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diff --git a/37049.txt b/37049.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..09aef64 --- /dev/null +++ b/37049.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4512 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of +Lichfield, by A. B. Clifton + +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 Lichfield + A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Espicopal See + +Author: A. B. Clifton + +Release Date: August 12, 2011 [EBook #37049] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF LICHFIELD *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Brad Norton, David Garcia and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL FROM THE WEST.] + + + + + + +THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF LICHFIELD + +A DESCRIPTION OF ITS FABRIC AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL SEE + + +BY A. B. CLIFTON + + +WITH FORTY ILLUSTRATIONS + + +[Illustration] + +LONDON, GEORGE BELL & SONS, 1900 + + + _First published February 1898_ + _Second Edition revised February 1900_ + + + 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, + EDWARD E. F. STRANGE, + _Editors of the Series_. + + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE + + +Concerning any old Cathedral the mass of information is very great, +and the authorities to be consulted many; and perhaps the almost total +absence--as in this case--of a documentary history of the +building of the fabric, makes for a larger bulk of pamphlets and of +communications to the antiquarian journals. Whether or no theory be wiser +than fact, it is certainly more voluminous. Besides the books and papers +mentioned in their place, I have especially to express my indebtedness to +the work on Lichfield by the Rev. William Beresford, one of the "Diocesan +Histories" Series, and to the "Handbook of Lichfield Cathedral" by the +late John Hewitt, the well-known antiquarian. I have also to thank Mr +R. R. Redmayne of Lichfield for much valuable information, as also Mr +C. Harradine, the Principal Verger, whose interest in and knowledge of +the Cathedral are well known in Lichfield; and the Photochrom Co. Ltd., +Messrs S. B. Bolas & Co., and Mr F. G. M. Beaumont, for the excellent +photographs they have allowed me to reproduce. + + A. B. CLIFTON. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + CHAPTER I.--History of the Cathedral 3 + + CHAPTER II.--Description of the Exterior 30 + The Close 33 + Bishop's Palace 34 + Spires 35 + West Front 39 + North Doorway 48 + Lady Chapel 50 + South Transept 51 + Bells 52 + + CHAPTER III.--Description of the Interior 54 + Nave 54 + Pulpit, Lectern, etc. 64 + North Aisle of Nave--Monuments and Glass 64 + South Aisle of Nave--Monuments and Glass 67 + Transepts 67 + Organ 71 + Choir 75 + Screen and Stalls 84 + Reredos 87 + Sedilia and Pavements 88 + Monuments and Glass in the Choir 91 + Lady Chapel 99 + Sacristy and Chapel of St. Chad's Head 106 + Chapter-House 110 + Library 113 + + CHAPTER IV.--History of the See 117 + + DIMENSIONS 136 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + Cathedral from the West _Frontispiece_ + Arms of the See _Title page_ + South Prospect of the Cathedral (Old Print) 2 + Cathedral from Stowe Church (Old Print) 13 + Ancient Gateway in the Close 17 + South Transept in 1813--Exterior 23 + Cathedral from the South 31 + Cathedral from the Minster Pool 37 + Great West Doorway in 1813 42 + Great West Doorway 43 + Southern Doorway in West Front 46 + Bay of the Nave--Exterior 48 + North Entrance in 1813 49 + Bay of the Choir--Exterior 50 + Doorway of South Transept 51 + Bay of the Nave--Interior 55 + Bay of the Choir--Interior 56 + Nave in 1813--Interior 57 + Nave, looking East 59 + Nave, looking West 61 + North Aisle of Nave, looking East 64 + Arcade with Semi-Effigy 68 + Detail of Semi-Effigy 69 + Choir in 1820--Interior 77 + Choir, looking East 79 + South Choir Aisle 80 + Choir, looking West 81 + Under the Central Tower 85 + Reredos 89 + The Sleeping Children 95 + Fresco in South Choir Aisle 97 + Brackets in Lady Chapel 99 + Lady Chapel 101 + Brackets in Lady Chapel 104 + Capital in Chapter-House 108 + Chapter-House 109 + Arcade in Chapter-House 111 + The Gospels of St. Chad 115 + Monument to Dr Johnson 136 + PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL 137 + + +[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL AT THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.] + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE HISTORY OF THE CATHEDRAL + + +The cathedral of Lichfield, as we now know it, was built at various times +in the thirteenth century and the early part of the fourteenth; and but +for some comparatively slight and obvious alterations, it is therefore +entirely in the styles known as Early English and Decorated. Unhappily +nearly all the early archives and documents belonging to the cathedral +are lost, having been destroyed in the time of the Civil Wars by the +soldiery who sacked the place after the siege of the close by the forces +of the Parliament. The absence of all documentary evidence as to the +dates of the various parts of the cathedral has been much regretted by +antiquarians, since it would be hard to find a better example of the +gradual change which English church architecture was undergoing during +the very busy period when this cathedral must have been built. Here we +have the rigid simplicity of the Early English style in the transepts, +giving place in the nave to the luxury of the Early Decorated, with its +geometrical tracery; while in the Lady Chapel and presbytery we find an +example, in some respects unique, of the gorgeousness of the completely +evolved Decorated style. To know exactly when each part was built would +be to add to our knowledge of architectural chronology; but instead, +we must employ what knowledge we already possess, and by a process the +very converse of what we could wish to have been able to use, we can +arrive at an approximate history of the structure of the cathedral. + +Not so long ago Oswy had the credit of having built the cathedral, and +later it was set down to Roger de Clinton. Modern criticism as easily +disposes of the claims of the latter as of the former, and there can be +no doubt that no part of the present cathedral is of earlier date than +1200 A.D. + +Much valuable information as to the cathedral, which Clinton may have had +a part in building, was obtained in 1860, when, for the alterations which +were then in progress, excavations were made in the choir. The result +of his investigations Professor Willis published in an article in the +_Archaeological Journal_ for 1861, entitled "Memoir on the Foundations +of Early Buildings recently discovered at Lichfield Cathedral," and the +theory which he there set out as to the history of the cathedral has been +generally accepted by antiquarians. Nothing can be more interesting than +this article, but it is too full of detail for anything beyond the bare +results of Professor Willis's reasoning to be given here: these are set +out in their place. + +Of the early Saxon church which was erected on this site practically +nothing is known, but it is supposed to have been built by Bishop Hedda +at the close of the seventh century, and of stone taken from Roman ruins +in the neighbourhood, though there is really no evidence to support this +theory. The desire to find another instance of the waste material and +sites once dedicated to a pagan religion being used by the victorious +Christian church may have something to do with such a legend. Nothing +except tradition is left of this church, to which it is said the bones +of St. Chad were removed from Stowe. Probably in the four or five +hundred years which elapsed before the Norman cathedral was built, +several churches succeeded one another on or about the present site: +whatever happened, we know nothing. + +Our real knowledge commences with the Norman cathedral. The excavations +already spoken of laid bare small portions of its foundations, and from +these Professor Willis decided that the Norman choir had a semi-circular +apse, and extended from the central tower to about the middle of the +fifth bay of the present choir; while the exterior line of its side walls +nearly corresponded with the interior line of the present aisle. The +Norman building probably possessed transepts, but these certainly had +no aisles; the rest is conjecture, but from other Norman cathedrals and +churches which are in existence we can fairly well imagine what it was +like. The altar probably stood over the centre of the semi-circle of +the apse, while the bishop's throne was behind it, facing west, with +the canons' stalls spreading out down the choir, and the choir stalls +continuing them right down under the tower into the nave: or perhaps +there were no seats for the choir in those days--we do not know; but +there must have been a processional path round the altar. We can imagine, +too, the massive masonry of the pillars with their heavy capitals and +circular arches. To think of a Norman church is to think possibly of +Peterborough; and Lichfield Cathedral, no doubt, was like that minster, +but on a very much smaller scale. + +There is no record as to when the Norman church was built, but Robert +de Lymesey, the bishop, is said in 1088 to have used a large quantity of +silver, which he took from the church at Coventry, in extensive buildings +in Lichfield; and Roger de Clinton is declared to have exalted the church +as well in building as in honour, so he may have erected, or helped to +erect, the Norman cathedral. Nothing whatever remains above ground of this +building, which was probably taken down gradually while the cathedral +which now stands in its place was being erected. Before this was done, +however, there was added a rectangular chapel to the east of the Norman +apsidal choir, which, with it, must have extended nearly to the end of the +seventh bay of the present choir. Nothing is known of it beyond the fact +that the foundations were discovered and examined by Professor Willis, +who decided that it was probably built late in the twelfth century, +and that its existence, if it was ever finished, must have been short. + +Very early in the thirteenth century the first part of the present +building was begun by erecting a rectangular choir just outside the +walls of the Norman choir, which must have been then removed. This +new Early English choir (including the presbytery) extended from the +central tower to the end of the seventh bay of the present choir. It +will be found that the eastern portion of this was subsequently removed, +but the western half still remains, and can readily be distinguished +from the Decorated part. The high altar of this period must have stood +just to the west of the space between the fifth piers, thus leaving the +space between the fifth and sixth piers as a processional path between +the two side aisles; while against the eastern wall were four altars, +one at the end of each aisle and two between them. At the same time that +this choir was built, was also built on the south side the sacristy, +with the room adjoining it: these both remain. + +The next alteration took place about 1220, and was the erection of a new +south transept in place of the Norman one, which, as has been said, almost +certainly had no aisle; then followed in about twenty years the north +transept and the chapter-house, with its vestibule, all these buildings +being in the Early English style, though the difference in their times +of erection is clearly marked in their details. Two royal licences to +dig Hopwas stone for "the new fabric of the church at Lichfield" in 1235 +and 1238 are evidence that work was going on about this time; and the +desire of Henry III. (which is more fully set out in the description +of the interior of the transept) to have a roof at Windsor like that +of Lichfield gives an almost documental certainty to the architectural +theory that the transepts were built at the time above stated. + +No historical document exists that can apply to the building of the nave; +but that must have come next, and have been in progress almost before the +north transept could have been finished. The west front was commenced +somewhere about the beginning of the last quarter of the thirteenth +century, and, including the two towers which form such an important part +of it, must have taken a very long time to complete. From the thorough +examination made when the recent restorations were in progress, it was +decided that these towers were built in three distinct stages--the lowest, +which just included the row of kings, being assigned to about 1280; the +next stage to 1300; and the upper part, including the belfry windows, +to about 1330, while the spires were not finished till some time after. + +Walter de Langton became bishop in 1296, and of him it is distinctly +recorded that he commenced the Lady Chapel. From an old register in the +Salt Library at Stafford, it appears that Langton left L80, 13s. 3d. for +the building of the chapel. He died in 1321. And, in 1323, there is +another entry showing that the chapter came to some agreement with his +executor by which each party should pay half the cost of finding a quarry +for the stone; so that it does not appear that building operations had +proceeded very far at his death. It is interesting to note, as the same +source shows us, that the money left by the bishop was partly on loan +to King Edward II. for the expenses of his wars with Scotland, which +wars had ended so disastrously at Bannockburn. In the following reign, +Edward III. was asked by the chapter to repay what was still owing of +this money. + +The Lady Chapel was probably erected beyond the eastern end of the +church as it then stood; and while this was being done, the Early English +presbytery was taken down and rebuilt in the Decorated style to match the +new Lady Chapel, and the old clerestory of the choir was also rebuilt +in the same style. The main idea was to obtain uniformity; but as it +apparently was not proposed to take down the sacristy on the south, +nor the chapter-house on the north, it was not considered necessary to +pull down the choir--_i.e._ the last three western bays--any lower than +the triforium; for the lower parts would be hidden by these buildings +from the outside, and inside various shifts were resorted to to obtain +uniformity. The work almost certainly grew from east to west gradually, +as the clerestory of the choir end is lighter than that of the eastern +or presbytery end; so that no doubt the pulling down of the old choir +clerestory was only done after the building of the eastern end made it +seem better to alter the rest into uniformity. With regard to the inside +effect, Professor Willis says: "The front half of their pier arches +(those belonging to the three western bays), however was removed and +mouldings given them corresponding to those of the new presbytery. Their +piers also were slightly altered, although partially concealed by the +choir stalls. By these arrangements the aspect of the whole interior +of the choir and presbytery was made uniform." How far this theory is +sound will be seen when the alterations early in the present century +are considered in their place. + +Bishop Langton also erected the shrine of St. Chad at an expense of +L2000. This shrine stood behind the high altar in the most eastern +bay of the retro-choir, and, as was usual, had on its western side an +altar dedicated to the saint. A similar arrangement can still be seen +in Westminster Abbey, where the shrine of Edward the Confessor stands +behind the reredos. The space behind the reredos, with the corresponding +bays of the aisles, were in the past called the lady choir. This portion +was separated from the rest of the choir by the reredos in the centre, +and by screens in a line with the reredos in the aisles; there was a +chapel in the lady choir at the end of each aisle, but to whom they were +dedicated is doubtful. Stukeley, writing in 1715, says: "In St. Peter's +Chapel, which is now a place to lay scaffolding and ladders, etc., +was painted upon the wall St. Peter crucified with his head downwards, +and two other apostles, etc. And in this place is the noted St. Chad's +tomb, though defaced, removed from the lady choir to be put here since +the Restoration." The same writer also tells us that: "Over across the +middle of the said choir was a rood loft, finely carved and gilded, +and St. Chad's shrine, but destroyed in time of war." + +Professor Willis has pointed out the singular parallelism between the +development of this cathedral and that of York. "The Norman Cathedral +of York was built in 1080, and that of Lichfield at an uncertain +date. Between 1154-1181, Archbishop Roger substituted for the original +chancel at York a long, square-ended choir, with the aisle carried +behind the end. At Lichfield, during the same period, the large chapel +was built at the end of the Norman apse; and about the beginning of the +thirteenth century the whole Norman eastern termination was, as at York, +replaced by a long, square-ended choir with the low aisles behind. Next, +at York the Norman transepts were rebuilt in Early English: the south +transept, 1230-1241; followed by the north transept, 1241-1260. Also at +Lichfield the Norman transepts were rebuilt in Early English, beginning +with the south and ending with the north. The Early English work of this +cathedral is shown by the licences to dig stone to have been in progress +in 1235 and 1238. York nave and Lichfield were next rebuilt in Early +Decorated--the first in 1291-1324. Lastly, at Lichfield, the elongation of +the eastern part was begun at the extreme east, beyond the existing choir +by the Lady Chapel, in late Decorated under Bishop Langton, 1296-1321, +and followed by taking down the choir, and continuing the same work on +its site westward. The works at York followed in the same order, but +forty or fifty years later, by first erecting the presbytery outside the +existing choir, and then taking down the latter and continuing the work +of the presbytery to form the new choir. The plans of the two cathedrals +rival each other in the simplicity of their proportions." + +One other important thing which Bishop Langton did was to fortify, or +at any rate to add greatly to the fortifications of the cathedral. +He surrounded the close with a high stone wall and constructed "two +beautiful gates" on the west and south sides of the close. Truly, had +he been able to see the result of his fortification, he might have said +with the Preacher: "All is vanity and vexation of spirit"; for if there +was one thing which brought down on the cathedral the extremities of +hatred and violence in the Civil Wars, it was that it proved able to be +held as a fortress against those who came up against it. + +Bishop Langton built also the palace, which for so long, with its towers +and turrets, stood in the north-east corner of the close. It must have +been a magnificent building, and we know that its hall was decorated +with frescoes of scenes in the recent wars. It was destroyed after the +siege of the close in 1643, and Fuller, writing about that time, speaks +of it as the "invisible castle now vanished out of sight." + +Roger de Norburg completed the Lady Chapel and the new presbytery, and +was succeeded by Robert de Stretton, who (as we discover from a document +dated 1390, four years after his death) completed St. Chad's shrine; +for that is the only meaning which can be given to the wording of the +bond, that the vicar's choral should offer prayers for, amongst others, +"Robert Stretton, bishop, for making St. Chadd's shrine, and for giving +them L24 to continue amongst them." + +There has recently been discovered among the muniments of the chapter, +an indenture dated in 1345 or 1346, and made between the sacrist on the +one hand, and the dean and chapter on the other, for the safe custody +of the goods in the sacristy. The "goods" are too numerous for a list +of them to be given, but they include "the head of Blessed Chad, in a +certain painted wooden case; also an arm of Blessed Chad; also bones +of the said saint in a certain portable shrine." Then follows a list of +the bones and relics of a large number of saints, including part of the +sepulchre of Our Lord, and part of St. Peter's cross. There were also +crosses, gold, and silver, and jewelled--a large number of many kinds, +all set out separately--mitres, jewels, chalices, copes, and every kind of +vestment of the most gorgeous description. Bishops and kings and queens +had apparently showered their wealth and valuables upon the cathedral; +and with the subscriptions of the diocese, known as Chad's Pennies, +and the offerings of pilgrims, the riches of the cathedral seem to have +been enormous. These "goods," in many cases with their donors' names, +are all set out in the roll, which, it is interesting to notice, is dated +in the year of the Black Death; possibly the enormous mortality of the +time may have made it seem necessary that the mere memory of man should +not be depended upon when so few seemed likely to survive. To read the +list is to get some notion of the magnificence of the services; and it +is no wonder that pilgrims came from all parts of the diocese, and of +England, to worship where so many relics were collected. The mid-Sunday +in Lent was originally the time, afterwards Whitsuntide, for the crowds +to attend the cathedral. They were shown the head of St. Chad, probably +from the little gallery in the south aisle of the choir, and then they +laid their offerings at the great shrine, on which were lying the other +relics of the saint. + +No doubt the early part of the fifteenth century was the period when the +cathedral was most glorious within and without. Fuller, in his "Church +History," published in 1655, from which quotation has already been made, +after giving an account of the building of the cathedral, says: "But now +in the time of the aforesaid William Heyworth, the Cathedral of Litchfield +was in the verticall height thereof, being (though not augmented in the +essentials) beautified in the ornamentals thereof. Indeed, the West front +thereof is a stately Fabrick, adorned with exquisite imagerie, which I +suspect our age is so far from being able to imitate the workmanship +that it understandeth not the Historie thereof. Surely what Charles +the Fifth is said to have said of the citie of Florence, that it is a +pittie it should be seen save only on Holy-dayes; as also that it was +fit that so fair a Citie should have a Case and Cover for it to keep it +from wind and weather, so in some sort, this Fabrick may seem to deserve +a shelter to secure it. But alas! it is now in a pittiful case--indeed, +almost beaten down to the ground in our civil dissensions. Now, lest the +Church should follow the Castle--I mean quite vanish out of view--I have, +at the cost of my worthy friend here exemplified the Portraiture thereof; +and am glad to hear it to be the design of ingenious persons to preserve +ancient churches in the like nature (whereof many are done in this, +and more expected in the next part of Monasticon), seeing when their +substance is gone, their verie shadows will be acceptable to posteritie." + +In the fifteenth century a library was built outside the door of the +north transept, but a little to the west; it was quite separate from the +cathedral. This was one of the gifts of Dean Heywood (1457-1493). It is +recorded that he gave L40 towards the building of it, but died before +it was completed, and this was done by his successor, Dean Yotton, +who also contributed to its erection. According to the statement in +"_Anglia Sacra_" it was finished in the year 1500. It is marked in the +plan of Browne Willis, 1727, and was taken down about 1750. + +Some time in this century saw a change in the tracery of many of the +windows. It may be that the introduction of printing was responsible +for this change, and that the greater amount of light admitted by the +windows of the Perpendicular style made their insertion advisable; or +it may be that the tracery of windows being naturally fragile, in many +cases a renewal became necessary, and the new Gothic style was naturally +considered the best. Whatever the reason, the new Perpendicular tracery +was inserted in many of the windows just as it was in a large number +of cathedrals and churches all over England. + +In reading the history of the building of this fabric, we cannot +help noticing that even the great Gothic builders could not leave well +alone. Then, as now, Fashion was the ruling power. Having a Norman church, +they altered it into an Early English one; then they pulled down a good +deal of this to get a more Decorated building; and finally they changed +the windows in order to give the whole a Perpendicular appearance: side +by side with other reasons that actuated them, they did their best to +keep their cathedral in the fashion. + +In the sixteenth century, Henry VIII., the great destroyer of religious +houses, made but little difference to the fabric of this cathedral, but +he laid his hands on the valuables. The shrine of St. Chad was denuded +of its jewels, and everything which could be turned into money was taken +away, much of it was fortunately returned for the "necessary uses" of the +cathedral, but the services and ritual must have been much impaired and +their beauty diminished. During that century, however, the cathedral +gradually recovered, and we know that early in the next the services +were again very much on the same scale of magnificence as they had been +when the good bishops Patteshull and Weseham directed the diocese. + +The next event in the history of the building is one which is necessarily +referred to many times in this book. The siege of Lichfield Cathedral +is probably the most famous incident in its long career; not only +on account of the immense injury done to the fabric itself, to its +monuments and its decorations, but also on account of the "miraculous +intervention" on behalf of the holy building, an intervention which, +viewed with nineteenth-century scepticism, does not appear to have done +the cathedral any obvious good, but which at the time appears to have +been treated with all the deference due to a genuine miracle. + +The great Civil War began on August 22, 1642, when Charles I. set up his +standard at Nottingham. At Lichfield, as everywhere else in England, +there were partisans of both sides. The cathedral group was naturally +for the king, while others, for one reason or another, joined either the +Royal Party or the Parliamentarian. After Edgehill, which was fought +in the autumn, matters became more and more serious in the Midlands; +and finally, in February 1643, the Royalists at Lichfield, hearing that +at any moment an outbreak might take place, garrisoned the close, which +ever since the days of Walter de Langton had been strongly fortified. They +hoisted the king's flag on the great steeple, and waited the result. They +had not long to wait. With March Lord Brooke, one of the fiercest of +anti-churchmen, arrived in command of a strong body of Roundheads, +and on the 2nd the siege commenced. + +[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL FROM STOWE CHURCH.] + +Lord Brooke was a fanatic, and ever fierce against cathedrals: he had, +according to the diary of Archbishop Laud, two years before, as he was +passing in a boat upon the Thames, said he hoped to see St. Paul's +with not one stone left upon another. It was in this spirit that he +set about the siege of the cathedral, and of his fate there are many +accounts. Perhaps the following, taken from Dugdale's "View of the Late +Troubles in England," is as good as any:--"This lord (Lord Brooke) +being strangely tainted with fanatic principles, by the influence of +one of his near relations, and some schismatical preachers (though +in his own nature a very civil and well-humoured man), became thereby +so great a zealot against the established discipline of the Church, +that no less than the utter extirpation of Episcopacy, and abolishing +all decent order in the service of God, would satisfy him; to which end +he became leader of all the power he could raise for the destruction +of the cathedral of that diocese of Coventry and Litchfield. In order +whereunto, when he had marched within half a mile of Litchfield, he +drew up his army, and then devoutly prayed a blessing upon his intended +works; withal earnestly desiring that God would, by some special token, +manifest upon them His approbation of that their design: which being done, +he went on and planted his great guns against the south-east gate of the +close, himself standing in a window of a little house near thereto, to +direct the gunners in their supposed battery; but it so happened that, +there being two persons placed in the battlement of the chiefest steeple +to make shot with long fouling guns at the cannoniers, upon a sudden +accident, which caused the soldiers to give a shout, this lord, coming +to the door (completely harnessed with plate armour _cap-a-pie_) was +suddenly shot into one of his eyes; but the strength of the bullet, so +much abated by the glance thereof on a piece of timber which supported +a pentiss over the door, that it only lodged in his brains, whereupon he +suddenly fell down dead; nor is it less notable that this accident fell +out on the second day of March, which is the festival of that sometime +famous Bishop S. Chad, to whose memory Offa, King of the Mercians, first +erected this stately church and devoutly dedicated it." + +Tradition has always asserted that the shot which killed Lord Brooke +was fired by one of the sons of Sir Richard Dyott, who, with the Earl of +Chesterfield, was commanding the cathedral garrison. This son was deaf and +dumb, and was known as "Dumb Dyott." The gun is preserved in the family, +and they are supported by other historians, disagreeing with Dugdale, +in their account that the shot was no accidental one, but that Dyott, +who was an accomplished marksman, recognising Lord Brooke, aimed at him +and killed him. + +In those days--and indeed even to the present day--it was believed that +one who was afflicted with dumbness, idiocy, or any natural disease +which showed God's hand, was especially His agent. Dumb Dyott was looked +upon as being the agent of divine vengeance, and the fact of its being +St. Chad's Day strengthened the belief. Here is an extract from a very +courtly letter written a few days afterwards by a young cavalier to Lady +Dyer; in it the feeling that a miracle had been performed is clearly +shown. The writer says: "We have had the honour in these parts to