O lint RtMlffc Bristol. University of California Berkeley From the book collection of BERTRAND H. BRONSON bequeathed by him or donated by his wife Mildred S. Bronson account OF Bristol. ',"u(, M. '>> (CMTCFIB (SIS ? 3SB BH SIT X)IL . ,t/s/>f,ii-f,f wHilt .4r,-h,re>l<.hii(\il knsH-kJtie in his eijin-s this I'l.ik- is in.wil',,1 1'\ //>> . lntlii>r entendemeute 1 That doth aloof the avrit- skyen kiw, And seemoth mountayncs joynod by comento. From (Jodde hys grcete and wondrous storehouse sento." rgRTON. HonDon : M. TAYLOR. \\ l.I.I.IM.TON STREET, STRAND. MDCCCXI .III. LONDON : DRURY, XVII, BRIDGEWATER SQUARE, BARBICAN. TO THE REV. MARTIN RICHARD WHISH, M A. VICAR; THOMAS PROCTOR, AND JOHN FARLAR, CHURCHWARDENS; AND THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE VESTRY, OF THE PARISH OF REDCLIFFE, BRISTOL ; THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. February, 1843. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Introductory Preface ix CHAP. I. Utility of Antiquarian Investigations. Redcliffe Church is highly curious, beautiful, and interesting. Historical particulars respecting it. Con- jectures concerning the dates of different parts 1 CHAP. II. Description of the Church, with reference to the accompanying prints ..11 Plate I. Ground Plan 14 II. Plan of the North Porch 17 III. Exterior View of the Church from the south-east 19 IV.. . . View of the East End 20 V.. . . View of the South Porch 20 VI.. . . View of the Tower 21 VII.. . . View of the North Porch 21 VIII. Interior View of the Nave 21 IX.-. . . View of the South Transept 22 X.. . . View of the North Aile 22 XI.. . . Door-way and Skreen to the North Porch .... 23 XII.. . . Details Door-way, Windows, &c 23 CHAP. III. Account of the monuments, and anecdotes of persons interred in the church 25 Lumyngton 25 Simon de Burton 26 \Villiam Canynge 27 Extract from the church register respecting him 27 VIII CONTENTS. Page William Coke 32 John Bleaker 32 John Brook 33 John Jay . . . . , 33 Sir Thomas Mede 34 Philip Mede 34 Mrs. Fortune Little 35 Sir John Inyn : .... 36 Everardus le Frensshe 36 Thomas Young 36 Rev. Thomas Broughton 37 William Barrett 37 Sir William Penn 38 CHAP. IV. Painted Glass 40 Church Furniture 41 Cross 42 Paintings 43 Thunder Storm 44 CHAP. V. An Essay on the life, character, and writings of Chatterton 47 Monody by Dermody 57 Letters by Chatterton to Dodsley 62 INTRODUCTORY PREFACE. HAVING purchased several drawings of Redcliffe Chun h. it was my intention to have had them engraved for the Architectural Antiquities ; but after mature deliberation, I was induced to appropriate them to a separate and complete publication. In this I. was also tempted to enter more fully into the illustration of the building, and to compre- hend a more extensive field of disquisition than at first I had intended, or than is usual in the general work. This volume is therefore now submitted to the public, in its ^ent form and style, with no small degree of an\u i\ ; for though success generally inspires confidence, and often umption, I own that I feel inure than usual solicitude conci -i -niiiLc the reception the present work may experience \\uli its varied classes of readers. To make it amusing, t Ix- dull and cold indeed, which can remain perfectly tran- quil and unuarinrd. at'in M;I \ < MDLJ the one. and red X PREFACE. ing on the other. " Far from me, and far from my friends," as Dr. Johnson observes, " be such frigid philosophy as may conduct us indifferent and unmoved over any ground which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery or virtue. That man is little to be envied, whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plains of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of lona."* If the plains of Marathon, and the ruins of lona, be calculated to stimulate curiosity, and awaken rational and pleasing reflections, I am persuaded that the edifice which we are about to investigate, must also be entitled to more than common notice. Indeed, it cannot fail to claim from the genuine antiquary, and tasteful critic, much of dili- gent inquiry, and unmixed admiration. In reviewing the history of an ancient edifice, we are imperceptibly led into the company of venerable personages long since departed ; we are carried back to remote ages, and shewn distant events, over which Time has spread its obscuring veil. These pursuits are not merely amusing to the fancy, but may be rendered useful and instructive. " Whatever," says the eloquent author just quoted, " withdraws us from the power of our senses, whatever makes the past, the distant, and the future, predominate over the present, ad- vances us in the dignity of thinking beings." Thus, by contemplating and analyzing the best works of others, we may acquire wisdom : and it is universally admitted, that