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The spectacle was so popular, and attracted such great crowds, that by special edict it was prescribed that the penalty of the greater excommunication should be incurred by those who might interrupt or press upon the boys during their procession or in any part of their service.
In spite of the doubts thrown upon the monument at Salisbury, it is distinctly recorded that if a boy-bishop died during his term of power, he was to be buried in his vestments and have his obsequies celebrated with the pomp pertaining to an episcopal funeral.
This custom was not confined to this cathedral, but practised at many others in England and on the Continent, where we find records of much greater power being exercised by the boy-prelate, extending even to the presentation to prebends. At Winchester it was certainly observed. So far back as 1263 we find it described at St. Paul's Cathedral as an ancient custom. Several sermons preached by the boy-bishops are still preserved; one is reprinted in the Camden Society's "Miscellany," vol. vii. Dean Colet (once a prebendary of Sarum) in his statutes for St. Paul's school directs: "All these children shall every Childermas day come to Paules Church, and here the Childe-bishoppes sermon, and after be at high masse so each of them offer one peny to the childe bishoppe. And with the maisters and surveyors of the scoole in general procession when they be warned they shall go tweyne and tweyne togither soberly, and not singe oute, but saye devoutly tweyne by tweyne seven psalmes with letany." (Add. MS. 6174.) At York the mock prelate held office longer, and wielded far more power than his fellows of Sarum.
In 1299, on December 7th, a boy-bishop at Hoton, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, said vespers before Edward I., then on his way to Scotland.
At Salisbury in 1542 Henry VIII. forbade the ceremony by royal proclamation. It was revived under Queen Mary, and finally abolished on the accession of Queen Elizabeth.
Not entirely alien to the subject is the office of the bishop's boy, which is probably peculiar to Salisbury. His duty is to call at the palace before every service and inquire if the bishop will attend. He is formally appointed by the bishop, who lays his hands upon him, and repeats a prescribed office.
A nameless tomb (19), and a memorial (20) to Dr. Daubigny Turberville, an oculist of Salisbury, who died April 21st, 1696, complete the more important monuments of the nave. Several mural tablets on the aisle walls are of hardly sufficient general interest to need description. In Price's "Antiquities of Salisbury," and many of the numerous works devoted to the cathedral, copies of nearly all the epitaphs are given, but, except in very special instances, they form peculiarly depressing reading.
The Choir Screen was given as a memorial of the late Mr. Sidney Lear by his wife, to whom the cathedral is indebted for many of its modern enrichments. It is entirely of wrought metal, by Skidmore, of Coventry, and a good example of its class. It replaced the organ screen compiled by Wyatt from fragments of the Hungerford and Beauchamp chantries; to erect which he removed the original screen of exquisite workmanship, as may be seen by portions now placed along the west wall of the north-east transept.
The Organ, that stood on the old screen until lately, was built by Green, of Isleworth, and a gift from King George III. in his capacity as "a Berkshire gentleman," that county being included in the diocese of Sarum until 1836. It was given by the Dean and Chapter to the church of St. Thomas. The present organ, a fine instrument, built by Willis, was the gift of Miss Chafyn Grove, is placed in the second arcade on each side of the choir, the necessary connecting mechanism being in a tunnel below the pavement, while the larger pipes and the bellows are inclosed within a screen in the north transept. The oak case is from a design by the late Mr. Street.
The Choir and Presbytery are very similar to the nave in the main features of their design. The piers show a different plan, which provides for eight shafts of Purbeck marble to each. The inner mouldings of the arches exhibit the "dog-tooth" ornamentation of their period. The triforium and clerestory differ slightly from the corresponding parts of the nave. In each of the last two bays of the presbytery the triforium has five small cinquefoil arches. At the east wall of the choir above the reredos is an arcade of five simply-pointed arches, below a triplet window in the gable, which is filled with stained glass, given by the Earl of Radnor in 1781, and representing "The Brazen Serpent," after a design by Mortimer.
The choir still bears traces of Wyatt's destruction. He removed the original reredos behind the high altar and the screen before the Lady Chapel, so that both, with the low eastern aisle, were thrown into the choir. He shifted the high altar from the choir to the extreme east end of the Lady Chapel, sacrificing several chantries and tombs to do so. Views of the cathedral after his reign of terror fail to show any gain to compensate for so much loss; the extreme length is not apparently an advantage, while the bare look of the interior seems decidedly intensified by the increased vista that he was so delighted to obtain, and for which with a light heart he effaced the silent records of dead centuries.
The Decorations of the Roof of the choir and presbytery are reproductions by Messrs. Clayton and Bell of the original paintings, which dated probably from the thirteenth century. The series, commencing from the west, shows twenty-four prophets and saints, all, with the exception of St. John the Baptist, selected from the Old Testament. Taking them in lines parallel with the choir screen, the first row contains (reading from the left, as one faces the altar): Zechariah, Daniel, Ezekiel, and St. John the Baptist; the second: Zacharias, Joel, Hosea, and Zephaniah; the third: Job, Habakkuk, Nahum, David; the fourth: Moses, Micah, Jonah, and Jacob; the fifth: Malachi, Obadiah, Amos, and Isaac; and the sixth: Haggai, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Abraham. In the square of the transept crossing are (following the same order): St. Thomas and St. Andrew, St. Matthew and St. John, St. Philip and St. Simon, St. Bartholomew and St. Matthias. At the left the last panel on that side contains St. Peter and St. Andrew, while another in the opposite corner has St. James and St. John. In the centre is a figure of Christ, in majesty, surrounded by the four evangelists.
From this point to the east the panels are devoted to secular subjects typifying the twelve months, "The signs of the Zodiac," Price calls them: January, warming at a fire; February, drinking wine; March, delving; April, sowing; May, hawking; June, flowers; July, reaping; August, threshing; September, fruit; October, brewing; November, cutting wood; December, killing the fatted pig. The originals were white, or rather buff-washed, in the last century. Owing to the tenacity of this wash, and the friable non-adhesive quality of the paint it covered, it was found impossible to remove the additional coating without destroying the original paintings. Tracings of some of them were made by Messrs. Clayton and Bell; but although the semi-transparent character of the buff wash allowed the subjects to be discerned from below; on nearer inspection the details became blurred and shapeless.
The theory that the paintings of the choir had been re-painted before their defacement by buff wash seems hardly likely from the state reported by the restorers. The idea probably arose from an extract, itself possibly interpolated, frequently quoted from one edition of Defoe's "Tour through the Island of Great Britain:" "The choir resembles a theatre rather than a venerable choir of a church; it is painted white with the panels golden, and groups and garlands of roses and other flowers intertwined run round the top of the stalls; each stall hath the arms of its holder in gilt letters or blue writ on it; and the episcopal throne with Bishop Ward's arms upon it would make a fine theatrical decoration, being supported by gilt pillars and painted with flowers upon white all over. The roof of the choir hath some fresh painting, containing several saints as big as life, each in a circle by itself and holding a label in their hands telling who they are. The altar piece is very mean, and behind this altar, in the Virgin Mary's Chapel, are some very good monuments." But in the first edition of the same book Defoe himself says: "The inside is certainly hurt by the paltry old paintings in and over the choir, and the whitewashing badly done, wherein they have very stupidly everywhere drawn black lines to imitate joints of stone." In another edition of 1724 the passage reads: "The painting in the choir is mean and more like the ordinary method of Common Drawing Room or Tavern painting than that of a church." Whatever be the actual value of the painting on its own merits, as a record faithfully transcribed of very early roof-decoration, it has an interest of its own far beyond much more important work of later periods.
The Choir.—In the second bay from the east, on the north side of the choir, stands the chantry of Bishop Audley, who died in 1524. This excellent example of late Perpendicular work was built by the bishop himself in 1520. Its style is not unlike the chantry of Bishop Fox at Winchester with octagonal shafts, (similar to those of the Salisbury Chapel at Christchurch,) which impart a semi-Oriental touch that is so characteristic of this final development of Gothic art. The images it once enshrined are lost, but the original rich colouring is still distinguishable on the fan tracery of the roof. The arms and initials of its founder are borne on the shields of the cornice. In the corresponding bay on the south side is the chantry founded by Walter Lord Hungerford, in 1429, and removed from the nave in 1778 by his descendant, the Earl of Radnor, who converted it into a family pew. It has been re-decorated, and new emblazonments added. The arms of its founder and his two wives appear on the base. The superstructure is of iron, and a fine example of its class, which includes among the few still extant the chantry of Edward IV. (died 1483) at Windsor, and that of Henry VII. at Westminster Abbey (died 1509). The Audley and Hungerford chantries are the most important left in a cathedral once rich in their kind, as the report of the alienation of their endowments proves.