bring +my Lord Brooke to a quiet condition. That enemy of our Church (March 2) +was slain in his quarrel against our Church, by the God of our Church, +with a shot out of the Cathedral, by a bullet made of Church lead, through +the mouth which reviled our Church; and (if this be worth your reading) +this Cathedral was dedicated to the memory of an old Saxon holy man +(called Ceadda, commonly Chad); the blow of death came from St. Chad's +Church upon St. Chad's Day. This, being a verity, is fit for a lady +of rare worth." The incident is constantly referred to in contemporary +literature, where the miracles claimed on behalf of the Royalist party are +worthy of a better result. One more quotation will suffice. The celebrated +preacher, Dr South, in his sermon on the text, "God hath loved the gates +of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob," says: "Nor is that instance +to be passed over of a commander in the Parliamentary army, who, coming +to rifle and deface the cathedral at Lichfield, solemnly, at the head of +his troops, begged God to show some remarkable token of His approbation +or dislike of the work they were going about. Immediately after which, +he was shot in the forehead by a deaf and dumb man; and this was on St. +Chad's Day, the name of which saint that church bare, being dedicated to +God in memory of the same: where we see that as he asked of God a sign, +so God gave him one in the forehead, and that with such a mark as he is +like to be known by all posterity." + +The house in which Lord Brooke was killed is in Dam Street, at a distance, +it is said, of about 185 yards from the central spire of the cathedral; +the late Mr Green caused the following inscription to be put up over +the doorway:-- + +"_March 2, 1643._--Lord Brooke, a general of the Parliament forces +preparing to besiege the Close of Lichfield, then garrisoned for King +Charles the First, received his death wound on the spot beneath this +inscription by a shot in the forehead from Mr Dyott, a gentleman who +had placed himself on the battlements of the great steeple to annoy +the besiegers." + +The death of Lord Brooke was kept a secret as much as possible, for +fear the soldiers should indeed take it for a sign; Sir John Gell was +appointed in his place, and the siege continued. Under his direction +"all such townsmen that had any sons, apprentises, or other servants +within the close, and likewise all citizens' wives that had their husbands +there, whether magistrates or other persons whatsoever," were collected +together and put in the front of the soldiers against the close, but +after a while, it not appearing to make much difference, they were all +sent home again. The close meanwhile had been bombarded with cannon, and +finally there arrived from Coventry a new engine, called a mortar, which +cast burning shells. Most of these fell into the mill pool or went over +the close altogether; but it is said to have caused so much fright, no one +there having seen such an engine before, that the Earl of Chesterfield, +knowing also that his provisions could not last another day, and that +there was little likelihood of their being reinforced, decided to yield +the close on the best terms he could. These included free quarter to all, +and on the 5th March, after a siege of three days, the close was yielded. + +The damage that had been done was terrible; not only was the whole +fabric much injured, and all the stained glass destroyed, but the great +steeple had been blown down and had in its fall broken in the roof of +the church in several places. But even now the work of desecration was +not complete. The close having been taken, the Parliamentary forces and +their prisoners were all housed in and round the cathedral, and the most +sacrilegious conduct is attributed to the former. The wanton soldiers +pulled down the curious carved work, and battered in pieces what was +left of the beautiful old stained glass; they stripped the gravestones +of their brasses, and destroyed the ancient records which were stored +in the cathedral. These acts of destruction were no doubt due to the +religious mania of the Roundheads against any form of ceremony or beauty +in the House or Service of God; but their passion became keener when they +found what rich spoils were ready to their hands. It happened during +their riotous proceedings that one of the soldiers raised the covering +of the tomb containing the remains of Bishop Scrope, and found in it +a silver chalice and a crozier of considerable value. This discovery +naturally excited the soldiers, and every tomb was at once taken to +pieces and its contents scattered; it is not wonderful therefore that +the tombs that remain to the present day are few in number and these +terribly mutilated. The crozier was afterwards sold to Elias Ashmole, +the antiquarian, who took so great an interest in Lichfield. Nor was +the sacrilege confined to destruction and spoliation. Dugdale tells +us that "every day they hunted a cat with hounds through the church, +delighting themselves with the echo from the goodly vaulted roof; and +to add to their wickedness, brought a calf into it, wrapt in linen; +carried it to the font, sprinkled it with water; and gave it a name in +scorn and derision of that holy sacrament of baptism." + +[Illustration: ANCIENT GATEWAY FORMERLY IN THE CLOSE.] + +Not for long, however, did the Roundheads remain in possession. Prince +Rupert was sent from Oxford, the headquarters of the Royalist party at the +time, to retake Lichfield. Having taken Bromicham on the way, he arrived +at Lichfield with a strong force, and history repeated itself. The town +offered no opposition, and Rupert had to lay siege to the close, which now +was better garrisoned. The Royalists erected batteries on the north side, +and kept up a heavy fire; they also attempted to undermine the walls, +and finally succeeded in blowing up one of the towers of the close, and +a fierce encounter took place, in which many men were slaughtered on both +sides. At length, after ten days' siege, the close was surrendered to the +king by the governor, who probably got better terms than he expected, +as Rupert was required at Reading. The articles of capitulation are +referred to by Clarendon as being most honourable, and are as follow:-- + +"It is consented by Colonel Hastings, by the authority given him by +his highness Prince Rupert, that, in consideration of the delivery +and yielding up of the Close of Lichfield, Lieutenant-Colonel Russel, +and all the Captains and Officers with him, shall march out of the said +Close, to-morrow being the one and twentieth day of this instant April, +by ten o'clock in the morning, with fourscore men and musquetts, with +flying colours, and fourscore horsemen, with arms belonging to them, and +all other persons within the said Close to be at liberty to goe whither +they please; and for their better and safe conveyance, a free pass or +convoy from his highnesse, and eleven carts to convey away such goods as +belong to any of the officers or soldiers, with themselves, to the City +of Coventry; and that all prisoners shall be released on both sides, +which have been taken in the City of Stafford since the coming down of +the Right Honourable Lord Brooke. In witness whereof, we have hereunto put +our hand and seal, this twentieth day of April A.D. 1643. H. HASTINGS." + +Russel did not leave empty-handed, as he is said to have taken away +the communion plate and linen, and whatever else was of value. He was +succeeded in command of the close by Colonel Bagot, who held it until +1646, when in the general ruin of the king's affairs the close was +again taken. + +In "_Mercurius Aulicus_" there is an interesting anecdote which shows the +state of feeling between the two parties. A certain Captain Hunt, who +had a command in the neighbouring town of Tamworth, sent Colonel Bagot +the following challenge:--"Bagot, thou sonne of an Egyptian ... meete +mee half the way to-morrow morning, the half-way betwixt Tamworth and +Litchfeald, if thou darest; if not, I will whippe whensoever I meete +thee. Tamworth, this December 1644.--THOMAS HUNT." Colonel Bagot did +not neglect the challenge, and though he did not succeed in taking him +prisoner, he "whipped" him home to Tamworth. + +During the time Colonel Bagot was governor the post can have been no +sinecure, for although there was no regular siege to be compared to the +two just described, yet, lying as it did with so many Parliamentary +strongholds in the immediate neighbourhood, this period cannot have +been one of peace; and Dr Harwood, in his "History of Lichfield," goes +so far as to say that the close was frequently in a state of seige at +this period. The battle of Naseby was fought on the 14th June 1645, with +disastrous effect to the king. Colonel Bagot was present with 200 men, +and no doubt escorted the king back to Lichfield, for he lay there for +at least one night, and received an address from his faithful citizens, +which, from its wording, shows that there was little hope left in his +side. The king came again later in the year, and about March in the +following year, 1646, the last siege commenced. It was a desultory affair +compared to the first two, and only ended when the Royalists, in July, +finding that the king had practically no real army in the field anywhere, +surrendered again on terms which were most honourable to both sides. + +The damage done to the cathedral in these times was estimated at L14,000, +which was for those days a very large amount. Some of the losses are +thus particularised: + + For a pair of organs broke in pieces L200 + The destruction of the vicars' seats 600 + The defacing of Lord Paget's tomb, which was executed in Italy 700 + +But enough has been said to show that the cathedral was in a most ruinous +state, and so it remained until a twelvemonth after the Restoration. From +a manuscript in the Ashmolean Collection at Oxford, it appears that Elias +Ashmole had an interview with the king in June 1660 as to the condition +of the cathedral. The memorandum reads: "16 June 1660. This morning Mr +Rawlins of Lichfield tould me that the Clearke Viccars of the Cathedrall +Church had entered the Chapter-house and there said service; and this +when the Vestry was the only place in the Church yt had a roof to shelter +them. This very afternoon, I, having an opportunity to waite on the Kg, +and being in his Closet, tould him that the aforesaid remaining number +of poore Clearks Vicarrs had assembled in the aforesaid place, and there +kept their Canonicall houres and prayd for his Maty, which he was pleased +to heare. Upon further discourse, I acquainted him with the desolacion +of the place, which he much lamented, and said he had been informed that +Winchestre Cathedrall had exceedingly suffred in these late tymes, and +that they had turnd it into Brewhouses, Malt-houses, etc." And again, on +"July 18, 1660, Mr Dugdale moved Dr Sheldon to become an instrument for +the repair of Lichfield Cathedral; and proposed that the prebends, etc., +that were admitted should part with one-half of their profits towards the +repair of the fabrick, which would be no great burden to them; and by this +example the gentry would be invited to join with them in some considerable +contribution. _N.B._--I find this method succeeded accordingly." + +The see was vacant for nearly a year after the Restoration, as Bishop +Frewen, who had been appointed to the see by Charles I., was almost at +once made Archbishop of York. At last, in December 1661, John Hacket, +Doctor of Divinity of Trinity College, Cambridge, was appointed, and +he at once set himself to the repair of the dilapidated cathedral; on +the very morning of his arrival at Lichfield he is said to have set his +carriage-horses and servants to the work of clearing out the rubbish, +and with his own hands to have set them an example at the start. The work +to be done must have appeared to be almost impossible of completion, for +the central spire was still lying in ruins over the chapter-house and +choir, the roof was broken in, and the pavements completely destroyed: +everything was ruinous, for the Parliamentary folk had during the +Common-wealth seized all materials which seemed to be of use for the +repair of the dwelling-houses in the close and neighbourhood. However, +the work progressed; the bishop was so energetic that he was able to +collect in the surrounding country about L8000, and so generous that he +subscribed himself a sum of L1683, 12s.: and in eight years he succeeded +in restoring the beauty of the cathedral. + +The service at which it was re-consecrated was of great solemnity and +ceremony: "His lordship, being arrayed in his episcopal vestments, +attended by the dean, dignitaries, prebendaries, and other members of +the Church, accompanied by many of the nobility and gentry, the bailiffs, +citizens, and other public officers of the city and county of Lichfield, +with an immense concourse of people, entered at the great west doors of +the Cathedral. The vicars, choristers, etc., first walked up the south +aisle of the Church, where the bishop with a loud voice repeated the +first verse of the 144th psalm. Afterwards the whole choir alternately +sang the psalm to the organ. In the same order they proceeded to the +north aisle. The bishop sang the 100th psalm, which was repeated by the +whole company. Then the train passed to the body of the Church, where the +bishop began the 102nd psalm, which when the vicars choral had concluded, +he commanded the doors of the choir to be opened, and in the same form, +first encompassed the south side. The bishop began the first verse of the +122nd psalm; the company finished it, and with the like ceremony proceeded +to the north side, and sang the 131st psalm." The procession over, +the bishop knelt down in the centre of the choir and prayed silently; +and then with a loud voice called on all the people to join with him in +the Lord's Prayer, which was followed by other prayers suitable to the +occasion. He then pronounced a solemn benediction on the act in which +they were engaged, and upon all that were present. The usual service of +morning prayer followed, with two special anthems, and a collection--not +for the cathedral--but for the poor of the parish. The bishop also gave +three magnificent banquets--to the cathedral clergy, to the nobility of +the neighbourhood, and to the principal citizens of the city. + +Thus concluded the ceremony of re-consecration, a work which left the +cathedral, not, unhappily, as it was when the first siege took place, +but still a very beautiful edifice, with more of the Perpendicular +style about the windows than previously, and with grievous signs here +and there of the terrible misfortunes it had weathered. Sir Christopher +Wren is said to have designed the new central spire, and to have acted +as architect to the re-builders; but this is almost certainly not the +case: his advice may have been asked, but probably at the most he gave +it with regard to rich altar-piece in the Corinthian style which was +erected in front of the old screen behind the high altar. At any rate, +his signature appears on one of the sixteen papers on this matter still +preserved among the muniments of the cathedral. + +The king gave 200 fair timber trees out of Needwood forest, and his +brother, the Duke of York, afterwards King James II., gave the money +for the tracery of the great west window. This window remained until the +recent alterations, when it was replaced by one more in accordance with +the original thirteenth century style. The Duke of York's window, with +its ill-proportioned geometrical tracery, need not be regretted any more +than the removal of the heroic statue of his Majesty King Charles II., +which occupied the central niche above it. The statue was principally +remarkable for its ugliness, and for the history of the stonemason who +hewed it; he afterwards married a rich wife, and finally arrived at the +dignity of knighthood. Bishop Hacket adorned the church with new stalls +and with an organ which cost L600; and he also made arrangements for +new bells worthy of the cathedral. He ordered six, and three of them were +delivered in his life-time. Only one--the tenor bell--however, was hung +in time for the good bishop to hear it. His biographer, Dr Plume, says: +"The first time it was rung, the bishop was very weak; yet he went out +of his bed-chamber into the next room to hear it: he seemed well pleased +with the sound, and blessed God, who had favoured him with life to hear +it; but at the same time observed that it would be his passing-bell, +and retiring into his chamber, he never left it till he was carried +to his grave." He died in October 1670. + +[Illustration: THE SOUTH TRANSEPT IN 1813.] + +For some time the cathedral has no history to be recounted. In 1750 +we know that the ancient library outside the north aisle, built by +Deans Heywood and Yotton, was removed, and the churchyard levelled; +we also know that the roof became very defective, and the rain came in, +so that a new roofing was required. Pennant tells us that the dean and +chapter were obliged to substitute slates instead of metal, on account +of the narrow revenues left to maintain this venerable pile; and after +the strictest economy, they were under the necessity of contributing +from their own income in order to complete their plan. + +A few years later it was found that the fabric itself was in so +dilapidated a condition that much more extensive repairs were necessary, +and so Mr Wyatt, the celebrated architect, as Britton calls him, came to +Lichfield and began that scheme of alteration which has been the object +of so much ridicule and contempt. To lovers of church architecture at the +end of the nineteenth century it seems astounding that the splendid and +inimitable cathedrals and churches of this country should have been handed +over every one to be destroyed and debased in the way Wyatt destroyed and +debased them. But there is no doubt that Wyatt represented the spirit +of the time, just as Sir Gilbert Scott represented the spirit of the +middle of this century. Then it was a love of "vistas" which actuated +the alterations, and caused the destruction of anything which came in +the way of what was considered a fine view. In those days "vistas" were +the all-absorbing consideration and the subject of discussion amongst +those who considered themselves cultured, as may be seen in the novels +of Jane Austen, and in "Mansfield Park" in particular. Later, the passion +for replacing what was old or worn by time with something new, something +which was supposed to be a reproduction of the old, has caused endless +destruction. The later passion has not yet disappeared, unhappily; but +thankfully we may note the signs of the times, and feel sure that in a +few years neither a Wyatt with his vistas and Roman cement, nor others, +who, having more knowledge, are therefore the less excusable, will be +permitted under any circumstances to lay a finger on what it has here +and there graciously pleased their forerunners to leave unspoiled. How +little this is, can be judged by a visit to any cathedral church from +Worcester downwards. + +The achievements of Wyatt are recounted by Britton, who does not appear +to have entirely decided whether he approved or not. Some of them, no +doubt, were necessary; and it would be unfair to indiscriminately blame +any architect who had to deal, however violently, with a building which +had deteriorated, not merely in the pass of time, but also by the shock +of war. Also a great deal of what Wyatt did was done for the sake of +warmth, though the object in view, it is said, was not attained. Britton +says that not only was there a general restoration of doors, windows, and +flooring throughout, but also "two of the spires were partly rebuilt, the +ends of the transepts were strengthened by new buttresses, the external +roofs of the aisles were raised, and five divisions of the stone roof in +the nave were taken down and replaced with plaster. The Lady Chapel was +united with the choir by removing the screen which had been erected by +Bishop Hacket. On taking this away, the workmen discovered the beautiful +old screen which formed in all probability the original partition when +the Lady Chapel was completed by the executors of Walter de Langton. This +elaborate piece of architecture was in a very mutilated state; but Mr +Wyatt, having restored it by the assistance of Roman cement to a very +perfect condition, appropriated part of it to the new altar-piece, and +the remainder to the organ screen or partition which divides the nave from +the Choir," and which took up the whole of the western bay of the choir. + +Since Britton's time it has been thought necessary to take another tone +and to try to justify these alterations. Mr James Potter, the son of Mr +Wyatt's chief assistant, who was afterwards architect to the cathedral, +has endeavoured to prove that some of the alterations were unavoidable, +and that the others were not made under Wyatt's advice, but in spite +of it. Incidentally, in the course of a letter to the _Staffordshire +Advertiser_, he speaks of the "unsightly and incongruous work of Wren's," +in referring to the wooden reredos, and states that Wren had previously +closed the arches of the four most western bays of the choir in order to +receive the stalls. He also says: "But so completely did Wren perform +his work of blocking-up that he took care to conceal every vestige of +moulding, both of the piers and the archivolts, leaving only in view +the clustered shafts from which the vaulting of the roof sprang. I have +before noticed that Mr James Wyatt's death occurred in A.D. 1813, and +that this western portion of the choir remained in the state in which Sir +Christopher Wren left it up to the following year. In the early part of +that year the architect to the fabric, the late Mr Potter, was instructed +by the dean and chapter to cause the entire removal of the old stall work +and unmask the three arches (then concealed), this being the space on +either side of the choir occupied by the stalls in question. The arches +being much dilapidated and past restoration, Dean Woodhouse decided +to have them made to correspond with the decorated bays in an easterly +direction. This work was executed, as also the canopy of the new stalls, +in Roman cement. I cannot myself think that Dean Woodhouse exhibited +any degree of bad taste in adopting the existing decorated arches as his +model for the new ones; and, as regards the canopies of the new stalls, +they were exact resemblances of the old reredos, and surely no modern +architect will presume to find fault with them. I must here observe +that the choice of material was not confined to the architect employed +to carry out the work, but was chosen by the dean and chapter, the state +of the fabric fund, out of which the whole of the expenses were defrayed, +being insufficient to meet the outlay of a more costly material." + +The above account is most interesting, and, assuming that the writer was +correct in the facts as to what was done by Wyatt and by his father, +we are confronted with a difficulty. From Professor Willis's account, +already quoted, it is obvious that he was of opinion that the alteration +in the style of the front of these pier arches was made in Gothic +times. Mr Potter says it was done in the nineteenth century. It is, +of course, possible for some alteration to have been made at both these +times; but it looks as if the harmony was not complete until recently, +probably because the height of the old stalls prevented the variations +from being easily seen. As to Wren, Mr Potter probably was only repeating +the recognised tradition that Wren was responsible for the rebuilding by +Bishop Hacket, and no argument can be deduced on this point, the latest +and best opinion being that there is, as already stated, no evidence +to prove that the great Sir Christopher had much to do with the cathedral. + +Soon after Wyatt's death the policy of Roman cement, which he had +inaugurated, was continued, and the whole of the west front become +one mass of stucco and paste. The row of kings was replaced in this +way, as also the statues in the great porch, and all the mouldings and +decorations were covered with cement, and practically the whole cathedral +from end to end had its deficiencies added to in this way. This work was +completed about 1822. From then to 1856 the cathedral did not receive +much alteration; but in the latter year Sir Gilbert, then Mr. Scott +was called in, and the extensive alterations were commenced, which +may be said scarcely to have finished in this year of 1897. It is not +necessary to discuss here this restoration. It is sufficient to say that +it has been the aim of those in authority to restore the cathedral to +the appearance and arrangement it presented at the beginning of the +seventeenth century. Wyatt's alterations received scant courtesy, +and the cathedral as we now see it may be declared to be a triumph +for the restorer--so great a triumph, indeed, that in many parts the +unsuspicious admirer might be led to conclude that he was looking at a +brand new edifice. Still, the cathedral has some of its old work left, +and perhaps in the nave we are confronted with more of the work of the +original Gothic builders than in any other part. What has been done in +the last forty years is specifically discussed in the description of +the exterior and interior in the two next chapters; but here it will +be well to show what the condition of the cathedral was in the middle +of the century, just before the recent restoration. Canon Lonsdale has +given us a splendid description in his "Recollections," and if anything +can reconcile us to the wholesale renewal which then took place, it +will be found in the account which he gives in this little pamphlet, +from which are now quoted the following sentences. He says: "The Nave +and Transepts were absolutely empty of furniture of any kind, except +that the South Transept contained the fittings of the Dean's Consistory +Court (since abolished), and in the North Transept, on the spot where +the organ now is, stood the statue of Bishop Ryder, raised on a high +pedestal, and looking as if it were about to tumble forward. The walls, +arches, and pillars were one uniform, dead, yellowish whitewash, many +coats thick; as also the Choir from end to end, and from top to bottom, +and indeed the whole of the interior.... The Nave was quite unused; +indeed, except during service hours, the Verger's Silver Key alone gave +admission to any part of the church.... The two parts of the building +were altogether separate from each other. The Choir was entered by a +door under a high partition, composed of remains of the original High +Altar, fourteenth century screen, and of other materials. This partition +filled the whole of the first bay of the present Choir. On each side of +the entrance were Vestries for the Lay Vicars and the Choristers, and +above these was placed the organ; the rest of the space up to the Roof +being filled in with glass, so that the separation of Nave and Choir +was complete.... In the Choir itself the remains of the Reredos, which +stood at the spot where the present one is now fixed, had been removed +by Wyatt at the end of the last century, and the Holy Table was carried +to the extreme East of the Lady Chapel. On either side, from the screen +up to the very entrance of the Lady Chapel, were pews made of oak lined +with green baize and studded with brass nails. The Choir Aisles on either +side were entirely shut out from the Choir, the arches being filled in +by plaster, in order, as was imagined, to help towards warmth. In the +three bays eastward from the screen--the second, third, and fourth, as +they are now--stalls were fixed, composed of plaster, wood, rope, nails, +and much else, with canopies of the same material over them, which the +old Verger of that day used to call 'beautiful Tabernacle work.' The +Dean and Canons' Residentiary had stalls facing eastward in the screen +under the organ.... The Choir Aisles, shut out from the Choir, were long, +narrow passages, never used, ending on the North side in a blank wall, +and on the South with the monument of the 'Sleeping Children.'" + +This was the inside of the Cathedral: the outside was stucco. Such facts +as these will have to be borne in mind when the next century passes +judgment on Sir Gilbert Scott. For us, it should be sufficient that we +have judged Wyatt. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE EXTERIOR + + +Of all the cathedral churches of England, Lichfield may be said to be the +most lovely. Other cathedrals are larger--indeed, this is the smallest of +them all--grander, or more magnificent; but for simple beauty, for charm, +for delicacy of construction and appearance, Lichfield may rightly claim +to take the foremost place. Peterborough, when we stand inside the west +door and look down its line of enormous columns, fills us with awe at +its immensity and strength: a feeling which is perhaps a little impaired +by the present position of its stalls. Salisbury appeals to us with its +perfect simplicity and symmetry, and York with its unequalled grandeur +and splendour; but after viewing all the cathedrals of England, it is +Lichfield which is most likely to be remembered among them for something +which may be most aptly called charm. What can be more delightful than the +view which confronts the traveller who, approaching from the town, pauses +to look across the sparkling water of the pool at the three graceful +spires standing out amid a wealth of green trees and shrubs. Truly a +picture to be long remembered. Here is, indeed, the precious jewel set +in a silver sea. + +[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH.] + +The cathedral does not stand on high enough ground for any very fine view +of the entire building to be obtained. But from whatever point in the +neighbourhood of Lichfield we look we can see its three slender spires, +grouping themselves, sometimes so that only two can be distinguished, +sometimes so that they all appear in one cluster as though rising from +one tower, and sometimes spreading out so that two seem to have very +little connection with the third. For years they have been known as the +"Ladies of the Vale"; they have looked down on many changes, and indeed +have suffered changes themselves. They now rise from an almost new +building--new at any rate in appearance. As we approach the cathedral +either from Bird Street and face the west front, or from Dam Street and +confront the south side of the Lady Chapel, the same sad feeling comes +over us that all here is new. Even as these words are written the south +side of the choir is being renovated, and no doubt what little of the +old is still left will soon disappear. The west front, with its niches +and images, is all new; the south side of the nave is new, and indeed +everywhere it is its newness that first strikes one. One cannot help +wondering if this extreme severity of restoration is absolutely essential; +for if not essential, the vague disappointment might well turn to anger +that in days when the art of architecture has become almost non-existent, +it should be thought necessary to carry through such wholesale renewal +of work, never to be replaced, belonging to the grand days of Gothic +building. For this old work can never be replaced: it is a sad thought +that in every art, the early groping days, when the new medium or the new +method is hardly settled, and its limitations but imperfectly understood, +produce the great work. It is so in literature, in music, in painting, +in sculpture, and in architecture; but it is only to the last that we +dare to offer the assistance of our own less artistic age. The cathedral +as we see it to-day has met with many vicissitudes. Of its misfortunes +in the Civil Wars much has already been said; and something of its +sufferings at the hands of restorers. At present, after studying the +west front and contemplating the extreme newness of its every detail, +we can only hope that when age has somewhat staled the infinite variety +of its modern ornament, future pilgrims to the shrine of St. Chad will +not think too unkindly of an age given over to the rigours of restoration. + +=The Close.