The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 27, 1868.

7HE RESTORA7ION OF WESTMINSTER

CIMPIER-HOUSE.

The restoration of this most beautiful adjunct to
the grand old Abbey of St. Peter's may more pro-
perly be called a resuscitation than a restoration.
It is not being rebuilt, or even, in the strict sense
of the term, being renovated—a word which is
dreaded by all true antiquarians and archaeologists ;
it is simply being restored to the condition in which
it existed more than five centuries ago, but without
any modern necessary alteration or improvement
whatever. It is only being cleaned, strengthened,
and revealed in all its beauty, and the Vandalisms
which have hitherto, in the way of stairs and
shelves and blocked-up windows, desecrated its
exquisite proportions, are being removed for
good and all. The cost of what may be called
literally cleaning and strengthening it will be
in all about 4:30,000, and there are few even
of the most economical members of Parliament or
their con,tituents who will grudge this sum. The
great mass of the rents of the old Abbots of
IVestrniester goes now to the Crown—that is to say,
to the country, and it is not unfair that the country
generally should bear the expense of maintaining
in all its ancient integrity even the smallest vestige
of the great Abbey, which is without its equal,
either for antiquity or historical associations, in the
world. The Chapter-house was once one of its most
beautiful accessories. It is larger, but ou almost
the same plan and style as the celebrated
Chapter-houses of Wells and Salisbury. The latter
is known among all architects here and abroad for
its beauty ; but that at Westminster, though finer,
had been little seen and still less known. Iu fact,
till now it has never been much regarded, and it
was not till it threatened to crumble into ruins
that efforts were made to keep it from literally
falling in a heap. Yet there was much even in its
associations, apart from its rare architectural
beauty, to justify its preservation. It was, at the
latest, built in the reign of Henry 111., and in it
the House of Commons used to meet in 1377, and
continued is meet till they were moved over the
way to St. Stephen's Chapel, now St. Stephen's
Hall, in the crypt under which, at its building,
Chaucer was clerk of the works. In the Chapter-
house, also, was kept the Doomsday Book, with the
original wills of Richard 11., Henry V., Henry VII.,
Henry VIII., the Golden Bull of Clement VII.,
giving the title of Defender of the Faith to Henry
VIII. for his treatise against Luther and the
Reformation, and the treaty of perpetual peace
signed on the Field of the Cloth of Gold between.
Henry VIII. and Francis 1., the exquisite gold seal
to which, six inches in diameter, is said to be the
work of Cellini. But " Tempts edax rerum," and
the old historic Chapter-house came to be disused,
and in process of time to be dismantled and almost
destroyed. It was and still is octagon in shape, with
eight large and lofty traceried windows in the
richest Gothic style. The thrust of its light roof
was held by a peculiar bracing of three stout
wrought•iron rods, each nearly two inches in dia-
meter, passing round the walls above the tapering
windows, and being joined in a most peculiar man-
ner by iron rings. These were removed during
some ill-advised and most antique improvements,
and at once the roof began to thrust the walls out-
wards, and flying buttresses had to be built to re-
tain them. There is no record as to the time when
these buttresses were built, and all differ much as
to periods, and vary in strength from 9ft. to 18f t.
thick, the last having apparently been built up as
late as 200 years ago. After this, in spite of its
exquisite tempera paintings and carvings, its rich
tracery, and brilliant windows, it sank into neglect,
and became at last a mere storehouse for Govern-
ment records, and this was almost the ruin of one
of the noblest structures connected with the Abbey.
The Westminster Chapter-house, like that at
Salisbury, may be described as a gigantic octagon
lantern, about 64ft. in diameter and 64ft. high,
with a rich groined roof, meeting in the centre, as
at Salisbury and Wells, on a clustered pillar of
black Purbeck marble. Such a building, of course,
did not suit the requirements of a great Record-
office, so the windows were broken out and bricked
up, an upper story was made by a common deal
floor let into the walls, and the paintings and carved
groined arches were hidden in by presses to hold the
books. Only one good came of this change, which is
that the encaustic pavement was boarded over, and
thus there remains to us one of the finest examples
of medi2eval tiling that exists in England. That
this is the original pavement is evident from the

