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diff --git a/32280.txt b/32280.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..832c60c --- /dev/null +++ b/32280.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5770 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of +Wells, by Percy Dearmer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Wells + A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See + +Author: Percy Dearmer + +Release Date: May 7, 2010 [EBook #32280] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BELL'S CATHEDRALS *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, David Cortesi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Wells Cathedral From St. Andrews Spring.] + + + THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF + + WELLS + + A DESCRIPTION OF ITS FABRIC + AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE + EPISCOPAL SEE + + BY THE + REV. PERCY DEARMER, M.A. + + [Illustration: Arms of the See] + + WITH FORTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIONS + + + + LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1899 + + _First Published October 1898_ + _Second Edition revised October 1899_ + + W.H. WHITE AND CO. LTD. + + RIVERSIDE PRESS, EDINBURGH + + + + +GENERAL PREFACE + + +This series of monographs has been planned to supply visitors to the +great English Cathedrals with accurate and well illustrated +guide-books at a popular price. The aim of each writer has been to +produce a work compiled with sufficient knowledge and scholarship to +be of value to the student of Archaeology and History, and yet not too +technical in language for the use of an ordinary visitor or tourist. + +To specify all the authorities which have been made use of in each +case would be difficult and tedious in this place. But amongst the +general sources of information which have been almost invariably found +useful are:--(1) the great county histories, the value of which, +especially in questions of genealogy and local records, is generally +recognised; (2) the numerous papers by experts which appear from time +to time in the Transactions of the Antiquarian and Archaeological +Societies; (3) the important documents made accessible in the series +issued by the Master of the Rolls; (4) the well-known works of Britton +and Willis on the English Cathedrals; and (5) the very excellent +series of Handbooks to the Cathedrals originated by the late Mr John +Murray; to which the reader may in most cases be referred for fuller +detail, especially in reference to the histories of the respective +sees. + + GLEESON WHITE, + E.F. STRANGE, + _Editors of the Series_ + + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE + + +The writer about cathedrals nowadays is one who, reaping where he has +not sown, and gathering where he has not strawed, is indebted for most +that he says to the patient labours of other and wiser men. Nowhere +does one feel this more than at Wells. The admirable Somerset +Archaeological Society has gone on accumulating information about the +cathedral for more years than the present writer has lived. Professor +Freeman produced twenty-eight years ago, in his "History of the +Cathedral Church of Wells," a little book which has since been a model +for all works of the kind, and of which one can still say that no one +can understand all that is contained in the word "cathedral" unless he +has read it. Yet since that book was written much fresh material has +been discovered, and the theories then held as to the building of the +cathedral have been in great measure disproved. To Canon C.M. Church, +in his "Chapters in the Early History of Wells," and his papers read +before the Somerset Society, we are indebted for most valuable +statements of the new historical discoveries, and to his untiring +kindness I am myself beholden to a greater extent than I can express. + +Wells so abounds in interesting detail, that the exigencies of space +have made it necessary to curtail the last chapter, which contains the +history of the diocese; a good deal of interesting matter has thus +been cut from my original MS. of this chapter, and many bishops have +been dismissed more summarily than they deserve. The need of dealing +properly with the cathedral itself must be my apology for the baldness +of this last chapter as it now stands. Those who desire a further +acquaintance with the history of the diocese cannot do better than +consult Mr Hunt's "Bath and Wells," in the excellent Diocesan +Histories series of the Society for the Promotion of Christian +Knowledge. + +To many other writers on the Cathedral Church of Wells, +acknowledgments and references will be found scattered throughout the +present volume. I must also express my thanks to Mr Philips, and +Messrs Dawkes & Partridge of Wells, for permission to reproduce their +photographs, and to Mr W. Heywood and Mr H.P. Clifford for their +drawings. + + P.D. + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE +CHAPTER I.--History of the Church 3 + +CHAPTER II.--Exterior 20 + West Front 21 + Statuary, Central Doorway, the Tiers 30 + Western Towers 44 + Central Tower 47 + North Porch 47 + North Transept 51 + Walls, Parapet 52 + Chain Gate 52 + Chapter-House 54 + From the South-East 55 + Cloister 58 + Library 63 + Museum 64 + Vicar's Close 66 + Bishop's Palace, Great Hall, Barn 67 + Deanery, Archdeaconry, etc., St. Cuthbert's 70 + +CHAPTER III.--Interior 73 + Nave, etc. 77 + Capitals 79 + Glass 84 + Bubwith's Chapel 85 + Sugar's Chapel 86 + Pulpit, Lectern 87 + Transepts 89 + Capitals 89 + Font, Monuments 95 + Transepts Chapels--St. Martin, St. Calixtus, + St. David, Holy Cross 98 + Clock 105 + Inverted Arches 107 + Tower, Screen, Organ 110 + Choir 113 + Misericords, Glass 120 + Choir Aisles, Monuments 123 + Eastern Transepts, Monuments 124 + Procession Path 128 + Glass in Choir Aisles and Chapels 130 + Lady Chapel, Glass 133 + Chapter-House Staircase 134 + Chapter-House 137 + Undercroft 141 + +CHAPTER IV.--History of the Diocese and Foundation 147 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Wells Cathedral from St. Andrew's Spring _Frontispiece_ +Arms of the See _Title_ +The Cathedral from the South-East 2 +The Cathedral in the Seventeenth Century 15 +South Aisle of Nave 19 +West Front--Bishop of Aethelhelm 22 +The West Front 23 +Ornaments in the West Front 28, 29 +West Front--Christina 31 +The Central Tower from the South-East 45 +The North Porch 49 +The Bishop's Eye 53 +Doorway, South-East of Cloister 58 +East Walk of Cloister 59 +The Chain Gate, Entrance to Close, 1824 65 +The Bishop's Palace 68 +The Nave 75 +A Capital--The Fruit-stealer's Punishment 79 +A Capital--Toothache 81 +Specimens of Capitals 82, 83, 84, 148, 149 +View across Nave, showing Sugar's and Bubwith's Chapels 85 +Sugar's Chapel--The Lectern and Pulpit 88 +Section of North Transept, and Elevation of South Transept 90 +Capitals in Transept 92 +The South Transept, from North Side of Nave 93 +The Font 95 +The Annunciation--Husse's Tomb 101 +Priest in Surplice--Husse's Tomb 102 +The East End in 1823 103 +The Inverted Arches 109 +Choir, looking West 111 +Choir, looking East 115 +Procession Path and Lady Chapel 129 +Steps Of Chapter-house Vestibule And Passage Over Chain Gate 135 +Chapter-House--Doorway 138 +Chapter-House--Interior 139 +Chapter-House--Vault 141 +Chapter-House--Undercroft 142, 143 +Section of Chapter-House 145 +PLAN 160 + + +[Illustration: Wells From The South-East.] + + + + +WELLS CATHEDRAL + + + + +CHAPTER I + +HISTORY OF THE CHURCH + + +"The Gothic Cathedral," wrote Froude, an author who held no brief for +the Gothic period, "is perhaps, on the whole, the most magnificent +creation which the mind of man has as yet thrown out." The Cathedral +Church of Wells, wrote Froude's predecessor in the same historical +chair, is "the best example to be found in the whole world of a +secular church, with its subordinate buildings." "There is no other +place," Professor Freeman went on to say, "where you can see so many +of the ancient buildings still standing, and still put to their own +use." And surely there is no place better fitted to be their home than +this beautiful old city of Wells, set in the midst of the fair western +country, the land of Avalon and Camelot, of Athelney and Wedmore. + +This unique group of buildings does not, however, take us back earlier +than the close of the Norman period. Of what existed before, we have +but scant evidence. Tradition says that King Ina had, about the year +705, founded at Wells a college of secular priests, and therefore a +church of some sort. And when King Eadward the Elder, taking advantage +of the peace which his father Alfred had secured, fixed, in 909, the +new Somersetshire see by the fountain of St. Andrew at Wells, he seems +to have chosen that little city because there already existed therein +a church, large enough to serve as a cathedral in those times, and +tended already by a body of secular canons. Now that the ancient +church of St. Andrew was raised to this new dignity, it was probably +in the tenth century rebuilt in stone, with plain round-headed +windows, and perhaps a small unbuttressed tower to hold the bells; +for, when Giso became bishop in the next century (1061-1088), he +erected a whole cluster of quasi-conventual buildings, but we are not +told that he found it necessary to rebuild the church, although he +complained that he found it mean and its revenues small. Indeed, the +fact that Giso was buried under an arch in the wall on the north side +of the high altar, as his predecessor Duduc had been buried on the +south side, shows that he had not rebuilt the church. + +On Giso's death, John de Villula at once swept away his buildings, and +set up a bishop's house on their site. John, however, made Bath his +cathedral church, and suffered the church of Wells to fall into the +decay from which it was rescued by the first "Maker of Wells," Bishop +Robert of Lewes. + +The active episcopate of Robert of Lewes (1136-66) was as important an +era in the history of the church as in that of the chapter. In spite +of the anarchy of Stephen's reign, Robert set steadily to work; and, +while the neighbouring barons were battering each other's castles, the +bishop reared the first great cathedral church of Wells. How much of +the old Saxon building he left we cannot tell; but it was in a ruinous +condition, and he may have pulled it completely down, or he may have +left one part for later builders to deal with. In 1148 his new Norman +church was consecrated, a massive round-arched building, its nave +perhaps as large as the present one, and its choir under the tower +with a small presbytery beyond. This date may be taken as the +beginning of the present cathedral; for all the succeeding +reconstructions followed the lines of Bishop Robert's church. Yet the +Norman work has disappeared almost as completely as the Saxon, and the +font is the only object which can be claimed as undoubtedly +Romanesque. Of distinctly Norman mouldings there are none in the +church, and only a few fragments in other places. Seldom has one of +those strong Norman buildings so utterly vanished from sight. But many +stones dressed in the Norman fashion can still be traced by the expert +in the eastern part of the church (p. 74), having been no doubt used +up again by the later workmen; and there may be masses of undisturbed +masonry hidden in the walls. + +Bishop Robert, as we know from one of his charters, did something also +for the order of his church. Mammon had gradually encroached upon the +sacred precincts, and the markets had come to be held in the +"vestibule," and in the church itself; the busy hum of the buyers and +sellers marred the quiet of God's house, and disturbed the people at +their devotions. Strong measures were necessary, and the bishop +ordered the market to be held at some distance from the church, while +at the same time, as an act of grace, he remitted the tolls that were +due to him as lord of the manor. Thus did he lay the foundation of the +liberties of Wells city while securing the sanctity of Wells +Cathedral. + +According to Bishop Godwin (1616), and the anonymous fifteenth century +MSS., called in Wharton's _Anglia Sacra_ the "Canon of Wells," there +was a blank in the history of the church between Bishop Robert, who +consecrated the Norman building in 1148, and Bishop Jocelin, whose +episcopate lasted from 1206 to 1242. Godwin, who exaggerated a passage +from the "Canon of Wells" (which that writer had produced by +exaggerating a single sentence of a preamble of Jocelin, p. 7), +declared that Jocelin found the church "as ready to fall," and "pulled +down the greatest part of it, to witte, the west ende, and built it +anew from the very foundation." This became the accepted view. But the +documents recently brought to light through the labours of those who +unearthed and deciphered the MSS. in possession of the chapter, have +proved that the energetic Bishop Reginald, so far from letting the +church go into ruin during his episcopate (1174-1191), did in reality +rebuild it himself. Much travelled, conversant with all kinds of +churches and cities in an age of great building operations, he was not +the sort of man to neglect his cathedral. And, as a matter of fact, he +is proved to have begun the present church by a charter recently +found, which is of a date prior to 1180, and therefore belongs to the +early years of his episcopate. In this important document, recognising +his duty to provide "that the honour due to God should not be +tarnished by the squalor of His house," he arranges in full chapter +for a munificent grant in support of the fabric, until the work be +finished[1]. Another charter of Reginald's time, which conveys a +private gift to the church, alludes to "the admirable structure of the +rising church," thus testifying to the successful progress of the +bishop's plan during his own lifetime. 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. +Willis, indeed, bowed to what was then thought to be documentary +evidence against his own judgment; for he declared the work to be of a +style much earlier than that of Jocelin's time (p. 73). Now we know +almost to a certainty that the bulk of the cathedral belongs neither +to the late Norman period of Robert, nor to the Early English of +Jocelin, but to the period just between the two, that of Reginald de +Bohun. + +During the episcopate of Reginald's immediate successor Savaric +(1192-1205), something further may have been done to the nave. But +there was small opportunity for church building during this bishop's +wandering and litigious life; and all we know for certain is that, +owing no doubt to the civil war, the intolerable exactions of papal +legates, and the quarrel with Glastonbury, the cathedral church of +Wells had fallen into a state of dilapidation when Jocelin became +bishop in 1206; and that it remained in this condition till King John +was dead: for Jocelin was an exile abroad, the property of the see was +confiscated, and its income paid yearly into the king's purse. + +From the year 1218, when the land was again at peace, and a profitable +arrangement had been come to with the monks of Glastonbury, Jocelin +devoted himself to the fabric and chapter of Wells, up to the year of +his death in 1242. Grants of money and of timber, which are extant, +show that by 1220 the work was recommenced, and that it was in +progress in 1225. By 1239 the church was sufficiently advanced to be +dedicated. + +Jocelin and his brother Hugh (afterwards Bishop of Lincoln) were +natives of the city they loved so well. They had both lived through +Reginald's episcopate--Jocelin as canon and Hugh as archdeacon of +Wells. After, when they rose to high positions as judges, and became +honourably rich, Hugh, who built much in Lincoln Cathedral, gave +largely of his great wealth to Jocelin for Wells, and Jocelin himself +spent all that he had upon the place where he had been brought up from +infancy. + +Thus Jocelin was in a real sense a "maker of Wells." But he was not +the only maker, for he must share the honour with two other master +builders--Robert, whose work is entirely gone, and Reginald, whose +work remains. He did not, as Godwin led us to suppose, pull down and +rebuild the whole church. But he loyally carried on the work of his +predecessor, and he executed the great work which has been always +rightly attributed to him, the present west front; this he joined to +Reginald's unfinished nave by building the three western bays in +strict accordance with the earlier style. The front belongs to the +fully-developed Early English style in which Salisbury is built, +agreeing exactly with the date of the consecration of the church by +Jocelin in 1239,--as was pointed out by Professor Willis, who was +puzzled by the great difference in its style from that of the nave, +which was then thought to belong to the same period. We know that +Jocelin was a frequent visitor to Salisbury while Bishop Poore was +building it; and thus all the lines of evidence combine to support the +unshaken tradition that Jocelin was the author of the west front. + +A month before his death in 1242, Jocelin de Wells put forth a charter +for the increased endowment of the cathedral staff; and it was because +of a few chance words in the preamble that he came to be credited with +the construction of the whole. Having found the church in danger of +ruin, runs the passage, by reason of its age _aedificare coepimus et +ampliare--in qua adeo profecimus--quod ipsam consecravimus_. This, +which need mean nothing more than extensive building operations, is +the sole foundation for the tradition that Jocelin pulled down the old +church and built a new one. + +The condition of the church at the end of the thirteenth century is +thus described by Professor Freeman[2]: + +"By the end of the thirteenth century we may look upon the church of +Wells as at last finished. It still lacked much of that perfection of +outline which now belongs to it, and which the next age was finally to +give to it. Many among that matchless group of surrounding buildings +which give Wells its chief charm, had not yet arisen. The church +itself, with its unfinished towers, must have had a dwarfed and +stunted look from every point. The Lady Chapel had not yet been +reared, with its apse alike to contrast with the great window of the +square presbytery above it, and to group in harmony with the more +lofty chapter-house of its own form. The cloister was still of wood. +The palace was still undefended by wall or moat. The Vicars' Close and +its chain-bridge had not yet been dreamt of. Still, the church, alike +in its fabric and its constitution, may be looked on as having by this +time been brought to perfection ... The nave, recast in forms of art +such as Ina and Eadward, such as Gisa and Robert, had never dreamed +of, with the long range of its arcades and the soaring sweep of its +newly-vaulted roof, stood, perfect from western door to rood-loft, +ever ready, ever open, to welcome worshippers from city and village, +from hill and combe and moor, in every corner of the land which looked +to Saint Andrew's as its mother church. The choir, the stalls of the +canons, the throne of the Bishop, were still confined within the +narrow space of the crossing; but that narrow space itself gave them a +dignity which they lost in later arrangements. For the central +lantern, not yet driven to lean on ungainly props, with the rich +arcades of its upper stages still open to view, still rose, in all the +simple majesty of its four mighty arches, as the noblest of canopies +over the choir below." + +"The eastern ending of the presbytery was," Mr Freeman proceeds, "rich +with the best detail of the thirteenth century, as can be learnt from +the fragments built up in the chapel of the Vicars' Close, and lying +about in the undercroft of the chapter-house, which are in the full +Early English style of the west front. The existing choir aisle walls +prove that a procession-path ran behind the high altar, with most +likely a chapel beyond it." + +"The thirteenth century," he concludes, "had done its great creative +work, and had left to future ages only to improve and develop +according to the principles which the thirteenth century had laid +down. That is to say, the thirteenth century had done for the local +church of Wells what it did for England, what it did for Europe, and +for the world." + +The choir, however, was not so cramped as Mr Freeman thought, for it +included one bay of the nave, as we now know from a notice of the +making of Haselshaw's tomb, which was dug at the entrance to the +choir; and, indeed, the marks where the screen was fixed are still +visible on the piers at this point. From the top of the screen the +great rood looked down the nave, and on each side of the doorway stood +an altar, that on the north dedicated to Our Lady, that on the south +to St. Andrew. The aisles of the choir were also screened off from the +nave, and outside their gates were two more altars--St. Saviour's on +the north, and St. Edmund's on the south. Thus the nave, where men +were ever coming and going, walking and talking, and in laxer times +buying and selling as well, was quite shut off from the more sacred +places. Yet here, too, were altars and shrines, and here came the +processions on Sundays and holidays. + +Within the choir the chapter said their offices, the dean and +precentor facing east in their returned stalls, and the other +dignitaries in their allotted places, with the junior canons, vicars, +and those in minor orders below them, and the boys on the lowest forms +of all. Just beyond these stalls was the bishop's throne; and east of +the tower the presbytery stood open, with the tombs of the early +bishops, on either side, under the arches. The rest of the space +enclosed within the screen belonged more especially to the clergy; the +north transept was probably used as a chapter-house, when the +undercroft was yet unfinished, and its western aisle was used as the +chapter library. The chamber leading to the undercroft was the vestry, +and the stout walls of the octagon, when it was finished, protected +the vestments and treasures of the cathedral. + +It is worth while to call to mind the kind of service for which the +church was built, with its aisles and chapels and screen. The usual +Sunday procession started from the north door of the presbytery, +preceded by two thurifers with censers, went round behind the +presbytery, the priest in his cope asperging the altars on his way, +then down the south choir aisle, and through the south transept into +the cloister. In the cloister-cemetery, the priest, with his +ministers, said the prayers for the dead, and then rejoined the +procession in the cloister Lady Chapel, where the first station was +made. Thence the procession returned to the great rood in the nave, +and there made the second station, the bidding-prayer being given out +to the people from the rood-screen, after which it re-entered the +choir. But on special occasions the ritual was increased; as, for +instance, at the procession of palms on Palm Sunday, or the Corpus +Christi Day procession, which is thus described by Mr J.D. +Chambers[3]: "The procession, some time before the mass, should +assemble in order at the step of the Choir (_i.e._ in the Presbytery), +a priest in Albe and silk Cope carrying the Corpus Christi in a +tabernacle or feretory under a canopy of silk raised over him and it +on four staves, borne by four clerks in Albes and Tunicles, with +lighted tapers. It should go out of the Choir down the Nave, and out +at the West Door of the Church, round the Church and Cloisters as on +Ascension Day"--_i.e._ round the outside of the whole church, +beginning with the north side and returning round the east end, and +through the cloister to the west door again, and thus back into the +nave. The colours of the vestments at Wells followed in the main the +custom of the neighbouring diocese of Sarum, but with some local +variations, such as are set down in the _Consuetudinary_ which +Archbishop Laud had copied from the late thirteenth-century MS. Indigo +and white were used on St. John's Day and on the Dedication Festival; +in Advent, indigo; at Passiontide, red, and on Palm Sunday, "except +one cope of black for the part of Caiaphas" at the singing of the +Passion; red, too, on Maunday Thursday, but with a banner of white. +Red was also used for Easter, Pentecost, and throughout the Sundays +after Trinity; while for Virgin Martyrs, red was mixed with white. +This mixture of colours was probably effected by the cantors wearing +different coloured copes; thus for confessors saffron _(croceus)_ was +mixed with green, _sicut honestius et magis proprie possunt adaptari +festo_; but St. Julian and some others had all saffron, while a few, +like St. Benedict, had all indigo. White is comparatively little in +evidence, but it was used at Christmas, and for commemorations of the +Blessed Virgin. Black was used for the commemoration of the dead. + +To this vision of stately pomp, and changing colour, we must add in +our mind's eye the many chapels with their woven tapestries of flowers +and beasts and birds, their rich ornaments and sacred associations; +the majestic rood upon the screen, and the rich altars that stood +before it; the almost constant succession of services that went on +behind it, where the canons (each with his own book and candle) and +their vicars sat, and the pyx hung over the high altar; the sound of a +little bell from one of the chapels where mass was being said, the +glimmer of a hanging lamp, the gleam of a silver image, the shrines +here and there, with their frequent visitors; and, as years went on, +the subdued light from the gorgeous painted windows (that over the +high altar glowed then from east to west without obstructing organ), +the frescoes on some of the walls, the green and red and gold of the +later monuments; and over all the trail of incense and the sound of +prayer. + +After Jocelin's death the works came to a standstill, for the +sufficient reason that the chapter was "overburdened with an +intolerable debt," owing to the enormous expense of the litigation +with Bath Abbey over Bishop Roger's election (p. 153). This, however, +was the last attempt of the rival cathedral of St. Peter; and the +debt, which was at its worst in 1248 (the year after Roger's death), +was bravely met by a contribution of a fifth of the income of each +prebend, as well as by gifts and obits; so that towards the end of +William Bytton's episcopate the debt was nearly cleared, and in 1263 +Bytton made over the sequestrations of vacant benefices to the fabric +fund. + +In 1248 an earthquake had done much damage, shaking down the _tholus_ +(either the vault, or the stone capping) of the central tower, as we +learn from Matthew Paris _(Hist. Angl._ iii. 42). Accordingly, in +1263, preparations were made for further building; and in 1286 we hear +of a chapter meeting, summoned by Dean Thomas Bytton, whereat the +canons bind themselves to give one-tenth of their prebends for five +years, "to the finishing of the works now a long time begun (_jam diu +incepta_), and to repair what needed reparation in the old works." + +The reparation here mentioned refers in all probability to the roof +and piers of the transepts and eastern part of nave, damaged by the +fall of the _tholus_. The famous western capitals of the transepts, +with their frequent representations of the miseries of toothache, must +refer to the second William Bytton, who had died in 1274, and whose +tomb became famous for its dental cures (p. 125). No doubt, the +offerings at the shrine of this local saint helped considerably to +swell the funds for the building operations. + +The works "now a long time begun" can hardly be anything else than the +chapter-house undercroft, the outer walls of which may have been built +some forty years before. Professor Willis, who had access to the +document, decided, on architectural evidence, that the undercroft must +have been already completed at this time, and his view may be safely +accepted (_Arch. Inst._, "Bristol" vol., p. 28). The passage to the +undercroft would seem to be the first result of the chapter's +undertaking; its ornament is of a more advanced type than that of the +undercroft itself, and one of its carved heads is swollen as by the +toothache, and tied in a handkerchief. There can be little or no doubt +that the "finishing" of the old works included also the building of +the chapter-house staircase, and, when that was finished, the raising +of the chapter-house itself (the _nova structura_ of the old +documents) upon the undercroft. The full Decorated style of the +chapter-house is separated by a considerable interval from the late +Early English of the undercroft, while that of the staircase, which is +geometrical Decorated of a character not very far removed from Early +English, must have been built before the chapter-house itself was +begun. + +The self-sacrificing spirit of the chapter was supplemented by the +offerings which flowed in from the growing practice of endowing altars +for requiem services, as well as from the shrine of St. William +Bytton; and the building activity continued for the next fifty years +till the church had been brought, in all save its western towers, to +its final state of perfection. After the staircase to the +chapter-house had been completed, about the year 1292, the walls of +the chapter-house itself were built, probably by Bishop William de +Marchia (1293-1302) who seems to have covered it in with a temporary +roof. + +Dean John de Godelee (1306-1333) was the last great builder of the +church of Wells. The power of the bishop in his own church is already +declining, as that of the chapter rises, and it is the dean now who +organises the works. In 1315 the central tower was raised, and by 1321 +it was being roofed in. By 1319 the chapter-house was finished; +Godelee, with William Joy, the master-mason, had probably worked out +the old drawings and built the windows and vaulted roof. Next the Lady +Chapel must have been begun, for by 1326 it was finished. Somewhere +about this time the parapet, which adds so much to the external beauty +of the church, was also made. + +But the raising of the central tower had, ere this, brought disaster. +In 1321 there was a grant from the clergy of the Deanery of Taunton in +aid of the roofing of the "new _campanile_"; in 1338 a convocation was +summoned because the church of Wells was so _totaliter confracte et +enormiter deformate_ that the instant and united action of its members +was required to save it (_cf._ Willis in _Som. Proc._ 1863). The +adding of the Decorated portion to the tower increased the weight so +much that the four great piers sank into the ground, dragging the +masonry with them and causing rents to appear at the apex of the +arches. The situation was most dangerous: it was met by the careful +repairing of the torn masonry and the construction of those inverted +arches which are so familiar a feature of the church. + +Yet the work proceeded very rapidly under a great bishop, who for the +time eclipsed the rising power of the deans. Ralph of Shrewsbury +(1329-63) carried on the work of Dean Godelee, and in the early years +of his episcopate entirely reconstructed the choir. The scheme seems +to have been contemplated as early as 1325; for in that year each +dignitary arranged to pay for his own stall in the refitting of the +choir, because the old stalls had become "ruinous and misshapen." In +any case, it was Ralph who added the three new bays of the presbytery +which are so curiously joined to the old presbytery of Reginald, and +with it form the present eastern limb of the church. He then +constructed the beautiful retro-choir which connects the presbytery +with the Lady Chapel. The vaulting of the choir and the construction +of the great east window would appear to have been undertaken at a +later period of his episcopate; for the ceiling is of a more advanced +style than the lower work, and the tracery of the window is half +Perpendicular. When Bishop Ralph died, in 1363, he was buried in the +place of honour in front of the high altar, as the founder of the +choir which he had finished. + +The finishing touches were given to the cathedral when Bishop Harewell +(_ob._ 1386) gave two-thirds of the cost of the south-western or +Harewell Tower, and when the executors of Bishop Bubwith (_ob._ 1424) +finished the companion tower on the north-west. + +The other efforts of the fourteenth and fifteenth century builders +were given to those subordinate buildings which are the peculiar glory +of Wells. Even so magnificent a prelate as Beckington did nothing to +the actual fabric of the Cathedral (unless his tomb be so considered), +for the simple reason that there was really nothing for him to do. +Ralph of Shrewsbury had, besides his work in the church, finished the +palace (which Jocelin had begun and Burnell had enriched with the hall +and chapel) by the moat, walls, and gate-house. He had also begun the +Vicars' Close, of which the chapel was built by Bubwith, but the +executors of Beckington recast it in its present form. After +Beckington had employed his energies in erecting the beautiful +gateways with which his name is always associated, Dean Gunthorpe +(_ob._ 1498) built the deanery. + +The following interesting eulogy of Bishop Beckington and his church +was written in the form of a Latin dialogue by Chaundler, who was +Chancellor of Wells in 1454:-- + +"You might more properly call it a city than a town, as you would +yourself understand more clearly than day if you could behold all its +intrinsic splendour and beauty. For that most lovely church which we +see at a distance, dedicated to the most blessed Apostle of the +Almighty God, St. Andrew, contains the episcopal chair of the worthy +Bishop. Adjoining it is the vast palace, adorned with wonderful +splendour, girt on all sides by flowing waters, crowned by a +delectable succession of walls and turrets, in which the most worthy +and learned Bishop Thomas, the first of that name, bears rule. He has +indeed at his own proper pains and charges conferred such a splendour +on this city, as well by strongly fortifying the church with gates and +towers and walls, as by constructing on the grandest scale the palace +in which he resides and the other surrounding buildings, that he +deserves to be called, not the founder merely, but rather the +splendour and ornament of the church." + +[Illustration: The Cathedral. (From a Seventeenth Century Print.)] + +The Reformation period left the cathedral cold and barren within, but +interfered little with its fabric; the only serious piece of +destruction (p. 57) being that of the magnificent Lady Chapel by the +Cloister, in 1552, by Sir John Gates, "a greate puritan, Episcopacie's +common Enemy." In other respects it was what Freeman calls a period of +systematic picking and stealing; as witness this passage from +Nathaniel Chyles:--"The Great Duke of Somersett, Unkle to Edward the +Sixt (whose title proved very fatall to this place and Bishopwrick) +was not only contented to get most of the mannours Lands and +possessions belonging to this Bishopwrick settled upon him and his +posteritie, but at last even the palace itselfe also." But the palace +and some of the property were recovered after Somerset's execution. + +The bishop's palace suffered the ruin of Burnell's