figure holding a crozier with his left hand and a book with his right.
Under the canopy is a figure of the Saviour, and at its side the small
figure of a king crowned and wearing a scarlet robe, supposed to be
Edward II. Bishop Stapledon’s body was removed from London to Exeter
Cathedral by the Queen’s command and interred with great magnificence.

From the choir two chapels open. On the north, =St. Andrew’s=, very early
Decorated, is exactly like the opposite one, =St. James’s=. Beneath the
latter is the ancient =Crypt=. Both chapels have chambers above them.

Beyond the Choir, the ambulatory, or procession-path (Early Decorated),
with =Speke’s Chantry= on the left or north and =Bishop Oldham’s= on the
right or south, leads to the =Lady Chapel=. This was built by Quivil, and
is remarkable for its beautiful foliage carvings, old reredos, graceful
openings to the chantries on either side and magnificent east window.

     “Quivil first transformed the Lady-Chapel; to him are due the
     shafts, sedilia, double piscina, and the vaulting, the
     rib-mouldings of which are of earlier character than those of the
     choir; and the windows, which closely resemble those of Merton
     College, Oxford, which we know was commenced in 1277. In the centre
     of the Lady-Chapel Bishop Quivil is buried; he died in 1291. The
     chapels on either side may have been remodelled or partly
     remodelled by Bronescombe; but the east windows are later in style,
     and are Quivil’s. The piers hereabout are very interesting. Those
     of the Lady-Chapel looking into the side chapels are composed of
     four columns. The north-east and south-east piers of the choir have
     clusters of eight shafts instead of four; while in the pier between
     them the cluster of eight is developed into a cluster of sixteen
     columns. Finally notice that these piers are set diamond-wise, with
     four flat faces, and the angles to the north, west, south and
     east.”--(F. B.)

In the centre of the pavement is the tombstone of =Bishop Peter Quivil=
(died 1291), author of the present plan of the cathedral. Other effigies
of bishops are interesting works of art, but those of =Sir John= and =Lady
Doddridge= are very curious. Sir John (died 1628), one of James I’s
judges of the King’s Bench, was called “the sleepy judge,” because he
always sat on the bench with closed eyes; but more interesting is Lady
Doddridge, who wears a rich dress brocaded with roses and carnations and
also a remarkable ruff and headdress.

Under the arches opening from the Lady-Chapel to the side chapels are
tombs of =Bishops Bronescomb= and =Stafford=. Bishop Bronescomb’s effigy
(1280), on the south side, is a fine piece of carving. Stafford’s
opposite (1419) is of alabaster, and it is famous for the rich
tabernacle-work above the head.

We have been long attracted by the lovely =East window=. Now we can see
the details.

     “The east window is early Perpendicular and was inserted by Bishop
     Brantingham about 1390. The stained glass with which it is filled
     is for the most part ancient and very fine. Much of it dates
     apparently from the first half of the Fourteenth Century (temp.
     Edward I. and II.) and was removed from the earlier window; the
     shields below are those of early bishops and benefactors; the
     figures of saints above, most of which are to be recognised by
     their emblems, deserve careful notice. Beginning with the lowest
     row, and at the left hand, are St. Margaret, St. Catherine, St.
     Mary Magdalene, St. Barbara, the Virgin and Child, St. Martin, St.
     Peter, St. Paul and St. Andrew. All these figures are under very
     rich and varied canopies. The first three and the last three are of
     the first period; the others of Brantingham’s time. In the _middle
     row_ are St. Sidwell, or Sativola, believed to have been a British
     lady of noble birth, and contemporary with St. Winifred of Crediton
     (first half of the Eighth Century). Her legend asserts that she was
     beheaded by a mower at the instigation of her stepmother, who
     coveted her possessions, near a well outside the walls of Exeter.
     In the window St. Sativola appears with a scythe in her left hand,
     whilst at her right is a well with a stream of water flowing from
     it. These emblems may either form a rebus of her name (scythe-well)
     or refer to her martyrdom. Beyond St. Sidwell are St. Helena, St.
     Michael, St. Margaret, St. Catherine, Edward the Confessor and St.
     Edmund. All the figures in this row are of Brantingham’s period.
     The three figures in the uppermost row are Abraham, Moses and
     Isaiah. These are of the first period. The tone of colour
     throughout this window is very fine and solemn. The heraldry in the
     upper part of the window is modern. In the north clerestory windows
     of the central bay are four headless figures of early Decorated
     character. The beautiful running pattern forming the ground on
     which they are placed should be noticed.”--(R. J. K.)

In the =north-choir-aisle= is a curious tomb with a cross-legged effigy of
a Fourteenth Century knight in armour with one esquire at his head and
another holding a horse at his feet. This is supposed to be a memorial
to Sir Richard de Stapledon, a brother of the Bishop.

Returning as we came, we pass the =Chantry of St. George=, founded by Sir
Thomas Speke in 1518. It is a mass of rich carving. The effigy of the
founder lies within.

Opposite is =Bishop Oldham’s Chantry=, also a mass of carving, where the
owl in the panels refers to his name (the word _old_ is pronounced
_owld_ in Lancashire, where the Bishop was born). The Bishop’s effigy
lies in a niche in the south wall.

     “The Tudor work (1485-1519) is exceptional in importance. It
     includes the north entrance and other late portions of the western
     screen, two exquisite chapels both built by Bishop Oldham--his own
     chantry (St. Saviour’s) on the south side of the retro-choir, the
     Speke chantry (St. George’s) on the north--and in addition, Prior
     Sylke’s chantry on the north transept. All this work is admirable
     in design and execution. In Oldham’s chantry is a charming series
     of owls with the scroll _Dam_, a rebus on his name, proceeding from
     the beak of each little owl. To Bishop Oldham also (1504-1519) is
     due the grand set of stone screens--one of the glories of the
     cathedral--no less than ten, which veil all the nine chapels and
     Prior Sylke’s chantry, and add fresh beauty to the beautiful
     choir.”--(F. B.)

At the extreme end of the east aisle is the =Chapel of St. Mary
Magdalene=, probably the work of Bishop Bronescomb, who died in 1280. The
east window, which resembles that of the opposite chapel of St. Gabriel,
contains some stained glass of the Fifteenth Century. In this chapel a
fine Elizabethan monument to Sir Gawain Carew, his wife and their nephew
Sir Peter should be noticed. It dates from 1589. A staircase here leads
to the roofs of the north-choir-aisle and of the ambulatory. The views
of the Cathedral obtained here are very fine, especially of the
flying-buttresses.

=St. Gabriel’s Chapel= is similar to that of St. Mary Magdalene. Bishop
Bronescomb’s patron saint was St. Gabriel the Archangel, whose feast
was, in consequence, celebrated in Exeter Cathedral with the same
solemnity as those of Christmas and Easter. A monument by Flaxman to
=General Simcoe=, who died in 1806, having distinguished himself at the
head of the Queen’s Rangers during the American war, and a splendid
statue of =Northcote=, the painter, by Chantrey claim attention.

Finally summing up the characteristics of this glorious fane:

     “Whatever else the student and lover of Gothic architecture omits,
     he must not omit to visit Exeter. He will find it fresh and
     different from anything he has seen before. Its unique plan,
     without central or western towers, the absence of obstructive
     piers at the crossing, the consequently uninterrupted vista, the
     singleness and unity of the whole design, the remarkable system of
     proportions, based on breadth rather than height, the satisfying
     massiveness and solidity of the building, inside and outside, and
     at the same time the airiness and lightness of the interior, the
     magnificence of its piers of marble, the delightful colour-contrast
     of marble column and sandstone arch, the amazing diversity of the
     window tracery, the exquisite carving of the corbels and bosses,
     the abundant and admirable Tudor work, the wealth of chantries and
     monuments, the superb sedilia, screen and throne, the _misereres_,
     the vaults, the extraordinary engineering feats from which its
     present form results, the originality of the west front and of the
     whole interior and exterior, place Exeter in the very forefront of
     the triumphs of the Mediæval architecture of our country.”--(F. B.)

WELLS

     DEDICATION: ST. ANDREW.

     SPECIAL FEATURES: WEST FRONT; EAST END; INVERTED ARCHES IN NAVE;
     CHAPTER-HOUSE; CARVINGS OF CAPITALS; CHAIN-GATE.

The site of this beautiful cathedral had long been sacred to the Britons
on account of its wells, or springs, when the early Christians on coming
to Glastonbury placed these waters under the protection of St. Andrew.
King Ina’s house of secular canons was established here in 704, not far
from the older Glastonbury, which, according to legend, was established
by Joseph of Arimathea. At the beginning of the Tenth Century, a new
bishopric was founded by Edward the Elder for the province of Somerset;
and the Abbot of Glastonbury was made Bishop of Wells.

     “Seen from a distance, the picturesque group of towers and
     pinnacles derives increased effect from the beauty and variety of
     the surrounding landscape. On one side rises the long ridge of the
     Mendips, with its rocky outliers; whilst in the southern distance
     the lofty peak of Glastonbury Tor lifts itself above the marches,
     marking the site of what was generally believed, throughout the
     Middle Ages, to have been the earliest Christian church in Britain,
     if not the first in Christendom. The Cathedral itself seems to
     nestle under its protecting hills; and the waters of the Bishop’s
     moat, sparkling in the sunshine, indicate the spring or great well
     which led King Ina to establish his church here, and which had
     perhaps rendered the site a sacred one as well in the days of the
     Druids as in those of that primitive British Christianity which
     disappeared before the heathendom of the advancing Saxons.

     “From whatever direction the visitor enters the Close, he must pass
     under one of the three gatehouses built by Bishop Beckington
     (1443-1464), all of which display his shield of arms and his
     rebus,--a beacon inflamed issuing from a tun or barrel. Over the
     Chain-Gate passes the gallery which connects the Vicars’ College
     with the Cathedral. The gate, called the Penniless Porch, opens to
     the Market-place; but the Cathedral will be best approached for the
     first time through Browne’s gate, at the end of Sadler-street. From
     this point an excellent view of the west front is obtained, rising
     at the end of a broad lawn of greensward, bordered with trees. The
     Cathedral close of Wells is scarcely so picturesque as those of
     Salisbury or of Winchester. It is more open, however, and its
     short, bright turf contrasts very effectively with the grey stone
     of the buildings which encircle it and with the grand old church
     itself. This, with the exception of its pilasters of Purbeck, is
     built throughout with stone from the Doulting quarries, about nine
     miles from Wells.”--(R. J. K.)

During the rule of Robert (1135-1166) discord and jealousy between the
men of Bath and Wells rose to such a pitch that it was determined the
bishops should in future be styled “of Bath and Wells” and elected by an
equal number of monks and canons from the abbey and collegiate church.
Bishop Robert rebuilt and repaired the Saxon cathedral which had fallen
into decay. Robert’s work has entirely perished. The next builders were
Bishop Reginald Fitz-Jocelyn (1171-1191) and Bishop Jocelin of Wells
(1206-1242), who rebuilt the Cathedral as we see it to-day. Jocelin was
able to consecrate parts of it in 1239.

Jocelin, the great “maker of Wells,” bishop from 1206 to 1242, and his
brother, Hugh (afterwards Bishop of Lincoln), were natives of Wells;
here Jocelin served as canon and Hugh as archdeacon. Both were rich.
Hugh, who lavished money upon Lincoln, also gave much to Jocelin for
Wells. Jocelin spent his entire fortune upon his beloved Cathedral. This
Jocelin must not be confused with the earlier Reginald Fitz-Jocelyn,
bishop from 1171 to 1191.

     “The part which he built, there can be little doubt, included the
     three western bays of the choir (which then formed the presbytery),
     the transepts, north porch and the eastern bays of the nave. That
     is to say, on entering the church, one is looking upon Reginald’s
     work, and not Jocelin’s; for, although the rest of the nave was
     completed by Jocelin, it was done in accordance with Reginald’s
     original plan. It is of great importance to remember this fact,
     since until recently the nave, with the other parts just mentioned,
     was attributed by Professor Willis, Professor Freeman, and most
     authorities to Jocelin.”--(P. D.)

Jocelin also built the famous west front and began the Bishop’s Palace.

In 1248 an earthquake did some damage to the central tower, and repairs
were at once undertaken. The canons generously contributed funds which
were augmented by the help of a local saint. Bishop William Bytton,
nephew of the bishop of the same name (who lies in St. Catherine’s
Chapel), died in 1274; and his remains soon began to cure the toothache.
His tomb in the south-choir-aisle was visited by sufferers, and the
famous western capitals in the transept doubtless refer to their cures.

For the next fifty years and more, much was done to the Cathedral by the
energetic John de Godelee, dean from 1306 to 1333, who finished the Lady
Chapel in 1326.

In 1318 the canons voluntarily offered a fifth of their salaries to
raise the central tower, which was carried up three more stages and
finished in 1321; and in 1325 they began new stalls, each canon having
agreed to pay for his own stall. In 1337 and 1338 the whole church was
thrown into dismay on account of fractures in the tower; for the tower
appears to have sunk deeply into the earth, owing to pressure on the
arches. All the masonry was disturbed; and in order to remedy this
trouble, the curious double arches were inserted, to help support the
strain. The original arches were also patched up and filled in with
great blocks of stone and strengthened in various ways.

Much was due to Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury (1329-1363), who was buried
before the High Altar in the Choir he had founded. He also finished the
Palace begun by Jocelin. Bishop Harewell, who died in 1386, gave
two-thirds of the cost of the south-west tower called by his name; and
the executors of Bishop Bubwith finished the northwest tower that bears
his name.