recurrence of the arms of Henry 111. Its colouring
is superb, and its flowing patterns are burnt in with
a delicacy and brightness which would do credit to
Minton even now. Among the patterns are little
figures of kings and queens, saints, ecclesiastics,
and minstrels. This preservation, however, is all
we have to thank the Record-office of those times
for, and we should perhaps have not had even that
but for the fact that boarding was warmer to the
feet than tiles. In all other matters it was mis-
used with neglect, which one would hardly think
even the most untaught clowns woald have been
guilty of. For the sake of gaining a few inches
for the wooden shelves, all the exquisite carving
of the capitals of the black marble columns was
hacked away—even the groining of the arches
above them, all gilded, coloured, and beautifully
carved like the " diaper" patterns of the Alhambra
Palace, was, in most cases, chiselled out to
make room for a beam or a wooden shelf.
Some good, however, was effected even by this,
for the shelves protected the paintings on the
walls, though not entirely, for a doorway
was cut through one of the best, just as in Italy a
doorway was cut in one of Domenicbino's great
frescoes of the Last Supper. The paintings in the
Chapter-house are evidently the work of an Italian
artist, and are in a tolerable state of preservation,
thanks to the shelves which were in front of them.
In some parts the colours are wonderfully brilliant,
and the heads are painted with groat force and cha-
racter. In one bay, evidently reserved as a seat
for the Abbot, the groinings of the arches are beau-
tifully coloured and gilded, but these, like the
others, have been hacked and hewn and chiselled and
defaced to make room for shelves. Here, and on other
portions of the carvings and walls, are ample re-
mains of colour and gilding. Some of the caps of
the columns, both here and elsewhere, are simply
moulded, but all are graceful. It will be very
easy to restore these columns and groined arches 11
to their original condition. Art critics are pro-
verbially hard to please, however, and it is con-
tended that to restore these mutilated walls is to
falsify history and sophisticate art. As well might
one complain of mending a rare old Wedgwood
vase, or repairing a rent in a painting of one of the
old masters. Much interest attaches to the once
double portal at the top of the steps of the vesti-
bule which connects the Chapter-house with the
Cloisters. The pillar dividing this portal has dis-
appeared, as also its head, which once enclosed in
a large centre quatrefoil a figure of Our Saviour.
A confirmation of this last fact is furnished by
an antique record, which directs the monks
on entering the Chapter-house to bow to such a
statue. In the wall space to the right and left of
this door head are figures of saints and angels,
which, strange to say, have escaped both the Puri-
tans and the keepers of the records. The bronze
wings of the angel Gabriel, however, have been
carried off, though the removal of a vast mass of
whitewash has brought to light many figures which
it at once concealed while it protected them. After
all these devastations the Chapter-house soon began
to yield to what might have been its fate. The but-
tresses gave way, and the side wall sank to the
south. The outer walls bowed out in an alarming
manner, some as much as nearly ten inches from

the perpendicular, while the central column, of black
Purbeck marble, with its clustered shafts, was not
only bent aside, but even twisted. The place too
became too small for the records of which it was
full, and they were at last removed. Still, even
lightened of this weight on its walls, the structure
continued to yield, and at last, to save it from
ultimate ruin, Mr. Gilbert Scott was called in.
Mr. Scott is about the most conservative architect
in his profession. He neither renovates nor re-
stores, in the architectural sense of the words,
dut only replaces, and even that only as far as
is possible consistent with the strength and durabi-

