Chapter III: The Interior (2)

1. The arches of the two side windows cut through string courses which run eastwards on both sides of the presbytery, being, in fact, continuations of the abaci proper of the half-capitals at that end of the choir. 2. If the east windows were designed from fragments of previously existing Norman ones, these cannot have been of the same date as the choir arches. The mouldings are later, and the old bases of the windows still in the east wall are clearly of transitional character, differing essentially from those belonging to corner shafts in the east aisles of the transepts. 3. The east walls of the choir aisles, which had been heightened to carry the vaulting, abut against and cover the jambs of the two side windows of the presbytery on the outside, a thing which could not have happened had the presbytery and choir aisles formed part of the same design.

=The Reredos=, an anonymous gift, erected in 1881 in red Dumfries sandstone, is a pleasant contrast to the chilly erections which now deface so many of our cathedrals. It has been said to be "perhaps the most exquisite piece of modern workmanship in Oxford," though this would not necessarily be very high praise. But, though a little too small for its position, a little wanting in breadth and overstrained in detail, it is a sound and sincere piece of work. Nor can we agree with the criticism which says that nothing can make it look like part of the structure, for this is the fault of the structure in its present condition; when the old colouring is revived, the reredos will certainly not be too rich for it, and there is plenty of late Gothic in the choir to harmonise with its carving. Mr. Bodley designed it, and Mr. Brindley was the sculptor of the figures. They are of marble (rosso antico), and are excellent both in feeling and execution. The central panel represents the Crucifixion, with Our Lady and St. John at the foot of the cross, and Jerusalem in the background. In the niches on the left are St. Michael in armour, and St. Stephen in a dalmatic; on the right, St. Augustine, in cope and mitre, and a very feminine looking St. Gabriel. Above the niches are carved and gilt shields bearing the emblems of the Passion. The warm effect of the whole is heightened by two handsome, green curtains on either side. The inscription, under the crucifix is _Per crucem tuam libera nos Domine_.

=The High Altar=, of cedar wood, is less successful. Its eight clumsy legs, which are the only part visible, are covered with unpleasant, geometrical carving, most inappropriately accentuated by gilding: the result is that an impression of some strange, many-legged insect fastens on one in entering the church, and is hard to dislodge. One could wish that the altar were panelled, or frontals used to cover the legs.

The two silver-gilt candlesticks are extremely fine examples of seventeenth century plate; they are rather squat in shape, with large bases richly embossed. The alms-dish which stands over the credence is also silver-gilt of the same date, magnificently embossed. These were given at the Restoration, and bear the date 1661-2. The chalices, patens, and flagons have been made to match them in more recent times. The altar books are good specimens of binding in velvet and precious metal. They were given in 1638 by Canon Henry King. On the fly-leaf of each book is a curious inscription in Latin, of which the following is a translation:--"Bequeathed to the Church of Christ, Oxford. A brand snatched from the burning, 1647, by the zealous care of R. Gardiner, Canon of Ch. Ch., but displaced from his rightful position by the greed of his times." These books were in use when Charles I. worshipped in the cathedral during the civil war.

The lectern, of ancient, pale brass enriched with filigree work, and garnished with amethyst, cornelian, and agate stones, is the gift of two former censors of the House, the Rev. T. Vere Bayne and the Rev. H.L. Thompson. The stem, surmounted by a globe and a good conventional eagle, bears the figures of St. Frideswide, Cardinal Wolsey, and Bishop King. At the base are three lions bearing the arms of the Priory, the College, and the University. The bible bears the date 1674. A beautifully illuminated lectionary on vellum, a relic of Cardinal Wolsey, and used by him in this church, can be seen in the Christ Church library.

The Bishop's Throne (in Italian walnut) is a not very inspired work of Messrs. Farmer and Brindley. It was put up as a memorial to Bishop Wilberforce, at a cost of £1000, and has a medallion of the Bishop with mitre and pastoral staff at the back.

=The South Choir Aisle= is of an earlier period than the nave and transept aisles, the walls being, it is thought, of Ethelred's time. A stone bench runs along its south side, adding to its bright and pleasant appearance. The southern windows were rebuilt by Scott in Norman style of a different character to the window containing Bishop King's portrait which has its original capitals and bases. The corbels which carry the vault are carved into heads of men and baboons: the vaulting ribs have been unmistakably fitted on to the earlier Norman work. The Decorated east window, which, owing to the Burne Jones glass, is such a prominent feature of the cathedral, is restored, but there is a good deal of the original ball-flower moulding around it. At the side is a late Perpendicular piscina, with bold, square flowers cut on the jambs; and on the pillars opposite there are traces of paintings, which must have been very bright-coloured once, and would very likely be so still, had it not been for Brian Duppa's wood-work.

=Monuments=.--There is an old brass on the wall, near the eastern end, to Stephen Pence, who died in 1587. Near this is a not very pleasing life-size medallion of Prince Leopold in statuary marble set in Sicilian marble; it was sculptured by Mr. T. Williamson of Esher. The bronze tablet, with the portrait in relief of Dr. Mackarness, the late Bishop, is very much better both in colour and design. Further west another medallion in statuary marble, set in giallo antico, commemorates Sarah Acland, the wife of Sir Henry Acland, who is an Honorary Student of the House, and was for many years Regius Professor of Medicine in the University; the Sarah Acland Home for Nurses keeps her pious memory fresh in Oxford.

