The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-16 00:00:00

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL.

St. Peter's Abbey at Gloucester, now the Cathedra
Church (according to a very interesting account of it given.
as follows by one of the Saturday Reviewers), was a very
early foundation, its beginning dating as far back as the
year 681. But, like most of these early foundations, the
establisment went through many vicissitudes, and was de-
stroyed and refounded more than once with very different
objects. Originally a house of nuns, it lost its succession
of Abbesses in 767. King Ecgbet ht is said to have refounded
it as a college of secular priests, which lasted till 1022,
when the first Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, changed
it into a Benedictine monastery. The account in the
history reads as if he did not, as was done in so
many other places, turn out the Canons whom he found
there, but compelled them to take the Benedictine vows :
" Ric Wolstanns clericos, qui ecclesiam Sancti Petri antes
rexerant [et] custodierant, sub protectione Dei et Apostolo-
rum Petri et Pala et regula Beati Benedicti, in eadem
ccclesia regulariter collocavit, et Edricum quondam in abba-
tem et custodem monasierii illius consecravit, qui moms-
clam blud xxxvii. annis custodivit."
In estimating this change, we must always remember one
light in which it was likely to appear to a reformer of those
days. When a church was served by monks, any general
non-residence was impossible, and divine service could
hardly be intermitted or grossly neglected. But the secular
Canons, before the institution of Vicars and Residen-
tiaries, constantly neglected their churches in the most
scandalous way. Their non-residence, in fact, is one of the'
great complaints of ecclesiastical writers long after this
time,

The first mention of the church is in 1058' when Ealdred,
Bishop of Worcester, r, afterwards Archbishop of York—the
prelate who crew Harold and William w
within one year
—rebuilt and consecrated it. But, as usual, the small size
of the native English. fabric—for the size seems really to
have been the main point
of difference—dissatisfied the
Norman occupants of the
whileh
house after the Conquest, and a
rebuilding took placeEaldred's church was still
almost new. .In 1089, the first
atone of sinew church was
building,
laid by Abbot Serlo, and the possibly only the
choir, was consecrated in 1100. Fromtrh is time, for a long
way on, our notices consist mainly of fie some of which,
in the exaggerated language of the chroniclers,es, are said to
andto thing
most of these more or lees damage wasthe build-
ings of the Abbey ; and, in 1102, it is distinctly said
lthat
the church was burned—" ecclesia igne cremate est.''
as usual, it is not necessary to construe these words very
But,
rigidly, and it seems most natural to suppose that the Nor-
man work of the presbytery, which may still be seen under
the lacework of perpendicular panelling which has ,
been thrown over it, is part of the church of
Serie. The nava, so like the contemporary nave of
Tewkesbury, so unlike the common proportions of a
Norman design, probably followed the fire of 1102. It
is curious, however, that, though the church is constantly
spoken of incidentally as standing and in use—as, for in-
stance, at the burial of Robert Duke of Normandy, before
the high altar in 1134, and at the coronation of Henry
111., in 1216—still there is no direct mention of any
building till 1222, when the " great eastern tower"—
" magna turris Gloucestrensis cceleeiao orientalis"—was
built. This no doubt means the central tower—in a church
of the old Norman ground plan, more truly eastern than
central—over the choir, The tower then built has, of
course, made way for the Perpendicular structure. In 1239
the church was consecrated, doubtless in pursuance of the
general orders then given by Papal authority for the con-
secration of all churches which remained unconsecrated,
which one is surprised to learn was the case with several
cathedrals and great abbeys. Three years after, in 1242,
the present vault of the nave was added—the Norman
church doubtless had only a timber roof—and we are dis-
tinctly told, in one of the most interesting notices on re-
ccrd, that it was actually built by the monks with their
own hands :

Et anno Domini millesime ducentesimo quadragesimo
secundo completa est nova volta in navi ecclesire, non
aufilio fabrorum ut promo, sed animosa virtute monacho-
rum item in ipso loco existentium.
-
-

In the same year the south-western tower was began by
Prior Walter St. John. This no longer exists. The archi-
tects of the great Perpendicular central tower seem to have
thought that their work would have greater dignity if it
stood absolutely alone—so the western towers were sacri-
ficed, and the present west front utterly unworthy of
such a church, is the result. In 1300 we hear of
another fire, which burned the " parvum campanile, et
magna camera et claustrum." It is not, however, clear
whether they were absolutely destroyed, nor do we know
exactly what is meant by " parvum campanile." It
could not be the newly-built south-west tower,
which stands quite away from the cloister; but it
may well have been the north-western tower, which doubt-
less deserved to have been called " parvum campanile," as
compared with either of the two latter ones.
John Thoky, who was Abbot from 1306 to 1329, was a
memorable man in the history of the convent. The south
aisle of the nave was built in his time; this is well known
as one of the most beautiful examples of decorated work in
England, and which probably set the fashion for similar
rich windows at Ledbury, Leominster, and elsewhere. In
his days, also, the deposed King Edward 11. was murdered
at Berkeley. Three other monasteries, Bristol, Kings-
wood, and Malmesbury refused to receive his body for
fear of Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella. The Abbot
of Gloucester was of another mood, and braved all hazards
in what we may suppose he thought was the cause of
loyalty—
'ate tamen abbas sun curru honorifice ornato cum armis
ejusdem ecclesiai depictis, eum a castello de Berkeley ad.
duxit, et ad monasterium Gloucestrim eat delatus, abbate
cum toto conventu solenniter revestitis, cum prooestione
totiu.s civitatis est honorifice susceptus, et in eoclesia
ibidem in parte boreali juxta magnum altare traditur tumu-
landus.