Bishop Beckington built the lovely gateways, and Dean Gunthorpe (died
1498), the Deanery.

The eastern walk of the Cloister and the Library above date from between
1407 and 1424; and the western and southern Cloister walks, between 1443
and 1464.

     “Late researches have shown that Bishop Reginald began the present
     church and that the Early English work should be divided into four
     periods: (1) The three western arches of the choir, with the four
     western bays of its aisles, the transepts and the four eastern bays
     of the nave, which are Reginald’s work (1174-1191), and so early as
     to be still in a state of transition from the Norman. It is a
     unique example of transitional building, and Willis calls it ‘an
     improved Norman, worked with considerable lightness and richness,
     but distinguished from the Early English by greater massiveness and
     severity.’ The characteristics of this late Twelfth Century work
     are bold round mouldings, square abaci, capitals, some with traces
     of the classical volute, others interwoven with fanciful imagery
     that reminds us of the Norman work of Glastonbury; while in the
     north porch, which must be the earliest of all, we even find the
     zigzag Norman moulding. (2) The rest of the nave, which was
     finished in Jocelin’s time--that is to say, in the first half of
     the Thirteenth Century--preserves the main characteristics of the
     earlier work, though the flowing sculptured foliage becomes more
     naturalistic, and lacks the quaint intermingling of figure
     subjects. (3) The west front, which is Jocelin’s work, and alone
     can claim to be of pure Early English style. (4) The chapter-house
     crypt, which is so late as to be almost Transitional, though,
     curiously enough, it contains the characteristic Early English
     dog-tooth moulding which is found nowhere else except in the west
     window. From this, we reach the Early Decorated of the staircase,
     the full Decorated of the chapter-house itself, the later Decorated
     of the Lady-Chapel, the transitional Decorated of the presbytery,
     and the full Perpendicular of the western towers. Much of the
     masonry in the transepts, choir, choir aisles, and even in the
     eastern transepts, bears the peculiar diagonal lines which are the
     marks of Norman tooling. This does not, of course, prove that any
     part of Bishop Robert’s church is standing, for mediæval builders
     were notoriously economical in using up old masonry, but it does
     show that there are more remains of his work in the building than
     was generally supposed.”--(P. D.)

The Cathedral was much damaged during the Reformation and also during
Monmouth’s rebellion in 1685, when the Duke’s followers stabled their
horses in it and enjoyed a barrel of beer on the high altar.

There is a nave of nine bays, a space under the tower, a choir opening
eastward of it and two transepts (each of four bays) with aisles opening
north and south. The choir from the screen to the high altar occupies
six bays; a retro-choir of two bays lies behind the altar; and beyond it
again is an apsidal Lady-Chapel. The west front has been much admired,
but some critics consider it too heavy for the short towers that abut on
it. The windows of the nave and transepts are Decorated. The windows of
the choir are more ornate, although in the same style, and those of the
Lady-Chapel are still more so. The central tower (Perpendicular) is
entirely covered with panelling. There is no spire. On the south side
large cloisters open from the south-western tower and from the western
aisle of the south transept; but there are only three walks, there being
none on the north side. The Chapter-House is approached from the north
side of the choir by a short passage and a flight of steps: a crypt lies
under it. A beautiful porch, with parvise, opens into the sixth bay of
the north aisle. From the eastern aisle of the north transept the
Chain-Gate passes to the Vicars’ College, a double row of picturesque
houses, dating from 1360.

     “The Chain-Gate, in its association with the Chapter-House and the
     Vicars’ Close, is unique. The incline of the steps, easily to be
     distinguished from without, gives the corner a character quite its
     own. And the entrance to the Green by this gate, with the Cathedral
     on one side, balanced by the varied gables and roofs of the houses
     opposite, is particularly striking. The exterior of the
     Chapter-House comes into full view; the great central tower stands
     boldly up against the sky; the eastern gable presents its curious
     apex, and the Lady-Chapel below stands like a thing separate from
     the rest. Beyond, and under the Chain-Gateway, an arch admits to
     the Vicars’ Close--a charming street, lined on either side with
     diminutive dwelling-houses, once the separate residences of the
     vicars choral. At the top of the close is a small Perpendicular
     chapel with a library above. The interior is profusely--almost
     grotesquely--decorated in a manner to remind one to some extent of
     those strange little oratories so frequently met with in other
     parts of Europe. But to many it will possess a certain charm,
     despite its florid adornments, not often realised in this country.
     The Vicars’ Hall, a considerable portion of which is of the
     Fourteenth Century, with additions of a tower and other features,
     probably by Bishop Beckington, stands at the bottom of the street
     and communicates through the gallery of the Chain-Gate with the
     Chapter-House staircase, and thus with the cathedral. By this
     gallery the choristers passed into the church.”--(A. A.)

The celebrated =West Front=

     “consists of a centre, in which are the three lancets of the
     western window and above them a gable receding in stages, with
     small pinnacles at the angles; and of two wings or western towers,
     projecting beyond the nave, as at Salisbury. The upper part of
     these towers is of Perpendicular character. That to the north-west
     was completed by Bishop Bubwith (1407-1424), whose statue remains
     in one of the niches: that to the south-west was the work of Bishop
     Harewell (1366-1386). Both these towers, fine as are their details,
     have a somewhat truncated appearance; and it is probable that the
     original Early English design terminated at the uppermost band of
     sculpture. The three western doors are of unusually small
     dimensions, perhaps in order to leave ample room for the tiers of
     figures which rise above them. Six narrow buttresses at the angles
     of which are slender shafts of Purbeck marble, supporting canopies,
     divide the entire front into five portions. The whole of the
     statues which fill the niches are of Doulting stone.”--(R. J. K.)

Many visitors are at the first sight disappointed at the mutilated and
archaic expression of the figures; but they have commanded the greatest
admiration ever since old Fuller wrote: “The west front of Wells is a
masterpiece of art indeed, made of imagery in just proportion, so that
we may call them _vera et spirantis signa_. England affordeth not the
like.”

The =West Front= should be considered as a great screen intended for the
display of statuary rather than as the west termination of the nave. The
stone population, numbering about three hundred life-size or colossal
figures, is only equalled by that of Rheims and that of Chartres. All
critics agree that these statues, so notable for their graceful
draperies and spiritual expressions, rank with the contemporary
masterpieces of Italy and France. They are thought to have been made by
Italian sculptors at the time when Niccola Pisano was reviving sculpture
in Italy under the inspiration of classical models. The kings, queens,
princes, knights and nobles wear the costume of the Thirteenth Century.
The other figures are prophets, angels, martyrs and “the holy church
throughout the world.”

Unlike the monumental west fronts of France, with their splendid porches
and doors, the doors of Wells have been compared to “rabbit-holes on a
mountain-side.”

The western towers projecting beyond the aisles of the nave give
additional breadth to the west front. The arrangement resembles that of
Rouen. The two towers are very similar. Both have two belfry windows on
each side and a stair turret on the outer western angle. The spires were
never added.

The =Central Tower= is Early English to the level of the roof, and the two
upper stages are Decorated. From its summit a beautiful view is to be
enjoyed.

The =North Porch= (Norman) is the oldest part

[Illustration: WELLS: WEST FRONT]

[Illustration: WELLS: NORTH PORCH]

of the church. Some architects consider it the finest piece of
architecture at Wells.

     “The entrance is doubly recessed and has the zigzag ornament among
     its mouldings, an indication, if not of its early construction, at
     least of lingering Norman traditions among its builders. These
     mouldings deserve the most careful attention. The outer or
     dripstone, is formed of a very beautiful combination of Early
     English foliage. Square panels on either side of the arch contain
     figures of mystic animals, one of which is a cockatrice. The gable
     above has a blind arcade, in the centre of which a small triplet
     gives light to a parvise chamber. From the buttress at the angles
     rise slender spire-capped pinnacles. The buttresses themselves are
     flat and narrow.

     “The interior of the porch is divided into two bays, and its walls
     are lined with a double arcade, the upper row of arches being more
     deeply recessed than the tower. The vault springs from a central
     group of triple shafts. The sculptures of the capitals on the east
     side possibly represent the death of King Edmund the Martyr (A.D.
     870),--bound to a tree as a mark for the Danish arrows and
     afterwards beheaded. The figures are well designed, and full of
     life and character. The double doorway leading into the nave
     displays, like the exterior arch, the Norman zigzag.”--(R. J. K.)

On entering the =Nave= the visitor is at once struck by the noble
proportions, the impression of great length, the broad horizontal band
of the triforium, and the wealth of spirited and varied carving of the
capitals and corbels; but the most striking feature of all is the great
inverted, or double, arch that struts across the central piers forming a
St. Andrew’s Cross, by which name it is generally known, and giving a
grotesque (we are almost tempted to say Chinese) appearance.

     “Undoubtedly the first thing that the stranger notices in Wells
     Cathedral, and the last that he is likely to forget, is the
     curious contrivance by which the central tower is supported. Of the
     three pairs of arches (the upper arch resting inverted upon the
     lower) which stretch across the nave and each of the transepts,
     that in the nave is seen at once, and lends a unique character to
     the whole church. At first these arches give one something of a
     shock, so unnecessarily frank are they, so excessively sturdy, so
     very English, we may think. They carry their burden as a
     great-limbed labourer will carry a child in a crowd, to the great
     advantage of the burden and the natural dissatisfaction of the
     crowd. In fact, they seem to block up the view, and to deform what
     they do not hide.

     “That is the first impression, but it does not last for long.
     Familiarity breeds respect for this simple, strong device, which
     arrested the fall of the tower in the Fourteenth Century, and has
     kept its walls ever since in perfect security, so that the great
     structure has stood like a rock upon the watery soil of Wells for
     nearly seven centuries, with its rents and breaks just as they were
     when the damage was first repaired. The ingenuity, too, of these
     strange flying-buttresses becomes more and more evident; the
     ‘ungainly props’ are seen to be so worked into the tower they
     support, that they almost seem like part of the original design of
     the first builders. One discovers that it is the organ, and not the
     arches, that really blocks the view, and one marvels that so huge a
     mass of masonry can look so light as to present, with the great
     circles in the spandrels where the arches meet, a kind of pattern
     of gigantic geometrical tracery. Indeed I think no one who has been
     in Wells a week could wish to see the inverted arches removed.

     “To appreciate the work fully, it should be looked at from some
     spot, such as the north-east corner of the north transept, whence
     the three great pairs of arches can be seen together. The effect
     from here is very fine, especially when the nave is lighted up and
     strong shadows are cast. The extreme boldness of the mouldings, the
     absence of shafts and capitals and of all ornament, give them a
     primitive vigour, and their great intermingling curves, which
     contrast so magnificently with the little shafts of the piers
     beyond, seem more like a part of some great mountain cavern than a
     mere device of architectural utility.”--(P. D.)

The general effect of the Nave is that of length rather than height,
largely due to the continuous arcade of the triforium which leads the
eye irresistibly eastwards, and the comparatively restricted height of
the Cathedral has been increased by bold vaulting, and by the way the
lantern arches fit into the vault. A little study will show the visitor
the separation between the late Twelfth Century work of Reginald de
Bohun, or Fitz-Jocelyn, and the Thirteenth Century work of Jocelin.
These differences lie in the masonry and the carved heads and the
capitals.

The heads of a king and bishop, projecting from the south side between
the fourth and fifth piers, mark the point of change eastward: the
masonry of piers, walls and aisle walls is in small courses of stone;
westward, the blocks are larger, eastward, small human heads project at
the angles of the pier-arches and westward there are none; eastward, the
tympana of the triforium arcade are filled with carvings of grotesque
animals and small heads at the corners, and westward, the tympana are
filled with foliage and ornamented with larger heads. There are also
other differences.

     “Certainly it is an unusual instance of an architect deliberately
     setting himself to complete the works of an earlier period in
     faithful accordance with the original plan; and we may well be
     grateful to him for his modesty.

     “All the carving is most interesting and beautiful: the caps and
     corbels of the vaulting shafts; the little heads at the angles of
     the arches, which are vivid sketches of every type of contemporary
     character; and the carvings in the tympana, which are best in the
     seventh, eighth and ninth bays (counting from the west end), those
     on the north excelling in design and execution, while those on the
     south are more grotesque. But the capitals of the piers are the
     best of all, and the most hurried visitor should spare some time
     for the study of these remarkable specimens of sculpture, vigorous
     and lifelike, yet always subordinated to their architectural
     purpose. Those in the transepts[4] are perhaps the best, but the
     following in the nave should not be missed:--

     North side, Sixth Pier (by north porch): Birds pluming their wings:
     Beast licking himself: Ram: Bird with human head, holding knife
     (?).

     “Eighth Pier. Fox stealing goose, peasant following with stick:
     Birds pruning their feathers. (Within Bubwith’s Chapel) Human
     monster with fish’s tail, holding a fish: Bird holding frog in his
     beak, which is extremely long and delicate.

     “Ninth Pier. Pedlar carrying his pack on his shoulders, a string of
     large beads in one hand. Toothless monster with hands on knees.

     “South side, Seventh Pier. Birds with human heads, one wearing a
     mitre.

     “Eighth Pier. Peasant with club, seized by lion: Bird with curious
     foliated tail (within St. Edmund’s chapel). Owl: Peasant with
     mallet (?).”

If we look back towards the west end of the Nave we note an arcade of
five arches, the middle one widest of all to accommodate the two small
arches of the doorway. The three lancet windows are Perpendicular,
remodelled, and some of their dogtooth moulding, medallions in the
spandrels and little corbel heads of Early English work remain. There is
a gallery below the sill of the window.