Of modern fittings, the Brass Lectern was given by members of the late Dean Lear's family. A brass eagle is mentioned by Price, and said to have been given in 1714 at a cost of L160. The pulpit is modern, with carved medallions on its sides.
The bishop's throne, a lofty modern structure, made by Earp of Lambeth, was presented by those clergymen who had been ordained in the cathedral. It replaced one given in 1763.
The Choir Stalls are made up from work of different periods, the seats and elbows being probably part of the original work; the poppy heads of the benches are of the time of Henry VIII. Much later Sir Christopher Wren added to the stalls, and still later Wyatt placed canopies over them, which have since been removed. The dean's seat has been said to be of the time of Charles I.
The Reredos is modern. It was given by Earl Beauchamp in memory of Bishop Beauchamp (1450-81), whose chantry Wyatt swept away. Its design is adapted from the old choir screen, now in the Lady Chapel, and the monument of Bishop Bridport. A large centre panel, eight feet in height, has a bas-relief of the Crucifixion, with the Virgin and St. John; in the head of the central arch are angels amid foliage. On each side are two storied canopied niches, containing statues of the two Maries, and of St. Osmund and Bishop Beauchamp. The whole rises up to a gable terminating in a gemmed and floriated cross. The back facing the Lady Chapel is richly panelled. The sides are also elaborately decorated with birds. The design by Sir Gilbert Scott was executed at a cost of about L1,800 by Messrs. Farmer and Brindley.
The High Altar, the credence table, and sedilia, are excellent examples of modern work. The altar itself is of English oak. Its design comprises an arcade with seven openings, divided into three panels, with much elaborate carving. It was given by those who had received confirmation at the hands of Bishop Hamilton. The altar cloths, worked and given by Mrs. Sidney Lear, are highly finished examples of modern ecclesiastical needlework. The credence table, of somewhat elaborate design, is of carved oak with a marble top. The altar rails are of brass, the grills of wrought iron, at each side of the reredos screen the choir partially from the Lady Chapel.
The definitely planned order of the subjects of the ceiling decoration is held to indicate originally a different place for the high altar than its present site, which is the same as that reported by Leland two hundred years ago, and until attention was drawn to this fact was generally accepted as its original position. From the rood screen the sequence of the figures of the patriarchs and prophets leads up to the climax of "Our Lord in Glory." At this point the capitals of the Purbeck shafts surrounding the pillars supporting the arch on which this figure is painted, are carved in foliage, unlike the others throughout the building, which are invariably moulded only. The whole subject is discussed at length in a paper printed in the "Wilts Archaeological Magazine," vol. xvii., in a way that supports the hypothesis advanced. A somewhat important piece of circumstantial evidence came to light during the late restoration, namely a windlass close to the pier on the north side of the supposed original site of the altar, which was possibly intended to raise and lower a baldichino, or ciborium that hung originally over the altar, or still more probably the pyx, which as many instances show was usually suspended above it.
Possibly the altar was moved when, owing to the early settlement of some of the piers, it was found necessary to wall up the space between the arches opening into the choir transepts, and insert the perpendicular arches as a counter thrust to the strain of the central tower. It is hardly conceivable that the evidence offered by the roof paintings, and the solitary instance of carved capitals, can be misleading on this point.
The East (or Choir) Transept, which on the north side, screened as it is from the aisle, is used and known also as the Morning Chapel, has on its west wall a portion of a very beautiful screen of Early English work. Of this John Carter, from whose pages the accompanying sketch of a portion is reproduced, says that it was moved during Wyatt's restoration, as he naively puts it, "during the late dilapidatious innovations, and modern fanciful introductions so fatal to our study of antiquities." Other authorities consider its original position uncertain. Yet since its architecture is obviously coeval with that of the building, and the arches inserted by Bishop Beauchamp show proof of having been planned to rest on something at the base of the tower piers, there can be little doubt that when Wyatt removed the screen to re-erect a medley of his own composing made of fragments of the demolished chantries, he disturbed one more of the original features of the cathedral.
A curious double aumbry in the north wall of this chapel is unusual, not merely in the pitch of its arches, which are triangular gables, but also in the solid stone shelves dividing its space into six compartments; other aumbries in this church show similar features, but this alone retains its original wooden doors. The superb brass of Bishop Wyville (illustrated on p. 114) is in the pavement of this transept. It is illustrated in almost every work on monumental brasses as a notable example. A canopied lavatory of beautiful design is upon the east wall to the right, the altar being not in the centre, but almost in the corner on the left-hand side.
The Eastern Aisle is not so important as similar "processionals" at Exeter, Winchester, and some other English churches; still, the grace of its clustered columns, like those of the Lady Chapel, give it a character of its own.
The Lady Chapel, originally separated from the choir, thrown into the presbytery by Wyatt for the sake of his much overrated vista, is once again partially hidden by the reredos and the grille work of the screen on either side. As the earliest portion of the building, and the only part Bishop Poore lived to see completed, it would not lack interest, were it commonplace in character; but it is on the contrary a particularly graceful example of its time. The whole chapel is divided into a nave and side aisles by single and clustered shafts of Purbeck marble. These extremely slender shafts look unequal to the heavy groined roof they support; for although nearly thirty feet high, the four largest are not quite ten inches in diameter, while the clustered ones are mere rods. Francis Price, whose interest in the building, as he showed throughout his monograph, was that of a practical builder, was "amazed at the vast boldness of the architect, who certainly piqued himself on leaving to posterity an instance of such small pillars bearing so great a load. One would not suppose them," he says, "to stand so firm of themselves as even to resist the force of an ordinary wind." The modern colouring of this part of the building, including the low eastern aisle immediately behind the reredos, is claimed to be an exact restoration of the original, but it is hardly agreeable. The black of the newly polished marble shafts, the dull green of other parts, with the red, green, and white of the vaulting ribs, is more bizarre than beautiful. In regarding traces of mediaeval colouring one often forgets that time has blended harmoniously a scheme otherwise entirely crude, and to modern taste unpleasing. How far in English instances this is emphasized by the absence of rich hangings, carpets, vestments, and pictures, it is not within our subject to inquire; but since such restoration of the primitive colouring offends one less in churches that still preserve the more ornate furniture of the Roman Ritual, it is at least a moot point.
The triple lancet east window at the end of the Lady Chapel was filled formerly with stained glass, representing "The Resurrection," after a design by Sir Joshua Reynolds; it is now replaced by modern glass in memory of the late Dean Lear. An altarpiece, composed of fragments of the destroyed Hungerford and Beauchamp Chapels, was set up here by Wyatt. It has lately been replaced by a triptych designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield, with very beautiful panels painted by Mr. Buckeridge. The seven-branched candlesticks in black-wood, silver mounted, are by the same architect. The altar frontal, designed by Mr. Sidney Gambier Parry, and worked by Mrs. Weigall, is so good that it must not be overlooked. The altar itself is of stone from an old altarpiece. Under the windows runs a series of niches, once in the Beauchamp Chapel. Above these rich and delicate canopies, with foliage and fan-tracery springing from corbelled heads, runs an exquisitely sculptured frieze.
In this place, after he was canonized in 1456, the shrine of St. Osmund was erected. His supposed tomb, moved by Wyatt to the nave, is now replaced between the Lady Chapel and the southern aisle. Of the shrine no trace remains; but legends of the miracles worked at it, and the special indulgences granted to the pilgrims who visited it, prove that it existed on this spot. The date MXCIX. inscribed upon this slab has been questioned, on the authority of a diary made by Captain Symons (in 1644), now in the British Museum, in which an entry occurs with reference to this inscription, "a blew stone rising four ynches from the ground, the east end narrower than the west, this lately written Anno MXCIX.," but whether he means to infer that it was lately restored, or that the date itself was a later addition, is not quite clear. The characters of the inscription Planche pointed out correspond in form with those at the time of William the Conqueror, and as sepulchral effigies are uncommon until the middle of the twelfth century, the presumption is in its favour; still it is somewhat pathetic to find that the evidence which serves to connect this otherwise unknown monument with the famous St. Osmund, the greatest figure, not merely of the cathedral, but of the English Church of his time, is not absolutely beyond suspicion. Yet even if the Roman numerals were a later addition, it is hardly credible that the shrine of so popular a saint could have been wrongly identified. When Wyatt, according to his usual habit, explored the interior of the tomb, nothing was found within it.
In 1540 Leland saw here a "ballet," which he transcribes for his Itinerary, with an inscription commanding the faithful to pray for the repose of the soul of Richard Poore.
