erro- 
 neous idea of what a Cathedral church really is. It hardly 
 needs to be repeated here that what constitutes any church 
 a Cathedral church is nothing more than its containing the 
 cathedra or official seat of the Bishop whose see it is. Thus 
 any church, however small and undignified, may at any time be- 
 come the Ecdesia Cathedralis of a Uiocese, simply through the 
 appointment by the proper authority, that the Bishop's seat of 
 office shall be set up there. It was thus that Glastonbury 
 became for a brief period, at the close of the twelfth and 
 beginning of the thirteenth century, the Cathedral church of the 
 Diocese of Bath and Wells,* even as the church of Hackiugton 
 would have become the Cathedral church of the Diocese of 
 Canterbury if Archbishop Baldwin had carried out the idea, 
 conceived during his dispute with the contumacious monks of 
 Christ Church, of transferring his cathedra thither.f By the 
 same easy transition, the Abbey churches selected by Henry 
 VIII. as the sees of his new Bishopricks rose to their new dignity, 
 without the slightest structural change beyond the erection of 
 an episcopal throne. And with equal facility in our own days 
 the Collegiate churches of Kipon and Manchester have become 
 Cathedrals, and we trust that the time may not be far distant 
 when others of our stately Collegiate or Monastic churches 
 that escaped the wreck of the Reformation — St. Alban's, South- 
 well, St. Mary Overys, &c. — may also become the Cathedrals of 
 their own counties. It follows at once from what I have said 
 that there is not of necessity any structural difference between 
 a Cathedral and any other church. The architectural features 
 that are popularly associated with the idea of a Cathedral^ — 
 
 * Freeman, Cathedral Church of in its ordinary acceptation, to avoid 
 
 Wells, p. 70. the repetition of the correct but some- 
 
 t Hook, Lives of the Archbishops, what cumbrous Cathedral Church. Mr. 
 
 vol. ii. p. 550. Freeman has well pointed out (Cathe- 
 
 X For convenience' sake the word | dral Church of Wells, p. 10) that " Ca- 
 
 Cathedral will be used in this Essay thedral is an adjective and not a sub- 
 
Essay XII. ARCHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 311 
 
 the cruciform plan, the uniform height of all four arms of the 
 cross, the central tower, two flanking towers at the west 
 end, the long nave unoccupied by permanent seats, the ritual 
 choir with its canopied stalls and misereres — are in no sense 
 of the essence of a Cathedral. Some are wanting to our 
 existing Cathedrals,* while all are equally shared by other 
 churches which vie \A'ith their more dignified sisters in archi- 
 tectural magnificence, and in some cases actually surpass them.t 
 The same laws of architectural development ruled in all the 
 larger churches, whether Cathedral, Monastic, or Collegiate, 
 erected at the same epoch, and all may be legitimately em- 
 ployed as examples in illustration of our subject. 
 
 The materials for investigating the architectural character 
 of the Cathedrals erected in England prior to the Norman 
 invasion are scanty and precarious. With the insignificant 
 exception of a fragment of rude walling in the crypt of York 
 Minster, which may possibly have belonged to the "more 
 august basilica of stone " commenced at the suggestion of 
 Paulinus by King Edwin, a.d. 683, around the original wooden 
 oratory in which he had received baptism, completed by his 
 successor Oswald, and thoroughly repaired by Wilfrid, a.d. 
 699 : X — the very curious and interesting subterranean oratory 
 beneath Kipon Minster, known as St. Wilfrid's Needle, which 
 reproduces in so remarkable a manner the form and arrange- 
 ments of the catacomb-chapels with which Wilfrid must have 
 become familiar in Eome;§ — and the analogous crypt still 
 
 stantive, and its use as a substantive is 
 always rather awkward and slovenly." 
 True; but — 
 
 " licuit semperque licebit 
 Signatum prwsente nota producere nomen." 
 
 * Neither Manchester nor Llandaif 
 have transepts. The former and Ely, 
 and formerly Hereford, have one wes- 
 tern tower, standing like that of an 
 ordinary parish church, at the end of 
 the nave. Carlisle and Bristol have 
 for some centuries wanted a nave, a 
 deficiency now happily being supplied 
 in the latter instance, while at Ciirlisle 
 the small fragment left standing by the 
 Parliamentary troops has been recently 
 thrown open to the transepts. 
 
 t We may instance the glorious Min- 
 sters of St. Alb.m's, Beverley, South- 
 
 well, St. Mary Overys, Cljristchurch 
 Twynham, Eomsey, Selby, Milton (Dor- 
 set), and St. Mary EedcliflFe among 
 churches still standing ; and Glaston- 
 bury, Fountains, Rievaulx, Whitby, 
 Malmesbury, Bury St. PJdmund's, Bur- 
 lington, Howden, Lindisfarne, Tintern, 
 Netley, Furness, among those wholly 
 or partially in ruins. Westminster 
 Abbey, once for a biief space an actual 
 Cathedral, refuses to be ranked in any 
 class, and towers above all English 
 churches in dignify as in elevation. 
 
 X Willis's Architectural History of 
 York Minster, pp. 2, 3, 12-16. 
 
 § See Mr. Walbran's Essay in the 
 York volume of tiie Proceedings of 
 the Archaeological Institute. 
 
312 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XIT. 
 
 existing beneath the once Catliedral church of Hexham, 
 founded by Wilfrid, a.d. 673, — every trace of the larger eccle- 
 siastical edifices with which England was covered before the 
 middle of the eleventh century has disappeared. This total 
 destruction of sacred buildings has been sometimes ascribed 
 to their having been chiefly built of wood. No doubt many of 
 them, especially those of earlier date and smaller size, were 
 wooden, and their disappearance may thus be satisfactorily 
 accounted for. * But it Avould be a complete mistake to suppose 
 that the English, some centuries before the Norman Conquest, 
 had not attained to the art of building in stone, or that 
 they were contented with constructing their Cathedral and 
 Abbey Churches of timber.f Contemporaneous accounts, even 
 allowing for the over-strained language employed by the 
 eulogists of the saintly men who were the founders of these 
 churches, forbid us to question the fact of the erection of stone 
 buildings of considerable size and complication of plan. Kefer- 
 ence has already been made to the stone church built by Edwin 
 at York, in obedience to the suggestion of Paulinus, a.d. 633. 
 At the other Metropolitan See, Canterbury, a stone church had 
 been erected or rebuilt at a still earlier period by Augustine, 
 of which more anon. At Lincoln, also, as Bede records, a stone 
 church of beautiful workmanship was built by Paulinus, the 
 walls of which remained at the time of his writing, though by 
 some mischance it had lost its roof. These earlier churches 
 naturally imitated the Basilican form and arrangement, as 
 seen in the magnificent churches of Rome, then in their first 
 glory and beauty. The accounts given by contemporary his- 
 torians of the churches raised by Wilfrid at Hexham, and at 
 Ripon, enable us to discern that they were constructed of hewn 
 stone, and possessed arcades supported on columns, and upper 
 galleries probably corresponding to those still found in the 
 
 * " Igitur profunditatem ipsius ec- | 
 clesise criptis et oiatoriis subterraneis, 
 et viarum anfiactibus, inferius cum 
 magna indubtria fundavit." Kicard. 
 Hagastald. apud Twysden, 290. See 
 the late Mr. Hudson Turner's plan and 
 description, Journal of ArcliEeol. Inst., 
 vol. ii. pp. 239-2-12. 
 
 t It is interesting to remark thiit 
 the Avooden ehapel creeled iit Greensted, 
 near On^ur. Essex, a.d. 1013, as the 
 
 temporary shelter of the relics of St. 
 Edmund, when removed from Bury 
 during an incursion of the Danes, still 
 exists; and after the lapse of eight 
 centuries serves as the parish church. 
 " It consists," writes Mr. Scott (Lec- 
 tmes at Eoyal Academy, 1868,) " of 
 cleft oak-trees grooved and tongiicd 
 together by their edges, and let into 
 grooves in horizontal cells and heads." 
 
Essay XII. AKCHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 313 
 
 basilicas of St. Agnes and St. Lawrence at Rome, and conformed 
 generally to the type of a Roman Basilica. The description 
 given of Ramsey Abbey in the time of Dunstan, though not 
 very easy to unravel, seems to indicate a church with aisles, 
 transepts, a central and a western tower. The Cathedral of 
 Winchester was raised from its foundations by Bp. Ethel wold, 
 A.D. 963-984. Of this we have a very pompons and inflated 
 account in Wulstan's poetical epistle to Bp. Elphege; from 
 which, setting aside the exaggerated praise natural in describing 
 a work probably greatly in advance of any that had gone before 
 it, it appears that the early Basilican arrangement was still 
 followed. There was a court of entrance or western cloister, 
 with chapels disposed about it, reminding us of the descrip- 
 tions given by St. Paulinus of Nola of the churches erected 
 by him at that place.* The Church of Winchester had north 
 and south aisles, and an eastern apse, the altar end of the 
 church being raised, as at St. Peter's and the other primitive 
 basilicas, on a confessio or crypt, serving as a place of sepulture 
 for the more sacred dead. The number of " chapels with sacred 
 altars " was such as to distract the visitor, who knew not which 
 way to turn. Elphege, the successor of Bp. Ethelwold, added a 
 tower of five stories with open windows, the description of which 
 recalls the many-storied towers attached to the earlier churches 
 in Rome.t These contemporary notices of prse-Norman 
 churclies might be considerably augmented ; but what has been 
 produced will be sufficient to prove that the sacred edifices 
 erected during this period were far from being mean and insig- 
 nificant constructions : and on the contrary that many of them 
 were of very considerable dimensions, and, if judged by an 
 early standard, of some considerable degree of splendour, though 
 their almost universal destru'^-tion by the Norman Bishops and 
 Abbots affords sufficient evidence that they fell short of their 
 more advanced views of size and magnificence. Of the evident 
 contrast between the Saxon and Norman architectural works, 
 and of the marked inferiority of the former, we have decisive 
 testimony, in the words of Bishop Wulstan of W^orcester, given 
 
 * S. Paulin. Nolan., Epist. 32. 
 Poem. 28 (Natal x.). 
 
 t Willis (Arch. Hist, of Cantcrbiuy, 
 
 p. 30) notices the correspondence be- 
 tween the Saxon towers and the 
 Roman " campanili." 
 
314 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XII. 
 
 in an oft-quoted passage of William of Malmesbury.* On the 
 completion of the Cathedral which Wulstan had erected at 
 Worcester by the side of the Saxon church built by his holy 
 predecessor Oswald, c. a.d. 980, the workmen began to demolish 
 the earlier building. But Wulstan, standing by and looking 
 on, could not restrain his tears, saying, "We wretched people 
 destroy the works of the saints that we may get praise for our- 
 selves. That age of happy men knew not how to construct 
 pompous edifices, but they knew well how under such roofs as 
 they had to sacrifice themselves to God, and to set a good 
 example. We, contrariwise, strive that we may pile up stones, 
 neglecting the while the cure of souls." 
 
 Reference has already been made to the architectural ambi- 
 tion of the Norman prelates, as one principal reason for the 
 annihilation of the Cathedrals and Monastic Churches of Saxon 
 times. And there is no doubt that it is to the wondrous vigour 
 and indomitable energy of the Norman character that we owe 
 the substitution, in every part of our island, of edifices in the 
 majestic style introduced by the conquerors, for the smaller, 
 ruder, and less lofty churches of the Saxons. But there was 
 another and equally powerful cause, which had been in operation 
 for a couple of centuries before the Norman Conquest, which 
 will help to explain the disappearance of the earlier ecclesiastical 
 buildings. This is not the place to enter upon the devastations 
 committed by Danes and other Northern piratical hordes during 
 their repeated invasions and lengthened occupations of the soil 
 of England, in which many of its chief religious establish- 
 ments were pillaged and burnt, in some instances lying deso- 
 late for a considerable period. The conflagration of the great 
 Abbeys of Crowland, Peterborough, and Ely by the Danes 
 under Hubba, c. a.d. 870, and of the Cathedral of Canterbury 
 A.D. 1011, when the city was sacked and the Archbishop 
 Elphege led away a prisoner, and at last brutally massacred,! 
 may be taken as typical instances of the fate which befell all the 
 sacred buildings, especially those enriched with treasures of a 
 kind to tempt their cupidity, that were reached by the deso- 
 
 * De Gest. Pontiff., lib.Jiv. p. 283; 
 Willis, Arch. Hist, of Winchester, 
 p. 34. 
 
 t Canterbury Cathedral was not so 
 
 hopelessly ruined by the fire as to 
 forbid its restoration ; so that the 
 original fabric seems to have lasted, in 
 the main, down to the days of Lanfranc. 
 
Essay XII. AliCUlTECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDllALS. 315 
 
 luting tide of heathen invasion. The stern retribution with 
 which the Conqueror visited the unwillingness of the northern 
 counties of England to accept his yoke, sweeping the whole 
 district between the Humber and the Tyne with fire and sword, 
 may be mentioned as another element of destruction of the 
 prse-Norman ecclesiastical buildings. The vengeance of the Con- 
 queror spared nothing sacred or secular in the guilty district. 
 Churches were sacked, and were consumed in the conflagration 
 of the towns in which they stood. York Minster had been 
 previously burnt by the Norman garrison; and was found a 
 roofless ruin with blackened walls when Thomas, the first 
 Norman Archbishop, was appointed to the See, a.d. 1070.* The 
 consequence of the operation of these various destructive ele- 
 ments is that no Cathedral or large Monastic church belonging 
 to the period before the Conquest remains in England, and 
 that we have to content ourselves with such testimony as to 
 their style, plan, and arrangement as may be drawn from con- 
 temporary documents, or gathered by analogy from the humbler 
 sacred buildings scattered here and there, which are assigned 
 by architectural critics to this epoch. 
 
 The Cathedral Church of Canterbury is one of those of which 
 we have the fullest description, elucidated and rendered intel- 
 ligible to us by tlie critical skill of Professor Willis.t Before 
 passing on to the wider and more attractive field presenting 
 itself after the Norman Conquest, it will not be out of place to 
 speak of this as a typical example of a Saxon church. It has 
 already been remarked that the features of the Saxon ecclesias- 
 tical edifices seem to have been borrowed from the Koman 
 Basilicas. This resemblance is very evident in the contemporary 
 notice of Wilfrid's Cathedral at Hexham ; and Edmer, who, 
 from having been Anselm's companion in his visit to Eome, 
 must have known what he was talking about, distinctly states, 
 with respect to the original Cathedral of Canterbury, that it 
 was to some extent arranged in imitation of the Basilica of 
 St. Peter at Rome. The ground-plan, as given by Professor 
 Willis from Edmer's description, at once recals those of the 
 early Eoman Basilicas. It is a plain parallelogram, flanked by 
 
 " ■^'o^To4..-^''""^'' Conquest, vol. I t Architectural History of Canter- 
 • pp. ^67, d7o. I bury, eh. ii. pp. 25-31. 
 
316 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XII. 
 
 aisles extending from end to end, the cruciform shape being 
 not structurally defined, but merely marked out, as at 
 St. Clement's and elsewhere, by steps and low partitions, 
 the chorus cantorum being extended into the nave, and pro- 
 bably enclosed by a wall breast high. Each extremity, as in 
 some of the German Cathedrals,* was terminated by an apse 
 containing an altar or altars standing on a raised platform 
 ascended by steps. The apse to the west contained the altar 
 of the Blessed Virgin Mary, standing in the centre of the 
 chord, with the episcopal seat in the central point of the 
 curve behind it. The oflSciating priest at this altar celebrated, 
 as Edraer tells us, in the primitive fashion, standing on the 
 further side, with his face turned to the people.f The platform 
 of the eastern apse, containing two altars, was raised upon 
 a crypt, called by Edmer by the Roman name of a Confes- 
 sionary, in which was an altar containing relics of great pre- 
 ciousness. The church was flanked by two projecting towers, 
 dedicated respectively to St. Gregory and St. Martin. The 
 former, to the south, afforded the principal entrance to the 
 cliurch, at which legal decisions were given in certain special 
 cases drawn from all parts of the kingdom. St. Martin's 
 Tower, to the north, gave access to the cloisters, and was used 
 for the instruction of the novices. The Baptistery, or church 
 of St. John the Baptist, added by Archbisliop Cuthbert in 
 the eighth century, was a detached building standing to the 
 east, nearly touching the church. 
 
 It will hardly be thought that too much space has been 
 devoted to the description of this church, when it is considered 
 that it is the only account of a prae-Norman church of sufficient 
 clearness to enable us to understand its form and arrangements, 
 and that it was the church which then, as now, took the first rank 
 among the ecclesiastical structures of England as the seat of its 
 Primate ; " alterius orbis Papa." 
 
 No contrast could well be greater than that presented by the 
 
 * The Abbey Church of St. Gall [ Worms, Mentz, and Augsburg, 
 
 had a western apse dedicated to St. I t At the Cathedral of Eaveuna may 
 
 Paul, and an eastern one to St, Peter, j still be witnessed the interesting spcc- 
 
 As existing examples of the double i tacle of the priest celebrating mass in 
 
 apse I may refer to ti c churches of ; the same relative position, i.e. on the 
 
 (ienirodc in the Hartz (Pcrgusson, i side of the altar away from the people, 
 
 Ildbk. vol. i. p. 561)), Laach, Treves, ' with his face turned towards them. 
 
Essay XII. ARCHITECTURE OP ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 317 
 
 Saxon churches, as far as we are able to arrive at their form 
 and disposition, and those of Norman construction. " The old 
 manner of building," in the words of Mr. G. G. Scott, " during 
 a course of nearly five centuries, had failed to generate any 
 development of a truly artistic character, and was swept at once 
 and for ever from the face of the earth, and there was substituted 
 for it a style which, if at first little less rude than its prede- 
 cessor, contained within itself the germs of a thoroughly sound 
 artistic system, which speedily germinated into a series of deve- 
 lopments, the most glorious perhaps that man has ever seen." * 
 This contrast was strongly felt by those who witnessed the in- 
 troduction into England of the Norman style of building and 
 arrangement. It was regarded by them as a new kind of 
 design, novum genus com^ositionis,^ and in no sense a develop- 
 ment of the style already practised among them ; and its unmis- 
 takeable superiority to anything that had yet been seen in 
 England excited a spirit of emulation to which we are indebted 
 for the reconstruction of nearly all our Cathedrals and large 
 Abbey churches.^ 
 
 Passing over as foreign to my object all investigations as to 
 the origin and growth of the Norman style of ecclesiastical 
 architecture, I will proceed to consider the novel features in 
 plan, design, and arrangement introduced by the Norman 
 architects in the immense and stately churches with which 
 in an incredibly short space of time they covered the new 
 land of their adoption. 
 
 For the first genuine Norman work erected on British soil 
 we must go back to the period immediately preceding the Con- 
 quest. Edward the Confessor, by education, by taste, in almost 
 everything but his birth and paternal descent, a Norman, 
 while he imported into his kingdom the advanced civilization 
 in the midst of which he had grown up on the other side of 
 the Channel, also introduced the improved architectural skill 
 manifested in the huge and elaborate churches which were con- 
 tinually rising there. Westminster Abbey (to quote Mr. Free- 
 man) was built by him "in the newest style of the day, and it 
 
 * Royal Academy Lectures, Jan. 30, 
 18G8. 
 
 t William of Malmesbury, ii. 228: 
 " Ecclesia .... quam ipse (Edward 
 
 the Confessor) novo compositionis ge- 
 nere primus in Anglia sedificaverat, 
 quod nunc peue cuncti sumptuosis 
 semulantur oxpensis." 
 
318 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XII. 
 
 remained the great object of English imitation deep into tho 
 twelfth century." Its marked superiority, as well in size and 
 in arrangement as in design and in ornament, to anything that 
 had preceded it, " made a deep impression on men's minds, and 
 its erection formed an era in our national architecture."* 
 Although the church itself has entirely passed away, giving 
 place to the more glorious pile of Henry III., who, to 
 aiford a more fitting shrine for the body of the royal saint, 
 scrupled not to demolish his own handiwork, the minute details 
 given to us by those who saw it in its first glory leave us in no 
 doubt as to its form and arrangement, and enable us to realise 
 tlie features which chiefly distinguished it from the structures 
 of earlier days. The most marked of these was its cruciform 
 shape. Hitherto the sacred form — a visible symbol of man's 
 Redemption in the very plan and outline of the building in 
 which the Eedeemer was worshipped — had been confined to the 
 interior ; and there, as we see in the existing Basilicas, was 
 rather indicated by ritual arrangements, and the collocation of 
 the columns of the arcades, than expressed in the fabric itself. 
 The Romanesque architecture, as adopted and developed by the 
 Norman builders, made the Cross the key-note of their whole 
 composition. The entire building, from the foundations to the 
 topmost coping, was ruled by the cruciform idea. Transepts 
 boldly projecting from the body of the church, and rising to 
 an equal height with it, now for the first time broke the long 
 monotonous line which is so displeasing in the external view 
 of the early Basilicas, and formed, with the nave and choir, a 
 foundation, whose very aspect bespoke firmness and durability, 
 for the central tower, that unfailing feature of every large 
 monastic church. The open lantern of this tower rose, as the 
 noblest of canopies, above the ritual choir-, which in all Norman 
 churches occupied, with its stalls and seats, the central space of 
 the intersecting arms. A short eastern arm, ending in an apse, 
 contained the high altar. Numerous chapels were annexed to 
 the transepts and choir. To the west stretched the nave, 
 to a length hitherto unseen in England. The aisles were 
 vaulted in stone, and were divided from the nave by long 
 
 * Freeman, Norman Conquest, vol, ii. p. 508-510 ; Stanley, Memorials of West- 
 minster Abbey, p, 25, 
 
Essay XII. ARCHITECTUKE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 319 
 
 rows of arches resting on columns. They were terminated by 
 two smaller towers, designed as belfries ; but perhaps not com- 
 pleted till a subsequent period. In short, the Confessor's new 
 building corresponded, in its perfected form, in all essential 
 points, with the type which was afterwards reproduced with 
 such marvellous profusion by the Norman church builders in 
 England, but which was then seen for the first time on our 
 shores.* 
 
 Immediately after the establishment of William's rule, the 
 work of church building commenced in his new dominion. 
 The earliest work was, most fitly, the reconstruction of the 
 Cathedral of the Archiepiscopal See of Canterbury. Lanfranc, 
 the first Norman Archbishop, on his entrance on his see, a.d. 
 1070, found his Cathedral, the venerable monument of Augus- 
 tine and Ethelbert, in ruins, in consequence of an accidental 
 conflagration which three years previously had laid nearly 
 the whole city in ashes. Without delay the new prelate, with 
 true Norman vigour, at once set about the entire destruction 
 of what remained of the ancient church, and the erection of 
 a new one. He was not willing to be in any respect fettered, 
 as all later Cathedral architects have been,t by the plan and 
 arrangements of the earlier edifice. The whole fabric, as well 
 in its plan and design as in the details of its architecture, was 
 to be an example of the "novum compositionis genus" first 
 introduced by the Confessor. From this time forward, in all 
 larger churches, the old Basilican plan, which had proved so 
 unelastic and incapable of modification or expansion, was com- 
 pletely given up, and the new cruciform type, which, while 
 faithful to its fundamental idea, affords such abundant scope 
 for variety of outline and picturesqueness of grouping, was uni- 
 versally followed. 
 
 Lanfranc's Cathedral, in common with the other buildings 
 we have as yet mentioned, no longer exists. But there is no 
 
 * Harold's Abbey Church of Walt- 
 ham may also be mentioned as a con- 
 struction of the same epoch, and in the 
 same style as the Confessor's Abbey at 
 Westminster ; but it must always have 
 been very inferior in size and import- 
 ance, and the whole of the choir and 
 transepts, the only part we can safely 
 
 attribute to its royal founder, have dis- 
 appeared. The nave which alone re- 
 mains, though very early in the style, 
 was more probably erected after the 
 Conquest. 
 
 _ t Salisbury is a self-evident excep- 
 tion. St. Paul's belongs to a different 
 category. 
 
820 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHE DEALS. 
 
 Essay XII. 
 
 doubt that in its plan and architectural features it corre- 
 sponded accurately to the received Norman model, of which 
 an example had been commenced under his direction at the 
 Monastery of St. Stephen at Caen before his appointment to 
 the See of Canterbury. This church, which, with the excep- 
 tion of its choir, still remains as Lanfranc built it, answers so 
 closely both in plan and arrangement to Ger vase's description 
 of Lanfranc's church at Canterbury, that we can hardly doubt 
 that one was an almost exact copy of the other. The Kentish 
 Cathedral comprised a nave of nine bays, with aisles ending in 
 western towers, one of which was standing as late as 1834, when 
 an ill-advised love of uniformity led to its destruction, in order 
 to erect a copy of the meagre Perpendicular tower at the south- 
 west angle. Short transepts, with an apsidal chapel of two 
 stories projecting from the eastern face of both, and a transverse 
 gallery supported on an isolated pillar, 
 ^^^^^ for the preservation and exhibition of 
 
 IX^\/^''-'' l relics: a central lantern and (though 
 ^^y|^7*™iiiX' this is only recovered by analogy) a 
 
 ^^;^:::^:^:r:-:^:::^-^r^^ q^qH choir of only two bays, raised, 
 
 w^r-^ifi X ||:";^^ like its predecessor, on a confessio or 
 
 y ■•-■-f^-' ^ "^y™^ crypt, and terminating in an apse. The 
 " nave and transepts covered the same 
 
 Plan of the Church of St.. Stephen, tit 
 Caen. From Kamee, Histoire de grOUUd thCV dO at prCSCnt, but the 
 1' Architecture. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in. i i i , . 
 
 church has been immensely extended 
 eastwards. The whole work, to the wonder of his own gene- 
 ration, was completed in the space of seven years. One chief 
 difference between the prototype at Caen and the copy at 
 Canterbury was that, while the Norman Church was vaulted 
 throughout with stone, its English sister, like all English 
 churches of the epoch, was ceiled with wood. It was a 
 full century before English builders gained sufficient courage 
 and skill to throw a stone vault over the wide central space 
 of their churches. In the ceiling of the nave and transept of 
 Peterborough we have a specimen — the only one that has out- 
 lasted the casualties of fire or storm, or the more ambitious 
 taste of later generations of church-improvers — of the mode 
 of roofing wide central areas universal in England during 
 Norman times. Flat ceilings are also found covering central 
 spaces in the Norman churches of Southwell and St. Alban's; 
 
Essay XII. AECHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 321 
 
 but these are later imitations of the original roofs.* It was 
 not that the constructive piinciples of vaulting were unknown. 
 During the whole time that flat ceilings covered the central 
 alleys, the side aisles of our large churches were regularly- 
 vaulted in stone. But the builders of that day were poor 
 engineers, as the repeated fall of their central towers proves, 
 and the timidity and self-distrust of inexperience crippled 
 all their efforts in a new and untried path. So much was 
 this the case, that though in the grand Cathedral of Durham — 
 perhaps the most original and thoroughly-satisfying work of 
 the Norman style we possess — the vaulting shafts show that a 
 stone roof formed part of the architect's design from the first, 
 it was not until the style was passing through the Transitional 
 period into Early English that builders were found of sufficient 
 hardihood to carry out the intention.f The continual risk from 
 fire created by these combustible coverings, which renders the 
 early annals of nearly all our Cathedrals and Conventual 
 Churches little more than a record of successive conflagrations 
 and restorations, gradually forced the twelfth-century builders 
 to attempt the rash leap which, as in many analogous cases, 
 when once made, proved far more easy of execution than had 
 been supposed. 
 
 But we are anticipating, and must return to our path, and 
 trace the development of the Cathedral type from its starting 
 points at Westminster and Canterbury. 
 
 The second Metropolitan See was not long behind its more 
 dignified sister in adopting the newly-imported style. Thomas, 
 the first Norman Archbishop, after having temporarily repaired 
 the ruins of the Saxon Cathedral, destroyed by William's 
 Norman garrison, erected an entirely new church from the 
 
 * This description of ceiling has 
 been lately adopted with excellent 
 effect in the Norman naves of Waltham 
 Abbey, Ely Cathedral — the former flat, 
 the latter canted. Both are admirably 
 painted, the one by Mr. Burges, the 
 other by Mr Styleman L'Estrange, 
 whose work was carried on after his 
 premature decease by another amateur, 
 equal in artistic power and indefati- 
 gable zeal, Mr. Gambler Parry. 
 
 t The vault of Durham Nave is 
 usually attributed to Prior Melsonby, 
 
 I A.D. 1233-1244. But this date seems 
 I mncli too late for the work, and I am 
 [ not aware that there is any docu- 
 mentary evidence for the assertion. 
 In the transepts the vaulting shafts 
 I run to the roof, irrespective of the pre- 
 I sent groining, so that probably they 
 were intended to be covered by a flat 
 ceiling. Tlie nave and transepts of 
 St. Paul's, London, were covered with 
 a stone vault, which appears fiom 
 Hollar's views to have been contem- 
 poraneous with the fabric, commenced 
 
 Y 
 
322 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay Xll. 
 
 foundations, c. A.D. 1080* Of this Cathedral we know even less 
 than of Lanfranc's, at Canterbury. We are enabled, however, 
 to determine that the nave was of the same length, and 
 its central alleys of the same breadth as those of the present 
 church, and that the aisleless transepts had, as at Canterbury, 
 an eastern apsidal chapel in each arm. 
 
 We have hitherto had the somewhat unsatisfactory task of 
 speaking of fabrics no longer in being, and of endeavouring 
 to determine their plan, style, and arrangement from a few 
 scattered fragments, and the descriptions of contemporary an- 
 nalists. We now pass on to our existing Cathedrals and Monastic 
 Churches, which we shall see to be governed by the same domi- 
 nant idea, and planned on the same principles as those which 
 have most recently come under our notice as the expressions 
 of Norman architectural genius. The multitude of great archi- 
 tectural works erected by the early Norman builders and the 
 vast scale on which the majority of them are designed, com- 
 bined with the immense solidity of the walls and the massive 
 character of all structural features, are such as to awaken a 
 feeling of astonishment at the indomitable energy, and the com- 
 mand of almost inexhaustible resources such buildings imply, 
 and of admiration for the religious zeal, true if uninstructed, 
 which dictated the devotion of so much labour and treasure and 
 thought, to the honour of the Most High and the service of His 
 Temple. " Nearly every Cathedral and great Abbey," writes 
 Mr. G. G. Scott,t "was rebuilt on a stupendous scale; new 
 
 A.D. 1083. If so, tliis grand church 
 surpassed all its contemporaries in 
 boldness of construction and perfection 
 of design as much as we know it did 
 in general dimensions. The remains 
 of Lindisfarne Priory, rebuilt a.d. 1093, 
 still exhibit in one of the cross springers 
 an evidence of its having had a stone 
 vault. 
 
 * It is thought " very probable " by 
 Prof. Willis (Architect. Hist, of York, 
 pp. 14-16), " that Abp. Thomas only 
 repaired the Saxon chancel, leaving it 
 to be rebuilt," as it was subsequently 
 by Abp. Koger, 1154-1181, " after^his 
 nave and transepts were completed." 
 
 t For the remains of the Norman 
 church of Lichfield, including tlie 
 foundations of its apse, see Prof. Willis' 
 
 Essay, Journal of the Ai-chseolog. Inst., 
 vol. xviii. pp. 1-24. From tlie insig- 
 nificance of its position. Wells was one 
 of the latest of oui' Cathedrals to profit 
 by the Norman zeal for building. Tlie 
 removal of the see to Bath by Bishop 
 Jolm de Villula in a.u. 1088, fully 
 accounts for this. The Saxon Church 
 of Edward the Elder probably remained 
 untouched till the episcopate of Bishop 
 Eobert, a.d. 1136-1166, when it was 
 rebuilt according to the taste of the 
 day. Robert's church, however, has 
 been swept away more completely than 
 almost any other of its age. One 
 small bit of masonry, and a single stone 
 with Norman mouldings, built up into 
 an adjacent house, comprise all that 
 Mr. Freeman has been able to dis- 
 
Essay XII. ARCHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 323 
 
 Cathedrals and new Abbeys were founded, and churches of all 
 grades from these vast temples down to the smallest village- 
 church were erected throughout the length and breadth of the 
 country." In fact, almost every one of our existing Cathedrals 
 is, either in its ground-plan or its actual fabric, an outward 
 and visible sign and token of the occupation of England by 
 its Norman conquerors, and of the advanced civihzation intro- 
 duced by them. A hasty survey of our Cathedrals will verify 
 this assertion, and serve to bring home the fact, the importance 
 of which is hardly sufficiently realized, of the permanence of 
 the stamp thus first impressed on the ecclesiastical architecture 
 of England. 
 
 Of the twenty-four Cathedral Churches of England, all but 
 six — St. Paul's, Wells, Lichfield, Manchester, Eipon, and Salis- 
 bury—exhibit more or less of actual Norman work, or of the 
 design and arrangement peculiar to that period, in the midst 
 of the later additions with which they have been surrounded or 
 overlaid. And even these six are hardly such as to constitute 
 real exceptions. Manchester is a late foundation, only erected 
 into a Collegiate Church a.d. 1422, and elevated to Cathedral 
 rank within living memory. St. Paul's is a modern classical 
 building replacing the vastest and grandest of all the Norman 
 churches of England ; while Salisbury is the representative of 
 the ancient Norman Cathedral founded by St. Osmund a.d. 
 1078-1099, within the inhospitable hill fortress of Old Sarum. 
 The other three— Lichfield, Eipon, and Wells— stand on the 
 site of Norman buildings, and enshrine relics of the original 
 structures, either beneath the pavements or within the walls of 
 the later erections.* 
 
 Of the remaining eighteen, seven — Durham, Chichester, 
 Gloucester, Hereford, Norwich, Oxford, and Peterborough — 
 are strictly Norman buildings ; for although there is not one 
 to which later additions have not been made, and which has 
 
 cover. " Whatever was built in llie 
 days of Kobert lias utterly vanished." 
 (Freeman, Cathedral Church of Wells, 
 p. 69.) It is an almost unparalleled 
 fact in the history of our Cathedrals 
 that, in Mr. Freeman's words, " a church 
 most likely of the tenth cintury, re- 
 mained at leafat to the middle of the 
 
 twelfth century, and that large portions 
 of it were not improbably standing 
 even in the thirteenth." At Eipon 
 nothing distinctly Norman can be 
 pointed out beyond the so-called Chap- 
 ter-house and the crypt below it, an- 
 nexed to the south aisle of the choir. 
 * Royal Academy Lectures, 1868. 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XI f. 
 
 not been subjected to continual alteration and modification, the 
 original fabric stands out plain and unmistakeable in its rugged 
 grandeur. Of the others, the nave and transepts at Ely, at 
 Eochester the nave, at Winchester the transepts, are among the 
 grandest and most characteristic examples of the Norman style.* 
 The almost unique transeptal towers at Exeter, the fragmentary 
 nave at Carlisle, one transept at Chester, also bespeak their 
 Norman founder. Even Cathedrals which to an ordinary 
 observer appear to be entirely structures of a later date, will 
 usually yield up evidences of their Norman origin to the more 
 searching investigator. The crypts of Canterbury, Worcester, 
 and York reveal the plan and character of the churches 
 that preceded the existing fabrics, while in the first-named 
 Cathedral a close examination of the walls of the eastern 
 limb both within and without will prove how much of the 
 " glorious choir " of Ernulph and Conrad still survives amidst 
 the lighter and more refined work of the two Williams ; 
 and at Worcester a practised eye will as certainly discover the 
 Norman character of the transepts. At Bristol the evidences 
 of Norman date in the church itself are of the minutest. But 
 a capital in the south transept and some corbels in a staircase 
 on the north side, and the masonry of other parts, offer proof 
 which cannot be gainsaid that the walls of Fitzharding's church 
 A.D. 1148 still, in the main, exist. Even Lincoln, which comes 
 next to Salisbury as a building of one style, and where no rude 
 inartistic relics of a previous age disturb the exquisite harmony 
 which unites the Early English in its varied progressive develop- 
 ment into one perfect whole, is not entirely destitute of structural 
 traces of its founder Eemigius, and his Norman successors. The 
 foundations of the apse and side-walls of his choir lurk unseen 
 beneath the floor of the stalls, while the three gigantic cavern- 
 ous recesses of the west front, which in their rude outlines 
 dimly foreshadow the glories of Peterborough's transcendant 
 portal, manifest the sternness of the early Norman character as 
 truly as the intricate arcades rising tier above tier at the base 
 
 * The nave of Winchester is also 
 essentially a Norman structure, but 
 transfornierl into Perpendicular by- 
 William of Wykeham's ingenuity, 
 without disturbing the solidity of the 
 
 original walls and cores of tlie pillars. 
 Tlie choir of Gloucester has been con- 
 verted into the same style in a nmcli 
 less artistic and satisfactory manner. 
 
Essay XII. AI^CHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDEALS. 325 
 
 of the western towers and their gables, in their barbaric rich- 
 ness, tell of the increased refinement and advanced archi- 
 tectural skill which was gradually developing itself on both 
 sides of the Channel. 
 
 If we desire to know what was the character of these stu- 
 pendous fabrics when they first issued from the hands of their 
 Norman architects, there are sufficient materials to enable us 
 to form a very distinct idea. Divested of later alterations 
 which at once declare themselves, the entire fabrics of Peter- 
 borough, Norwich, Durham, Gloucester, Hereford, Chichester, 
 and the great Abbey Church of St. Alban's, together with the 
 large Norman portions of Ely, Winchester, Eoch ester, &c., men- 
 tioned above, set before us most clearly the Norman Minster 
 in its majestic, almost awful simplicity — 
 
 " They dreamt not of a perishable home 
 Who thus could build." 
 
 Of them all, none preserve their original Norman plan and 
 elevations, both internal and external, so little undisturbed as 
 Norwich, Peterborough, and St. Alban's. None display more 
 prominently the peculiar characteristics of the style. We see 
 tlie long unbroken nave (extending to the length at Norwich 
 of 250 feet, Peterborough 211 feet, St. Alban's 280 feet*), bay 
 after bay succeeding one another in unbroken succession, but 
 with minor modifications which add to the picturesqueness 
 without detracting from the harmony ;t the transept of bold 
 projection, so happily interrupting the continuous lines of the 
 main arm of the cross, the chapels projecting from its eastern 
 
 * Norwich has the largest number 
 of bays in its nave, 14 ; Ely had 13 
 before the fall of its centre tower, re- 
 duced now to 1 2 ; St. Alban's and Bury, 
 1.3 ; old St. Paul's, Westminster Abbey, 
 Winchester, each 12 ; Peterborough, 11 ; 
 Canterburv, Gloucester, Worcester, 
 cat'h 9; Chichester, Durham, Here- 
 ford, Ecchester, York, and probably 
 the Norman Cathedral of Lincoln, eacli 
 8 ; Chester, excluding the western 
 towers, 6. Of later Cathedrals, where 
 it is uncertain how far the later build- 
 ers were fettered by the old design, 
 Wells has 10 bays ; Lichfield and Lin- 
 coln, including tl.e western towers, 8; 
 
 Exeter, 7 ; Kipon, including the western 
 towers, 6. The fragments of the naves 
 of Oxford and Carlisle have respec- 
 tively 4 and 2 bays. Salisbury and 
 Manchester, where there was no Nor- 
 man Church to intluence the designers, 
 have respectively 10 and 6 bays. 
 
 f The length of the naves of some 
 other Cathedrals which retain their 
 Norman plan unchanged, are Ely, 203 
 ft. ; York, 210 it. ; Canterbury, l90 ft. 
 Winchester, before the demolition of 
 its western towers, extended to the 
 stupcndovis length of 300 ft., which wa.^ 
 equalled by old St. Paid's and ex- 
 ceeded by Bury, 309 ft. 
 
326 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XII. 
 
 face for the reception of the altars now so rapidly increasing 
 in number ; the central lantern, with the ritual choir below it, 
 the short eastern arm, or constructional choir, terminating in 
 
 Plan of Norwich Cathedral. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in. 
 
 the universal feature, a semicircular apse,* soon to be laid aside 
 for the afterwards equally universal rectangular east end. 
 
 * At St. Alban's the apse has given 
 place to an Early English choir. The 
 original apsidal termination only exists 
 
 in its pribtine form at Norwich Peter- 
 borough, and Canterbury, the Abbeys 
 of Tewkesbury, Pershore, and in a 
 
Essay XII. AECHITEOTUEE OF ENQLISH CATHEDRALS. 
 
 327 
 
 In no part of our Norman Cathedrals was there so much 
 scope for diversity of arrangement as in the chapels which clus- 
 tered round the transepts and choir. The number and position 
 of these was determined by the religious wealth of the Cathedral 
 or Abbey. If the foundation was rich in relics of the older 
 saints, or could boast of the possession of the entire bodies 
 of bishops and holy men of later times, or could show with 
 pride particular spots consecrated by heavenly visions and 
 authenticated by miracles, chapels sprang up in abundance, 
 the plan of which, as Prof. Willis has pointed out,* is 
 usually distributed so as to display those trea^^ures to tlie 
 greatest advantage, while the offerings of the faithful at these 
 hallowed shrines formed a source of wealth continually flowing 
 in to enable the religious bodies to provide the requisite accora^ 
 modation for the relics and their worshippers. 
 
 The transeptal arrangements of our early churches, modified 
 according to this law, vary very ccnsiderably both in projection 
 and in plan. The normal transept was aisleless, of somewhat 
 moderate projection, with one or more apsidal chapels con- 
 taining altars projecting from the east face.t These chapels 
 were commonly of two stories, with altars on the triforium 
 level4 We see this arrangement still existing at Gloucester, 
 and can prove it at Canterbury, Chichester, &c. There 
 were two at St. Alban's (one larger than the other), as there 
 still are in the later examples of the eastern transepts at Can- 
 terbury and Lincoln. Another form of chapel arrangement 
 which latterly entirely superseded the apsidal, gave an eastern 
 aisle to the transepts, each bay of which was devoted to a sepa- 
 
 raodified form on the original fomida- 
 tiona at Winchester and Gloucester. 
 It has been destroyed in later altera- 
 tions at Chester, Chichester, Duiham, 
 Lichfield, Lincoln, Worctster, and 
 York ; in all of wliich instances, except 
 the last-named, remains of the curved 
 wall are still visible or have been dis- 
 covered by excavation. The apses of 
 Westminster Abbey and Lichfield are 
 nnomalies to be accounted for on sepa- 
 rate principles. 
 
 * Architectural History of Canter- 
 bury, Introduction, p. viii. 
 
 t There was a single apsidal chapel 
 attached to each transept at Canter- 
 
 bury, Chester, Chichester, Eomsey, 
 Southwell, Worcester, York, Glouces- 
 ter, and Norwich, though it only 
 remains in the two last named. 
 
 X The upper cbapel in the N. tran- 
 sept of Canterbury contained the altar 
 and relics of St. Blaise, " the first 
 martyr whose bones had been brought 
 into the church, and which gave the 
 little chapel a peculiar sanctity ; the 
 lower contained the altar of St. Bene- 
 dict, under whose rule, from the time 
 of Dunstan, the monastery had been 
 placed." Stanley, Memorials of Can- 
 terbury, p. 73. 
 
328 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XII. 
 
 rate altar. As Norman examples, we may instance, with three 
 such chapels in either transept, Winchester, Peterborough, Ely, 
 and Durham. Old St. Paul's and Bury, in this as in almost every 
 particular, surpassing most other English churches, had four.* 
 
 The eastern transept aisle, constructed for the reception of 
 altars, was in some few instances balanced by one to the west, 
 a plan proiluctive of such pleasing harmony that it is cause for 
 regret that it was not more often adopted. The transepts have 
 double aisles at Wincliester, Ely (old St. Paul's), York, Wells, 
 Westminster, and the lovely collegiate church of Beverley. The 
 north transept of Oxford and the south transept of Chester also 
 adopt the same plan. Another ritual arrangement, by no means 
 unusual in the churches of Normandy, connected with the pre- 
 servation and exhibition of relics of peculiar sanctity, may be 
 mentioned here. This is a transverse gallery at the triforium 
 level carried across the north and south ends of the transepts. 
 The only existing examples of this arrangement are in the tran- 
 septs of Winchester, where it is supported by two arches rising 
 from a single central column continuing the aisle arcade ; and at 
 Ely, where " it is erected on more pillars, and set closer to the 
 wall than usual." f But we Imow^ that such a gallery existed in 
 the Norman Cathedral of Canterbury, both from Gervase's de- 
 scription, and from the history of the murder of Becket, of which 
 the space beneath the gallery of the nortli transept, subsequently 
 known as " the Martyrdom," was the scene. It was against the 
 pillar supporting this gallery that the Archbishop planted him- 
 self in liis final struggle with his assassins, so vividly depicted 
 by Dean Stanley in his ' Memorials of Canterbury.'^ A later 
 example of this gallery may be pointed out in the northern 
 arm of the eastern or St. Hugh's transept at Lincoln, c. 1200, 
 in which the transverse wall is carried up to the roof, repeating 
 the triforium and clerestory. 
 
 * Later examples are Lincoln, Salis- 
 bury, York, and Westminster, three 
 each. At Eipon, Wells, and the south 
 transept of Hereford, there are two. 
 Exeter, with its anomalous transeptal 
 towers, has one. 
 
 t Willis, Arch. Hist, of Canterbury, 
 p. 39, note. 
 
 X Willis, p. 75. This pillar, as well as 
 the vault and gallery that rested on it, 
 
 " was taken down in process of time 
 out of respect for the martyr, that the 
 altar, elevated on the place of the mar- 
 tyrdom might be seen from a greater 
 distance. Around and at the height 
 of the aforesaid vault a gallery was 
 constructed from which pallia and 
 curtains might be suspended." Ger- 
 vase, apud Willis, m. s. p. 41. 
 
Essay XII. AEOHITECTUKE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 329 
 
 From the transeptal chapels we pass to those of the choir. In 
 the earlier Norman churches we find examples of chapels radi- 
 ating from the main apse or its aisles. We may instance those 
 of Norwich, Gloucester, and Tewkesbury, as well as those of 
 which w^e have unmistakeable indications at Chester, Chichester, 
 and Leominster. This arrangement, as is well known, attained 
 a high development in the French churches, and was brought 
 to perfection at Eheims and Amiens, which last seems to have 
 been taken as the type for the grouping of eastern chapels* in 
 all subsequent erections. But for some unexplained cause this 
 arrangement failed to find favour in our Island. It was never 
 extensively adopted, and soon died out, together with its 
 essential companion the apse. Henry III. appears to have 
 become enamoured of this arrangement during his sojourn in 
 France, and he adopted it in his reconstruction of the choir of 
 Westminster Abbey. We have another example of it in the 
 Abbey Church of Pershore. But royal patronage was not 
 powerful enough to obtain its general adoption, and it died out, 
 with an exceptional resuscitation at Lichfield, and in one of the 
 latest existing Gothic works, the Chapel of Henry the Seventh. 
 So general has been the destruction of the eastern ter- 
 minations of our large churches in subsequent alterations, 
 that it is difficult to speak with any certainty of the character 
 of the chapels that ended our Cathedrals in the east. Not 
 one remains complete. We have the walls of a Norman 
 chapel at Chichester ; the foundations of one at Norwich ; 
 and we are able at Canterbury to reproduce the form and 
 dimensions of the square-ended chapel dedicated to the Holy 
 Trinity at the east end of the Cathedral, at the altar of which 
 " the blessed martyr Thomas celebrated his first mass on the 
 day of his consecration," and in which he " was buried on 
 the day after his martyrdom." t The eastern chapel at Win- 
 chester was apsidal ; and a chapel of the same form stood at 
 the east end of Chester. J 
 
 It would be unpardonable to leave the subject of the choirs 
 
 * Mr. Scott (Gleanings from West- 
 minster Abbey, p. 13) mentions "Beau- 
 vais, Cologne, Altenberg, and a host 
 of other instances," as indebted for the 
 grouping of their eastern chapels to 
 
 Amiens, with, in the German examples 
 perhaps, Beauvais as their intermediate 
 type. 
 
 t Gervase. Willis, u. s. pp. 46, 47. 
 I Scott. Arch, llist. of Chester, p. 7. 
 
330 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XH. 
 
 of Norman Cathedrals, without saying a few words concerning 
 the crypts on which the eastern arm or presbytery (as dis:in- 
 guished from the ritual choir, which was always under the 
 lantern) was frequently elevated. There are four of these 
 crypts in England with apsidal terminations, which, in order of 
 time, are Winchester, Worcester, Gloucester, and Canterbury, 
 all built in the last twenty years of the eleventh century. The 
 crypt of York, of the latter half of the next century, was filled 
 up solid with earth at the time of the erection of the present 
 choir, A.D. 1380-1400, and its existence forgotten. It was only 
 rediscovered during the repairs of the choir after the lament- 
 able fire of 1829. It has lost its eastern termination, but 
 in other respects it corresponds to those already named. At 
 Rochester, an extensive crypt supports tlie choir and pres- 
 bytery, the western part of which is evidently of Gundulf's 
 work, A.D. 1076-1107; but the eastern portion is Early 
 English of the date of the superior building. Of these sub- 
 terranean structures, the Crypt of Canterbury is the largest 
 and most elaborate in its arrangements ; but that of Worcester, 
 with its intricate forest of slender columns, is the most pic- 
 turissque. In these crypts, we see the northern representatives 
 of the martyrium or confessio of the primitive basilicas, repro- 
 duced according to the best skill of the Norman architects. 
 Their object was two-fold : to raise the altar on high in order 
 that the celebration of the sacred mysteries might be clearly 
 visible to all below, and to provide a place of interment for 
 those whom the Church wished most to honour, and whose 
 hallowed bones were regarded as her most precious possession. 
 They were by no means universal even in Norman times, 
 and are not found at all in any of the later styles ; except 
 where, as at Rochester and old St. Paul's, the requirements of 
 the existing building forced them upon the subsequent archi- 
 tects. Their construction may indeed be regarded as a piece 
 of architectural conservatism, highly valued by some, as link- 
 ing their churches more directly to those of the metropolis of 
 Christendom ; but disregarded by those of more progressive 
 tastes and more utilitarian views. There is no trace of a crypt 
 at St. Alban's, standing first among Abbeys as Canterbury does 
 among Cathedrals; nor at Ely, erected by Abbot Simeon at 
 the very time that his brother Walkelyn constructing his crypt 
 
Essay XII. ARCHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 331 
 
 at Winchester ; nor at Eemigius' Norraan Minster at Lincoln ; 
 nor at Chichester ; nor at Norwich ; nor at Durham ; nor at 
 Peterborough, all erected between the middle of the eleventh 
 and twelfth centuries ; still less in any church of more modern 
 date. The formation of crypts was, in fact, a foreign fashion, 
 which failed to take permanent root in England, and indeed 
 elsewhere barely outlasted the Eomanesque period.* 
 
 Before I pass on to later developments of our Cathedral 
 architecture, reference must be made to the towers of our 
 Norman churches. These were much more numerous than is 
 usually supposed. For the completeness of the design of a 
 large Norman church, at least three towers were requisite — 
 that in the centre, at the intersections of the arms of the cross, 
 beneath which the ritual choir was always placed ; and two at 
 the western extremities of the aisles. The design of the 
 Confessor's Abbey at Westminster included these three towers, 
 though the western ones seem not to have been finished till 
 after his death. Lanfranc's Cathedral at Canterbury was thus 
 provided ; and, as I have already said, one of his western towers 
 remained till a recent date. We also find them, or their 
 successors, more or less perfect, at Durham, Chichester, Lincoln, 
 Southwell, Eipon, Worksop, Old Maldon, Wells, Lichfield, and 
 Peterborough. They formerly existed at Chester, Grloucester, 
 Winchester, St. Alban's, and Bury St. Edmund's. But besides 
 these essential elements of a perfect Norman design, the archi- 
 tects of that day gratified their fancy in raising numerous towers 
 and turrets of slenderer dimensions in other positions about the 
 walls of their churches. A favourite situation for these minor 
 towers was at the east end, flanking the apse. The eastern 
 turrets at Peterborough are examples of this arrangement ; and 
 they are known to have existed at Canterbury, York, Win- 
 chester, and Worcester. Those at Canterbury, known by the 
 hallowed names of St. Anselm and St. Andrew, were so sacred 
 in the eyes of the later builders, that the curious and awkward 
 contraction in the plan of Trinity Chapel is owing to the unwill- 
 ingness to sacrifice them. Subsequent architects unfortunately 
 
 * At Bury, the shrine of St. Edmund 
 ■was raised on a Roman crypt supported 
 by 24 pillars. The crypt bcn( ath the 
 Early English Laily Chapel tit Here- 
 
 ford was rendered necessary by the 
 rapid fall of the ground towards the 
 river, and is quite an exceptional case. 
 
332 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDEALS. 
 
 Essay XII. 
 
 had less reverence for antiquity, and only the basement stories 
 now remain. The transept gables were also sometimes flawked 
 with small towers or turrets, of which we have examples at 
 Durham and in the eastern transept of Canterbury. An in- 
 complete arch in the north transept at Winchester evidences 
 that there also such an arrangement was contemplated, if not 
 carried out. 
 
 The central towers or lanterns were usually of no great 
 altitude, as we see at Winchester, Ripon, and Southwell. But 
 the soaring towers at Norwich, Tewkesbury, and St. Alban's 
 afford a visible evidence that this was by no means always the 
 case. The description of the original central tower at Peter- 
 borough leads us to believe that it also was lofty. 
 
 The Norman towers of Bishop Warelwast at Exeter occupy 
 a very unusual position, shared in, however, by the neighbour- 
 ing church of Ottery St. Mary, as north and south transepts. 
 At Ely there is a single western tower, the work of Bishop 
 Eidel, in the Transition style, as there was at Bury, and at 
 Hereford before its lamentable fall a.d. 1786. Both these last 
 were of Norman construction, though that of Hereford had 
 received Perpendicular additions.* 
 
 I now return to the examination of the ground-plans and 
 arrangements of the fabrics of our Cathedrals, which in the 
 latter part of the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries were to 
 receive a new development, destined materially to affect the 
 character of almost all the chief churches of England. As 
 has been already seen, the eastern limb, as originally planned by 
 its Norman architects, was in most cases of very moderate 
 length. The fact was, that existing requirements did not render 
 any considerable space at the east end necessary. The area 
 under the lantern afforded abundant room for the ritual choir 
 and the ordinary services of the Hours, while the three or four 
 
 * The only spires now existing in 
 our English Cathedrals are those of 
 Salisbury, Chichester, Norwich, and 
 Oxford, all central, and the three — one 
 central and two western — of Lichfield. 
 Tliey were much more common in the 
 Middle Ages ; but were frequently of 
 wood covered with lead, and so were 
 more liable to disasters from wind, 
 lightning, and that most fatal of all 
 
 destructive agencies, the carelessness 
 of workmen. Timber spires covered 
 with lead have been destroyed on the 
 three towers of Linboln and Ripon, 
 the N.W. towers of Canterbury and 
 Peterborough, the W. towers of Durham 
 and Southwell, the central towers of 
 Hereford, Rochester, and St. Alban's, 
 and the western tower of Ely. 
 
P:ssat XII. ARCHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 383 
 
 bays that intervened between the tower and the apse gave 
 room enough for all that was wanted to add dignity to the 
 Eucharistic celebration. In the centre of tlie chord of the 
 semicircle stood the high altar, behind which, in the middle of 
 the curve, was the seat of the bishop or chief minister, as it may 
 still be seen in the apse of Norwich, and in a more perfect form 
 at the Cathedral of Torcello, near Venice. On either side of 
 the high altar rose the shrines of such saints, greater or lesser, 
 whose relics the Church had the good fortune to be able to 
 call her own.* But as time went on, these hallowed treasures 
 increased in number and in attractiveness. The tombs of 
 departed saints became the accredited centres of miraculous 
 agencies, and drew to themselves ever-increasing crowds of 
 votaries, desiring not only an interest in the holy man's inter- 
 cessions, but, still more, a share in the physical benefits of which 
 his remains were supposed to be the divinely-appointed channels 
 to suffering humanity. To accommodate these vast throngs, as 
 well as to afford space for the due exhibition of the objects of 
 their veneration, a greatly enlarged eastern limb was required : 
 and in one cathedral and great church after another we find 
 the same process of eastern extension gone through, and for 
 the accomplishment of the same object. It matters little what 
 Cathedral it is to which our enquiry is directed, the result is 
 the same. Wherever the fabric has been elongated to the East 
 an examination of the documentary history will show that the 
 motive was identical, the necessity for increased shrine-room, 
 and an enlarged area for the reception of the worshippers of the 
 local saint. This fact— which has hardly received the promi- 
 nence due to its importance— also affords an explanation of the 
 enlargements received by our Cathedrals being, almost without 
 exception, confined to the eastern limb, and the chapels grouped 
 about it. In almost every instance the nave occupies the same 
 ground, if it be not actually the same fabric, as that originally 
 built by the Normans ; while there are but seven instances — 
 
 * At Canterbury the shrine of St. 
 Elphege was placed on the north of the 
 high altar; that of St. Dunstan on 
 the south, with their respective altars 
 to the west of the shrine. At Wor- 
 cester the shrine of St. Oswald stood 
 in advance of the high altar to the 
 
 north, and that of the sainted Bishop 
 Wulstan to the south. The very un- 
 saintly Jolm Lackland found his rest- 
 ing-place between the holy men, "that," 
 adds the chronicler, " the saying of 
 Merlin might be verified, he shall he 
 placed between the saints." 
 
4 ESSAYS ON CATHEDEALS. Essay XIL 
 
 Winchester, Gloucester, Durham, Hereford, Norwich, Oxford 
 and Peterborough— in which the walls of the choir have not 
 received eastward elongation, and in all of these, with the single 
 exception of Oxford, chapels have been added still further to 
 the east. 
 
 The first impulse in the direction of this eastward enlarge- 
 ment proceeded most naturally from the same quarter in which 
 the first example of a Norman Cathedral was given, the Metro- 
 politan Church of Canterbury. The eastern limb of Lanfranc's 
 church very speedily proved inadequate for the requirements 
 of the brethren, and about a.d. 1093, within twenty years of its 
 completion, it was pulled down by the prior and monks of the 
 monastery, at the instance or at least with the approbation of 
 his successor Anselm. The work was begun by Prior Ernulf, 
 and finished by Prior Conrad. 
 
 So extensive was this enlargement that the area of the 
 church, as Prof. Willis has shewn, was nearly doubled by it ; 
 and " as no ruin, fire, or other casualty has been recorded, it 
 must be assumed that the sole reason for this change was that 
 the monks did not think their church large enough for the 
 importance of their monastery; and above all "—and this we 
 cannot doubt was the leading motive— "that they wanted 
 shrine-room for the display of the relics they had so assiduously 
 collected ; and also for the proper disposition of their ancient 
 archbishops, most of wliom appear to have been canonized"* 
 The ground-plan of the choir of Canterbury as reconstructed 
 under Anselm—" the glorious choir of Conrad " as it was styled 
 by Gervase-given by Professor Wilhs,! enables us at a glance 
 to realise the prodigious stride taken by Prior Ernulf, and fol- 
 lowed, though somewhat tardily, by successive generations of 
 English church builders. Instead of the short constructional 
 choir, hardly ever exceeding four bays, and often having a 
 smaller number, we see a choir of no less than nine bays to 
 the sprmgmg of the apse ; and the apse itself, not a mere semi- 
 circular wall, but a gracelul chevet of six columns with their 
 intermediate arches opening into the aisle, continued as a 
 "procession path" round it. We remark also the appearance 
 
 * Willis, Arch. Hist, of Cant., ix G3. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 39, 
 
Essay XIT. AECHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDEALS. 335 
 
 of a new feature, probably borrowed from the great Abbey of 
 Clugny, viz., a second eastern transept, of greater projection 
 than the transepts of the original Norman church, each with 
 two apsidal chapels attached to the east wall * The apse was 
 flanked with two towers, bearing the names of St. Andrew and 
 St. Anselm, with eastern apses containing altars. The whole 
 terminated in a square-ended chapel, dedicated to the Holy 
 Trinity. The large number of altars, many of them enshrining 
 relics of peculiar sanctity, and tombs of canonized archbishops, 
 appearing on the plan, demonstrate the motive which led to this 
 immense extension of the church both in length and area. 
 
 On the 5th of September, a.d. 1174— forty-four years after 
 its solemn dedication in the presence of Henry I. of England, 
 David of Scotland, and all the English bishops, a.d. 1130— not 
 quite two months after Henry II. had done penance in the 
 Cathedral for his complicity in the death of Becket, now a 
 canonized saint, this new choir of Ernulf and Conrad was so 
 seriously damaged by the disastrous fire, so vividly depicted 
 in the narrative of Gervase, that it became necessary almost 
 to rebuild it. The shattered walls were retained as far as 
 possible, but they were considerably heightened, a vault of 
 stone was thrown over the central alley, as a safeguard against 
 future conflagrations, and it again received a considerable 
 addition of length. The architect at first employed was a 
 Frenchman, William of Sens. After he had been crippled 
 by a fall from a scaffold, at the beginning of the fifth year of 
 the work, another William, distinguished from his predecessor 
 as " William the Englishman," " small in body, but in work- 
 manship of many kinds acute and honest," was called in, and 
 by him the work was brought to a completion, a.d. 1184. 
 The motive for this second elongation was to do honour to the 
 
 * We find the double transept alsu 
 in its full development in the Cathe- 
 drals of Lincoln, Salisbury, and Wor- 
 cester, and in the Collegiate Cbuich of 
 Beverley. At York it seems to have 
 formed "part of the plan of Archbishop 
 Koger's church ; but its projection was 
 small, and it has been virtually lost in 
 the increased breadth of the aisles. 
 It appears also in the ground-plans of 
 Ro;.diester, Hereford, and Wells, but 
 
 its lieight is limited to the aisle range, 
 and it is a mere appendage to the 
 Lady Chapel in the last two instances. 
 A transept at the extreme east is a 
 remarkable feature at Durham and 
 Fountains Abbey. A western tran- 
 sept formed by the bases of the western 
 towers and appended chapels is found 
 at Lincoln, Peterborough, Wells, and 
 partially at Lichfield. 
 
336 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XII, 
 
 great saint with whose name Canterbury was to be henceforth 
 inseparably connected.* At the extreme east end stood the 
 chapel of the Holy Trinity, where Becket had celebrated his 
 
 Plan of Canterbury Cathedral. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in. 
 
 * "Moreover,'' writes Gervase, ' he laid the foundation for the enlargement 
 of the church at the eastern part, because a chapel of St. Thomas was to be 
 built there." 
 
Ki^SAY XII. ARCHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 337 
 
 first mass, and in the crypt beneath which his body was first in- 
 terred. Thus, in Dean Stanley's words, the ruling idea of the 
 rebnilders of the church was, not merely to secure the honour- 
 able collocation of the lesser and older relics of the church, but 
 much more " to provide a fitting abode for their greater and 
 more recent treasure, through which they were daily obtaining 
 those vast pecuniary resources that alone could have enabled 
 them to rebuild the church on its present splendid scale." * 
 
 The temptation is great to linger over this most interesting 
 page in the architectural history of our Cathedrals, but it has 
 been ably elucidated, both in its historical and constructional 
 aspects, by the pens of such masters in their respective arts 
 as Dean Stanley and Professor Willis, and I must hasten 
 forwards. 
 
 The works of the two Williams were examples of what is 
 known as the Transitional style, in which the sterner features 
 of Norman architecture were gradually softening into the pure 
 Gothic, in its first or "Early English" type. The earliest 
 known work in which this exquisite style was adopted, without 
 any admixture of the Norman influence, either in form, details, 
 or mouldings, is St. Hugh's Choir at Lincoln. On his ap- 
 pointment to the See of Lincoln, a.d. 1186, Hugh found his 
 church rent from top to bottom by an earthquake that had 
 occurred the preceding year. This Church, as we have had 
 occasion to remark, was a Norman one, built from the ground 
 by Eemigius, the first Norman Bishop, and completed at his 
 death, a.d. 1092. It had passed through the usual vicissitudes 
 of fire, and storm, and human violence, and had received the 
 important addition of a stone vault and western towers from 
 Bishop Alexander, a.u. 1123-1148. The new prelate, one of 
 the very greatest and noblest of English Bishops of any age, 
 at once determined to rebuild the shattered fabric. He called 
 to his side an architect, Geoffrey of Noyers, who, in spite of 
 his French name, "may well have been a thorough born and 
 bred Englishman, with three or four generations of English 
 parents before him," t and began where the rebuilder of mediteval 
 churches always did begin, with the eastern ai-m. His plan 
 
 * Memorials of Canterbury, p. 187. 
 
 t Dimock, Lincoln Arch. Soc. Papers, 18G7-8, p. 19G. 
 
338 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XT I. 
 
 embraced an aisled choir of four bays, an eastern transept, with 
 two apsidal chapels in each arm, as at Canterbury, and a large 
 eJievet or apse, the foundations of which are known still to exist 
 beneath the pavement, awaiting future disinterment and inves- 
 tigation. The whole is vaulted in stone. It is not the purpose 
 of this paper to enter into architectural details, and we must 
 content ourselves with a reference to the recorded opinion of 
 one of the first living authorities, Mr. Edmund Sharpe, that 
 "the dignified simplicity of the whole of this work, the large- 
 ness of treatment, and the vigorous originality of conception 
 with which the entire design has been conceived and executed, 
 demand our highest admiration, and place this grand work 
 clearly at the head, as well in point of time as of excellence? 
 of all the works of the Lancet period."* St. Hugh's plan 
 involved a considerable extension of the Norman choir, which 
 appears to have been of very small dimensions, and aisleless, 
 and provided a large increase of chapel room. 
 
 The earliest instance of the erection of chapels beyond the 
 constructional choir in the Early English period is seen in 
 the Lady Chapel erected by Bishop de Lucy, at Winchester, 
 A.D. 1189-1204. This is a work of great value, both from 
 its simplicity and beauty and well ascertained date, and as 
 being an early example of what became so frequent after- 
 wards — a Lady Chapel of considerable size and great archi- 
 tectural splendour, built at the extreme east end of a Ca- 
 thedral or other great church. This, however, was by no 
 means its universal, or, perhaps, its earliest position. A 
 favourite place for the Lady Chapel was to the north of the 
 choir, in close connection with the northern transept.t In 
 the Norman Cathedral of Canterbury, the Lady Chapel had 
 occupied the two easternmost bays of the north aisle of the 
 nave. Prior Goldston, c. a.d. 1449-1468, shifted it further 
 
 * Lincoln Arch. Soc. Papers, m, s. 
 p. 185. 
 
 t According to Mr. Buckler (Hist, 
 of St. Alban's Abbey Church, p. 43), 
 " in the general Norman plan of con- 
 ventual churches tlie Lady Chapel 
 seems usually to have occupied a lateral 
 position, and not to have formed the 
 eastern extremity of the building : its 
 
 introduction in the latter position be- 
 longs to the design of churches of sub- 
 sequent antiquity." The present Lady 
 Ciiapel at St. Alban's was added to the 
 east end of the choir by Abbot Hugh 
 of Eversden, temp. Bdw. II. The Lady 
 Chapel at Bury occupied the angle be- 
 tween the north transept and the choir. 
 
Essay XIT. ARCHITECTURE OP ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 339 
 
 eastward, rebuilding, in the richest style of the day, with a fan 
 vault, the apsidal chapel of St. Benedict, opening from the 
 north transept or Martyrdom, famous in Becket's history as 
 that to the altar of which the Monk Gvim fled for refuge after 
 his ineifectual defence of the Archbishop.* In the Cathedral 
 of Bristol, the Lady Chapel of Early English date, assigned 
 by Mr. Godwin to Abbot John, a.d. 1196-1215, occupies a 
 similar position to the east of the north transept. The exqui- 
 sitely beautiful Decorated Lady Chapel of Ely, founded a.d. 
 1321, stands in the same relative situation, as was the case with 
 that of Peterborough of earlier date, a.d. 1278, a magnificent 
 structure, demolished after the Eestoration for the sake of the 
 materials. Other situations may be mentioned. At Rochester, 
 the Lady Chapel is a Perpendicular building, projecting most 
 anomalously from the west side of the south transept. At 
 Durham, c. A.D. 1175, where it is better known as the Galilee, 
 it stands outside the western wall, at the extreme west end of 
 the nave. At Oxford— the city wall precluding any extension 
 eastward — the Lady Chapel was built towards the middle of 
 the thirteenth century, as an additional aisle on the north side 
 of the choir; and finally, at Ripon, it forms a Decorated upper 
 story, known as the Lady Loft, added to the Norman chapter- 
 house on the south side of the choir. 
 
 This architectural development of the Lady Chapel, contem- 
 poraneous with the commencement of the thirteenth century, 
 together with the curious variety in its position, opens an 
 enquiry of considerable interest in connection with the new 
 direction taken by popular religious feeling at this epoch. 
 Dean Stanley has correctly called attention to the fact that 
 " the fashion which sprung up in most of the larger churches 
 during the thirteenth century, of throwing out a still further 
 east end " beyond the high altar, had its origin " in the eager- 
 ness to give a higher and holier than even the higher and 
 holiest place to any great saint on whom popular devotion was 
 fastened." "This notion," he continues, "happened to coincide, 
 in point of time, with the burst of devotion towards the Virgin 
 Mary which took place under the pontificate of Innocent III., 
 during the first years of the thirteenth century ; and therefore, 
 
 * Stanley, Memorials of Canterbury, p. 76. 
 
 z 2 
 
340 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XIT. 
 
 in all cases where there was no special local saint, the eastern 
 end was dedicated to ' Our Lady,' and the chapel thus formed 
 became 'the Lady Chapel.'* . . . But when the popular feeling 
 of any city or neighbourhood had been directed to some indi- 
 genous object of devotion, this at once took the highest place, 
 and the Lady Chapel, if any there were, was thrust down to a 
 less honourable position ; " or, as was not unfrequently the case, 
 " Our Lady " and the local saint were permitted to occupy the 
 place of peculiar dignity at the east end, in a kind of joint 
 tenancy. 
 
 It is this precedence assigned to local objects of devotion by 
 the religious bodies, who so well knew how to gauge the popular 
 feeling, and whose zealous rivalry for the increased magnificence 
 of their own churches led them to give the preference to that 
 form of devotion which would be likely to bring in the largest 
 amount of offerings, that enables us to explain the position of 
 several of the Lady Chapels already noticed. At Canterbury, 
 the shrine of St. Thomas; at Westminster, that of the Confessor; 
 at Durham, that of St. Cuthbert ; at Ely, that of St. Etheldreda ; 
 at Eochester, that of St. William of Perth ; at Ripon, that of 
 St. Wilfrid, were the most locally attractive ; and the Chapel of 
 Our Lady had to retire to a subordinate position. Of the 
 arrangement whereby the eastern addition was shared by the 
 Virgin and the local saint, the most notable instances are at 
 Lichfield, where the altar of the Virgin was associated with that 
 of St. Chad, with that of St. Hugh at Lincoln, of St. Osmund 
 at Salisbury, and of St. Oswald and St. Wulstan at Worcester, 
 and of St. William at York. In other cases, where there was 
 no such local rivalry, the eastern chapel was devoted to the 
 honour of " Our Lady" alone.t 
 
 This, to return from our digressiou, appears to have been 
 the case at Winchester, as it was at Hereford, Salisbury, 
 Chester, Chichester, Exeter, Wells, and other churches. That 
 of Westminster Abbey was added at the sole expense of the 
 young king, Henry III., a.d. 1220-1240. In these instances, 
 
 * Memorials of Canterbury, pp. 188, 
 189. 
 
 t At Hereford the north transept 
 ■was rebuilt on an extended scale to 
 receive the shrine of St. Thomas of 
 
 Cantelupe. May not the shrine of St. 
 Oswald have afforded a similar motive, 
 and provided resources for the erection 
 of the disproportionately large south 
 transept at Chester? 
 
Essay XII. AHCHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 341 
 
 this elongation of the choir was formed by low eastern aisles, 
 not rising to the full height of the buildiiig, and arranged 
 with an especial view to the circulation of the processions 
 round the church, as they visited in succession the altars in 
 its eastern portion. In some other of our larger churches the 
 eastern additions are of the full height of the choir itself, 
 an arrangement which, if wanting in the picturesqueness 
 created by the grouping of the pillars and arches of the lower 
 aisles, is greatly superior in stately grandeur. The most 
 remarkable instances of this arrangement are (to omit Canter- 
 bury, of which we have already spoken) Worcester, Beverley, 
 Southwell, Ely, Lincoln, Lichfield, and York. Old St. Paul's, 
 built on the same plan, seems to have gone beyond them all 
 in size and magnificence. At Chichester, Chester, and Wells 
 the choir has been elongated, maintaining the same elevation, 
 and a lower Lady Chapel added beyond it. Of all these Lady 
 Chapels, the palm for exquisite beauty, as well as for con- 
 structional ingenuity, must be assigned to that of Wells. 
 Belonging to the best period of English art — for it was finished 
 before a.d. 1326 — it displays all the peculiar beauties of the 
 Decorated style in the highest perfection. Its form, an elon- 
 gated octagon, opening towards the west by arches rising from 
 shafts of exquisite slenderness, is singularly picturesque, and 
 it is united to the body of the church with consummate skill. 
 
 The outburst of devotion of which we have spoken as at the 
 same time affording the motive and providing the means for 
 the erection of the important works undertaken at the com- 
 mencement and in the early part of the thirteenth century 
 — " the great creative century of later English history " * — for 
 the extension of the eastern limbs of our Cathedrals was, fortu- 
 nately for Art, contemporaneous with the highest development 
 of mediffival architecture, in which, among many other forms 
 " the fresh exuberant life, the daring and devotion of the age, 
 found one means of expression." 
 
 These eastern additions exhibit much that is loveliest in the 
 architecture of our Cathedrals. However much we may find to 
 deplore in the grovelling superstition to which the creation of 
 the miraculous shrines of local saints pandered, we may at least 
 
 * Freeman, Hist, of Wells, p. 105. 
 
342 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XII. 
 
 feel thankful to those who were the official recipients of the 
 offerings which bore witness to the earnest though mistaken 
 faith of the devotees, that instead of employing them on 
 aggrandizing or enriching themselves, they devoted them to 
 so noble a purpose in the construction of architectural works 
 which will never cease to command admiration and awaken 
 delight. The earliest of these eastern enlargements we may 
 notice is the exquisite Presbytery of Ely, one of the most 
 beautiful examples of pure Early English, erected by Bishop 
 Northwold, a.d. 1229-1254, as a more spacious receptacle for 
 the honoured remains of St. Etheldreda. Bp. Northwold began 
 his new work at the point where the Norman choir ended, 
 preserving on the whole the levels of the earlier design. The 
 result of this is, that the triforium space is rather higher and 
 more important than is usual in Early English work where the 
 architect was entirely unfettered. This is still more apparent 
 in the three delicious bays, intervening between Bishop North- 
 wold's work and the lantern, with which Bishop Hotham (a.d. 
 1345-1362) replaced the original Norman choir when crushed 
 by the fall of the central tower, and it constitutes the only 
 thing approaching to a defect in a design which may be 
 safely regarded as the best example of the Decorated period to 
 be found in England. Passing over, for want of space, many 
 similar works which crowded this period of ceaseless joyous 
 activity — such as the presbytery of Chichester, dedicated a.d. 
 1199 ; the choir and transepts of liochester, chiefly erected 
 from the offerings at St. William's wonder-working shrine, 
 c. A.D. 1227 ; the presbytery, eastern transepts, and choir of 
 Worcester, begun a.d. 1224, with " the profits of the tomb and 
 shrine of St. Wulstan, whose reputation as a worker of miracles 
 was manifestly increasing; " * the choir and presbytery of Wells ; 
 the eastern transept or chapel of nine altars, at Durham, 
 a.d. 1242-1290 — we must hasten on to the glorious pres- 
 bytery or " angel choir " of Lincoln, one of the most perfect 
 designs ever conceived or executed by man, the first complete 
 specimen of the true Edwardian style of perfected English 
 art. St. Hugh, who died a.d. 1200, was speedily canonized, 
 and, according to the belief of the age, his tomb soon became 
 
 * Willis, Arch. Journ, xx. p. 99. 
 
Essay XII. ARCHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 343 
 
 the scene of numerous miraculous cures. The usual result 
 followed. The Cathedral was thronged with devotees earnestly 
 seeking to obtain relief from their maladies, or to secure the 
 saint's influence towards the accomplishment of their objects. 
 The original place of Hugh's interment proved inconveniently- 
 straitened, and it became necessary to erect a larger and 
 more appropriate resting-place for the hallowed remains. The 
 scheme was taken in hand about the middle of the thirteenth 
 century, a.d. 1255, and towards its close, a.d. 1280, the transla- 
 lation of the saint's body took place with solemn ceremonial, in 
 the presence of Edward I., his queen, and children. The altar 
 of the Virgin was set up against the east wall of the new build- 
 ing ; but the shrine and altar of St. Hugh occupied the more 
 prominent place in the mid-alley, behind the reredos, over 
 which the feretory, containing the sacred body, towered con- 
 spicuously, so that to it not merely the gaze of the whole 
 congregation but of the officiating priest himself, even as he 
 stood before the high altar, might be constantly turned, and he 
 might be led to pray for grace to emulate the piety, simplicity, 
 laboriousness, and undaunted courage which characterized this 
 pattern of a true Christian priest. 
 