The two western towers form two small transepts that project beyond the
aisles. Each is connected with the aisle by an arch. The Chapel of the
Holy Cross under Bubwith’s Tower (north) is the choir-boys’ vestry. The
chapel under Harewell’s Tower (south) is used by the bell-ringers. An
Early English doorway leads from it into the Cloister.

     “The nave, as far as the piers of the central tower, consists of
     ten bays, divided by octangular piers, with clustered shafts in
     groups of three. The capitals are enriched with Early English
     foliage, much of which is of unusually classical character,--one of
     the many indications of a lingering local school, with its Norman
     traditions. Birds, animals and monsters of various forms--among
     which is the bird with a man’s face, said to feed on human
     flesh--twine and perch among the foliage. Above the pier arches
     runs the triforium, very deeply set, and extending backward over
     the whole of the side aisles. The roof retains its original
     position. (The whole arrangement should be compared with the Norman
     triforia of Norwich and Ely, both of which extend over the
     side-aisles; but their exterior walls have been raised and
     Perpendicular windows inserted). The narrow lancet openings toward
     the nave are arranged in groups of three, with thick wall-plates
     between them. The head with each lancet is filled with a solid
     tympanum, displaying foliage and grotesques, of which those toward
     the upper end of the south side are especially curious. At the
     angles of the lancets are bosses of foliage and human heads, full
     of character. In the upper spaces between each arch are medallions
     with leafage. Triple shafts, with enriched capitals, form the
     vaulting-shafts, the corbels supporting which deserve examination.
     A clerestory window (the tracery is Perpendicular, and was inserted
     by Bishop Beckington (1443-1464)) opens between each bay of the
     vaulting, which is groined, with moulded ribs and bosses of foliage
     at the intersections.”--(R. J. K.)

In the clerestory of the sixth bay on the south side there is a =Music
Gallery=, early Perpendicular, the front of which consists of three
panels with large quartrefoils containing shields. It is very fine, but
not equal to the Minstrels’ Gallery in Exeter. It is finished with an
embattled cornice.

The aisles of the Nave are of the same architectural character as the
Nave itself. Among the striking capitals are:

Fifth shaft. Peasants carrying sheep, with a dog.

Ninth shaft. Man in a rough coat carrying foliage on his back.

Tenth shaft. Mason carrying a hod of mortar and a mallet; opposite side
of arch: Peasant in hood with staff and opposite this two heads,
evidently with toothache.

The greater part of the glass of the =West Window= was collected by Bishop
Creyghton in 1660-1670, excellent Sixteenth Century representations of
the history of _John the Baptist_. Possibly Creyghton added the figures
of _King Ina_ and _Bishop Ralph_ in the other lights, for the southern
one also bears his arms. The top and bottom of the middle light are said
to have come from Rouen in 1813.

Now we will examine the =transepts=.

     “The transepts seem to have been built before the nave, but some of
     the carved work of the capitals and corbels is of later date than
     the nave. The capitals on the west side of both transepts are among
     the finest in England. Many refer to the toothache.

     “North Transept: first Pier.--(Inside the Priest Vicars’ vestry) A
     prophet(?) with scroll on which there is no name: Man carrying
     goose. (Outside) Head with tongue on teeth.

     “Second Pier.--Aaron writing his name on a scroll: Moses with the
     tables of stone.

     “Third Pier.--Woman with a bandage across her face. Above this cap
     the corbel consists of a seated figure, naked, with distorted mouth
     and an agonised expression.

     “South Transept, second pier (from the south end). Two men are
     stealing grapes, one holds the basket full, the other plucks
     grapes, holding a knife in his other hand: The farmers in pursuit,
     one carries a spade and

the other a pitchfork: The man with the fork, a vigorous figure, catches
one thief: The man with the spade hits the other (whose face is most
woe-begone) on the head.

“Third pier.--Woman pulling thorn out of her foot: Man with one eye,
finger in his mouth: Baboon head: Cobbler; this figure shows very
plainly the method of shoemaking at this time; the cobbler in his apron,
sits with the shoe on one knee, his strap passes over the knee and round
the other foot, his foot is turned over so as to present the side and
not the sole to the strap: Woman’s head with long hair.

“Fourth pier.--Head perfectly hairless: Elias P. (the prophet) with hand
on cheek as if he, too, has the toothache: Head in hood, with tongue on
the one remaining tooth.

“It may be well here to say a word about the general classification of
these earlier capitals, since their date is a matter of great
architectural interest. I would venture to divide them into five
groups--

“(1) Those of the three western bays of the choir: simple carved foliage
of distinctly Norman character, as in the north porch: these belong to
the time of Reginald (1174-1191).

“(2) The four eastern bays of the nave and its aisles. Some of these may
belong to the first period, though later than the choir: they are more
advanced in the foliage, and teem with grotesque birds and beasts. Some,
however, of the caps in these bays are of quite different character;
they contain _genre_ subjects of perfectly naturalistic treatment, very
different to the St. Edmund of the north porch capital; but exactly
similar to the figure caps of the transepts. They must therefore have
been carved later than the death of Saint William Bytton.

“(3) The western bays of the nave. These, which are of much less
interest, belong to the period of Jocelin’s reconstruction (1220-1242).
They are characteristic examples of rich stiff-leaf foliage, freer than
that of the earlier work, but much less varied and without either human
figures or grotesques.

“(4) On the eastern range of transept piers. These would seem also to
come within Jocelin’s period, with the exception of the third pier of
the south transept.

     “(5) On the western range of transept piers, with which must be
     classed those later caps already referred to in the nave under
     group 2. Their date is settled by the fact that they abound in
     unmistakable representations of the toothache. Now Saint William
     Bytton died in 1274, and his tomb became immediately famous for
     cures of this malady. In 1286, the chapter decided to repair the
     old work, no doubt because the offerings at his tomb had brought
     money to the church.”--(P. D.)

In studying these fascinating grotesques, however, we have neglected to
examine the two chantries in the nave--=Bishop Bubwith’s= and =Dean
Sugar’s=. They are opposite one another and are alike in general
characteristics. The screen work and cornices of Bubwith’s composed of
light and elaborate tracery are very much admired. Light doorways permit
entrance. The altar here was dedicated to St. Saviour. Bishop Bubwith
(who built the north-west tower) died in 1424. His arms, containing
holly-leaves, are beautifully carved.

Sugar’s Chantry, about sixty years later in date, is even more
elaborate. Like Bubwith’s, it is hexagonal and the canopy over the altar
is vaulted with delicate fan-tracery. Critics now consider it the finer
of the two.

Adjoining Sugar’s Chantry the stone =Pulpit=, built in the reign of Henry
VIII., calls for attention. In front are the arms of Bishop Knight, who
built it and who is buried near it (he died in 1547). Beside it, is a
brass lectern presented in 1660; upon this rests a Bible of the same
date.

In the =South transept=, we find the =Font=, interesting because it is the
one relic of Bishop Robert’s Norman church. It may have stood in the
earlier Saxon cathedral. The cover is Jacobean.

In the south end of the south transept is the =Tomb of Bishop de Marchia=
(died 1302). The effigy of the bishop, lying in a recess under a canopy
bristling with crockets and finials and brilliant with scarlet and
crimson, green and gold, is very striking. Some of the angels
surrounding the figure are charming. It is interesting to compare this
with the =Tomb of Lady Lisle=, also adorned with crockets and brightly
coloured.

Perpendicular stone screens divide the transepts from their small
chapels. The chapels of the south transept are =St. Martin’s= (now the
canon’s vestry) and that of =St. Calixtus=, enclosed on the side of the
choir-aisle by some beautiful ironwork from Beckington’s tomb. On the
south side of St. Calixtus’s chapel we must pause to examine =Dean
Husse’s tomb=, of alabaster, and noted for its carved panels even in this
cathedral of splendid carvings.

=St. David’s Chapel= in the =north transept= compels us to pause again to
look at the capital of the second transept pier--a handsome head with
curls and a smile on his face--and a fine corbel carved into the form of
a lizard eating leaves of a plant with berries. In this chapel lies an
interesting effigy of =Bishop Still= (1543-1607) in a red robe lined with
white fur. Next comes the =Chapel of the Holy Cross= in which is the =tomb
of Bishop Cornish= (died 1513), thought also to have been used as the
Easter Sepulchre, where the Host was laid during Holy Week.

The north transept contains a relic of the past that delights every one
who happens to be there at the striking of the hour. The famous clock
that once belonged to Glastonbury Abbey is still in working order. A
little figure known locally as “Jack Blandiver” kicks the quarters with
his heels on two little bells and at the hour four figures on horseback
above the clock rush around and charge each other. The curious clock was
made by Peter Lightfoot, a monk of the abbey. It was said to have been
in constant use at Glastonbury for 250 years before it was removed to
Wells at the Dissolution of the monasteries.

From the east aisle of the north transept a door opens to the =Staircase=
that leads to the Chapter-House and also to the celebrated Chain-Gate,
or carved bridge that connects the Vicars’ College with the Cathedral.
Through this gallery the Vicars could pass from their own Close into the
Cathedral. The common hall of their college (1340) opens from it.

     “There are few things in English architecture that can be compared
     with it for strange impressive beauty; the staircase goes upward
     for eighteen steps and then part of it sweeps off to the
     Chapter-house on the right, while the other part goes on and up
     till it reaches the chain-bridge; thus the steps lie, worn here and
     there by the tread of many feet, like fallen leaves, the last of
     them lost in the brighter light of the bridge. Here one is still
     almost within the cathedral, and yet the carts are passing
     underneath, and their rattle mixes with the sound of the organ
     within.

     “The main gallery of the Chain-Gate is shut off by a door, which,
     if it were kept open, would make the prospect even more beautiful
     than it is. Two corbels which support the vaulting-shafts of the
     lower staircase should be noticed; they both represent figures
     thrusting their staves into the mouth of a dragon, but that on the
     east (wearing a hood and a leathern girdle round his surcoat) is as
     vigorous in action as the figure on the west side is feeble. A
     small barred opening in the top of the east wall lights a curious
     little chamber, which is reached from the staircase that leads to
     the roof.”--(P. D.)

The =Chapter-House= is famous among these beautiful adjuncts to English
cathedrals. It has been called “a glorious development of window and
vault.” It was built in the latter half of the Geometrical period
(1280-1315). Note the profusion of ball-flower ornament round the
windows and the ogee dripstones outside.

     “Of octagonal plan, its vaulting ribs branch out from sixteen
     Purbeck shafts which cluster round the central pillar, typifying
     the diocesan church with all its members gathered round its common
     father, the bishop. Each of the eight sides of the room is occupied
     by a window of four lights, with graceful tracery of an advanced
     geometrical type. These windows, which are among the finest
     examples of the period, have no shafts, but their arch mouldings
     are enriched with a continuous series of the ball-flower ornament.
     Most of the old glass in which ruby and white are the predominant
     colours, remains in the upper lights. Under the windows runs an
     arcade which forms fifty-one stalls, separated into groups of seven
     by the blue lias vaulting-shafts at the angles, but in the side
     which is occupied by the doorway there are only two stalls, one on
     either side of the entrance. Two rows of stone benches are under
     the stalls, and there is a bench of Purbeck round the base of the
     central pier.”--(P. D.)

Another authority says:

     “At the springs of the arches are sculptured heads full of
     expression, kings, bishops, monks, ladies, jesters; and at the
     angles, grotesques of various kinds. A line of the ball-flower
     ornament is carried round above the canopies.

     “The double arches at the entrance show traces of a door on the
     exterior. Remark the curious boss in the vaulting, composed of four
     bearded faces. The diameter of the chapter-house is fifty feet, its
     height forty-one feet. Its unusual, and indeed unique, features
     are--its separation from the cloisters from which the chapter-house
     generally opens; and its crypt, or lower story, which rendered
     necessary the staircase by which it is approached.

     “A most striking view of the chapter-house is obtained from the
     fourth angle of the staircase, close to the doorway of the Vicars’
     College. The effect of the double-door arches with their tracery,
     of the central pier, the branched ribs of the vaulting, and the
     fine windows is magnificent; and when the latter were filled with
     stained glass, must have been quite unrivalled. The chapter-house
     is by no means the least important of the many architectural
     masterpieces which combine to place Wells so high in the ranks of
     English cathedrals.”--(R. J. K.)

The =Crypt=, finished by 1286, represents the last development of the
Early English style. It was used as the treasury where valuables were
kept. It is reached by a dark passage from the north-choir-aisle. The
odd corbels should be noted. The walls are very thick, the windows
narrow with wide splays and the vaulting-ribs spring from round and
massive pillars with much effect. This Crypt is unusually high, because
the many springs at Wells would not permit of a subterranean chamber.

But again we have been led astray from the main body of the Cathedral.
Returning the same way, we again enter the north transept and stand
beneath the splendid fan-tracery vault of the tower, a vault, beautiful
as it is, that hides the lantern with its arcades. These, however, can
be seen during the ascent of the tower.

The =Screen= dates from the Fourteenth Century.

     “The first impression on entering the choir will not readily be
     forgotten. Owing to the peculiar and most beautiful arrangement of
     the Lady-chapel and the retro-choir, to the manner in which the
     varied groups of arches and pilasters are seen beyond the low altar
     screen, to the rich splendours of the stained glass, to the
     beautiful architectural details of the choir itself, and to the
     grace and finish of the late restorations, it may safely be said
     that the choir of no English cathedral affords a view more
     impressive or more picturesque. It is difficult to determine
     whether the effect is more striking at early morning, when the
     blaze of many-coloured light from all the eastern windows is
     reflected upon the slender shafts of Purbeck and upon the vaulted
     roof, or at the late winter services, when the darkened figures of
     saints and prophets in the clerestory combine with the few lights
     burning at the choristers’ stalls to add something of mystery and
     solemn gloom to the maze of half-seen aisles and chapels.