Monuments in the Transept, Choir and Lady Chapel.—The most important on the west wall of the north great transept is a brass (21) in memory of John Britton, who did so much to revive a taste for archaeology and ecclesiastical art by his splendid series of monographs on the cathedrals, and his topographical works. A fine monument of its class is one by Bacon (22), which represents Moral Philosophy mourning over a medallion of James Harris, author of "Hermes" and father of the first Earl of Malmesbury; to whose memory close by is a full-length portrait figure by Chantrey. A figure (23) of Benevolence lifting the veil from a bas-relief of the good Samaritan, by Flaxman, commemorates William Benson Earle, Esq., of the Close, Salisbury. On the north wall of this transept is a canopied effigy (24) of a bishop said to represent John Blythe, who died in 1499. It was originally in the ambulatory of the Lady Chapel, behind the high altar, until Wyatt removed it to its present site. In this transept is the statue (25) to Sir Richard Colt Hoare, author of the "Histories of Modern and Ancient Wiltshire," and other works. It is a seated figure not without dignity, by R.C. Lucas, a native of Salisbury. A portrait bust to Richard Jefferies, with a long and eulogistic inscription, is upon a bracket on the west wall.
Two other monuments by Flaxman deserve notice. That to Walter Long, Esq. (26), a medallion supported by two figures representing Justice and Literature, and one (27) to his brother, William Long, in florid Gothic style, with figures of Science and Benevolence. Dr. Waaegen, in his "Art Treasures of Great Britain," says: "The three monuments by Flaxman (in Salisbury) two of which are in Gothic taste, prove that he was superior to most English sculptors in knowledge of the architectonic style. There is nothing extraordinary in the design, but the workmanship is good, and there is real feeling in the heads."
In the north choir aisle, at its junction with the great transept, is a large Purbeck marble altar tomb (28), with panels and tracery, despoiled of the brass legend and armorial bearings it formerly exhibited. This is supposed to have commemorated Bishop Woodville, who died 1484. Two marble slabs that until 1778 were in the floor of this side beneath the first arch of the choir, and in the corresponding place on the south side, have been also stripped of their brasses which showed them to belong to Bishop Simon of Ghent, 1315, and Bishop Mortival, 1330.
On the bench of this aisle is a figure (29) of a skeleton said to represent a man named Fox, who tried to fast forty days. A similar legend is told of the next figure (30), in memory of Dr. Bennett, Precentor of Salisbury (1541 to 1544). It is needless to say that both stories are mere inventions; in many monuments the effigy of the hero commemorated was shown in full pomp above, while in a niche below the skeleton was depicted, by way of pointing a moral too obvious to need further comment.
A brass, in replica of the original, has been reinserted in the marble slab that commemorates Bishop Jewell (1560-71) (31). The next monument (32), for a long time attributed to Bishop Bingham (1229-47), has a flat pointed arch terminating in a decorated finial, above which rises a sort of pyramid of three stories, below is a slab formerly inlaid with brass. Later antiquaries, in spite of the fourteenth century character of its detail, assign it to Bishop Scammel (1284-87). The Audley chapel (33) is entered from this aisle.
In the north-east choir transept aisle are three gravestones of Bishops Wyville (1375), Gheast (1576), and Jewell (1571), removed from the choir when its marble pavement was laid down. In the floor of this transept, which is known also as the morning chapel, is the famous brass to Bishop Wyvill (34), one that has been repeatedly figured in various works on memorial brasses, and it is generally ranked as one of the most interesting of existing examples. Near this is another brass (35) commemorating Bishop Gheast. The lavatory (36) is noticed elsewhere.
In the Lady Chapel, under an arched niche in the north wall, is a coffin-shaped tomb (37) assigned to Bishop Roger, by those who refuse to accept the effigy in the nave as his monument.
The monument (38) at the end of the north aisle of the Lady Chapel is a typical example of the mixed classical style so dear to the early seventeenth century taste. The effigies below its canopy, supported on twisted Corinthian pillars, represent Sir Thomas Gorges and his widow, a maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth. Its medley of obelisks, globes, spheres, and images of the four cardinal virtues is more curious than interesting. Interred near in the choir, and all without monuments are many of the Earls of Pembroke and their wives, including "Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother."
In a niche of the east wall of the choir, behind an arcade of three pointed arches with cinquefoil heads, is a Purbeck marble effigy (39) of a bishop supposed by many to represent Richard Poore. It has been ascribed to Bishop Bingham because its bearded face fails to agree with that depicted on the seal of Bishop Poore, and also because an entry in an old book of records says that he was buried on the north side of the altar. This monument was removed by Wyatt to the north-east transept, to what is supposed to have been its original position. The effigy, whoever it represents, is a fine one, the pastoral crozier of particularly graceful design; above it is an angel supporting the circle of the sun and the crescent of the moon.
The slab which is believed to commemorate St. Osmund (40) is now restored, and placed where his shrine stood formerly, between the south choir aisle and Lady Chapel.
At the east end of the south aisle is the gorgeous monument (41) to Edward, Earl of Hertford, son of the Protector Somerset, uncle of Edward VI., and of his wife Catherine, sister to Lady Jane Grey. The effigies are both in a praying attitude, the Earl in armour. It is elaborately ornamented and splendid in gold and colours, restored by order of the late Duke of Northumberland. It is more ornate than modern taste desires, but still to call it "stately, though tasteless," as does one chronicler, is somewhat harsher criticism than is justified. It is seen in the illustration of the choir aisle given here.
In the south wall is an altar tomb (42), now assigned to William Wilton, Chancellor of Sarum (1506-23). On its cornice are shields bearing the device of Henry VIII. and Catherine of Arragon, a rose and a pomegranate; the arms of Bishop Audley, and those of Abingdon Abbey; also the rebus W.I.L. and a Tun.
The monument (43) to Bishop Moberly, designed by Mr. Arthur Blomfield, is an excellent example of the modern revival. The monument (44) to Bishop Hamilton is also interesting as almost the last design prepared by Sir George Gilbert Scott, and one well worthy of its author.
Next to the Hungerford iron chantry (45) is the monument (46) ordinarily assigned to Bishop William of York, but, like many of the bishops' tombs in this cathedral, without any certain clue to its identity. It consists of a pointed, crocketed arch, terminating in an elaborate finial; with a flat slab below, originally inlaid with a brass.
In the south choir transept is the very beautiful chantry (47) to Bishop Giles de Bridport. On either side the gabled roof is carried by two open elaborately moulded arches with quatrefoil heads, inclosing two trefoil arches supported by clustered detached shafts. Each arch has a triangular hood moulding, crocketed with carved finials. The spandrils are ornamented with very interesting carvings. These have been interpreted to mean: on the south side, the birth of the bishop, his confirmation, his education, and possibly his first preferment; on the north, the bishop doing homage for his see, a procession with a cross-bearer (generally accepted as a memorial of the consecration of the building by this bishop); his death; and finally his soul borne up to heaven by an angel with outspread wings.
The recumbent effigy has figures of censing angels at its head. The whole style of this exquisite structure is akin to that of the cloisters and the chapter house. The artists who executed the sculptures are believed to have been contemporaries of Niccola Pisano. A chantry was formerly attached to this monument, to the east of which is a double aumbry, or cupboard, for the reservation of the sacrament.
Near this is a tablet to the memory of Canon Bowles, whose edition of Pope plunged him into a bitter controversy with Lord Byron. He was author of many books, including a Life of Bishop Ken. A large modern monument to the late Bishop Burgess is against the south wall. On the west wall is the monument (48) of Bishop Seth Ward, whose additions to the palace, after the Restoration, are mentioned elsewhere. The Izaak Walton, whose gravestone is near, was the son of the famous angler. Near is one to the memory of the father of the poet Young, and a modern tablet to Richard Hooker, author of "Ecclesiastical Polity."
In the south choir aisle is a rather interesting monument (51) to Bishop Davenant, who is usually credited with the honour of being one of the translators of the Bible. It is of white marble with two black Corinthian pillars, surmounted by a mitre and arms. There is also a tablet in coloured relief to the memory of Mrs. Wordsworth, wife of the bishop; and a brass, cruciform in shape, inserted in a polished granite slab, which forms a memorial to Canon Liddon.
Many other monuments of ancient and modern date that concern forgotten celebrities, or are of purely local interest, cannot be catalogued. Nor is it needful to insist on morals they mostly enforce, that really all recent works of this class lack the dignity which has given the word monumental a new meaning.
On the bench opposite is the monument (52), an altar tomb with shields and initials, of Bishop Salcot (or Capon), whose notoriety as a "time-serving courtier" is mentioned in another chapter.
A pseudo-classical monument near (53), with vine-leaves and grapes in green and gold entwined round black Corinthian pillars, is to the memory of Sir Richard Mompesson, knight, who is represented in armour, and Dame Katherine, his wife, clad in black robe with gold flowers.
Close to the south transept, in the choir aisle, is the altar tomb (54) of Bishop Mitford, 1407, which Britton rightly calls a noble monument. In the spandrils of the flat arch of its canopy are armorial shields. Lilies and birds, holding in their beaks scrolls, inscribed, "Honor Deo et gloria," are on its cornice. The shields on the north bear the bishop's arms and those of his see; on the south are quartered the arms of England and France, and the ensign of Edward the Confessor—the cross patonee surrounded by five martlets.