The late Tudor monument to the first Bishop of Oxford, _Robert King_, has been removed from its former place under his window to the bay between the aisle and St. Lucy's Chapel, where it now forms a sort of small screen to the little chapel. Bishop King died in 1557; his tomb is recessed, canopied, and covered with shallow panel-work in minute divisions, but without any effigy, sculptured or incised. Though it is among the last works of the mediæval school of monumental architecture, it is still graceful and restrained; and indeed a great contrast to the new style of monument which came in a few years later. _Inscription:--Hic jacet Robertus King sacre theologie Professor et primus Ep'us Oxon. qui obiit quarto die Decembris Anno (Domini M.D. LVII)_.

Crossing to the north side of the choir, one reaches the beautiful cluster of chapels which add so much to the grace of the cathedral, relieving it of any grimness of aspect which its unbroken array of massive columns might otherwise have produced, and by their unaffected dissimilarity enhancing at once its historical interest and its visible charm. Here the eye wanders among pillars and arches which branch away in so many directions that the grandest churches can scarcely give more thoroughly the idea of infinity. And here one stands on the site of St. Frideswide's first little church, with the very arches that she had built for her, still standing in all their primitive simplicity. These three aisles, and the south aisle on the opposite side of the choir, are indeed eloquent of the unpretentious, lasting work that brave women have done for humanity: the latter has become, through its window, sacred to the memory of St. Catherine, whose own Latin Chapel is now for the same reason inseparably connected with St. Frideswide. St. Cecilia looks down upon the aisle next the choir, and the chapel of Our Lady is separated from it only by the monument of the Saxon maiden, while St. Lucy has given her name to the fifth and smallest of these eastern chapels. Thus has this great society of learned men taken pleasure in doing honour to the good women of Christendom.

=The North Choir Aisle= and the two aisles which adjoin it were lengthened one bay by the gradual inclusion of the eastern aisle of the transept. A heavy pier has been left with no attempt at decoration on the transept side but with a cluster of shafts on the side facing east; and the next pier to the north has been similarly treated. It will be noticed that the arches over these western bays of the north choir aisle and Lady Chapel, being the arches of the old transept aisle, are extremely massive; unlike anything else in the church, except the one remaining arch, is the corresponding south transept aisle (now St. Lucy's Chapel): these are therefore thought to be unrestored parts of Ethelred's works. The fact that Norman vaulting shafts have evidently been inserted into the pier walls of the aisles point also to the conclusion that the aisle was erected at a date when vaulting shafts were not in use.

At the east end there is a small arch, extremely rough, its ragstone voussoirs patched in one part with a block of modern stone. A similar arch is to be seen in the wall of the next (Lady) Chapel, and between these two are traces of another. These three arches led to one of the most interesting architectural discoveries of recent years; and one can hardly look at them unmoved, remembering that they form part of the original church which was built by St. Frideswide and her father. They were indeed the three "chancel arches" (if one may use the expression) which led into the three apses, the discovery of which we have described in our chapter on the exterior of the cathedral.

It was not till 1888 that the plaster was removed from the walls, and these arches exposed to view. It was then obvious that they had been part of a permanent church, and not merely temporary doorways for the convenience of Norman masons. Rough as they seem, to the expert they bear marks of care and repair, of having been, in fact, preserved as a specially venerated part of the church. As an instance of this, Mr. Park Harrison points out that one of the supporting stones is quite two feet long (longer than any other in the cathedral), and has Norman tooling upon it. It can scarcely be doubted, he says, that this was introduced to support the springing-stones of the arch, for there are clear signs that there had been some settlement. The head of the archways, too, had been plastered. In both archways there is an impost (a projection, that is, from which the arch springs), and this impost is continued through the thickness of the wall. It will be noticed that the jambs of these arches go more than two feet below the level of the floor, which is another sign of their early date. Within the apse that was reached through the southernmost archway lay the body of St. Frideswide in its first resting-place, and for long this part seems to have been held in special veneration, until the first translation in 1180, when the relics of "The Lady" were moved into a more noted place in the church, and this apse doubtless abandoned like the other two. Somewhere here the relics were then placed (as they lie to-day in the ground beneath this chapel), but the first monument has been lost. Of the second monument, which also was lost but is found again, it is now the place to speak. But, first, it may be well to explain that what is usually called the shrine of St. Frideswide is really the marble monument, or base, upon which the shrine itself formerly rested. In the Middle Ages, relics (with the two English exceptions of Westminster and St. Albans) were preserved in a shrine, usually of metal, which was enclosed in a coffer or _feretrum_.

=The Shrine of St. Frideswide=.--Foremost in historical interest, as well as in actual beauty, are the remains of the marble monument which have recently been put together and set up in the easternmost arch between the Lady Chapel and the north choir aisle. The coffer or shrine, which was made for the translation in 1289 (its base being therefore the most ancient monument in the cathedral), was knocked to pieces at the Reformation (1538), and, being of wood, must have entirely perished. But gradually, and from different places, fragments of the base were brought together: first, several pieces of delicately carved marble were discovered in the sides of a square well in the yard south-west of the cathedral; then a part of the plinth on the south side was found to be in use as a step, luckily with the carved portion turned inwards; next, a spandrel was detected by Mr. Francis, the head verger, in the wall of the cemetery; and last of all a piece of the plinth was found in a wall in Tom Quad. Though some portions are still wanting, it is not impossible that more may yet be found.