=--The cathedral stands in a close which was once surrounded +by strong walls with bastions and a moat. Nature had supplied the moat +on the south side, and the Cathedral Pool, as it is now called, is still +there. The artificial moat has been drained, but its course can be easily +traced running round the bishop's palace, and its water has been replaced +by lovely gardens and gravel walks. Some bits of the old walls remain, +the north-east bastion in the palace gardens and a turret on a house at +the south corner: the "beautiful gates" of Bishop Langton are gone; but +in the Vicars' Close at the west of the cathedral are two small irregular +courtyards with houses so old that we feel sure that their wooden beams +and plaster were there when the Royalists of the neighbourhood housed +themselves within the fortified close. + +The close is not large, and of course, as Lichfield is a cathedral of +the old establishment, there are no monastical buildings, no ruined +cloisters. On the north side the ground rises rapidly in a grassy slope +to a terrace, behind which are some of the canons' houses. Opposite +the north transept is the deanery, a substantial red brick house in the +style of the middle of the last century; next to it, and farther east, +is the bishop's palace. + +=The Bishop's Palace= is of stone, and was built by Thomas Wood, the +bishop who succeeded Hacket, and who is said to have been compelled +to erect it as a fine for his neglect of the diocese. It bears on the +front the date 1687. The old palace of Bishop Langton, which occupied +the same position in the close, was swept away in the Civil Wars. The +bishops of Lichfield had another palace at Eccleshall until the time +of Bishop Selwyn, who sold it, and with a portion of the money erected +here the two unsightly wings and the still more unsightly chapel. In the +palace gardens, in the south-west corner, stood the old bell-tower of +the cathedral, of whose destruction in 1315 we have a record. From the +bishop's garden there is a charming view through the trees of Stowe pool +and St. Chad's Church apparently standing at its farther edge: its old +towers stand out finely, and the gravestones in the churchyard remind us +that in far-off Mercian days St. Chad was laid to rest in this very spot. + +On the east side of the close is an unsightly white house which rises +a blot on the otherwise beautiful view of the cathedral from Stowe; +next to it is a charming old building with the turret already mentioned. + +On the south side is the entrance from Dam Street, with an old house +at the corner. On this side also is the Theological College, a low +ordinary-looking building, said to have been originally training-stables +for race horses; and farther west are more houses of the cathedral +clergy. And behind all these is the pool. One cannot help agreeing with +Britton in thinking what a delightful thing it would be for the close if +all the houses on this side could be pulled down so that the cathedral +might have nothing but grass and trees between it and the pool. +Britton gives an imaginary view of the south side with all the houses +cleared away. + +On the west side of the cathedral is another entrance to the close, +which runs between the Vicars' Close already mentioned and the hideous +college built by Andrew Newton for the widows and orphans of clergymen. + +=The Cathedral= is built of new red sandstone from quarries in the +immediate neighbourhood of Lichfield itself. On Borrowcop, to the north +(where tradition says two Mercian kings were killed, to be afterwards +buried in the close), is the hole left by the cathedral; and on the +other side, at Wheel Lane, is a quarry from which much stone, both red +and white, has been taken for the recent repairs to the fabric. Its +ruddy colour adds much to the picturesqueness of the building. + +Mrs Van Rensselaer, in her interesting account of the English cathedrals, +says: "In any and every aspect, but more especially when foliage comes +close about it, Lichfield's colour assists its other beauties. Grey +is the rule in English churches--dark cold grey at Ely, for example; +light yellow grey at Canterbury, and pale pearly grey at Salisbury; +and although dark greyness means great solemnity and grandeur, and light +greyness great delicacy and charm, they both need the hand of time--the +stain of the weather and the web of the lichen--to give them warmth and +tone; and the work of the hand of time has almost everywhere in England +been effaced by the hand of the restorer. Red stone is warm and mellow +in itself, and Lichfield is red with a beautiful soft ruddiness that +could hardly be over-matched by the sandstone of any land." + +The plan of the cathedral shows a simple cross, with a chapter-house +(joined by a vestibule to the choir) on the north side, and a sacristy +on the south side. It may also be noticed that the nave and the choir +(including the presbytery) have each eight bays or severies, and that +if we regard the bay under the central tower as a double one, the two +transepts together have eight bays. Thus the transverse arm of the cross +is nearly of the same length as the eastern and the western arms. There +is a Lady Chapel at the eastern end of the choir, and there are aisles on +each side of the nave and choir and on the eastern side of the transepts. + +We have already seen that the cathedral has three =Spires=, and this +is perhaps its most notable characteristic, for Lichfield is the only +church now existing in England with this distinction. The cathedral at +Coventry, so long the sister church of the diocese, and so ruthlessly +destroyed by Henry VIII., had also three spires; as had Ripon Minster, +but these were of lead, and have since been pulled down. + +Of the spires, one rises from the central tower and one surmounts each +of the towers which flank the west front. The central spire dates only +from the Restoration, the older spire having been entirely destroyed in +the Civil Wars. There is no doubt that the original spire was different +in appearance to the present one, which is an imitation of the western +spires, carried out in the spirit of the Perpendicular style. What the +earlier spire was really like is doubtful, neither is it quite certain +when it was built, though the central tower was probably rebuilt about +1250, when it is supposed that the intention was to retain the Norman +nave. What the height and pitch of the roof of the old Norman nave must +have been can be seen from the old housing course which remains to this +day above the nave groining. "It was the custom," as Mr J. O. Scott +explained in a lecture on the cathedral, "of old builders, as of modern +builders, to insert in any wall against which a roof abuts a projecting +course of stone, called a 'housing,' following the slope of the roof, +the object being to keep the wet from getting in between the roof and the +wall. And so when the central tower was rebuilt, there was the Norman +nave to which the new work had to be fitted. Hence, at this time the +builders inserted a 'housing course' of masonry into the west wall of +the new tower, to protect the junction of the old Norman nave roof from +the weather." These disused housing courses can constantly be seen in old +churches, sometimes several, one above the other, showing the changes in +the roofing of the church. The present spire is said vaguely to have been +erected from the designs or under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren; +but the tradition which connects this great modern architect with the +cathedral is very uncertain. + +[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE MINSTER POOL.] + +The two western spires were probably built in Bishop Norburgh's time, and +possibly were finished in the time of his successor; but the north-west +spire has been rebuilt from the belfry windows upwards in imitation of the +old work, but, like the central tower, in the Perpendicular manner. The +south-west or Jesus Tower, which is a little higher than the other, +has also had its two upper storeys rebuilt. The spires are octagonal, +and are divided into six compartments. In the western spires the four +lower compartments have windows of two lights each with acute crocketted +pediments. There are only four windows in the lowest compartment; +but in the second, third, and fourth compartments there is a window in +each face; the fifth is panelled between crocketted ribs, and the top +compartment is plain with small windows. All the spires are open all +the way up without any inside supports. + +The central spire has the same number of compartments, with windows +in all of them except the top; but there are only four windows in +each compartment, facing north, east, west, and south. The top of the +central spire is about 252 feet from the floor, and of the western spire +about 193. + +But if Lichfield's three spires are unique, so also is Lichfield's =West +Front=. It is not, of course, very large, and it is not indeed as large as +it might have been had the same means been employed here as were employed +at Wells, where an exaggerated idea of size is attained by placing +the towers outside the lines of the nave aisles. Here the two towers, +which form so important a part of the front, are in their lowest stage +merely part of the aisles, so that the whole width of the west front is +very little greater than the width of the nave itself. The west front of +Lichfield is noted for the richness of its decorations, covered as it +is with niches holding images and, it might almost be said, with every +available inch covered with decorative work. The whole has a most superb +effect, and at a distance, where the poverty of the modern workmanship +is not easily discerned, its appearance cannot be very different now to +that which it presented at the end of the fourteenth century. Once again +the niches are filled with statuary; but this work is nearly all new, +and it is by some considered doubtful if any of the original remained in +this century. It is, however, generally supposed, and not without good +reason, that the five old statues which form part of the highest row in +the north-west tower may have been original, and have escaped the general +destruction which followed the Puritan capture of the cathedral. Three +of the old statues are represented in the picture of the west front in +Britton's "Cathedral Antiquities"; and in the interesting picture in +Fuller's "Church History," published in 1655, the west front is shewn +with every niche filled; but there can be no doubt that this picture +must have been made before the siege, or else it must have been drawn +with the aid of memory from what remained afterwards. + +This west front is flat, with octagonal turrets at each side, and consists +of two towers and a central part. The central part has a doorway, a large +window, and an acute pediment, the top point of the pediment being almost +on a level with the parapet of the towers where the spires commence. These +rise from between square pinnacles, enriched with feathered panels and +crockets at the angles of the towers. The front is in three stages; the +lowest stage contains the three doorways, and is surmounted by a very +elaborate arcading filled with statues of kings. The second is covered +with two storeys of arcading, and is divided into two parts by the large +west window, above which is the pediment. The third stage consists of +the upper part of the two towers; these are surmounted with parapets with +lozenge-shaped mouldings inclosing quatrefoil and trefoil panels. There +are windows to the belfry floors in this stage. Altogether, including +these two belfry windows, there are only three windows in this front; +this is unusual, as there are commonly windows at the west end of the +nave aisles. + +It is not easy to give a clear description of this front, or any which +will convey its superb effect. As we see by the frontispiece, it is not +only thickly covered with arcading and statues, but also it is very much +enriched with trefoils, quatrefoils, and cinquefoils, especially in the +spaces over the doors in the lowest stage, and in the pediment above +the great window. The prevalence of the ball-flower decoration should +not escape notice; upon the third stage and the spires it constantly +occurs, although it is not encountered in the first and second stages, +except in the modern tracery of the west window. The ball-flower is +a fourteenth-century ornament: its constant use in the upper parts, +contrasted with its total absence in the lower parts, supplies a +very strong argument that a considerable time elapsed between the +construction of the two lower stages and the upper. The very careful +examination which took place when the whole front was lately restored +revealed the fact that work was not proceeded with continuously; and by +expert opinion the lowest stage is assigned to 1280, the next to 1300, +while the upper stages are still later; and perhaps the whole was not +completed until well on into the last half of the fourteenth century. + +As has been stated before, the present appearance of the west front is +that of an entirely new building. In 1820 the front, which is said to +have been then in a very dilapidated condition, was covered with Roman +cement. So thoroughly was this done that the original stone facing only +showed on the eastern side of the north-west tower. Careful drawings of +the tracery there were made by Sir Gilbert Scott, and in 1877 the work +of reconstructing was commenced. It took seven years, and the new west +front was dedicated in 1884. Only five of the old statues remained, and +it was decided to restore the others. There are in all one hundred and +thirteen niches in the west front, including those on the north and south +faces of the side turrets; all but four are now filled, and about one +hundred are in view of any one standing facing the middle of the front. + +The large =West Window= has undergone several changes in its tracery; +fortunately we have pictures showing all of them. In Fuller's "Church +History" the tracery, as shown in Hollar's engraving, appears to be +very simple. This tracery was all destroyed in the Civil Wars; and that +which replaced it at the Restoration was provided by James II., when +Duke of York, but it was so ugly and unsuitable to the whole spirit of +the cathedral that it was removed in 1869, and is now replaced by work +which, though greatly differing from the original, yet preserves the +spirit of fourteenth-century work. The Restoration window may be seen +in the beautiful engraving in Britton's "Cathedral Antiquities." + +There also is an engraving of the great west door as it was in the +early part of the century, and before the Roman cement era of which +mention has just been made. This doorway, one of the most beautiful +in the country, has much in common with the "Prior's doorway" on the +south side of Lincoln Cathedral. As Britton says: "Both are peculiarly +rich and fanciful and calculated to excite the warmest admiration," +but in his time the sculptured foliage and the figures running round the +architrave mouldings and between the columns were so much battered and +injured that it was almost impossible to tell the characters of some of +them. This doorway is a recessed porch, the outer arch, in line with the +main walls, being cusped and foliated with elaborate carving; the inner +portion is divided into two arches; the whole being most elaborately +decorated with carvings. The central clustered supports has a figure of +the Virgin and Child, and on either side of the doorway, standing on +clustered pillars beneath canopies, are figures of St. Mary Magdalene +(on the north) with the box of ointment, and on the south, Mary the wife +of Cleophas; farther forward on each side are vacant pedestals, and in +the front are St. John the Evangelist (on the north) and St. Paul (on the +south). Whether these were the characters originally represented is open +to doubt; Stukeley suggested that what was left in his time represented +the Virgin in the centre, and the four Evangelists with Moses and Aaron. + +[Illustration: GREAT WEST DOORWAY IN 1813.] + +The =bas-relief figures= in the architrave already mentioned have +been restored to represent the two genealogies of Christ as given by +St. Matthew and St. Luke, on the north and south sides respectively, +as follows:-- + +North side: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Boaz, Jesse, David, Virgin and Child. + +South side: Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Shem, Judah, and St. Joseph; the +Virgin and St. Joseph being the two figures at the top of the arch. + +There is a very beautiful fourteenth-century bas-relief above the central +pillar of the doorway, representing Our Lord in Glory, with an angel on +each side, having a serpent under his feet. + +The doors are covered with fine iron work, which, with the exception of +that on the lowest panel, is supposed to be original. + +[Illustration: THE GREAT WEST DOORWAY.] + +The two side doorways in the west front are deeply recessed in three +orders with very finely-carved mouldings. These also have bas-relief +figures in the architraves. Those in the northern doorway represent the +principal princes and princesses who promoted Christianity in England, +while those in the southern doorway represent the leading early +missionaries to England. + +In the northern doorway, on the north side, are Ethelbert, Edwin, Oswald, +Oswy, Peada, Wulphere; and on the south side, Bertha, Ethelburga, Hilda, +Eanfled, Ermenilda, Werburga. + +In the southern doorway, on the north side, are St. Aidan, Finan, Diuma, +Ceollach, Trumhere, Jaruman; and on the south side, Gregory, Augustine, +Paulinus, Theodore, Cuthbert, Wilfrid. + +The corbels of the arches of these two doorways are interesting. Those +of the north-west doorway represent Night on one side and the Morning +Star on the other. The former is a female face with a reversed torch, +and the Greek word NYX for night; the latter is a beautiful boy's face +with a burning torch. + +Those on the south-west doorway are a blindfolded face and an open face, +representing the Law and the Gospel respectively. + +Up to the time of the recent restoration a large statue of Charles +II., who, by gifts of money and also of timber from Needham Forest, +helped Bishop Hacket in the general repair after the Civil Wars, +occupied the principal canopy in the middle of the central gable of +the west front. This statue was the work of a certain stone-mason named +William Wilson, who, by marrying a rich widow, "arrived at knighthood" in +1681. The statue, which certainly was not a work of art from all account +of it, was taken down, and the pedestal is now occupied by a figure +of Our Lord. The two other large canopied niches in the gable being +filled with statues of Moses and Elijah, on the north and south sides +respectively; while the four smaller statues represent, on the north, +St. Gabriel, with St. Uriel underneath; and on the south, St. Michael, +with St. Raphael below. + +In giving the list of the statuary on the west front, which now follows, +it is only necessary to say that there is no pretence that the characters +now chosen were those originally represented. All that could be done in +filling the niches was to study the plan of other similar facades, such +as that at Wells, and to imitate the general idea. Tradition, however, +had it that the long row of figures in the top of the lowest stage +represented the Saxon and English kings, with St. Chad in the centre, +and the tradition has been respected. + +[Illustration: THE SOUTHERN DOORWAY OF THE WEST FRONT.] + +The following is a list of all the statues not already mentioned on +the west front, including these on the north and south faces of the +flanking turrets. The statues are enumerated in rows from the north side +to the south. + +On the northern tower the highest tier commences round the corner with +two of the old figures already mentioned, then Aaron, Samuel, Hannah, +another old figure, Deborah, Rachel, another old figure, Sarah, another +old figure, and Eve. + +On the southern tower the highest tier commences with Adam, Abel, Abraham, +Isaac, Jacob, Melchisedec, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Daniel, Job, and Shem +(these two last being, of course, round the corner on the south side). + +Taking next the two rows on the northern tower to the north of the great +west window, there are in the higher row, St. Editha, David, St. Helena, +Solomon, St. Gabriel, Zechariah, Nahum, Amos, Jeremiah; and in the lower +row, Dean Bickersteth, St. Mark, Queen Victoria, St. Luke, St. Uriel, +Malachi, Habakkuk, Obadiah, Daniel (Jeremiah being just above Daniel, +by the window). + +Taking next the two rows on the southern tower to the south of the +great west window, there are in the higher row, Isaiah, Hosea, Jonah, +Zephaniah, St. Michael, Bishop Hacket, Bishop Lonsdale, Bishop Selwyn +(the niche round the corner is vacant), and in the lower row, Ezekiel, +Joel, Micah, Haggai, St. Raphael, Bishop Clinton, Bishop Patteshall, +Bishop Langton (the niche round the corner is vacant). + +Next again below is the long row of kings with St. Chad in the centre +stretching right across the cathedral, the pre-Conquest kings on the south +side of St. Chad, the post-Conquest on the north, as follows:--William the +Conqueror, William Rufus, Henry I., Stephen, Henry II., Richard I., John, +Henry III., Edward I., Edward II., Edward III., Richard II., St. Chad, +Peada, Wulphere, Ethelred, Offa, Egbert, Ethelwolf, Ethelbert, Ethelred, +Alfred, Edgar, Canute, Edward the Confessor. + +Lastly, there is the lowest row, which is broken three times by the doors; +these are St. Cyprian, St. Bartholomew, St. Simon, St. James the Less, +St. Thomas (then the northern door), St. Philip, St. Andrew (then the +central door with its seven niches and five statues already described), +St. Paul, St. Matthew (then the southern door), St. James the Greater, +St. Jude, St. Stephen, St. Clement, St. Werburga. + +There is also a small figure of St. Antony over the belfry window on +the south side. + +[Illustration: A BAY OF THE NAVE--EXTERIOR.] + +A tour of the cathedral, starting by the north side, leads past the nave +with its buttresses and flying-buttresses looking picturesque in their +unrestored state, and there can be seen outside the seventh bay of the +nave the remains of the entrance to Dean Yotton's chantry. Coming to the +front of the north transept, it will be noticed that the doorway has steps +inside leading down into the cathedral, while on the opposite side it will +be found that the steps lead from the south door down outside; the level +of the ground on the two sides of the cathedral being very different. + +=The North Doorway= is extremely fine, and is deeply recessed. Like the +other two main doorways of the cathedral,--that at the west end and that +in the south transept--this doorway is double, the main arch being divided +into two. The archivolts of these are lancet-shaped and covered with +foliage, but not foliated as in the west door. Outside the double-arched +doorway proper, the architrave is divided into five principal and +several smaller mouldings; the larger ones being very finely carved, +as to two, the second and fourth, with inter-twisted foliage and scroll +work; and as to the other three, the inner, middle, and outer, with small +lozenge-shaped plaques containing bas-relief figures. These figures in the +inner moulding are angels, in the middle one probably they are patriarchs +and prophets. In the outer one, on the left or eastern side, the figures +show the genealogy of Christ, beginning with Jesse at the springing +stone, and ending with the Virgin and Child near the crown; while on the +right-hand side, opposite Jesse, is the figure of St. Chad baptising +the sons of King Wulphere, and above, the Apostles from St. Matthias to +St. Peter at the crown. The whole architrave is surmounted by a weather +moulding in the form of a gable, with a recently executed cross in the +style of the thirteenth century at the top. The pillars on each side +of the doorway have finely carved capitals, and the outer pillars are +separated by lines of dog-toothing. The central pillar is very graceful, +and consists of four slender shafts with carved capitals. The whole forms +a magnificent example of a doorway in the Early English style, but showing +signs of its derivation from the Norman. There is a niche in the tympanum +which was apparently in Britton's time empty; but it must soon after have +been filled with an image of St. Anne in Roman cement; this has recently +been replaced by a statue of the same saint by Mr W. R. Ingram, while +above some Roman cement work in the top of the gable has been removed, +and a vesica containing a bas-relief of Our Lord in Glory by Mr Bridgeman +reproduces no doubt the original architect's idea. The doorway, though +it has been considerably restored, was not so much injured as a great +deal of the rest of the cathedral, and so contains some very charming +carving of the thirteenth century. There are two figures in Roman cement, +one on each side of the doorway, representing St. Jude with a scroll, +and St. James the Less with a club. No doubt these will both disappear +before long, and their place be filled with modern statues. + +[Illustration: THE NORTH ENTRANCE IN 1813.] + +Passing by the somewhat plain octagonal chapter-house, where we may +perhaps wonder whether the small niches in the top of the buttresses +which stick up like little turrets ever contained images, we come to +the side of the choir and presbytery, which has not yet been restored, +and then to the Lady Chapel. + +[Illustration: A BAY OF THE CHOIR--EXTERIOR.] + +The outside of the =Lady Chapel= has recently been very much altered; +and the old buttresses, which but the other day were as left by Bishop +Langton, with only the hand of decay showing on them, are now gone, +and in their place are brand new buttresses, with brand new niches and +saints. Those in the top row are the holy women of the Old Testament, +while below them are the holy women of the New Testament. The lower +row represent Priscilla, Anna, Dorcas, Mary, Martha, Lydia, Phoebe and +Elizabeth; and above are Esther, Ruth, Naomi, Rizpah, Deborah, Miriam, +Rachel, and Rebecca. + +On the south side of the Lady Chapel are the curious chapels--known as +the mortuary chapels--with their gabled fronts lying in the three spaces +between the buttresses. These are more fully described in their place +in the next chapter. + +From this end of the cathedral can be well seen the arcaded parapet +with its battlements, which runs round the top of the eastern half of +the building and of the transepts, also the turrets of the sacristry +with their high crocketted pinnacles; from here, too, can be seen, what +Professor Willis draws attention to, "that the rebuilt clerestory of the +western part of the choir betrays by the lighter colour of its stone that +it was a work subsequent to the eastern part." On one of the buttresses +of the choir on this side is an ancient image of a female figure, but +it is too much decayed to afford any clue to the character represented, +though it remains a very charming instance of Gothic sculpture. On the +east corner of the sacristry there is a modern figure of Godefroi de +Bouillon, and at the other corner is a figure of St. Chad. + +[Illustration: DOORWAY OF SOUTH TRANSEPT BEFORE THE LAST RESTORATION.] + +In the gable of the =South Transept= is a very beautiful rose window, +which is hidden by the stone groining from the inside. Mr J. O. Scott, +in a lecture already referred to, declared that "this rose window is so +high up in the gable that it never could have been combined with any +stone groining. But, by referring to York Minster, between which and +Lichfield many curious parallels may be traced, it is seen at once how +a rose window in this position may be brought into the general design. +This is effected by using a particular kind of wooden groining, the +part of which nearest to the gable wall is lifted up so as to exhibit +the window from within the building." + +The large doorway in the south transept, which as seen from the outside +is at the top of a flight of steps, very much resembles the doorway on +the north side, but the carving is not so fine; it has been very much +restored, and three shields have been in comparatively recent times carved +in the tympanum. The shields show the arms of the see, of Bishop Lloyd, +and Dean Addison, thus declaring this to have been done about 1700. + +To the right of this doorway, outside the southern end of the transept +aisle, is an ancient monument, probably of an archdeacon. A carved figure +lies in a recess surmounted by a stone canopy. + +The large heavy buttresses which disfigure the outside of this transept +were the work of Wyatt at the end of the last century. The outside of +the nave on this side presents a very different appearance to the other +side. Here everything is new and uninteresting. The entrance to the bell +tower is on this side, and a winding stair leads to the belfry stage. + +There are ten =Bells=, seven of which date from about 1687, and are +therefore of the same age as the bishop's palace. In that year Hacket's +six bells, which can only have been hanging some sixteen or seventeen +years, were found to be useless, and a subscription was raised to replace +them with a peal of ten. There is a letter from the dean and chapter +to Elias Ashmole, in which it is stated that Henry Bagley of Ecton, +the bell-founder, had "so over-sized the eight bells he had cast, that +they had swallowed up all the metal for the ten," and that eighty pounds +more would be required, but that they did not regret the mistake as it +"would make extremely for the advantage and glory of the cathedral (the +bigness of such a ring far more befitting the place)." Only seven of +these bells are now in use; the other three are by Rudhall of Gloucester +and Mears of London. In 1748 the belfry caught fire and the ninth bell +cracked with the heat, but it was recast in the same year, and since +then there has been no change. + +The story of the earliest cathedral bells is lost. It was usual in +early days to hang the bells in a separate tower somewhere in the +cathedral precincts. Here, we know that in 1315 the bell tower was burnt +down,--"Combustum fuit campanile cum campanis in clauso Lichfeldensi." The +site of this tower was lately discovered in the bishop's garden. Dean +Heywood, in 1477, gave a large bell to the cathedral--it was known as +the Jesus Bell; the gift is mentioned in the _Cantaria Sancti Blasii_, +where the cost is stated to be one hundred pounds. The bell bore this +inscription:-- + + _"I am the bell of Jesus, and Edward is our king,_ + _Sir Thomas Heywood first caused me to ring."