 The reconstruction of the eastern arm of their Cathedrals 
 afforded our English church-builders an opportunity for intro- 
 ducing the peculiar feature which, more than almost any other, 
 distinguishes our ecclesiastical buildings from those of the 
 Continent,— the rectangular east end, instead of the semi- 
 circular apse or polygonal chevet, surrounded by radiating 
 chapels, which is so universal on the other side of the Channel. 
 We hardly possess materials for accurately determining the 
 form of the eastern termination of our churches before the 
 Conquest ; but the evidence we have seems to indicate that the 
 square end was that adopted by preference when the builders 
 were at liberty to follow their own tastes, free from foreign in- 
 fluence * The Normans naturally employed the arrangement 
 familiar to them in the churches erected by them in the country 
 
 * The Eastern termination of the 
 very ancient church in Dover Castle, 
 assigned by Mr. Bloxam to the middle 
 of the seventh century, is square. The 
 still more ancient church of Brixworth, 
 
 of the fourth and fifth century, on the 
 contrary, ended in an apse. But this 
 evidently followed the plan of a Eoman 
 basilica. 
 
344 
 
 ESSAYS ON. CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XII, 
 
 of their new settlement ; and as we liave already mentioned, the / 
 semicircular apse, with or without a circumscribing aisle, is ' 
 found in almost every instance. But even when Norman in- 
 fluence was predominant, the square east end was sometimes 
 adopted. The most remarkable instance is the ancient Cathedral 
 of Salisbury, completed by Bishop Osmund, a.d. 1091 * The 
 Norman choirs of Hereford and St. Frideswide's, now Oxford 
 Cathedral, also terminated rectangularly,! and the investi- 
 gations of Prof. Willis at Ely in 1850 $ seem to have deter- 
 mined, that though the foundations of an apse were laid, the 
 east end actually erected was square. But when the gradual 
 welding of Saxons and Normans into one had created a new 
 nation, determined to think and act for themselves, their 
 independence of character was shown in the almost total 
 abandonment of the apse, and the substitution of the flat east 
 end, a termination so rarely met with in other countries. § 
 The reason sometimes assigned for this change, the trans- 
 ference of the bishop's throne, and the seats of his attend- 
 cint presbyters — the senatus e^iscopi — from their primitive 
 position in the apse to a distinct building— the chapter-house 
 — seems of itself hardly sufficient to account for the almost 
 
 * This Cathedral, the foundations 
 of which can still he traced in dry 
 summers, was also remarkable for 
 having an ante-church or Galilee of 
 some length, at the west end. The 
 transepts had double aisles, and were 
 150 ft. long : the whole church waa 
 270 feet in length. 
 
 t At Hereford, beyond the square- 
 ended choir, a group of three apsidal 
 chapels seems to have projected east- 
 wards. 
 
 X Prof. Willis's report is given in 
 the Eev. D. J. Stewart's Architec- 
 tural History of Ely Cathedral (Van 
 Voorst, 1868), ch. ii. pp. 24-30. " The 
 interpretation of these remains appears 
 on the whole to be that the original 
 plan of the great Norman apse was 
 circular, that it had no aisle round its 
 eastern extremity, and that, before it 
 was completed, it was resolved to con- 
 vert it into a square-ended presbytery, 
 such as we now see at Oxford Cathe- 
 dral, and St. Cross The change 
 
 of form was probably made because this 
 (square form better suited the quad- 
 
 ruple group of shrines " (of St. Ethel- 
 dreda and her three relatives) "than 
 tlie semicircular one would have done." 
 The examples of square terminations 
 of Norman churches already given 
 may be increased by those of Bristol, 
 liomsey, Byland, Buildwas, and, a<v 
 cording to Prof. Willis, Archbishop 
 Roger's choir at York. 
 
 § Westminster is a glorious excep- 
 tion. But it is one that proves the 
 rule. Exquisitely beautiful as the 
 ettect of the polygonal chevet with its 
 surrounding chapels must have been 
 felt to be, the independent English 
 mind seems to have resented the intro- 
 duction of a feature so peculiarly Con- 
 tinental, and not even the influence of 
 the Crown and Court could procure its 
 general adoption. We have another 
 example of exquisite loveliness in the 
 Lady Chapel of Lichfield, and in a 
 modified form in that of Wells. Large 
 apses are also found at Tewkesbuiy 
 (polygonal Early English, with per- 
 pendicular radiating chapels), Per- 
 shore, and St. Michael's, Coventry. 
 
Essay XLI. ARCHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 345 
 
 total discontinuance of tlie apsidal arrangement in England. 
 It seems more probable that it was rather a matter of taste and 
 local prejudice. The designs of our Early English churches 
 show that the architects very early became enamoured of the 
 power the new arrangement gave them of grouping windows 
 together, and raising them tier above tier, so as to occupy 
 nearly the whole face of a great gable wall, and the square east 
 end afforded them an opportunity for the display of the sys- 
 tem of tliat union of separate parts, and harmonious grouping 
 of all, which constitutes the peculiar charm and glory of our 
 English Cathedrals. However much we may be inclined to 
 regret the loss of the intricate beauty, the picturesque myste- 
 riousness of the half-seen, and the play of light and shade 
 belonging to the apsidal arrangement as carried out at Amiens, 
 we can hardly quarrel with a change of design which has given 
 us the noble east windows of Lincoln, Carlisle, and York, and 
 even the later example of Gloucester—" that glorious wall of 
 painted glass that closes the vista"— and the different but 
 not less beautiful combination of a flat east wall and aisled 
 chapels which charms the eye at Wells or Salisbury, Hereford 
 or Winchester. 
 
 A few words may here be fitly introduced in reference to 
 the new ritual arrangements rendered necessary by the eastward 
 prolongation of the choir. When the new presbytery was 
 thrown out, the position of the altar, as a rule, was not shifted, 
 but it remained in its accustomed place, consecrated by the 
 devotion of centuries.* To remedy its isolation, as well as to 
 mark the distinction between the ritual choir and the pres- 
 bytery beyond, an arcaded screen, or reredos,t of rich taber- 
 nacle work was usually erected immediately behind the high 
 altar and in contact with its eastern face. These screens were 
 commonly double, a second screen being erected to the east, at 
 the distance usually of a single bay, the enclosed space serving as 
 the " feretory " or chapel containing the " feretra," or portable 
 shrines of the saints who were the objects of local devotion, 
 together with their small appended altars, A door in the 
 
 * Westminster Abbey was an cxcep- | fessor's shrine, 
 
 tion. The altar was moved westwards ! f Its English name was " The wall 
 
 by Henry III. to afford more space of the high altar. Willis, Oanter- 
 
 for the chapel containing the Con- bury, p. 108, note. 
 
346 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XII. 
 
 western screen on either side of the high altar gave access to 
 this chapel. The most noteworthy examples of this arrange- 
 ment now to be seen are those of Winchester, St. Alban's, and 
 Westminster Abbey. In the two former instances the original 
 intention of the arrangement has been to a great extent frus- 
 trated by the erection of a lofty and magnificent reredos, pro- 
 fusely decorated with canopied niches. Such a screen, however 
 admirable in itself as a work of art, even now that its niches 
 are denuded of their statues, must be regarded as an unwelcome 
 intruder, from the abruptness with which it divides the Cathe- 
 dral across its breadth, and the complete concealment not only 
 of the shrines themselves, but also of the Lady Chapel and 
 eastern aisles and all that lies beyond its lofty wall.* At 
 Westminster the reredos has always been low enough for the 
 Confessor's shrine to be seen over it. A similar arrangement 
 with two screens exists, or did exist, at Canterbury, Chichester, 
 York,t and Durham. At Durham the raised platform of the 
 feretory of St. Cuthbert's shrine may still be seen extending into 
 the great eastern transept or " Chapel of the Nine Altars," and 
 was till lately enclosed by screen-work appropriate for its place, 
 though debased in style, now unhappily removed, together with 
 many other ancient landmarks, through a mistaken spirit of 
 architectural purism. Behind the high reredos at Winchester, 
 in the polygonal space corresponding to the Norman apse, a 
 raised platform still exists that once sustained the shrine of St. 
 Swithm, St. Bii-inus, and other sainted patrons of the Cathedral. 
 At Lmcoln, Llandaff, and elsewhere there was also a double 
 screen ; but the space between the two was narrow and served 
 only as a vestry and treasury for the use of the officiating priests. 
 
 Another considerable change was not unfrequently contem- 
 poraneous with the prolongation of the constructional choir. 
 This was the removal of the ritual choir from its primitive 
 place beneath the lantern of the central tower into the eastern 
 limb. The earliest instance of this transference is at Canter- 
 
 * A similar lofty screen, enriched I 
 
 with niches, exists at St. Alban's, St. j 
 
 Mary Overy's, Christchurch Twynhani, I 
 
 Ottcry St. Mary and Blilton Abbas. 1 
 
 'I'hat formerly existing at Peterborough , j 
 destroyed by the Puritans, was of the 
 
 same type; "a stately skreon it was, j 
 
 well wrought, painted, and gilt which 
 rose up as high almost ns the roof of 
 the church."— (iluu ton, p. 334. 
 
 t At York the shrine of St. William 
 probably stood in the feretory between 
 tlic two screens. 
 
Essay XII. AECHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 347 
 
 buvy, on the completion of the new clioir, or at least so much 
 of it as would suffice for the reception of the altar and stalls, 
 Easter-day a.d. 1180.* The example set at Canterbury was 
 probably speedily followed at Eochester ; in so many things a 
 miniature copy of the metropolitan church ; and subsequently, 
 at dates varying with the erection of the new eastern portions, at 
 Lincoln, Wells, Carlisle, Exeter, old St. Paul's, Lichfield, Kipon, 
 and York. Before the Eeformation the ritual choir at Durham 
 terminated with the eastern arch of the tower; and in the 
 western arch there was another screen supporting the rood, with 
 two doors, and the Jesus altar between them. We have no 
 means of determining the age of this arrangement. In some 
 other Cathedrals and Abbey Churches, as Winchester, West- 
 minster, St. Alban's, Gloucester, Chichester, Norwich, Chester, 
 and St. Cross, the change was never maile, and the ritual choir 
 keeps its old place, in some instances extending one or more 
 bays into the nave ; while in other cases, as at Worcester, 
 Ely, Peterborough, and Hereford, the transference has taken 
 place in com})aratively recent times. The separation between 
 the ritual choir and the nave was in all cases made by a solid 
 screen effectually cutting off the ministrants in the choir from 
 the worshippers westwards. These screens were often double, 
 consisting of two solid stone walls enclosing a space, sometimes 
 groined in stone, as at Lincoln, Exeter, Norwich, St. Alban's, 
 and formerly at Chichester, and supporting the jpulpitum for 
 reading tlie Gospel and Epistles on certain occasions, and in later 
 times the lofty rood or crucifix with the attendant figures of the 
 Virgin Mary and St. John. Chapels were not uufrequently 
 erected in the westward face of these screens ; either one in the 
 centre dedicated to the Holy Cross, with two side doors, as 
 originally at Canterbury and now at St. Alban's ; or two, one on 
 either side of a central door, as St. David's, and formerly at 
 Gloucester.! 
 
 Having thus deduced the form and arrangements of our 
 Cathedrals from the primitive model, and traced the origin and 
 
 * For Gervase's graphic account of 
 this ceremony, sec Willis's Canterbury, 
 pp. 53, 55. 
 
 f The plans given in Browne Willis's 
 Survey of Cathedrals, put us in pos- 
 
 session of many ancient arrangements 
 of screens, stalls, &c., wliicli have dis- 
 appeared in tlielast century and a half, 
 and will reward attentive study. 
 
348 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XII 
 
 development of the various mutations to which they have been 
 subjected, it will be interesting to compare the results at which 
 we have arrived with those great churches, which, in the thir- 
 teenth and subsequent centuries were either built on an entirely 
 fresh site, or were altered with little reference to the ground- 
 
 Plau of Salisbury Cathedral. Suale 100 ft. to 1 in. 
 
 plan of the buildings which preceded them. In the Cathedral 
 of Salisbury, begun a.d. 1220 and finished in all essential parts 
 A.D. 1258, we are fortunate enough to possess a building raised 
 on virgin soil in the early part of the thirteenth century, in the 
 
Essay XIT. ATICHITECTURB OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 
 
 349 
 
 erection of which the designer was completely untrammelled, 
 so that we may regard it as a satisfactory evidence of what was 
 then considered essential to the completeness of a Cathedral. ^ A 
 comparison of the ground-plan of Salisbury with that of Norwich 
 or Peterborough exhibits the great modifications the Cathedral 
 type had been subjected to, the course of which it has been the 
 object of this paper to trace. In Salisbury there is no lingering 
 trace of the apsidal form either in the main building or its 
 appended chapels. Every eastern termination is strictly rect- 
 angular. The plan exhibits a well- developed double cross of 
 harmonious proportions. The chief transept is of three project- 
 ing bays in each arm, the lesser transept of two ; each with one 
 aisle to the east forming chapels containing altars ; ten in all. The 
 constructional choir is of seven bays, including the opening of the 
 lesser transept. Its eastern gable rests on three arches opening 
 to the eastern aisles and Lady Chapel, between which originally 
 stood the reredos, with the high altar in front of it. Immediately 
 behind this a transverse aisle forms the procession path. Beyond 
 this we have three eastern chapels, the lateral ones the con- 
 tinuation of the side aisles ; that in the centre dedicated to "Our 
 Lady," of three aisles, divided by Purbeck shafts of extreme 
 tenuity, and projecting two bays beyond the side chapels. At 
 the crossing rises a tower on four isolated piers, crowned with 
 an exceedingly lofty and graceful spire. The nave is of ten 
 bays ; its length in admirable proportion with the other mem- 
 bers of the building and the whole, and its outline most hap- 
 pily broken by a lofty north porch of considerable projection. 
 The whole is an example of pure Early English, more free from 
 later additions and alterations than is usual in English Cathe- 
 drals : exquisitely chaste, but not devoid of a certain " coldness 
 and leanness" that renders it less satisfying than other inferior 
 compositions. 
 
 In Wells, which, though one of the smallest, is not surpassed 
 in beauty by any English Cathedral, we have a second example 
 of the same Early Gothic style, though here we have later modi- 
 fications both of plan and design, while Salisbury was built, 
 as the Erench say, d'un seuljet The proportions of the various 
 members to one another is not so perfect as in the earlier 
 Cathedral. The nave has the same number of bays, ten ; but 
 the transepts have only two bays in projection, and have double 
 
350 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XII. 
 
 aisles. The choir of six bays ends square ; the gabJe, as at 
 Salisbury, supported on three arches, beyond which extend the 
 narrow procession path, and perhaps the most exquisitely beau- 
 tiful arrangement of chapels to be found in England. The Lady 
 Chapel ends in a, semioctagon, and there are chapels forming 
 quasi transepts behind the choir. Two western towers, the 
 
 rian of Wells Cathedral. Scale 100 ft to 1 in. 
 
 want of which is much felt at Salisbury, form a kind of transept 
 which gives breadth to the west front, which, though far from' 
 satisfactory in its outline, will always command admiration from 
 the unrivalled series of sculptures with which it is decorated. 
 The central tower, whose disproportioned weight has been nearly 
 fatal to the fabric, is of stately outline. 
 
Essay XII. ARCHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 351 
 
 edifices, is too evidently an adaptation of Continental ideas 
 to be regarded as a satisfactory type of an English clmrch. 
 
352 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS, 
 
 Essay XII. 
 
 It is the only genuine example we possess in England of 
 the chevet, with its radiating chapels, which are placed, two 
 on each side, of a very uncommon plan.* The central apse 
 has five sides ; the constructional choir is short, having only 
 three bays from the crossing ; the transepts are of three 
 bays in projection, and have double aisles ; the nave, of 
 twelve bays, including the western towers, is well proportioned 
 in length, but in breadth it is rather inferior to the transepts ; 
 the deficiency, however, is hardly perceptible. There is no 
 central tower ; and if it be true that no tower was prepared for 
 by the original designers, it possesses another point of corre- 
 spondence with the great French Gothic churches, in which this 
 feature is commonly wanting. The ratio between the breadth 
 and height, which is 8 : 1, the average English churches being 
 2-36 : 1, and often descending as low as 2 : 1, is another French 
 feature. Few, we think, will acquiesce in Mr. Fergussou's 
 verdict that the height is in excess, and will rather wish that 
 the proportion had been more commonly followed in English 
 Cathedrals, the chief defect of which is the want of internal 
 elevation. 
 
 The task proposed for this Essay is now all but completed. 
 By the middle of the thirteenth century the English Cathedral 
 type had experienced all its chief modifications in ground-plan 
 and arrangement, and the later works only carried out the 
 principles we have already seen in operation, as opportunity 
 offered or necessity required. The measures of re-edification 
 and alteration which we have noticed in connection with the 
 eastern portions of our Cathedrals were gradually extended as 
 the bounty of royal or episcopal benefactors, or the offerings of 
 the faithful provided the necessary funds, to the less sacred 
 divisions of the church ; and transept and nave by degrees 
 assumed the characteristics of the lighter and more beautiful 
 styles into which the plain and massive Norman had blossomed 
 out. At York, indeed, by a singular inversion of the usual order, 
 the re-edification of the transepts preceded that of any other 
 part of the Cathedral, and that of the nave came next, while 
 
 * The plan embraces four sides of an octagon with an angle, not a side, 
 placed outermost. Tlie area of the chapel occupies much more than half 
 the polygon. 
 
Essay XII. AECHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 
 
 353 
 
 the choir, commonly the first portion to be rebuilt, was the last 
 part to feel the influence of new architectural tastes and ritual 
 exigencies. This singular fact is doubtless in great measure to 
 
 Plan of York Cathedral. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in. 
 
 be accounted for by the large dimensions of Archbishop Eoger's 
 late Norman choir, which stretched eastwards 170 ft. from the 
 crossing, and only wanted 80 ft. of the length of the present 
 
 2 A 
 
351 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XIT. 
 
 magnificent eastern arm. The south transept was the first 
 built, A.D. 1230-1211, and the north, famous for the group of 
 " the Five Sisters," so grand in their dignified simplicity, a few 
 years later, a.d. 1211-1260.* The nave — a typical example of 
 the then newly-invented Decorated style — a work of magnificent 
 dimensions, and almost perfect in its several parts, bat disap- 
 pointing as a whole, a structure almost as conspicuous for its 
 defects as its excellencies, was spread over nearly thirty years, 
 A.D. 1291-1321. The west front — the most elaborately orna- 
 mented and the best proportioned in England — succeeded, a 
 few years later, a.d. 1338, but had to wait more than a century 
 for the completion of the towers which crown it. The central 
 lantern, which was evidently never finished, the design re- 
 quiring angular pinnacles, was about fifty years earlier in con- 
 struction, about A.D. 1405. The Lady Chapel and Presbytery, 
 which with the choir constitute the most truly magnificent of 
 all English Cathedral east ends, was commenced A.D. 1361 in 
 Early Perpendicular, and completed about A.D. 1400. The 
 splendid window, without doubt the grandest in general effect 
 in England, though surpassed in gracefulness of tracery by its 
 western sister, as well as by the still larger and finer Decorated 
 east window of Carlisle, is, with the exception of that of Glou- 
 cester, the first in point of dimensions, 78 ft. high by 83 wide, 
 and retains the stained glass with which it was originally filled, 
 a glorious wall of transparent colour, on which the eye rests 
 with admiration and delight. 
 
 Passing from the north to the extreme south-west, tlie small 
 but singularly graceful Cathedral of Exeter demands our atten- 
 tion, as, with the exception of the anomalous transepts formed 
 out of Norman towers, a specimen of the purest Early De- 
 corated unmixed with any other style. Cominenced at the 
 extreme east end by Bishop Quivil, a.d. 1280, it was carried 
 on continuously westward by succeeding prelates, and finished 
 by T3ishop Grandison, a.d. 1369. Small in dimensions, and 
 deficient in height and, from the want of a central tower, in 
 external unity, no Cathedral deserves more commendation for 
 the extreme beauty and variety of its window-tracery, entirely 
 of the geometrical type of Decorated, the varied loveliness 
 
 * These dates given by Willis are little moie than ajiproximativp. 
 
Essay XIL AECHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 355 
 
 of its details, and the exquisite proportion of all its internal 
 members. The long stretch of the vaulted roof, unbroken by 
 tower arches, has few rivals for the combination of dignity 
 and grace. Lichfield, in its faultless group of three spires 
 and lovely eastern apse, c. a.d. 1300, presents another de- 
 lightful work of the same period, of which the nave, diminu- 
 tive but of exquisite design, recalling the matchless " angel 
 choir " at Lincoln, is an earlier specimen, if it may not be more 
 truly styled Early English, c. a.d. 1250.* Chester, which, in 
 the early age of the English Church, contested with Lichiield 
 the possession of the See of the great Mercian Bislioprick, has 
 in its Cathedral nave— now happily rising from a state of 
 almost inconceivable forlornuess and decay, and receiving the 
 vaulting it has been so long almost hopelessly waiting for 
 —a plain but well-proportioned specimen of Decorated archi- 
 tecture, of which we see a truly magnificent example in the 
 sorely-mutilated south transept, almost equal in dimensions to 
 the nave, and of the earlier developments of the same exquisite 
 style in the choir, the eastern portion of which was built to 
 receive the shrine of St. Werburgh. The Decorated nave 
 of the other great Mercian See of Worcester, an effective and 
 dignified composition that has hardly obtained the notice it 
 deserves, presents the remarkable singularity of having its two 
 sides of difi'erent dates : the northern bays being the earlier. 
 The central tower is of the same period, and ranks as one of 
 the stateliest in England. We must not omit to mention the re- 
 construction of the choir and transepts of the Abbey Church of 
 St. Augustine's, Bristol, now the Cathedral, under the auspices 
 of Abbot Knowle, a.d. 1306-1322, and his immediate successors, 
 calling attention to the singularity of the design, which sacrifices 
 both triforium and clerestory to the increased elevation of the 
 side aisles, and the ingenious but not very pleasing constructive 
 devices by which the vaulting of all these divisions has been 
 placed at the same height. The vast Decorated choir of old 
 St. Paul's unhappily perished in the Great Eire of 1666. But 
 we perceive, from Hollar's Views, that it must have been one of 
 
 * The "singular parallelism between the gradual architectural changes m 
 Cathedrals of Lichfield and York has been pointed out by Prof. Willis, Archajol. 
 Journ., vol. xviii. p. 20. 
 
 2 A ^ 
 
356 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDEALS, 
 
 Essay XII. 
 
 the grandest and most magnificent works of the best period of 
 English architectural art, probably surpassing all other Cathe- 
 drals in England in beauty of design and richness of decoration 
 as it did in the magnitude of its proportions. The choir and 
 presbytery which, according to the common usage, had been 
 erected to receive the miraculous shrine of the sainted Bishop 
 Erkenwald, a.d. 1310, stretched in undiminished height and 
 breadth to the unusual length of twelve bays. The vaulted 
 vista, 690 ft, from the west door, closed with a glorious rose 
 window surmounting ranges of arched lights rich in tracery. 
 The same age of exuberant fertility gave us the octagon of 
 Ely, A.D. 1323 — "perhaps the most beautiful and original 
 design to be found in the whole range of Gothic architecture " * 
 —embodying an idea capable in skilful hands of the happiest 
 development, but destined to lie dormant until revived by the 
 genius of Wren in his classical reproduction of the Cathedral 
 of St. Paul's.t 
 
 It is not given to anything human to continue in one stay ; 
 and when the climax of excellence is reached, the descent, 
 though those who are engaged in it may fancy they are still 
 advancing, is usually swift and certain. The introduction of 
 the Perpendicular style, notwithstanding its great practical 
 worth and the scope it afforded for gorgeousness of detail, 
 marks the decay of English architecture ; and its employment 
 in our Cathedrals is in most instances to be regarded with 
 regret. Not that we must allow the demerits of this style- 
 as a means of producing the greatest possible effect with the 
 least possible intellectual effort- to blind us to its real excel- 
 lencies, or lead us to depreciate the truly magnificent structures 
 erected during its sway. The Cathedrals in which the Per- 
 pendicular style has had the largest play are those of York, 
 Gloucester, Winchester, and Canterbury. Of the former I 
 have already spoken at length. The works at Gloucester and 
 Winchester were adaptations of the newly invented style to 
 
 * Fergusson, Handbook, vol. i. p i 
 869. ^ 
 
 t The great merit of this design is, 
 that by cutting off the angles of the 
 central square of the crossing, the 
 architect obtains a considerably ex- ' 
 
 tended space in the most important 
 part of the edifice ; and by employing 
 eight arches instead of the usual four, 
 brings the side aisles into immediate 
 connection with the main area of the 
 building. 
 
Essay XII. AECHITEOTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 357 
 
 previously existing Norman buildings. In tke former, a.d. 
 1329-1377, a network of panelling and tracery was merely 
 drawn over the plain round arched work of the pier and tri- 
 
 Plan of Ely Cathedral. Scale lOn ft. to 1 in. 
 
 forium range, on which a lofty clerestory was erected, and an 
 intricate Heme vault stretched over the whole, producing a 
 
358 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay Xll, 
 
 gorgeous but confused result. The Perpendicular re-edification 
 of tlie nave, commenced by Abbot Morwent, was most happily 
 cut short by his death, a.d. 1437, when his ill-designed 
 alterations had effected no more than the destruction of the 
 western towers, and the ruin of two Norman bays. At Win- 
 chester, A.D. 1394-1410, the superior architectural genius of 
 William of Wykeham, without destroying the pillars and walls 
 of Walkelyn's church, by the bold but simple expedient of the 
 removal of the triforium range, and throwing that and the aisle 
 below into one, and partly re-chiselling partly re-casing the 
 rude piers and mouldings, transformed the stern Norman nave 
 into a glorious specimen of the style which seems to have 
 sprung at once, at his touch, into the highest perfection of 
 which it was capable. At Canterbury no such transformation 
 was attempted. Perhaps the nave was in too ruinous a state to 
 render it safe. The old nave of Lanfranc was taken down and 
 the whole entirely rebuilt on the former foundations, in a light 
 Perpendicular, wanting in the vigour of Winchester, but full 
 of dignity and beauty.* The only Cathedral entirely due to 
 Perpendicular architects is that of Manchester, founded a.d. 
 1422. This, however, is in all essentials a mere parish clmrch 
 of large dimensions, and does not call for remark. 
 
 The other works of the Perpendicular period in our Cathe- 
 drals are not of a nature to call for lengthened notice. The 
 most important of them was the rebuilding of the clerestory 
 and vaults of Norwich, after the destruction caused by the fall 
 of the spire a.d. 1463. This work stretched over half a century. 
 
 * In the naves both of Winchester 
 and Canterbury it will be observed 
 that the triforium has been completely- 
 lost as a distinct member of the archi- 
 tectural elevation, as it was also in the 
 earlier example of the choir and pres- 
 bytery of York, and the still earlier 
 work of the nave. In all these in- 
 stances the place formerly given to the 
 triforium is occupied by a prolongation 
 downwards of the mullions and com- 
 partments of the clerestory windows 
 (of which we have earlier examples at 
 St. David's and Southwell) , the eleva- 
 tion being thus divided into two in- 
 stead of three parts. In truth the 
 triforium, as a distinct architectural I 
 
 member of a bay, belongs by right to 
 the Norman style, which derived it 
 from the early Roman basilicas, as at 
 St. Agnes, and St. Laurence, and the 
 Quattro Coronati, and passing by in- 
 heritance to the Early J^nglish style, 
 was gradually disused by the Decorated 
 arcljitects, except when, as at Ely, they 
 had to adapt the levels of their work 
 to an already existing design, and 
 dropped altogether in the Perpendicular 
 period. The insignificance of the tri- 
 forium in the purely Decorated Cathe- 
 dral of Exeter shows how subordinate 
 was its place in the mind of the de- 
 signer. 
 
Essa y Xll. AECHITECTDRE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 
 
 359 
 
 and is singularly graceful in design and elaborate in ornament. 
 One evil work perpetrated by the Perpendicular arcbitects, of 
 whieb almost every Englisb cathedral and large church exhi- 
 bits lamentable instances, was the erection of enormous windows 
 at thie western and other gable ends for the reception of stained 
 glass. The new design involved in all cases the destruction 
 of features of much interest and often of great beauty, and is 
 seldom of sufficient merit to atone for the mischief it has caused. 
 We may refer for examples to the west windows of Norwich, 
 Lincoln, Rochester,'Chester, St. Alban's, Southwell, and Tewkes- 
 bury. In every case we have to deplore the merciless way in 
 which the vast trellised openings have been cut through the 
 ancient front by the builders of the day without the smallest 
 consideration for the work of architects so grea,tly their superiors 
 in tTue taste and creative power. It would be mere waste of time 
 and space to speak at any length of the minor works executed 
 in our Cathedrals during this period of rapid production, but 
 real decadence of art. The multitude of windows and doors, but- 
 tresises and pinnacles, shrines and chapels, screens and stall-work, 
 altar and canopied tombs, and other less conspicuous features 
 added during the fifteenth century is incalculable. But these 
 additions were not such as to aifect the arrangements of a 
 Cathedral in any sensible degree, and may therefore without 
 scruple be passed over without further mention. 
 
 Neither is it needful that I should dwell on the vicissitudes 
 through which our Cathedrals passed during the next two cen- 
 turies. While the Reformation reduced to ruins many of the 
 noblest monuments of the architectural skill and piety of our 
 forefathers, equalling and in some cases surpassing the glorious 
 churches that still remain to us, and necessitated very consider- 
 able changes in the ritual arrangements of those that it spared, 
 in correspondence with the alterations in the services celebrated 
 within tlieir walls, and involved a vast amount of destruction 
 of minor architectural works — shrines, altars, tabernacles, and 
 the like— under the title, often too well merited, of " monuments 
 of superstition " — over which the archseologist and the lover of 
 architecture must vainly sigh, coupled with a degree of irreve- 
 rent desecration only too natural in the violent rebound of the 
 national mind from an overweighted faith, it left the fabrics 
 themselves and their chief arrangements on the whole undis- 
 
360 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDRALS. 
 
 Essay XII. 
 
 turbed. Nor were any new features introduced. It was an 
 age of demolition, not of construction. As the storm of tlie 
 Reformation left them after its first outburst, such our Cathe- 
 drals remained during the turbulent period of religious change, 
 and such, in the main, have they continued down to our own 
 days. The ravages committed by the Puritan troops on the 
 magnificent buildings over which they had undisturbed mastery 
 during the civil troubles of the seventeenth century were, hap- 
 pily, chiefly confined to furniture and monuments, together with 
 cloisters, chapter-houses, and other adjuncts, and seldom — Lich- 
 field being a notable exception — had any seriously detrimental 
 effect on the structures themselves; while the unspeakable 
 brutalities and foulnesses with which in the name of religion, 
 they polluted the temples hallowed by the worship of cen- 
 turies, were such as the pious care of their rightful guardians 
 could efface the stain of, though they could not blot out the 
 shame of their memory. 
 
 The last century was one of religious apathy in our Cathe- 
 drals as everywhere else. The clumsy botchings perpetrated 
 when any attempt at repair or restoration was made, and the 
 utter ignorance of the true principles of - Cathedral architecture 
 they displayed,* excite a feeling of gratitude that so little was 
 done by Deans and Chapters beyond keeping the walls and 
 roofs in repair, and the fabric wind- and water-tight. And let it 
 be said to their praise, this duty, no mean and unimportant one, 
 was usually performed with commendable fidelity : so that the 
 present century, on the whole, inherited the Cathedrals of which 
 they were the guardians in a very fair state of preservation : often 
 dreary, neglected, comfortless, and showing little of the beauty of 
 holiness, but solid and sound. Nor when the fervour of restor- 
 ation was first awakened was it always wisely directed. It was 
 too often " a zeal not according to knowledge," the results of 
 which we now vainly deplore. On the works of "Wyatt the 
 destructive," at Lichfield, Salisbury, Durham, and, above all, 
 at Hereford, I cannot now enter. Towers demolished, chapels 
 pulled down, monuments divorced from the dead they comme- 
 
 * The works of Essex deserve to be 
 excepted from the above sweeping con- 
 demnation. What was done by him at 
 Ely and Lincoln and elsewhere, shows 
 
 an acquaintance with the principles of 
 Gothic architecture, and a knowledge 
 of its details, far in advance of his clay. 
 
Ehsay XII. ARCHITECTUKE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 
 
 361 
 
 morate, screens torn down, decayed stone-work pared away 
 to a clean surface, ornaments renewed in stucco, painted glass 
 removed from the windows and shot as rubbish into the 
 town ditch — these are some of the indications of the fatal 
 march of this great " Cathedral restorer." Much of the duty 
 which has fallen upon our own generation has been to endeavour 
 at great cost and pains to undo some of his evil work — a 
 task not always possible in the execution : so much, alas ! has 
 perished irreparably. 
 
 The restorations of our own days, designed with so much 
 ability and carried out with so much zeal and such unsparing 
 munificence, display not only a far more correct knowledge of 
 the details of mediaeval arcliitecture, and a truer appreciation of 
 the principles which guided it, but also, which is of far greater 
 importance, a sense of the purposes for which a Cathedral 
 exists, and the objects it may be made to serve. The reproach 
 is rapidly passing away from the Church of England, that she 
 has inherited buildings too vast for her shrunken form, erected 
 for another form of devotion, and which she knows not how to 
 use. With whatever justice such a charge could have once 
 been, brought against her, it is no longer one that can be urged 
 with any truth. On every side we see fresh evidences that she 
 duly appreciates the worth of the inheritance she possesses in 
 her Cathedrals, and is resolved to avail herself of them to the 
 full. The increased facilities offered for the reception of 
 numerous congregations in the choirs of our larger Cathedrals, 
 too yast to be treated as a whole ; — the removal of high, close 
 screens in those of more moderate dimensions, and the substi- 
 tution of screens of light open-work, which, while preserving 
 the distinction between the choir and the nave, the place of the 
 ministers and the place of the laity, has practically thrown the 
 two into one for purposes of worship; — the naves themselves, 
 no longer regarded as the mere vestibules to the choirs, and left 
 in stately emptiness, but employed for their primitive use as 
 places for preaching ad po^ulum, for the gathering of large 
 evening congregations, and for the periodical assemblage of the 
 church choirs of the diocese ; — the transepts, chapter-houses, 
 libraries, and other annexed buildings, serving as the meeting- 
 places of sacred synods, diocesan conferences, and gatherings for 
 promoting and cariying forward the work of the Church in the 
 
 2 b 
 
362 
 
 ESSAYS ON CATHEDEAI.S. 
 
 Essay XII. 
 
 diocese ; — and even the side chapels, so long left in dreary use- 
 lessness, beginning to be recognized as the possible sacred 
 centres of the various religious organizations so rapidly rising 
 in our Cathedral cities — deaconesses, sisterhoods, nursing insti- 
 tutions, young men's associations, guilds, and the like, where, in 
 strict subordination to the Dean and other Cathedral autho- 
 rities, they might periodically meet, and go forth to their 
 common work strengthened and refreshed by the sense of their 
 brotherhood in Christ ; — other chapels used for the periodical 
 delivery of theological lectures ; — the opportunities for worship 
 no longer restricted to the ordinary Matins and Evensong, but 
 embracing early celebrations of the Holy Communion : — bright, 
 popular evening services with hymn-singing, and short morning 
 services on week-days to hallow the first hours of a day of busi- 
 ness or labour the great religious and social difficulties of the 
 day treated by master-minds, united with the hallowing influ- 
 ences of prayer and praise beneath the spreading dome of her 
 Cathedral in the midst of the teeming thousands of London ; — 
 the additional encouragement given to the long-lost habit of 
 private devotion in our Cathedrals; — the growing impatience 
 at the desecration of these houses of prayer and holy praise by 
 the so-called Musical Festival, and the steps taken towards the 
 revival of the " Oratorio " in the sense which its name indicates, 
 and its author designed,* as the handmaid of prayer and the 
 kindler of devotion : — all these are so many cheering evidences 
 of healthy life auguring a prolonged existence of vigorous work, 
 and indicate a sphere of usefulness so enlarged, and so adapted 
 to the needs of a Diocese, that it may be truly said that if we 
 had not Cathedrals it would be necessary to found them. Each 
 year as it passes manifests with increasing power that Deans 
 and Chapters are fully awake to the fact that Cathedrals have 
 as true and as necessary a place in the Church system of the 
 nineteenth century as in that of the thirteenth, and that they 
 are resolved that the Cathedral shall once more become the 
 religious centre of the Diocese, the warm heart throbbing with 
 religious life, and diffusing strength, hope, and vitality to every 
 parish within it, as well as the sacred home whose doors are 
 ever open to receive all her children who may desire to come 
 
 * St. Philip Ncri, at Eome, about a.p. 1585. 
 
Essay XII. AECHITECTURE OF ENGLISH CATHEDRALS. 363 
 
 and worship within her walls, and join in the services of 
 prayer and praise which have gone up thence unceasingly year 
 after year and century after century, with all the stateliness and 
 magnificence that dignified ceremonial, and music in its highest 
 form and its most skilful execution can produce. A new and 
 glorious future is now opening before our Cathedrals. May all 
 their rulers and guardians have wisdom to perceive their op- 
 portunities and avail themselves of tbem before it is too late ! 
 Then will our Cathedrals be seen to be the sources and channels 
 of advantages so great to the Church and religion of England 
 that the mouth of the enemy will be stopped, and the hand of 
 the spoiler stayed, and the voice will go up through the length 
 and breadth of our land, " Destroy them not, for a blessing 
 is in them." 
 
 Edmund Venables. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 I'lilNTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, SI'AMl-OnD STRKKT, 
 AND CHARING CliOSS. 
 
The Common Sense of Art. 
 A LECTUEE 
 
 DKLIVEREO IN BEHALF OF 
 
 THE ARCHITECTURAL MUSEUM, 
 
 AT THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, 
 DECEMBER 8, 1858. 
 
 By a. J. B. BERESFORD HOPE, M.P. 
 
 JOHN 
 
 LONDON: 
 MURRAY, ALBEMARLE 
 1858. 
 
 STREET. 
 
The following Lecture was delivered as the first of the 
 Annual Course for 1858-9 provided by the Architectural 
 Museum, in the Lecture Theatre of the South Kensington 
 Museum. It was delivered viva voce, and is reprinted with 
 some corrections and short explanatory additions from a 
 verbatim report. A few notes are added, contaiaing further 
 explanations of certain passages. The Author begs to say 
 that he is personally responsible for the opinions contained 
 in the Lecture. The Architectural Museum was founded for 
 the promotion mainly of Mediaeval Art. In speaking, there- 
 fore, on behalf of that school of art, the Lecturer felt himself 
 fulfilling the wishes of those on whose invitation he came 
 forward, not less than doing justice to his own convictions. 
 Further than that, he is speaking solely in his own person. 
 
THE COMMON SENSE OF ART. 
 
 Having by the kindness of the Council of 
 this Museum been called upon to inaugurate its 
 course of lectures for the present season, and having 
 been allowed to make my own choice of a subject, 
 I have looked over the various phases in which 
 Art presents itself to men's minds. I find the 
 phase of what may be called the Prose of art 
 handled with great ability and at considerable length 
 in all sorts of technical and scientific treatises. I 
 also find not a few treatises on what may be called 
 the Poetry of art, in which it is dealt with in a manner 
 more or less poetical and imaginative. But there is 
 one phase of art which I have never heard of, at 
 least under that name ; and yet it is something that 
 seems to be superior to prose, and even to poetry. 
 It is the phase of that which the French proverb 
 says is not so common — the Common Sense of Art. 
 You will, I hope, allow me to disclaim, when I use 
 this phrase, any idea of bringing to bear upon the 
 subject any particular common sense of my own ; but 
 I trust I shall be able, as it were, to play around it, 
 and to give you some idea of what I hold to be 
 common sense, the Common Sense of Art. If I were 
 to define common sense, I should say that it stands in 
 an ascending ratio somewhere above poetry. Prose, we 
 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 STAETING-POINT. 
 
 are told, is tlie best language in which we can describe 
 any particular thing ; and poetry is the best language 
 in the best places. Common sense, I should say, was 
 the best poetry dealing with the best subjects. It is, 
 in short, as much above poetry as poetry is above 
 prose. 
 
 But you may ask me how it is that, this being an 
 Architectural Museum, I should call upon you to 
 consider, not the common sense of architecture 
 merely, but the common sense of art ? My answer is 
 this : — Architecture, whether or not it be an art that 
 involves and includes all others, is at all events an 
 art that busies itself, that is concerned, with all and 
 every other. Painting stands by itself : so does 
 sculpture. Painting requires no assistance from 
 sculpture ; neither does it from architecture. Sculp- 
 ture requires nothing either from painting or archi- 
 tecture. Architecture, though it has an existence of 
 its own, and although the doctrine that it is merely a 
 machinery to convey ornamentation is, I am con- 
 vinced, a heresy — Architecture, I say, though it has 
 a position of its own, is yet intimately blended with 
 all other arts ; and that is the reason why I would go 
 a little further, and deal with the common sense of all 
 art ; but I shall at the same time consider all art in 
 reference to architecture. 
 
 In laying down, then, some canons of architectural 
 common sense, what first principle shall we start 
 from ? I believe we shall most safely start from the 
 broadest ground, from the enunciation; which I venture 
 here to make, of the principle that whatever variety 
 of forms there may be, whatever may be the different 
 
DEFINITION AND OBJECTS OF ARCHITECTURE. 5 
 
 conditions under which it exists, whatever may be 
 the merits or demerits of the styles of different lands, 
 all architecture implicitly is one — its object is one, 
 and the means by which that object is sought to be 
 attained are also one, however imperfectly they may 
 be realized. For what is architecture ? It is the 
 struggle of the human intellect to assimilate that great 
 physical want of man, the want which he feels for 
 covering — covering for his daily life, covering for his 
 public duties, covering for his religious observances 
 ■ — to that great archetypal idea of beauty which exists 
 everywhere in the human mind. (1.) * This is the 
 first object of architecture itself, architecture pure 
 and simple, the architecture of construction. But 
 next after this architecture of construction, and follow- 
 ing hard upon its heels, comes the ornamentation of 
 that construction ; and this ornamentation no longer 
 directly refers itself to the archetypal idea. Indirectly 
 no doubt it does so, but in the first instance it busies 
 itself with the glorified reproduction of the visible 
 things of nature — of crystallized organizations ; of the 
 forms of vegetable and animal existence ; and above 
 all, with the reproduction of that prime and noblest 
 type of beauty vouchsafed to our sight, the human 
 form. Accordingly, when we consider the various 
 relations of such ornamentation to painting and sculp- 
 ture, we must acknowledge that architecture concerns 
 itself, through them, with all art, and that it therefore 
 ought to be considered in connection with all art. 
 
 Now, having laid this premise down — having 
 realized to ourselves that architecture is the study 
 
 * Tlie luinibcva refer to the explanatory notes at the end of tlie Lecture. 
 
6 SEARCH FOR THE IDEAL. 
 
 of the archetype, and the attempt to reproduce it, 
 where can we best begin our progress ? Where can 
 we — art-pilgrims as we are in this England of 1858 
 — where can we take our first start on that voyage 
 after the ideal ? — where, to make use of a beautiful 
 mediasval myth, may we look for the Temple of the 
 San Graal, the imagined queen and pattern of all 
 building, the great embodiment hallowed by religion 
 of the architectural ideal? (2.) Where can we find 
 a clue to the path which leads up the thorny moun- 
 tain pass to that green vale, and that 
 
 " Windless and crystalline pool, 
 Where ever dwells on unerasing waves 
 The image of a temple built above, 
 Distinct with column, arch, and architrave, 
 And palm-like capital, and over wrought. 
 And populous most with living imagery, 
 Praxitelean shapes, whose marble smiles 
 Fill the hush'd air with everlasting love. 
 It is deserted now, but once it bore 
 Thy name, Prometheus ! " (3.) 
 
 Prometheus, in learned tongue, means the man of fore- 
 thought, the man of common sense. Taking then Pro- 
 metheus, that is common sense, as our guide, where 
 shall we, Englishmen of this waning age, seek the 
 clue which will lead us to that temple of the ideal ? 
 I say that for us, being Englishmen, being Teutons, 
 being Europeans, being members of the great civi- 
 lized and Christian fraternity of nations, there is a 
 very strong antecedent probability that we shall find 
 our starting point in some style of architecture, if 
 style there be, that is English, that is Teuton, that 
 is European, that is civilized, that is Christian, — that 
 draws its own distinctive name from those young 
 
ARCHITECTURE PROGRESSIVE. 
 
 7 
 
 fresh tribes of the North, whose baptism of blood 
 gave second birth to the exhausted peoples. (4.) 
 There is, I say, a strong antecedent probability that 
 in such a style we shall best find our starting point. 
 I might, I believe, produce arguments that would 
 convert that strong antecedent probability into cer- 
 tainty ; but time would fail me, and therefore I shall 
 proceed with the discussion on this assumption of 
 strong probability alone. This I do the more readily, 
 being on the present occasion the mouthpiece of an 
 institution existing mainly to teach that architecture 
 which I now venture to uphold. I shall deal with 
 the point as if it were settled. It may be that art is 
 speeding to its fall ; it may be that it is rising to a 
 noble future : but in either case our task of seeking 
 the ideal is the same. If the world is still in the 
 fresh morning of its youth, then let us toil, and hope 
 to leave to our successors the bright and life-sustain- 
 ing noon-day ; but if the world is verging to its 
 even-tide, let us anticipate a gorgeous sundown. 
 
 Well, then, with these premises derived from this 
 antecedent probability, where, I repeat, shall we find 
 the stand-point for our architecture of the future ? 
 Again, what sort of architecture shall it be ? Shall it 
 be one that is progressive, or one that is stationary ? 
 Upon this head I shall have to submit to you two 
 considerations. The first is positive — it ought to be 
 progressive ; the second is negative — it cannot be 
 stationary. I deal first with the positive proposition 
 that it ought to be progressive ; and that point I will 
 not argue, because it has been reiterated hundreds 
 and thousands of times and in every form. In every 
 
8 
 
 AECHITECTURE STATIONARY. 
 
 lecture, in every journal, and in every book, that 
 doctrine is enforced by arguments drawn from tlie 
 progress of .the world, from scientific discoveries, 
 from literary achievements—drawn from the fact 
 that architecture and all art in every age have always 
 been progressive, whether in a right or a wrong 
 direction. Here I will stop, and leave you to fill 
 up the outline of this portion of my subject for your- 
 selves ; but I must submit a few observations with 
 regard to the second or negative proposition, namely, 
 that architecture cannot be stationary. Here I again 
 revert to the restricted view of the question on 
 which alone I have time to dwell, the one which 
 affects our own country. I shall not do more than 
 remind you that in every age, and under every 
 condition of things, England has had her own pecu- 
 liar phase of architecture. I have already assumed 
 that our art of the future ought to be founded upon 
 Gothic. Granting this, then, and assuming also that 
 our Gothic of the future must be stationary, then it 
 follows that it must stand somewhere, for standing 
 somewhere is the grammatical meaning of the term 
 stationary. But where shall it stand? We know 
 that there is a Gothic of England, a Gothic of 
 France, a Gothic of the Low Countries, a Gothic of 
 Germany, a Gothic of Italy, a Gothic of Spain ; and 
 we know likewise that all these Gothics had an 
 early and a late phase, and most of them a middle 
 or intermediate one. Where then, I repeat, shall we 
 make our standing point? I presume that each 
 country, if we are to have a stationary art, must 
 make its stand within its own circumscription ; and 
 
NO SUCH THING AS STATIONARY GOTHIC. ^ 
 
 the English standing point must therefore be some- 
 wliere in the Gothic of England. Mind, I am arguing 
 now on the stationary view of the matter ; and from 
 that point of view it will be obvious that there can 
 neither be advancement nor retrogression ; for ad- 
 vancement and retrogression are equally contradictory 
 to the idea of stationariness. Gothic, after many 
 ce nturies of glory , was dragged before an unjust tribu- 
 nal, and men fancied it dead ; but it has come to life 
 again. If, however, it has come to life again, it must 
 have done so with all its age upon it. It must be 
 like the statue- queen Hermione, who, when she re- 
 turned to her husband, bore the years and the sorrows 
 of her concealment upon her brow. So must it be 
 with architecture if it is to be stationary. There can be 
 in it no advancement, neither can there be retrogres- 
 sion, though it may have deteriorated during the 
 period of its exile. Thus, by a logic which I defy 
 aniy one to contradict, stationary Gothic can be 
 nothing in England but the late corrupted Tudor of 
 H enry the Eighth ; and it can be nothing in France 
 but the Flamboyant of the House of Yalois. 
 
 No one, I am sure, however antiquarian he may 
 be, will be anxious to accept such a proposition. 
 However pedantically he may make himself master 
 of some one style, and however accurately he may 
 carry out that one style in all its details, he will 
 chioose for himself some style of antecedent date ; but 
 if he does that, what has become of his stationary 
 G<othic ? Of his own free will, by his own private 
 ju<dgment, he has elected some date antecedent to 
 th e disappearance of Gothic ; and so, in short, he has 
 
 B 3 
 
10 
 
 ENGLISH GOTHIC." 
 
 become not stationary, but eclectic. There is, there- 
 fore, no such thing as a stationary school of Gothic — 
 every school must be eclectic. There must, I say, 
 be progress ; and progress must select where it can, 
 in order to make its progress sure. 
 
 The only theory of architecture then which responds 
 to that common sense which we have set up as our 
 supreme tribunal — the only style of common sense 
 architecture for the future of England, must be 
 Gothic architecture, cultivated in the spirit of pro- 
 gression founded upon eclecticism. 
 
 But here our difficulties only begin. The next 
 question is, what are we to eclect? that is, what are 
 we to choose out? for it is no good to talk of select- 
 ing unless we have some field to gather from. Here 
 again we have to ask, where shall we make our 
 starting point ? and how far shall our foraging pro- 
 cess extend ? No doubt we shall eclect in the first 
 instance from our own land. It may be in the 
 recollection of many of you that some fifteen or 
 twenty years ago a warm controversy raged as to 
 the best starting point for that which was then our 
 only dream, the development and perfecting of our 
 English Gothic. There was a strong party in favour 
 of the First style ; there was another party, also very 
 strong, in favour of the Middle style ; and there were 
 a few outsiders in favour of Norman and of Perpendi- 
 cular. The war continued for some time ; but at last, 
 rightly or wrongly I do not say, for I guard myself 
 from being supposed to speak of my own personal 
 predilections— at last, I say, the victory declared 
 itself to be on the side of the Middle or Decorated 
 
FOREIGN GOTHIC. 
 
 11 
 
 style, as the golden mean of English Gothic. And 
 the decision seemed to be a wise one ; for it fixed upon 
 tke highest point, the crown of the bridge, from 
 which we could look backwards and forwards — from 
 which we could survey all surrounding landscape. 
 For some time we rejoiced over so easy and pleasant 
 a decision of the question. It got rid of all the diffi- 
 culty, and it certainly flattered our insular pride. We 
 w^ere the best men in the world — nobody was like 
 us — nothing like our style. But this insular pride 
 could not long endure. Knocks were heard at our 
 door from many quarters. We found out, and we 
 soon began to realize from the very bottom of our 
 soul, that there was after all such a thing as foreign 
 Grothic — that it was a noble and a multiform thing, 
 amd one that had many claims upon our admiration. 
 F irst came the Gothic of France — free France, with 
 its unrivalled churches, and its enthusiastic band of 
 y(Oung art-writers headed by the intrepid and noble- 
 h(earted Montalembert. These buildings and these 
 writers not only arrested our attention and com- 
 manded our respect, but they went far to convert 
 miany of us from our admiration of the Middle style 
 to one for that sterner and more severe Gothic 
 which is the idol of French writers ; a feeling which 
 h;as recently received a fresh impulse from the 
 competition for the cathedral at Lille. Hard upon 
 this entry of French architecture a voice reached our 
 shores from Germany. The completion of Cologne 
 C!athedral, the rebuilding of St. Nicholas at Ham- 
 biurgh, and the art movement at Munich — all tended 
 to enforce the claims of Germany on our attention. 
 
 B 4 
 
12 NECESSITY OF UNIVERSAL ECLECTICISM. 
 
 Scarcely had those claims and those of the Low 
 Countries begun to be investigated, when English 
 artists discovered that both their predecessors and they 
 themselves must hitherto have been blind ; for in Italy, 
 and in the very States of Rome itself, there existed 
 another Grothic very different from their own, but yet 
 possessing its own peculiar graces. Those graces im- 
 pressed themselves upon our tourists with irresistible 
 force, and the feeling was perhaps heightened by a 
 sense of the wrong which had previously been done 
 to that style. (5.) We may thus look upon Italy as 
 being likewise able to furnish its contribution to our 
 future style. 
 
 From these observations it will be easy to collect 
 what is the present attitude of the Grothic party in 
 England. There is, first, a strong feeling in favour 
 of the Middle style, and then another party, much 
 smaller indeed, but still numbering amongst it very 
 able supporters, whose preference is for the Early 
 style. Next come the persons, be they many or be 
 they few, who have plighted their first allegiance to 
 the schools either of France or of Italy. How then 
 are we to act ? Is any English style by itself suffi- 
 cient for all our needs ? Assuredly not. Is French 
 by itself sufficient ? I will not say it is. Is Italian 
 Gothic ? Certainly not. Are all these, Early and 
 Middle English, French and Italian, collectively 
 sufficient for our wants ? Not even so. We must 
 have something more broad and comprehensive even 
 than this for our starting point. We must have 
 peace, but peace in this case can only be gained 
 by comprehensiveness. In our early days, when 
 
PROGRESS THROUGH ECLECTICISM. 
 
 13 
 
 we admired English exclusively, we, as it were, 
 mounted Snowdon. "We got up to the top of our 
 land only to be struck with its insignificance. Now 
 we are ascending Mont Blanc ; but I would go on 
 till we have scaled the world's highest peak, and 
 planted our standard on the summit of Mount 
 Everest. For where can we pause ? Where can we 
 become too comprehensive? To be truly eclectic, 
 we must be universally eclectic — we must eclect 
 from everything that has been collected ; and we 
 must assimilate and fuse everything that we eclect, for 
 without such fusion the process remains after all only 
 one of distributive collection. We must bring to- 
 gether, and mutually accommodate, not merely Early 
 and Middle English, but Gothic architecture of every 
 age and every clime. The pure English school was 
 very logical in choosing the Middle style of English 
 architecture. We must do the same thing on a larger 
 scale, and bring together for ourselves some new 
 middle style out of universal Gothic architecture. 
 And even then we may be only storing up ma- 
 terials for our successors. Ours is only an eclecticism 
 of the past, and there may be — I imagine there will 
 be — an eclecticism of the future. With the progress 
 of manufactures, and the development of natural 
 products, both yielding to us out of the earth mate- 
 rials of singular richness of colour and great durability, 
 what new sources of beauty may not be discovered ? 
 Even now we seem to be literally realizing the ancient 
 prophecy that " for stones" we shall have " iron ;" and 
 increased resources for ornamentation, in the shape of 
 new vegetable and mineral productions from every 
 
14 
 
 PROGRESS THROUGH ECLECTICISM. 
 
 land, are day by day laid at our feet. This must in 
 time revolutionize all architecture ; but I believe it 
 will be a peaceful, and not a destructive revolution. 
 I believe that all changes of this kind will not sup- 
 plant, but supplement the good tradition of the old 
 time ; and, therefore, I feel that in our eclecticism of 
 the past we are in no danger of running counter to, 
 but we shall rather aid, the eclecticism of the future. 
 For myself, at present, I will only endeavour to 
 grapple with the eclecticism of the past, and thus con- 
 tribute one stone to the coming structure. 
 
 Here, then, to hark back to first principles, we 
 have to perform this task — we have to progress 
 through eclecticism ; we have to eclect out of the art 
 of the past; we have to select out of the Gothic of 
 our ancestors ; and to do this we must select every- 
 where, from Italy, from France, from the early and 
 middle days of England. But are we to stop here ? 
 Is there nothing else from which to select and assimi- 
 late? 
 
 I am going to make an assertion which will 
 perhaps seem to contradict a great deal that has 
 been stated in art writings of great authority, at, 
 least in these latter days. But I should be sorry to> 
 stop even at the point I have hitherto indicated. 
 There is much that we can select from in the later- 
 Gothic, both of England and the Continent. I know 
 it is very easy, because it is very true, to talk about, 
 the germs of corruption that manifested themselves i 
 even in the later phases of the Middle epoch. It is; 
 still more easy, because still more true, to dwell! 
 upon the corruptions and distortions of French. 
 
CLASSICAL AND GOTHIC AKCHITECTURE. 15 
 
 ;and German Flamboyant, and English Perpendicular. 
 ;But true and easy as such assertions are, it is an 
 •easiness which shuts its eye to one side of the case ; 
 it is in short a truth which is after all but a half-truth. 
 Distorted and corrupt as the latest style no doubt is, 
 it nevertheless includes vestiges of life, which may be 
 destined under happier auspices to burst forth into a 
 new and a glorious existence. 
 
 If there is one axiom more undeniable than another 
 — I am not now attempting to contrast the respective 
 merits of the two principles, but simply venturing a 
 naked statement of fact — it is this : that Classical ar- 
 chitecture is horizontal, Gothic architecture is vertical ; 
 Classical is the architecture of super-position, Gothic of 
 germination and continuity. Taking, then, germina- 
 tion and continuity as the norm of Gothic, let us enter 
 an Early English building, possibly one of the period 
 when the style had just emancipated itself from 
 Norman — or let us, instead, enter an Early French 
 cathedral— and what do we see ? Pillars surrounded 
 by shafts, and capitals with very broad abaci (which 
 in French buildings are actually square) ; we see 
 likewise arch mouldings very different in their 
 section from the shafts over which they are placed ; 
 we see horizontal string courses tracing deep hori- 
 zontal lines of shadow ; we see square Hntels ; we see 
 low-browed pediments to the niches ; we likewise see 
 windows and triforia disposed in horizontal strips. 
 The circular window, with wheel-shaped tracery, is 
 also very common. Outside we shall behold spires 
 growing out of towers with strong horizontal base- 
 strings, and pyramidal turrets at the corners; we 
 
16 EARLY FRENCH— ITALIAN GOTHIC— FLAMBOYANT. 
 
 shall see all these features, and many more besides, 
 all strongly flavoured with the horizontal principle. 
 (6.) We shall see, in short, that Early Grothic is 
 strongly impregnated with that horizontality which 
 it inherited from Norman, which Norman in its 
 turn received from earlier Romanesque, which Ro- 
 manesque drew straight from Roman, and Roman 
 received in free gift from Ephesus and Athens. 
 
 Again, in Italian Gothic these same peculiar 
 features are found, and the heavy cornice more- 
 over predominates. I do not in these criticisms 
 necessarily imply any blame. There is, in fact, great 
 massiveness and beauty of effect in this horizontality. 
 Every architect deals with it more or less, and it 
 comes out in every phase of Gothic art. So, too, 
 with regard to the second style. The manner in 
 which tracery is put in windows, and the geometrical 
 forms which it there assumes, and which, you know, 
 has actually given the name of "geometrical" to 
 the earliei phase of that style, in some respects rather 
 resembles super-position than continuity. 
 
 Now, then, let us change the scene. Let us take 
 a Flamboyant building. Here we shall see a great 
 deal of poverty, a great deal of scrambling orna- 
 ment, a great deal of vulgarity ; but with all that 
 poverty and vulgarity we shall also see real con- 
 tinuity. Even in that feature which has provoked 
 the censure of every critic who ever entered Ant- 
 werp Cathedral, the column-mouldings carried up 
 into the arch without the intervention of a capital, 
 and vaulting shafts running up from the floor to 
 the centre of the groined ceiling, we perceive the 
 
FLAMBOYANT— ENGLISH PERPENDICULAE. 17 
 
 principle of continuity consistently acted upon. So, 
 too, in secular buildings, we shall find in Flamboyant 
 the same principle ; for the windows ascend in ver- 
 tical strips instead of standing side by side in hori- 
 zontal lines, as in the earlier style. There, too, 
 gables abound as they did not in earlier days. I 
 cannot, it is true, give in my adhesion to the doctrine 
 of those who would dryly divide all Gothic into dis- 
 continuous and continuous ; for, like many other 
 rough attempts at generalization, this fails from 
 being too rough. But it is, nevertheless, a fact that 
 the theory of continuity finds its complete consum- 
 mation in Flamboyant alone. It is, indeed, remark- 
 able enough, that an essential principle of Gothic 
 construction should thus have been perfected in a 
 style which possessed the other characteristics of 
 Gothic in so inferior a degree. 
 
 To come to the Perpendicular of England, we there 
 find two different principles at work. The essential 
 construction of the style exhibits the same continuity 
 as Flamboyant, but this construction is overlaid by a 
 remarkable ornamentation peculiar to that style, and 
 having little in common with Gothic — an ornamenta- 
 tion formed by the intersection of lines placed at 
 right angles, and forming a series of parallelograms 
 adjoining each other. This must, I think, have 
 been the invention of some one individual architect. 
 Twelve years ago there came out, in a periodical, 
 a suggestion in an article on Gothic architecture, 
 which was anonymous, but of which I was myself 
 the author, that this principle, though merely one of 
 ornamentation in Perpendicular, inight shadow forth 
 
18 
 
 ENGLISH MIDDLE POINTED. 
 
 a new and positive style of which the constructive 
 characteristic should be intersecting lines disposed 
 in parallelograms. That idea in its strictest develop- 
 ment was four years afterwards realized in a great 
 public building — Sir Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace. 
 (7.) Perpendicular is in reality Flamboyant with an 
 ornamentation, which you will find carried out to 
 its utmost development in the Crystal Palace. But 
 we must not in our future Grothic too rudely reject 
 the suggestions of Flamboyant and Perpendicular. In 
 looking at one of the great Flamboyant cathedrals 
 of France, one is reminded of the German legend 
 of the giant whose body was so weak that it 
 might be overset by a child, but who was gifted 
 with a shadow so awful in its might that it over- 
 turned troops of men, and threw down the trees on 
 which it happened to fall. Qr to take another 
 illustration : it reminds me of a tale I once found 
 in a foolish railway story-book, in which, however, 
 there was a great deal of imagination. It was the 
 tale of an artist who fell in love with a very ugly 
 woman, within whose countenance he was enabled, 
 by the force of his scientific perceptions, to detect the 
 lineaments of an inner beauty which she ought to 
 have had, but which she did not happen to possess. 
 
 But I believe that much more may be expected 
 from a style which I must ever protest has not had 
 justice done to it — I mean the later phase of English 
 Middle Pointed, so familiar to the student of Rickman 
 imder the name of Flowing Decorated. That style, 
 indeed, carried its death-warrant with it from the very 
 first. In spite of its gracefulness, the hectic flush 
 
EARLY GOTHIC OF ENGLAND. 
 
 19 
 
 was always upon it ; but still it claims our admira- 
 tion for the momentary and incomplete glimpse it 
 gives of a richness and a beauty which have never 
 yet been attained in any phase of architecture. 
 
 These, then, are some of the arguments, relying on 
 which I dare challenge for the later styles of English 
 and Continental architecture that they shall contri- 
 bute to our future eclectic art. I shall perhaps be 
 met— justly met — with the objection, that the Early 
 Gothic of England, particularly in the days before it 
 had quite emancipated itself from Eomanesque, and 
 that even more so the Early French Gothic, are pre- 
 eminently masculine. I feel the truth of this remark ; 
 and I little envy the soul of that man who does not 
 feel himself moved when he stands beneath the stern 
 male choir of Shoreham or of Canterbury. The style 
 is indeed overpowering — it is indeed masculine. But 
 when we give it the praise of being masculine, do we 
 give it all praise ? Are there no graces which by 
 Divine ordinance are attributable to the other half of 
 created nature ? Shall art, which should be the mirror 
 of all nature, fail to shadow out half creation ? To 
 have shadowed out half may have been a great thing 
 for past art to have achieved ; but shall we, who 
 are the disciples of common sense — we, who advo- 
 cate progress by eclecticism, be ever contented with 
 half measures? Shall we not scorn any thing 
 less than the whole? We must avoid luxurious- 
 ness; but let us at the same time take care that 
 we do not fall into stiffness and singularity. We 
 may admire the semi-circle, and nobody does admire 
 it more than I do ; we may admire still more the 
 
20 
 
 THE OGEE. 
 
 purity of the lancet arch ; but let us remember that 
 in created nature lancets and semi-circles are rare. 
 For one lancet or semi-circle in nature you will find 
 a multitude of that extremely beautiful form, the 
 ogee. Honour, then, I say, to the unknown artist — 
 honour to the man who in the golden years of archi- 
 tecture enlisted the ogee into the service of his 
 glorious art! His successors may have toyed and 
 dallied with their darling until they made it the 
 symbol of weakness and luxury ; but in its due sub- 
 ordination, such as we find it in the later of the two 
 archways at Bury St. Edmund's, there is no one who 
 will not feel that the introduction of the ogee was a 
 splendid contribution to the resources of architecture ; 
 and I need not remind you that it is only found in 
 the later styles. 
 
 Thus I hope I have given you some reasons why 
 in our architecture of the future we must take up 
 the early and the middle period of English and French 
 Gothic ; and, while we do so, not neglect the later 
 styles. But we must also have recourse to the me- 
 diaeval architecture of Italy. We know that the 
 progress of modern discovery has yielded to us the 
 serpentine of Cornwall, the red and grey granites of 
 Scotland, and the tiles, of many a rainbow hue, pro- 
 duced in Staffordshire. Our lessons in surface colour 
 ornamentation, thus rendered necessary, must be 
 principally learned in Italy. (8.) So again, the sys- 
 tem of our street architecture often demands cornices, 
 where our ancestors would have used gables ; and 
 the laws of the cornice must likewise be studied in 
 Italy. Upon these considerations, therefore, I should 
 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECLECTIC STYLE. 
 
 21 
 
 say that the Gothic of Italy must also yield its share 
 to the eclectic style of the future. (9.) 
 
 If we hold fast these principles — if we give to our 
 architecture of the future the distinct characteristics 
 of each past style — if we make it as masculine as 
 Early French where we wish it to be manly, if we 
 make it as feminine as Decorated English where we 
 wish to give it the graces of the gentler sex, what 
 boundless variety would it not offer to the imagina- 
 tion ! We may wish a building to have somewhat of 
 the rough aspect in its basement which the classic 
 artists obtained by the use of what they call " rustica- 
 tion ;" then let us make the lower story in an early 
 style, and those above continuous. Or we may wish 
 to give the architectural effect of a cornice without 
 the practical objections existing against it, and then 
 our lower stories may be continuous, and they may 
 be crowned by a story of horizontal arcading of an 
 early style. Again, our windows, instead of being 
 arranged in horizontal groups, might assume the 
 vertical-strip form of later days ; but still there would 
 be the deep cutting, the light and shadow, of earlier 
 times, instead of the flimsy mullions of the succeeding 
 styles. Sometimes the windows would have mullions, 
 sometimes pillars, but everything would be exactly 
 where it was wanted. I do not even see why those 
 windows which are curvilinear in their plan, such as 
 we find in Henry the Seventh's Chapel, should not 
 be occasionally pressed into the service. (10.) But 
 here you may ask, where do you mean to stop, what 
 will you not absorb ? I answer, I will stop where 
 common sense tells me to stop. When I can no 
 
22 
 
 ECLECTICISM IN PAINTING. 
 
 longer assimilate I will cease to absorb : I will absorb 
 nothing which common sense forbids, but I will go 
 on till common sense interposes a check. I will ab- 
 sorb and assimilate everything on which common 
 sense has not laid its ban;-! would even rifle the 
 treasure houses of Classic att, and carry off the spoil 
 of llenaissant. There were great men in Greece and 
 Rome, and in the times of the Renaissance, and they 
 built brave buildings; and I do not see why the 
 true-hearted architect of the future should withhold 
 his hand from any advantage that he might make 
 his own out of the palaces of Rome, of Athens, and 
 of Florence. (11.) 
 
 So much for Architecture. I have not left myself 
 much time to deal with the other arts ; but as I have 
 presumed to address you upon the Common Sense of 
 Art generally, I will add a very few remarks upon 
 Painting and Sculpture. 
 
 However much we may admire any particular 
 phase of pictorial and sculpturesque art, we must 
 acknowledge that the broad distinction between what 
 in architecture is called Classical and Gothic does not 
 exist in them. (12.) There are painters and sculp- 
 tors, no doubt, whose Christian temper delights us, 
 and there are others likewise whose Pagan sentiment 
 repels; but there is not that thorough distinction 
 between the two schools which we find in architecture. 
 In painting, then (not to mention sculpture), common 
 sense teaches us that eclecticism may more easily be 
 compassed — that there are fewer surface difficulties in 
 making good its claims than we find in the sister, or 
 rather the mother art of architecture. Honour to those 
 
ECLECTICISM IN PAINTING. 
 
 23 
 
 ardent souls who rebelled against the trite conven- 
 tionality of academic rules, who wished to strike out 
 new paths for themselves, who looked at the purity 
 and freshness of nature, and threw themselves back 
 upon the old tradition of a more simple time ! But I 
 cannot honour the study of rudeness for rudeness's 
 own sake. I cannot look with any satisfaction at the 
 idea of rejecting the study of antecedent and emi- 
 nent artists simply on the ground that they were aca- 
 demical. To do that, is really to deal as much in the 
 exclusiveness of academicism as the very academicians 
 against whom the innovators protest. I will go with 
 them in repudiating with disgust the trite imitation 
 in painting and in sculpture of academic models, be- 
 cause the beauty of such models is of the vulgar and 
 inferior sort ; but let me remind you that the true 
 protest against such vulgar and inferior beauty is not 
 the literal reproduction of vulgar and inferior ugli- 
 ness, but the raising of the standard of ideal beauty. 
 No doubt our second and third rate painters have 
 long been very negligent in their outlines — no 
 doubt atmospheric effects have been distorted by 
 mere canvas coverers ; but the same Creator who 
 made the mountains and the fields, made also the air 
 and the mist ; and He never intended that every- 
 thing far and near should be seen with the same 
 clear, sharp outline. He never intended that the 
 followers of truth should reject 
 
 " The light which half conceals 
 The shapes which it reveals," 
 
 Everything need not be seen under a hot noonday 
 sun ; every leaf and flower, however distant, need 
 
24 
 
 THE IDEAL OF ART. 
 
 not be drawn with the same exact, hard distinctness 
 as it scarcely appears even to the most clear-sighted. 
 Things ought to be shown as they appear to the 
 majority of the world, including those who are 
 unfortunately, like myself, more or less short-sighted. 
 We must not be led astray by new school doctrines 
 any more than by old ones. There is a common 
 sense in all things. If we are called upon to represent 
 a scene in mythological or still more in Scriptural 
 history, we must try not to be too natural, not to be 
 vulgar. We must try to be ideal ; for depend upon 
 it, in representing these things ideally there is a 
 more real reality — one which is far better than any 
 mere copying of models. For example : if an artist 
 is called upon to represent some touching episode of 
 the Old Covenant, some deeply pathetic scene in the 
 history of the chosen people, I should certainly not 
 counsel him to choose his models from among the 
 loathsome denizens of a modern Ghetto. 
 
 So much for the ideal of art. If, however, you want 
 to represent real life, be real. Imitate what you see, 
 but ennoble what you imitate. Imitate in every 
 detail ; for you have many great masters who will 
 teach you how to do it. You have artists who are 
 most literal not only in their mass, but in their least 
 minutiae ; and yet are broad in their general effect, 
 and noble through their very truthfulness : such was, 
 to quote one who is great amongst the greatest 
 names, although hardly known in this country in his 
 grandest style, Van der Heist. On the other hand, you 
 will find men who are literal enough in their general 
 grouping, while they cleverly caricature actual life, 
 
THE NEW SCHOOL. 
 
 25 
 
 yet are slovenly in their details, and vulgar in their 
 tone, like our Hogarth (13), a man whom, with his 
 undoubted talent in his own line, I should never set 
 up as the model of a school. Such imitation as his 
 was not the way of our fathers in art ; such was not 
 the doctrine of Phidias ; no, nor of the men who 
 filled the niches of Ohartres and of Wells ; such ideas 
 never entered the imagination of Fra Angelico and 
 Memling ; such principles would have been repu- 
 diated by that great reviver in England of ideal art, 
 the ever-to-be-honoured Flaxman. But in whatever 
 outbursts of eccentricity the new school may indulge 
 — and I believe that their outbursts are nothing 
 more than eccentricities — ^these are probably to be 
 reckoned, and to be condoned, as the results of a 
 youthful sense of power, of sportfully essaying how 
 far the principles they espouse may be carried. 
 
 I still honour the spirit which gave birth to the 
 movement, and I amply recognise the evidence 
 it gives of revived originality. There is now in 
 our painting and in our sculpture a principle of 
 reality such as we have never known before. It 
 indicates an amendment ; so does our architecture. 
 How long that march may last I cannot tell. In all 
 I have said I have dealt with my subject matter as if 
 the prospect of perfection were certain in this nether 
 world ; but we know that such anticipations are in 
 reality most uncertain. We know that the brightest 
 flowers are the first to fade. We know that the 
 noblest aspirations are oftenest nipped into despair or 
 soured into cynicism. But it is not for us to toil and 
 labour on in any such hopeless spirit ; for the ruin of 
 
26 
 
 ENCOURAGING PROSPECTS, 
 
 a cause is most readily and rapidly brought about by 
 the disheartening of those who are its own champions, 
 and its success is best attained by the courageous, 
 the cheerful, and earnest spirit of those who seek to 
 further it. Let us therefore resume our search after 
 the true ideal, our search after common sense, as if 
 every man in this assembly felt the issue depended 
 upon his own exertions ; and we shall then be re- 
 warded by the feeling of satisfaction at duty done in 
 our own minds, whatever the material issue may be. 
 For it is certain that when we are convinced of a 
 truth, to toil and labour, to suffer, and even, if it needs 
 be, to die for it, is the common sense not only of art, 
 but of all human life. 
 
( 27 ) 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 (1.) It may be urged in reply to this statement that the first 
 object of architecture is to assimilate this covering not to any 
 ideal, but to the more utilitarian end of its being sufficient for its 
 object in durability and imperviousness. But I hold that this 
 objection answers itself, as ideal beauty involves not only the 
 gratification of the eye by the exhibition of the perfection of form, 
 but the gratification of the understanding through that perfection 
 of form likewise fulfilling to perfection the practical object for 
 which it is created. 
 
 (2.) The part which the " San Graal," or " Holy Grayle" (the 
 cup used at the Last Supper), plays in Arthurian Romance, is 
 well known. In the German imagination of the fouLrteenth cen- 
 tury, the tradition assumed an architectural form, in the metrical 
 romance of Titurel, supposed to be written by one Albert of 
 Scharffenberg. The poet there minutely describes a superb 
 circular temple or church, miraculously built by King Titurel, to 
 contain the Graal, in terms which leave no doubt that he gave 
 rein to his imagination of a Gothic cathedral immeasurably 
 glorified. Its circular form, and the details given of the order of 
 religious knights, the Templists (married, by the way, and 
 hereditary), who were supposed to watch over the Graal, show 
 that Albert modelled his conception on the Church of the Holy 
 Sepulchre at J erusalem, and the Eound Churches built in imita- 
 tion of it by the Knights Templars in Europe. The circular 
 Lady Chapel at Treves, the first great Gothic production of Ger- 
 many, also seems to me to have been present to his mind. The 
 shrine of the Graal of course occupies in his temple the position 
 of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. Those who wish for further 
 information on this subject will find it in an essay by M. Sulpice 
 Boisseree, published in the Transactions of the Munich Academy 
 for 1865, and in two papers by M. Van den Berghe, in M. Didron's 
 Annales Archeologiques for 1857. 
 
28 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 (3,) The reader can hardly fail to notice that although, con- 
 sidering Shelley's school and age, it is highly improbable that he 
 thonght of any but a classical temple, yet that these lines, talking 
 of " arch " and " palm-like capital," are far more applicable to 
 a Gothic structure. 
 
 (4.) The strong claims of France to have perfected Pointed 
 architecture do not militate against the attribute which I have 
 set up of its being Teuton, as the portions of France in which it 
 first showed itself were the Frankish royal dominions (//e de 
 France), the half Flemish Picardy, and the Germanized Burgundy, 
 not the Celtic Britanny, or the Romance Provence. 
 
 (5.) My father's posthumous History of Architecture, and Pro- 
 fessor Willis's work, both published in 1836, were, strictly 
 speaking, the books which first pressed the existence of the 
 Italian Gothic upon the English mind. The seed thus sown did 
 not, however, fairly sprout up for about ten years. In the interim 
 occun^ed the heyday of the pure English school. 
 