As the monument stands now, it cannot, of course, impress one as it would have done in its perfect state, with the rich superstructure crowning it: especially as the restored shafts are merely square stone supports of the clumsiest description, so studiously careful has the restorer been not to confuse them with the original work. One cannot but applaud this conscientious spirit (would, indeed, that it had been adopted earlier!), but at the same time the modern supports have been made quite unnecessarily hideous. Still, though the base of St. Frideswide's shrine is only a collection of fragments, these fragments are of remarkable beauty and interest. It is of Forest marble, measuring seven feet by three and a half; and consists of an arcade of two richly cusped arches at the sides and one at each end. On the top of this was fixed the _feretrum_, containing the jewelled casket that held the relics themselves. The spandrels are filled with wonderfully carved foliage, unusually naturalistic, and preserving still the traces of colour and gilding to remind one of its former glories. The plants have been identified by Mr. Druce of High Street, the well-known Oxford botanist. On the south side there is maple in the central spandrel, with a wreath of what is probably crow's-foot in a boss below: the two side spandrels contain columbine and the greater celandine. On the north side the foliage is mostly oak, with acorns and numerous empty cups; sycamore and ivy filling the adjoining spandrels. At the east end one of the spandrels contains vine leaves and grapes, the other fig-leaves, but without the fruit; the cusp under the vine has a leaf which may be that of hog-leaf. At the west end there is hawthorn and bryony. The choice of all this foliage was doubtless made for symbolical reasons, referring first to St. Frideswide's life in the oak woods near Abingdon, and next to her care for the sick and suffering at Thornberrie (now Binsey). And in this connection it is pleasant to think that the sculptor, with tender fancy, chose plants which were famous for their healing virtue.

The foliage at the angles takes the form of pastoral staves; and the intermediate spandrels at the sides have women's heads carved in the centre. The plinth, which has been set on a chamfered base and step of white stone, is ornamented with a series of quatrefoils, containing the head of a bishop at the north-west corner, and the heads of queens on the south side. Foliage, instead of a head, occupies the centre and end panels on the sides; and very delicate foliage is worked on a little roll moulding extant at two of the angles.

Here is an account of the destruction of the shrine, and the treatment of its relics, in the words of Dean Liddell[3]:--

"It is a strange story. It is well known that, before the Reformation, the Church of St. Frideswide and her shrine enjoyed a high reputation as a place of sanctity. Privileges were conceded to it by royal authority. Miracles were believed to be wrought by a virtue attaching to it; pilgrims from all parts resorted to it,--among the number we find the name of Queen Catherine of Aragon, whose visit to the shrine shows the veneration in which it was held. Twice a year the Vice-Chancellor and principal members of the University visited the church in solemn procession, being considered (as we are told) the 'Mother Church of University and town,--there to pray, preach, and offer oblations at her shrine.'

"These practices and privileges not unnaturally seemed to the zealous Reformers of those times to call for summary interference. The old superstitions, which certainly gave rise to many abuses, must, they thought, be abated at once; nothing but strong measures would avail to withdraw the minds of the people, nurtured as they were in absolute belief in these superstitions, from belief in them. Accordingly, we cannot be surprised to find that this famous shrine was doomed to destruction, and was actually destroyed. When this happened it is not easy to determine,--probably in the time of Henry VIII. The fragments were used either at the time, or not long afterwards, to form part of the walls of a common well; and there we found them. The reliques of the Saint, however, were rescued by some zealous votaries, and carefully preserved in hope of better times. Meantime Catherine (the wife of Peter Martyr, a foreign Protestant theologian of high repute, who had been appointed Regius Professor of Theology here) died, and was buried near the place lately occupied by the shrine. Over her grave sermons were preached, contrasting the pious zeal of the German Protestant with the superstitious practices that had tarnished the simplicity of the Saxon Saint. Then came another change. The Roman Church under Mary Tudor recovered a brief supremacy. The body of Peter Martyr's wife was (one regrets to learn), by order of Cardinal Pole, contemptuously cast out of the church, and the remains of St. Frideswide, preserved, as I have said, by the piety of her devotees, were restored to their former resting-place. But it does not appear that any attempt was made to restore the shrine. Party zeal still prevailed. Angry contests continued between the adherents of the two parties even after the accession of Elizabeth.

"In consequence, the Queen, soon after her accession, ordered Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Grindal, Bishop of London, to look into this and other matters in dispute between the adherents of the Roman Church and those of the Reformed Faith; and these eminent ecclesiastics commissioned the authorities of this House to remove the scandal that had been caused by the inhuman treatment of Catherine Martyr's body. The matter was conducted by James Calfhill, lately appointed to a stall in this church, and then acting as sub-dean. In a letter to Bishop Grindal he gives an account of the ceremony that took place. He was resolved, if we may judge from his action, not to give a triumph to either party. On Jan. 11th, 1561, O.S., the bones of the Protestant Catherine and the Catholic St. Frideswide were put together, so intermingled that they could not be distinguished, and then placed together in the same tomb. This solution of the difficulty could not have been displeasing to the great Queen, who had been consistently endeavouring rather to win over her opponents by conciliation than to crush them by persecution. We may well suppose that she approved of the act of our Dean and Chapter. Death is the great reconciler; enmities should, at all events, be buried with the dead."