Here also is a modern altar tomb (55), from a design by Mr. G.E. Street, to the memory of John Henry Jacob, and a fine Jacobean monument with bust and Latin inscription to Lord Chief Justice Hyde.
Among many other post-reformation monuments are those to: Bishop Fisher (56) on the east wall; a canopied altar tomb (57) in the Gothic style to the memory of Edward and Rachel Poore (died 1780 and 1781), the collateral descendants of the famous bishop, and a marble slab set in a Gothic frame to Canon Hume (died 1834).
On the south wall of the nave (58) there is an effigy of Mrs. Eleanor Sadler, who died July 30th, 1622, and was interred "according to her owne desire under this her pew, wherein with great devotion she had served God dailie almost L years." Amid other monuments on this wall, dating from late in the seventeenth century to the present day, is a small tablet (60) to one of the most famous Salisbury men in modern times, the Right Hon. Henry Fawcett, M.P., late Postmaster-General, who died in 1884.
The Chapter House, which is entered from the eastern walk of the cloisters, dates probably from the time of Edward the First; later it may be, but certainly not earlier than the commencement of his reign, as, during certain excavations for underpinning the walls in 1854, several pennies of that king were found below its foundations. The architecture is somewhat later in style than that of the cloisters, and if it be not, as its admirers claim, the most beautiful in England, it has few rivals. Like Westminster, Wells, and other English examples, except York and Southwell, it has a central pillar, from which the groining of the roof springs gracefully in harmonious lines. A raised bench of stone runs round the interior. At its back, forty-nine niches of a canopied arcade borne on slight Purbeck marble shafts mark out as many seats. They are apportioned as follows: those at each side of the entrance to the Chancellor and Treasurer respectively, the rest to the Bishop, Dean, Arch-deacons, and other members of the chapter.
The plan of the building is octagonal, about fifty-eight feet in diameter and fifty-two feet in height. Each side has a large fanlight window with traceried head. Below these windows and above the canopies of the seats is a very remarkable series of bas-reliefs, noticed more fully later on. The bosses of the roof are somewhat elaborately carved; one north of the west doorway has groups of figures on it, apparently intended to represent armourers, musicians, and apothecaries, possibly commemorating guilds who were benefactors to the building; the others have foliage chiefly with grotesque monsters. On the base of the central pillar is a series of carvings taken probably from one of the many books of fables so popular in the middle ages. These were reproduced from the originals, which are preserved in the cloisters.
The quatrefoil over the doorway has an empty niche, and it is not possible to say with certainty whether it was originally filled by a crucifix, as Mr. Mackenzie Walcott infers from the symbols of the Evangelists in the angles of the panel; or, with a seated figure of our Lord in majesty; or, as a third archaeologist has suggested, a coronation of the Virgin. Filling the voussoirs of the arch of the doorway are fourteen small niches containing subjects from the Psychomachia of Prudentius, the Battle of the Virtues against the Vices. The figures are not easily identified, but Mr. Burges, whose "Iconography of the Chapter House" is the most important monograph on the subject, suggests that on the right-hand side the figures in the third niche from the top appear to represent Concord triumphing over Discord; in the sixth, Temperance is pouring liquor down the throat of Intemperance; on the seventh, Fortitude tramples on Terror, who cuts her own throat. On the left hand in the first niche Faith is trampling on Infidelity; in the second, a Virtue covers a Vice with her cloak, while the Vice embraces her knees with one hand and stabs her with a sword held in the other. This incident is taken from Prudentius: "Discord by stealth wounds Concord; she is taken and killed by" Faith, which latter incident may be represented in the next compartment. In the fourth niche, Truth pulls out Falsehood's tongue; in the fifth, Modesty scourges Lust; in the sixth, Generosity pours coin into the throat of Avarice. To quote the words of the author from whom these interpretations are derived: "These sculptures are of the very highest class of art, and infinitely superior to any work in the chapter house; the only defect is the size of the heads: probably this was intentional on the part of the artist. The intense life and movement of the figures are worthy of special study." These allegories are common in paintings and sculptures of this period; at Canterbury the same subjects are incised on the pavement that surrounds the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket.
On the spandrils of the continuous arcade, sculptures in high relief once restored as far as possible in the original colours are now again scraped clean, and with the new heads to the figures look so modern that it is hard to believe they are contemporary with the building they adorn, yet since on the whole the restoration has been faithfully accomplished they may be studied as peculiarly valuable examples of early mediaeval sculpture, showing certain naive qualities that raise them far above the usual level of contemporary work. They are supposed to have been defaced by the Commission sitting in this building during the time of the Rebellion. The subjects are:
West Wall.
1. A Representation of Chaos. 2. The Creation of the Firmament.
North-west Wall.
3. The Creation of the Earth. 4. The Creation of the Planets. 5. The Creation of the Birds and Fishes. 6. The Creation of Adam and Eve. 7. The Seventh Day. 8. The First Marriage. 9. The Temptation of Eve. 10. Adam and Eve hiding.
North Wall.
11. The Flight from Paradise. 12. The First Labour. 13. Cain and Abel's Offering. 14. The First Murder. 15. The Punishment of Cain. 16. The Command to Noah. 17. The Ark. 18. The Vineyard of Noah.
North-east Wall.
19. Noah's Drunkenness. 20. The Building of Babel. 21. Angels appearing to Abraham. 22. Abraham entertaining the Angels. 23. The Destruction of the Cities of the Plain. 24. Lot's Escape. 25. Abraham and Isaac. 26. The Sacrifice of Isaac.
East Wall.
27. Isaac and Jacob. 28. Esau and Isaac. 29. Rebecca and Jacob. 30. Jacob and Rachel. 31. Rachel, Jacob, and Laban. 32. Jacob and the Angels. 33. The Angel touching Jacob's thigh. 34. Jacob meeting Esau.
South-east Wall.
35. Joseph's Dream. 36. Joseph relating his Dream. 37. Joseph in the Pit. 38. Joseph sold into Egypt. 39. Joseph's Coat brought to Jacob. 40. Joseph and Potiphar. 41. Potiphar's Wife. 42. Joseph accused.
South Wall.
43. Joseph in Prison. 44. Pharaoh's Baker and Butler. 45. Pharaoh's Dream. 46. Pharaoh's Indecision. 47. Joseph before Pharaoh. 48. Joseph as Ruler. 49. Joseph's Brethren. 50. The Cup placed in Benjamin's Sack.
South-west Wall.
51. The Discovery of the Cup. 52. His Brethren before Joseph. 53. Jacob on his Way to Egypt. 54. Joseph and his Brethren pleading. 55. Joseph protecting his Brethren. 56. Moses on Sinai. 57. The Miracle of the Red Sea. 58. The Destruction of the Egyptians.
West Wall.
59. Moses striking the Rock. 60. The Law declared.
The modern decoration of the chapter house includes stained glass of a geometrical pattern in the eight windows, which, if not peculiarly good, is harmless enough. Some diaper wall painting, shown in the photograph reproduced here, which until lately decorated the back of the arcade is now entirely cleaned off. The tiles of the floor have been reproduced from the designs of the original Norman pavement. The vaulted roof is re-painted in exact accordance with its original design. The marble shafts of the arcade are re-polished, and the central shaft has also been re-worked to a smooth surface. Gilding has been applied freely to the bosses of the roof and the capitals of the pillars. The ancient table, shown in the engraving, has also been restored; it is a very interesting specimen of early decorated furniture.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] "The Century Magazine," March, 1888.
[8] The numerals in brackets refer to the position of each monument as shown on the plan.
[9] In 1448 Nicholas Upton the precentor tried to limit the choice of the choristers to three candidates selected by the chapter; but this attempt to curtail their privilege was successfully resisted by the boys.
THE CATHEDRAL PRECINCTS.
The common practice of writers who are describing any one of our more important cathedrals is to declare that altogether it may be fairly called the most beautiful. So great is the fascination exercised by continual study of a single mediaeval building which has escaped destruction, or over-restoration, that such a statement may be advanced in all good faith. In claiming, however, that the cloisters of Salisbury are on the whole the most beautiful in England, it is merely re-asserting what many critics of Gothic architecture have already decided to be true. The cloisters of Gloucester are far richer, the space they cover at Wells (like Salisbury, not a monastic establishment) is greater, and in other details these may not be the finest. But, as a whole, their beautiful proportion and the general symmetry of their design make them worthy adjuncts to a building which is pre-eminent for these special qualities.