the grand ecclesiastical edifices of this country were exe- cuted by men highly skilled in mathematical and geome- trical knowledge. Science is unanimously conceded to them ; but their claims to taste are not so generally ad- * Journey to the Western Islands. PREFACE. XI mitted. On this point the most accomplished scholars and critics differ in opinion. Many contend, that beauty, grace, elegance, and sublimity of architecture, is only to be found in Grecian edifices; whilst others admit, that some of these characteristics belong also to Roman build- ings ; but they will not allow that any thing approaching to tastefulness, propriety, or harmony, is to be found in " the Gothic" structures of the middle ages. The partial admirers of the latter, are too generally as indiscriminat- ing and intemperate in their panegyrics on one species of architecture, at the expense of the other, and thus con- tention and opposition are excited. Controversy is pro- duced, and it too generally happens, that controversial writers rather advocate an hypothesis, than calmly and dispassionately endeavour to substantiate fact, and eluci- date mystery.* The present -volume has been long announced to the public, and some persons have made repeated inquiries * Since Bentham wrote his History of Ely Cathedral, A.D. 1771, in which he endeavoured to prove, that the remains of the Conventual Church in that city are of Saxon architecture, " founded in 673," many volumes and essays have been published concerning the criteria of Saxon and Norman architecture, the origin of the pointed arch, and the country in which this was first adopted. Warton, Gray, Grose, Milm-r. Whitukrr, Hull, \Yhittmirton, Millers, Sayers, Dallaway, Hawkins, Carter, Engleficld, Lysons. Ki-rrirh. \\.lkins, Dutens, King, Haggitt, and others, have all employed their pens, either in this controversy, or on the subject ; and to some of these gentlemen we are indebted for much substantial information. In the " Architectural Atttiyuitifi' which I am now publishing, and In the " Cathedral Antiquitin" preparing, almost every clan and style of errleiiastk-al, c, and castellated architecture, will be carefully delineated and from the specimens and facts adduced, with the accompanying descriptions and fliin.h.iion*. it is hopnl that th controverted points, above noticed, will be set- ,l the history and |.rin.-ij.U-% of umunt English Architecture will be deafly MtabttataL XII PREFACE. after it. Various circumstances have conspired to occasion delay ; but these are all of a public and literary nature. Zealously attached to antiquarian investigations, and em- bellished works, I often find my inclinations carry me beyond the line of discretion and prudence : I eagerly commence a new publication, and am equally eager to perform my voluntary task with credit to myself, and at the same time satisfy the reasonable expectations of my reader. Thus I have entailed on myself an excess of labour and anxiety which have injured my health, and subjected me to some reprehension. In accomplishing the present little volume, I have encountered more than ordinary expenses and trouble ; and though it is not equal to my wishes, yet I hope that its best parts will merit the approbation of the critical reader ; and whatever he may detect as errors of judgment or taste, he will have the generosity to pass over with lenity. To the following literary friends and correspondents I have been much obliged for communications and infor- mation in the progress of the work ; and beg they will accept my sincere thanks : The KEY. MARTIN RICHARD WHISH, M.A. the vicar of Redcliffe, for indulgently allowing me access to the registers, and for extracts from one relating to Canynge. To JOSEPH HASLEWOOD, Esq. who has collected almost every book, pamphlet, and paper that have been printed respecting the Chattertonian controversy, I am indebted for the two letters printed at the end of this volume, and for the free use of his Archaeological col- lection. To PHILIP BLISS, Esq. of St. John's College, Oxford, and the REV. BULKELEY BANDINEL, M.A. and F.S.A, of PREFACE. XIII Trinity College, I am obliged for the communication of some extracts from, and access to, that invaluable literary repository, the Bodleian Library. The late THOMAS EAGLES, Esq. F.S.A. who had critically watched the controversy about Rowley, who first published the quarto pamphlet of " Sir Charles Bawdin," was personally acquainted with nearly all the contemporary writers, and whose literary stores in printed books and MSS. were alike choice and valuable, obliged me with some interesting letters on the subject. He eagerly contended for the authenticity of Rowley's poems ; and often expressed an intention of publishing his opi- nions and arguments on the subject. To CHARLES JOSEPH