Calfhill, the sub-dean, wrote two epigrams on the burial of Catherine Martyr with St. Frideswide. The first ends thus: _Ergo facessant hinc rabida impietas, inde superstitio_; the other thus: _Nunc coeant pietas atque superstitio_. Perhaps these apparently contradictory sentiments led Isaac Disraeli (in his account of this curious transaction, which he selects in his "Amenities of Literature" as an illustration of the mutability of time) to remark that Calfhill "seems to have been at once a Catholic and a Reformer." Sanders the Jesuit was indignant at the "impious epithet," which he says was added, _hic jacet religio cum superstitione_; "although," says old Fuller, "the words being capable of a favourable sense on his side, he need not have been so angry."

The exact spot where the bones of The Lady now rest is supposed to be marked by a brass on the floor of the Lady Chapel, lately placed there by Canon Bright. But we can only be certain that, somewhere in this part of the church, "the married nun and the virgin saint," to use Froude's words, "were buried together, and the dust of the two still remains under the pavement inextricably blended."

=The Lady Chapel=, which is the aisle next to the north choir aisle, is sometimes called "the Dormitory," because many of the canons are buried here: the word being a literal translation of the Greek _coemeterium_ (sleeping-place), applied to the catacombs of Rome. It was enlarged, with the Early English pillars and vaulting of the period, in the thirteenth century. The shafts are filleted, and the capitals carved in the characteristic curling foliage. It owes its position possibly to the original dedication of the eighth century church; though the Elder Lady Chapel of Bristol Cathedral, another Augustinian house, is similarly situated. Its eastern wall proves that it must have already existed long before the thirteenth century. The most casual observer will also be struck by the ingenuous clumsiness with which it has been patched together. There is a fine Decorated four-centred window at the East End, restored to its present condition from the mean two-light window that the seventeenth century had made of it: underneath, at the side of the blocked-up Saxon doorway, is a once richly coloured piscina, the outer moulding much damaged. The roof and arches of the second bay from the east bears many traces of colouring, which show among other things that the capitals were all painted green alike, the abaci red, and the ribs of the vault and arches red, green, and perhaps other colours. The figures of angels can be made out on the roof, a swinging censer being particularly clear. A glance from here at the high altar makes one realise how much more bright and strong the old colour was, and is indeed even now, than the modern. This decoration proves that in the second bay stood something of particular importance. It is generally agreed now that this was not the shrine of St. Frideswide but the altar of Our Lady, for shrines were placed behind and not before the altars. Such an arrangement would leave the eastern bay of the chapel free for the two shrines, the large one (commonly called the "Watching Chamber") and the small one recently discovered and placed opposite to it under the south-east arch. The fact that this arch is also coloured, and is the only other part which is thus treated, goes to prove that the small shrine did originally stand where it now is. Another sign is that the pillar nearest to the east end of it has been cut away, evidently to allow of a free passage round the shrine.

The Lady Chapel is divided from the Latin Chapel by four arches. Of these the first, being part of the original transept aisle, is very plain and massive, without mouldings and of one order; it springs from a square pier with shafts at the corners, and has an extremely broad soffit. It is almost beyond doubt part of Ethelred's church, and proves that the transept was finished early. The second arch is Early English, cut irregularly through the wall, which bears traces of a round arch above it. The first of the four arches which separate this chapel from the north choir aisle is similar to the one just described. The rest are very obtuse; for the two eastern bays of the Lady Chapel are two feet wider than the others, perhaps in order to increase the accommodation for worshippers at the shrine of St. Frideswide.

=The "Watching Chamber."=--Next in interest to the "shrine," and far more imposing in appearance, is the large tomb or watching chamber under the easternmost arch between the Lady Chapel and the Latin Chapel. Its real nature is still a matter of dispute: some maintaining it to have been used as a chantry chapel for the welfare of those who were buried below; others that it served as a "watching chamber" to protect the gold and jewels which hung about the shrine of St. Frideswide. But there is much likelihood that is was built for the new shrine of St. Frideswide, when the growing taste for elaboration in architecture tired of the comparative simplicity of the old one. If this be the case, the "watching chamber" would be in reality the third and last monument of St. Frideswide, the second being that already described, while of the first (that made for the Translation of 1180) no trace remains. The _feretrum_ would have been removed from its position on the second monument, and placed within the little wooden chapel of the chamber.

Most elaborately carved and crocketed, the "watching chamber" is a beautiful example of full-blown Perpendicular workmanship; "most lovely English work, both of heart and hand," according to Mr. Ruskin. It consists of four stories, the two lower, in stone, forming an altar tomb and canopy, and the two upper in wood. A door from the Latin Chapel leads one up a small and well-worn stone staircase into the interior of the little upper chapel, which is now a rough wooden room. Its extreme roughness suggests that it was once panelled and otherwise adorned, while there are marks at its east end, which may be the site of an altar, or of the _feretrum_ itself.

The "watching chamber" belongs to the turn of the fifteenth century, and may have been erected in 1500, under the patronage of Archbishop Morton, the inventor of "Morton's fork," who died in that year, having been Chancellor of the University, and a great benefactor of it. The stone altar-tomb is of rather earlier date than the wooden superstructure, and bears the matrices of two brasses, from which one can make out enough of the horned head-dress of the female figure to settle the costume as one that remained in fashion till about 1480.