magnificent hall +through the prevalent lust for gain. Sir John Harrington writes in +terms of pardonable indignation:--"I speak now only of the spoil made +under this Bishop [Barlow]; scarce were five years past after Bath's +ruins, but as fast went the axes and hammers to work at Wells. The +goodly hall covered with lead ... was uncovered, and now this roof +reaches to the sky. The Chapel of Our Lady, late repaired by +Stillington, a place of reverence and antiquity, was likewise defaced, +and such was their thirst after lead (I would they had drunk it +scalding) that they took the dead bodies of bishops out of their +leaden coffins, and cast abroad the carcases scarce thoroughly +putrified." + +During the Commonwealth the choir was closed, and Dr Cornelius Burges, +who was appointed "Preacher" at the cathedral, bought the bishop's +palace and deanery for his private property. He, of course, despoiled +the palace, "pulling off not only the Lead thereoff," says Chyles,[4] +"but taking away also the Timber, and making what money he could of +them, and what remained unsold he removed to the Deanery improving +that out of the Ruins of the palace, leaving only bare Walls." At the +Restoration Burges was ejected, after a good deal of litigation, and +Bishop Piers returned to the ruins of his palace. Burges' sermons had +never been popular with the people of Wells, who annoyed him by +walking up and down the cloisters "all sermon time." When the trial +for his ejectment came on he published his "Case," in which he +justified his buying Church lands by alleging that he had lent the +State L3490, and, having a wife and ten children to provide for, he +took such land, etc. as the only means of repayment. Five of the +canons' houses were also obtained from Cromwell's Commissioners by the +Corporation of Wells, one or two of which were pulled down and sold +for old stone. + +At the Restoration, the canons were at great expense to restore the +church from the ruinous condition into which it had fallen in Puritan +times, and they were liberally helped in their extremity by the clergy +and laity of the diocese. Says Chyles (_c._ 1680): "Since his +Majestie's and Churche's happy and blessed Restoration, what betweene +the Bishopp, the Deane, and Deane and Chapter, our Church and Quire is +once more in a beautifull and comely habitt (which God continue) such +as neither the Church of Rome has reason to upbraid us with a slovenly +or clownish Service, nor the Puritan and Nonconformist with a gaudy or +Superstitious. The good old Bishopp [W. Piers], who weather'd out that +Storme, and was restored to what was his Owne, gave those silk +Hangings which beautifie the Altar within the Railes." Dean Creyghton +gave the glass in the west window, the organ and the brass lectern, +and Dr Busby, who was treasurer of Wells as well as head-master of +Westminster, gave the silver-gilt alms dish and restored the library, +lengthening it by the addition of the southern part. + +Chyles tells us, too, that there was morning and evening prayer in the +"Vicars' Chapell in Close Hall," at six, forenoon and afternoon, in +winter, and seven in summer, in addition to the cathedral services at +the "canonical howers." Before his time there had been only a morning +sermon on Sundays, and, in the afternoon, "the whole Cathedrall" had +been in the habit of going to St. Cuthbert's, returning with the mayor +and his brethren for the cathedral prayers at four; "but since his +Majesty's Restoracion one likewise in the Afternoones here is preached +by the said prebends _in theire turns_. Soe that here the Sermonizing +people may have their Bellyfull of preaching and forbeare crying out, +_They are starved for want of the Word_ and calling our clergy _Dumb +Doggs_." + +This time of peace did not last long, for in 1685 the whole of +Somerset was up in Monmouth's rebellion. The duke's followers came to +Wells, turned the cathedral into a stable, tore the lead off the roof +for bullets, pulled down several of the statues, broached a barrel of +beer on the high altar, and would have destroyed the altar itself, had +not Lord Grey, one of their leaders, defended it with his sword. Dr +Conan Doyle's description of the scene in his novel, _Micah Clarke_ +(p. 292), is so vivid that it is well worth referring to. + +The long and heavy peace which followed was marked by the gradual +pewing up of the choir and presbytery, and the intrusion of +pretentious monuments. Then, in our own times, came the revival, +bringing evil as well as good in its train. In 1842 the restoration of +the nave, transepts, and Lady Chapel was commenced at the instance of +Dean Goodenough, by Mr Benjamin Ferrey. He removed the thick layers of +whitewash which had been ingeniously applied to conceal the sculpture; +and the long rows of marble tablets which had disfigured the aisles +were shifted to the cloisters, whence, it may be hoped, they will one +day make a further journey towards oblivion. + +The restoration of the choir by Mr Salvin, which lasted from 1848 to +1854, was unfortunately of a less blameless character. It was the +period of the Great Exhibition, when art reached the lowest depths to +which it has sunk in the history of the world. + +We need not dwell upon the result; few restorations are more marked +with the complacent ignorance of that strange time. The old pews and +galleries in the choir, which had hidden the very capitals of the +piers, were indeed removed, but with them the medieval stalls were +destroyed and replaced by work of indescribable imbecility. No real +improvement in the choir of Wells is now possible till every trace of +Dean Jenkyns' restoration is swept away; but, alas! what he destroyed +can never be recovered. + +In 1868 the report of Mr Ferrey[5] upon the west front was presented, +and shortly afterwards the work of repair was begun under his +direction. The report showed how extensive was the decay, and how +great the danger of complete ruin unless steps were taken to protect +the old work; and the work of repair was carried out with care and +reverence; though even here irreparable harm was done by the +substitution of the modern "slate pencils" for the old blue lias +shafts. Since then, many small matters have been attended to with +varying success. The Lady Chapel has been decently furnished and the +east end slightly improved. Much still remains to be done; but the +best motto at the present day is _festina lente_, and the safest rule +is to be progressive in all enrichment by removable furniture, and +conservative, very conservative, in all structural alteration. If the +hand of the restorer can now be stayed, the words will still be true +of Wells, which M. Huysmans used of another church:--_Ces siecles +s'etaient reunis pour apporter aux pieds du Christ l'effort surhumain +de leur art, et les dons de chacun etaient visibles encore._ + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] _Somerset Proceedings_, 1888, ii. 5. + + [2] _History of the Cathedral_, p. 98. + + [3] _Divine Worship in England_, p. 195. + + [4] Book ii. c. 2. + + [5] _Inst. Arch._ 1870. + + +[Illustration: South Aisle Of Nave. (See p. 83.)] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE EXTERIOR + + +"In England," wrote Mr J.H. Parker, in his _Glossary_, "Wells affords +the most perfect example of a cathedral with all its parts and +appurtenances. It was," he continues, after an enumeration of the +parts of the church, "a cathedral proper, and independent of any +monastic foundation, but with a separate house for each of its +officers, either in the Close or in the Liberty adjoining to it. The +bishop's palace was enclosed by a separate moat and fortified, being +on the south side of the cloister, from which it is separated by the +moat; the houses for the dean and for the archdeacon are on the north +side of the Close, with some of the canons' houses; the organist's +house is at the west end, adjoining to the singing-school and the +cloister; the precentor's house is at the east end, near the Lady +Chapel. The vicars-choral have a close of their own adjoining to the +north-east corner of the canons' close, with a bridge across through +the gate-house into the north transept; they were a collegiate body, +with their own chapel, library, and hall." One need only add that all +these sentences can still, with one exception, be read in the present +tense to show that Wells possesses a beauty and interest which gives +it an unique place among cathedral foundations. There is no other +cathedral city in which so many of the old ecclesiastical buildings +remain, or on which the modern world has made so little impression. +The church itself, in Fergusson's opinion perhaps the most beautiful, +though one of the smallest in England, is but one part of a "group of +buildings, which," wrote Professor Freeman, "as far as I know, has no +rival, either in our own island or beyond the sea." The little city to +which these buildings belong is itself worthy of them, almost a part +of them, so quiet and venerable is it, so picturesque in its lovely +setting of green hills. + +Were size the main distinction of a church, Wells would sink +comfortably into the second class; even in some of its best features +it has many rivals, but the peculiar charm and glory of Wells lies (to +quote again from Freeman's _History_) "in the union and harmonious +grouping of all. The church does not stand alone; it is neither +crowded by incongruous buildings, nor yet isolated from those +buildings which are its natural and necessary complement. Palace, +cloister, Lady Chapel, choir, chapter-house, all join to form one +indivisible whole. The series goes on uninterruptedly along that +unique bridge, which, by a marvel of ingenuity, connects the church +itself with the most perfect of buildings of its own class, the +matchless vicars' close. Scattered around we see here and there an +ancient house, its gable, its windows, or its turret, falling in with +the style and group of greater buildings, and bearing its part in +producing the general harmony of all." Thus, in the first place, the +group of buildings must be looked at as a whole from the north, from +the east, from the south-east; then the superb, unrivalled picture +from the rising ground on the Shepton Mallet road,[1] outside the +city, must be seen, and, when this little journey has been made, the +most hurried visitor must find time at least to peep into the vicars' +close, and walk round the moat of the palace. After some such general +impression has been gained, the study of the exterior of the church +will naturally begin with that part which is a peculiar distinction of +Wells Cathedral--the west front. + +The WEST FRONT of Wells has been universally admired. Long ago, 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 +spirantia signa_. England affordeth not the like." This verdict is but +repeated by modern writers; the front is "quite unrivalled," says +Fergusson, and comparable only to Rheims and Chartres. Mr Hughes, in +Traill's _Social England_, goes farther and says[2] that "nothing fit +to rank with it was then being done in Northern Europe--for the +monumental porches of France, formerly supposed to be contemporary, +are now recognised as of a later date." + +[Illustration: West Front. Bishop Aethelhelm (103). Drawn by H.P. +Clifford.] + +But there has been a discordant note in the general chorus of praise. +Professor Freeman, whose admiration for nearly everything in Wells was +so intense, could find little to praise in the west front of the +cathedral.[3] "It is doubtless," he wrote, "the finest display of +sculpture in England; but it is thoroughly bad as a piece of +architecture. I am always glad when I get round the corner, and can +rest my eye on the massive and simple majesty of the nave and +transepts. The west front is bad because it is a sham--because it is +not the real ending of the nave and aisles, but a mere mask, devised, +in order to gain greater room for the display of statues ... The front +is not the natural finish of the nave and aisles; it is a blank wall +built up in a shape which is not the shape which their endings would +naturally assume. It is therefore a sham; it is a sin against the +first law of architectural design, the law that enrichment should be +sought in ornamenting the construction ... not in building up anything +simply for the sake of effect." He then proceeds to criticise the way +in which the windows and doorways "are stowed away as they best may +be," as if they were felt to be mere interruptions to the lines of +sculpture. + +[Illustration: The West Front.] + +This latter objection to the doorways had often been made before, only +that the "rabbit-holes on a mountain side" of earlier critics became +"mouse-holes" with Mr Freeman. Mr E.W. Godwin, in a lecture in 1862, +had also found fault with the crowding in of the niches over the +central doorway, which he declared to be in the highest degree clumsy; +with the bald appearance given by the shallowness of the reveals in +the principal windows; and with the way in which "the solid work of +the base suddenly crops up at the very summit of the two central +buttresses, not altogether unlike the dog-kennel of modern Gothic." + +Of these criticisms the most serious is Mr Freeman's general charge of +unreality. But why should not a stone screen be erected for the +display of statuary before the west end of a church, just as lawfully +as behind the high altar? And, if a screen may be allowed as an end in +itself, standing simply as a thing of beauty to glorify a building of +which it is not a structural part, then the front of Wells may stand, +like the reredos of Winchester, as the noblest example of its kind. It +has no need to simulate lofty aisles which do not exist, for it +covers, not the aisles, but the faces of the great towers themselves; +and, as a consequence, the portion of really blank wall which +stretches from them to the central gable is so small as to be more +than justified by the cohesion it gives to the whole. The whole effect +is singularly broad, but so is the space it covers within; for this +breadth is legitimately attained by the happy device of planting the +western towers beyond the aisles. + +The massive front of Wells stands, therefore, on its own merits as a +west front, and not merely a west end--a great stone screen that, so +far from pretending to be a regular termination of the nave and +aisles, is actually carried, in all its sculptured magnificence, round +the sides of the two towers upon which it so frankly depends. It is a +screen built at a period different from, and, we may now safely +assume, later than, that of the nave, and built for the exhibition of +a noble legend in stone, which has ever since been the glory of a +county famed for its splendid churches. + +Taking it then for what it is, and remembering that the lower tiers +were once filled with statuary, can we regret that the doorways +themselves were subordinated to the one grand design of accommodating +this great multitude of silent teachers? The great doorways of French +churches are magnificent in themselves, but that is surely no reason +why we should make it an axiom that a front cannot be fine unless it +have a great doorway. Striking as the effect of these foreign +entrances may be, there is no structural reason why a door should be +of an unwieldy size out of all proportion to the stature of the people +who use it, so that a smaller door has to be cut for ordinary use out +of the real door. It certainly, as even at Amiens, limits the +sculptor's opportunities; and in a country like England, where doors +can only be kept open for a few weeks in the year, great doorways +would be as inappropriate as closed doors are forbidding. As a matter +of fact, the usual entrance to Wells Cathedral in Jocelin's time was +not from the west, but through the cloister and the south porch. And +the central entrance of the west was made impressive, not by its size, +but by the exquisite nature of its carving, and the blue and scarlet +and gold with which it was coloured. It was not insignificant then. It +had the prominence of a jewel. Moreover, in French churches, where the +exterior is sacrificed to the internal effect, there is some wisdom in +concentrating attention upon the doorway. But in English churches--and +in Wells, perhaps, more than any other English church--the exteriors +are perfect in themselves, and the visitor need not be tempted to +hurry to their portals. After all, if the rabbit-holes on a +mountain-side looked as large as quarries, the mountain would not look +like a mountain. + +There are, moreover, three faults in the front as it now stands which +cannot be attributed to its maker. In the first place, it is +undoubtedly a little formal, a little square, and this defect is +particularly marked in the photographs which one sees everywhere. +Unfortunately this picture, which is too small to show the detail, +gives no idea whatever of the general external effect of the church. +It gives the impression that Wells Cathedral is a glorified wall, +because the photograph cannot show the other parts upon which the +front depends. The architect, no doubt, intended the towers to be +carried higher or surmounted with spires, and though no trace of any +stone erection has been found on the tops of the present towers, they +may once have been crowned with wooden spires covered with lead or +shingle. One need hardly say how vast a difference such lofty towers +as exist at Laon Cathedral, or spires like those of Lichfield, would +make in the effect of the front. They would also account for the great +size of the buttresses, which seem to have been built with a view to +sustaining a great weight. + +A disagreeable impression is also caused by the row of hip-knobs along +the coping of the central gable, and the pinnacle in their midst. This +collection of curiosities was probably added in the seventeenth +century, and the pinnacle may have been taken from one of the denuded +buttresses of the Lady Chapel to replace the gable cross which must +have originally stood here: at all events it is a later addition, as +was proved by an examination of the masonry. It would be an act of +justice to the memory of Jocelin if these trivial excrescences were +removed. + +Perhaps one is even more distressed on first seeing the front by a +third fault--the weak and stringy effect of the long, thin, dark, +marble shafts. For this the restorer, Mr Benjamin Ferrey, must bear +the blame. He complained with justice that the original blue lias +shafts, when they were decayed, had been replaced by the ordinary +Doulting stone.[4] But, unhappily, he did not go back to the original +material, but fitted the whole front with a complete set of shafts of +Kilkenny marble, which is at once dark and cold. They absolutely +refuse to blend with the old, warm, grey stone, and stand out, stark +and stiff, like an array of gigantic slate pencils. Mr Ferrey was +possessed with the idea that the blue lias shafts (having only lasted +for a paltry half-dozen centuries) were not durable enough for the +work. He therefore used this marble, which, doubtless, will stand in +increased obtrusiveness when every stone of the cathedral has decayed. +He further was impressed with the strange notion that the hideous +Kilkenny marble is of the same colour as the exquisitely delicate grey +of the blue lias. The result is a sad warning to all restorers not to +be more clever than the original architect. + +Let us, then, try to imagine the west front with its empty lowest tier +filled with graceful figures, its gable in its first simplicity and +surmounted by a cross, its towers of Early English form crowned with +lofty spires, its delicate shafts of their original material, and its +ranges of figures "all gorgeous in their freshly-painted hues of blue +and scarlet and purple and gold." Then we shall have some idea of the +front of Wells as Jocelin meant it to be and to remain. + +[Illustration: Ornaments In The West Front.] + +As for the colour, its effect can be gathered from the traces which +survive. There is ultramarine, gold, and scarlet in the tympanum of +the central doorway, where there are also the marks of metal fittings. +Ferrey found a deep maroon colour on the figures of the Apostles, and +a dark colour painted with stars in the Resurrection tier. One of the +chief glories of the front is the faithful care which is given +throughout to the smaller features. The mouldings (a succession of +rounds and hollows) are most bold and effective; the carving of the +foliage in caps and canopies, tympana, pedestals, and terminals is +singularly beautiful and free. This impression is deepened by a minute +examination; indeed, it is almost a matter of regret that some of the +finest work is at such a height as to be almost impossible to see; for +in all the earlier work at Wells the Lamp of Sacrifice burns brightly. +Mr Ferry pointed out an instance, which may be given here, of the care +with which minor matters were thought out:--In order that the lowest +tier might not look weak and yet might provide a sufficient shadow for +the statues, the backs of the niches are set at a slightly recessed +angle in the centre, and thus an effect of strength is given to the +angular jambs. Indeed, there may be differences of opinion as to the +general design of the west front, but there can be none as to the +supreme excellence of its detail. It is beyond doubt the most rich +example of Early English work to be found anywhere. The crown of its +glories, the justification of its form, did it need justification, are +the frail statues which line it, tier upon tier. + +[Illustration: Ornaments In The West Front.] + +Vertically the west front is divided into three main parts--the +centre, containing the three lancet windows of the nave and the main +doorway, is surmounted by a gable receding in stages with a pinnacle +at either angle; and the two lateral towers, the lower portion of +which form one continuous screen with the centre, broken only by the +boldly projecting buttresses, of which each division possesses two. +Horizontally the front divides itself naturally into four parts--the +plain base, which is high enough to contain the full height of the +small north and south doorways. One of the stones in this division, +about the level of the eye, and near the middle, which has evidently +been moved from some other place, bears the inscription, _Pur lalme +Johan de Putenie priez et trieze jurs de_ ... Next is an arcade of +niches interspersed with windows, the space above being pierced by +quatrefoils. The third division contains the three lancet windows, the +forms of which are repeated on the north and south, breaking the line +of the two historical tiers of niches which, with the Resurrection +tier, adorn this main division of the front. A bold string course +marks it off firmly and decisively from the fourth and upper division, +in which the three parts of the front become separate, the towers at +each side and the stepped gable, flanked by two graceful Early English +pinnacles, in the middle. The statuary is mainly confined to the +arcading of the second division, to the buttresses of the third, with +its continuous cornice of the Resurrection tier, and to the gable +front of the fourth; but the amount of it is largely increased by the +fact that the work is carried round three sides of the north-western +tower, which only touches the church on one side. The niches on the +sides of the south-western tower are almost empty. + +THE STATUARY.--The statuary is not only the finest collection of +medieval sculpture to be found in England; but, separately, the +figures are with few exceptions finer than any others in this country, +while some of them are almost as beautiful as the greatest +masterpieces in Italy or France. It is strange that here, at the +outset of the Gothic period, the chief characteristics of the old +Greek spirit should be so apparent, the same restraint, the same +simplicity, the same exquisite appreciation of light and flowing +drapery: in other things there is difference enough, the form is less +perfect, the action is less free, though there is a deeper sentiment +and a higher power of spiritual expression; but in the essentials of +sublime statuary there is a singular agreement. + +And, strange though it seems, it may well be that in these statues one +must look for the first signs of the influence of the Renaissance in +England. Romanesque work has but just died out, and already the old +spirit, destined in time to supplant the architecture which sprung +from it, is at work again. While the statues were being cut at Wells, +Niccola Pisano was reviving sculpture in Italy under the inspiration +of classical examples; and there can be little doubt but that it was +Italian sculptors who produced the statuary at Wells. Some of the +figures on the northern part of the front have been found to be marked +with Arabic numerals (_Somerset Proceedings_ 1888, i. 57, 62), and +these numerals, which did not become common in England till the +sixteenth century, were used in Italy long before, having been +introduced by Bonacci of Pisa (a fellow-citizen of Niccola) in 1202. +That they are found here before the middle of the century is a fairly +conclusive proof that the workers were Italians, and very likely from +Pisa itself. Jocelin, indeed, was English, but he had been in exile +from 1208 to 1213, when he had ample opportunity of studying the work +of the Italian artists. Pleasant as it would be to our national pride, +we can hardly believe that Englishmen produced what seems to be the +earliest example of such magnificent and varied sculpture in +north-western Europe. At Jocelin's death, in 1242, when the work had +been going on for some thirty years, Niccola Pisano was in his prime, +Cimabue was two years old, and forty years had yet to elapse before +the rival sculpture of Amiens Cathedral was executed. + +[Illustration: West Front: Christina (185). Drawn by H.P. Clifford.] + +Mr Ruskin, whose admiration of the work at Amiens is so intense, has +given almost as high praise to the sculpture at Wells, and has +presented sets of photographs of the statuary to various art schools. +The verdict of enthusiastic approval is, in fact, unanimous. Flaxman, +to his credit, in spite of his classicalism, was one of the first to +draw attention to the work. Whoever was the general designer of the +whole arrangement, he deserves as great praise as the sculptors +themselves. There must have been several sculptors, both because no +one man could have carved three hundred and fifty subjects (of which +one hundred and fifty-two are life-size or colossal), and because a +certain number of the figures in the fourth and fifth tiers are of +obviously inferior design. But one master-mind must have conceived and +directed the work. The height and lightness which is given to the +gable by the tall row of the Apostles, the solemn prominence of the +figure of our Lord above, the rich cornice-like effect of the small +Resurrection tier, the difference in height between the fourth and +fifth tiers, the concentration of the three lower tiers, the breadth +which the seated figures give to the face of the buttresses, the +arrangement of the statues and groups round the buttresses, which +makes it impossible for them all to be seen at once, all show that one +mind was busy, carefully subordinating the parts to the whole. + +It may well have been Jocelin himself who planned the subject-matter +of the statuary with such admirable breadth and balance of mind. It is +easy to produce sermons in stones, easy to sermonise in very many +ways; but Jocelin did not preach. He just tried to embody the +Christian spirit at work in the world: God made manifest in man, the +great truth of the Incarnation; and this he did in what we should call +the most modern manner, though in truth it is medieval as well as +modern. He did not conceive of Christianity as confined within the +covers of the Bible, but he took all history, as he knew it, the +patient education of man in the Old Testament, the fulfilment of man's +aspirations and God's purpose in the New, from the birth of our Lord +to the founding of the Church, and the continuation of this church up +to his own time, with especial regard to the heroes, saints and rulers +of the Church of England. He made a "kalendar for unlearned men," +which is both a _Biblia Pauperum_ and _Annales Angliae_, because the +annals of England were to him a new Bible. "Slowly the Bible of the +race is writ," a modern writer has said, "each age, each kindred, adds +a word to it." That was the spirit of Jocelin's design; only that, +through the pomp of mighty kings and fair women and honoured bishops, +he looked to the naked truth of the judgment time, when mitres and +crowns would remain but as signs of an awful responsibility, and the +divine justice, so tried, so obscured on earth, would be vindicated +before the angels who are quick to do God's will, and the twelve plain +men who turned the mighty currents of the world. Such was the spirit +of a man who lived in the days of St. Francis and St. Louis, Stephen +Langton and Roger Bacon. + +Before commencing a detailed description of the statuary, one must +refer to Professor Cockerell, R.A., whose enthusiastic love of the +work led him to construct a theory which he published in 1851, as an +_Iconography of the West Front_. There can be little doubt that he was +right in his general idea; there can be equally little doubt that he +was wrong in nearly every application of it. Everyone now, for +instance, takes it for granted that the south side of the front is +mainly "spiritual," devoted to ecclesiastics, while the north is +"temporal"; and that the whole of the fourth and fifth tiers do +represent certain leading historical figures. But when we read +Cockerell's reasons for identifying these figures we recoil in dismay. +His knowledge of history is superficial, of costume he knows practically +nothing; his drawings are as inaccurate as his imagination is fertile, +and he states as obvious facts the wildest conjectures. Further +reference will be found to his book in our description of the fourth +and fifth tiers. It was at least an honest labour of love, and +Cockerell deserves the honour, as he had to endure the disadvantages, +of being the first in the field. + +The CENTRAL DOORWAY may be taken before the lowest tier. Its soffit +contains an evident addition, as if the architect felt that it needed +emphasising by some enrichment. In the first of its four +deeply-wrought mouldings a series of niches, five on each side, with +small delicately-carved figures, has been inserted, evidently after +the arch was made; they are cut from a different stone (white lias), +and are skilfully fitted and grooved into the back of the large sunk +moulding. They add considerably to the effect of the arch, although +all the heads of the figures have been destroyed. It is characteristic +of Cockerell's random method of conjecture, that he declared these +figures to be representations of the Ten Commandments. + +1. The tympanum under the arch and above the double opening of the +doorway contains a quatrefoil, in which is a noble sculpture of the +Madonna and Child. The head of the Mother and the upper half of the +Child are gone, but the drapery that remains is of quite perfect grace +and dignity. A serpent is under the feet of the Madonna, who is +sitting on a throne; angels censing are on either side without the +quatrefoil. A good deal of the old colour which once gave this central +group a peculiar brilliancy can still be traced on this protected +sculpture; the background was ultramarine, the mouldings red and gold. +The figures were also gilded in part, and there are marks on the wall +to show that a metal nimbus was once attached to it. + +2. In a canopy above the arch is another sculpture of equal beauty, +though, owing to its more exposed position, the treatment is a little +broader. It represents the coronation of Our Lady; both the heads and +all the hands are gone. The two figures are both seated on one long +bench, and our Lord leans forward to place the crown upon his Mother's +head. + + +THE TIERS. + +In order to avoid any possible mistake I have taken each tier from +right to left, specifying the gaps, windows, and buttresses, to +facilitate identification, and commencing with the lowest tier. I have +also numbered the figures afresh, because of the confusion which has +hitherto caused great waste of time to every one who has attempted to +identify them. Cockerell's numbers are the only ones that are at all +accurate (and he omits the two figures on the extreme south of the +fourth and fifth tiers); but, as he recommenced his enumeration with +each series, they are not much use for purposes of identification. +There are mistakes and omissions in the enumeration of the +photographs, there are mistakes in the album in the cathedral library, +the photographs in the South Kensington Museum are hopelessly muddled, +and even the descriptions of the restorer, Mr Ferrey, are so arranged +that it takes days to identify them, while some of them elude one's +efforts altogether. I have, therefore, numbered the statues and groups +in a continuous order from bottom to top, so that comparison with +photographs will in the future be easy. In the case of work most of +which can only be seen from a distance, the study of photographs is +absolutely necessary for a full appreciation of their beauty, more +especially as in very many cases the photographs reveal the form which +the accidents of discoloration have partly concealed. Mr Phillips of +10 Market Place has an almost complete set of admirable photographs, +which he was enabled to take when the scaffolding was up for the +restoration of 1870-73: it is these which Mr Ruskin has so much +admired. + +As there are so many statues, some of inferior interest and beauty, I +have ventured to put an asterisk (*) to those which I think no one +should fail to see; and, in almost every case, I have but echoed the +general verdict. + +THE LOWEST TIER.