Situated, according to the usual custom, on the south-west side of the cathedral, with their western wall in a line with its west front, they are exceedingly picturesque. Even so far back as the time of Leland, we find him declaring that "the cloister on the south side of the church is one of the largest and most magnificent in Britain." Yet, as a recent critic has observed, from a purely technical point of view, there is "too great a mass of blank wall above the arcade." The green sward of the large garth, 140 feet square, with its covered walks, 181 feet long, on each side, and the fine group of cedars in the centre, showing against the cool grey of the stonework realize the ideal of that cloistered solitude so dear to the poets; it should not be forgotten, however, that the arrangements of this cathedral are not monastic, for it was never aught but a collegiate building. The style is late thirteenth century with windows of exceedingly graceful design; double arches with quatrefoils above, united in pairs with a large six-foiled circle in the main head. The upper portions of the tracery had, not so long ago, traces of coloured glass here and there, but whether this feature was part of the original scheme is very doubtful. The shafts, originally of Purbeck marble (replaced in 1854 by stone) both between and in the centres of the windows have simply moulded capitals; while those of the clustered columns at the main angles are carved. Modern opinion is inclined to date the beginning of the work between 1260 to 1284; but so late as 1338, as a dated charter in Bishop Wyville's time which refers to the enlargement of the cloisters shows, they were not quite completed; hence it is inferred that a part, possibly only one side, was built at first. The north arcade is entirely independent of the south wall of the nave, the long space between being known as the Plumbery. The garth is used as a burial ground, and in the cloisters are many monuments, but none of more than local interest, except possibly a tablet to the memory of Francis Price (died Mar. 20th, 1753, aged 50), the cathedral architect, whose excellent monograph devoted to the building is still one of the most useful books of reference on the subject. The drawing here reproduced from Britton's "Salisbury," shows the work before its restoration by Bishop Denison; but it has been chosen because it suggests the peculiar beauty of the place better than any photograph. From the cloisters a very charming glimpse of the spire may be obtained.
The Library occupying the upper story that extends over part of the eastern arcade is an important collection, its manuscripts alone filling a hundred and eighty-seven volumes. These (with one exception, bequeathed by Bishop Denison, a splendidly illuminated breviary circa A.D. 1460, containing among other specially interesting matter the order of service for the installation of the Boy-bishops,) have been in the possession of the dean and chapter at least four hundred years, and range in date, according to the best authorities, from the ninth to the fourteenth centuries.
Among the most important is (No. 150) A Psalter, of the Gallican Version, on vellum, 160 folios, tenth century. The decorations of this MS. are somewhat rude, the initials and colouring throughout being chiefly in red. Internal evidence fixes its date about A.D. 969. A Psalter (No. 180) on 173 folios, contains in parallel columns the Gallican and Hebrew of Jerome's translation, and other matter, with ornamental initials and devices; a Lectionary on vellum, 190 folios (No. 153) is a finely written manuscript, with elaborate initials in gold and colours, this is about A.D. 1277. A fifteenth century "Processional for the Use of Sarum," on vellum, 50 folios (No. 148) contains some entries that throw light on various local customs, as for example, the distribution of the carpet used in the enthronement of the bishop, which was laid from ostio hospicii agni to the altar in the treasury. The unique "Tonale secundum usum Sarum" bound with an "Ordinale secundum usum Sarum" (No. 175) is of the fourteenth century, on 214 folios of vellum. In a volume (No. 39) is a copy of the Gospel of Nicodemus in an English version beginning, "Whanne Pylatus was reuler and justyse of ye Jewerye, and Rufus and Leo were consuls." Another book of more than ordinary interest is Chaucer's translation of Boethius' "De Consolatione Philosophiae," on vellum in double columns, fifteenth century. A twelfth century MS. of the "Historia Regum Brittaniae," by Geoffrey de Monmouth (No. 121); and the "Historia Miscella" of Paul Warnefrid, are among many others that deserve mention.
Among the printed books of the Library are about a score belonging to the fifteenth century, and one hundred of the sixteenth. Some of these are of extreme rarity. In a copy of Sibbes' "Returning Backslider" is this couplet (attributed to Doddridge) in the handwriting, with autograph, of Isaac Walton:
"Of this blest man let this just praise be given, Heaven was in him before he was in heaven."
Bishop Gheaste was a benefactor to the library, and left it a large legacy, the foundation of the present collection of printed books.
The library is shown to the public on certain days, and the clergy of the diocese have the privilege of borrowing books therefrom.
According to the "Inventory of the Riches of the Cathedral Church of Sarum," made by Master Thomas Robertson, treasurer of the same church in 1536, 28th year of Henry VII., we find images, "of God the Father with our Saviour young, of silver and gilt with gold, ornate with red stones weighing 74 ounces." Others of Our Lady, including a "grate and fair ymage sitting in a chaire ... her child sits in her lap very costly and fair to look upon." Reliques of the 11,000 virgins, in four purses; Pyxides of Ivory of Chrystal, and silver gilt, "Cruces" of Gold and Silver. And a great Cross silver and gilt with images on the crucifix, Mary and John, and the left part of the cross—weighing 180 ounces. Calices (chalices), Fereta, Candelabra, Philateria, Tabernucla, Ampulae, Thuribula, Chrismatones, Copes and Chasubles, Mitres, Basons, Garlands, and hangings, Morses and many other items. Also the textus, which was given by Hubert de Burgh, here described as "A text after Matthew having images of St. Joseph, and our Lady and our Saviour all in a bed of straw, in every corner is the image of an apostle," and a huge list of items not merely interesting in themselves, but as evidence of the wealth of the cathedral.
The Muniment Room, which is approached from the south choir transept, is part of a two-storied building, octagonal in plan. The ground floor, formerly the sacristy, is now used as a vestry for the canons; the upper one, a dimly-lighted room, with an oak roof supported by a central column of wood, is the muniment chamber. Traces of a cross on the central pillar support the theory that the "Altar in the Treasury," referred to in various early documents, stood here. The solidity and strength of the building, and the fact that it was undoubtedly the store house for the vestments and treasures of the church, leaves little doubt that the supposition is true.
A very fine cope chest, reproduced by Mr. William Burges in his "Architectural Drawings," 1870, until lately preserved in the vestry, now in the north choir aisle, has a quaintly-carved capital on one of its shafts that suggests a very early date for its construction. The heavy lid was originally lifted by a rope and windlass. Although possessing no traces of painting or gilding, and but little carving, it is both curious and interesting as a specimen of woodwork coeval with the cathedral itself. A somewhat similar one exists in Westminster Abbey, in both the lifting lids worked on very slight pivots. At Westminster the chains remain. In 1834 a writer described the room as "a feast for moths and spiders;" now it is kept in admirable order. The most important of its extremely valuable documents have been printed in a volume devoted to Sarum in the "Master of the Rolls Series," in the late Canon Jones' "Fasti Ecclesiae: Sarisberiensis." In addition to these historic papers there is an immense quantity of Chapter Registers and other MSS. of more local interest. Many of the chests and presses date from early times, when the three keys needed to open each were severally in the charge of three of the cathedral dignitaries. The contemporary copy of Magna Charta, made for William Longespee, first Earl of Salisbury, and referred to elsewhere, is sometimes exhibited here.
The documents which contain "the statutes and ordinances" by which the cathedral is governed, extend over six centuries, commencing in 1091 and ending 1697. These were edited by Dr. Edward A. Dayman, and the late Rev. W.H. Rich Jones, Vicar of Bradford-on-Avon, whose researches in the past history of not merely the cathedral, but the whole district, were so extended, that it is impossible to do justice in every instance to many facts which have been taken from his pages in the preparation of this handbook. The privately printed volume, published in 1883, contains the Latin text with English notes of these various documents. The details of most of these, although of immense value to antiquarians, are too technical to be available for quotation here, but the indirect allusions to customs and manners of the past, makes many a paragraph pleasant reading, although the whole document may refer to merely the working details of administration. The statute, dated A.D. 1319, relating to the rights of the boy bishop, is one of the few that have more than local interest.
The Close is certainly a fit setting for the jewel it surrounds, and with full remembrance of the superb position of Durham, the picturesque eminence of Lincoln, the dignity that marks the isolated hill whereon Ely towers over the fens around it, the harmonious environment of Wells, and many another site made memorable by its cathedral, Salisbury is, in its own way, not less beautiful. The quiet tranquillity of the large lawn, the half-hidden houses that nestle among its trees, the sense of being completely shut off from the work-a-day world, impress one as much as the apparent vastness of the area thus devoted to the cathedral. Leland, in his "Itinerary," was equally struck with its beauty, although, as the frontispiece shows, the surroundings were very different before Wyatt's exploits, and probably in Leland's time preserved still more of their mediaeval aspect. He says: "The great and large embatelid waulle of the palace having 3 gates to entre into it thus namyd: the close gate as principale by north ynto the town, Saint Anne's gate by est, and Harnham gate by south toward Harham bridge. The close wall was never ful finished as in one place evidently apperith I redde that in Bishop Rogers days as I remembere a convention was between him and the Canons of Saresbyri de Muro clausi."