HARFORD, Esq. F.S.A. I am indebted for much personal civility, and for the zeal he took in promoting my inquiries at Bristol. His friend, The REV. SAM. SEVER, M.A. who has recently pub- lished the Charters, &c. of Bristol, and thereby conferred a distinguished favour on the citizens, and on the public, obliged me with ready and frank replies to my queries. It is hoped this gentleman will proceed immediately with his History and Antiquities of Bristol. To GRANVILLE PENN, Esq. I am indebted for some authentic memoranda respecting Admiral Penn ; but am sorry to say that they have been mislaid, or lost, and therefore could not be used on the present occasion. Should another edition of this volume be demanded, I hope to make some amends for this omission. In the mean time the reader is referred to Mr. Clarkson's inte- resting " Memoirs of the private and public Life of Wil- liam Penn," 2 vols. 8vo. 1813. THOMAS PARK, Esq. F.S.A. ever zealous in t!u XIV PREFACE. cause of archaeological and poetical literature, readily assisted my inquiries respecting the paper about church furniture ; as did also LADY MILLMAN, a relative of Mr. Browning's, in whose collection this document was found. The KEY. T. D. FOSBROOKE, author of " British Monachism," obligingly furnished me with several memo- randums respecting Redcliffe and Chatterton. To EGBERT SOUTHEY, Esq. who voluntarily under- took to edit the three volumes of Chatterton's Works from benevolent motives, I am obliged for an interesting letter about Redcliffe and Chatterton. He remarks, that " the old ceremony of strewing the church on Palm Sunday, is still observed there." Respecting the Rowleian question, he says, " Ever since I had the slightest acquaintance with old English literature, I was perfectly convinced that it was impossible the poems could be genuine. I will, how- ever, mention one decisive argument, which I owe to a friend. The little fac-simile of Canynge's feast contains manifest proofs that the hand- writing is forged ; for the letter e is written in eighteen or twenty different ways. Now also there can be no impropriety in mentioning that there was a trait of insanity in the family. His sister was once confined ; and this is a key to the eccentricities of his life, and to the deplorable rashness of his death. At one time he was a great coxcomb in his dress." Of this extraordinary youth Mr. Park thus speaks: " Chat- terton was a phenomenon of nature and art ; an enigma of genius ; and he seemed to have breathed in an atmo- sphere of mystery." At the end of this volume I have been induced to offer a few remarks on the character and talents of Chat- PREFACE. XV terton, because there are still persons of learning who advocate the antiquity of his poems, anchwho found their chief arguments on his incompetency to their composition. Dr. Sherwen, in a separate pamphlet on the subject, also in the Gentleman's Magazine, and the Rev. Dr. Sym- mons, in the " London Review/' have exerted much inge- nuity of argument, and displayed considerable literary knowledge in behalf of the ancient, and against the mo- dern poet. Yet the latter gentleman asserts, that if Chatterton " was the creator of the poems attributed to Rowley, it must be confessed, that the posthumous honours which have been offered to him, are as yet inadequate to the claims of his genius ; and that we must still exert our- selves for expressions to impart our full sense of those intellectual powers which appear so greatly to transcend the accustomed liberality of Providence in its intercourse with man." Dr. Sherwen's remarks are nearly to the same effect. Though the most profound critics, and al- most every reader, is willing to allow such extraordinary merit to the poems, yet the collected edition, printed in 3 vols. 1803, has not yet passed into a second edition. It is hoped that public curiosity may be again excited to- wards these poems ; and instead of raising a stone monu- ment to the memory of the bard, I would wish to see his works printed in a popular form. No memorial can be more appropriate to an author than handsome and popular editions of his works. To HEWSON CLARKE, Esq. I am obliged for some judicious observations on the character of Chatterton. The criticisms of this gentleman are generally acute and profound: it is hoped that he will speedily execute his XVI PREFACE. long projected work, " a continuation of Johnson's Lives of the Poets." To DR. GOLDWYER, Mr. ISAAC JAMES, Mr. GUTCH, EDWARD BIRD, Esq. Mr. BARRY, jun. of Bristol, I have to return thanks, for many acts of personal civility, and replies to letters of inquiry, &c. ; also to Mr. R. WEBB, and to Mrs. PERRIN the sexton. It is but justice to the latter to say, that she manifests a very laudable and un- usual regard for the fine church committed to her charge. HISTORY OF