Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1875-11-05
EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENCE.

The great ecclesiastical establish
ments in England, always occupy
pleasan sites, and, in many cases,
form the nucleus to thriving, though
quiet towns.
The old priests who founded the
cathedrals and monasteries of Eng
land, knew how to place their state
ly buildings in the midst of green
meadows, and pleasant groves, in the
heart of a rich, agricultural country.
Sometimes the towns which sprang
up around them had some political
or military Importance, but COM
merce and manufacture have gener-
ally avoided the subduing influences
of a cathedral city.
Most of these towns have about
the same population that they had
two centuries since, and have a qui-
ct trade in grain and provisions; but
the thousands of pilgrims who
thronged to the shrines of the Saints,
in the good old times, have been sue
ceeded by few scores of languid
tourists, who come to study church
architecture and ceremonies.
Winchester, which was an impor-
tant place under the Romans, and
the capital of many of the Saxon
Kings, is one of the best preserved
and most pleasant of these antiquat-
ed cities. The great cathedral has
not suffered much from wars or re-
storations, and bids fair to stand for
another seven hundred years with
out getting any grayer than it now
is. Most of the present building is
the work of Norman architects of
the eleventh century; but much of
it has been altered and decorated in
the English gothic style. The build
ing is in the shape of a cross, of
course, and a low and massive tow
er rises over the intersection of the
nave and transcept. The Norman
windows of the transcept, with their
plain, round arches, contrast strong
ly with the more ornamental point
ed gothic windows of the nave.
On.entering the building by the
door in the west front, the visitor
looks down the five hundred and six
ty feet of the middle aisle to the
painted window over the further al
tar. Though the pillars of the side
aisles are heavier than the arch
itect of the later portions of the
building would have made them,
their freestone castings bring them in
to harmony with the graceful, spring.
ing arches of the groined ceiling
Half way down the aisle stands the
choir, with its screens of carved oak.
and the bishops throne, and stalls
for canons and choristers.
Between the pillars, and along the
side walls of the church, are the
tombs of bishops, cardinals and 9th |
er church dignitaries. Occasionally
a mailed figure marks the resting
place Of some knight or baron. Near
the entrance Is the beautiful chantry
which surrounds. the tomb of Will
liam of Wykeham, who was Bishop
OF Winchester, and Chancellor Of
England. He restored aud beautifi-
ed this church, and founded a col
lege here and at Oxford, which are
still prosperous. He seems to have
been an aopive and useful man in
his time, and it is right the placid
figure of alabaster should lie here in
honor and state for all time.
When Cromwell's soldiers were
here, they broke every window in
the church, and destroyed all images
supposed to have any religious mean
ing. In some cases they amused
themselves by breaking the noses off
some OF the statues, lying or reclin-
ing on the tombs. /
I.think a good deal of this win
dow smashing and image. breaking,
was the natural result of an impulse
OF human nature, which all BOYS
have to struggle with. The strict |
repression of disorderly practices in