In 1889 Mr. Park Harrison explored the interior of the tomb which forms the lower portion of the "watching chamber." Entrance was effected by the removal of two steps of the staircase which leads into the Latin Chapel, and the whole space beneath the stone slab was found to be packed with carved stones and rubble. The pretty battlemented coping, which is now happily placed on the sill behind the altar of the Latin Chapel, was thus found; and also a pillar piscina of Norman date, and a fine Early English piscina, with two trefoiled arches, divided by a slender shaft with foliated cap, and profusely enriched with the tooth ornament. This latter find can now be seen lying on the slab itself.

By an accident it was discovered that what seemed to be the floor of this tomb was really the ceiling of a vault beneath. The pavement was opened in the Latin Chapel just outside the tomb, and steps were found which led to the vault through a flat four-centred doorway. In the vault was a single oak coffin, widest at the head and tapering in a straight line to the foot, like the stone coffins of an earlier period. It was apparently of fifteenth century date, and contained a body closely swathed in cerecloth; but after the coffin was opened the dust within the cerecloth rapidly subsided. The body was pronounced by experts to be that of a woman about five feet six inches in height, and was probably that of the lady in the mitred head-dress whose brass can be traced on the altar-tomb.

=Monuments in the Lady Chapel=.--In the bay of the west of the "watching chamber" is the tomb of _Elizabeth, Lady Montacute_, who gave to the Priory the large field now known as the Christ Church Meadow, in order to maintain two priests for her chantry in the Lady Chapel. There seems to be no ground for the statement that she built the Latin Chapel; in her foundation-deed she expressly directs the masses and other offices to be said "within the chapel of the Blessed Mary," and, so far from her bequest proving sufficient to build a new chapel, it was soon found inadequate for the maintenance of the two chantry priests. Lady Montacute was the daughter of Sir Peter de Montfort, and was married first to William de Montacute, by whom she had four sons and six daughters, and afterwards to Thomas de Furnival. Her monument consists of a high tomb, the sides of which are divided into three panelled compartments. In these compartments are little statuettes of her children, and her own effigy rests on the top; at the head and foot of the tomb are quatrefoiled compartments containing sacred symbols and figures. It is very beautiful, and of great interest as showing many specimens of the costume of the period; but one can hardly imagine what its splendour must have been when the rich hues, with which it is painted in every part, were fresh. The colours mentioned in the following learned description by Mr M.H. Bloxham have long tended to monochrome, and the hand of the mutilator has been unusually painstaking and systematic.

"The head of the effigy reposes on a double cushion, and is supported on each side by a small figure of an angel in an alb; these albs are loose, and not girded round the waist. The heads of these figures are defaced, and they are otherwise much mutilated. She is represented with her neck bare, her hair disposed and confined on each side, the face within a jewelled caul of network; over the forehead is worn a veil, and over this is a rich cap or plaited head-dress with nébulé folds, with a tippet attached to it and falling down behind. Her body-dress consists of a robe or sleeveless gown, fastened in front downwards to below the waist by a row of ornamented buttons. The full skirts of the gown are tastefully disposed, but not so much so as we sometimes find on effigies of the fourteenth century. The gown is of a red colour, flowered with yellow and green, and at each side of the waist is an opening, within which is disclosed the inner vest, of which the close-fitting sleeves of the arms, extending to the wrists, form part; this is painted of a different colour and in a different pattern to the gown. This was probably the corset worn beneath the open super-tunic. The gown is flounced at the skirts by a broad white border, and round the side openings, and along the border of the top of the gown, is a rich border of leaves. The hands, which are bare, are joined on the breast in a devotional attitude. Over the gown or super-tunic is worn the mantle, fastened together in front of the breast by a large and rich lozenge-shaped morse, raised in high relief. The mantle, of a buff colour, is covered all over with rondeaux or roundels connected together by small bands, whilst in the intermediate spaces are _fleur de lis_: all these are of raised work, and deserve minute examination. They are apparently not executed by means of the chisel, but formed in some hard paste or composition [_gesso_] laid upon the sculptured stone and impressed with a stamp. The feet of the effigy appear from beneath the skirts of the gown in black shoes, and rest against a dog."

Of the statuettes on each side of Lady Montacute's tomb, which are each a foot and a half high, Mr Bloxham says:--

"The first and easternmost of these, on the north side, is the most puzzling and difficult of all to describe, as regards the costume, and the more so from the mutilated state in which it now appears. It is that of a male, who is habited in a red cloak, the borders of which are jagged. This is buttoned in front to the waist by lozenge-shaped morses, and may have been the garment called the Courtepye, and discloses a short white tunic or vest, plaited in vertical folds, with a bawdrick round the body at the hips."

"Next to this is the effigy in relief of an abbess, in a long loose white gown or robe, a black mantle over, connected in front of the breast by a chain, with a tippet of the same colour. The head has been destroyed, but remains of the plaited wimple which covered the neck in front are visible, as also of the white veil on each shoulder. The pastoral staff appears on the left side, but the crook is gone.

"Two daughters of Lady Montacute were in succession Abbess of Barking, in Essex, and so, next to the last figure is another abbess similarly dressed, with the exception that the left sleeve of the gown, which is large and wide, is seen, as well as the close sleeve of the inner robe. Sculptured figures of abbesses, especially of this period, are extremely rare.