 (6.) The disposition of nookshafts, internally and externally, 
 in this style, evinces a strong horizontal feeling ; so, to take a 
 special example, do the wheel-like flying-buttresses at Chartres. 
 
 (7.) Ecclesiologist, June, 1846 — "The Ecclesiologist in 
 reply to Mr. E. A. Freeman." The reader will permit me to 
 quote a few sentences from this article, resuming my argument 
 on the peculiarity of Perpendicular : — 
 
 " A new style all at once prevailed, of which the leading 
 characteristic was the universal prevalence of vertical lines. 
 
 *' The elaborate tracery of other days gave place to series of 
 vertical menials, more or less numerous, running continuously, or 
 nearly so, from the bottom to the very summit of the windows, 
 sometimes branching off in the head, but if so, either including 
 some other order of vertical monials, or else, at the most, one or 
 two quatrefoils or sexfoils, inserted without any apparent reason, 
 and in utter want of keeping with the rest of the window — these 
 vertical monials being always tied together in the head, either 
 by a series of flat foliated arches having the appearance of 
 horizontal lines, or else by a transom, of which the lower part is 
 scooped into a series of foliated arches betAveen the monials, 
 while the upper line continues horizontal, such transoms fre- 
 
NOTES. 
 
 29 
 
 qtiently occurring in the lower part of large windows at graduated 
 distances. The whole effect of one of these windows, especially 
 of the larger sort, taken separately, is that of a piece of panel- 
 work, — an area arbitrarily cut out of an infinite plane of panels : 
 they are not self-contained. We perceive that the windows are 
 no longer treated as separate important members of the building ; 
 that even if externally they put on this independent appearance, 
 yet internally that they are no more than members (that is, we 
 own, in the more elaborate and therefore more complete speci- 
 mens of this style) of an infinite series of points; that in short 
 there being windows at all is an accident — that they might be 
 wholly or partially walled-up, and the building would not be 
 less true to its type. We study the nave arches, and we find even 
 these, in some of the more completely developed emanations, of 
 the * Perpendicular ' spirit, — St. George's and Henry the 
 Seventh's chapels, for instance, — so completely subordinated to the 
 panelling as to be very small in actual dimensions, very 
 secondary in general effect. We assert that the panelling in 
 question — though it never became constructional, and though 
 the Pointed arch was still retained, albeit of a depressed shape 
 and oftentimes of veiy scant dimensions — is yet the ' differential ' 
 of the new style ; that it was the germ of a revolutionary element, 
 which continued ever gaining more and more strength, and 
 would at last, speaking theoretically — had not revived Pagan 
 swept Tudor-panel and four-centred arch away together — have 
 predominated, and at length developed Perpendicular architecture 
 into a new species of architecture utterly foreign to Pointed. 
 Whether, in point of fact, it ever would have abandoned the 
 manifold uses of the arch is another question. 
 
 " This, however, only proves its worthlessness : it proves that 
 it was an invention behind the wants and capacities of its age, 
 and one therefore that never could be legitimately developed ; 
 anyhow it would have probably dropped the pointed form of 
 arch. 
 
 " This new architecture promised to resemble Grecian in its 
 employment of straight lines. It would have been, like that, an 
 architecture of posts and beams : but different from it, in that 
 Grecian sought effect by grandeur of mass and appalling bulk, 
 by rearing the lofty coliunn, and supporting the menacing 
 entablature upon the massy shaft ; while ' Perpendicular' would 
 
30 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 have aspired after the richness arising from the multiplicity of 
 parts, would have made its posts numerous, and its beams small, 
 and so produced an easy but gaudy system of surface decoration. 
 
 " In short, we believe ' Perpendicular,' so far as it was 
 developed, to have been, like Eoman, a chaotic and impossible 
 combination of the two opposite principles of the arch and the 
 entablature ; the difference being that, while in Eoman the new 
 principle was cloaked in the construction, and the ancient orna- 
 mentation was desperately pushed forward, in ' Perpendicular ' 
 the new element obtruded itself everywhere as the causa 
 formalis of beauty, and only partially (as in the windows) 
 assumed a constructional value. As a proof of the truth of our 
 remarks we will beg our readers to consider a bay of St. George's 
 and of Henry the Seventh's chapels. First, let them suppose the 
 depressed arches of the arcade to become segmental. Then the 
 pointed element would disappear, except from the clerestory, 
 from which also it might however be eliminated by a similar 
 process. 
 
 " Would, however, the buildings suffer any very great alteration 
 in their general aspect ? Very few, we suppose, would think so. 
 But suppose still further (constructional impossibility not being 
 for argument's sake considered) that these arches were altogether 
 removed, and the flat lines of the large containing panels alone 
 retained, would the general aspect of the buildings be changed ? 
 We cannot of course but think that there would be a considerable 
 change ; but we assert that it would be one which would not 
 utterly alter the general aspect of the buildings — one certainly 
 which would not at all tend to make their panelled character 
 misplaced and unnatural." 
 
 In this article I trace, as I have not attempted in the Lecture, 
 the gradual growth of continuity in Gothic, in 'answer to my 
 friend and antagonist, Mr. E. A. Freeman, who argued for the ab- 
 solute division of Gothic into discontinuous and continuous. As not 
 xmfrequently happens among controversialists, we were pro- 
 bably much nearer each other's opinions than the position we 
 took up enabled us to see. I find that I also argued at that time 
 for eclecticism in the style of the future. 
 
 (8.) Marbles of great beauty have been discovered in New 
 South Wales. A friend has kindly sent me some specimens of 
 
NOTES. 
 
 31 
 
 them. Therefore, the future architecture of the antipodes ought 
 in its own behalf to incorporate those lessons in the use of 
 polychromatic material which Italy affords. 
 
 . (9.) I should, of course, wish to see each country maintaining, 
 for the present at least, its antecedent " differentia" (the result in 
 each case no doubt of the climate, &c.) as the dominant character 
 of its future style. Thus the future English Gothic would retain 
 the characteristics of the English Gothic of earlier days, modified 
 by that of France, Italy, &c. On the other hand future Italian 
 Gothic ought to start from the Gothic of mediaeval Italy, while 
 borrowing modifications from France, Germany, England, &c. It 
 was in this spirit that the committee for building the Memorial 
 Church at Constantinople stipulated that the competitors should 
 conform their designs to the spirit of Southern Gothic. A 
 Northern, still more an English Gothic church in Constantinople 
 would obviously have been a startling eccentricity. An age in 
 which national distinctions could be wholly abrogated must be 
 very different from anything which we are able to imagine. 
 
 (10.) I ought to have alluded to the Perpendicular wood 
 carving shown in screens, roofs, <fec., as possessing marked 
 excellence, and therefore as deserving peculiar study. 
 
 (11.) I hardly need say that, as my Lecture is merely intended 
 to be suggestive, I should equally include Byzantine and Saracenic, 
 and indeed all architecture, among those out of which the archi- 
 tect of the future ought to assimilate his materials. To Byzantine 
 in particular he is primarily indebted for the cupola, a feature 
 which he must make his own. 
 
 (12.) A seeming distinction exists in the pattern of the dress, 
 or no dress, which the painter or sculptor bestows on his figures. 
 But I think I shall have the suffrages of men of common sense in 
 general in treating this distinction as one merely on the surface. 
 The expression of the worst feelings of the most corrupted days of 
 Pagan art may appear in features peering out of the wimple ; while, 
 on the other hand, the purity of many of Flaxman's undraped 
 females cannot be exceeded. I here pronounce no abstract opi- 
 nion on the question of the nude in art ; I merely wish to remove 
 that question out of those which are in direct dispute between 
 the Classic and Gothic schools. 
 
32 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 (13.) Van der Heist is chiefly known in England as a painter 
 of single portraits ; but ttose who desire to appreciate his powers 
 should study his great picture at Amsterdam, the ' Schutters 
 Mahltyd.' In this work the various full-length figures, all por- 
 traits, are grouped with consummate ability, while the acces- 
 sories, each by itself most minutely finished, are all subordinated 
 to the general effect. — Hogarth was a great humorist: he had 
 the sense of the ridiculous. He was not a great artist ; for he 
 wanted that balance of all merits which makes up common sense. 
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, 
 , AND CHARING CROSS. 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHURCH AND MONASTERY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE AUSTIN FRIARS, 
 
 CITY OF LONDON. 
 
 BY THE REV. THOMAS HUGO, M.A., F.S.A., ETC. 
 
 WESTMINSTER: 
 
 PRINTED BY J. B. NICHOLS AND SONS, 
 25, PARLIAMENT STREET. 
 
 1861. 
 
From the 
 
 Transactions of the London and Middlesex Ai'chmological Society. 
 Vol. II. 
 
AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 Of the various Religious Houses, numerous and magnificent as 
 they were, which once adorned the City of London and the 
 immediate vicinity of its walls, very few traces yet remain, and 
 those are to be sought for by the sagacious eyes of the archseologist 
 and the architect, rather than force themselves on the notice of 
 the uninstructed observer. The great calamity of the 17th cen- 
 tury availed to remove the last memorials of many of these 
 structures, although the absence of them is almost equally marked 
 in those quarters of the city to which the ravages of the Fire did 
 not extend. The Priory and Hospital of St. Mary Spital, for 
 example ; the Priory of the Crutched (or Crossed) Friars, near 
 the Tower; Eastminster, near Tower Hill; the Priory of Holy 
 Trinity, by Aldgate ; the House of the Black Friars, by Ludgate ; 
 and that of the Carmelites, in Fleet Street, — have alike passed 
 away without leaving a vestige of their former glories, and are 
 unremembered, save in the pages of our old chroniclers, and in 
 those MS. records which are the fountains of our historical and 
 legal literature. While of the House of the Grey Friars, by 
 Ludgate, only a few arches can be noticed among the modern 
 buildings of Christ's Hospital; of the Priory of St. Helen, some 
 fragments, apparently of the crypt, are occasionally found in 
 the neighbourhood that still retains its name; and of that of 
 St. Bartholomew, but a few old walls and sculptured stones may 
 be observed, amid the labyrinth of lanes and tenements that con- 
 stitute Bartholomew Close and Cloth Fair. Even of the churches 
 belonging to these communities four alone are left, — St. Bar- 
 tholomew-the-Great, St. Helen, Austin Friars, and the Temple. 
 
2 
 
 AUSTIN FKIAllS. 
 
 The history of one of these — and many architects would not 
 quarrel with me, I think, if I called it the most imposing of the 
 four,— so fiir as I can trace it from legal records and early chro- 
 nicles, as well as from the yet visible features of the scene, is a 
 history well worthy of a serious ear. 
 
 No eye could have followed from point to point the picturesque 
 outline of mediaeval London, without being arrested by a build- 
 ing to which I desire to draw attention. It lay nearly in the centre 
 of the main group of edifices, and was evidently the house of a 
 large and wealthy establishment. It was possessed of an exquisite 
 adornment, which shall presently be treated of in detail ; and its 
 lofty church and wide-spreading walls were conspicuous, with the 
 frowning inclosure of the city in their iinmediate rear. The 
 ground on which it stood was of many acres in extent, with 
 frontages to the streets on several sides. The entrance was by 
 a south gate to the west porch. It was the magnificent House 
 of the Friars Hermits of the Order of St. Augustine, and one 
 of the first in England for position and importance. It had 
 a long and interesting history, and was also reserved for a won- 
 drous destiny, noAV all but forgotten, and to be sought for, not so 
 much among the cautious statements of the moderns, as in ancient 
 monuments, the description of eye-witnesses, and the veritable 
 declarations of our national records. A portion of the old walls 
 themselves, with a few windows in them of extraordinary beauty, 
 was all that the spoilers allowed to remain, and to attest the ex- 
 cellence of that which they destroyed. And there, happily, they 
 continue still — spared by the Great Fire, and thus alone remem- 
 bered by most — in the centre of and overlooked by numberless 
 offices, and in the midst of one of our busiest mercantile quarters. 
 The details of active commercial life are daily being transacted 
 where once was the chosen seat of monastic learning and religious 
 privacy ; and letters are brought from and addressed to localities 
 whose names are to the writers as household words, which were 
 beyond the limits even of the very imaginary maps that stood in 
 the library of the good fathers who here found a sacred home. 
 Hardly can any more wondrous and curious instance be found, [ 
 presume, than that of the London church and monastery of the 
 
AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 3 
 
 Augustiniansj the site of which, although now devoted to so 
 widely different purposes, still breathes of the use to which it was 
 anciently consecrated, and yet bears the designation so pleasantly 
 smacking of olden usages, of" Austin Friars." 
 
 It was so long ago as the year 1253 that the good Humphrey 
 Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, founded this house, " to the 
 honour of God, and His blessed Mother, ever virgin, and for the 
 health of the souls of himself, his ancestors, and descendants." 
 Another Humphrey Bohun, the grandson (?) of the former, and 
 the successor in his title of Earl of Hereford and Essex, built 
 the structure, a fragment of which still remains, about the year 
 1354, just a century subsequent to the first foundation. The 
 domestic buildings were no doubt of great excellence, but the 
 special glory was the conventual church. This edifice had all the 
 magnificence of a cathedral. It consisted of a nave, yet remaining, 
 of 153 feet in length, by 83 in breadth, with ample transept and 
 choir. Some of the characteristics of the Decorated style can here 
 be observed in their peculiar beauty, the windows of the north 
 and south aisles having heads filled with flowing tracery, while 
 that over the west door exhibits (although, I fear, it is but a 
 restoration) the geometrical arrangement which no doubt charac- 
 terised the original. If we may judge from the part yet visible, 
 with a description of which I will conclude, the chief House 
 of the Austin Friars was indeed worthy of the society to which 
 it belonged. But it was richly gifted in the possession of 
 another and peculiar source of an interest almost unearthly. 
 Beneath the pavement of the vast church, which every here 
 and there still exhibits, in the empty sockets of monumental 
 brasses, the use to which it was formerly dedicated, there was as 
 noble a fellowship of death as can well be imagined. I find by 
 recent examination that there are now visible thirty-six slabs, one 
 of which contains the socket of a full- sized brass, apparently of a 
 priest, though the figure is almost obliterated; one, of a small 
 figure under a very beautiful fourteenth-century canopy with a 
 bordering inscription; seventeen, each of one or more small 
 figures, mostly of laymen, without canopies, but with bordering 
 inscriptions; one, of a cross; and sixteen, each of one or more 
 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 shields, witli small inscriptions at tlie foot. Besides those, there 
 is a very fine incised slab, with a fourteenth-century foliated cross 
 and obliterated inscription. These slabs do not retain their 
 original position, but have been used as paving-stones, and placed 
 where they were needed among modern memorials of the dead. 
 The sexton assures me that several others were visible about four- 
 teen years ago, but were then covered', and now lie concealed 
 under a floor of boards which occupies a large portion of the nave. 
 This enumeration, although necessarily imperfect, will give us 
 some idea of the number and variety of the earlier adornments of 
 this most interesting place. The Society was greatly revered, and 
 the consignment of the body for interment within its precinct 
 was a common occurrence alike among the nobles of the realm 
 and the citizens of the surrounding metropolis, hardly less power- 
 ful and worshipful than they. I have transcribed from the Harl. 
 MS. 6,033, ff. 31, 31 b, 32, and from No. 544 of the same collec- 
 tion, the long list of those who are recorded as lying interred 
 within these venerated walls. 
 
 " The Bodyes buryed in the flfryers Augustyn of London, 
 founded by the Earle of Herford. 
 
 In the Quyre. 
 
 Ffirst, Edmund, first sonne of Joan mother of King Richard 
 the second. 
 
 It'm, in the wall lyeth Sir Gwydon de Meyrick, Earle of St. 
 Paules. 
 
 Dame Ida, wife of Sir Thomas West. 
 Dame Margarett West, without a stone. 
 It'm, Nicholas. 
 
 Stephen Hindercke, esq. [Hynndemole, MS. Harl, 544]. 
 
 In the middest lyeth Sir Humfrey Bohun Erie of Herford 
 & Essex, lord of Penbroke [Breknoke, Harl. 544]. 
 
 It'm, the lord Richard, great Earle of Arundell, Surrey, & 
 Warren. 
 
AUSTIN FRItVKS. 
 
 5 
 
 It'm, S"^ Edward Arundell and Dame Elisabeth his wife. 
 
 Vnder the Lampe lyeth S"" Ffrauncis Courtney & the Earle 
 of Penbroke, w'^'i maryed Alyce sister of therle of Oxenford. 
 
 In the middest lyeth Dame Lucye, Countes of Kent, [& one 
 of ye heires of Barnbe Lord of Millayns, w^^ an epitaphe. 
 
 Edward, D. of Buclcyngham. 
 
 Gwiscard, Erie of Huntyngdon. Harl. 544. 
 
 Dame Lucie Knoles, of Kent. Harl. 544.] 
 
 S"" Peter Graynsers [Greynfirs, Harl. 544.] Knight of Ffraunce, 
 and with him lyeth his sonne Sir Thomas. 
 
 It'm, the lord [John, Harl. 544] Yere Earle of Oxenford. 
 
 It'm, Aubred, sonne and heire of therle of Oxenford. 
 
 S'^' Thomas Tudenham, knight. 
 
 S'^ WiUm Bowrser, lord Warren. [Fitzwaren, Harl. 544.] 
 Sr Thomas de la Land, knight. 
 
 It'm, with John Vere lyeth his wife Dame EHsabeth. 
 
 Dame Joan Norrys. 
 
 It'm the ladye Bedford. 
 
 Anne, daughter of John Vicount Welles. 
 
 In the walking place by the Quire. 
 Ffirst, Walter Maynell, esq. 
 It'm, S"" John Manners, knight. 
 
 In St. Thomas Chappell. 
 In the syde Chappell lyeth the wife of S^' Davye Cradock, 
 knight. 
 
 It'm, mother of the Lord Spencer, wife of S'" Bartholmew 
 Badelsmer. [Baddlegate, Harl. 544.] 
 
 In St. Johns Chappell. 
 Ffirst, John, sonne of S^' John Wingfeild. 
 It'm , the Lord Anglure of Ffraunce. 
 
 It'm, by him the Lord Tremeyll [Tremayne, Harl. 544] of 
 Ffraunce. 
 
 Itm, S'^' Water Mewes. 
 It'm, Robert Mcwenton, esq. 
 
6 
 
 AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 In the Chapter House. 
 First, Phillipp Spencer, sonne of S"^ Hugh, 
 Dame Isabell, daughter of Hugh. 
 
 In the bodye of the Churche. 
 Dame Julyan, wife of S'' Richard Lacye [Lucie, Harl. 544]. 
 S"^ Thomas Courtney, sonne of the Earle of Devon, and by 
 him lyeth his sister, weddid to Cheuerston. 
 It'm, the daughter of the Lord Beaumont. 
 Two sonnes of S"" Thomas Morley, viz. Wittm and Raphe. 
 S"^ Wittm Talmache, knight. 
 Nicholas Blondell, esq. 
 Richard Chamblayn, esq. 
 It'm, John Halton, esq. 
 
 John GyfFord, knight. 
 It'm, Thomas Maningham, esq. 
 It'm, S'' Wiftm Kenod, knight. 
 S'' Wittm, sonne of S' Thomas Tyrrell. 
 It'm, John Surrell, gent. 
 
 In the East winge of the Churche. 
 First, Margarett Barantyn, gent. 
 John Spicer, esq. and Lettice his wife. 
 It'm, Margarett Sparcy, gent. 
 It'm, Dame Julyan Alberton. 
 It'm, John le Perceres, esq. 
 Thomas Wygmore, esq. 
 Roger Chybury, esq. 
 Peter Morowes, esq. 
 Thomas, sonne of Wittm Berland. 
 James Chitting, esq. 
 John Chornott, esq. 
 Wittm Kenley, esq. 
 Thomas West, esq. 
 
 Margery, wife of Thomas Bande, and daughter of John Howche. 
 
 It'm, between St. James aulter and St. Mary lyeth the Lord 
 Wittm, Marques of Barkley and Earle of Nottingham, and dame 
 Joane his wife. 
 
AUSTIN FlilAKS. 
 
 7 
 
 In the west winge of the Church. 
 First, S"" John Tyrrell and Dame Katherin his wife. 
 S"" Walter Attepoole, knight. 
 S"" John Blank well and his wife. 
 
 Dame Jane [Sayne, Harl. 544], daughter of S"* John Lee. 
 
 At her head lyeth John Dawbeny, sonne and heir of S'' Gyles. 
 
 Joan, wife of Richard Aylisburye. 
 
 Wittm, Sonne of S'" Roger Scroope. 
 
 Dame Joan Dawbeny, wife of S'' Wiilm Dawbeny. 
 
 Thomas Charles, esq. 
 
 It'm, S"' John Dawbeny, knight, & by him his sonne Robert. 
 
 S"" James Boell, knight. 
 
 It'm, S*" Oliuer Mawney, knight. 
 
 Henry Deskay, esq. 
 
 [Sir Diones Mordaske, knight, Harl. 544]. 
 By him S^' Barnard Rolingcourt. 
 S"" Peter Kayer, knight. 
 
 S-" Wittm Tyrrell, brother of the other S'" Wiflm [and Ser 
 William his brothar, Harl. 544]. 
 Wiltm CoUingbourne, esq. 
 Roger Clifford, knight. 
 [Sir Thomas Coke, drapar, maior. 
 William Edward, grocer, maior, 1471. 
 Some have Ser Philipe Coke, knight, Harl. 544].* 
 Sir Robert Sheffield, knt., 1518. 
 
 Sir James Tirell, Sir John Windany, knts., 1502. Sir John 
 Dawtrie, knt., 1519. Dame Margaret Rede, 1510. 
 
 Of the William, Marquis of Berkeley, mentioned above as 
 interred in the " East winge," Dugdale says that he left the 
 society lOOZ. in money, to say two masses henceforth for ever at 
 the altar of our Lady and St. J ames, where the body of his second 
 wife lay buried. This lady was daughter of Sir Thomas Strang- 
 ways, kt , and widow of Sir William Willoughby, kt. She died 
 on St. Matthias's Day, in the first year of King Richard III. 
 A.D. 1484.t 
 
 * MS. Harl. 6033, ff. 31, 31 b, 32. MS. Harl. 544, ff. 66, al. 76, 68 b., al. 
 78 b. t Dugdale, Baronage, vol. i. p. 365. 
 
8 
 
 AUSTIN FKIARS. 
 
 Besides those already mentioned as being interred in the church, 
 there must not be forgotten several members of the family of Scot of 
 Stapleford Tawney, in Essex. William Scot, of that place, by 
 his last will, bearing date 1490, ordered his executors to provide, 
 " assone as they goodly may, to be seyd and songe for his Sowic 
 and the Sowlys of his Fadyr and Modyr, Benefactours, and al 
 Chr-isten Sowlys, in the Covent Chyrch of the Freers Austyns of 
 London, by the Freeres of the seyd Place, xxx masses, which 
 bene callyd a Trental of S. Gregory, &c. Also in the seyd 
 Covent Chyrche of Freeres Augustines, by the Covent of the 
 seyd Place, a Dirige and Mass of Requiem by note, if it happen 
 hym there to decese. And to the same Freeres for the same 
 Dirige and Mass to be kept, that is to sey, the Principal thereat, 
 beyng x^ to the Pryor, x'. ; to the Freeres which shall syng the said 
 Mass of Requiem, xij"^; to every other Freer of the same House 
 being a Pryest, and helping at the same Dirige and Mass, viij^; and 
 to every other Freer of the same Howse, being no Pryest, help- 
 ing therein, lykewyse iiij*^." 
 
 I hardly need add, that this list is interesting, not only in an 
 heraldic or genealogical, but also in an architectural point of view. 
 The mention of the various chapels and of the chapter-house, for 
 example, enlarges our notions of the general effect of the entire 
 structure, though it only makes us regret the more the woeful 
 destruction to which it has been doomed. 
 
 But I have yet to call attention to a feature which was, perhaps, 
 the most conspicuous and striking of all to a stranger, especially 
 to one whose eye rested from a distance upon the picturesque 
 group of edifices on which we are now employed. Above all 
 that varied grandeur of the richest and loveliest kind, there 
 rose a steeple which was one of the architectural marvels of 
 London. Old Stowe calls it "most fine," and describes it as 
 furnished with a spire, "small, high, and straight; I have 
 not," he adds, " seen the like.'^ Possibly this spire, which 
 the chronicler thus signalizes as unique, may have been similar 
 to those examples which, though rare in England, are not un- 
 frequent in France, where, instead of the spire being apparently 
 solid, or with entire faces of ashlar, and small openings at 
 
AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 9 
 
 several heights, it was composed of that rich tracery work in 
 which the architects of the Decorated period were wont to 
 luxuriate. Some of my readers will recollect such a spire, tech- 
 nically called a fieche^ in the Sainte Chapelle at Paris, and in 
 that wondrous work of constructive genius, the Cathedral of 
 Amiens. Such a spire may have graced the steeple of Austin 
 Friars ; and if so, English eyes would hardly ever be weary of 
 gazing on its exquisite proportions, or of watching its graceful lines 
 of shadow, as they fell upon the tall turrets and high-pointed 
 gables by which it was surrounded. In a remarkable tempest of 
 wind, which did immense damage in London in the 1362, it was 
 overthrown, but was forthwith rebuilt. There it stood for cen 
 turies, and might have endured to the present hour, but for what 
 the old historian calls " private benefit, the only devourer of 
 antiquity," against the violence of which nothing is strong, sacred, 
 or secured. 
 
 The Austin Friar was a man of mark in the days of scholastic 
 divinity. It was in the year 1251 that Innocent IV. granted the 
 Order his permission to go into distant countries, to build monas- 
 teries, and to celebrate divine service everywhere. They passed 
 over into England in that same year, and presently established 
 themselves in London. They soon sent a few of the brethren to 
 Oxford, and their presence at once raised the standard of learning 
 in that University. They were the speedily acknowledged 
 masters both in philosophy and divinity. It was in their school 
 that the Divinity Acts were kept, and no man could be admitted 
 to the degree of bachelor without once a year disputing, and 
 once answering, at the Augustinians. They were, it appears, the 
 eyes of the place and the leaders of its literature. 
 
 The Austin friar was just such an ecclesiastic as an artist would 
 have loved to sketch. He wore a long black gown, with broad 
 sleeves, with a fine cloth hood, or cowl, when he went abroad, 
 and in choir; but under this, and when he was in his house, a 
 white habit and scapulary, and was girdled about the waist with a 
 black leathern strap, fastened with a buckle of ivory. He was 
 rather, as it appears, fond of elegancies, and did not recognise 
 one or two days of mortification, which the more austere Car- 
 
10 
 
 AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 melites most rigidly and carefully observed. He was, however, a 
 hard student, wherever he lived, whether among the shades of 
 academic bowers, or in localities less favourably situated for 
 mental development. In remarkable times he was a remarkable 
 man. 
 
 The House in London was the head House of the Order. It 
 would naturally be so, from its position, though I am not aware 
 that its prior was always, though he was often, the recognized 
 head of the English brethren. The residents, though probably 
 not so actively employed in' educational works as those at Oxford, 
 were much and widely celebrated. From the time of their 
 foundation downward, a regular succession of learned men lived 
 and died within their precincts. There was, for example, the 
 acute and controversial Banchin, or Bakin, a famous preacher 
 and disputant. He lived in the year 1382, and was a zealous 
 antagonist of Wicliffe and his followers. , For some time he 
 was the Divinity Professor at Oxford, and was considered 
 one of the greatest of living theologians. Then there was the 
 famous John Lowe, also Professor of Divinity at Oxford, and 
 provincial of his Order — no man greater in the pulpit than he- 
 The collecting of books, also, was his delight, and the library of 
 this house in London was particularly beholden to him. He was 
 a special favourite of Henry VI., who made him one of his privy 
 council, and subsequently Bishop of Rochester. He died in 1436. 
 Another well-known resident was Thomas Pemkett, whom Leland 
 describes as unequalled in sharpness of disputation, and as being 
 formed so closely after the model of Scotus, " that one egg could 
 not be more like to another, or milk to milk." His memory was 
 so acute that, it was said, if Scotus's ponderous volumes had been 
 destroyed, he would have been able to replace them, with hardly 
 the loss of a word. In the metaphysical philosophy of Aristotle, 
 and the practice of the scholastic logic, he had no superior. He 
 died here in 1487. Lastly, and to furnish an example of a famous 
 brother of this house skilled in yet another department of learn- 
 ing, there was the no less celebrated prior, John Tonney , the Trench 
 of his age, great in the niceties of language, and the properties 
 of words. He left treatises behind him on the quantities of sylla- 
 
AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 bles, on the mode of making verses, on wit and rhymes, and on 
 the rudiments of grammar. There was no lack of books in 
 Austin Friars' library. I can tell you, even now, the names of 
 some of them, written down for us by an eye-witness. Prior 
 Lowe, as I said, had well furnished it with all the books that he 
 could collect. There was of course the History of William of 
 Malmesbury, which seems to have found a place in every monas- 
 tic bibliotheca. There was also the Historiola Adami Murimu- 
 tensis Canonici Sancti Pauli Londini, not long since committed 
 to the printing press, under the auspices of the Historical Society. 
 The " Epistles of Ennodius," the " Homilies of Maurice," and 
 others, were there conspicuous. A certain Dejlorator Matthm 
 Parisiensis Historici was also there; and, for more private use, 
 the treatise of the Lincoln Saint De Oculo Morali, and another, 
 De Resurrectione Domini. Then, in the chamber of the librarian, 
 why in that place I know not, whether for secret study, or for 
 keeping others from temptation — there were some tracts of Wic- 
 liffe. These latter were among the libri rariores of the age.* 
 
 There are several entries in the Patent and Close Polls 
 referring to this celebrated House. The first that I have noticed 
 is of the 27th year of King Edward I., and conveys the royal 
 licence to William Marchaund to give and assign to the brethren 
 a certain place of ten perches in length and five in breadth, with 
 its appurtenances, situate in Oreford; and to said brethren to 
 accept the same, with the usual reservations of the lord's rights, 
 services, &c. The patent is dated at Westminster, the 5th of 
 April, 1299.t 
 
 The second is a writ certiorari, and orders an inquiry to be 
 made by the Sheriffs of London of an encroachment alleged to 
 have been made by the Friars in the erection of certain walls in 
 the parish of All-Hallows-by-the-Wall, and in the parish of St. 
 Peter of Bradestrete. Dated at Westminster, 4th of July, 
 132Lt 
 
 The next is in pursuance of the verdict of a jury, and conveys 
 
 * See Leland, Collect, vol. iv. p. 54. 
 
 + Pat. 27 Edw. I. m. 31. Appendix No. I. 
 
 t Claus. 14 Edw. II. m. 1. App. No. II. 
 
12 
 
 AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 licence to John de Handlo to give to the prior and brethren a 
 messuage and a garden adjoining their House, for the enlarge- 
 ment of the same. A reservation was made of ten shillings a-year 
 from the tithes and oblations of the tenants of the same, situate 
 in the parish of St. Peter of Bradestrete, and of the fruit of the 
 trees that grew there, in favour of the parson of that church 
 and his successors. The aforesaid messuage and garden being 
 further held of the king in capite, and charged with an annual 
 payment of twenty shillings to the prior of the Church of Blessed 
 Mary of Suthewerk, these services and payments were to be con- 
 tinued. The instrument was dated at Somerton, 12th of Octo- 
 ber, 1334.* 
 
 Eleven years afterwards another licence was granted in favour 
 of the community. On this occasion it was addressed to Reginald 
 Cobham, and conveyed permission to give to the Prior and 
 brethren three messuages with their appurtenances situate in 
 London, and held of the king in capite. These premises also 
 were stated to be given for the enlargement of the House. The 
 licence was dated at Westminster, 20th of April, 1345.t 
 
 In the 37th year of Edward HI. further benefactions are 
 recorded. The instrument sets forth that the prior and convent 
 had obtained from William de Heston, sometime prior of the 
 new Hospital of St. Mary-without-Bisshopesgate, in the suburbs 
 of London, and from the convent of the said hospital^ a certain 
 tenement with its appurtenances in the aforesaid city some time 
 since the property of Isabella daughter of Gerard Bat ; and from 
 John de Abiton, afterwards prior, and the convent of the afore- 
 said Hospital, another tenement in the said city with its appur- 
 tenances formerly belonging to Arnald le Tanner; and from 
 certain other persons certain tenements with their appurtenances 
 in the aforesaid city, whereof some belonged aforetime to Hugh 
 Moton, and some to Peter le Coefrer; also from John de Here- 
 ford, citizen of London, a certain parcel of ground with its 
 appurtenances, in the said city, formerly belonging to William 
 
 * Pat. 8 Edw. III. p. 2, m. 21, App. No. III. 
 t Pat. 19 Edw. III. p. 1, m. 17, App. No. lY. 
 
AUSTIN FRIAKS. 
 
 13 
 
 de Parys, boiirscr; also from John de Bradeford and Isabella his 
 wife certain tenements with their appurtenances in Froggemere- 
 street, in St. Olave's Lane in the said city. Further, that Jordan 
 de Langele, and Margery his wife, who had previously been the 
 wife of Richard de Raygate, had given tliera, to the end of the 
 life of the said Margery, a certain garden with its appurtenances 
 in the aforesaid city; and that Isabella, Cecilia, and Margaret, 
 daughters and heiresses of the said Richard, to whom the rever- 
 sion of the said garden belonged on the death of the aforesaid 
 Margery, had surrendered all right and claim in the said garden ; 
 and also that James, sometime prior of the said Hospital, the 
 successor of John aforesaid, and his convent had surrendered all 
 right and claim to seventy-eight shillings and tenpence of rent 
 issuing from the tenements aforesaid. That these lands, tene- 
 ments, and rents, had been accepted and appropriated without 
 the royal licence. That, although these properties were outlawed, 
 yet that of his special grace the king had pardoned the outlawry; 
 and that he gave to the prior and brethren his licence to hold 
 without hindrance the tenements, &c. aforesaid, the statute of 
 mortmain notwithstanding, with reservation of the customary 
 services. Dated at Westminster, the 30th of April, 1363.* 
 
 It may be presumed that many of these parcels of land were 
 adjacent to the monastery. Some, as we have seen, are expressly 
 stated to have been so, and to have been given for the purpose 
 of enlarging the premises. The conventual church we know to 
 have been in process of erection at this very time ; and it is pro- 
 bable that part if not the whole of the ground on which it stood, 
 was acquired in the manner which has just been related. 
 
 There is yet another document entered upon the Patent Roll 
 of the 17th of Richard II., but it gives us no further information. 
 It is a charter of Inspeximus, recounting the particulars of the 
 lastmentioned instrument, and adding to them a further ratifica- 
 tion and confirmation. It is dated at Westminster, 18th Decem- 
 ber, 1393.t 
 
 * Pat. 37 Edw. III. p. 1, m. 20, App. No. V. 
 t Pat. 17 Ric. II. p. 1, m. 4, App. No. VI. 
 
14 
 
 AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 Thus, then, for several centuries the house of the Austin Friars 
 continued to flourish in rest and peace — one of those great hu- 
 manizers, which prevented mediaeval society from becoming one 
 unvarying scene of riot and misrule. It was from such walls as 
 these that the mighty leaven emanated, which gave the times all that 
 they possessed of learning, refinement, and moral excellence. It 
 was here, and here alone, that the various and discordant elements 
 could and did unite, and where men could meet on one common 
 ground — the ground of Christian brotherhood. Within these 
 walls, century after century, was one or more of the recognized 
 masters in the sciences then known. Either the prior or one of 
 the brethren was a man of celebrity, a professor at Oxford, a re- 
 nowned controversialist, an admired preacher. Austin Friars 
 was thus the centre of artistic, intellectual, and pious effort, and 
 the very name of this beautiful house was synonymous with in- 
 fluences that largely contributed to illuminate and dignify 
 the age. 
 
 I have not room, with the very limited space at my command, 
 nor perhaps is it requisite, to detail the various causes and steps 
 which led at last to its suppression and final overthrow. Few 
 patient students of that age will difler from me when I afiirm 
 that the religious opinions of the sufferers had very little to do 
 with the persecutions and miseries to which they were exposed. 
 It is therefore quite right and natural for any man to be zealous 
 in behalf of things, the possession of which is a constituent of 
 our own happiness, and, at the same time, to visit with the con- 
 demnation which it deserves the atrocious wrong which accom- 
 panied their revival. 
 
 The deed of Acknowledgment of the Royal Supremacy, made 
 doubtless by this among other religious Houses in the year 1534, 
 is not extant. Immediately afterwards the Priory was valued at 
 611. Ad. This represents its income during its last few years of 
 trouble and persecution. 
 
 Even to the last, however, it exhibited the spirit which had so 
 long prevailed within its walls. Ability was still its characteristic. 
 So late as the year 1535 George Brown, one of its members, 
 who had subscribed to the Supremacy, the 20th of April, 1534, 
 
AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 15 
 
 was consecrated to the Archbishopric of DubHn. But the mortal 
 struggle was all but come, and nothing remained but a favourable 
 opportunity for the putting into execution of the long plotted 
 determination to destroy. 
 
 It was on the 12th of November, 1539, that the storm which 
 had so long been threatening burst at length over this devoted 
 House, Thomas Hamond was at that time Prior, and with 
 twelve of his Canons surrendered his monastery to the king. The 
 Deed of Surrender furnishes us with the names of the entire 
 community, thus exposed to the tender mercies of an inex- 
 perienced world. They were Thomas Hamond prior, Robert 
 Howman, William Skott, William Danbe, William Ballard, 
 Thomas Symsun, William Malyn, Robert Myddylton, Thomas 
 Dyccson, John Grome, David Coop, Richard Batte, and Dr. John 
 Stokes. The seal has apparently been torn off, and the document 
 itself has in other respects fared badly, a fact which the late judi- 
 cious attempts at reparation do not avail to conceal. 
 
 Two years afterwards a portion of the site was granted to Sir 
 Thomas Wriothesley. On the 16th of July, 1540, the king 
 granted to the aforesaid the great house or messuage within the 
 site and precinct of the late House of the Austin Friars, to be 
 held by him and his heirs.* The following year another portion 
 was exchanged with Sir William Pawlett, Lord St. John, 13th 
 May, 1541 ;t and others were given to Sir Richard Riche. Lastly, 
 King Edward VL, on the 22nd July, 1550, granted to the same 
 William Lord St. John, and his heirs, in soccage, all the upper part 
 of the church, the choir, transept ("le crosse ile "), and chapels.^ 
 This man had in the meanwhile become Earl of Wiltshire, was after- 
 wards Lord Treasurer, and Marquis of Winchester, and died in 
 1571. This last grant — the cross aisle or transept, and chapels — 
 he used as a place for the stowage of corn, and the choir he made 
 his coal-house. The next Marquis seems to have been a worthy 
 son of a worthy sire. He wanted, it appears, more room and 
 more money; and accordingly sold all the monuments of noble- 
 
 * Orig. 32 Hen. VIII. p. 2, rot. lili. 
 t Orig. 33 Hen. VIII. p. 2, rot. xxxiiii. 
 Orig. 4 Edw. VI. p. 3, rot. xxvi. 
 
16 
 
 AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 men and others tliere, as we have already seen, interred, together 
 with the pavestones, and other moveable things, for 100/., and 
 in place of them made . stabling for his horses. His thrift 
 went still further; for he stripped the lead from the roof of 
 the church, and laid tile instead thereof; which same exchano-e 
 of lead for tile, we read, " proved not so profitable as he looked 
 for, but rather to his disadvantage." 
 
 As an instance of the atrocious disregard of justice, and indiffer- 
 ence to the claims alike of God and man, which characterized those 
 times, I would call attention to the behaviour of the Lord High 
 Chamberlain Cromwell, in regard of property lying immediately 
 contiguous to that now under our review. He built a house for 
 himself where Drapers' Hall now stands. When the house was 
 finished, accompanied, it is said, with a garden sufficient for the 
 taste of any reasonable man, he caused, nevertheless, the pales 
 of the gardens adjoining to the north part there on a sudden 
 to be taken down, 22 feet to be measured directly into every 
 neighbour's ground, a line to be drawn, a trench to be cut, a 
 foundation to be laid, and a high brick wall to be built. The father 
 of the chronicler Stowe had a garden there, and the injured son 
 pathetically bewails the wrong that was perpetrated. He tells us 
 that, in the said garden, there was a house standing close to the 
 south pale. This house he says, they loosed from the ground, and 
 carried on rollers into my father's garden 22 feet, before my father 
 heard thereof No warning was given him ; nor any other answer, 
 when he heard thereof, and spake to the surveyors of that work, 
 but that their master Sir Thomas commanded them so to do. 
 From this specimen of the 'pro ratione voluntas principle, we may 
 clearly understand the chance that churchmen had of escaping from 
 the fangs of this insatiate spoiler. If worshipful citizens could be 
 fleeced with such impunity, poor priests must, necessarily at that 
 period have been more easily coerced. For, says Stowe, no man 
 durst go to argue the matter, but each man lost his land ; and my 
 father paid his whole rent for that half which was left. And he 
 concludes with this sagacious, but at the same time melancholy 
 reflection, by which he apparently seeks to solace himself for the 
 injury which had been done him, " Thus much of mine own 
 
AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 17 
 
 knowledge have I thought good to note, that the sudden rising 
 of some men causeth them to forget themselves."* 
 
 On the site of the House, cloister, and gardens, the first Marquis 
 built a large mansion, called Winchester House, the remembrance 
 of which, I hardly need say, is still preserved in the names of 
 the two Winchester streets and various offices in the immediate 
 neighbourhood. The nave of the church was not pulled down; 
 but, upon petition, was granted by King Edward VI. to the 
 Dutch, to be their preaching-place. The king recorded the 
 circumstance in his Diary, June 29, 1550. By letters patent, 
 dated the 24th of July, 1551, it was appointed that John a Lasco, 
 and his congregation of Walloons, should have Austin Friars 
 — stripped, of course, of all its ornaments — for their church, to be 
 called by them " Jesus' Temple," and to have their service in, 
 " for avoiding all sects of Anabaptists and such like."f In ad- 
 dition to this charter there exists in the State Paper Office a 
 letter — written in February, 1560 — of Queen Elizabeth to the 
 Marquis of Winchester, empowering him to deliver the church 
 to the Bishop of London, for the celebration of divine service 
 for the strangers resident in London. :j: 
 
 The reader will recollect " the fine spired steeple " that was 
 so great an ornament to the House. It endured through all these 
 troubles and desecrations, at least so late as the year 1603, but 
 was much dilapidated. It was, however, an object of such ex- 
 quisite beauty, and the interest felt by the citizens on its behalf 
 was so decided, that, three years previous to this date, a petition 
 was in the first place presented to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen 
 by the inhabitants of St. Feter-le-Poor, and was by them embodied 
 in another, which they sent to the Marquis of Winchester, to 
 whom the property ostensibly belonged. 
 
 " There hath been offered of late,'^ they say, *' unto this Court 
 a most just and earnest petition, by divers of the chiefest of the 
 Parish of St. Peter-the-Poor, to move us to be humble suitors unto 
 
 * Stowe, ed. 1603, pp. 180, 181, 
 
 t Orig. 4 Edw. VI. p. 2, rot. xvii. Hist, of lleformation, vol. ii. book i. 
 n. li. 
 
 t Letters, vol. xi. n. 24. See also Inq. p. ra. 14 Eliz.n. 93. 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 AUSTIN FEIARS. 
 
 your Lordsliip, in a caiise wliich is sufficient to speak for itself, 
 without the mediation of any other; viz., for the repairing of the 
 ruinous steeple of the Church sometime called the Augustin Friars, 
 the fall thereof, which without speedy prevention is near at hand, 
 must needs bring with it not only a great deformity to the whole 
 city, it being for architecture one of the beautifulest and rarest 
 spectacles thereof, but also a fearful imminent danger to all the 
 inhabitants next adjoining." They then complained that his 
 Lordship had, a year before, given honourable promises to repair 
 the structure, which promises, the present letter makes certain, he 
 had dishonourably broken. They reminded him that a small ex- 
 penditure would stay the impending ruin, and that thus his 
 Lordship would do a work very helpful to many, and most grate- 
 ful to all, as well English as strangers — and that they could much 
 rejoice to be thus relieved from having resort to the last remedy, 
 the law of the land, de reparatione facienda — as they kindly quote 
 it, for his Lordship's enlightenment! And then they humbly 
 take leave of his Lordship. — From London, the 4th of August, 
 1600; Signed Nicholas Mosly, Mayor," and many others. But 
 this ignoble nobleman was alike regardless of promise and deaf 
 to importunity; so " the steeple, with the east part of the 
 church, was taken down," and, as Stowe, adds, "houses for one 
 man's commodity raised in the place, whereof London hath lost 
 so goodly an ornament, and times hereafter may more talk of it."* 
 A very few words must be added, before I conclude, on the 
 architectural peculiarities of the church as we now see it. I am 
 of opinion that little if any of it is earlier than the latter part of the 
 fifteenth century, and that the present structure was rebuilt at 
 that period with the older window tracery inserted in the new walls. 
 This tracery is clearly of about the year 1354, the date of the second 
 church {see the figures) ; and the subsequent re-employment of it im- 
 parted an air to the later edifice to which the builders of that day 
 were generally unequal. The nave is of nine vast bays, divided 
 by piers of Late Perpendicular character {see the figures). All 
 over the building — in the shallow mullions and chamfers, in the 
 
 * Stowe, by Strype, vol. i. p 442. 
 
To face page 18. 
 
 WINDOW IN AISLE OF AUSTIN FRIARS CHURCH, LONDON. 
 
To face page 19. 
 
 PIER IN NAVE OF AUSTIN 
 FREARS CHURCH. 
 
AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 19 
 
 seats within the sills of the windows, and especially in the piers 
 just mentioned,— there are clear indications of a late age. The 
 exact position of the steeple must, I fear, remain doubtful. I 
 once thought it probable that this architectural wonder occupied 
 the point of junction between the nave and choir; but the eastern- 
 most piers of the former, if these still remain, seem totally unequal 
 to support even such a weight as that which the accounts of the 
 structure already quoted would lead us to attribute to it. The 
 present roof I do not believe earlier than the reign of James I. 
 even if so early as that period. There is no ornamental glass in 
 the windows save a few quarries with tfjg, and six devices of 
 " Jesus Temple, 1550." The south porch and the organ gallery 
 are works of the seventeenth century, not unpleasing in them- 
 selves, but entirely out of place in the edifice of which they form 
 a part. Of the conventual buildings a fragment may possibly yet 
 be seen in an arch on one side of a courtyard adjoining the north 
 wall of the nave. At this spot the cloister may have been located, 
 and this arch have formed a part of it. The havoc, however, has 
 been so complete and unsparing that this must necessarily be a 
 matter of the merest conjecture. 
 
 The history of the locality from the age of Elizabeth to our 
 own has but few charms, either in a literary or artistic sense; nor 
 does the space accorded to me allow of later detail. As for the 
 preserved portion of the church, the Dutch have retained possession 
 of it until now ; not, however, without sundry alterations, which 
 can by no means be considered improvements. As an example of 
 this, there is an account by a modern writer of the covering of the 
 walls with compo; thus imparting, he says, "a spruce, even appear- 
 ance to the old structure, destroying every appearance of antiquity, 
 and giving to a fine remnant of the monastic glories of London the 
 appearance of a modern gimcrack." This act of vandalism, together 
 with the alteration of the splays of the buttresses, is duly anathema- 
 tized in the Gentleman's Magazine for September, 1831. The 
 interior, however, of the vast nave still presents, amidst all its 
 desolation, a most affecting and magnificent spectacle. The clus- 
 tered piers and exquisite windows, and the noble air and grand 
 proportions of the whole, still possess inspiration for all who can 
 
20 
 
 AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 appreciate the beautiful and the true in architectural science. 
 While not only can Art discourse to us of her marvels, but Reli- 
 gion herself can whisper to us of much — much to be learned, much 
 to be loved, much to be prayed for, much to be deprecated — on the 
 time-worn pavement, beneath the lofty arches, and amidst the 
 venerable walls of " Austin Friars." 
 
 Thomas Hugo. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 No. I. 
 
 [Pat. 27 Edw. I. m. 31.] 
 
 f) Frib) OrdTs Sci Augustini Lond. — R Omib} ad quos ^c. 
 Sal?m. Licet de coi consilio Regni nri statuim^ qd no liceat viris 
 religiosis seu alijs ingredi feodu alicuj^ ita qd ad manu mortuam de- 
 veniat sine licencia nra 1 Capital: Dni de quo res ilia immediate 
 tenef Volentes tamen Ditco nob Wittmo Marchaund gram face 
 spalem dedims gi licenciam q"ntum in nob est qd ipe quandam 
 placiam que continet in se decern ^ticatas ?re in longitudine 1. quinq^ 
 pticatas '^re in latitudine cum ptin in Oreford, dare possit % assig- 
 nare dilcis nob in Xpo Frib3 de Ordine Sci Augustini London 
 Tenend % H'end sibi % successorib} suis imppetuu, et eisdem frib3 
 qd placiam illam ab eodem Witto recipe -possint tenore ^senciu 
 simili? licenciam concedims spalem. Nolentes qd idem Witts vel 
 heredes sui aut pdci fratres vel successores sui rone statuti pdci p 
 nos vel heredes nros inde occonent'' in aUquo seu g'^ven? Salvis 
 tamen Capitalib} Dnis feodi illius '^vicijs inde debitis % consuetis. 
 In cnf Ic. T. B apud Westm v. die April. P ipm Regem, 1, 
 Inquisicoem retornatam de consilio. 
 
 No. II. 
 
 [Glaus. 14 Edw II. m. 1.] 
 
 p Ffib3 Ordinis Scti Augustini London. — B Vicecomitib3 
 London Saltm. Licet ut accepim^ nup ^sentatum fuisset cora 
 Justic nris Itin]antib3 apud Turrim nram London qd Fires de 
 
AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 21 
 
 Ordine Sci Augustini London quandam purpresturam de quodam 
 muro in pochia Ecct Oim Sco^ juxta murum 7 de quodam alio 
 muro in pochia Ecctie Scti Petri de Bradestrete in civitate pdca 
 injuste levatis fecerunt 1 consideratum sit qd muri illi proster- 
 nanf. Nos taraen volentes sup pmissis anteq'^m muri ^dci pster- 
 nanf* pleni^ cciorari, voti pcipim^ qd psternacoi muro^ ^dco^ su- 
 psedeatis quousq^ inde pleni^ informati aliud a nofc sup hoc 
 hueritis in mandatis. T. Ijt apud Westm q'^rto die Julij. p ipm 
 Eegem. 
 
 No. III. 
 
 [Pat. 8 Edw. III. p. 2, m. 21.] 
 
 D' licentia dandi % assignandi t^ras °i ten ad manu mortuam. — - 
 R Omib} ad quos 7c. Saltm. Quia accepimus p Inquisicoem quam 
 p ditcm nobis Jotiem de Pulteneye Majorem Civitatis nre Lon- 
 don 7 Esc^ nrm in eadem Civitate fieri fecimus, qd non est ad 
 dampnu vel ^judiciu nrm aut alio^, si concedam^ ditco % fideli 
 nro Joiii de Handlo, qd ipe unu mesuagiu 7 unu gardinu cu 
 ^tin in London manso ditco^ nob in Xpo Prioris 7 Frm Ordinis 
 Sci Augustini London contigua dare possit 7 assignare ^fatis 
 Priori 7 Frib3. H'end 7 Tenend sibi 7 successorib} suis ad elar- 
 gacoem mansi sui pdci imppetuu- Nisi in boc qd decern solidi 
 annui pvenientes de decimis 7 oblacionib} tenenciu mesuagii p 
 gardini ^dco^ que sunt inf pocbiam Eccte Sci Petri de Brade- 
 strete London 7 de fructib} arbo^ ibidem crescenciu psone Ec- 
 ciie illius 7 successorib} suis subt^'herenf et qd mesuagiu 7 gar- 
 dinu ^dca tenenf de nob in capite 7 on^ant^" annuatim Priori 
 Ecctie Be Marie de Sutbewerk 7 successorib} suis in viginti 
 solidis Nos volentes pdcis Priori 7 Frib} Ordinis pdci gram in hac 
 pte face spalem concessim^ 7 Licenciam Dedim^ p nob 7 heredib3 
 nf is quantu in nob est pfato J obi de Handlo qd ipe Mesuagiu 7 
 Gardinu pdca cu ptiS dare possit 7 assignare eisdem Priori 7 Frib} 
 H'end 7 Tenend sibi 7 Successorib} suis ad elargacoem mansi sui 
 p^dci imppm Et eisdem Priori 7 Frib} qd ipi Mesuagiu 7 Gar- 
 dinu pdca cum ptin a pfato Joho de Handlo recipe possint 7 
 tenere sibi 7 successorib} suis ^dcis imppm sicut ^dcm est tenore 
 ^senciu simili? licenciam dedim^ spalem Statuto de ?ris 7 ten ad 
 
22 
 
 AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 manu mortuam non ponend edito non obstante Nolentes qd pdci 
 Johes de Handlo vel heredes sui aut pfati Prior 7 Fres seu suc- 
 cessores sui rone Statuti illius seu alio^ pmisso^ p nos vel 
 heredes nros Justic Ex Yic aut alios Ballivos seu Ministros 
 nros quoscumqj occoenf^ molestent^ in aliquo seu g'^vent'. Salvis 
 taraen nob % heredib} nris "Svicijs inde debitis 1, consuetis ac pdce 
 psone 1 successorib} suis jure suo in liac pte necnon pdco Priori 
 Be Marie % Successoribus suis redditu suo sup"dco. In cuj^ 7c. 
 T' R apud SorSton xij die Octobf. 
 ¥ bre de pvato sigillo. 
 
 No. IV. 
 
 [Pat. 19 Edw. III. p. 1, m. 17.] 
 
 p Priore J frib} Ordinis Sci Augustini London. — B Omib} ad 
 quos 7 Saltm. Sciatis qd de Gfa fira spali Concessim^ 7 licenciam 
 Dedim^ p nob t lieredib} nris quantti in nob est Ditco 7 fideli nro 
 Reginaldo de Cobliam qd ipe tria mesuagia cu ptin' in London 
 que de nob tenenf in capite ut in burgagio ut dicif manso ditco^ 
 nob in Xpo Prioris 7 Fratru Ordinis Sci Augustini London 
 ibidem contigua dare possit 7 assignare ^fatis Priori 7 Frib} H'end 
 J Tenend sibi 7 successorib} suis de nobis 7 heredib} nris p svicia 
 inde debita 7 consueta ad elargacoem mansi sui pdci imppetuu 
 Et eisdem Priori <^ Frib} qd ipi mesuagia gd ca cu ptih a pfato 
 Reginaldo recipe possint J tenere sibi 7 successorib} suis pdcis de 
 nob 7 heredib} nfs p Svicia pdca ad elargacoem mansi sui pdci 
 imppm sicut pdcm est tenore psenciu simili? licenciam dedim^ 
 spalem statuto de t^ris 7 ten ad manu mortuam non ponend 
 edito non obstante Nolentes qd pdcus Reginaldus vel beredes 
 sui aut pfati Prior 7 Fres seu successores sui rone pmisso^ seu 
 statuti pdci p nos vel heredes nros Justic Escaetores Vicecomites 
 aut alios Ballivos seu Ministros nros quoscumq^ occonenf molestent"^ 
 in aliquo seu g'Vent^'. In cuj^ %. T. B apud Westm xx die 
 Aprilis. 
 
 P Bre de Privato Sig. 
 
AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 23 
 
 No. V. 
 
 [Pat. 37 Edw. III. p. 1, m. 20.] 
 
 Pro priore Conventu Ffm Heremita^ de ordine Sci Augus- 
 tini. — ^. omib} ad quos Ifc. Saltm. Sciatis qd cum ditci nofe 
 in Xpo Prior 1: Conventus domus ffm heremita^ de ordine Sci 
 Augustini London sibi successorib} suis imppm adquisierint 
 vidett de Witto de Heston quondam Priore novi Hospitalis fee 
 Marie ext" Bisshopesgate in suburbio dee civitatis % ejusdem hos- 
 pitalis conventu quoddam ten cum ptin in eadem civitate quod 
 dudum fuit Isabelle que fuit fit Gerardi Bat, J. de Jotie de Abiton 
 postmodum Priore ac dco Conventu pdci Hospitalis quoddam 
 aliud teri cum ptin in eadem civitate quod fuit Arnaldi le Tanner 
 'T. de quibusdam alijs psonis eta ten cum ptin in civitate jpdca 
 quo^ quedam Hugonis Moton J quedam Petri le Coefrer fuerunt 
 t de Johe de Hereford cive London quandam pcellam ?re cum 
 ptin in dca civitate que fuit Willi de Parys bourser ac de Johe 
 de Bradeford % Isabella uxe ejus quedam ten cum ptin in 
 FroggerSestrete in venella Sci Olavi dee Civitatis ac Jor- 
 danus de Langele 1! Marg'ia ux ejus nup ux^ Eici de Eajgate 
 dedissent 1 concessissent ad ?minu vite pfate Marg'ie eisdem Priori 
 t Conventui frm lieremita^ quoddam gardinu cum ptin in Civi- 
 tate ^dca et Isabella, Cecilia, 1! Margareta fit et lieredes ipius 
 Rici quib} revsio ejusdem gardini post decessum pfate Marg'ie nup 
 ux'^is pdci Rici de Raygate spectabat jure hereditario postmodu 
 totu jus clameu que in dco gardino cum ptin ftuerunt ac eciam 
 Jacobus dudum Prior Hospital ^dci successor ^dci Johis prius 
 Prioris ipius Hospital % Conventus ejusdem totij jus % clameu 
 que in sexaginta J decem t octo solidatis t decem denaratis red- 
 ditus cum ptin exeuntib} de dcis ten que fuerunt pdco^ Isabelle 
 fil Gerardi Arnaldi Hugonis % Petri huerunt pdcis Priori J Con- 
 ventui Ffm heremita^ omino p se Iieredib3 suis remiserunt 1: re- 
 laxaverunt que quidem ten gardinu ?ra redditus de nob in libum 
 burgagiu sicut tota civitas pdca tenent"^ iidemq. Prior Conventus 
 Ffm heremita^ omia ten ?ras gardinu redditum ^dca cum ptin 
 virtute adquisicionu donacionu concessionu If relaxacionu pdca^ 
 ingressi fuissent licencia aliquo^ pgenito^ nro^ seu nra sup hijs 
 non optenta ut accepim^. Nos licet eadem ten ?ra gardinu red- 
 
24 
 
 AUSTIN FRIARS. 
 
 ditus pdca cum ptin nofe forisfca de gfa tamen nra spali pdona- 
 vim^ forisf coram ad nos competentem in hac pte l^eciam exitus ad 
 nos de ten pdcis ptinentes rone forisfcure eo^dem. Et volurn % 
 concedim^ p nob 1 lieredib3 nris quantum in nob est qd ^fati Prior 
 7 Conventus Ffm Heremita^ omia ten ?ras gardinu 7 redditu ^dca 
 cum .ptin de pdcis redditu % exitib} exoir^ata 7 quieta beant 7 
 teneant sibi 7 successorib} suis de nob 7 heredib3 nris p "^vicia 
 inde debita 7 consueta imppm sine occone vel impedimento nri 
 vel heredum nro^ Justic Escaeto^ Vicecomitu aut alio^ ballivo^ 
 seu ministro^ nro^ quo^cumq^ dca forisf cura seu statuto de Pris 7 
 ten ad manu mortuam non ponend edito non obstantib3. Et in- 
 sup ex babundanti tarn omimodas ^dcas adquisicoes donacoes 
 concessiones 7 relaxacoes q'^m q^scumq^ alias donacoes conces- 
 siones assignacoes 7 relaxacoes pfatis Priori 7 Conventui Frm 
 Heremita^ de ten 7 redditib} quibuscumq^ tarn que de nob q"m de 
 aliis in dca Civitate post 7 ante dcm statutu confectum p quascumq^ 
 psonas f cas p nob 7 heredib} nris quantu in nob est acceptam^ rati- 
 ficam^ 7 tenore jpsenciu confirmam^ Proviso semp qd iidem Prior 7 
 Conven? Frm Heremita^ aliqua ten nisi p inbitacoe sua ult"^ 
 tanta ten que ad repacoem ejusdem inbitacois 7 ad solucoem 7 
 sustentacoem reddituu 7 on'^um inde debito^ annuatim suffice 
 po?unt in toto non beant quo vis modo. In cujus 7c. T. ft apud 
 Westfn XXX die Aprit. 
 P bre de privato sigillo. 
 
 No. VI. 
 
 [Pat. 17 Ric. II. p. 1, m. 4.] 
 
 D' conflrmacione — R omib} ad quos 7c. sattm. Inspexim^ 
 tras patentes dni E, nup Regis Angt avi nri fcas Priori 7 Con- 
 ventui domus Ffm Heremitar^ de ordine Sci Augustini London 
 in liec vba : Edwardus Dei gra, &c. 
 
 ******* 
 
 Nos ante tras pdcas 7 omia contenta in eisdem rata bentes 7 
 g'^ta ea p nob 7 heredib3 nris quantum in nob est acceptam^ rati- 
 ficara^ approbam^ 7 ditcis nob in Xpo nunc Priori 7 Conventui 
 domus pdce 7 successoribus suis tenore psenciu concedim^ 7 
 confirmam^ put tre pdce ronabili? testanf. In cujus 7c. T' ft 
 apud Westm xviij. die Decembr. 
 
 p dimid marca solut in Hanapio. 
 
JbbaZ Sitneori, 1081-1093. 
 BusJwps Harvey tNeal, 1109 -1174. 
 Bishop RioUl, 1174 -1189. 
 Bishop Eustouykim, 1197 - 1220. 
 Bishop NorthwoU, 1229-1254. 
 Bi^skops Hotha.m , Mottta^ciAZe Sc Ltsh, 1316- Id 61 
 Casing of W. Tower Piers kc 14d4. 
 Uy Bishop Alcock 's Ckannlry, 1488. 
 h Bishop West's CJmunlry, 1334. 
 
 Scale of 100 feet. 
 
OF THE 
 
 CONVENTUAL AND CATHEDRAL CHURCH 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HOLY TRINITY, 
 ELY. 
 
 " DIGNA DEI DOMUS : CUI NOMEN CONVENtT EJUS." 
 
 BY J. W. HEWETT, 
 
 TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE ; ONE OP THE SECRETARIES OF THE CAMBRIDGE 
 ARCHITECTURAL SOCIETY. 
 
 " Keep thy foot when thou goest into the House of God." — Eccles. v. 1. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE: E. MEADOWS; 
 ELY : HILLS ; LONDON : J. MASTERS ; OXFOED : J. H. PARKER. 
 
 1848 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The Compiler of the following pages cannot but be conscious of the 
 disadvantage under which he lies, in writing on Ely Cathedral before 
 the appearance of that valuable series of documents relating thereto, 
 which is now in preparing for publication by the Rev. D. J. Stewart. 
 He ventures nevertheless to hope, that though his present hand-book 
 may be deficient in many particulars of information which might have 
 been derived from those sources if within his reach, yet it will not be 
 found erroneous in what it does contain, for this has been collected 
 from the best authorities at present accessible ; sufficient ones, it is 
 conceived, to justify all that is here attempted, and which have been 
 throughout referred to for the verification of every statement. And 
 here it would be wrong to omit particular mention of Mr. Bentham, 
 whose work on the Minster of Ely was the result of a long and most 
 patient investigation of its recorded history, and a very discriminating 
 survey of its actual condition. Since the appearance of that book, the 
 lapse of three quarters of a century has done much to advance the 
 science of Ecclesiastical Architecture, yet it cannot make us forget 
 how much we are indebted to its Author as the first promoter of the 
 study. 
 
 Should the present manual be of assistance to those who visit the 
 Cathedral of Ely in a catholic spirit, proving neither too technical for 
 the uninitiated, nor too meagre for the Ecclesiologist, its Compiler will 
 be well pleased, and will consider that the Easter vacation, now closing 
 as he writes, has not been unprofitably spent in the accomplishment 
 of his task. 
 
5 
 
 REFERENCES TO THE GROUND-PLAN. 
 
 A Galilee Porch. 
 
 B Tower. 
 
 C South Western Transept. 
 
 D Remains of North Western Transept. 
 
 E Nave with Aisles. 
 
 F Octagon. 
 
 GG Eastern Transepts with Aisles. 
 
 H Choir with Aisles. 
 
 I Lady Chapel. 
 
 a Bp. Alcock's Chauntry. 
 
 b Bp. West's Chauntry. 
 
 cce Site of the Ancient Rood-skreen. 
 
 ddd Remains of Cloisters, (d' Monks' entrance, d" Prior's ditto). 
 e Font. 
 
 f Remains of an apsidal Chauntry. 
 
 ff Remains of a Well or Baptistery. 
 
 h Ancient communication with the Episcopal Palace. 
 
 { Blocked doorway. 
 
 k Chapter-house and Muniment-room. 
 
 I Library, 
 
 mm Vestries. 
 
 1 Site of Bp. Gray's Monument. 
 
 2 Bp. Hotham. 
 
 3 Bp. Kilkenny. 
 
 4 Bp. Redman. 
 
 5 Cardinal Bp. de Luxemburgh. 
 
 6 Tiptoft E. Worcester. 
 
 7 Bp. Northwold. 
 
 8 Bp. de Luda. 
 
 9 Bp. Gunning. 
 
 10 Bp. Heton. 
 
 11 Robt. Steward, Esq. 
 
 12 Sir Mark Steward, Knt. 
 
 13 Brass of Bp. Goodrich. 
 
 14 Brass of Dean Tindal. 
 
 15 Ancient Bishop, supposed to be John de Fontibus, or Geoffrey 
 
 de Burgo. 
 
6 
 
 DIMENSIONS OF THE CATHEDRAL. 
 
 Feet In. 
 
 Length from East to West, exterior 531 0 
 
 Length from East to West, interior , . , . 511 6 
 
 viz. Choir 154 0 
 
 Octagon 71 6 
 
 Nave 203 0 
 
 Tower 39 6 
 
 Galilee 43 6 
 
 Breadth of Choir within the first-pointed pillars . . 33 0 
 Breadth of Nave within the pillars . . . . 33 6 
 
 Breadth of Choir and Nave with their Aisles . . . 78 0 
 
 Length of Eastern Transept 179 0 
 
 Breadth of same with its Aisles 74 0 
 
 Length of Western Transept, restored . . . .1310 
 
 Breadth of same . . , 28 0 
 
 Length of Lady Chapel 100 0 
 
 Breadth of same ........ 43 0 
 
 Height of Western Tower to the Turret Battlements .217 0 
 Height of Octagon to the same . . . • . 170 0 
 Height of Octagon internally ...... 145 0 
 
 Height of Choir 73 0 
 
 Height of Nave Vaulting shafts . . . . . 70 0 
 Height of R.oof-ridge, exterior 104 0 
 
 BISHOPS OF EAST-ANGLIA. 
 
 See Dunwich. a. d. a. d. 
 
 Felix' 631 Ob. 647. 
 
 Thomas 647 — 652 or 3. 
 
 Bonifacius 652 or 3 — c. 669. 
 
 Bisi 669. 
 
 About the year 673, Bisi " being hindi-ed by extreme infirmity 
 from the administration of his Diocess, ^cci and Baduvini were 
 elected and consecrated in his stead : from which time to the pre- 
 sent the province of East-Anglia has been wont to possess two 
 
 1- According to the Monk of Norwich, in Wharton's Angl. Sacr.i. 403, 
 St. Felix and his three immediate successors had their seat at Silthelstowe, on 
 the East coast of Suffolk. Others say for a time at Soham. 
 
7 
 
 Bishops.'" Of these the former had his see at Dunwich, the latter 
 at Elmham. 
 
 See Dunwich. 
 
 Etta (^cci) 673, retired 675, 
 Easculphus, 
 
 Eadredus (Aldberct) occurs in 
 731 and 747, 
 Cuthwinus, 
 Albertus, 
 Eglafus, 
 Hardredus, 
 Alsinus, 
 
 Titefertus occurs c. 787, and in 
 798, 803, 816, 
 
 Weremundus dec. 870, 
 
 See Elmham. 
 Bedwinus (Baduvini) 673, re- 
 tired 675, 
 
 Northbertus, 
 Etelatus occurs in 731, 
 Edelfridus, 
 Lamfertus, 
 Athelwlvus, 
 
 Wnferthus occurs c. 787, 
 Sibba occurs in 816, 
 Hunfertus occurs in 824, 
 Humbrittus" sue. bef. 826, 
 dec. 870. 
 
 Wilredus. 
 
 Both Humbrittus, or Humbertus, and Weremundus deceased 
 A.D. 870, and "Wilredus succeeded them, having, as it would appear, 
 his see at Elmham. The succession continued thus : — 
 
 See Elmham. 
 
 Adulphus, cons, after 938, occurs in 963, 
 
 AfEricus occurs in 966, 
 
 Tedredus, 
 
 Tedredus, 
 
 Edelstanus, cons, before 975, dec. c. 996, 
 
 S. Algarus, dec. 1021, 
 
 Alwinus, dec. 1029, 
 
 Elfricus, dec. before 1035, 
 
 Elfricus Bonus, dec. 1038, 
 
 Stigandus, trs. to Winchester, 1047, 
 
 Grimketel, 
 
 Agelmarus, deposed 1070, 
 
 Arfattus, 1070. Soon after, viz. in 1075, the see was removed to 
 Thetford. 
 
 See Thetford. 
 Arfattus, dec. 1084 or 5, 
 
 Willelmus de Belfago, Dec. 25, 1085, cons, the year after. Dec. 
 c. 1091, 
 
 1. S. Bedae, H.EAv. 5. 
 
 2. "On the 25th of Dec, 856, he crowned Edmund King of the East 
 Angles, and with him suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Danes, Nov. 
 20th, BIO.'"— Wharton. 
 
8 
 
 Herbertus 1091. On April 10th, 1094, the see was transferred to 
 Norwich. 
 
 Thus far we have followed the Monk of Norwich, in Wharton, 
 who gives us no information as to when Cambridgeshire and the 
 Isle of Ely fell under the jurisdiction of the Bishops of Lincoln, 
 neither have we ascertained this point from any other source. Pro- 
 bably it was at the time when St. Remigius removed the see of 
 Wessex from Dorchester to Lincoln, viz. A.D. 1088. 
 
 See Lincoln. 
 St. Remigius, 1088. 
 Robert Bloet, 1092. 
 
 During this episcopate the County of Cambridge was erected into 
 a separate Diocess, having its see at Ely. 
 
 ABBESSES OF ELY. 
 
 St. Etheldreda, 673, dec. June 23, 679. 
 St. Sexburga, dec. July 6, 699. 
 
 St. Ermenilda, dec. Feb. 13. 
 
 St. Werburga, dec. Feb. 3. 
 
 ABBATS. 
 
 Brithnoth, 970, martyred 981. 
 
 Elsin, 981, dec. 1016. 
 
 Leofwin, alias Oschitel, dec. 1022. 
 
 Leofric, 1022, dec. 1029. 
 
 Leofsin, 1029, dec. Nov. 15, 1044. 
 
 Wilfric, 1045, dec. 1065. 
 
 Thurstan, 1066, dec. 1072. 
 
 Theodwin, dec. Dec. 4, 1075. 
 
 The administration of the Abbey granted to Godfrey a monk. 
 
 Simeon, 1082, Nov. 20, 1093. 
 
 Richard, 1100, June 16, 1107. 
 
 Hervey, 1107, 
 
 The Abbacy converted into a Bishoprick, Oct., 1109. 
 
9 
 
 BISHOPS OF ELY. 
 
 Name. 
 
 12. 
 
 Hervey, ft-. Bangor, 
 
 Confirmed 
 . Nigel, Cons. 
 , Ridel, Elec. 
 
 Enthr 
 Cons. 
 
 Wm, Longchamp, Elec. 
 
 Cons. 
 Enthr 
 
 . Eustace, Cows. 
 . John of Fountains, 
 
 Enthr. 
 
 . Geoffrey of Burgh, Cows. 
 Hugh North wold, Cows. 
 "Wm. of Kilkenny, Elec. 
 
 Cons. 
 
 Hugh of Balsham, Con. 
 John of Kirkeby,* Elec. 
 
 Cons, 
 
 Wm. of Luda,5 Elec. 
 
 Conf. 
 
 Cons, and Enthr. 
 Ralph Walpole, 
 
 trs. fr. Norwich 
 Robert Orford, Elec. 
 John of Ketene, Elec. 
 
 Conf. 
 Cons. 
 
 John Hotham, Conf. 
 
 Cons. 
 
 Simon Montacute, 
 
 trs. fr. "Worcester 
 Thomas L'Isle, Cons. 
 Simon Langham, Cons. 
 John Barnet, trs. from 
 "Worcester to Bath & 
 "Wells, thence hither 
 Thomas Arundel, Cons. 
 
 Enthr. 
 
 Consecration 
 or Appointment. 
 
 Oct., 1106. 
 
 June 27, 
 
 Oct. 1, 1133, 
 May 1, 1173. 
 
 May 17, 
 
 Oct. 6, 1174, 
 Sept. 15, 1189. 
 
 Dec, 31, 
 
 Jan. 6, 
 
 Mar. 8, 1197-8 
 Mar. 8, 1220. 
 
 Mar. 25, 
 
 June 29, 1225. 
 June 12, 1229. 
 Oct., 1254. 
 Aug. 15, 1255. 
 Oct. 14, 1257. 
 June 26, 1286. 
 
 Sept. 22, 
 
 May 4, 1290. 
 
 May 
 
 Oct. 1, 
 
 July 15, 1299. 
 Apr. 14, 1302. 
 Mar. 2, 1310. 
 
 July 10, 
 
 Sept. 6, 
 
 July 20, 1316. 
 Oct. 3, 
 
 1337. 
 1345. 
 Mar. 20, 1362. 
 
 Decease 
 or Translation. 
 
 1366. 
 April 9, 1374. 
 April 20, 1376. 
 
 Aug. 30, 1131.1 
 May 30, 1169.1 
 
 Aug, 21, 1189.1 
 
 Jan. 30, 1197.2 
 Feb. 5, 1215.1 
 
 May 6, 1225.1 
 Dec. 17, 1228.1 
 Aug. 6, 1254.1 
 
 Sep.22or23,1256 
 Juiie 16, 1286.1 
 
 March 26, 1290.1 
 
 March 27, 1298.1 
 
 March 20, 1302.i 
 Jan. 21, 1310.1 
 
 Mar. 14, 1316, i 
 
 Jan. 14, 1337,1 
 
 June 20, 1345.i 
 June 23, 1361.8 
 To Cant. 1366.' 
 
 Jime 7, 1373.1 
 To York, 1388.8 
 
 Monarchs. 
 
 Hen. I., Stephen. 
 Stephen, Hen. II. 
 
 Henry II. 
 
 Richard I. 
 Richard I., John, 
 
 Henry III, 
 Henry III, 
 Henry III, 
 
 Henry III. 
 Hen.III.,Edw.I. 
 
 Edward I. 
 
 Edward I, 
 
 Edward I. 
 Edward I., II. 
 
 Edward II, 
 
 Edward II,, III, 
 
 Edward III, 
 Edward III. 
 Edward III, 
 
 Edward III, 
 Edw.III„Ric.II. 
 
 1. Buried in his own Cathedral. 
 
 2. In the Abbey of Pymy, or Pinu, Poictiers ; his heart at Ely. 
 W Spain ; his heart at Ely. 
 
 cratlon ^^^""^^^ * ' "^^^ ordained Priest the day before his Conse- 
 
 Deacorin'Vay^tnlaPrTesVsepHs"' ""^^ ^« ^ 
 
 6. Buried at Avignon. 
 
 resigned Canterbury Nov. 17, 1368, being created a Cardinal He deceased at 
 ^nlSin'^rBL^rcV^cSe?,^' ^"""^^'^^ '° Westminster'S^'and 
 moriah" ^''"'"''"''^ ""''^"'^ deceased Feb. 19, 1413-4, and was buried, but has no me- 
 
10 
 
 22. John Fordham, trs. 
 
 From Durham .... 1388. 
 
 Enthr. Oct. 24, 1389. 
 
 23. Philip Morgan, trs. 
 
 From Worcester . . Feb. 27, 1425-6 
 
 24. Lewis de Luxemburg, 
 
 trs. From Eouen . 1438. 
 
 25. Thomas Bourchier, trs. 
 
 from Worcester 1444. 
 
 Enthr. Mar. 27, 1447. 
 
 26. WiUiam Gray, Cons. Sept. 7, 1454. 
 
 Enthr. Mar. 20, 1458 
 
 27. John Morton, Cons. Jan. 31, 1479. 
 
 Enthr. Aug. 29, 1479. 
 
 28. John Alcock, trs. from 
 
 Rochester to Wor- 
 cester, thence hither Oct. 1486. 
 
 29. Richard Redman, trs. 
 
 from St. Asaph to 
 Exeter,thencehither 1501. 
 
