adoration, 'Day by day we magnify Thee, and we worship Thy name ever, world without end.'*

The Cathedral of Wells is the centre of an assemblage of buildings which, as all archæologists know, form one of the most striking architectural groups in England. The great church, with its stately chapter-house; the bishop's moated and castellated palace, the vicar's college and close, the deanery, and the picturesque gate-houses, combine to produce such a whole as is not easily to be paralleled. Palace, cathedral, chapter-house, and close, formed part of Bishop Jocelyn's original design, which he did not live to complete, although, in Fuller's words, God, to square his great undertakings, gave him a long life to his large heart.'

From Wells we pass to Salisbury (1220-1258), which is throughout Early English, with the exception of its famous spire, an addition of the fourteenth century. The Cathedral of Old Sarum was in many respects inconvenient. There was a scarcity of water, and the site was so high and exposed that, according to an old tradition, 'When the wind did blow they could not hear the priest say mass.' Accordingly, Bishop Richard le Poer, in 1220, laid the foundations of a new cathedral in the meadow of Merryfield,' which was his own land. In 1228 this bishop was translated to Durham; but the work was steadily continued until its completion, in 1258. The Cathedral of Amiens was commenced in the same year as Salisbury (1220), and completed, nearly as at present, in 1272. It covers nearly twice as much ground as Salisbury, and its internal height, as in all French cathedrals, is far greater; yet in variety of outline, and play of light and shade, the English church (and we may say the same thing, still more decidedly, of Westminster) is beyond all doubt finer, although in comparing them we must constantly bear in mind the vast difference in their dimensions. Unhappily, toward the end of the last century, the famous 'destructive' Wyatt was let loose upon Salisbury; and his operations, which at the time were pronounced tasteful, effective, and judicious,' have detracted much from the due effect of the interior. He swept away from the foundations a campanile on the south side of the cathedral, which must have grouped most picturesquely with the rest of the church, and was of the same age; but the scene within the close of Salisbury is still of exquisite beauty; nor can the most curious, not to say cavilling eye,' says Fuller, to whose quaintly discriminative sayings we are always glad to return, 'desire anything which is wanting in this edifice, except possibly an ascent,

* Handbook for Wells' (Southern Cathedrals), i. p. 227.

seeing such who address themselves hither for their devotions can hardly say with David, "I will go up into the house of the Lord." The slender columns of Purbeck marble, one of the great distinctions of Early English,-here absolutely reed-like where they assist in carrying the vault of the lady chapel, and the plate tracery of windows and triforia, clearly marking that the style was not far advanced, are strongly characteristic of Salisbury. The chapter-house, so admirably restored by Mr. Burges, and the cloisters, beautiful with their central space of greensward and their solemn cedars, are of later date, perhaps of the time of Edward I., and assist in showing us the gradual change from Early English to Decorated.

How far Henry III. may have been induced by what he saw at Salisbury (which he frequently visited during the rise of its cathedral) to undertake the rebuilding of the great abbey church at Westminster, it is not easy to determine. It is more certain that, as Mr. Scott points out, the English king, during his sojourns in France, had become enamoured of the chevet' or apse with its radiating coronal of chapels, which he may have seen in course of being carried out at Amiens, Beauvais, Rheims, and elsewhere; and that he caused this form to be adopted at Westminster, the building of which was commenced in 1245. The work of Henry III. terminated west of the crossing, and was completed in 1269. Five bays of the nave west of this were the work of Edward I. Beyond a doubt Westminster Abbey is the most beautiful church of this period perhaps in Europe.

'It has claims upon us architects on the ground of its intrinsic and superlative merits, as a work of art of the highest and noblest order; for though it is by no means pre-eminent in general scale, in height, or in richness of sculpture, there are few churches in this or any other country having the same exquisite charms of proportion and artistic beauty which this church possesses,- -a beauty which never tires, and which impresses itself afresh upon the eye and the mind however frequently you view it, and however glorious the edifices which, during the intervals, you may have seen.' *

For all the details of Westminster, our readers may safely be referred to the admirable volume from which we have just quoted. In it Mr. Scott, Mr. Parker, and Mr. Burges, besides other contributors, have thrown an immense amount of light on the history and peculiarities of the church; on the tombs of the kings and princes which it guards; on the shrine and coronationchair; and on the noble chapter-house, which Mr. Scott has restored on paper, and which, we most earnestly hope, will ere

* 'Gleanings from Westminster Abbey,' p. 16.

long

long be placed in his hands for a more substantial restoration.' Here we may refer to it as having been (for although Mr. Scott has succeeded in discovering nearly every part of the design, it is reduced to a complete wreck), in truth, the 'incomparable chapter-house' which it was pronounced by Matthew Paris. It was part of Henry III.'s work, completed before that of Salisbury was commenced, and infinitely finer. If, in the interior of the church, there are strong indications of foreign influence, none are to be found here. The chapter-house of Westminster was one of the most beautiful creations of true Early English, a complete development of the national style.

The third great church of this period is Worcester Cathedral, the existing choir and lady chapel of which were begun in 1224. The Norman church had been greatly injured by fire in 1202. It was afterwards restored; but during a great storm of wind in 1221, its 'lesser towers' fell, and probably ruined the choir. Rich offerings, however, had been pouring in at the shrine of St. Wulfstan, before which King John had been buried in 1216; and the wealth thus acquired was sufficient, at any rate, to commence the rebuilding. There are some peculiarities at Worcester, especially the ornamentation of the tympana in the triforium arches, their double arcade, and the sculpture in the spandrils of the wall arcades, which strongly recall Lincoln; and render it highly probable that its architects had sought inspiration from the work of that cathedral, then nearly approaching completion. Worcester is hardly entitled to take rank among English cathedrals of the first class; but it contains many portions of extreme interest, and its Early English work especially has never, we think, received all the attention it deserves.