Whether the builders of our great churches were conscious of the beauty of their surroundings, or whether no little of that loveliness is but the slow result of centuries of care and the accident of natural growth, need not be discussed. That to an American especially this peculiar beauty tells with great force we can readily believe, and Mrs. Van Rensselaer, whose paper on Salisbury has been quoted before in this book, expresses admirably the feeling, which, whether it be true or only imaginary, is no doubt the impression of such a place as the Close of Salisbury on many an educated visitor. "Salisbury," she writes, "is the very type and picture of the Church of the Prince of Peace. Nowhere else does a work of Christian architecture so express purity and repose and the beauty of holiness, while the green pastures that surround it might well be those of which the Psalmist writes. When the sun shines on the pale grey stones, and the level grass, and the silent trees, and throws the long shadow of the spire across them, it is as though a choir of seraphs sang in benediction of that peace of God which passeth understanding. The men who built and planted here were sick of the temples of Baalim, tired of being cribbed and cabined, weary of quarrelsome winds and voices. They wanted space and sun, and stillness, comfort and rest, and beauty, and the quiet ownership of their own; and no men ever more perfectly expressed, for future times to read, the ideal they had in mind."
The Bell Tower, a striking feature of the close as it was before 1789, is shown on page 19, in the facsimile of an engraving originally published in 1761, and re-engraved in the superb County History in 1804(?). This shows the campanile standing at the north-west corner of the inclosure.
In style it was about the same period as the chapter house and cloisters. The plan appears to have been square, although one writer, frequently quoted, calls it multangular; the stone tower was in two massive stories with lancet windows in the lower, and windows with plate tracery above, with a spire apparently of wood crowning the whole. Leland speaks of it as "a notable and strong square tower for great belles, and a pyramis on it, in the cemiterie." It was evidently massive enough to have stood for centuries, and the single pillar of Purbeck marble, "lying in its natural bed," which was the central support that carried the bells, the belfry, and the spire, is specially mentioned by Price as perfectly sound, but he owns that the leaden spire, and a wooden upper story, were decayed, and puts forward a design of a sham classic dome which he hopes might be erected in its place. When the cathedral was visited in 1553 by the Royal Commission there remained a peal of ten bells, and the re-casting in 1680 of the seventh and eighth by the Purdues, local founders, is recorded among the muniments. The sixth is now the clock bell of the cathedral, but the fate of the others is absolutely unknown.
Several of Wyatt's iconoclastic blunders have been already mentioned; we now come to his chief iniquity. The Hungerford Chapel, demolished by Wyatt, stood at the east end of the building on the north side of the Lady Chapel, with which it was connected by openings cut in the main wall. This chapel was one of those of which Fuller so quaintly wrote, "A chantry was what we call in grammar an adjective, unable to stand of itself, and was therefore united for better support to some ... church." An addition to the building in a much later style, it was founded by Margaret (daughter and sole heir of William, Lord Botreaux,) in 1464; she was interred within its walls in 1477. Her history, too full to note here, is a sad one, the loss of her movable goods by "fyre" in Amesbury Abbey being but a small incident among her many troubles. A peculiarly interesting inventory of the ornaments and furniture that she gave to this chantry has been preserved; it is printed in Dugdale's "Baronage," vol. ii., p. 207, and also in "The Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine," vol. xi. The chapel, in the somewhat florid late Perpendicular style, had a large east window of five lights, and three of triple lights in its north wall. The outside was adorned with shields and devices of the family, and crested with battlements. Within it had a richly-groined roof, and underneath a large arch cut in the north wall of the Lady Chapel, and therefore opening into the hall of the chantry, stood the monument of Lord Hungerford, surmounted by an ornamental four-arched canopy. This altar tomb, now devoid of the gold and colour that once enriched it, is in the nave. Its armour, "like a lobster," with its peculiar pattern, its large shoulders and elbow-pieces, and its jewelled girdle, is quoted by Meyrick as a very fine example of its period. Above were eight niches of demi-quatrefoiled arches, with a fascia of quatrefoils surmounted by a cornice of oak leaves. Between the monument and the doorway was a series of wall-paintings of great interest. One, "Death and the Gallant," has been engraved, and the dialogue below it preserved. As the verses are archaic in spelling, it may be best to follow a more modern version ("Wilts Archaeological Magazine," vol. ii., p. 95):
"Alas, Death alas! a blissful thing thou were If thou wouldst spare us in our lustiness, And come to wretches that be of heavy cheer When they thee ask to lighten their distress. But out, alas, thine own self-willedness Harshly refuses them that weep and wail To close their eyes that after thee do call.
Graceless Gallant in all thy lust and pride Remember this, that thou shalt one day die, Death shall from thy body thy soul divide— Thou mayst him escape not certainly, To the dead bodies (here) cast down thine eye; Behold them well, consider too and see, For such as they are, such shalt thou too be."
Of this Mr. Francis Douce, in his volume "The Dance of Death," says it was "undoubtedly a portion of the Macaber Dance, as there was close to it another compartment belonging to the same subject. This painting was made about the year 1460, and from the remaining specimen its destruction is greatly to be regretted, as judging from the dress of the young gallant the dresses of the time would be correctly exhibited."
There were other wall paintings, including a large St. Christopher with the Christ Child on his shoulder, and an Annunciation, said to have been a fine work. An interesting memorial of the chapel as it stood in the middle of the seventeenth century, is to be found in an MS. pocket-book, still preserved in the British Museum (Harl. MS. 939), which belonged to a Captain Symons, of the Royalist Army. When he visited Salisbury in 1644 he made many notes and sketches of the armorial bearings in this chantry.
The Beauchamp Chapel.—The interior view here reproduced from "Gough's Sepulchral Monuments of Great Britain" although not very clear is curiously interesting, conveying as it does trustworthy evidence of the building so wantonly swept away.
Of the Beauchamp Chapel, on the south side of the Lady Chapel, there appears to be no exterior view extant, but from sketches of its interior, and descriptions, it must have been a fine specimen of its period, and worthy of its designer, the builder of St. George's Chapel, Windsor. It was larger and more elaborate in detail than the Hungerford chantry, but like it in plan, and similarly lighted by one large east window, and three in the side wall. The remains of its founder, Bishop Beauchamp, reposed in a plain tomb in the centre. In the wall on the north side were exquisite canopies above the tombs of the father and mother of the bishop. An altar tomb of Sir John Cheyne, now in the nave, stood formerly at the south-west corner (see page 48). There was a custom that on Christmas Day and all holy days the wives of the mayor and aldermen and gentry of the city, came to prayers in the Beauchamp chapel in the evening with flambeaux and torches, excepting on Innocents' Day, when they went to their own parish churches. In an interesting Guide to the Cathedral, now in the British Museum, annotated in the last century by some visitor, we find an entry concerning this chapel, "The ceiling is of Irish oak, and never known to have spiders or cobwebs in it."
Much of the carved work in both these chantries was employed elsewhere in the buildings. The plea put forward for their removal was founded on a report by Francis Price thirty-six years before, wherein he considered them unsafe. When the Hungerford Chantry was added one of the outside buttresses of the Lady Chapel aisle was removed to make room for it; the opening pierced through the main walls of the cathedral into both the chapels were also sources of weakness. Wyatt seized upon these facts, and with the precedent of Price's report, declared the chapels unsafe, and also, which was no doubt his real motive for action, that "their lack of uniformity" injured the appearance of the buildings. Wyatt's ideal virtues were of the lowest order, to obtain neatness and tidiness he was prepared to sacrifice any and every thing, and the two chapels were obviously not in the style of the cathedral, nor, unluckily (for had they been they might yet be standing), precisely symmetrical in effect, so they were swept away. These actions at Salisbury, and similar destruction at Lincoln, Hereford, and elsewhere, have made Wyatt's name odious; but deserving though he be of all blame, it must not be forgotten that restorers of to-day, even at Salisbury, have effaced much interesting work of past time on the same pretext: that it failed to accord with the rest of the work to which it was obviously a late addition. This plea, specious and even excellent in theory, has probably done more irreparable injury to our ancient buildings than even the iconoclasts of the Reformation. A shattered ruin may convey a clear idea of its original state, while a smooth, pedantic restoration will obliterate it entirely.