 30. James Stanley 1506, 
 
 31. Nicholas West 1515. 
 
 Cons. Oct. 7, 1515. 
 Enthr. Feb. 21, 1516. 
 
 32. Thomas Goodrich, £;fec. March 17, 1534. 
 
 Cons. April 19, 1534. 
 
 33. Thomas Thiiiby, trs. 
 
 from Westminster to 
 Norwich, thence hi- 
 ther Sept. 15, 1554. 
 
 34. Richard Cox, Cons. Dec. 21, 1659. 
 
 35. Martin Heton, Elec. Dec. 28, 1599. 
 
 Cons. Feb. 3, 1599-60 
 
 36. Laxmcelot Andrewes, 
 
 trs. fr. Chichester. . Sept. 22, 1609. 
 
 37. Nicholas Felton, trs. 
 
 from Norwich. .. . March 11, 1519 
 
 38. John Buckeridge, trs. 
 
 from Rochester .... April 17, 1628, 
 
 39. Francis White, trs. fr. 
 
 Carlisle to Norwich, 
 
 thence hither 1631. 
 
 40. Matthew Wren, trs. fr. 
 
 Hereford to Norwich' 
 
 thence hither April 24, 1638, 
 
 41. Benjamin Laney, trs.\ 
 
 from Lincoln .Tune 12, 1667. 
 
 Consecration 
 or Appointment. 
 
 Decease 
 or Translation. 
 
 Nov. 19, 1425.1 
 Oct. 25, 1435.^ 
 Sept. 18, 1443.3 
 
 To Cant. 1454.* 
 
 Aug. 4, 1478.1 
 Trans, to Cant.^ 
 1486. 
 
 Oct. 1. 1500.1 
 
 Aug. 24, 1505.1 
 Mar. 22, 1515.6 
 
 Apr.6or28,1533' 
 May 10, 1554.'' 
 
 Monarchs. 
 
 Richard II., 
 Hen. TV.V.VI. 
 
 Henry YI. 
 
 Henry YI. 
 
 Henry YI, 
 
 Hen.YI.,Ed.IV. 
 Ed.IY.,Y.,Ric. 
 III., Hen. VII. 
 
 Henry YII. 
 
 Henry YII. 
 Hen. VII., VIII. 
 
 Henry VIII. 
 \ Hen.VIII.,Ed. 
 I VI., Mary. 
 
 Aug. 26, 1570.8 
 July 22, 1581.2 
 
 July 14, 1609.2 
 
 To Winch. 1519.9 
 
 Oct. 5, 1626,10 
 
 May 23, 1631," 
 
 Feb. 1637-8,12 
 
 April 24, 1667.13 
 Jan. 24, 1674-5.T 
 
 Mary, Elizabeth. 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 Eliz,, James I, 
 
 James I. 
 
 James I,, Chas. I. 
 Charles I. . 
 
 Charles I. 
 
 Charles I., II. 
 Charles II. 
 
 1. Buried in his own Cathedral. 
 
 2. Buried in the Conventual Church of the Charter-House, London, but has no memorial. 
 3 His bowels buried at Hatfield, his heart at Rouen, and his body at Ely. 
 
 4. Made a cardinal Sep. 18th, 14G4. Deceased Mar. 30tb, 1486, and buried at Canterbury. 
 
 5. Deceased Sept. 15 or 16, 1,500, buried at Canterbury. 
 
 6. Buried at Manchester. 
 
 7. Buried at Lambeth. 
 
 8. Buried at St. Saviour's, Southwark. 
 
 9. At. St. Antholin's, London. 
 
 10. In Bromley Church, Kent. 
 
 11. In St. Paul's Cathedral. 
 
 12. In the Chapel of Pembroke College/Cambridge. 
 
 13. In Thirfield Church, Herefordshire. 
 
11 
 
 42. Peter Qunning, trs. fr 
 
 Chichester 
 
 43. Francis Turner, trs. fr. 
 
 Rochester 
 
 44. Simon Patrick, trs. fr 
 
 Chichester 
 
 45. John Moore, trs, from 
 
 Norwich 
 
 46. William Fleetwood, ^ys. 
 
 from St. Asaph .... 
 
 47. Thomas Greene, trs. fr. 
 
 Norwich . . 
 
 48. Robert Butts, trs. from 
 
 Norwich 
 
 49. Sir Thomas Gooch, Bt 
 
 trs. from Bristol to 
 Norwich, thence hi- 
 ther 
 
 50. Matthias Mawson, trs. 
 
 fr. Llandaff to Chi- 
 chester, thence hi- 
 ther 
 
 51. Edmund Keene, trs. fr. 
 
 Chester 
 
 52. Hon. James Yorke, trs. 
 
 from St. David's to 
 Gloucester, thence 
 hither I 
 
 63. Thomas Dampier, trs.\ 
 
 from St. Asaph 
 
 64. — Sparke 
 
 55. —Allen 
 
 56. Thomas Turton 
 
 Consecration 
 or Appointment. 
 
 Decease 
 or Translation. 
 
 I M on arch s. 
 
 Mar. 4, 1674-5. 
 Aug. 23, 1684. 
 
 Nov 2 1 700 1 
 
 tviiarles 11. 
 
 \ Chas. II., Jas. 
 
 4 TT "VXri'll TTT 
 ) 11.,WlU.111. 
 
 July 2, 1691. 
 
 May 31, 1707. ^ 
 
 Will. III., Anne. 
 
 July 31, 1707. 
 
 July 31, 1714.1 
 
 Anne. 
 
 Dec. 18, 1714. 
 
 Aug. 4, 1723.1 
 
 George I. 
 
 Sept. 24, 1723. 
 
 May 18, 1738.i . 
 
 George I., II. 
 
 1738. 
 
 Jan. 26,1747-8.1 
 
 George II. 
 
 Mar. 11, 1747-8. 
 
 Feb. 14, 1754.^ 
 
 George II. 
 
 Mar. 15, 1764. 
 
 Nov. 23, 1770.1 
 
 George II., III. 
 
 Jan. 2, 1771. 
 
 July 6, 1781.1 
 
 George III. 
 
 1781. 
 
 Aug. 26, 1808.3 
 
 George III. 
 
 Nov. 22, 1808. 
 1845. 
 
 1845. 
 
 George III. 
 
 1. Buried in his own Cathedral. 
 
 2. In the Chapel of Caius College, Cambridge. 
 
 3. At Fortharapton in Gloucestershire. 
 
12 
 
 PRIORS or ELY. . 
 
 1. Vincent. 
 
 2. Henry. 
 
 3. William, 1133. 
 
 4. Tombert, or Thembert, occurs, c. 1144. 
 
 5. Alexander, c. 1154. 
 
 6. Solomon, occurs in 1163, Abbat of Thorney, 1177. 
 
 7. Richard, 1177, was living in 1189. 
 
 8. RobtLongchamp, occurs in 1194, Abbatof St. Mary's, York, 1198. 
 
 9. John de Strateshete,' Feb. 1197-8. 
 
 10. Hugh, occurs in 1200 and 1206. 
 
 11. , Roger deBrigham, bef. 1215, dec. early in 1229. 
 
 12. Ralph, c. Mar. 25, 1229, occurs in 1235. 
 
 13. Walter, occurs in Easter-week.) -.o ,r,rr. 
 
 J 24 J dec. May 13, 1259. 
 
 14. Robt.deLeverington, occurs Mar. 1 g ^2 i271 
 
 6, 1259-60, ]•?•'• 
 
 15. Henry de Banccis, 1271, dec. l)ec., 1273. 
 
 16. JohndeHemmingston,Jan.,1273-4, dec. Nov. 9, 1288. 
 
 17. John de Shepreth. 
 
 ( Promoted to Bishoprick of 
 
 18. John Saleman, occurs c. 1291, | Norwich, July 15, ^99.' 
 
 19. Robert de Orford, 1299, Bishop of Ely, 1302. 
 
 20. William de Clare, 1303, dec. 1303. 
 
 21. John de Fresingfield, occurs Dec. | ^^^^ 1320-1.' 
 
 1303, ] " 
 
 22. John de Crauden, May 20, 1321, dec. Sept. 25, 1341. 
 
 23. Alan deWalsingham,Oct. 25,1341, dec. prob. in 1364. 
 
 24. William Hathfield. 
 
 25. John Bucton, occurs in 1366, dec, 1397. 
 
 26. Wm. Walpole, bef. Aug. 10, 1397, res. soon aft., Sept. 20, 1401. 
 
 27. William Powcher," 1401, dec, 1418. 
 
 28. Edm. Walsingham, occurs Aug. | . 
 
 14, 1418, j an m 
 
 1. The first Prior that came in by election; for before that time the 
 Bishops conferred that office according to their will. 
 
 2. His father was Salomon, a goldsmith at Ely. In 1319 he was made 
 Lord Chancellor. Dec. July 6, 1325. 
 
 3. Dec. after Michaelmas, 1338. 
 
 4. Abbat of Walden, Essex. He, in 1413, obtained of Pope John XXIII. 
 the privilege of wearing the mitre, and of using the pastoral staff, and other 
 pontifical ornaments. 
 
13 
 
 29. Peter de Ely, April, 1424, 
 
 30. William Wells, 1430, 
 
 31. Henry Peterborough, occurs July 
 
 10, 1462, 
 
 32. Roger Westminster, July 28,1478, 
 
 33. Robt. Colville, occurs Oct. 30,1500, 
 
 34. William Witlesey, occurs Sept. 27, 
 
 1510, 
 
 35. William Foliott, occurs in 1516. 
 
 36. Joh.Cottenham,Cow/.AiDr.l,1516, dec. bef. 1522. 
 
 r surrendered the Monastery and 
 
 37. Robt. Wells, alias Steward, 1522, < all its possessions, Nov. 18, 
 
 ( 1539. 
 
 was Prior, July 10, 1429. 
 occurs May 3, 1460. 
 
 I res. July 26, 1478.' 
 
 occurs Nov. 15, 1499. 
 and Aug. 15, 1510, 
 
 and Mar. 20, 1513. 
 
 DEANS OF ELY. 
 
 1. Robert Wells, a^jfls Steward, Sep. ) 
 
 10, 1541, J dec. Sept. 22, 1557. 
 
 2. Andrew Perne,^ 1557,' dec. Apr. 26, 1589. 
 
 3. John Bell,^' 1589, dec. Oct. 31, 1591. 
 
 4. Humphrey Tindall,^ 1591, dec. Oct. 12, 1614. 
 
 5. Hen. Caesar, alias Adelmare, 1614, dec. June 27, 1636. 
 
 6. William Fuller, July 14, 1636, deprived in 1642.' 
 
 7. (William Beale, nominated but 
 
 never -instituted.) 
 
 8. Rich. Love,« instit. Sept. 6, 1660, dec. Jan., 1661-2. 
 
 9. Henry Feme,' Feb., 1661-2, j ^Twsi'^ 
 
 10. Edw.Martin," instit. Mar. 21,1662, dec. April 28, 1662. 
 
 11. Fras.Wilford," inst.May20, 1662, dec. 1667. 
 
 1. Dec, Aug. 10, 1480. 
 
 2. Master of St. Peter's College, 1554 ; buried at Lambeth. 
 
 3. Master of Jesus College, 1579. 
 
 4. Master of Queens' College, 1579. 
 
 5. In March, 1646, the Deanery of Durham ^was granted to him, but he was 
 never mstituted to it ; buried at St. Vedast's, Foster Lane, London 
 
 6. Master of Corpus Christi College, 1632; buried in his own College 
 
 7. Master of Trinity College, Aug. 3, 1660 ; dec. March 25, 1662 and 
 buried m St. Edmund's Chauntry, Westminster Abbey. 
 
 8. Master of Queens' College, 1631 ; buried in his own College Chapel 
 
 9. Master of Corpus Christi College, June 29, 1661 ; buried in his own 
 College Chapel. 
 
14 
 
 12. Rob. Mapletoft,4nst. Aug. 7, 1667, dec. Aug. 20, 1677. 
 
 13. John Spencer, instit. Sept. 1677, dec. May 27, 1693. 
 
 14. John Lamb, instit. June 22, 1693, dec. Aug. 10, 1708.' 
 
 15. Chas. Roderick,^ inst. Oct. 8, 1708, dec. Mar. 25, 1712. 
 
 16. Robert Moss, instit. Apr. 30, 1713, dec. Mar. 26, 1729. 
 
 17. John Frankland,* instit. Apr. 28, \ ^^^^ , _ 3 j^g^^ 
 
 1729, j 
 
 18. Peter Allix, instal. Nov. 21, 1730, dec. Jan. 11, 1758.' 
 
 19. HughThomas,''inst. July 15, 1758, dec. July 11, 1780. 
 
 20. Wm. Cooke,' instit. Aug. 9, 1780, dec. Nov, 21, 1797. 
 
 21. William Pearce,* installed Dec. 
 
 10, 1797. 
 
 22. James Wood,» 1839. 
 
 23. George Peacock, 1839. 
 
 1. Master of Pembroke Hall, 1664 ; buried in his own College Chapel. 
 
 2. Buried in the Chancel of Wethamstead. 
 
 3. Head Master of Eton College, 1682, Provost of King's College, Sept. 4, 
 1689 ; buried in the " Library Vestry," on the South side of his own College 
 Chapel. 
 
 4. Dean of Gloucester, 1723, Master of Sidney Sussex College, 1727 ; 
 buried in St. Stephen's Church, Bristol. 
 
 5. Buried in the Church of Castle Camps, Cambs. 
 
 6. Master of Christ's College, Feb. 18, 1754. 
 
 7. Head Master of Eton College, May, 1743, Provost of King's College. 
 March 25, 1772. 
 
 8. Master of the Temple, 1787 , of Jesus College, 1789, 
 
 9. Master of St. John's College. 
 
15 
 
 PRESENT CATHEDRAL ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 THE LORD BISHOP. a.d. 
 Thomas Turton, D.D. ..... 1845. 
 
 THE DEAN. 
 
 George Peacock, D.D. ..... 1839. 
 
 CANONS OR PREBENDARIES. 
 
 Of the 1st Stall— 
 
 " 2nd Stall— John Henry Sparke, M.A., Chancellor of the 
 
 Diocess • . . . . 1818. 
 
 " 3rd Stall— Henry Fardell, M.A. . . . 1819^ 
 
 4th Stall — Edward Bowyer Sparke, M.A., Registrar . 1829. 
 
 " 5th Stall— William French, D.D. . . . 1831. 
 
 " 6th Stall— William Selwyn, M.A. . . . 1833. 
 
 " 7th Stall— John Maddy, D.D. . . . " 1835. 
 
 " 8th Stall— John Ashley, M.A^ . . . 1841." 
 
 MINOR CANONS. 
 
 John Griffith, B.D. 
 George Millers, M.A. 
 Solomon Smith, M.A. 
 William Keating Clay, B.D. . 
 David James Stewart, M.A. . 
 
 1800. 
 1800. 
 1833. 
 1838. 
 1843. 
 
16 
 
 HERALDRY. 
 
 Arms of the See. Gu. three ducal coronets or. These are derived 
 from the arms of the East Anghan kings. In the cloister staircase 
 leading to the ancient refectory, now the Deanery, they occur with 
 the field azure. 
 
 Of the Deanery. Gu. three keys or; the ancient arms of St. 
 Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, and from him assumed as the 
 arms of the Priory. They occur in one of the windows in the South 
 Aisle of the Presbytery. 
 
 ARMS OF THE BISHOPS OF ELY. 
 
 1. Hervey. — " Herveus gessit in campo azureo duo aurea bacula 
 Episcopalia in modum Crucis S. Andrese, in capite mitram auream." — 
 Angl. Sacr. i. 616. 
 
 2. Nigel. — "Pert gules, in tribus manibus argenteis, coronam, 
 clavem, crumenam aureas." — Angl. Sacr. i. 618. 
 
 3. Geoffrey Ridel.—" Pert unum cantonem in scuto or." — Angl. 
 Sacr. i. 631. 
 
 4. William Longchanip. — "Arma Willelmi de Long-campo sunt 
 Palye or, verry argent & asm-." — Angl. Sacr. i. 632. "His arms 
 correspond with those of his name, in an old MS. of Heraldry in 
 the Library of King's College."— Co^e, apud Bentham. 
 
 5. Eustace. — " Eustachius Episcopus in scuto de ermines fert un 
 cheveron azur, & tres billets gules." — Angl. Sacr. i. 633. Cole cor- 
 rects or for ermines. 
 
 6. John of Fountains.— "Vert Solem, Lunam & 7. Stellas or in 
 campo Sizmeo.—Angl. Sacr. i. 634. " These arms," Cole says, " seem 
 to be merely chimerical and fanciful, and not at all in the style of 
 Heraldry;" they are however adduced in the Encycl. Metr., Art. 
 Heraldry, and blazoned,— " azwre, in chief, the sun in his splen- 
 dor, the moon in her complement; in base, the 7 stars, 1,2, 1, 2, 1, or." 
 
 7. Geoffrey of Burgh.—" Fert 3. flores ermines in campo azu- 
 reo."— ^w^rZ. Sacr. i. 635. "Az. 3 Fleurs de Lis Erm."— Cbfe. Se- 
 veral families of the name Bury still bear erm. on a bend az. three 
 fleurs-de-lis or, 
 
 8. Hugh Northwold.—" Fert in duobus scutis suis arma S. Ethel- 
 dredee et S. Edmundi."— ^w^Z. Sacr. i. 635. These "seem to be 
 fictitious ; or probably taken from some old Seal, where ... the 
 Arms of Ely and St. Edmund's Bury Abby might be depicted."— Co/e. 
 The latter are, az. three ducal crowns, each pierced with two arrows 
 in saltire, or. 
 
17 
 
 9. William de Kilkenny. — " Fert 5. Lunulas or, in scuto gules" — 
 'Angl. Sacr. i. 636. 
 
 10. Hugh de Balsham. — "Fert 3. palos perpendiculares." — Angl- 
 Sacr. i. 637. Or, three pallets gu. are the Arms borne by St. Peter's 
 College, Cambridge, (the Foundation of this Bishop), with the addi- 
 tion of a bordure of the last mitry of the field, derived from the coat 
 of Ely See. 
 
 11. John Kirheby. — "Fert in scuto argenteo leonem rapacem ^a,- 
 hles."— Angl. Sacr. i. 637. 
 
 12. William de Luda. — "Fert in superiore parte scuti unum 
 chequer or & arg. in inferiore leopardi faciem in campo nigro." — 
 Angl. Sacr. i. 638. Checquy or and argent is false heraldry. 
 
 13. Ralph Walpole.—" Feit aurum super fessam inter duas che- 
 verons sabl. tres crosletas aureas." — Angl. Sacr. i. 639. Or, on 
 a fess between two chevronels sa., three crosses crosslet of the field, 
 are still the arms of Walpole Earl of Orford. 
 
 14. Robert Orford.—" Fert tres coronas or tribus clavibus or per- 
 foratas, in campo gules." — Angl. Sacr. i. 640. 
 
 15. John of Ketene (Ketton ?)— " Fert tres mitras or in campo 
 nigm:'— Angl. Sacr. i. 640. 
 
 16. John Hotham.. — " Arma Joannis Hotham sunt barrulse octo 
 partium asurse et argentese in uno cantone aureo unus mertlelus sables." 
 — Angl. Sacr. i. 643. They occur thus in the westernmost severy of 
 Bishop Hotham's work. In the East window of S. Mary's, Fen Ditton, 
 near Cambridge, are these arms ; barry of eight, argent and azure, a 
 canton of the former; Cole says, "where they are thus blazoned, 
 Barry of 10 Ar. ^ Az. on a canton Or. a Martlet Sable. They were 
 there in 1745." 
 
 17. Simon de Montacute.— "Fert 3. bendas undulantes azur in 
 campo or. & in medio inscutum tribus rhombis depictum." — Angl. 
 Sacr. i. 649. Ar. three lozenges conjoined in fess gu. are the present 
 arms of De Montacute. 
 
 18. Thomas de Lisle.— "Fert in tribus rundellis tres Eeges Colo- 
 nise or in campo gules."— Angl. Sacr. i. 652. " A mere fiction ; his 
 true Coat as I took it in 1747, from an original Seal of his in the 
 Archives of C. C. College, in Cambridge, is a Cheveron between 
 3 Trefoils slip'd. This agrees with the Arms of the family of Lisle, 
 as I find in the aforesaid Manuscript of Heraldry, which are thus 
 blasoned. Gules, a Cheveron inter 3 Leaves Or, slip'd Vert: so that 
 the colours are also recovered." 
 
 19. Simon Langham. — "Arma ejus sunt Tignum pinnis decora- 
 turn de rubro, inter Trifolia viridia tr'ia.."— Angl. Sacr. i. 663. Or, 
 a chev. embattled gu. betw. three trefoils slipped vert. 
 
 20. John Barnet. — "Arma Joannis Barnet Episcopi sunt unum 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 Saltorium sables, & in scuti capite facies Leopardi ejusdem coloris in 
 campo argenteo." — Angl. Sacr. i. 664. 
 
 21. Thomas Arundeh — " Arma Thomae Arundell sunt in rubeo 
 campo bordurato bordura ingradata aurea Leo rapax ejusdem me- 
 talli."^ — Angl. Sacr. i. 664. " Quarterly, 1st. and 4:th. Gules, a Lion 
 rampant Or : [for Arundel] ; 2nd. and Srd. Checquy Or and Azure : 
 [for Warren] ; all within a hordure engrailed Argent." — Cole. Exam- 
 ple, at All Saints', Landbeach, on a shield preserved from a stall, and 
 now hung against the East wall of the Chancel. 
 
 22. John Fordham. — " Arma Joannis Fordham sunt in campo 
 nigro unum cheveron inter tres cruces floratas aureas." — Angl. Sacr. i. 
 666, Sa. a chev. betw. three crosses patonce or. Examples, at 
 St. Mary's, Great Shelford, on the Font; and on the Brass of 
 Thomas Pattesle, Archdeacon of Ely, d, 1411. 
 
 23. Philip Morgan. — "Arma Philippi Morgan sunt tria capita 
 lancearum argentea & sanguine tincta in campo sables," — Angl. Sacr. 
 i. 666, Sa, three spear heads ar. embrued, 
 
 24. Lewis Lushiurg, or Luxemhurgh. — " Fert chekey ar, & az. in 
 le argent est un rondel gules in lazur est un flore de lice or," — 
 Angl. Sacr. i, 668. "No doubt his real arms are — Quarterly, 1st. 
 and 4th. Argent, a Lion rampant, Quevefurchee, Gules, crowned, Or, 
 for Luxemhurgh, 2nd. and 3rd. Gules : a Star of 12 Points Argent ; — 
 at least the Lion of Luxemhurgh certainly belongs to him." — Cole. 
 
 25. Thomas Bowcer, or Bourchier. — " Arma Thomee Bowcer sunt 
 una Crux ingradata gules, inter quatuor water-bogets sables, in 
 campo aureo." — Angl Sacr. i, 671, " Quarterly, 1st. and 4th. Arg. 
 a Cross engrailed Gu. inter 4 Water -Bougets, Sab. [for Bourchier] 
 
 2nd. and Srd. Gul. a Fesse Arg. int. 10 or 12 Billets Or ; [for ] 
 
 all within a Bordure Azure." 
 
 26. William Gray. — " Fert in campo rubeo bordurato bordura in- 
 gradata argentea Leonem rapacem ejusdem metalli." — Angl. Sacr. i. 
 672, The bearing of the present Earl Grey, Examples, in glass, 
 in the North-east Window of the North Choir aisle, and in stone, 
 in the same Window and adjacent ones, A fragment of the same 
 coat, on paper, supposed to be a print from a woodcut, still adheres 
 to the North-east pillar of the Choir. 
 
 27. John Morton. — " Fert quaterniatim gules & ermines unum 
 caput caprse argent." — Angl. Sacr. i, 673, "Not sufficiently explicit: 
 they should be thus blazoned, Quarterly Gules 8p Ermine on the 
 1st. and 4th. a Goafs Head erased Argent." — Cole. This coat occurs 
 in one of the windows of St, John's College Chapel, Cambridge, with 
 the inscription, — "Thomas Morton, Episc, Dunelmensis, 1632," In 
 several of the windows at St. John's, Waterbeach, are quarries painted 
 with a pastoral staflf and initials of this Bishop. 
 
19 
 
 28. John Alcock. — "Fert mitram inter tria caprarum capita." — 
 Angl. Sacr. i. 675. " Alcoche's Arms. — ^Argent, a miter or, upon 
 a Fess, between 3 Cocks' heads eras'd sable, crested armed and 
 jeo-lopp'd GuleB."— MS. copy of Sherman's History of Jesus College, 
 in the College Library, cited hy Mr. Woodham. The latter is the true 
 bearing. In the carved work of All Saints', Landbeach, occurs 
 a shield with the charge three cocks' heads erased. Bishop Alcock 
 was very fond of the cock standing on a globe, as his rebus; it occurs 
 repeatedly in his Chauntry, on different parts of Jesus College, and on 
 the woodwork at Landbeach ; also in quarries at St. Mary's, Mading- 
 ley, St. J ohn's, Waterbeach, and elsewhere. 
 
 29. Richard Redman. — " Arma sunt tria pulvinaria."— ^w^/. 
 Sacr. i. 675. Cole says that this bearing was formerly in many 
 parts of the Cathedral of St. Asaph, which this Prelate had fitted 
 up. " Gules, three cushions Argent, according to Izacke, Ermine 
 according to Westcote, tasseled Ox." —Oliver's History of JSxeter. 
 Ermine seems correct. On his tomb in the North Choir Aisle 
 we have Quarterly 1st. and 4th. gu. a lion rampant, 2nd. and 3rd. 
 three cushions erm. tasseled. The above quarterly coat dimidiated, 
 also impales Exeter and Ely. 
 
 30. James Stanley. — "Fert quaterniatim duos Leones rapaces & 
 sex x\iom\,o?,."~Angl. Sacr. i. 676. Ar. a chev. sa. betw. 3 roses 
 gu. seeded, slipped, and leaved proper. These arms occur repeatedly 
 on his Chapel in the South Chauntry Aisle. 
 
 31. Nicholas West. — "Fert unum cheveron inter tres rosas." — 
 Angl. Sacr. i. 676. 
 
 32. Thomas Goodrich. — Quarterly, 1st. and 4th. Ar. on a fess gu. 
 betw. two Hons passant gardant sa. a fleur-de-lis [of the field ?] betw. 
 as many crescents or. for Goodrich ; 2nd. and 3rd. ar. on a chev. engr. 
 betw. three trefoils slipped sa. (az?), as many crescents or. for 
 Williamson. This coat occurs on the outside under a window of 
 the Palace. 
 
 33. Thomas Thirlby. — " This Bishop having (as I suppose) no pa- 
 ternal Arms, at fii-st bare a Rebus or Device instead of Arms, viz. 
 Per Pale Argent 8r Gules, a capital Tan counterchanged ; that Letter 
 being the initial one of both his Names j but afterwards he bare 
 Vert, 10 Escallops Argent ; which coat, I imagine, he had obtained 
 a grant for." — Blomejield's History of the Bishops of Norwich, cited 
 by Cole apud Bentham. 
 
 34. Richard Cox. — "Argent,^ Cocks Gules, on a Chief Azure, a Pale 
 Or, charged with a Rose Gules, inter 2 Ostrich Feathers Argent."— 
 Hatcher's MS. of the Provost and Fellows of King's College, cited by 
 Cole in Bentham. Burke gives, " Cox (London ; granted in 1761). Ar. 
 three cocks gu. two and one, crowned or, on a chief az. a pale charged 
 
20 
 
 with a rose of the second, betw. two ostrich feathers of the first." — 
 General Armory. 
 
 35. Martin Heton — Quarterly, 1st. and 4th. ar. on a bend engr. sa. 
 three bulls' heads cabossed of the field, for Heton ; 2nd. and 3rd, a 
 man's head betw, three fleurs-de-lis sa. a mullet for a diff'erence, 
 
 36. Lancelot Andrewes. — " Argent, on a Bend e^igrailed, cotised 
 Sable, 3 Mullets pierced Argent." — Cole. 
 
 37. Nicholas Felton. — " Gules, 2 Lions [in pale] passant Ermine, 
 crowned Or, and a Mullet in the dexter Chief Argent, for a Difference." 
 —Cole. 
 
 38. John Bucheridge. — " Or 2 Pales [ ? sable] 8f 5 Cross Crosslets 
 Jitche en Saltire Gules." — Cole. 
 
 39. Francis White — " Gules, a Cheveron between 3 Boars' Heads 
 coupe Argent." — Cole. " Armed or." — Burke 
 
 40. Matthew Wren. — " Argent, a Cheveron inter 3 Lions' Heads 
 erased Sable, on a Chief Gules, 3 Cross Crosslets Or." — Cole. 
 
 41. — Benjamin Laney. — Or, on a bend betw. two fleurs-de-lis gu. 
 a lion passant of the field. — Monument. 
 
 42. Peter Gunning. — Gu. on a fess betw. three doves ar. three 
 crosses pattee of the field. — Monument, S. C. A. 
 
 43. Francis Turner. — " Or, a Lion rampant inter 3 Crosses moline 
 Gules."— Cole. 
 
 44. Simon Patrick. — Gu. three pallets vair ; on a chief or, a lion 
 rampant armed and langued of the first. — Monument, N. C. A. 
 
 45. John Moore.' — Erm. on a chev. az. three cinquefoils or. — Mo- 
 nument, S.C.A. 
 
 46. William Fleetwood. — Per pale nebule az. and or, 6 martlets 
 counterchanged. — Monument, N. C. A. 
 
 47. Thomas Greene. — Az. three bucks trippant or. — Monument, 
 
 s. a A. 
 
 48. Robert Butts. — Az. on a chev. betw. three estoiles of six points 
 or, as many lozenges gu. — Monument, S. C. A. 
 
 49. Thomas Gooch. — Per pale, ar. and sa. a chev. betw. three tal- 
 bots passant counterchanged ; on a chief gu. as many leopards' faces or. 
 
 50. Matthias Mawson.—Ter bend sinister erm. and erms. a lion 
 rampant ar. — Monument, N. C. A. 
 
 51. Edmund Keene. — Ar. a talbot passant sa. collared or; on a 
 chief indented az. 3 cross crosslets of the third. 
 
 52. James Yorke. — Ar. on a saltize az. a bezant. 
 
 53. Thomas Bampier. — Or. a lion rampant sa. on a chief gu. a label 
 of five points ar. 
 
 54. Sparke. — Checquy or and vert a bend erm,— Monu- 
 ment in Bishop Wesi's Chauntry. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 Of the Conversion of the East Angles to Christianity. 
 The kingdom of East Anglia, comprising the modern Counties 
 of Cambridge with the Isle of Ely, Norfolk, and Suffolk, was estab- 
 hshed under Uffa, about the year 575. The account of its conversion 
 to Christianity is given so succinctly by the Venerable Bede, that it 
 will be best to transcribe his very words. After relating how, a.d 
 627, Edwin, king of Northumberland, had followed the example of 
 Ethelbert, king of Kent, in submission to the Gospel, and had erected 
 a basilica at Almonbury or Tanfield, he proceeds So great, more- 
 over, was his devotedness to the advancement of the Truth, that he 
 also mduced the king of the East Angles, Eorpwald. son of Red- 
 wald, to renounce the superstitions of idolatry, and with his province 
 to embrace the Faith and Sacraments of Chkist. Redwald indeed 
 some time before this had, in Kent, been made a partaker of the 
 Christian Sacraments, yet to no purpose; for on his return home he 
 was perverted by his wife and certain evil teachers, and so falling from 
 the mtegrity of his profession, his latter state was worse than the 
 lormer ; insomuch that, like the Samaritans of old, he made a shew of 
 serving Christ and the gods whom he had before worshipped, and so 
 m the same building he had both a table for the Christian Sacrifice, 
 and an altar for the victims of devils.' Now this same Redwald, 
 though he did ignobly, was of noble birth; being the son of Tytilus, 
 the son of Uffa, from whom the East Anglian kings are called 
 Ufnngae. 
 
 "But Eorpwald, not long after his reception of the Faith, was slain 
 by Kicbert, a pagan, and then for three years the province was in- 
 volved m error, until Sigebert his brother attained the sovereignty,— 
 a thorough Christian and a very learned man, who in Eorpwald's Hfe- 
 time had been an exile in Gaul, and having there been made partaker 
 of the Sacraments,^ his care so soon as he assumed the government 
 was to impart them to his entire province. This design was most 
 righteously furthered by Felix a bishop, who from Burgundy, where 
 he was born and consecrated, came to the primate Honorius, and 
 
 arukmtfeLL^'dToiSrut.^''"^ '^'^"^ ^* 
 2. " Fidei Sacraraentis imbutus est," is St. Bede's forcible expression. 
 
2 
 
 having made known his desire, was sent to preach to this nation 
 of the Angles the Word of Life. Nor were his wishes ungratified ; 
 but on the contrary this pious tiller of the spiritual field reaped an 
 abundant harvest of believers ; insomuch that, according to the augiu-y 
 of his name, he brought the whole province into freedom from the 
 depths of sin and misery, and led them to the Faith, and to works of 
 righteousness, and to the gift of everlasting happiness. He himself 
 received Dunwich as his see, and having enjoyed the spiritual govern- 
 ment of the kingdom for seventeen years, he there ended his days in 
 peace." ' 
 
 That the light of the Gospel thus auspiciously introduced might 
 be preserved with the greater safety, it was the early care of Sigebert 
 to found a school for the education of youth, after the model of those 
 which he had seen in France.^ Tradition makes this institution the 
 early original of the University of Cambridge, and to this day, in the 
 annual Commemoration of Founders and Benefactors, the name of 
 Sigebert is first recited ; but it is more likely that the school was at 
 Dunwich, where Felix, who assisted in its establishment, resided, and 
 near to which the village of Felixstowe still seems to preserve the 
 bishop's memory.^ 
 
 In the reign of Sigebert three monasteries were founded in the 
 East- Anglian province; one at Burgh Castle,* another at St. Edmund's 
 Bury,* and a third at Soham.' Of churches we have as yet no re- 
 cord, excepting the one at Cratendune, about a mile from the present 
 city of Ely, said to have been erected by king Ethelbert at the instance 
 of St. Augustine, and destroyed in a hostile invasion by Penda, king 
 of Mercia.' This account of its foundation is exceedingly improbable, 
 for, as Mr. Wharton remarks,* S. Augustine appears not to have had 
 any communication with the East Angles. Nevertheless it is most 
 probable that a church did exist in the place alluded to, though its 
 site is not now exactly known ; only " the name of the old town is 
 still preserved in a field about a mile south of the present city, called 
 Cratendon Field." 
 
 Sigebert was succeeded on the throne by Egric, and he in turn by 
 Anna.' Thomas, a deacon, was promoted by Archbishop Honorius 
 into the place of the excellent Felix, and after him Bertgils, sur- 
 named Boniface, enjoyed the see.'" 
 
 1. S. Bedae, Hist. Eccles. ii. 15. 2. Ibid. iii. 18. 
 
 3. See Churton's Early English Church, p. 55. 
 
 4. Anciently Cnobheresburg. S. Bedae, H. E, iii. 19. 
 
 5. Bedrichsuurde or Betrychesworde. Liber Eliensis, MS. Conf. S. Bedse 
 iii^ 18. 6. Seham. Liber Elien. 
 
 7. Hist. Eliensis, apud Wharton Angl. Sacr. i. 594. 
 
 8. Ibid, note (6). 9. S. Bedee, H. E, iii. 18. 10. Ibid. iii. 20. 
 
3 
 
 4 
 
 Of the Foundation of the Monastery. 
 
 King Anna, whose accession took place A. D. 636, is described by 
 St. Bede as "a good man, happy in a good and saintly family," "a 
 very good man, and the father of a most worthy offspring." ' He took 
 to wife Hereswytha, sister of the Abbess St. Hilda, and had by her two 
 sons,. Adulphus and Jurminus, and four daughters, Sexburga the eld- 
 est, Ethelburga, Etheldreda, and Withburga.'* Blessed as he was in 
 these children, he did not live to see them in the stricter paths of 
 sanctity which they ultimately chose, but fell in battle against the cruel 
 Penda, leaving his crown to his brothers Adelbert and Ethelwold, and 
 his son Adulphus, successively. After his decease his queen grew 
 weary of the world, and withdrawing to a monastery abroad, awaited 
 a more abiding crown.^ Of his daughters, Ethelburga became Abbess 
 of Barking in Essex, and Withburga foundress of the Nunnery of East 
 Dereham in Norfolk. 
 
 Etheldreda, whose history* we must pursue before that of her 
 elder sister Sexburga, was born at Exning on the borders of Suffolk 
 and Cambridgeshire, and under the care of her parents grew up 
 equally in religious as in personal favour. She early set her incli- 
 nations on a life of celibacy, but the authority of her father induced 
 her to accept^ the profered hand of Tonbert, prince of the South 
 Gervii, or inhabitants of the fen country, who bestowed the Isle of 
 Ely on her as her dower. Nevertheless, for three years Etheldreda 
 and her husband abstained from the "nuptial bed, and at the end of 
 that period Tonbert died. Thereupon Etheldreda entrusted the care 
 of her possessions to Ovin, a most faithful steward, intending thence- 
 forth to devote herself to religious meditation and offices. But when 
 Egfrid, son of Oswy king of Northumberland, sought her in marri- 
 age she again listened to the entreaties of her uncle Ethelwold, for her 
 father was now deceased, and once more submitted to a union. She 
 still prevailed to maintain her resolutions of chastity, until after twelve 
 
 1. S, Bedae, H. E. iii. 7. 18. 
 
 2. Hist. Elien., 595. Erkenwald Founder'and Abbat of Chertsey Monas- 
 tery, and fourth Bishop of London, is by some esteemed another son of 
 Anna, but this is very doubtful, 3. Ibid. 
 
 4. S. Bedse, H.E. iv. 19 ; Hist. Elien. 597—601 ; Bentham, etc. 
 
 5. The principal events of St. Etheldreda's life are sculptured on the capi- 
 tals of eight pillars in the Octagon. The first, at the North-west angle, re- 
 presents her marriage to Tonbert, not to king Egfridi "because," as Mr. 
 Milner remarks, " it was that which had a more particular relation with the 
 Church of Ely, by giving the foundress possession of the site of it. Moreover 
 her father and mother appear to be present, which they were not at her second 
 marriage." See Ca.itGr's Ancient Painting anH Sculpture, p. 4. 
 
4 
 
 years when she got leave to retire from her husband's court, for 
 Egfrid had by this time succeeded to his father's throne, and to enter 
 the monastery of Coldingham.' Of this establishment Ebba, the 
 king's aunt, was Superior, and here Etheldreda received the veil 
 from St. Wilfrid, Archbishop of York.* Among others who fol- 
 lowed the example of her retirement, was Ovin her minister; he 
 became a monk at Lastingham in Yorkshire, where St. Chad pre- 
 sided over a religious house, before being promoted to the bishopric 
 of Lichfield. To the latter city he removed with his superior, at- 
 tending him constantly, and being the monk in waiting when the 
 intimation of his approaching decease was conveyed to him, which 
 St. Bede so touchingly relates.^ "Where Ovin himself died we 
 do not know, but at Hadenham near Ely there was found several 
 years since the fragment of what was most probably his monument : 
 a square stone in which the stem of a broken cross remained, and 
 bearing this inscription — 
 
 ^ LVCEM • TVAM • OVINO • DA • DEUS • ET • REQUIE • AMEN.* 
 Egfrid after a while repented the leave of retirement which he 
 had given to his queen, and set out for Coldingham with the pur- 
 pose of securing her person. But Etheldreda fled at his approach, 
 shaping her course towards Ely, and when on the point of being 
 retaken she was, as her historian relates, preserved by miraculous 
 interposition. She had rested, with her two companions, on an 
 eminence near the sea, and at this point Egfrid overtook her; but 
 an extraordinary inundation flowed in, and surrounded the hill,* and 
 the king interpreting this as a divinely-sent obstacle to his designs* 
 presently withdrew, and returning to York, took as his wife Er- 
 menburga, a person of very difi'erent temper from his former bride. 
 Etheldreda, thus at liberty to pursue her journey, continued it 
 towards Ely, another supernatural event happening by the way. 
 She had laid herself down to sleep, while her attendants watched, 
 and having fixed her stafi" into the ground, was surprised to find on 
 awakening that it had put forth leaves and shoots." It subsequently 
 
 1. Called by St. Bede Coludi Urbs. It is on the coast of Berwick, where 
 a neighbouring promontory is still called St. Ebb's Head. 
 
 2. The subject of the second capital. 
 
 3. H. Eccl. iv. 3. 
 
 4. "Thy light and rest, O Lord, vouchsafe to Ovinus. Amen." The 
 piety of Mr. Bentham caused this most interesting memorial to be removed 
 from Hadenham, where it had long served as a horseblock, to the Cathedral, 
 where it is now deposited in the Nave, at the West end of the North Aisle. 
 
 5. As sculptured on the fourth capital. 
 
 6. On the third capital. The order of the sculptures does not correspond 
 with the narrative of the monk of Ely. 
 
5 
 
 grew to be a large and flourishing tree, and the place of it long 
 preserved the saint's memory under the name of Etheldredestow. 
 After a long and tedious route, of which no further particulars are 
 recorded, the virgin travellers arrived at Ely. 
 
 The first design of Etheldreda was to rebuild the Church of St. 
 Mary at Cratendune, and to establish a Monastery there; but an- 
 other and more eligible situation ofiering itself, she laid the foun- 
 dations of a new structure on the site of the present Cathedral, 
 A.D. 673.' Her brother Adulphus, who had then succeeded to 
 the throne, assisted in bearing the expense, and St. Wilfrid having 
 fallen into disgrace with Egfrid and his new queen, and followed 
 Etheldreda to Ely, aided the building by his great architectural 
 knowledge. When the works were completed he solemnly insti- 
 tuted the foundress as the first Superior,* and admitted the other 
 members of her society; and in doing this he was not infringing 
 the rights of the East-Anglian Bishop, from whose ordinary ju- 
 risdiction the Monastery of Ely was from its foundation exempt. 
 
 The Abbess Etheldreda now devoted herself to a life of the 
 strictest austerities : — " she would not wear linen, but only wool- 
 len vestments; while seldom, except on the eves of the greater 
 Festivals, as Easter, Whitsuntide, and the Epiphany, did she in- 
 dulge in the warm bath ; and even then it was after all the rest, 
 and when, by the offices of herself and attendants, the other ser- 
 vants of Christ who were present had been first washed. Rarely, 
 but on the principal Feasts, or because of some necessity unusu- 
 ally stringent, did she partake of more than one meal in a day ; 
 and ever, when no unwonted infirmities prevented, she remained 
 at prayers in the Church from the time of the morning assem- 
 bly until daybreak. There are those who relate, that in the 
 presence of all her religious she, through the spirit of prophecy, 
 both foretold the pestilence of which herself should die, and 
 also intimated the number of those that would be carried off" 
 by it from her own Monastery. Then, seven years after receiving 
 the rank of an Abbess, she was taken from the midst of her own ; 
 but her body was interred among them in a wooden coffin, in the 
 place and in the manner which she had herself appointed." ' 
 
 In estimating the character of one long numbered with the 
 Church's Saints, we must be careful not to censure any of those 
 lines of conduct which the very strictest among us would hesitate 
 to counsel at the present day. For instance, the preservation of 
 
 1. Anglo-Sax. Chron. 2. The subject of the fifth capital. 
 
 3, S. Bedae, H. E. iv. 19. St. Etheldreda's death and burial Ore sculp- 
 tured on the sixth capital. 
 
6 
 
 chastity in wedlock, which forms so remarkable a point in St. Ethel- 
 dreda's history, would now be held contrary to the design of that 
 holy state, and an austerity not necessarily conducive to the increase 
 of personal holiness. Yet in past ages the Canons of the Church 
 provided for the frequent occurrence of such a case, allowing that, 
 until the actual consummation of matrimony, either of the parties 
 should be at liberty to recede in order to embrace a continent and 
 religious life ; nor could the party so deserted complain of any in- 
 jury, being at liberty to make a free choice as soon as the other 
 had entered, into permanent engagements of another nature.' And 
 when such a writer as Wheatley, who is in every body's hand, 
 is found to characterize our Saint's conduct in this matter as 
 " moroseness," and the "pretence of great sanctity," it is neces- 
 sary to remember that in her particular case both marriages were 
 against her early aspirations, while Tonbert at least, if not Egfrid 
 also, fell easily into her designs ; and that, generally, the preser- 
 vation of virginity was in those days held in the highest honour, 
 as may be seen from the books which St. Ambrose, one of the 
 four great Doctors of the Church, wrote upon the subject, and 
 from the similar treatise of our own St. Aldhelm, and the hymn 
 of Venerable Bede.^ 
 
 The Abbess Etheldreda departed to her rest on the 23rd of Jime, 
 A.D. 679, and was succeeded in the government of the Monastery 
 by her sister Sexburga, widow of Earconbert, king of Kent:* The 
 principal event of her rule was the translation of her sister's body 
 from the cemetery of the nuns to an honourable place in the Con- 
 ventual Church. St. Bede thus relates the ceremony : — " When 
 Etheldreda had been buried sixteen years, it pleased the Abbess 
 Sexburga that her body should be raised and placed in a new coffin, 
 and transferred to the Church. She ordered therefore certain of 
 the brethren to search for a block of stone from which a coffin 
 might be hewn; and these having taken a vessel, (for the country 
 of Ely is on all sides surrounded by waters and meres, and con- 
 tains but few largish stones), arrived at a deserted little town, not 
 far from the place which in the language of the Angles is called 
 Grantchester. There they presently found without its walls a coffin 
 of white marble, exquisitely wrought, and fitted with a lid of the 
 same material. From this they perceived that God had prospered 
 their journey, and when they had oflfered a thanksgiving, they 
 
 1. See Mr. Milner's remarks on this subject, in Carter, p. 5. 
 
 2. S. Ambrosii de Virginibus libri tres. S. Aldhelmi Liber de laudeVir- 
 ginitatis. S. Bedse H.E. iv. 20. 
 
 3. S. Bedee, H, E. iii. 8. 
 
7 
 
 returned, to the Monastery. Now when the body of the holy virgin, 
 the bride of Christ, was brought out from its open sepulchre, 
 it was found as free from corruption as if she had died or been 
 buried on that very day; a fact which Bishop "Wilfrid, whom we 
 have before named, and many others of their own knowledge 
 attest.... Moreover, all the linens in which the body was wrapped 
 appeared entire, and so new that they seemed to have been but 
 then folded around her chaste limbs.... And it happened that by the 
 touch of these shrouds, not only devils were driven out of pos- 
 sessed persons, but other infirmities also were at times healed. 
 Even the coffin in which she had been fiirst buried was reported 
 to have cured certain whose eyes were diseased; for they came and 
 laid their heads against it and prayed, and their sufferings whether 
 from pain or blindness were speedily removed. The Nuns therefore 
 washed the body, and wrapping it in fresh cloths carried it into 
 the Church : there it was placed in the cofSn which had been 
 brought for it, and remains to this day held in the greatest rever- 
 ence. As for the coffin it was found as wondrously adapted to the 
 virgin body as if it had been specially prepared for it; and the 
 place for the head, separately wrought, was most exactly measured 
 to the needful size." ' 
 
 This translation of St. Etheldreda's body^ took place on the 17th 
 of October, 695, and is still commemorated in our Church's kalen- 
 dar. The great festivity with which its anniversary was once cele- 
 brated is the reason why St. Luke's day, the 1 8th, is not preceded 
 by any vigil. 
 
 Sexburga,^ the second Abbess, deceased July 6th, 699* and was 
 buried beside her sister in the Conventual Church. Her daughter 
 Ermenilda,^ widow of Wulfere, king of Mercia, and at the time 
 Abbess of the Monastery of Sheppey in Kent, was elected her suc- 
 cessor, and departing hence on Feb. 18th, though in what year is 
 not known, her body was interred next to that of her saintly 
 mother. 
 
 The fourth Abbess was Werhiirga,^ Ermenilda's daughter, who 
 
 1. S. Bedse, fl. E. iv, 19. 
 
 2. Represented on the eighth capital. Here again the chronology does 
 not regulate the order of the sculptures. The subject of the seventh capital is 
 the liberation of a captive from prison by the joint offices of St. Etheldreda 
 and St. Benedict. The date of this event is five centuries later than the 
 Translation. The whole eight sculptures are etched by Mr. Carter with ex- 
 treme fidelity, and explained by some very valuable letter-press from the pen 
 of the Rev. Mr. Milner. 
 
 3. Hist.Elien. 595. 4. Cressy's Ch. H. xx. 17. 
 5. Hist. El. 596. 6. Ibid, 
 
8 
 
 had also the rule of several religious houses in Mercia, as well as 
 of that at Sheppey, and resided first at one then at another. Her 
 decease took place on the 3rd of Feb., but the year is not recorded; 
 and her body being first buried at her Monastery of Hanbury in 
 Staffordshire, was afterwards, through fear of Danes, removed to 
 Chester. 
 
 It is remarkable that though St. Etheldreda's Monastery enjoyed 
 a regular succession of Abbesses, and an observance of its order 
 and discipline for one hundred and ninety-seven years, yet after 
 St. "Werburga the name of no one of its superiors is preserved. 
 Protected by its situation in the midst of waters, meres, and fens, 
 It was little molested by external troubles until the year 870, when 
 the Isle of Ely being captured by the Danes under Hubba, the 
 Rehgious, as well Nuns as Monks, were put to the sword, and the 
 Monastery and its Church were plundered and burnt.' The neigh- 
 bouring establishment of Medeshamsted or Peterborough shared 
 a similar fate.'' 
 
 Of the Restoration of the Monastery. 
 
 At this point it will be sufficient to commence a more succinct 
 narration of our history. An entire century elapsed before any 
 steps were taken for a thorough restoration of Ely Monastery. At 
 the close of that period Edgar "the peaceful" sat upon the throne 
 of England, and one of the most distinguished living Prelates was 
 St. Athelwold, Bishop of Winchester. He is described' as " a great 
 builder of Churches, and of various other works," and the Saxon 
 Chronicler* relates how he came to the king, Edgar, "and begged 
 of him that he would give him all the Minsters which heathen men 
 had formerly broken down, because he would restore them: and 
 the king cheerfully granted it." Accordingly he repaired the Mo- 
 nastery of St. Mary at Winton, and founded among others those 
 at Peterborough and Thorney.^ "He purchased," we are told, "and 
 for no small sum, a certain spot called Ely, where there had been ori- 
 ginally a Monastery of Etheldreda, Saint and Virgin, which having been 
 destroyed by the Danes the place had become royal property. Here 
 he established Monks, and instituted Brythnothus, the prepositus 
 of the old Monastery of WjTiton, Abbat, erecting buildings there."," 
 
 1. Hist. El. 602, 2. Sax. Chron. sub. an. 
 
 3, Wolstani Vita S. Athelwoldi, 
 
 4. Sub. an, 963, 5. Ibid. Wolstan, 
 
 6. Rudborne, cited by Professor Willis ; "Architectural History of Win- 
 Chester Cathedral," p, 8. 
 
9 
 
 Hitherto, in the religious houses of the Saxons, the rules observed 
 were those only which were given by the several founders, whi.e 
 both Monks and Nuns had resided in the same establishment; now 
 however the sexes were separated, and the Benedictine rule was 
 generally received.' The number of Monks on St. Athelwold's 
 foundation does not appear, nor do we know the site of the Church 
 which from St. Etheldreda's time pertained to the establishment. 
 Abbat Simeon the eighth successor of Brithnoth was the first who 
 commenced the erection of our present structure, as his brother 
 Bishop "Walkelin was the first who began the building of the present 
 Cathedral of Winchester ; the Transepts are all that remain of his 
 work, and probably all that he erected. Their date being ascer- 
 tained, viz. from A. D. 1081 to 1093, they deserve a careful exami- 
 nation, and should be compared with the contemporary Transepts 
 of Walkelin.* To Simeon succeeded Abbat Richard, who probably 
 built the Choir, and the central Tower at the intersection of the 
 body and arms of the Church. The length of the Choir, it would 
 seem, was equal to that of each Transept. 
 
 Prom the Conversion of the Abbacy into a Bishoprick. 
 
 In the time of Harvey, the next Abbat, another Diocess was 
 formed from that of Lincoln, by taking out of its jurisdiction the 
 county of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely. The new See was fixed at 
 the latter place, and thus the Abbacy of St. Athelwold's foundation 
 became also a Bishopric, and the Conventual Church which Simeon 
 had begun was made a Cathedral as well. From this time the 
 number of Monks was generally about fifty, though the regular 
 complement was seventy; of these the chief, in subordination to 
 the Bishop, was the Prior, who had tlie superintendance over all 
 the inferior members; and next — the Subprior, or Prior's deputy, 
 to assist him when present and to act for him in his absence. 
 Other officers were, the Sacrist who had the care of the books and 
 vestments, plate, and ornaments belonging to the Church ; the 
 Cellarer who procured all the necessaries for the living of the 
 Monks ; the Chamberlain who provided their clothes, beds, and 
 bedding; the Almoner who distributed the charities of the Monas- 
 tery ; the Precentor who regulated the singing and the Choristers ; 
 the Hosteller who entertained strangers ; the Infirmarer who had 
 the charge of the sick ; and the Treasurer. 
 
 1. See Fox's "English Monasteries." 
 
 2. See some comparison of their features in the "Arch Hist of Win- 
 chester Cathedral," chap ii 
 
 D 
 
10 
 
 The building of the Cathedral was advanced by Bishop Harvey 
 and his successor Bishop Nigel, under the latter of whom the Nave 
 was finished before A.D. 1174. The Church had now the form of 
 a cross, with a long stem and three equal arms. Bishop Ridel, 
 between the years 1174 and 1189 added to the plan a "Western 
 Transept and Tower, which his successor Bishop Longchamp com- 
 pleted. In the episcopate of this prelate the Romanesque was rapidly 
 giving way to the Pointed style, early indications of which may be 
 seen in the upper portions of the new work both within and with- 
 out. Bishop Eustachius erected the Galilee porch between the 
 years 1197 and 1220, while between 1229 and 1254 Bishop North- 
 wold extended the Choir eastwards, adding six new severies or bays 
 to its length. Both these portions of the Cathedral belong to the 
 first period of Pointed Architecture. Under Bishop Hotham the 
 erection of the Lady Chapel was commenced in the second-pointed 
 style, A.D. 1321, the work being entrusted to Alan de Walsingham 
 a most skilful architect, who was Subprior at the time. In the fol- 
 lowing year the great central Tower fell, and in falling crushed the 
 three severies of the Choir which belonged to the old Romanesque 
 portion of the Church. No attempt was ever made to rebuild this 
 Tower, but the four piers on which it stood were entirely removed, 
 and arches being thrown across from one to the other of the eight 
 pillars which stood next to them, the present Octagon, as it is 
 called, was raised thereon. This part has a wooden groining out 
 of which rises a lantern of the same material, the whole being covered 
 externally with lead. The three ruined bays of the Choir were re- 
 built by Bishop Hotham, and at his own expense, but the Lady 
 Chapel was not completed until the episcopate of Bishop L'Isle. 
 
 In the year 1380 an octagonal story flanked with four turrets 
 was added to the great West Tower. This seems to have given the 
 Tower a sway towards the North West, and accordingly in A. D. 1405, 
 its piers were strengthened ; they were further cased with stone A. D. 
 1454. Of the time at which the North Western Transept fell we have 
 no record, though the character of the vast buttress which occupies 
 a great portion of the site of the West wall shews that it must have 
 been at an early period; it was probably before the middle of the 
 fifteenth century. Bishop Alcock's Chauntry was commenced A.D. 
 1488, and that of Bishop West was erected in 1534.' 
 
 1. The Monastery of Ely was surrendered a d. 1541, and in lieu of the 
 Prior and Monks were established a Dean and eight Prebendaries. St. 
 Etheldreda's Church and Monastery were dedicated to the Blessed Virgin ; 
 St. Athelwold's to St. Peter and St. Etheldreda ; but the dedication of the 
 Cathedral has been, since the Reformation, to the Holy and Undivided 
 Trinity. 
 
11 
 
 We have now related briefly the history of the fabrick of Ely 
 Minster, and it only remains to notice the various arrangements 
 for publick worship which have from time to time prevailed in ft. 
 The Choir originally extended from the Eastern extremity of Bishop 
 Hotham's work, under the Octagon, to the second pillars of the 
 Nave, against which two niches, one on either side, still mark its 
 boundary. Beyond the Choir was the Presbytery of Bishop North- 
 wold, where stood the shrines of St. Etheldreda and her holy rela- 
 tives. In 1770 this disposition was altered, and the Choir reduced 
 to the narrow limits of the ancient Presbytery, an arrangement which 
 still prevails, though happily about to be upset. It is now proposed 
 to lengthen the Choir westward, by including within it the three seve. 
 ries of Bishop Hotham, a vast improvement on the existing plan, 
 though it may be questioned whether a return to the original situa. 
 tion of the Choir would not be a still more desirable change. It 
 is said that the space under the Octagon would in such a case be 
 cut up, which is true; but at present this vast area only seems 
 to " measure" the Cathedral, and so reduce its apparent length ; 
 and if this be so, the elfect of extending the Choir across it would 
 be to do greater justice to the splendid perspective of the Church. 
 The miserable organ screen will be replaced by one of light and 
 open character, the organ itself being placed in the North Trifo- 
 rium. The hideous walls by which the Aisles of the Transepts are 
 partitioned off will be removed; but as vestries are necessary for 
 the several members of the Cathedral, one of these Aisles, as the 
 Western in the South Transept will probably be devoted to them, 
 each sacristy being surrounded by a parclose of oak or stone. The 
 Nave of this Cathedral is at present used for the Sunday Sermons, 
 the congregations of the two Parishes in Ely resorting thither, and 
 joining the worshippers at the Cathedral who leave the Choir at 
 the conclusion of the Nicene Creed. This arrangement will, it is 
 said, be discontinued; let us ^hope only by the placing of all the 
 Laity in the Nave, until they approach the Eucharistic Feast ; when, 
 and when only, according to the universal rule of Church Arrange- 
 ment, they are allowed to enter the Choir. The present unworthy 
 Font is to be superseded by one of more befitting character, which 
 placed in the central passage of the Cathedral, near to its western 
 door, will symbolize the entrance into the Spiritual Church, from 
 which the straight path of devotion leads onwards to the highest 
 privileges of the Redeemed. 
 
12 
 
 Eminent Men. 
 
 It would be impossible to include within our prescribed limits 
 even brief notices of all the illustrious persons who have been con- 
 nected with the Cathedral Church of Ely. Dr. Heylin in his " Help 
 to English History," posthumously published in 1671, observes, 
 the Bishoprick of Ely "may rejoice itself in this, that it yielded 
 to this Realm as many great officers as any other in the kingdom. 
 For it hath given to the State no less than nine Lord Chancellors, 
 seven Lord Treasurers, one Lord Privy Seal, one Chancellor of 
 the University of Oxford, one of the Exchequer, two Masters of 
 the Rolls: besides two Saints' unto the Church, two Cardinals to 
 the Church of Borne, and to the English Court three Almoners." 
 The inferior members of the foundation also number among them 
 several distinguished names. Limited, however, as our space is, 
 it would be wrong should we omit to add to the eminent personages 
 who have already been mentioned for their services to the fabrick 
 of the Cathedral, certain others who claim our affectionate reverence 
 for their faithful offices in the Church, which is the Body of Chkist. 
 Such were the Apostolical Prelates, Dr. Launcelot Andrewes, Bishop 
 successively of Chichester, Ely, and Winchester, whose writings' are 
 a most cherished possession of English Churchmen. Dr. Matthew 
 Wren, of Hereford, Norwich, and Ely, the faithful servant of King 
 Charles L, and the friend and firm coadjutor of Archbishop Laud; 
 who, after a confinement of nearly eighteen years in the Tower of 
 London, witnessed the restoration of Monarchy, and erected the 
 Chapel of Pembroke College in testimony of thankfulness to God 
 for his own deliverance, and the happy turn of publick affairs. 
 Dr. Peter Gunning, Bishop of Chichester and Ely, another faithful 
 loyalist and excellent author. Dr. Francis Turner, of Rochester and 
 Ely, one of the six Bishops committed to the Tower for refusing 
 to promulgate in their Churches King James XL's Declaration for 
 Liberty of Conscience; and Dr. Simon Patrick, also of Chichester 
 and Ely, the author of the well-known " Commentary," " Paraphrase 
 of the Psalms," and other works. 
 
 Among the Prebendaries of the Cathedral may be named Dr. 
 Matthew Parker, Master of Corpus Christi College, and Archbishop 
 of Canterbury ; Dr. Matthew Hutton, Bishop of Durham and Arch- 
 bishop of York ; Dr. John Whitgift, Master of Pembroke and Tri- 
 nity Colleges, Bishop of Worcester and Archbishop of Canterbury : 
 
 1. St. John de Fontibiis, and St. Hugh de Balsham. 
 
 2. Viz. ninety-six Sermons, Pattern ofCatechistical Doctrine, and Devotions. 
 
13 
 
 Dr.. James Duport, Master of Jesus College; Dr. Ralph Brownrigg, 
 Bishop of Exeter; Dr. James Wedderburne, Bishop of Dumblane; 
 Dr. Lawrence Womack, Bishop of St. David's ; Dr. John Pearson, 
 Master of Jesus College, next of Trinity, and afterwards Bishop of 
 Chester, well known for his " Exposition of the Creed;" Dr. Anthony 
 Sparrow, Master of Queens' College, Bishop of Exeter, then of Nor- 
 Avich, and Author of the "Rational, or Practical Exposition of the 
 Book of Common Prayer," and of the " Collection of Articles, Injunc- 
 tions, Canons," &c. ; Dr. Thomas Tanner, Bishop of St. Asaph, the 
 laborious Compiler of the " Notitia Monastica ;" and Dr. Stephen 
 Weston, Bishop of Exeter. 
 
 DESCKIPTION. 
 
 Ely Cathedral, with its long roof. Octagon, and lofty Tower, 
 visible for miles round in the flat country of Cambridgeshire, shows 
 most strikingly from the eastern and south-eastern suburbs of the 
 City, and as approached by the path leading through the College 
 green. Its western Front is to be enjoyed by proceeding up the 
 Fore-street as far as St. Mary's Church, and then turning round 
 into the enclosure of the Episcopal Palace. From this the Facade 
 is grand even in its present half-ruined state, and despite the addi- 
 tion of an incongruous story to the Tower; when perfect, it must 
 have been inferior to but few others in the kingdom. In its ori- 
 ginal state it exhibited a Tower flanked by two Transepts, and these 
 terminated by octagonal Turrets; the lower portions belonging to 
 the old Romanesque order, but the upper parts indicating the com- 
 mencement of the Pointed Style. Bishop Eustace, between the years 
 1198 and 1215, erected " the Galilee," as it is termed, a large porch,' 
 namely, in front of the Tower (A in the plan) ; it has a gallery above 
 it lighted to the west by three nearly equal lancets, but (intended to 
 be) open internally to the Church. In the episcopate of Bishop 
 Arundel the present uppermost story was added to the Tower; and 
 subsequently, though at what time is unknown, the North Transept 
 fell, and has ever since remained in ruins. 
 
 Mr. Stewart has pointed out the fact that the Galilee porch is not 
 
 1. The Galilee " was considered to be somewhat less sacred than the other 
 portions of the building. The Galilee at Lincoln Cathedral is a porch on the 
 west side of the south transept: . . . .at Durham it is a large chapel at the west 
 end of the nave, which was built for the use of the women, who were not 
 allowed to advance further into the church than the second pillar of the nave. 
 .. The name is supposed to be in allusion to 'Galilee of the Gentiles.' " — Glos- 
 sary of Architecture, i. 178. 
 
14 
 
 parallel to the axis of the Nave, but has a marked inclination to 
 the north, while the Choir on the other hand, (like that of Exeter), 
 inclines to the south. This doubtless was for a symbolical reason. 
 We all know that the ground plans of Churches, by so frequently 
 assuming a cross form, typify the doctrine of the Atonement, — the 
 Choir or Chancel marking our blessed Saviour's Head, the Transepts 
 His Arms, and the Nave His Body. By an expansion of this idea 
 the Choir is made to bend southwards to shew the inclination of the 
 Redeemer's Head upon the Cross; while, as it would seem from 
 this example of the Ely Galilee, the Porch is turned in an opposite 
 direction to indicate the position of His Feet. Now it is easy to deny 
 that these symbolical considerations influenced our forefathers in mark- 
 ing out the ground-plans of their Churches, or to say that, if they did, 
 they are fanciful, absurd, or superstitious; but it is not so easy to 
 assign any other reason for the fact of such arrangements, nor to 
 prove the weakness of embodying holy doctrines in external objects, 
 and making the material fabrick of a Church suggestive of the 
 Christian verities. 
 
 The great length of the Cathedral strikes every one immediately 
 on his entrance, even though the present position of the Choir is not 
 most favourable to its display. Then the grandeur of the Nave makes 
 itself felt, possessing as it does all the solidity of the Romanesque 
 style with greater lightness than is usual. The Tower (B) rises 
 above us; the piers on which it formerly stood being cased with 
 vast thicknesses of third-pointed masonry to compensate for the 
 support of the ruined Transept, arid to bear the burthen of the addi- 
 tional story. The ancient arches, slightly pointed, and decorated 
 with the ornamental moldings of the Normans are visible above the 
 more recent work. All the part above these arches has recently been 
 brought to light by the removal of a lath and plaster ceiling. On our 
 right hand is the South Transept (C), rich in the extreme with its 
 several arcades, plain, intersecting, trifoliated, and pointed; in its 
 eastern wall will be noticed a blocked arch; this opened into an 
 apsidal Chauntry (/ in the plan), the foundations of which are still 
 discernible in the Deanery gardens. In the south wall is a door- 
 way {h), also now filled with masonry, but formerly leading to a 
 gallery which crossed the road on the outside and communicated 
 with the Bishop's Palace. In the floor may be traced the circular 
 ruin of a weU or Baptistery (g) ; it has been digged into and care- 
 fully examined, but without the discovery of any clue by which its 
 use may be positively assigned. This Transept has a melancholy 
 interest attaching to it, for it was here that the respected architect 
 Basevi fell from the scafiblding and was killed, while superintending 
 the restorations, in the year 1845. 
 
15 
 
 The Nave (E) consists of twelve " severies" or compartments, the 
 pillars alternating in size and pattern. Over the Aisle runs a broad 
 gallery or " triforium," as it is usually called, and above this is a nar- 
 row passage in the thickness of the wall, giving access to the clerestory 
 windows ; thus the height of the Cathedral is divided into three por- 
 tions — basement, triforium, and clerestory; as its length is divided into 
 as many parts — Nave, Transept, and Choir ; and its breadth into the 
 same number — north, middle and south Aisle. There can be little 
 doubt that this Nave was originally designed to receive a flat panelled 
 ceiling of wood ; but the present roof, simple as its construction is, and 
 quite unadorned, produces a much finer efiect than we can conceive 
 the former would have afi"orded. Both the Aisles are richly arcaded, 
 that on the south retaining three of its original windows. Taking this 
 side of the Cathedral fii-st, we find in the third bay the Font (e) an 
 offering by Dean Spencer in the year 1693. Its design is in accordance 
 with the taste or tastelessness of the age, and will soon cause it to give 
 way to a more worthy successor ; let us hope, however, that it will be 
 preserved with the same reverence as the disused Font at Exeter, 
 which has been re-erected in one of the Chauntries. In the fifth bay 
 is a door-way called " the Prior's entrance" (d") internally plain, but 
 on the exterior elaborately ornamented. In the tympanum is a figure 
 of the Saviour seated in an aureole, (or " glory" of a pointed oval 
 shape), and attended by two Angels. The mouldings above, as well 
 as the capitals, jambs, and pilasters, are enriched with running foliage, 
 and with a series of medallions, the more remarkable of which, those 
 on the right hand, are considered by Mr. Milner to represent the fes- 
 tivities attending on a wedding.* This doorway communicated with 
 the north-western angle of the Cloisters ; a second one,(<:?') less orna- 
 mented, was at the north-eastern angle, and formed " the Monks' 
 entrance." The latter opened just eastward of the rood-skreen,* 
 which stretched across the Nave (at e), where the pillar on either side 
 still retains a niche against it. The Choir, then, extended from this 
 point so as to include the third severy eastward of the transept, an 
 arrangement which prevailed as well while the old central Tower was 
 standing, as subsequently when it had given place to the octagon. 
 
 The Transepts (GG) are, as we have seen, the oldest parts of the 
 existing Cathedral, being the work of Abbat Simeon, just as those at 
 
 1. Carter^s Ancient Painting and Sculpture, p. 10. 
 
 2. Dr. Tanner thus describes the gallery which in his time existed here :— 
 «' Between the Choir and Nave is an ancient stone Gallery from pillar to pillar 
 cross the middle Aisle ; on which, towards the east, is plac'd the Organ, and 
 on the west part are seats for the Bishop, Dean, Prebendaries, and other mem- 
 bers of the Church, to hear the Sermons."— Browne Willis' History of the 
 Conventual Cathedral Churches, Vol. i. p. 267. 
 
16 
 
 Winchester are the earliest portions of the Cathedral there, being the 
 work of Bishop Walkelin, our Abbat Simeon's brother. There is con- 
 siderable similarity between the two structures. Each had a central 
 tower, though Winchester only retains it, but both possess east and 
 west Aisles to their Transepts. At Winchester, each end, moreover, 
 of the Transept, has an Aisle, the roof of which forms a platform or 
 gallery ; at Ely there is in place of this, a row of pilasters supporting 
 a gallery of similar character but smaller dimensions. " This kind of 
 gallery," says Professor Willis, " is not unusual in the churches of 
 Normandy, as I have already had occasion to remark in my History 
 of Canterbury,' where I have shewn that it was reserved for chapels, or 
 for the preservation of relics of peculiar sanctity." At present, both 
 the Aisles in the south Transept of Ely are parted off with masonry, 
 and used as Vestries, and for the Chapter-house and Library. In the 
 centre lies a curious tesselated pavement. One of the windows in 
 the gallery just described has been recently filled with painted glass, 
 the work of M. Gerente of Paris. It represents the principal events 
 in the life of the patriarch Joseph, and may be pronounced on the 
 whole a very successful attempt ; the drawing seems especially care- 
 ful. Our own artist Mr. Wailes, by an offering of the Reverend 
 Canon Sparke, has filled the south eastern window of the octagon 
 with the portraits of several saintly personages connected with the 
 history of Ely ; in time, when the three other windows shall have 
 been similarly adorned, this one will appear to much greater ad- 
 vantage than at present, while too much light falls upon it internally. 
 The glass for the north eastern window is now in course of prepara- 
 tion by Mr. Wailes, being a contribution by the Bachelors of Arts 
 and Undergraduates of the University of Cambridge.* 
 
 The method in which the octagon (F) was formed after the fall 
 of the central tower has been already explained. Four of its sides 
 open by large and bold arches to the Nave, north and south Tran- 
 septs, and Choir respectively. Each of the other sides opens to the 
 Aisles by a smaller arch, above which is a gallery, and a window of 
 four lights with geometrical tracery. A second plane of open tracery 
 half hides the curves and points of these windows, producing a very 
 
 1. Winchester, p. 24 ; Canterbury, p. 37, note 1. 
 
 2. The estimated expense of this window is £500, of which little more than 
 £200 has as yet been subscribed. Mr. Wailes has undertaken to prepare all 
 the glass at once, but it will only be placed in the window as the funds shall 
 from time to time allow. It is hoped that those to whom the subscription is 
 limited will agree in the belief which the originators of the scheme have ex- 
 pressed " that they are privileged by their connexion with the Diocess of Ely 
 to assist in the repair of its Cathedral Church." Sums may be paid at 
 Messrs. Mortlock's bank, Cambridge, on account of " the Ely Window 
 Fund." 
 
17 
 
 rich effect. Midway up each vaulting shaft is a canopied" niche of 
 unusual but very beautiful character; these rest upon capitals sculp- 
 tured with the chief incidents of St. Etheldreda's life, as we have 
 before explained. The groining is of wood in imitation of stone, and 
 from it springs an eight-sided lantern also of wood, covered externally 
 with lead. It is but a mean affair, and indeed all the upper portion of 
 this octagon, however ingenious its construction, is of an unsatisfactory 
 nature. 
 
 The three Eastern bays of the old Choir, forming the present ante- 
 Choir, are beautiful specimens of the middle-pointed style. The same 
 broad triforium runs here over the Aisles, and contains a series of 
 three arches filled with tracery of peculiar character and an unusual 
 degree of beauty. Above this, the clerestory contains as many good 
 four-light windows. The Presbytery, used now as the Choir, is an 
 equally fine example of the fii-st-pointed order. It has six severies. 
 The pillars, which are of Purbeck marble, are octagonal, clustered with 
 shafts, and are now receiving the high polish which they yield so 
 unwillingly' and so unsurpassably. The moldings of the arches have 
 the deep bold beauty of their style ; above them are the gorgeous 
 arches of the triforium, rich alike with carved foliage and contrasted 
 colours ; and over these again the exquisite triplets of the clerestory. 
 The vaulting has that simple but effective rib-work which belongs so 
 especially to the fii-st and to the purest middle pointed styles ; it con- 
 trasts very favourably with the more complex ramifications in Bishop 
 Hotham's portion of the Choir. The eastern end has three gigantic 
 lancets of nearly equal height, and above them five smaller ones 
 graduated to the curve of the roof. The spandrils throughout are 
 relieved with trefoils and quatrefoils deeply sunk and backed with 
 Purbeck marble ; and on the whole, the contrast of light and shade, 
 depth and projection, white and dark masonry, may be considered as 
 brought to perfection in this part of the Church. 
 
 Never was there a more ill-judged step than the removal of the 
 Choir hither, towards the latter portion of the last century. To give 
 it such stinted proportions, and for this purpose to displace some of 
 the fine old monuments, and to hide others, to obscure the pillars, 
 and, above all, to erect the miserable organ gallery which we now 
 behold, may surely be pronounced most tasteless performances. Only, 
 happily, it is not necessary to scold much about them, seeing the injury 
 
 1, The amonnt of labour requisite for the polishing of oae of these pillars 
 cannot be realised but by one who has been much upon the spot, and witnessed 
 the slow advance which is made by the workmen though incessantly engaged 
 upon it. Small portions are made very hot by the application of charcoal, the 
 heat of which is directed against the stone by the aid of bellows ; a resinous 
 preparation is then applied, and the polish brought out by manipulation. 
 
18 
 
 is in such a fair way to be repaired. Devoutedly is it to be hoped, that 
 we shall yet behold the Presbytery what, or very nearly what, it once 
 was. One of the greatest eyesores it now presents, the absence of 
 painted glass, will be removed by the ample provisions made by the 
 late Bishop Sparke for the purpose. And the next, the break in the 
 triforium in the western two compartments, will also be remedied, by 
 continuing the upper roof and removing the present middle-pointed 
 windows, which are filled into the original arches. The restoration 
 of the Choir to its ancient position under the octagon has already been 
 advocated ; one other reason for desiring it seems to be this, that if the 
 stalls are re-erected in Bishop Hotham's choir, they will obscure its 
 graceful pillars as they now obscure Bishop Northwold's, but if erected 
 under the octagon,' they will hide nothing. Hotham's portion would 
 then form a very grand Sacrarium, separated from its aisles by light 
 parcloses of stone running from pillar to pillar. 
 
 The stall-work of Alan de Walsingham has suffered considerably 
 by " incongruous additions in deal and plaster ;" it nevertheless ex- 
 hibits considerable richness of design and boldness of execution. The 
 misereres have been engraved by Carter in his " Ancient Painting and 
 Sculpture," to which work the Ecclesiologist is referred for their sub- 
 jects, and an explanation of them from the pen of Mr. Milner. 
 
 The back of the stall-work towards the Transepts originally afforded 
 a space for the introduction of paintings. Those which existed in the 
 North Transept are engraved by Gough in the first volume of his 
 " Sepulchral Monuments," where they are said to be " the oldest 
 original paintings of bishops in their habits of ceremony." Their 
 antiquity was certainly great, to judge from the character of the 
 architectural details introduced, these being of the first-pointed style, 
 and the " dog-tooth molding" conspicuous. There were six episcopal 
 figures and one knight ; and when the wall Tjvas removed there were 
 found seven distinct cells containing the respective bones. " They 
 were brought thither from the old conventual church in the reign 
 of Stephen, by Nigellus bishop of Ely, and their names were legible 
 over their painted effigies." On the removal of the Choir in 1771, the 
 bones were placed in fresh cells prepared for them in the south wall 
 of Bishop West's chantry ; a general inscription was placed over them 
 all, and on each cell the name of the deceased whose remains it held.^ 
 
 1. The old Choir, indeed, included one bay of the Nave ; this would now be 
 undesirable because of the projection of the middle-pointed additions to its east- 
 ern pillars. The idea of the parcloses separating the Sacrarium from its Aisles 
 is taken from the arrangement at Exeter. 
 