Thus, through all the tumult and distractions of the thirteenth century-that great century which saw the gaining of so many steps toward the constitutional liberties of England, and which was so fruitful of results throughout Europe-Pointed or, as it seems better to call it, 'Gothic' architecture won its even way, gradually developing itself from the plate tracery and stiff leafage of Salisbury and Lincoln, to the elaborate mouldings and natural foliage which characterise the change from Early English to the first period of Decorated-a change which first becomes distinctly evident after the accession of Edward I. With all its grace,' says Mr. Beresford Hope, Early English has about it an indescribable primness. It may remind the poet of Pallas Athene; but Pallas Athene never suffered herself to be wooed.'* This is no doubt true of Early English in its first development,

*Cathedral of the Nineteenth Century,' p. 44.

and

and especially true of Salisbury. The grace may occasionally predominate over the 'primness,' as it certainly does in Bishop Eustace's most beautiful Galilee porch at Ely, built probably in the latter years of his episcopate, which extended from 1198 to 1215; and perhaps in Bishop Godfrey de Lucy's (1189-1204) work in the retrochoir of Winchester, which at any rate calls for notice as one of the earliest examples of the style. We must refer our readers to the admirable woodcuts of both Galilee and Retrochoir, which Mr. Jewitt has furnished to the Handbooks,' and leave them to form their own conclusions; but he would be a daring critic who should venture to assert the superiority of Early English to the style of the following period, into which it slowly developed. Still, we would by no means seek to undervalue the vigour of thought and of imagination which produced the Gothic of the thirteenth century. The fresh, exuberant lifethe daring and the devotion of the age-found one means of expression, among many others, in its architecture; and it may well be doubted whether the invention of an entirely new style does not suggest higher qualities than the carrying onward of that style to new development and to more entire perfection.

The transition from Early English to Decorated was so gradual that it is not possible to mark any distinct period of change. The north transept of Hereford Cathedral (1282-1287) is one of the many examples which we scarcely know whether to assign to the close of the first division, or to the commencement of the second. The unusual (nearly triangular) form of its arches, and its pure, lofty windows, give an especial interest to this transept, in which once stood the shrine of St. Thomas Cantilupe (Bishop of Hereford, 1275-1282), the last Englishman canonized before the Reformation.

The two cathedrals which most entirely belong to the Decorated period are Exeter (choir and nave, 1308-1369) and Lichfield (nave, lady chapel, and presbytery, 1250-1325). Much of York Minster (nave and chapter-house, 1285-1345) is of this period, as are the choir, lady chapel, and chapter-house of Wells (12931326); and Ely, besides its famous octagon (1322-1328), has one portion (the western bays of the choir, the building of which was begun in 1338, of which Mr. Jewitt gives us an admirable woodcut showing the minutest details) so wonderfully rich and graceful as to make us doubtful whether it be not the most exquisite piece of Decorated work to be found in England. Butall these cathedrals have other portions which either overshadow the Decorated work by their importance, or are far more extensive. The Early English transepts and the stately Perpendicular choir of York, dwell on the recollection far more than its nave. Ely

has

has its colossal Norman piers and triforium; and Wells the remarkable Early English work we have already noticed. Exeter and Lichfield alone are mainly, almost entirely, Decorated. Bishop Walter Bronescombe, a native of Devonshire, began, in the latter half of the thirteenth century, a series of new works which led to the gradual removal of the Norman cathedral of Exeter, and to the erection of the present church. Bishop Bronescombe built part of the existing lady chapel, which was completed by his successor, Bishop Quivil or Wyville (12801291). The Norman choir and nave disappeared as the works of Bishop Walter Stapledon (1308-1326, the founder of 'Stapledon's Inn,' now Exeter College, in Oxford, and the murdered treasurer of Edward II.) and of Bishop Grandisson (1327-1369, the most magnificent prelate who ever filled the see) advanced and were completed. The west front of Exeter, with its ranges of apostles, saints, and kings, must probably be assigned to Grandisson's successor, Thomas Brantyngham (1370-1394). The work was thus in progress throughout nearly the whole of the fourteenth century, during which the Decorated style not only underwent great changes, but the Perpendicular was fully developed; yet it is not a little remarkable that the work of both Stapledon and Grandisson (we must except Brantyngham's west front) represents only the first or geometrical period of the style. This agrees best with the date of Bishop Quivil's episcopate; and although he is only recorded as the builder of part of the lady chapel, we believe that he furnished plans for the entire cathedral, which were scrupulously adhered to by his successors. The minute sumptuousness' (by which expression Mr. Beresford Hope characterises the cathedral) of Exeter must at once strike every observer. The exquisite windows of the nave, said to exhibit a greater variety of (geometrical) tracery than can be found in any other building in the kingdom; the minstrel's gallery, nowhere so perfect or so rich, although other examples do occur, at Wells and at Winchester; the carved bosses of the roof, which extends unbroken from the western door to the east end of the choir; and, above all, the matchless corbels of leafage which support the vaulting shafts, contribute to produce such an impression of graceful beauty as we shall look for in vain in many a church of far more important dimensions; and Bishop Grandisson was scarcely wrong in declaring to the Pope (John XXII.), that the 'Church of Exeter, when completed, would exceed in beauty every other of its kind (in genere suo) in France or England.'

Exeter is, perhaps, a unique example of the retention of geometrical forms so long after the style had completely changed.