     “The first three piers and arches of the choir are Early English,
     of the same character as those of the nave and transepts, and are
     probably the work of Bishop Jocelin. The remaining portion,
     including the whole of the vaulting as well as the clerestory above
     the first three bays, is very rich early Decorated (geometrical)
     and deserves the most careful study.

     “The tabernacle work and the window tracery of the first three
     bays, although of the same date, are less rich than those of the
     eastern half of the choir. In this latter portion remark the triple
     banded shafts of Purbeck, carried quite to the roof as
     vaulting-shafts, and the tabernacle-work occupying the place of the
     triforium, deeper and wider than in the lower bays. Under each arch
     is a short triple shaft, supporting a bracket richly carved in
     foliage. The sculpture of the capitals and of these brackets is
     very good and should be noticed. The foliage has become
     unconventional, and has evidently been studied from nature. Its
     diminutive character, as compared with the Early English work in
     the nave, is very striking.

     “The east end of the choir is formed of three arches divided by
     slender piers above which is some very rich tabernacle-work,
     surmounted by an east window of unusual design. At the back of the
     altar, and between the piers, is a low diapered screen, beyond
     which are seen the arches and stained windows of the retro-choir
     and Lady-chapel.”--(R. J. K.)

The stone vault is unusual, a sort of “coved roof,” Freeman calls it,
“with cells cut in it for the clerestory windows.”

The three western bays are Bishop Reginald’s of the Twelfth Century.
Here we are in the very oldest part of the Cathedral. Triple
vaulting-shafts of Purbeck marble are carried down to the floor.

     “The clerestory windows contain flowing tracery of an advanced and
     not very good type. In some the plain mullions are carried on
     through the head of the window and intersect each other. Above the
     tabernacle-work of the east end is the EAST WINDOW of seven lights,
     the last bit of the Fourteenth Century reconstruction, the last
     flicker of Decorated freedom. Its curious tracery is still
     beautiful, doubly so for the glass it enshrines, but the rule and
     square of Perpendicular domination have already set their mark upon
     it; the two principal mullions run straight up to the window head,
     and part of the tracery between them is rectangular.”--(P. D.)

The Cathedral possesses sixty-four =Misericords=, from the old
choir-stalls, regarded as among the best examples of mediæval
wood-carving in England. The skilful hand of the carver has wonderfully
represented griffins fighting, mermaids, apes, goats, dragons, wyverns,
popinjays, cats, foxes, peacocks, monsters, angels, eagles, hawks,
rabbits, kings, peasants--and many other birds, animals and grotesques.

The soft yet brilliant light sifts in from the =Jesse Window= above the
high altar. We lift our eyes and with some pains discern the twining
branches of the vine with the recumbent figure of Jesse at the base,
resting his head on his hand. From him rises the leading shoot of the
tree, with the figures of the Virgin and the Child each with radiant
nimbus and beneath a golden canopy. The tendrils of the vine enwreath
prophets, priests and kings,--the ancestors of the Babe of Bethlehem.
Above is a representation of the _Crucifixion_; and at the very

[Illustration: WELLS: NAVE, EAST]

[Illustration: WELLS: SOUTH-WEST]

top of the window, the outstretched wings of the Holy Spirit.

The choir-aisles are of the same character as the choir itself and are
entered from the transepts through ogee arches, ornamented with crockets
and finials.

The south-choir-aisle contains the =Tomb of Saint William Bytton=, at
which (the oldest incised slab in England) offerings were made by those
suffering from toothache, as we have already seen. Further away is the
=Tomb of Beckington=, surrounded by a beautiful iron-screen of the same
date as the tomb (1452). The carving is very fine, especially the wings
of the angels. A little colour is left here and there. His effigy rests
upon it, with old and wrinkled face. This bishop said mass for his own
soul here in January, 1452, thirteen years before he died.

In the south-east transept, we find the =Chapel of St. John Baptist=,
where a Decorated piscina with canopy deserves attention.

At the extreme end of the north-choir-aisle is =Saint Stephen’s Chapel=
and at the extreme end of the south-choir-aisle is the corresponding
=Saint Catherine’s Chapel=. Both contain effigies of bishops, tombs and
monuments. Between and back of these is the Lady-Chapel.

We now return to the =Retro-choir=. Four slender piers of Purbeck marble
bear up the vault. The arrangement of the columns should be particularly
noticed here. It is hard to realise that this =Retro-choir= was merely a
device for connecting the Lady-Chapel with the Choir, it seems so
entirely a part of the scheme.

     “The beauty of the retro-choir, or ‘procession aisles,’ the
     arrangement of its piers and clustered columns, and the admirable
     manner in which it unites the Lady-chapel with the choir should be
     here remarked. It is throughout Early Decorated. The foliage of the
     capitals and the bosses of the vaulting will repay careful
     examination. Many of the vaulting ribs appear to spring from two
     grotesque heads--one on either side of the low choir-screen--which
     hold them between their teeth. The four supporting pillars and
     shafts are placed _within_ the line of the choir-piers, thus
     producing the unusual intricacy and variety of the eastward view
     from the choir. At Salisbury, and in all other English cathedrals,
     the piers of the procession-aisles are placed in a line with those
     of the choir.”--(R. J. K.)

Mr. Bond thinks the Wells architect got his idea for the octagonal
Lady-Chapel by tacking on the elongated octagonal of the Lichfield
Chapter-House to the rectangular retro-choir of Salisbury.

     “The Lady-chapel is an early work of the Curvilinear period; for it
     seems to have been complete in 1324. The windows have beautiful
     reticulated tracery of early type. There is lovely carving in the
     capitals, bosses, reredos, sedilia and piscina. The Curvilinear
     foliated capitals here and in the choir should be compared with the
     somewhat earlier capitals of the chapter-house, with the early
     Geometrical capitals of the staircase, the Lancet capitals of the
     west front and the late Transitional ones of porch, nave and
     transepts. The ancient glass here and in the Jesse window of the
     choir is superb in colour.

     “As every one knows, it is the most beautiful east end we have in
     England. It may be worth while to see how this design was arrived
     at--a design as exceptional as it is effective. The simplest form
     of an east end in English Gothic is seen at York and Lincoln: it
     consists merely of a low wall with a big window above it. The next
     improvement is to build an aisle or processional path behind the
     east end; at the same time piercing the east wall with one, two or
     three arches. This was done at Hereford about 1180; and on a
     magnificent scale in the Chapels of Nine Altars at Durham and at
     Fountains early in the Thirteenth Century. But the French apsidal
     cathedrals--of which we have an example in Westminster--have not
     only an encircling processional aisle, but also a chevet of chapels
     radiating out from it; thus providing ever-changing vistas of
     entrancing beauty. The next step in England also was to provide our
     rectangular choirs with a chevet as well as with a processional
     aisle. An early example of this plan is to be seen at Abbey Dore,
     in Herefordshire, about 1190. It occurs early in the Thirteenth
     Century on a still grander scale at Salisbury, where one finds not
     one but two processional aisles, as well as chapels to the east of
     them; and, in addition, a Lady-chapel projecting still farther to
     the east, thus producing a design of great complexity and beauty.
     Nevertheless, at Salisbury, since the chief supporting piers of the
     retro-choir and the chevet are in a line with those of the choir,
     there is by no means the same changeful intricacy of vista that
     affords one ever fresh delight in an apsidal church. At Wells,
     however, the architect attained all the success of the Continental
     builder simply because he built his Lady-chapel not rectangular but
     octagonal. For to get this octagon, of which only five sides were
     supported by walls, he had to plant in the retro-choir two piers to
     support the remaining three sides; and these piers are necessarily
     out of line with the piers of the choir. He had got the Continental
     vista. He saw it; but he saw also that it could be improved upon.
     And he did improve it, by putting up an outer ring of four more
     piers round the western part of the octagon of the Lady-chapel. It
     was an intuition of genius: it makes the vistas into the
     retro-choir and the Lady-chapel a veritable glimpse into fairyland;
     and provides here alone in England a rival to the glorious eastern
     terminations of Amiens and Le Mans. And that is not all. We saw in
     the chapter-house the grand effect of the central stalk branching
     upward and outward in all directions, like some palm tree
     transmuted into stone. This beautiful effect he transfers to the
     retro-choir, but multiplied--four palm trees in place of one; for
     each of the four external piers of the octagon emulates the
     chapter-house’s central stalk.”--(F. B.)

The large windows are filled with fine specimens of Fourteenth Century
glass unfortunately now jumbled together. The =East Window= is composed
of odd pieces put together by Willement. David and other patriarchs
occupy the upper tier, and the Virgin, Eve and the Serpent and Moses and
the Brazen Serpent, the lower tier. The upper lights display angels with
the instruments of the Passion, emblems of the Evangelists and busts of
bishops and patriarchs.

     “From the south-west transept we pass into the CLOISTERS, which
     occupy an unusual amount of space, but have only three walks
     instead of the usual four.

     “The difference between a true monastic cloister and this of Wells
     should be remarked. The canons of Wells were not monks and did not
     require a cloister in the ordinary sense. This is merely an
     ornamental walk around the cemetery. It did not lead to either
     dormitory, refectory or chapter-house. It served as a passage to
     the Bishop’s Palace; and the wall of the east walk is Early English
     of the same date as the palace itself. The lavatory in the east
     walk should be remarked, as well as the grotesque bosses of the
     roof in the portion built by Bishop Beckington. Over the western
     cloister is the Chapter Grammar School. The central space is known
     as the ‘Palm Churchyard,’ from the yew-tree in its centre, the
     branches of which were formerly carried in procession as palms.
     From the south-east angle of the cloisters we descend into the open
     ground within the gateway adjoining the marketplace, and opposite
     the episcopal palace. This is surrounded by a moat, as well as by
     strong external walls and bastions, and would have been capable of
     sustaining a long siege according to the mediæval system of
     warfare. The moat is fed by springs from St. Andrew’s, or the
     ‘bottomless well’--the original ‘great well’ of King Ina,--which
     rise close to the palace and fall into the moat in a cascade at the
     north-east corner. Both walls and moat were the work of Bishop
     Ralph of Shrewsbury (1329-1365).”--(R. J. K.)

Wells is famous for its ancient houses. The old Palace and the Deanery
are still occupied by the bishop and the dean; the canons and vicars
also live in the individual houses built for these ecclesiastics. Wells
was never a monastery with a common refectory and dormitory: there were
always secular priests here and each man lived in his own house. Of all
the domestic buildings the Bishop’s Palace is the most beautiful. It is
considered the most perfect specimen of an Early English house that
exists.

BATH ABBEY

     DEDICATION: ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. A CHURCH SERVED BY SECULAR
     CANONS.

     SPECIAL FEATURE: WEST FRONT.

Standing before the =West Front=, we notice, first of all, that upon the
angles of the nave on either side of the great window are two turrets,
on the face of each of which is carved a ladder with angels ascending or
descending. The space above the window is also carved with angels; and,
under a canopy above the group, stands a figure of God the Father. Of
this strange decoration the following story is told:

Oliver King, Bishop of Exeter, was translated to the See of Bath and
Wells in 1495. He went at once to Bath, and found the church in a
dilapidated condition. While there, he had a repetition of Jacob’s
famous dream of a ladder reaching from heaven to earth with angels
ascending and descending. Above them stood the Lord, who said: “Let an
Olive establish the crown and a King restore the church.” Taking the
hint, Bishop Oliver King immediately set to work to rebuild the church
and had his dream recorded upon the west front. He also had an
olive-tree and crown carved on each of the corner buttresses.

Bishop King’s new church was smaller than the old one. It only occupied
the site of the former nave. He died before it was finished. Prior
William Birde continued the work, not forgetting a chantry for himself,
which is regarded as the best thing in the church. Birde died in 1525;
and the work was still unfinished when it was seized by the king’s
commissioners. The roofless and neglected church soon fell into decay;
but in 1572 it was patched up a little in order that services might be
held in it. The east window was glazed and the choir was roofed. The
nave, however, was not roofed until Bishop Montague’s rule (1608-1616).

At the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, many mean houses that had
clustered around Bath Abbey were removed, and buttresses and pinnacles
were added to strengthen the walls. Repeated restorations have made it
exceedingly trim in appearance.

About 775, Offa, the Mercian king, founded here a college of secular
canons, who were expelled by Dunstan in the Tenth Century and superseded
by monks.

One great event in the abbey church was the coronation of King Edgar on
the Feast of Pentecost, 973; and for centuries afterwards it was the
custom to select on Whitsunday a “King of Bath” from among its citizens,
in honour of this circumstance.

John de Villula, a Frenchman from Tours, who was Bishop of Somerset in
the reign of William Rufus, greatly preferred Bath to Wells. He was able
to merge Bath Abbey into the bishopric; and then he began to rebuild the
church dedicated to St. Peter. When it was finished, he transferred the
bishop’s seat from Wells to Bath. This did not satisfy Wells, however,
and when Robert of Lewes became bishop of Bath and Wells, he seems to
have arranged matters by allowing the Bishop of Somerset to have a
throne at St. Andrew’s in Wells and at St. Peter’s in Bath, the bishop
to be chosen by the monks of Bath and the canons of Wells (See page
108).