 2. These inscriptions are too interesting to be omitted : " >J< Subtus ccn- 
 duntur ossa vii virorum, de Eliensibus optime meritorum, in ecclesia conven- 
 tuali pie adservata; ad eccles. cathedralem solemniter translata mcliv; postea 
 
19 
 
 We may now return to the route by which the visitor is ordinarily 
 conducted round the Cathedral. Going on again in the south Aisle, 
 we cannot fail to notice the several beautiful " matrices" which remain 
 in the pavement. These are the indents in which brasses were formerly 
 inlaid, but the latter having been destroyed through fanaticism or 
 stolen for the sake of the metal, the matrices alone remain as the 
 memorials of the several deceased. Nor can even these, indeed, with 
 but one or two exceptions, be assigned to the persons whom they were 
 intended to commemorate ; frequent transpositions having destroyed 
 the principal clues to their identity. It is satisfactory to find that these 
 frail relics are awakening greater attention than they have hitherto 
 received : they will be saved from further mutilation by the filling in 
 of a dark composition into their indents ; and a lithographic series of 
 reductions of them will be shortly published.' Only two brasses remain 
 out of the vast number which once adorned the floor of this Cathedral. 
 Of these, the earliest is that of Bishop Goodrich(13), who deceased 
 A.D. 1554. He is represented in his pontifical vestments, and bears the 
 Great Seal in his character of Lord Chancellor of England. The 
 canopy and most of the accessories to this brass have perished. The 
 second is that of Dean Tyndall(14), who deceased in 1614, 
 
 The principal monuments which claim our attention in this Aisle 
 are those of Bishop Heton and Bishop Gunning against the south 
 wall, and of Bishop de Luda, Bishop Northwold, and Tiptoft Earl of 
 Worcester, at the back of the stalls. Bishop Heton's monument(lO), 
 A.D. 1609, is remarkable as attesting the use of copes by our clergy 
 after the Reformation ; the orphrey of the cope is richly embroidered 
 with figures of the Apostles. Bishop Gunning's tomb(9), A.D. 1684, is 
 noticeable chiefly for his sake whom it commemorates ; it is also to be 
 observed as representing a bishop of the Reformed Church wearing 
 a mitre and carrying a pastoral staff. Under the beautiful monument 
 of Bishop de Luda(8), a.d. 1298, stands a curious coffin-lid of Purbeck 
 marble, belonging apparently to the latter half of the 12th century. 
 It is carved with the representation of an angel conveying a soul to 
 
 in boreali pariete nuperi chori inclusa ; tandem hoc in sacello capsulse queeque 
 suae reddita prid. Cal. Aug. mdcclxxi. Requiescant! Wlstanus Archiepus 
 Ebor, obiit^A. d. mxxiii. Osmundus Epus e Suedia obiit circa a. d. mlxvii. 
 Alwin Epus Elmhamensis obiit a. d. mxxix. ^Ifgarus EpiTs Elmhamensis 
 obiit A.D. Mxxi. Ednothus Epus Dorcestrensis Csesus a Danis a.d. mxvi. 
 Athelstanus Epus Elmhamensis obiit circa a. d. dccccxcvi. Brithnothus 
 Northumbrior. Dux praelio csesus a Danis a. d. dccccxci. 
 
 1. The compiler of the present pages has been induced to undertake this 
 task ; and he further proposes the publication of several other series of 
 matrices, arranged according to localities, should sufficient encouragement be 
 afforded. In the meanwhile he solicits any information on the subject. 
 
20 
 
 heaven, under the shape of a small human figure ; there is an inscrip- 
 tion " Sanctus Michael oret pro me." As the figure carries a pastoral 
 staff", it is evidently the memorial of a bishop : may it not be that of 
 Bishop Ridel, who deceased a.d, 1189? The beautiful monument of 
 Bishop Northwold(7), a.d. 1254, lies on the high tomb of Bishop 
 Barnet, a.d. 1373: it is a large slab of Purbeck, deeply incised with 
 the effigy of the deceased, and having niches at its sides with figures 
 and a variety of foliage and elaborate sculpture ; at the feet is a repre- 
 sentation of St. Edmund's martyrdom. Earl Tiptoft has a handsome 
 canapied high tomb(6), on the table of which lie the effigy of himself 
 and his two wives : the latter only were buried at Ely, the body of the 
 Earl being deposited in the church of the Dominicans, near Ludgate. 
 There is a beautiful engraving of the effigies in Gough, vol. ii. pi. 89, 
 and an interesting account of the deceased, pp. 226-228. At the east 
 end of this Aisle is the Chauntry Chapel of Bishop West(5), A.D. 1533. 
 It is very curious as exhibiting the introduction of classical ornament 
 into the expiring forms of pointed art. The bishop's arms, and the 
 scripture " Gratia Dei sum quod sum," occur repeatedly both within 
 and without. The iron-work of the door is noticeable. The east win- 
 dow has been filled by Mr. Evans of Shrewsbury with painted glass, 
 which cannot be praised either for design or execution. We have 
 before noticed the monument of the seven benefactors of Ely ; in the 
 window behind it, and in the corresponding window of Bishop Alcock's 
 Chauntry, are the principal fragments of old glass remaining in the 
 Cathedral. 
 
 Archbishop Luxemburg has a high tomb (5) on the south of the 
 present Sacrarium, and adjoining Bishop West's Chapel. Mr. Bent- 
 ham in his print puts a Cardinal's hat on the head of the effigy, 
 while Mr. Cole asserts that it has only a mitre, and Mr, Gough says 
 that the dispute can never be decided because of the new wainscot 
 of the Chancel by which the monument is shut up. Happily the 
 new wainscot is now gone, and, strange to say, the figure appears — 
 headless ! The vestments however are certainly episcopal. Bishop 
 Alcock's Chapel (a), at the east end of the north Aisle, is an over- 
 wrought example of the late third-pointed style. Its erection was 
 commenced in the year 1488, as appears from a stone found on open- 
 ing a grave at some little distance, and now built into the wall : it is 
 incised with five crosses, this inscription surrounding them : — " Jo- 
 hannes alkoc epus eliesis banc fabrica fieri fecit MCCCCllil xxvilJ." 
 The high tomb of this illustrious Prelate is against the north wall, 
 and has his effigy in episcopal robes. The Master and Fellows of Jesus 
 College are at the expense of restoring the Chauntry, and the work 
 has hitherto been effected in the most careful and praiseworthy man- 
 ner ; a tesselated pavement copied from that in the south Transept 
 
21 
 
 is in forwardness, and will be shortly laid down.' A small stone 
 altar here deserves attention. 
 
 In the north Aisle we have to notice the monuments of Bishops 
 Patrick, Hotham, Kilkenny, and Redman, The former illustrious 
 Prelate deserves a more worthy memorial than the affair of cherubs 
 and urns which at present marks his resting place ; let us hope that, 
 if ever the Presbytery is separated as above proposed, a fitting monu- 
 ment may be erected to him by the exertions of grateful Churchmen. 
 The effigy of Bishop Hotham originally lay on the table of his high 
 tomb (2), but it has now perished, and the sculpture with which the 
 whole was adorned is also lost. Bishop Kilkenny's monument (3), 
 A. D. 1256, has his figure carved in Purbeck marble, under a rich and 
 bold canopy. Bishop Redman's memorial (4), in 1505, is an ex- 
 ceedingly fine composition. The effigy of the departed Prelate is 
 recumbent on a high tomb under a rich triple canopy ; a place being 
 left at the feet of the figure for the Chauntry Priest. There are also 
 two matrices here which deserve our notice, as the persons comme- 
 morated by them may be assigned. The first lies near the door of 
 Bishop Alcock's Chapel, and is the only remnant of the monument of 
 Bishop Gray who deceased A. D. 1478. The fine canopy under which 
 it was placed (1) existed in Bentham's time, and is engraved in his 
 
 1. Bishop Alcock deserves a short biographical notice. He was born at Be- 
 verley and educated at Cambridge. After numerous minor preferments he was 
 promoted to the see of Rochester. He.founded a free School, and built a Chapel 
 to the Church where his parents were buried, at Kingston-upon-HuU. In 
 1476 he was translated to Worcester, and enlarged the Collegiate Church of 
 Westbury, rebuilding its north side. In 1481 he visited and reformed the 
 Priory of Little Malvern, rebuilt their Church, repaired their Convent, and in 
 great measure discharged their debts. In 1486 he was advanced to Ely. In 
 1487 he visited the ancient Nunnery of St. Rhadegund, Cambridge, which he 
 afterwards converted into a College of students by the king's patent for dissolv- 
 ing the Nunnery, 1497. The new foundation was to consist of a Master, 
 six Fellows, and a certain number of Scholars, to be called the College of the 
 Blessed Virgin Mary, St. John the Evangelist, and St. Rhadegund ; but having 
 added to these names that of Jesus it was, even in his time, commonly called 
 Jesus College. His device was a Cock, of which allusion he was extremely 
 fond, as appears by his placing the figure of that bird, with moral sentences on 
 scrolls, in almost every part of the many and expensive public buildings which 
 he erected, and in his works printed by Pinson and Winkin de Worde. He de- 
 ceased at his castle of Wisbech, Oct. 1, 1500. He was not only a considera- 
 ble writer, but an excellent architect. Bale's character of this Prelate is, that 
 from his earliest youth he applied himself to learning and devotion ; in which 
 last he made such progress that no person in England had a greater reputa- 
 tion for sanctity of manners. His whole life was a course of the strictest tem- 
 perance, mortification, abstinence, and study. See Gough, vol. ii. p. .'54.'5. 
 
22 
 
 book (PI. XX.), but it has since been altogether removed. The 
 second is between the tombs of Bishops Hotham and Kilkenny and 
 represents a demi-figure under a canopy, with a floriated cross be- 
 neath. The letters I. C. leave little room to doubt that it is the 
 gravestone of Prior John Crauden who deceased in 1341. 
 
 The original entrance to the Lady Chapel (I) is in this Aisle, in 
 the easternmost bay of Bishop Hotham's Choir. It is now blocked 
 by the cumbersome monument of Dean Cassar, a.d, 1636, but it may 
 still be seen above and around that erection. At present the only 
 access from the Cathedral to the Lady Chapel is by a doorway in the 
 angle of the north-eastern Transept. The most conflicting feelings 
 assail us on viewing this remarkable structure. Admiration at its 
 ancient glories, sorrow at its present desolation, are instantly con- 
 ceived. Few visitors perhaps have seen so highly an enriched build- 
 ing. Of five ample severies surrounded by canopied niches of un- 
 wonted elaboration, lit by windows of great size and beauty, covered 
 by a roof of almost magick lightness, and everywhere displaying the 
 traces of most brilliant colour, it is perhaps nowhere to be surpassed 
 or even equalled in splendour. Its area filled with the most vile 
 pueing, its carved work broken down, its windows — here robbed of 
 their painted glass— there altogether blocked up, it presents an un- 
 usual picture of decay and desecration. One cannot easily believe 
 that it is still used as a place of worship ; yet so it is by the inhabi- 
 tants of Trinity parish, who have lost their own Church. It is said of 
 a well-known popish architect of the present day, that he burst into 
 tears on first beholding this Chapel, and exclaimed " O God ! what 
 has England done to deserve this ?" Every Churchman too inclines 
 to weep when he views this sad scene, but he knows that our country 
 did incur the vengeance righteously, and that the desolation around 
 him teaches a wholesome though a bitter lesson ; that no perfection of 
 human art may stand in lieu of moral excellence, and no splendour of 
 a material Church he accepted for the integrity of the spiritual Body of 
 Christ. Having vindicated that from its obscurations, having expe- 
 rienced the flames of a fierce reaction, and now by God's grace com- 
 ing out of the fire refined and purified, he knows that the English 
 Church will go on its way rejoicing; and making it her first care to 
 gather to her Loud households like a flock of sheep, she will also be 
 permitted to build up for them the waste places of Sion, and to 
 beautify the place of the Sanctuary; not only moreover to restore 
 the works of our fathers, but also to go beyond them, and to develop 
 yet latent excellencies of Christian architecture, as far surpassing those 
 of this wondrous Chauntry, as they themselves excel the barbaric 
 splendours of the western Transept. May every Christian pray, and 
 — so far as in him lies — labour, for such a consummation. May even 
 
23 
 
 these poor pages bring their share of furtherance to the task, leading 
 all in whose hands they may be found to a reverent examination and 
 appreciation of one of the most noble of our sacred edifices, and 
 bringing more prominently forward, so that those who run may read, 
 the many lessons which visiting a Cathedral is calculated to supply. 
 
 Returning to the North Transept we may notice two windows 
 which have been recently filled with painted glass by Mr. Wailes, 
 and which both deserve commendation. We may also remark the fine 
 third-pointed roofs of the Transepts, still retaining their decorative 
 colour. At the west end of the north Aisle is deposited that curious 
 relic of Anglo-Saxon antiqidty which we have before noticed— Ovin's 
 stone. It stands in a niche, formed where the Aisle once opened 
 into the north Transept. With it we will conclude our survey of the 
 interior of the Cathedral ; those who desire to examine the triforia, 
 roof, Tower, and Octagon may easily obtain permission to do so, but 
 will require no guidance from us, as the Vergers very properly accom- 
 pany strangers to them. No Ecclesiologist will omit the opportunity 
 of seeing them, for only such places afford adequate ideas of the size, 
 apd many of the constructional features, of our Cathedrals. 
 
 We have departed from the usual plan of describing the exterior 
 of our Cathedral first, because the few remarks that are necessary on 
 the subject will be most conveniently introduced in the notice of the 
 Monastic Buildings to which we are about to proceed. It will not 
 however be necessary to speak of them at any length, as an account 
 of the whole Monastery, accompanied by a plan, will shortly ap- 
 pear from the pen of Mr. Stewart. Leaving then the Church by its 
 western door, and turning to the left, we come at no great distance 
 to a fine old gate-house, called the Ely Porta, and once the grand 
 entrace to the Monastic enclosure. Advancing from this towards the 
 south Transept of the Cathedral, we have on the right a small and 
 very beautiful Chapel, which bears the name of Prior Crauden, as it 
 was erected by him. In 1801 it was sacrilegiously converted into 
 a dwelling-house, its height being divided by a floor and two rooms 
 constructed in each story. Happily this profanation is at an end, and 
 the Chapel undergoing a thorough restoration ; its East-window, and 
 curious "low side window" deserve especial notice. Beyond this 
 were the Prior's lodgings, now converted into a dwelling-house for the 
 Canon of the first stall, and the Refectory which at present forms the 
 Deanery. Between this and the Cathedral were the Cloisters, of 
 which small portions only now remain. On our right are what are 
 popularly termed the ruins of the old Conventual Church, but what 
 Professor Willis has shewn to be the Infirmary for the sick Monks. 
 It is indeed a Church-like building, having a Nave, as it were, and 
 Aisles, but at its eastern end we find a doorway, where if the part 
 
24 
 
 we are in had been a Church we might have expected the Chancel arch. 
 This doorway gives access to the Chapel of the Infirmary, which was 
 thus most conveniently placed for the use of the invalids ; it also has 
 its Aisles and an apsidal Chancel. The latter, indeed, as well as the 
 Aisles both of the Chapel" and " Fermary" are taken into the prebeiidal 
 buildings on either side, so that we now walk through the body of the 
 building as through a street. The Dortor or Dormitory of the Monks 
 was westward of the Infirmary, and the Chapter-house filled up the 
 space between it and the end of the south Transept. Some other of 
 the conventual buildings as the Sextre, or Sacrist's lodgings, and the 
 Almery or Almoner's, were cin the north side of the Church. 
 
 We have seen that the Presbytery, the work of Bishop Northwold, 
 is a most beautiful example of the first-pointed style. Of this how- 
 ever the Aisle and Triforium windows present externally but little 
 appearance, as the lancets were removed in 1373, and the present 
 windows inserted ; in the westernmost two bays however on the south 
 side, the character of the original Triforium may still be discovered. 
 The East end of the Cathedral is of unusual beauty, but cannot be 
 seen to advantage for a garden wall which prevents a sufficiently dis- 
 tant view. It displays three tiers of windows, — the triplet below, and 
 five lancets above, which light the Choir, and three equal lancets over 
 which light the space between the stone vaulting and the outer roof. 
 The pinnacle at the south-east angle, and the gable Cross, have been 
 restored at the expense of the Lady Mildred Hope. In passing round 
 the North side we may observe that the North-eastern angle of the 
 Transept has been rebuilt, and received some additions from the taste 
 of Sir Christopher Wren. This misfortune happened to the Church 
 in 1669, when the corner in question fell. 
 
 After all the Compiler fears that these Notes are more meagre than 
 they were intended to be, and yet he has exceeded the space which his 
 Publisher first allowed him. He trusts however that those who know 
 the difficulty of preserving the due mean in works of this kind, be- 
 tween too much diff"useness and too great sententiousness will excuse 
 his shortcomings in this respect. That those also who may have 
 expected a variety of documentary, compared with architectural, evi- 
 dence will have been reconciled to the fact that the Compiler has not 
 attempted it, because it would have been both beyond his strength, 
 and also foreign to the desired popularity of his work. That all, lastly, 
 will give him credit for a desire to be useful, and will consider that 
 the absence of any such a manual as is here attempted is a sufficient 
 justification of his book's appearance. 
 
 METCALFE AND PALMER, PRINTERS, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
'ft emarfes : 
 
 upon : 
 
 tDitj) : t^lfij^ertjation^f : on : : 
 
 rc|)ttecture: 
 
 ant> 
 
 pr^jai^ttt : iStatt : of : tf)t : 
 
 C(t)antr^ : on : UlafeefielDt iktlrge: 
 
 ^ 1813 
 
 6P 
 
 ^jtforb: 
 
 Jo^in : #enrp : li>arfeer: 
 C?itJin0ton^ : ©t. paul'^ : CJwrcli-parti : anU : iDattrioc^' lace 
 IDeale : ?trct)itectural : % ifirarg : (':' olfi&om : li cnton : 
 t<tetien^on : C!l- ant6ril)0e : 
 
TO THE REVEREND 
 
 WILLIAM HOOPER PARKER, M.A. 
 
 RECTOR OF SAHAM TONY, NORFOLK, 
 LATE FELLOW OF NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD, 
 
 AND ONE OF THE 
 
 RURAL DEANS OF THE DEANERY OF BRECCLES, NORFOLK, 
 
 THIS WORK IS GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED, 
 BY HIS DEVOTED SERVANTS, 
 
 JOHN CHESSELL BUCKLEE, 
 CHARLES BUCKLEE. 
 
PREFATORY REMARKS. 
 
 The Members of the Yorkshire Architec- 
 tural Society, by a recent advertisement for 
 designs for the restoration of the Bridge- 
 Chapel at Wakefield, may fairly claim the 
 credit of having first directed public attention 
 to these important as well as characteristic 
 features on the lines of ancient highways. 
 
 To gain possession of this building for the 
 sake of recovering it to Church services, has 
 long been a favourite object with the Reverend 
 Samuel Sharpe, Vicar of Wakefield, and the 
 successful result of his exertions has been the 
 means of placing the restoration under the 
 superintendence of the Society. 
 
 The following observations upon the Chapel 
 accompanied a set of designs, and were com- 
 posed from memoranda collected within the 
 last thirty years, during which period the 
 writers have had opportunities of examining it, 
 and of preserving with the pencil, the perishing 
 forms of its architectural enrichments. 
 
2 
 
 On the occasion referred to, it was clearly 
 not the intention of the authors to enter very 
 fully into the history of the subject, but merely 
 to collect together their scattered notes; and 
 they are not now disposed to augment the bulk 
 of the original manuscript to any considerable 
 extent; aware that it already forms a more 
 detailed account than has hitherto been pub- 
 lished by any antiquary. 
 
 It would be altogether out of place to offer 
 any suggestions as to the manner best adapted 
 to give stability to the walls where additional 
 strength has become necessary, or to touch 
 upon particulars connected with the various 
 and difficult repairs, which are found indis- 
 pensable in the present state of the building. 
 
 Whatever may be the first impression con- 
 veyed to the mind by a general review of it, 
 touching the question of the recovery of the 
 greater portion of its splendid detail by means 
 of partial renewal, a close and critical examina- 
 tion will certainly lead to the encouraging con- 
 clusion that the main constituent features of the 
 design have survived the combined attacks of 
 injury and decay. 
 
 The present inquiry is strictly original, and, 
 as such, briefly as the historical portion is 
 treated, it will perhaps be accepted with little 
 excuse for its pubHcation, and be deemed not 
 
3 
 
 altogether an uninteresting contribution to the 
 stock of information upon the remains of the 
 ancient architecture of England. 
 
 As the especial purpose which the following 
 pages were designed to serve, admitted of re- 
 marks which would prove unintelligible to the 
 general reader without the assistance of nume- 
 rous illustrative Engravings, the materials have 
 been remodelled, with the addition of a few 
 particulars which were not called for in the 
 original communication. 
 
I^emarfefii upon Wet^^itit CTfiapels:, ^c. 
 
 The present inquiry is far more interesting 
 than may at first sight appear, these Chapels 
 being intimately connected with the early his- 
 tory of roads, which, with causeways, aque- 
 ducts, and bridges, had followed the Roman 
 eagle in its exulting flight through subjugated 
 provinces. 
 
 The freedom of communication, and the pene- 
 trating easily into different parts of the country, 
 were matters of importance, and no less bene- 
 ficial to those who engaged in the laborious 
 task of commencing the work, than to the com- 
 munity at large. 
 
 It can scarcely be denied that the promoters 
 were men of true public spirit, possessed of 
 power, and with such a measure of property as 
 enabled them to execute their intentions with 
 success ; and how complete this was we are 
 informed in the accounts of Glastonbury and 
 Muchelney, where, through the liberality and 
 inflexible perseverance of the Abbots, watery 
 wastes were redeemed by processes of draining 
 
6 
 
 and embankment, and converted into fruitful 
 and healthful districts. 
 
 Security was not overlooked, as appears by 
 the frequent selection of swampy situations for 
 the sites of Monasteries. The labour and ex- 
 pense consequent upon such undertakings were 
 disregarded. 
 
 Industry and wealth — and both were at hand 
 — were the means best calculated to attain the 
 object ; and experience proved in very many 
 instances, that a luxuriant soil gathered around 
 these splendid mansions, diffusing abundance 
 and prosperity through the territories depen- 
 dent upon them. 
 
 A permanent approach to a chosen site thus 
 circumstanced must, in the first instance, have 
 been formed, and then protected, and as the 
 co-operation of multitudes was needful in a 
 work of great and various employment, com- 
 munication with places remotely situated re- 
 quired that these causeways should spread in 
 various directions, and to great distances ; and 
 we can form but an imperfect notion at the 
 present day, of the inhospitable character of 
 the country over which, in many situations, 
 these artificial roads were carried with such 
 incredible labour. 
 
 Nor was it lightly considered that the means 
 of obtaining a safe passage across wide tracts, 
 
or thinly peopled districts, and the necessity for 
 free intercourse between cities and the larger 
 monastic institutions, required encouragement 
 and promotion, and early led to the systematic 
 formation and maintenance of pubhc ways, 
 under the protection of rehgious estabhsh- 
 ments, whose possessions extended over a very 
 considerable portion of the country; and the 
 reUcs of information to be gathered of the 
 scheme anciently adopted, of fixing Chapels 
 along the lines, are not, even at this distant 
 period, too few or inconsiderable to be regarded 
 as a curious subject of investigation ; and it is 
 hoped that these brief references may lead to 
 its further pursuit. 
 
 In the advance of national importance, the 
 very ancient mode of communication by ferries 
 was superseded by the construction of perma- 
 nent bridges across unfordable rivers, and the 
 recourse to these pointed out the most appro- 
 priate situations for the erection of Chapels. 
 
 Besides Bridge-Chapels there were others on 
 the highway, or in lonely places, which linked 
 the intervals in the chain of communication, and 
 were founded with the same benevolent inten- 
 tion, of providing for the temporary rest and 
 refreshment of pilgrims and travellers; and 
 since journeys in former times had, perhaps, less 
 to do with commerce than religion, it seems 
 
8 
 
 very probable that the road between these 
 little asylums was entrusted to their peculiar 
 care, the whole being directed by and under the 
 control of the superior establishments, from 
 which such provident measures emanated. 
 
 Although these beneficial undertakings were 
 mainly promoted and effected through the 
 powerful patronage or instrumentality of the 
 clergy and rehgious orders, the riches of the com- 
 munity tended indirectly to their advancement. 
 
 The wealth of the Monasteries was accumu- 
 lated by contributions from all parts of the 
 kingdom. Their foundation or endowment 
 might rest in the bounty of an individual, but 
 their revenues were greatly increased by the 
 gifts of devout strangers and pilgrims, and the 
 generous bequests of benefactors. Thus aided, 
 the architectural beauty of the domestic build- 
 ings, and the grandeur and magnificence of the 
 gateways and Churches, resulted from the 
 scientific studies nurtured by those who retired 
 from the strife of the world to live professedly 
 in the practice of religion, and in unremitting 
 devotion to the good of their neighbour. 
 
 The laity by taking a due part in the main- 
 tenance of the spiritual pastors or landlords, 
 at whose hands so many benefits were received, 
 sustained the common welfare by the exact ob- 
 servance of making a portion of that which had 
 
9 
 
 been so freely bestowed upon them, a tribute 
 to the impartial dispensers of good, the parents 
 and promoters of literature and of the arts and 
 sciences, and the main supports of the popula- 
 tion which gathered around their noble domains. 
 
 A small Chapel was frequently situated on 
 the outer boundary of Convents so as to be 
 approached without entering the precinct gate- 
 way. It was also one among the uses to which 
 the apartments over bars at the foot of bridges 
 or the entries of a town were occasionally set 
 apart : — 
 
 The west-gate of the city of Canterbury was 
 an instance of this kind . 
 
 At Litcham in Norfolk the Chapel belonging 
 to the religious house established on the bank 
 of the Nar, and in the road to Walsingham, 
 was attached to the foot of the bridge for the 
 admission of all who passed by the way. 
 
 These solitary Chapels had no lodging rooms, 
 and were places of transit rather than of sojourn: 
 within their consecrated walls each wayworn 
 and devotional traveller found rest for a short 
 interval at the hours of prayer, or during a 
 
 ^ Gostling, in his " Walk in Canterbury," has the following note 
 in reference to this subject ; — " In the time of King Richard the 
 Second, Holy Cross Church was (as is now north-gate) over the 
 gate, which when Archbishop Sudbury took down and rebuilt, he 
 erected the present Church, and added a Church-yard to it, with 
 leave of the King." 
 
10 
 
 toilsome journey: here he gave utterance to 
 his gratitude for past mercies, and to supplica- 
 tions for future ; and then he sped him to the 
 Hospital for bodily repose and refreshment — 
 sure of welcome from the good Superior who 
 loveth the stranger in giving him food and 
 raiment 
 
 The clerical offices were performed by an 
 authorized member of the religious house in 
 possession of the advowson, a cappelane sub- 
 servient to the parish priest, or in appointment 
 of the lord of the manor. 
 
 We can scarcely wonder at the scanty 
 supply of information on the subject of Way- 
 side Chapels. Their name, as well as their 
 use, is now almost forgotten, and the remains 
 of these solitary little buildings though fre- 
 quently to be met with, have never hitherto 
 excited sufficient interest to lead to any inquiry 
 as to the purpose for which they were formerly 
 erected 
 
 The one at Wakefield could not escape ob- 
 servation, nor fail to secure admiration, on 
 
 b Deut. X. 18. 
 
 " " Entering Stia, a small town among the Appennines, with the 
 ruins of an old castle above it, I saw a little Chapel at the end of the 
 bridge, on which was an inscription to this effect : — ' Here is the 
 bridge to enter Stia, and here is the Chapel of our Blessed Lady ; 
 may it prove to us a bridge to Heaven !' " 
 
 Mores Catholici, vol. iii. p. 25. 
 
11 
 
 account of its architectural excellencies; but 
 its elevation to the distinction of a Chantry so 
 far back as the reign of King Edward IV., left 
 no chance of its being generally remembered 
 and recognised as one among the number of the 
 Wayside Chapels of an earlier age ; certain as 
 it is that its after dedication at the period just 
 named, did not diminish its usefulness as a 
 charitable foundation for the rehef of weary 
 pedestrians. 
 
 But notwithstanding this, and though the 
 purpose of the foundation was extended in the 
 manner above mentioned, and a proportionate 
 increase made in its revenues by the additional 
 endowment, yet it does not appear that any 
 alteration of the structure followed, at least in 
 the architecture of the exterior, whatever may 
 have been deemed useful or appropriate in the 
 arrangement of the interior; the latter, if re- 
 quired, has been entirely lost in the wreck 
 which attended its suppression. 
 
 It is necessary to remark this, because the 
 date of the institution of the Chantry has 
 hitherto guided opinion as to the age of the 
 Chapel; whereas there is not a feature in it 
 excepting a few more recent restorations, which 
 is not strictly original, that is, of the age of 
 King Edward 11. 
 
 It may be mentioned, that although Chan- 
 
12 
 
 tries were often founded in parish Churches, 
 separate buildings were not always added for 
 the celebration of the private services, which 
 were performed at the Altar in the chancel ; 
 and that the term Chantry, although strictly 
 correct in this instance, is too frequently mis- 
 applied. 
 
 Wayside Chapels were the only ancient places 
 of public worship with which burial grounds 
 were not locally connected. They had no 
 walled enclosures, and could never have been 
 more alone than many are now on the highways 
 to Walsingham. 
 
 Those near Hillborough have been planted 
 on the bleak brows of elevated ground near the 
 roadside, and are without particular architec- 
 tural distinction, being little oblong buildings 
 of equal breadth throughout, as plain in design 
 as in their figure. 
 
 The walls are roofless and broken, the cracks 
 and chasms serving to channel away the water 
 from the moss-grown summit. 
 
 The interior, which could once afi^ord rest to 
 the weary, and a pittance to the distressed, is 
 now too desolate to be sought as a shelter by 
 cattle. 
 
 No marvel then that travellers in later days 
 have neglected to turn a few paces out of the 
 way to visit these ancient relics : they would 
 
13 
 
 find them not altogether uninteresting, but 
 overgrown with briars, and half filled up with 
 heaps of old rubbish. 
 
 No kind of sepulchral memorial has been 
 discovered within or on the outside of any of 
 these edifices, often as death must have over- 
 taken the pilgrim on his way. 
 
 Chances of this kind were not provided for 
 by a consecrated space for burial, as the custom 
 of entombing the dead around the sanctuary in 
 which the living assembled for worship, was 
 never extended to Wayside Chapels, neither 
 was the administration of baptism, nor the cele- 
 bration of matrimony included in the duties 
 prescribed to them, as was sometimes the case 
 in privileged instances in assistant Chapels 
 belonging to districts at a distance from the 
 mother Church. 
 
 The ruins of a village Church environed by 
 the graves and monuments of mortality, pre- 
 sent a less dreary aspect than these forlorn 
 structures. 
 
 There is after all something so congenial to 
 our feelings in the custom of thus assembling 
 the living and the dead together, of kneeling 
 amidst their enshrined ashes, and upon the 
 floor covered with their venerable memorials, 
 that we could not relinquish it but with re- 
 luctance. 
 
14 
 
 Standing as many of these little Chapels do 
 in the most dreary and conspicuous places, on 
 ground so barren as to have been left to this day 
 without cultivation, the walls remaining unre- 
 moved merely because improvement has not 
 reached the spot they occupy, they proclaim the 
 danger and the necessities to which travellers in 
 former ages were exposed. 
 
 Surely there must have been something more 
 than idle curiosity in pilgrimages, conducted as 
 they were under many and severe privations, 
 without prospect of relief for many long days 
 together, except in the hope of assistance within 
 the walls of these provident institutions. 
 
 The beautiful Chapel situated on the east 
 side of Wakefield Bridge, and at right angles 
 with it, presents a bolder appearance than is 
 seen in other examples, not excepting the cele- 
 brated one of St. William of York, which, 
 owing to the course of the river, stood parallel 
 with the Ouse Bridge, two of the arches of 
 which, with their triangular abutment-piers, 
 were extended to form a basement for the 
 superstructure. 
 
 The original foundation was raised under 
 the invocation of St. Anne, the mother of the 
 Blessed Virgin, to whom was subsequently 
 dedicated the Royal Chantry, endowed after 
 
15 
 
 the battle fought near the spot between the 
 conflicting Houses of York and Lancaster, in 
 the year of our Lord 1460*^. 
 
 The old error with respect to its true age 
 admits, perhaps, of excuse, and can only be 
 detected and refuted by sound architectural 
 evidence. 
 
 The authors never remember to have heard a 
 sufficiently high date ascribed to the building, 
 which strongly proclaims, by every feature of 
 its design, the period of the fourteenth century, 
 to which it belongs. 
 
 The Bridge at Wakefield is of considerable 
 length, and was, till within little more than half 
 a century, a footway about sixteen feet in width 
 between the parapets, with triangular recesses 
 over the side piers. 
 
 Nine arches with their supporting piers were 
 required to carry the way over the river at this 
 place. 
 
 ^ Hall relates that the Duke of York's second son, the Earl of 
 Rutland, a boy only twelve or thirteen years old, was stopped at 
 Wakefield Bridge as he was flying with Sir Robert Aspall, his chap- 
 lain and schoolmaster. 
 
 The poor boy fell on his knees to pray for mercy, but as soon as 
 he was known. Lord Clifford, whose father had been killed by the 
 Yorkists at St. Alban's, plunged his dagger into his heart, vowing 
 by God's blood that he would do the like to all of kin to York, and 
 then the savage bade Aspall go on and tell his mother, the Duchess, 
 what had happened. 
 
16 
 
 In point of construction, adequate firmness 
 was given to the work, but nothing attempted 
 in the way of ornament. 
 
 The parapet has been rebuilt, and the arches 
 have not escaped alteration beyond that which 
 became necessary when the structure was 
 widened on the w^est side, but the east still 
 presents much of its original and venerable 
 appearance ; and here we discover that the 
 low-browed arches consisted of four substantial, 
 detached ribs of compact masonry, springing 
 with perfect simplicity from their abutments. 
 
 The road ascends slightly from each ex- 
 tremity to the crown of the centre arch, against 
 the northern pier of which, towards the town, 
 the Chapel was erected, in handsome elevation 
 above the common level. 
 
 There were formerly two or three steps from 
 the bridge up to the doors of the Chapel, but 
 the levels are now so far changed as to have 
 left the floor one ample step below the pave- 
 ment of the bridge. 
 
 The raised footpath has almost left the front 
 of the building without a plinth, which was 
 originally of handsome height, rich in mould- 
 ings, and in fine relief from the wall, breaking 
 round all the buttresses, and uniting with the 
 sills of the blank arches. 
 
 The basement upon which the Chapel is 
 
17 
 
 raised from the bed of the river to the level of 
 the bridge, offered no temptation to mischief, 
 and consequently retains its pristine simplicity 
 unimpaired ; its firm and compact condition 
 is of the utmost importance to the permanent 
 safety of the superstructure, which, by the care 
 and skill of its builders, alike shewn in their 
 choice of materials and ability in the use of 
 them, retains a strong hold upon its massy 
 foundations after long exposure to the ex- 
 cessive and repeated injuries it has suffered. 
 
 It abuts upon a pier of the bridge between 
 two of the main arches. 
 
 The breadth at this extremity is limited to 
 about nine feet, in order to prevent further 
 impediment to the impetuous course of the 
 Calder than is occasioned by the resistance of 
 the pier itself. 
 
 This precaution has given rise to the most 
 clever contrivances : — 
 
 The basement becomes gradually increased 
 by a slant on each side, the impending super- 
 structure being carried over a bold projection 
 by means of radiating corbels. 
 
 This gain in space is surmounted by another 
 continuous line of corbelling on each side, alto- 
 gether thirty-five feet in length, and jutting 
 forward so far towards the north and south, 
 that the lateral walls are actually made to press 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 their entire weight upon the outer verge of the 
 deep and finely-moulded corbels, with the ex- 
 ception of an inconsiderable portion at the 
 eastern extremities, which rests in the accus- 
 tomed manner on the walls beneath, beyond 
 the point at which the necessary width for the 
 Chapel had been acquired, without encroach- 
 ment on the current's passage. 
 
 By the same ingenious application of corbels, 
 the Chapel at Rotherham is sprung over two of 
 the arches of the bridge, against a pier of which 
 it is built. 
 
 Although the water washes the plinth on 
 both sides, and sometimes rises several feet 
 above the bank, it has never occasioned any 
 material injury to the structure or the material 
 of which it is built. 
 
 Stone of two different qualities has been em- 
 ployed. 
 
 In the plain and soHd parts of the walls 
 throughout, sandstone from the immediate 
 neighbourhood w^as used, but in the windows 
 and cornices (with slight exceptions in the 
 latter), and the whole of the ornamental work, 
 Roche Abbey stone. 
 
 Their resistance to the attacks of time is of 
 course unequal, but it may be remarked that 
 the state of the mouldings and ornaments 
 proves that a material of superior quality could 
 
19 
 
 scarcely have been selected for the purpose; 
 certainly none in which the dehcacy of work- 
 manship could have been more exquisitely de- 
 fined. 
 
 Carrying the eye up from the basement to 
 the superstructure, the attention is at once fixed 
 by the altitude of the building ; it is also much 
 more considerable as an appendage to a bridge, 
 than any other now remaining in England. 
 
 The famous Chapel, before referred to, on 
 the Ouse Bridge at York, was by no means of 
 rival dimensions. 
 
 It was of earlier date ; — of the twelfth and 
 thirteenth centuries. 
 
 To the former of these periods was to be 
 ascribed the greater portion of its architecture, 
 considerable as were . the mutilations of the 
 original design. 
 
 The alteration effected in the upper part of 
 its walls in the thirteenth century, has some- 
 times been confused with the rebuilding of the 
 bridge from the foundations, under Archbishop 
 Walter de Grey. 
 
 Another circumstance has tended to misap- 
 prehension as to its true date — the sentence 
 passed upon the citizens for a fatal conflict, of 
 which the bridge was the scene. 
 
 The crime was to be atoned for by their 
 founding a Chantry on the place of slaughter, 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 and providing two priests to say mass therein 
 for the souls of the slain for ever. 
 
 The demand however was not followed by 
 exact performance. 
 
 The Bridge-Chapel, just before the date of 
 this event, had been extensively altered and 
 thoroughly restored, and we may suppose pre- 
 sented a lighter, loftier, and more pleasing ex- 
 terior than anciently with its plain Norman 
 parapets ; and set aside the obligation to build 
 a distinct edifice for the purpose. 
 
 The then new work appears to have been 
 raised upon the lower stage of the original 
 fabric ; and whatever may have been the pris- 
 tine aspect of the exterior of the building, the 
 interior, in its renewed state, was probably 
 inferior in bold enrichment, to the Norman 
 design. 
 
 The ancients though daring in the alteration 
 of their buildings, were in general careful to 
 preserve and incorporate some portion of them, 
 however inconsiderable, with the new walls. 
 
 If St. William's Chapel escaped demolition 
 partly on account of its ancient dedication, its 
 alteration at a time when the bridge was under 
 re-edification, and at a period too when a great 
 and decisive change had been effected in archi- 
 tectural costume, was perhaps to be expected, 
 and was accordingly undertaken, and the new 
 
21 
 
 architecture engrafted upon the other at the 
 sill-line of the windows ; the north doorway, 
 and the wall with the arcade on the inside, 
 being preserved in all their original beauty till 
 the final destruction both of the bridge and 
 Chapel, at the commencement of the present 
 century. 
 
 There could have been no rivalry between 
 the Chapels at York and Wakefield ; the former 
 was incomparably less elaborate in design than 
 the latter, which could never have been ex- 
 celled : but it possesses claims to admiration 
 superior to any that can result from an extra- 
 ordinary display of decoration ; namely, elegant 
 proportion, symmetry, and purity of embellish- 
 ment. 
 
 The detail of the exterior presents a time- 
 worn aspect, rather than the appearance of 
 ornament which has perished or been mutilated 
 by violence ; much that is within reach may 
 have suffered in this way, but age, by slow 
 process, has more extensively worn away the 
 beautiful finish by which the sculptured elabo- 
 rations were formerly distinguished ; yet, even 
 with this admission, it seems almost impossible 
 to mistake the true character of any of the 
 mouldings or ornaments, how much soever they 
 may be corroded. 
 
 A defective feature or member in one place. 
 
22 
 
 may be successfully sought for in another, so as 
 to preclude a doubt of the satisfactory restora- 
 tion of the Chantry. 
 
 The age of the building cannot now be dis- 
 tinctly ascertained from historical records, and 
 where these fail, the architecture invariably 
 proves a valuable guide. 
 
 On this authority it may be ascribed to the 
 beginning of the fourteenth century in the reign 
 of King Edward II. 
 
 But perhaps something more than an unsup- 
 ported opinion will be expected on this point. 
 
 The curvilinear forms throughout the detail 
 of the Chapel would, alone, afford decisive evi- 
 dence of its age. 
 
 All the perpendicular shafts stop at the 
 springing line of the arches and tracery, and 
 thence immediately curve off to form the dif- 
 ferent patterns. 
 
 This particular constituted one of the chief 
 characteristics of the most magnificent of all 
 the styles of Pointed Architecture ; and led to 
 the production of many glorious designs, in 
 which wonderful taste, ingenuity, and skill, 
 were exhibited in windows and other orna- 
 mental features. 
 
 The style here spoken of commenced in the 
 reign of King Edward I. and was superseded 
 in that of King Edward III. by whose power- 
 
23 
 
 ful patronage William of Wykeham, Bishop of 
 Winchester, was enabled fully to exercise his 
 genius as an Architect, and in whose works, 
 which were distinguished by stateliness of cha- 
 racter and magnificent proportion, the curvi- 
 linear form, as a leading character, was aban- 
 doned for the straight, or rectilinear, extending 
 uninterruptedly into the arches and separating 
 them into spaces, within each of which a pat- 
 tern was formed, the whole beautifully arranged 
 and connected, and made to compose a sym- 
 metrical design. 
 
 The transition just described as tending 
 towards a change in the characteristic varieties 
 of architecture so as to produce a new style, 
 in establishing which the above-named Prelate 
 was mainly instrumental, might be shewn by 
 reference to many contemporaneous specimens. 
 
 The union of upright with curvilinear lines 
 obtained for a time ; at length the latter were 
 relinquished, the arch only being retained in 
 the composition of tracery. 
 
 The ancient east window of the chancel of 
 St. Aldate's Church, Oxford, was a most sin- 
 gular example of the intermediate kind. 
 
 It consisted of five compartments, the mul- 
 lions being carried in continuous parallel lines 
 from the sill to meet the enclosing arch. 
 
 The tracery within each division was less 
 
24 
 
 substantial than the uprights, and presented 
 diversified patterns, each of considerable ele- 
 gance ; but an harmonious whole would not 
 have remained upon the removal of the perpen- 
 dicular shafts by which they were intercepted. 
 
 This singular window was restored a few 
 years since, but the copy has lately been re- 
 placed by another derived from earher autho- 
 rity. 
 
 The ball-flower in the cornice of the west 
 front should not be allowed to pass unnoticed 
 among the characteristic ornaments of the 
 period to which the Wakefield Chantry is here 
 referred. 
 
 The absence of authentic information as to 
 the precise date is the more to be regretted, as 
 we are left without a clue to the Founder, whose 
 name perhaps might have excited no surprise at 
 his liberality in the performance of this pious 
 undertaking. 
 
 He projected a work of no common charac- 
 ter, and required for his purpose abiUty of 
 superior power. 
 
 Every hand employed was guided by the 
 first-rate skill ; and the munificence of the 
 patron encouraged the fullest exercise of a 
 genius fruitful in invention and happy in ad- 
 aptation. 
 
 Allusion has already been made to the origin 
 
25 
 
 of these ancient and very interesting structures, 
 of which numerous examples remain in a more 
 or less dilapidated state, and some on a very 
 small scale. 
 
 To this class belongs the Bridge- Chapel at 
 Bradford, in Wiltshire. 
 
 This little room, which still retains its door- 
 way on the footpath, and is domed over with 
 ribbed stone-work, appears to have been par- 
 tially altered or wholly rebuilt from the level 
 of the floor. 
 
 The supporting corbels which spring from 
 the faces of one of the angular piers, and over- 
 spread each other, finally terminating in a 
 square platform, present perhaps an almost 
 unequalled specimen of ingenious construc- 
 tion. 
 
 The Chapel at Rotherham, however, ap- 
 proaches nearly in point of dimensions to this 
 of Wakefield. 
 
 Their interior measurements are respectively 
 thirty-two feet by fourteen feet, and forty feet 
 by sixteen feet eight inches. 
 
 The design of the Chapel at Rotherham is 
 plain. 
 
 There have been two windows on each side, 
 one at the east end, and one high up, and of 
 small size, at the west end over the entrance. 
 
 The pediments and side parapets are em- 
 
26 
 
 battled, and terminated with numerous crock- 
 eted pinnacles. 
 
 The mullions and tracery of all the windows 
 have been destroyed ; and whatever ornamental 
 features may have graced the interior, there is 
 nothing of the kind now visible. 
 
 The Chapel on the ancient stone bridge across 
 the Ouse at St. Ives, Huntingdonshire, is in 
 so decayed a condition, owing to the accidents 
 which have happened to it, and to the alter- 
 ations made in its walls since its appropriation 
 to various mean uses, that its speedy destruction 
 is probable. 
 
 It is a small room, built on one of the piers, 
 jutting out on the east side, towards the centre 
 of the bridge. 
 
 The Chapel attached to the ancient bridge 
 between London and Southwark measured sixty 
 feet in the clear length. 
 
 It was built by Peter Colechurch, in the 
 twelfth century, and the east end was poly- 
 gonal. 
 
 Irregular as is the form of the basement upon 
 which the Chapel at Wakefield is built, yet the 
 four walls meet upon it in a true rectangular 
 figure, without distinction between sanctuary 
 and body, the design being carried out with 
 studied elegance and uniformity in all the 
 features — buttresses, windows, and pinnacles. 
 
PLAN OP THE CHAPEL ON WAKEFIELD BEIDGE. 
 
27 
 
 The north-east angle is varied by a graceful 
 octagonal bell- turret, enclosing the staircase. 
 
 The parapets of the west front and sides are 
 horizontal ; that over the east end v^as raised 
 into a slight pediment. 
 
 It may seem necessary to remark, that the 
 building here described, so elegant in its cha- 
 racter, and so beautifully ornamented, is com- 
 prehended in the space of fifty feet in length 
 by twenty-five feet in width, and thirty-six feet 
 in height. 
 
 The clustered pinnacles which formerly aug- 
 mented the beautiful appearance of the struc- 
 ture, carried up the elevation considerably 
 above the latter dimension. 
 
 There are five compartments in the width of 
 the west front between the double buttresses 
 on the angles, separated by slender shafts re- 
 treating in three stages, and terminating with 
 gablets just above the line of battlements. 
 
 The arches within these exactly correspond. 
 Three are pierced with doorways, and the whole 
 range, uniformly adorned with ogee cornices, 
 is surmounted with crocketed pediments, the 
 centre more superbly enriched than the rest. 
 
 Their finials mount up to the cornice, which 
 by a steep weathered slope, crowned with cross- 
 looped battlements, terminates the main wall of 
 the building, and supports the recessed parapet. 
 
28 
 
 The spandrels over the arcade are occupied 
 by tracery disposed in the most graceful pat- 
 terns, springing in conjunction with the pedi- 
 ments, and thence branching oif to occupy the 
 entire space allotted to them ; while the crockets 
 and finials on the most prominent members, 
 exhibit, even in their mutilated state, traces of 
 the rich and beautiful variety of foliage of which 
 they have been composed. 
 
 Attention may be directed to the bases from 
 which the mullions of the two blank compart- 
 ments spring. The particular is minute, but 
 these peculiar terminations, which are now in- 
 distinct, were, rather more than a quarter of a 
 century since, nearly perfect, and a keen eye 
 may yet discover traces of the mouldings 
 miterihg with those of the sill. 
 
 The parapet is full of sculptures beneath 
 triple canopies richly groined and ornamented 
 with pinnacles, over which rise the battlements 
 completing the design. 
 
 The west front is without a window, and 
 contains the only external doorways the Chapel 
 originally had. 
 
 Triple entrances, which often distinguished 
 buildings of magnitude, present by their intro- 
 duction in an edifice of the present class, a 
 peculiarity worthy of observation. 
 
 It is to be remarked that the arches are pierced 
 
29 
 
 so closely to the angles, that the stone- work of 
 the side walls which form their abutments, has 
 been recessed to receive the wooden doors, the 
 substance of which when opened would other- 
 wise have impeded the free passage to the in- 
 terior. 
 
 Each of the profile or side elevations presents 
 three windows of a square form, sheltered with 
 the usual label mouldings, and completely oc- 
 cupying the height of the wall allotted to them 
 between a cornice at their sill, and the master 
 cornice of the building, the position of the latter 
 being determined by the main wall of the west 
 front: the same level was also preserved in 
 springing the original east parapet, which in 
 ornament agreed with those on the sides. 
 
 The broad and lofty dimensions of the Altar 
 window, which assumed the pedimental form 
 of the parapet, completely occupied the space 
 between the buttresses on the south angle and 
 the octagonal turret, the greater portion of 
 whose diameter is in advance of the east wall, 
 and being flush with the north side admits the 
 addition of a buttress. 
 
 Its altitude above the roof is considerable, 
 and the design of the parapet, which exceeds 
 the diameter of the walls supporting it, may be 
 presumed, from the remains, to have resembled 
 those already described. 
 
30 
 
 It is to be regretted that no very ancient 
 drawings of the Chantry have been handed 
 down to us. Reference, however, of a highly 
 useful kind, may be made to several works of 
 this description which tend to elucidate our re- 
 searches, viz. : — to a print by Cawthorn, another 
 in "the Vale of Bolton," and to an original 
 drawing by Henry Lumb of Wakefield, Esq. 
 
 The writers have only a few remarks to 
 offer upon the print of the Chapel engraved 
 by W. H. Toms from a drawing by Geo. 
 Fleming, A.D. 1743. 
 
 The side windows appear to have been per- 
 fect at the time the view was taken, but, unfortu- 
 nately, the artist has not defined the tracery suffi- 
 ciently well to render it of any particular value. 
 
 It may be observed further, that the summit 
 of the staircase-turret is represented as some- 
 what more perfect than shewn in any other 
 drawing ; and that there were then to be seen 
 larger remains of the eastern gable than are 
 elsewhere recorded. 
 
 The engraving in <*!LoiJjt!E? CFlmete** should 
 not perhaps pass unnoticed, although it adds 
 nothing material to our information. 
 
 All these authorities agree in representing 
 the exterior of the Chapel in a melancholy 
 state of ruin so lately as the year 1800, soon 
 after which however it was partially restored. 
 
31 
 
 The undertaking was creditably performed ; 
 as much of the ancient masonry as could be 
 found, being collected, and carefully reinstated ; 
 no new stone- work of consequence was added, 
 nor any thing injurious done to the character 
 of the building, and perhaps nothing more was 
 deemed necessary than to keep out the weather, 
 and save the Chapel from irretrievable de- 
 struction. 
 
 By ancient masonry, the authors must not 
 be understood to mean that it was wholly of 
 the original building. Some valuable portions 
 of it were assuredly of that kind, but by far the 
 greater quantity was of coarse workmanship, and 
 in feeble imitation of those features of the de- 
 sign which had decayed away, fallen down 
 through neglect, or been demolished at the 
 time of the suppression of Chantries. 
 
 This leads to the remark that at some period 
 far beyond memory, a general restoration of the 
 exterior of the Chapel was undertaken. 
 
 An attempt, by no means inexpensive, was 
 made to fill up the gaps produced by age and 
 injury, in stone- work wrought to harmonize 
 with the original, but the intention was superior 
 to the performance. 
 
 Several of the canopies in the parapet of the 
 west front, and many of the battlements, may 
 easily be recognised as of the quality alluded 
 
32 
 
 to ; and to the same date must also be referred 
 the eastern and two side parapets, of which 
 the northern, at least, was afterwards by some 
 accident thrown down. 
 
 The wall was in this state, and the north 
 angle of the west end quite demolished to the 
 foot of the parapet, when the above drawing 
 and prints were made, thus proving that the 
 Chapel has undergone a second general restora- 
 tion, which was probably not extended beyond 
 the labour of collecting the dispersed frag- 
 ments, and refixing them in their places. 
 
 It may savour of ingratitude, but never- 
 theless seems far from incredible to believe that 
 the profits arising from the misappropriation 
 of the interior, enforced some regard for the 
 condition of the exterior : — after all, these were 
 only attempts to keep a ruin in repair. 
 
 The staircase-turret retained, within Mr. 
 Lumb's recollection, a portion of its enriched 
 parapet, which when it fell was never restored. 
 
 It is melancholy to recollect and record that 
 the superb tracery of the windows was wholly 
 obliterated at this time. 
 
 It had often suffered violence, and was pieced 
 and patched in an unsightly manner to exclude 
 the weather from the interior ; but yet enough 
 of the pattern remained to shew the beauty of 
 the original design. 
 
TEACERT OP THE SIDE WINDOWS. 
 
33 
 
 Not a vestige however was spared, even the 
 sills were removed, half the substance of the 
 jambs cut away, the labels on the inside de- 
 stroyed, and the graceless chasms filled with 
 the stone- work which still remains. 
 
 It is singular that not a remnant of tracery 
 should have presented itself among the nume- 
 rous fragments of carved stone-work belonging 
 to the Chapel, brought to light at different times, 
 within and immediately around the building. 
 
 The relics which have been recently re- 
 covered are of little value. 
 
 The last endeavour to prop up the injured 
 walls and buttresses shews itself in the west 
 front. 
 
 Material, such as it was, was not spared, but 
 the addition of labour beyond that of fixing 
 the stone, could not be endured ; and the huge 
 props of coarse masonry at once sustain and 
 deform the building. 
 
 Whether or not these clumsy abutments have 
 had the effect of loosening the hold the four 
 slender buttresses previously had upon the 
 wall, certain it is that these members have 
 disappeared since the year 1813, w^hen they 
 were all in their places and quite perfect. 
 
 The present most striking deficiencies in the 
 exterior design of the Chapel are : — the northern 
 turret, and the crocketed pinnacle of that of the 
 
34 
 
 southern angle of the west front; the smaller 
 buttresses between the doors, the mullions and 
 tracery of all the windows, the south-eastern 
 pinnacle, the parapets, and the embattled sum- 
 mit of the octagonal turret enclosing the stair- 
 case which ascends to the roof of the building, 
 and conducted to the gloomy room in the base- 
 ment — a cold and seemingly comfortless cell, 
 scantily lighted by loop windows, and without 
 a fireplace; it answered the purposes of a 
 Sacristy, and was used by the officiating priest 
 during the intervals of the services at the Altar. 
 
 During the period of the misuse of this apart- 
 ment, a door was broken through the east wall, 
 for the purpose of gaining access to the small 
 space of ground which extends a few yards 
 beyond it. 
 
 Ponderous oaken beams in the ceiling sup- 
 port the floor of the eastern portion of the 
 Chapel ; the western rests on a solid concrete 
 mass forming the remainder of the substructure. 
 
 But the catalogue of injuries remains to be 
 completed. 
 
 The interior presents a spectacle of unre- 
 strained mischief and deplorable ravage. 
 
 Every member and ornament of the archi- 
 tecture which stood in advance of the walls — 
 mouldings, corbels, cornices, buttresses, cano- 
 pies, and pinnacles — has been hacked away to 
 
35 
 
 prepare the surface for plaster, paper, wood- 
 work, or whatever best suited tlie convenience 
 (not to say taste) of the occupant, who was 
 not bound to take things as he found them, 
 and consequently did not scruple to mangle, 
 and in places to undermine, the walls which 
 sustained the roof over his head. 
 
 These, on all sides, have been excavated in 
 the most barbarous manner for flues or re- 
 cesses ; and the wretched mode in which some 
 of the breaches were repaired after they had 
 served their purpose, testifies regard for com- 
 mon appearance rather than any desire to re- 
 store that strength of which the walls had been 
 so unceremoniously defrauded. 
 
 Examples of groined or ceiled roofs in oak, 
 of the date of the Wakefield Bridge- Chapel, 
 and the reign which preceded it, are by no 
 means common. 
 
 The shamefully desecrated eastern aisle' of 
 
 * This name is advisedly affixed to the aisle immediately in front 
 of the entrance to the lady choir, to which it serves the purpose of 
 an ante -chapel. 
 
 But besides the broad aisle just named, there is another space not 
 nearly so large, and to the west of it, separated by a stone screen, 
 and approached from the north and south, as well as by doorways on 
 the sides of the high altar : this is the feretry. 
 
 The eastern aisle of the choir jn cathedral and abbey Churches is 
 often erroneously called the presbytery, a name which when used to 
 designate a portion of an Enghsh church, is alone applicable to the 
 sanctuary, choir, or chancel. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 
 
 the choir of St. Alban's Abbey, however, has a 
 panelled ceiling in the broad centre space con- 
 ducting to the Lady Chapel, and a groined roof 
 in the sides, both aptly combined with the 
 elegant architecture of the building, and of the 
 age of King Edward 1/ 
 
 But the specimen more nearly allied than the 
 foregoing to our present subject, is to be seen 
 in the page's room at Penshurst. 
 
 This is a flat ceiling of oak, composed of 
 broad ribs placed in close order, and sparingly 
 intersected by others of equal substance in a 
 transverse direction, uniformly wrought with 
 
 ^ This is one of the most handsome specimens of under-roofing in 
 wood remaining in ancient Enghsh architecture, throughout the 
 whole range of which there is not a single instance to be named of 
 imitation work at all resembling those so commonly met with in 
 Normandy, whether in regard to its own antiquity, or that of the 
 Church in wliich it appears. 
 
 In the instances where the larger Anglo-Norman buildings were 
 not groined with stone, the naked timbers, now concealed from view, 
 have been underlined with ceilings or groined roofs many ages after 
 the completion of the structure. 
 
 But this was not the case in Normandy, and attention should be 
 directed to the fact, because it is not generally known, at least by 
 English antiquaries who have described the ecclesiastical architec- 
 ture of that part of France, that many of the noblest parish and 
 monastic Churches which seem to present stone roofs groined in 
 keeping with the pillars by which the ribs are supported, and with 
 the rest of the design, are of plaster on wood framework, most pro- 
 bably of subsequent date to the fabric, but so well combined, and 
 remaining in most cases so free from injury and decay as to have 
 escaped common observation. 
 
37 
 
 mouldings with the characteristic fillet on the 
 more prominent members — a particular of de- 
 tail deserving of remark, as it constitutes a dis- 
 tinguishing feature in the style of architecture 
 now under consideration, and is seen in great 
 variety of position, and to the utmost advan- 
 tage throughout the design of the Wakefield 
 Chantry. 
 
 The roof reposed its weight upon the walls 
 without the assistance either of side brackets 
 in the piers of the windows or tie-beams. 
 
 The latter would have interfered with the 
 arch of the Altar window, though raised upon 
 the summit of the projecting stone cornice by 
 which the walls on the inside are terminated. 
 
 The beams and rafters in the course of time, 
 and in consequence of neglect, were destroyed, 
 and replaced by others to which strength alone 
 was given. 
 
 The present roof is certainly of considerable 
 age ; it is of English oak, massy and plain, with 
 a tie-beam, king-post, and struts, the arche- 
 type of the truss now in common use ; it is 
 covered with stone slabs, and has, partly by 
 these means, become too heavy for the side 
 walls, which from several concomitant causes 
 incline outwards — a result in no way surprising 
 when the slenderness of their substance, sixteen 
 inches, is considered. 
 
38 
 
 But even the west wall, the most substantial 
 of the four, has yielded to successive injuries ; 
 the bond in the masonry has been intersected, 
 a mischief which, in addition to the fractures 
 occasioned by a settlement, and extending lon- 
 gitudinally through the centre of its bulk, 
 has seriously crippled this important part of 
 the edifice. 
 
 The construction is peculiar in many points, 
 owing no doubt to the limited dimensions of 
 the building, and the unusual form of its 
 basement. 
 
 The bond in a thin wall can neither be so 
 regular nor so secure as in one more solid ; but 
 still the original strength was sufficient : and it 
 may safely be declared, that if the Chapel had 
 been protected from extreme violence, its 
 strength and beauty would have remained, in 
 all essential respects, unimpaired. 
 
 The care manifested in loading the walls so 
 that only a due weight should press on the 
 basement, is a merit in the design and con- 
 struction of this building to which too much 
 praise cannot be given. 
 
 The consequence of reducing the side walls 
 to comparative lightness is apparent in the 
 jambs of the windows, which have sufficient 
 breadth of moulding, but very little recess or 
 depth on either side. 
 
39 
 
 Substance of wall is required more for the 
 purpose of carrying into execution the retreating 
 character, or graduated arrangement of several 
 planes one beyond another in the formation 
 of all openings, than for strength ; and this is 
 observable in all the architecture of England 
 before the commencement of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury, after which period it was abandoned, and 
 the members were blended together, still how- 
 ever retaining the aggregate depth in an elabo- 
 rate series of mouldings. 
 
 The narrow space in the instance before us 
 prevented their expansion ; but in others, where 
 no slender limit was assigned to the thickness 
 of the walls and arches, and full freedom was 
 used in spreading the mouldings through a 
 great portion of their substance, the system was 
 worked out with admirable skill. 
 
 The southern angle of the west front leans 
 considerably towards the west, and its recovery 
 to an erect position will require the utmost 
 care, and the temporary removal of at least the 
 shaft which crowns the summit. 
 
 The oblique direction of this elegant feature 
 most probably occasioned the fall of its lofty 
 pinnacle. 
 
 The accident at this angle of the building is 
 not of modern date, and no perceptible increase 
 of it has taken place within the last forty years. 
 
40 
 
 The north-west angle was in a far worse 
 condition before the last general repairs were 
 made to prevent this part of the building from 
 falling. 
 
 The defects on the outside are tolerably well 
 concealed, but strong evidences remain on the 
 inside, of the severity of the fractures. 
 
 The remains of the turret prove that it once 
 rose from the parapet in the same figure and 
 proportions as the corresponding one at the 
 south-west angle, and that, like it, the four sides 
 were recessed, the pedestals of the niches being 
 incorporated with the canopies of other niches 
 terminating the angle buttresses. 
 
 The pinnacles are the crowning members of 
 the clustered canopies. 
 
 Their original height is determined by the 
 breadth and slope of the base which forms the 
 solid of the canopies, around which are thickly 
 gathered the exquisite ornaments which once 
 protected the statues. 
 
 A peculiarity in the position of the crockets 
 on the lower pinnacles of the angle buttresses, 
 claims particular notice. 
 
 These ornaments generally spring from the 
 edges, but in the instances before us, are 
 attached to the alternate faces of the octagons. 
 
 The effect is scarcely less ornamental or less 
 pleasing than the design is novel. 
 
41 
 
 The tie between the north and west walls is 
 completely severed, the gap being several inches 
 wide. 
 
 These facts account for the dilapidated state 
 of the parapet, as seen in the prints before 
 referred to, and for its restoration as it 
 now appears, after the substructure had been 
 strengthened to support the weight. 
 
 The view in the Vale of Bolton" must again 
 be referred to. It distinctly represents the pro- 
 jection of the two extreme buttresses of the 
 west front as considerably bolder than the rest ; 
 and the accuracy of the drawing is placed 
 beyond question by the appearance of the muti- 
 lated buttress near the southern angle of the 
 beautiful original : if the south face of this but- 
 tress be examined just above the modern stone- 
 work, it will be seen that one half of a panel, 
 with its elegantly disposed tracery, and a finial 
 on the angle of the upper or retreating member 
 of the same buttress, are still remaining. 
 
 This panel completed, gives the buttress its 
 due and proper prominency. 
 
 Upon Cawthorn's authority, supported by 
 that of Mr. Lumb, attention may be directed 
 to the lower portions of the larger buttresses 
 which flank the elevation, and are panelled. 
 
 These in the building are now made quite 
 plain, and reduced in bulk for the same reason 
 
42 
 
 that may be assigned for the utter defacement 
 of the lower part of the entire facade, namely, 
 the want of space on the bridge. 
 
 The four smaller buttresses in the front, ter- 
 minating in crocketed pediments above the 
 battlements, are no longer remaining; nor is 
 the finial which, thirty years ago, surmounted 
 the ogee canopy within the pediment over the 
 centre doorway. 
 
 The exquisite design and proportion of the 
 east elevation are still conspicuous, unsparingly 
 as ruin has lighted upon its fair turrets, magni- 
 ficent window, and graceful parapet. 
 
 The latter was elevated in the form of a 
 gable (indicated by Cawthorn and others), the 
 inclination of which corresponded with the 
 stone cornice on the inside. 
 
 The form of the head of the east window, a 
 portion of which still remains, is determined by 
 the cornice : the side labels descending from 
 its mouldings, are still discernible on the in- 
 side. 
 
 Notwithstanding the barbarous injuries which 
 have been inflicted on the interior wall of the 
 elegant staircase-turret, and the removal of 
 several of the stone steps, with the newel, this 
 appendage, as well as the whole of the east 
 front of the Chapel with which it is connected, 
 remains as erect as it was left by the original 
 
43 
 
 builders, and needs only the restitution of those 
 members of which it has been deprived, to per- 
 fect its solidity and good appearance. 
 
 The east window consisted of five compart- 
 ments. Cawthorn's print alone supplies a hint 
 for any part of the design ; slender as it is it 
 becomes useful, and agrees with the character 
 exemplified by the lateral windows, in the main 
 divisions of the space into side arches deriving 
 their mouldings from those of the jambs and 
 mullions, and leaving a broad centre for a supe- 
 rior or more varied pattern of tracery. 
 
 The six smaller windows on the sides were 
 uniform, very handsome, and of three compart- 
 ments. 
 
 The highest testimony of their splendour is 
 preserved by Mr. Lumb in a drawing of the 
 Chapel, made by himself about forty years 
 since, borne out by Fleming's venerable en- 
 graving. 
 
 The beautiful design of the windows, as re- 
 presented in the annexed woodcut, and their 
 highly- wrought mouldings, are still vividly 
 remembered by Mr. Lumb, whose memoranda 
 in reference to these features are most valu- 
 able. 
 
 The present windows, with their wretched 
 substitutes for mullions and tracery, are named 
 merely because they retain the form and posi- 
 
44 
 
 tion of the pointed arch in the original design ; 
 but the peculiar partition of this arch, by which 
 the pattern of the tracery becomes disconnected, 
 is alone to be found in the drawing above re- 
 ferred to. 
 
 It may be well to observe, that the sub- 
 division of the arch in this manner is not 
 singular in the design of the Chantry : the 
 same kind of tracery is presented by the arches 
 between the doors, and in the fronts of the two 
 extreme buttresses at the west end. 
 
 The square form of these windows, and the 
 pedimental shape of the east window, rarely 
 appear in the style of this period. 
 
 But even in still earlier architecture the same 
 shapes sometimes occur, as instanced in the 
 Chancel of Skipwith Church, Yorkshire; and 
 perhaps for the same reason as maybe assigned 
 for their introduction in this Chapel — the want 
 of space for arches of sufficient magnitude ; for 
 had the arches been detached from their frames, 
 the appearance of their having been forced into 
 a space not lofty enough to receive them, could 
 not have been avoided; but by reducing the 
 arch to a secondary feature, so as to combine 
 with the tracery, the enclosing frame may fairly 
 be carried up, as in this instance, to the cornice, 
 with which it ranges in parallel lines, and make 
 the increased extent of enrichment, thus pro- 
 
45 
 
 vided in the windows, appear in just proportion 
 to that of the rest of the design. 
 
 The exact section of the mouldino:s of the 
 interior labels of the windows may be ascer- 
 tained from fragments, which, having been 
 wrought on the same blocks of stone as those 
 forming the cornice, could not, without more 
 troiible than was deemed necessary, be wholly 
 obliterated by the destroyers. 
 
 This character of suspending the labels from 
 the cornice is maintained in every instance, 
 inside and out. 
 
 Their length is half the height of the win- 
 dows, including the corbels, of which no in- 
 telligible trace remains on the inside. 
 
 The authors have observed the careless re- 
 mark in the " Beauties of England and Wales," 
 that the '^parapets are perforated but as there 
 is no record in writing of earlier date than the 
 indisputably authentic drawing already so often 
 quoted, and as this valuable document, by shew- 
 ing a fragment attached to the octagonal turret, 
 advances a firm step towards proof that the 
 parapets were panelled with a succession of solid 
 compartments, they base their ideas upon the 
 highest authority within their reach. 
 
 The parapet, as expressed by Mr. Lumb, is 
 certainly incomplete, and was most probably 
 originally surmounted by battlements, in accord- 
 
46 
 
 ance with those on the west front ; and it seems 
 most likely that the equivocal term used in the 
 above work was intended to describe the em- 
 brasures between them. 
 
 The present termination has always been 
 regarded as a coarse and unskilful imitation 
 of the ancient, in the execution of which no 
 attempt was made to restore the original model, 
 the object alone being to furnish the building 
 with the best appearance, at the least possible 
 cost. 
 
 Its height is three feet ten inches and a half, 
 but a considerably greater addition would have 
 been required for a pierced summit. 
 
 Had any trace of a finishing ornament of the 
 kind remained, it would surely have been re- 
 marked by Mr. Lumb, who knew the Chapel 
 well, many years before the hasty description 
 penned for the "Beauties" was committed to 
 the press. But the whole description of the 
 design of the Chapel is not merely worthless, 
 it is mischievous, inasmuch as it leads those 
 who, having neither eyes nor understanding of 
 their own, repeat errors which the most 
 ordinary observation would detect and set 
 aside. 
 
 " Gothic, or Saracenic Architecture" — " East 
 window overhanging the river," and "perfo- 
 rated parapets," are statements not warranted 
 
47 
 
 by facts, and must be despised by all who are 
 unwilling to be misguided. 
 
 And yet these glaring inaccuracies have been 
 reprinted in modern publications of value and 
 importance. 
 
 The sculpture in the marvellous design of 
 the west front is of the most interesting de- 
 scription. 
 
 The five divisions in the parapet were filled 
 with subjects derived from the inspired narra- 
 tives of the sacred life of our Saviour, flanked 
 at each extremity by six whole-length statues 
 in niches in two tiers, forming with their lofty 
 canopies the summits of the buttresses. 
 
 The statues have been demolished, but the 
 sculptures wrought in the solid blocks forming 
 the parapet have escaped, except with the loss 
 of limbs and features, of which latter time 
 chiefly has deprived them. 
 
 These sculptures were wholly worked after 
 the parapet was built, and, as was not un- 
 frequently the case, left incomplete. 
 
 The first in order, but the one reserved to 
 the last for the sculptor's art, was designed 
 for the reception of a representation of the 
 
 ^nnuttciation* 
 
48 
 
 The block is slightly roughed out for the 
 figures of St. Gabriel and the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 This was a favourite subject formerly, and its 
 frequent introduction shews the fervour of the 
 pious adoration with which our forefathers 
 viewed the divine condescension and mercy 
 manifested in the Holy Incarnation. 
 
 It may be seen twice repeated on the porch 
 of the gateway of Radford Abbey, Notting- 
 hamshire ; on the front of the tower of Banwell 
 Church, Somersetshire; and among the ruins 
 of Rievaulx Abbey. 
 
 The Annunciation is also represented on the 
 tower gateway of St. Mary's or New College, 
 Oxford, as well as within the quadrangles; 
 and was the first of a series of highly-relieved 
 figures in the choir, over the Altar, illustrative 
 of the same five prominent mysteries as those 
 selected for the edification of the devout at 
 Wakefield. 
 
 The ancient statuary referred to at Oxford, 
 together with the richly- carved and painted 
 screens, and the oaken stall- work — the spoils of 
 the Chapel, were huddled together in the tower, 
 where they remained until thirty years since, 
 when they were rescued for a time from further 
 indignity, by the good taste of the Reverend 
 Dr. Penrose, but the ledge which he caused to 
 be fixed for their reception against one of the 
 
49 
 
 walls of the cloisters, has lately been removed, 
 and the sculptures, together with the tablet 
 commemorative of their sacrilegious treatment, 
 are now deposited near the floor, preparatory 
 to their extermination, which seems likely soon 
 to follow the mutilations already recommenced 
 and invited by their present exposure. 
 
 FRAGMENTA • H^EC 
 ALTARIS • IN • MVRO • CAPELL^ • TRANSVERSALI 
 A • FVNDATORE • EXTRVCTI 
 IVSSV • ROB • HORNE • EPISC • WINT • S^CVLO • XVI 
 DEMOLITL 
 
 CVSTOS • ET • SCHOLARES • HVIVS • COLLEGII 
 HIC • TANDEM • COLLOCANDA 
 CVRAVERVNT. 
 ANNO • CIO 10 CCC XIV 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 As a comparative description of the New 
 College Sculptures with those in front of the 
 Chapel at Wakefield may prove interesting, the 
 authors subjoin the following remarks upon 
 their respective distinctions. 
 
 1* €f)t Annunciation* 
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 St. Mary stands in a dig- 
 nified posture, yet full of 
 humility and grace, holding 
 an open book in her left hand, 
 being visited in that private 
 preparation of heart by which 
 she became fitted for the ful- 
 filment of the Divine promise. 
 
 The flourishing emblem of 
 purity occupies the middle of 
 the panel, and the messenger 
 of the joyful tidings concern- 
 ing the Incarnation of God 
 the Son, approaches in an 
 attitude of obeisance indica- 
 tive of his profound reverence 
 and admiration in the pre- 
 sence of the Blessed Virgin, 
 whom he greets with the 
 angelical salutation. 
 
 WAKEFIELD BRIDGE- 
 CHAPEL. 
 
 The stone beneath the 
 triple canopy was merely pre- 
 pared to receive the sculp- 
 ture. 
 
 The infant Saviour rests Our Saviour is supported 
 on the right arm of his highly on the right arm of St. Mary, 
 favoured mother, who is ex- who reclines on a kind of 
 
51 
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 tended on a couch, in front 
 of which an ox and an ass, 
 according to the ancient tra- 
 dition, are lying within a 
 hurdled enclosure. 
 
 Towards the feet, and in a 
 wattled chair, sits the chaste 
 spouse of the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 WAKEFIELD BRIDGE 
 CHAPEL. 
 
 rustic couch, with her head 
 resting on a tasselled cushion. 
 
 St. Joseph is seen at her 
 feet, and in the background 
 the two animals in front of 
 the rack ; whilst the announ- 
 cing Angel appears overhead. 
 
 Ml* 'Et)t dortottss tsiemrecttott of our Eorlr* 
 
 The Redeemer is rising out A kneeling Angel is repre- 
 of the tomb, and in front, sented on each side of the 
 two completely armed soldiers rising figure ; and beneath, 
 are starting up in confused three guards, set to keep 
 amazement. watch over the monument, 
 
 clad as knights, and holding 
 heater- shaped shields, terri- 
 fied by the vision and earth- 
 quake. 
 
 ^f)t Wimn^ion of our M^gjSelr ILorU* 
 
 The figure of our Saviour 
 emerges from the cloud which 
 received Him out of human 
 sight. 
 
 In front are two kneeling 
 figures with nimbs, and their 
 hands raised, as if to hide 
 their faces from the bright- 
 ness of His glory; and on 
 either side the beholders, all 
 having nimbs, with uplifted 
 hands. 
 
 The contour of these figures. 
 
 The lower part of the figure 
 of our Saviour fills the centre 
 canopy ; beneath. His holy 
 Apostles, six seated in front, 
 and five behind, are gazing up- 
 ward in attitudes of astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 NEW COLLEGE. WAKEFIELD BRIDGE- 
 
 LitiArhjij. 
 
 the expression of surprise and 
 adoration, and the boldness 
 of the sculpture, are still dis- 
 cernible, barbarously as the 
 whole has been defaced. 
 
 The sculpture in this in- 
 stance is wretchedly defaced, 
 but in its remains, presents 
 a general resemblance to the 
 one at Wakefield. 
 
 The holy women are seated 
 upon the tomb, which is made 
 to occupy the entire length 
 of the stone, and has a ledge 
 or step whereon their feet 
 rest. 
 
 The figure on the left is 
 turned in profile towards the 
 other. 
 
 This design appears to have 
 been composed with reference 
 to the Assumption of the 
 Blessed Virgin, and to have 
 been chosen, along with the 
 other subjects, from among 
 the fifteen mysteries selected 
 for meditation in the devo- 
 tion of the Kosary. 
 
 The introduction of the 
 empty tomb bears allusion to 
 the pious belief of her bodily 
 translation. 
 
 It is altar-shaped, as in 
 the other examples, and has 
 a screen at the back; the 
 ledger is removed, leaving 
 the top apparently open; 
 the front was decorated with 
 pierced lozengy quatrefoils 
 and spandrels, now sadly 
 broken away. 
 