_ + +This bell was hung in the south-west tower, which thus came to be called +the Jesus-Bell Tower. The bell was destroyed during the Civil Wars. An +ancient writer quoted by Shaw, after detailing the terrible fates +of those who took part against religious houses and churches, says: +"Nor shall I relate what happened to one, Pickins, a pewterer, who on +July 26, 1653, knoct in pieces the fair bell called Jesus, at Lichfield, +he being the chief officer appointed for demolishing that cathedral." + +There was also a bell called the "Clocke Bell," which was hung in the +lowest storey of the Jesus spire. It is shown in the south view given +in Fuller's "Church History," and particular attention is there directed +to it. The clock bell and all the others are now hung in the top storey +of the tower. + +There is also a small bell in the great central tower called "the +Tantony": it formerly belonged to the Dyott family. + +In the south-west tower is also the new =Clock,= which was put up in +1890. The face is underneath, in the west end of the south aisle of the +nave; there is no outside face. The well-known Cambridge quarter chimes +can, it is said, be heard at a distance of three miles. + +In the green grass of the close are many tombstones, and round about +the cathedral stone coffins have been dug up; on the north side of the +choir is the traditional burying-place of two Mercian kings. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE INTERIOR + + +Lichfield is one of the smallest cathedrals in England. In length it only +measures 370 feet from the inside of the west door to the extreme end of +the inside of the Lady Chapel, while the interior of the nave, with its +aisles, is only a little more than 68 feet wide; and yet its smallness +is not the first fact that will strike the visitor on entering the west +door: rather, on the other hand, its immense length in proportion to its +height and width will be noticed, but probably all other feelings will +be forgotten in the beauty of the vista that lies before him. The long +line of arches and the long low roof, with its almost countless bosses, +lead the eye down to the Lady Chapel, where a mass of blue and red shows +that the cathedral has some of the most beautiful glass in the kingdom. + +The orientation of the nave and choir are not the same--the choir and +Lady Chapel being considerably inclined to the north. Many have been the +theories raised by the curious discoveries made as to the deflections +of various parts of this cathedral. They are too numerous to quote here, +and it will be sufficient to note that the total deflection of the east +end from the true east is about ten degrees. + +[Illustration: A BAY OF THE NAVE--INTERIOR.] + +=The Nave.=--The view of the interior of the cathedral from the inside +of the west door is, as we have said, extremely beautiful. This beauty +is much enhanced by the general appearance of unity in the whole +design. There seems to be no mixture of styles, and though a closer +examination of the details of the interior shows that there is a very +marked difference between the style in which the nave is built and that +which was in vogue when the Lady Chapel and presbytery were erected; +yet the whole, having been built at a time when the Early English style +was giving place gradually to the Decorated, or, in the more eastern +portion, when that later style was well established, the general effect of +the cathedral, seen from this aspect, is one of unity. The exact date of +the nave cannot be determined, and there is no direct evidence on which +to base a theory; but it is very clear, from a comparison of its style +with that of churches whose history is known, that it must have been +commenced and carried to a speedy conclusion about the middle of the +thirteenth century. Professor Willis gives the date as 1250, and other +archaeologists at various dates between that and 1280. There is no doubt, +at any rate, that it was built at the transitional period of the Early +English style, and it would be described by some as belonging to the +Early Decorated period, and by others as belonging to the geometrical +period of the Decorated style. The nave, including the western front, +consists of eight bays, having aisles on the north and south sides, +with the same number of bays; but the spaces underneath the two western +towers are considerably larger than the other aisle bays, though not +large enough to be looked upon as western transepts, as is possible in +some churches where there is a similar arrangement. Many writers have +complained of the insufficient height of the nave, and that the general +effect is thereby spoilt, and to a very limited extent this may be true. +Probably the nave roof was at one time of much higher pitch; the course +on the outside of the great tower suggests it, as also does the fact +that the great west window runs into the roof. Probably the roof was +lowered when the presbytery was built, and the whole roofing of the +cathedral brought down to the same level. + +[Illustration: A BAY OF THE CHOIR--INTERIOR.] + +The piers are large, and consist of clustered shafts, lozenge-shaped in +plan, set on much moulded bases, and having beautifully carved foliated +capitals from which spring architrave mouldings of great variety. +From the base and up the centre of each pier runs a cluster of three +fine columns to capitals, also foliated, at the top of the triforium; +from these spring five vaulting ribs, three of which diverge to an +ornamental central rib, and two to a small similarly decorated transverse +rib. There are finely carved bosses at the intersection of all the various +ribs. The top of each arch touches the string course, above which is +the beautiful triforium. This consists of a row of double arches, each +arch being sub-divided into two lights with geometrical tracery above. +The mouldings are highly decorated with dog-toothing, and the string +course between the triforium and the clerestory, as well as the moulding +enclosing the clerestory windows, has this same ornament, which is +freely used and produces a very rich effect. The clerestory windows +are spherical triangles enclosing three circles with quatrefoil cusps; +the form of these windows is somewhat rare, but similar windows are to +be seen at Westminster, Hereford, Carlisle, and York. The spandrels of +most of the pier arches are ornamented with a large circle with five +cusps, across which the vault shafts pass; this decoration will be seen +again in the choir. A notable feature in these bays is the size of the +triforium in proportion to the size of the pier arches and clerestory; +this gives it unusual importance in the general scheme. At Lincoln, where +there is a similar triforium, a very different effect is produced by its +comparative smallness. The open tracery here is very much like that in +Westminster Abbey. It will be seen that the dripstones of the arches and +windows terminate in small sculptured heads: a usual arrangement at this +period. It may be added that the beautiful capitals have scarcely been +restored at all; so little damage had been done to them, that when the +whitewash was removed during the recent restorations, they were found to +have been hardly touched either by decay, Puritans, or previous restorers. + +[Illustration: THE NAVE IN 1813.] + +[Illustration: THE NAVE, LOOKING EAST.] + +The roof of the nave was greatly damaged at the time of the Civil +Wars--indeed, it has been said that the central spire, in its fall, +completely smashed it in; but this is probably not the case, as the spire +almost certainly fell on the other side of the tower. Still, it is not +difficult, after reading an account of the siege, to understand that the +roof would be much injured. About a century after its repair by Bishop +Hacket, it was found that the great weight of the stone groining was +forcing out the clerestory walls, already much weakened by rough usage, +and, in consequence, Wyatt removed the stone work in several bays, +and replaced it with lath and plaster work made to imitate the rest +of the roofing. Sir Gilbert Scott was urged to restore the old stone +vaulting, but he decided that without great structural alterations, +principally to the buttresses, which he did not feel justified in +making, this could not be done. The vaulting has been coloured so that +the difference between the stone compartments--the most eastern and the +two western ones--and the plaster compartments might not be noticed; +it will easily be seen how much the clerestory walls have been thrust +out. It is also interesting to note that at about the same time Wyatt +restored the roof of the aisles to its old pitch. Originally, as now, +the aisle roof ascended so as to reach to just below the clerestory +windows. In Hollar's picture the upper portion of the triforium windows +can be seen, so that they must have become practically a portion of the +clerestory during this time. Investigation of the windows themselves +proves that they have been glazed, and this confirms what otherwise, +considering the great inexactness of the pictures of the period, could not +be inferred with certainty. There is a view of the cathedral as late as +1781 showing this arrangement; but in Jackson's "History of Lichfield," +1796, the aisle roof hides the whole of the triforium as at present. + +The windows of the aisles agree well with the other windows of the nave, +and have three lights with trefoiled circles in the head, while below +the windows is an arcade resting on a bench, the arches of which are +surmounted with pediments richly carved. There are six of these arches in +each bay, and between the bays rise triple vaulting shafts with carved +capitals of leafage; from these spring three ribs running to a central +rib on which are beautiful bosses like those in the nave. + +[Illustration: THE NAVE, LOOKING WEST.] + +=The Great West Window.=--The tracery of this window has already been +discussed in the description of the exterior. The present glass was +placed there in 1869, to the memory of Canon Hutchinson, who, perhaps, +of all was most eager for the restoration of the cathedral, and to whose +untiring energy, it is said, is due the wholesale renovation of the +interior by Sir Gilbert Scott. This window was the result of a public +subscription, and is the work of Messrs Clayton & Bell. The six large +figures represent St. Michael, St. Joseph, St. Mary, and the Three Magi, +while underneath are small pictures of the Annunciation, the Angel warning +Joseph, the Nativity, the Journey of the Magi, the Magi inquire of Herod, +and the Flight into Egypt. As to the previous glass in this window, there +seems to be no record of that which must have decorated it before the +Civil Wars. In Shaw's "History of Staffordshire," there are long lists +of the glass to be found in the cathedral; but it is difficult to decide +which window is being described. After the Restoration, we have in a +Bodleian MS. the following record:--"Oct. 6, 1671. Arms in the Great West +Window, Arms of King Charles the Second, Crest and Supporters; Arms of +James Duke of York, his brother, Crest and Supporters. And beneath them, +_Serenissimus princeps Jacobus dux Ebor hanc fenestram. F.F._" Britton +says it was afterwards filled with painted glass, the work of Brookes, +by the legacy of Dr Addenbroke, who died dean of this cathedral in 1776. + +Over the great west door in the inside of the cathedral was +formerly inscribed:-- + + _Oswyus est Lichfield fundator, sed reparator_ + _Offa fuit; regum fama perennis erit:_ + _Rex Stephanus, rex Heniricus primusque Richardus,_ + _Rex et Johannis, plurima dona dabant._ + + _Pene haec millenos ecclesia floruit annos,_ + _Duret ad extremum nobilis usque diem,_ + _Daque deus longum, ut floreat hae sacra aedes_ + _Et celebret nomen plebs ibi sancta tuum._ + + _Fundata est ecclesia Merciencis_ + _Quae nunc Lichfieldia dicitur_ + _Facta Cathedralis_ + _Anno Domini_ + _DCLVII_ + +Dugdale, in his "Visitation of Staffordshire," gives us this inscription. +It has long since disappeared. Pennant mentions a curious or, as he calls +it, "droll" epitaph on the floor near the west door, but there is no sign +of it now:--"_William Roberts of Overbury, some time malster in this town +(tells you) for the love I bore to choir service, I chose to be buried +in this place._ He died Decr. 16th, 1768." + +From a MS. quoted by Shaw we learn that before the Great War "on a fair +marble gravestone, placed on the right-hand at the entrance into the +choir, is this inscription on a brass plate:-- + +"_Here lyeth George Bullen lat dean of this church who made his own +epitaph--viz._, + + _Lo here in earth my body lyes,_ + _Whose sinfull lyfe deserves the rod:_ + _Yet I believe the same shall rise,_ + _And praise the mercies of my God._ + _As for my soule let none take thought,_ + _It is with him that hath it bought;_ + _For God on me doth mercy take_ + _For nothing else but Jhesus sake._" + +Bullen or Boleyn was dean during the greater part of the reign of +Elizabeth, who offered him the bishopric of Worcester, which he +refused. Elizabeth, it will be remembered, was the daughter of Anne +Boleyn, whose kinsman the dean was. + +=The Font= stands between the first and second pillars from the west +door on the north side of the nave. It is quite modern, and is the gift +of the Honourable Mrs Henry Howard, widow of the late dean. It is made +of alabaster and Caen stone, and is supported on marble pillars. There +are four sculptured panels in relief, representing--"The Entry into +the Ark," "The Passage of the Red Sea," "The Baptism of our Lord," and +"The Resurrection." Between these there are niches containing figures +of St. Mary, St. Peter, St. Chad, and St. Helen. + +A curious old font was discovered in 1856 immediately under the place +where the present altar stands. It was very simple in form, being about +a yard and a half square and two feet thick, with a hemispherical cavity +in it. It had been coloured bright red, and was much cracked, as though +it had been subjected to intense heat. How it came where it was is not +known. It may have been discarded as rubbish or hidden as a relic. + +=The Pulpit= is in the nave, and is fixed to the north-western pier of the +tower. Its design and execution were by Sir Gilbert Scott and Mr Skidmore +respectively, who were also responsible for the choir screen. The pulpit +is of wrought-iron, brass, copper, enamels, and marble. In the middle +there is a bronze group representing St. Peter preaching on the Day +of Pentecost. There are stairs on each side of the pulpit. The brass +=Lectern= is also modern, and is in the usual form of an eagle. It was +presented by the members of the Lichfield Theological College, and was +executed by Mr Hardman of Birmingham. The =Litany Desk= is by Messrs +Rattee & Kett of Cambridge, the well-known carvers; and the =Bishop's +Chair=, which stands under the great tower, was presented by the clergy +of Derbyshire when that county was transferred from this diocese to the +new diocese of Southwell. The chair is not of striking beauty. + +[Illustration: NORTH AISLE OF NAVE, LOOKING EAST.] + +In the North Aisle of the Nave there are several monuments and some +modern glass. The window in the north-west tower has recently been +adorned with glass to the memory of Bishop Lonsdale, under whom the +recent restoration commenced. The subject is "The Presentation of Christ +in the Temple," and it is the work of Messrs Burlison & Grylls. Close to +this is a tablet, originally placed in the north transept by order of Ann +Seward, who had considerable fame as a poetess in the last century, to +the memory of her father, Canon Seward, his wife and daughter Sarah. It +also commemorates her own death. The lines are by Sir Walter Scott, +but it is impossible to be enthusiastic over them. They end-- + + "_Honour'd beloved, and mourn'd here Seward lies;_ + _Her worth, her warmth of heart, our sorrows say,--_ + _Go seek her genius in her living lay._" + +There is a representation of the poetess mourning her dead relatives, +while her harp is hanging neglected on a tree. On the other side is +a memorial tablet to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who was a native of +Lichfield. In these days of anti-vaccination agitations it is interesting +to read the inscription which runs:-- + + "_The Right Honourable Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who happily + introduced from Turkey into this country the Salutary Art of + inoculating the Smallpox. Convinced of its efficacy, she first + tried it with success on her own children, and then recommended + the practice of it to her fellow-citizens. Thus, by her example + and advice, we have softened the Virulence and escaped the + danger of this Malignant Disease. To perpetuate the memory of + such benevolence, and to express the gratitude for the benefit + she hereby has received from this Alleviating Art, this Monument + is erected by Henrietta Inge, Relict of Theodore William Inge, + Esq., and Daughter of Sir John Wrotesley, Baronet. In the year + of Our Lord, 1789._" + +Close at hand is a tablet in memory of Mr Gilbert Walmesley, who +was registrar of the diocese, and an early and close friend of Dr +Johnson. Of him the latter wrote, in his life of Edmund Smith (one of +the well-known "Lives of the Poets"), that passage which contains the +celebrated sentence about David Garrick so often quoted. Speaking of +Gilbert Walmesley, he says that he is "not able to name a man of equal +knowledge. His acquaintance with books was great; such was his amplitude +of learning, and such his copiousness of communication, that it may be +doubted whether a day now passes in which I have not some advantage +from his friendship. At this man's table I enjoyed many cheerful and +instructive hours with companions such as are not often found; with +one who has lengthened, and one who has gladdened life; with Dr James, +whose skill in physic will be long remembered, and with David Garrick, +whose death has eclipsed the gaiety of nations, and impoverished the +public stock of harmless pleasure." + +There are other monuments in this aisle, but they are scarcely of such +general interest. Here are tablets in memory of Jane and Catherine Jervis +and of Elizabeth and Arabella Buchanan. There is a stained glass window +by Messrs Burlison & Grylls containing three large figures of Joshua, +St. Michael, and the Centurion, with, underneath, pictures of the Angel +appearing to Joshua, the Centurion at the Cross, and the Centurion coming +to Our Lord; above, in the tracery of the window, are angels. This window +was the gift of the officers of the 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment; +on one side are their Peninsular, and on the other their Crimean colours, +which the dean and chapter received from the regiment with much ceremony +in 1886 and 1887 respectively. Beneath the window is a brass in memory +of those members of the regiment who died in the Peninsula, first Burmah, +Crimean, and Egyptian (1882) wars, and the Indian Mutiny. There are also +brasses to Lieutenant-Colonels Sinclair and Eyre and the officers and +men of this regiment who fell in the first Soudan war, and also brasses +to Colonel Bromley Davenport and Sir Arthur Scott, Bart. Here, too, is a +window in memory of Canon Madan, his wife and children: the subject being +Faith, Hope, and Charity. In the window next the transept is some quite +new glass in memory of Canon Curteis, the large figures representing +Samuel, St. Paul, and Origen, while below are Samuel teaching the Sons +of the Prophets, St. Paul saying farewell to the Elders at Miletus, +and St. Catherine and the Philosophers of Alexandria. + +The famous Dr Stukeley, writing about 1715, says: "As you walk down the +north aisle, by a little doorway, formerly a chapel, where lay several +figures now demolished, yet one remains, who was dean Yotton, his coat +of arms at his head and Yot with a tun by it which shows his name." The +only remaining sign of this chapel is the entrance, which can be plainly +seen from the outside of the cathedral. + +In the =South Aisle of the Nave=, at the west end, there is a monument +to Dean Addison, the father of the great essayist and poet; he died in +1703. His memorial slab is now under the Jesus Tower, but formerly it was +on the north of the west door. The glass in the window of the tower is +in memory of Dean Howard, during whose time as dean so much of the work +of restoration was done, and who so munificently aided the work. This +glass, which is by Messrs Burlison & Grylls, represents St. Michael and +the Dragon, and St. Chad. The other glass on this side is the window of +the fifth bay, by Messrs Clayton & Bell, the subjects being Our Lord and +Lazarus, Our Lord and Mary and Martha, and Mary Magdalene washing Our +Lord's feet; in the next bay the glass, by Messrs Ward & Hughes, shows +Faith, Hope, and Charity; in the seventh bay the glass is by Messrs +Clayton & Bell, and has David and Goliath for its subject, and is in +memory of the officers of the 64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment who fell +in the Indian Mutiny. There is in the eighth bay a window by Hardman in +memory of Helen, wife of Josiah Spode. Between the aisle and the nave +there is a brass in the floor in memory of the late Earl of Lichfield, +placed there in 1854. There are several other modern brasses and tablets. + +In this aisle are two of the three semi-effigies to be seen in the +cathedral. These show only the heads and the feet. Britton says: "They +are said to represent two old canons of the church; and are evidently +of ancient date, as they appear to have been placed in the present +situation at the time of building or finishing the nave." One of these +is in a better state of preservation than the other, and shows in the +drapery the remains of colour. + +=The Transepts= are earlier than the nave in style, having been built in +the beginning of the thirteenth century: the south transept first, and +then the north. It must have been for these transepts that Henry III., +in 1235 and 1238, granted licences to the dean and chapter of Lichfield +to dig stone from the royal forest of Hopwas for the new fabric of the +church of Lichfield. Whether these ecclesiastics did more harm than the +king liked in digging on the first occasion cannot be said, but on the +second occasion they are permitted "fodere petram ad fabricam ecclesiae +suae de Lichefeld in quarrera de Hopwas; ita tamen quod hoc fiat sine +detrimento forestae nostrae"--that is to say, they were to do as little +damage as possible. + +[Illustration: ARCADE, WITH SEMI-EFFIGY, IN SOUTH AISLE.] + +The transepts have three bays each, with eastern aisles, the aisle +belonging to the north transept being very much the larger. There can +be no doubt that when the Norman transepts were standing there were +no aisles; nor were any contemplated when the choir was built, for, as +Professor Willis says: "The side walls of the choir are continued to the +transepts, and had windows in the part looking into the present transept +aisles. Probably when the choir was built Norman transepts were standing, +and had each an apsidal chapel looking east in the usual manner." + +The history of the roof is extremely interesting. We know that "in +1243 King Henry III. issued a commission to Walter Grey, Archbishop +of York, to expedite the works at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, in +which he orders a lofty wooden roof, like the roof of the new work at +Lichfield, to appear like stone work, with good ceiling (_celatura?_) and +painting. The transepts of Lichfield have now stone vaults, considerably +later than the walls, and, therefore, may have had a wooden vault at +first. The date would suit the transepts better than the choir, and it +may be remarked that the early abacus of the vault shaft (at least, in +the south transept) is surmounted by a second abacus in the Perpendicular +style, which shows the later construction of the springing stones of the +present stone vault." The low stone vaulting has destroyed the effect +which the original windows in the north and south ends of the transepts +must have produced. At the south end was probably a large five-light +Early English window, surmounted by a rose window. The rose window still +remains, but, being above the present groining, cannot be seen from inside +the cathedral; the five lights are replaced by a nine-light obtuse-headed +window, which seems much too large for the transept; and this effect is +increased by the extreme whiteness and transparency of its glass. At the +north end, the five-light window is surmounted with three small lights, +but these last again are hidden in the roof. + +[Illustration: DETAIL OF A SEMI-EFFIGY.] + +The windows in the transepts have seen many changes, and are now mostly +in the Perpendicular manner, the exceptions being in the west wall of the +south transept, and the north window just referred to. Until 1892 this +was a large Perpendicular window--which, though early, and prior to the +Civil War, was a manifest intrusion on the space originally occupied +by an Early English window. The old design, which is not unlike that +of the famous window at York, has again taken its place. Canon Lonsdale +says that this change is "in every sense a restoration: for, on taking +out the Perpendicular window, and removing such of the stone work as was +defective on either side, the headings of the five Early English lights, +which had unquestionably composed the original window, were discovered, +hidden away by the later workmen. The cusps, or headings, of the lights, +as they are now seen from the inside, are, with the exception of six +stones, the very identical material which the Early English builders +carved, and placed in that spot. Of these six missing stones, three have +since been discovered during the work going on in the south transept." + +There can be no doubt that some of the Perpendicular work in the cathedral +is due to the general repair at the Restoration; but Professor Willis +declares that many of the changes are earlier, and that they were +perhaps effected in the time between Bishops Heyworth and Blythe, +1420 to 1503. The engravings of Hollar, already referred to, were +published before 1660, and show Perpendicular windows in the gable of +the south transept and in the clerestory; and though from these pictures +nothing can be gleaned about the north transept, the character of the +Perpendicular work was such that it also, as has just been stated, +must have been prior to the Rebellion. It is possible, on the outside +western face of the north transept, to trace the old lancet windows, +which must have been arranged in groups of three, while the lower windows +on the west side of the south transept are still in their old form, +though on this side there are only two lancets to each bay. It may +be mentioned here that underneath these last windows, on the outside, +there is an arcading with simple pointed arches which does not appear on +the other transept. Inside the arcading differs in the two transepts; +in the south and older one the pointed arches are plain, while on the +north they are cusped. This arcading is almost entirely new; what there +was of it until recently was principally of plaster. + +From the ground plan of this cathedral published by Browne Willis in 1727, +we see that the whole of the aisle of the north transept is described as +"The Bishop's Consistory Court and St. Stephen's Chapel," while the aisle +of the south transept is divided into two parts, the southern being called +"The Dean's Consistory Court," the northern "The Vicar's Vestry." St. +Stephen's Chapel was in the inner bay of the aisle; and it has been +suggested that "the chantry of St. Anne and the image of Jesus" was in +the rood loft of the same transept. + +In the =North Transept= are many memorial tablets, but it cannot +be said that they are of general interest either from their beauty, +age, or on account of the eminence of the persons commemorated. On +the west side of the steps down from the north door is the curious +monument to Dean Heywood, who died in 1492, and whose benefactions are +mentioned in their proper places. The monument is sadly decayed, but +there is a print of it in Shaw's "Staffordshire," taken, says Britton, +from Dugdale's "Visitation." From this we know that the upper part is +now missing; the lower part, which remains, shows the skeleton of the +dean--his body after death--while above was his representation in full +canonical costume. Similar monuments may be seen at St. John's College, +Cambridge, in the chapel, and at Exeter and Lincoln Cathedrals. On the +other side of the door is a large modern monument to Archdeacon Iles, +who died in 1888: the figure is recumbent. Above the door is a marble +tablet to Dean Woodhouse; he gave the glass--now in the