"The next figure is that of a female, in a green high-bodied gown or robe, with small pocket-holes in front and sleeves reaching only to the elbows. The fifth figure is also that of a female, in a white robe or gown, with close sleeves, close fitting to the waist, where it is belted round by a narrow girdle, and thence falls in loose folds to the feet; over this is a black mantle. There are also indications of a plaited wimple about the neck, but the head of this, as of the other effigies, has been destroyed.

"On the south side, the easternmost figure, of which the mere torso remains, is that of a male in a doublet, jagged at the skirts, and buttoned down in front from, the neck to the skirts, with close sleeves buttoned from the elbows to the wrists,--_manicae botonatae_, with a bawdrick, round the hips, and buckled on the right side. From the bawdrick on the left side the gipciere is suspended. This much mutilated effigy presents a good specimen of the early doublet.

"Next to it is the figure of a male, in a long red coat or gown, the _toga talaris_, with a cloak over, buttoned in front downwards from the neck as far as the third button, from whence it is open to the skirts. This dress, in the phrase of the fourteenth century, would be described as _cota et cloca_. In the right hand is held a purse.

"Next to this is the figure of a Bishop, intended possibly to represent Simon, Bishop of Ely, 1337-1344, one of the sons of Lady Montacute. He appears in his episcopal vestments, a white alb, with the apparel in front of the skirt, a black dalmatica fringed and open at the sides, and a chocolate-coloured chesible, with orfreys round the border and disposed in front pall-wise. The parures or apparels of the amice give it a stiff and collar-like appearance. The head of this effigy has been destroyed, and the outline of the mitre is only visible. The pastoral staff has been destroyed, with the exception of the pointed ferrule with which it was shod. It was, however, held by the left hand. The maniple is suspended from the left arm, but no traces of the stole are visible. In more than one instance we may notice on episcopal effigies the absence of either the tunic or dalmatica, and sometimes of the stole.

"The fourth figure is that of a lady in a gown or robe buttoned down in front from the breast to the waist, and with sleeves reaching only to the elbows, from whence depend long white liripipes or false hanging sleeves; small pocket holes are visible in front. From beneath this gown or super-tunic the loose skirts of the under robe, of which also the close-fitting sleeves are visible, appear. Behind this figure are the remains of a mantle. The fifth and last figure is also that of a female in a gown or super-tunic, close-fitting, and buttoned in front to the waist."

The quatrefoiled compartments at the ends of the tomb are particularly good: they contain,--at the head, the Blessed Virgin and Child, between a winged figure at a desk and an eagle, which are the symbols of St. Matthew and St. John the Evangelist,--at the foot, the symbols of SS. Mark and Luke, and between them a woman in gown and mantle with long flowing hair, probably St. Mary Magdalene. The shields in the panels are blazoned with the arms of Montacute, Furnival, and Montfort.

On a pillar near Lady Montacute's tomb there are two brasses; one bearing a graceful kneeling figure of _Johañ, Bishop filii Geo. Bishop_, who died March 23rd, 1588; the other of Thomas Thornton, who died August 17th, 1613.

The next tomb to the west of Lady Montacute is that of a Prior, supposed to be _Alexander de Sutton_, prior from 1294 to 1316. It used to be called Guimond's tomb, and Prior Philip's, but it cannot, of course, be of their time: for the beautiful canopy, supported by Purbeck shafts with vine-leaf capitals, and powdered with ball-flower without, and groined within, as well as the figure beneath it, are Decorated, and belong to the reign of Edward I., about a hundred and fifty years later than Guimond's death in 1141. There were formerly figures at the angles, of which one on the north-west remains with a little of its original colour. The effigy, also of Purbeck marble, is thus described by Mr. M.H. Bloxham:--"The head of the effigy, which is bare and tonsured, with flowing locks by the sides of the face, reposes on a double cushion. The Prior is represented vested, with the amice about his neck with the apparel; in the alb, the apparels of which appear at the skirt in front and round the close-fitting sleeves at the wrists; with the stole, and dalmatica or tunic--which, it is somewhat difficult to say: these two latter are not sculptured, but merely painted on the effigy, and are only apparent on a careful examination; over these is worn the chesible. This vestment is very rich, and ornamented with orfreys round the borders, over the shoulders, and straight down in front. Hanging down from the left arm is the maniple. The boots are pointed at the toes, and the feet rest against a lion. There is no indication of the pastoral staff; the hands are joined on the breast." Another proof of its fourteenth century date is that the face is close-shaven: had it been an effigy of the twelfth century the face would have been bearded.

West of this is the tomb of _Sir George Nowers_ (de Nodariis), who died in 1425. His effigy gives one a good idea of the armour of his time--or rather of a period slightly before his death. Mr. Bloxham, who devoted special attention to these three monuments, thus describes the armour:--

"On the head is a conical basinet attached by a lace down the sides of the face to a camail or tippet of mail, which covers the head and shoulders, epaulières, rere, and vambraces, and coudes incase the shoulders, arms, and elbows, and on the hands are gauntlets of plate. The body-armour is covered with an emblazoned jupon, with an ornamental border of leaves, and round this, about the hips, is a rich horizontally disposed bawdrick. Beneath the jupon, which is charged with the bearing--three garbs Or--is seen the skirt or apron of mail. The thighs, knees, legs, and feet are incased in and protected by cuisses, genouillères, jambs, and sollerets, the latter composed of movable lamina; or plates, and rounded at the toes. The feet of this effigy rest against a collared dog, and the head reposes on a tilting helm, surmounted by a bull's head as a crest." On a scutcheon at the head of the tomb are the knight's arms: they are--a fess between three garbs, impaling a chevron between three greyhounds.