 Two Angels are represented 
 behind, and the figures sit 
 one on each side of the tomb, 
 St. Mary being distinguished 
 by a crown. 
 
.SCDLPTURE IN THE FIFTH COMPAHTMENT OF THE WEST FRONT 
 
1 
 
53 
 
 It is unknown to whom the full length 
 statues which occupied the twelve elevated 
 niches in the front of the Chapel at Wakefield, 
 referred. 
 
 Two of them were pre-eminently distinguished 
 by their size and situation, and are likely to have 
 represented St. Anne and St. Joachim. 
 
 The pedestals upon which they stood, remain 
 in every instance, variously formed and orna- 
 mented, and several upheld by Angels with ex- 
 panded wings. 
 
 The subjects just described cannot but be 
 regarded as masterly specimens of sculptural 
 design, and were not the only portions reserved 
 for the finer finish of detail till after the erection 
 of the structure. 
 
 Probably the whole of the ornamental carving, 
 the greater part of which is of the most delicate 
 description, was produced upon a roughened 
 surface ; for unless this had been the case the 
 accuracy of the jointings could not have been 
 preserved; and the process would at once ac- 
 count for a small space left incomplete in the 
 diaper over the middle doorway^. 
 
 K The term diaper seems clearly applicable to the peculiar kind of 
 decoration referred to. 
 
 It is in fact, a surface ornament, employed to obliterate blank spaces 
 of stone-work in Churches, screens, or monuments designed to exhibit 
 more than usual care in the enrichment ; and is variously applied on 
 the outside and inside of the buildings of all periods. 
 
54 
 
 The practice mentioned was more common 
 anciently than it is now, but whatever the 
 system by which so much exquisite enrichment 
 was incorporated with the design, the wonder 
 is that the stone on which it was thus elabo- 
 rately executed, should so long have resisted 
 the attacks of time. 
 
 The writers dwell not with admiration upon 
 the quantity of ornament in the design, but 
 rather upon the pure and refined taste exercised 
 in its selection and execution. 
 
 Nothing grotesque in conception nor coarse 
 in workmanship is observable. All the forms 
 are genuine, and such as pertain to the best 
 specimens of the architecture of the period. 
 
 Foliage has supplied a rich variety of patterns, 
 to the exclusion of other models so often and so 
 elegantly appropriated to ecclesiastical archi- 
 tecture. 
 
 Heraldry could not find room for so much as 
 
 The doors at Much Wymondley m Hertfordshire, and Chipping 
 Ongar in Essex ; the nave of Rochester Cathedral, the approach to 
 the undercroft at Canterhury, and the tower of St. Ethelbert belong- 
 ing to the Monastery of St. Augustine, present good specimens in 
 the Norman style. 
 
 Among later, the interior of Westminster Abbey, the choir and 
 Chapter House of Canterbury Cathedral, Waltham Cross, the high 
 altar screen in Selby Abbey, the rood screen in Lincoln Cathedral, 
 the monument of Gervase Alard, in Winchelsea Church, Sussex, and 
 that of Bishop Hatfield at Durham, may be named on account of the 
 beauty of their diaper-work. 
 
55 
 
 a single device in any part of the building, 
 unless indeed we may suppose it to have been 
 employed for the enrichment of the stone cor- 
 bels, or the carved wood- work in the interior, 
 and to have disappeared with the features to 
 which it was attached. 
 
 The architecture of the fourteenth century 
 was in general rich in ornament of the kind ; 
 Abbey Churches as well as Cathedrals fre- 
 quently present a vast variety of armorial em- 
 blems ; but it may be that the founder of this 
 Chapel purposely excluded a kind of memo- 
 rial which, in many cases, has remained to 
 identify benefactors with the monuments of 
 their piety after other tradition or record had 
 perished. 
 
 Modern architects are taught a valuable lesson 
 by this beautiful structure. 
 
 They will observe that the ornaments through- 
 out its design are subservient to the main con- 
 stituent features. 
 
 Its author was obedient, comparatively di- 
 minutive as was the scale upon which he was 
 employed, to this established principle, which 
 was scrupulously observed until invaded and 
 almost subverted by the preponderating in- 
 fluence of ornament towards the latter end of 
 the fifteenth century. 
 
 In the present example, which so finely illus- 
 
56 
 
 trates the system just referred to, the buttresses, 
 pediments, arches, in short the outline of the 
 design, viewed in connexion with the highly 
 ornamented surface of the wall, is exhibited in 
 strong relief. 
 
 A blank superficies is not to be seen in the 
 west front, and yet there is no want of solidity 
 in its appearance, so admirably have the orna- 
 ments been made to assist as well as enrich the 
 effect of the general design. 
 
 The comparatively modern restoration of 
 some of the ornamental w^ork before alluded to, 
 remains to be further noticed. 
 
 Several of the canopies in the parapet, and 
 of the battlements which surmount it, may 
 be ascribed to the first general repairs of the 
 Chapel made sometime in the seventeenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 There is some merit in these imitations, but 
 their juxtaposition with genuine specimens 
 forces an unfavourable comparison. 
 
 The coarse stone in which they are executed 
 has however been well attached to the ancient 
 work, and thus far we view it as a successful 
 example of the process of repair. 
 
 Before closing the remarks upon this most 
 interesting part of the building, it is to be 
 observed that the straight line of battlement 
 which terminates the front, is strictly in keep- 
 
57 
 
 ing, true as it is that in the thirteenth and 
 fourteenth centuries, steep gables were usually 
 characteristic of the edifices of the age. 
 
 The omission of this feature in the present 
 instance, and the repetition of the horizontal 
 line throughout the elevation, relieved only by 
 prominent buttresses, and aspiring pinnacles, 
 was doubtless maintained to preserve such a 
 harmony in the design as certainly no other 
 form could have rendered more completely 
 elegant. 
 
 The furniture, by having been swept from 
 the Chantry upon its suppression, leaves to con- 
 jecture the probable partition of the interior, 
 and the order of the seats on the sides. 
 
 These, separated by an avenue in the 
 centre, were ranged between the screen at 
 the lower end, and the Sanctuary or Altar- 
 pace, which was raised above the floor by a 
 single step. 
 
 In the choirs of cathedral, monastic, colle- 
 giate, and parish Churches, as in college 
 Chapels, the stalls for the clergy were inva- 
 riably arranged in lines parallel with the side 
 walls, while the seats for the laity in the nave, 
 were placed in the opposite direction, or facing 
 the east. 
 
 The oaken stall-work in the Chapel of St. 
 John's Hospital, now used as the Grammar 
 
58 
 
 School, in Coventry, may be named as one of 
 the most entire specimens now remaining. 
 
 These magnificent stalls were removed from 
 the Church of the Grey Friars, and must have 
 completely furnished a choir of vast extent. 
 They are as old as the commencement of the 
 fourteenth century, and seem to have escaped 
 injury until their exposure to mischief in their 
 present situation. 
 
 The screen, extending across the width of 
 the Chapel, and parting off ten or twelve feet 
 in length from the west end, determined the 
 ante- chapel or vestibule — a free and very useful 
 space in this kind of building, and one without 
 which due order could not at all times have 
 been preserved, as the doors were seldom 
 closed, nor the place unoccupied, though there 
 were intervals in the regular services. 
 
 The Janitor was present to bestow the accus- 
 tomed alms, and issue written orders to certify 
 at the gate of the Monastery in view, or the 
 Hospital on the way, the arrival of worthy 
 travellers from the Wayside Chapel. 
 
 The stone seat he occupied is formed in the 
 west wall, between two of the doors: it is a 
 handsome feature of the original design, having 
 had side buttresses, and a crocketed canopy 
 nearly resembling those of the niches in the 
 buttresses of the west front. 
 
59 
 
 The Altar formerly attached to the east wall 
 has been destroyed^. 
 
 A small but very beautiful panel, hemmed in 
 with modern masonry, is the only ornamental 
 fragment of the piscina, now remaining. It 
 occupies its original position beneath the recess, 
 at the back of which was a little window of two 
 compartments, whose former existence is only 
 known by an original drawing in the Bodleian 
 Library. 
 
 No traces are observable either of a sedilis 
 on the south side of the Sanctuary or of a stoup 
 at the west end: these were not unfrequently 
 moveable articles of furniture ; the one a seat 
 of wood for the officiating priest, the other a 
 small vessel of metal for the water of puri- 
 fication to be used on entering the chapel. 
 
 The beautiful character of the niche at the 
 east end, and on the south side of the Altar, is 
 indicated by the state of the wall from which 
 the lofty pinnacles, the tall and tapering canopy, 
 
 ^ As the remains of Norman altars are very rare, it may be well 
 to observe that a curious relic of this kind and age is preserved in 
 the garden of the rectory-house at Dunham Magna, in Norfolk. 
 
 It consists of a large portion of the top stone, five inches in thick- 
 ness, finished with moiildings, and enriched with the indented star- 
 ornament. 
 
 When perfect it measured about five feet nine inches in length, 
 and three feet one inch in width, and was impressed with the five 
 small crosses. 
 
60 
 
 and the elevated pedestal, have been sacri- 
 legiously chipped av^ay. 
 
 The overhanging form of the canopy is shewn 
 by the upper part of the recess, which was 
 ribbed in an elaborate pattern over the head of 
 the statue of St. Mary. 
 
 The recess in the north wall, over the Altar- 
 pace, may at first sight be conjectured to have 
 been designed for an ambry, but its antiquity, 
 as well as its purpose, must be acknowledged 
 equally uncertain : the masonry is quite rough, 
 and the depth very irregular. 
 
 If it were ever graced with enrichments 
 worthy its position, these, with the label and 
 all the accompanying mouldings, have been 
 removed, and the opening filled to the sur- 
 face. 
 
 The absence of capitals as crowning mem- 
 bers of the jambs and mullions, may be re- 
 marked as uncommon ; nothing of the kind 
 occurs in any part of the Chapel. 
 
 Economy in space obliged the uprights of the 
 doors to be singularly narrow, but they are 
 deeply recessed, and formed of numerous 
 mouldings, which are continued on the arches 
 without interruption at the springer. 
 
 As there are no capitals, no members in 
 the design are to be distinguished as columns 
 or pillars, names usually assigned to a torus, 
 
61 
 
 however slender, wherever it is distinguished 
 with capital and base. 
 
 Traces of painting are still discernible upon 
 the walls in the interior. 
 
 The enrichments of the architecture left but 
 few blank spaces for decorations of this kind, 
 but these, whatever their extent, and probably 
 also the whole interior surface, — mouldings, 
 sculptures, and windows, were formerly covered 
 with fresco, which was in high perfection in 
 England during the fourteenth century. 
 
 Gilding was added to enrich its effect, and 
 harmonize in splendour with the painted glass. 
 
 It seems surprising that hands were found 
 mischievous enough to commence and carry on. 
 the work of spoliation in a little Wayside Asy- 
 lum like this, so exquisitely beautiful in all its 
 finishings, and which had been so long devoted 
 to sacred purposes; but its costlier appurte- 
 nances, the gold and silver with which the Altar 
 was doubtless graced, were irresistible; these 
 brought down desecration and destruction upon 
 the building ; and what the rapacity of former 
 times spared, has been ignorantly reduced in 
 later, and a crippled shell remains to prove the 
 taste and liberaHty of the present age in the 
 work of restoration. 
 
 The consolation which has carried the writers 
 somewhat patiently through an examination 
 
62 
 
 and description of the injuries to which the 
 fabric of this beautiful Chapel has been sub- 
 jected, arises from the conviction they have all 
 along felt, that it retains sufficient strength on 
 all sides to insure its perfect restitution, if not 
 to its original solidity and perfection, certainly 
 to a condition calculated to preserve the exqui- 
 site beauty of its design for ages. 
 
 The advancing efforts we now witness to 
 atone, in some measure, for the havoc which 
 has been committed among the monuments of 
 our Ecclesiastical Architecture during the last 
 three centuries, are truly creditable to the 
 present one. 
 
 It is now generally admitted that the almost 
 numberless Churches and Chapels which within 
 that fanatic^ period have been wantonly dilapi- 
 dated or entirely destroyed, would have been of 
 inestimable value in these times, if motives as 
 patriotic as those which influenced Honorius to 
 spare heathen temples, could have penetrated 
 the blindly prejudiced minds of the perpe- 
 trators who brought down such indiscriminate 
 destruction upon sacred edifices in every quar- 
 ter of the kingdom. 
 
 Regret for the past is unavailing : it is how- 
 ever matter for congratulation that the struc- 
 tures w^hich did escape demolition are at length 
 appreciated, and the Yorkshire Architectural 
 
63 
 
 Society is to be honoured for the strenuous 
 endeavour to redeem from ruin, and re-dedicate 
 to the services of rehgion, a choice specimen 
 wrhich has sustained its full share of desecration 
 and injury. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 OXFORD : 
 PRINTED BY I. SHRIMPTON. 
 
THE CHAPEL 
 
 OF 
 
 KITO EDWARD III. 
 
 ON V 
 
 WAKEFIELD BRIDGE; 
 
 OR 
 
 AN IMPROVED ESSAY 
 
 ON THIS AND OTHER 
 
 ANCIENT BRIDGE CHANTRIES! 
 
 INCLUDING AN ACCOUNT OF 
 
 CJie Battle ot WafeeftelU, 
 
 AND MUCH ANTIQUARIAN REMARK ON THE WHOLE. 
 
 BY 
 
 NORRISSON SCATCHERD, ESQ. 
 
 Author of the " History of Morley," — " Memoirs and Gleanings of Eugene Aram," — 
 A former " Essay on Bridge Chapels," &c. 
 
 "We think upon her Stones, and it pitieth ua to see her in the dust." 
 
 Pa aim 102, v. 14. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., STATIONERS'-COURT; 
 
 HEATON, HARRISON, AND SLOCOMBE & SIMMS, LEEDS ; 
 ILLINGWORTH & HICKS, AND HURST, WAKEFIELD; TAYLOR, BRADFORD i 
 WHITLEY & BOOTH, HALIFAX; KEMP, HUDDERSFIELD. 
 
 MDCCCXrill. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 TO THE NATIVES OF WAKEFIELD. 
 
 FELIiOW-CoUNTRYMEN, 
 
 When first I appeared in print (fifteen years ago), the 
 subject of my pen was, "A Dissertation on Ancient Bridge Chapels; 
 and especially that remarkable edifice on Wakefield Bridge, com- 
 monly, but erroneously, called the Chapel of Edward the Fourth." 
 The novelty of the subject, and my peculiar taste, and the rumour, 
 that a similar Tract was designed by another person, at that time, 
 prompted me to write almost entirely from memory; and, after the 
 short lapse of three days, to hurry through the press a trifle which 
 was scarcely worthy of the public notice. Yet, the same success 
 attended it which my subsequent amusements have commanded; 
 and, for many years past, not a single copy could be bought up. 
 This circumstance, and a change of affairs well known at Wakefield, 
 and the solicitations of many friends, has induced me to dedicate, to 
 my fellow-countrymen, a Tract more worthy, as I hope, of their ac- 
 ceptance. My object is twofold. It is, first, to shew them what a 
 JEWEL they possess in their Bridge Chapel. And, secondly, to raise 
 a small sum for the bestoration of this beautiful Lady Chapel, 
 from her decay. Having already written two letters for the Wake- 
 field Journal on the subject, and sent a subscription for this purpose, 
 it will surely be credited, that if any surplus, beyond the expenses of 
 the publication of this Tract, should arise, it will, assuredly, be ap- 
 plied to the original purpose. 
 
 People of Yorkshire ! I do not, now, attempt to surprise 
 you, by any account of that stupendous mind which, at the age of 
 fourteen years, — instead of meditating (according to the course of 
 nature) upon whips and tops, hoops and marbles, or bats and balls, — 
 was wholly intent upon "quadratic equations and their geometrical 
 constructions," until it was seduced from "the heavier beauties of 
 lines and numbers," by the goodly fraternity of Messrs. Hesiod and 
 Homer, Theocritus or Virgil, Euripides or Plato,— of a man,* in short. 
 
 * Eugene Aram. 
 
 a2 
 
iv 
 
 whose imperial fancy would fain have laid all Nature under tribute, 
 while he "followed pleasure through a thousand fields;" but I 
 present you with a curiosity of another kind — a Chapel of the 
 glorious reign of Edward the Third: built at a time when architec- 
 ture was in its meridian splendour, but the country a continual suc- 
 cession of forests or of waste ! A Chapel which must, together with 
 its co-eval Bridge, have advanced the trade and commerce of the 
 country in a surprising degree ! A Chapel which, if not a guide to 
 the navigator by day, was an asylum and sanctuary to the pilgrim, 
 the pedler, or the palmer by night! A Chapel which has stood 
 amidst scenes which, could I present them to your view, you might 
 fancy yourselves removed to some other state of existence: or the 
 whole would appear like the illusions of the fancy in the visions of 
 the night ! Kings or queens, peradventure, coming on pilgrimages 
 barefoot,* and bringing rich necklaces for the Virgin ! — Nobles flying 
 to sanctuary for protection, from fields of battle .'—Beauteous maidens 
 prostrated at the foot of a crucifix ! — Groups of passengers bowing 
 at the elevation of the Host ! — The solitary and benighted traveller 
 refreshed or protected !— The stern and severe ascetic cherished and 
 directed! — And the priests (the toll-takers) soliciting a voluntary 
 offering from each succeeding passenger! — Think, in short, on 
 Chaucer's motley assemblage travelling to Canterbury, and then 
 think on our Lady Chapel ! 
 
 If these and other recollections fail to rouse, in support of 
 "my little favourite," our Antiquarian, — Camden and Architectural 
 Societies, and one, at least, of the Secret Orders (the "Free and 
 Accepted Masons"), they are, in my opinion, "humbugs;" — their 
 members are not of the school of Camden, Stow, Speed, and 
 Hutton; — they are not "true men;" — and were I empowered to 
 make each man do penance, I would order him to travel, on foot, 
 the whole length of the Roman Wall. 
 
 N. SCATCHERD. 
 
 Morley, January 2nd, 1843. 
 
 * Spelman informs us that in 1510, Henry the Eighth made a pilgrimage to our Lady of 
 
 Walsingham, barefooted, and carried her, as a present, a rich necklace Columbus did much 
 
 the same thing under Henry Seventh — See, moreover, Dugdale's St. Paul, by Ellis, p. 16 i 
 
 Henrietta Maria's penances are well known. 
 
THE BRIDGE CHAPEL. 
 
 Such are the historical recollections, and such the asso- 
 ciation of ideas which stand in connection with the ancient 
 Chantry Chapel on Wakefield Bridge, in the mind, at least, 
 of the TRUE Antiquary, that it may, fearlessly, be proclaimed 
 to be the most interesting little structure in the kingdom. It 
 is the last of that highly ornamented class of Bridge Chan- 
 tries of which we have any account; and it seems to have 
 surpassed, in beauty, most, if not all, the sisterhood which 
 were flourishing in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 
 It is, perhaps, on this account that (although we know very 
 little) we know more about this particular Bridge Chapel 
 than about any other which formerly existed in the nation. 
 Our old chroniclers have, indeed, been wonderfully parsimo- 
 nious in their notices of these structures. — So much so, 
 indeed, that had it not been for Leland's Mission, by Henry 
 Eighth, to search the kingdom for Ancient Writings, we 
 should scarcely have known the situations of one half the 
 number of those which he has recorded. 
 
 Leland was born in 1507, and when grown up, was ap- 
 pointed librarian to Henry 8th. In 1542 he returned from 
 his antiquarian tour. He published it in 1549 or 1550, and 
 in 1552 he died. He appears to have been an observant and 
 diligent man, but possessed of very little antiquarian know- 
 ledge or curiosity. This, indeed, is acknowledged by his great 
 eulogist (Dr. Whitaker);* and it is manifest, not only from 
 
 * Dr. Whitaker, in his " Richmondshire," p. 86, makes this comment upon 
 Leland:—" With respect to his account of the Old Church, now Trinitj Chapel, 
 
6 
 
 his "hear say'' report of Wakefield Bridge Chapel, his igno- 
 rance of the time of endowment of the Vicarao-e, and the 
 number of vicars, but from his misinformation on all these 
 subjects. However, as he is our best chronicler as to Bridge 
 Chantries, we shall take a few extracts from his "Itinerary." 
 "These things," says he, "I especially noted in Wakefield,— 
 "the faire bridge of nine arches, under which renneth the 
 "river Calder; and on the est side of this bridge is a right 
 "goodly Chapel of our Lady, and two Cantuarie Priests 
 "founded in it: of the fundacion of the townsmen, as some 
 "say; but the Dukes of York were taken as founders, for ob- 
 " tayning the mortmain. I heard one say, that a servant of 
 " King Edward the 4th's father, or else of the Erie of Rut- 
 " land, brother to King Edward the 4th, was a great doer of 
 " it. There was a sore batell fought in the South Feilds, by 
 "the bridge; and in the flite of the Duke of York's parte, 
 " other the Duke himself, or his sun, th'erle of Rutland, was 
 " slain a little above the barres, beyond the bridge, going up 
 " a clyving ground. At this place is set up a cross in memo- 
 "riam* The commune saying is, that the erle wold have 
 " taken ther a poore woman's house for socour, and she, for 
 " fere shet the dore, and strait the erle was killed." 
 
 I cannot help thinking that, for anything which appears 
 in this statement, the Chapel was as likely to have been of 
 the foundation of the townsmen as not. The whole of it is, 
 at best, but "hear say" and "tittle tattle," related by a person 
 who, evidently, had made no research, but took what was told 
 him "upon trust." That Rauf Stanley, or some such 
 servant of Edward's father, had his share in the building or 
 
 " that it had many strange figures, which led the people to suppose it had been a 
 " Temple of Idols, it is no disrespect to so great a man to say, that little more of 
 "architecture was then understood by professed antiquaries than by common 
 "gazers," 
 
 * See my comments hereafter, p. 16. 
 
7 
 
 beautifying of this Chapel, is possible, for he may have been 
 one of these "townsmen;" but that Edward, or his prede- 
 cessors the Dukes of York, were the founders is, I think, dis- 
 putable, on several grounds. 
 
 This Chapel is said to have been built to pray therein 
 for the souls of those who fell at the Battle of Sandal 
 Castle Field, commonly called the "Battle of Wakefield," 
 though at some distance therefrom. Now it is manifest, as I 
 shall hereafter shew, that it was fought much nearer to the 
 former than the latter place, and, certainly, on the south-side 
 of the river; but Wakefield being the largest town in the 
 vicinity, and the battle being thence (according to the custom 
 of the times) called the Battle of Wakefield, a delusion has 
 been fostered during the long period of three centuries. That 
 such has been the case, however, I infer from the following 
 circumstances :— 
 
 In the first place, it seems rational to suppose, that if 
 Edward the 4th did build a Chapel for the purpose before- 
 mentioned, he would erect it on some part of the field of 
 battle; and that such was the usage of his times, as of pre- 
 ceding ages, I will give my readers the most convincing evi- 
 dence. After the battle of Towton, it is well known that 
 Richard 3rd built or began a Chapel for the souls of the 
 Yorkists who there fell. And where did he build it? Over 
 the Wharf? or over the Ouse? or upon "Cokbeck?" No! 
 but upon the very ground which covered the bodies, or that 
 part of the field of battle which is the furthest from Saxton. 
 
 Another instance may be found in Leland's Collectanea. 
 Giving an account of a fray which happened upon Ouse 
 bridge, between the citizens of York and John Comyn, a 
 Scotch nobleman, in which several of his servants were killed, 
 Leland says, "The citizens were obliged to pay to the said 
 " Lord three hundred pounds, and to build a Chapel on the 
 " place where the slaughteb was made." 
 
8 
 
 Another instance may be seen in Speed's History, p. 695. 
 "After the battle of Barnet," says he, "a Chapel was built 
 "upon the field* where the slain loere buried." 
 
 The custom of erecting Churches or Chapels on fields of 
 battle, in England, appears to be as ancient as the Saxon and 
 Danish times. Malmesbury, writingf on the battle fought 
 between Edmund Ironside and Canute, says of the latter, — 
 " Loca omnia in quibus pugnaverat, et prsecipue in Ashendane 
 "Ecclesiis insignivit. Ministros instituit, qui per succidua 
 "sseculorum volumina Deo supplicarent pro aminibus ibi 
 " occisorum." 
 
 This custom, in short, like most of the early Roman 
 Catholic usages, appears to have been derived from paganism; 
 for a Chapel was dedicated, by the Athenians, to Socrates 
 after his death. J 
 
 But secondly, if Edward, contrary to custom, determined 
 to build his Chapel remote from the bodies of the slain and 
 upon a bridge, at all events it is evident that we should find 
 it at the south-end of the bridge, and nearest the field of 
 battle; but what is the fact? Why, that this Chapel is 
 much nearer to the opposite end ! 
 
 But, waiving my other objections and arguments for the 
 present, in order to present them in a better place, I will now 
 turn to Dr. Whitaker's remarks upon Leland's Narrative. 
 
 "With respect to the beautiful Chapel on the bridge," 
 says he; "beautiful even after the botch work by which it 
 " has been attempted to be repaired ; so early and authoritative 
 "a testimony as that of Archbishop Holgate, must go far 
 
 * See, also, Stow's Annals, p. 704. Gents. Mag. vol. 62, p. 881;— vol. 92, 
 part 2, p. 305 ; — and the Gents. Mag. for 1830, p. 622. 
 
 t De gestis Reg. lib. ii. cxi. Morant, commenting on this passage, sajs, 
 "It could not be the present Church of Ashdon, because it stands too far 
 " FROM THE FIELD OF BATTLE ! "-This is just my argument.— N. S. 
 t Goldsmith's Abrt. p. 144. 
 
9 
 
 " towards establishing the fact, that it was founded by Edward 
 " Duke of York, afterwards Edward 4th. I am willing, also, 
 " to be persuaded that this endowment took place in order, as 
 " is generally supposed, to pray for the souls of the slain in 
 "the Battle of Wakefield; and especially of poor little Rut- 
 "land. The architecture of the rich fagade, at least is, un- 
 " questionably, of that age; but it is equally certain, that 
 "there was a Chantry on this bridge of a much earlier date; 
 " for by charter dated at Wakefield, A.D. 1557 (31 Edwd. 3rd), 
 " and copied by Mr. Hopkinson into his Collections, it appears 
 " that the said king vested a rent charge of ten pounds per 
 " annum on Wm. Kaye and Wm. Bull, chaplains, and their 
 " successors for ever, to perform divine service in the Chapel 
 "of St. Mary, then newly erected on Wakefield bridge. 
 
 " By a later account which I have seen, the later Chantry 
 "of two Priests, said to be endowed by Edward Duke of 
 "York, was valued at £14. 15s. 3|d. I am unable to recon- 
 "cile the difference between this sum and £8. 10s. 3d.; but 
 "the vicinity of the bridge to the ground where the former 
 "Duke of York and little Rutland fell; and especially the 
 " title assumed by the founder, which, in^the following year, 
 " was merged in the style of King, renders it, in the highest 
 " degree, probable that this Chapel was re-endowed by that 
 " Prince immediately after the battle, and for a purpose which 
 " his feelings would then dictate. 1 wish the perishing sculp- 
 "tures on the front could be discovered, to throw any light 
 " upon the subject." 
 
 That the reader may understand, in some measure, these 
 remarks of Dr. Whitaker, I must state that, in his preceding 
 page, he gives us the report of Archbishop Holgate, concern- 
 ing the Chantries in Wakefield and its parish, which seem to 
 have been nine in number, and one of them the Chantrie of 
 two Priests in the middle of Wakefield bridge, "founded," 
 says Holgate, "by Edward Duke of York, and valued at 
 £8. 10s. 3d." 
 
10 
 
 With respect to the "early and authoritative testimony of 
 Holgate," I have to remark, that being translated to the See 
 of York so late as 1544 {i. e. only about three years before 
 the death of Henry 8th), it could not be much earlier than 
 that of his contemporary, Leland, and it, probably, was later. 
 Besides which, if we peruse the account of him by Drake, 
 the Historian of York, who knew much more of his character 
 and habits than Whitaker, we shall believe him to be no 
 authority at all. We do not know that he had any taste for 
 antiquarian subjects; but we do know what he had a taste 
 for, and it would make the reader laugh were I to tell him. 
 In short, as his lazy "ipse dixit" comes to us through a 
 channel even more suspicious than that of Leland, we may 
 well imagine that he came by his news in a similar way. 
 
 If I understand the Doctor's meaning in the foregoing 
 extract, his opinion (grounded on the report of Holgate) was, 
 that Edward 4th, while Duke of York, and immediately after 
 the Battle of Wakefield, founded and endowed the Bridge 
 Chapel, on account of those Yorkists who fell at that fight, 
 and especially of poor little Rutland ; but then he tells us, in 
 conclusion, that he re-endowed it immediately after the battle; 
 from which one may think his opinion was, that Edward 
 founded and endowed the Chapel before the battle, and re- 
 endowed it afterwards. But, if so, it could not have been 
 built for the purpose so often asserted. And as to saying that 
 Edward built and endowed, and then re-endowed it imme- 
 diately after the fight, what does it sound like ? 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, the Doctor's reverence for 
 Archbishop Holgate, he seems to have been startled and con- 
 founded by two awkward circumstances. One of them, the 
 undoubted existence of a Chantry upon this bridge so early as 
 1357 (31st Edward 3rd); the other, the discrepancy between 
 the sum of £8. lOs. 3d. and £14. 15s. S^d.: difficulties which 
 (by the way) as far as the main question is concerned, his 
 
11 
 
 gratuitous supposition of endowment and re-endowment, does 
 not rectify. Finding himself, therefore, in a labyrinth, and 
 in the dark, he calls for light. "I wish," says he, "the per- 
 " ishing sculptures on the front could be discovered, to throw 
 any light upon the subject." 
 
 It would appear, from this last expression, that Dr. 
 Whitaker would have recanted, provided he could have been 
 well assured that these figures had no reference to the Battle 
 of Wakefield. Now, young as I was when the Doctor wrote, 
 I could have convinced him, perhaps, of this. In no one 
 compartment has there been, in our day, a similitude of any 
 thing appertaining to a fight. On the contrary, by universal 
 consent, as I believe, the sculptures have ever been designated 
 as Scripture pieces.* One writer supposes they represent the 
 Nativity, Resurrection, and Ascension. My own idea is, that 
 the lower part of twelve figures, apparently in a sitting pos- 
 ture, have represented the twelve Apostles, in the third com- 
 partment as the visiter leaves Wakefield. On the next, there 
 are two figures, perhaps for David and Solomon, as they seem 
 like kings. On the other side, is a female in a reclining pos- 
 ture, with part of another figure, seemingly of a female, re- 
 presenting, as I fancy, St. Ann, teaching the Virgin Mary to 
 read, as seen in the north window of the choir at Alraondbury.f 
 As to the other two tablets, the one next Wakefield has long 
 been removed, and the other I cannot guess at. Since, how- 
 ever, we know that the twelve Apostles were on the front of 
 the Chantry Bridge Chapel at Doncaster, we may well infer 
 the nature of the sculptures at Wakefield. 
 
 It is no less amusing than astonishing, to observe the 
 pertinacity with which, in spite of all contrary evidence, Dr. 
 
 * I particularly solicit the attention of the Architect and Antiquary to a 
 Paper in the Gents. Mag. for 1833, vol. 103, part 1st, page 600.— N. S. 
 
 t See Whitaker's Leeds, vol. 2, p. 328. '■ These figures, being in an apparent 
 state of nudity, may have represented the Temptation by Eve." 
 
1^ 
 
 Whitaker still clung to his absurd notion as regarded the age 
 of this Chapel. Writing upon the Lacy Fee, in the parish of 
 Mitton in Craven, the Doctor says, "Yet there was a William 
 " de Bay ley possessed of property within the parish so late as 
 "1391; for in that year he bequeaths, besides many other 
 "legacies to religious houses, 'Unum equum vel equam, quem 
 "vel quam. Vicar de Mitton, vult eligere.' One item in the 
 "will is entitled to notice, as it contradicts a received 
 "opinion, that the Chapel on the bridge at Wakefield was 
 "first built and endowed as a memorial of the battle in lohich 
 ''Richard Duke of York ivas slain. 'Item lego C Sol ad 
 " confirmacionera cantarie in Capella See Marise sup Pont 
 "de Wakefield.' However, there seems to be no doubt that 
 "the present Chapel was built upon that occasion ! ! !" 
 
 I now flatter myself that I, on the other hand, shall be 
 able to shew, most satisfactorily, that there is "no doubt" 
 that it was not built ''upon that occasion." 
 
 First, — From written or printed documents. 
 
 Secondly, — By inferences drawn from the usage of ancient 
 times. 
 
 Thirdly, — From its architecture. 
 
 And fourthly,— From notices of Bridge Chapels left us 
 by Leland or others. 
 
 Scarcely had I half written my former Essay, than I 
 discovered, in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1806, p. 723, a 
 letter addressed to the then Editor, by a Gentleman of Wake- 
 field, whom I know to be still living, and worthy of all credit 
 and respect. It is upon this Bridge Chapel, and is well worth 
 the perusal of Architects; but to me it was most interesting 
 for the Note which "Archeeus," the writer, has subjoined. 
 
 "Though this Chapel," says Archseus, "is usually called 
 "King Edward the 4th's Chapel, I am inclined to believe, 
 " that both it and the ancient part of the present bridge, 
 "which an Architect says was built by Edward the 4th, 
 
13 
 
 "existed previous to his reign; for I have in my possession 
 " a deed dated the 27th of September, 32nd of Henry 6th, 
 " charging an estate in Wakefield with the payment of 3s. 
 " in the following words: 'Reddendo inde annuatim Cantarise 
 "sive Capellffi beatee Marise scituet sup Pontem Vill« de 
 "Wakefield, tres solidos argenti ad tres terminos scilicet ad 
 "festum sancti Michaelis, purificationis beatse Marise et Pen- 
 " tecostes per equales portiones.' I should be glad to know 
 " how much higher its antiquity can be traced." 
 
 In reply to this query, besides the very curious docu- 
 ment copied by Dr. Whitaker from Hopkinson's Collections, 
 I will present the public with a copy of an ancient MS. from 
 another document in the archives of the Hatfield family. 
 
 " In 1398, there were two chantries ordained in the Chapel 
 " on Wakefield bridge, which were founded by William, son 
 " of John Terry del Wakefield, and Robert del Heth (Heath), 
 " who obtained licenses of the King (Richard 2nd), to give 
 "and assign to two Chaplains celebrating divine service in 
 " the Chapel of St. Mary, on Wakefield bridge, lately built, 
 " ten pounds rent in Wakefield, Stanley, Ossett, Pontefract, 
 "Horbury, Heckmondwike, Shafton, Darfield, Preston-Jack- 
 " ling, and Frystone by the Water." 
 
 "As, also, by license of the said King Richard 2nd, 
 " granted to Edward Earl of Rutland, Sir George Gerbery, 
 " Knight, and Thomas Worston, Clerk, &c. to give and assign 
 " to the said two Chaplains ten pounds rent, which they pur- 
 " chased of Robert Bull and William Horning, and Alice his 
 "wife; which said Chaplains shall be at the presentation of 
 " the said Earl of Rutland, and his heirs, within forty days 
 " from the vacation of any of the said Chantries." 
 
 Trusting that the reader will bear in mind the foregoing 
 curious documents, as displaying the great antiquity of our 
 Bridge Chapel, I come, now, to the most interesting portions 
 of my tract, and for which I take to myself some little credit. 
 
14 
 
 Whether or not they harmonize with what I have advanced, 
 must be left to his decision. 
 
 It appears, then, from history, that in 1347 the last of 
 the Earls Warren died — their titles became extinct, and after 
 the death of Mathelda, the Earl's widow, tlieir vast posses- 
 sions, including the Manor of Wakefield, reverted to the 
 Crown: and Edward the 3rd, in the thirty-sixth year of 
 his reign, created his son, Edmund Langley, Earl of Cam- 
 bridge; giving him (inter alia) the Manor of Wakefield. 
 Edmund Langley was, afterwards, created Duke of York, by 
 his nephew Richard 2nd, and left behind him a son, Ed- 
 mund, also Duke of York, who fell at the battle of Agincourt. 
 Richard, the second son of Edmund, was the father of the 
 Richard, Duke of York, who was slain at the battle of Wake- 
 field, and he was the father of Edward the 4th. 
 
 Thus we see how the Dukes of York were "taken as the 
 founders of this Chapel for obtaining the mortmain," as Le- 
 land says; but we cannot discover, that they built either the 
 Chapel or the ancient Bridge. On the contrary, there is 
 every reason to believe, from the usages of the times, the 
 popularity, splendour, and calm of Edward's reign, as well as 
 from the deeds and other MSS. alluded to, that both the one 
 and the other were "q/" the fundacion of the townsmen," as 
 reported to Leland, in honour and compliment to their illus- 
 trious King, and for the advancement of commerce. 
 
 That Edward 3rd, in the course of his reign, visited Wake- 
 field, is nearly certain ; and that his visit had some connection 
 with the ancient Stone Bridge and Chapel, is not less so. 
 
 Rapin informs us* that, in 1362, Edward 3rd took a 
 progress into several countries, attended by the principal no- 
 bility and French hostages, who partook of all the recreations 
 with which the people strove to amuse their Sovereign. 
 
 * Vol. 1. p. 437. 
 
15 
 
 Now that remarkable year, the thirty-sixth of Ed- 
 ward's reign, and which corresponds so happily with the year 
 1362, when he took his progress, is memorable for another 
 circumstance which occasioned this journey. It was the year 
 in which he completed the fiftieth of his age ! It was cele- 
 brated, therefore, as a year of Jubilee, of grace and favour, 
 as well as of rejoicing. The tributary Kings of France, Scot- 
 land, and Cyprus, hastened to England to do him homage, 
 and appeared in the splendour of his retinue, — witnesses of his 
 clemency, — his redress of grievances, — his respect for the laws, 
 — his regard for trade, — and his consideration for the poor. 
 
 Who then can doubt, that the people of Wakefield were 
 of the number of those whom Rapin speaks of as "striving 
 to amuse their Sovereign" at this year of Jubilee? — that 
 Edmund Langley, Duke of York, and Lord of the Manor of 
 Wakefield, was here presented by his father? — that the same 
 pomp and display of tapestry crowned the bridge as was al- 
 ways seen upon royal visits? — and that then our Lady Chapel 
 first shone forth in all her beauty? 
 
 Amongst other objects had in view in the erection of 
 Chantry Chapels, during the middle ages, one was "to pray 
 for the prosperity and happiness of the Sovereign, while 
 LIVING, as well as for his repose when dead." Of this we 
 have an instance in the breaking up of the Hermitage at 
 Whalley, by Henry 6th, who converted it into a Chantry for 
 two Priests, "to sing for his good estate in this world."* In 
 such Chantries of two Priests, it was, also, usual for each to 
 say a different mass, one of which was always of requiem. 
 
 But there are various minor evidences beyond what has 
 been adduced, and which all tend to shew that to the reign of 
 Edward the 3rd alone, is the honour of our Bridge Chapel 
 to be ascribed. 
 
 * See Whitaker's Whalley, Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 67, pt. 2, p. 664. 
 
16 
 
 From Dr. Whitaker's History of Whalley, I take the 
 following extract : — 
 
 " In 1480, Roger Nowell formed a Chantry at the altar 
 "of St. Peter, in the church of All Saints, Wakefield. To 
 "this there was a license in mortmain, granted by Edward 
 "4th, enjoining the Chantry Priest to pray pro salubri statu 
 " sue et pro aia in Christo Patris et Dni nostri Ricardi nuper 
 " Ducis Ebor et omn fid def. It was usual, says the Doctor, 
 "in mortmains, for the grantor to stipulate for a portion of 
 "spiritual benefits on behalf of himself and friends; but there 
 " can be no doubt, in this instance, that the pointed and afFec- 
 "tionate mention of Richard, Duke of York, was suggested 
 " by a recollection of Wakefield, where he lost his life twenty 
 "years before, and where a beautiful Chapel was erected for 
 "the same purpose." 
 
 Without much more knowledge of Catholic ideas and 
 usages during the dark ages than we now possess, one can 
 scarcely form a decided opinion upon Edward's conduct on 
 this occasion; but, certainly, it appears, from this extract, 
 that no Chantry had been established by him at Wakefield, 
 for the purpose specified, rather than there had. For if the 
 Bridge Chapel, with two Priests, had been founded by him 
 for the soul's welfare of his father and friends, he could want 
 no Chantry or Priests at the Church of the parish for this 
 purpose. The utmost, therefore, that this Edward could have 
 done, was to endow or enrich the Chapel, and erect a Cross of 
 Memorial upon the field of battle. 
 
 Crosses of Memorial, though sometimes erected upon 
 public accounts,* were yet often raised for private individuals. 
 Of these, Guthloe's Stone near Croyland, Neville's Cross, 
 
 * " There is a fame," says Leland, "that Oswald wan the battle of Haly- 
 dene, and that Halydene is that Bede callith Hevenfeld, and men thereaboute yet 
 finde fimaule Crossis of Wod in the grounde." — 'Note to Itinerary vol, T, p. 68. 
 
17 
 
 Piercey's Cross, and Lord Audley's Cross, are instances. 
 They were raised for persons of chief rank who fell in battle, 
 or they were raised on account of those battles; and generally, 
 if not always, where these small Crosses were set up, there 
 were no Chapels for the slain; unless Barnet-field be an ex- 
 ception. The "Cross of Memorial," therefore, which was 
 raised for Rutland or his father, is evidence not only as to 
 the ground on which the fight was; but, also, that the Bridge 
 Chapel was no way connected with that battle. 
 
 This paragraph naturally leads me to a subject which is 
 connected with my argument, and may be more generally in- 
 teresting. I mean 
 
 THE BATTLE OF WAKEFIELD ! 
 
 Our old historian. Speed, who has taken his narrative 
 from Grafton's Chronicle and Stowe's Annals, gives us an 
 account of the "Battle of Wakefield;" from which it is 
 manifest that it must have been fought about midway between 
 the Castle of Sandal and the River, but at a considerable 
 distance from the then town of Wakefield. 
 
 "The Castle of Sandal," says he, "standeth pleasantly 
 " upon a small hill, in view of the faire town of Wakefield. 
 " There, the Duke of York, coming thither upon Christmas- 
 " eve, reposeth himself, and expecteth the increase of his 
 " numbers. The Queen, advertised, thinks it wisdom to fight 
 "before the Duke grows too strong; and, therefore, marcheth 
 " forward, having an army of eighteen thousand men, led by the 
 "Dukes of Somerset and Exeter, — the Earls of Devonshire 
 " and Wiltshire, — the Lords Neville, Clifford, Rosse, and, in 
 " effect, all the northern nobility. The host, or 50 much thereof 
 " as they thought necessary to shew, presents itself before Sandal, 
 " to provoke and dare the Duke to battle. His blood, impa- 
 " tient of these braves, and ignorant, perhaps, that the enemy 
 " had so great a multitude, will needs fight, though the Earl 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 " of Salisbury and Sir David Hall, an ancient servant of his 
 " and a great soldier, advise him to stay till his son, the Earl 
 " of March, approached with such Welchmen and Marchers, 
 " as he had assembled in great numbers. 
 
 " The Queen, therefore, addeth stratagem and wit to her 
 "force, to the intent he might not escape her hands; where- 
 "upon, the Earl of Wiltshire upon one side of the hill, and 
 "the Lord Clifford upon the other, lie in ambush to thrust 
 '^between him and the castle; the Dukes of Somerset and 
 " Exeter stand embattled in the open field. Their policy had 
 "the wished success; for the Duke, not being fully five thou- 
 "sand strong, issueth out of the castle down the hill. The 
 "battels which stood in front join furiously, when, sodainly, 
 "the Duke of York sees himself inclosed; and although he 
 "expressed great manhood, yet, within one half hour, his 
 whole army was discomfited, — himself and divers of his dear 
 " friends beaten down and slain." 
 
 From the preceding narrative, it is clearly manifest that 
 Sandal Castle, in that age, lay in a region of surrounding 
 wood, except on the side towards Wakefield. Here, certainly, 
 was the "open plain" where Somerset and Exeter deceived 
 the Duke by a display of a small portion only of the Queen's 
 army; while Clifford and Wiltshire, notwithstanding it was 
 the last day of the year, and the trees were leafless, lay con- 
 cealed on the sides of the hill; and, during the Duke's con- 
 flict with the former, got between his army and the fortress. 
 The shortness of the fight, and the spot* where the Duke fell, 
 
 * "The spot where the Duke of York was killed upon the green," says 
 Hutton, "is about /our hundred yards from the Castle, close to the old road from 
 " Barnsley to Wakefield, now called, from the sign of a public-house, ' Cock and 
 " Bottle Lane.' The spot where Rutland fell he thinks to be what is called 'The 
 "Fallings,' which is on the left of the Bridge, going to Heath." — See ''Trip to 
 Coatham," p. 21, 22. 
 
 If this was the case, Rutland was very probably flying, to get within the 
 bounds of Sanctuary — viz. at the Chapel ! — N. S. 
 
19 
 
 most clearly shew us the scene of action, which Leland says 
 was "a little above the barres, going up a clyving ground," 
 and where "a Cross was set up in memoriam." 
 
 This spot, on the right of the lane or old road leading 
 from Wakefield to the Three-Houses at Sandal, and which 
 was once the London road, is a triangular piece of ground, 
 with a fence about it, which the tenant of the field is bound, 
 by his lease, to maintain. When I saw it, many years ago, 
 some very old trees were growing in the fence, and vestiges of 
 others still older, were perceptible. According to tradition, 
 the Cross was destroyed during the Civil War of the seven- 
 teenth century; but as such Crosses were generally of wood, 
 and very small, it doubtless perished in the century pre- 
 ceding. 
 
 In a former page, I stated that Wakefield being the 
 largest town in the vicinity of the field of battle, it was thence 
 called the "Battle of Wakefield;" and that such was the 
 usage in the 16th, if not in the 17th century, I will now ad- 
 duce a proof., "The Battle of Bosworth Field," says Burton, 
 the old historian of Leicester, "was fought in a large flat 
 "plain, three miles from Bosworth village; but for that this 
 "was the most worthy town of note, it was called 'The Battle 
 "of Bosworth Field.'" 
 
 But to return again to the evidences before alluded 
 to, as tending to shew that this is a Chapel of the great 
 Edward Third, I must again refer to Leland. — "Wake- 
 field," says he, " stondeth now al by clothyng." And again 
 he says, "At the hole profite of the towne stondeth by course 
 draperie." 
 
 Turn now to the acts of Edward 3rd, especially 9th Ed- 
 ward 3rd, c. 1;— 11th Edward 3rd, c. 2;— 25th Edward 3rd, 
 c. 4; — and 27th Edward 3rd, c. 4; — and you shall find, my 
 readers, how this Edward promoted Trade and Commerce, — 
 especially the woollen manufactures, — by giving protection 
 
 B 2 
 
20 
 
 and encouragement to foreign Merchants and Weavers;* — by- 
 prohibiting every one from v^^earing cloth not of English 
 fabric ; — by opening a free trade with other countries ; — by 
 improving the navigation of rivers; — by fixing the staple 
 goods of England (wool, woolfels, leather, tin, and lead) in our 
 principal cities, which had before been kept in Flanders; — in 
 short, by various other acts, all tending to the welfare of the 
 community; but of the lower orders in particular. Under 
 such circumstances, is it not natural to suppose that the 
 clothing towns, like Wakefield, would rejoice? would build a 
 better Bridge, and a Chapel of Stone, for strengthening the 
 same ? and, on the year of his jubilee perhaps, or sooner, 
 would dedicate the latter to the King ? And what probability 
 is there that they would do it in such a reign as that of the 
 4th Edward — a reign of turbulence and civil war, of faction, 
 and of blood ? 
 
 On the Architecture of the Bridge Chapel I may venture 
 to write, having all the authorities which I have hitherto 
 consulted, on my side; and well-knowing two Gentlemen of 
 great eminence in the profession, one of them remarkable for 
 his drawings and taste, and both of them for science. The 
 middle of the 14th century is the period, generally, upon 
 which we agree; and whoever will consult the 14th vol. of the 
 Archseologia, page 108, and then view the earliest and best 
 engravings of this Chapel, will be convinced. Fosbroke says, 
 " The oak leaf, quatrefoil, roses, and crockets, were exceedingly 
 " common temp. Edward 3rd. This reign forms a style. 
 "The arch is sharp without curve: often moulded with oak 
 "leaves. Rows of small ornamented arches. Niches and 
 "tabernacles, with statues. Pinnacles not very lofty, but 
 
 T — - ~ ' 
 
 » << In 1336, Edward 3rd introduced the Dutch, who were masters in the 
 "manufacture of curiom drapery. Prior to this, our countrymen knew no more 
 "what to do with wool than the sheep that wear it; their best clothes being no 
 " better than freezes." — Fuller, b. 4, p. 3. 
 
21 
 
 " adorned with leaves, crockets, foliated orbs, &c. This reign 
 " is deemed, by men of the greatest taste and skill, the best 
 " sera of this kind of architecture." 
 
 Now these are, exactly , the ornaments on a stone which 
 fell from a corner pinnacle of the Chapel about sixteen years 
 ago, which was rescued, at that time, from destruction, and has 
 been in my safe custody ever since, and which I have sent to 
 ray excellent friend the Vicar of Wakefield. But this rich 
 canopy or finial stone, has more upon it than even this. For, 
 at the terminus of the weather-mould of the canopy, there 
 have been "leopards couchant;" and on two sides there is, 
 what I take to be, the Prince of Wales's Feather; the fourth 
 side has abutted on the building. This, surely, is enough, 
 except I add, that I hope nobody will judge the Chapel by 
 the " modern botch work by which it has been attempted to be 
 repaired," but will view the windows, &c. of Prior Crawden's 
 Chapel,* in the Isle of Ely. 
 
 Respecting the peculiar sculptures on the stone which I 
 have sent to the Vicar, such as the "leopards" and "fleur-de- 
 lis," I will give the reader two very valuable Notes. 
 
 "At Dartmouth Church," says Fosbroke, "is a very curious 
 "door of the date of Edward 3rd. It has two leopards 
 "and A TREE behind, of wrought iron on the wood-work." 
 
 "Our 3rd Edward appears to have assumed the title of 
 "King of France about 1337, and he took the 'fleur-de-lis' 
 " for a quartering to his arms, either on or hefore that year."t 
 
 If any doubt, as to the age of the Chapel, could exist, 
 the appearance of the "leopards couchant," would remove it. 
 The leopards, it is true, are not recognized in any of the cog- 
 nizances or badges of our kings; but a knowledge of Numis- 
 
 * I must refer to the Appendix of my former Essay, 
 t " It was an old opinion, pretended to have originated in a prophesy of Merlin, ' that the 
 " Lilies and Leopards should be united in the same field.' The Ambassadors sent by Edward 
 " the 3rd, in 1329, to claim the regency of France, opened their harangue with this declaration." 
 —Mexeray Hist, de France, vol. l,p. 28, S/c. 
 
matics enables me to say they belong to Edward 3rd, who 
 had them on the obverse of his florins, struck about 1342. 
 
 The decorated English style, according both to Rickman's 
 Table and the Camden Society, terminated before 1377, that is, 
 even before the reign of Richard 2nd ; so that we have four 
 reigns, or eighty-three years, before we come to that of Ed- 
 ward the 4th ; and from that period to the time when Leland 
 saw the Chapel on Wakefield Bridge (1542), we have eighty- 
 one years more, making together one hundred and sixty-four 
 years. To this, if we add, from the probable period of its 
 erection, 1357 to 1377 (namely about twenty years), we get 
 one hundred and eighty-four years, which will well account 
 for Leland's "hear say !" 
 
 I now hope that the reader will think I have illustrated 
 the architectural part of my subject very tolerably. 
 
 Before I conclude my main argument, I wish to state, 
 that though there are three separate periods which may be 
 called the grand eras of Church building, viz: the 12th, the 
 16th, and the 19th centuries, — there is but one for Chantries, 
 viz: the 14th and part of the 15th century. This may ap- 
 pear even from Leland's Itinerary, a few extracts from which, 
 will be very appropriate on other accounts. 
 
 " Towards the north end of Causham Bridge," says he, 
 " stondith a faire old Chapelle of stone, on the right hond, — 
 "piled in the fundacion for the rage of the streame of 
 "Tamise."— Vol. 1, p. 5. 
 
 " Of Otery water," he says, "the first arme of the four 
 " was the leste, and had no Bridge that I remarkid. On the 
 " north side of the first Bridge was a Chapelle, now pro- 
 "pAamU"— Vol. 3, p. 6. 
 
 Devon. — " Budeford (i. e. Biddeford) Bridge first began 
 " by a revellation of a poore Priest. The Bridge hath thirteen 
 " arches, and a Chapelle of our Lady at the further end." — 
 Ibid, p. 131. 
 
23 
 
 " A praty Chappel of St. Catherine, upon Teme Bridge, 
 " near Ludlow."— Vol. 4, p. 93. 
 
 Shropshire.—" There be on the Bridge of Bridgenorth, 
 " stonding est in respect of the towne, eight great arches, and 
 « a Chappel of St. Sythe* upon it."— Ibid, p. 99. 
 
 Writing of the Bridge which divides Manchester from 
 Salford, Leland says, "On it is a praty little Chapelle." — 
 Vol. 5, p. 88. 
 
 Yorkshire. — "I enterid Rotherham by a faire stone Bridge 
 "of four arches, and on hit is a Chapel of stone, well 
 " wrought."— Ibid, p. 98. 
 
 Writing on Richmondshire and the River Skell, he says, 
 "There is a faire Chappel of freestone on the farther ripe of 
 "the We (Ure), at the very end of Hewick-Bridge, made by 
 "an Herrmite that was a Mason." 
 
 So far Leland, who also mentions other Bridges with 
 Chapels. As Avonbridge, Bristol, Thropshire-Bridge, Bed- 
 ford, Exeter, Catterick, &c. 
 
 " Catterick-Bridge," says Clarkson, "was rebuilt in 1421, 
 " at an expense of two hundred and sixty marks, and a few 
 " gowns for the workmen during the building. At the south- 
 " end of it, on the east-side, was a small Chapel, dedicated to 
 " St. Ann, where Mass was said every day by a Priest from 
 " the Hospital of St. Giles, at twelve o'clock, for the use of 
 " Travellers-]: praying for a prosperous journey; and where 
 " alms were received from the passengers, for repairs of the 
 " bridge. On widening it about thirty years ago, by spring- 
 "ing arches in every direction, for new foundations adjoining 
 " to the east-side of the old piers, the Chapel was taken down. 
 "Yet there are still in existence some remains of it: now de- 
 
 * Here was a Shrine to which women came on pilgrimage to recover their 
 " lost keys." 
 
 t These were, undoubtedly, Peregrini (Pilgrims.) See my remarks hereafter. 
 
24 
 
 "graded to a ^coal-hole' belonging to the only house in the 
 " place, an Inn, and was used as such in the time of Henry 
 "the 8th, when Leland travelled this way. 'Katerick-bridge 
 "selfe,' says he, 'hath but one house, and that an Tw.'" — 
 Clarkson's History of Richmond, p. 390. 
 
 "The first decisive notice of a Bridge and Chapel attached 
 "to it here (at Leeds)," says Dr. Whitaker, "in which, ac- 
 " cording to the devotion of the times, early Mass was said in 
 " it for the benefit of Travellers, bears date 1376 ;* one William 
 " de Derby being mentioned, in a deed of that date, as chap- 
 " lain. From the dissolution, the Chapel which stood on the 
 " right hand entering Briggate, was applied to the use of a 
 "school; for which purpose it continued to be used down to 
 " the year 1728, when it was converted into a warehouse. In 
 " the year 1730, the Bridge was widened for double carriages, 
 "and a second time in 1760, when the remains of the Chapel 
 " being taken down, the foundation-stones appeared so incor- 
 "porated with those of the Bridge itself, that both must have 
 "been built at the same time." — Whitaker's Leeds, vol. 2, 
 page 89. 
 
 "On or adjoining the Bridge over the Ouse, which con- 
 " nects the north and the south part of the town of Bedford, 
 " there was, formerly, a free Chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr. 
 " It was built by the townsmen, in the early part of the 14th 
 " century, and endowed. Most of the records pat. 43rd Ed- 
 " ward 3rd, describe the Chapel as on the Bridge." — Ly- 
 sons p. 49. 
 
 In the Will of Lord Hastings, dated 1481, is this pas- 
 gage: — "Item, I woU that mine Executors do make and edify 
 " the Chapel of our Lady, called the Chapel on the Bridge of 
 "Leicestre, and for the making thereof, Cbi."t — Nichols's 
 Leicest. v. 3, pt. 2, p. 570. 
 
 * The last year but one of Edward's reign, and the 65th of his age. 
 t At least o£'1000 of our money now. 
 
25 
 
 One more extract and I will have done : — " It appears, 
 " from some ancient poetry written by one Farmand an iron- 
 " monger at Abingdon in Berkshire, in 1457, and put on a 
 "tablet in the Hall of St. Helen's Hospital there, in memory 
 "of one GeofFry Barbour, a merchant, who founded Culham 
 " Bridge, that it was usual, on such occasions, to lay the first 
 "stone in the King's name, and that thence arose the custom, 
 "in after titnes, of saying they were built by such and such 
 " Kings. For at the beginning, in some Latin verses, Henry 
 "the 5th is mentioned as 'the founder' of both Bridges, of 
 "Burford and Culham j whereas, GeofFry Barbour was, in 
 "fact, the founder and builder of the latter, and John of St. 
 " Helens, of the former." 
 
 Upon the whole, it is quite evident that all these and 
 other Bridge Chantries, were built long before* the reign 
 of Edward the 4th. 
 
 * See extracts from the Patent Rolls, published by the Record Commission. 
 Vol. 1, p. 568. 
 
BUT WHY A CHAPEL UPON A BEIDGE? 
 
 This question I have answered so much at length in my 
 former Essay, that through fear of passing the limits of a 
 small Tract, I must be brief. 
 
 1st. They were built as supports or stai/s for strengthen- 
 ing the Bridges, and, of course, for the advancement of 
 trade. 
 
 2nd. They were built as a residence for one or more 
 Priests, to solicit an alms from all passengers on foot or 
 horseback over the Bridge, for keeping it in repairj of which 
 Crypts I will write presently. 
 
 3rd. They were built for religious or charitable purposes. 
 Bridge and Chapel building being, in the middle ages, regarded 
 as an act of the greatest piety. 
 
 4th. They were built for the guidance and direction, and 
 probably for the security/ and refreshment, of benighted Travel- 
 lers or Navigators; and for this purpose, had Cresset-Lights 
 or Beacons upon their "low round Keeps"* or Towers. 
 
 5th. I shall make it evident, that the most splendid 
 Chapels, like this at Wakefield, were Shrines for pilgrimage. 
 
 In my last Essay, I remember to have made the follow- 
 ing observation : — 
 
 " Many gentlemen, who really are interested in the subject 
 "of our Antiquities, can view curiosities, and read accounts 
 "of them, — without asking themselves those questions, — 
 "without discovering those latent peculiarities, — without 
 " making, in a word, those happy and dexterous hits which 
 
 * "Temp. Edward 3rd, called round Tables." — Fosln-oke, vol. 2, p. 923. 
 
27 
 
 " may be regarded as the 'tact' and the 'test' of a 'true* 
 " Antiquary." — Of the truth of this, I will now give the reader 
 a specimen. 
 
 Leland, writing of our Lady Chapel, says, " It was wont 
 "to be visited 'a Peregrinis.' " 
 
 Now this word "Peregrinis" has, seemingly, been most 
 unaccountably mistranslated by all our professed Antiquaries 
 and Historians, as far as I can discover. They have gone on 
 blundering, one after another, and quite deceiving ordinary 
 readers, by saying of this Chapel, that it was "wont to be 
 visited bi/ Travellers;" or was built "for the benefit of Travel- 
 lers," to hear early Mass; and thus they have veiled a most 
 important portion of its history. But I beg to inform the 
 public, that "a Peregrinis" does not mean bii/ Travellers; for 
 if that had been Leland's meaning, he would have said "a 
 Viatoribus ;'' and by such kind of travellers (comprising people 
 of all classes) the Chapels were visited in the middle or dark 
 ages; but Leland says of our Chapel, by way of distinction, 
 and which marks its high reputation, that it was "wont to be 
 visited a Peregrinis" (by Pilgrims); and this throws such 
 a flood of light upon our Lady, as makes her more interesting, 
 more enchanting, than ever. Oh ! that "Ven Button"* was 
 living to read this ! what a crowd of recollections would rush 
 upon his mind ! How soon would he scamper off from Bir- 
 mingham, on foot, though above seventy-eight years of age, to 
 make a pilgrimage (but certainly not "o/" penance") to the 
 Virgin ! 
 
 Here again, my readers, you have another proof of the 
 very high antiquity of this Chapel, as well as of its eminence. 
 It was "wont to be visited by Pilgrims !" Yes, by Pilgrims ! 
 
 * I always call the " Historian of the Roman Wall," (the whole length of 
 which he travelled on foot, at the age of seventy-eight), " Ven Hutton;" for he is 
 as well entitled as ever Bede was, to this epithet. 
 
^'8 
 
 and had not Leland told me this, I could have fancied as 
 much, from an inspection of its interior, with which I was 
 favoured the other day. 
 
 In the Norman and preceding times, pilgrimages seem to 
 have been confined to Rome or other foreign parts ; but in the 
 early Plantagenet reigns, and when asceticism began to as- 
 sume a milder character, the domestic Shrines, or those of 
 England, grew up. For a long period, however, we read of 
 but three or four, viz: the Shrine of our Lady of Walsing- 
 ham in Norfolk; of Boxley in Kent; of Hailes in Shropshire 
 or Gloucestershire; and of Thomas a Becket, at Canterbury, 
 in the twelfth century. After that period, they multiplied so 
 fast throughout England, down to the end of the fourteenth 
 century, that we read of thirty-eight having existed in Nor- 
 folk alone. In the reign, therefore, of Edward the 3rd, the 
 number of Shrines in England must have been great, and the 
 foreign pilgrimages rare. The object of the more recent pil- 
 grimages seem, generally, to have been of a more worldly 
 nature than what they were at first, although professedly for 
 the "good of the soul." Solitary pilgrimages of sworn 
 penance,* and for devotion, no doubt, were common in Ed- 
 ward's reign; but soon after, the pilgrims frequently travelled 
 in groups, as Chaucer describes, and their excursions seem 
 rather to have been for the health of the body, or for amuse- 
 ment. 
 
 The dress of a Pilgrim is represented as consisting in a 
 long, coarse, russet gown, with large sleeves, patched with 
 crosses of another colour, — a bowl and bag suspended from 
 a leathern belt round the loins or shoulders, — a round hat 
 turned up in front, and stuck with escallop shells, or small 
 images of saints, — a rosary of large beads hanging from the 
 neck or arm, — a long walking staff, hooked like a crosier, and 
 
 • See Genta. Mag. for 1818, vol. 88, p. 140. 
 
29 
 
 furnished with two hollow balls. In Strype's Life of Bishop 
 Aylmer, I read that "they wore, next their skin, a little round 
 "bag and divers pieces of twopences and threepences, bowed 
 " over the string thereof, to be offered to saints, or those who 
 " kept saints." 
 
 Now, I beg the reader to bear in mind these preliminaries, 
 as they will be necessary to him previous to my introducing 
 him to the interior of St. Mary's Bridge Chapel. 
 
 But first, a few words respecting the personages to whom 
 I shall introduce him, and the objects which the Pilgrims, 
 male and female, often had in view in travelling long distances 
 to see them. 
 
 All pilgrimages to canonized Shrines, as I said before, 
 were professedly of a devotional character; but they had often 
 a near relation to some personal or secular interest of the 
 devotee. This arose from that subdivision of the Romish as 
 of the Classical Calendar, which assigned a tutelary deity to 
 almost every situation or contingency of life, and of course 
 filled the country with Shrines of a specific virtue. To give 
 an instance. 
 
 The efiicacy of the Virgin Mary was unlimited, and 
 therefore, to her was the almost universal resort, except per- 
 haps in minor cases, where a large offering might not be ex- 
 pected. St. Ann's efficacy consisted in enabling her devotees 
 to recover their lost property ! — St. Leonard's, in enabling 
 debtors to escape from prison ! — and St. Sythe's, for directing 
 women where to find their lost keys ! The reader will, per- 
 haps, remember his Shrine at Bridgenorth, and be anxious to 
 hear something about that of our Lady at Wakefield. 
 
 Enter then. Sir, this most interesting edifice, and be not 
 surprised, after such demolitions and defilement as it has under- 
 gone for near three centures, that I can shew you so little of 
 its ornaments, so few of its relics or appurtenances. And, as 
 
30 
 
 the Chapel was choked up with rubbish of a brick-wall, &c. 
 excuse any little errors or omissions in which I may fail. 
 
 The first thing which probably will strike you, is the 
 appearance of there having once been Jive entrances, although 
 I am persuaded there were but two; and that the intervening 
 spaces, if not for light, have merely been for ornament. But 
 I speak with diffidence. That there have been two doors at 
 the extremities is certain, from the iron for hinges still remain- 
 ing in the wall. 
 
 Directly facing you, at each entrance, there has anciently 
 been seen, under a fine enriched canopy, a figure of the Virgin, 
 on the right of the altar, and of St. Ann (as I think) on the 
 left of it. A crucifix, of course, has stood upon the altar 
 between them. Long stalls or seats for wearied devotees to 
 take their turns in succession, have probably so far extended 
 across the Chapel as to form a sort of isle for fresh comers, 
 who, according to the nature of their visits, have worshipped, 
 and then "laid their gifts upon the altar." The women have, 
 no doubt, entered by the one door, and the men by the other ; 
 and, having taken their appropriate seats on each side, have 
 come forward, knelt upon the steps of the altar, worshipped 
 before the one or the other image, and laid down their respec- 
 tive offerings, which have been swept away by the Priests, to 
 make room for succeeding gifts. Such at least seems to have 
 been the case when Erasmus visited our Lady of Walsingham. 
 His account of that Shrine is the most curious and interesting 
 imaginable, and the scene he portrays, the most singular. 
 Only think of the sceptical Erasmus, the greatest man of his 
 age, compelled to kiss the most disgusting relics, and receiving 
 
 Note. — An aperture in the wall on the north side, I imagine to have been 
 either the " Sacrarium" or "Aumbrie," to hold the "Eucharist" or "Consecrated 
 Elements;" or else it was the place where the "Relics" were kept; but I fancy 
 the former. 
 
31 
 
 as the reward of his "orthodoxy !" a nod of approbation 
 from the Virgin, when the Priest pulled the strings of the 
 puppet ! ! ! 
 
 Having made their offerings, however, the devotees would 
 retire; but not by the ways they came in. No, no ! that 
 would never do, to turn their backs upon St. Mary or St. Ann ! 
 Oh, no ! they withdrew, of course, by that little door which 
 you see leading under the demolished tabernacle of the Virgin, 
 down into the Crypt, and thence to the river. Here, I doubt 
 not, was a ferry-boat, or the Wakefield people got off by land, 
 and so the farce was ended ! 
 
 THE CRYPT. 
 
 Crypts and Charnel-houses are frequently confounded. 
 Crypts are often found under Chancels and Chapels; but su- 
 perfluous bones, dug up in Church-yards, having often been 
 deposited therein, has led many to suppose they were intended 
 as Charnel-houses.* 
 
 Oswald, afterwards Archbishop of York, received from 
 his Abbot, a secret place in the Church where he might in- 
 dulge in private prayer. This secret place was a "Crypt," 
 called a Confessional; before the door of which, twelve poor 
 men, all clerks, used to receive their daily alms; and the 
 Crypt had an altar, where he celebrated Mass If 
 
 This Crypt at Wakefield has, undoubtedly, been the 
 dwelling of the Priests, — where they have lodged strangers or 
 administered relief. A pretty little spiral staircase rises from 
 it, winding round the northern turret to the low round Keep 
 or Table, where the Cresset-Light has been kindled, — a lamp 
 
 * Fosbroke's Encyclopaedia, vol. 1, p. 98; — Gents. Mag. for 1794, p. 617";— 
 and Gents. Mag. for 1813, p. 214. 
 
 t British Monachism, p. 285. — Gust. Rofif. 235v. 
 
32 
 
 or guide to the sojourner by night upon land, or across the 
 ferry; or, perhaps, to the navigator upon the Calder. Mr. 
 Britton speaks of the Cresset on Hadley Church Tower, still 
 preserved. And for these purposes w^ere most of the high 
 turrets of our ancient Churches constructed, — the spires being 
 the guides by day, and the beacons by night. 
 
 Having now, in the compass of six or seven short days, 
 brought all my leading thoughts together which relate to my 
 " OLD favourite" the "Bridge Chapel;" and having en- 
 deavoured to stimulate the people of Wakefield to appreciate, 
 properly, the "JEWELL" they possess, I have done my duty. 
 To use a beautiful simile of ancient times, "I have kept 
 the Bird in my bosom!"* and now that the Chapel is no 
 longer an old clothes' shop, — a warehouse, — a den of flax- 
 dressers, — a news-room, — a cheesecake-house, — or a tailor's 
 shop; — but lodged in safe and "trust-worthy" hands, to 
 be appropriated to religious purposes, I trust my Text 
 will no longer be appropriate, — "We think upon her Stones, 
 and it pitieth us to see her in the dust;" but that, with refe- 
 rence at least to the Reformed National Religion, I may sub- 
 stitute my former motto, — "Rede! Judge! and thank God 
 
 for a better LYGHT!"t 
 
 * Sir Ralph Piercey's dying words at the Battle of Hegeley-Moor. — Vide 
 Speed's History, p. 688, 
 
 t From MS. of a Monk, in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Copy of a Letter to Lord Cromwell, from one of the 
 Minions of Henry 8th. Cotton MS. in the British Museum, 
 Cleopatra, Eiv. p. 238. 
 
 " Right honorable, mine inespecial good Lord, according to my 
 " bounden duty and the honour of your Lordship's letters, lately to 
 " me directed, I have sent unto your good Lordship by this berer, 
 " my brother Francis Bassett, the images of St. Anne of Buxton, 
 " and St. Andrew of Burton-upon-Trent ; which Images I did take 
 "from the places where they did stand, and brought them to my 
 " own house within forty-eight hours after the contemplation of your 
 " said Lordship's letters, in as sober a manner as my Httle and rude 
 " wits would serve me. And for that there should be no more 
 " idolatry and superstition there used, I did not only deface the 
 " Tabernacles, and places where they did stand, but also did take 
 " away Crutches, Shirts, and Sheets, offered with wax, being things 
 " that did allure and entice the ignorant people to the same offerings ; 
 " also, giving the keepers of both places admonition and charge, that 
 " no more offerings should be made in those places, till the King's 
 " pleasure, and your Lordship's, be further known in that behalf. 
 
 " My Lord ! I have, also, locked up and sealed the Baths and 
 " Wells at Buxton, that none shall enter to wash them until your 
 " Lordship's pleasure be further known ; whereof I beseech your 
 " good Lordship that I may be ascertained again at your good plea- 
 " sure, and I shall not fail to execute your commandment to the 
 " uttermost of my little wit and power. 
 
 " And, my Lord, as touching the opinion of the people, and the 
 "fond trust they did put in these Images, and the vanity of the 
 "things, this berer, my brother, can tell your Lordship better at 
 
34 
 
 " large than I can write ; for he was with me at the doing of all, and 
 "in all good places, as knoweth good Jesus, whom ever have your 
 " good Lordship in his blessed keeping. 
 
 " Written at Langley with the rude and simple hand of your 
 '■assured and faithful orator, and as one ever at your commandment, 
 " next to the King, to the uttermost of my little power. 
 
 "WM. BASSETT, Knight." 
 
 Note — This Letter I deem as most curious and interesting. It dis- 
 covers to us by whose orders the Images, Shrines, Tabernacles and Enrich- 
 ments of Wakefield Bridge Chapel were destroyed, or mutilated, or defaced ! 
 It displays, in the most vivid colours, the iron despotism, and the cringing, 
 trembling sycophancy and servility of his agents. It reminds us of a similar 
 (grateful) usage even of our times, — the leaving of Crutches at Watering 
 Places. 
 
 I had the pleasure to arrive at Buxton last year on the day of the 
 " Well flowering''' (Midsummer-day), and to observe the beautiful and inno- 
 cent recreation of the villagers; and it struck me, that the good humour, 
 conviviality, and gaiety of the scene, was more likely to be generally bene- 
 ficial, than some of the pastimes of the ascetics and fanatics of our own age. 
 
 I have been told, that attempts have been made to suppress the village 
 sports, and am glad at their failure. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 JOHN HEATON, PRINTER, 7, BRIGGATE. LEEDS. 
 
ADDITIONAL CATHEDRALS. 
 
 WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST OF A MEJ^IBER OF THE 
 CATHEDRAL COMMISSION ON THE QUESTION 
 OF WHAT EXISTING CHURCHES WOULD 
 BE AVAILABLE AS CATHEDRALS IN 
 CASE OF THE ERECTION OF 
 ADDITIONAL SEES. 
 
 By GEO. GILBERT SCOTT, 
 
 ARCHITECT. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 JOHN HENRY PARKER, 377 STRAND, 
 AND OXFORD. 
 
 1854. 
 
Her Majesty having issued a Royal Commission on the subject of 
 Cathedrals, -with a view to the recommendation of such measures as 
 might be requisite for the erection of Additional Sees, as well as for 
 other purposes, and the opinion of the writer of the following letter 
 having been asked by the Rev. Dr. Wordsworth, as a Member of that 
 Commission, as to what fabrics already in existence might be available 
 for additional Cathedrals, it has been kindly suggested to him that it 
 might be convenient that his reply to that inquiry should be printed. 
 He mentions this as his apology for putting forward a communication 
 only intended as a private one, and on a subject on which he has no 
 special right to offer an opinion. 
 
ADDITIONAL CATHEDRALS. 
 
 better, kt. 
 
 12 Avenue Road, Eegent's Park, 
 September 3, 1853. 
 
 My dear Sir, 
 
 I HAVE given a good deal of consideration to the subject to 
 which you, a few days back, requested me to turn my attention, I mean 
 the question as to what churches are to be found which, in case of an. 
 extension of the episcopate, could with propriety be made use of as 
 additional cathedrals. 
 
 There are many such churches scattered through the country; some 
 of them suited at once to become cathedrals with scarcely any change 
 being made in them ; others, possessing the whole structure suited to 
 a cathedral, but needing re-arrangement and restoration ; others, again, 
 retaining noble portions of the original fabric, but having lost the nave, 
 the choir, or other portions of it ; while a fourth class consists of roof- 
 less ruins, whose massive walls have for three centuries resisted the 
 elements without protection, and are even now capable of being restored, 
 and of becoming once again some of the noblest temples of God. 
 
 The position, however, of many of these churches is unfortunate ; 
 some, particularly of the latter class, are far from any large towns ; 
 others are so near to existing cathedrals as to be hardly eligible for new- 
 sees ; while many towns, suited in every way to become the centres of 
 such sees, possess no church in any degree suited to the purpose. 
 Other places, however, are more happily situated, and are at once well 
 adapted to become the seats of new bishops, and possess churches 
 worthy of being converted into their cathedrals. 
 
 I will, as briefly as I am able, enumerate the churches which strike 
 me as worthy of consideration, taking, for convenience' sake, the counties 
 one by one, beginning with the north. 
 
 1. Northumberland. 
 
 I do not recollect any church in this county suited to become a 
 cathedral excepting that of Hexham. This is a most noble church, 
 
4 
 
 though imperfect ; its nave having been destroyed, in an invasion by 
 the Scots, at an early period. The existing portions are the choir, 
 the transepts, the central tower, and the Lady Chapel. These, how- 
 ever, form a church of great dignity and magnificence, and possessing 
 quite the air of a cathedral. The church is almost wholly in the early- 
 pointed style, of which it is a truly noble example. The plan of the 
 nave is still evident from the remains of its walls and the bases of the 
 pillars. Should Northumberland be severed from the see of Durham, 
 Hexham seems well suited to become the seat of its future bishop, and 
 such a change would be peculiarly interesting from its having been the 
 centre of a Saxon bishopric, and from its intimate connexion with our 
 early ecclesiastical histor}^ Its proximity to Newcastle would also be 
 convenient. 
 
 2. CUMBEELAND. 
 
 I do not recollect any suitable church in this county, and the 
 cathedral of Carlisle seems to render another unnecessary. 
 
 3. Westmoreland. 
 
 It would appear not inconvenient that this county should be formed 
 into a diocese, together with the detached portion of Lancashire called 
 Fumess. In this case Kendal would appear to be its most suitable 
 centre. It contains a very large and interesting church, which, I am 
 sorry to say, I have not seen. I believe, however, that it is a building 
 of dignified aspect, not a cross church, but one of five aisles, or rather 
 of a nave and two aisles on either side, with a considerable chancel 
 and several chapels. 
 