Guildhall--which +filled the Perpendicular window recently replaced by the present Early +English window. The new glass, and indeed the new window, was given by +Mr James Chadwick of Hints Hall, near Tamworth; it is known as the Jesse +window, and gives the genealogy of our Lord according to St. Matthew. The +figures beginning from the west side represent (1) Achaz, Asa, Abia; (2) +Ezekias, Solomon, Roboam; (3) the Virgin Mary and Child, Salathiel, David, +Jesse; (4) Josias, Josaphat, Joram; (5) Manasses, Joatham, Ozias; with +angels in the four side lights. The inscription under the window says: +"Hanccine fenestram Jacobus Chadwick de vico Hints reficiendam vitroque +picto ornandam impensis suis curavit. A.D. MDCCCXCIII." Messrs Clayton & +Bell are responsible for this window. + +The whole of the aisle of this transept is taken up with the organ, +in front of which a metal screen or gryll was placed in 1881 by the +officers and men of the 80th Regiment, in memory of their comrades who +fell in the Zulu War. The screen is ornamented with imitations of Zulu +shields and assegais. There are many tablets in this aisle, but they +are entirely hidden by the organ. + +=The Organ= was presented by Mr Spode of Hawkesyard Park, near Lichfield, +in 1860, and was first used at the reopening in 1861; in 1884 it +needed repair, and was then very much enlarged by Messrs Hill & Son, +the well-known organ-builders of London, the expense being defrayed +by voluntary subscriptions. It was dedicated, at the same time as the +restored west front, in the presence of a vast concourse of people, +on May 29th, 1884. The console of the organ is now behind the stalls +in the first bay of the south aisle of the choir. It is interesting to +learn from Canon Lonsdale that, when it was found necessary to build +an engine-house in the close to supply motive power to the organ, in +digging out the chamber, somewhat to the east of the steps leading to +the north door, two or three cannon balls and the remains of a shell +were unearthed at a short distance from the surface. + +The present organ is the successor to many other organs. The first of +which there is any record was given to the cathedral by Dean Heywood, +as is known from this entry in the _Cantaria S. Blasii_, in the +cathedral library: "Magna organa in pulpito. Item cito post festum +nativitatis Sancti Johannis Baptiste. Anno domini MCCCC. octogesimo +secundo. ex providencia et sumptibus magistri Thome Heywode +decani antedicti. conferuntur ecclesi cath lich organa nova magnae +quantitatis. et formae decentis. ad honorem sancti cedde et ornamentirm +ecclesiae precij xxvi. Li. iij.s. iiij.d. totalitur de sumptibus et +expensis predicti decani. Sma xxvj. Li. iij.s. iiij.d." + +Dean Heywood also presented another organ, which was known as the Jesus +organ; but it was much smaller presumably, as it cost rather less than +half as much. + +The next time there is mention of an organ is in 1634, when, in an account +of their travels by three tourists, they say: "The organs and voices +were deep and sweet, their anthems we were much delighted with, and of +the voyces, 2 Trebles, 2 Counter-tenors, and 2 Bases, that equally on +each side of the Quire most melodiously acted and performed their parts." + +The organ here referred to, however "deep and sweet," was not considered +good enough, for in 1636, according to a deed still preserved in the +cathedral, the dean and chapter purchased an organ from Robert Dallam +of Covent Garden, which, no doubt, "was the pair of organs valued at +L200" destroyed by the Puritans. The organ that Hacket set up was +obtained by the subscriptions of ladies; the bishop writes: "An Organ +is bespoke at L600 price, to be call'd the Ladies Organ, because +none but the honourable and most pious of that sex shall contribute +to that sum." The names of the chief subscribers were written on +the organ: "Illustrissima heroina Francisca ducissima Somersetensis. +Honoratissima domina, comitissa Devon: Clarissima domina, Jana, domina +de Gerard Bromley," and many others, as set out by Ashmole, who also +tells us that there were "coats of arms under the organ at the entrance +into the choir," showing that the organ loft was situated between the +two eastern piers of the tower. Harwood, in his "History of Lichfield," +tells us of another organ "which was removed in A.D. 1740 to the vicar's +hall, and became at length an ornament to Mr Greene's museum," whence it +afterwards found its way to the church at Hamstall Ridware. While in +the vicar's hall it was damaged by soldiers quartered there in the +'45. It is now in the bishop's palace. In 1740 it was replaced in the +cathedral by an organ by Schwarbrook, which in turn, in Wyatt's time, +was superseded by one by Samuel Green--this was much larger, and took +up the whole of the western bay of the choir. The present organ is much +the largest the cathedral has possessed, and, compared to the old one +in the palace, is so large that, according to Mr Hewitt, the whole of +the latter would go inside the pedal pipes of the former. + +The south transept has its full share of monuments, two of which are of +great interest. These are the memorials to Dr Johnson and to his friend, +David Garrick, the actor. The busts are both by Sir Richard Westmacott, +R.A. The inscription to the first says: + + _The Friends of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (a native of Lichfield), + erected this Monument as a tribute of respect to the Memory + of a man of extensive learning, a distinguished Moral Writer, + and a Sincere Christian. He died the 13th of December 1784; + Aged 75 years._ + +The other reads: + + _EVA MARIA, Relict of DAVID GARRICK, Esq., caused this Monument + to be erected to the Memory of her beloved Husband, who died + the 20th January 1779: Aged 63 years._ + +Garrick had not only the amiable qualities of private life, but such +astonishing dramatic talents as to well verify the observations of his +friend, which have already been quoted (p. 66), in reference to the +memorial of Gilbert Walmesley. + +Samuel Johnson was born in Lichfield, where his father was a bookseller; +his shop is still standing, scarcely altered, on the west side of the +Market Place, close to the monument of his famous son (see p. 136). David +Garrick came with his parents to live in Lichfield when very young, and he +and Johnson attended the Grammar School together. There was a difference +of several years in their ages, but their life-long friendship must +have begun early, seeing that Johnson wrote the Prologue for Garrick's +performance of Farquhar's comedy, "The Recruiting Officer," which took +place at the Bishop's Palace when Garrick was only eleven years old. Some +years after, when Johnson had left Oxford and had set up a school in +the neighbourhood of Lichfield, Garrick joined him as a pupil; but the +venture did not prove successful, and master and pupil left Lichfield +for London, where each in his own line reached the highest summit of fame. + +These memorials stand side by side in the aisle; for some reason, the +busts were removed to the library when the interior was being restored +by Sir Gilbert Scott, but they have once again been replaced in the spot +originally chosen for them. The friendship of Johnson and Garrick was +long and cordial: it is fitting we should see that in their death they +were not divided. + +In this aisle, which until recently was used as the Dean's Consistory +Court, is another monument by Westmacott; this is in memory of Andrew +Newton, who was so munificent a friend to his native Lichfield. He +founded the institution on the west side of the close for the widows and +orphans of clergymen, which he also endowed; and on his death, in 1806, +he left a library of books to the cathedral. + +In the first bay of the aisle is a monument to the officers and men of +the 80th Regiment (Staffordshire Volunteers). The design is Egyptian, and +is surmounted by a sphinx. Over the monument hang colours taken from the +Sikhs, and on the wall behind are the old regimental colours. At the south +end is a very fine and costly altar tomb--to Admiral Sir William Parker, +who, when he died in 1866, was the last survivor of Nelson's captains. The +slab of Pyrenean jasper is inlaid with a gold cross, and the front is +adorned with stones of porphyry and lapis lazuli. The window above has +some of the Herkenrode glass left over from the Lady Chapel, together with +some modern glass. The great south window, which, as has just been stated, +is in the Perpendicular style, was in 1895 adorned with new glass; this +was the gift of Mr A. P. Heywood-Lonsdale, in memory of his father and +his uncle, Bishop Lonsdale. The subject is "I am the vine, ye are the +branches," and represents Our Lord in the centre surrounded by angels, +with the principal bishops of the Early Christian Church. The six early +British bishops: St. Columba, Scotland; St. Wulstan, Worcester; St. Chad, +Lichfield; St. Augustine, Canterbury; St. Aidan, Northumbria; St. Hugh, +Lincoln, are at the feet of Our Lord. The other bishops are St. Basil, +Caesarea; St. Cyril, Jerusalem; St. Patrick, Ireland; St. Ignatius, +Antioch; St. Polycarp, Smyrna; St. Boniface, Germany; St. Martin, Tours; +St. David, Wales; St. Gregory, Rome; St. Augustine, Hippo; St. Athanasius, +Alexandria; St. Cyprian, Carthage; St. Isidore, Spain; St. Chrysostom, +Constantinople; St. Ambrose, Milan; and St. Vigilius, Aries. This glass +is by Mr C. E. Kempe. On the west side are several brasses and tablets, +including one to John Saville, vicar choral of the cathedral, who died in +1803. The lines underneath are by the Miss Seward whose own memorial is in +the north aisle of the nave; they, like so much of the elegiac poetry of +the period, owe not only their style, but a good many of their phrases, +to the poet Gray. + +=The Choir=, with the presbytery and retro-choir--that is to say, +the whole extent of that part of the cathedral between the central +tower and the entrance to the Lady Chapel--has eight bays. The most +noticeable difference between it and the nave, is the absence of a +triforium. Professor Willis says: "The entire height of the severey +(or bay) is divided into two nearly equal parts, of which the lower is +given to the pier arches, the upper to the clerestory. The window-sills of +the latter are high, and there is a passage in front of them immediately +above the tablement or string course over the pier arches. This passage, +the veritable triforium, pierces the great piers of masonry which sustain +the vault. The high sills receive the sloping roof of the side aisles, +and have three plain open arches in each severey to air the roof." These +sills are panelled with a foliated arcading, and in front of the passage +there is an open trefoil work parapet. The effect of the windows inside +is much enhanced by the lovely quatrefoil ornamentation with which +their splays are decorated. In the single window--the east on the +south side--where the original tracery remains, it is very beautiful +and graceful, and is a good example of the Decorated period; but into +the other windows Perpendicular tracery has been introduced. + +The vaulting is very much the same as in the nave, but the vaulting shafts +divide into seven instead of five ribs. The bosses, as everywhere else +in the cathedral, are very deeply and richly carved. + +On the four eastern sets of piers long slender shafts run up from the +base of the piers in the same way as in the nave, and similarly the +spandrels are ornamented with foliated circles, of which nearly all +trace had disappeared before the recent restoration. This, however, +is not the arrangement on the three western pairs. It was found here +that these shafts did not reach the ground; and so Sir Gilbert Scott, +having discovered a portion of the sculptured wing of an angel just +above the dean's present stall, decided upon finishing the shafts with +corbels in the form of angels occupied in minstrelsy. Above each of +these angels--which were innovations--he placed, under richly crocketted +canopies and standing on very finely-carved brackets, the figures of six +saints. These were not innovations, though no signs of them appear in +the engraving in Britton's "Cathedrals," where, indeed, the incomplete +shafts just mentioned are to all appearance complete. But in Pennant's +"Journey from Chester to London," 1782, the six statues are mentioned, +and he tells us not only their names, but also that they were richly +painted. The new statues represent the same original characters: St. Mary, +St. Mary Magdalene, and St. Peter on the north side; St. James, St. +Philip, and St. Christopher on the south: these with their niches have +been executed partly from the old description of them and partly by +reference to the niches remaining in the Lady Chapel. + +An investigation of the roof proved that its bosses had been originally +profusely gilded and painted, and that the ribs had been painted +in tri-colour, though, oddly enough, this apparently had not been +the case in the Lady Chapel. Mr Dyce, R.A., was called in to give an +opinion, and suggested a large scheme, upon which he actually started, +but after having proceeded only a small way, difficulties arose and he +departed. What little paint had been applied to the ribs was removed; +but a few of the more easterly bosses remain gilt to this day, and +afterwards the others were reddened to bring out the sculpture. + +[Illustration: THE CHOIR IN 1820.] + +The architectural history of the choir and presbytery is very +interesting. There is practically no documentary evidence at all to tell +when and how it was built; and what we know about it now is due to the +antiquarian skill of the late Professor Willis. Nothing can have been more +fortunate than that he should have been able to make an inspection of +the foundations of the choir, for no man had a greater genius for using +the smallest discoveries to the greatest advantage. Numerous stories +are told of his extraordinary gift for divining what was to be found. As +Canon Lonsdale says: "He knew, as it were, by instinct what was hidden +under the soil. 'Dig there,' he said, and the base he wanted came to +light. 'Open out the earth here,' and the solid piece of stone which +he had been looking for to complete his imaginary plan was straightway +disclosed to view." He came here in August 1859, when excavations were +being made in the choir, and on what he saw then he based the theory of +the growth of the cathedral which has found favour with everyone ever +since. The nature of his discoveries here, and the conclusions he drew +from them, have been briefly given in the section of this book devoted to +the history of the cathedral, so that it is unnecessary to further discuss +them, except when they apply to buildings which are now in existence. + +The present choir was commenced at the very beginning of the thirteenth +century. Of this choir only the lower portions of the three bays nearest +the tower remain above ground, but there is no doubt that the original +eastern termination had been removed to make way for the beautiful +presbytery which now remains and extends eastward, with its vaulting +at the same elevation as that of the choir. This was done probably +immediately after the Lady Chapel had been built, or at the same time, and +it is supposed that the work proceeded from the east end and the old choir +was gradually pulled down, leaving the three western bays standing, and +that then the clerestory of these bays was replaced by work in uniformity +with that in the new presbytery; at the same time the front half of their +pier arches was removed and mouldings given to them corresponding to +those in the presbytery, their piers were also slightly altered. In this +way the choir and presbytery acquired a uniform appearance, both inside +and out; for the portion of the old side aisle on the south is hidden by +the sacristry, and that on the north by the chapter-house and vestibule. + +As has been said, only one of the original Decorated clerestory windows +now remain; the others, it may be supposed, were destroyed in the sieges +of the Civil War, for they have been replaced with Perpendicular tracery +which belongs to a period when this style was only being imitated; +it was probably put in at the Restoration. + +The high altar is now placed between the sixth pair of piers (counting +from the west). This is probably the old arrangement, but until the +recent restorations the altar was placed in the Lady Chapel: the pier +arches of the choir were walled up, and a large screen placed in the +eastern tower arch; so that the choir and Lady Chapel were converted +into one long aisleless chapel. + +[Illustration: THE CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.] + +It is very interesting to note the signs in the choir of the attempt +to combine the two styles which, as has been explained, met here. The +third piers stand on the line of demarcation between the part retained +and the part rebuilt, and consequently carry an Early English arch to +the west and a Decorated arch to the east. The Early English column was +partially cut away and partially used in the new work, as may be seen +on inspection of these piers. It will also be seen that the vaulting in +the aisles is much rougher in the old part than in the eastern bays. The +plaster used to hide this; but Sir Gilbert Scott caused it to be removed, +and is said afterward to have regretted having done so. + +[Illustration: SOUTH AISLE OF CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.] + +Another interesting junction between two buildings of different dates +is the entrance to the vestibule of the chapter-house. This entrance is +in the third bay of the north aisle, and is obviously a combination of +doorway and window, as may be seen by comparing the window of the first +bay with it. + +Again, in the first bays of the aisles there are windows in the Early +English style, but they look only into the aisles of the transepts; +showing, as has before been stated, that the transept aisles were not +originally contemplated, and certainly did not take the place of earlier +Norman aisles. + +[Illustration: THE CHOIR, LOOKING WEST.] + +The arch at the west end of the north choir aisle is decorated with a +double chevron moulding--evidence that it is one of the oldest pieces +of work left in the cathedral. This arch has at a more recent date been +lined with another arch of the Decorated period, probably in order to +strengthen it. + +The arcading in the aisles is very interesting. In the first three western +bays in both aisles the large arcading, with its plain trefoiled arches, +is clearly Early English. The arcading in the other bays is equally +clearly of the Decorated period, and is considerably smaller. In the four +eastern bays in each aisle the arches go right up to the course which +forms the top of the arcading, and the triangular spandrels thus formed +are ornamented each with a curious little head, having queer headgear; +the rest of the spandrel is carved with foliage, and in the plates of the +foliated arches are quaint animals. The arcading in the remaining bay is +similar, but angels' heads with wings take up the whole spandrel. Some +of the arcading, notably that in the three easterly bays of the south +aisle, is unrestored. The inferiority of the modern work in the next +bay is only too patent. + +In the south choir aisle the third window from the east has very beautiful +carved work, the splays being covered with two bands of richly-carved +foliage. Under the window is now the tomb of Bishop Hacket, and Dean +Heywood's monument is said to have also been in this place. + +In the south aisle, over the entrance to the sacristy, there is a +very charmingly-proportioned gallery which is known as the "minstrel +gallery." A gallery of this kind, though not unique, is very rare, +but Exeter Cathedral has two--one in the north transept and another +in the nave. In this case the arcading has been altered to accommodate +this obviously later addition, made probably in the early part of the +fifteenth century. Three shafts from the arcade have been left, which +support a fan-shaped vaulting, upon which the gallery rests. There is +little doubt as to the object of the gallery, though various theories +have been advanced. By some it is supposed that it was used by the priest +whose duty it was to watch the lights burning on the various altars; +others suggest that it was indeed used by the instrumentalists to keep +time during the procession, etc.; but, as it is immediately in front +of the chapel of the Head of St. Chad, it was no doubt intended for the +exhibition of the head to those below in the aisle. However, it may be +said that the raised galleries in mediaeval halls were always called +by the name of "minstrel gallery," and so the name came to be used of +galleries generally. This gallery is reached by the staircase in the wall +which leads to the upper floor of the sacristy. Just against the entrance +to this staircase, in the wall of the aisle, is an ancient piscina. Its +presence here is unexplained, as there is no record of a chapel at this +spot; though it has been suggested that the altar dedicated to St. Blaise +occupied a position in this aisle. + +It is perhaps worth noticing that in the old days the two bays of the +cathedral between the high altar and the Lady Chapel, together with their +portions of the aisles, were generally spoken of as the Lady Choir, and +are marked as such in old plans; other writers again speak of this part +of the building as "the cross aisle." There were gates across the choir +aisles in a line with the reredos, and these are marked in the plan of +the cathedral published somewhere about 1720. No doubt the eastern ends +of the choir aisles in still earlier days were spoken of as St. Andrew's +Chapel or St. Nicholas' Chapel; but, though it is almost certain that the +east end of the north choir aisle was dedicated to St. Andrew, there is +no certain information as to the dedication of the corresponding chapel +in the south aisle, but it is generally believed to have contained an +altar to St. Nicholas. + +=The Choir Screen= was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott and Mr J. B. +Phillips, and executed by Mr Skidmore of Coventry. It is a very +highly-ornamented structure in wrought-iron, copper, and brass, and is +said to have been the first screen of this kind; but other screens of the +same character are now to be seen at Salisbury, Worcester, Hereford, and +other churches. The capitals are of hammered copper; there are imitations +of various fruits in ivory, onyx, and red and white cornelian: on the +upper part, on each side, are eight angels with instruments of music; +the whole is surmounted with a frieze of open scroll work, and a cross +rises from the top of the pedimented gate-way in the centre. The side +iron gates into the choir aisles were also executed by Mr Skidmore. + +[Illustration: UNDER THE CENTRAL TOWER.] + +=The Stalls= are modern, and are somewhat disappointing. The canons' +stalls have no canopies, and their absence certainly deprives the choir +of a feature generally to be found in cathedrals. Otherwise, the stalls +are a satisfactory instance of modern carving, and were carried out +by Mr Evans of Ellastone in Derbyshire. He is always said to have been +the original of Seth in "Adam Bede," and he certainly was a cousin of +the great authoress. There is much natural foliage in the carving, with +figures of apostles, kings, and bishops, and panels representing scenes +from Old Testament history. The =Bishop's Throne= is by the same artist. + +=The Reredos= is a very gorgeous piece of work, but it must be confessed +that the effect is again not wholly satisfactory. It might even be said +that in the endeavour to attain magnificence, over-elaboration has ended +in a tawdry appearance. However, tastes differ, and this reredos has its +admirers. It was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, and cost L2000, which +sum was raised by the Honourable Mrs H. Howard, the wife of the dean. It +was part of the scheme that all the materials for the reredos should +come from the diocese, and with the exception of the green malachite, +this idea has been carried out. The alabaster came from near Tutbury, +and the marbles from Derbyshire (then in the diocese): and the Duke of +Devonshire was induced to give some of the beautiful red marble, which +bears the name of the "Duke's red," from his quarry, so rarely opened. + +In the centre is a bas-relief of the Ascension, with, a figure of "The +Lamb" underneath; on each side are two compartments containing the +emblems of the four evangelists. All five compartments are surmounted +with very highly-decorated pediments, the central one being the largest +and most magnificent; above it rises a very elaborate pinnacle, ending +in a cross. There is an open arcading on each side, extending to the +piers of the presbytery. The pediments have each a head in the centre, +and between the pediments are angels with ivory trumpets. + +The reredos has purposely been kept very low, so that the view of the +glass in the Lady Chapel may be intercepted as little as possible. One +cannot help feeling that too much was sacrificed to that idea. One of +the main principles of the Gothic builder, it has been said, was to +suggest an air of mystery. The light screen and the low reredos have the +very opposite effect; and it may be prophesied that the days of their +admiration are rapidly coming to an end. + +=The Sedilia= are interesting on account of the canopies, which are old, +and probably formed part of the original high altar screen. Their style +is that known as Perpendicular, but they obviously belong to its early +period. No doubt the screen suffered grievously after the siege; and at +the Restoration of the monarchy and the cathedral a wooden screen was +erected in front of it. Pennant, who saw it in 1780, says: "The beauty +of the choir was much impaired by the impropriety of a rich altar-piece, +of Grecian architecture, terminating this elegant Gothic building." + +This arrangement came to an end in 1788, when Wyatt threw the choir and +Lady Chapel into one long chapel, and the old altar screen was utilised +in the choir screen and helped to support the organ. When this screen in +turn was taken down, the old canopies, much battered and largely repaired +with plaster, were examined, and found to be of Bath stone, and in this +the repairs were executed. Six of them were used for the sedilia, and the +other three are to be found just behind, over the effigy of Dean Howard. + +=The Pavement= between the stalls is of tiles, made after the pattern +of old tiles which were found in the cathedral. The modern ones are +by Messrs Minton. There is some record of how the cathedral has at +various times been paved, as Dr Plot tells us that "the old floor of +the choir was paved lozengy with cannel coal and alabaster, the former +got at Beaudesert," and at one time the nave and aisles were paved with +brick. Some of the old tiles and two slabs of coal are preserved in the +floor of the consistory court. + +The pavement in the presbytery is different, and is made principally +of incised stone, with marble borders. There are four large medallions, +which show scenes in the history of the diocese, and these are surrounded +with representations of kings and bishops who have had some connection +with the see. The general scheme was arranged by Sir Gilbert Scott, +but the medallions were designed by the Rev. J. Pitman, headmaster of +Rugeley Grammar School. The first medallion represents the consecration +of St. Chad as Bishop of York; round it are Oswy, King of Northumbria +and Mercia, who was the principal instrument in introducing Christianity +into Mercia; Diuma, first Bishop; Wulphere, King of Mercia; and Jaruman, +Bishop of Mercia, the immediate predecessor of St. Chad. + +[Illustration: REREDOS.] + +The second medallion gives the well-known story of Theodore, the great +archbishop, setting St. Chad on a horse; around are Ethelred, king of +Mercia after Wulphere; Sexwulf, the bishop who divided up the diocese; +Offa, King of Mercia, who made Lichfield an archbishopric, and Higbert, +the archbishop. + +The third medallion shows the translation of St. Chad's bones from Stowe +Church, where they were buried, to the cathedral; around are Stephen, +who was king when Bishop Roger de Clinton built the Norman cathedral; +Henry III., who gave stone for the transept; and Bishop Langton, who +built the Lady Chapel. + +The fourth medallion shows the procession to the chapter-house for +divine service at the Restoration (1660); around are Charles II. and +Bishop Hacket, who then restored the cathedral; Queen Victoria and Bishop +Lonsdale, who was bishop at the time of the recent restorations. + +The altar space is covered with encaustic tiles, given by Mr C. Minton +Campbell. In the centre is the Feast of the Passover, and around are shown +Cain and Abel, Melchisedec blessing Abraham, Abraham and Isaac, Joseph +and his brethren, Moses striking the Rock, and the Brazen Serpent--all +Old Testament types of the Divine Sacrifice. + +=The Monuments= in the south choir aisle are particularly +interesting. Commencing from the west end, there is on the south side an +altar tomb in memory of Archdeacon Hodson, who died in 1855. The slab is +of Serpentine stone, with a brass cross inlaid, and there are alabaster +plaques representing the Crucifixion, the Entombment, the Resurrection, +and the Ascension. Opposite is a monument to his son, Major Hodson, +known as "Hodson of Hodson's Horse," who played a dramatic part in the +Indian Mutiny, where he received his death wound. The coped top forms a +cross, and underneath are represented the King of Delhi surrendering his +sword to Major Hodson, with allegorical figures of Justice, Fortitude, +Temperance, and Mercy; and at the corners statuettes of Joshua, David, +St. Thomas of India, and St. George of England. Both these monuments +are by Mr G. E. Street, R.A., the well-known architect of the Law Courts +in London. + +Close to the gate is a medallion to Erasmus Darwin, "a skilful observer +of Nature," and the author of several books. He died in 1802, and was +the grandfather of Charles Darwin, the celebrated biologist, whose name +is a household word. The memorial to the grandfather directs attention +to the hereditary obligations of the grandson. + +In the second bay, between the pier arches, is the monument of Bishop +Langton, who died in 1296. This originally stood to the south of +the high altar. The figure is of Purbeck marble, and is habited _in +pontificalibus_; the head lies on a plain