On the pier at the foot of Sir George Nowers' tomb is fixed the remarkably characteristic monument of _Robert Burton_, the famous author of "The Anatomy of Melancholy," who died in 1639, having been Student of Christ Church for forty years, and also Vicar of St. Thomas', Oxford. His bust is coloured, and surrounded by an oval frame; it should be a good likeness, and one fancies that the face is drenched in melancholy.

On the frame are two medallions with a sphere, and a curious calculation of his nativity, composed by himself, and placed here by his brother William, the historian of Leicestershire. The inscription, written by himself, is:--

Paucis notus, paucioribus ignotus
Hic jacet
Democritus Junior
Cui vitam dedit et mortem
Melancholia.

At the south side of the Montacute tomb there is a stone in the floor with a large cross upon it, and an inscription in Lombardic characters of which these words can be made out:--_Johan: de: col ... v. le: gist: id: Dieu ... Merci. Pour: lame: prier: dis: jours: de: pardon: aver: amen_.

In the north aisle of the choir a stone commemorates _Andreas de Soltre quondam rector Ecclesiae de Kalleyn_; and a brass, James Coorthoppe, Canon of Christ Church 1546, and Dean of Peterborough till his death in 1557. On the floor of this aisle there is also a small brass with the figure of a youth, with the Courtenay arms, and this inscription:--_Hic jacet Edvardus Courtenay, filius Hugonis Courtenay, filii Comitis Devomæ, cujus animæ propicietur Deus_. This Hugh Courtenay, the father of the lad, must have been either Hugh second Earl of Devon, or his son Hugh, surnamed _le Fitz_, one of the heroes of Crécy.

=Glass in the Aisles=.--The three lovely east windows of the aisles and Lady Chapel were designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and executed by Mr. William Morris. The only possible criticism is that made by Mr. Ruskin, who once said that they were beautiful pictures, but were they windows? They are perhaps open to the objection, but a comparison of them with the Reynolds windows in New College Chapel, which are flagrant offenders in this way, makes one feel that the objection is purely formal, and that these are true windows, adding colour and interest to the old cathedral in a perfectly legitimate way. One is naturally prejudiced against large figures pictorially treated, because of the atrocities of the Munich school, but these were made, not at Munich but at Merton, by the most accomplished craftsman of the century.

The first window, that in the Lady Chapel, was erected in memory of Frederick Vyner, an undergraduate of the House, who was murdered by brigands at Marathon in 1870. The figures represent Samuel the Prophet, David, King of Israel, John the Evangelist, and Timothy the Bishop. In the panels beneath are, Eli instructing the young Samuel, David slaying Goliath, St. John at the last supper, and Timothy as a little boy learning from his mother. The legends are:--(1) _Loquere Domine, quia audit servus tuus_, and in the panel _Prope est Dominus quibus invocantibus eum_; (2) _Deus, Deus, meus, ad te de luce vigilo_, and _Tua est Domine victoria_; (3) _Qui recubit in coena super pectus ejus_, and _Quis nos separabit a charitate Christi_; (4) _Dabit tibi Dominus in omnibus intellectum_, and _Statuit super petram pedes meos_.

At the end of the north choir aisle is the St. Cecilia window, presented in honour of the patroness of music by Dr. Corfe, a former organist, in 1873. In the centre light the saint is represented playing her regal or small hand-organ; two angels holding other musical instruments, with palms in their hands, stand by her. The drapery is wrought in white glass, the angels have pale blue wings, and the flesh tints matted over with red tell warm against the drapery. In the lower panels are three scenes from her life: "Here St. Cecilia teaches her husband," "Here an angel of the Lord teaches St. Cecilia," "Here St. Cecilia wins a heavenly crown;" the saint's figure in this last panel is most touchingly drawn. These lower panels are richer in colour than the rest, and a greater variety of tints is introduced; but the colours are so delicate, and so skilfully blended, that they fall in most harmoniously with the main parts of the window. As the neighbouring window just described is full of the robust strength of manhood, so this one, in colour as well as in design, is graceful, delicate, and feminine. Probably it will lead to the north choir aisle being known by the name of St. Cecilia, whose art has certainly many votaries in Oxford. Mr. Malcolm Bell, in his monograph on Burne-Jones, gives the following description of the St. Cecilia window:--

"A still more beautiful instance of the use of simple figures with complicated draperies is found in the lovely St. Cecilia window, executed in 1874-5, a companion to the 'St. Catherine,' executed in 1878, in Christ Church Cathedral at Oxford, in which, moreover, it is enhanced by the soberness of the colouring, which, with the exception of a few touches of stronger hues in the lower panels, is green, and white, and gold, symbolic of the lily of heaven, into which mediæval commentators tortured the meaning of her name. The saint herself stands in the middle, with attendant angels on either side, bearing the palm of martyrdom, who hush their harmony while she plays. Below the left-hand angel, St. Cecilia, seated on her bed, reads to her husband Valirian the lesson of chastity. In the centre the angel brings to them the miraculous proof of the justification of her faith which he demanded from her:

"Valirian goth home, and sint Cecilie
Withinne his chaumbre with an aungel stonde,
This aungel had of roses and of lillie
Corounes two, the which he bar in honde.

