Morning journal and courier., 1892-08-20
In Winchester Henry vi. plannsd Eaton

in Winchester Henry VI. planned Eaton
I college after Wykeham's school which,
still one of the most interesting of British
colleges, stands here to day Just as il then
, stood against the southern edge of the vel
vety cathedral close. Here Mary reoeiyed
Philip and their unfortunate nuptials were
concluded; while the great structure now
standing beside the castle and used as the
royal barracks was built by Charles III,
} though be never lived to see ii completed
as a sumptuous residence for himself and
pretty Nell" Gwynne.
And so on and on the grim old story
runs. But by and by the dark masses of
verdure, the square Norman tower and the
ridge of the mighty nave rising above the
banks of leafy lines and the peninsula
formed by the vsgrant Itchen covered with
| sward and flowers, tempts you down by
winding paths from st. Giles hill, and you
are soon standing beside the ancient city
cross- 1t wac built over Eve hundred
years ago, in the reign of Henry VI, just
before his murder by Gloster and has be-
aides its fine old grouping of saints In the
upper inches, the carved figures Of VIII
liam of Wykeham, the famous founder of
Winchester school, of Florence de Lunu,
Winchester's first mayor, seven hundred
and eight years ago, the martyr ST. Law
renee and King Alfred the Great.
You are now In the center Of winches-
ter In High street. You suddenly recall
the curious fact that In all but one of these
old cathedral towns You have found High
street. It mattered not whether It were
| high or low. High street it had been ever
since there had been an English tongue
Every place of interest to be seen In only q
few moments walk off or on this old ia
miliar street. So, in all other English ca
thedral towns as here, beneath the city
cross, however cramped its surroundings,
is the ancient ''mercate square" or market
place, and jagged, EigZag thoroughfares
lead to the cross from outlying picturesque
spots and quarters.
All about are half -timbered houses, pro-
jecting story over story into the market
| place; and you wonder how long before
from sheer age they will tumble, red roofs
frst, over into the clean, cool space below.
Quaint shops are pinched In between etaid
| old mansions. Bsndboxes of inns speck
the gray facAdes with gilt and color.
Worn steps, scrubbed mereilessly and
washed with white lead into tiny vesti-
bules, gay with cleaning brass knockers
and rare old colored glass.
Just there, to the right, Is a wynd or
close, grayer, more a medley of gables,
overhangiDg roofs and protruding win
dows than the narrow street where you are
standing. 1t is mossy old Minister street /
You saunter into its shadows At its
| southern end is an Inviting vista of foliage
| and light You will find more gray heads
here than In any other equal distance in
England. Gray old men and gray old wo-
men silently sit musiog over gray old
| wares in their gray old shops.
1t is all so startltngly suggestive of age
| and decay that you hasten on. Suddenly
one side of the shadowy passsgewsy stops
short, and there before you is one of the
sweetest sights In Z. gland. 1t is the great
cathedral close, surrounded by ivy hung
fourteenth century houses, its area thread
ed and silvered by the vagrant Itchen |
stream, masses of lines rising here and |
there above, and the cathedral of royal /
Winchester, showing its patches and bits, /
just limiting of its grand proportions, i
through the riffs of luIuriant lime tree /
leaves.
From where you stand storing the scene
in your memory an avenue of LINES, re-
vesling the famou. walk in Trinity gar
dens, Cambridge, leads diagonslly across
the close to the cathedrsfs entrance be-
meath its great west window. To the left
across the wide reach of sward are o few Il
struggling graves. To the right fewer still
rise white against the green. The foliage /
of the overhanging lines IL so dense that /
you cannot see the sky. Among the leaves,
at this time of the year, is a wealth of
sweet-smelling, yellow green flowers. 1t
is wonderfully still here. Now and again Il
a witherei blossom luttering to the stone /
walk, or a robin or blsckbird hopping So
berry in and ou. among the olden graves,
almost startles you.
AS you proceed down the tagged avenue
the gray breaks through the green. The
north transept is first partially unveiled i
Then the wide, lower tower, the entire Il
vaatu rha Of ,,tn
cled buttressss to the north of the nave,
aud the roofs of the bishops palace and
deanery to the south, are gradually dis
closed, and at the right is a most ancient
wall, penetrated by a low arched en-
trance which in former times gave subter-
ranean passage to the royal palace. Study
it all so little or long as you may your
whole being is filled and thrilled 1y its ma
jesty, beauty and repose.
Antiquity shrouds the beginning of /
Christianity at Winchester. The cathedral
existed under Vortigern and Uther Pen
dragon. In nearly every particular as You /
will find 1t to-day. this cathedral has stood /
since $50 or upwards of one Thousand Il
years; while the earlier cathedral church /
on the site of the present structure was Il
founded aud endowed one thousand three /
hundred and fifty eight years sgo. Win /
chester having been royal Winchester |
more than a marshy fishing village, the i
colossal exterior aud royal interior as we'll /
as the vast number and architectural splen- /
dor of it's royal and ecclesisstio sepulchures /
and monuments are at once accounted for.
On entering this cathedral and taking q
position under the great west window, You
find nave, choir and vault simply a msles-
| tic study in mellowed and subdued gray.
| The tremendous proportions of the COL
umns-they are twelve feet In diameter,
| the distance between them or the inter
/ coiumniation being only about two diane
| ters of the columns-are SO great that
| there is not break in their line either
side. save midway along the southern tier
| where stands Bishop Wykeham's noble
ohantry and tomb, through the entire
length Of nave and choir. the greatest Of
any cathedral In England.
The nave columns and vault and the
choir seem to focus in one far, high, trem-
ulous film of light in the upper visible |
portion of the east window, above the
marble altar screen. Tie space 10 60 vast, |
| the proportions so perfect, the old Nor |
/ man work 80 splendid in it's massive sim
| plicity, even where modified by transition
and early English work, the admission OF
| light SO equable, that even the dark oAken
choir screen sinks into place and depth of
/ color only in lower fitting shadow, even
serving to strengthen the effect cf the
| marvellous altar white bathed in the east
| windows mellowed rose.
Clearly the distinguishing features of
Winchester cathedral are structural vast
ness, msssiveness, simplicity and repose.
Strongest marked in features of detail are
over ornsmentstion of the Lady chapel,
particularly in the windows; the bold and
airy flying buttresses that stretch over the
side aisles, supporting the upper walls;
the rich open bsttIement surmounting
these wallis; the unusual chamber or tri-
bune erected for minstrsls in ancient times
over the western extremity of the north
aisle; the shortness, vastness and solidity
of the great tower; and the location of the
latter Immediately over the choir, instead
of over the space approaching it, as in
moet other csthesirsla.
The cathedral is the richest in chantries
and chspels of any / have ever seen.
Their great number aud marvellous rich
ness of ornamentation are sccentusted
from the massiveness and simplicity Of
their structural surroundings. Historical
ly no sacred edifice in England can boast
such wealth of treasure, if it may be so