cushion in a kind of frame. The +mitre and shoes were probably once richly jewelled, and the whole, +as we know from Sir William Dugdale's "Visitation," had a pedimented +canopy. Now nothing remains but the mutilated effigy. + +In a similar position in the third bay is the effigy of Bishop Patteshull, +who died in 1241. This is also of Purbeck marble, and was probably +jewelled. There are ministering angels outside a pediment at the head; +the figure has the pastoral staff in the left hand, while the right +is obviously raised in benediction, though only the fingers are left, +the second wearing the episcopal ring. Pennant and others have drawn +attention to the fact that this effigy has the "stigmata" or marks of Our +Lord's wounds on his hands and feet. Some antiquarians think that this +is the monument of Bishop Weseham, and not of Bishop Patteshull. There +are engravings and descriptions of these last two monuments in Gough's +"Sepulchral Monuments in Great Britain," 1796, but it is certainly strange +that Langton's monument is described as Patteshull's, and _vice versa_. + +Opposite to Bishop Langton is the most curious monument in the +cathedral. It has now been identified as the tomb of Sir John Stanley +of Pipe. The effigy represents a knight naked to the waist, below which +was formerly a deep skirt painted with the arms of Stanley, the legs +being in armour, while under the head is a buck's horn, and a similar +horn is placed beneath the feet. The whole subject of this tomb is +one presenting many difficulties, but they have now been cleared up, +and in a communication to the "Archaeological Journal," vol. 24, Mr J. +Hewitt has given much interesting information. From it the following +account is taken:--The monument was always known as that of "Captain +Stanley," who for some offence had been excommunicated, and who, after +atonement, had been admitted to sepulture in holy ground on condition +that the evidence of his punishment should appear on his sepultured +effigy. The mutilations of the Civil Wars have so defaced the monument +as to make this story extremely doubtful, until among papers belonging +to the Earl of Winchelsea was found a coloured drawing of this effigy, +done by Sir William Dugdale just before the wars for Sir Christopher +Hatton. This sketch showed that the skin was bare, and that the skirt +had the Stanley arms. But this did not clear up the difficulty. Pennant, +in his "Journey from Chester to London," describes the tomb and gives +the story, and then says: "I find a Sir Humphrey Stanley of Pipe, who +died in the reign of Henry VII., who had a squabble with the Chapter +about conveying water through his lands to the close ... so probably +this might be the gentleman who incurred the censure of the church for +his impiety." Shaw, in his "History of Staffordshire," declares that +the arms on the base of the tomb show "the arms of Stanley impaling or, +three chevronels gules (Clare)," which means that the person represented +married a Clare. This Sir Humphrey did not do, and, moreover, he was +buried in Westminster Abbey, where his brass still remains. Further +investigation showed that the arms of Clare are also the arms of Gerard, +and then that Sir John Stanley of Pipe married Margaret, the daughter +of Sir Thomas Gerard. Pipe is a domain about a mile from Lichfield, +so that the family of the dead knight would naturally have desired his +interment in the cathedral of that city. + +It does not appear that there was any ignominy implied in scourging as a +public penance. On the contrary, many royal personages have submitted to +it, and everyone will remember that Henry II. underwent a scourging upon +his naked shoulders by the hands of the monks of Canterbury. There is a +stained-glass window in the Bodleian Library at Oxford showing this scene. + +Dr Rock, in the same volume of the "Archaeological Journal," says that +to his thinking "this Stanley, of knightly rank, had drawn upon himself +the greater excommunication through the spilling of blood in Lichfield +Cathedral on some occasion, from a blow on the face with his hand or +possibly by a slight stab with his avelace on the person of one with +whom he had quarrelled. He lies bareheaded and naked as far down as the +girdle. His upraised hands, according to the representation given by +Pennant, and copied in Shaw's 'History of Staffordshire,' held a scroll +which must have been the document ... signifying under the bishop's hand +that, having undergone the canonical penance, the offender was again +admitted to all Christian privileges." + +Farther east than the "minstrel gallery" there is a window in memory of +Bishop Rawle, who was consecrated Bishop of Trinidad in this cathedral by +Bishop Selwyn. The subjects depicted in the window are Christ's Appeal +to St. Peter, St. Paul's Vision, and The Baptism of the Ethiopian by +St. Philip. Underneath the window is a highly-ornamented altar tomb +designed by Sir Gilbert Scott in memory of Archdeacon Moore, whose +effigy lies on the top. He died in 1876. Opposite, in the next bay, +is the monument of Dean Howard, who died in 1868; the effigy of the +dean, in marble, lies under a triple canopy formed from portions of +the old screen. These last two effigies were the work of H. Armstead, +R.A. It was here that Bishop Langton's monument once stood, and here +also was Bishop Hacket's. This last now stands on the opposite side +under the very beautiful window of the sixth bay of this aisle: it is +in the Jacobean style, and is much painted and gilded. An effigy of the +Bishop lies on an altar tomb under a canopy, while in front is a lengthy +inscription in Latin. + +Near this place, with other monuments, is one to the memory of Colonel +Richard Bagot, who received his death wound at the battle of Naseby, +1645, and was buried in the cathedral. His father was Sir Hervey Bagot, +Governor of the Close on behalf of the king. + +In the seventh bay is another of the semi-effigies, two of which are in +the south aisle of the nave, but this one is much more damaged; it is +supposed to be the monument of Canon Strangeways. In Jackson's "History +of Lichfield," which was published in 1805, it is stated that the name, +though not then distinguishable, had only recently become obliterated, +and was known and remembered to be Strangeways. + +On the south wall, towards the east are, amongst others, brasses to Dean +Champneys, 1875, and Dean Bickersteth, 1892, and above these there is +a monument to Canon Horton, who died in 1728. + +Two windows have recently been ornamented with new glass by Mr Kempe, +showing scenes taken from the Acts of the Apostles; one, in memory of +Dr H. W. Hewitt, represents Peter and Paul healing the lame man at the +Beautiful Gate of the temple. The other is in memory of Mr J. T. Godfrey +Faussett, and represents Stephen before the Council, having delivered +his apology, looking up and declaring "Behold I see the heavens opened, +and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." + +At the east end of this aisle, on the spot where probably once stood +the altar of St. Nicholas, is the famous monument known as "The Sleeping +Children." This was executed by Sir Francis Chantrey, R.A., and set up +in 1817. It is said that this monument established his fame. Britton, +in 1820, devotes more than two large quarto pages--a great space for +him--to ecstasies over it, and no doubt the taste of the time demanded +undiluted admiration. Now we may prize it as an early example of the +new style which, in art as well as in literature, was to supersede the +artifice of the eighteenth century: the essence of that new style was, +Mr Walter Pater tells us, "an intimate consciousness of the expression +of natural things." + +[Illustration: THE SLEEPING CHILDREN.] + +The monument is in memory of the two daughters of the Reverend William +Robinson, Prebendary of the cathedral, and represents the young children +locked in each other's arms. + +Behind it is a wall memorial to their father, and to the side is a +piscina, which has at the back of it an old fresco, probably of the +fourteenth century. The subject is the Crucifixion, with figures of +St. Mary and St. John, one on each side of our Lord. The illustration is +from a drawing preserved in the National Art Library, South Kensington +Museum. The window at the end of the aisle contains some of the old +Flemish glass, which has in the centre a curious representation of +the Trinity. + +In leaving this aisle it may be noted that tradition has it that between +the pillars of the eighth bay was the monument of Lord Basset: that the +tomb of Bishop William de Corkhull was between the pillars of the seventh +bay, and that, in a similar position in the fifth bay, was buried Bishop +de Molend. The Ashmolean MSS. give a long description of Lord Basset's +monument: "Between the choir and the chapel of the Blessed Mary is the +monument of Ralph, Lord Basset. He is lying in complete armour, his +hands erected, and thereon his gauntlets. On his head, which is laid +upon his helm and crest, viz., a boar, is a steel cap, and on his right +shoulder a square shield of his arms. His dagger is laid by his right +side, and his feet are resting upon a boar." He died in the reign of +Richard II. It is always said that Sir Walter Scott had this monument +in his mind when he described Lord Marmion's monument:-- + + + "Fitz-Eustace care + A pierced and mangled body bare + To moated Lichfield's lofty pile; + And there, beneath the southern aisle, + A tomb, with Gothic sculpture fair, + Did long Lord Marmion's image bear, + (Now vainly for its sight you look; + 'Twas levell'd when fanatic Brook + The fair cathedral storm'd and took; + But thanks to Heaven and good St. Chad, + A guerdon meet the spoiler had!) + There erst was martial Marmion found, + His feet upon a couchant hound + His hands to Heaven upraised; + And all around, on scutcheon rich + And tablet carved, and fretted niche, + His arms and feats were blazed." + + +[Illustration: FRESCO-PAINTING OF THE CRUCIFIXION IN THE SOUTH CHOIR +AISLE.] + +The accounts do not entirely tally, so that it may be the tomb described +was as little Lord Basset's as it was really Lord Marmion's. + +Not very far from this last tomb was the monument of William, Lord Paget, +who was not buried here but at Drayton. He was ambassador from Henry +VIII. to Charles V., and held other important posts under that king +and his daughter, Queen Mary; he died in 1563. There is an engraving +of his monument in Shaw's "Staffordshire," which shows it to have been +very magnificent. + +The monuments in the =North Choir Aisle= are not only more scanty +than those in other parts of the cathedral, but they are of less +interest. At the east end is the kneeling figure of Bishop Ryder, who +died in 1836. This monument is in white marble, and one of Chantrey's +latest works, just as the more famous monument in a similar position in +the south aisle is one of his earliest. It was originally intended that +the figure should be on a higher pedestal, and no doubt the effect is +not increased by its lower position. + +Behind, on the east wall, is an inscription in memory of the bishop. The +window above this contains some old Flemish glass, which has a figure +of St. Christopher in the centre. The window in the north side in the +corner is by Mr C. E. Kempe, in memory of Mr Patterson, late sub-chanter +of the cathedral. The glass shows King David teaching the singers of +the House of the Lord. Beneath is an ancient aumbry. + +Opposite, between the pillars, is the traditional site of the burial-place +of Bishop Stretton; he is said to have been buried in St. Andrew's +Chapel. There is little doubt that the end of this aisle contained an +altar dedicated to that saint. + +Between the next pair of pillars westward, it is said that Bishop Blythe +was buried, but his monument at one time stood in the other aisle of +the choir. + +On the north side of the altar is the monument to the memory of Bishop +Lonsdale, who died in 1867. The monument, which is highly decorative, +consists of an effigy of the bishop lying on an altar-tomb of marble and +alabaster. The effigy is by Mr G. F. Watts, R.A., the celebrated artist, +and the tomb was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, who is said to have taken +the idea of the canopy, with its triple pediment, from the monument of +John of Eltham in Westminster Abbey. + +In the space between the next pair of pillars westward, Archbishop Scrope, +formerly bishop of this diocese, is said to have been buried. He was +beheaded in 1405 by Henry IV. + +In the most easterly bay but one of this aisle there must have been a +doorway leading into the chapel which Dr Stukeley speaks of: "In the +chapel over against the lady choir was the burying-place of two Mercian +Kings; but it is now chosen for a burying-place by Dr Chandler, present +bishop of Lichfield, who has there buried one child." + +=The Lady Chapel= has always most justly been admired by architects and +antiquarians. Not only is it peculiarly beautiful in its construction, +but also its windows are now filled with some of the most charming old +glass to be seen in England. In shape it forms a symmetrical extension, +both in height and width, to the choir, but without aisles; and it has +an octagonal apse--the only example, it is said, of such a termination +in the country. It is lighted by nine high windows, with Decorated +tracery. This tracery has recently been restored in the style of that in +the three end windows; until this was done most of the windows contained +Perpendicular tracery. + +[Illustration: BRACKETS IN THE LADY CHAPEL.] + +The windows rest on an arcade of very beautiful design. The arcade may +be said to consist of a series of small decorated canopies, supported by +shafts with carved capitals, and separated by ornamented buttresses. The +canopies, which bow forward, have trefoil ogee arches, surmounted with +crockets and finials. Above the arcade is a similar embattled parapet +to that in the choir, with a similar passage round the chapel behind it. + +The vaulting of the roof is like that in the choir; the same number +of ribs diverging from the slender shafts which run right down to the +bends of the arcade. Half-way up these shafts are niches, the brackets +and canopies to which are beautifully carved. These are old, but until +recently were empty, and no authentic record remained as to what were +the characters represented. Dr Stukeley believed that the figures had +been those of the five wise and five foolish virgins. This theory has +not, however, found sufficient favour to lead to a reproduction of their +effigies, for in 1895 the niches were filled with figures of ten virgin +saints and martyrs. These were executed by Messrs Farmer & Brindley, from +designs by Mr C. E. Kempe, and they may be warmly congratulated on their +work. The statues are really beautiful, and are infinitely superior to +most of the other modern sculpture in the cathedral. It will be noticed, +too, that the figures seem the right size for the niches, instead of +being much too large, as in many other cases. The statues are as follow:-- + +1. St. Werburga, with pastoral staff and book, and a model of Chester +Cathedral at her feet. + +2. St. Cecilia, with organ. + +3. St. Prisca, with palm branch, and lion at her feet. + +4. St. Faith, with sword and rack. + +5. St. Catherine, with sword and wheel and open book, treading on +a monster. + +6. St. Margaret, with book and cross, treading on a dragon. + +7. St. Lucy, with palm branch and lamp. + +8. St. Agnes, with palm branch and book, and lamb at her feet. + +9. St. Agatha, with palm branch and tongs. + +10. St. Etheldreda, with crown and pilgrim staff, and pastoral staff +and a model of Ely Cathedral at her feet. + +[Illustration: THE LADY CHAPEL.] + +The present altar-piece, which is in the form of a triptych, has scenes +connected with the birth of Our Lord carved in relief. These are: +The Annunciation, the Salutation of Elizabeth, the Nativity, the +Presentation in the Temple, and the Adoration of the Magi. The doors, +which can be closed, have paintings on the back representing David, +Isaiah, St. John the Baptist, and St. Chad. There are four carved figures +of St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and St. Gregory supporting +the central panel. The altar rails are of alabaster. Before the recent +alterations there was a plaster reredos, which had been placed there +by Wyatt, and the continuity of the arcading and open carved work, +which originally went right round the chapel, was thus broken. Sir +Gilbert Scott is said to have been anxious not to remove the reredos, +partly, perhaps, on account of the glass behind, which was known to be +plain. However, the restoration to the original style has been made, and +the plain glass replaced by a very excellent imitation of the Herkenrode +glass, representing the three Marys. This was done by Messrs Burlison +& Grylls with great skill. There was a screen between the Lady Chapel +and the rest of the cathedral in old days. Stukeley mentions it in his +notes. He says: "The partition there betwixt the two choirs is a fine +piece of architecture, but demolished also in time of war; and, though +the figures are destroyed, and at the foot of the same every cherub +defaced, yet it may be perceived to be a fine piece of work; for though +it be uniform from top to bottom, yet every capital and pedestall are +different works within and without." + +What is known of the building of the Lady Chapel has already been told in +Chapter I. and in the account of the choir and presbytery. The founder of +the chapel, Bishop Langton, was buried here, but his tomb was afterwards +removed to the south side of the high altar. Shaw tells us of the monument +at one time "in the east part of the chapel, towards the south," of Robert +Master and Catherine, his wife, and says that "the drawing in Dugdale's +'Visitation' represents them each under a round arch, in the attitude +of prayer at a desk." No trace is left of this monument. + +As might be expected from what has been given of the history of the +cathedral, there is none of the old glass belonging to it remaining; +but in spite of this, all the nine windows of the Lady Chapel have very +beautiful old glass in them. This glass is not Mediaeval, but belongs +to the sixteenth century, and the whole of it is a comparatively recent +acquisition for the cathedral. That in the seven most eastern windows, +and known as the Herkenrode glass, was put in at the beginning of the +century; and the other two windows which, until recently, held modern +glass, bearing the arms of various dignitaries of the cathedral, have +recently been enriched by old glass of probably very nearly the same +period as the other. + +The nine windows, for the purposes of explanation, may be numbered in +succession 1 to 9. No. 1, being the first window on the north, and No. 9, +the first on the south, contain, therefore, the more recently acquired +glass. This is supposed to have come from the Low Countries; but, at +any rate, about the middle of the century it was brought to England, +and lay for years in some cellars in London, where it was forgotten. +Finally, it was purchased from the representatives of the Marquis of +Ely. The glass shows the arms of the kingdom of Aragon, and amongst +other mottoes, that of Charles V. + +No. 1. The lower compartment is a symbolic picture on the subject of +Baptism. Out of the waters in the fountain come the children, to be +received by their guardian spirits, while above are figures representing +Faith, Fortitude, and Love, and still higher is a representation of the +Divine Presence. No. 9 is a pictorial representation of the legendary +Death of the Virgin Mary. The Virgin is represented lying in a canopied +bed, surrounded by the apostles, who have been summoned to gather round +her death-bed: they are all present except St. Thomas, who has been +detained at the baptism of a royal prince. Above is a representation of +the Virgin entering into glory. + +As stated above, these two windows had originally coats of arms in them, +and a reproduction of the arms appears in the tracery of the windows, +No. 1 having those of the dean and chapter in 1803, and No. 9 those of +the bishops of the diocese from Bishop Hacket to that date. + +The glass in the other seven windows--the Herkenrode glass--was +purchased in 1802 by Sir Brooke Boothby, who discovered it in Belgium, +where it had been hidden for protection from the French. It had been +taken from the dissolved Abbey of Herkenrode, near Liege. There were +three hundred and forty pieces, each about twenty-two inches square, +and some of them are marked with dates between 1530 and 1540. Sir Brooke +is said to have given two hundred pounds for it; but it has since been +valued at fifteen thousand pounds. He, however, most generously sold it +to the dean and chapter for the modest sum he had paid for it. It turned +out that there was enough to fill the seven windows it now occupies in +the Lady Chapel. Some portions have been used in other windows of the +cathedral, which have been already described. + +There is a considerable difference in appearance between this glass and +that in the other two windows. The subjects depicted in the latter are +very distinct, while in the former they are more confused, and it must +be said that the Herkenrode glass is much faded. Still, the whole of +it is very beautiful, and if it does not satisfy those who crave after +the Mediaeval stained glass, it is certainly some of the finest glass +of the kind to be found in England. The designs have been conjectured +to be by Lambert Lombard, the first, and one of the most famous, of the +Italianised Flemish School of the sixteenth century; and the other glass +belongs to the same period. + +[Illustration: BRACKETS IN THE LADY CHAPEL.] + +The abbey at Herkenrode was founded in 1182, and belonged to the +Cistercian Order. It became noted for the miracles performed there; +from which reason, no doubt, it acquired great wealth, and increased so +much in size that it was almost like a small town. All the nuns were of +noble family. A history of the abbey was published in 1744, and a copy +was presented to the cathedral library by Sir Brooke Boothby. The book +contains a view of the abbey buildings, in the centre of which is seen +the church. In the third window of the Lady Chapel is a similar picture +of the church. Windows Nos. 2 and 3 contain portraits of founders and +benefactors of the abbey, with their patron saints. The other five +windows, Nos. 4, 5, 6, and 7 show scenes in the life of Christ. + +The following is a brief description of these windows:-- + +No. 2. In this window the glass is in four pictures. In the lower +left-hand compartment is Cardinal Evrad de la Marck, Bishop of Liege, +supported by St. Lambert; and in the corresponding space to the right is +Floris Egmont, Count de Buren, with his wife, attended by St. Christopher +and St. Margaret. The picture above is of Maximilian Egmont, Count de +Buren, kneeling before an altar, and attended by St. Christopher and +St. Barbara. The remaining picture on the left has John, Count de Horn, +and his wife Anne, also kneeling before an altar. They are attended by +St. John the Evangelist and St. Anne the mother of the Virgin. + +No. 3 contains six pictures, which go right across the window--(1) the +lowest, has the church of the abbey already mentioned, with an abbess +and two nuns, and the Virgin and Child; (2) the Virgin and Child again, +with an angel bearing a shield; (3) the Virgin and Child, an abbot and +abbess of the Cistercian Order, and the Emperor Lotharius II.; (4) Agnes +Mettecoven and her husband kneeling to St. Agnes, with her lamb; (5) +St. John the Evangelist and St. Barbara, St. John the Baptist, and St. +Margaret, with members of the Mettecoven family; (6) the highest, has +Henry de Lechy and his wife, with St. Henry and St. Christina. + +No. 4. Christ scourged, Christ crowned with thorns, the Annunciation. + +No. 5, the central window. The Ascension, Christ and the two Disciples +at Emmaus, the Three Marys (modern glass). + +No. 6. The Last Supper, the Entry into Jerusalem, the Betrayal of Christ +in the Garden of Gethsemane. + +No. 7. The Day of Judgment, the Day of Pentecost, St. Thomas is reproved +for his doubt. + +No. 8. Pilate delivering Christ to be crucified, Christ bearing his Cross, +the Descent from the Cross, the Resurrection. + +On the south side of the Lady Chapel, between the buttresses, are three +erections, which were no doubt built at the same time as the Lady Chapel +itself. They have been known as "the Mortuary Chapels," and also as +"the Vestries." They were probably built for the former purpose. + +They have recently been restored as a memorial to Bishop Selwyn, who died +in 1878. All three chapels have groined roofs, with ribs and bosses, and +in the floor some of the old encaustic tiles still remain. The central +chapel is the largest, and is lighted by two small windows. It is only +entered from the eastern chapel by means of a doorway cut right through +the buttress. In this central chapel lies the effigy, in Derbyshire +alabaster, of Bishop Selwyn. During his life he had expressed a wish to +be buried here, but this was found to be illegal, and he was buried in +the close just outside. The effigy is by Mr Nicholls, and the decorations +of the walls of the chapel are by Messrs Clayton & Bell. These show the +arms of the bishopric of New Zealand, to which the bishop was originally +consecrated, and the arms of the dioceses formed out of it, and there +are more than usually hideous frescoes showing the labours of the bishop +among the Maories and among the pitmen of the English diocese. Here he +is not likely to be forgotten; and at Cambridge there is a college known +as Selwyn College, founded with a similar idea to that which at Oxford +caused Keble College to be erected to the memory of another great modern +churchman: there also his memory will remain. + +The western chapel has, at its north-western corner, a stair-way leading +to three cryptal chambers whose flooring is the solid rock. + +=The Sacristy.