lity of the structure. With the Chapter-house it
was a difficult, thing, for the buttresses were lite-
rally rotten, and were so built around that it was
difficult to get at many of them, for all the
stone, which was of a soft kind, was so decayed that
more than three inches of the material was eaten
into, and the foundations too had given way to some
extent under them, so that new buttresses were ab-
solutely necessary. These were erected by raising
the modern roof of the Chapter-house, and then
substituting for the old buttresses new ones in
Chilmark stone from the Wiltshire quarries. This
stone is peculiarly hard, but it has not yet been
tried much in that hardest of all ordeals, the atmo-
sphere of London. A very ingenious specimen
of cross-centring scaffold takes the inward thrust
of these flying buttresses till the groined roof
is finished, and will rest upon the centre cluster
of marble columns. These columns have been
sadly misused, and, though finely polished, were
during the time of their degradation as a It :cord-
office painted black. They were bound round with
copper wire at the capitals and bases as the tall shaft
began to bend and twist in olden times, but beyond
this nothing was done to repair the fabric which
they mainly upheld. The restoration of these
columns to their proper position will be one of the
most difficult works in all the building. For the
rest, every atom of the stone in the old structure
has been used again in the new. It has simply
been "redressed" in the interior, and in the exter-
nal buttresses a harder stone has been substituted
for that which was found to be decayed. Beyond
this no alterations have been attempted. The
groiued roof over the centre will be the same as
that which covered the House of Commons nearly
500 years ago. Above this will rise a pointed
roof of iron, cased with lead. The main ribs of
this are so tied in with cross braces that there is
no thrust upon the walls below, which have only
to bear its weight. The windows are to be
filled in with coloured glass, and enough has fortu-
nately remained of the old lights—that is, of portions
of them—to show how they were once filled with
grisaille, ruby, blue, and other colours. The style
of the period on the spot is known. It consists of a
sort of mosaic of grisaille, with small coloured pieces
at rather wide intervals. Thera is an example of
the style in the Jerusalem Chamber, and, curiously
enough, a portion of a window of the required date
situated in the apsidal chapel of the Abbey,
but built in by Henry Vll.'s chapel, was recently
discovered. Altogether the restoration of the Chap-
ter-house to its pristine beauty will cost some
£30,000 ; but, as we have said, there are few who
will grudge this for the preservation of a build-
ing which is not much younger and scarcely less
historic than the venerable minster itself, to which
it will now add new glories. Beneath the Chapter-
house is a crypt which is little known or seldom
mentioned even in the most ancient or modern his-
tories of archwology. This crypt is about 30ft.
square aad some 12ft. high. It has no windows to
it, and the walls in some parts round it are as much
as 15 feet thick. This is, perhaps, the only part
connected with the Abbey which has any-
thing like vaulting under it. The ceiling of
this crypt has a plain groined roof, the arches of
which meet in the centre on a splendid column of
black Purbeck marble, about Bft. high and sonic
41t. in diameter. This crypt, however, like the
fabric it supports, has met with cruel misusage. The
great marble column has actually been cut into
gaps, so that little more than a shell of it remains,
in some parts not more than five or six inches thick.
These were used as safes for the most precious of
the records deposited there. All these chasms will
now be filled up, and the pillar put in a fair posi-
tion to do its duty in supporting one of the most
ancient and most beautiful portions of the famous
Abbey of Westminster.

LONDON, CHATHAM, AND DOVER RAit-

WAY COMPANY.

HALF YEARLY MEETING.—(THIS DAY,)
The ordinary half-yearly meeting of the share-
holders in this company was held to-day, at the
offices of the company, Victoria Station ; J.
Hilliard, Esq., in the chair.
The report having been taken as read,
The CHAIRMAN rose to move the reception and
adoption of the report and accounts, and explained
the various items in the revenue accounts of the
company. He then proceeded to refer to the proposal
to raise the new A Stock, which he said would be a very
wise proceeding to consent to. The payment of
the interest was quite a certainty, because they had
an increase of income of £70,000 to p.ty interest
on the stock, which would amount to about £36,000.
It would have been a great assistance had the direc-
tors received the consent of the mortgagees, because
the creditors woul I readily take the new stock. It
was, however, thought that it would not be right
to issue it until the form of consent sent to the
shareholders had been returned, and he must sty
that the directors would not use the consent unless

they got a large majority. He then proceeded to
notice wl-at he said was called an increase of fares,
and said the tone the public hat adopted was most
unreasonable. If the company found they were
running trains at less than they could afford he
contended they had a right to raise them. The
public, he admitted, had the right to object
to such a proceeding, but that was all, and
he did not think for a moment it was to be ad-
vanced that because the company had been
running at too low fares the company had no right
to increase them. He did not say that public opi-
nion and feeling were altogether to be overlooked,
because if they refused to use the railway the share-
holders would be the sufferers ; but what he did
say was that the public had no right to call upon
the directors to run trains at unremunerative
rates. (Hear, hear.) The accommodation they
afforded to the public was in every way most con-
venient, but hitherto the fares charged had been
found to be unremunerative, and he thought the
directors in the course they bad adopted had
acted entirely for the benefit of the shareholders,
because it was but reasonable that they should look
for some return for the large amount they had in-
vested in the undertaking. (Hear, hear.) It was
quite a commercial question, and the directors were
watching closely the revenues, and if they found
the fares now adopted did not pay they would at
once take the matter into their consideration. He
contended that in what had been done au equalisa-
tion of fares had been made, and nothing more ;
and if the directors had not taken the course they
had they would have neglected the interests of the
shareholders. With reference to the letters that
had appeared in the newspapers on the subject, he
should not say further than that he had received a
great many, most of which told the directors their
third class were too good. (Oh, oh.) He must
say he was very much of that opinion. He did
think their accommodation to certain parties had
been too good, and that they had in a great mea-
sure spoilt the public. The directors were taking
the most active steps to get the priority question
settled, and he might conclude by saying that the
property was in a sound and good condition.

