The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-11-06

stone, the space underneath being sort OF
ante room or robing room for the chorlst-
ers. A narrow doorway was cut In the
stone wall, and three or four little steps led
from the robing room down into the body
of the church. We took our seats in the
carved oaken stalls, and just then heard off
in the distance priests voice making the
invocation before entering the church. He
was answered by the melodious voices OF
all the invisible choristers raised IN the cry
of glorious "Amen," and then the long
white robed procession of eanons and pro-
fessors and choristers came filing one by
one down through the narrow doorway.
The verger led the procession, bearing
aloft silver staff and conducting the
clergymen to their seats in the stalls. The
entire service, almost identical with that IN
our Episcopal churches, was intoned by the
clergymen and choristers, even to the read
ing Of the Gospel for the day, and the
Psalter was beautifully sung. Sometimes
the boys voices rang out, as an angels
might, filling the church with the melody
and thrilling us with the exquisite beauty
of their singing
After service we spent an hour wander
ing about the old Cathedral, finding
tablet to the Burton who wrote "The
Anatomy of Melancholy" lovely marble
bust or Jas-relief of the late Duke of
Albany, who was Christ Church graduate,
and many old tombs of long dead lords and
ladies. In these grand old churches,
where knights and their ladies are buried,
to say nothing of kings and cardinals and
archbishops, the usual tomb is large fiat
topped vault placed in niche, or alcove, or
side chapel, the side aisles, or in front of
the chancel, or in the chancel itself. The
top of the tomb will be surmounted by
full length marble figures of the long de-
parted ones within, and tie knights will be
in armor and the ladies in their court
dresses, palm folded to palm, feet pressing
against an animal, and about the walls of
the tomb will be often kneeling efhgies of
the entire family. Most of these figures
will have lost an arm or a nose or even
head, but the general effect is fine, never
theless. In place of marble figures many
of the tombs have brasses. This means a
fat surfaced outline figure or work in
brass, about an eighth of an inch thick,
inlaid upon the stone or marble tablet.
When church is famous for its fine
brasses you know that it has many tombs
or graves in the floor thus decorated.
Many tourists have almost Cromwelllan
appetite for brasses and go about from
minister to cathedral, spreading blank
paper over the brasses, rubbing the paper
thus spread vigorously with shoemakers'
wax, and thus securing very good impress
sions of the brass figure underneath.
When we came out of the church by
side door we found ourselves in great
park, called the Christ Church Meadows.
The walk over this land, dotted with great
oak and elm trees is more than three
miles, and far away the soft grasses dip
down into the gentle waters of the Thames.
At our right the expanse Of fair, sweet
fields stretched far away; to the left the
great solemn pile of buildings of the col
lege, and here and there beyond the trees
we could see the shoulder Of some other
chapel or college blocking the way. Ok
ford seemed mass of colleges, cluster of
grim and stately buildings gray as an
oyster shell.
Magdalen College, or, as they pronounce
it, "Maudlen," in the High street, is the
most beautiful of all the colleges. 1t
stands at the end of the street on the
banks of the river, with gentle reaches of
soft grass, making beautiful margin be-
tween its mellow buildings and the spic
and-span cobble paved great thoroughfare
of the town. 1t presents an irregular face
to the passerby; here soft, gray wall,
with a lot of pretty windows, here bat
Element here charming old tower feeding
the ivy, here a pointed gateway or door
cutting tunnel-like entrance through the
building and giving glimpse of the quad
rangles beyond. Magdalen stands on the
side of the ancient Hospital of St. John
the Baptist place of rest and refresh
ment for pilgrims to the shrine of st.
Frideswide. You enter through small
Gothic door at the right of the huge gate
way, and find yourself in sunny court,
with the old mellow stone college clasping
you in its three great gray arms. On your
left is the chapel, in front and behind you
the college and the ruins of some ancient
building gate house, and in one corner
of the building is a wooden pulpit fixed
like cowled balcony in the second story.
At one time, on St. John the Baptists day,
this court would be dressed out with
boughs and grasses to represent wilder
ness, and a sermon would be preached from
this small pulpit, over which hang two or
three gargoyles whose hideous faces have
been beaten away by the winds and rains
and storms Of centuries. From this court
YOU pass under doorway into the great
quadrangle, where the beautiful cloisters
are draped with ivy Each side of this
hollow square is fully block long, and the
walk around it shows innumerable /
entrances by dim and steep little flights of
worn stone steps to the apartments above.
We went into the refectory, where, it being
"out of term" the long tables were spread |
for grand feast for the servants of the
college. One of the cooks told me with an
air Of pride that this feast was of annual
occurrence, and that on such "a day the
tradesmen who supply the college "come in
and do sit down with us at table. The
beauty of Magdalen Refractory is its walls
of exluisitely panelled oak, its ceiling rich
ly painted, and noble old fireplace. We
gave one of the men sixpence, and he
showed us over the great kitchen, with its
stone floor, its enormous range filling one
side, and on the other an open fire banked
up behind iron bars, and before which
meat for the forthcoming feast was roast
ing. There were four iron rods stretched
across in front of the fire, and on these
were speared legs of mutton, great roasts
of beef and veal The end of each bar
rested in wheel, and by means of chains,
weights, and pulleys the bars and the
roasts turned around and around ike
articles on exhibition on a revolving stand.
Great brass pans stood underneath to
catch the adrippings," and on a shelf near
were pans full of cold grease or drippings,
which, as l have told you before, is used
for cooking in place Of lard and butter.
The man said that during the term there