The church built by John of Tours having suffered from fire, Robert was
compelled to rebuild it; but subsequent bishops neglected Bath; and at
the end of the Fifteenth Century, when Oliver King was removed here from
Exeter, he found the church was in a ruinous condition and began to
rebuild it, as we have seen.

Bath Abbey is a very interesting example of late Perpendicular. It was
nearing completion when it surrendered to Henry VIII. in 1539, and is,
therefore, the last expression of Gothic Art. The most interesting part
of the church is the =West Front=, with its large window flanked by the
turrets with the ladders, already described. Each turret contains a
staircase; rises far above the parapet of the nave; and terminates in an
embattled parapet surmounted by an eight-sided and crocketed pyramid.

     “The great west window is one of seven lights, divided horizontally
     into four parts. Below it is a battlemented parapet with a niche in
     the centre, in which, no doubt, a statue formerly stood, and in
     which a new statue has recently been placed. At the base of it are
     the arms and supporters of Henry VII. Below it is the west door,
     beneath a rectangular label. The spandrels contain emblems of the
     Passion. On either side stand statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, to
     whom the church was jointly dedicated; these seem to be of
     Elizabethan date. The doors themselves were the gift to the church
     of the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Henry Montague, brother of the
     bishop who completed the church. On them may be seen shields
     bearing the arms of the Montagues and of the Bishop of Bath and
     Wells.”--(T. P.)

The =Central Tower= is oblong and rises two stages above the roof. It
contains two pairs of windows

[Illustration: BATH ABBEY: WEST FRONT]

[Illustration: BATH ABBEY: CHOIR, WEST]

with rectangular heads and each corner is ornamented by a heavy
octagonal turret also terminating in octagonal pyramids decorated with
crockets. Similar pyramids terminate the turrets that flank the sides of
the east window of the choir.

There is no Lady-Chapel.

Let us survey the exterior:

     “The nave consists of five bays. The clerestory windows are
     unusually lofty, and are divided by transoms; they are of five
     lights. Along the top of the clerestory wall is a battlemented,
     pierced parapet; but the pattern of the pierced openings differs
     from that of the parapet which runs along the top of the aisle
     walls. The aisles have five light windows without transoms; their
     heads are four centred arches; between each bay are projecting
     buttresses of three stages with gabled offsets, finished with
     crocketed pinnacles; against them rest flying-buttresses formed of
     a lower semi-arch, with a straight rectilinear truss. From the
     points where the arched flying-buttresses abut against the
     clerestory walls, vertical, slightly projecting buttresses are
     built upwards against the wall and rising above the parapet, are
     finished by crocketed pinnacles. The same design is carried right
     round the church. The clerestory of the transepts resembles those
     of the nave and the choir.”--(T. P.)

Entering, our first and general view is impressive, because of the
fan-vaulting and height of the =Nave=. Owing to the absence of horizontal
lines, the vault seems higher than it really is. There is no triforium.
A string-course runs above the arches of the main arcade beneath the
clerestory windows, which are unusually tall. On account of the enormous
windows and the absence of painted glass, Bath Abbey received the name
of the “Lantern of the West”; but now that the windows of the nave and
choir-aisles have been supplied with painted lights, the name is less
appropriate. The tracery of these windows is, of course, Perpendicular.
The one in the south-transept is a thanksgiving for the recovery of the
Prince of Wales in 1872. The lower lights depict the recovery of
Hezekiah and the royal arms of the Prince and Princess of Wales and also
those of the city of Bath. The upper part represents the Tree of Jesse.
The great east and west windows have seven lights. The west window
contains subjects from Old Testament history, and the east-window,
representations of the life of Christ.

     “There is little variety in the arches and shafts throughout the
     church. This repetition is a well-known feature in Perpendicular
     work. The piers have no general capital. The shaft which carries
     the inner order of the arch has a capital, and so, at the same
     level, have the vaulting-shafts of the high vault and that of the
     aisles. These shafts spring from the bases of the main pillars. The
     capitals at this level are plain, and so are the capitals of the
     vaulting-shafts of the nave from which the vaulting-ribs spring.
     But in the choir the place of these plain bands is taken by carved
     angels. Carved angels also form the termination of the
     hood-moulding of the lower windows of the south transept, and
     probably those of the north transept also, though these windows are
     hidden by the wooden pipes of the organ.

     “Over the heads of the clerestory windows of the nave are small
     shields, and shields may also be seen in the centre of the
     fan-tracery in the nave, choir and transept. In the aisles the
     fan-tracery is somewhat different, as in the centre of each bay
     there is a pendant. The vaulting of the nave and its aisles and
     that of the south transept are modern, put up, under the direction
     of Sir Gilbert Scott, to match the roof of the choir and its aisles
     and north transept respectively. The reredos was designed by the
     same architect. The oak screen across the eastern part of the south
     choir aisle is due to his son. The font is also modern. In fact,
     beyond the walls and the roofing of the eastern part of the church,
     there is little old about it. In the clerestory windows are a few
     fragments of Seventeenth-Century glass--heraldic shields.”--(T. P.)

Although Bath Abbey is full of monuments (there are over six hundred
memorial tablets besides statues), the only tombs that deserve attention
are those of =Bishop Montague=, in the fourth arch of the nave on the
north side, and =Lady Waller’s Monument= under the southern window of the
transept. The figure of her husband, Sir William Waller, who commanded
the Parliamentary army in the Battle of Landsdown, near Bath, clad in
mail, gazes down upon his dead wife. Two weeping children kneel at her
feet.

Between the choir and the south-aisle =Prior Birde’s Chantry= occupies two
bays. It is a most elaborate piece of carving. The rebus of the founder
(a bird and a W) appears frequently. Fan-tracery decorates the vault.

The very fine organ is placed in the transept. The bells of Bath are
famous.

BRISTOL

     DEDICATION: THE HOLY TRINITY. A CHURCH SERVED BY AUGUSTINIAN
     CANONS.

     SPECIAL FEATURES: EAST WINDOW (TRACERY AND GLASS); CHAPTER-HOUSE;
     GREAT GATEWAY.

The =West Front= of Bristol gives us a slight suggestion of a French
cathedral, for here we find a rose window and a large doorway, at the
side of which rise two square towers. The balustrade above the crocketed
gable of the doorway partly hides the rose-window.

The towers were built in 1887 and 1888: the north-west is Bishop
Butler’s Tower and the south-west, the Colston Tower. The Butler tower
is enriched with statues of St. Michael, St. Gabriel and the Angel of
Praise; the Colston, with the Angel of the Gospel, St. Raphael and the
Angel of the Sun. On our right is the Great Gateway.

The exterior of Bristol is not very striking. The buttresses of the
Elder-Lady-Chapel are Decorated and of the same date as the east window
of the same chapel. We should also view the great east window of the
Lady-Chapel from without and the =Central Tower=.

     “Early in the Fifteenth Century a central tower was added. Here
     again one is struck by the originality of the British people: it is
     as beautiful as it is original. The designer had noticed how
     beautiful is the effect of a close-packed range of tall clerestory
     windows, such as those of Leighton Buzzard Church. So instead of
     restricting himself on each side of the tower to one or two
     windows, he inserts no less than five. The range of clerestory
     windows, which the Fourteenth Century builder refused to the
     choir, becomes the special ornament and glory of the tower.”--(F.
     B.)

As we enter through the =North Porch=, which occupies the space between
two buttresses and is adorned with statues of the Four Evangelists, we
may remember that when Henry VIII. created the diocese of Bristol there
had been a church and monastery of Augustine canons on this site for
four hundred years. This monastery was founded in 1142 by Robert
Fitzhardinge, Lord of Berkeley Castle. Of his Norman church little
remains but portions of the walls in both transepts, a staircase in the
north-aisle leading to the tower, and some fragments in the choir. The
Norman nave was removed in 1542, because it was thought unsafe. The new
nave and western towers were completed in 1888 by Mr. Street, who copied
from the old, repeating the vaulting and the recesses of the eastern
end.

The ground plan consists of a nave with an aisle on either side; a
central tower and transepts; then the choir with north and south aisles;
and finally, the Lady-Chapel at the end. On the north of the
north-choir-aisle is the first Lady-Chapel--built in the Early English
style, and called Elder-Lady-Chapel to distinguish it from the later
Lady-Chapel at the east end.

At the south-east end of the south-choir-aisle we find the Berkeley
Chapel; and at the end of the south transept, the Newton Chapel. Beyond
it is the Chapter-House with its Vestibule, and on the south and west
the remains of the Cloisters.

Our best position for viewing the =Nave= is from the north or between the
two big towers. It is 120 feet long, 60 feet high and 69 broad
including the aisles. One peculiarity of Bristol is that the aisles are
of the same height as the Nave; and another, that this Cathedral has
neither clerestory, nor triforium. The windows of the Nave are very
large and are strengthened by transoms.

The =West Window= has for its subject the _Adoration of the Lamb_. The
=Choir= consists of four bays. It is in the Decorated style and dates from
1306 to 1332.

     “The piers of the choir carry triple shafts which support the
     vaulting of the choir, and others for the aisles, which are here of
     the same height as the choir. Capitals of great delicacy and
     beauty, modelled from real foliage, serve to break the line of the
     mouldings and accentuate the springing of the vault. Graceful
     though the span of the roof is admitted to be, the lines of the
     arcade of the choir are finer, and the effect of the contrast of
     their soft mouldings carried up and around without a break is
     excellent. The iron screen-work that separates the choir from its
     aisles is uninteresting and too small in scale.”--(H. J. L. J. M.)

On either side of the high altar are canopied recesses containing
monuments. The reredos is a memorial to Bishop Ellicott and is rather
too high, therefore interfering with a good view of the splendid east
window in the Lady-Chapel. The mosaic pavement is new, and the stalls
are also modern. Some of the old =Misereres= have been preserved, however,
and consist of grotesques. Some of them illustrate _Reynard the Fox_.

In both aisles of the Choir we are struck by the very peculiar vaulting
designed by Abbot Knowle to strengthen the building and help carry the
lateral thrust occasioned by the heavy central vaulting. These bridges,
or transoms, therefore, do the work of flying-buttresses as faithfully
to-day as when they were erected six hundred years ago.

     “The transoms, features which were repeated in the windows of the
     aisles of the choir, and in a much heavier form in the windows of
     the nave, are additionally strengthened by the graceful arches
     below which spring from capitals almost similar to those on the
     choir side of the piers. From the centre of each transom rises a
     cluster of groining ribs. It has been customary to speak rather
     disparagingly of this clever piece of work of Abbot Knowle and to
     term it carpentry work in stone. It may be so, but the student of
     to-day may thank the Fourteenth Century Abbot for a most
     instructive lesson. The transoms have crowned heads at either end
     and in the centre, and they, unlike the transoms in the aisles of
     the nave, are ornamented with little flowers. Beneath the windows,
     which are Decorated in character, is a string-course, with
     ball-flower ornament, a feature which is found all round this
     eastern part. In the south aisle the vaulting was intended to be
     the same as in the north aisle, having been planned by the same
     architect, but a difference in the westernmost bay shows it was
     superintended by a different mind. In all probability it was
     Knowle’s successor, Abbot Snow, who, from 1332-1341, went on with
     his predecessor’s work, adding that part called the Newton
     Chapel.”--(H. J. L. J. M.)

There is not a great deal of old glass in Bristol, but some of the
=Windows= in this east end are worthy of careful study.

     “The east windows of the choir aisles are filled with glass
     coloured with enamels in accordance with the practice of the
     Seventeenth Century instead of glass coloured in its manufacture.
     They date from the reign of Charles II.; and although it is
     traditionally said that they were presented by Nell Gwynne, it is
     more probable that they were the offerings of Henry Glenham, Dean
     of Bristol from 1661 to 1667, and afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph.
     The arms of Glemham (Or, a chevron gules between three torteaux)
     are repeated three times in the window of the south aisle and once
     in that of the north. The subjects (arranged as type and antitype)
     in the north aisle are--in the centre, the Resurrection; below
     Jonah delivered from the whale. On the right, above, the Ascension;
     below, Elijah taken up to heaven. On the left, above, the Agony in
     the garden; below, Abraham about to offer up his son.”--(R. J. K.)

In the third bay of the north wall of this north-choir-aisle a doorway
opens into a peculiar passage designed by Abbot Knowle to take the place
of a triforium. The passage leads to a staircase communicating with the
central tower and the belfry.

North of the north-choir-aisle we come to the greatly admired Early
English Chapel, the Elder Lady-Chapel.

     “The Lady-Chapel (generally called the Elder Lady-Chapel because
     the altar of the Virgin was removed to the east end of the church
     after Abbot Knowle had rebuilt the choir) is entered from the
     north-east corner of the transept. The chapel is Early English, and
     dates, according to Mr. Godwin, from the time of Abbot John
     (1196-1215). The chapel is of four bays, the windows in which are
     triplets with inner arches, of which those at the side are
     gracefully foliated. The detached vaulting-shafts are of Purbeck
     marble. The sculpture of the capitals and string-courses is
     unusually good; and the spandrels of the wall-arcade are filled
     with grotesque designs which are full of spirit and character,
     greatly resembling the sculpture in Wells Cathedral, much of which
     is of the same date. Remember especially--a goat blowing a horn and
     carrying a hare slung over his back; a ram and an ape playing on
     musical instruments; and St. Michael with the dragon(?); below is a
     fox carrying off a foliage. The vaulting of the roof would seem to
     stamp the English character.”--(R. J. K.)