--This tier contains sixty-two niches, forty-three of +which are empty, so fatally convenient has their position been for the +iconoclast. Of those which remain nearly all are on the north side of +the tower, so that at first sight the tier seems to be quite empty. +The loss here has been the greater because the figures were of the +finest kind, as well as the most easily seen: those remaining are +certainly of the most exquisite loveliness. Cockerell's theory that +this tier represents the heralds of the gospel, prophets and +missionaries, has nothing to support it. + +It seems to me not unlikely that the tier was devoted to some of the +most popular saints in the calendar; the position, so near the +passer-by, would have suited this arrangement, and the front must have +been singularly deficient in saints if it were otherwise. The figures +which remain, a group of deacons, a group of bearded figures holding +books, and of women bearing religious attributes, might well stand for +saints. + +3. _South Tower._ Male figure, much decayed, held by metal clamps. + +4. Male figure, much decayed, held by metal clamps. + +_Rest of figures missing along west front up to_-- + +5. _North Tower._ Male figure, much decayed, holds book. + +6. A similar figure. + +_Missing._ + +7. _North Buttress._ Male figure, which held some drapery in front. + +8. _North Buttress._ Male figure, holding a vessel in right hand +covered with a cloth, the end of which was in left hand. [Cockerell +calls this St. Augustine, erroneously supposing this cloth to be the +pallium.] + +9. Beautiful female figure,* drapery resembling a chasuble; hands +gone. + +10. Female figure with flowing hair; hands gone. + +11. Female figure, wimple round head, in left hand holds a vessel, +right hand is on the edge of the vessel, the fingers dipping in. + +12. Female figure,* hood over head, holds in right hand the foot of a +chalice, and with her left the fold of her dress in front. + +13. Tall male figure, bearded, holding closed book; in good +preservation. + +14. Male figure, bearded; hands gone. + +15. _Buttress._ Male figure, bearded, with flowing hair; hands gone. + +16. _Buttress._ Male figure, bearded, holding open book in left hand; +upper part moulding away. + +17. Deacon* in dalmatic, alb, amice, holding open book in left hand, +right hand gone; drapery is wonderfully fine. (This and the remaining +figures are tonsured and shaven.) + +18. Deacon,* a beautiful figure, (apparently in dalmatic), amice; left +hand gone. + +19. Deacon, in girded alb, ends of girdle hanging down, wears the +folded chasuble (very rare in art) over left shoulder, maniple; holds +book with both hands. + +_Missing._ + +20. _Buttress._ Deacon, in girded alb, amice, stole over left +shoulder, book in left hand. Besides ends of girdle, end of a stole is +visible on left side, as if a crossed stole had first been carved and +this end forgotten. + +21. _Buttress._ Deacon,* stole worn over left shoulder, maniple, but +no amice and no girdle; wears instead of alb a surplice with full +sleeves--an unusual combination. + +SECOND TIER.--The next tier (22-53) consists of thirty-two +quatrefoils, some of which are now empty. The rest contain half-length +figures of angels, holding crowns, mitres, scrolls, or drapery in +their hands. + +THIRD TIER.--This, which we may call the Bible Tier, consists of +forty-eight quatrefoils, ranged close above the quatrefoils of the +second tier, and broken in the centre by the larger sculpture of the +Coronation of the Virgin (2). The subjects are all from the Bible, +those on the south from the Old Testament, dealing with the first +things, while those on the north and on the north and east sides of +the northern tower are from the New Testament, and represent the life +and mission of our Lord. The iconoclasts seem to have concentrated +their attention on those earlier New Testament groups, which would +contain the figure of our Lady, and they have made the Crucifixion +almost unrecognisable. The figures are about two feet high. + +_Empty._ + +54. The Death of Jacob. + +55. Isaac blessing Jacob, who leans over him. + +56. Meeting of Isaac and Rebecca, probably. + +57. Noah sacrificing on Ararat. Very fine. + +58. The Ark. A curious structure, raised pyramidally in four tiers, +with open arcades, in which birds and beasts are seen. Below is the +Flood. + +59. Noah building the Ark.* He is in workman's dress, and wears a cap; +he is working at a bench, beneath which are his tools. Behind is the +ark, and an "Early English" tree. + +60. God decreeing the Deluge.* In great wrath Jehovah approaches a man +who sits pensively on a hill-side: from behind the man's head springs +a demon. The figure of Jehovah is admirably expressed. + +_Empty._ + +61. Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, who is bound on a bundle of +wood. Cockerell called this the Sacrifice of Cain, which certainly +suits its position better. + +62. Adam delves and Eve spins. Fine. + +_Empty._ + +63. Jehovah in the Garden. A draped figure, addressing two figures +naked and ashamed. + +64. The Temptation. The serpent's body is coiled round the tree near +Adam, and his head hovers above with an apple in the mouth. Adam is +already eating the fruit. + +65. God placing Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. + +66. The Creation of Eve. + +67. The Creation of Adam. The figure of the Almighty in each of these +three is magnificent, especially in the last. + +_Empty._ + +OVER CENTRAL DOORWAY. 2. Coronation of the Virgin (p. 34). + +_Here follow eighteen New Testament subjects._ + +68. St. John the Evangelist*; he is winged. A book rests on the back +of an eagle. The idea of inspiration could not be more finely +expressed. + +_Empty._ (Perhaps the Annunciation was here.) + +_Empty._ (Perhaps the Visitation.) + +69. The Nativity. Mutilated. + +_Empty._ + +_Empty._ + +_Empty._ + +_Empty._ + +_Empty._ + +_Empty._ + +70. Christ among the Doctors: the Holy Child is a very small figure on +a pedestal. A most expressive group. + +71. St. John Baptist, clothed in camels' hair, in the wilderness. (An +angel appearing from the clouds, broken off since 1862. The fragment +is now in No. 72). + +72. Figures in critical attitudes. Perhaps the Sermon on the Mount. + +_Empty._ + +73. Christ in the Wilderness, probably. + +74. Figures in intent attitudes. Perhaps the Mission of the Apostles. + +75. Five figures seated at a table. Perhaps the Anointing of Christ's +feet. + +76. Figure on a Mount surrounded by many figures. Perhaps the Feeding +of the Five Thousand. NORTH SIDE OF TOWER. + +77. Christ, sitting, with other figures. Perhaps the Feeding of the +Four Thousand. + +78. The Transfiguration.* A fine composition, two of the Apostles +crouching in the foreground. + +79. The Entry into Jerusalem. Under the city gate two men strew +clothes and branches: from the walls and tower many people are +looking. + +80. The Betrayal. Chief priest with mitred head-dress in centre: +winged devil holds up the train of right figure. On left a figure +holds open a money-box. + +81. The Last Supper.* The Virgin kneels to receive the Communion from +her Son: St. John's head rests on His bosom. The drapery is very fine. +Underneath are a bottle and a basket. + +_Empty._ + +82. Christ before Pilate. + +83. Christ bearing the Cross. Mutilated. + +84. The Elevation of the Cross. Much mutilated. + +85. The Deposition. Much mutilated. + +_Empty._ + +86. The Resurrection. An angel on either side, guards below. + +87. Pentecost: the Birthday of Holy Church. A dignified group of +figures. + +FOURTH AND FIFTH TIERS.--The fourth and fifth tiers contained at least +120 figures (about a dozen of which are gone), varying in height from +7 ft. 10 in. to 8 ft. 1 in., a few running as high as 8 ft. 10 in. +They no doubt represent the kings, bishops, and heroes of English +history from Egbert to Henry II. Cockerell was probably right in his +general interpretation of the series, but it is easy to prove that he +is wrong in many of the names he gives. It is not so easy to suggest +any better, and therefore his names have stuck to the figures, since +people naturally like to know them by something more interesting than +a number. I shall therefore adopt his nomenclature, with the admission +that equally good grounds could be given in almost every case for some +other theory. Besides Mr Ferrey's account (_Inst. Brit. Arch._, 1870), +quoted in inverted commas, Cockerell's descriptions, inaccurate as +they are, have been consulted, and also Mr Planche's criticism of +Cockerell. + +The word _Buttress_ means that the figure (generally a sitting one) is +on the west face of the buttress in question. Bishops ("Bp."), unless +otherwise stated, wear the usual vestments--mitre, chasuble, dalmatic, +tunicle, stole, maniple, alb, and apparelled amice. Kings ("K.") and +Queens ("Q.") wear crowns. A favourite attitude is described as +"holding cord"; this cord being the lace or cord of the mantle, which +crossed the chest and prevented that garment from falling off the +shoulders. The mantle seems to have had an uncomfortable tendency to +slip down, and thus it became a habit constantly to pull the cord +forward, whence the frequency of this attitude. This cord was wrongly +described by Cockerell as a necklace, with which it has, of course, no +connection. The word "trampling" refers to another common feature in +these tiers; kings are generally represented as trampling on a small +figure under their feet, to signify their success over their enemies. +The figures of the fifth tier are rather taller than those of the +fourth. The first twenty figures on our list, those of the fourth tier +up to King Ina, may represent the twenty bishops of the diocese from +Athelm to Jocelin, in direct order, since the corresponding series of +the fifth tier contains figures which cannot be those of bishops. I +have, however, kept to Cockerell's names to avoid confusion. + + +FOURTH TIER.--88. _South Tower_--_Buttress_--Sitting Bp.; much +decayed, supported by metal clamps. + +89. Bp. Savaric. Much defaced, head grotesquely so. + +90. Bp. Robert. Much defaced, head grotesquely. + +_Missing._ + +91. _Buttress._ Bp. Reginald de Bohun, sitting; somewhat decayed. + +92. Bp. Ethelweard, good drapery, well--preserved; no hair or beard. + +93. Sighelm, good drapery, well-preserved; ring of curly hair and +beard. + +94. Alfry, in hood; large curly beard. + +95. Etheleage, monastic dress, cowl and scapular; large curly beard. + +96. Bp. Asser. Short and stout figure, in attitude of benediction. + +97. Bp. Heahmund. Short and stout figure, in attitude of benediction. + +98. _Buttress._ Bp. Wolfhelm. Fine seated figure, in attitude of +benediction. + +99. Bp. Ealhstan. Stout common-place figure; rather mutilated. + +100. Bp. Wilbert. Stout common-place figure; rather mutilated. + +101. Bp. Denefrith. Stout common-place figure; better preserved. + +102. Bp. Ethelnod. Stout common-place figure; better preserved. + +103. _Buttress._ Bp. Aethelhelm, first Bishop of Wells* (reproduced on +p. 22). Noble figure, sitting in attitude of benediction. + +104. Bp. Herewald, in attitude of benediction. + +105. Bp. Forthere, head bent slightly forward. + +106. Bp. Ealdhelm. A fine figure. _Central Window (South)._ + +107. K. Ina, looking over right shoulder, hand gone. (These central +figures, Ina and Ethelburga, are supposed to be of later date than the +rest.) _Central Window._ + +108. Q. Ethelburga. Wears the long kirtle with girdle, from which are +hung an ink-bottle and aulmoniere. _Central Window (North)._ + +109. K. Egbert, trampling, bearded; cloak falls in a graceful sweep +from right to left. + +110. K. Ethelwulf, bearded. A very short figure, but raised on high +stone (crouching figure?) higher than the others. + +111. K. Ethelbald; decayed. + +112. _Buttress._ K. Edgar, sitting, flat cap on head. + +113. K. Ethelbert, smooth face, trampling; apparently holds fragment +of sceptre in right hand, cord of mantle with left. + +114. K. Ethelred I., smooth face, trampling, gracefully draped cloak, +holds fragment of sceptre apparently in right, and something +indistinct in left hand. + +115. K. Edwy, left arm raised, holding cloak, which is over right +shoulder. + +116. K. Edward the Martyr, bearded, holding cup (his usual symbol) in +left hand, trampling. This is one of the most likely ascriptions. + +117. _Buttress._ K. Edmund, sitting, right arm uplifted, left resting +on knee. Fast decaying. + +118. K. Ethelred the Unready, bearded, short figure, trampling, but +the trampled figure leans easily on its elbow. + +119. K. Cnut, bearded, short figure, trampling, but the trampled +figure is apparently still struggling. + +120. Q. Osburga,* in long supertunic, with ample sleeves, falling in +folds over the feet. The tight sleeve of her kirtle appears on left +arm, which holds cord of mantle. Head and neck in the wimple which was +not in thirteenth century distinctive of nun's dress. Book in right +hand. + +121. Q. Emma, in flowing supertunic with ample sleeves, and wimple; +hands gone. + +122. Harold I., no head covering, trampling; hands touching girdle. + +123. Harthacnut, like II old, but hands and part of face gone. + +124. _Buttress._ K. Edred, sitting, right hand on knee, left raised to +cord, drapery crossed. + +125. Q. Edgitha, mantle falls round over left foot. + +126. Edmund Ironside.* Knight in surcoat over chain armour, hauberk +but no helmet; right arm and left hand gone, but head turned to left +and attitude is that of drawing or sheathing his sword. + +127. Harold. Knight, hauberk and surcoat of mail, cylindrical helmet, +shield on left side; delapidated. + +128. _North Side of Tower. Buttress._ Edward the Confessor, in cap; +sitting in attitude of judgment (Planche), left hand resting on right +ankle, this leg being crossed over left knee. + +129. Prince Richard.* Crowned figure of great beauty, bearded, head +slightly bent to left with a melancholy expression; hands gone. + +130. Robert Curthouse,* bearded, the right hand draws aside part of +the surcoat, exposing right leg in curious hose; left leg covered by +surcoat. + +131. K. Rufus,* bearded, right hand holds cord of mantle, left holds +border of mantle across his body. + +132. Q. Matilda, flowing hair, holds mantle in left hand. + +133. Emperor Henry, crowned, holds cord of mantle, with right hand +fingering end of his girdle. + +134. K. Stephen, right hand holds cord of mantle, left on girdle. + +135. K. Henry II., end of cloak thrown over shoulder, holds the fold +with both hands; in good preservation. + +136. _Buttress._ K. William the Conqueror, sitting in menacing +attitude, elbows projecting, and hands upon knees. + +137. Prince Henry. A dignified figure; hands gone. + +138. Prince Geoffrey. Beautiful figure, head gone, holds cord of +mantle, loose sleeves, and good drapery. (Ferrey is wrong in calling +this a female figure.) + +139. Q. Maude the Good, flowing hair, left hand on girdle of +supertunic, dress fastened at neck with "a beautiful jewel" (Ferrey). + +140. Adelais. Graceful figure, with flowing hair. + +141. _Buttress._ K. Henry I., sitting in defiant attitude, right arm +akimbo, left knee raised, foot on pedestal. + +_Missing._ + +_Missing._ + +_Missing._ + +142. K. John.* A beautiful figure. + +143. Henry III., no crown, standing, but right knee raised to suit the +weathering of aisle roof. + + +FIFTH TIER.--144. _South Tower. Buttress on the south side._ Sitting +Bp., supported by metal clamps. + +145. Bp. J. de Villula; hands gone, much decayed, clamped. + +146. Bp. Gisa; hands gone. + +147. Bp. Duduc*; right hand gone, book in left. + +148. _Buttress._ Bp. Lyfing; decayed. + +149. Bp. Merewit; hands gone. + +150. Bp. Brihtwine; hands gone. + +151. Aethelwine. Fine figure with long wavy beard spreading at end, +hood and mantle, aulmoniere at girdle. + +152. Burwold, tall bearded figure in hood, satchel (?) hanging from +girdle. + +153. Bp. Aelfwine.* Beautiful figure in cowl, curly hair and beard, +finely draped habit with loose sleeves. + +154. Bp. Sigegar, book in left hand. + +155. _Buttress._ Bp. Brithelm, head turned to right; decayed. + +156. Bp. Cyneward. + +157. Bp. Wulfhelm. A fine figure. + +158. Bp. Elfege. A fine figure. + +159. Edfleda, flowing hair, in supertunic or surcoat with long and +wide sleeves, head covered with veil, which hangs behind, no wimple. +Nothing conventual to suggest Edfleda. + +160. _Buttress._ K. Edward the Elder. Fine figure, right hand on +knees, left on cord of mantle. + +_Missing._ + +161. Edgitha. Very tall figure, right hand on cord, left holds end of +veil. + +_Missing._ + +_Central Window (South)._ + +162. Q. Edgiva, kirtle only, with crown and veil, no wimple. + +_Central Window._ + +163. Ethilda. Wears supertunic over her kirtle, veil and wimple. + +_Central Window (North)._ + +164. Hugh. A sword hangs from his girdle on left side. + +165. Elgiva. + +166. Q. Edgiva; hands gone. + +167. _Buttress._ K. Ethelstan, defiant attitude, right foot on stool, +wears brooch. + +168. K. Charles the Simple. A squat figure with very big head, +trampling. + +169. Otho, close-fitting tunic, over which is mantle with handsome +fastening. + +_Missing._ + +170. Guthrum. Knight in surcoat, mail hauberk and chausses, shield on +left side. + +171. _Buttress._ K. Alfred, seated; both hands gone, front decayed, +and clamped. + +172. Earl of Mercia.* Knight in helmet with cross-slit, holding right +hand up and shield upon left arm; the surcoat turned over below the +waist shows a suit of mail. Well preserved. + +173. St. Neot (more probably St. Decuman, as St. Neot was not +beheaded). Bp. holding with both hands the upper part of his head, +which has been cut off across the brows. + +174. Ethelfleda,* the Lady of the Mercians. A striking and beautiful +figure with flowing hair, long veil hanging below the waist, +supertunic held by brooch, but without sleeves, the tight sleeves of +her kirtle being visible to the shoulders. + +175. Ethelward. Woman with flowing hair, veil; hands gone. + +176. Grimbald. Priest; hands gone. + +177. St. Elfege, Archb.; hands gone; a noble figure. + +178. _Buttress._ St. Dunstan, upper part decayed. + +179. Turketul. Short figure, trampling, in very pointed cloak, big +head in cap. + +180. John Scotus.* A beautiful figure, with exquisitively fine drapery +that looks as thin as gauze. + +_Missing._ + +181. _North Side of Tower.--Buttress._ Robert, Archbishop of +Canterbury, standing, holding book in right hand, left hand gone; no +mitre. + +182. Q. Elgiva, drapery falls from left shoulder, is folded over right +arm; book in left hand. + +183. Q. Edgitha. Tall, gaunt figure; veil falls in long folds to knee, +right arm close to side, left hand holds cord. + +184. Q. Edburga, circlet round head, brooch on her breast, holds +drapery in right hand. + +_Missing._ + +_Missing._ + +185. Christina, Abbess of Romsey.* Beautiful female figure, holding +box in left hand: "her dress is peculiar": one end of veil is caught +over right shoulder, the other falls down in front on right side (p. +31). + +186. Wulston of Winchester, bearded, "with distended ears"; right hand +gone. + +187. _Buttress._ Archb. Aldred of York, sitting; "mitre modern," it is +conical in shape. + +188. Edgar Atheling. Knight, spurred, in surcoat only, with sword +girded outside, no mail, but close-fitting cap and fillet on head: the +fillet was used for the large cylindrical helmet to rest on. He +carries what may be a palmer's hat (Cockerell points out that Edgar +went on a pilgrimage); but Planche says it must be a small Saxon +buckler, as pilgrims did not carry swords. It certainly looks like a +hat. + +189. Robert the Saxon. Knight in hauberk, without mail, but feet +spurred, cap on head, shield and sword. + +190. Falk of Anjou. Knight in hauberk and chausses of mail, hood of +hauberk enclosing whole head except a portion of the face: on head is +the thick fillet. He covers his body with a shield. His surcoat is +deeply jagged. + +191. Robert of Normandy. Knight, in hauberk and complete suit of mail, +in good preservation, shield with boss on it held down: he wears +cyclindrical helmet, his eyes and nose being visible through the slit. + +192. _Buttress._ B. Roger of Salisbury, sitting, without mitre. + +_Missing._ + +_Missing._ + +193. Female figure, holding drapery with right arm, left hand on side. + +194. St. Nicholas, the patron saint of baptism, stands in water up to +knees, holding a child in each arm. This ascription is approved by +Planche. (He is commonly called by children "the pancake man," the +conventional water suggesting round cakes). + +195. Female figure, in good preservation, but clamped in a sloping +position, drapery good. + +THE RESURRECTION TIER.--The sixth tier (195-283) consists of a series +of small canopies which run continuously under the cornice that +finishes the main division of the front. Above and around, the +spandrels are filled with beautiful foliage most boldly undercut. Each +of the eighty-eight canopies (of which thirty are on the north side) +contains a figure, or group of figures, representing the Resurrection +of the dead. In spite of a rather defective anatomy, these figures are +singularly impressive, "startling in significance, pathos, and +expression," are Cockerell's words. They are naked--crowns, mitres, +and tonsures alone remaining to distinguish their office. They awaken +by degrees, heave up the lids of their tombs, and draw themselves up +slowly, as if scarcely yet awake. Some sit in a strange dreamy posture +with folded arms, some seem expectant, others are in attitudes of +fear, hope, defiance, and despair. There are none of the grotesque +accessories which are too common in ancient representations of this +subject, but the awful feeling of a great awakening shivers along this +range of naked, grey, stone figures. It is probably the earliest +representation of the subject in art; it is certainly the most +profound and spiritual. + +THE ANGELS' TIER.--This is immediately above the Resurrection Tier, +and occupies the lower part of the gable only. The angelic figures +stand in nine low niches with well-moulded trefoil heads that rested +on blue lias shafts; the two niches on the returns of the buttresses +also contain angels, which are represented as blowing trumpets. In all +probability the nine figures symbolise the nine orders of the heavenly +hierarchy, and I have ventured to give the names which the attributes +and position suggest to my mind as the most likely. Mr Ferrey's +account is quoted in inverted commas: it must be remembered that he +had the advantage of a close inspection from the scaffolding. + +284. Thrones. "Angel holding an open book," two wings, long robe, +facing to his right. + +285. Cherubim. "Seraph," with four wings, "apparently holding a +banner," decayed. + +286. Seraphim. "Seraph," with four wings, "entirely feathered, with +bare legs and feet," face gone. + +287. Dominations. "Angel wearing a helmet," in vigorous attitude, two +wings, "too dilapidated to make out what its attributes are." + +288. (_Central Figure_). Powers. "Beautifully robed, holding a +sceptre," two wings: the dress is very ample and majestic. + +289. Virtues. "Robed in a short tunic, with an ornamental border, the +legs are encased in armour," wears "a jewelled cap," two wings. + +290. Principalities. "A Seraph, entirely feathered, holding a vessel +shaped like a bowl," with flames issuing out of it, the legs and feet +being also enveloped in "wavy lines of flames: probably the avenging +angel"; four wings. + +291. Archangels. "Apparently holding a crown in the right and left +hands, close to his breast," long robe covering the feet; two wings. + +292. Angels. "Carrying a regal or small hand organ," in left hand, +four wings, decayed; apparently bearing a wand in right hand. + +THE APOSTLES' TIER.--The next tier, that of the Apostles, who are thus +raised above the angels, contains twelve figures of imposing design, +later in style than the rest of the statuary. The figures are hollowed +out at the back so as to press less heavily on the tier beneath. The +arrangement of these niches is very happily managed, so as to avoid +any monotony in the range of twelve similar niches; for, besides the +natural division formed by the small attached shafts between the +figures, an additional projecting shaft in every third division forms +the tier into four large bays with three figures in each. The capitals +of these niches are remarkable, the graceful foliage being disposed in +a very free manner, in some cases growing upwards, in others bent +down, but always true to the outline of the capital. Of the figures +themselves the central one, in the place of honour, and taller than +the rest, is St. Andrew. The others are not all so easy to name, the +attributes of some having disappeared; and, although Cockerell gave +names to them all (some of which were certainly wrong), we may content +ourselves with the following list, which at least is accurate so far +as it goes:-- + +293. No symbol in hand, which is covered with drapery. (Carter's +drawing represents a staff or spear, but he is quite unreliable, +though it is occasionally possible that the attributes he draws did +exist when he saw the figures a century ago.) + +294. Book (?) in right hand, a vessel or bag of cylindrical form is +apparently suspended from the left arm. Perhaps St. Matthew with his +purse. + +295. Holds something, which may be the fuller's club, in which case +the figure is that of St. James the Less; forked beard. + +296. Club (?) in hand, long curly hair and beard. There is something +near the knee, which may be a palmer's hat. (Carter drew this figure +as St. Bartholomew with knife and skin.) + +297. Carter drew this figure as St. Peter with the keys. + +298. St. Andrew with his cross; he is so tall that his head fills the +upper portion of the canopy. + +299. St. John holding the chalice, which has large bowl and short +stem; wavy hair. This is the only figure not bearded. + +300. St. James the Greater. Staff in right hand, large satchel on left +side hung from hand over right shoulder, book in left hand (the book +of the Gospels with which St. James is always represented, in addition +to the pilgrim's stiff and scrip). He wears a high cap. + +301. Perhaps St. Paul (who is often represented among the Twelve), +with sword and book. + +302. St. Philip holds drapery in right hand. Ferrey says the five +loaves can be distinguished. + +303. Long hair and head-dress like a veil bound by a fillet round the +brows, forked beard, book in left hand, girdle. + +304. This figure occasioned much controversy, owing to Carter having +drawn it with a crown. Cockerell therefore attributed it to St. Peter, +and said that the crown showed Bishop Jocelin's papistical tendencies! +Planche scoffed at this, remarking with truth that none of the +Apostles are ever represented with crowns, but he caused even greater +confusion by suggesting that the figure stood for a Saxon king, and +that the tier, in spite of the Apostolic number, did not represent the +twelve Apostles. If he had looked at the actual figures instead of +Carter's drawings he would have seen that there is no crown at all. In +the photographs this is still clearer, the Apostle's head being +evidently covered by nothing more imposing than his own long hair or a +veil like that of the preceding figure. + +THE UPPERMOST TIER.--The whole magnificent series was fitly crowned by +this group (305), of which only the lower part of the central figure +remains. That, however, sufficiently attests the noble character of +the rest: it represents our Lord seated in glory within a +vesica-shaped niche. The feet are pierced. It seems to have been +mutilated by Monmouth's followers, for it still bears the marks of +their bullets. The two figures in the niches on either side must also +have been destroyed at this time, for they are shown in a print in +Dugdale's _Monasticon_. Ferrey cannot have seen this print when he +suggested that the figures were of angels censing, for they are there +given as representing Our Lady (new covenant) and John Baptist (old +covenant). + +THE WESTERN TOWERS.--The projection of these towers beyond the aisles +of the nave gives its great breadth to the west front, which is 147 +feet across, as against the 116 feet of the almost contemporary +cathedral of Amiens, which is twice its height. It is an unusual +arrangement, of which there is no exactly similar example except at +Rouen. Above the screen the towers are Perpendicular, the southern +tower having been completed towards the end of the fourteenth, and the +northern at the beginning of the fifteenth century. They are thus +later additions to the original design of the front, and make it more +difficult for us to realise the effect that was first intended. + +These two towers are very nearly alike, but the southern, or Harewell, +tower is some forty years the earlier of the two, and belongs to the +earliest days of the Perpendicular style, Bishop Harewell having died +in 1386. The northern tower was built with a sum of money left for the +purpose by Bishop Bubwith, who died in 1424, and his arms are carved +high up on a buttress upon the north side, those on the west being a +modern copy. In one of its two western niches is a figure of the +bishop in prayer. Both the towers have two belfry windows on each +side, tiny battlements, and a stair-turret on the outer western angle; +in both the buttresses are carried up, with but slight reduction in +bulk, two-thirds of their height and then finished with small +pinnacles. There are, however, certain slight differences between the +two towers; their height is not exactly equal, and there are no niches +on the earlier one. The south tower contains a peal of eight bells; +that on the north is traditionally considered "rotten," but to all +appearance it is sound enough. + +[Illustration: The Central Tower From The South-east.] + +THE CENTRAL TOWER is Early English to the level of the roof. The two +upper stages are Decorated, but there is a curious inter-mixture of +styles in them, owing to the repairs that were made after the +settlements of 1321. The chapter seemed determined to allow no +possibility of another accident, for besides the inverted arches and +buttresses of the interior, the original high narrow windows of the +upper part of the tower have been fortified by later insertions, by +way of bonding and stiffening the structure, which had been so +endangered by the sinking of its piers below. There are, however, no +signs of any rents in the Decorated part. The tower has square angular +turrets, and is divided vertically into three main compartments, each +division being marked by a small pinnacle, and the turrets by large +compound pinnacles. It is an interesting tower to ascend, the rents in +the wall being plainly discernible; and from the summit there is a +fine view of Wells and of the valley in which the city stands. + +The NORTH PORCH is perhaps the finest piece of architecture at Wells, +though it generally receives far less attention than it deserves. It +is certainly the oldest part of the church, and must have been the +first work which Bishop Reginald undertook, about 1185; in style it +retains much of the Norman influence. The mouldings of the noble +entrance arch are numerous and bold, and twice the Norman zig-zag +occurs, though enriched with leaves in a manner that suggests the +coming Gothic. A weather moulding, exquisitely carved with deeply +undercut foliage, covers the arch. Its capitals on the east side +contain figures among their leaves representing the martyrdom of St. +Edmund the King: the first three of the caps have the saint in the +midst, crowned, and transfixed with a number of conventionally-arranged +arrows, and his enemies, two on either side, drawing their bows; the +fourth cap shows an executioner cutting off the saint's head; in the +fifth the head is found by the wolf; the sixth has been partly cut +away, but the body of the wolf and the heads of two figures remain. + +In the spandrels above are two square panels containing a cockatrice, +and another strange beast. The gable is filled with an arcade, the +central member of which is corbelled off to make room underneath for +three little lancet windows which light the parvise chamber within. +The buttresses of the porch have slender shafts at the angles, which +are finished off with foliage of a remarkably free and graceful kind; +it should be noticed as an example of those subtle touches that are so +abundant in this porch. On the buttresses are pinnacles with an +arcade, at the top of which little openings cast a shadow that gives a +lightness to the whole effect. A smaller pinnacle is at the apex of +the gable, and underneath it an ornament of twisted foliage. + +Nothing could well surpass the interior of this porch; the delicacy, +and refinement which are shown in every detail are the more amazing +when we consider that the architect and his masons had only just +emerged from the large methods of Norman building. A range of three +arcades on either side is divided in the midst by three shafts boldly +detached from the pear-shaped moulding round which they are grouped. +These shafts carry the ribs of the groined vault, and divide the porch +into two square bays. Their capitals are very boldly undercut, and +bear distinct traces of Romanesque influence; indeed, the volutes of +the cap on the west side give it almost the appearance of a very +freely-carved Corinthian capital. Those at the angles are of like +fashion, except that on the north-east, which has fuller and freer +foliage, wherein stands a man shooting with his bow at a bird, the +whole most vigorously conceived. + +[Illustration: The North Porch.] + +In the uppermost arcade the little touch of foliage that is worked on +to the junction of the mullions (which are made up of four pear-shaped +mouldings) illustrates the love of delicate things that is so +characteristic of this architect. Below is a projecting double arcade, +behind which, against the wall, is a third row of arches: the outer +mouldings intersect and the abaci of the outer caps are finished off +in a carefully restrained curl of foliage; those on the soffit are +deeply undercut, by means of which a very black shadow is secured. All +the capitals are carved with the stiff-leafed foliage; and in the +spandrels are grotesque beasts, full of character. The string-course +below is finished with dragons who bend round and swallow the end of +the string, their tails (on the west side) twisting right along the +moulding. It is significant of the free way in which the masons were +employed, that the carving varies very much on the two sides. The +grotesques in the spandrels above mentioned are finest on the east +side, but the dragons of the string course are best on the west side, +where their expressions, as they bite the moulding, are full of life +and humour. On this western side, too, the foliage which fills the +spandrels of the lowest arcade is at its best; it is indeed the purest +and truest piece of decorative work in the whole cathedral. Each +moulding in this beautiful porch, from the filleted ribs of the groins +to the bands round the shafts, and the moulded edge of the stone +bench, is most carefully thought out, and adapted to its position, in +a way that every architect will appreciate. The double doorway which +leads into the church has an unusual and most effective moulding on +its jambs, very large and simple, with slight projections worked upon +it: the inner moulding of the enclosing arch, however, is a boldly +projecting zig-zag, the supporting capitals of which have two figures, +one in a cope, the other a bishop in a very pointed chasuble. The +central pillar is of much later date. Above is a square recess filled +with later masonry, where perhaps a figure was once inserted. + +Most happily, the North Porch has been spared from the restorer's +hand. It is a unique and most beautiful example of early work; any +restoration of it would practically destroy it, and would be an +unpardonable crime. The hungry eye of the modern vandal is sure to +seize on this piece of virgin work, sooner or later; for its very +purity will tempt him. We only hope that when that day comes the +Chapter will be faithful to their trust. + +The GABLE END of the north transept, which must be very near to the +north porch in date, is a very similar example of the early work. It +is flanked by turrets which are capped with pinnacles; both turrets, +pinnacles and wall are rich with arcading, the effect of which is +especially charming in the gable, where, by a happy device, the +weather moulding is made to curve suddenly over the two topmost +arches, filling the angle at the apex of the coping, and leaving a +little space between it and the two arches to be occupied by foliage. + +The general character of the WALLS is distinctly Transitional; the +buttresses are almost as low, broad, shallow and massive as in Norman +work; and the windows, though now filled with Perpendicular tracery, +are so broad that, were they but round-headed, they would look more +Norman than much real Norman work. + +The richness of exterior effect is much increased by a most graceful +Decorated PARAPET, which is carried all round the church on the wall +of both nave and aisles. As for the masonry as a whole, with the +exception of the west front nothing could be sounder and more +skilfully executed. Mr Britton's opinion was that "perhaps there is +not a church in the kingdom of the same age where the stone has been +so well chosen, better put together, and where it remains in so +perfect a state: this deserves the particular notice and study of +architects."