REDCLIFFE CHURCH CHAP. I. Utility of Antiquarian Investigations Redcliffe Church is highly curious, beautiful, and interesting Historical particulars respecting it Con- jectures concerning the dates of different parts. THE study of antiquities, after being long regarded as the occupation of plodding dulness, or frivolous curiosity, has at length attained its due importance in the estimation of the public ; and is now the object of assiduous cultivation in the literary and polished circles of society. That a pursuit, indeed, which, while it contributes to the elucida- tion and embellishment of every other department of lite- rature, possesses within itself the most copious sources of mental pleasure, and while it tends to gratify the ardour of a poetical imagination, and give precision and variety to the page of history, should have been, at one period of English literature, the constant theme of moral and hu- morous satire, must be imputed to the abuse of an useful and important study, rather than to the insensibility of our wits and moralists to its dignity and value, when pro- perly pursiu-d. B 2 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. I flatter myself, that in the selection of the Church of St. Mary, Redcliffe, as the object of architectural elu- cidation and critical inquiry, I shall not subject myself to be numbered among the triflers who devote their labour and their time to frivolous and unimportant objects. The antiquary, the architect, the critic, the biographer, and the poet, are deeply interested in the history and descrip- tion of an edifice, which combines much elegance of struc- ture with all the attractions that can be derived from poetical association. The design and execution of Red- cliffe church, at once deserve the investigation of the architectural antiquary, and commands the admiration of the spectator : the forgeries, or discoveries of Chatterton have also conferred upon the building itself, and on the surrounding scenery, a powerful, but adventitious interest. To the general reader, the names of Rowley and of Canynge, are perfectly familiar : their biography has exer- cised the critical and historical skill of some of the most celebrated writers of the last, and of the present century, and almost every miscellaneous publication that is intended for the closet and the family parlour, contains some par- ticulars of the " gude priest of Bristow," or of his youth- ful representative. On a subject so curious in itself, and of so much interest in the estimation of many discerning persons, it may be presumed, therefore, that the labours of a few weeks have not been totally misapplied: by those who regard the history of the Church of Redcliffe as the just object of historical investigation, the slightest contribution to their present stores of information will be received with indulgence ; and by those to whom the subject may appear undeserving of inquiry, or unsuscep- tible of embellishment, the brevity that results from a UTILITY OP ANTIQUARIAN PURSUITS. 3 deficiency of materials, it is presumed, will be praised as a merit, rather than censured as a defect. If the labours of the Antiquary, indeed, be at any time cheerless and unpromising, it is when his inquiries are baffled by a deficiency of historical materials, or his judgment is bewildered amidst a mass of imperfect and contradictory evidence. In examining the history of the Church of Redcliffe, the inquirer is alternately confounded by the opposite statements of different historians and topographers ; discouraged by the absence of all satisfac- tory information, and perplexed amidst the mazes of false- hood and forgery. Many of the particulars recorded by former writers, depend for their authenticity on no better authority than the manuscripts of Chatterton ; and even those statements that have been collected and published from original documents, are deprived of their appropriate weight, by the suspicion that attaches to every historical record connected with the subject. The writers who have paid the most assiduous attention to the early history of the church are perpetually at variance, and the manu- script memoranda contained in different collections, and relating to the more recent stages of inquiry are equally uncertain and unsatisfactory. Under these circumstances, a brief recapitulation of the remarks of others, must in some measure supply the place of positive evidence ; and a fair comparison of the scanty documents already in existence, it is hoped, will be received as an apology for a regular, authentic, and copious narrative. Redclifle, according to Barrett,* is proved by many <4 ancient deeds," to have been a parish of great anti<|uily, * History and Antiquities of tin- City of Hristol, p. 566. M '2 4 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. and originally formed part (as it does at present) of the manor of Bedminster.