=--The building on the south side of the choir, which is +generally known as the "sacristy," is a very interesting part of the +cathedral. Professor Willis decided that it was erected at the same time +as the original Early English choir, and no doubt it belongs to the same +period. A careful inspection, however, especially of the entrance from +the "minstrel gallery" to the chapel of St. Chad's Head, which now forms +the top storey, shows unmistakable signs that, like the entrance to the +vestibule in the corresponding bay of the north choir aisle, this doorway +was once a window, similar, no doubt, to those two still remaining--one +in each aisle--which look into the aisles of the transepts. This being so, +it is obvious that the "sacristy," or, at any rate, the upper storey, was +an afterthought, and that it is later, though perhaps only a little, than +the choir, its date corresponding perhaps with that of the south transept. + +The upper storey, which until recently was used as the muniment room, +was originally the chapel of St. Chad's Head. It has now been restored +as a chapel through the zeal and munificence of the present dean, Dr +Luckock, and was re-dedicated and re-opened on St. Chad's Day, March +2nd of this year, 1897. In the order of service of that day the dean +gave an account of the chapel as follows:-- + +"The Chapel of St. Chad, first Bishop of Lichfield, and, with the +Blessed Virgin Mary, patron of our Cathedral Church, was destroyed in all +probability when the rest of the Cathedral was laid in ruins in 1643, +the siege beginning on St. Chad's Day, March 2nd of that year. Little +was left: the four walls remained in a broken condition, with the +vaulting-shafts and caps for the springers of the stone groining, and +the wall-ribs, to mark its original lines; also the very beautiful +Early English windows--twelve lancets in groups of three--which, +singularly enough, were little injured. Externally these are very plain, +but internally they are full of interest, and there is nothing better of +the kind in the Cathedral. The site of the old altar is clearly marked; +indeed, a small portion of it has been preserved. The piscina also still +remains. After the destruction the chapel must have been left roofless +for years, as, on breaking up the floor which had been raised by some +accumulation of rubbish, the workmen found roots of shrubs embedded +in it. At some time quite unknown, the chapel was roofed in again, +and the tops of the walls rebuilt where they had been broken down. A +flat plaster ceiling was inserted, and being divided into two rooms, +the old chapel was filled with cupboards and used till last year for +the custody of the muniments. The aumbry remains in which antiquarians +suppose that St. Chad's relics were preserved. Dr Cox, in his Catalogue +of the muniments, page 90, throws some light upon the subject, from the +Chapter Act Books, quoting from F. 4 in the year 1481:--'Two monstrances +given to the Cathedral in charge of William Hukyns, the custodian of the +Head of St. Chad by Dean Heywood, for keeping relics.' And he appends the +following note:--'This very likely gives the date of the stone gallery +in front of the muniment room in the South Choir aisle (then the chapel +of the head of St. Chad). This gallery is of Perpendicular work, and +was chiefly intended for the exhibition of relics, in monstrances, to +the pilgrims in the aisle below; the second staircase, that allowed of a +flow of pilgrims to the upper chapel, being at this time removed.' All +the stone groining and the wood and iron work have been completely +restored under the direction of Mr J. Oldrid Scott. There are some very +old pieces of stone figure-work, which have been preserved. The new bosses +and corbels have been carved with subjects from the history of St. Chad, +the chief of which show his being mounted on horseback, by Archbishop +Theodore; his protection of the hart that fled to him for refuge; and his +death in his cell, surrounded by angels. The reredos, of Staffordshire +alabaster, replacing one the existence of which at the east end is +clearly indicated, is of a very uncommon design, by Mr C. E. Kempe. It +consists of an altar-piece of ornamental arcading, surmounted by three +tall canopied niches in which are placed sculptured figures representing +the Crucifixion, St. Mary, and St. John. These are supported by angels +bearing shields. All the windows are filled with stained glass by Mr +Kempe, and contain Choirs of Angels singing the Confessor's hymn, or +Psalm cxii., _Beatus vir_, which runs in scrolls through nine of the +lights. The angels over the crucifix in the east window bear a scroll +with the words of Psalm xxi. 3, _Posimisti in capite_, etc. St. Chad is +represented in the centre lancet of the west wall." + +[Illustration: CAPITAL IN CHAPTER-HOUSE.] + +This chapel is now approached by a staircase, leading from a doorway in +the fourth bay on to the gallery, usually and incorrectly known as the +"minstrel gallery," from which again two short flights of steps, right +and left, lead into the chapel. + +The lower storey was originally the sacristy: it is now used as the +consistory court. Against the west wall are some of the old Jacobean +stalls, which were put into the choir in Bishop Hacket's time; while +in the corner are let into the floor some of the old tiles and slabs +of cannel coal with which, and alabaster, the cathedral was at one time +paved. The windows are filled with Perpendicular tracery, replacing the +old Early English windows. Underneath, and reached by a staircase in +the south-east turret, now closed, is a vault, at present used as the +burial vault of the Paget family. Probably it was once a dungeon. + +[Illustration: THE CHAPTER-HOUSE.] + +In the west wall can be seen the place where a doorway led into a chamber +built in between the sacristy and the south transept aisle. This was no +doubt the treasury of the cathedral, where all the most precious relics +and valuables were kept. It is now entered by a doorway in the choir +aisle. At present it appears to be a receptacle for odds and ends, and +cupboards are placed along the walls. On the west side are several large +aumbries, in which, no doubt, the relics were kept. The floor in this +chamber has been raised at some time or other, and it is now much higher +than that of the adjoining consistory court, so that there are steps in +the south-east corner leading to a door into the consistory court. This is +not the old doorway already mentioned, which is blocked up, but probably a +much later entrance. Some old cannon balls which have been discovered in +and round the cathedral may be seen in the treasury. On the north wall +in both the consistory court and the treasury can be seen the remains of +an old course or housing which, though in both cases incomplete, appears +to have a semi-circular form. No theory seems to have been advanced as +to these remains, and in this book it were wiser to follow precedent. + +=The Chapter-House=, which lies to the north of the choir, is approached +by a vestibule which has a doorway, already described, into the third +bay of the north choir aisle. Both the chapter-house and the vestibule +were built at the same time as the north transept--that is, somewhere +near the middle of the thirteenth century--and the style is therefore +that known as the Early English, but it is a later instance than that +part of the choir into which the doorway leads. That the vestibule was +not built when the early part of the choir was finished is evident, +as "its walls abut against those of the choir with a straight joint, +and the arch of entrance in the side aisle is a manifest intrusion into +the space once occupied by a window." The north end of the vestibule +has also been altered, there having been a doorway where now there is +a window; the former existed until nearly the end of the last century, +but it had been altered before the plate in Britton's "Cathedrals" was +engraved. It can easily be seen from the outside that such a door must +have existed, from the different colouring of the stone-work. The window +has recently been filled with stained glass by Messrs Burlison & Grylls, +representing Nehemiah and Simeon, in memory of the late verger, William +Yeend. Down each side of the vestibule there is a very fine arcading, +that on the west side being double and much deeper than that on the east, +which is single; the niches are large enough to be used as seats, and +it has been suggested that here the ceremony of washing the feet of the +poor took place on Maundy Thursday; as there were thirteen niches, this +is highly probable. Some of the capitals of the pillars of the arcade +are very finely carved, and, as was usual at the time, are very deeply +under-cut; and the dripstones terminate in very interesting corbels in the +form of heads and bunches of foliage. Recently, on the west side, some +of the arcading has been opened out to afford access to the new vestry, +which has been constructed by roofing in the space between the vestibule +and the north transept. On the east side near the cathedral is the +entrance to the library, which is the upper storey of the chapter-house +building, and is approached by a spiral staircase. At the farther end, +on the same side, is the very fine entrance to the chapter-house. This, +like the central west doorway and that in the north transept, is double +and recessed. The mouldings in the arch are deeply and finely cut, and +the capitals of the grouped shafts are very richly carved with delicate +leaves. The jambs have an enrichment of dog-toothing behind the slender +detached shafts, and the two small arches have trefoil archivolts, +so that the whole has a very rich effect. In the tympanum of the arch +there is a bas-relief figure of Our Lord in a quatrefoil recess. + +[Illustration: EASTERN PORTION OF THE ARCADE IN THE CHAPTER-HOUSE.] + +The chapter-house is a very fine room; it is octagonal in shape, but the +north and south sides of it are double the length of each of the other +six sides, which are equal. There is a central pillar, the clustered +shafts of which are banded in the centre; the capitals of these shafts +have a particularly rich and elaborate carving of foliage; and above, +the vaulting ribs spread to the roof like the branches of a tree, +producing a very fine effect. The bosses where the ribs intersect are +also worthy of attention, and the ribs rise from very richly-carved and +deeply-moulded corbels. The windows are Early English, and of two lights +each. Below is a very beautiful arcading, similar, indeed, to that in +the vestibule, which entirely surrounds the building. The arcade is +composed of deep, moulded, trefoil arches, resting on single columns, +with beautifully-carved capitals, in some of which will be found figures +of birds and animals. The canopies of the arches are dog-toothed, and +end in curiously-carved heads, which afford interesting illustrations +of the head-dresses of the time. + +The chapter-house was decorated with frescoes and stained glass by Dean +Heywood in the fifteenth century, as we know from the MSS. entitled +_Cantaria Sancti Blasii_ in the library. The frescoes have disappeared +except over the doorway, where still remain faint signs of the +representation of the Assumption, which may have formed part of Dean +Heywood's decoration, but more likely is earlier: it has been suggested +that it was placed there by Bishop Burghill from the fact that a +Dominican Friar, to which order he belonged, is represented in the +group in adoration. The glass contained figures of the apostles, with +other pictures above; these being all pre-Cromwellian, have, of course, +disappeared. More recently the glazing of the chapter-house displayed +armorial bearings, more or less correct, in imitation of glass known +to have ornamented the cathedral in the past. This armorial glass is +gradually giving way to glass representing scenes in the history of +the cathedral. At present, five of the windows have been so glazed, +and the rest will be changed gradually, as opportunity offers. + +The first window on the left-hand side on entering is in memory of +Prebendary Edwards. There are figures of St. Chad and King Wulphere, +with scenes showing the Consecration of St. Chad, and the Baptism by +St. Chad of the two sons of King Wulphere. + +The second window is in memory of Archdeacon Allen and Prebendary de +Bunsen. The figures are St. Oswald and St. Aidan. The scenes represent +St. Aidan preaching to the Northumbrians, with King Oswald interpreting; +and St. Aidan at Lindisfarne, teaching in his school, where St. Chad is +one of the scholars. + +The third window is in memory of Dean Bickersteth. The figures are +Archbishop Theodore and St. Ovin, and the scenes St. Chad teaching his +clergy, and St. Ovin listening to the angels who were calling St. Chad +at his death. + +The fourth window is in memory of Prebendary Gresley. The figures are +Oswy, King of Northumbria, and Diuma, the first bishop of Mercia. The +scenes are Bishop Jaruman promising to build a church at Lichfield, +and the institution by King AEthelwald of prebendaries. + +The fifth window is in memory of Prebendary Finch Smith. The figures +represent Archbishop Higbert of Lichfield, and Thomas Cantelupe, Bishop +of Hereford, formerly prebendary of this cathedral. The scenes are +Bishop Aldulf at the Council of Cloveshoo, renouncing the metropolitan +powers in favour of Canterbury, and Bishop Roger de Clinton building a +new cathedral in honour of St. Mary and St. Chad. + +=The Library= is immediately above the chapter-house, and is of the same +octagonal shape. The arrangements also are similar, but the room is less +lofty, the carvings less elaborate, and there is no reading. Otherwise, +we find the same central pillar, from which similar vaulting ribs spring, +with corbels in the walls to receive them. It is not known for what +purpose this room was originally intended, but certainly, until recent +years, it was not used as a library. The old library, of which there are +pictures by Hollar and King, stood to the north of the north transept +in the close, or, as it is recorded in the Capitular Acts, vol. 3, "ex +parte boreali in cimeterio." Dean Heywood gave L40 to build the library, +and though it was not begun in his time, it was completed in the time +of his successor, Dean Yotton, who also subscribed to its erection. This +was at about the commencement of the sixteenth century, and the building +remained until the middle of the eighteenth, when it was demolished. + +The extent of the library has been increased by opening a doorway into +the room above the vestibule. This room, it has recently been decided, +was the old chapel of St. Peter. Though an upstairs chapel was not usual, +yet it is not by any means unknown, and chapels were even sometimes to +be found in the rood lofts of cathedrals. No trace can be found of the +fresco, mentioned by Stukeley, of "St. Peter crucified with his head +downwards, and two other apostles, etc." He tells us that the chapel +was in his time used as a place for storing scaffolding and ladders, +and that here was placed the mutilated remains of St. Chad's tomb. + +The place still shows signs of its ill-usage, little having been done to +repair the ravages of the Civil War. The vaulting is much broken, and +the walls cracked: these facts strengthen the belief in the tradition +that it was on this building, together with the choir, that the great +central tower fell during the siege by the soldiers of the Parliament. + +The library has had many generous donations of books at various +times. Under the will of Frances, Duchess of Somerset, the cathedral +received the library of her late husband, the Duke, who succeeded his +grandfather as Earl of Hertford, and was restored to the family dukedom +at the Restoration. The duchess was the daughter of the Earl of Essex +who was the favourite of Queen Elizabeth, and whom she afterwards had +beheaded. These books numbered about one thousand, and included many +rare old Black-Letter chronicles and histories printed in the sixteenth +and seventeenth centuries. + +Many others have contributed to the library, amongst whom are Archdeacon +Davies, 1763; William Smallbroke, 1771; Canon Lamb, 1770; Richard Hurd, +1777; Bishop Cornwallis, 1783; Rev. Henry White, 1786; Dr Pegge, the +well-known antiquary, who, amongst other things, wrote an account of the +life of Bishop Weseham, and who left the library, by his will, one hundred +books out of his own library; Andrew Newton, who left his books to the +cathedral, and built the college in the close for the widows and orphans +of the clergy, besides spending large sums on educational purposes; +and Sir Brooke Boothby, 1815, who gave the "History of the Abbey of +Herckenrode," referred to in the account of the glass now in the Lady +Chapel. There have been besides many recent benefactions, including a +valuable set of drawings, by herself, of most of the churches in the +county of Stafford, left by Mrs Moore, the widow of the Archdeacon of +Stafford. There is also in the library a fine old picture of the Duchess +of Somerset, as well as an engraving from Sir Joshua Reynolds' picture +of Dr Johnson. + +Among the most valuable manuscripts and books in the library are +the "Gospels of St. Chad," of which more immediately; a fine folio +manuscript, on vellum, of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," but without +the doubtful Ploughman's Tale; the initial letters, especially those +at the commencement of each tale, being richly coloured and gilt; the +"Valor Ecclesiasticus of Pope Nicholas IV."--this is an account taken +of the value of ecclesiastical property in the time of Edward I., from +which the tithe granted to the Pope could be ascertained. + +Other notable volumes are, "Dives and Pauper," a MS. treatise on the +Decalogue--this treatise was one of the earliest books printed in England; +"Orders generally to be observed of the whole household of the prince his +highness," a large folio, marked with the sign-manual of King Charles +I. at every ordinance; and a collection of recipes by Sir John Floyer, +physician to Charles II. There is also a volume of MSS. already often +referred to, superscribed, "_Cantaria Sancti Blasii; Ordinatio Majistri +Thomoe Heywood decani Eccles. Lich de et super Cantaria Jesu et Sancta +Anne in parte boreai eccles. Lich et de pensione Capellani ibidem perpetuo +celebaturi et aliis articulis, etc._" Besides these, there are many rare +Bibles:--Cranmer's Bible, 1540; the "Breeches" Bible; the "Vinegar" +Bible, and many others. + +[Illustration: THE GOSPELS OF ST. CHAD, IN THE LIBRARY.] + +But to many the most interesting volume in the library will be a copy of +South's Sermons, published in 1694. It belonged to Dr Johnson, and was +used by him in the compilation of his Dictionary. His method, apparently, +was to put a letter in the margin opposite the word whose particular +use here he intended to quote; and it is interesting, Sermons in hand, +to test his method with the dictionary. On one page a "K" in the margin +is opposite the word "Key." In the dictionary will be found under +"Key" the expected quotation from South, "that every man should keep +the key of his own breast." + + +The most valuable book in the library is the _Textus S. Ceddae_, generally +known as "St. Chad's Gospels." This is written on vellum, and contains +the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, and a small portion of the +Gospel of St. Luke. It is undoubtedly an Irish MS., probably about the +end of the seventh century. There is a page in the book which, with its +tesselated work enclosing a cross, recalls to antiquarians similar work in +the famous Irish Book of Kells, and in the Gospels of St. Columba which +are preserved at Dublin. The connection of an Irish MS. with St. Chad is +not difficult of explanation, since, after being taught by St. Aidan at +Lindisfarne, he is supposed to have gone, as so many other earnest priests +did at the time, to Ireland, to one of the noted monasteries there. The +MS. is in Latin, and, with many remarkable variations, follows closely +the _Codex Amiatinus_ of St Jerome. But its marginal notes are not the +least interesting part of the book; from these, which are sometimes in +Celtic and Anglo-Saxon, and sometimes in Latin, we learn something of its +history, which is remarkable. The cathedral of Llandaff seems to have +acquired it indirectly in exchange for a horse, and there is a note in +Celtic, "underneath the record of this transaction, which is witnessed +by Aidan; whether or no this is the Northumbrian bishop is not known." +Another entry, on the page devoted to a picture of St. Luke, shows that +the MS. was still at Llandaff at the end of the ninth century; but on the +first page of all is a faint but legible signature which reads "Kynsy" +or "Wynsy Praesul", both names of bishops of Lichfield at the end of the +tenth century, so that it had probably arrived at its present home not +so far short of a thousand years ago. There are other notes connecting +it with Lichfield. All these have been printed many times in the pages of +learned publications. It owes its escape at the time of the Civil War to +the vigilance of William Higgins, Archdeacon of Derby, who was precentor +of the cathedral. He abstracted it and kept it until the troubles were +over. It now lies in a glass case in the library, side by side with the +beautiful "Canterbury Tales." So marvellous are some of the decorations, +that it is no wonder that, in an age more faithful than ours, popular +belief declared some of them to be "the work of angels." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE HISTORY OF THE SEE + + +At the present day the diocese of Lichfield consists of almost the +whole of the county of Stafford, part of Shropshire, and a small part of +Flintshire and of Warwickshire. Originally, in Anglo-Saxon times, when +the first bishop was appointed, the see of Lichfield extended over the +whole of Mercia--that is, from the Humber and East Anglia on the north +and east, to Wales on the west, and the Thames on the south. Since those +days the diocese has been at various times divided, and other dioceses +formed; Hereford, Lincoln, Ely, Peterborough, Chester, Worcester, Oxford, +St. Albans, Gloucester, Manchester, Liverpool, and Southwell, have all, +in whole or in part, been formed out of what was once the diocese of +Lichfield. + +Of Lichfield in Roman times practically nothing is known. Situated as +it is, at a little distance from the crossing of the great Roman roads, +Watling Street and Ryknield Street--at which junction the Roman town of +Etocetum (the modern Wall) lay, Lichfield was then probably nothing more +than open country. The neighbouring towns have yielded a rich harvest of +archaeological treasures; but beyond coins of various Roman Emperors, +bearing Christian emblems, there is little to show that the Gospel had +made its way in this part of England; though, in the cemeteries filled +with urns containing the ashes of the dead, there have been found, near +Burton-on-Trent and near Derby, skeletons, no doubt of Christians who, +according to the rites of their religion, had been buried and not burnt. + +To Roman times belongs the legend, which is said to give its name to +Lichfield, of the massacre of Christians under Diocletian; in consequence, +it is related, the place was called Lyccidfelth, or Licidfield--the +field of dead men. This is the derivation most generally accepted at the +present day; but some etymologists think that Lichfield means Lakefield, +from the quantity of water in the neighbourhood. + +It is almost certain that the people of Mercia remained pagan from the +Roman epoch, and through all the long wars which were waged between +the gradually defeated Britons and the Saxons. Three Saxon kings, all +pagans, ruled Mercia; and Christianity, which had taken such firm hold +in Northumbria, still had not penetrated to the dark central region +of Mercia. Then came Penda the Strong, himself a pagan. "He was not +baptised," it was said of him, "and never believed in God." He slew many +kings, amongst them being the saintly Oswald, king of Northumbria. One +of King Penda's daughters had married Alchfrid, a nephew of Oswald +and son to the then King Oswy of Northumbria; and in 652 Penda's son, +Peada, became suitor for the hand of one of Oswy's daughters. Peada was +then ruling under his father the Middle Angles, and he journeyed to the +Northumbrian Court, where he was most hospitably received, in spite of the +fact that constant war was being waged between Mercia and Northumbria; +but the princess whom he sought was promised him only on condition that +he and his people in Mid-Anglia should become Christians. Alchfrid became +his teacher; and the beauty of this new faith so seized on him that he +declared his willingness to become a Christian whether he might win his +princess or not. That same year he was baptised by Finan, the British +bishop and head of the Church in Northumbria, and with him all his +followers. He returned to his own country, taking with him four priests +of the British Church: Cedda, who was afterwards made Bishop of London, +and who was the brother of St. Chad, Adda, Betti, and Diuma. These four +taught the Gospel to the Mid-Anglians, and even went north among the other +Mercians; and it does not appear that Penda, in spite of his paganism, +made any opposition. + +Notwithstanding these close links between the two kingdoms, in the year +655 Penda with an enormous force invaded Northumbria; he was defeated +and killed by Oswy, who now became king of Mercia, but left Peada in his +old rule in Mid-Anglia. This was the death-blow of paganism in Mercia; +Christianity, which was beginning to take firm hold in Peada's country, +spread rapidly, and =Diuma= (656-658) was made bishop of Mercia. This +may be said to be the commencement of the see which afterwards was +called by the name of Lichfield; but as yet there was no cathedral, +nor was any place particularly settled upon as the headquarters of the +work which was so enthusiastically carried on. Diuma was a travelling +or missionary bishop, and when he died, after a brief rule of two years, +the Church in Mercia was an accomplished fact. + +Diuma was succeeded by =Creollach= (658-659), who, unlike his predecessor +an Irishman, was a Briton; he was appointed by Oswy; but in this same +year the Mercians rebelled, Oswy fled, and Creollach fled with him, +and finally retired to Iona. + +The next bishop was a Saxon abbot named =Trumhere= (659-662), and he +was succeeded on his death by =Jaruman= (662-667). Both were appointed +by King Wulphere, son of Penda, who had been raised to the Mercian +throne by his people; and both were Saxons who had been consecrated in +the Northumbrian Church. Jaruman was a most energetic bishop, and he +appears to have been sent into Essex to reconvert the people there who +had fallen into paganism again; his mission was a success, and Jaruman +returned to his own people in Mercia. + +It was during Jaruman's episcopate that difficulties arose between +the Church in Britain and the Church in Rome. Rome had sent messengers +to Britain, and they had been the means of converting a large portion +of the south coast and of East Anglia; but there were differences in +the two Churches, and one particularly caused much trouble. The Roman +Church had always kept Easter Day on a Sunday, but the British Church +held this feast on March 14, whatever day of the week it might be. A +synod was called at Whitby, and it was decided, mainly through the +instrumentality of Wilfrid, the future bishop of York, in favour of the +Roman Sunday. In this way, it may be said, began the rule of Rome in the +English Church. Shortly after, in 667, Jaruman died, and no successor was +appointed for two years. During this time, Theodorus of Tarsus became +Archbishop of Canterbury, and to him belongs the credit of making the +English Church: before, each kingdom had had its own Church, but Theodore +welded them together into one whole, and completed their dependence on +the bishop of Rome. Wilfrid was made bishop of York, and St. Chad, who +had been consecrated to that see, retired to the abbey at Lastingham, +only in the next year, 669, to be reconsecrated as bishop of Mercia +by the new Archbishop of Canterbury. + +=St. Chad= or =Ceadda= (669-672) made his seat at Lichfield, and in so +doing founded the diocese of Lichfield. + +St. Chad, as has been stated before, was the patron saint of +Lichfield. What is known of him is principally derived from Bede's +"Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation." From this we learn +that when not on his missionary travels over the diocese he spent most +of his time in prayer, and in meditation on death and supernatural +things. His method was to proceed from place to place in his diocese +on foot; and there is a story of Theodore taking St. Chad in his arms +and lifting him on to a horse which he presented to him. He founded +the abbey of Barrow-on-Humber, which King Wulphere endowed with fifty +hides of land. His headquarters, as we have said, were at Lichfield, +and he built, or finished building, a small church near what is still +known as St. Chad's Well, at the eastern end of Stowe Pool. + +Like his predecessors' his time was short; only for two years was he +allowed to labour at Lichfield. There is a beautiful legend of his death +which has been well told by Dean Bickersteth. "A week before his death +a sound of angelic melody was heard coming from the south-east, until +it reached and filled the little oratory where he was praying. This +the good bishop interpreted to be his summons to heaven. The voices, he +privately told Ovin, were those of angels. The messenger of death, that +'lovable guest,' was with them. They would come again in seven days and +take him with them. About the same time, Egbert, a Northumbrian who had +been a fellow-student with St. Chad in an Irish monastery, dreamt that +he saw the soul of Cedda, Chad's brother, descending from heaven with +a company of angels to take the soul of Chad with him into the heavenly +kingdom." As he had foretold, so he died; but he was not forgotten, and +many were the miracles said to have been performed at his shrine. His +bones were removed from their first resting-place near Stowe Church +into a beautiful shrine in the cathedral, where they remained until the +Reformation, when they were taken away, and are now said to be in the +Roman Catholic cathedral at Birmingham. + +There is another legend concerning St. Chad which has become more closely +attached to Peterborough than to Lichfield, but it must be briefly +stated here, as the story appears in some of the decorations of the +cathedral. Bede does not mention it, and it has been given in varying +forms by different writers. Briefly, the essence of the legend is that +Wulphere, the king of Mercia, had killed two of his sons, Wulfade and +Rufin, on account of their having been baptised by St. Chad. Each of +these young princes had been hunting in the forest when he came across +a hart with a rope round its neck. The prince gave chase, and the hart +led him to St. Chad, who, having prayed with him, baptised him. This +happened to both Wulfade and Rufin separately. Then Wulphere in his +anger slew them. Afterwards he repented, and setting out to St. Chad, +was led there by the same hart, and found the saint at prayer, with his +cloak hanging on a sunbeam. Wulphere was absolved on condition that he +should expiate his crime by founding churches and monasteries all over +his kingdom. Lichfield is said to have been one of these churches, and +Peterborough one of these monasteries. Many churches have been dedicated +to St. Chad, especially in the Midlands, and in the east of London there +was a well known as St. Chad's Well, where miracles were performed; +and it was noted for its medicinal waters up to quite recent times. A +large district in east London is still called after St. Chad's Well in +the corrupted form of Shadwell. + +The next bishop was =Winfrid= (672-675), the abbot of St. Chad's Abbey at +Barrow-on-Humber; but in the year that he was appointed a church council +was held by Theodore, at which it was decided to split up some of the +dioceses. Lichfield being one of the largest, would have been divided +at once, but Winfrid, whether for his own sake or at the instigation +of King Wulphere, resisted, and the diocese remained unchanged until +Wulphere died, when in 675, Winfrid, still remaining opposed to the +scheme, was deprived. He subsequently was murdered on his way to Rome. + +The new bishop was =Saxwulf= (675-691), abbot of Peterborough, and +the work of cutting up the diocese was begun. The sees of Hereford and +Worcester were made. Lincolnshire was taken from the diocese, and the +Middle Angles became the see of Leicester. However, Lichfield still +remained an enormous diocese, and when Saxwulf died he was bishop of +both Lichfield and Leicester. He was succeeded by =Hedda= (691-721), +who is said to have determined the site of the present cathedral by +building a church there. However, nothing remains of this cathedral, +but it is always supposed that Hedda brought St. Chad's bones from Stowe +Church and deposited them here. The cathedral was dedicated to St. Peter. + +Hedda and his successor, =Aldwin= (721-737), were bishops of both +Lichfield and Leicester. They were followed at Lichfield by =Witta= +(737-752), and the connection with Leicester ceased. In 756 Offa, the +greatest of the Mercian kings, ascended the throne. Offa added a part +of Shropshire to the diocese, which from this time remained the same in +extent down to the Reformation. Here followed three bishops--=Hemele= +(752-764), =Cuthred= (765-768), and =Berthum= (768-779)--of whom little +is known; and then came =Higbert= or =Hygeberht= (785-801), who holds +a remarkable position in the history of the diocese. Offa had by this +time advanced himself into the leading position in England; and so great +was his power that Charlemagne called him emperor of the west, keeping +for himself the title of emperor of the east. But Offa was first of all +king of Mercia, and it did not please him to think that his bishops were +subordinate to an archbishop who lived in one of his subject states; +and so he determined "to humble Canterbury and exalt Lichfield." He +began by confiscating all the property of Canterbury situated in Mercia, +and then he appealed to the Pope that the bishop of Lichfield should +be made an archbishop. The Pope assented, a council held at Chelsea in +785 also agreed, and Higbert, the new bishop, became archbishop, with +the bishoprics of Worcester, Leicester, Lincoln, and Hereford, parts of +the old diocese of Mercia, as well as Elmham and Dunwich, to make up his +province. Offa died in 796, and immediately a stir was made to restore +Canterbury to its old dignity. The negotiations were long, but in 802 +Pope Leo decided in favour of Canterbury, and the council of Cloveshoe in +803 formally annulled the metropolitan dignity of Lichfield. =Aldulf= +(801-812), who had succeeded Higbert as archbishop, became bishop, +but took precedency after Canterbury overall