The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-09 00:00:00

THE SUN, LON DON, T(TITTASDAIe ..o*-ENING. JA-NUARY 9

• " The ancient Chapel of the Savoy had been re-
gularly used by the adjacent population for some time,
and had already come to be commonly called the
Church of St. Mary-le-Savoy, before it was proposed
to Queen Elizabeth to sanction the creation of a dis-
trict parish, by throwing together a part of the parish
of St. Clement Danes and the Royal Precinct of the
Savoy, with the hospital chapel as its church. This
arrangement, being approved of by the then Bishop of
London, Grindall, was carried into effect ;—and, the
wider annexation suggested in Queen Anne's time
not having taken place, the chapel continues to be
what Queen Elizabeth left it. It is a parochial
benefice in the gift of her Majesty, in right of her
Duchy of Lancaster; and before the householders,
beyond the Precinct of the Savoy, were admitted to
the formal participation in it as their parish church,
they signed an instrument renouncing all claim to
any right or property in the chapel itself; or in any
part of the precinct.
" There is a constant tradition, that when the
Liturgy in the vernacular tongue was restored by
Queen Elizabeth, this chapel was the first place in
which the service was performed. It was in this
chapel also that the memorable conference between
the Episcopalian and Presbyterian divines on the
Book of Common Prayer was held, in the year 1661 ;
and the result of that conference constitutes one of
the most important events in the history of the
Anglican establishment.
" The benefice has been held by more than one
distinguished ornament of the Church of England;
among others, by Dr. Anthony Horneck, the favourite
Chaplain of King William 111., and one of the most
celebrated preachers of his age.
" At various times, since the beginning of the reign
of Henry VIII., the chapel is mentioned as requiring
and receiving extensive repairs; but there seems to be
no reason for doubting that the existing building is
the same that was erected and consecrated in com-
pliance with the testamentary orders of King Henry
VII. The position of the altar at the northern ex-
tremity has been described recently as anomalous
and unprecedented ;' but the magnificent work of
Mr. Gaily Knight, On the Ecclesiastical Architec-
ture of Italy, from the Earliest Ages to the Fifteenth
Century,' presents copious evidence that the placing
of the altar at the eastern end was by no means
uniformly the practice of remote antiquity. In the
Chapel of St. James's Palace, which was arranged in
the reign of Henry VIII., the altar is in the same
situation as at the Savoy, and the beautiful roof
itself, of the latter chapel, affords the clearest possible
proof that its decorations were settled before Henry
VIII. mooted the divorce of Catharine of Arragon,
and that the drawings were executed with reference
to the actual position of the altar.
" The ceiling of the chapel had long been de-
formed and obscured under coatings of whitewash,
before the ruinous condition of its wood-work di-
rected attention to the details of its original embel-
lishment; but her Majesty's munificence having
authorised a complete restoration, the whole of these
may now be examined distinctly, which was not the
case when certain architectural critics alleged that the
building must have been set apart for sacred purposes
during the prevalence of puritan theories.
" The chapel, now insulated, was originally, as an
old print shows, connected with other parts of the
hospital. It is throughout in the Tudor style, its
interior dimensions 90 by 24 feet. The tower at the
southern end is a modern addition. The walls