* Notwithstanding the deeds to which he thus refers, were in all probability the gift of Chatterton, yet, as some of those documents are quoted in the original Latin, and the evidence of Chatterton's deceptions does not apply to any of these authorities in particular, their authenticity cannot justly be disputed. " Radcliff," says Camden, j- " a little suburb, was joined to the city by a stone bridge, so thick set with houses, that it seemed a street rather than a bridge. This part is enclosed within the walls, and the inhabitants are free of the city." He immediately adds, " Among the fairest of churches, is St. Mary de Radcliffe, without the walls, with a grand ascent of steps ; the whole so spacious and well built, with an arched roof of stone, and a lofty steeple , * The ecclesiastical history of Redcliffe may be considered peculiar, if not truly singular. It constitutes a part, or member, of the parish of Bedminster ; is in the diocese of Bristol, and is a prebend to the cathedral of Salisbury. This prebend comprehends Redcliffe, with the parishes of Bedminster, Abbots-Leigh, and St. Thomas, adjoining Redcliffe ; yet the parochial regulations and ordinances are held distinct and separate from each other, and each is governed by its own churchwardens, &c. The living of Bedminster is both a rectory and a vicarage, and, as prebend, the incumbent is patron of all the other livings. He is nomi- nated by the Bishop of Salisbury. Previous to the year 1247, Redcliffe and the Temple-fee were vested in the Knights Templars, and constituted a distinct cor- poration. I do not find that it passed from the Templars to the Hospitallers, as was generally the case with the possessions of the former : but it is probable that Simon de Burton, a merchant of Bristol, bought it of that military fraternity. The ecclesiastical edifice of Redcliffe is also of a peculiar nature and description : it is easier to name it negatively than positively, for it is not strictly either a parish church, conventual church, collegiate church, cathedral church, or chapel. f Gough's edition of Camden's Britannia, vol. i. p. 63. ed. 1791. J Bishop Gibson, in his translation of Camden, renders this word " Tower," and thereby expresses a different object : Camden's word is " Turris." Much confusion has been produced, and erroneous accounts circulated, for want of a correct nomenclature of terms : and more particularly of those relating to ancient buildings, and to other antiquarian objects. CAMDEN'S AND LELAND'S ACCOUNTS. 5 as to exceed, in my opinion, all the parish churches of England that 1 have seen/' Leland says, that " St. Sprite's Chapell, in Radclef Church-yard, was ons a paroche afore the building of Radclyfe new churche,"* and William of Worcester, who was a native of Bristol, and lived in the time of Henry VI. calls St. Sprite's an ancient chapel, near Redcliffe church. It appears very certain, that an old religious edifice was standing on, or near the site of the present church, anterior to the erection of the build- ing which we are now surveying. Several grants of land towards repairing the original structure, are referred to by Barrett, as being in his possession : and indulgencies were issued, by different bishops, on condition that the persons to whom they were granted would " devoutly visit the church of the blessed Mary of Radcliffe, in Bristol, and there charitably contribute towards the re- pair of the same, and pray for the souls of those there interred." These indulgencies are by John, Bishop of Ardfert, dated at Bristol, 1232; Peter Quivill, Bishop of Exeter, dated at " Radeclyve," 1287; David, Archbishop of Cassel, dated at Bristol in 1246 ; Chiistianus Episcopus Hymelascensis, dated at Bristol 1216; and li.-lu-rt. Bishop of Bath and Wells, dated 1278. All these d ments are said to have been found in Canynge's chests, in lirddiiVe church, and notwithstanding they were the gift of Chatterton to Barrett, their number, the dittieultus that would have prevented their execution by the want of >]K ( ifu ( \ idence to their fabrication, and their coincidence * Itinerary, vol. vii. p. 86. Barrett supposes that St. Sprite's Chapel was also called " Luiuyiutuii* Liuly I Impel." 