 There is at Cartmell in Furness a very noble church, once a priory 
 church in connexion with Furness Abbey. This is a cruciform church 
 of dignified appearance and dimensions, and is perfect in its general 
 mass, though requiring considerable restoration. Its choir retains its 
 ancient stalls, screens, &c., and it has very much the aspect of a cathe- 
 dral, and is very capable of being used as one. 
 
 4. Dueham. 
 
 There are some noble churches in the towns in this county, and 
 several most interesting monastic remains ; but in case of the diocese 
 being reduced by the formation of Northumberland into a new one, no 
 further division would, perhaps, be contemplated. 
 
■5 
 
 5. Yorkshire. 
 North Riding. 
 
 There are in this, as in other divisions of the county of York, many 
 magnificent remains of its ancient abbeys and other conventual 
 churches, one or two of them capable of being in some degree restored. 
 They are, however, for the most part situated in secluded country dis- 
 tricts, so as hardly to come within the range of the present inquiry. 
 Among those which are thus situated may be mentioned the exquisite 
 choir and transepts of Rievaulx Abbey, which are readily capable of 
 restoration, and are among the finest examples of the early-pointed 
 style. 
 
 Very similar to this, and on, perhaps, a still more magnificent scale, 
 is the abbey church at Whitby. The choir is in great measure entire, 
 as also is the south transept. These parts could be restored without 
 difficulty, and other portions might also be recovered from ruin, though 
 at a greater cost. These remains being situated in a large and rapidly- 
 increasing town demand serious attention. They are as fine in their 
 architecture as almost any of our cathedrals, and are as yet capable of 
 being saved and restored to their sacred uses, while, if much longer 
 neglected, they will, in all probability, be irretrievably lost. The great 
 central tower has fallen within the last thirty years, and some of the 
 arches of the nave during the present year. The small remains of the 
 abbey church of Scarborough have recently been well restored. 
 
 East Hiding. 
 
 This division is particularly rich in noble churches. The chief 
 among these is the minster at Beverley, which is exceeded in beauty 
 by very few of the cathedrals. It is quite perfect, being kept in more 
 perfect repair than perhaps any church in England. Its choir is fitted 
 up with most beautiful stall-work, so that it might be entered upon and 
 used as a cathedral without the necessity of any outlay whatever; 
 though, as is the case with most of our cathedrals, there are some 
 features about it demanding amelioration, such as the removal of the 
 present barbarous choir screen, the clearing of the choir from a great 
 quantity of pews which obstruct and disfigure it, and some arrangement 
 by which the nave might be brought into use. 
 
 This church would stand in the first rank among our cathedrals, 
 and if the East Riding should be formed into a separate diocese, 
 Beverley seems obviously marked out as its cathedral town. 
 
6 
 
 There remains at Bridlington the magnificent nave of its ancient 
 priory, forming, even in the absence of its choir and transepts, a chvirch 
 of very grand dimensions, and exceedingly noble in its architectural 
 character. 
 
 At Hull the church of the Holy Trinity is on a prodigious scale, 
 and quite capable of being used as a cathedral. The nave only is now 
 made use of for the ordinary service, the choir being only used at the 
 time of the Holy Communion. Could this church be converted into 
 a kind of sister cathedral to Beverley, and a collegiate body attached 
 to it, it would appear much more appropriate than its present rather 
 anomalous condition, and would be a great advantage to this large and 
 populous town. 
 
 At Howden is a most magnificent conventual church. The nave 
 and transepts remain entire, and are used as the parish church, while 
 the truly exquisite remains of the choir and chapter house lie in ruins. 
 They are of the early part of the fourteenth century, and form one of 
 the finest specimens of that period. The east end is unequalled by 
 any in England for the exquisite beauty of its design, but is fast going 
 to decay. This noble choir is still capable of restoration. 
 
 At Patrington in Holdemess is a very noble cruciform church in 
 nearly a perfect state. 
 
 West Riding. 
 
 This Riding, though from its great and rapidly increasing pop\ila- 
 tion more important than either of the others, does not contain so many 
 churches of the larger class as the East Riding. Next to the cathedral 
 of Ripon, the most important is the abbey church of Selby. This is, 
 I think, the only Yorkshire abbey church not more or less in ruins. 
 It is not, however, quite perfect, as the south transept was destroyed 
 by the fall of the upper part of the tower during the last century. 
 
 This church could readily be converted into a cathedral, though it 
 is unfortunately removed from the great seats of population. 
 
 The most important town in the Riding is unquestionably Leeds. 
 The parish church there is a very large and dignified building, though 
 hardly on a scale suited to a cathedral. Near the town are the remains 
 of the ancient abbey church of Kirkstall, of which the walls are entire, 
 excepting a portion of the central tower. It is one of the few Norman 
 abbey churches of which the choir has not been lengthened, and is on this 
 account better suited to our uses than almost any of the old abbey or 
 cathedral churches. It is, too, more perfect than almost any of them, 
 and is readily capable of restoration. Many of its old conventual 
 
buildings remaiu adjoining it ; it is in the midst of a manufacturing 
 population, though removed from the actual proximity of the town. 
 
 6. Langashike. 
 
 I do not recollect any church in this county suited to be formed 
 into an additional cathedral. (I have included Furness with West- 
 moreland, and have consequently already mentioned Cartmell. Furness 
 Abbey seems too remote from population.) The town obviously de- 
 manding a cathedral is Liveepool ; and had it a bishop, there can be 
 no doubt that the inhabitants would soon provide a cathedral. 
 
 7. Cheshire. 
 
 If relieved from Lancashire by the formation of a see at Liverpool, 
 the diocese of Chester would hardly require, probably, any further 
 division, nor does the county contain any church suited to a second 
 cathedral. The finest church in the county, excepting the cathedral, 
 is probably that of Nantwich. 
 
 8. Derbyshire. 
 
 Though Derby seems eminently calculated to form the centre of a 
 see, it contains no church fit to become a cathedral. The county is 
 rather deficient in grand churches. Those at Chesterfield, Ashbourne, 
 and Bakewell, are probably the largest it contains. 
 
 9. Nottinghamshire. 
 
 Here, as in the East Eiding of Yorkshire, we find a church in 
 every respect fitted for a cathedral, and requiring hardly any outlay to 
 form it into one. I refer to the minster at Southwell. It is a noble 
 and interesting church. The nave and transepts being Norman, and 
 the choir early pointed, and of very fine design. The chapter-house is 
 one of the most exquisite structures in the country. The aisles of the 
 choir are, however, frightfully obstructed by galleries, so much so as to 
 be almost lost in the general view of the interior. Close to the minster 
 are some very interesting remains of an ancient palace of the Arch- 
 bishops of York. 
 
 The church of St. Mary at Nottingham is on a great scale, and 
 well suited to become a collegiate church. It is at present very ill 
 arranged, though refitted twice within the last fifteen years. 
 
8 
 
 The church at Worksop consists of the noble nave of the ancient 
 priory church, the remainder having been destroyed. 
 
 The church at Newark is on a very great scale, and is a very mag- 
 nificent structure, well suited to a collegiate body. It is now under 
 restoration. 
 
 10. LlNCOLNSHIEE. 
 
 The ancient diocese of Lincoln has from time to time been so much 
 reduced that, if relieved of the county of Nottingham, it might probably 
 need no further division. The county, though full of fine churches, 
 contains few which approach the scale or character of a cathedral. The 
 largest are probably those at Boston, Grantham, and Louth. 
 
 The first of these, though on a strictly parochial plan, is on a scale 
 almost equal to a cathedral, and has a very large chancel furnished 
 with numerous and fine stalls. It is on the whole nearly, if not quite, 
 the finest parish church in the kingdom, and has recently been well 
 restored. 
 
 11. Sheopshire. 
 
 This county appears as much as any to claim to become a distinct 
 diocese ; and if so, it is obvious that no place but Shrewsbury could 
 become its episcopal seat. 
 
 Of the ancient abbey church of Shrewsbury the nave only remains, 
 which is partly Norman and partly of later date. It is a fine and 
 interesting structure, and in tolerable condition, being now used as a 
 parish church. Possibly the transepts, central tower, and a short choir, 
 might be added, which would render it very capable of being used as a 
 cathedral. 
 
 There are several fine churches and many monastic remains in this 
 county, but Shrewsbinry is so unquestionably the only place fitted to be 
 the centre of a diocese that it is not worth while to notice the others. 
 
 12. Staffordshire. 
 
 Could the diocese of Lichfield be relieved from Derbyshire on one 
 side and Shropshire on the other, it would probably need no further 
 division. I will, however, mention as, probably, the two most important 
 of its parish churches, St. Mary's, Stafford, a very fine and extensive 
 cross church, with a most spacious choir, and the collegiate church of 
 Wolverhampton, also a cross church of considerable dimensions, though 
 of no great beauty. 
 
9 
 
 13. Leicestershibe. 
 
 Of the aucient abbey of Leicester little now exists, and the town 
 contains no church approaching the cathedral scale. St. Margaret's is 
 the largest. It is a fine and spacious church of the parochial form. 
 The county does not contain many churches of large scale. That at 
 Melton is perhaps the most considerable. 
 
 14. Rutland. 
 
 This county contains many beautiful churches, but none of them on 
 a very large scale. 
 
 15. NORTHAMPTONSHIBE. 
 
 This county, though famous for its parish churches, contains none 
 pre-eminent for size ; and as it has the magnificent cathedral of 
 Peterborough, it is, perhaps, needless to enumerate any of its smaller 
 churches. 
 
 16. Huntingdonshire 
 
 contains no churches of great size, though many excellent parish 
 churches. 
 
 17. Cambridgeshire. 
 
 The cathedral of Ely renders it needless to consider its other 
 churches. 
 
 18. Herefordshire. 
 A similar remark will apply to this county. 
 
 It contains, however, several churches of considerable grandeur, 
 among which the ancient priory church of Leominster is probably the 
 most important, and is a most remarkable and interesting structure. 
 
 19. Worcestershire. 
 
 This county, again, containing a cathedral, nearly the same remark 
 applies to it as to the two last. It contains, however, several churches 
 of considerable importance. That at Pershore is the noble remnant 
 of a very grand conventual church. That at Malvern is the church of 
 the ancient abbey, and is nearly perfect and very fine. There are also 
 fine churches at Evesham, though not on a grand scale. 
 
10 
 
 20. Warwickshire. 
 
 Warwickshire is one of the counties which seem especially to 
 demand to possess a distinct see. Birmingham being by far the 
 largest town seems at first sight to claim to be the episcopal seat, but it 
 is quite at one extremity of the county, and contains no church in the 
 least suited to the purpose. 
 
 Warwick is centrally situated, and has a rather large church with a 
 fine chancel. The body of the church was, however, rebuilt in the 
 seventeenth century in a bad style. 
 
 The most worthy claimant to the honour of becoming the seat of a 
 new bishop is the ancient episcopal city of Coventry, which has, jointly 
 with Lichfield, given its name to a bishop till within a very few years. 
 It is a town of 80,000 or 40,000 inhabitants, and contains several fine 
 churches. Its cathedral was destroyed, I believe, in the time of Henry 
 VIII., but the church of St. Michael, though only parochial, is on an 
 enormous scale, and well fitted to become a cathedral, for which its 
 plan, though less dignified, is perhaps more practically suited than the 
 usual cruciform arrangement. It has a very extensive choir, much 
 more open to the church than is usual. The interior is in a pretty 
 good condition, but the exterior, including the noble steeple (one of the 
 loftiest in England), is in a very decayed state, though its gradual 
 restoration is contemplated and earnestly desired by the inhabitants. 
 
 21. Oxfordshire. 
 
 The cathedral at Oxford seems hardly to be one in the strict sense 
 of the term, being only so used on sufferance. Still, however, it seems 
 to render a second needless. The next church in importance in the 
 county is probably that at Dorchester, once the seat of the bishop of 
 an enormous diocese, extending from the Thames to the Humber, and 
 including, I believe, more than was recently contained in the diocese of 
 Lincoln. 
 
 22. Buckinghamshire. 
 
 This county is by no means famous for its churches. It contains, 
 however, some of large size. Those at Aylesbury and Wycombe are 
 perhaps the most important. 
 
 23. Bedfordshire. 
 
 There are no important churches at Bedford. The finest church in 
 the county is that at Dunstable, which is the nave of the ancient priory 
 church, and is a very noble Norman structure of considerable size and 
 
11 
 
 of much dignity of appeamiice. The churches at Luton and at Leighton 
 Buzzard are large and important structures. 
 
 24. Hertfordshibe. 
 
 There can he but one opinion of the worthiness of St. Alban's to 
 become an episcopal see. Occupying nearly the site of the ancient 
 Koman capital, and having been the scene of the death of England's 
 protomartyr, it seems to possess strong prima facie claims upon our 
 regai'd and interest ; but in addition to these claims it possesses one of 
 the largest and most venerable churches in the kingdom, a church equal 
 in dimension to our largest cathedrals, and yielding in architectural 
 and antiquarian interest to none of them. 
 
 It is not, like Beverley, fit to be entered upon at once, without altera- 
 tion or repair, for it has for ages been subjected to barbarous mutilation, 
 and from want of funds has fallen very much to decay. Still, however, 
 the essential features of the fabric are entire, and a re-arrangement of 
 the internal fittings would alone render it one of the most practically con- 
 venient cathedrals for our present ritual in the kingdom, and that without 
 the anomaly usual in our cathedrals of the congregation being crowded 
 into the choir, nor, on the other hand, of a choir separated by inconve- 
 nient obstructions from the congregation. It would become at once a 
 perfect and imposing cathedral and a thoroughly good parish church. 
 
 The cost absolutely necessaiy to effect this would not be very great, 
 though it Avould be desirable afterwards to follow it up by a gradual 
 system of thorough and substantial reparation. Much has been done 
 in the way of repair during the incumbency of the present rector, but a 
 structure of such enormous dimensions can only be brought into a 
 proper state by a considerable repair fund, which might probably be 
 provided in event of its becoming a cathedral. 
 
 This church is not only one of the most curious and venerable which 
 we possess, but it is a perfect treasury of ancient art, containing some 
 of the very finest specimens of the whole range of mediaeval architecture 
 which are anywhere to be found. Its careful reparation would be a 
 national benefit, as some features in its present condition are undoubt- 
 edly a national disgrace. I refer here particularly to the state of the 
 chapels east of the choir which, though the most exquisite work of the 
 very finest period of pointed architecture, are now a public thoroughfare, 
 and a playground for the boys of the grammar-school which now occu- 
 pies the beautiful Lady Chapel. I dwell longer on this than on other 
 churches I have mentioned as I consider it far the most important of 
 them all, and it is one for which I feel a peculiar love and veneration. 
 
13 
 
 25. Essex. 
 
 This, again, is a county which has strong claims to become a distinct 
 diocese. 
 
 Having formed with Middlesex a separate kingdom diiring the 
 Saxon Heptarchy, it was natural that it should form a part of the 
 diocese of London, but when it became necessary to sever it from the 
 parent see nothing could be more Mwnatural than to unite it to the 
 diocese of Rochester, from which it was separated in the most marked 
 way both by nature and by historical association. If not placed under 
 London it clearly ought to have its own bishop. 
 
 A difficulty, however, occurs in the want of a suitable church. The 
 only church of the more dignified character in this county is that at 
 Waltham Abbey, and this is in a most inconvenient corner of the 
 county, only to be reached from most other parts by passing through 
 London, and is itself a mere fragment, though a very fine one, of the 
 ancient church, not to mention that it is in a very small and unim- 
 portant town. The most central place in the county is undoubtedly 
 Chelmsford, but here we have no great church, and the same is the 
 case at Colchesteb. The latter, however, is the most dignified town 
 by far which the county contains, and the most worthy of giving its 
 name to the see. It contains a considerable number of churches, and 
 once possessed at least two important conventual establishments. The 
 abbey of St. John has been entirely destroyed, its gate-house alone 
 showing its ancient site, which, however, is unoccupied, and would form 
 an excellent position for a dignified church. Of the priory church of 
 St. Botolph there are considerable remains, though not, I fear, capable 
 of restoration. There are several fine churches in the county, but in 
 places of very secondary importance. 
 
 <!6. Middlesex. 
 
 I would only mention our glorious abbey of Westminsteb, without 
 venturing to inquire whether it could become really a cathedral, instead 
 of being a cathedral without a bishop. 
 
 27. Gloucestershire. 
 
 I would first mention Gloucester itself, which, I trust, will not long 
 continue united with Bristol, but that each will have its own bishop. 
 
 It is very unfortunate that the noble abbey church of Tewkesbury 
 should be so near to Gloucester, as it would othei'wise have been 
 admirably suited to become a cathedral, ranking in this respect with 
 
13 
 
 St. Albans, Beverley, and Southwell. It ought certainly to be raised 
 above the level of a mere parish church, and to have a collegiate body 
 attached to it. Its present arrangements are of the worst description. 
 
 28. Behkshibe. 
 
 This county seems quite worthy of becoming a distinct diocese. It 
 contains one church, St. Geokge's at Windsob, quite fitted to become 
 a cathedral, but Reading would appear better situated for it, had it any 
 church capable of being used for the purpose. The abbey is ruined far 
 beyond all remedy. I believe, however, that some interest would be 
 excited by the proposal to erect a cathedral, or a church capable of 
 being so used, at Reading. 
 
 29. Cornwall. 
 
 This county, again, has obvious claims to be formed into a diocese. 
 It contains two towns which have at different periods been the seats of 
 a bishop. Bodmin and St. Germans. The former is by far the most 
 central, but the church is, though large, a simply parochial one in its 
 form, and is of the latter part of the fifteenth century. The church of 
 St. Germans is a far more venerable and dignified building, retaining 
 much of the aspect of a conventual church. I do not know it from my 
 own observation, but from all I hear I should think that it is quite 
 capable of being converted into a cathedral, particularly if the choir, 
 which fell some centuries back, should be rebuilt. 
 
 St. Germans is unfortunately but a small place, and is situated 
 quite at the eastern extremity of the county. 
 
 30. Devonshire. 
 
 In the event of the separation of Cornwall from the diocese of 
 Exeter no further division would, I presume, be needed. I may 
 mention, however, that the church of St. Mary Ottery is a noble building, 
 having quite the appearance of a cathedral. 
 
 31. Dorsetshire. 
 
 This county possesses one church eminently suited to the object 
 under consideration, and in a place which was formerly the seat of a 
 bishop. I refer to Sherborne Minster. This church is on a scale quite 
 suited to a cathedral, and its whole aspect would quite accord with such 
 an increase of dignity. It has quite recently been restored in great 
 measure, in an admirable manner and at great cost, under the direction 
 of Mr. Carpenter, so that very little outlay would probably be required. 
 
14 
 
 32. SOMERSETSHIKK. 
 
 The abbey church of Bath is well suited to become a cathedral in 
 the event of the county being divided into two dioceses. The fabric is 
 in a tolerable state of repair, I believe, but its internal arrangements 
 are of the worst description ; its nave and transepts being empty and 
 unused, while the choir and its aisles are crowded with pews and galleries 
 quite in the manner of the proprietary chapels common in watering 
 places. Indeed it would appear as if the inhabitants, perplexed by 
 living at once in an ancient city and a fashionable watering-place, had 
 aimed at uniting the two ideas by the conversion of their cathedral into 
 a proprietary chapel. The church is, however, well adapted to the 
 union of cathedral and parochial use. I looked at it a few years back 
 (on accidentally going to see the church) especially with reference to 
 this point, and came to the conclusion that the two objects could be 
 united there in an eminent degree ; indeed, that though its architecture 
 is not very dignified, it is particularly well calculated to form a cathedral 
 consistent both with correct ecclesiastical arrangement and with the 
 requirements of our own ritual. 
 
 33. WiLTSHIBE. 
 
 Should Dorsetshire be severed from the diocese of Salisbury this 
 county need probably not be divided. The portion which is now 
 attached to the see of Gloucester might, however, either continue so or 
 be united to that of Bath, should that become a distinct see. This 
 division, however, contains the remains of MALMSBURy Abbey, a very 
 noble fragment. 
 
 34. Hampshire. 
 
 The same may be said of the diocese of Winchester should Surrey 
 be taken from it. I may, however, mention, that the abbey church at 
 Romsey is in every way suited to become a cathedral church, and that 
 there is also a very noble priory church at Christ Church not unsuited 
 to the purpose. 
 
 35. Surrey. 
 
 Should this county be formed into a diocese, Southwark seems the 
 most proper position for its bishop, and the church of St. Mary Overy 
 or St. Saviour, had it not been for the wretched substitute for its 
 ancient and beautiful nave, would have been admirably adapted to 
 become a cathedral church. It was a most noble cruciform church, 
 equal in scale and dignity to many abbey churches. Its exterior had 
 
15 
 
 fallen to decay and been disfigured by brick casings, and its beautiful 
 Ladye Chapel was almost in ruins when, about thirty years ago, a feeling 
 arose for its restoration, and the choir was placed in the hands of 
 Mr. George Gwilt, an architect of great antiquarian knowledge and of 
 excellent feeling, residing in Southwark. He devoted himself en- 
 thusiastically to the task, and restored the interior of the choir perfectly 
 to its ancient design. Its exterior was too far gone for the design to 
 be recovered with absolute certainty, but it was brought into a good 
 state of reparation, and, with the exception of the want of its high 
 roof, into a consistent architectural form. The parishioners, however, 
 did not approve of so much pains and antiquarian research being 
 expended on their church, and when they proceeded to the transepts 
 they heartlessly placed them in other hands, and their restoration was 
 effected in a manner very inferior to that of the choir ; though so far 
 as regards the interior, the choir and transepts may be said to be in 
 a nearly perfect state. Shortly after this, the beautiful Ladye Chapel 
 was restored by private subscription, and Mr. Gwilt, to prevent its 
 falling into less careful hands, liberally carried out the restoration in 
 a most admirable manner as his own offering to the work. Still, 
 however, the noble nave remained unrestored. Unhappily a hint was 
 given that the roof timbers were decayed, and an architect was deputed 
 to report upon them. He too rashly condemned the roof as unsafe, 
 and the parishioners ordered it to be removed, without taking any steps 
 for the substitution of a new one. 
 
 For two or three years a violent parish quarrel raged as to what 
 was to be done with the roofless nave, — a dispute which was unhappily 
 settled for them through the effects of wet and frost on the old walls, 
 which were chiefly of chalk, and it was found necessary (or thought to 
 be so) to take down the whole nave. Thus was lost a noble structure 
 which, but a few years ago, had been as substantial as any church in 
 London. The materials, including some of the finest details of the 
 early English style, were indiscriminately sold, and a new nave erected, 
 of which I will not trust myself to speak. 
 
 It has been ever since the feeling of those who love church archi- 
 tecture, and who knew the church in its comparatively perfect state, 
 that the nave must be sooner or later rebuilt upon its original design, 
 which may yet be gathered from published prints, from the sketches of 
 different persons, especially of Mr. Gwilt and his sons, and from its 
 conformity to a considerable extent with the character of the choir. 
 Were this done the church would be well worthy of becoming a cathe- 
 dral, but during the interval its beautiful choir and transepts would 
 not be unsuited to the purpose, and the parochial services might be 
 
16 
 
 continued in the modern nave. When I first knew the chuich the 
 site of its ancient conventual buildings remained unoccupied on its 
 north side ; now, unhappily, it is covered by vast masses of warelouses. 
 
 86. Sussex. 
 
 It is difficult to find in this county a church suited to the pirpose 
 in question. At Shoreham are the choir and transepts of a ve:y fine 
 church, but it seems too near Chichester. At Winchelsea are the 
 remains of a church of exquisite beauty, but the town has almost ceased 
 to exist. Brighton and Hastings would probably be the claimants for 
 the honour of giving the name to a new see should the diocese be 
 divided. 
 
 37. Kent. 
 
 This county containing two cathedrals does not seem to require 
 more. The great object would appear to be to divide the county fairly 
 between the two, and to bring back the diocese of Rochester from its 
 recent aberrations. 
 
 38, Suffolk. 
 
 This county seems well suited to become a distinct diocese. Ips- 
 wich contains no church which seems worthy of becoming a cathedral. 
 At Bury St. Edmunds, however, the church of St. Mary, though on a 
 parochial type, seems well suited to the purpose, and the ecclesiastical 
 associations of the place seem to favour its becoming the episcopal see. 
 
 39. NOBFOLK. 
 
 If relieved of the county of Suffolk, the diocese of Norwich might 
 not perhaps need further division. Should this, however, be thought 
 desirable, there are many fine churches throughout the county which 
 might be made use of ; that at Geeat Yaemouth is perhaps on the 
 whole most worthy of consideration. 
 
 40. Wales (including Monmouthshire). 
 
 The four Welsh sees are situated, two at the extreme north, and 
 two at the extreme south, of the principality, and it would consequently 
 appear desirable that a more central diocese should be added. 
 
 There is no suitable town or church in a very central position. 
 
17 
 
 The best suited, however, seems to be Brecon, a town of considerable 
 importance, and containing a very large and venerable conventual 
 church, besides a distinct collegiate chapel, still, or till recently, re- 
 taining its prebendal endowments. The priory church is a very fine 
 cruciform structure. Though inferior in beauty either to the cathedral 
 of St. David's or Llandaff, it is fully equal to that of St. Asaph, and 
 far superior to that of Bangor. Its nave only is now used as a parish 
 church, excepting that the chancel is used at the time of the Holy 
 Communion. The whole together, however, would be by no means too 
 large for the united purposes of a cathedral and parish church, and 
 from the moderate dimensions of the choir it would be particularly 
 suited to our ritual. The choir and transepts with two side chapels 
 are very fine examples of the early English style. The nave is a little 
 later. The church would be in every way suitable as a cathedral ; 
 and a new diocese, including the counties of Brecknock and Kadnor, 
 with possibly a portion of Cardigan, would be a great relief to the see 
 of St. David's, and a great advantage to central Wales. Should Mon- 
 mouthshire be separated from the diocese of Llandaff it is difficult to 
 name a suitable place for its ecclesiastical capital. The finest church 
 by very far in the county is the celebrated ruined abbey church of 
 Tintern. This is, however, quite out of the way of population. It is 
 readily susceptible of restoration, more so probably than any one of our 
 ruined abbey churches, the walls, arcades, clerestories, &c., being all 
 in a nearly perfect state. It would be a truly noble undertaking to 
 restore such a church to its sacred uses. 
 
 41. The Channel Islands. 
 
 The great distance of these beautiful islands from their diocesan is 
 a serious hindrance to the efficiency of the church among their in- 
 habitants, and they seem to have very strong claims to become a 
 separate diocese. I fear that the islands do not contain any church 
 well fitted to become a cathedral. The two most convenient places are 
 St. Helier's in Jersey, and St. Peter's Port in Guernsey. The latter 
 is the most central, and it has a good cross church of very fair dimen- 
 sions. I am not acquainted with the church of St. Helier. 
 
 I have now gone to the best of my information through all the 
 counties, &c. If any more detailed information should strike me as 
 desirable I shall be most happy to use my best exertions to procure it. 
 
18 
 
 I may, perhaps, so far recapitulate as to mention again the districts 
 which have struck me as appearing the best suited to form new- 
 dioceses, with the towns and churches which in such case would appear 
 suited to become their episcopal seats : — 
 
 1. Northumberland . 
 
 2. Westmoreland and Furness . 
 
 3. Part of the North Riding of 
 
 Yorkshire 
 
 4. The East Riding . 
 
 Hexham. A very noble churcli. 
 Kendal or Cartmell. Good churches ; 
 
 the latter an ancient priory churcli. 
 Qu. Whitby ? Ruined abbey. 
 
 Beverley, with Hull. The minster 
 at Beverley perfect, and a noble 
 church at Hull. 
 Qu. Leeds ? Using Kirkstall Abbey. 
 Liverpool. (No cathedral.) 
 Derby, (No cathedral.) 
 Southwell. (Minster perfect.) 
 Shrewsbury. Nave of abbey church. 
 Qu. Leicester'? Perhaps St. Mar- 
 garet's. (No church really suitable.) 
 Coventry. St. Michael's. 
 St. Albans. The abbey church. 
 Colchester. (No cathedral.) 
 Qu. Westminster? The abbey church. 
 Qu. Windsor or Reading 1 
 Bodmin or St. Germans. 
 Sherborne. The minster. 
 Bath. The abbey. 
 SouTHWARK. St. Saviour's. 
 Bury St. Edmunds. St. Mary's. 
 Brecon. The priory church. 
 
 St. Peter's, Guernsey, or St. Helier's, 
 Jersey. (The latter I believe not a 
 good church.) 
 
 I should also have mentioned the restoration of the see of Glou- 
 cester, and the return of the diocese of Kochester to Kent, from its 
 wanderings beyond the Thames. 
 
 I will only venture upon one more suggestion, which is one, per 
 ha.ps, scarcely within my province. The original dioceses were probably 
 regulated in some degree by the limits of the kingdoms forming the 
 Heptarchy ; these, as population increased, were subdivided from time 
 to time as convenience dictated. The suggestion oir which I would 
 venture is, that in re-divisions these historical associations should not 
 be lost sight of, as if we were dividing up a country with no respect to 
 
 5. Part of West Riding 
 
 6. Western Lancashire 
 
 7. Qu. Derbyshire ? . 
 
 8. Nottinghamshire . 
 
 9. Shropshire 
 
 10. Qu. Leicestershire? 
 
 11. Warwickshire 
 
 12. Hertfordshire 
 
 13. Essex 
 
 14. Qu. Part of Middlesex 1 
 
 15. Berkshire 
 
 16. Cornwall 
 
 17. Dorsetshire . 
 
 18. Somersetshire 
 
 19. Surrey , 
 
 20. Suffolk . 
 
 21. Wales, counties of Brecknock 
 
 and Radnor, 
 
 22. The Channel Islands . 
 
19 
 
 its ecclesistical history and divisions. I do not say that new dioceses 
 can always form distinct divisions of ancient ones, but I would suggest 
 that this should be aimed at to as great an extent as is found to be 
 practicable. It will not only connect the future with the past, and 
 unite our ecclesiastical history with that of our church from the earliest 
 ages, but it will no doubt obviate much confusion and much con- 
 venience as to the archives and registries of the dioceses. 
 
 Apologising for the length to which I have extended my remarks, 
 I have the honour to remain. 
 My dear Sir, 
 Your very faithful servant, 
 
 Geo. Gilbert Scott. 
 
 To the Rev. Christopher Wordsworth, D.D. 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 London 
 
 : — Printed by G. Barclay, Castle St. Leicester Sq 
 
THE NATIONAL GALLERY 
 
 ITS FORMATION AND MANAGEMENT. 
 
 liy 
 
 WILLIAM DYCE, Esq. R.A. 
 
THE 
 
 NATIONAL GALLEEY 
 
 FORMATION AND MANAGEMENT 
 
 CONSIDERED IN 
 
 A LETTER ADDRESSED, BY PERMISSION, 
 
 TO 
 
 H. R. H. THE PRINCE ALBERT, K.G. 
 
 (be. dtc. tt'c. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM DYCE, Esq. R.A. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF THE THEORY OF THE FINE ARTS IN KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON. 
 
 SI QUID NOVISTI EECTIUS ISTIS 
 
 CANDIDUS IMPERTI ; SI NGN, HIS UTEEE MECUM. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193 PICCADILLY. 
 
 1858. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 Printed by George Barclay, Castle Street, Leicester Sqiiar 
 
A LETTER, 
 
 (ic. (Be. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 It was my purpose, some years ago, to 
 have published a few observations on one of the points 
 which I now have the honour of submitting to the 
 consideration of Your Royal Highness, 
 
 At that period, circumstances appeared to me to 
 furnish a legitimate occasion for directing public atten- 
 tion to the subject of the National Gallery, more par- 
 ticularly with respect to the principles on which the 
 selection of works for purchase ought to depend. A 
 vacancy had occurred in the office of Keeper ; and this, 
 while it led to speculation as to the manner in which the 
 appointment would be filled, gave voice, at the same 
 time, to a very considerable amount of latent dissatis- 
 faction with the results of the past management. There 
 were various grounds for the disappointment which 
 manifested itself ; but in one particular all were agreed : 
 whatever might be the cause, — whether it were from a 
 defect in the constitution of the administrative body, or 
 from partial views of art entertained by them, or from 
 an inadequate conception of the office they were ap- 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 pointed to discharge, — the character and progress of the 
 collection had not kept pace with public expectation. 
 It neither realised, nor gave evidence of progress towards 
 realising, the idea of a national collection of pictures. 
 
 This was felt even by those (and at that time they 
 were a large majority) who, if the question had been 
 proposed to them, would have found it difficult to say, 
 in very precise terms, what a national collection of pic- 
 tures ought to be. But it was obvious to the most 
 cursory observer, that an entire want of system prevailed 
 in the management of the Gallery. Without questioning 
 the desirableness of the additions made to the collection 
 from time to time, the character of the additions indi- 
 cated that they were due rather to accident, and the bias 
 of individual predilections for certain schools of art, than 
 to any predetemined plan for the formation of the 
 Gallery. This, indeed, was not left to conjecture. In 
 1836, the Keeper of the Gallery had stated in evidence 
 before a committee of the House of Commons,* that, so 
 far as he was aware, no plan had been proposed by the 
 Trustees either for the purchase, or " for the historical 
 arrangement of pictures according to schools, or for 
 making a distinction between the great schools of Italy 
 and the different national schools;" and nothing had 
 subsequently transpired to evince that any such plan 
 had, up to the period to which I refer, been devised or 
 acted upon. 
 
 This want of system, I say, was felt to be incon- 
 sistent with the due administration of a national esta- 
 
 * Report of Select Committee on Arts and Manufactures, 
 1835-6. 
 
blishment. Those who might be unable to define the 
 precise difference, felt, at least, certain that there must 
 be some difference between the formation of a private 
 collection suited to individual predilections, or in con- 
 formity with an ephemeral fashion for certain schools, 
 and the formation of a public museum for national 
 gratification and instruction. Those who might be un- 
 able to enumerate the masters in art, whose works 
 ought to form part of a national museum, — to describe 
 the origin and progress of the schools to which they 
 belonged, — or to propose a scheme by which those 
 works should be so arranged as to exhibit the develope- 
 ment, the perfection, and the decline of the art of 
 various epochs and schools, — felt, nevertheless, that the 
 systematic consideration of such points must be the 
 business of the persons appointed to superintend the 
 formation of a national collection. 
 
 Under these circumstances, it seemed to me that a 
 favourable opportunity had occurred for some attempt 
 to define the purposes of a National Gallery, and to 
 draw up such a scheme for its contents as might at 
 once be applied as a test of the progress already made, 
 and as a measure of the amount yet to be accomplished ; 
 and this, accordingly, I proposed to undertake. 
 
 The appointment, however, of a successor to the 
 late Keeper, in the person of Sir Charles (then Mr.) 
 Eastlake, induced me at once to abandon the task 
 I had assigned to myself. It was impossible to doubt 
 that the new appointment would bring with it the 
 influence of taste, inteUigence in art, and knowledge of 
 its history, of as high an order as this country could 
 
4 
 
 produce. I looked upon it, indeed, as a sort of gua- 
 rantee that the very principles to be adopted in the 
 formation of the Gallery, of which I myself proposed to 
 become the humble advocate, would not only be de- 
 veloped systematically under the new management, but 
 acted upon so far as circumstances permitted ; I gladly, 
 therefore, left the matter in abler hands than my own. 
 
 These expectations, I regret to say, were doomed to 
 disappointment. For all that appeared, matters re- 
 mained precisely as they had done since the commence- 
 ment of the Gallery in 1823. The additions to the 
 collection made by purchase between the years 1844 
 and 1847, as well as the known opportunities of pur- 
 chase overlooked or disregarded, evinced with sufficient 
 clearness that, dming that period, the Trustees had made 
 no advances towards the systematic fulfilment of their 
 undertaking. 
 
 Perhaps it is only due to Sir C. Eastlake to observe, 
 that, considering his high position in the arts, the pubhc 
 may have invested him with responsibihties based rather 
 on his capacity to undertake them, than with those only 
 which strictly belonged to his office as Keeper. While, 
 on the one hand, public opinion delegated to him some- 
 thing hke an authority to guide the proceedings of the 
 Trustees, and made him, in a manner, responsible for 
 the whole management, he, on the other, may have 
 conceived (and, doubtless, was justified by experience in 
 believing) that the defined responsibilities of his office 
 precluded him from a formal expression of opinion — 
 perhaps from giving any opinion whatever — on points 
 which were not referred to him. 
 
But, however that may have been, matters remained 
 as they were. Indeed, the remarks of an intelligent 
 writer, made in 1840, have continued to be equally 
 applicable down to the present moment. " It must be 
 acknowledged," says Mr. Edwards,* "that there has 
 been altogether a great want of system in the manage- 
 ment of this important institution. Some of its best 
 accessions might fairly be ascribed to accident, yet but 
 little care seems to be taken to give it the benefit of 
 such favourable, and often fortuitous opportunities of 
 increase, as of late have not unfrequently occurred, and 
 no sort of plan for its enlargement appears ever to 
 have been considered." 
 
 Such, then, is the state of the case. Twenty-eight 
 years have elapsed since the commencement of the Gal- 
 lery, and yet the question which, one would have 
 thought, must have met the Trustees in limine, — at the 
 very threshold of their duties, — remains undecided. They 
 have not yet determined what their labours tend to — 
 what it is they are to accomplish. They have never 
 informed the public what ^hey conceive the National 
 Gallery ought to be, — what it is to consist of, — how it 
 is to advance towards completion, — how it is to be 
 arranged, — what is to be its purpose ; yet these, surely, 
 were matters for preliminary consideration. 
 
 It will scarcely, I think, be urged, that the views of 
 the Trustees on these points are developed in the results 
 of their management. Such a supposition would amount 
 almost to an affront to so distinguished a body of men. 
 
 * Administrative Economy of the Fine Arts in England. Lon- 
 don, 1840. Pp. 119, 120. 
 
6 
 
 I cannot imagine for a moment that, having deUberately 
 considered the question, they passed a resolution to the 
 effect, that the National Gallery ought to consist of a 
 miscellaneous and fortuitous assemblage of pictures, 
 placed together without order or arrangement on any 
 recognisable plan ; yet this is the inference to be drawn 
 from the actual state of the collection. I cannot suppose 
 that they deliberately resolved to make the enlargement of 
 the collection depend solely on the accidental occurrence 
 of public sales, or private offers of pictures ; yet such has 
 been their practice. It is far more likely, and probably 
 is really the case, that the Trustees have not acted, and 
 never intended to act, on any system ; that they have 
 simply considered it to be their duty to purchase for 
 the Gallery from time to time, as opportunity permitted, 
 such pictures of merit by masters whose works they 
 were more or less familiar with, as they conceived would 
 be desirable acquisitions under any circumstances ; and 
 that, in fact, they have never come to any resolution at 
 all on the question, what the collection ought, as a 
 whole, to be. 
 
 I think I have seen it stated somewhere, as the 
 opinion of the Trustees, that the time has not arrived for 
 the due arrangement of the collection, or the adoption 
 of some scheme for its enlargement and completion. 
 But whatever weight may attach to the considerations 
 on which that opinion is said to be based — and every 
 one, I imagine, is willing to make due allowance for the 
 restrictions imposed on the Trustees by the insufficient 
 accommodation of the present building — it can scarcely 
 be admitted that the difficulty, under existing circum- 
 
7 
 
 stances, of doing much in the way of enlarging and 
 arranging the collection, forms a good reason for doing 
 nothing in the way of deciding how it ought to be 
 enlarged and arranged. On the contrary, one would 
 have imagined that if any argument were needed for 
 an increase of accommodation, the very strongest pos- 
 sible case might have been drawn from a Avell-considered 
 and exact statement of the necessity, both present and 
 prospective, which there was for it. 
 
 But perhaps other reasons may have influenced the 
 Trustees. Possibly it was felt by them that the adoption 
 of a scheme for the enlargement of the collection would 
 be futile unless it were accompanied by some modifica- 
 tion of the responsibilities of management. Perhaps, 
 though it was foreseen that this must be the case, they 
 were either not prepared to recommend so great a 
 change as might appear to be called for, or they were 
 not agreed what it ought to be ; and there is no doubt 
 that this is an element which complicates the question 
 of the future of the National Gallery. If we could con- 
 fine the selection of pictures within certain bounds, and 
 purchase the works of those masters only whose names 
 are familiar to most of us, no great embarrassment would 
 be likely to occur ; but this is out of the question. If a 
 comprehensive scheme for the formation of the National 
 Gallery is to be acted upon, there is nothing more cer- 
 tain than that those on whom the responsibility of its 
 formation is to devolve, must embark on what Boschini 
 terms, " L'alto mar de la pitura,'' — they must be able 
 to exercise a degree of critical acumen, and possess an 
 extended and minute acquaintance especially with the 
 
8 
 
 earlier schools of art and the peculiarities of individual 
 masters, which not only cannot, with any pretence of 
 truth, be attributed to ordinary connoisseurship among 
 us, but is really not common in any country. I do not 
 think it is any disparagement to the Trustees to express 
 a doubt whether — unless (which is scarcely warrantable) 
 we assume that, as a body, they do more than fairly re- 
 present the average amount of taste and knowledge of 
 art among the cultivated classes of society — they would 
 not experience considerable embarrassment in deciding, 
 as responsible officers, on many cases which are not 
 merely supposable, but which will certainly occur if the 
 enlargement of the collection is to take place on a pre- 
 determined and comprehensive scheme. The average 
 knowledge of ancient art among us is probably higher 
 now than it was ten or fifteen years since ; but it is still, 
 I fear, true, as Mr. Solly said in 1836, that a great part 
 of the region of art is a terra incognita ; or, to use his 
 own words, " that there are a great many painters of the 
 Italian (he might have added of the German and Nether- 
 landish) schools who are totally unknown in this country ; 
 but whose works would do honour to any gallery." 
 
 If, then, we are to penetrate this unknown region, it 
 becomes essential that we should be provided with com- 
 petent guides. It becomes an important question whe- 
 ther the present form of management will prove adequate 
 to the future exigencies of the institution. Considering 
 the qualifications indispensable in the persons who are to 
 undertake the duty of selecting pictures for purchase, 
 can that duty be committed with advantage to a board 
 consisting, with one exception, of amateurs ? There is, 
 
9 
 
 I think, a prima facie case for doubting this. The 
 resolution of this point, however, hinges on the previous 
 question, viz. What ought the national collection of 
 pictures to be ? and to this I now propose to address 
 myself. 
 
 I. — What ouglit a national collection of pictures to he ? 
 
 What ought a national collection of any kind to be ? 
 Of books, for instance ; or of objects of natural history ; 
 or of manufactures ? What do we mean by a national 
 collection ? What are the characteristics which seem at 
 once to attach themselves to the idea of a public 
 museum of any kind ? 
 
 Extensiveness will, I think, suggest itself as one of 
 those characteristics. The means at the command of a 
 nation ought to insure this; and for the same reason, 
 shall we not say, that a public museum ought especially 
 to contain such objects as from their size, their costliness, 
 and on other accounts, are beyond the reach of private 
 collectors. Then, again, as every collection has in view 
 some definite purpose, the systematic fulfilment of that 
 purpose on the most enlarged basis ; in other words, 
 systematic arrangement, and a wholeness or complete- 
 ness in relation to its particular purpose, seem necessary 
 to the idea of a national collection. I think we may 
 assume, then, first, that a public museum ought to fulfil 
 its purpose ; and secondly, that the objects contained in 
 it ought not merely to be coextensive with that purpose, 
 but illustrate it with the greatest possible fulness and 
 variety : that is to say, the collection ought to be at 
 
10 
 
 once extensive and complete. But what are we to 
 understand by the completeness of a collection of pic- 
 tures? The reply to this question depends upon the 
 view which we take of its purpose. Now all, I imagine, 
 will agree that the object of our National Gallery is to 
 afford instruction and enjoyment ; that it is, or ought to 
 be, an institution where the learned study art and the 
 unlearned enjoy it, where docti artis rationem intelligunt, 
 indocti sentiunt voluptatem ; so that we have to consider 
 how that instruction and enjoyment which the Gallery is 
 calculated to afford ought to be provided for. 
 
 Now, if there are any (and at this time of day it is 
 to be hoped they are very few) who think that the 
 purpose of the National Gallery will be served by what 
 in popular phrase is termed " a selection of the best 
 works of the best masters," I will simply beg them to 
 apply their opinion to the case of any section of a 
 national library to convince themselves how utterly un- 
 tenable it is. Suppose that the formation of a collection 
 of English dramatic poetry w^ere in question, what should 
 we think or say of the Trustees of the British Museum if 
 they were to decide who were the best English di'a- 
 matists, what were their best works, and to exclude 
 from the library all but the comparatively few pro- 
 ductions they might happen to think desirable ? Would 
 such a proceeding be tolerated for a single moment ? 
 Would it be endured that they — that any body of men 
 however eminent — should possess the right to withhold 
 from the public any attainable materials for literary 
 knowdedge and criticism ; that, in fact, they should have 
 it in their power, actually or virtually, to pronounce a 
 
11 
 
 judgment on the comparative merits of authors, the 
 accuracy of which could only be tested by the very com- 
 parison which the judgment has the effect of preventing. 
 Yet there is no difference between such a proceeding 
 and the restriction of the national collection of pictures 
 to such works as might happen to be considered the 
 best. 
 
 Probably there are few persons in these days who 
 will be found to advocate such a course. Notwith- 
 standing appearances, 1 do not imagine the Trustees of 
 the National Gallery ever seriously contemplated the 
 establishment of an index exjpurgatorius of pictures ; on 
 the contrary, I believe that opinions tending in that 
 direction are obsolete, or if held now, are held as a kind 
 of tradition by those who have not taken the trouble, or 
 had the opportunity, of examining the grounds of them. 
 They belong rather to a past age, when people were 
 really unacquainted with the works which they ignored, 
 or were taught to undervalue, and with the position 
 which the authors of them occupied in the history of art. 
 But a better day has dawned. The time, it is to be 
 hoped, has passed for ever, when in England, ji?ro/«j»e^cfor.^ 
 it was even possible that the great — the paramount 
 authority in such matters — no less than the Keeper of 
 the National Gallery — could be a man who had never 
 BEEN IN Italy ! who, therefore, could never have seen 
 the best works — by some of them no work at all — of 
 such masters as Cima da Conegliano, Vittore Carjpaccio, 
 Marco Basaiti, Benozzo Gozzoli, Gian Bellini, Luca 
 Signorelli, JDomenico Gliirlandaio, Perugino, Pinturicchio, 
 and many others equally eminent, and, as Mr. Solly 
 
12 
 
 remarks, even of more recent date. Was it wonderful, 
 if, under such a prompter, people should talk as if the 
 page of art had been a blank until Raffaelle and his 
 distinguished contemporaries and successors arose ; as if 
 art had sprung up, at one leap, from infancy to manhood, 
 — from barbarism to the utmost refinement ; as if the 
 remains of art were only of two classes, the one hard, 
 dry, meagre, Gothic, tasteless, childish, of which we knew 
 and wanted to know nothing; and the other adorned 
 with every grace and perfection of art ! 
 
 Better knowledge, however, and a juster criticism, 
 have dispelled these mistakes. Turgid and unmeaning 
 panegyrics of Raffaelle, Michael Angelo, Titian, Correggio, 
 and the rest, to the utter disparagement of all who 
 preceded them, have given place to a truer estimate of 
 artistic excellence. It is now perceived that art had its 
 adolescence, as well as its infancy and its manhood ; and 
 that its progress towards maturity has not always been 
 identical with progress towards excellence in all respects. 
 If the maturity of judgment and technical skill of later 
 times were wanting in its adolescent state, they were 
 more than compensated for by a freshness of thought and 
 intention, a vivacity, a gaiety, a vividness of impression, 
 an innocence, simplicity, and truthfulness, which belong 
 to first efforts, and which technical imperfection tended 
 even to develope in greater force, than the more universal 
 aims of later art permitted. And, it may be added, there 
 is, in general, a suggestiveness about the works of earlier 
 masters which gives them a peculiar value and interest, 
 especially to the practical student of art. They ever 
 seem to suggest, and to be straining after, something 
 
18 
 
 higher than they have reahsed — a character which came 
 to be reversed in the productions of later times. 
 
 I think, then, it will be admitted that if the National 
 Gallery be intended to afford the full enjoyment which 
 may be derived from the contemplation of works of art, 
 the collection must take a far wider range than it has 
 done hitherto. But enjoyment is not its only nor its 
 chief object in relation to the point under consideration ; 
 and for this reason : that if the practical instruction and 
 critical study of art, for which the National Gallery ought 
 to afford ample materials, be duly provided for, provision 
 will at the same time have been made for all the enjoy- 
 ment to be derived from the sight of works of art. 
 
 This, then, is the sum of the inquiry, viz. : What are 
 we to reckon adequate provision for such study and 
 instruction? But there cannot, I imagine, be two 
 opinions about the reply — the collection can aim at no 
 lower object than to exhibit the whole developement of the 
 art of painting ; the examples of which it consists must, 
 therefore, range over its whole history. 
 
 There is nothing extravagant, impossible, or even 
 novel in this idea of a National Gallery of paintings. It 
 is the idea which has regulated the formation of the 
 Royal Museum of Berlin ; which has been adopted in 
 the arrangement of the Pinacothek of Munich ; and has 
 been recognised, arid partly acted upon, in the Gallery 
 of the Louvre. Nor is it really new even in this country. 
 The inquiries of a committee of the House of Commons 
 in 1837, on the subject of " Arts and Manufactures,'* 
 led them, among other questions, to consider the con- 
 dition and prospects of the National Gallery ; and it is 
 
14 
 
 obvious, not only from the opinions expressed in evidence, 
 but from the questions proposed by the Committee, that 
 the same idea was entertained at that time. Among 
 the questions proposed, for instance, to Mr. Seguier, then 
 Keeper of the National Gallery, I find the following : — 
 
 1594. Have you ever turned your attention to what I called 
 before the collocation of pictures, their arrangement in schools, 
 and their division, so as to make them as much historical as 
 possible, connecting the masters with their pupils, and giving an 
 instructive, as well as interesting, view to the public of the 
 pictures before them ? 
 
 1600. Has there been no provision in the plan of the 
 National Gallery for the historical arrangement of pictures 
 according- to schools, and for making a distinction between the 
 great schools of Italy and the different national schools ? 
 
 1603. Then is this building (which ought to be on a great 
 and comprehensive plan, to be an eternal monument of the arts 
 in this country) to be a merely a Gallery where pictures are to 
 be placed without due distribution, and not a Gallery worthy of 
 this nation ? 
 
 Amongst the questions proposed to Mr. Solly, an 
 eminent collector of pictures, the following occur, which 
 I give with the replies to them : — 
 
 1839. Is it not desirable for a person who is to judge of 
 pictures for a National Gallery to have a general, historical, 
 comprehensive view of the history of pictures, without reference 
 to any particular school? — Certainly. 
 
 1840. What do you consider to be the faults of the body 
 which is at present appointed to select pictures for the National 
 Gallery? — It appears to me that their qualifications are too 
 negative ; that they have not actively made it their study, that 
 
15 
 
 they never formed a plan how the National Gallery should be 
 established. 
 
 1841. What do you consider the class of pictures parti- 
 cularly required to make a complete collection for a National 
 Gallery? — If it is to be a complete collection, of course it 
 must commence from the time of Cimabue and Giotto. . . . 
 I should think the preferable way would be to commence with 
 the veiy best masters, those who had brought it (the art) to the 
 greatest state of pei'fection, and then go up to the source, as well 
 as come down to the present time. 
 
 1850. Would it not be a delusion in the public, and 
 prevent the possibility of our ever possessing a collection of 
 pictures worthy of this city, if we were to regard it (the then 
 collection) as other than a mere commencement? — Yes, cer- 
 tainly. 
 
 1851. Do you not consider it very important to adopt a 
 comprehensive scheme in the formation of a National Gallery ? 
 
 1853. And to comprise as much as possible the artists of 
 the various times, whose works shall illustrate the history of 
 art? 
 
 1853. Is it not probable that such an historical collection 
 will be less likely to lead to mannerism on the part of modern 
 artists, than a selection of some particular school? 
 
 1854. The artists to whom you have referred (artists 
 mostly unknown in this country, living from 1510 to 1530) who 
 were contemporaneous with Raphael, painted in a purer and more 
 manly style than many of those who are better known in this 
 country. I allude particularly to some of the Bolognese school, 
 whose pictures fetch a higher price? 
 
 1855. Is it your opinion the study of these earlier masters is 
 likely to lead to a purer style on the part of our own painters, 
 than of the later and more effeminate school? — Certainly; 
 I perfectly agree with the questions that have just been put to 
 me, and I am not aware that I could add anything to them, as 
 
16 
 
 I think they comprehend all that I should have thought of 
 suggesting myself upon the subject. 
 
 Again, at No. 1912, Mr. J. Leigh is asked : — 
 
 Do you think that this country particularly requires the 
 means of appreciating and deriving instruction from fine works 
 of art? — I think it stands greatly in need of it, particularly the 
 chaster works of the Italian school. 
 
 1913. You say the more chaste works of the Italian school : 
 do you refer to an earlier era? — I allude to that particular 
 period so justly referred to in the questions put to Mr. Solly. 
 
 1914. Do you mean the historical painters who were 
 contemporaneous or prior to Raphael? — Yes. 
 
 1915. You prefer those to the schools of Bologna? — 
 Yes; it is a school whose works we are exceedingly in want of 
 to enable us to correct the tendency of the English style towards 
 weakness of design, effeminacy of composition, and flauntiness 
 of colouring. 
 
 It has been already stated that the collection of 
 pictures in the Royal Museum of Berlin was formed in ac- 
 cordance with the principle I have laid down ; it will not 
 therefore be necessary to adduce at length the evidence 
 given by Dr. G. F. Waagen, the Highly accomplished and 
 intelligent director of that gallery. With respect to the 
 actual formation of the National Gallery, he conceives, 
 that while the collection ought ultimately to exhibit the 
 historical developement of the art of painting, it is not 
 advisable to begin by the purchase of such very ancient 
 specimens as are chiefly interesting in relation to the history 
 of art ; but having formed a nucleus of the masters of the 
 age of Raffaelle, to add to it in both directions, tracing 
 the history of the art upwards to the earliest times, and 
 
17 
 
 downwards through its declension during the last three 
 hundred years. 
 
 The evidence of Baron Von Klenze, architect of the 
 Pinacotliek of Munich, though it chiefly refers to the 
 actual arrangement of pictures in that Gallery, shows 
 that the arrangement is based on the same idea of a 
 national collection. 
 
 "With respect,'^ he says (2882), "to pictures, this is the 
 system which has been adopted. They are placed according to 
 the schools. I wished to allow the possibility of arriving at any 
 particular school, without going through another ; and for this 
 purpose I have a corridor running the whole length of the 
 building, which communicates with each separate room. . 
 With regard to the classing of pictures. The first large room 
 is for the ancient Flemish school, with three smaller rooms 
 attached for smaller pictures ; after that a great room for the 
 ancient German school, with four small rooms ; then three large 
 rooms for the more recent Flemish school, with ten small rooms j 
 then a room for the French and Spanish school, and then three 
 large rooms, one of which is ninety-three feet long, for the Italian 
 school, and three small rooms for the smaller pictures. . . 
 
 Ten years later, in ] 848, a Committee of the House 
 of Commons was appointed to consider " the best mode 
 of finding additional room for works of art given to the 
 public, or purchased by means of parhamentary grants." 
 From the minutes of evidence I extract the following 
 valuable expression of opinion, in corroboration of the 
 views 1 have advanced : — 
 
 103. (Addressed to Sir C. Eastlake.) With a view to the 
 interests of the public, .... should you recommend the 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 erection of an entirely new building? — By all means. I 
 think this is the only way to proceed effectually in carrying out 
 the great purposes for which the National Gallery is supposed to 
 be established, — that of forming a complete collection relative to 
 the history of the art, and to exhibit the pictures that are so 
 collected so as to benefit those who are to study them ; at pre- 
 sent I do not think the building is compatible with either 
 object. 
 
 With respect to the practicability of forming such a 
 collection as 1 have contemplated, I need not say much. 
 It is certainly to be regretted that advantage has not 
 been taken of the numerous occasions, which have pre- 
 sented themselves within the last ten or fifteen years, to 
 enrich the Gallery with specimens of the earlier Italian, 
 German, and Flemish masters. Still, if it be remembered 
 that only fifteen years after the commencement of the 
 Royal Gallery of Berlin it possessed works of all classes, 
 from the rude Byzantine down to productions of the 
 last century, to the number of nearly twelve hundred, 
 we need entertain no great misgiving as to the possibility 
 of forming even a very considerable collection within a 
 moderate period. I see no reason to doubt, if it were 
 once decided that our collection was to extend over the 
 whole history of the art, that, under proper management, 
 but a few years would elapse before many, if not most, 
 of the schools would be represented in some sort by 
 examples. 
 
 I say, represented in some sort, because it appears to 
 me that, in many cases, this is all that can be accomplished 
 at first ; in some cases, all that need ever be accomplished. 
 It is of course highly desirable that the collection should 
 
19 
 
 consist solely of the very best existing works of all 
 masters ; but it would be mere blindness to overlook 
 the utter improbability, not to say impossibility, under 
 ordinary circumstances, of ever realising this idea. Not 
 only are the opportunities of acquiring works of the 
 highest class by any master, always of rare occurrence, 
 but of some masters, the best specimens never can occur 
 for sale at all in the ordinary course of events. Our 
 expectations, at any rate, must be bounded by ordinary 
 probabihties, and on that account it must, I think, be 
 laid down as a sort of rule in the formation of the collec- 
 tion, that the mere genuineness of works is chiefly to 
 be had regard to in the first instance. I mean, that 
 considering the object in view, and the possibihties of 
 the case, the most sensible, rapid, and, it may be added, 
 the most economical course, would be to complete the 
 various series by genuine examples, such as for the 
 most part may be obtained without much difficulty ; 
 which, though not of the highest order, yet, being 
 genuine, are, as such, sufficient to represent the class to 
 which they belong, until better specimens can be procured. 
 When first-rate works occur for sale, let them be pur- 
 chased by all means ; but if the collection is to consist of 
 a series of works illustrative of the history of art, it must 
 be remembered, first, that this is an object which can 
 never be accomplished by the fortuitous acquisition of 
 first-rate works ; and, secondly, that its mere accom- 
 plishment does not involve the acquisition of first-rate 
 works at all. The Royal Museum of BerHn is a case in 
 point. The series of works contained in it is complete, 
 or nearly so ; and in most instances the works are the 
 
20 
 
 genuine productions of the masters to whom they arc 
 attributed. So far, therefore, as it is the object of the 
 collection to exhibit the history and developement of the 
 art of painting, that object has been accomplished ; but 
 there is no part of the collection which might not be 
 greatly amplified, and perhaps but few works of any 
 master which might not be replaced by better specimens 
 of the same kind. 
 
 I conceive, then, first, that if we are to have a collec- 
 tion illustrative of the history of the art, the formation of 
 it must he unclertahen expressly with that view ; secondly, 
 that though it be desirable that all the works collected 
 should be of the highest order — that is to say, that every 
 master should be represented by one or more of his best 
 works, yet as such works are not essential to the com- 
 pleteness of the collection considered as an historical 
 series, but serve rather to enrich it as a mere assemblage 
 of beautiful works, and are besides only to be procured 
 at intervals more or less rare, it is advisable to complete 
 the series at once, by such specimens as can be obtained, 
 provided only they are genuine. 
 
 Let it not be supposed, however, that I have any idea 
 of filling the Gallery with w^orks which are unworthy of a 
 place in it. I assume that the specimens purchased are 
 the genuine productions of the masters to whom they are 
 attributed ; and if that be the case, it may be taken for 
 granted that there is no genuine work, however slight 
 or unimportant, of any master of repute, which is not on 
 some account or other, independently of its relation to 
 the history of painting, deserving of a place in the 
 national collection. Besides, I am only proposing to do 
 
21 
 
 that systematically, and with a view to economy and a 
 speedy result, which our Trustees have done already in a 
 random way. They have already purchased pictures, 
 which, though worthy of a place in the collection, can 
 only be regarded as second-rate specimens. They have 
 paid for them, it is true, as if they were first-rate speci- 
 mens ; but that is another point ; it is sufficient for me to 
 notice the fact that second-class works have been admitted 
 into the national collection. There is, for instance, the 
 " Magdalene" by Guido, purchased in 184U. If there were 
 no work of Guido in the Gallery, I should never hesitate 
 to purchase such a picture, though perfectly aware that 
 by itself it gave a very inadequate idea of the merits of 
 Guido. Then, again, as the Gallery possessed no speci- 
 men from the hand of Perugino, I think the Trustees 
 acted properly in buying Mr. Beckford's picture ; though 
 I imagine there is no one who has seen the best works of 
 that master, who will not consider him but poorly repre- 
 sented by the " Madonna " in the National Gallery. 
 Even the two pictures by Raffaelle cannot be regarded 
 as other than second-rate, compared with his best pro- 
 ductions ; and the same may be said of the portrait by 
 Gian Bellini. Yet all these are deserving of a place in the 
 national collection ; and I feel sure that a complete series 
 of works — say by the Italian masters of the fifteenth 
 century — composed of specimens of the same grade as 
 the Perugino, Bellini, and Guido just referred to, would 
 always afford ample scope for enjoyment and instruction, 
 even were it never to be enriched by examples of a higher 
 order. 
 
 I have stated that this proposal to complete the 
 
22 
 
 series of works at once by such, examples as can be 
 procured, has the recommendation of economy in its 
 favour ; and this I am persuaded would prove to be the 
 case, if proper machinery were set in action for the 
 purpose. But this touches the second point which I 
 proposed for consideration-. — What is the machinery 
 proper for such a purpose ; is there any likelihood of its 
 accomplishment under the present system of manage- 
 ment ? But, first, as to the present system : What 
 is it ? 
 
 II. So far as we can gather from the few authentic 
 documents respecting the National Gallery which are 
 accessible, it would appear that its government was 
 originally intended to resemble that of the British Mu- 
 seum, which is thus described by Mr. Hawkins (Pari. 
 Pap. No. 552, 1852):— "The theory of the Museum 
 constitution," says he, " is that it is governed by a Board 
 of Trustees, from whom emanate all orders : that these 
 orders result from the Trustees consulting with the 
 officers, from whom alone they derive much of the infor- 
 mation upon which those orders are grounded : that 
 these orders are chiefly executed by the officers to whose 
 custody and management the different departments are 
 confided." If for " officers " we substitute " keeper," 
 this account seems to apply with exactness to the original 
 " constitution " of the National Gallery. "My duties," 
 said Mr. Seguier (1440. Report of Comm. on Arts, &c. 
 1837) " are to have the general superintendence of the 
 Gallery ; to be called upon, upon any occasion, to give 
 my opinion as to the value of any purchases that may be 
 
23 
 
 made ; to take charge of the collection ; and to attend 
 occasionally to admit students." 
 
 This view of the Keeper's duties, in particular with 
 respect to the advice he might be called upon to give, is 
 confirmed by the minutes of the Trustees during the 
 years 1845 and 1846 (Pari. Paper, 1847, No. 40), in 
 which I find the following resolutions : — 
 
 March, 1845. 
 
 " Read, a letter from the Rev. T. Cornthioaite, offering to 
 present a picture by Gaspar Poussin. Resolved, that Mr. East- 
 lake be requested to examine this picture, and report his opinion 
 of it to the Trustees." 
 
 " Read letters, stating the particulars of a 
 
 bequest, &c. 
 
 " Resolved, that Mr. Eastlake be requested to examine this 
 collection, .... and report to the Trustees the result of 
 his inquiries." 
 
 "7th April, 1845. 
 " Read, letters from Mr. S. J. Rochard of the 1st and 15th 
 March, offering for sale three pictures by Holbein, Morales, and 
 Giorgione, the first and last of which were brought to their view. 
 Resolved, that Mr. Eastlake is empowered by the Trustees to 
 negotiate the purchase of the picture ' A Portrait of a Gentle- 
 man^ by Holbein, at a price not exceeding 800 guineas." 
 
 "4,th August, 1845. 
 
 " Read a letter from Mr. Buchanan, offering to the Trustees 
 for sale a picture, ' Susanna and the Elders,' by Guido, for 1500 
 guineas 
 
 " Resolved, that considering as well the intrinsic merit of the 
 ' Guido ' now in the possession of Mr. Buchanan, the historical 
 evidence of its genuineness, and its peculiar value to the Gallery, 
 in conjunction with the companion picture already purchased 
 
24 
 
 from the late Mr. Penrice, the Trustees are of opinion that it 
 would form a very desirable addition to the Gallery, at the price 
 of 1200 guineas. 
 
 "That this resolution be submitted on behalf of the Trustees 
 to the First Lord of the Treasury by Mr. Eastlake." 
 
 These quotations from the minutes of the Trustees 
 confirm the statement of Mr. Seguier, that the Keeper 
 was only to give advice when called upon to do so. It 
 does not appear that any opinion was given by that officer 
 on the occasion of the purchase of Mr. Rochard's picture, 
 or of that of Mr. Buchanan, referred to in the minutes 
 respectively of April 7, and August 14, 1845. On these 
 two occasions, the Trustees seem to have taken the whole 
 responsibility upon themselves ; and this was attended 
 with important consequences. They made a most unfor- 
 tunate and unaccountable mistake in the purchase of Mr. 
 Rochard's " Holbein " (so called) — a mistake which it is 
 difficult to conceive that any persons should have fallen 
 into who had ever seen the works of that master. The 
 blunder, nevertheless, was committed at a tolerably full 
 meeting of the Trustees ; and, considering the turn taken 
 by public animadversion, it became obvious tliat^ some- 
 thing must be done, not only to prevent the recurrence 
 of such mistakes, but to relieve the Keeper, on whom the 
 blame was laid, from the false position in which he was 
 placed. It might be quite true that the Trustees were 
 not bound to ask his opinion ; but it was equally true 
 that, in public estimation, the chief, if not the only, 
 object to be attained by the appointment of so distin- 
 guished a man as held the office of Keeper at that time, 
 was to secure to the Trustees, not the occasional, but the 
 
25 
 
 constant benefit of an experience and Icnowledge of art, 
 to which, either singly or as a body, they did not, I 
 imagine, lay claim, and which, at all events, public opinion 
 did not ascribe to them. It became necessary, I say, to 
 undeceive the pubhc mind with respect to the respon- 
 sibihties of the Keeper, as well as to provide a guarantee 
 against future effects of the incapacity manifested in the 
 purchase of the so-called " Holbein." I find, accordingly, 
 that the matter was taken up by the Government. The 
 very next proposal of the Trustees to purchase a picture, 
 viz. Mr. Buchanan's " Guido," was met by the following 
 communication from the Treasury : — 
 
 " Treasury Chambers, 14//i Aug. 1845. 
 
 " My Lords and Gentlemen, 
 
 " Sir Robert Peel having submitted to the Lords 
 Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury a minute of the 
 Trustees of the National Gallery, recommending the purchase 
 from Mr. Buchanan of a picture by Guido, for the sum of 1200 
 guineas, I have received their lordships' commands to express to 
 you their opinion, that before this purchase is effected, it will be 
 desirable that Mr. Seguier should be consulted as to the condi- 
 tion of the picture, and that two other eminent judges of the 
 merit and pecuniary value of Italian pictures should be requested 
 to give their opinion as to the merit and value of this picture. 
 
 "Mr. Woodburn and Mr. Farrar might probably be selected 
 with advantage for the purpose, or any others whom Mr. 
 Eastlake might consider preferable. My Lords think it would 
 be satisfactory that the same course should be adopted in future, 
 when the Trustees may be disposed to recommend the acquisition 
 of pictures for the National Gallery. 
 
 " It appears to their Lordships, that there ought not to be 
 any permanent appointment of persons to be consulted by the 
 
26 
 
 Trustees, but that the selection should be made from time to 
 time with reference to the class of art to which the pictures may 
 belong, and to the qualifications of the parties to be selected to 
 judge of its value. 
 
 " I have, &c. 
 (Signed) Edw. Cardwell. 
 
 " The Trustees of the National Gallery." 
 
 This document, the bearings of which I shall pre- 
 sently consider, was succeeded in the following year by 
 another communication from the Treasury, by which the 
 responsibilities of the Trustees underwent a still more 
 remarkable modification. It was as follows : — 
 
 " Treasury Chambers, 12th August, 1846. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " The Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury 
 have had under their consideration the arrangements that have 
 been made from time to time for the appointment of Trustees 
 of the National Gallery. 
 
 "The advantages of having the proceedings of that body 
 conducted in immediate communication with the members of 
 the Government, responsible for the financial measures of the 
 country, has been heretofore obtained by the appointment to the 
 office of Trustees of noblemen and gentlemen who have at the 
 time filled the offices of First Lord of the Treasury or Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer ; but their Lordships consider that the object 
 in view would be better attained by the addition of those officers 
 of state ex-officio to the Board of Trustees. 
 
 "I am, therefore, directed to inform you that the First Lord 
 of the Treasury and the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the 
 time being are to be henceforward ex-officio Trustees of the 
 National Gallery. 
 
 " I have, &c. 
 (Signed) " C. E. Trevelyan. 
 
 " The Secretary of the Trustees of the 
 National Gallery." 
 
27 
 
 And, in the year following, the. instructions given to 
 the new Keeper, Mr. Uwins, R.A., on his appointment, 
 contain the foUomng rider over all his duties : — "I am 
 to desire that you will place yourself under the directions 
 of the Trustees, and conform to their orders." 
 
 The conclusions to be drawn from the foregoing 
 particulars appear to me to be these : — 
 
 First. The Keeper of the Gallery is not a responsible 
 officer, having definite duties, for the performance of 
 which he is accountable to the Trustees or to the public, 
 but a mere servant, acting under the orders of the Board, 
 who are therefore responsible for his acts. 
 
 Secondly. Whatever may have been the responsi- 
 bihties of the Trustees previously to the 12th August, 
 1846, they have since that period ceased and merged in 
 the official responsibilities of the Treasury. 
 
 Thirdly. For the same reason, the incapacity of the 
 Trustees as a body to judge of the merits and value of 
 pictures, assumed in the letter of August 14, 1845, has, 
 since August 1846, become the attribute of the Treasury 
 itself. 
 
 This, surely, is a most anomalous state of things. 
 Here we have the Treasury, on the one hand, affirming, 
 in language which cannot be misapprehended, that the 
 Trustees as a body are not competent to give a judg- 
 ment on which any rehance can be placed, on the merits 
 and value of the pictures which they recommend for 
 purchase ; and, on the other, identifying itself with that 
 very body : so that, in fact, either the Treasury is com- 
 mitted to all the acts of the Trustees, or the Trustees, as 
 uich, do not act at all. It will not, I imagine, be said 
 
28- 
 
 that the addition of the First Lord of the Treasury and 
 the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the time being, to 
 the Board, as ex-qfficio members, imparts to it the 
 elements which were wanting to give trustworthiness to 
 its previous recommendations of pictures for purchase. 
 If not, matters remain, I suppose, as they did, with this 
 difference : that whereas formerly the Treasury dis- 
 trusted the unaided judgment of the Trustees, it now 
 distrusts its own, and, of course, applies the same re- 
 medy, viz. reliance on the opinion of eminent cleaners 
 of, and dealers in, ancient pictures. 
 
 This, then, is the present state of matters. The 
 right to entertain a proposal to purchase any picture 
 rests with the Trustees ; the ultimate opinion of its 
 merits, on which the purchase depends, is not theirs, 
 but that of certain " eminent judges " of such points. 
 The Trustees decide what may be, and shall be pm-- 
 chased, if it be worth purchasing; the eminent judges 
 decide whether it be worth purchasing, and worth the 
 money asked for it. 
 
 It may be said that this is an extreme and exagge- 
 rated view of the case; that the Treasury, though re- 
 posing confidence in the recommendations of the 
 Trustees, might, nevertheless, think it desirable on se- 
 veral accounts to have their recommendations fortified 
 by the opinions of eminent judges. True : but as it 
 cannot be supposed that the Trustees would press a 
 recommendation, in any case, in the face of an adverse 
 opinion given by the judges they had summoned to 
 their assistance : in other words, since they cannot make 
 a recommendation at all without both summoning such 
 
29 
 
 assistance and obtaining a favourable opinion, it is per- 
 fectly clear that the favourableness of the opinion they 
 have obtained, not their concurrence in it, must be 
 looked upon by the Treasury as the real warrant for 
 adopting their recommendations. 
 
 Nor, on the other hand, is it refining too much to 
 say that the ecc-qfflcio trusteeship of the heads of the 
 financial department of the Government, not only anni- 
 hilates the responsibihty of the Trustees, but prevents 
 the due exercise of the control which that department 
 ought to have over their proceedings. 
 
 It is surely a case quite within the bounds of pro- 
 bability, that the First Lord of the Treasury and the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer might be outvoted at a 
 meeting of the Trustees. Suppose, on the question 
 whether a certain work of art should be — I will not 
 say recommended to the Treasury for purchase, but 
 purchased — for, of course, the recommendation of the 
 Trustees and the sanction of the Treasury are, in this 
 case, a pleasing official fiction : — supposing, I say, the 
 heads of the financial department of the state were in 
 the minority on such a question. What then ? Are 
 they bound by the decision of a majority of the Board, 
 of which they are, not members merely, but members in 
 their official capacity ? If they are, what has become of 
 their official responsibility ? If they are not, what is the 
 use of the other Trustees ? 
 
 I will refer to a parallel case to show that I am not 
 creating imaginary difficulties It so happens that 
 another Committee of Management, composed, like the 
 Trustees, of distinguished individuals, was constituted 
 
30 
 
 on precisely the same footing : I allude to the Council 
 of the School of Design. In 1842, the same relations 
 subsisted between that body and the Board of Trade as 
 now subsist between the Trustees of the National Gal- 
 lery and the Treasury. The President and Vice-Pre- 
 sident of the Board of Trade were ex-officio members of 
 the Council. The consequences of that arrangement 
 were not imaginary, but real, difficulties. If it so hap- 
 pened that no official representative of the Board of 
 Trade was present at a meeting of the Council, the 
 action of that body was completely paralyzed ; if an 
 officer of the Board was present, something more than a 
 suspicion passed through the mind that the Council was 
 virtually a nulhty. Nothing could be decided without 
 the presence of an officer of the Board ; and if an officer 
 were present, there was nothing decided which might 
 not have been decided, just as easily and well, without 
 the assistance of the Council. 
 
 Such a state of things seemed to demand the inter- 
 vention of the Government ; and I believe I am correct 
 in saying that, if it had been practicable, the Council 
 would, at the time to which I refer, have been abolished 
 as useless, and the affairs of Schools of Design placed 
 under a management similar, in many respects, to that 
 which has been recently established. It was found, 
 however, that the grant of public money for the esta- 
 blishment of Provincial Schools, made in 1841, had 
 been voted by Parhament to " the Council of the School 
 of Design;" and this, giving, as it did, a certain per- 
 manence to that body, left no alternative, but to place 
 its action and responsibility on an intelhgible footing. 
 
31 
 
 Now, tlie extract, which I subjoin, from the minute of 
 the Board of Trade, by which the new position of the 
 Council was defined, points out, as an evil to be reme- 
 died, the very anomaly which exists in the case of the 
 Trustees of the National Gallery : — 
 
 " Office of Privy Council for Trade, <SfC. 
 May 4, 1843. 
 
 " My Lords refer to the relations which subsist between 
 this Board and the Provisional Council of the School of Design. 
 
 " At present the president and vice-president of this Com- 
 mittee are ex-officio members of the Council, but they have a 
 further and independent power of controlHng the decision of the 
 Council in all the practical steps which that body may take in 
 carrying out the design of the Government and the legislature 
 in establishing the School j and in consequence of that peculiar 
 position in which they are placed in respect to the Council, it is 
 obvious that the final responsibility of the management of the 
 School is vested in the heads of this department ; but as they 
 are at the same time members of the Council, they may in 
 many supposable cases be in the anomalous predicament of 
 having been outvoted, and of afterwards feeling it to be their 
 duty, as responsible servants of the Crown, to disallow and 
 overturn the decision of that majority ; the occurrence of such 
 a state of things could not fail to be productive of great incon- 
 venience and confusion in the management of the institution 
 and the distribution of any funds intrusted to it by Parliament. 
 My Lords have therefore deemed it indispensably necessary to 
 reconsider the composition of the governing body of the School, 
 and to fix with more precision the relative situation and autho- 
 rity of this Committee and the Council ; and they are of 
 opinion that the nature and functions of the Council, the mode 
 of managing the School of Design, and the distribution of the 
 
32 
 
 parliamentary grant for the establishment of provincial schools, 
 should be defined by the following regulations : — 
 
 " 1. That the School of Design be under the management 
 of a director, subject to the control of a Council, and of a 
 Council subject to the control of the Board of Trade. 
 
 " 2. That the Council consist of twenty-four members/' &c. &c. 
 