[5] + +The CHAIN GATE, one of the peculiar glories of Wells, is really a +bridge over the roadway, built by Bishop Beckington and his executors, +to connect the chapter-house staircase with the vicars' close. Freeman +spoke of it as a "marvel of ingenuity," yet perhaps its excellence +consists rather in its simplicity. A covered way was needed to the +close, but the road lay between, and so a bridge was built; the bridge +had to rest on something: three arches were therefore made, one large +for carts, and two small for foot-passengers; a further space had to +be spanned between the road and the staircase: the bridge was +therefore continued on the same level, but, as the ground here was +lower, the arch on this side was built on a lower level. Furthermore, +the two ends of the bridge not being exactly opposite to one another, +the bridge had to turn at a slight angle where it reaches the road. It +is just such simple adaptation of means to an end that gave his chance +to a medieval architect; it is this that gives what is called its +picturesqueness to an ancient town, it is this that makes nature so +picturesque. A modern architect would have built his bridge in a +straight line across the road, and have pulled down something to avoid +the irregularity; he would not have had the sense of proportion which +alone was needed to make utility supremely beautiful. The builder of +the Chain Gate just used his opportunities to their very best. He saw +that but a small thing was wanted, that the close must not be dwarfed; +so he kept the work little and delicate, rich and light: he made its +chief beauty to lie in its _bijou_ character. Yet he preserved its +dignity by the wide opening of the central arch, the height of which +is emphasised by the smallness of the two arches on either side. But +although the two small arches effect so much by their contrast with +the large one, the harmony of the gateway is preserved by the +panelling above them which marks this part of the bridge off from the +rest. On the south of the gate is a blank wall, supported by a +buttress which was wanted here, and so here was put. On the south of +the buttress is the lower arch which is so admirable a foil both to +the height of the main gateway and the delicacy of the windows. A +correctly-minded architect would not have tolerated this blank wall +and irregularly-placed arch; but substitute what you will for the +wall, or alter the height of the arch, or replace both by an arcade, +and the dignity of the little gateway is gone. It may further be +noticed that the builder kept the upper and lower stages very +distinct, and made the upper storey as clearly a bridge as the lower +is a gateway: the charming little windows run in a continuous range +over blank wall, gate, and all, but they are grouped closer together +over the gate. A battlemented parapet finishes the top of the bridge. +Niches are placed in the midst of the two windows over the gate; they +contain graceful statues of St. Andrew and other saints. In the wide +moulding of the string course there are angels, curiously placed in a +horizontal position, as well as the stags' heads of Beckington's arms. + +[Illustration: The Bishop's Eye.] + +Passing under the Chain Bridge a good view of the CHAPTER-HOUSE is +obtained. It is a massive, buttressed octagon, the lower stage marked +by the small broad barred windows of the undercroft, the next by the +rather squat traceried windows of the house itself, while under the +cornice is an open arcade. The gargoyles are interesting. A parapet, +different in design and inferior to that of the church itself, +finishes the building. From this part of the road, there is a good +view of the cathedral in one of its most characteristic aspects;--the +Lady Chapel, the low buildings of the north-eastern transept and +retro-choir, the chapter-house in the foreground, all lying on ground +below the level of the road, and over the Chain Bridge a glimpse of +the north transept gable and the north-west tower. + +A queer corner, hidden by a thick tree, is formed between the +chapter-house and the choir aisle; in spite of the obscure position, a +fine gargoyle of the head and shoulders of a man, carved in unusually +colossal proportions, is placed here at a low altitude, to carry off +the water that must gather at the junction of aisle with undercroft +passage. Through the walls that rise high on either side a capital +glimpse of the tower can be had. + +From the same road, opposite the prebendal house (now allotted to the +Principal of the Theological College), which has a picturesque +Perpendicular doorway with a window above, the grouping of the Lady +Chapel with the rest of the church can be well seen. + +The rich and light appearance of the EAST END is due not only to the +charm of its tracery, which contrasts so well with the network of the +Lady Chapel windows, and to the parapet which rises slightly in the +centre, but also to the three lights which pierce the gable; of these +the upper is diamond-shaped, and thus the masonry that is left has the +appearance of a stout Y cross. + +FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.--One of the most interesting views of the +exterior is from the lovely grass-plot on the east of the cloisters, +where once stood the cloister Lady Chapel, and where the vicars were +formerly buried. It is being again used as a cemetery, which is +unfortunate, since there are few things more irreligiously dismal than +a modern burial-ground, and already a cluster of marble and granite +monuments has arisen to spoil one of the most peaceful and unspoilt +places in Wells. If monuments there must be (and why need we so +advertise the dead?), let them at least be quiet and humble and +beautiful: those ostentatious erections of hard and polished stone +ruin the grey walls before which they stand; their frigid materials +are too obtrusive for Christian modesty, too enduring for human +memory. May we not yet hope that this spot will be spared the fate of +the cloister garth? + +From here the Lady Chapel is well seen as quite a separate building, +joined to the rest of the church only in its lower part, and with its +own parapet round all its eight sides; its form harmonises most +charmingly with the square presbytery behind it, and with the lofty +chapter-house, like itself octagonal. A further beauty is added by the +solitary flying buttress which stands out at the south-eastern corner; +though certain rents in the southern wall show that the buttress was +built for reasons of the gravest utility. On the south side of the +chapel there is a little door, covered by what looks at first like a +kind of porch, but it is really the passage of a small vestry (p. 132) +which was built up against the wall; the roof of the vestry was a +little higher than that of the passage, and must have leant against +the wall just under the window, as is proved by its gargoyle near the +passage door. This vestry was fatuously destroyed in the early part of +this century by an official who did not even know that it was medieval +work till the soundness of the masonry proved almost too much for his +workmen. + +The junction between the earlier and the later presbytery is well seen +from here--too well seen, in fact, for it is awkwardly managed. The +later choir windows, with their crocketed ogee hood-moulds, are a good +feature, and so are the flying buttresses; but the high-pitched roof +of the earlier aisle is discontinued at the break in order to give +room for these windows and buttresses; and the effect of this sudden +termination of an aisle roof half-way along a building is not +pleasant. In the earlier part, too, the later windows have been +clumsily inserted some distance below the Early English dripstone, as +if only the internal effect had been considered. The same may also be +said of the window in the south transept gable: the gable, by the way, +is a much plainer affair than that of the north transept. + +Here stood the two CLOISTER LADY CHAPELS, but unfortunately their +sites were not marked on the grass after the excavations were finished +three years ago. Thus nothing can be seen from here of the earlier +chapel, and, of the later, only the doorway and the Perpendicular +panelling against the cloister which marks its western end, and the +commencement of the walls. A small quatrefoiled hagioscope may be +noticed in the library above the cloister; it, no doubt, commanded a +view of the high altar of the chapel. + +The earlier _Capella B.M.V. juxta claustrum_ is often referred to in +the chapter documents, and was a favourite centre of devotion. It +became a kind of family chapel for the numerous clan of Byttons, after +the first bishop of that name was buried there; it was also sometimes +used as a chapter-house. The Early English doorway which led to it can +still be seen in the cloister wall, on the right of the present +doorway; it is partly covered by an I.H.S. of later date, made with +the instruments of the Passion. The excavations of 1894, when the +foundations were laid bare under Mr Buckle's direction, showed that +this chapel consisted originally of a plain oblong building, earlier +even than the north porch in date (_i.e._ before 1185), which was +afterwards (c. 1275) enlarged by the addition of an aisle on either +side. The excavations showed that arches were used at this time to +replace the western part of the older walls, and thus to throw the +ancient chapel open to its new aisles. The original chapel, then, if +it was not actually part of Bishop Gisa's buildings, spared when John +de Villula destroyed Gisa's cloister, seems to have been built not +long after Gisa's time, and at least on the site of Gisa's chapel. +This would account for its orientation, which was in a more northerly +direction than that of the cathedral, and probably was the same as +that of the pre-Norman church. Excellent plans of the foundations both +of this and the later chapel are to be found in the _Somerset +Proceedings_ for 1894, where the whole matter is discussed in detail +by Canon Church and Mr Edmund Buckle. + +The later chapel on this site was built by _Bishop Stillington_ +(1466-91): it followed the orientation of the cathedral, and was of +much larger size than the former building, being about 107 ft. in +length. It consisted of a nave, transepts and choir, with fan-tracery +vault, of which some fragments have been lately fixed in the cloister +wall. Most profusely ornamented and panelled within, as can be seen by +the west end against the cloister wall, it is considered to have been +the _chef d'oeuvre_ of the Somerset Perpendicular, surpassing even +Sherborne and St. Mary, Redcliffe. + +But its glory was not to be for long. Stillington was buried in this +"goodly Lady Chapell in the Cloysters," says Godwin, "but rested not +long there; for it is reported that divers olde men, who in their +youth had not onely scene the celebration of his funeral, but also the +building of his tombe, chapell, and all did also see tombe and chapell +destroyed, and the bones of the Bishop that built them turned out of +the lead in which they were interred." This was in 1552, when Bishop +Barlow and the chapter made a grant to that barbarous scoundrel, Sir +John Gates, of "the chappie, sett, lyinge and beynge by the cloyster +on the south syde of the said Cathedral Church of Wells, commonly +called the Ladye Chapple, with all the stones and stonework, ledde, +glasse, tymbre, and iron ... the soyle that the sayd chappie standeth +upon only excepted." The condition was that the rubble should be all +cleared away, and the ground made "fayre and playn," within four +years; but before this period had elapsed, Sir John's head had gone +the way of the Lady Chapel. + +[Illustration: Doorway, South-east Of Cloister.] + +The CLOISTER in its more prominent features is Perpendicular, having +been rebuilt in the fifteenth century. Nevertheless the outer walls +are of Jocelin's date, together with the doorway leading into the +palace (see illustration on this page); and the lower part of the east +cloister wall, including the two small doorways therein, is said by Mr +Buckle to be undoubtedly earlier than Jocelin's time, and contemporary +with the north porch, _c._ 1185. Thus we have still the original plan +at least of the thirteenth-century cloisters. This plan is +characteristic of a non-monastic church, where the cloister is not the +centre of a common life, but merely an ornamental convenience which +might or might not be added, and when added might be of any fashion +that was desired. There is no walk on the north side, no refectory or +dormitory, and the plan is not square, as would be the case with a +conventual building, but an irregular parallelogram, while the eastern +walk is built up against the south end of the transept instead of +against its western wall. + +[Illustration: East Walk Of Cloister.] + +The inner part of Jocelin's cloister was probably a wooden penthouse +like that of Glastonbury. At all events, it has entirely disappeared. +The eastern alley was built by the executors of Bishop Bubwith, who +died in 1424. That on the west, with its rooms, was built by +Beckington (1443-65) and his executors. That on the south was +completed soon after by Thomas Henry, the treasurer. Beckington, by +the way, showed a reckless disregard of the earlier work by carrying +his cloister right up against the south-west tower, and completely +concealing the beautiful arcading of that part. Beckington's +executors, in the time of Bishop Stillington, also built the singing +school over the western cloister. Bubwith's executors built the +northern part of the library over the eastern cloister; but the +southern part was added at a later date. The square windows were +inserted later still by the famous Dr Busby, about 1670. The fourteen +bays of lierned vaulting over the east alley, and one on the south, +were executed in 1457-8 by John Turpyn Lathamo, at the cost, we find +from the fabric roll, of 3/4d. per foot, or L6, 11s. 3d. for the +whole, though an additional ten shillings was presented to him for his +diligence. + +Each alley consists of thirteen bays in the Perpendicular style; the +windows are now all unglazed, of six lights, with transoms and +tracery; between the windows are buttresses to support the rooms +above, which extend, however, only over the east and west alleys. +Turpyn's vaulting is of a curiously decadent character, which reminds +one of the Jacobean Gothic of Oxford and Cambridge. The ribs spread at +the start to enclose a trefoiled panel, and they curve into one +another when they meet at the bosses. In the rest of the south walk, +however, the bosses are square, and receive the ribs in the usual +manner; in the west walk they are still square, and more varied in +their ornament, bearing Beckington's initials, arms, and rebus, +arranged in several different ways. Beckington's arms, which occur +also on the gateways, are argent on a fess azure, between in chief +three bucks' heads caboshed gules, and in base as many pheons sable, a +bishop's mitre or. His rebus is a fire _beacon_ lighted, a _tun_ +holding the fire. + +Two small stone pent-houses, of which the purpose is uncertain, are +built up against the windows of the fourth and sixth bays of the +eastern alley. The vault of this alley was built without reference to +the fine Early English doorway into the transept, one side of which it +hides, the weather moulding being cut away. This doorway is mentioned +in an Act of the Chapter of 1297, but it was probably made by Jocelin +before he built the cloister wall, which comes uncomfortably near to +the door, as if it were an afterthought. The companion doorway from +the western alley, which was the usual entrance to the cathedral in +the thirteenth century, has been similarly defaced by the vault. Three +annual fairs used to be held in the cemetery, till Bishop Reginald set +apart for the purpose the new ground which is still the market-place. +The traditional entrance to the church by this south-western porch may +have been due to the fact that the citizens gathered for secular +business on the south-western side. At the south end of the eastern +alley is the Early English bishop's doorway, which no doubt led +straight to the palace in the days when there was no moat to obstruct +this route. The door was originally hung to open inwards; a beautiful +moulding was destroyed to hang it in its present position. There is a +bracket of later date over this doorway. + +The cloister-garth, which is hideous with modern tombstones, is +traditionally called the _Palm Churchyard_, no doubt because of the +yew which grows there. Yew trees, so common in churchyards, are still +commonly called palms, because their branches were used for the +procession on Palm Sunday. This churchyard was anciently the +burial-place of the canons, the ground east of the cloister (now used +again as a cemetery) being reserved for the vicars, while the space +before the west front was the lay burial-ground. + +An admirably contrived _dipping-place_ was still standing in the Palm +churchyard, near the second bay of the east cloister, within the +memory of living persons, but now no trace of it remains above ground. +A water-course, held within a channel of carefully-worked masonry, +runs under the eastern cloister from St. Andrew's well, and passes on +to fall ultimately into the old mill-stream. The oblong building over +it that formed the dipping-place was entered at the south end, and a +few steps (with aumbries for the linen at either side) led to the +washing-place at the little stream. An arch covered this spot, where +the water ran through two low arches on either side and was bridged in +the midst by a pavement. The place was used for washing linen, and the +water required for the cathedral was drawn here before the modern +supply pipes were introduced. + +THE LIBRARY is over the east walk of the cloister, and is entered from +the south transept. It is a charming old-world place, full of ancient +volumes, many of which are of great interest. A passage runs from end +to end, along the east side of the long room, the other side being +mainly occupied by the old desks, benches and bookcases, which project +at right angles to the wall, many of the book-chains still hanging on +them. There are said to be over three thousand volumes, including the +bulk of Bishop Ken's library, a collection of early editions of his +works, and his copy of Bishop Andrewe's "Devotions." There are also +several books (including one Aldine "Aristotle") with MS. notes and +autograph of Erasmus. The collection of old charters, which have +recently been made to throw so much light on the history of the +cathedral, is also preserved here. Some of the most interesting +charters are displayed in glass cases; one of them, Edgar's grant to +Ealhstane, is specially venerable for the signature of St. +Dunstan--_Ego Dunitan Ep._--which occurs third among the witnesses to +the document. + +Two precious relics of medieval times are also kept here. One, which +is generally called a lantern, was till lately hung in the undercroft. +There is no trace of its ever having been used as a lantern, and it is +probably the wooden _canopy of the pyx_ which hung before the high +altar. The Blessed Sacrament was in medieval times reserved, not in a +tabernacle, but in a hanging pyx of precious metal; and this graceful +wooden canopy probably contained the pyx. There are only two other +possible examples of the pyx-canopy (at Milton Abbas and Tewkesbury), +and both are of later date than this, which is thirteenth century. +Woodwork of this period is so rare that, even were it not a +pyx-canopy, it would be of extreme interest. It is cylindrical in +form, divided into three storeys of open tracery, and crowned with a +cresting of three-lobed leaves. Its height is 3 ft. 111/4 in., its +internal diameter 141/2 inches. It is made of oak, certain parts of a +later restoration being of deal. Mr St. John Hope (_Proc. of Soc. of +Antiquaries_, 1897), thus enumerates the traces of colour: "The whole +of the body and its upper and lower rings have been painted red, with +gold flowers or other devices upon the transverse bands. The slender +dividing shafts seem to have been coloured blue. The leaves of the +cresting have apparently been painted white, but the circular boss in +the middle of each leaf was entirely red." Two pairs of iron rods, +with a ring and swivel hook, serve to suspend it in a steady position. + +The other relic is the thirteenth-century _crozier_ which was recently +found in a tomb in the cathedral, and probably belongs to the time of +Savaric, though there is no evidence, beyond its style, for describing +it as his crozier. It was dug up in a stone coffin in the western +burial-ground of the cathedral in the time of Dean Lukin (1799-1812). +It is thus described in the _Catalogue_ of the Burlington Fine Arts +Club exhibition of enamels, June 1897: "A complete crozier, [the +staff] wooden (modern), with enamelled head one foot in length. +Limoges, thirteenth century. The volute is a serpent with blue scales +and serrated crest, enclosing a winged figure of St. Michael and a +dragon studded with turquoises. The knop is encased in pierced +repousse open work formed of dragons, and the socket ornamented with +thirteenth-century foliated scrolls in these slightly spiral bands, +separated by jewelled dragons whose tails form three rings under the +knop." St. Michael is represented in the act of attacking the dragon +with his spear. + +A little MUSEUM has been formed in one of the rooms over the western +cloister. It contains a collection of seals, Mr Buckle's plans of the +cloisters and the Cloister Lady Chapel excavations, and many other +objects of interest. + +The principal buildings in connection with the cathedral are the +vicars' close, the bishop's palace, the deanery, the archdeaconry, and +the canon's houses. There are also Beckington's fine gates,--the Chain +Gate by the vicars' close, Brown's, or the Dean's Gate, near the +deanery, the Penniless Porch, leading from the Market Place to the +cathedral; and the Bishop's Eye, leading from the Market Place to the +palace. + +[Illustration: The Chain Gate, Entrance To Close, 1824] + +Most deservedly famous is the unrivalled VICARS' CLOSE, which contains +the houses built by Bishop Ralph and his successors for the +vicars-choral. Passing through the gate, one sees the two long ranges +of quiet and lovely houses, fronted by their little gardens, with a +roadway betwixt them. Nothing can surpass this arrangement for its +peaceful seclusion and constant charm, not even the square quadrangles +and cloisters of Oxford, and yet, so convenient is it, that no better +model could be chosen should there ever come any general return to the +old collegiate life; for a settlement, for a model factory, one can +imagine nothing better even now. There are forty-two houses, +twenty-one on either side: each consisted originally of two rooms, one +above the other, with a staircase; for the vicars were single men. Now +that the vicars-choral are married, many of them live in the town, but +all the theological students are lodged here, and there are always a +few rooms to be let to those visitors who are wise enough to stay in +this charming place. + +The tall chimneys rise up through the eaves of the little houses; +octagonal at the top, they are perforated like a lantern, with two +openings on each side. On them are shields bearing the arms of the +see, of Bishop Beckington and his executors, Swan, Sugar, and Pope, +sugar-loaves and swans abounding in the decoration. + +At the farther end of the close is the tiny chapel (finished by +Bubwith, and finally consecrated in 1489, after Beckington had added +the wooden ceiling and the chamber above), where compline is still +said by the theological students. It is one of the most beautiful +things in Wells--a jewel, like so much of its period--and it has been +well decorated in sgraffitto and colour by Mr Heywood Sumner. An +interesting feature of its exterior is that some of the old Early +English carving was worked in with the masonry of the wall, by way of +decoration, and very effective it is. A passage at the side leads to +the Liberty, where are some of the prebendal houses. + +Over the entrance, and leading into the bridge of the Chain Gate, are +the hall and its offices, which are approached by a fine staircase. In +the hall is a painting of much interest, which represents Bishop Ralph +seated on his throne, the vicars kneeling before him; the petition +which he holds runs--_Per vicos positi villae, Pater alme rogamus, Ut +simul uniti, te, Dante domos maneamus_; and the answer, which has the +episcopal seal, is--_Vestra petunt merita, Quod sint concessu petita: +Ut maneatis ita, Loca fecimus hic stabilita._ On the right are +seventeen figures with ruffles, evidently added in Elizabethan times; +corresponding inscription has also been added--_Quas primus struxit_, +etc. + +There is also a pulpit over the fireplace, which is large, with good +mouldings and an inscription, _In vestris prec[=i] habeat^s +comedat[=u] do[=m] Ricard[=u] Pomroy quem salvet Ihs. Amen_. On the +hearth are a pair of fine fire-dogs. + +Just outside the entrance to the vicars' close is a beautiful ORIEL +WINDOW, which has been much copied in modern times. It springs from a +corbelled head, from which foliate four cinquefoiled panels. The +window now has only three square-headed lights, the centre one being +large. Under its sills are rich panels, and it is capped by a slight +crenelated cornice with a boldly-carved drip, from which springs a +conical roof surmounted by a fleur-de-lys. + +The beautiful BISHOP'S PALACE was mainly built by Jocelin, who died in +1242. It consists of three sides of a quadrangle, the bishop's house +being on the east, the chapel on the south, the kitchen and offices +running alongside the moat on the north: on the west side there was +formerly a gate-tower and a wall having a cloister within which led to +chapel and hall. In addition to these buildings the great hall, now in +ruins--forming, with the walls and outhouses, an outer court--was +built to the south-west of the chapel. The whole group of buildings +stands on a piece of ground, rich with trees, surrounded by a lovely +old wall and moat, the single approach being by the bridge and the +gate-house, which has Renaissance windows and retains the slit for the +portcullis and the drawbridge-chains. Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury +constructed the gate-house and fortifications, which form an irregular +pentagon, with a bastion at each angle, and an extra one in the +south-east side. The bastion in the western angle (on the south of the +gate-house) contains two storeys, of which the lower, called the +cow-house or stock-house, was used as a prison for criminous clerks. +The moat is fed by a stream from St. Andrew's well hard by. + +[Illustration: The Bishop's Palace.] + +The palace itself is a most interesting example of medieval +architecture, and remains very much in its original condition. It is +oblong in plan, and divided lengthwise by a solid wall, running +through both storeys from end to end, at about one third of its width; +the long outer chamber formed by this wall on the ground floor is +divided into the entrance hall of three bays (containing a fireplace, +_temp._ Henry VIII.), and the passages to staircase and to chapel at +either end. The wider chamber within the wall is lighted by plain +lancet windows, and has a row of slender Purbeck pillars down the +middle, which, with the corbels on the wall, carry a groined vault: +this, the "crypt," or undercroft, was probably used as a storage-room; +it is now the dining-room. To the north of this hall is a square +chamber with a pillar in the centre; and to the east of the chamber a +small room projects beyond the ground plan of the building, with a +space at one end (probably a closet) now walled up. + +On the first floor the great chamber (68 by 28 feet) stood over the +undercroft, while on its north was the bishop's private room, both +open to the roof, and to the east of this, his private chapel. The +gallery above the entrance hall was formerly divided into three +chambers, the two larger of which Mr Buckle thinks were used as a +lobby and a wardrobe. The windows in the gallery were restored by Mr +Ferrey in 1846, but nothing is new except the marble shafts and bases. +The two windows at the north end of the great chamber are evidently +later additions, as they have fully developed bar-tracery, while the +other windows in the chamber consist of pairs of trefoil-headed +windows with a quatrefoil in plate tracery above them. + +The GREAT HALL, which is now but a beautiful ruin, was built by Bishop +Burnell, who died 1292. It was a magnificent chamber, 115 feet by 591/2, +with high traceried windows. It was divided into nave and aisles +by rows of pillars to carry the roof and the passage at the west end +led between buttery and pantry to the kitchen; over these rooms was a +large solar, and on the north side a porch with staircase at the side +leading to the solar. Both hall and palace are well and fully +described by Mr Buckle in the _Somerset Proceedings_ for 1888. Bishop +Barlow had the hall dismantled, employing Sir John Gates for the +purpose; the walls, however, were left standing until Bishop Law's +time, when they were partly demolished in order to make the ruin more +"picturesque." + +The chapel is very similar in style to the hall, and was built very +shortly afterwards; it is at present defaced by bad decoration and +fittings. The carving is very fine and varied; some of the capitals +retain the old stiff-leaf foliage, while in some the leaves grow +freely round the bell in the Decorated manner. The vaulted ceiling is +also an excellent example of the transitional work of the period. The +west window is of later date, and has been twice restored--once by +Bishop Montague (1608-16), and again in the present century. On the +north side, at some height from the ground, are the indications of +what may have been a gallery used as a private pew. + +Bishop Beckington (1443-66) added the northern block of buildings, now +considerably altered, the kitchen and various offices, _le botrye, +cellarium, le bakehous, ad lez stues ad nutriendos pisces_, in William +of Worcester's words, as well as the gate now called the Bishop's Eye, +_aliam portam ad introitum de le palays_, and the parlour (_parlurum_) +and guest-chambers adjoining the kitchen. This block lies very +prettily alongside the moat. + +Unfortunately the palace, which had so wonderfully escaped the brutal +adaptations of the eighteenth-century architect, was restored in 1846 +by Mr Ferrey, and its west front completely altered. The upper storey, +the porch, the buttresses were all added by Mr Ferrey; not to mention +the tower at the north and the turret at the south, and the +conservatory. Bishop Bagot, at whose order the work was done, also +rebuilt the kitchen and offices; in fact, he did what he could to +destroy the unique character and beauty of a block of buildings +without parallel anywhere. + +THE BISHOP'S BARN, which stands in a field near the palace is +remarkable for its length (110 ft. by 251/2) and the number of its +buttresses. Simple in character, stately in proportions, it is a +striking instance of the perfect sense of fitness which marked the +medieval builders: in fact, it is the exact opposite to what a modern +builder would erect if asked to provide a barn in the Gothic style. + +THE DEANERY, rebuilt by Dean Gunthorpe (1472-98), is an almost perfect +specimen of a fifteenth-century house, in spite of the modern sash +windows and other alterations which deface it. As at the palace, the +principal apartments were on the first floor; and of these the chief +is the hall, an excellent example of the more comfortable late +medieval arrangement. Two handsome oriel windows with vaults of +fan-tracery are at the upper end, not quite opposite to each other, +where the sideboards used to stand; and at the lower end a stone arch +carries a small music-gallery, with three small windows opening to the +hall. Under this arch is the lavatory, a stone niche, in which a small +cistern was suspended, with a drain at the bottom; so that the diners +could put their hands under the tap of the little cistern as they +passed into dinner. + +Over the hall are guest chambers with fine windows; and behind the +partition at the back of the dais is another chamber with a large +window, which Mr J.H. Parker thought to have been the chapel. + +Fuller description of the various ecclesiastical buildings can be +found in Mr Parker's paper in the _Somerset Proceedings_ for 1863. + +THE ARCHDEACONRY was built in the time of Edward I., but the front of +the house has been entirely modernised. The hall is larger than that +of the deanery, and occupies the whole height of the building, having +a very fine early fifteenth-century open timber roof. + +THE CHOIRMASTER'S HOUSE, at the east end of the cathedral, is a fairly +perfect example of a fifteenth-century house, retaining its beautiful +porch unspoiled. The roof and upper part of the windows of the hall +remain, but are disguised and concealed by modern partitions. It is +now the residence of the Principal of the Theological College. + +An organist's house once communicated with the singing-school, which +is over the western cloister; it was much defaced in the eighteenth +century, and entirely removed a few years ago. + +THE CANONS' HOUSES, which lie in the Liberty to the north of the +cathedral, have been either entirely rebuilt, or much spoilt by +alterations. + +THE SCHOOLHOUSE is partly of the fourteenth century, with wings added +in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; it retains some features of +interest. + +BISHOP BUBWITH'S ALMSHOUSE is near St. Cuthbert's Church. It was much +spoilt in the fifties: the original plan was a great hall, with a +chapel at the end of it, and cells along the side for the almsmen. +These cells were open at the top so that there was plenty of fresh +air, and if an almsman became ill or infirm, he could hear the service +chanted daily in the chapel without leaving his bed. At the west end +of the hall is a building of two storeys built by the bishop's +executors, given to the citizens of Wells as a Guildhall, and used for +that purpose till about 1779. Here is preserved a very fine money +chest of the fifteenth century, painted with a scroll pattern, and +resting on a stand inscribed with curious doggerel of the date 1615. + +ST. CUTHBERT'S CHURCH, which is kept open during the daytime, is thus +described by Mr J.H. Parker in the _Builder_ for 1862 (p. 655):-- + +"It was originally a cruciform church of the thirteenth century with a +central tower, and with aisles to the nave; but of the church all that +remains in the original state is a part of the north aisle. The +central tower has been removed, the church entirely rebuilt in the +fifteenth century. The pillars and arches of the nave have been +rebuilt in the fifteenth century also, and the pillars lengthened +considerably. The arches, with their dripstones, preserved and used +again on the taller pillars, and most of the capitals have had the +foliage cut off. The aisle walls, the clerestory, and roof, are all +Late Perpendicular, about the time of Henry VII.; but the beautiful +west tower is evidently earlier than the clerestory and roof, and has +the mark of the old roof on the east side of it, coming below the +present clerestory. This fine tower, which is certainly one of the +finest of its class, and which Mr Freeman considers, I believe, to +rank only second to one other [Wrington], is said to have been built +in the time of Bishop Bubwith, or about 1430; and this appears to me +probable. The character of the work is rather Early Perpendicular, and +the groined vault under the belfry appears to be an imitation of the +Decorated vault of the cathedral." + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] The road should be followed for about a quarter of a mile out + of the town; at this point a path leads over a stile and through + a coppice to the best point of view. + + [2] Vol. i. 421. + + [3] _History of the Cathedral_, 125. + + [4] The Doulting stone, of which the cathedral is built, comes + from the St. Andrew's quarry at the little village of + Doulting, where Bishop Ealdhelm died. It is inferior oolite, + and very like Bath stone, which is the greater oolite. The + exterior shafts were blue lias, and those within either blue + lias or Purbeck marble, though there are one or two shafts of + red Draycot stone in the western responds of the nave. + + [5] _Cathedrals_, iv. 98. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE INTERIOR + + +The earlier architecture of Wells Cathedral presents so many puzzles, +that the most skilled experts have differed widely both from each +other, and, as we know now, from the truth. There are four distinct +varieties of Early English work, covering a period of about a century +from the time of Bishop Reginald, whose episcopate began in 1174; and +yet, until Mr Bennett deciphered the old charters, which have at +length settled the problem, all the work was attributed to Jocelin, +for nothing was known of Reginald's building, and some of the best +judges were even convinced that the west front was built before the +nave. The difficulty was mainly caused by the unusual character of the +architecture of the nave; "unlike that of any ordinary English +building, and belonging to a style on the whole fifty years earlier" +than the west front, as Professor Willis said, who gave it a name of +its own, and called it the Somerset style. Thus the theory came to be +that two bodies of masons had been employed--an ordinary English +company for the front, and a local Somerset company for the nave, +transepts and choir, who worked in a local variation of the prevalent +Early English style. In this way, an attempt was made to overcome the +difficulty of attributing to Jocelin work which Mr Willis had himself +pronounced to be "only a little removed from the early Norman style." +Mr Freeman, too, had allowed that the north porch might be earlier +than Jocelin; and, long before, Britton had said that there would be +little hesitation in ascribing the church to the transitional period +of Henry II. (1154-89) on architectural evidence, were it not for +Godwin's assertion, that Jocelin had entirely pulled down the old +church and built a fresh one. + +But now we have got behind Godwin, and have found from contemporary +evidence that Bishop Reginald commenced the present church. Thus we +are able to divide the Early English work into no less than 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 zig-zag 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 medieval 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. A characteristic feature in this Norman tooling is that if a +rule be laid along its lines, they will be found to be very slightly +curved, a feature which is due to the fact that Norman masons dressed +their stones with the broad curved blade of an axe. + +[Illustration The Nave.] + +The plan of the church is remarkably complete, symmetrical, and +well-proportioned. Nave, transepts, choir, each flanked with its +aisles, combine to form with the Lady Chapel and chapter-house a +cathedral church which, though not of the first magnitude, is the most +complete and typical in England. The ground plan itself, as set out in +all technical severity on page 160, possesses an unusual attraction +for the eye. It is free both from mutilation and excrescences; and yet +all the picturesque external grouping, and internal mystery, which the +afterthoughts of Gothic architects so often lend to a building, are +secured, in the case of Wells, by the carefully-placed chapter-house +and the beautiful arrangement of the Lady Chapel. The transepts of the +choir are very happily carried far enough east to be internally +subordinate to this chapel, which arrangement, with the apsidal form +of the chapel itself, adds much to the beautiful proportions of the +church. A third transept is given to the west end of the nave by the +two towers. + +The length of Wells Cathedral from east to west is 383 feet within the +walls, and 415 without. The length of the nave is 161 feet, its +breadth 82 feet, and its height 67 feet. The length of the choir is +117 feet, and its height 73 feet. The transepts are 135 feet within +and 150 feet without. + +THE NAVE.--The general effect of the nave is that of length rather +than height, and this is mainly due to the continuous arcade of the +triforium which leads the eye from end to end of the building instead +of from floor to roof. If this be compared with the older work in the +transepts, it will be seen at once by how simple a device this radical +change in the effect has been produced. Instead of being carried down +right across the triforium, as in the transepts, the triple vaulting +shafts are cut off above the arcade so as to be little more than +corbels, and the space thus gained is used to give one additional +opening to each bay of the triforium. In the transepts the triforium +is composed of pairs of lancet arches separated by vaulting shafts, +the triforium of each bay being a distinct composition over its pier +arch; but by the time the architect had come to the nave, a new idea +had occurred to him, and he made the triforium in one continuous +arcade, unbroken from east to west, evidently with the deliberate +intention of producing a horizontal rather than a vertical effect. The +arrangement has undoubtedly a character of its own, and "there is no +nave in which the eye is so irresistibly carried eastward as in that +of Wells." + +In spite of this method of securing an effect of length, the builders +managed to make the most of the small height of their church. The +manner in which this was done forms an interesting example of the +subtle feeling of proportion which early architects possessed. The +clerestory was made unusually lofty, and the comparative lowness of +the triforium both adds to the soaring effect and prevents the +horizontal appearance being overmastering. This is increased by the +bold vaulting of the ceiling, and the way in which the lantern arches +fit into the vault. + +But, homogeneous as the nave appears, a little examination will +clearly reveal the break which marks the separation between the late +twelfth-century work of Reginald de Bohun and the thirteenth-century +continuation of Jocelin. The earlier work, as we have seen, consisted +of the four eastern bays, which, with the present ritual choir and +transepts, formed Reginald's church; and, as a matter of fact, at the +fifth bay (the next bay westward of the north porch) the marks of +change are so evident that all writers upon the cathedral have based +their theories upon it. The earlier masonry in the spandrels on the +east of this point consists of small stones indifferently set: the +later masonry is made up of larger blocks more carefully laid +together; in the earlier part there are small heads at the angles of +the pier arches, in the later there are none, while the small heads in +the angles of the earlier triforium arcade give place to larger heads +in the later; the tympana, which fill the heads of the lancets in this +arcade, also are mainly ornamented in the earlier part with grotesque +beasts, while in the later they contain foliage, with two exceptions. +Again, the medallions which decorate the spaces above the triforium +are sunk in the earlier masonry, but, in the later, they are flush +with the surface and not so deeply carved. Even more noticeable is the +difference in the capitals, those of the western bays being lighter, +freer, and more undercut, though less interesting and hardly as +beautiful as those of the earlier part. With the exception of these +differences, however, which are doubtless due to the freedom enjoyed +by medieval workmen, the original design of the nave was faithfully +adhered to, the square abaci, even, being retained, though the +circular abacus had become a leading characteristic of the true Early +English of Jocelin's period. 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. + +[Illustration: A Capital--the Fruit-stealer's Punishment.] + +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, above referred to, 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 life-like, yet always subordinated to their architectural +purpose. Those in the transepts are perhaps the best (p. 89), 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 a lion: Bird with +curious foliated tail: (Within St. Edmund's chapel) Owl: Peasant with +mallet (?). + +The lofty clerestory windows are divided into two lights by +Perpendicular tracery of late fourteenth or early fifteenth century +date, which extends to the level of the passage, the lower part being +filled with masonry. The windows were not, however, altered in shape +when the tracery was inserted. In the tracery are very slight traces +of the old glass. + +The triforium passage is capacious enough to form a large tunnel, +which gives a good effect to its lancet openings. The small iron +rings, which are prominent enough to be rather tiresome to the eye, +were recently inserted for the use of those engaged in cleaning the +walls. Within the passage additional arches may be seen, inserted to +strengthen the arcade at the commencement of the later work and in +other places. + +The groined ceiling has carved bosses at the intersection of its ribs. +The red pattern is a restoration of the old design which was found on +the removal of the whitewash, but the restorer seems to have missed +the right tints. + +There is a music-gallery in the clerestory of the sixth bay on the +south side; it is composed of three panels with quatrefoils containing +plain shields, and is finished with an embattled cornice. Another +gallery, perhaps for an organ, must have been supported by the two +noticeable brackets on the spandrels of the fourth bay of the same +side. One may conjecture that it was of wood, and was reached from the +triforium. The brackets are carved in the shape of very large heads of +a bishop and a king, both supported by smaller heads, and of an +extremely benevolent expression. The hair of the king has that curious +formal twist with which we are familiar on playing-cards. As some of +the small heads in the chapter-house have the same style of hair, +these two brackets probably belong to the end of the thirteenth +century. + +[Illustration: A Capital--toothache.] + +Sir John Harrington in the _Nugae Antiquae_ (ii. 148) says of these +two heads that "the old men of Wells had a tradition, that, when there +should be such a king and such a bishop, then the church should be in +danger of ruin." At the time of the Reformation it was noticed that +the head of the king bore a certain resemblance to Henry VIII., and +that the king held in his hands a child falling, who, it was said, +could be none other than Edward VI. The peculiarity of the bishop's +figure is that he has women and children about him. "This fruitful +bishop, they affirmed, was Dr Barlow (p. 156), the first married +bishop of Wells, and perhaps of England. This talk being rife in Wells +in Queen Mary's time, made him rather affect Chichester at his return +than Wells, where not only the things that were ruined but those that +remained, served for records and remembrances of his sacrilege." + +The west end of the nave is covered in its lower portion by an arcade +of five arches with Purbeck shafts, the middle one being wider than +the rest, to contain the two smaller arches of the doorway. The three +lancet windows were re-modelled in Perpendicular times by the +insertion of the triple shafts, which have the casement mouldings and +angular caps of the period; but the dog-tooth moulding of the arches, +the medallions in the spandrels, and the little corbel heads of the +Early English work remain. A Perpendicular parapet along the sill of +the window marks the gallery which, pierced through the splays, +carries the triforium passage round the end of the nave. A string +course runs along the bottom of this gallery and forms the bases of +the triple shafts; the bases are supported on corbels which die off +upon the sloping wall below. This wall conceals a curious gallery, the +purpose of which is not known; it is entered by steps from the +triforium, and lighted by round openings which can be seen in the +central quatrefoils of the west front; when these quatrefoils were +filled with sculpture it would have been difficult to detect the +existence of the dark gallery. + +[Illustration: Specimens Of Capitals.] + +Two small transepts at the west end of the nave are formed by the +western towers, which project in this church beyond the aisles. These +transepts are connected with the aisles by an arch, the lower part of +which is closed by wooden doors. That on the north was used as a +chapel of the Holy Cross, and of late years as the consistory court: +it is now the choir-boys' vestry; that on the south served as a porch +in the days when the usual entrance to the church was by the Early +English doorway which leads into it from the cloister; it is now +appropriated to the bell-ringers. They are both of strikingly +different style to the rest of the interior, as they were built in +pure Early English style, at the same time as the west front, of which +the towers form, of course, an integral part. Their shafts are of blue +lias, the capitals richly carved; their groined vaults have a circular +opening to admit to the upper storey of the tower, which has its +corbels ornamented with foliage, although they cannot be seen. Over +the doorway in the south chapel an arcade is curiously fitted into the +available space beneath the vault. + +[Illustration: A Capital.] + +THE AISLES OF THE NAVE (see p. 19) are of the same character as the +nave itself, the later part having been resumed at about the same +time, and at the same place. Among the capitals the following in the +north aisle may be specially mentioned:-- + +_Fifth Shaft._--Peasants carrying sheep, etc., a dog in the midst. + +_Ninth Shaft._--Man in rough coat, which falls before and behind +rather like a chasuble, carrying foliage on his back. A very good +figure. + +_Tenth Shaft._--(By arch of vestry) Man carrying what seems to be a +hod of mortar and a mason's mallet. + +_Opposite side of arch_, at end of the string course: Peasant in hood +carrying a staff. On the caps opposite are two heads with tongues on +their teeth (see p. 92). + +The windows, both of these aisles and those of the transepts, were +filled with Perpendicular tracery at about the same time as the +clerestory windows. The date of this addition must have been before +Bishop's Bubwith's time, for the library which that prelate built over +the cloister blocks the south window of the west aisle of the south +transept. A stone bench runs along all the aisles. + +[Illustration: Specimens Of Capitals.] + +GLASS OF THE NAVE, TRANSEPTS, AND AISLES.--Most of the glass of the +west window was collected abroad, during his exile, by Bishop +Creyghton, while he was yet dean (1660-70). The main part of it is +devoted to the life and death of St. John Baptist, and is of excellent +early sixteenth-century work, for under the fantastic figure of the +executioner is the inscription _Sancti Johannis Decollatio_ 1507. The +two other lights containing the large figures of King Ina and Bishop +Ralph are, however, of later date, and to judge by their costume they +should belong to Creyghton's own time; moreover, on the southern one +are Creyghton's arms. Apparently the compositions at the extreme top +and bottom of the middle light are much later; a little handbook on +the cathedral by Mr John Davies, the verger in 1814, states that the +then dean and chapter re-arranged and restored the window in 1813; +these additions must belong to that time, and according to him they +were brought from Rouen. Their ugly reds and blues certainly do not +blend with the earlier glass, as do the figures of Ina and Ralph, but +considerably mar the mellow and delicate effect of the whole. There +are only a few slight fragments of old glass in the other windows. +There are also two modern windows at the west end of the aisles. + +[Illustration: View Across Nave, Shewing Sugar's And Bubwith's +Chapels.] + +BISHOP BUBWITH'S CHANTRY CHAPEL.--Two chantry chapels stand opposite +each other under the ninth pier-arches of the nave. They are alike in +general characteristics, though there is an interval of sixty years +between them. The chantry of Bishop Bubwith (_ob._ 1424), who built +the north-west tower, is formed by a hexagonal screen between the +piers, the three eastern sides being filled with a reredos that gives +the chapel a square appearance within. The screen is composed of the +most light and elaborate tracery, its corners surmounted by a crest; +it is open above, but has a rather coarsely-carved canopy over where +the altar stood. Doorways, whose jambs are too delicately carved to +have ever carried doors, give free access and a clear view of the +interior from either side. Altogether it was an ideal place for votive +Celebrations, when but few worshippers were present. The niches over +the altar have been hacked level with the wall, and the little pillar +piscina is also defaced. The triple shafts of the pier at the western +end are corbelled off, the corbel being carved with Bubwith's arms +(argent, a fess engrailed sable between twelve holly leaves vert, 4, +4, 4, and 4, arranged in quadrangles) impaled with those of the see. +The altar here was formerly dedicated to St. Saviour. + +SUGAR'S CHANTRY.--In the ninth bay of the nave, on the south side, is +the chantry of Treasurer Hugh Sugar. Before its erection, the altar of +St. Edmund of Canterbury, who was canonised in 1246, stood here; and +perhaps, when it comes to be used again, it will be maintained in +honour of that most attractive scholar saint. Speaking of these +chantries, which were endowed in such profusion in the later Middle +Ages, Canon Church (_Somerset Proceedings_, 1888, ii. 103) says: "The +belief in the communion of saints, living and dead, and the desire for +continued remembrance after death, and for the intercessions of the +living, led practically to the endowment of chantries and obits, +whereby not only was the church enriched, and the services of many +priests provided for, but also attachment to the church of their +fathers was greatly strengthened, as being the common home of the dead +and the living." That attachment, one would think, is hardly likely to +be revived by this beautiful chapel and its fellow being put to base +uses. At present it serves as a kind of booking-office, where visitors +deposit their sixpences and sign their names, while the other is +stored with hassocks, and becomes the resting-place of any brooms, +pails, and dustpans that are in use. + +St. Edmund's (or Sugar's) chapel is hexagonal, like that of Bishop +Bubwith, but its tracery, frieze, and reredos are more elaborate. The +canopy over the altar is vaulted with lace-like fan-tracery. Five +niches, now empty of their figures, form the reredos; their sumptuous +pedestals and canopies are in excellent condition. Attached to the +frieze without, on either side, are six demi-angels, with delicate +wings and extremely curly hair, bearing shields, with representations +of the Five Wounds, the Lily of the Annunciation, between angels' +wings; the arms of the see (a plain saltire surmounting a pastoral +staff in pale between two keys addorsed, the bows interlaced on the +dexter, and a sword erect on the sinister); the arms of Glastonbury +Abbey (a cross flory, in dexter chief a demi-virgin with child +proper), the arms of the vicars (a saltire), the initials H.S., and +Sugar's arms, originally a "canting coat," three sugar-loaves, and in +chief a doctor's cap. Sugar's initials and arms also occur under the +canopy. It is the fashion to consider this chapel inferior to its +fellow, merely because it is later in date, but a little impartial +study will show that it is much the better of the two. The tracery, +though less uncommon, is more graceful, that over the doorway +especially being far better contrived; the cornice is better +proportioned, and is not spoilt by the untidy trail of foliage which +runs round that of Bubwith's chapel; the canopy, too, fits in with the +curve of the tracery, while that of the others projects clumsily +across it. + +THE PULPIT.--From the west end of this chapel steps lead into the +stone pulpit which adjoins it. This pulpit was built in Henry VIII.'s +reign, by Bishop Knight, who died in 1547. It is a low, but +well-proportioned, structure, resting on a basement, and fronted with +panelled pilasters; it is surmounted by an entablature. In front are +the bishop's curious arms, which occur more distinctly in the glass of +the north choir aisle--Per fess, in chief a demi-eagle with two heads +and sans wings issuing from a demi-rose conjoined to a demi-sun in +splendour in base. On the frieze is the inscription--_preache. thov. +the. worde. be. fervent. in. season. and. ovt. of. season. reprove. +rebvke. exhorte. w^t. all. longe. svfferyng. &. doctryne. 2. Tim[=o]._ +A board along the top, covered with red baize, impairs its beauty at +present. + +[Illustration: Sugar's Chapel--the Lectern And Pulpit.] + +THE LECTERN, which stands near, is composed of a massive double desk, +surmounted by ornamental work, containing the arms of the see. It +rests upon a ball and turned stem and base, and is entirely of brass. +Bishop Creyghton, who had it made when he was yet dean, inscribed it +on both desks with his arms and this legend:--_Dr. Rob^{t.} Creyghton +upon his returne from fifteen years Exile, w^{th} o^r Soveraigne Lord +Kinge Charles y^e 2^{d.} made Deane of wells, in y^e yeare 1660, gave +this Brazen Deske, w^{th} God's holy worde thereon to the saide +Cathedrall Church._ The Bible referred to still rests upon it, bearing +the same date; it is bound up with the Prayer Book, and contains +initial letters and a frontispiece, but it stops at the book of Job. + +Opposite the lectern are two sixteenth-century panelled wooden stalls, +with round finials, all bearing the same device on both sides--a Tudor +rose with _I.H.S._ in the centre, and the letters _m.d.l.i.i._ (1552) +on the five petals. These excellent examples of simple and effective +woodwork were found amongst some lumber in 1846, and now form part of +the temporary choir stalls that are used for the nave services. + +On the south side of Bubwith's chapel, and partly covered by it, is a +slab, 10 ft. long, covering the grave of Bishop Haselshaw, with the +inscription, _Walterus de Haselshaw Ep. 1308_. On the west of Sugar's +chapel, another slab bears the inscription, _Radulphus Erghum Ep. +1401_. In a slab near the entrance to the choir there is the matrix for +a brass of a lady, with mitred head-dress of the period, _c._ 1460, +beneath a canopy. The style suggests that it may belong to Lady Lisle, +whose tomb possibly stood here. + +THE TRANSEPTS are both of the same architectural character, and were +evidently built before the nave. They have less ornament, the +medallions and the carved tympana of the nave being alike absent, +although there are the same small heads at the angles of the pier +arches. The triforium, too, is different; each bay consists of two +large openings, devoid of ornament, instead of three narrower ones, +and is separated from the next bay by the vaulting-shaft which reaches +down to the string-course of the pier arch (see p. 77). Some of the +carved work, however, of the capitals and corbels is of a later date +than that of the nave, which may be due to the capitals having been +left uncut till after the nave was finished, or to damage done by the +fall of the _tholus_ in 1248. Apparently the corbels of the vaulting +shafts are later than those of the nave, they are certainly more +elaborate. Of the capitals those on the west side of both transepts +are of one style and abound in representations of the toothache. The +capitals on the east side are different from those on the west of the +third pier on this side of the south transept, and that is of a style +that suggests the Decorated period. Those on the west are certainly +the best, and some of the following are the finest in the church, and +perhaps in England:-- + +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. + +[Illustration: Section of North Transept, and Elevation of South +Transept.] + +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 (illust. p. 79). + +_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 (p. 80); 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 (p. 89), 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; this part +of the church had been damaged ever since the fall of the _tholus_ in +1248. The caps must therefore have been carved during the episcopate +of Burnell (1275-1292). Mr Irvine, indeed, suggests that the figure of +the woman taking a thorn ("bur") from her foot may contain a reference +to Bishop Burnell. The undercroft passage, with its curious corbels +and bosses, was probably also a part of the old work then completed, +as it contains one "toothache" head. Although the introduction of such +finished figure-subjects into the capitals suggests this lateness of +date, they are still completely Early English in style, and a great +gulf is fixed between them and the Decorated caps of the chapter-house +begun by Burnell's successor, William de Marchia (1293-1302). + +[Illustration: The South Transept From North Side Of Nave.] + +[Illustration: Capitals In Transept] + +THE FONT is of peculiar interest as the one surviving relic of Bishop +Robert's Norman church. Whether it also stood in the still earlier +Saxon church is still an open question: it is as likely to be of +pre-Norman as of Norman date, and the fact that whatever ornament +there may have been in the spandrels of its shallow arcades has been +hacked off, makes conjecture unsafe. Its unusual position in the south +transept may be due to the Bishop Giso's quasi-conventual buildings on +the south of the church, which would have made this transept the most +common entrance to the cathedral at the time of the Conquest. A +Jacobean cover rests upon the font, and with it forms a charming +combination of pre-Gothic and post-Gothic Romanesque design. + +[Illustration: The Font. (Drawn by W. Heywood.)] + +At the south end of the south transept is the tomb of Bishop _de +Marchia_ (_ob._ 1302). The effigy lies in a recess, and is covered +with a canopy of three bays, the ogival arches, finished in sumptuous +crockets and finials, painted red and gold, the spandrels being +alternately green and red, powdered with a little pattern, the cusps +and mouldings scarlet and crimson and green and gold, with a dark +colour in the shadows. The effigy of the bishop is one of the best in +the cathedral, but even more lovely are the three little figures so +charmingly supported on foliage at the back of the tomb--two angels +and a bishop between them. The heads of these three figures have been +wickedly destroyed, but parts of the chains of the angels' censers +remain. Of the two beautiful angels which hold the cushion the heads +fortunately remain. Along the plinth of the tomb are six heads which +are quite unique in their treatment; three are bearded (one of these +is bald); one is shaven, tonsured, and turned half round in a +strangely naturalistic manner; another is also shaven, and the +remaining head is that of a woman in a veil. Two large faces are +carved on the east and west ends of the tomb, both with long wavy +hair--one of a woman, the other with a wavy beard. The central boss of +the vaulting is carved with five roses, which are coloured green, +their foliage, like all the foliage in this tomb, being gilt on a red +ground with the red edges showing. The little angels at the back had +gilded robes with red lining, and blue wings; the little bishop wore a +red chasuble with green (or blue) dalmatic, and red tunicle over his +white alb; the lappets of his mitre, which have survived, were red, +and traces of dark blue are on his shoes: there seem to have been +patterns on the various vestments, and the colours can still be seen +where their sleeves overlapped. Modern lettering has been cut across +the back of the tomb and coloured, by way of contrast to the ancient +work. + +Under the battlemented cornice of the curtain-wall to the west a row +of heads is painted in fresco on a red ground, which seems to be part +of the same scheme with the curious heads on the plinth of de +Marchia's tomb: one of these, a woman in a dark-coloured hood, is +especially distinct. No doubt, the whole wall was originally painted. +The sill of the window over the tomb seems to have been used for some +special purpose: there is a passage cut through the splay of the +window, through which the sill may be reached, which is not the case +with the corresponding window of the north transept. The passage is +reached from a staircase concealed behind the curtain-wall, which is +reached by an ogee-headed doorway (with cusps in the head, finial, and +two small heads to its very beautiful mouldings). This staircase also +leads to a chamber on the level of the passage, but on the west side: +the interior of the chamber can be seen from the ground, as its old +wooden door is kept open. It is supposed by some to have been a +watching chamber in connection with the tomb. There can, indeed, be +little doubt that these arrangements had something to do with de +Marchia's tomb, or that the ornamented doorway in the curtain wall of +the same date as the tomb, together with the frescoes on the wall, +were connected with the strong efforts that were made at this time for +his canonisation. Perhaps the sill was used for the display of his +relics, and the chamber was the ordinary resting-place of the +reliquary, for which purpose the door and the absence of windows would +have fitted it. + +Next to de Marchia's tomb on the other side, the monument of Joan +Viscountess _Lisle_ (_ob._ 1463) gives a good illustration of the +change of architecture in a hundred and fifty years. The crockets are +less free, and straight lines and square members abound; the fine ogee +curve of its single arch is weakened by the rather weedy cusps, its +shafts have become tiny mouldings, and their capitals mere knops. It +is coloured, too, all over, in green and red and yellow, but heavily +in comparison with its neighbour. The colour has been unusually well +preserved, owing to the fact that the tomb was plastered over, and not +discovered till 1809. There is no effigy, but a brass of apparently +recent date bears this inscription:--_Hic jacet Joanna Vicecomitilla +de Lisle una filiarum et haeredum Thomae Chedder, armiger quae fuit +uxor Joannis Vicecomitis de Lisle, filii et haeredis Joannis Comitis +Salopiae et Margaretae u[=x] ejus unius filiarum et haeredum Ricardi +comitis Warwici et Elizabethae uxoris ejus filiae et haeredis Thomae de +Berkley militis, domini de Berkeley, quae obiit xv^{mo} die mensis Julii +A[=n][=n] D^i MCCCCLXIII._ Lady Lisle's husband was killed at the +battle of Chastillon (1453), when he was serving under his father, the +famous Earl of Shrewsbury. The painted designs above the three niches +should be noticed, and also those of the moulding and fleurs-de-lys at +the side. The monument was evidently used as a chantry chapel; but it +did not originally stand here. The brass by the north side of the +screen (p. 89) may mark the site. + +The eastern aisles of the transepts are divided off into chapels by +two Perpendicular stone screens, that of the south transept having a +doorway in it for each chapel. These chapels are thus dedicated, +beginning from the south--St. Martin, St. Calixtus, St. David, Holy +Cross. From the last-named chapel the chapter-house is reached through +an Early English doorway, and a similar doorway (now partly blocked by +Biconyll's tomb) led from St. Martin's to a small building, supposed +to have been a vestry, which once stood outside. In the south transept +there are also--a small door to the tower, a small door with ogee head +(p. 96), a rather larger doorway with modern lintel leading to the +library (two shafts just above this door have been cut off, and faces +very roughly cut on their extremities by way of corbel), and the large +doorway leading to the cloister. The principal windows belong to the +original work, having been merely filled with Perpendicular tracery. +The windows of the south-east aisle contain Decorated tracery, but the +tracery of the north-east aisle is not good. + +The western aisle of the south transept is open; that of the north +transept is cut off by a Perpendicular stone screen, which is solid in +the southern bay, and through carved in the northern. The latter is, +however, boarded up, and used as the vestry of the priest-vicars, the +other being the vestry of the vicars-choral. From the priest-vicars' +vestry a door leads into a small chamber now used for the water +supply, and over the doorway there is a small and pretty figure of a +woman under a little niche. + +There are a very few fragments of Early Perpendicular glass in some of +the upper lights of the nave and transept windows. There are also two +modern windows at the west end of the nave, and one in the south +transept, of which I have been unable to discover the actual +designers' names. + +TRANSEPT CHAPELS.