Strange to say, the despicable King, when once mur-
dered, became a local saint. Multitudes of pilgrims flocked
to his grave, no less than to those of Waltheof at Crowland,
or of Simon at Evesham. Their offerings were so bounti-
ful that, during the reign of the next Abbot, John of Wig-
naor (1329-37), the south transept—" ala Sancti Andreas," a
phrase which Mr. Hart seems hardly to have understood—
was rebuilt. This has been often confounded with the
building of the south aisle of the nave, but the dates in the
Chronicle are quite distinct and perfectly clear. This tran-
sept, as Professor Willis showed in 1860, is distinctly per-
pendicular work. It is early, indeed, and has much of
earlier detail hanging about it, but it still bears the un-
mistakeable impress of the perpendicular style, and it may
fairly count as the first instalment of the great perpendicu-
lar recasting of the whole east part of the minter. Now
this date is one of the most important facts in architec-
tural history. We thus have the perpendicular style, in
all its most distinctive features, a good half century earlier
than anybody had thought. The claim, therefore, of Win-
chester to be the first example, and of either Edington or
Wykeham to be the inventor, of that style at once falls to
the ground.
This is the last entry strictly belonging to the church.
The central tower, the present Lady chapel, and the re-
casting of the presbytery, all of which may be looked on as
carrying on the work begun by Thoky in the south tran-
sept, belong to a later.• date than the present chronicle
takes in. But in the time of Abbot Frocester, who suc-
ceeded in 1381, and who was living when the chronicle
ends, we get the completion of the splendid cloister, cer-
tainly the gem of work of its kind and style.

A' MODERN JUSTICE SHALLOW.—Late in the
evening an offender was brought before one of our
mayors, haying been detected in stealing a smock-frock
from a pawnbroker's door. " Look in ' 13urn's Justice,' "
said his worship to his son—" look in the index W
fur smock-
trock," " Can't find it there, father, not there." hat !
no law against stealing smock-frocks ?D— my heart,
young fellow, but you've had a lucky, escape." (Even
Justices in those times might incur the penalties against
oaths.) The constable demurred at the discharge of the
prisoner. " Well, well, lock him up, and we'll see the own
clerk in the morning."—Charles "night's _Recollections.
BURIED ALlvE.—Last Thursday evening a fatal
accident occurred at Barnhill colliery, aboute three
so
miles from Dudley. Connected with the works there is an
old shaft, which it was determined to reopen and d
epen,
as to reach a still unwrought measure of ironstone. The
ho
work was left to a sinker named Thomas Parke
em-
ployed as his assistant a man named Thomas Marrs. In this
district all the pits are built round with bricks, and the ope-
ration involves a good deal of danger unless the utmost care
and caution are observed. When several feet in depth have
been built round, the proper mode of
Proceeding is to place
a think piece of wood, known as a
curb, under the lowest
course of bricks, which is drawn
of chains connected with balks of up tight by means
the sides of the pit-mouth. of timber laid across
commenced operations in the When Parkes and Marrs
appurtenances necessary t pit, the chains and all other
vided for them. From o secure their safety were pro-
however, than didnot a desire to save themselves trouble,
noon, the mager of use the chains. On Thursday at
warned them of their the colliery descended the pit and
any attention to his danger. They did not, however, pay
as they had remonstrance, but continued to go on
be
feet of new ell
doing. By Thursday evening about nine
brickwork had been added to the old. and about
five feet of space beneath this again had been cleared, and
Was rep
uy for building up. Marrs was about to commence
work
when he observed chat all the new brickwork and a
portion of the old was giving way. lie gave an alarm to
his companion, but the sides of the pit gave way, and
the latter was buried is the rubbieh. Marrs managed to
run up a ladder, and make the signal to theanksman to
let down the engine rope. At this time he
wasso standing
the
up to the armpits in bricks and rubbish.
As as
rope came down lie fastened it under his arms,
and was
ge was badly bruised about the
hoisted to the surface.
Mad and face and some parts of the body, but fortunately
no bones were broken. Means were of course at once
adopted to recover the body of Parkes. This work was
accompanied with no little difficulty and danger, as the old
brickwork continued to fall in large masses at intervals,
T wenty-six hours elapsed from the time of the accident till
the recovery of the body. It was shockingly mangled.
The only person blameable for the accident is the deceased
himself. His age was 42, and he was a widower,
without
family,

SECOND EDITION.

SUN OFFICE, HALF-PAST 4 o'CLocK.

AUSTRIA.

VIENNA, DEC. 16.
It is stated on good authority that a Ministerial
crisis certainly exists. Herr von Sebuteriing
having declared that, he cannot remain in °face
with his present colleagues. Among the causes for
dissatisfaction which he has communicated to the
Eaaperor is that he was not supported by Count
Rechherg on the religious question now form-
ing the object of negotiations with Rome.
It is hoped that Herr von Schmerling will
surmount this crisis as his leaving the Cabinet
would be considered a national calamity. Privy
Councillor Herr von Lasser has, however, declared
that the Constitutional system in Austria would be
in no way effected by the crisis.

THIRD EDITION

SUN OFFICE, SEVEN O'CLOCK..