 The after history of the Council to its final ex- 
 tinction is equally instructive in relation to the matter 
 now under consideration ; but for this a very few words 
 will suffice. The difficulties of this unfortunate body 
 now assumed a new aspect ; but, as before, they had 
 their origin in the jumbling and confusion of responsi- 
 bilities. The minute of the Board of Trade seemed to 
 place the directorship on a sufficiently distinct and intel- 
 ligible footing ; but whether from a misapprehension of 
 its real meaning, or from an unwillingness to admit its 
 consequences in regard to the limitation of their own 
 duties, the Council regarded the minute in that par- 
 ticular as a dead letter. The efforts of the individual, 
 who then held the office of director, to disentangle his 
 responsibilities from those of the Council were unsuc- 
 cessful ; and his resignation followed in about a year. 
 His successor, less scrupulous on such a point, had no 
 objection to any amount of practical interference on the 
 part of the Council, and the result was precisely that 
 which must have been anticipated. After a time the 
 Council ceased — I will not say, to have any control over 
 the management — but to have any management but 
 their own to control. They were completely identified 
 with it, and as a matter of course, when the mismanage- 
 ment (which was equally a matter of course under such 
 
33 
 
 circumstances), could no longer be concealed, and an 
 inquiry took place, it was impossible for them to impute 
 blame to the manager, without condemning themselves 
 — they stood, therefore, and fell together. 
 
 Then followed a resort to the old expedient, with a 
 difference. The real management was again assumed 
 by the Board of Trade, assisted by one or two artist- 
 members of the defunct Council. This proved equally 
 abortive. As such a management could never be suffi- 
 ciently practical without superseding the officers of the 
 school, and must, therefore, of necessity confine itself to 
 general business, it seemed that the assistance of the 
 artist-members of Council might be dispensed with ; 
 and the matter terminated where it ought to have 
 begun, viz. by the appointment of some officer, under 
 the authority of the Board of Trade, to superintend, and 
 be responsible for, the business of the schools. 
 
 I think, however, it is useless to disguise the con- 
 viction, which forces itself on every one who attentively 
 considers the subject, that the inefficiency of unpaid 
 committees of management is due to more remote 
 causes than the mere want of properly defined respon- 
 sibilities. That want is, in fact, a consequence, rather 
 than a cause. There are radical defects in the consti- 
 tution of such bodies, which press at every turn, which 
 become more and more apparent by every successive 
 attempt which is made to remedy them, and give rise 
 to all those shiftings and uncertainty of responsibility, 
 and ultimate failure, which seem to be uniformly cha- 
 racteristic of their history. 
 
 There is, I admit, a certain plausibility in the idea 
 
 D 
 
84 
 
 of management by a committee. " In the multitude of 
 counsellors there is wisdom." It seems a priori so un- 
 likely, that a commission composed for the most part of 
 individuals of high rank, distinguished by their talents, 
 and accustomed to the administration of public business, 
 should be unequal to a7ii/ undertaking, that the antici- 
 pations of success in every new instance outweigh the 
 considerations suggested by experience. It appears to be 
 so improbable that bodies so constituted should fail of 
 success, that, on every new occasion, we proceed as if 
 lamentable experience had never demonstrated, in the 
 most unmistakeable manner, that bodies so constituted 
 are precisely thos6 that do fail of success. 
 
 " Your Committee/' writes the Select Committee (1837) of 
 the House of Commons on the Record Commission, "in re- 
 marking on the defective management of past commissions, has 
 attributed their errors, not to any particular incapacity or 
 negligence of the individuals who composed these commissions, 
 but to the defective principle which has pervaded the consti- 
 tution of all those different bodies. Our experience of them 
 furnishes hut one additional and almost superfluous proof of the 
 folly of expecting efficient labour and systematic care at the 
 hands of a numerous body, unpaid for the discharge of its duties, 
 and occupied by other avocations of a more important, a more 
 imperative, and a wholly foreign nature'' 
 
 The same view was taken by the Select Committee 
 of the Commons (1837) on Arts and Manufactures, in 
 reference to the Trustees of the National Gallery. 
 
 1454. (To Mr. Seguier.) These gentlemen (the Trustees), 
 if I understand you, were chosen frqm the eminence of their 
 station principally ?— Many of them were chosen probably from 
 the offices they held at the time. 
 
85 
 
 1456. Do you not think that a Prime Minister and other 
 public officers of the State have too many serious pubhc duties 
 incumbent upon them^ to be very Kkely to pay rigorous atten- 
 tion to such a subject as the management and constitution of a 
 National Gallery? — Upon my word I think there is always a 
 very good attendance.* 
 
 1457. Do you think they have so much time to spare from 
 their political and other duties as would be desirable for a 
 person who could devote a greater portion of time to the in- 
 spection of a National Gallery and the consideration of works of 
 art? 
 
 1459. You think their duties do not at all interfere ? — No j 
 because there are others {i.e. who have no such duties, and do 
 attend). 
 
 But if it be a fact— and who can doubt it ? — that a 
 majority of the distinguished persons who compose such 
 committees of management never attend at all, or so 
 rarely as to make it impossible for them to take but a 
 very cursory interest in the business to be transacted, 
 it is quite obvious that the very ground, on which our 
 anticipations of success were based, has slipped from 
 under the feet. They were based on a fallacy — the 
 
 * The following return of the attendance of the Trustees during 
 the years 1845 and 1846, was made to the House of Commons in 
 1847. The number of Trustees is sixteen, three being a quorum. 
 
 March 2, 18-46 
 
 March 3, 1845 ... 3 
 
 April 7 7 
 
 May 5 ... • 5 
 
 June 2 3 
 
 June 18 ... ... 3 
 
 June 30 • 2 
 
 August 4 ... ... 3 
 
 February 2, 1846 ... 3 
 
 April 6 
 May 4 ... 
 June 8 ... 
 July 6 ... 
 August 3 
 August 24 
 
36 
 
 fallacy of measuring the chances of success by an aggre- 
 gate of the individual talent residing in such commis- 
 sions, which is never, in fact, brought to bear on their 
 proceedings. I find, for instance, that during the two 
 years, for which returns of the attendance of the 
 Trustees of the National Gallery at the meetings of 
 that body have been printed, only one-half of the 
 Trustees ever attended at all ; of those who tittended, 
 one was present at one meeting during the two years ; 
 another at two ; a third at four ; another at five ; three 
 others at seven, and two at eight ; the whole number of 
 meetings having been fifteen : and this I believe to be 
 a fair sample of the attendance of such bodies.* 
 
 There is an inevitable consequence of this. The 
 business to be transacted falls into the hands of a mi- 
 nority. It may be, and probably is so in the case of 
 the Trustees of the National Gallery, that the minority 
 is composed of the very persons whose active exertions 
 are the most desirable ; but this is not always the case. 
 On the contrary, experience seems rather to justify a 
 belief that it is seldom the case. It more frequently 
 happens, that the persons who display most activity on a 
 commission are not only the least qualified, but such as 
 probably would never have obtained a place in it at all, 
 
 * The Trustees of the British Museum found it necessary in 
 ] 836-7, with a view to obviate the irregularity of the attendance of 
 members of that body, to pass a resolution that " in future it be 
 understood that any Trustee hereafter to be elected, not giving per- 
 sonal attendance at any of the meetings of the Trustees for a period 
 exceeding twelve months, is expected to resign his trusteeship, or to 
 assign such reasons as may be satisfactory to a general meeting of 
 the Trustees." Printed in Sess. Paper 409. 1887. 
 
37 
 
 had a more sparing appointment of members been made. 
 But whichever way it be, — whether the active minority 
 consists of the most or the least desirable members, its 
 inevitable tendency is towards a certain recklessness, and 
 a disregard of public opinion. A sense of irresponsibility 
 is engendered by its position. Whatever its acts, it can 
 always retreat, and find shelter behind the impenetrable 
 front of the inert majority. Though its acts are its own, 
 it can only be reached through the broad mantle — shall 
 I not rather say, the insensible hide ? — of the whole Com- 
 mission, which covers them, 
 
 I repeat, then, that the original ground on which the 
 pecuhar advantage of management by committees of 
 distinguished persons is thought to rest, is entirely falla- 
 cious. It is a mere delusion to suppose that the actual 
 management and the ostensible are always, or even often, 
 identified. In most cases, the actual management is 
 in the hands of one or two individuals, who obtain it, 
 not by the delegation, but by the negligence of the 
 majority ; and who, on that account, are not only libe- 
 rated from the restraints which the action of the whole 
 body would induce, but have it in their power to inter- 
 pose the inertia of the majority as a shield against the 
 force of public opinion. 
 
 But even these defects may be considered as acci- 
 dental and secondary, compared with the radical and 
 incurable disease of an original inaptitude, or inadequacy 
 of a commission for the peculiar business intrusted to 
 its management. Unhappily for the public interests, this 
 is by no means a rare phenomenon. On the contrary, 
 one is almost tempted to believe that there must be some 
 
38 
 
 standing receipt for the composition of unpaid committees 
 of management, wliicli is employed in all cases, whatever 
 be the business with which they are charged — so 
 invariable are their ingredients — so uniformly do they 
 exclude the very persons whose pecuhar attainments and 
 experience would seem to qualify them for selection. 
 " It is a general remark," says Sir Harris Nicolas, 
 speaking of the British Museum in 1836-7, "that the 
 position of men of science and literature in this country 
 is very unlike their position in every other country of 
 Europe; and perhaps the most forcible illustration of 
 that fact is the extraordinary circumstance that, for the 
 last forty years, they have been entirely excluded from 
 the government of the only literary institution which is 
 supported by parliament." A writer in the " Quarterly 
 Review " delivers himself in far stronger terms : — " We 
 cannot," says the reviewer, " blame the honourable men 
 on whom the yoke has been imposed ; we blame the 
 meanness — shall we not add the ignorance? — of the 
 British government, who, with a culpable indifference to 
 the best interests of their country, have kept out of every 
 board the only men qualified to fill them, and with false 
 views of economy have devolved them on the gratuitous 
 management of our nobihty and gentry." * 
 
 But perhaps the most startling opinion on this subject 
 is to be found in the fifth resolution of the British Mu- 
 seum Committee reported to the House of Commons in 
 1836, where it seems to be assumed that the election of 
 such " quahfied men " to the office of Trustee is to be 
 
 * Quoted by Mr. Edwards ut sup. p. 145. 
 
39 
 
 looked upon solely as an occasional honorary distinction. 
 It is as follows : — " 5. That, in filling up vacancies, it 
 M'ould be desirable the electing Trustees should not in 
 future lose sight of the fact that an opportunity is thus 
 aflbrded them of occasionally* conferring a mark of 
 distinction upon men of eminence in literature, science, 
 and art." 
 
 According to this view, learned men, men of science, 
 and of high attainment in art, are not the persons to 
 whom the ordinary government of literary, scientific, and 
 artistic institutions ought to be committed. Nay, their 
 association with the management of such institutions is 
 to be looked upon as accidental, occasional, and excep- 
 tional. They are to be appointed, not because their 
 experience and attainments render them eminently fitted 
 to impart intelligence and practical wisdom to the pro- 
 ceedings of such bodies, but as a favour extended with 
 a patronising hand, for which, of course, they are to be 
 duly grateful. 
 
 It is, perhaps, owing to the influence of these views 
 that so little advantage seems to result from the infusion 
 of eminent literary, scientific, or artistic knowledge into 
 the counsels of unpaid committees of management," even 
 when it takes place, which is not often. The persons on 
 whom the " mark of distinction " is conferred, very 
 naturally find themselves in the predicament of those 
 eminent and powerful merchants elevated by Louis XIV. 
 to the peerage, who discovered, when too late, that they 
 had exchanged the vast influence exercised by them as 
 wealthy commoners of the first rank, for the comparative 
 unhnportance of parvenu peers of the lowest. 
 
40 
 
 But, as I have said, this mark of distinction is not 
 often conferred ; and the reason is very plain. A com- 
 mission, whose position and authority mainly rest on 
 considerations altogether apart from fitness for the peculiar 
 business intrusted to it, cannot be expected to invalidate 
 that position by the admission of an antagonistic element. 
 A commission, composed of noblemen, statesmen, and 
 eminent commoners, appointed to manage professional 
 business, and selected, not on account of their special 
 acquaintance with such business, but because they are 
 noblemen, statesmen, and distinguished commoners, 
 naturally shrinks from very close contact with the 
 possessors of a knowledge and experience, which must 
 inevitably override its artificial position, and, so far as the 
 business to be transacted is concerned, prove it to be a 
 false one. 
 
 The truth is, that a commission of this kind has, from 
 the very outset, to contend with a difficulty which is 
 really insurmountable. Turn where it will, it meets with 
 an obstacle which it cannot effectually remove, without 
 abandoning its position, and proving — what might have 
 been taken for granted without proof — that it had been 
 useless from the beginning. There are, in fact, no means 
 by which the original incompetency of a board can be 
 remedied, but such as, of necessity, at the same time 
 demonstrate that the appointment of the board itself was 
 a mistake. Whatever means it adopts, it cannot avoid 
 reducing itself, virtually, to a nullity ; in reality, to the 
 position of a drag on the efficiency of the help it has 
 obtained. 
 
 Unfortunately, however, the proof of incompetency, 
 
41 
 
 derived from the indispensable necessity of assistance, has 
 very Httle weight with such boards. However clear the 
 logical sequence may be, it matters not to them; the often- 
 repeated experiment must again be tried : how far it is 
 possible to reconcile their position with their inabihty to 
 discharge its active duties. Then follow the unhappy 
 consequences of the experiment. In the first place, if an 
 incompetent board obtains help from within, i. e. by 
 enrolling competent persons among its members, the 
 management either falls entirely into their hands ; in 
 which case we have the ^vil of an irresponsible minority, 
 already adverted to, or they fail altogether to obtain the 
 influence which their special knowledge and acquirements 
 ought to exert ; and this, as I have said, is more usually 
 the case. If, in the second place, such a commission 
 endeavours to fulfil its duties by the employment of 
 competent persons as subordinates, an antagonism imme- 
 diately starts up between the power of the assistants, 
 based on knowledge, and the power of the commission, 
 not based on it — between the right to govern, which 
 knowledge and ability assert, and the possession of a 
 merely delegated right. The tendency of the commission 
 is, to ignore any independent responsibility in its assist- 
 ants; the tendency of the assistants is, to undervalue 
 the position of the commission, and to look upon it as 
 a hindrance and a dead weight in the transaction of 
 business which they could conduct, not only as well, but 
 far better, if it had no existence. This kind of antagonism 
 is an incontestable fact in the history of all such commis- 
 sions. Its developement may, of course, be hindered, 
 favoured, or modified, by the circumstances of each 
 
42 
 
 particular case ; but even if it should never come to the 
 worst, and assume the form of a struggle for power and 
 pre-eminence between nominal and real authority — as is 
 sometimes the case — it always exists, as an element of 
 confusion, as a source of heart-burnings, animosities, and 
 perpetual contentions — as an insurmountable obstacle to 
 the due adjustment of responsibilities ; in short, as a 
 never-failing spring of retribution for the treason against 
 common sense committed by the original appointment of 
 an incompetent board.* 
 
 That the elements of these evils exist in the manage- 
 ment of the National Gallery, I do not think there is the 
 least doubt. The Trustees have, in my opinion, been in 
 a false position from the very first. That opinion I need 
 not say is perfectly consistent with the highest estimation 
 of the individuals composing the board. Indeed, it is 
 saying but little to affirm that the Trustees may chal- 
 lenge comparison with any corresponding number of 
 men in any country, whether in respect to general and 
 varied talent, or to the high education and acquirements 
 of accomplished gentlemen ; but this is nothing to the 
 purpose. Here was a specific object to be accomplished, 
 to which general cultivation and enlightenment, though 
 also necessary, were not of themselves adequate. Ques- 
 tions of art were to be dealt with, which required an 
 amount of careful study, opportunities of information, 
 
 * It will have been noticed tliat I have invariably termed the 
 committees with which the foregoing observations are concerned, 
 " Committees of Mcmagement."' I have been careful to do so in 
 order to distinguish them from " Committees oi Inquiry,'" which seem 
 to me to be as invaiiubly successful and useful, as Committees of 
 Management are the reverse. 
 
43 
 
 minute acquaintance with the monumental history of art, 
 and the characteristics of individual artists, and a tech- 
 nical skill and experience, which it would be simply 
 ridiculous, except in very rare cases, to attribute to any 
 but professional men of high attainments. I considered 
 it inevitable, therefore, that sooner or later the question, 
 how the deficiencies of the Trustees in these respects 
 were to be supplied, must be brought to a practical 
 issue. That question, as we have seen, was raised by 
 the unhappy blunder of the Trustees in the case of 
 Mr. Rochard's " Holbein " (so called) ; and it was dealt 
 with by the Treasury in the manner I have related. 
 
 Entertaining, then, the views which I have ex- 
 pressed, it will have been anticipated that I see no 
 remedy for the inadequacy of the present board of 
 management, short of its entire abolition. As to the 
 remedy proposed by the Treasury, though in principle it 
 may be defended, it was, in fact, not only uncourteous 
 to the Trustees, but in itself most ill-judged and incon- 
 siderate. So far as one can gather from the printed 
 minutes, there does not appear to have been any pre- 
 vious communication with that body. The Order of the 
 Treasury, dated August 14, was bluntly thrust upon 
 them in reply to their letter of the 4th of the same 
 month, in which they recommended the purchase of a 
 picture ; and the order itself, taken in its obvious mean- 
 ing, plainly said, " You have committed an unpardon- 
 able blunder ; we will purchase no more pictures on 
 your recommendation, unless you can furnish us with 
 satisfactory certificates of their merits and pecuniary 
 value from certain eminent judges." If the Trustees 
 
44 
 
 were to be superseded in a matter of such importance, 
 they surely ought to have been consulted, not only as to 
 the manner in which they might, with the greatest 
 advantage, avail themselves of professional assistance, 
 but as to the class of persons who were to afford it. 
 But no discretion was left to them ; and who, let me 
 ask, were the " eminent judges " fixed upon by the 
 Treasury ? Will it be believed that not only the class 
 of persons, but the very individuals chosen to give an 
 opinion, on which the purchase of pictures was to de- 
 pend, were those who were in the habit of offering, and 
 actually at the time were offering pictures to the Trustees 
 for sale? At the very meeting (held Feb. 2, 1846) at 
 which the communication from the Treasury was read, 
 I find the Trustees considering a proposal for the sale of 
 a collection of pictures by Mr. Woodburn, one of the 
 judges nominated by the Treasury. At the next meet- 
 ing, held March 2, 1846, I find that "the Trustees 
 again took into consideration the offer of a picture, by 
 Spagnoletto, for sale by Mr. Farrar the other " emi- 
 nent judge " recommended by the Treasury. So that, in 
 fact, the " eminent judges " were by turns competitors 
 for the patronage of the Trustees, and by turns sat 
 in judgment on one another's wares. 
 
 Far be it from me to cast the very smallest shadow 
 of a suspicion on the integrity of these most respectable 
 men. No blame attaches to them ; but surely this is a 
 case, if ever there was one, in which a premium is offered 
 for collusion, for unfairness — in short, for a partial and 
 dishonest judgment. 
 
 No : if we are to have a committee of experts subor- 
 
45 
 
 dinate to the Trustees, it must be composed of persons 
 who have no pecuniary interest in its decisions. But 
 ought we to have such a Committee? I do not say 
 that we ought not; on the contrary, the experience of 
 Continental nations would seem, to a certain extent, to 
 justify the appointment of some such body. But, if so, 
 w^hat is the use of the Trustees ? It is perfectly clear, 
 that if such a committee be competent to decide on the 
 merits and value of pictures selected by the Trustees, it 
 must be equally competent — shall we not rather say, it 
 must be far more competent ? — to make the selection in 
 the first instance. And so of all other business of an 
 artistic kind. In short, if a committee of experts — by 
 which I mean a committee similar to that which is said 
 to exist at Berlin, "composed partly of professors of 
 painting, of the directors of the Gallery, and of other , 
 persons who, without being artists, have made the 
 knowledge of pictures their study"* — if such a com- 
 mittee were appointed with definite responsibilities, the 
 Trustees could not possibly have any locus standi be- 
 tween it and the Treasury ; they would have come into 
 the very predicament of the Council of the School of 
 Design in the last stage of its existence ; there would 
 remain for them no functions which could not be dis- 
 charged far better, more expeditiously, more efficiently, 
 by some responsible officer appointed by the Treasury 
 to superintend the affairs of the National Gallery. 
 
 I am not, it will be observed, arguing for the ap- 
 pointment of a committee of experts as a substitute for 
 the Trustees. I am showing merely, that if the remedy 
 
 * Evidence Comm. on Arts, &c. 1837, p. 149. 
 
46 
 
 proposed by the Treasury — viz. that the Trustees should 
 always act on the advice of competent persons : for, in 
 principle, it amounts to no less than this — were to be 
 fully applied, — that is to say, were a proper selection of 
 persons, responsible for the advice tendered by them, 
 to be always consulted, there would appear to be no 
 reason why the Treasury should not consult them directly 
 without the intervention of the Trustees. 
 
 So far, indeed, am I from wishing to propose any 
 committee whatever in lieu of the Trustees as a board 
 of management, that I most strongly object to the 
 management being in the hands of a committee at all ; 
 and that not on general grounds merely, though these 
 also are of great weight. There are, I think, particular 
 reasons in this case which, if they do not render the 
 appointment of any permanent committee inexpedient, 
 at least go the length of making it desirable to limit the 
 action of such a body as must be appointed, if it be 
 appointed at all, to mere deliberation, and the expression 
 of opinion on points referred to it. In order to ensure 
 its efficiency as a deliberative body, it must, in the first 
 place, be so numerous, as to render it liable to all the 
 inconveniences of a largely diluted responsibility; and, 
 secondly, be composed of a considerable number of 
 persons whose advice would be (I will not say solely, 
 but) chiefly valuable on those technical and professional 
 matters in which they have attained eminence ; and if it 
 be further considered that such a committee must be a 
 paid one, there will appear to be still stronger reason for 
 avoiding any arrangement that would render the demand 
 on its services continuous. 
 
47 
 
 I conceive, then, that the management ought to be 
 vested — as it is, in fact, at present — in the Treasury ; 
 but that, considering the nature of the business to be 
 transacted, as it is out of the question to suppose that 
 the heads of that department, or the secretaries, should 
 be able, overburdened as they already are with other 
 duties, to take more than the general responsibility, 
 some officer should be appointed to take charge of all 
 business relating to the National Gallery, to be responsi- 
 ble for the immediate management, and to whom the 
 public should look for the success or failure of the 
 undertaking. 
 
 To this officer I would accord full powers to adopt, 
 subject to the approval of the Treasury, such measures 
 for the formation of the Gallery as circumstances might 
 render necessary. One of those measures would, I 
 should imagine, be the nomination of a certain number 
 of qualified persons to give advice on questions sub- 
 mitted to them, particularly with respect to the merits 
 and value of pictures proposed for purchase. I say one 
 of those measures, because it seems to me, that, con- 
 sidering all the circumstances under which pictures are 
 to be obtained, it will be impossible to act exclusively 
 under the advice of a committee sitting in London. 
 
 In the first place, it is vain to expect that the class 
 of pictures, of which the collection, considered in its 
 historical aspect, must to a large extent consist, will be 
 found at public sales in this country, or in the hands of 
 English dealers. Such pictures must be sought for : for 
 the most part in the localities where they were originally 
 painted. It is at least certain, that many works exist in 
 
48 
 
 various parts of the Continent which it would be highly 
 desirable to obtain for the national collection, but which, 
 either because they are painted by masters but little 
 known among us, and therefore 'held in no repute, or 
 because, for that and other reasons, they would scarcely 
 fetch a remunerating price to the importer, are seldom, 
 if at all, brought to this country for sale. A large propor- 
 tion of Italian, German, and Flemish works of the fif- 
 teenth century — say from 1410 to 1490 — belongs to this 
 class. This, then, is a case to be specially provided for. 
 
 Then, secondly, there is the case of sales of pictures 
 occurring abroad : how are we to take advantage of the 
 opportunities oflPered by them? If the question were 
 only of the purchase of works of European celebrity, no 
 difficulty would arise ; but, as I have said, the collection 
 cannot and need not be formed of these alone ; and, 
 besides, such works rarely occur for 'sale at all. When 
 they do occur, no fresh judgment on their merits is 
 required; they may be purchased on the strength of 
 their known authenticity and established reputation. 
 But when we travel beyond this class, how are we to 
 proceed? The same question may be proposed with 
 respect to those collections of pictures and individual 
 works, privately offered for sale, which the proprietors of 
 them refuse to send to England for the chance of their 
 being purchased by Government. It is obvious that, in 
 the main, little or no advantage can be taken of such 
 opportunities, if it be ruled that the purchase of a picture 
 must in every case depend on its approval by a com- 
 mittee sitting in London. This, however, is one of those 
 very points which would have to be considered by the 
 
49 
 
 responsible manager. It would be bis business always 
 to adopt tbe readiest, the most efficient, and most eco- 
 nomical means of obtaining desirable works, as well as 
 to secure tbe public 'against imposition, by employing 
 tbe services of competent agents in the manner most 
 applicable to each particular case. 
 
 Still, it may be possible to make such arrangements 
 as would in many, perhaps in most, cases refer the ulti- 
 mate choice of works for purchase to the judgment of a 
 committee in London.* This is certainly desirable in all 
 cases ; but I do not believe it to be always practicable ; 
 and on that account, it seems to me that there ought to 
 be a discretion left with the responsible manager as to 
 the choice of professional advisers in certain cases, — more 
 particularly when the works which it is in contemplation 
 to purchase cannot be previously brought to England. 
 
 III. In the foregoing observations on the proper 
 object and contents of a national collection of pictures, 
 I have confined myself to such general statements as 
 the purpose of them seemed to me to require. It was 
 sufficient to show that the collection must extend over the 
 whole history of the art. If, however, any steps are to 
 
 * I find, for instance, by the minutes of the Trustees, under date 
 2d February, 1846, that a proposal was made by Mr. S. Woodburn to 
 the following effect, viz. " That in consideration of a salary of 200Z. 
 per annum for his brother, W. Woodburn, during a term of three 
 years, travelling expenses included, he would offer to the Trustees, 
 annually, a certain number of pictures, at a profit of from 201. to '601. 
 per cent ; and send them direct to the Gallery, leaving them there 
 during one month for approval or rejection by the Trustees during 
 that period." He also engages that the pictures shall not be offered 
 for sale to other parties until the Trustees have decided. 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 be taken towards the formation of such a collection, a 
 more definite and detailed scheme of its contents must 
 be prepared. This must be the preliminary step to all 
 future proceedings. The whole contents of the future 
 collection must be laid down in partition — classified 
 under general heads, with subdivisions — exhibiting both 
 the chronological and, what may be termed, the genealo- 
 gical history of the art; that is to say, showing its 
 general progress, and its particular national, and school 
 developements. The names of the artists being arranged 
 in accordance with this, the comparative importance of 
 their works in relation to the general history of art, and 
 the progress of particular schools, might be considered, 
 for the purpose of determining what works ought chiefly 
 to be sought for in the first instance ; and to this there 
 might be appended a statement of the probable sizes of 
 such works. This, I imagine, would not be attended with 
 any particular difficulty ; but, until it be accomplished — 
 until a distinct conception be formed in detail of the 
 purpose, the character, and the proper contents of the 
 collection in all its parts, we are neither in a condition 
 to proceed with intelligence in the labour of its forma- 
 tion, nor, which is of more immediate importance, to 
 define the space and arrangements which are desirable 
 for its due exhibition. The latter point, indeed, hinges 
 entirely on the view which we take of the proper con- 
 tents and purpose of the collection. If the works, of 
 which it is to consist, are to exhibit the developement of 
 the art in various countries, and to be distributed in 
 such a manner as to enable the student to trace its 
 monumental history, through successive, or contempo- 
 
51 
 
 raneous national and individual schools, no argument is 
 necessary to prove that the architectural arrangements of 
 the Gallery ought to be, not merely consistent with those 
 purposes, but expressly designed to serve them and I 
 need scarcely observe, that this is a question which, at 
 the present moment, assumes a pecuhar importance. 
 
 Recent events, and the announcement of Her Ma- 
 jesty's ministers on the opening of the present session 
 of parliament, have rendered it extremely probable that 
 the desire long cherished by the lovers of art in this 
 country, for a gallery worthy of the Enghsh people, will, 
 at no very distant period, be realised. It is in the pro- 
 spect of this, and because I sincerely desire that what- 
 ever is done should be done with perfect intelhgence and 
 foresight from the very commencement, that I am 
 anxious to press on the consideration of all who are in- 
 terested in the success of the undertaking, the necessity 
 of defining with exactness beforehand the precise objects 
 to be accomplished. 
 
 Our institutions generally, and in particular those 
 connected more or less with the arts, have grown up too 
 much by accident, taking the shape of some ill-defined 
 nucleus ; or have been commenced with little more than 
 a general conviction that such and such institutions were 
 wanted, and ought to exist, in a country like Great 
 Britain. What the institutions are to aim at becoming, 
 — how they are to differ from others having similar ob- 
 jects, — what are to be their real nature and exact pur- 
 poses, — how those purposes are to be fulfilled, — are in- 
 quiries which, if they do not always result from mistakes 
 and mismanagement, have too frequently to be taken up 
 
52 
 
 when the progress of such mstitutions has not only been 
 in wrong directions, but has grown so considerable as to 
 throw serious obstacles in the way of their reconstruction. 
 
 It is owing to this want of forethought that we find 
 institutions virtually interfering with one another because 
 engaged in an ill-defined or partial manner about some 
 common purpose, which, for that reason, fails on the 
 whole of being accomphshed. An object which might 
 be, and ought to be, assigned to one institution, is frit- 
 tered away among two or three ; and is, in fact, lost 
 sight of. The general purpose is smothered in details ; 
 and materials which, if brought together, would amply 
 subserve that purpose, are scattered hither and thither, 
 and become practically inoperative towards the peculiar 
 advantages which their collocation in one and the same 
 establishment would confer. 
 
 Of the truth of these remarks, there cannot be a 
 more striking proof than the fact that in England, — a 
 country rich, perhaps, beyond all others in materials for 
 such a purpose, — we neither have any single National 
 Museum embracing all the arts of design, nor have we 
 any system of co-operation between those separate insti- 
 tutions which might on the whole accomplish the pur- 
 pose of such a museum. 
 
 The National Gallery, for example, confines itself 
 exclusively to the art of painting. The new " Depart- 
 ment of Practical Art "* is limited to ornamental design. 
 
 * I do not know who may be responsible for the nonsensical 
 name of this new department ; but I certainly think the sooner it is 
 changed the better. At present it exists as another proof of the 
 ' loose and inaccurate way in which we treat questions of art. Is 
 
53 
 
 Then we have the new section of the Museum of Eco- 
 nomic Geology partly devoted to art in its relation to 
 certain branches of physical science ; and lastly, the 
 British Museum ranging over the whole domain of art, 
 but on what principle and with what view it is really 
 hard to miderstand. 
 
 Now, if all the arts were distributed among these 
 institutions according to some arrangement or plan of 
 co-operation adopted by them, we should at least have a 
 consistent scheme, though deserving little commendation 
 on the score of economy and convenience ; but as yet we 
 have not advanced far in that direction. The only evi- 
 dence of such co-operation I have been able to discover 
 lies in the solitary fact that the Trustees of the British 
 Museum have deposited the pictures in oil* belonging 
 to that institution, in the National Gallery. But the co» 
 operation between these two institutions stops at that 
 point : for the rest, each proceeds as if the other had no 
 existence ; and this it is difficult to account for, if a real 
 and hearty co-operation were intended at all. If the 
 pictures in oil belonging to the Museum were deposited in 
 the National Gallery, because the latter is a national estab- 
 lishment expressly founded for the reception of works of 
 painting, why, one may well ask, were the works m fresco 
 and the collection of portraits not also sent there ? 
 
 there any art whicli is not practical ? Is not art essentially a s|/5 
 TFotYtriKVi ? Is " fine art " not practical ? I understand what is 
 meant by " practical science," hut " practical art" seems to me sheer 
 nonsense. 
 
 * Sixty-nine pictures belonging to the Museum are deposited in 
 the National Gallery ; and include Lord Farnborough's and Mr. Hol- 
 well Carr's collections. 
 
54 
 
 If it be desirable that the Museum should avoid 
 interference with the purpose of the National Gallery in 
 one particular, it is surely desirable in all; and vice 
 versa. How comes it, then, that both institutions are 
 engaged in forming collections of drawings by ancient 
 masters ? It is quite clear that either the Trustees of 
 the National Gallery, if they accepted the drawings 
 offered to them by Lord EUesmere and Mr. Vernon, ought 
 to have sent them to the British Museum ; or that the 
 collection of drawings at the Museum — some of them, 
 doubtless many of them, by the very masters whose 
 pictures in oil have been deposited in the National Gal- 
 lery — should have been sent there also. 
 
 I am not now concerned with the Department of 
 Practical Art : but the case between that institution and 
 the British Museum is still stronger, because it extends 
 over a greater variety of objects. In the former instance, 
 we have a show of co-operation in one particular, and for 
 the rest, a real antagonism ; in the latter antagonism 
 only. Each institution is in fact collecting the same 
 kind of objects ; and it cannot be said that the col- 
 lections are made for different purposes — since the 
 British Museum has no specific purpose in collecting 
 those objects which belong properly to a museum of 
 ornamental art. I cannot, at least, discover any uniform 
 and consistent purpose, beyond that of indiscriminate 
 accumulation, to which the collection, not only of 
 those objects to which I have just adverted, but (with 
 the exception of prints and drawings) of works of art 
 generally, can be referred. They seem to me to have 
 been acquired because they were on the whole desirable. 
 
55 
 
 as illustrations of the religion, the arts, the manners, 
 customs, and general history of the countries and times 
 which produced them ; but I cannot discover that any 
 attempt has ever been, or is intended to be, made, to 
 arrange them with a view to the special illustration of 
 any one of those particular points. 
 
 Hence it is that, with the exceptions already men- 
 tioned, there are no artistic collections, properly and 
 strictly so called, in the British Museum : that is to say, 
 there are no collections formed and arranged expressly 
 with a view to exhibit the history and developement of 
 particular arts. There are collections which include a 
 great variety of objects, valuable more or less as works 
 of art ; but as the same objects are, or may be reckoned, 
 valuable in other respects, they are not arranged with 
 reference to any exclusive view of their value. This is a 
 fact, of the truth of which any one may satisfy himself 
 by referring to the synopsis of the contents of the British 
 Museum. He will there find under some such title as 
 bronzes, or antiquities, or artificial curiosities, a variety 
 of heterogeneous objects grouped together, some of which 
 have little or no relation to art at all ; others almost 
 solely, if not solely, valuable as works of art ; and others 
 alike interesting, more or less, to the artist, the historio- 
 grapher, and the antiquary. 
 
 I am not here, it must be observed, simply finding 
 fault with this warehouselike accumulation of miscel- 
 lanies ; for T beheve that, to a great extent, it is matter 
 of necessity. Arrange as we will, there must always 
 remain, in any extensive archaeological museum, a large 
 
56 
 
 residuum of objects referrible to more classes than one, 
 and many of them, besides, which it would be difficult to 
 classify at all. What I am anxious to guard against is 
 the supposition that something is accomplished by the 
 collections of the British Museum, which is not only not 
 accomplished but disregarded. I wish that we should 
 labour under no mistake as to the fact that, with the 
 exception of the prints and drawings, there is no collec- 
 tion in the British Museum which fulfils the purpose of 
 a museum or gallery of art, viz. which exhibits the his- 
 tory of art by its monuments. Many of its monuments 
 are there ; but they are not made to tell the story of art. 
 However exclusive their relation to art, they come under 
 the general denomination of archaeology ; and hence it is 
 that the ample materials for a museum of art, belonging 
 to the nation, which are placed in that institution, are 
 rendered pro tanto inoperative, because they form part 
 of collections in which art is looked upon as a single 
 element only in general archaeology. This is a point 
 of great importance in relation especially to the National 
 Gallery. 
 
 In treating of that institution in the earlier part of 
 these observations, I thought it best, for the sake of 
 clearness, to confine myself, in the first instance, to its 
 sin(/le professed purpose, and to inquire how that pur- 
 pose ought to be accomplished. The inquiry, What a 
 national collection of pictures ought to be ? was one 
 which might, and, in fact must, at any rate, be under- 
 taken by itself; but there was another and larger ques- 
 tion to be considered, not only on its own merits, but 
 
57 
 
 because of its bearing on the character and arrangements 
 of any building which it might be in contemplation to 
 erect for the Gallery. 
 
 That question was, Whether the National Gallery 
 ought to be confined exclusively to pictures? — whether, 
 I mean, the collection of works of painting ought to form 
 a separate and isolated establishment, or be a section 
 only, of a museum devoted to all departments of the 
 Arts of Design ? 
 
 If this question had to be considered apart from the 
 real or supposed possibilities of the case, the reply to it 
 might be assumed without argument. Little or no dif- 
 ference of opinion seems to prevail among the most com- 
 petent authorities as to the general desirableness of 
 having all our works of art of whatever description, if 
 not under the same roof, at least in immediate con- 
 tiguity. And, indeed, it is obviously so much for the 
 best interests of art, so conducive to public instruction 
 and graitfication, and so consistent with sound and 
 enlarged views of the nature and province of art, that 
 a National Gallery should exhibit the developement not 
 of one art, or of two of them only, but of all the arts of 
 design, that, except on the score of practicability, it is 
 difficult to imagine any reasonable grounds of doubt on 
 the subject. 
 
 For myself, I do not hesitate to express my hearty 
 conviction that no Gallery can be worthy of this age, 
 and of this nation, which does not accomplish that, 
 mutatis mutandis, for Architecture and Sculpture, which 
 I have contended, and, I hope, proved, it ought to do 
 for Painting. In truth, there is not a single reason for 
 
58 
 
 the formation of a National Gallery of Pictures which 
 may not be urged with equal cogency for the formation 
 of a National Gallery of Sculpture, Architecture, and 
 their subsidiary Arts of Decoration ; and when we con- 
 sider the intimate relations subsisting between all the 
 arts, and how important it is, both for popular in- 
 formation, and for the purposes of artistic study, that 
 every obstacle to facility of reference should, as far as 
 possible, be removed, it will be conceded that there are 
 strong grounds for treating all our collections of objects 
 of art as the sections of one establishment, and for such 
 a local distribution of them as shall offer the greatest 
 general advantages, while, to practical students of art, it 
 occasions the smallest inconvenience and loss of time. 
 
 It may well, indeed, create surprise that the founda- 
 tion of the National Gallery should have taken place, 
 seemingly, without a thought on behalf of the sister arts 
 of Architecture and Sculpture. If (and this is probably 
 the case) it was assumed that those arts — at least 
 Sculpture, if not both — were sufficiently provided for 
 by the Sculpture Galleries of the British Museum, we 
 have only an additional evidence of the indistinct and 
 inadequate views which have prevailed among us on aU 
 artistic questions. Nothing, of course, was more likely 
 than that those, whose ideas of a National Gallery were 
 realised by the chance assemblage of a few good pic- 
 tures, should be content, so far as Sculpture and Archi- 
 tecture were concerned, with a similar state of things at 
 the British Museum. Is it necessary to say that the 
 mistake is just as great in the one case as it is in the 
 other ? 
 
59 
 
 The subject, however, has engaged public attention 
 from time to time. As early as 1836, I find the Com- 
 mittee of the Commons on *' Arts and Manufactures " 
 addressing questions to Mr. Wilkins, the architect of the 
 present building in Trafalgar Square, which seem to 
 assume the form of a remonstrance against the exclusion 
 of works illustrative of Sculpture and Architecture from 
 the National Gallery. For example : — 
 
 1182. Is that (a circular room at the rear of the building, 
 proposed to be occupied by the Royal Academy) of ample 
 capacity for the exhibition of works of ancient Sculpture? — I 
 beg pardon, I mistook the question; we have no provision 
 whatever for ancient Sculpture. 
 
 1186. And therefore you will now have in the National 
 Gallery no place for the exhibition of works of ancient Sculp- 
 ture ? — None. 
 
 1192. Would it not have been an advantage to have found 
 in the National Gallery a collection of ancient Sculptures as well 
 as a collection of ancient paintings ? — I certainly say it would ; 
 you might now, if you chose to remove the Sculptures from the 
 British Museum ; but I ought to say that it was never contem- 
 plated to bring ancient Sculpture into this building at all. The 
 Ministers, from whom I received my instructions, never contem- 
 plated that." 
 
 1193. Might you not have had a collection of casts to great 
 advantage ? — Certainly. 
 
 1196. But would it not have been of advantage to artists to 
 have found in this National Gallery an exhibition of works illus- 
 trative of Sculpture and of Architecture ? — Undoubtedly, if the 
 hght sufficed. 
 
 More recently, first in 1848, and subsequently in 
 1850, when the possibility of enlarging the present 
 
60 
 
 building was under the consideration of Committees of 
 the House of Commons, the question of providing space 
 for the Exhibition of Sculpture was again agitated. The 
 Committee of 1848 made no report; and although that 
 of 1850 refrained from any allusion to the subject, it is 
 evident, from the tone both of the queries and of the 
 evidence on that particular point, that the subject must 
 form a recognised element in any future inquiry. 
 
 In reply to a question respecting some suggested 
 alterations in the building. Sir C. Eastlake observes,* — 
 
 At present there is no department in the British Museum 
 for Mediaeval works. Sculpture, and Drawings by old (qy. mo- 
 dern ?) masters ; I happen to know that a work by was 
 
 sent to the British Museum, and the answer given was, that 
 there was no department in the establishment for such works. 
 
 161. If a proper National Gallery were erected, would it 
 not be desirable that the Sculptures now in the British Museum 
 should be placed in such a National Gallery ? — / should say 
 decidedly that the whole range of art should he under one 
 building; I should also include casts from the Laocoon and 
 Apollo statues, which we have not got 
 
 162. Could the Sculptures at present at the British Mu- 
 seum be accommodated in the present National Gallery ? — 
 Certainly not. 
 
 163. So that a very material alteration of the structure 
 must take place before all the Sculptures could be put into it 
 which are now in the British Museum ? — Certainly ; one of 
 those Egyptian fragments would crush the whole building. 
 
 The replies of Sir Charles Barry to the following 
 questions of the same Committee are also important : — 
 
 * Evidence before Select Committee, 1848, printed in Sess. 
 pap. 612, 1850. 
 
61 
 
 203. Would the Central Hall (according to the plan pro- 
 posed by Sir C. Barry) be available for statues? — Yes, to a 
 certain extent, as well as many rooms at the back, which might 
 be made available for such works of Sculpture in the British 
 Museum as may be considered in the light of Fine Art. 
 
 224. Would there be provision made for the exhibition of 
 Sculpture ? — Rooms for Sculpture might be arranged in the 
 present building below the exhibition rooms. I think that, by 
 means of certain alterations, a sufficient accommodation might 
 be provided for all Sculptures in the British Museum, which 
 may be considered as Fine Art. 
 
 226. Then you would consider it desirable in itself to unite 
 the Sculpture in the British Museum with the other works of 
 art in the National Gallery? — I think it most desirable. All 
 that I would propose to transport from the Museum would be 
 those marbles only that may be considered as Fine Art, and 
 worthy of study and imitation in that respect. I exclude the 
 Egyptian Antiquities and the early Etruscan or Greek Sculp- 
 ture, which have more of Archaeological than of artistic interest. 
 
 227. What line would you draw as to Sculpture ? — I would 
 take all Sculpture that may be considered Fine Art in its 
 greatest excellence. 
 
 228. Would you take the Attic remains ? — Yes, I would. 
 
 229. In this building, is there any room that would be equal 
 to the room where the Elgin marbles are now ? — I think there 
 would be no difficulty in providing such a room. 
 
 230. Would it be lighted from above ? — No ; but it should 
 be borne in mind, that the sculptures in question were not 
 lighted from above in their original position ; they were illumined 
 entirely by means of reflected and refracted light. 
 
 Prom the evidence before the Committee of 1850, I 
 extract the following queries and replies to the same 
 effect : — 
 
62 
 
 918. (Addressed to Mr. Mulready, R.A.) Looking to the 
 purposes of the education of artists, do you think it advisable 
 that the National Gallery should also contain a collection of 
 sculpture ? — Yes, assuredly : probably it may be more necessary 
 if you educate from a very early period to have sculpture than 
 painting. 
 
 919, 920. Is there room in the present National Gallery to 
 add a collection of sculpture, if the present building were de- 
 voted entirely to the purposes of the National Gallery ? — Yes ; 
 then I think a very considerable collection of sculpture, as much 
 as we want, might be brought in. 
 
 921. With adequate light ? — I am not so sure of that .... 
 
 922. But you think it highly desirable that the National 
 Gallery should contain a gallery of sculpture ? — I think so. 
 
 Sir C. Eastlake was again examined by this Com- 
 mittee. After having proposed that the National Gal- 
 lery should contain a collection of drawings by the old 
 masters, and a library of prints from their works, he 
 proceeds : — 
 
 I think it also very desirable that there should be, somewhere 
 in London, either at the British Museum or at the National 
 Gallery, a collection of casts from the finest antique statues. 
 Perhaps, wherever the fine works of sculpture are deposited 
 would be the fittest place : wherever the Elgin marbles or other 
 works are inspected, and a comparison ii made with previously 
 known works of ancient sculpture, it is most desirable that those 
 examples should be on the spot, to be referred to for the sake of 
 comparison. 
 
 515. Would you wish to bring all the sculptures from the 
 British Museum also to the National Gallery ? — No ; I am not 
 prepared to recommend that, though it might be a question 
 whether all works of art ought not to be under the same roof. 
 
 516. The effect of adopting such a recommendation would 
 
63 
 
 be to take the National Gallery to the British Museum, would 
 it not ? — No ; I was led to recommend that there should be a 
 gallery of casts somewhere, on the same principle that collec- 
 tions of prints and works on galleries should be formed, for the 
 purposes of comparison, wherever fine works of sculpture are ; 
 and perhaps they had better be under one roof. 
 
 517. If you would recommend that the sculptures should 
 be brought to one building, would not that, instead of bringing 
 together works that are only valuable as specimens of art, be 
 bringing together many that are only valuable for their anti- 
 quity ? * — That objection applies to all collections of art : you 
 must begin, in order to have a complete history, from the 
 rudest specimens of all schools. 
 
 The same subject is introduced in the examination of 
 the next witness, Dr. G. E. Waagen, who is asked : — 
 566. "Do you place sculpture under the same roof with 
 pictures ?" His instructive reply I give at length : 
 
 Yes (he says); we have two buildings; one we call the 
 Ancient Museum, finished in the year 1830 ; and another 
 building, not yet finished, called the New Museum. (These 
 buildings are united by a corridor, about thirty feet in length.) 
 In the first are sculptures of the Greek, Roman, and great 
 Middle Ages upon the first floor ; pictures upon the second 
 floor; and the smaller objects of antiquity, such as vases, small 
 bronzes, intaglios, and medals of the great Roman and Middle 
 Ages on the area floor. Then, because we wanted to have all 
 the objects of art together, ten years ago the new building was 
 begun, to contain plaster casts from the best models of ancient 
 sculpture, arranged historically together from the specimens of 
 Egyptian and Syrian art down to those of the time of Canova. 
 
 * I have inverted the sentences in this question, not only to 
 make it intelligible, but to suit the sense in which it was understood 
 by the witness. 
 
64 
 
 In the new building is placed a cabinet of engravings and 
 drawings hy the great masters. Also, there is a museum of 
 genuine Egyptian specimens, and the architect made a build- 
 ing in true imitation of the Egyptian style, and the whole 
 appearance is quite harmonious with the objects contained 
 in it. 
 
 There are also what we call Kunstkammern, for small objects 
 of art of the Middle Ages ; for instance, some figures cut in wood 
 by Albert Diirer, and by Holbein, with enamels and Raphael 
 ware, an immense treasury in that way. 
 
 Assuming, then, that both sculpture and archi- 
 tecture ought to form each a department of the National 
 Gallery, the illustrations of those arts, if they are to 
 afford complete materials for popular information, for 
 criticism, and for artistic study, must, as in the case of 
 painting, extend over their whole history. 
 
 In other respects the cases are not analogous. I 
 need hardly observe, that it is not essential to a gallery 
 of sculpture, in which the art is primarily had regard to, 
 that the whole, or even any of the larger works, should 
 be the original marbles or bronzes. Of course, it is 
 desirable that they should ; but it is not essential ; be- 
 cause works of sculpture admit of being reproduced with 
 great exactness in various materials by mechanical means, 
 and, for all ordinary purposes (works, especially beyond 
 a certain size), are adequately represented by castings in 
 plaster. 
 
 In some cases, indeed, the merits of a work are 
 shown to a greater advantage in a plaster cast than in 
 the original material ; as in the instance of the glazed 
 and partially coloured pottery of Luca della Bobbia, or 
 
05 
 
 when original marbles are much discoloured, and un- 
 equally stained. At all events, it may be assumed, that a 
 sculpture-gallery formed solely of plaster-casts, though 
 deficient in the particular archaeological interest and 
 value which may attach to original works, and in some 
 other respects, is, nevertheless, adequate to most of the 
 purposes, both popular and artistic, which a collection of 
 sculpture is intended to serve. 
 
 An obvious consequence of these views is, that the 
 formation of such a national sculpture-gallery may be ^ 
 undertaken, and the series of works even completed, 
 without any settlement of the question, whether the Attic 
 and other remains now in the British Museum, should 
 occupy a place in it. There is no doubt of its being de- 
 sirable, that in every instance, when it can be done, the 
 plaster-cast should be replaced or accompanied by the 
 original work which it represents ; but, looking to the 
 main object in view, it seems to me of more immediate 
 importance to complete the whole series of illustrations 
 of the history of sculpture, by casts in plaster only. 
 Afterwards, if it should be thought advisable, the 
 originals from the British Museum can be inserted in 
 their proper places in the series, instead of or along with 
 the casts of them. 
 
 After all, those original sculptures in the British 
 Museum which are solely or chiefly valuable as works of 
 art, and suited to the purposes of the National Gallery, 
 are by no means so numerous as it is generally sup- 
 posed. Probably they would not amount to a fifth or 
 sixth part, perhaps scarcely that, of the materials for such 
 a collection as we ought to have ; for, of course, I sup- 
 
G6 
 
 pose that the history of sculpture is brought down, 
 through the middle ages, to comparatively recent times ; 
 and although it would, I think, be a mistake if the more 
 artistically valuable sculptures in the British Museum 
 were not ultimately removed to the National Gallery, yet 
 the absence of them would not materially affect either 
 the character or the utihty of a collection, which must 
 always for the most part consist of casts in plaster. 
 
 With respect to that part of the Gallery which I 
 have assigned to the illustration of architecture and its 
 historical developements, a few words will suffice. 
 
 In the first place, it is obvious to remark, that archi- 
 tecture differs both from painting and from sculpture in 
 this, that its history cannot be represented by actual 
 monuments. Certain fragmentary remains, such as the 
 details of ornament, mouldings, capitals, and the like, 
 from the British Museum and elsewhere, would form 
 desirable additions to the architectural department ; but 
 it must be understood that the collection would in the 
 main, consist of drawings, models, and casts. The cha- 
 racter of the examples would vary to some extent with 
 the object immediately in view ; according, for example, 
 as they were intended to illustrate the construction or the 
 decoration of particular buildings, or, with reference to 
 later times, the works of particular architects ; in which 
 case original drawings, designs, and models, might be 
 obtained. But, in general, I assume that whether the 
 examples consisted of plans, or sections, or elevations, or 
 models of whole structures, or models and casts of 
 details, they would always be adequate to the great 
 purpose of exhibiting the developement of architecture, 
 
G7 
 
 both as it is a science and a fine art, in all the various 
 stages of its history. And, perhaps, the architectural 
 features of the apartments devoted to the ilhistration of 
 architecture might be made subservient to the same 
 purpose. ♦ 
 
 But, secondly, there is a peculiarity in the case of 
 architecture which deserves to be specially noticed. It 
 is this : — that the examples required to illustrate the 
 history of architectural construction and decoration, lead 
 us at once into the province of practical science and of 
 decorative art ; and thus the door is opened to a more 
 extended view of the contents of a National Gallery of 
 art. 
 
 I myself believe, and have always maintained, that 
 we take a very superficial and inadequate survey of the 
 range of painting and sculpture, if we overlook the various 
 kinds of decorative art, affiliated to those two parent 
 arts. It is, not only, a fact that the best decorators, and 
 inventors of ornament, have been painters and sculptors, 
 but, in the theory of art, ornamentation is included under 
 painting and sculpture, as well as under architecture. 
 Hence, in the older academies of fine art, as, for in- 
 stance, in the Royal Academy of Berlin, we find profes- 
 sorships of '^^ general decorative design," and even classes 
 for certain specialties which nowadays we consider 
 proper only to schools of design for manufactures and 
 decoration. Even if architecture were not in question, 
 I should conceive that a National Museum of painting 
 and sculpture would be incomplete, unless it contained a 
 department for examples, not only of that species of 
 mixed decorative art, which is neither purely ornamental, 
 
68 
 
 nor purely ethical, but of that which is ornamental 
 only. 
 
 But in the case of architecture, it is not a matter of 
 opinion whether this shall be so or not. It is matter of 
 neces^ty ; we have no choice, — we cannot have archi- 
 tecture without decorative design. Nor can we have 
 illustrations of its constructive part without involving 
 certain branches of physical science. If the monu- 
 mental history of architecture be fully exhibited, a large 
 proportion of the examples necessary for that end, must, 
 on the one hand, belong to decorative art, and in fact 
 be the very models made use of to a great extent for the 
 education of ornamentists ; and, on the other, be such 
 as illustrate the application of physical science to the art 
 of construction. 
 
 I had written thus far when the " Second Report of 
 the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851" was put 
 into my hands, and I need scarcely observe that it has 
 afforded me sincere pleasure to find that the general 
 scheme of a National Gallery, which I have suggested, 
 faUs in so entirely as it does with the more extended 
 plans of the Commissioners. 
 
 I proposed to have enlarged a little on that part of 
 the subject last adverted to, viz. the necessary connexion 
 of a Museum of Fine Art with the purposes of institutions 
 devoted to industrial art and to practical science ; but 
 the " Report of the Commissioners" renders any obser- 
 vations of mine on that head superfluous. My remarks 
 were to have proceeded on the assumption that the 
 National Gallery, or, as I shall term it, " The National 
 
69 
 
 Museum of Auts," was to contain the apparatus, or 
 subject-matter of instruction rather than to be an esta- 
 blishment of a directly educational description, as the 
 Commissioners propose ; but, in either case, the conclu- 
 sions arrived at would have coincided. 
 
 What I was going to say was, in substance, this, — 
 that if the idea of a complete Museum of the Fine Arts 
 involved the illustration of decorative art and of physical 
 science in its relation to art, to an extent which, though 
 not unlimited, is nevertheless indefinite, — if the vanish- 
 ing point (so to speak) of such a Museum lies somewhere 
 in the region of practical science, — one is immediately 
 led to consider whether, as the reverse is true, viz. that 
 practical science finds its vanishing point in the region of 
 fine art, the true idea of a Museum of Arts would not 
 be that which embraced the whole developement of the 
 artist-faculty, and commenced, therefore, on the one 
 hand, with those arts which are solely, or almost solely, 
 dependent on cestJietical science, and terminated, on the 
 other, with those which are solely, or chiefly, dependent 
 on physical science. Such an institution would start at 
 the one extreme from physical science, and at the other 
 from fine art ; and these two would meet and cross one 
 another — the influence of each vanishing and disap- 
 pearing towards the opposite extremes. 
 
 If, however, the matter be considered with reference 
 to education, there are economical reasons which bring us 
 to the same conclusion. And in referring to these I 
 shall at once indicate the source of my own views on the 
 subject, and suggest matter for consideration with respect 
 to the future relations of the two side departments of the 
 proposed institution. 
 
70 
 
 One of the earliest measures adopted by the 
 governing body of the School of Design was to obtain 
 information on the character and working of similar 
 establishments in the chief Continental states. Now the 
 information amounted to this : first, that, in the sense in 
 which w^e usually understand the term, there were no 
 such things as Schools of Design anywhere on the Conti- 
 nent ;* but, secondly, that the objects of such schools were 
 accomplished partly by general artistic schools, either 
 isolated or in connexion with academies of fine art, and 
 partly by industrial institutes, in which design is regarded 
 as one only among other means towards the perfection of 
 manufactures and industry. The artistic studies of a 
 School of Design (in our sense of the term), it appeared, 
 were carried on in schools or academies for the general 
 education of artists ; and its industrial studies, that is to 
 say, the study of science and the processes of manufac- 
 ture with a view to the application of design to industry, 
 were carried on in schools for general industrial training. 
 In the one case and in the other the specific purpose is 
 merged in a general one ; and, as I have said, there are 
 no schools vA'hich attempt, like our Schools of Design, to 
 hold a middle place between academies of fine art and 
 industrial institutions. All of them belong to either 
 extreme ; they are either artist-schools on the one hand, 
 or schools of industry on the other; and the middle 
 purpose of a School of Design finds its accomplishment 
 in the one or the other, according as it incHnes to the 
 artistic or the industrial. 
 
 Now the economical reason for this is very plain. On 
 
 * There are in France partial, but only partial, exceptions to 
 this statomcnt. 
 
71 
 
 the one hand, it is impossible to make sufficient provision 
 for the artistic studies of ornamentists (I use the word, 
 of course, in its largest sense), without making it also 
 adequate for the general education of artists. The con- 
 verse is equally true ; if the provision made by an 
 academy of fine art for the education of architectural 
 students and decorators, in ornamental art, be complete, 
 such an academy, without in the least going out of its 
 way, can afford the best possible elementary education to 
 persons intending to devote themselves to design for 
 manufactures and decoration. If, then, we separate 
 academies of fine art from Schools of Design, we are 
 compelled to do the very same things twice over : we 
 must have two estabhshments for purposes which one 
 would serve : — as has, in fact, happened in this country. 
 If we make one estabhshment serve, it must, as a matter 
 of course, be primarily an academy of fine art, and 
 secondarily a school for the education of ornamentists. 
 
 So, on the other hand, the industrial training neces- 
 sary for the purposes of a School of Design, to be really 
 efficient so far as it goes, must range beyond any actually 
 definable necessity for it, and involve, therefore, an ap- 
 paratus and means of instruction, which are capable of 
 being turned to a much larger account. This case, in 
 fact, is quite analogous to the previous one. In order 
 to accomplish a specific purpose, you are obhged to pro- 
 ceed as if that purpose were a general one. And con- 
 versely, if complete schools for general industrial training 
 are instituted, they must include the branches of instruc- 
 tion necessary to persons who are to prepare designs for 
 industrial purposes. Hence, in this case as in the other, 
 the specific purpose is included in the general one. 
 
72 
 
 These remarks, it must be understood, are not made 
 with any view to cut away the ground from under the 
 "Department of PracticalArt" (as it is termed), but merely 
 to show the extent of ground covered by any estabhsh- 
 ment, which is to deal with art in its fulness and whole- 
 ness. At the same time, it must not, I think, be dis- 
 guised that, if we are to construct our institutions, 
 connected with art, on an intelligible system, and to get 
 rid of that " dispersed and fragmentary way " of pro- 
 ceeding to which Dr. Playfair justly objects, there are 
 serious questions for adjustment, if not between the 
 Royal Academy and the Department of Practical Art, 
 at least between that department and the proposed De- 
 partment of Practical Science. And I will venture to 
 add, that no one has a better right than myself to speak 
 on such a point. The system adopted by the present 
 intelligent Superintendent of the Department of Practical 
 Art is only a restoration of that originally proposed and 
 established by myself in 1838, and which had been gra- 
 dually abandoned subsequently to 1843, when I ceased 
 to have the superintendence of the schools. 
 
 That system, however, proceeded altogether on the 
 supposition that the School of Design was to be an iso- 
 lated establishment, complete within itself. This being 
 assumed, there was no course but to reverse the order 
 of things which Dr. Playfair says exists abroad; and 
 instead of making the " School of Design form part of a 
 School of Industry," to make a School of Industry form 
 part of the School of Design.* That scheme, I say, was 
 
 Dr. Playfair seems to write as if the information afforded in 
 his recent lecture on the industrial education of the Continent 
 ■R-as now given to the public for the first time ; and, as if the 
 
73 
 
 imposed by the necessities of the case. If there had 
 been in existence any Industrial School, between which 
 and the School of Design it might have been possible to 
 establish relations, need I say that the working of the 
 system would have been modified accordingly ? 
 
 But to return. Such, Sir, are the considerations 
 which suggest themselves to me respecting the formation 
 of the National Gallery and its management. On the 
 latter point, the remarks made with reference to the 
 pictorial department of the Gallery will admit of a more 
 extended application. Whether the Gallery is to con- 
 tain pictures only, or to include, besides, illustrations of 
 sculpture and of architecture, the same general scheme 
 of management, seems to me desirable: — the whole 
 collection ought, by means of an officer appointed for 
 that purpose, to be under the immediate control of 
 some one department of the Government, without the 
 intervention of any committee. 
 
 It might, perhaps, be satisfactory if, at the outset, a 
 Commission of Inquiry were appointed, with a view to 
 determine all the objects to be accomplished, and to 
 obtain such information of a preliminary kind, as would 
 
 errors of our Schools of Design had arisen from the want of such 
 information. He must pei"mit me to set him right on that point. 
 If he will take the trouble to refer to a Parliamentary Paper (No. 98, 
 1840), he wUl find that the principle proposed by me for the organi- 
 sation of oiu- School of Des;ign was based on an acquaintance with 
 the Prussian and Bavarian systems of technical and industrial 
 education (the patterns of other and more recent systems), which 
 his late researches have not rendered more complete, even in details 
 which were secondary to my purpose. 
 
74 
 
 afford data for the construction of a proper and efficient 
 machinery for the formation and permanent management 
 of the collection. 
 
 But, after all, I believe that an inquiry of this kind 
 could only terminate in the recommendation of some 
 such general scheme as I have ventured to suggest. 
 
 In the first place, though it was expedient, under 
 the circumstances, to enter at some length on the 
 insufficiency and inconvenience of unpaid committees of 
 management ; yet there are probably few persons, not 
 members of such committees, who are not already con- 
 vinced, that management, by an unpaid committee, is 
 an administrative mistake. Public opinion has been 
 gradually assuming the form of a settled conviction, 
 that no National Institution can be duly administered, 
 either by unpaid officers, or by a mode of management, 
 which leaves it uncertain on whose shoulders the re- 
 sponsibility of management rests. 
 
 Then, secondly, with respect to the proper contents 
 of the National Gallery, I suppose it would be found 
 that there is just as little real difference of opinion. 
 The view I have taken is not even new in this country ; 
 for the most part, all I have done has been to gather 
 into a focus the scattered rays of information and 
 opinion, which already existed, in a converging di- 
 rection. 
 
 In conclusion, I will only add, that these observa- 
 tions are submitted to the consideration of your Royal 
 Highness, with a hearty conviction, that, if the period is 
 now at hand, when the subject of them is likely to meet 
 with the attention which it merits, the nearness of that 
 
75 
 
 period has been mainly due to tlie singular intelligence 
 and practical wisdom which have marked the interven- 
 tion of your Royal Highness in the cause of science, of 
 art, and of industry. But a very few years ago, such a 
 general idea for the formation of a National Gallery, as 
 I have shadowed out, would have been regarded as a 
 mere theory, and placed at once on the shelf among 
 the records of desirable, though impracticable, schemes. 
 A sounder appreciation, however, of the relation borne 
 to industry both by science and by art, which has been 
 the result of the exertions of your Royal Highness, as 
 well as the new circumstances to which they have given 
 rise, have prepared the way for entertaining the ques- 
 tion on its own merits ; and I have every confidence, 
 not only that it will be so entertained, but that the 
 unbounded influence of your Royal Highness, — an in- 
 fluence based on the rare union of genius, talent, and 
 almost universal acquirements with exalted rank, and 
 invariably exerted in a manner at once the most 
 graceful and princely, — will, in this instance, be followed 
 by the same beneficial results which have always at- 
 tended its exercise. 
 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 Your Royal Highness's 
 Most obedient, humble, and devoted servant. 
 
 W. DYCE, R.A. 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 It would have been out of place, in a paper like the 
 foregoing, to make any attempt to define the particular 
 architectural arrangements to which such a Museum of 
 Art, as is therein contemplated, would give rise ; but I 
 shall append here some observations extracted from a 
 document which has not yet been printed, and which 
 may prove useful when those arrangements, so far at 
 least as the due exhibition of pictures is concerned, come 
 to be considered. 
 
 The document I refer to is a Report drawn up, in 
 1840, by Sir Charles Eastlake and myself for the Ox- 
 ford delegates, on the suggestion of Mr. Cockerell, R.A., 
 respecting the suitableness of the proposed Taylor and 
 Randolph Galleries for the exhibition of pictures. The 
 remarks which I shall quote were afterwards, in sub- 
 stance, printed in a letter, addressed by Sir C. Eastlake 
 to Sir Robert Peel ; but as that letter has been long out 
 of print, and cannot be procured, I need make no apology 
 for placing on record such parts of the Report as bear 
 generally on the question of the arrangements best cal- 
 culated for the exhibition of pictures : — 
 
77 
 
 " 1, With regard to the light. This must be assumed to be 
 sufBcientj and^ rather abundant in quantity. If the aspect be 
 exposed to the sun, the glass of the window must be ground 
 (or otherwise rendered in a certain degree opaque) on the inside. 
 If the outer surface be ground the glass collects dirt sooner, 
 and is cleaned with difficulty. 
 
 2. The light in relation to the spectator. The window or 
 source of hght by which a picture is seen, and the picture itself, 
 ought not to come within the range of vision at the same time. 
 The spectator should even, if possible, see nothing brighter 
 than the lights of the picture ; and, on this account, it may 
 be observed, a superabundance of burnishing on frames is 
 objectionable, especially for old pictures, — the tone of which 
 has been lowered by time, or, which possibly may not, 
 when painted, have been intended to be framed in the modern 
 manner. 
 
 3. The picture in relation to the spectator. With regard to 
 this, the general rule is, that the spectator should be opposite 
 the centre of the picture, so that the axis of vision may be per- 
 pendicular to the plane of the picture. To meet this condition, 
 pictures hung above the level of the eye must be inclined for- 
 wards, so that when the eyes are raised, the relations above 
 mentioned may take place. An exception to this rule must be 
 made for pictures by some old masters, particularly of the 
 Venetian school, which have been originally placed at a con- 
 siderable height above the eye, and hung perpendicularly. In 
 this case, the artist not having had it in his power to incline the 
 picture forwards, has been obHged, in order to make the repre- 
 sentation true when seen from below, to design the objects in 
 the picture with an inclination backwards to the same angle as 
 the canvass ought to have leaned forwards.* 
 
 4. The relation of the light to the picture. The surfaces of 
 pictures being more or less polished, reflect light under the 
 same conditions as other polished surfaces ; and it is hardly 
 
 * On le-considenition, I am not inclined to attach much weight to this 
 point.— W. D. 
 
78 
 
 necessary to say, that the avoidance of this must be one of the 
 
 chief considerations in determin- 
 ing the relative situations of the 
 light, the picture, and the spec- 
 tator. 
 
 To explain the various modes 
 of accomplishing this : — Let A B 
 be a wall, C D a picture hanging 
 against it, and E a skylight. If 
 the spectator's eye be at F, the 
 picture will reflect the light from 
 above. 
 
 But let the picture C D be in- 
 clined forwards, and the spectator 
 will then be quite free from the 
 range of the reflected light G H. 
 
 This inclination of the picture 
 forwards, it will be observed, is in 
 accordance with the general con- 
 dition No. 3, stated above. 
 
 For large pictures, which, on 
 the grounds stated above, ought 
 to be hung perpendicularly, the same result may be obtained by 
 raising the light higher, or by the removal of the spectator to a 
 greater distance, or by his approaching nearer, as the case may be. 
 
 For instance, if the sky- 
 light be raised to S, the ray 
 which was reflected on the 
 spectator's eye at F, would be 
 thrown on the ground at H. 
 Or if the spectator moved 
 backwards to G he would be 
 beyond the range of the re- 
 flected ray. The safest re- 
 medy, however, in this case, 
 
 
 \^ c 
 
 
 / f ' 
 
 
 H / 
 
 Fig,3. 
 
 is to raise the light. 
 
79 
 
 Connected with this pointy there is another of great import- 
 ance, which is, that the stream of Hght on a picture should be 
 obtained as nearly as possible from one source, — double lights 
 being generally unfavourable to the right effect of pictures, even 
 supposing other conditions fulfilled. 
 
 It must be borne in mind, also, that the principle which we 
 have illustrated by the supposition of a (more or less) vertical 
 light, is also applicable to a (more or less) horizontal one. 
 It also holds good, and this is seldom taken into account, in 
 regard to minor or secondary sources of light. Thus a skylight 
 throws considerable light on objects immediately under it ; and 
 though a picture may not reflect the direct rays, its true effect is 
 often injured by reflections from strongly lighted objects, such 
 as the floor of a room, dresses of spectators, &c. Small pic- 
 tures, hung on a level with the eye, most frequently suffer from 
 this cause. They are necessarily of a smoother surface than 
 large ones ; and being generally highly varnished, they not only 
 act as mirrors, but being hung at a considerable distance below the 
 source of light and receiving its rays in a very slanting direction, 
 they are less strongly illuminated than the objects more imme- 
 diately under the light which are reflected from their surface : 
 an evil which may be seen in its worst form in galleries where 
 small oil-pictures are covered with plate-glass. 
 
 Nor does it seem possible to avoid this inconvenience if large 
 and small pictures are exhibited in the same room by a light 
 from the ceiling. If the window is smaller than the picture it 
 must be regarded as a focus, a certain distance from which is 
 necessary to allow the rays to spread themselves and become 
 equally diffused over the surface to be illuminated. Hence, the 
 larger the picture, the greater its distance ought to be from the 
 source of light ; the proper distance, if other conditions are 
 complied with, being the point at which the greatest intensity 
 of light may be obtained consistently with its equal diffusion. 
 
 Now the very reverse of the arrangement suggested by this 
 rule, must take place in large galleries lighted from the ceiling. 
 
80 
 
 In these the light is generally, and indeed must be, adapted to 
 the larger works, which accordingly, are seen to advantage; 
 while the smaller, which, for technical reasons, ought to be 
 the most strongly illuminated, being hung at the level of the 
 eye, receive the weakest and most oblique rays, and suffer in 
 their effect, not only for want of direct light, but from beiig 
 necessarily placed in a situation to reflect the secondary liglts 
 from objects surrounding them. 
 
 This disadvantage may be remarked in the Gallery of the 
 Louvre, in which the small pictures have generally a dim aad 
 blackish appearance. 
 
 In galleries of more recent date, attempts, therefore, have 
 been made to obviate these defects. In the Royal Museum of 
 Berlin and in the Gallery for Modern Exhibitions at Dresden, 
 lighting from the ceiling has been altogether abandoned ; and 
 all pictures large or small are lighted by side-windows similar to 
 those used by artists in their studios. 
 
 The Gallery of Berlin is a long, narrow room, having win- 
 dows, of the kind alluded to, at certain intervals; and, between 
 every two, there is projected from the wall a screen, on bo:h 
 sides of which the pictures are hung. The subjoined sketch 
 will explain this arrangement more clearly. 
 
 IgA A B is the wall pierced by the win- 
 
 g =1 dows ; D D and C C C are screens. 
 
 1 This plan offers several advantages, 
 
 J ^ but it does not meet every condition. 
 
 I It is possible thus to bring small 
 
 0 "1 pictures near the light and to re- 
 
 % move the larger ones farther from it ; 
 
 J and from the position of the windows 
 
 ■ the condition stated in No. 2 is suf- 
 
 ^ " B ficiently complied with. But if a pic- 
 
 ture is of large size, it must be removed so far from the light, in 
 order that it may be equally illuminated, that the rays fall on 
 it in too slanting a direction ; and thus if its surface be rough. 
 
81 
 
 as is the case with many old pictures painted on canvass, a 
 number of minute shadows are thrown, which have the effect ot 
 generally darkening its hue. Nor, in truth, is it possible by 
 this arrangement to obtain an equal light over all parts of a 
 large oblong picture, say twelve or fourteen feet long ; for the 
 light must be much more intense at the one end than the other. 
 
 The most obvious contrivance for getting rid of this dif- 
 ficulty is that adopted in many private collections : the picture 
 is swung on hinges like a door, and hence it may be turned 
 towards the Ught. But this is hardly applicable to very large 
 works j the same result, moreover, may be obtained by more 
 simple means. Were the screens, instead of being at a right 
 angle to the wall, to be doubled and | 
 
 inclined forwards to the window, every 
 condition would seem to be complied 
 with for works of moderate size. In 
 the subjoined sketch, A A are the 
 windows ; B B B B, double screens 
 inclined in the way above described. 
 The portions CD, CD, of the screens 
 would be imperfectly lighted ; the 
 passage, therefore, from one compart- 
 ment to another, might be made here. 
 
 This part of the plan has been adopted in the Pinacotheca of 
 Munich. 
 
 Since this improvement in the arrangement of the Museum 
 of Berlin suggested itself, we have learnt that a Prussian artist, 
 Magnus, has published a pamphlet recommending this very 
 mode. 
 
 He suggests its application in narrow galleries, lighted on 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 both sides, by which means the screens need not be doulled. 
 In this case, however, it would be necessary to make the 
 screens higher than the windows, otherwise the hghts would 
 cross. 
 
 The general principle of this and the foregoing arrange- 
 ment would at once be accomplished, and indeed, is unavoid- 
 able in a circular gallery with screens. The very portions of 
 the screens which, it was seen, were imperfectly hghted in the 
 first method, are here cut off by the curvature of the wall. 
 
 Still it does not appear that any modification of the plan of 
 lighting from the side can supersede the advantages of a light 
 from the ceiling for very large works. 
 
 The light must always be higher than the picture, and 
 commence at such a height as to prevent the reflected light 
 from objects on the ground outside the windows from falling on 
 the upper part of the picture or screen. If a picture, therefore, 
 is eighteen or twenty feet high, and rests on the floor of the 
 room, it ought to have a light reaching at least five or six feet 
 above it, and commencing at the height of fourteen or fifteen 
 feet; or if a picture of this class be hung higher, and this, is 
 generally necessary in any gallery, and especially in one on the 
 
83 
 
 plan of that of Berlin, in order to obtain the distance at which 
 it ought to be viewed, the light must be so elevated as to do 
 away with" the comparative advantages of it as a side-light for 
 cabinet pictures. 
 
 The objection, too, above stated, to a side-light for oblong 
 pictures of a large size, does not hold good in the case of a light 
 from the ceiling ; on the contrary, it is rather an advantage that 
 the light should fall more strongly on ihe upper part of a picture 
 than the lower^ because in this the sky, or lightest part of the 
 scene depicted, is almost always placed. 
 
 But besides this, there are some considerations connected 
 with the general arrangement of pictures in a gallery which 
 .seem to be in favour of a separation of large and small works. ' 
 In the first place, pictures of the same school are now generally 
 thought to be seen most advantageously when placed together ; 
 not only for pictorial reasons, but because in this way the history 
 and progress of schools of art may be studied with greater 
 benefit. If this plan of arrangement be adopted, it naturally 
 gives rise to the division of pictures into sets of small and large 
 ones. The easel pictures, for instance, of the early Italian 
 schools previously to the latter half of the fifteenth century are 
 generally of small size. After that period to the middle of the 
 sixteenth century they are, M'ith the exception of those of the 
 school of Ferrara, mostly large. Coming lower down we find 
 the works of the Bolognese, Spanish, Neapolitan, and Flemish 
 schools, with some exceptions, large ; of the Dutch school, gene- 
 rally small. We see the justice of these observations in the 
 case of the Pinacotheca of Munich. The chief part of the 
 Bavarian collection of pictures was formed before the gallery was 
 built to receive it ; and the very character of the works of which 
 it consisted made the adoption of two modes of lighting the 
 rooms necessary. 
 
 But, secondly, pictures of the same size are not only best 
 seen together, but large ones appear to most advantage in large 
 rooms, and small ones in rooms which prevent the spectator 
 
84 
 
 from seeing them beyond a certain distance. Nor is there any 
 doubt that the vicinity of large pictures is, on the first view, and 
 even permanently, injurious to the full effect of small ones. 
 
 If a gallery, therefore, is intended to exhibit, in the best 
 manner possible, the real developement of art in all its forms, it 
 is desirable that every circumstance which tends to diminish the 
 importance or conceal the merits of any one class of pictures, 
 should be carefully kept out of view. On the whole, then, sup- 
 posing the general conditions fully complied with which we have 
 assumed to be necessary to any effective display of pictures, it 
 would seem that to adapt a gallery for the exhibition of works of 
 all sizes, more than one mode of lighting must be employed." 
 
 LOKDON; 
 PriiiteU by G. Babclav, Castle St. Leicoister Sq. 
 
1+ 
 
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 d 
 
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