--ST. MARTIN'S, where the obits of Savaric and +Jocelin were celebrated, is separated by a solid Perpendicular screen +from the adjoining chapel of St. Calixtus. It is now used as the +canons' vestry. Partly blocking the old Early English doorway is the +tomb of _Biconyll_, who was chancellor in 1454. His will, with a good +deal of information about him, is given in the _Somerset Proceedings_ +for 1894, by Mr A.S. Bicknell, a descendant. The name was originally +Bykenhulle (A.S. for Beacon Hill), and has been spelt in forty-seven +different ways. His effigy lies on the tomb, dressed in cassock, long +surplice, and _cappa nigra_ or choral cope. The ends of the almuce can +be seen in the opening of the cope, and its hood hangs over the +shoulders. + +ST. CALIXTUS' chapel is enclosed on the side of the choir aisle by +part of the beautiful ironwork from Beckington's tomb. The doors of +this and St. Martin's chapel are also made from the same iron screen. +Within the chapel, and near the screen, in strange contrast to it, +stands one of those indescribable stoves which disfigure the church, +its chimney, as usual, driven through the vault. The east end of the +chapel is occupied by the canopy which formed part of Bishop +_Beckington's_ tomb till the restoration of 1850, when it was, by an +inexcusable act of vandalism, taken down and fixed up in this place +(p. 125). This canopy did not cover the tomb, but stood at its foot so +as to form the eastern part of a chantry chapel, the tomb being on its +south side and the iron screen enclosing it where it jutted into the +choir on the north side. It will be noticed that its northern angle +was sloped off so as not to present an awkward corner on the side of +the choir. The reredos, for such it really is, is a most elaborate and +charming piece of work; "pretty" is perhaps the word that describes it +best, if "pretty" be taken in its very best sense. Here there is +nothing of the suave grace of de Marchia's tomb, nothing of the vigour +and truth of the transept capitals, nothing of the noble delicacy of +the north porch, which was a delicacy of intellect, while this is a +delicacy of execution. It is certainly decadent; even by the side of +Sugar's chapel it is over-refined and a thought effeminate, but, with +the colour that still covers it fresh and bright, it must have had all +the fascination of a splendid piece of jewellery, where profusion of +ornament is more desired than structural grace. The cornice is +particularly rich with a finely-carved vine ornament, and with two +angels, their long outstretched wings minutely feathered, who bear +shields having representations of the sacred wounds. The tabernacle +work behind the altar is gone, like the altar itself, with the +exception of the small niches which formed the sides of the central +composition, but the little canopy of the central niche remains to +give us a slight idea of its workmanship. The short wings of the +reredos have panels and traceried openings, and, on the south, a +piscina which looks almost too tiny to be real. The top has a toy-like +vault of fan-tracery with little pendants. + +On the south side of St. Calixtus' chapel is _Dean Husse's_ alabaster +tomb (_ob._ 1305), which bears some of the best carved work in the +cathedral. The effigy itself is good: it represents the Dean clad in +the same choir vestments as the figures on the panels below. These +panels should on no account be missed. The first on the left +represents the Annunciation with a grace that is not less delightful +for the strain of exaggeration which pervades it. The Blessed Virgin +(see illustration on p. 101), a lovely figure in long, close-fitting +kirtle and mantle thrown gracefully over her shoulders, turns round +from the desk at which she is kneeling, and throws out her arms with a +quaint gesture of surprise; her crown and nimbus are both of enormous +size. A very small Gabriel dashes down from the top corner, bearing a +scroll which takes up the whole of the panel; he is preceded by a Dove +with very long rays. The next three panels (passing over these with +shields) contain three figures of clergy, two of which hold books, and +all their short staves. They wear the cassock, long surplice, and a +long, graceful choral cope, somewhat like the modern academic gown in +shape, the rounded ends of the hooded almuce reach to the knee and are +held at the chest by a cord with tassels. There is no better +representation of medieval choir vestments in existence than these +three figures. The last panel is a curious representation of the +Eternal Father holding the crucifix; this remarkable figure has a +_very_ long face, great masses of curly hair, a huge crown, and _very_ +long hands. + +The two chapels of the north transept can only be reached through the +choir aisle, no doubt because the way to the chapter-house was through +them. The first was probably ST DAVID'S chapel. Here should be noticed +the capital of the easternmost shaft of the second transept pier--a +head with curly hair and handsome smiling face. This shaft is +corbelled off, and the corbel through carved in the shape of a lizard +eating the leaves of a plant with berries thereon; it is a charming +study. The tomb of Bishop _Still_ (1543-1607) in this chapel is under +a handsome canopy of warm-coloured marbles, with black columns and +red, blue, and gold decoration. The effigy is dressed in rochet and +chimere, over which is a red robe lined with white fur; a ruff is +round the neck, a close-fitting black cap covers the head and part of +the ears, and the rochet is finished at the wrists with a plain black +band. + +In the chapel of the HOLY CROSS the monument of the intruding Bishop +_Kidder_, Ken's successor (p. 158, _ob._ 1703), stands on the site of +the altar, whither it has been removed from its original position on +the south side of the choir. Standing in all its chilly +pretentiousness so near to Still's tomb, it well illustrates the +immense decline in monumental art which took place during the +seventeenth century. The bishop's daughter, who erected the monument, +is represented reclining, as, with one arm outstretched, she looks at +two urns which are supposed to contain the ashes of her father and +mother; underneath is a very long Latin inscription. + +[Illustration: The Annunciation--Husse's Tomb.] + +Against the north wall and close to the entrance to the chapter-house +stands the tomb of Bishop _Cornish_ (_ob._ 1513). He was chancellor +and precentor of Wells, and suffragan bishop under Bishop Fox of Bath +and Wells and Bishop Oldham of Exeter, his title being Bishop of +Tenos. Part of the inscription remains:--_Obiit supradictus d[)u]s +Thomas Tinensis Ep[)u]s tercio die mensis Julii anno ... MCCCCCXIII +Cujus Anime p_[_ropitietur Deus A_]_men_. The three panels on the +front bear shields--T with a sheaf of corn, Cornish's arms (on a +chevron between three birds' heads erased a mitre) and C with a sheaf +of corn; on the side panel are the arms of the chapter, the arms, that +is, of the see without the pastoral staff. Against the wall within the +canopy are some matrices of small brasses, in which the kneeling +figure of a bishop, a scroll, and two plates for inscriptions can be +traced. + +[Illustration: Priest In Surplice--Husse's Tomb.] + +From several peculiarities in Cornish's tomb, I am convinced that it +was also used as the _Easter Sepulchre_, where the Host was laid +during the concluding days of Holy Week. These sepulchres were often +made in connection with a tomb, and the usual place for them was +somewhere on the north side of the choir. The position here in the +chapel of the Holy Cross (which is an appropriate dedication) would be +particularly convenient for the purpose. The chapel was easily reached +by the clergy without their having to go into the public part of the +church; it was thus as safe a place as the choir itself, and at the +same time was much more open to the people, who could pay their +devotions from the transept, and through the open stone screen could +see the candles burning round the sepulchre. + +[Illustration: The East End In 1823.] + +Just where it could be best seen from the transept, on the eastern end +of the upper storey of the tomb under the canopy, is a carving of the +Resurrection. A wide arch is cut in the stone; within this is carved a +square opening, not through-cut, but farther recessed, to represent +the mouth of the sepulchre; in front of the square recess is the +figure of Christ, issuing from the tomb, clad only in a long mantle, +which He holds across His body; the hair is long, the face mutilated, +and the hands gone. At the left is the kneeling figure of a bishop, +the head gone, but part of the staff remaining in the hands. There is +a great crack (now filled with mortar) round these two figures, as if +the attack of the iconoclasts had been made with heavy tools. A +pedestal at the right-hand corner of the square recess seems a later +insertion, as it is loose and does not exactly fit; probably it was +added soon after the tomb was made, to hold a small silver figure of +an angel, or of a soldier, as there is a little hole (now filled with +mortar) at a height above it convenient for rivetting a metal figure. + +The Sepulchre proper would have consisted of a small coped chest, in +shape like a reliquary, round which would be painted the incidents of +the Passion. The slab of the tomb, being without the usual recumbent +effigy, would have formed the place on which this "coffer" rested, +this being the usual method when a tomb was used for the purpose. On +Good Friday, the Host, often in a specially-made pyx, was with much +ceremony laid in the coffer, together with the altar-cross, and there +was kept, surrounded by candles and guarded by watchers, till Easter +Day. We know that there was a special provision at Wells for one +candle to burn continuously within the Sepulchre "_I cereus in +sepulchro cum corpori Dominico qui continue ardebit donec Matutinae +cantentur in die Paschae_" (_MS. Harl._ 1682, _fo._ 5). There is a +small hole in the east wall of this chapel, close to the tomb and a +little below the level of of the slab whereon the coffer would have +rested; this may have held a sconce or some ornament. But the _cereus +in sepulchro_ was probably a large candle within the chapel, and in +accordance with general usage, there would have been other candles +burning upon cressets. There are two other holes in the north wall, a +few inches to the east of the top of the tomb, which may have held +rods for the curtains that were used in much profusion for the +adornment of Easter sepulchres. While the coffer stood on the slab it +would have hidden the carving of the Resurrection; but on its removal +on Easter Day, the carving would have stood in full view of the +people, bright, no doubt, with colour and surrounded by lights. It +will further be noticed that the tomb stands eighteen inches away from +the east wall, the space being now filled with modern masonry; this +was probably in order to leave ample room for the sacred ministers in +their vestments; had it stood close against the wall the ceremonial +could not have been conveniently carried out. + +Near the tomb is the doorway, with a fine old oak door, which leads +into the chapter-house; and above the tomb is a window which was +blocked up when the vestibule was built, and a bracket set in the +masonry. + +THE CLOCK is a great favourite with visitors, who generally congregate +in the north transept at the striking of the hour and laugh gently to +one another when the quaint performance is over. "Jack Blandiver" +(this is the name given him by the country people for some +undiscovered reason) kicks his bell at each quarter in the most +life-like manner, his feet trembling afterwards with the exertion; but +at the hour, after Jack has sounded his four quarters, as the big bell +begins to toll, the four "knights" above the clock rush round in +contrary directions, and charge each other with so much ferocity that +one unfortunate is felled at each encounter, and has barely time to +recover his upright position before he is again and again knocked down +with resounding clatter upon his horse's back. The other three fight +twenty-four times a day unscathed. + +The clock was thus described by Mr Octavius Morgan, F.R.S., in the +_Archaeological Journal_ for 1883: + +"In the Cathedral of Wells is what remains of the ancient clock which +once belonged to Glastonbury Abbey. This very curious timepiece is +said to have been originally executed by Peter Lightfoot, a monk of +the abbey, but at the cost of Adam de Sodbury, who was promoted to the +abbacy in 1322. It appears to have been originally placed in the south +transept of Glastonbury Abbey Church, where it continued till the +Dissolution, when, tradition says, it was carried to Wells and placed +in the north transept of the cathedral with all its belongings--viz. +the figure which strikes the quarters with his heels on two little +bells within the church, and the two "knights" which perform the same +service with their battle axes on the outside. The inside figure +strikes the hour on a bell before him with a battle-axe in his hands. +The face of the dial is 6 feet in diameter, contained in a square +frame, the spandrels of which are filled with angels holding in their +hands the head of a man; the outer circle is painted blue, with gilt +stars scattered over it, and is divided into twenty-four parts, +corresponding with the twenty-four hours; the horary numbers are in +black-letter characters on circular tablets, and mark the hours from +twelve at noon to midnight, and from thence to midnight again (noon +and midnight being marked by a cross instead of a numeral). The hour +index, a large gilt star or sun, is attached to the machinery behind a +second circle which conceals all except the index. On the second +circle are marked the minutes, indicated by a smaller star; a third +and lesser circle contains the numbers of the days of the month, which +is marked by a point attached to a small circular opening in the +plate, through which the phases of the moon are shown. On the opposite +side is a female figure, with the motto _Semper peragrat Phoebe_. + +"An arched pediment surmounts the whole, with an octagonal projection +from its base like a gallery, capped with a row of battlements, +forming a cornice to the face of the clock. A panelled and +battlemented turret is fixed in the centre, round which four figures +mounted on horses revolve in opposite directions, as if charging at a +tournament, when set in motion by a communication with the clockwork, +to be made at pleasure; these are commonly called _knights_, but their +costume is only that of ordinary persons. The movement is at a +distance from the dial, and connected with it by a long horizontal +rod; the dial work was close at the back of the dial. The revolving +figures on horseback are moved by a separate weight, and are set in +motion by the freeing of a detent. The old boarding at the back [in +the vestry of the vicars-choral] is painted black, with a diaper +scroll of foliage with red and white roses. The female figure on the +dial, representing the moon, is always kept upright by a balance +weight; the quarter-boys inside, who strike the quarters, are much +later, having _knee-breeches_. + +"The outside dial has now two hands; it was once like a star with only +one hand. The bells outside are struck by two figures in armour, +_temp._ Henry VIII., probably put up when it was removed from +Glastonbury. + +"The clock seems to have remained without alteration after it was then +put up, till the present modern movement, made by Thwaites & Reed of +Clerkenwell, was, in the time of Dean Goodenough, substituted for it, +and the old original movement was taken and deposited in the crypt +under the chapter-house, where it remained uncared for, for many +years, during which time, 1853, I visited and examined it, made notes +of it, and took drawings of it. The great wheel has ninety teeth, and +the pinion, a lantern-pinion, had nine leaves, or rather bars; the +second wheel had sixty teeth; the remainder of the works were all +disjointed and bent, and remained unheeded." The whole is now fitted +together, and in a going condition, in the mechanical museum at South +Kensington. + +The _Antiquary_ for August 1897 ("Some Mediaeval Mechanicians") +reminds us that, as the clock was in constant use at Glastonbury for +about 250 years, and then at Wells for another 250 years, and as the +old movement is now still working at the South Kensington, "as though +its life were interminable"--it is probably the oldest piece of +working mechanism extant. + +The same article says of these old works: "It will give an idea of the +labour involved, when it is stated the mechanism of the clock occupies +a space of about 5 feet cube (125 cubic feet), that the structure is +wholly of forged iron; that the numerous wrought-iron wheels, some of +which are nearly 2 feet in diameter and about 1/2 inch thick, besides +having to be made truly circular and concentric, had all their teeth +cut out and trimmed to workable shape by hand; and that the heavy +wrought-iron frames, etc., are fastened entirely by means of mortise, +tenon, and colter, no screws being used in the whole structure. The +pinions are of the lantern form, with octagonal cheek-plates on square +spindles, and the pendulum of modern form beats seconds." + +THE INVERTED ARCHES.--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. + +Professor Willis, who had made a most careful investigation of the +masonry, thus describes the cause and the construction of the inverted +arches (_Somerset Proceedings, 1863, i. 21_): + +"It is evident that the weight of the upper storey of the tower +completed in 1321 had produced fearful settlements, the effects of +which may still be seen in the triforium arches of the nave, and +transepts next to the tower, which are dragged downwards and deformed, +partly rebuilt, filled up, and otherwise exhibiting the signs so often +seen under central towers, of a thorough repair. The great piers of +the tower are cased and connected by a stone framework, which is +placed under the north, south, and west tower-arches, but not under +the east. This framework consists of a low pointed arch, upon which +rests an inverted arch of the same form, so as to produce a figure +somewhat resembling a St. Andrew's cross, to use the happy phrase +applied by Leland to a similar contrivance introduced for a similar +reason [but at a later date] into the central tower arches of +Glastonbury." To this description there only needs to be added a +mention of the circles which occupy the spandrels, and help to prevent +the whole structure from seeming a mere inert mass of masonry. 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. + +[Illustration: The Inverted Arches, From The North Transept.] + +At the same time as the arches were built, flying buttresses were +inserted further to secure the tower, and they can be seen blocking up +the triforium and clerestory of those bays, in nave, choir, and +transepts, which adjoin it. Other repairs were necessary, for the +pier-arches of the same bays in nave and transepts were completely +shattered, and had to be replaced by the present ones, the +queer-looking capitals of which contrast so oddly with the earlier +work. It is instructive, also, to compare the lightness of these +fourteenth-century mouldings with the boldness of those, wrought at +exactly the same time, of the great inverted arches. + +THE TOWER.--Besides its inverted arches and other signs of repair, the +tower is mainly noticeable for its Perpendicular fan-tracery vault of +fifteenth-century date. This vault hides the lantern with its arcades, +and thus destroys one of the elements of distance and mystery which, +before the advent of the more prosaic Perpendicular period, had been a +characteristic of Gothic architecture. Nothing else but the desire for +uniformity can account for this unjustifiable addition; for there can +have been no intention of hanging bells in the lantern when there were +already two western bell-towers. The lantern, with its cracked +masonry, can be seen during the ascent of the tower (p. 47). + +The shafts of the eastern tower arches were corbelled off at some +height from the ground, in order to allow the stalls of the first +ritual choir to be set flat against the wall. This shows that Bishop +Reginald, when he rebuilt the church, kept to the old Romanesque +arrangement and made his choir under the tower, reserving his three +bays of what is now the choir for the presbytery--a very dignified +arrangement. The square holes for fixing the wooden screen of this +earlier choir can still be traced on the aisle walls in a line with +the ninth piers of the nave. + +THE SCREEN was built in the fourteenth century; but Salvin altered and +spoilt it by bringing forward the middle portion to carry the +unsightly organ. Mr Freeman objected very strongly to the choir being +shut off from the nave by this screen, and urged the authorities to +pull it down and throw the whole church open from end to end. The +remedy suggested by Mr St. John Hope, on the other hand, is that a +second screen should be erected under the western arch of the tower, +against which the nave or rood altar should stand, with seats for the +choir on either side. Such a screen as this was certainly used in +conventual churches, and would be more in accord with the spirit of +medieval architecture, which was content to sacrifice the grandeur of +great space in order to gain the qualities of seclusion and mystery, +and inexhaustible variety. + +Two things, at least, are certain. The long-established custom of +crowding the Sunday congregation into the choir should be abolished, +and the organ should be modified or removed. Magnificent Sunday +services could be held in the nave, either with a second screen and +altar or without a screen at all; but, as the former plan could be +tried without any destruction of old work, it should be tried first. + +[Illustration: Choir, Looking West.] + +As for the organ, the cathedral will always be defaced while it +remains as a whole in the midst of the screen. Musical experts could +no doubt distribute it so that it would no longer be an offence to the +eye, and yet would sound more effectively than at present. Perhaps +galleries for the swell, pedal, and great organs might be built above +the pier-arches in the western bay of the choir on either side, and +the consol, with the choir organ, might remain on the screen. Some +fragments of tabernacle work on the triforium level would thus be +hidden, but it is unremarkable work, exactly similar to that of the +adjoining bays, and, moreover, it was so blocked and patched when the +tower was strengthened that it would not be a disadvantage to hide it. +As it is, the organ, unsightly in shape, and garishly painted, blocks +up the view of the splendid east window, and makes the nave a mere +vestibule to the choir. The inverted arches are generally thought to +block up the church, but were the organ removed it would be found that +they do not. + +THE ORGAN is a modern instrument by Willis. Dean Creyghton, a musician +whose services are still sung in the cathedral, built the old organ in +1664, and S. Green of London repaired it in 1786, but only one +diapason remains of the old stops. The case also disappeared, the +present one being among the ugliest in England. There are three +manuals; thirteen speaking stops on the great organ, ten on the swell, +nine on the choir, and eight on the pedal organ. The swell organ is +rather small, but has been recently improved; the pedal organ is the +best feature of the instrument. The wind is supplied by hydraulic +machinery. There are four pneumatic pistons, six couplers, and seven +composition pedals. The organist now sits on the south side, so that +he can see his choristers, whether they sing in the choir or the nave. + +THE CHOIR.--The western part of the choir should be particularly +noticed. For, while the three eastern bays which form the presbytery +are Late Decorated, the three western bays of the choir are +twelfth-century work of Bishop Reginald's time, being, in fact, the +oldest part of the interior. That they were finished before Reginald's +other work in the transepts and nave is not only likely from the +general custom of medieval architects, but is made probable by the +carving of the capitals, which is less advanced than that in any other +part of the church. + +It will be noticed, however, that, though the three arches remain of +the earlier bays, the two easternmost _piers_ of the old part are +Decorated, like those in the three later bays; and some of their arch +mouldings have been cut away in order to fit the new capitals. The +reason for this peculiar combination of a new pier with an old arch is +an interesting one. The original pier marked the east end of +Reginald's church, and it was taken from under its arch because, being +at the junction of the east wall with the side walls, it was a large +compound pier quite unfitted to stand as one of an arcade. The three +bays then formed the presbytery of the church, and the choir was +placed, Norman fashion, under the tower. A further evidence of this +being the original east end of the church is presented by the two +early buttresses outside at this point, which are much wider than any +of the others. But there must have been an ambulatory beyond the east +end of the old church, since Reginald's work is carried a bay farther +east in the choir aisles. There may, too, have been a small chapel +beyond. + +Speaking of the contrast between the three early bays and the later +work, Freeman says: "The new work, though exceedingly graceful, is +perhaps too graceful; it has a refinement and minuteness of detail +which is thoroughly in place in a small building like the Lady Chapel, +but which gives a sort of feeling of weakness when it is transferred +to a principal part of the church of the full height of the building. +The three elder arches are all masculine vigour; the three newer +arches are all feminine elegance; but it strikes me that feminine +elegance, thoroughly in its place in the small chapels, is hardly in +its place in the presbytery." + +Certainly, the mouldings of the later arches will not bear comparison +with those of the earlier. The suave strength of the transitional +mouldings forms a most instructive contrast to the less effective +minuteness of the decadent work. The same is true of the capitals: +those of the later period have little architectural significance, and +many of them are further weakened by the fact that not the capital +only, but the adjoining part of the shaft as well, is cut out of white +stone. + +With the exception, however, of the three pier-arches themselves, +there are few signs of the twelfth-century work. For, when the new +presbytery was finished, the clerestory over the old arches was +altered, and the triforium cased with tabernacle work (though not in +quite so rich a style), so as to bring them into harmony with the +fourteenth-century work, and to fit them to carry the new vault. The +tabernacle work of the presbytery must have been completed first; for +no attempt was made to keep it at the same level with the old part, +which, when the builders determined to adapt it to the new, caused a +very marked break at the juncture. + +[Illustration: CHOIR, LOOKING EAST. PROCESSION PATH AND LADY PATH +BEYOND.] + +There is, strictly speaking, no triforium, the space being occupied by +the rather florid tabernacle work, the effect of which is, of course, +considerably impaired by the absence of statuary. The niches in the +presbytery are deeper than those in the choir; they spring direct from +the pier-arches, having no spandrel, and they contain richly-foliated +brackets, which rest on triple shafts. This part is also marked by +triple vaulting shafts of Purbeck, which 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. + +The inhabitants of Wells are, or were, exceedingly proud of the +"vista" into the procession-path and Lady Chapel, which is afforded by +the three dainty pointed arches of the east end. So proud were they +that they would suffer nothing to stand behind the high altar but a +low stone wall, barely higher than the altar itself, an arrangement +which, it is hardly necessary to point out, defeated its own end by +reducing the whole effect to absolute baldness. Mr Freeman wisely +pointed out the need of a respectable reredos, remarking that the +original founders never dreamed of the Lady Chapel acting as a +"peep-show to the choir." A Lady Chapel, he added, was built specially +not to be peeped into, but to be a thing apart from the great whole of +the church, from the high altar westward. After a while, a reredos was +offered to the church, and approved by Mr J.D. Sedding, who was then +the cathedral architect; but there was much opposition, and the scheme +was dropped. Dean Plumptre, with characteristic temerity, went so far +as to appeal to the witness of the _vox populi_ that the open view was +the best. Since then, wiser counsels have prevailed, and a curtain +(small and dingy, it is true, but still a curtain) now hangs behind +the altar. While giving a measure of dignity to the east end, it, of +course, emphasises, as every architect must have known that it would, +the charm of the "peep" into the chapels beyond. + +A larger reredos would further enhance the peculiar charm of the east +end. There can, indeed, be little doubt that the ancient reredos was +of tabernacle work, so as to carry on the effect of niches of the +triforium storey. Their present disconnectedness can be no part of the +original plan, and a reredos full of statues, which was high enough to +group adequately with the rich canopies above could have been the only +way to secure dignity and unity of effect. Till an architect is found +capable of mastering so delicate a problem of proportion as such a +reredos must present, we may well be content with a larger and +brighter curtain. The low east wall, with its ugly cresting, warns us +not to embark too rashly upon modern stonework. + +The lierned stone vault, with its heavy, angular ribs, is of a very +unusual kind. Mr Freeman described it as "a coved roof, such as we are +used to in woodwork in this part of England, only with cells cut in it +for the clerestory windows." The restorers have gilded the bosses, but +the space between the ribs is smoothed in a way that gives the +appearance of there being no masonry in the construction. One can +hardly judge the ceiling, therefore, by its present appearance, which +is not further improved by the green wash with which some of the +clerestory windows are covered. + +The general appearance of the choir suffers pitiably from the +ill-advised restoration of 1848 and the following years. Before that +time its aspect must have been curious and encumbered; but the +judicious removal of the pews and galleries, and the restoration of +the truncated oak canopies of the stalls, would have made matters +right at a small cost, and without the destruction of any old +woodwork. As it was, everything was ruthlessly swept away. The +tabernacled stalls, which eighteenth-century vandalism had respected, +vanished utterly before the restoring mania of the Gothic revivalist, +even their traditional position and order being changed. + +The result is just what might have been expected. The place has been +completely modernised. Chilly stone canopies cover the stalls; they +are of the kind of workmanship which forty years ago was considered +excellent. That is to say, they are covered with frigid, ungainly, and +pompous ornament, cut with mechanical regularity, and without one +trace of feeling or one line of beauty from beginning to end. Below, +and between them, the choir is encumbered, much as it was before 1848, +with rows of stalls, which are continued in the presbytery almost up +to the tawdry brass altar-rails. Two more pale ghosts of medieval art +front each other in complacent parody of the work their makers could +not even copy--the pulpit and the bishop's throne. The former is Early +Victorian; the latter is worse, it is a restoration of Perpendicular +work so relentless that not a sign of the original conception remains. +Plate-glass fills the tracery at the sides, and the door is a piece of +solid swinging stone. On the completion of this terrible work, the +restorers seem to have felt dimly the want of colour, which previously +had been so abundant. They therefore proceeded to furnish with that +peculiar musty red which used to cast a gloom over our childhood--red +cushions on the seats, red cushions on the desks, red hassocks on the +floor, red edges to the books, hot red in the bishop's throne, dull +red on the altar, before the altar, and behind the altar, it is all +red but the chilly white stone, and the all-pervading woodwork of the +seats, which adds the muddy gloom of oak that has been stained and +varnished to the miserable poverty of the whole. + +The cause of all this desolation was just the ignorance of its +promoters as to the functions of a cathedral. The choir was looked +upon as a select church for the leading families of the town, and the +seats in it were appropriated; the nave was a vast empty space that +was never used for worship at all. Hence the organ on the screen, +hence the setting back of the stalls, so that the choir might be +widened, and more seats "rammed, jammed, crammed," to use Freeman's +indignant words, into the space. Instead of the long continuous range +of stalls which formerly existed, there are now groups of five under +each arch, with the result that ten of the prebendaries are without +accommodation. Such is the heavy legacy of blunders with which the +dean and chapter are burdened. It will take many a year before the +choir can be redeemed from its unfortunate state; but the present +arrangement of the altar is a great improvement on its position only a +few years ago, and no doubt similar measures will in time completely +efface the traces of 1850. + +Of the old woodwork the MISERICORDS have alone escaped destruction. +Sixty-four of these remain, fifty of which belonged to the prebendal +stalls of the upper row, though they were removed from their proper +position at the restoration. Sixty of the seats are now in the lower +rows of the stalls, the other four are preserved in the library. It is +enough to say of them that no finer examples of wood-carving can be +seen in England. The following description of the wonderfully fresh +and varied subjects was supplied by Mr St. John Hope for a paper read +by Canon Church before the _Society of Antiquaries_ in March 1896:-- + + _South side, first row._--1, a goat (broken); 2, a griffin + fighting with a lion(?); 3, a man in hood and drawers riding with + his face to the tail of a barebacked horse; 4, a hawk preying on + a rabbit; 5, a mermaid (unfinished); 6, two popinjays in a fruit + tree; 7, an ape carrying a basket of fruit on his back (broken); + 8, a double-bodied monster; 9, a dog-headed griffin; 10, two + goats butting (unfinished); 11, a monkey holding an owl + (unfinished); 12, two dragons interlocked and biting each other's + tails; 13, an ewe suckling a lamb (unfinished); 14, a wyvern and + a horse fighting. _South side, second row._--15, a mermaid + suckling a lion; 16, a man holding a cup? (broken), sitting on + the ground, and disputing with another man holding a pouch; 17, a + cat preying on a mouse (unfinished); 18, a monster with bat's + wings; 19, a griffin devouring a lamb; 20, a puppy biting a cat; + 21, a man in a contorted position upholding the seat; 22, a + serious-looking dog; 23, a cat playing a fiddle; 24, a man seated + on the ground and thrusting a dagger through the head of a dragon + with feathered wings; 25, bust of a bishop, in amice, chasuble, + and mitre (unfinished); 26, a peacock in his pride; 27, a fox + preaching to four geese, one of which has fallen asleep (broken); + 28, a cock crowing. _North side, first row._--29, a lion dormant; + 30, a dragon with expanded wings, asleep; 31, a man with his left + eye closed, wearing a cloak and squatting on the ground with his + hands on his knees; 32, a fox running off with a goose in his + mouth; 33, head of a man with donkey's ears; 34, two monsters + with male and female human heads, caressing (unfinished); 35, a + man on his back upholding the seat with his right hand and right + foot; 36, a lion with the ears of an ass; 37, a hawk scratching + its head; 38, a sleeping cat (unfinished); 39, a woman with + dishevelled hair and agonised expression, crouching on the ground + with the right hand on her shoulder, the other extended; 40, a + dragon with hairy belly biting his back; 41, two ducks addorsed, + one with his beak open; 42, two dragons fighting (unfinished); + 43, a bat's head (unfinished). _North side, second row._--44, + head of a man with bushy hair and beard, with a lion's leg + growing out of each side; 45, a man in tunic and hood, lying on + his side and clasping his hands; 46, a man in girded tunic, with + his head downwards, upholding the seat with his back and left + hand; 47, head of a lady with hair in a caul on each side, + covered with a veil confined by an ornate fillet; 48, a + gentle-looking lion; 49, a bat displayed; 50, head of an angel, + with amice round neck and expanded wings; 51, a lion; 52, two + doves about to drink from a ewer standing in a basin + (unfinished); 53, a squirrel with a collar round his neck, trying + to escape from a monkey who holds him by a cord; 54, a + wood-pigeon feeding; 55, a man riding on a lion, to whose + buttocks he is applying a whip; 56, a boar and a cat with cloven + feet, walking in opposite directions; 57, an eagle displayed + (unfinished); 58, head and shoulders of a man who upholds the + seat with his hands; 59, a rabbit regardant; 60, a two-legged + beast regarding its tail, which is formed of three oak-leaves on + one stem. _In the Library._--61, a man in hood and loose tunic, + kneeling on the ground and thrusting a spear down the throat of a + dragon; 62, a boy in gown, with long, wavy hair, lying on his + side and drawing a thorn out of his left foot (of coarse late + seventeenth-century work); 63, a dove or pigeon feeding her + young; 64, a sorrowful-looking king sitting cross-legged on a + cushion between two rampant griffins, who are secured by straps + buckled round their necks. + +GLASS IN THE CHOIR.