This chapel was originally detached from the rest of the Cathedral.
Beneath the two arches

[Illustration: BRISTOL: NORTH]

[Illustration: BRISTOL: NAVE, EAST]

between it and the north-choir-aisle stands the =Tomb of Maurice=, ninth
Lord Berkeley (died 1368). Here he lies with =Elizabeth=, his wife. The
knight is in armour and his head lies on a mitre. A good groined canopy
overshadows these figures.

Retracing our steps into the choir and passing into the
=South-choir-aisle=, we examine the Glenham window, which is of the same
date as the corresponding one in the north-choir-aisle.

The subjects are--in the centre, above, _Our Lord Driving the Money
Changers from the Temple_; below, _Jacob’s Dream_; on the right, above,
the _Tribute Money_; below, _Melchisedec_ and _Abraham_; the subject on
the left, above, is uncertain; below, the _Sacrifice of Gideon_.

From the western bay of the south-choir-aisle we enter the =Newton
Chapel=, where members of the Newton family lie. This dates from
1332-1341. The style is late Decorated. The south wall divides it from
the Chapter-House, with which it is parallel.

On the right, after passing out of the Newton Chapel, we come to one of
Abbot Knowle’s recesses. The foliage consists of oak leaves and acorns
interspersed here and there with tiny sprays of mistletoe, an unusual
ornament, in church decoration.

We next pass the =Tomb of Thomas, Lord Berkeley=, who died in 1243. He is
represented in armour. His crossed legs show that he was a
knight-templar. This is the oldest monument in the cathedral. The next
recess contains the effigy of =Maurice, Lord Berkeley=, who died in 1281.
He is also in armour. In the next bay we pass up one step to the
entrance of a =Vestibule= (once a sacristy, now a music-room for the
choristers), a fine specimen of Decorated work. Through this we pass
into =Berkeley Chapel=.

     “Opposite the entrance door on the south side are three ogee arches
     with niches between. In one of these, the third from the west, was
     a hearth upon which the sacramental bread was baked. The
     ornamentation in the spandrels and the finials is curiously
     interesting work in foliage. The vaulting of the roof would seem to
     stamp the work as that of Abbot Knowle. It consists of curved ribs,
     quite detached, large in section, springing from small capitals.
     The bosses are particularly fine, the foliage being very flowing
     and free. It is difficult to realise that the mason has here done
     in stone what many wood-carvers would fail to do in their softer
     material. The door into the Berkeley Chapel is enriched with a
     niche overhead, and a moulding below consisting of medlers.”--(H.
     J. L. J. M.)

The Berkeley Chapel was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It is thought that
an altar also stood here to St. Keyne, who turned to stone all the
snakes in the vicinity. The ammonites were probably suggested by finding
one or two in a piece of stone.

     “There are two windows toward the east, the soffetes of which are
     ornamented with a gigantic ball-flower; and the peculiar foliage on
     some of the capitals should be remarked. Under each of the windows
     was an altar, the steps and piscinæ of which remain. The altars
     were separated by a screen, the marks of which were visible in the
     old pavement. Between the chapel and the aisle the wall is pierced
     by the peculiar arch of Abbot Knowle; and under it, in the
     thickness of the wall, is an altar-tomb much ornamented and
     containing five shields charged with the coats of the Berkeley,
     Ferrers and De Quincey families. The tomb in its present state is
     no doubt that of Thomas, Lord Berkeley (died 1321), whose wives
     were of those families; but the lower part, with its very fine
     foliage, is of Early English date, and may possibly have been
     removed from another part of the church.”--(R. J. K.)

The =Lady-Chapel= is of the same date as the Choir. The east end was
rebuilt about 1280 and a window with geometrical tracery, consisting of
foliated circles, was inserted. Until 1895 it was used as a chancel. It
is 42 feet long and 32 feet broad and consists of two bays. It is
lighted by five windows. The central one is a Jesse window, and each of
the four side windows has a transom with rich tracery below. This rich
tracery we noticed from the street. In a good light relics of the
ancient painting on the walls, representing angels, each with a golden
nimbus, can be seen.

The =Reredos= of the Lady-Chapel is partly Abbot Knowle’s work and partly
Perpendicular. On the first bay of the south side are the =Sedilia=,
restorations of the original cut away to make room for an Elizabethan
tomb of =Sir John Young= and his family. They are in four divisions with
rich canopies of leafage supported by shafts of red serpentine.

The various recesses contain tombs and effigies of dignitaries of the
Cathedral, and, while the general lines of these recesses are similar,
there is much variety in the treatment of details.

The splendid =East Window= is pure Decorated and of great beauty in
tracery and design. Most of the glass is old, which adds another charm
to the lovely effect of the tracery. There is much beautiful silvery
white glass from which the brilliant colours sparkle with great effect,
and we have no difficulty in tracing the _Tree of Jesse_:

     “The lower lights are separated by vine tendrils into oval panels,
     twenty-one in all. In the lowest tier in the centre is Jesse with
     David on the right and Solomon on the left hand. To the left of the
     latter are the prophets Micah, Haggai, Malachi; to the right of
     David are Jeremiah, Daniel and Amos. In the next tier the central
     figure is the Virgin and Child with Hezekiah on the left and Ahaz
     on the right, the four kings, David, Solomon, Hezekiah and Ahaz,
     representing the descent of the promise. To the left of Hezekiah
     are the prophets Jonah, Habakkuk, Zechariah; and to the right of
     Ahaz are Isaiah, Ezekiel and Hosea. Above these two rows of regular
     panels are three panels, containing four subjects--the central one
     giving us the Crucifixion, with our Lord in glory in the upper part
     of the light. In the right hand light is the Virgin Mary, in that
     on the left is St. John.

     “In the head of this window there are now seventeen blazons of
     arms. In the quatrefoil at the top--the arms of England as used
     before the time of Edward III., viz., the three lions; in the two
     trefoils immediately below are Berkeley of Stoke Gifford (L),
     Berkeley of Berkeley Castle (R).

     “Most of the glass in this upper part is original and is supposed
     by Mr. Winston to date between 1312-1322, as the arms of Gaveston,
     who was murdered in 1312, are not in the window, while the arms of
     De Bohun, who was slain in open rebellion in 1322, are clearly
     here. The glass, then, is of Knowle’s time, and being contemporary
     with the masonry, affords a rich example of the harmony of form and
     colour about which one hears so much but which one so seldom sees.
     It is probable that the tracery of the window may have been
     designed for Abbot Knowle by the builder of the window at Carlisle,
     also an Augustinian house. There is a strong resemblance in the two
     windows, both of which are excellent work.”--(H. J. L. J. M.)

The four side windows contain rich and interesting glass of the same
date. The one bearing the arms of Mortimer, Earl of March, has a picture
of the _Martyrdom of St. Edmund_, the last of the native kings of East
Anglia, who taken prisoner by the Danes in 870 refused to abjure his
faith. He was put to death. Here we find, according to legend, the grey
wolf watching over the severed head. The costume of the soldiers gives
us 1320 as the date of this magnificent window. Beneath St. Edmund are
an archbishop and two knights, bearing the arms of the Berkeleys.

The tracery of the large north window was inserted in 1704.

The =South Transept= contains the tomb of Bishop Butler, more famed as the
author of the _Analogy of Religion_ than as Bishop of Bristol
(1738-1750). The epitaph is by Southey.

The =Cloisters=, on the south side of the cathedral, are entered from the
south transept. From them the =Chapter-House= is entered.

The entrance, or vestibule, of the Chapter-House shows a very early
example of what may be called a pointed arch. The mouldings and members
are quite of the circular style and character. From north to south the
arches are round-headed, but east and west they are pointed. This
Transitional Norman work--dating from Fitzhardinge’s time--is of special
interest.

     “The chapter-house is one of the oldest parts of the earlier fabric
     of the cathedral, and as Britton truly says, ‘in its original state
     must have been one of the most interesting of the kind in the
     kingdom and perhaps in Europe.’ In spite of what it has undergone
     at the hands of architects, restorers and rioters, it is most
     interesting still, a regular parallelogram in shape, measuring 42
     feet in length by 25 in breadth and 25 feet in height, divided into
     two bays.

     “The eastern wall, which dates from 1831, has three windows, and
     the west wall has also three round-headed arches, the central one
     being the main door, while the side ones serve as windows, each
     being subdivided by a small pier. Each of these main openings has a
     label of cable-moulding. Above this cable-moulding is an arcade of
     interlacing arches, borne by thirteen tall piers, alternately
     plain and twisted; and above this is a semicircular space, also
     filled with rounded-headed intersecting arches, so arranged as to
     fill the semicircular space. The north and south walls have a plain
     round-headed arcading below, with a bold round moulding, while
     above is an elaborate arcading, similar to the lower tier on the
     west wall, but with much richer capitals. Above this is interlaced
     lattice-work, and above this in one bay a space covered with zigzag
     mouldings. The shafts of the arcading on the walls are alternately
     richly carved or almost plain. The clustered shafts, from which the
     main arch of the vaulting springs, are peculiarly rich in
     ornamentation.”--(H. J. L. J. M.)

In the Chapter-House there is preserved a fine piece of archaic
sculpture, which was found under the floor in 1831 after the destructive
fire of that date, in use as a slab covering an ancient coffin. It
represents the descent of the Saviour into Hell and the delivery of
Adam, and is probably of the same date as the slabs in Chichester.

The famous =Great Gateway=, the arcading of which is much in the style of
the Chapter-House, is supposed to stand on the site of the principal
entrance to Fitzhardinge’s monastery. Though Norman in style and
probably containing a lot of Norman masonry, critics believe that it is
a Perpendicular restoration of the old work.

This archway is composed of four recessed orders enriched with chevron
and other mouldings and ornaments. This must not be confused with the
less elaborate =Gateway in Lower College Green=, probably of
Fitzhardinge’s time and strengthened by Abbot Newland. The latter was
the gateway to the abbot’s dwelling and afterwards to the Bishop’s
Palace.

GLOUCESTER

     DEDICATION: ST. PETER: FORMERLY THE CHURCH OF A BENEDICTINE ABBEY.

     SPECIAL FEATURES: CENTRAL TOWER; CHOIR; LADY-CHAPEL; EAST WINDOW;
     CLOISTERS.

Gloucester presents a fine view from all points of approach.

     “As a rule, visitors see it first from the south side, and the
     south-west general view is one of the best, equalled, but not
     surpassed, by that from the north-west. The north view from the
     Great Western Railway, with the school playing-fields in the
     foreground, makes a striking picture, but it is more sombre than
     the picture formed by the south front. Viewed from the north-west
     corner of the cloister-garth, the pile is seen perhaps at its best.
     From this point it is easy to study so much the varied architecture
     of the whole, and with little effort to transport the mind back for
     a space of four hundred years. The eye first rests upon the turf of
     the garth now tastefully laid out after many years of comparative
     neglect. Flanking the garth on every side are the exquisite windows
     of the Cloister--a cloister which no other can surpass. Above the
     Cloister will be seen on the eastern side the sober, impressive
     Norman work of the Chapter-house in which so much of our English
     history has been made. To the south of this is the Library, built
     close against the walls of the north transept, which tower above,
     and lead the eye upward to the great tower which, ‘in the middest
     of the church,’ crowns the whole.

     “Placed where it is, almost in the centre of the long line of the
     nave, continued in the choir and Lady-chapel, at the point where
     the transept line intersects it, it is the chief feature of the
     massive pile. All else seems to be grouped with a view to the
     enhancing of the effect of the central position of the tower. The
     other members of the building seem merely to be steps, by means of
     which approach can be made to it. It is the grandest and most
     impressive feature of the outside. No matter from whence one looks
     at it, the charm is there. Seen from the gardens in the side
     streets close by when the pear-trees are in bloom, or in the full
     blaze of a hot summer day, or again later in the autumn when the
     leaves are beginning to turn, or, better still, in snow time, it is
     always full of beauty. On a bright hot day the pinnacles seem so
     far off in the haze as to suggest a dream fairyland. On a wet day,
     after a shower, the tower has the appearance of being so close at
     hand that it almost seems to speak. Viewed by moonlight, the tower
     has an unearthly look, which cannot well be described. The tower is
     225 feet high to the top of the pinnacles, and the effect of it is
     extremely fine. From the main cornice upwards, the whole of the
     stone-work is open, and composed of what at a distance appears to
     be delicate tracery, and mullions and crocketed pinnacles.”--(H. J.
     L. J. M.)

In it hang the venerable _bells_ that escaped the king’s commissioners
at the Dissolution of the monasteries in 1553.

Gloucester is notable for its examples of the Transition from Decorated
to Perpendicular, which probably originated in this Cathedral.

The abbey of Gloucester was founded by Osric, viceroy of King Edward, in
681. It was dedicated to St. Peter. Osric’s sister, Kyneburga, who died
in 710, was the first Abbess of this double foundation for monks and
nuns. Osric and Kyneburga were buried in the Abbey church in front of
the altar of St. Petronilla. In 823, secular priests were placed here by
the King of Mercia; and in 1022 they were expelled by Canute for
Benedictine monks. When the monastery was burned to the ground, Aldred,
Bishop of Worcester, re-established the monks in 1058, and began the
building of a new church also to St. Peter,--“a little further from the
place where it had first stood, and nearer to the side of the city.”

The monastery failed to flourish; Aldred was translated to York in 1060;
and when Serlo, who had been William the Conqueror’s chaplain, succeeded
to Wilstan, or Wulstan, Aldred’s successor, he had under him only two
monks and eight novices. After fifteen years of energetic rule
(1072-1103), Serlo rebuilt the Cathedral.