within are quite without ornament; it is probable
that carved woodwork was destroyed as well as
painted glass (in the northern window, at least,)
during the Commonwealth. The chapel contains
some elegant ancient monuments, and one which,
though curious, cuts, unfortunately, into the original
design of the altar-piece or reredos.
" The ceiling resembles the nearly contemporary
one of the chapel at St. James's Palace, being wholly
of wood (oak and pear tree), flat, with a slight cove
next the walls; but, instead of the angular panels
which cover the whole surface at the Chapel Royal,
with the initials H. A. (Henry VIII. and Anne 13o-
leyn) painted on them, the roof in the Savoy is
divided by moulded ribs into one hundred and thirty-
eight quatrefoil panels, each enriched with a carved
ornament, either of sacred or of historical significance.
The panels number twenty-three in the length of
the chapel, and six in its width. The ten ranges,
commencing at the north window, and extending
considerably to the southward of the altar-steps, have
each in its centre a shield, surrounded by the crown
of thorns—each shield presenting in high relief some
feature or emblem of the passion and death of our
Lord; and all devised and arranged in a style of
which we have many examples in sacred buildings of
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In one quatre-
foil are the garment and the dice ; in another the
cross; in a third the sponge and the spear; in a
fourth is the head of the high priest's servant, with the
sword of Peter behind his ear. Elsewhere we see a
halbert and a lantern; the column and scourge; a
torch and cresset ; the salutation of Judas ; the heads
of Peter and Pilate's servant; the cock; the heads
of Pilate and Caiaphas ; the five wounds on a heart,
two hands, and two feet; a pelican ; an open sepulchre
with three pots of myrrh. The exterior panels
have angels supporting the cross, the ladder, the
spear, the crown of thorns, the napkin of St. Veronica,
and the column of the scourging. Ihe panels
throughout the rest of the ceiling are occupied by
bearings or badges, indicating the various families
from which the royal lineage was derived, and more
particularly the alliances of the House of Lancaster ;
each of these panels being surrounded, in place of
the crown of thorns towards the altar end, with a
torte or wreath tinted with the livery colours of the
various families respectively. Thus we have the Red
Dragon of Cadwallader; the Black Bull of Clare ; the
White Bart of Richard II.; the White Hind of his
Golden Lion,
Lthieonair Maid of Kent ; the White Falcon
Fair of York ; the White Lion of March ; the Antelope
of Henry V. ; the Winged Stag of France; the
regally crowned, of England; the
White Greyhound of Henry VII. ; the Antelope and
Ibex, with curved horns and spotted skin, being the
badge or 'Best& of Margaret of Richmond, mother
of that King, the same that is displayed so frequently
on her colleges at Cambridge : and in many of the
smaller compartments, what has already been alluded
to as making the date of the decoration, the Pome-
granate of Catherine of Arragon, a badge first adopted
by her father on the surrender of Granada in 1491.*
" There can be no doubt that the use of rich colours
was general in the interior of our ancient churches,
more especially cathedrals and chapels royal. The
example of restoring the splendid blazonry which had
been obliterated in times of puritan fanaticism, and
afterwards neglected, was set about twenty years ago
in the metropolitan church of Canterbury. It has
been followed in many places, nowhere more happily
or more magnificently than in the Temple Church.
And the restoration of the Savoy ceiling would surely
have been incomplete, had what were originally its
characteristic features been allowed to remain in their
recent obscurity.
" The other alterations lately made were adopted
with a view to the greater comfort of the congrega-
tion. A superfluous dt orway has been walled up,
and the other approach widened; but the beautiful
carved work which had thus to be removed, is placed
in another part of the chapel, and the new wooden
carving, requisite where it had stood, has been done
exactly on its model. The pulpit (no doubt of Eliza-
bethan date) has been shifted to a more convenient
position, and her Majesty has been graciously pleased
to grant the chapel a good organ, in lieu of the
barrel-organ, which was all it seems ever to have
possessed previously.
" The great north window had been bricked up and
covered by a wretched painting. It has now been re-
opened, and the parishioners having, in grateful ac-
knowledgment of her Majesty's liberality as to the
structure in general, requested permission to fill it
with stained glass at their own expense, it is restored
in a very satisfactory manner. In the lower central
compartment is the figure of St. John the Baptist, to
whom the hospital of the Savoy was dedicated; the
side compartments, on the same range, have the
emblems of the other Evangelists. The letter L.,
surmounted with the Ducal Coronet, the Red Rose of
Lanca,ter, and the Lions and Fleurs-de-Lis of the
Plantagenet escutcheon, have been introduced in other
parts ; and the jamb is inscribed thus This window
was glazed at the cost of the Congregation, in honour
of God, and in gratitude to our Queen Victoria.'"

* The devices on this c iling are minutely explained
n Mr. Willement's Heraldic work.

THE QUEEN AND GIBSON, THE SCULPTOR.—The
Queen sat for a bust to Mr. Gibson, a short time pre-
vious to his departure for Rome. He is commissioned
to produce a full-length statue of her Majesty. The
Queen and her Royal Consort were highly pleased with
the work of the accomplished sculptor, whom they re-
ceived and treated with marked urbanity and considera-
tion—with a gracious delicacy, indeed—which made the
artist at once at ease in " the presence." Two or three
slight incidents occurred during his visit to Windsor,
which are worthy of note, as exhibiting her Majesty's
generous thought in regard to the pleasures of her sub-
jects. Mr. Gibson's attention was directed to the posi-
tion occupied by a statue, the work of Wyatt. Passing
into another apartment, a place was pointed out as that
originally selected for it. Gibson saw at once that this
was a site far more advantageous to the production of
his friend, anti said so. Her Majesty immediately re-
plied, " I think with you; but, if placed here, the people
would not be able to see it. During one of the sittings,
the Prince of \Vales was brought into the room. Mr.
Gibson said, " Your Majesty, I am a Welshman: will
your Majesty allow me to kiss the hand of the Prince of
\Vales?" The Queen looked pleased, and was pleased;
and the sculptor knelt, and " did his devoir as a cour-
tier."—Art Unien.
THE CORN TRADE.—Although this trade has been
very quiet for some time, we hear that con' iderable
orders for the purchase of foreign grain have been sent
out to the Baltic. At the present prices, at home and
abroad, good Baltic wheat could pay 20s. duty, the
freight and charges, and just clear itself. There can,
however, be no importation at present on account of tho
ice.—Liverpool Times. _ _

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