Mr. WARTER seconded the motion, and said that
whatever had been the waste and extravagance
twelve millions of money had been spent on their
railway, and the fares hitherto charged did'ut pro-
duce sufficient to pay interest. The conduct of the
public was most unreasonable in objecting to the
directors endeavouring to get enough to pay interest
on the capital laid out for the debenture-holders.
Mr. HITCHCOCK said the fares hitherto charged
by the directors was not shoe-leather price, and be
was surprised that there should have been such au
outcry when the directors attempted to remedy the
matter. He thought the directors would be weak
to give way at the present moment. He felt
certain that after a little while the matter would
settle down—(hear, hear)—and quiet would soon
come about. The letters only came from a few
grumblers, who would grumble at anything, and
if left alone the dissatisfaction would soon die out.
With respect to the omnibuses running in compe-
tition that would also die out, and wh2u the public
wa,,tel a good ride they woull come back to them.
(Hear, hear.) He thought the directors had only
done justice to the shareholders in raising their
fares—(hear, hear)—ant the talk about their
charges b2in3. increased 100 per cent., was all
nons2nse. (I ear, hear.) The secret was their pre-
sent fares were not too high, but they had formerly
been too low. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. BILLINGS said it was a matter of the highest
importance to all concerned that there should be no
dispute about railway fares. He was not for high
fares, because the time for levying them had passed,
but he thought the new arrangement with respect
to certain classes was most unjust. The ordinary
admission and railway tickets to the Crystal Palace
remained at the old figure, but the fare charged to
the holders of season tickets had been greatly in-
creased. Such a proceeding was most unfair, and
would be attended with great loss to the Crystal
Palace Company. He had in his own case given up
attending the Saturday concerts in consequence of
the high fare now charged, and many others had
done the same, so both companies lost revenue.
He thought the arrangement at present in existence
with respect to workmen's trains required revision,
as it was a great hardship that one set of workmen
should travel cheaply, and another class of work-
men be charged very high for the same accommoda-
tion. (Hear, hear.) The omnibuses on the road
to the Elephant and Castle were benefiting by the
policy of the directors, because they were all filled,
while the railway trains were empty. He thought
that the sooner the directors made a retrograde
movement the better. (Hear, bear.) Of course it
was the duty of the directors to use all their exer-
tions to procure a dividend for the shareholders, but
the question was, Was the late increase of fares the
right way to do it? (Hear, hear.)
A SHAREHOLDER defended the conduct of the
directors with respect to the increase of fares, and
said he did not see why railway directors should be
treated worse than the baker or the butcher. When
either of those trades increased their prices their
customers paid it without making the absurd objec-
tion they raised against the fares now charged.
(Oh, oh.)
Another SHAREHOLDER said the increase came
with peculiar hardship upon those who bad built
their residences a little way out of town, relying
upon the fares on the railway remaining stationary.
(Hear, hear.)
The CHAIRMAN said. he was gratified to find that
all were disposed to debate the fares as reasonable
men. The present was not the time to take fright
at high words—(hear, hear)—they had done but
what they felt their duty. With respect to the
workmen's trains he thought they were a
great convenience, but whether some better
arrangement could not be made was a
matter for consideration. With respect to the
omnibus competition on short distances, that would
always continue, as they could take up and set down
passengers at any point required. He might say
that the directors were watching closely the result
of the present equalisation of fares, and if it resulted
in a loss to the company fresh arrangements would
at once be made, but until a result was arrived at
the directors felt they were acting in the right
direction.

After some further discussion relative to the
general position of the company, the report was
adopted and the meeting adjourned.

RED TAPE.—There is an old story of red tape
from Russia. In the year 1830, the Emperor Nicholas,
looking over the accounts of his household, found an
entry something like this: —To tallow, for the cure of
her Majesty's cold, ton roubles. Ho was puzzled, know-
ing that the Empress was in perfect health. But on
pursuing his inquiries he found the same charge re-
peated day after day for years and years. Ho
demanded an explanation, and discovered that in the year
1790 the Empress Catherine had had a severe cold ; that
the physician advised her to apply melted tallow to her
Majesty's nasal organ ; that there was none in the palace ;
that it had to be procured for her ; and that ever since
that date—for more than half a century—there was every
day entered in the accounts of the Imperial household a
charge for tallow to be applied tq the imperial pose.--
Once a IRO.