--Over the high altar is a superb specimen of the +Jesse window. It is so intricate, that at first nothing can be +distinguished in the glow of jewelled colour but the twining branches +of the vine, and a little time is needed to enter into the spirit of a +window that is all the more enduring for not being very obvious. The +following excellent description by Canon Church (in a sermon preached +in the cathedral on May Day 1890) will make the legend easy to +decipher:-- + +"In the central light are the foremost figures of the Bible story. At +the base is the recumbent figure of Jesse with name inscribed, with +head resting on hand as in meditation. From that figure, as from the +vine stem, issues upward the leading shoot, bearing upon it the +figures of the Virgin Mother crowned with ruby nimbus, and the Holy +Child with gold nimbus, both under a golden canopy. Above, in line, is +the Crucifixion. On either side, the waving tendrils of the vine +shoots intertwine themselves in rings of light round figures of those +who prepared the way for the advent of the Word Incarnate. On the +lower tier, in line with Jesse, are, we may believe, the ancestors of +Jesse. Amminadab and Obed are inscribed on two of the pedestals--others +are nameless. Stately figures they are in face and form, in flowing +mantles of green, and ruby and gold, like Arab chiefs, some with the +Arab head-covering such as is worn to-day--figures such as some artist +in the last crusading host might have seen and designed, so different +from the conventional portraiture of Bible characters. + +"In the second tier are the Kings and Prophets chosen to represent the +heralds of the Babe of Bethlehem, the Word Incarnate. Three +kings--David with his 'immortal harp of golden wires'; Solomon, with +Temple model in his hand, in robes of emerald, and ruby, and gold, are +on either side of the central Figures; and Jechonias, the link in the +pedigree between the royal David and the captive exile. Three +Prophets--Abraham, misplaced indeed in order of time, but most fitly +in place as 'the father of the faithful, unto whom and through whom +the gospel was before preached to the Gentiles' (Gal. iii. 8); Hosea, +and Daniel. All these are clad in the magnificence of Oriental +drapery, the colours of each pair on either side of the central light +answering like to like. Some are looking upward, some are pointing +with outstretched hand towards The Child, towards the Crucified One. + +"There in central light in the mid-panel of the window is the Virgin +Mother and the Holy Child, The Child born in Bethlehem the home of +Jesse, not in David's royal Palace, the flowering shoot of the stem of +Jesse. Now from His throne on His Mother's knee He looks out over the +world and as with outstretched arms to embrace. A ray of white light +on the Mother's head gives a natural halo of purity to Her 'the highly +favoured' 'with grace replete,' whom all generations have called +'blessed,' as she looks down wondering on the Holy Child. + +"A subdued and sadder colour seems to veil the subject of the highest +panel in the central light. There is the green Cross in the +background, and upon it are affixed the attenuated arms and the bent +form of the Crucified--the head drooping on the breast. On either side +of the Cross stand, the sorrowing Mother on the right, in attitude of +calm resignation, very different from the conventional garb of +mourning, and the exaggerated expression of grief in so many +paintings; on the other hand St. John, in sadder colours and the gloom +of grief. Again above, in two of the smaller six-cusped lights, are +figures rising from the tomb, and in the two at the side are angels +blowing trumpets calling to judgment. At the head and apex of the +window are outstretched wings as of the Holy Spirit like the Dove +brooding over the world re-created by the Word made Flesh, giving +Himself for our redemption." + +The clerestory windows contained a figure under a canopy in each of +the lower lights. Four of these old windows remain. One light in the +north-east window contains a St. George, thus described by Mr C. +Winston (_Arch. Soc., Bristol vol._): "He is clad in a surcoat which +reaches to the knee. He wears a helmet, avant and rerebras, +shin-pieces and sollerets of plate, or rather cuir boulli; the rest of +his person is defended with mail, on his shoulders are aiglettes." In +the next window are St. Egidias with very distended ears, and St. +Gregory in a tiara. There are also two modern windows; a glaring one +by Willement has St. Dunstan and St. Benignus, who were both abbots of +Glastonbury and St. Honorius; another, by Bell, has Augustine, +Ambrose, and Athanasius. + +THE AISLES OF THE CHOIR are entered from the transepts by ogee arches, +which have crockets and finials, and are flanked by a pair of +pinnacles on either side. The aisles are of the same character as the +choir itself, as they were vaulted when the choir vault was made, and +new windows of the Decorated style were inserted in the western bays +as well as in the newer part. There is a stone bench along the aisles +on both sides, and on the north side some very fine specimens of Early +English carving lie on the bench. The vaulting is lierned with four +bosses at each intersection. The foliage of the third group of +capitals on the north side consists of a single leaf which runs +horizontally round the caps. + +Two old wooden doors, with fine hinges, close the entrance to the +presbytery on the north and south sides. + +The body of Bishop Jocelin lies buried in the midst of the choir, +where he was laid in the place of honour as a founder. Bishop Godwin +relates that the tomb was "monstrously defaced" in his time, and all +traces of the burying-place were lost until, in 1874, an ancient +freestone coffin was found under the pavement in the midst of the +choir. Its covering stone had been broken, and the bones within +disturbed; but on its discovery the stone was renewed, and the +inscription _Jocelinus de Welles, Ep._ 1242 cut on it. + +THE SOUTH-EAST TRANSEPT is the chapel of St. John the Evangelist, but +it is mainly occupied by a stove, one of those characterised by Mr +Freeman as "the most hideous stoves with which human perversity ever +disfigured an ancient building." Odds and ends are also kept here, in +accordance with the extraordinary idea, not yet quite extinct, that a +chapel is a place where rubbish may be shot. There is, nevertheless, a +decorated piscina in the east wall to remind one of its former +purpose. Against the south wall is the tomb of the learned _Dean +Gunthorpe_ (1472-98), who built the present Deanery, and gave to the +cathedral a silver image of our Lady, 158 oz. in weight. His initials +occur on the panels, I.G. on a blue ground, and also his arms, which +include guns, in allusion to his name. There are traces of colour, +especially a strong light blue on the panels. Unless one has good +nerves, it is advisable not to look at the window, which was given by +the students of the Theological College under Canon Pindar, its first +Principal. The middle of this unfortunate chapel is encumbered with a +monument to _Dean Jenkyns_ (_ob._ 1854), the ornamentation of which may +be taken as marking the lowest point to which the debasement of Gothic +design has descended. A row of tiles round it serves to make it more +conspicuous, and its unhappy prominence is further secured by a low +brass railing of unutterably bad workmanship. It was Dean Jenkyns who +restored the choir, and Professor Freeman remarks that on his tomb "is +written, with an unconscious sarcasm, _Multum ei debet ecclesia +Wellensis_," words which, he slily points out, seem to be borrowed +from Lucan's address to Nero, the destroyer of Rome, _Multum Roma +tamen debet_, etc. + +MONUMENTS IN THE SOUTH CHOIR AISLE.--Besides two of the +thirteenth-century effigies of earlier bishops, there are in this +aisle two ancient monuments of great interest. In the second bay is +the tomb of _Saint William Bytton_ (1267-1274), a low slab of Purbeck +marble, with the figure of a bearded and fully-vested bishop, in the +act of benediction, cut upon it. This is the oldest incised slab in +England; and it was at this tomb that the offerings were made which +helped to finish the church. Godwin says that "many superstitious +people (especially such as were troubled with the tooth-ake) were wont +(even of late yeeres) to frequent much the place of his buriall, being +without the North [a mistake for south] side of the Quier, where we +see a Marble stone, having a pontificall image graven upon it." + +It may have once been more raised than now, and four small plugged +holes in the masonry of the wall opposite suggest the existence of +some arrangement in connection with the devotions here. In the +restoration of 1848 the tomb was discovered between the second and +third piers of the south choir aisle. It is thus described by Mr J.R. +Clayton, an eye-witness on the occasion: + +"On the coffin being opened in the presence of Dean Jenkyns, it +contained a skeleton laid out in perfect order, every bone in its +right place; an iron ring, and a small wooden pastoral staff in two +fragments; a leaden tablet, 10 in. by 3-1/3, with inscription most +beautifully rendered in Lombardic characters. + + _Hie jacet Willelmus de Button secundus Bathoniensis + et Wellensis episcopus sepultus XII. + die Decembris anno domini MCCLXXIIII_." + +It was noted at the same time that "the teeth were absolutely perfect +in number, shape, and order, and without a trace of decay, and hardly +any discoloration." From this one would infer that the saint was +famous in his lifetime for his beautiful teeth, and that it was for +this reason that his aid came to be invoked after his death by those +suffering from toothache. It is certainly curious that men now living +should have discovered his teeth to be still in such perfect +preservation. His contemporaries would, no doubt, have called it a +miracle. + +A little farther east is the remarkable tomb of _Bishop Beckington_, +surrounded by an exquisite iron screen of the same period. Its canopy +formerly projected into the choir, being large enough to form a small +chantry; but, when the choir was so stupidly restored, the canopy was +dragged from its place, and set up in St. Calixtus' chapel, where it +still is (p. 99,) a hard-looking stone screen being built between the +tomb and the choir in its stead. The tomb is divided into two parts, +the arcade which forms the canopy of the lower effigy supporting the +slab on which rests the figure of the bishop. The carving is very +beautiful, and the delicately-wrought wings of the angels, which +spread over the arches so as to fill the spandrels, are especially +fine. Traces of colour are strong on the tomb, as they are on the +canopy from which it has been divorced, so that one can form some +little idea of what the whole must have been like in its first +magnificence. + +The effigy of the bishop rests upon it, the old and wrinkled face +(best seen from within the choir) bearing deep traces of that active +public life which did so much for the city and the church. Below, in +strange contrast to the gorgeous vestments, which have still the +remnants of the painted pattern on them, lies a corpse, almost a +skeleton, in its open shroud. At first one's feeling is that of +repulsion, but it is lessened when we remember that Beckington himself +had the tomb made, and consecrated it before a vast concourse of +people, saying mass for his own soul, for those of his parents, and of +all the faithful departed in the January of 1452. Thus for thirteen +years did this great and famous prelate live with his tomb standing as +a witness to all that, under those sumptuous robes of office which we +are told he wore at its consecration, he knew himself to be but as +other men, and could wait humbly for his end. + +A little farther east is a large and rather clumsy effigy of _Bishop +Harewell_ (_ob._ 1386), whose name and arms are suggested, in the +playful fashion of the time, by two hares at his feet. Harewell is +known to have been a portly man. + +To the west of Beckington's monument an altar tomb in reddish +alabaster has been placed in memory of _Lord Arthur Hervey,_ the late +bishop, with an effigy by Mr Brock. It may be hoped that it is the +last of its kind, since there is little room for more tombs, and great +need of other and more useful forms of memorial. + +_Bishop Drokensford's_ tomb, at the entrance to the south-east +transept, is of unusual design, the ogee heads of its panels being +through-cut from side to side. Only the bases remain of its canopy, +which was taken down in 1758, as it was thought to be in danger of +falling. There is a good deal of colour on the tomb; the chasuble is +red with green lining, its orphreys are painted on the stone. The +apparel is also painted on the alb, the orphreys and ornaments on the +mitre, and a lozenge-shaped pattern on the cushion. Two shields are +emblazoned over and over again on the spandrels, the ground being +alternately red and green with white sprays of foliage; the coat with +four swans' heads, couped and addorsed, is Drokensford's. He was +bishop when Dean Godelee's great works were going on, and he gave +money towards building the central tower. + +MONUMENTS OF THE NORTH CHOIR AISLE.--One of the Early English +effigies, which were made probably by Bishop Jocelin, lies here, with +a modern inscription, to _Bishop Giso_. There are four others, to +_AEthelwyn, Leofric, Duduc_, and _Burwold_, all having the same +characteristics, in the ambulatory chapels and opposite aisle. +Graceful and solemn as they are, they seem rough in outline, as if +they were carved by a hand used to calculating for the distant views +of the west front, and almost weather-worn, by the side of the more +highly-finished effigies in marble and alabaster which are near them. +In the year 1848, when these monuments were set back and placed on +their present ugly bases, they were found to contain boxes with bones +therein, and leaden tablets with the name of each bishop inscribed +upon them. + +A different monument is that of _Ralph of Shrewsbury_ (_ob._ 1363), +whose marble effigy, scored by the names of long-departed vandals, +affords a good example of the episcopal ornaments, the mitre, gloves, +maniple, the apparel round the neck, and the vexillum round the +crozier. The tomb formerly stood surrounded by a grating, in the midst +of the presbytery, for Ralph was the "finisher" of the church. But it +was afterwards moved, and, says Godwin, it "lost his grates by the +way." At the entrance to the little transept is the tomb of _Dean +Forrest_ (_ob._ 1446), similar to that of Drokensford in the opposite +aisle, but more mutilated. The canopy is gone, but fragments of it are +in the undercroft of the chapter-house. + +THE NORTH-EAST TRANSEPT is the chapel of St. John Baptist, and +contains a Decorated piscina. On its east wall is a sculpture of the +Ascension, which formerly was fixed in the east cloister above the +I.H.S. in the fourth bay. St. Andrew with his cross may be noticed +among the Apostles. There are traces of blue in the background, and of +red in one of the cloaks. Most noticeable among its monuments is the +handsome marble sarcophagus and effigy _of Bishop Creyghton_, who gave +the lectern. The figure is vested in cope, mitre, and alb, a fact +which is worth noting, as the bishop lived in the reign of Charles II. +There is also an effigy of _John de Myddleton_ or Milton, who, after +being chancellor for a very short time, became a friar and died in +1337. The plain tomb of _Bishop Berkele_ (_ob._ 1581) bears a curious +inscription, which assumes more than the character of its subject +would seem to warrant: _Spiritvs, ervpto, salvvs, gilberte novembre, +carcere principis en(c) aethere barkle, crepat. an: dat ista salutis._ +Which may thus be translated, "Thy soul is safe, Gilbert Barkley, +having broken from its prison in the beginning of November, it speaks +from the sky. These words give the year of its safety," The words +referred to are in the middle part of the tomb-- + + _Vixi, videtis praemium: + 83 Lvxi, redux quieascibus. + Pro, captua gendo praesulis + Septem per annos triplices_ + +The figures 83 at the side of _Vixi_ and _Lvxi_ suggested to Mr J. +Parker that the letters stood also for figures thus--vi (6) xi (11) lv +(55) xi (11), the total being 83, which was the age at which Berkeley +died. The quatrain may be translated-- + + "I have lived, you see my reward: + I have shone, returning to my rest. + Having held the office of bishop + For seven times three years." + +The east end of the north aisle forms a roomy chapel which is +dedicated to St. Stephen, and contains a piscina of the same type as +those in the neighbouring chapels. Its east window has five lights, +and that in the side wall has three, with good reticulated tracery; +the principal mouldings are already assuming the large flat hollow +form which was to become characteristic of the Perpendicular style. +The chapel of St. Catherine on the south side corresponds to it +exactly. + +[Illustration: Procession Path And Lady Chapel.] + +THE PROCESSION PATH, or, to use the uglier and more accurate word, the +Retro-choir, is a rectangular space between these chapels and the +transepts, on the north and south, and the Lady Chapel and presbytery +on the east and west. This space is vaulted; and the vault is carried +by four slender piers of Purbeck marble, with attached shafts, in the +midst, by a group of Purbeck shafts on each of the two piers which +lead into the Lady Chapel, and by the light blue Purbeck shafts of the +eastern arches of the presbytery. As two of the middle piers (which +are set diagonally from north-east to south-west, and from south-east +to north-west) are in a line with the pier-arches of the choir, while +the other two, though in a line with those of the Lady Chapel (which +themselves project into the Path), are without those of the choir, a +complicated system of vaulting and a charming arrangement of piers is +the result. Indeed, this exquisite group of piers has never been +surpassed, and nothing can be found that better illustrates the +subtlety and extreme refinement of the last stages of Gothic +architecture at their best. At whichever point one stands fresh beauty +is apparent. It is merely a device for connecting Lady Chapel with +choir, while leaving a wide path free for processions, yet what a gem +of perfection has been drawn from the need! As one sits at the corner +near the south wall of the Lady Chapel, one can best appreciate the +range of vaulting, which, though it is doubled here, is of the same +height as that of the aisles, running faithfully round to cover the +ambulatory which encircles the choir, while on either side the pillars +soar upward to the higher vault of the Lady Chapel and the yet higher +ceiling of the choir. Opposite are the painted fragments of glass in +the north choir aisle, seen through the arches of the presbytery, and +the windows over the range of tabernacle work in the choir itself. On +the left the south aisle can be seen stretching onwards, across the +bright break of the transept, to the west end, and on the right are +the gorgeous windows of the Lady Chapel. Everywhere the slender +pillars stand, and the mouldings branch away from their rich capitals, +each doing its appointed work, calculated and exact, in what would +seem at first but a lavish profusion of marble shaft and moulded +stone. Yet we can hardly now imagine what it all was like before the +richly-decked altars were torn down, the painted windows knocked to +fragments, the canopies, tombs, and images defaced or destroyed. + +The vault is lierned with richly-carved bosses still warm with the +marks of gilding; both on the bosses and the capitals the foliage is +of the crumpled character suggestive of the oak-leaf. + +Unlike the piers of the Lady Chapel, the bases here are of marble, +though the plinths are of stone. Two grotesque heads, lower than the +bosses, at the north and south-western angles, hold three ribs in +their mouths, the ribs, which end there in seeming futility, being +used to cover an awkward corner of the vaulting. + +GLASS IN THE CHOIR AISLES AND CHAPELS.--A good deal of glass in a more +or less fragmentary condition survives in the eastern portion of the +church. It is fine work of the first half of the fourteenth century. +In the south aisles there is good glass in all the upper lights; the +third window has later glass in the lower lights, which bears the date +1607, and consists of coats of arms and a series of small square +pictures of foreign type. The east window of St. Catherine's chapel is +composed of fragments fitted together at random; in the upper lights +of the south window are rather coarse heads of St. Aldhelm, St. +Erkenwald, and other saints: two of them should be noticed for the +early form of papal tiara. In the corresponding chapel of St. Stephen +both the east and north windows are the same, the north window even +containing a second head of St. Erkenwald; the other saints are +inscribed--"St. Stephanas Papa" (the Pope Stephen, who died 257), "S. +Blasii Epi" (St. Blaise), and "S. Marcellus Papa"; in the topmost +light of both windows is a small figure of Our Lord. + +In the north aisle, the first window (counting from the east) contains +a St. Michael; the next a crucifix and a figure of St. Mary Magdalen, +with some sixteenth-century coats (including the curious arms of +Bishop Knight, p. 87) in the lower lights. Similar coats are in the +third window, which has a figure of St. John Baptist. The fourth +window contains modern glass erected in honour of Bishop Ken (p. 157), +as a memorial to Dean Plumptre, who died in 1891. In the centre Ken is +represented in full pontifical vestments, below him angels are +supporting his arms impaled with those of the see; over his head is +the favourite superscription of his letters, "All glory be to God," +and at his feet his rule of life "_Et tu quaeris tibi grandia? Noli +quaerere_" (Jer. xlv. 5). The left-hand panels represent St. Paul +teaching Timothy (because Ken wrote the "Manual for Winchester +Scholars," and the "Exposition of the Catechism"), Christ's charge to +St. Peter; the right panels represent St. Paul before Agrippa and St. +Peter in prison (because Ken was one of the seven bishops imprisoned +by James II.). The two lower panels represent labourers going to their +work singing _Benedicite_, and a priest and choristers chanting _Nunc +Dimittis,_ in allusion to Ken's morning and evening hymns. + +THE LADY CHAPEL was finished in 1326, before the presbytery was added +to the present choir, and thus it belongs to the middle of the +Decorated period. In plan it is octagonal, the three western sides +consisting of the three arches by which it is opened to the rest of +the church. It could, in fact, stand perfectly well as a detached +building like the Lady Chapel at Gloucester, and doubtless it did so +stand while the presbytery was a-building; but its connection with the +church itself allows its apsidal west end to be cunningly combined +with the beautiful pillars which support the vault of the ambulatory. +The arrangement by which these three western sides project into the +ambulatory is more easy to see than to describe; from the west side of +the piers which support them spring the vaulting ribs of the +retro-choir, while on the east side of the piers the shafts rise much +higher up to carry the loftier vault of the Lady Chapel. As the chapel +is not a perfect octagon like the chapter-house, but is elongated from +east to west, this vault was difficult to manage, and its lines are +somewhat distorted in consequence. The vault springs from triple +shafts between fine traceried windows of five lights, and its ribs +meet in a boss containing a beautiful figure of our Lord seated on a +throne with outstretched arms; the colour and gilding are well +restored. + +Professor Willis said that "the polygonal Lady Chapel and the vaulted +work which connects it with the presbytery is a most original and +unique piece of architecture, of pure and beautiful design." As to the +first part of this sentence there can be no difference of opinion, and +all will agree as to the fineness of the general effect of the chapel; +yet there may well be two opinions as to the purity of the work. I +confess that the following criticism (_Builder_, Aug. 1862) from a +lecture of Mr E.W. Godwin seems to me to be not entirely without +justification:--"With the single exception of the way in which the +vaulting is managed, I look upon this Lady Chapel as no better than +the other work of the same date. There is a weakness about the +constant recurrence of the same form in the tracery of the windows; +the lines of the vault are, in some cases, clumsy to a degree; and the +capitals have lost their constructional character altogether. The +growth and vitality, the change and joyfulness, so visible in the +earlier caps, especially those with figures, are no longer to be seen. +Leaves are now stuck on; or, at the best, wreathed round the bell of +the capital; and so the _function_ of the capital--the upbearing +principle--is lost." So much for its defects. The peculiar excellence +of the chapel is that it gives that apsidal ending to the church which +adds so much to its beauty both within and without, and yet does not +interfere with the square end of the presbytery. + +The Lady Chapel has been fitted up for the use of the Theological +College, and its furniture contrasts favourably with that of the +choir. A litany desk, stalls, and credence-table in oak have recently +been given, and a retable carved by Miss Neville; the altar cross, +however, is too stunted for its position. The eagle lectern, in spite +of its dark appearance, is modern, of Dean Goodenough's time. The +doorway on the south side led to the old vestry, so wantonly destroyed +in the present century: now that the chapel is in daily use the need +of the vestry is much felt, and a cupboard in St. John's chapel has to +serve for a makeshift. The gas-brackets are of later and more pleasant +work than those elsewhere. + +Mr Ferrey discovered fragments of a reredos at the east end of the +chapel, and set them up as best he could to form the present reredos: +the original arrangement seems to be lost, for some of the pedestals +are on the level of the floor, while some of the niches at the top are +cut in half. Mr Ferrey restored the whole chapel at the same time, and +paved it with tiles. + +GLASS IN LADY CHAPEL.--The large windows of this chapel are all filled +with beautiful fourteenth-century glass, but alas! in a marred +condition. The side windows contain fragments packed together anyhow. +The eastern window was made up out of old pieces by Willement at Dean +Goodenough's restoration, and its colour almost completely spoilt by +modern insertions. The harm, however, is not irreparable, for the +figures are almost entirely genuine, and the bad effect is mainly due +to Willement's blue background. A careful examination would easily +separate the new from the old, and it would be quite easy at the +present day to remove the bad work and replace it by glass that would +carry out the old harmony of colour. The lower lights are filled with +two tiers of figures in canopies, David and other patriarchs in the +upper tier, and the following well-chosen series in the lower:--The +Madonna in the midst, on her right the Serpent and Eve, on her left +the Brazen Serpent and Moses. The upper lights of this window contain +angels bearing the instruments of the Passion, which are unspoilt, as +are also the busts of patriarchs in the north-east window, and of +bishops in that on the south-east. Three of the topmost lights contain +emblems of the Evangelists, the fourth is lost. One inscription +remains, _Ista capella constructa est_ ... but the date is gone. + +A tall and light monument stands between the Lady Chapel and St. +Catherine's; its crocketed finials, filled with tracery, rise almost +to the ceiling. The canopy is open at the sides and western end, but +the eastern end forms a niche; this part has been restored in colour +and gilding, it is powdered with _fleurs-de-lys,_ and bears a shield +containing the _Agnus Dei_. No other part shows any trace of colour. +The base is much higher than that of an ordinary tomb, and the canopy +seems to have been somewhat altered at Ferrey's restoration. + +The spot where the altar of St. Catherine and All Virgins stood is now +"Sacred to the memory of John Phelips Of Montacute in this county +esquire. Descended from a line of ancestors, Whose names for two +centuries and a half abound in the annals of the county, He succeeded +at an early age to the paternal estates, And sustained the wonted +hospitality of his house. He soon became a most active and intelligent +magistrate," etc., etc. + +THE CHAPTER-HOUSE STAIRCASE is entered by the doorway in the eastern +aisle of the north transept. 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 date of the staircase is clearly somewhere between that of the +chapter-house and that of the church itself. It is later than the +church, for it is built up against the transept buttresses, and it +contains some of the best examples of simple geometrical tracery, +while there are nothing but lancet windows in the church of Reginald +and Jocelin. But the simple geometrical tracery of its two four-light +windows prove that it was finished before the chapter-house was begun. +The arches of these windows are rampant, to follow the level of the +stairs; their beautiful circular tracery is massive, deeply-moulded, +and filled with remnants of rich glass; their shafts of blue lias have +naturalistic capitals which are in striking contrast both to the Early +English carving in the church and the full Decorated of the +chapter-house itself. Below the windows is a stone bench rising in +steps with a foot-pace of similar construction; this arrangement adds +much to the effect of the staircase, though it is marred by a modern +hand-rail. + +Before the Chain Gate was made, the vestibule ended with a graceful +window of four lights similar to those at the side. The upper part of +the window remains, but the lower part is occupied by a Perpendicular +doorway, and the whole now forms a screen which, by breaking the +light, adds considerably to the charm of the staircase. Through this +doorway, where they are cut away to allow the door to open, the steps +continue for two stages, but in a narrower flight. Here the windows +are Perpendicular, and the vaulted ceiling has given place to a wooden +roof, for this is the Chain Gate, as light and pretty within as +without. It was only an after-thought, a matter of convenience, thus +to connect the chapter-house with the Vicars' Close, and the screen +that now breaks the light had for a century and a half been the +outside window, just as the blocked window of the transept had been +the outer light for the fifty years before the staircase itself was +thought of. It was just a practical matter-of-fact device; but what +magnificent utilitarianism, what an inspired after-thought! + +[Illustration: Steps Of Chapter-house Vestibule And Passage Over Chain +Gate.] + +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. + +THE CHAPTER-HOUSE is entered by a double-arched doorway, the small +vault between the arches having an odd boss composed of four bearded +heads. There are marks in the wall which lead one to think that the +doors were hung in a wooden screen under this vault. The old doors are +now used in the house of the Principal of the College, where they were +identified by Canon Church. They have little slits in them, through +which those in the chapter-house could speak with those without, who +no doubt waited for admittance on the stepped stone bench of the +staircase. Grooves in the two inner shafts of the doorway seem to have +been made for the insertion of some light screen, by which the +entrance was divided into two passages for ingress and egress. The +absence of doors certainly adds to the rather cold unfurnished +appearance of the chapter-house in its present condition. + +[Illustration: Chapter-House--Doorway.] + +The room itself ("a glorious development of window and vault" it has +been called) is one of the best examples of that type of chapter-house +which belongs mainly to the thirteenth century, and is a peculiar +glory of English architecture. 