In August, 1089, an earthquake damaged the then existing building.
Eleven years later (1100), in the last year of the reign of William
Rufus, “the church,” as Florence of Worcester wrote, “which Abbot Serlo,
of revered memory, had built from the foundations at Gloucester, was
dedicated (on Sunday, July 15th) with great pomp by Samson, Bishop of
Worcester; Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester; Gerard, Bishop of Hereford; and
Herveas, Bishop of Bangor.” It is thought that part of the church was
finished for the dedication, such as the presbytery, choir, the
transepts, the Abbot’s cloister, the chapter-house, and the greater part
of the nave.

The Saxon Chronicle tells us that in 1122, while the monks were singing
mass, fire burst out from the upper part of the steeple, and burnt the
whole monastery. Between 1164 and 1179 one of the western towers fell
down.

Repairs were consequently necessary.

Offerings at the Tomb of Edward II. were a great aid in providing funds.

     “Instead of going on with Abbot Morwent’s rebuilding of the nave,
     the monks now turned their attention to the central tower. The
     tower was of no use as a lantern, for the lierne vault of the choir
     had been carried beneath it. So it long remained unaltered. But in
     the days of Abbot Seabroke (1460-1482), it was rebuilt under the
     superintendence of a monk named Tully, to be in character with the
     new exterior of choir and transepts. A very imposing tower it is;
     fully able, from its massiveness as well as from its height, to
     gather together the masses of the building--all the more so because
     the transepts are so short. It succeeds where the central towers of
     Worcester and Hereford fail; in fact, it is as effective in its way
     as Salisbury spire. The pinnacles, again, bear witness to the love
     of these later artists for harmony and unity; each pinnacle, with
     its two ranges of windows, is a repeat of the two stages of the
     tower below.

     “Then--after the tower had been erected--it was decided to rebuild
     the Lady-chapel. So an immense detached building was constructed to
     the east of the great window of the presbytery; without aisles, but
     with little transepts; almost one continuous sheet of glass, and
     with a superb vault. This Lady-chapel had to be joined up to the
     presbytery, but the great east window was in the way. However, the
     difficulty was got over by a series of ingenious shifts and dodges,
     which must be seen to be appreciated (1457-1499).

     “And so ended this great building-period at Gloucester (1330-1499),
     which turned the course of English architecture; so that the
     Curvilinear style of 1315 to 1360 did not find its natural
     development in Flamboyant, as on the Continent, but was switched
     off to Perpendicular and Tudor design.”--(F. B.)

Let us see what the “shifts and dodges” referred to above consisted of.

     “The method of joining the Lady-chapel to the choir is best noticed
     from the outside. It is a piece of exceedingly clever and graceful
     construction, and there is the minimum of obstruction to the light
     passing through to the east window, and the maximum of support to
     the elliptical east window. Viewing the Lady-chapel from the north
     side, the play of light through the windows on the south side has a
     very grand effect. Under the east end of the Lady-chapel is a
     passage which has given rise to much speculation in bygone times.
     The Lady-chapel, at

[Illustration: GLOUCESTER: EAST]

[Illustration: GLOUCESTER: TOMB OF EDWARD II.]

     the time of its erection, was carried out to the farthest limit of
     the land possessed by the Abbey. As the east wall of the chapel was
     actually on the western boundary wall the passage was made to give
     access from the north to the south of the grounds, without the need
     of going right round the precincts by the west front.”--(H. J. L.
     J. M.)

During the reign of Henry VIII., the Abbey which had

     “existed for more than eight centuries under different forms, in
     poverty and in wealth, in meanness and in magnificence, in
     misfortune and success, finally succumbed to the royal will. The
     day came, and that a drear winter day, when its last Mass was sung,
     its last censer waved, its last congregation bent in rapt and lowly
     adoration before the altar there; and, doubtless, as the last tones
     of that day’s evensong died away in the vaulted roof, there were
     not wanting those who lingered in the solemn stillness of the old
     massive pile, and who, as the lights disappeared one by one, felt
     that there was a void which could never be filled, because their
     old abbey, with its beautiful services, its frequent means of
     grace, its hospitality to strangers, and its loving care for God’s
     poor, had passed away like a morning dream, and was gone for
     ever.”--(W. H. H.)

Gloucester has suffered from the hands of restorers. In 1847, Mr. F. S.
Waller made extensive repairs. At this time the gardens were added.

The exterior presents a great variety of battlements and pinnacles and
another interesting feature in the exterior is the construction of the
two passages which make up the greater part of the so-called Whispering
Gallery. This connects the north and south triforium of the choir.

The =West Front= of Gloucester, restored in 1874, is comparatively
uninteresting. The buttresses of the great window are pieced, as are
also the parapets. Plain transoms cross the lights of the great west
window, the tracery of which is very elaborate when looked at from
within. The old towers have disappeared.

The =South Porch= is the principal entrance. It is the work of Morwent
(1421-1437). Over the doorway stand St. Peter and St. Paul and the four
Evangelists, and below them are King Osric and Abbot Serlo, the founders
of the Abbey church. In the niches of the buttress stand St. Jerome, St.
Ambrose, St. Augustine and St. Gregory. The windows of this porch have
been formed by piercing the tracery of the inside. Over the porch is an
unfinished parvis. The doors date from the Fifteenth Century.

We now enter the =Nave=.

     “The first impression of the nave changes all earlier thoughts of
     the age of the building. It is unmistakably Norman, grand beyond
     expression, but cold, severe and deathly white. The stained glass
     (mostly modern) of the Norman and Decorated windows fails to supply
     the evident lack of colour.

     “There was a time when lines of blue and scarlet and gold relieved
     the white vaulted roof, when altars agleam with colour and pale
     flickering lights gave light and brightness to the chill whiteness
     of this vast and mighty colonnade. On Sunday evenings, when the
     nave is filled with worshippers and the bright searching daylight
     is replaced by the yellow gleam of the little tongues of fire above
     the great and massive arches, the want of colour is little felt,
     and the noble and severe beauty of the matchless Norman work in the
     great nave strikes the beholder. The nave of Gloucester, to be
     loved and admired as it deserves, and as it appeared to men in the
     days of the Plantagenet Kings, must be seen in one of the many
     crowded evening services.

     “Save that the altars with their wealth of colour and light are
     gone, and the lines of colouring and the glint of gold of the
     Norman wooden ceiling no longer are visible on the stone-vaulted
     roof above and the south aisle Norman windows are replaced with
     exquisite Decorated work of the time of the second Edward, there is
     no great structural change since the day at the close of the
     Eleventh Century when Abbot Fulda from Shrewsbury preached his
     famous sermon to the Gloucester folk, the sermon in which he
     foretold the death of the imperious and cruel Rufus in words so
     plain, so unmistakable, that Abbot Serlo of Gloucester, who loved
     the great wicked King, in spite of his many sins, was alarmed and
     at once sent to warn his master, but in vain. Rufus disregarded the
     Gloucester note of alarm, and a few hours later the news of the
     King of England’s bloody death, in the leafy glades of the New
     Forest, rang through Normandy and England.

     “Yes, it is the same nave, only colder and whiter, on which Anselm,
     the saintly archbishop, and Rufus gazed; the same avenue of massy
     pillars--then scarcely finished--through which Maud the Empress
     often went to her prayers with her chivalrous half-brother, Earl
     Robert. Beauclerc, her father, too, and some grey-haired survivors
     of Hastings must have looked on these huge columns crowned with
     their round arches which excite our wonder to-day. They were a
     curious fancy of the architect of Serlo; or was it not probably a
     design of a yet older artist of Edward the Confessor? These
     enormous round shafts, which are the peculiar feature of the nave
     of our storied abbey, have only once been repeated, probably by the
     same architect, in the neighbouring abbey of Tewkesbury, a few
     years later. There is nothing like them on either side of the
     silver streak of sea. The Tewkesbury copies are slightly smaller;
     otherwise they are exact reproductions of Gloucester.”--(S.)

The Nave differs from other Norman naves like those of Peterborough, Ely
and Norwich.

     “The unique features here are the great height of the massive
     circular columns, fourteen in number, and the consequently dwarfed
     triforium or gallery running over the main arches. There are traces
     to be seen of the original Norman clerestory under the
     Perpendicular windows, and, judging from this, the height of the
     clerestory, as originally constructed, must have been but little
     less than that of the piers in the nave.

     “This Norman clerestory was altered at the same time that the roof
     of the nave was vaulted--viz. in 1242, in the time of Henry Foliot.
     This work was done by the monks themselves, who thought, as
     Professor Willis suggests, that they could do it better than common
     workmen. Their work is made of a light and porous kind of stone,
     treated with plaster on the under-side, and it was rendered
     necessary by the previous roof, which was of wood, having been
     destroyed by fire in 1190. Of this fire the piers certainly show
     the traces to this day, all having become reddened and slightly
     calcined. To make the new clerestory the whole of the original
     Norman work over the arcade of the triforium was removed, with the
     exception of the jambs of the side-lights (which extended beyond
     the arches of the triforium) and the wall between them.”--(H. J. L.
     J. M.)

All the stone-work was originally painted.

     “The painting may be thus generally described. The hollow of the
     abacus of the capitals was red, the lower member of the same,
     green; the whole of the bell red, the leaves alternately green and
     yellow, with the stalks, running down, of the same colours, into
     the red bell of the capital. The vertical mouldings between the
     marble shafts were red and blue alternately; the lower shafts green
     and blue, with red in the hollows, and the foliage on these also is
     green and yellow. Some of the horizontal mouldings are partly
     coloured also. The bosses in the groining are yellow and green, as
     in the capitals. All the colouring, which was very rich, was
     effected with water colours; in one instance only has any gold been
     discerned, and that was upon one of the bosses in the roof.”--(F.
     S. W.)

Abbot Morwent pulled down the west end of the Nave in 1421-1437 and
reconstructed it in the Perpendicular style. It is supposed that the
original =west front= was like that of the Abbey at Tewkesbury.

The west window contains nine lights, filled with modern glass.

The =South aisle=, originally Norman, was remodelled about 1318. The
tracery of the windows is unusual. The ball-flower is seen in great
profusion in this part of the Cathedral.

In this aisle there is a monument to Dr. Jenner of vaccination fame, to
whom the five-light west window here is also a memorial.

The tracery of the windows of the clerestory is attributed to Abbot
Morwent.

The =North aisle= retains its original Norman vaulting, and the Norman
piers, which correspond to the piers in the Nave, are divided into
several members. Some of their capitals are richly carved. In each bay
there is some Perpendicular tracing. A stone bench along the wall is
also Perpendicular.

The door into the Cloister at the west end of the aisle is very fine,
and the side niches and canopy work over it deserve study.

The door at the eastern end of the aisle leading to the Cloisters is
also Perpendicular. Both doors have fan-vaulted recesses, like the great
west door of the Nave.

The west end of the aisle is the work of Abbot Morwent (1421-1437).

A heavy stone screen, dating from 1820, closes the east end of the nave.
We pass through a small arch in this screen, and beneath the broad
platform on which the great organ stands.

This was originally built in 1663-1665 by Thomas Harris, and was painted
and gilded in 1666. The oak case is in the Renaissance Style.

Little idea of the beauty of the =Choir= can be obtained from the Nave. We
enter from the north aisle. It is 140 feet long; 33 feet 7 inches broad;
and 86 feet high.

     “Looking upwards, the visitor will note the beauty of the vaulting
     and the bosses placed at the intersection of the ribs. These bosses
     at the east end of the choir chiefly represent a choir of angels
     playing on various kinds of musical instruments, and a figure of
     Our Lord in the attitude of blessing. All the roof was originally
     probably painted and decorated, but the existing colour and gilding
     is recent work, having been done by Clayton & Bell. At first sight
     the groining of the roof looks most complicated, but, if analysed
     and dotted down on paper, it will be seen to be in reality a simple
     geometrical pattern. The bosses will repay careful examination with
     a glass.

     “Viewed from the door in the screen, the choir looks in very truth
     a piece of Perpendicular work, as the Norman substructure is then
     for the most part concealed. A closer examination, however, will
     prove that the Norman work is all there--that it has been veiled
     over with tracery from the floor level to the vaulting with open
     screen-work, fixed on to the Norman masonry, which was pared down
     to receive it.”--(H. J. L. J. M.)

The general impression is striking:

     “The choir on which you are now looking is very long--not too long,
     however, for its great height--for the fretted roof, a delicate
     mosaic of tender colours set in pale gold, soars high above the
     vaulting of the nave. The proportions are simply admirable. From
     the lofty traceried roof down to the elaborately tiled floor, the
     walls are covered with richly carved panelled work, broken here and
     there with delicate screens of stone. The eastern end, hard by the
     high altar, is the home of several shrines. There is happily no
     lack of colour in this part of our cathedral. The western end is
     furnished with sixty richly-carved canopied stalls of dark oak,
     mostly the handiwork of the Fourteenth Century. The curiously and
     elaborately fretted work of the roof we have already spoken of as
     a rich mosaic of gold and colours. The floor, if one dare breathe
     a criticism in this charmed building, is too bright and glistening,
     but it is in its way varied and beautiful. The carving of the
     reredos, a work of our own day, is, to the writer’s mind, open to
     criticism, but is still very fair, telling in every detail of
     loving work and true reverence.”--(S.)