the other bishoprics, +and =Herewin= (812-818) on his appointment submitted to Canterbury. + +Shortly afterwards =AEthelwald= (818-828) organised the bishopric upon +the basis of its present constitution. Churches were springing up all +over the diocese, with their own clergy, and so, although the church +at Lichfield remained the headquarters of the diocese, yet the clergy +attached to it were no longer to be responsible for the ministrations +of the whole diocese, but were to confine themselves to the estates of +the bishop and the cathedral, where they were to dwell under canons or +rules. It is possible that from this time the cathedral clergy became +known as canons. + +Then comes the period of the invasion by the Danes, whereby the country +was devastated and the rich abbeys were destroyed. Peterborough, Crowland, +and Ely, "went up in flames"; the enemy advanced along the Trent, and +levelled to the ground the famous monastery of Repton--the Walhalla of +Mercia--where countless kings and princes had been buried. What happened +at Lichfield is not known, but many bishops succeeded one another, +of whose consecration, in some cases, the dates are so doubtful that +it is not worth while to give them. Their names are:--=Hunbert=, 828; +=Kynebert=; =Tunfrith=; =Ella=; =Algar=, 941; =Kinsy=, 949; =Winsy=, +964; =Elfege=, 973; =Godwin=, 1004; =Leofgar=, 1020; =Brithmar=, 1026; +and =Wulsy=, 1039; but little is known of them, though these two centuries +are far from being unimportant in the history of the diocese. + +Probably the destruction of the royal abbeys caused the building of +numerous parish churches during this period, and of the collegiate +churches which were planted in the principal centres of the +population. The former were mostly endowed with lands or tithes to +support the parish clergy, or to recompense the canons who should attend +the church, in which latter case the tithes were probably "appropriated" +to the cathedral. + +So the system developed until about the year 1000, when began, in +Mercia, a new age of monasteries, not like the old royal abbeys which +had mostly been destroyed, but houses that were filled with monks or +nuns of the Benedictine order. These competed with the secular clergy +in appropriating the endowments of the churches, and a jealousy began +between the two systems which blazed continually, with greater or less +heat, until the final overthrow of the monasteries by Henry VIII. at +the beginning of the sixteenth century. + +Early in the eleventh century was founded, at Coventry, the Benedictine +abbey which had so great a share in the history of the diocese. Its +founder, Earl Leofric, was the husband of the beautiful Godiva whose +ride through the town made Coventry free from tolls. + + "I, Luriche, for love of thee, + Doe make Coventre toll-free," + +are the old words. She induced her husband to found and endow the abbey +with its twenty-four monks; she herself contributed her gold and silver, +and the monastery became so wealthy that "the walls seemed almost too +strait to hold it all." + +=Leofwin=, bishop of Lichfield (1054-1066), was made the first abbot of +Coventry; he died in the year of the Conquest, and was the last Saxon +bishop: henceforth a new order of men was to rule the Church in England. + +No doubt Lichfield owed to its insignificance as a city the immunity +which it again enjoyed while all the neighbouring country was being +pillaged. William appointed his own chaplain, =Peter= (1072-1084), +as bishop, and here, no doubt, he lived until 1075, when, at the synod +of London, it was decided that the seats of the bishops should be in +the larger towns and not in the villages. So to the town of Chester, +where there were about 400 or 500 houses, the bishop's seat was moved. + +It is interesting to find in "Domesday Book" mention of the +extraordinarily heavy fines payable to the bishop at Chester for such +offences as the following:--"If any free man does work on a holy day, +the bishop has a forfeit of eight shillings. A slave or maidservant so +transgressing pays four shillings. A merchant coming into the city and +carrying a stall shall pay to the bishop four shillings if he take it +down between the ninth hour of the Sabbath and Monday without licence +from the bishop's officer." + +Following Peter came =Robert de Lymesey= (1087-1117), who, after waiting +a short time, obtained papal leave to remove his seat to Coventry, +the barony of which he bought from the king; and so he became both +bishop and abbot, and for about a century his successors united the +two offices. This arrangement was not at all to the taste of the monks, +and constant quarrels occurred. Robert de Lymesey is said to have rifled +the place; some contend, for the sake of the cathedral at Lichfield, but +others, in order to prosecute the suit at Rome in which he was involved +with the monks. + +The next bishop was =Robert Peche= (1121-1126), and then came =Roger +de Clinton= (1129-1148); he was known as the soldier-bishop, and was +certainly a strong man, whatever his reputation may have been in other +ways. At Lichfield, he was a reformer who did much good to the place. The +five canons he found there were dependent for their support on the +bishop, and he seems to have settled property on the cathedral to support +them. He also added a number of prebendaries, or non-resident canons, +who were to be members of the chapter, and were to enjoy a stall in the +choir; and to each stall a small estate or prebend was attached. Many +other things he did; but, principally, he is supposed to have built the +Norman cathedral, and to have fortified the close. + +Bishop Roger seems to have been also a great supporter of the Cistercian +monks, who appeared in the neighbourhood about this time, and for +whom he built an abbey in the diocese at Buildwas, not very far from +Shrewsbury. Then, being a soldier as well as a bishop, he started for +the East, and died, after fighting in the Crusades, at Antioch in 1148. + +Ever since the Conquest the struggles in the Church had been growing +sharper. There is no room for a full discussion of these quarrels, but, +briefly, it may be said that they arose largely from a desire on the +part of the monks and the collegiate churches to shake off the power +of the bishops. In doing this it had been necessary to appeal more and +more to the Pope, and in consequence the Pope was gradually increasing +his power in England, to the detriment not only of the bishops, but +also of the king. On the death of Bishop Clinton, Stephen, instead of +appointing a successor himself, as had been the custom of the king on +previous occasions, found it necessary to depute his authority to a +joint council of the monks of Coventry and the canons of Lichfield and +Chester. They met at Leicester, and the monks by themselves appointed +=Walter Durdent= (1149-1159), prior of Canterbury. The canons would +not admit this election, although the new nominee had been precentor +at Lichfield; they appealed to Rome, and--how the result came about is +not clear, but indeed is a matter of dispute--Durdent was consecrated at +Canterbury. He was enthroned at Coventry, but was barred out of Lichfield, +where he commenced his rule by excommunicating the canons. But Durdent, +being now a bishop, soon drew the canons to his side, and it was with +Coventry that the differences continued. He and the prior were summoned +to Rome, where it was settled that the bishop should keep the abbey as +a monastic cathedral, but that the prior should in the future have the +first voice in the election of bishops. + +Durdent died at Rome, and was succeeded by =Richard Peche= (1161-1182), +son of Robert Peche--for the clergy of that day often married--who +seems to have secured the suffrages of both sets of electors. He retired +just before his end to the priory of St Thomas, near Stafford, which he +had founded in 1180 in memory of Thomas a Becket, who had been murdered +ten years previously. He was one of those who had consecrated the +archbishop a few years before, and he joined in the popular indignation +which ended in the canonisation of the victim. About this time the diocese +was permanently divided into the archdeaconries of Derby, Stafford, +Chester, and Coventry. + +The next bishop was =Gerard Puella= (1183), a celebrated authority on +ecclesiastical and canon law. Lichfield refused to admit him, and he +died soon after his consecration. + +The next bishop was =Hugh de Nonant= or Nunant (1184-1199); his intense +hatred of the monks led to terrible disturbances at Coventry. Soon after +his consecration he exasperated the monks so greatly that they beat him, +and Nonant, with the wounds upon him, hurried to the king, and obtained +his consent--some say by purchase--to the monks being turned out. This +was done, and secular canons instituted in their place. During the absence +of King Richard at the Crusades, Nonant appears to have identified himself +too much with the cause of Prince John. This brought about his ruin; for, +being suspected by Richard on his return from captivity of participation +in the plots against the crown, he was deprived of his bishopric, which +in course of time, however, he was allowed to buy back for 5000 marks. He +lived not only to see the monks restored to Coventry by the Pope, but +also to repent of his harshness to monastical institutions. He died on +his way to Rome, and was buried among the monks of Caen. + +The next election revived the bitterness between Coventry and Lichfield, +a bitterness accentuated by the political adherence of the two parties, +Coventry being on King Richard's side, Lichfield for Prince John. Under +these circumstances, the canons had not even been called to the ceremony +of election, and Coventry's candidate, =Geoffry de Muschamp= (1198-1208), +was elected. But the greatest difficulty of all arose at the election +of the next bishop. John was now king, and Lichfield in favour. The +monks chose their prior, but John would not allow his consecration; +then came a series of proposals, to none of which could king, monks, +and canons all three assent, but finally, at the intercession of +Pandulf, the Pope's legate, they all agreed on =William de Cornhull= +(1215-1223). Thomas of Chesterfield tells us that this bishop conferred +the right upon the chapter of electing their own dean. + +The next bishop, =Alexander de Stavenby= (1224-1238), was appointed by +the Pope, on the appeal to him of both parties, who were still unable to +agree. He built the friary in Lichfield, and dedicated it to St. Francis, +the founder of the Friar Minors, which order he first introduced into +the diocese. + +The high position of Stavenby in the councils of the realm make him +an important personality among the bishops of the diocese. He died in +1238; and it might have been expected that a successor would have been +appointed without difficulty, for during his rule it had been agreed +that Coventry and Lichfield should appoint to the vacant bishopric +alternatively. Coventry appointed William de Raleigh, but he accepted +Norwich in preference, and then the monks claimed to appoint again, but +the canons would not allow this, and appointed their dean, William of +Manchester, who, however, stood aside when the monks suggested Nicholas +de Farnham, and he was too modest to accept the office. Then =Hugh de +Patteshull= (1239-1241) was chosen at the king's desire. He was Treasurer +of England and a native of the diocese; he seems to have followed in the +steps of his predecessor, and it is said that he made new regulations as +to the manner of the cathedral services. He died only eighteen months +after his appointment, and a fresh trouble arose over the election of +a successor; but the Pope intervened without asking permission of the +king, and, under the advice of Grosseteste, the famous bishop of Lincoln, +appointed =Roger de Weseham= (1245-1256), the dean of the cathedral. The +king in his anger seized the endowments of the see, and Weseham began his +work amid great difficulties, but finally Henry restored the endowments, +and allowed Weseham to prosecute his salutary re-organisation of the +clergy. Weseham retired in 1256, and died shortly after. It is doubtful +if the monument in the south aisle, generally known as that of Bishop +Patteshull, is not in reality that of Bishop Weseham. + +There was no contention over the election of the next bishop, =Roger +de Molend= or Meyland (1256-1295). He was a natural son of the Earl of +Salisbury, William Longespee, and so nephew to King Henry III. His was +not an admirable role, the most remarkable event being his attempt, +_vi et armis_, to obtain admittance to the Royal Free Chapel of St. Mary +at Stafford. Both sides refused to plead at the Assizes, but it was +finally decided that the bishop should be allowed the use of the free +chapels in Derby and Stafford, but should have no disciplinary powers +over their clergy. Afterwards he seems to have neglected his diocese, +and the scandalous and avaricious conduct of the clergy, which the +last two bishops had controlled, now became so intense that in 1282 +Archbishop Peckham had to interfere, and Roger was forced to come into +residence. Soon after it was found necessary to find him a coadjutor, +who was to advise him in all official acts. Incompetent as he was as +a bishop, the diocese obtained several remarkable benefits during his +rule. The king gave Cannock Chase to the see, and the west front of the +cathedral was begun. It may well be that in his travels he had acquired +a love of beauty he would not have acquired at home, and that we owe to +him the conception of this beautiful feature of the cathedral. The money +it must have cost, too, could only have been found by one whose princely +rank enabled him to obtain money with some ease. In London also he left +his mark, unhappily now entirely obliterated. Where Somerset House now +stands he erected his palace, next to the palace of his brother Bishop +of Worcester. It was a beautiful mansion, but the site was too valuable +to permit of it belonging to any one but the king when Henry VIII. graced +the throne. + +About this time the archdeaconry of Stafford was occupied by Thomas +de Cantilupe, afterwards Bishop of Hereford. The story of his life +belongs to the account of that diocese, but such a man must have had +great influence on his archdeaconry. + +The next bishop was =Walter de Langton= (1296-1321), Treasurer of +England, and friend to King Edward I. He was chosen unanimously by both +parties. At first his political duties claimed him, and brought him into +collision with the Prince of Wales, who, as soon as he had ascended the +throne as Edward II., threw him into prison. There he does not seem to +have remained long, and when Piers Gaveston, the king's favourite, was +beheaded in 1312, he was restored to his former treasurership. Langton +is principally remembered in connection with the see as having founded +the Lady Chapel and built the Bishop's Palace, for so long a splendid +monument to his memory in the north-east corner of the close. He rebuilt +also Eccleshall and Haywood Manor houses, and walled the close for +"the honour of God, the dignity of the cathedral, and the bodies of the +saints there reposing, and also for security and quiet of the canons." +This last a mistaken work, as we who live after the event are well able to +judge. He also bridged the cathedral pool, and made a magnificent shrine +for St. Chad's bones. Langton died in 1321 in London, and was carried to +Lichfield, where he was buried with much ceremony. His bones were removed +into the Lady Chapel when it was finished during the rule of the next +bishop, and a sumptuous monument placed over them. The mutilated remains +of this monument can be seen in the south choir aisle to this day. + +His successor, =Roger de Norbury= or Northbury (1322-1359), was appointed +by the Pope, as the two chapters had not agreed once more. His was a +long rule, nearly forty years, and filled with good for the see. The +registers of both Langton and Norbury are both still in existence among +the muniments of the cathedral, and from them we know much of the life +of a bishop of this time. Every kind of evil seems to have come under +the notice of the bishop--whose power of inducing those who had done +wrong to repent and do right was the direct outcome of the terrible +threat of excommunication which he was able to wield. Lichfield had +constantly during the later reigns been the scene of royal festivities, +and after the battle of Crecy Edward III. held his Court here, and there +were tournaments and banquets at which the flower of English chivalry +assisted. It is said by some that here occurred the famous incident +of the garter which led to the institution of the order of that name. +At any rate, Uttoxeter was appropriated to the chapel of the garter. + +About this time, too, the cathedral must have been finished; now, too, +was the terrible visitation of the black death, that most deadly of all +plagues, which is said to have cut off one half of the whole population +of the realm. Whether the fear of it, or the occasion of the completion of +the cathedral, caused the chapter to set their house in order, certain it +is that we have, in the discovery of the sacrist's roll of 1346, a kind +of inventory of the valuables of the cathedral at this time; these are +set out in the part devoted to the cathedral. Thomas of Chesterfield, +the early historian of the diocese, whose work is printed in Wharton's +_Anglia Sacra_, and on whom all later writers on the subject have had +largely to rely, lived at this time, and brought down his "chronicle" +to 1348, one of the years of the black death. + +=Roger de Stretton= (1360-1386), an absolutely uneducated man, +succeeded Langton; then came =Walter Skirlaw= (1386) and =Richard +Scrope= (1386-1396), but the former, between his consecration and his +enthronement, was translated to Bath and Wells, from whence he went +to Durham, and the latter, though distinguished in English history, +is more noted as Archbishop of York. Next came Bishop =John Burghill= +(1398-1414), a barefooted Black Friar, who gained a reputation for +asceticism, and left his worldly goods to the church. Richard II. was +present at the enthronement of these two last bishops. They were followed +by =John Catterick= (1415-1419). + +In 1419, =William Heyworth= (1419-1447), the abbot of St. Albans, +became bishop. An important question was settled in his time--viz. the +bishop's position in the cathedral. At his suggestion, it was arranged +that he should give notice to the dean when he intended a visitation: +the chapter should be summoned, and they should conduct him to the high +altar and there leave him to stand or kneel alone in prayer. Afterwards +they were to conduct him to the chapter-house, where he might inquire +into the title and conduct of the canons; the other cathedral clergy +were to be entirely subject to the dean and chapter. His rule saw also the +beginnings of the collegiate church of Manchester, which so long after was +to become the cathedral of the new diocese to be carved out of our see. + +It is unnecessary to more than mention the names of bishops who succeeded +about this time: they are--=William Booth= (1447-1450), =Nicholas Cloose= +(1452), =Reginald Bolars= (1453-1459). =John Halse= (1459-1492) was called +on to give shelter to Queen Margaret after the battle of Bloreheath. + +At the end of the fifteenth century there is another political +bishop. This was =William Smyth= (1492-1496). He, like several of +his successors, was President of Wales, and he was also the founder +of Brasenose College, Oxford. Next comes =John Arundel= (1496-1503), +and then comes =Geoffry Blythe=, whose rule, commencing in 1503, lasts +until 1531, the year when Henry required the clergy to acknowledge him +as supreme head of the Church. This period of the dark days before the +Reformation must have been one of great difficulty for the bishops, +but Blythe seems to have been very popular at Lichfield; he made +several attempts to stamp out Lollardism, and has earned for himself +an unenviable niche in the house of fame by his inclusion in Fox's +"Book of Martyrs" for his holding of the "Court of Heresy." One martyr +(a woman) was burned at Coventry, and others were tried and acquitted +or condemned to less horrible punishments. On the whole, Blythe seems to +have been as gentle as the times would allow him to be. He died in 1531, +and escaped the storm which was now to burst. When it had cleared away, +many of the old religious landmarks had disappeared; Lichfield Cathedral +had lost her sister minster, and had been shorn of much that it valued +and was beautiful. + +After an interval, =Rowland Lee= (1534-1543) was appointed. He had +been chaplain to the king, and it was he who officiated at the private +marriage of Henry and Anne Boleyn; he was rewarded with the bishopric +of Lichfield and Coventry, and was made President of Wales, in which +latter appointment he was said to have ruled so wisely that we owe +to him the kindly feelings which have ever since existed between the +two countries. This work must have kept him much away from the diocese, +and it was superintended by two suffragans; but we have it on record +that he did his best to save something for the diocese from the wreck of +the Reformation; how little he was able to do we shall now see. He also +issued to the clergy a set of injunctions, in which the new teaching and +ideas are set forth, "that the King's Majesty is only Supreme Head under +Chryst in Erthe of this his Churche of England"; that every parish priest +shall provide for his church a "Boke of the hole Byble both in Latin and +alsoe in Englishe, and lay the same in the Quiere for every man that will +loke and read therein"; and other injunctions on prayers and preaching +and behaviour, which are not, like the first two, new and startling, +but are reminiscences of the ordinances and manners of the past. + +Bishop Lee, who had failed in his efforts to save the cathedral church +of Coventry, also exerted himself on behalf of the shrine of St. Chad, +and succeeded so well that, though the shrine was rifled of its jewels +and precious metals, they were granted to the uses of the cathedral, +instead of finding their way into the coffers of the king. The ashes +of the saint were stolen by one of the prebendaries. Soon after, +the collegiate churches were confiscated, and the diocese, like +other dioceses, found itself stripped of all its finest churches. The +royal chapels of Stafford, Shrewsbury, Chester, Bridgenorth, Derby, and +Penkridge all went; and throughout the country, for want of the endowments +which had been confiscated, churches and chapels were falling into ruin. + +Henry seems to have had ideas of using some of the money thus obtained +for ecclesiastical purposes, but his own needs did not permit him to do +much. The bishopric of Shrewsbury, which he had planned, came to nothing, +though a suffragan with that title was appointed; but at Chester the +abbey of St. Werburgh became a cathedral church when, in 1541, the see +of Chester was founded, and Cheshire and Lancashire were taken from +Lichfield to form the new diocese. + +=Richard Sampson= (1543-1553), dean of the cathedral, succeeded Lee +as bishop, and died early in Mary's reign. His successor, =Ralph Bane= +(1554-1558), lighted the fires in the diocese, and many perished at his +hands. He was a bishop after Mary's heart, and sat with Tonstall and +Bonner in the inquisitions which disgraced the reign. He resigned on +the advent of Elizabeth. And then another kind of persecution commenced; +this time it was the Papists who suffered, and many were done to death +in the diocese. + +Following Bane came =Thomas Bentham= (1560-1579), and =William Overton= +(1580-1609); then =George Abbott= was bishop in 1609, and in one year +was promoted to Canterbury, where he preceded Laud, whose life-long +opponent he was. Then came =Richard Neill= (1610-1614), who was dean +of Westminster as well, and earned an ignoble reputation by burning a +Papist named Wightman, at Lichfield. He was consecrated to Rochester +in 1608, and translated successively to Lichfield, 1610; Lincoln, +1614; Durham, 1617; Winchester, 1628; and York, 1632. =John Overall= +(1614-1618) wrote that part of the "Church Catechism" which explains the +sacraments; he afterwards went to Norwich. =Thomas Morton= (1619-1632) +came from Chester; he was one of the most learned bishops of the time, +and a noted advocate of the Church of England principles. + +=Robert Wright= (1632-1644) was a supporter of Laud; under him the +cathedral service became again something like that of the time of Bishop +Patteshull. He was one of the twelve bishops who were impeached by the +Long Parliament in 1641, and, though an old man, pleaded his cause at +the bar of the House of Commons. He was still bishop when the Civil War +broke out; and during the famous siege of Lichfield he was shut up in his +castle at Eccleshall, where he died while it was being defended against +the Parliamentarians. His successor, =Accepted Frewen=, president of +Magdalen College, Oxford, was appointed by the king, and consecrated in +the chapel of his college; but, having neither cathedral, revenues, nor +power, he retired into Kent, until in 1660 he became Archbishop of York. + +=John Hacket= (1661-1671) was appointed to the see by Charles II., and +decided that its title should be altered from "Coventry and Lichfield" +to "Lichfield and Coventry"; partly, no doubt, because the cathedral was +here, and partly because in the late troubles Lichfield had been loyal +to the Crown, and Coventry had not. His great work was the restoration of +the cathedral from its ruins, and the re-organisation of the diocese. He +had had a distinguished record, and was one of the sub-committee in 1640 +appointed to try and settle the vexed questions in the Church, and as such +he made an eloquent speech at the bar of the House of Commons. Later +he continued the use of the liturgy in his church of St. Andrew, +Holborn, after it had been forbidden, and when the officer and soldiers +were sent to arrest him and ordered him to desist on pain of instant +death, he answered: "Soldier, I am doing my duty, do you do yours," and +continued the service. Surely a man pre-eminently fitted for the work of +re-organisation he was to do at Lichfield; and the king got the credit +from the clergy of having the old "apostolic spirit of discerning," +so greatly was he to their minds. He must have been a wit too, for, when +the bishopric was offered to him, he remarked that he would rather that in +future times people should ask why Dr Hacket was not a bishop, than why +he was. He is also said to have entreated the gentleman who had declared +that hell was paved with bishops' skulls to tread lightly over his. + +Hacket's dean cannot have confirmed the clergy in their opinion of +Charles, whose appointment to the post he had purchased; so bad was he +that the bishop excommunicated him, and the sentence was even read in +the cathedral while he was there, but he heeded it not. The chapter +loathed him, but apparently the king's feelings were different, for +at Hacket's death he was appointed to succeed him. So =Thomas Wood= +(1671-1692) became bishop, and was the worst the see ever had: he lived +much away from the diocese. Lancelot Addison, the father of the famous +Joseph Addison, was dean in his time. William III., staying a night +at the deanery, was attracted to the genial essayist early; and we may +imagine that he must have been greatly influenced by that part of his +life spent within the cathedral close. + +The next bishop was =William Lloyd= (1692-1699): he came from St. Asaph, +and went to Worcester. While bishop of St. Asaph he was one of the seven +bishops who were sent to the Tower in 1688. =John Hough= (1699-1717) +came next; he also had crossed the path of James II., for he had been +elected President of Magdalen over the head of James's nominee, but +James had proved the stronger at the time, and he was ejected, only to +be reinstated by the frightened king soon after. At the Revolution he +was made bishop of Oxford, whence he was translated hither; he afterwards +refused the primacy. + +The next two bishops--=Edward Chandler= (1717-1730) and =Richard +Smallbroke= (1730-1749)--were distinguished defenders of Christianity +against the infidelity of the time. Their controversial writings are +numerous and well known. + +The next bishop, =Frederick Cornwallis= (1749-1768), afterwards became +Archbishop of Canterbury. Then came =John Egerton= (1768-1771), +from Bangor, and went to Durham; =Brownlow North= (1771-1774), who +was translated to Worcester, and thence to Winchester; =Richard Hurd= +(1774-1781), who also went to Worcester; =James Cornwallis= (1781-1824), +and =Henry Ryder= (1824-1836), who came from Gloucester. He succeeded in +founding many new churches and immensely increasing the membership of the +Church in the diocese. His successor, =Samuel Butler= (1836-1843), went +on with this work. It was in his time that the archdeaconry of Coventry +was taken from the diocese and added to Worcester. The title of the see +now becomes Lichfield only; Coventry, which at one time held the premier +place in the title, and then the second, now slips out altogether. + +Ten years later the deanery of Bridgenorth was allotted to Hereford, +and in the same year all peculiar and exempt jurisdiction was abolished, +so that the archdeacons had power to visit every church in the diocese; +the number of canons of Lichfield was reduced from six to four. + +In the meantime =James Bowstead= (1840-1843) and =John Lonsdale= +(1843-1867) became bishops. The latter was one of the greatest bishops +the diocese has had, and his work, like that of Ryder, lives in the +increased power of the Church in the diocese. He was succeeded by another +great bishop, =George Augustus Selwyn=, who, as bishop of New Zealand, +had organised the Church in those islands. + +The next bishop, =William Dalrymple Maclagan= (1878-1891), is now +Archbishop of York. It was during his rule, in 1884, that the new diocese +of Southwell was formed and Derbyshire was taken from Lichfield. + +The present bishop is the Hon. =Augustus Legge=. + +[Illustration: MONUMENT TO DR JOHNSON IN THE MARKET-PLACE.] + + +DIMENSIONS OF THE CATHEDRAL + + + Feet + Length, total (interior) 370 + " of Nave 140 + " of Transept 149 + Width of Nave and Aisles 68 + Height of Vault 57 + + Area 27,720 sq. feet + + +[Illustration: PLAN OF LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral +Church of Lichfield, by A. B. 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