"The lilies, symbolical of virgin purity; the roses, of victory over death. In the third, the executioner holds her by one hand as she kneels on the floor of her bath-room, which is seen in the background, the steam still rising in it after the ineffectual attempt to roast her to death. With his sword raised he is about to strike the first of the three blows which failed to cut off her head.

"And for ther was that tyme an ordinaunce
That no man sholde do man such penaunce
The ferthe stroke to smyten, softe or sore
This tormentour durste do no more."

At the end of the south choir aisle is the third figure window of Burne-Jones. It is dedicated to St. Catherine, and is in memory of Edith Liddell, a daughter of the late Dean, "who, having been scarcely five days betrothed, seized by a sudden attack of illness, rendered her spirit to God, June 26th, 1876." St. Catherine, crowned, is the central figure: she is painted in the likeness of Edith Liddell. On the right is the Angel of Suffering and Submission, with mutilated hands, the wheel of torture and flames beneath; on the left is the Angel of Deliverance, crushing the wheel of torture and scattering the flames. The draperies are white, the wings of the angels are a pale blue, and the curtains hanging at the back of the figures of a rich greenish blue, while the detailed background is cut out of violet-coloured glass, a daring but thoroughly successful arrangement. In the tracery above are angels playing triumphant music. The whole is as beautifully executed as it is finely conceived. In the three lower panels are scenes from the life and death of the saint:--(1) She disputes with philosophers, pleading for her fellow Christians, and demonstrating _avec force syllogismes_ the truth of Christianity, and the falsity of paganism. This little panel has as large an effect as if it were a fresco covering half a wall. (2) Her dream, in which she is led through a wilderness by the blessed Virgin into the presence of our Lord, who is seated amid a concourse of cherubim. The way in which the cherubim are cut out of tones of ruby, full of depth, and without a suspicion of crudeness, should be noticed, and compared with the treatment of ruby glass elsewhere. This is perhaps the most beautifully drawn picture of all; and the figure of St. Mary is something not to be forgotten. (3) St. Catherine is laid in the tomb by angels. The inscriptions are:--_Agnus reget illos, et deducet eos ad vitae fontes aquarum, et absterget Deus omnem lachrymam ab oculis eorum. Timor Domini ipsa est sapientia. Beati mundo corde quoniam Deum videbunt. Cum dederit dilectis suis somnum._

The two first windows in the wall of the south choir aisle, in memory of Dr. Jelf, Canon from 1830-1871, are by Hardman. Next is a most interesting glass painting of Bishop King, last abbot of Oseney, and first Bishop of Oxford, which is perhaps from the hand of Van Ling. This window, with some others, was taken down during the Civil War, buried for safety by a member of the family, and put up again at the Restoration. The Bishop is represented standing vested in a jewelled cope of cloth of gold, and mitre, a pastoral staff in his gloved hand. In the background, among the trees, is a picture of Oseney Abbey in its already ruined condition (c. 1630), drawn without much feeling for its architecture, but of great value as almost the only picture of the place we possess. The western tower was the first home of what are now the Christ Church bells. Three coats of arms (being those of the Bishop, impaled with the abbey of Oseney and the see of Oxford) complete the richness of what is a very good example of seventeenth century _painted_ glass, in the strict sense of the word.

It is to be regretted that some of the glass, which formerly was seen by everybody in the cathedral, has been removed to the chapter-house, where it is seen by few: among the glass thus removed the lovely I.H.C. should not be missed.

=The Latin Chapel= (St. Catherine's, or the Divinity Chapel, St. Catherine being the patroness of students in theology) was built on to the rest in two parts, the walls of the Lady Chapel being cut into arches, and duly fitted with shafts. The first bay from the west is, like that of the Lady Chapel, part of the transept aisle; the second bay was built in the thirteenth century, so as to form a chapel like that of St. Lucy on the south side of the church; the third and fourth were added in the fourteenth century, and make now one large chapel, very secluded and self-contained, a kind of _hortus inclusus_ that has an attraction peculiarly its own, and dwells pleasantly in the memory of every one who sees it. It is that supremely excellent thing, a church within a church, without which no cathedral can be what its builders intended it to be; nor any religious building fulfil that instinctive desire of men for an inner place, where they can find their way to the inner places of their own hearts. In such a home of recollectedness, doubly guarded against the dogging world without, is "rest without languor and recreation without excitement"; in such a place one is "never less alone than when alone"; and the fine sympathy with the needs of workaday humanity, which led mediæval architects to build such sanctuaries as this chapel here, or the Lady Chapel of so many churches, had led men in far earlier ages to find room even within the travelling tabernacle of a wandering tribe for a holy place and a holy of holies. Such being the case, it was like the crude instincts of the "dark ages of architecture" to choose this very chapel as most suitable for a lecture-hall--out of all the lofty rooms in the spacious college. Quite lately this practice has been dropped, and the Latin Chapel restored to something of its ancient sanctity, though a good deal remains to be done in a place where there is not as yet even a chair to proclaim a _siste viator_.