The =High Altar= occupies the same site as the ancient one. The sixty
=Choir-stalls= have been restored in part; the sub-stalls date from Sir
Gilbert Scott’s restoration (1873). On the south side of the High Altar
there are four =Sedilia= also restored. Redfern’s figures in the niches
are Abbot Edric, Bishop Wulstan, and Abbots Aldred, Serlo, Foliot,
Thokey, Wygmore, Horton, Froucester, Morwent, Seabroke and Hanley. The
three angels over the canopies, playing on a tambour and trumpets,
deserve notice.

On the north side of the =Presbytery= we pause to look at the chantry =Tomb
of Abbot Parker=, where the carving of vine and grapes on the stone
screen is fine. The curious cross in the form of a growing tree at the
foot of the tomb is also striking. Parker, who died in 1539, was buried
elsewhere. Then we pass to the more famous =Tomb of Edward II.=, erected
by Edward III. The alabaster figure is probably the earliest of its kind
in England. The tomb was opened in 1855 to satisfy curiosity as to
whether the king was really buried there after his murder in Berkeley
Castle nearby.

     “Though it awakens our recollection of a feeble-minded king, and
     his barbarously brutal murder, it also compels our admiration at
     the beauty of the work. It has been restored, renovated or
     re-edified, but in spite of that, appeals to us from the wealth of
     very highly ornate tabernacle work, the richness, and at the same
     time the lightness and elegance of the whole. The details too are
     well worth careful examination. It may be, judging from the
     expression of the face, that there has been some attempt at
     portraiture, but repair and restoration have practically made it
     impossible to settle what would otherwise be an interesting
     question. The superb canopy has suffered much at the hands of
     restorers--e.g. in 1737, 1789, 1798 and in 1876.”--(H. J. L. J. M.)

The next monument is to =King Osric=, erected in “late dayes,” _i.e._ in
the time of Abbot Parker, whose arms are in the spandrels of the canopy
(1514-1539).

The Norman piers, cut away to receive the tomb, are decorated on their
capitals with the white hart chained and gorged, with a ducal coronet,
the device of Richard II. Osric is represented as clad in tunic, laced
mantle and a fur hood or collar, bearing the model of a church in his
left hand.

The next tomb westwards is, as Leland says, that of “=King Edward of
Caernarvon= (who) lyeth under a fayre tombe, in an arch at the head of
King Osric tombe.”

The transepts and ambulatory of the choir are usually entered through
the iron gateway in the south aisle of the nave.

These =Ambulatories=, or aisles, have nothing uncommon in their form or
arrangement below, but above occurs the great peculiarity of this
church. The upper range of chapels surrounding the Choir is perhaps not
to be met with in any other church in Europe.

Another peculiarity of the Choir is its six-light west window. This was
rendered necessary by the difference in height of the Nave and Choir;
for the vaulting of the choir is about twenty feet higher than that of
the Nave. The glass consists chiefly of patchwork from other windows in
the Cathedral. It represents a figure of our Lord, with angels on either
side. Below angels play musical instruments.

The =Triforium= of the Choir is considered by some critics the finest in
existence.

     “It occupies the space over the ground floors of the aisles or
     ambulatory of the choir, and originally extended of a like width
     round the east end of the Norman Church, but at the time when the
     Fourteenth-Century work of the present choir was executed, the
     whole of the east end of the old Norman choir, with the
     corresponding part of the triforium, was removed in order to make
     room for the existing large window, the small east chapel being
     allowed to remain.”--(F. S. W.)

The =Triforium= is reached by the staircases in the western turrets of the
two transepts and by arcaded passages passing under the great windows of
the transepts.

     “The first chapel in the triforium contains two brackets with rich
     canopies, and there is a very well preserved double piscina.
     Ball-flowers in two rows will be found in the mouldings of the east
     window. Remains of two canopies in the jambs of the windows are
     also to be traced.

     “The massive Norman piers should be carefully studied, as the way
     in which the later casing work has been applied can be more easily
     seen in the triforium than elsewhere.

     “The picture on the west side of this part of the triforium was
     discovered in 1718, against the then eastern end of the nave,
     underneath the panelled wainscot at the back of the seats occupied
     by the clergy when the nave was used for service.”--(H. J. L. J.
     M.)

This painting of _The Last Judgment_ is supposed to date from the reign
of Henry VIII., or Edward VI. It was suggested by the great altar-piece
at Dantzig (1467).

As an entrance to the east chapel of the triforium, the narrow gallery,
called the =Whispering Gallery=, was made. It is a passage of Norman work,
very much altered and re-used. It is 74 feet long, 3 feet wide, 6⅛
feet high, and is carried on segmental arches from the east end of the
south triforium to the west wall of the Lady Chapel, and thence in the
same way to the north triforium.

On the way towards the Whispering Gallery, the flying-buttresses
inserted in 1347-1350 to support the walls of the clerestory, which were
weakened by the insertion of the great east window of the Choir, should
be noticed.

Visitors are always interested in the Whispering Gallery, where the
lightest whisper can be easily and distinctly heard at the other end of
the gallery. It inspired the following lines, by Maurice Wheeler
(head-master of the King’s School, 1684-1712):

    “Doubt not but God, who sits on high,
      Thy secret prayers can hear,
     When a dead wall thus cunningly
      Conveys soft whispers to the ear.”

The =East Window= is larger than the East Window of York Minster. It
measures 78 × 38 feet; that at York is 78 × 33.

Though it has suffered much mutilation, restorers have done little harm,
and it is possible to get some idea of its original splendour.

     “It is worthy of remark that the tracery, heads and cusps, as seen
     from the inside of this window, are not repeated on the outside, a
     plain transom only crossing the lights. This peculiarity is
     repeated in the great west

[Illustration: GLOUCESTER: CHOIR, EAST]

[Illustration: GLOUCESTER: CLOISTERS]

     window and in many other windows in the cathedral.”--(F. S. W.)

The stone-work of the window was restored in 1862 and the glass cleaned
and re-leaded. The window consists of fourteen lights--six on the centre
with four on either side. The subjects are the Coronation of the Virgin
Mary with Christ and the Apostles, saints and kings. The heraldic
shields fix the date of the glass between 1347 and 1350. The canopies
and nearly all the figures are of white glass enriched with yellow. The
tones of red and blue are particularly rich. The drawing of the figures
has been much criticised.

     “The whole of this, the loveliest choir in England, is lit by a
     mighty wall of jewelled glass behind the great golden reredos.

     “This vast east window which floods the choir of Gloucester,
     beautiful as a dream with its soft, silvery light faintly coloured
     with jewelled shafts of the richest blue and red, and here and
     there a vein of pale gold--this vast window could not have been
     seen out of England, or, at least, one of the grey and misty
     northern countries, where gleams of light or shafts of sunshine are
     exceedingly precious. In south or central Europe the effect of such
     a mighty window would be simply dazzling to the eye, would be
     painful from its excess of light.

     “This great east window is the largest painted window in
     England--the largest, the writer believes, in Europe. Its stonework
     exceeds in size the magnificent east window of York, which stands
     next to it. The respective measurements are Gloucester, seventy-two
     feet high by thirty-eight wide; York, seventy-eight by thirty-three
     feet. The lower parts of the centre compartments at Gloucester are
     not completely glazed, owing to the opening into the Lady-chapel.
     The glass of Gloucester is, on the whole, light-coloured, the
     designers being evidently anxious that the beautiful stone panels
     and screen-work should be seen in all their exquisite details. The
     glass has suffered marvellously little from the ravages of weather
     and the fanaticism of revolutionary times; the busy restorer, too,
     has dealt gently with it. There are forty-nine figures, and of
     these thirty-seven are pronounced by our lynx-eyed experts to be
     absolutely genuine. Of the eighteen armorial shields in the lower
     lights thirteen are certainly the identical shields inserted by the
     survivors of Cressy. The whole of the gorgeous canopy-work has been
     untouched. The subject of the paintings is the _Coronation of the
     Virgin_ and the figures consist of winged angels, apostles, saints,
     kings and abbots. The coats-of-arms are those borne by King Edward
     III., the Black Prince, and their knightly companions, such as the
     Lords of Berkeley, Arundel, Pembroke, Warwick, Northampton, Talbot
     and others who took part in the famous campaign in which occurred
     the battle of Cressy, and who in some degree were connected with
     Gloucestershire. The window was, in fact, a memorial of the great
     English victory, and may fairly be termed the Cressy window.”--(S.)

The =Vestibule= to the Lady-Chapel is a beautiful work. The lower portions
of the west wall, parts of the old Norman apsidal chapel, are pierced by
the opening for the door and by two perpendicular windows.

The lierne vaulting is very delicate (the ribs are run differently in
the four quarters of the roof), and the pendants form a cross. Over the
vestibule is the small chapel which is entered from the Whispering
Gallery.

The beautiful =Lady-Chapel= was built between 1457 and 1499 on the site of
a smaller one.

The Lady-Chapel, 91 feet 6 inches long, 25 feet 6 inches high, and 46
feet 6 inches high, consists of four bays, which, as the wall of the
chapel is so low, are chiefly composed of fine tracery and glass.

     “All the wall below the windows is arcaded with foiled arches, with
     quatrefoils above them. The wall between the windows is panelled
     with delicate tracery like that in the windows, and in its three
     chief tiers contains brackets for figures, with richly carved
     canopies overhead. Many of these canopies (like the walls) show
     traces of colour.

     “Vaulting shafts of great beauty support one of the grandest
     Perpendicular roofs that has ever been made. Each boss in the roof
     is worth minute inspection, and since the restoration (1896) it is
     possible to see the bosses in practically the same condition as
     they were when they left the masons’ hands in the Fifteenth
     Century. With three exceptions they are all representations of
     foliage.

     “It has been said above that the chapel is cruciform. The arms of
     the cross are represented by the two side chapels, like diminutive
     transepts on the north and south sides, with oratories above them,
     to which access is given by small staircases in the angles of the
     wall. Both these side chapels contain some exquisite fan-tracery
     vaulting, which is supported upon flying arches, fashioned in
     imitation of the graceful flying arches in the choir.

     “On the north side the chapel contains a full-length effigy of
     Bishop Goldsborough (who died in 1604) robed in his white rochet,
     black chimere, with lawn sleeves, scarf, ruff and skull-cap.

     “The east window in this chapel is in memory of Lieut. Arthur John
     Lawford (1885), and is dedicated to St. Martin.

     “The chapel above has a vaulted roof with bosses of foliage, and
     there are small portions of ancient glass.

     “The Lady-chapel is one of the largest in the kingdom, and is said,
     at the time of the Dissolution, to have been one of the richest. A
     great part of it is said to have been gilded and gloriously
     ornamented. Traces of the colour can be seen in the mouldings of
     the panellings and in the carving upon the walls.”--(H. J. L. J.
     M.)

The =Reredos= still retains traces of its gorgeous colours. It is very
richly ornamented.

The =East Window=, consisting of nine lights, dates from 1472-1479. The
monuments are not especially remarkable. The tiles of the floor and the
sedilia are notable.

On our right, as we leave the Lady Chapel, we come to =Abbot Boteler’s
Chapel= (1437-1450). It contains a fine ancient reredos, interesting
tiles and a curious wooden =effigy of Robert, Duke of Normandy=, son of
William the Conqueror. Critics think it nearly contemporary with the
Duke himself. The figure rests on a Fifteenth Century chest.

Next we come to =St. Paul’s Chapel= (north-west) entered by a doorway. The
reredos here is very fine. It was repaired in 1870. St. Peter, St. Paul
and St. Luke, by Redfern, ornament the niches.

An ancient stone reading-desk, from which pilgrims to the shrine of
Edward II. were addressed, attracts our attention near the door leading
into the =North Transept=. This is originally Norman, cased over with
Perpendicular panelling, more developed, however, than that in the south
transept. The work here was done in 1368-1373. Angular mouldings are
used in the place of round mouldings and the mullions run right up to
the roof, which is much richer than that in the south transept. The
vaulting of the north transept somewhat resembles the fan-tracery of the
cloisters. This transept is 8 feet lower than that on the south side and
it is 2 feet shorter.

Beneath the north window is a greatly admired piece of Early English
(1240), supposed to have been a =Reliquary=. The middle of the three
divisions is a doorway. Beautifully carved foliage and Purbeck marble
shafts are the chief ornamentation.

Opposite, between the tower-piers, is a small chapel, said to have been
dedicated to St. Anthony. It is used as the Dean’s vestry.

The =South Transept= (=St. Andrew’s Aisle=) was transformed from the Norman
in 1329-1337. The vaulting is lierne with short ribs. The walls are
panelled.

On the north side of the south transept, we find the =Seabroke Chapel=.

     “The alabaster effigy represents the Abbot in his alb, stole,
     tunic, dalmatic, chasuble, amice and mitre, with his pastoral staff
     on his right side. The chapel has been partially restored. Traces
     of colour are to be seen in the reredos and the roof over it.

     “Almost opposite to this, but nearer to the iron gate, is a
     recessed tomb to a knight in mixed armour of mail and plate, and by
     his side his lady, with kirtle, mantle and flowing hair. Both wear
     SS. collars, and this helps to give the age of the monument, by
     narrowing the date down to a year not earlier than 1399.”--(H. J.
     L. J. M.)

On the east side the =Chapel of St. Andrew= occupies a corresponding
position to that of =St. Paul= in the north transept. This chapel has been
restored. Some of the best glass in the Cathedral is contained in the
east window over St. Andrew’s Chapel. It dates from about 1330 and
consists of the head of a white scroll-work of vine leaves, etc., on a
fine ruby-coloured ground, and below plain quarries with very simple