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. + +[Illustration: Chapter-House--Interior.] + +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. The arcade strikes one as too shallow: +its canopies, which rest on blue lias shafts, are ornamented with +feathering, crockets, finials, and an interesting series of small +heads. Some of the heads wear crowns, mitres, hoods, and square caps; +others are grotesque, though I cannot detect the "jesters" to which +some writers refer. Some of the heads have the same formal twist in +the hair as those of the large corbels in the nave (p. 81). The heads +on the side opposite the door are all (with the exception of one +modern head in plaster) covered with the early form of papal tiara, a +conical hat with a crown round its rim. On this side, in the middle +stall, is the bishop's seat, and here are traces of colour; the little +heads are still pretty with pink cheeks and painted eyes and hair, and +above the canopy the saltire of St. Andrew is discernible. + +Thus the bishop still retained, at least in theory, the head-ship of +the chapter. The dean sat on one side of him, the precentor on the +other, and the rest in due order from the archdeacons and officers +down to those in minor orders. Even the boys of the school were +admitted to part of the meetings, and they stood on the floor round a +desk which was in front of the chief pastor. "There every morning," +says Canon Church (_Chapters in Hist, of Wells_, p. 333), "after the +prayers of the third hour and the morning mass, the chapter of the +whole body was held for the daily lection and commemoration of +brethren departed, for maintaining discipline, hearing complaints, +passing judgment, inflicting punishment; for ordering the services of +the day and of the week--for sitting in council and drawing up +statutes." + +Beautiful as is the general effect of the chapter-house, it must be +admitted that its detail is inferior to that of the staircase, which +is just one stage earlier in the development of architecture. Nor can +its capitals be compared for a moment with those in the nave; the +lighter form of structure doubtless calls for a lighter cap, but these +are distinctly untidy in their decoration. The crockets are very near +having that wholesale look which has caused nineteenth-century +architects to make so much of this easily debased ornament. The +arrangement, too, by which the fine doorway rises into a window of +unmodified pattern seems a rather awkward compromise, especially as +the line of the staircase roof cuts slantwise across the lights. One +cannot help thinking that an earlier architect would have departed +from his uniform pattern at this point, and have inserted a window or +arcade better adapted to the position, with the addition, perhaps, of +sculpture in the vacant space. + +Between the roof and the vault there is a curious chamber which +reminds one of the crater of a volcano, and the impression is +increased by the sponge-like stone, which has some resemblance to +tufa. The open arcade under the roof has served to keep the woodwork +in remarkably sound condition. + +[Illustration: Chapter-House--Vault.] + +THE UNDERCROFT.--Much of the external beauty of the chapter-house, as +well as the charm of its staircase, is due to its unusual height above +the ground. It rests upon a vaulted chamber or undercroft, which is +popularly called the crypt, though that term is not very accurate, as +the chamber is not sunk underground, but stands almost on a level with +the floor of the church. The innumerable springs in the soil of Wells +do not, indeed, admit of a subterranean building. The undercroft was +finished before the chapter-house staircase was begun; perhaps its +walls were built at the end of Jocelin's episcopate; at any rate it +was finished by 1286, and represents the last development of the Early +English style. It was used as the treasury, where the vestments, +ornaments, registers, and other precious things, both of the bishop +and chapter, were kept, and, to increase the security of its massive +walls, the sacristan had to sleep within them every night. + +[Illustration: Chapter-House--Undercroft.] + +It is reached by a dimly-lit, impressive passage, which is entered +from the north choir aisle through a doorway with deeply-sunk +mouldings and carved capitals. Two heads, slanting inwards in a rather +awkward manner, support the curious pediment-shaped canopy over the +doorway. At the commencement of this fine passage, just within the +doorway, is a small vault supported on extremely odd corbels, as if +the mason had taken advantage of the obscurity to wanton with his +craft. One is a large head with enormous cheeks, apparently suffering +from acute neuralgia; a handkerchief, under which a few +comically-stiff curls escape, covers the head and is tied under the +chin; another represents two dragons biting each other, with a head +upside down beneath them; another, which reminds one of the worst +eccentricities of modern crockery, is formed by a hand holding a +foliated capital. I suppose that the head with swollen cheeks is +really another testimony to St. William Bytton's power over the +toothache. The undercroft itself was finished before 1286, perhaps +some time before; but the more advanced sculpture of the passage looks +as if that part were built in the "toothache" period--that is to say, +some ten years or so after Bytton's death in 1274. + +[Illustration: Chapter-House--Undercroft.] + +Certainly the bosses of the vault in the passage beyond the doorway +are of a character that suggests the transition to Decorated which was +in progress at this time. They are elaborate, and, with one exception, +through-carved. The first from the door represents a head, the next an +_Agnus Dei_, the next two grotesque heads joined together, then +apparently the Serpent tempting Eve, then an ox, dragons, two small +grinning heads, with animals apparently biting them on one side. The +corbels are carved into heads, some crowned, others reversed with the +shaft in their mouths. On the right-hand side, as one enters the +undercroft, a pretty stone lantern projects from the wall; of the +little mullions which form its face, one is set far enough from the +wall to admit of the insertion of a lamp. + +Two heavy wooden doors at the entrance leave no doubt as to the +purpose for which the undercroft was built. The outer door is the most +massive; it is studded with nails, and has two great bolts and a huge +lock: on the outer side a kind of escutcheon is formed round the +keyhole by a heart-shaped piece of iron, surmounted by a cross; on the +same side there is an iron bar, and the hook to hold it across the +doorway. A deep hole has been worn in the pavement by the feet of +those who pulled open the door. The inner door is lighter, and +ornamented with beautiful elaborate hinges: on this side are deep +sockets in the wall, into which the inner bars were run. + +In the undercroft itself the walls are impregnably thick, the windows +narrow, with wide splays. The vaulting, somewhat later in style than +the walls, is an admirable piece of construction, well-fitted to bear +the weight of the lofty chamber above. It is also remarkable, +Professor Willis points out, for the way in which the arches are +disposed without the introduction of ribs. From the round shafts which +are grouped about the octagonal pier in the centre spring the vaulting +ribs, the extremities of which rest upon eight round pillars; and +another set of vaulting ribs spans the space between these pillars and +the eight walls, where they rest upon twelve shafts between the lancet +windows. Could anything be more simple and secure in construction, and +more varied in effect? + +Here, on one of the capitals and on a moulding near the door, we meet +with the dog-tooth moulding usually so characteristic of the Early +English style. The piscina in the doorway should be noticed for its +carving of a dog gnawing a bone. + +[Illustration: Section Of Chapter-house.] + +A large aumbry is formed by a recess in the thickness of the wall. The +parapeted structure opposite is a modern coal-hole, for which some +other place might surely be found. There are several stone coffins in +the undercroft, and a good many fragments of carved stone, some of +which are very fine. Here also is a cope-chest of the usual shape, +which allows the copes to be put away with only one fold. Near it +there is a large oblong chest covered with iron bands. An iron door +which is also kept here is thus described by Mr H. Longden +(_Archaeological Journal_, 1890, p. 132): "It is made of slabs of iron +nailed to an oak frame-work, and liberally braced across with hinges +and diagonal cross-straps, stiffening the door in the best way known +at the time. This is not an iron-plated door, but an iron door; it is, +in fact, a 'safe' door of the time, and is an uncommon instance. It +must be remembered that the slabs of which this door is formed were +all beaten out of lumps of iron, and that iron was not then made, as +now, in plates, bars, or rods, but ... The lump of iron had to be +heated and drawn out on the anvil at a great expenditure of time and +labour. Much of the charm of old work arises from the irregularity of +the shapes, never quite round, or square, or flat, which the iron +took, and we miss this in the neat and mechanically-finished work of +the present time." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +HISTORY OF THE DIOCESE. + + +Legend, which in every ancient city is raised to the dignity of an +article of faith, places the origin of Wells diocese in the remote +past; and the visitor is required to believe that Ina, King of Wessex, +the first great West Saxon lawgiver, the ruler who finally established +the English supremacy in the south-west, was also the founder of the +see of Wells. He is said to have planted a bishopric at Congresbury, +and in 721 to have removed the see to Wells with the help of Daniel, +the last British bishop. The story, however, rests upon no good +foundation. + +Before the middle of the seventh century the heathen invaders were +converted by St Birinus, and by the time of Ina Wessex was divided +into the dioceses of Winchester and Sherborne, the latter including +Somerset, Dorset, and part of Wiltshire. This was all that Ina did +towards establishing the diocese of Wells; and it did not go very far, +for the special boast of the diocese is that it consists of one +county, Somerset, and of nothing else. And so it is that the honour of +possessing Ealdhelm, the first bishop of Sherborne, who tramped about, +an open-air preacher, in his diocese, belongs to Salisbury and not to +Wells; although Doulting, where Ealdhelm fell sick and died sitting in +the little wooden village church, is the very place whence afterwards +the stone was quarried for the building of Wells Cathedral. + +It was under that great warrior, Edward the Elder, that the diocese of +Sherborne was divided, and the Sumorsaetas received a bishop of their +own, whose stool was placed in the church of St. Andrew at Wells. + +It is quite probable that the above tradition grew around Ina's name +owing to his having really established a church with a body of priests +attached to it; since we find in a charter of Cynewulf, dated 766, a +mention of "the minister near the great spring at Wells for the better +service of God in the church of St. Andrew." This charter is probably +spurious, but it may for all that enshrine an historical fact, +especially as it does not pretend to the existence of a bishopric. If +this be the case, then Edward, who wanted a fairly central church for +a diocese which had no important town, must have found Wells very +convenient for his purpose. For while Glastonbury, besides being in +those days an island, had an abbot of its own, this little body of +secular priests would be ready to receive the bishop as their chief, +and to become his chapter. At all events, the year 909 saw Wells with +a bishop of its own. + +[Illustration: Specimens Of Capitals.] + +AETHELHELM or ATHELM, _Bishop of Somerset, or Wells_ (909-914), a monk +of Glastonbury according to tradition, was the first Somersetshire +bishop; he is said to have been an uncle of St. Dunstan: he was made +Archbishop of Canterbury in 914. + +It will be convenient to weave the history of the foundation of Wells +with that of the bishops. So here, at the outset, the reader must bear +in mind that from the beginning the cathedral church was served by +"secular" clergy, by priests, that is, who were bound by no vows other +than those of their ordination, who did not live a community life, but +had each his own house, and generally at this time his own wife and +family. Wells Cathedral was not "built by the monks," and its chapter +was never composed of monks; though some of the bishops belonged to +religious orders, it kept up a pretty constant rivalry with the +"regular" clergy of Glastonbury and Bath. It belongs in fact, to the +cathedrals of the old foundation, whose constitutions were not changed +at the Reformation; and its chapter has continued in unbroken +succession, from the days when Aethelhelm first presided over his +little body of clergy in the church of St. Andrew, down to our own +time. But at first that chapter was informal enough, nor was it +finally incorporated and officered till the time of Bishop Robert in +the twelfth century. The number of canons does not seem to have been +fixed, though in the next century we hear of there being only four or +five. + +[Illustration: Specimens Of Capitals.] + +The next five bishops are all little more than names to us. WULFHELM +succeeded Aethelhelm in 914: also translated to Canterbury; AELFHEAH +(923), WULFHELM (938), BRITHHELM (956-973), and CYNEWARD (973-975). + +SIGEGAR (975-977), a pupil of St. Dunstan, and abbot of Glastonbury, +was succeeded, or perhaps supplanted, by AELFWINE, in 997-999. + +AETHELSTAN, or LYFING; translated to Canterbury 1013. + +AETHELWINE and BRIHTWINE shared the episcopate, either as rivals or +coadjutors. Brihtwine was last in possession. MEREWIT, also called +Brihtwine, succeeded in 1026. + +DUDUC (1033-1060), a German Saxon. Cnut had given him the estates of +Congresbury and Banwell, which he left to the church of Wells; but +Harold took possession of them. + +GISA (1060-1088), a Belgian from Lorraine, found his see in a sad +condition: the church was mean, its revenues small, and its four or +five canons were forced, he says, to beg their bread. He at once set +to work to increase the revenues; and from Edward the Confessor, from +his queen, Edith, then from Harold, and afterwards from William the +Conqueror, he obtained various estates for the support of his canons. + +He also changed the way of living of the canons, and built a cloister, +dormitory, and refectory, thereby forcing them to live a common life, +much as if they were monks--an unpopular innovation which was +supported by the appointment in the foreign fashion of a provost to be +chief officer, the canons choosing for this post one Isaac of Wells. + +JOHN DE VILLULA, _Bishop of Bath_ (1088-1122), a rich physician of +Tours. He put an end to the semi-monastic discipline of Gisa by +pulling down his community buildings and erecting a private house of +his own on the site. And he removed the see of Somersetshire from +Wells to the Abbey of Bath. + +GODFREY (1123-1135). + +ROBERT OF LEWES (1136-1166), the second founder of the cathedral; he +made the constitution of the chapter, he rebuilt the old Saxon church, +and he started Wells as a borough by the grant of its first charter of +freedom. Of a Fleming family, though born in England, he was a monk +from the Cluniac house of St. Pancras at Lewes; and to another and +more famous Cluniac monk, Bishop Henry of Winchester, King Stephen's +brother, he owed his advancement. In the very year of his consecration +he began the recovery of Wells from the low estate in which John de +Villula and his rapacious relatives had left it. He restored their +property to the canons, and, in order to secure it, he divided it off +from the property of the see by a charter of incorporation. He +assisted at Henry II.'s coronation in 1154, and at the consecration of +Thomas a Becket in 1162. + +Bishop Robert arranged the quarrel with Bath by settling that Bath +should take precedence of Wells, but that the bishop should have his +throne in both churches, and be elected by the two chapters +conjointly. + +By the charter which incorporated the chapter of Wells, Robert also +settled portions of the estate, or prebends, on the twenty-two canons, +and founded the offices of dean, precentor, chancellor, treasurer, +sub-dean, provost, and sub-chanter, all of which, except the two last, +still exist. + +After an interval of eight years, REGINALD DE BOHUN or FITZ-JOCELIN, +the Archdeacon of Sarum, was consecrated Bishop of Bath (1174-1191). +Immediately afterwards he induced the monk who was soon to become +famous as St. Hugh of Lincoln, to leave the Grande Chartreuse, and to +come to England as prior of the first English charter-house. He built +the greater part of the present nave transepts and choir; for this end +he made large gifts to the fabric fund, and collected gifts from +others. He also extended the privileges of the town, and increased +both the endowment and the number of the prebends. + +SAVARIC, _Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury_ (1192-1205), a relation of +the Emperor Henry VI. In 1191 he started with Richard I. for the Holy +Land. At Messina, though not yet in priest's orders, he obtained +private letters from the king sanctioning his appointment to any +bishopric to which he might be elected. Bishop Reginald was a kinsman +of his, and, on his election to Canterbury, he obtained the vote of +the convent of Bath for Savaric. The Justiciar gave at once the royal +sanction, in spite of the protests of the canons of Wells, who had not +been consulted. Savaric had meanwhile wisely established himself at +Rome, and was able to obtain the Pope's consent. He was consecrated +priest one day and bishop the next, but he still remained abroad. + +Savaric, supported by the authority of King John, broke into +Glastonbury with soldiers, starved and beat the monks, and, with great +violence, established himself in possession. + +His biography was compressed in a clever epigram:-- + + "_Hospes erat mundo per mundum semper eundo, + Sic suprema dies fit sibi prima quies,_" + +admirably translated by Canon Bernard: + + "Through the world travelling, all the world's guest, + His last day of life was his first day of rest." + +Yet he was the first to institute the daily mass of Our Lady, as well +as that for the faithful departed, in Wells Cathedral. + +JOCELIN TROTEMAN DE WELLES, _Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury,_ and +after 1219 _Bishop of Bath_ (1206-1242), is, after Ken, the most +famous of Wells worthies. He came from a local stock, and spent all +his time and money on the cathedral church, first as canon, then as +bishop for thirty-six years. In 1208, when Pope Innocent III. laid +England under an interdict, the bishop published it in his own +diocese, and then fled the country, leaving his estates to be seized +by John. On John's submission to the Pope in 1213, he returned, and +two years later stood by Stephen Langton at Runnymede, putting his +name as Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury to _Magna Charta_. When John +was dead it was Jocelin who administered the oath to Henry III. at his +coronation. + +In 1219 Jocelin made terms with Glastonbury, which Savaric had seized, +giving up the abbacy and the title in return for four manors. He +founded a hospital, re-endowed the Lady mass which Savaric had +instituted, increased the number of prebends (the estates, that is, +which each maintained a canon) from thirty-five to fifty, provided +houses for the canons, and a regular endowment for the vicars-choral, +started a grammar school in addition to the choristers' school, and +enclosed the bishop's park. But most of all is he famous for having +rebuilt the church which Savaric's vagaries had let fall into +dilapidation, and for having added to it the noble west front. So +extensive were his repairs that in 1239 a reconsecration was +necessary; and three years later he died, "God," says old Fuller, "to +square his great undertakings, giving him a long life to his large +heart." He was buried in the midst of the choir as a founder of the +church; and as this interment marked out Wells as the chief church in +the diocese, the monks of Bath were not told of his death till after +he had been buried. + +ROGER, _first Bishop of Bath and Wells_ (1244-1247). On Jocelin's +death in 1242, the monks of Bath made a last effort to recover the +supremacy which had drifted from them. Contrary to the agreement which +had been made, they pushed through their own candidate, Roger, without +consulting with the Wells chapter, and snatched the regal sanction and +papal confirmation for their nominee before the chapter of Wells could +make a move. At last, the Pope, after much litigation, decreed that, +in order to avoid any further vacancy, Roger's election should be +confirmed, but that henceforth the chapter of Wells should have an +equal voice in the election of the bishop, who was to use the title of +Bath and Wells. Roger was buried in his old abbey of Bath; he was, +however, the last bishop to be there interred. The words of Peter +Heylin are henceforward true of the see:--"The diocese of Bath and +Wells, though it hath a double name, is one single bishopric. The +bishop's seat was originally at Wells, where it still continues. The +style of Bath came in but upon the bye." + +WILLIAM BUTTON or BYTTON (1248-1264). + +WALTER GIFFARD (1265-1266), a statesman-bishop, took the king's side, +and, after the victory of Evesham, was rewarded with the +chancellorship and the archbishopric of York. + +WILLIAM BYTTON (THE SAINT) (1267-1274). When Robert of Kilwardy, +provincial of the Dominicans, was made archbishop, he chose Bytton, on +account of his saintliness, to consecrate him; and so great was the +impression made by his holy life that he became the object of popular +canonisation at his death. Miracles were worked at his tomb, and +crowds flocked to it with offerings, especially such as were afflicted +with toothache. + +ROBERT BURNELL (1275-1292), the greatest lawyer of his day, chancellor +of Edward I.; built the hall of the episcopal palace. + +WILLIAM OF MARCH OR DE MARCHIA (1293-1302), had been treasurer in +1290. Two unsuccessful efforts were made to obtain his canonisation. + +WALTER DE HASELSHAW (1302-1308), successively canon, dean, and bishop. + +Under JOHN OF DROKENSFORD (1309-1329) the chapter obtained a strong +confirmation of their rights as the result of a violent quarrel with +the bishop, who had claimed the power of visiting the churches under +capitular jurisdiction. + +RALPH OF SHREWSBURY (1329-1363), Chancellor of Oxford, put the +finishing stroke to the constitution of the cathedral by founding the +College of Vicars. He was a great supporter of the friars, and left +them a third of his property. Among his good deeds he disafforested +the royal hunting ground of Mendip, and thus did great service to the +people, "beef," as Fuller has it, "being better pleasing to the +husbandman's palate than venison." At his death he was buried in the +place of honour before the high altar, for it was under him that the +last great building operations in the church of Wells were completed. + +JOHN BARNET (1363-66), translated from Worcester, was soon again moved +to Ely. After JOHN HAREWELL (1367-86), who helped to build the +south-west tower, and WALTER SKIRLAW (1386-88), RALPH ERGHUM +(1388-1400) was translated from Salisbury, and founded at Wells the +much-needed college for the fourteen chantry priests, which was +destroyed under Edward VI., and of which the memory is preserved in +"College Lane." There were now, therefore, three distinct corporations +at Wells--the Chapter, the College of Vicars, and the College of +Chantry Priests. HENRY BOWETT (1401-1407) was promoted to York. + +NICHOLAS BUBWITH (1407-1424) is remembered by the almshouses at Wells +which he endowed, by his provision for building the north-west tower, +and by his chantry chapel. There was at this time another hospital +called the Priory, which has now disappeared. He was one of the +English envoys at the Council of Constance. Mandates were sent him by +the archbishop for the prosecution of the Lollards, but there is no +record of any proceedings having been taken, till JOHN STAFFORD +(1425-43) had succeeded him, when one William Curayn was compelled to +abjure and receive absolution for some very reasonable heresies. +Stafford was translated to Canterbury. + +THOMAS BECKINGTON, or Bekynton (1443-65), was first tutor, then +private secretary to Henry VI., and Keeper of the Privy Seal. His many +works at Wells are noticed in our other chapters; in his will he +states that he spent 6000 marks in repairing and adorning his palaces. +After his death, the mayor and corporation showed their gratitude by +going annually to his tomb (p. 125) to pray for his soul. + +ROBERT STILLINGTON (1466-91) was a minister of Edward IV., and one of +Richard III.'s supporters. Accused in 1487 of helping Lambert Simnel, +he was imprisoned at Windsor for the rest of his life. RICHARD FOX +(1492-94), Keeper of the Privy Seal, translated to Durham. OLIVER KING +(1495-1503), Chief Secretary of Henry VII. A dream moved Bishop Oliver +in 1500, to rebuild Bath abbey in the debased Perpendicular style with +which we are now familiar. + +The celebrated ADRIAN DE CASTELLO (1504-1518) obtained first Hereford +and then Wells, as a reward for political services. As he never +visited his diocese, his affairs were managed by another famous man, +Polydore Vergil, who was archdeacon, and furnished the choir of Wells +with hangings, "flourished," says Fuller, "with the laurel tree," and +bearing an inscription, _Sunt Polydori munera Vergilii_. Adrian, who +was born of humble parents at Cornuto in Tuscany, had been made a +cardinal in 1503 by the infamous Pope Alexander VI., and both his +archdeacon and himself are prominent figures in Italian history of the +period. + +CARDINAL WOLSEY (1518-23) was appointed to the see, which he held +together with the archbishopric of York; he was therefore Bishop of +Bath and Wells only in name, and was soon put in the enjoyment of the +richer sees successively of Durham and Winchester. He was followed by +JOHN CLERK (1523-41) and WILLIAM KNIGHT (1541-47). The abbey of Bath +was now suppressed, so that the bishop's seat was now at Wells alone, +and (excepting that the style "Bath and Wells" remained) the see was +restored to its original condition before John de Villula migrated to +Bath. + +WILLIAM BARLOW (1549-54) was translated from St. David's without even +the form of a _conge d'elire_. In return for this and certain money +payments he made over a large portion of the episcopal property to the +greedy Duke of Somerset; he also secured the episcopal manor of Wookey +for his own family. The other cathedral estates were similarly +treated. Barlow fled at the accession of Mary, but was caught and +imprisoned in 1554. He had in Henry's time recanted some Lollard +tracts which he had written, and now under Mary he recanted once more. +On the accession of Elizabeth, he (p. 81) accepted the poorer see of +Chichester. + +GILBERT BOURNE (1554-59) had been Bonner's chaplain. At Elizabeth's +accession he was deprived and imprisoned in the Tower. After 1562 he +was kept in nominal custody, and died in 1569. + +GILBERT BERKELEY (1560-1581) succeeded him. THOMAS GODWIN (1584-90), +the historian of Wells, succeeded Berkeley. + +Another three years' vacancy was followed by the appointment of JOHN +STILL (1593-1607). He and his successors, JAMES MONTAGUE (1608-16), +translated to Winchester, ARTHUR LAKE (1616-26), a wise man and "most +blessed saint," were mostly occupied in the fight with Puritanism. +William Laud was bishop here for two years (1626-28), but his history +belongs to London and Canterbury, whither he was translated. LEONARD +MAWE (1628-29), WALTER CURLL (1629-32), translated to Winchester, and +WILLIAM PIERS (1632-70) followed. The latter, who put down the Puritan +"lectures," and ordered all the altars in his diocese to be set +against the east wall and railed in, lived to see all his work undone +and then restored again at the accession of Charles II. ROBERT +CREYGHTON (1670-72), who had been dean, succeeded him. He was a great +musician (p. 113), and his gifts of ornaments to the cathedral have +been already mentioned. PETER MEWS (1673-1684) was translated to +Winchester. + +THOMAS KEN (1685-90), the best and most famous of all the Somerset +bishops, has left so great a name in the see, and figured in so many +stirring events, that one can hardly believe that he was only given +five years in which to use his influence upon history. Before he was +made bishop, however, he had already given proof of that quiet courage +which was more than once to thwart the will of princes. In 1679 he +went to the Hague as chaplain to Mary, the wife of William of Orange. +Here he expressed himself "horribly unsatisfied" with William's +unkindness to his wife, and he incurred the Prince's anger by +persuading Count Zulestein to marry a lady whom he had seduced. Soon +after, when he was living at Winchester, he refused to allow the royal +harbinger to use his prebendal house for the lodging of Nell Gwynn, on +the occasion of Charles II.'s visit there in 1683. Charles, with +characteristic generosity, thought all the more highly of him, and +when he was told of the vacant bishopric, said no one should have the +see but "the little black fellow who refused his lodging to poor +Nelly." Before the year was over, Charles was on his death-bed, and +summoned Ken to his side. The bishop persuaded the king to send the +Duchess of Portsmouth from the room and to call in the Queen. He then +absolved him, although Charles would not receive the communion. + +After the Monmouth rebellion (p. 17) he, with the Bishop of Ely, was +sent to tell the Duke of his fate; he remained with the wretched man +all through the night before his execution, and accompanied him on the +scaffold. He then returned to his see, used all his influence on +behalf of the unhappy peasants, and by his personal intervention, +saved a hundred prisoners from death. He strongly opposed the +Romanising policy of James II., and preached several sermons which had +a large share in the formation of public opinion. He was one of the +seven bishops who were committed to the Tower for petitioning the king +against the order to the clergy to read the second Declaration of +Indulgence. The incidents of that wonderful trial are familiar to all +Englishmen, and it is notable that one of the richest dissenters in +the city begged to have the special honour of giving security for the +high church bishop of Bath and Wells. + +But when the revolution came, Ken was found among those who were +called non-jurors, because they regarded their oath of allegiance to +James as still binding. He was consequently, in 1690, deprived of his +see. He made a public protest in the cathedral against his +deprivation, and continued to sign himself _T. Bath and Wells_, but he +had to live in retirement, and with an income of only L20 a year. He +died in 1710, and was buried in Frome Church at sunrise, in allusion +to his morning hymn ("Awake, my soul, and with the sun"), and to his +habit of rising with the sun. + +Ken was in every way a great saint, and, like all the saints, he was +distinguished by his love for the poor, and his care for their +education. Among his customs it is recorded that he used to have +twelve poor men to dine with him on Sundays, and that he was wont to +go afoot in London when the other bishops rode in their coaches. He +wrote many books, among them his "Manual of Prayers for the Use of +Winchester Scholars." "His elaborate works," says Macaulay, "have long +been forgotten; but his morning and evening hymns are still repeated +daily in thousands of dwellings." + +RICHARD KIDDER (1691-1703) became bishop on the deprivation of Ken, Dr +Beveridge having declined the offer of a see, the rightful ruler of +which had been unjustly removed. Kidder did not, however, long enjoy +his usurped position; for, on the night of November 26th, 1703, a +great storm--the same that destroyed Winstanley in his lighthouse on +the Eddystone--blew down a stack of chimneys in the palace, and thus +killed both the bishop and his wife as they lay abed. + +GEORGE HOOPER (1704-27), an old friend of Ken, was next offered the +see, but he urged the reinstatement of the rightful pastor. Queen Anne +offered to restore Ken to his bishopric, but he importuned Hooper to +accept, and from that time ceased to sign himself by his diocesan +title. Hooper had preceded Ken, in 1677, as Princess Mary's spiritual +adviser at the Hague, where he had won her back to the services of the +church, and he had also been with Ken at Monmouth's execution. Almost +as lovable and holy, he was more learned than his friend. + +Hooper was succeeded by JOHN WYNNE (1727-43), EDWARD WILLES (1743-73), +and CHARLES MOSS (1774-1802); all three were typical eighteenth-century +prelates, rich and mostly non-resident. + +RICHARD BEADON (1802-24), was translated from Gloucester. + +GEORGE HENRY LAW (1824-45), a son of the Bishop of Carlisle, and +brother of Lord Chief-Justice Ellenborough, was translated from +Chester, and is said to have been an active prelate till his latter +years. Hon. RICHARD BAGOT (1845-54) came to Wells as a place of +retirement after the worries which he had gone through, as Bishop of +Oxford, during the Tractarian movement. + +ROBERT JOHN, LORD AUCKLAND, was translated from Sodor and Man in 1854. +At his death in 1869, he was succeeded by LORD ARTHUR CHARLES HERVEY, +who died in 1894. The present bishop is DR G.W. KENNION, who was +translated hither from the Australian diocese of Adelaide. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF WELLS CATHEDRAL.] + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + + +1. Words and phrases which were italicized in the original have been + surrounded by underscores ('_') in this version. Words or phrases + which were bolded have been rendered in ALL CAPITALS. + +2. Obvious printer's errors have been corrected without note. + +3. Inconsistencies in hyphenation or the spelling of proper names, and + dialect or obsolete word spelling, have been maintained as in the + original. + +4. The original of this text contains characters not available in + the Latin-1 character set. These occur only in quotations from + monumental inscriptions. The characters have been coded as + follows. The notation [=x] means "letter x with a macron above." + There are instances of macrons over i, u, m, n, o and x. The + notation [)u] means "letter u with a breve"; it occurs twice. + +5. The caret is used to show the superscript for abbreviations (i.e. + Rob^t is Rob with a superscript small t in the original text, an + abbreviation for Robert). If multiple letters are superscripted, + they are surrounded by curly braces (i.e. w^{th}). + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral +Church of Wells, by Percy Dearmer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BELL'S CATHEDRALS *** + +***** This file should be named 32280.txt or 32280.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/2/8/32280/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, David Cortesi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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