The Stained Glass throughout the whole building survives but in a few instances, and these, with two exceptions, not in their original places. Of its wholesale destruction we have sad evidence extant in a letter, dated 1788, from John Berry, glazier, of Salisbury, to Mr. Lloyd, of Conduit Street, London. It may be transcribed in full, to show how reckless the custodians of the fabric were at that time:—"Sir. This day I have sent you a Box full of old Stained & Painted glass, as you desired me to due, which I hope will sute your Purpos, it his the best that I can get at Present. But I expect to Beate to Peceais a a great deal very sune, as it his of now use to me, and we do it for the lead. If you want more of the same sorts you may have what thear is, if it will pay for taking out, as it is a Deal of Truble to what Beating it to Peceais his; you will send me a line as soon as Possoble, for we are goain to move our glasing shop to a Nother plase, and thin we hope to save a great deal more of the like sort, which I ham your most Omble servant—John Berry."
The fragments that survived were collected some fifty years since, and placed in the nave windows, and in parts of some of the others. The most important are in the great west triple lancet, wherein the glass ranges in date from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Mr. Winston, in his Paper read in 1849 before the Archaeological Institute and printed in the Salisbury volume for that year, considered that the earliest fragments are from a Stem of Jesse about 1240, and some medallions about 1270. He describes two of the ovals that are on each side of the throned bishop, a prominent figure in the lower half of the central light, one of the Christ enthroned, the other of the Virgin. The two medallions below them he believes represent "Zacharias in the Temple," and "The Adoration of the Magi." The later glass now in the same window may be either Flemish work brought hither from Dijon, or possibly partly from Rouen, and partly from a church near Exeter. It has been conjectured that in the south lancet the figures represent SS. Peter and Francis, in the central one the Crucifixion, the Coronation of the Virgin, and the Invention of the Cross, and in the north light the Betrayal of Christ and St. Catherine. In two of the side windows of the nave are the arms of John Aprice (1555-1558) and Bishop Jewell (1562).
The stained glass in the north choir aisle includes a window executed by Messrs. Clayton and Bell, in memory of Archdeacon Huxtable, with figures of archangels and angels in the upper lights, and the Angel appearing to Gideon, and the Vision of Isaiah, in the lower panels. Also a window by Clayton and Bell to the memory of the wife of the Rev. Chancellor Swayne, having for its subject the reply of our Lord to his disciples. In the east side of the Morning Chapel is a window by Messrs. Burleson and Gryles to the memory of Mrs. W.R. Hamilton, with the Nativity, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and the three archangels, Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael.
In the south choir aisle are two Clayton and Bell windows, to the memory of George Morrison, and two others excellently treated, both designed by Holiday, and executed by Powell. In the one eight panels represent four holy women of the Old Testament, and the four Maries. This is to the memory of the late Countess of Radnor. In the other, to the memory of Jacob, the 4th Earl of Radnor, a similar screen of decoration embodies figures of eight prophets.
In the south-east transept is a window erected to the officers of the Wiltshire Regiment who fell in the Sutlej Campaign in 1845-6, and in the Crimean War of 1854-5; also one of "The Raising of Lazarus." In the upper windows of this transept is a quantity of old glass of different dates, which had been stored away for over a century in the roof of the Lady Chapel, until lately collected and placed where it now is.
The south choir aisle has a window in memory of the late Duke of Albany, "Jacob's Dream," and two of the intended six windows of a hierarchy of angels—the Angeli Ministrantes and the Angeli Laudantes—designed by Sir E. Burne-Jones, and executed by William Morris, which are notably among the most superb examples of the art of glass painting since mediaeval times. Next in order towards the east is a window of fine design to the memory of the late Duke of Albany.
In the south-west transept there are three Clayton and Bell windows: in memory of Archdeacon Macdonald, with three subjects from the Life of Christ; in memory of Bishop Douglas, and in memory of C.G. Verrinder; also one to the memory of Sir G.A. Arney, with Moses and the Tables of the Law, and the Sermon on the Mount; and the large south window, by Bell, to the memory of Dean Hamilton.
Above the altar is a fine light window of last century work, singularly good of its kind—bad though the kind may be.
In the south aisle of the nave is a window to the memory of Mr. W.M. Coates, with subjects, the miracles of healing, executed by Messrs. Clayton and Bell.
In 1890 a fine modern window, from a design by Henry Holiday, was inserted in the south aisle of the nave. This has for its subject, "Suffer little children to come unto me." It is to the memory of John Henry Jacob and his wife.
In 1620 Dr. Simpson mentions "three great windows newly glazed in rich colours to make the story of St. Paul."
Throughout the cathedral, and in the Chapter House, were many specimens of geometrical painted glass, some of which are figured in Mr. Winston's Paper, before referred to. These have served as motives for much modern design, which, faithfully as it may have copied the forms, has generally missed the softened colour that distinguishes the original work.
HISTORY OF THE SEE.
The site of old Sarum—Searobyrig, the dry city, as the Saxons called it—is about a mile to the north of the present New Sarum, or Salisbury, to use the more familiar name. It was probably a fortified place from very early times, long before it became the Roman station of Sorbiodunum. William of Malmesbury says that "the town was more like a castle than a city, being environed with a high wall, and notwithstanding that it was very well accommodated with other conveniences, yet such was the want of water that it sold at a great rate." This latter statement, although repeated by every chronicler, is not supported by investigations of recent explorers, who found an ample supply in divers wells. Francis Price concludes that "it was frequented by Roman Emperors from the coins of Constantine, Constans Magnentius, Crispus, and Claudius, being found frequently among its ruins." This statement also lacks probability. A legend of the visit of a single emperor might have been barely credible; but the lavish variety the otherwise trustworthy historian offers is fatal to one's belief. Its early history, more or less legendary, need not be chronicled here. Probably Kenric the Saxon, who captured it in 553, lived there, and it seems to have been kept in his line until Egbert united the whole Heptarchy. King Alfred ordered Leofric, Earl of Wiltunscire, to add to its fortifications, which appear to have fallen into decay after the Romans held it. In 1003 Svein, King of Denmark, pillaged and burnt it, but the religious establishments if not spared were soon re-established, for we find that Editha, Queen of AEdward the Confessor, conveyed the lands of Shorstan to the nuns of St. Mary, Sarum. At this time it appears to have possessed a mint, as a coin of AEdward the Confessor bears an inscription showing that it was struck by Godred at Sarum.
From the time of St. Aldhelm, in 705, to that of Herman, in 1058, there are no other facts of its secular history sufficiently pertinent to our purpose to warrant their quotation here, as the record of the place is so woven into the lives of its bishops, that the brief summary of the ecclesiastics who held the see includes all we need of the history of the city. In this kingdom within a kingdom, a cathedral surrounded by a fortress, its inhabitants were naturally split into factions; the soldiers and the clergy failed to agree, and in spite of the document quoted below, there is little doubt that political rather than climatic reasons led to the removal of the cathedral. Whether, as some writers think, it was but an insignificant structure, it is certainly recorded that the church erected by Osmund took fifteen years to build. Five days after its consecration, on April 5th, 1092, it was partially destroyed by a thunderstorm. We find in Robert of Gloucester's "Chronicle" (Hearnes ed., p. 416) this allusion to the disaster:
"So gret lytnynge was the vyfte yer, so that it al to nogte, The rof the Church of Salesbury it broute Rygt evene the vyfte day that he yhalwed was."
Whether the sentence in an old chronicler that Roger "made anew the church of Sarum" means it was so seriously damaged by the lightning that he actually rebuilt it, or merely that he restored it, is not clear. Roger was the great architectural genius of his time, and from the evidence of its ground plan, traced in the foundations revealed in the singularly dry summer of 1834, it may be that the stately edifice, 270 feet long by 75 feet wide, on the plan of a Latin cross, was in its last state not the work of Osmund. During the excavations at this time, various fragments of stained glass and several keys were discovered, also what was apparently the original grave of St. Osmund before his body was moved to Sarum. An extract from Harrison's "Description of Britain," prefixed to Hollinshed's "Chronicle" shows clearly enough the principal events that produced the crisis which doomed Old Sarum to desolation. "In the time of ciuile warres the souldirs of the castell and chanons of Old Sarum fell at ods, inasmuch that often after brawles they fell at last to sadde blowes. It happened therefore in a rogation weeke that the cleargie going in solemn procession a controversie fell between them about certaine walkes and limits which the one side claimed and the other denied. Such also was the hot entertainment on eche part, that at last the Castellans espieing their time gate betweene the cleargie and the towne and so coiled them as they returned homewards that they feared anie more to gang their boundes for that year. Hereupon the peope missing their belly-chere, for they were wont to haue banketing at every station, a thing practised by the religious in old tyme, they conveyed forthwith a deadly hatred against the Castellans, but not being able to cope with them by force of arms, they consulted with their bishop ... that it was not ere the chanons began a church upon a piece of their own ground.... And thus became Old Sarum in a few years utterly desolate."
By other accounts we find there was insufficient room for all the canons to live within the walls, and the right of free egress being disputed the position became so intolerable, that Bishop Richard Poore, a man of great force of character, who succeeded his brother, took up the design Herbert had set aside, and commenced negotiations in earnest, the result of which is best explained by the following document:
"Honorius, bishop, Servant of the servants of God to our rev. brother Richard, bishop, and to our beloved sons the Dean and Chapter of Sarum, health and apostolical benediction. My sons the dean and chapter, it having been heretofore alleged before us on your behalf, that forasmuch as your church is built within the compass of the fortifications of Sarum, it is subject to so many inconveniences and oppressions, that you cannot reside in the same without corporal perils: for being situated on a lofty place, it is, as it were, continually shaken by the collision of the winds; so that while you are celebrating the divine offices, you cannot hear one another the place itself is so noisy: and besides the persons resident there suffer such perpetual oppressions, that they are hardly able to keep in repair the roof of the church, which is constantly torn by tempestuous winds. They are also forced to buy water at as great a price as would be sufficient to purchase the common drink of the country: nor is there any access to the same without the licence of the Castellan. So that it happens on Ash Wednesday when the Lord's Supper is administered at the time of the Synods, and celebrations of orders, and on other solemn days, the faithful being willing to visit the said church, entrance is denied them by the keepers of the castle, alleging that the fortress is in danger, besides you have not there houses sufficient for you, wherefore you are forced to rent several houses of the laity; and that on account of these and other inconveniences many absent themselves from the service of the said church."
This mandate, dated at "the Lateran, 4th of the calend of April, in the second year of our Pontificat," concludes by giving formal power for the translation of the church to another convenient place.
After the cathedral was removed the prosperity of the place quickly waned. The new roads and bridges made access to the new city more convenient. Wilton suffered from the growth of its new rival, but Sarum ceased to be even a ruin, as the very stones of its cathedral were ultimately taken to build a wall around the precincts of the new church, and oblivion soon overtook the ancient city, which to-day is not even a hamlet, but at most a geographical expression. As a specimen of an early "burgh," or hill fortress, its form well deserves study. Its circular walls, and various ditches and ramparts, are shown in plans in the County History, in Francis Price's book, and elsewhere.
THE DIOCESE OF SARUM.
So far as its history concerns us here, it suffices to note that the greater part of Wiltshire, and those portions of Dorset and Somerset which had been comprised in the see of Winchester, were, about the year 705, during the reign of Ina, King of the West Saxons, included in the new diocese of Sherbourne, which in its turn, about two hundred years after, circa 905-9, was sub-divided into those of Wells, for Somerset, and Crediton, for Devon. About 920, a new see was allotted to Wiltshire, whose bishop took his title from Ramsbury, near Marlborough, on the borders of the county; and with this was soon after re-united the smaller diocese of Sherbourne, and in 1075, the episcopal seat was removed to the fortress of Old Sarum, whence in 1218 it was again removed to the present city. In 1542, part of the see was devoted to the new diocese of Bristol. The see of Sherbourne, ruled over by St. Aldhelm from 705 to 709, was a much larger one than the second diocese of the same name which in 1058 was united to Ramsbury, under Herman, who held it from 1058 to 1078. The eight previous bishops are more or less well known, and in the admirable "Diocesan History" and in the "Fasti Ecclesiae Sarisburiensis," both by the late Rev. W.H. Jones, there is much interesting detail of the earlier rulers of the diocese now called Salisbury.
Herman, by birth a Fleming, was one of the ecclesiastics brought over by Edward the Confessor. His record is unmarked by events that left lasting results. He made a bold but fruitless attempt to annex the Abbey of Malmesbury. During his time, as an old writer quaintly phrases it, "it is agreed by all authors, both printed and in manuscript, that there was not yet any cathedral, church, or chapter, either within or without the King's Castle [of Old Sarum], but only a chapel and a dean." Later authorities, however, assign to him the commencement, at least, of a cathedral. In Benson and Hatcher's "Wiltshire," we find it has been conjectured that Herman, on removing his see to Sarum, found there a chapel and a dean, and that in exchange for this building he transferred the two cathedrals of Sherborne and Sunning to the Dean to whose peculiar jurisdiction they have since belonged; other evidence, however, points to the church having been begun and finished by Osmund, his successor, whose own words in the charter of foundation run: "I have built the church at Sarum and constituted canons therein." An epistle of Gregory IX. to the bishops of Bath and Wells states that, "Osmund of pious memory had employed great care as well in temporals as in spirituals, so that he had magnificently builded the said church from its foundations and enriched it with books, treasures, ... and lands from his own property." Herman, like other English bishops who were his fellow-natives Leofric at Exeter, and Giso at Wells, was not deprived of his see after the Conquest; but in 1075, in obedience to the decree of the Council of London that bishops' sees should be removed from obscure to more important places, he chose the hill of Sarum. His remains are said to have been transferred to a tomb in the present cathedral, but later antiquarians decline to endorse the tradition.
Osmund, who is believed to have been the nephew of William the Conqueror, was son of Henry, Count of Seez, in Normandy; he was created Earl of Wiltshire soon after the Conquest, before he became an ecclesiastic; Camden speaks of him as the "Earl of Dorset." As the author of the "Consuetudinariam," the ordinal of offices for the use of Sarum, wherein he collated the various forms of ritual in use at many churches, both in England and on the Continent, he won a fame far more than the building of Old Sarum, were it never so stately a cathedral, could have secured him. His famous "Sarum Use" was adopted by almost the whole of England, and reflected glory upon the church that instituted it, so that in the words of an old historian, "like the sun in his heavens, the church of Salisbury is conspicuous above all other churches in the world, diffusing the light everywhere and supplying their defects." The original manuscript of this great work is one of the choicest treasures of the cathedral library exhibited to those who have access to that collection; it is also available to the ordinary student in a volume entitled, "The Church of our Fathers," published by Dr. Rock in 1849. "As a man," says William of Malmesbury, "Osmund was rigid in the detection of his own faults, and unsparing to those of others." Although his body and his tomb were moved to the Lady Chapel of the new cathedral in 1226, and his name adored popularly, he was not canonized until over two hundred years later. Pope Callistus, the first of the Borgias, issued the bull on January 1st, 1456, but not, according to rumour, until ample funds had been supplied to facilitate his action. Some interesting correspondence relating to it has been lately printed in the "Sarum Charters and Documents," issued under the direction of the Master of the Rolls. The bull itself, in the keeping of the chapter, has been printed in Volume iii. of the great collection of Papal bulls edited by Cocqueline, and published in Rome, 1743. On July 15th, 1457, according to the authority of a writer in "Archaeologia," Vol. xiv., the translation of his body was completed, principally at the expense of the bishop, a huge concourse of people being present at the festival. From the plentiful accounts of miracles worked at his shrine long before he was officially canonized, there is but little doubt but that it had become a favourite place of pilgrimage. He died in 1099, and in spite of his tomb being removed to the cathedral in 1226 and a stately shrine erected later, a stone with no inscription but a date of doubtful authenticity—MXCIX—is all that commemorates him there to-day.
The next bishop was Roger, who was elected in 1102, consecrated in 1107, and died in 1139. If his fame as an ecclesiastic is not so assured as that of his illustrious predecessor, in architecture and in secular history he has left a decided mark. He was a poor Norman priest, who won his mitre by singing a hunting mass quickly before Henry I. Made chaplain by the king on his accession, he afterwards became first chancellor, and then justiciary. He organized the Court of Exchequer, which has preserved the earliest official records known to us. His castles at Devizes, Sherborne, and Malmesbury excited the jealousy of the nobles; his son was chancellor, one nephew Bishop of Ely, and another nephew Bishop of Lincoln. Besides much work, now destroyed, at Old Sarum (so that whether he merely restored the damage caused by lightning, or rebuilt it from the foundations, according to the Norman custom, we cannot tell), his additions to Sherborne Minster are still memorable as a new departure in Norman architecture; in fact, he has been called the great architectural genius of the thirteenth century. "Unscrupulous, fierce, and avaricious," he is a type of the great feudal churchmen when they were veritable rulers. According to William of Malmesbury, "was there anything contiguous to his property which might be advantageous to him, he would directly extort it either by entreaty or purchase, or if that failed, by force." Although after King Henry's death Henry, Bishop of Winchester, persuaded him to open the vast treasure of the late king to Stephen, yet in the fourth year of his reign Stephen imprisoned him, and the Bishop of Lincoln, his nephew, and seized their castles of Devizes and Sherborne, Newark, and Sleaford. Bishop Roger the same year, according to one chronicler, "by the kindness of death, escaped the quartan ague which had long afflicted him, and died broken-hearted." But another version says that "he starved to death through a promise to King Stephen that his castle of Devizes should be surrendered to him before he eat or drank; but his nephew, the Bishop of Ely, who then had possession of it, kept it three days before he made the surrender to the king." |
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