6 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. with other documents, to which it does not appear that Chatterton had access, are in favour of their reception as genuine authorities. The foundation, however, of the Great Church, erected on the site of the one thus mentioned, is ascribed by nearly all parties to Simon de Burton* who, previous to the com- mencement of the building, in 1292, had exercised the office of mayor of Bristol three times, and enjoyed that dignity twice afterwards; viz. in the years 1304 and 1305,-j- When another writer, therefore, on this subject J ascribes the foundation of the church to William Canynge, he confounds the completion of the building with its original erection. It appears that William Canynge, senior, the mayor of Bristol, completed " the body of Redcliffe church from the cross aile downwards, and so the church was finished as it now is :" and as this was seventy-five years after the dedication of Burton's church, it may be considered to be the finishing of what had been begun and partly accomplished by its founder. It was customary, at that time, for the builder of a church to begin at the east end, or choir part, which, when finished, was consecrated, and the remainder was gradually prose- cuted, either by the original projector, or by his immediate successors. Several Wills are mentioned by Barrett, as dated about 1380, in which money is given " for the fabric, and * Leland, though he mentions Burton as founder of an almshouse, in which he was buried, does not allude to his foundation of the present church. t MS. in Bib. Bodl. " History of the famous City of Bristol, by James Stewart," MS. 1733. Cough's Collection, Oxford. MSS. by Hobson, quoted by Barrett, J Hist. Bristol, MS. in the possession of the Rev. T. Dudley Fosbrooke. Barrett, Hist. p. 569. ERA OP THE BUILDING. 7 towards repairing the Church of Redcliff:" and, among others, that of John Mule ward specifics a gift in money "Ad opus Beatce Marios dc Hadcleve." uhich Barrett justly regards as a proof that the work was going on at that time. The subsequent re-edification of the church by the grandson of the William Canynge who first com- pleted it, is involved in much obscurity. Among Mr. Fosbrooke's MSS. is one stating that " anno 1441, Wil- liam Cannings, who was mayor of Bristol this year, with the help of others of the worshipful town of Bristow, kept masons and workmen to repair and edifye, cover and glaze the church of Redcliffe, which his grandfather had founded in the days of Edward the Third."* Stewart coincides in this statement, except with regard to the date, which is one year later. A manuscript, quoted by Barrett, agrees with Stewart as to the year 1442, in which year Canynge was mayor of Bristol. Another manuscript in the Bodleian Library states that " the said church, having suffered much in a tempest, the above mentioned William Canynge, a celebrated merchant and public be- nefactor, in the year 1474,f gave five hundred pounds to the parishioners of Redcliffe towards repairing the church, and for the maintenance of two chaplains and two clerks in St. Mary's Chapel there, and of two chantry priests. The words of Barrett are " the same plan was observed by him in rebuilding and restoring to its original beauty, alter being thrown down by lightning. The south aile, where the mischief fill havirst. seems to have been re- built with a somewhat more elevated arch, and in a lighter * MS. ( i.lh c tions for Bristol. See also Barrett, p. 570. f In Barrett it inflated 1145. 8 REHCLIFFE CHURCH. style than the north ; a difference also is between the windows of the north and south aile."* From these various statements it appears, that Canynge having begun and nearly completed the re-edification of the church, his labours were rendered almost fruitless by the effect of lightning ; and, that about the year 1445, he repaired the damages, and nearly restored it to the state in which it stood previous to the tempest that threatened its destruc- tion. Barrett says, " that from a deed in Latin by Can- ning, dated 6th Edward IV, it appears he founded in that year the chantry of St. Catherine in this church."j- Such is the brief but very imperfect history of a structure which it is impossible to contemplate without a powerful impression of the omnipotence of poetical ge- nius. Whether Chatterton, or a priest in the reign of Edward the Fourth, was the author of Ella, and of seve- ral other similar poems, the church of Redcliffe itself, the monuments that it contains, and the scenery that surround it, owe much of their attraction and interest to their asso- ciation with those writings. The tomb of Canynge might have remained the subject of solitary examination to the occasional visitor, had not his name been coupled with that of the real or supposed author of these extraordinary compositions ; and though the architectural beauties of the structure might have excited the partial and occasional admiration of the professional student, or the lover of the arts ; it is owing to the manuscripts of Rowley, or to the materials of their fabrication, that it has become the ob- ject of interesting contemplation to the literary world, and has awakened the inquiries, and exercised the ta- * Hist. Bristol, 571. f Ibid. THREE ERAS OF ARCIIITK( TURE. . lents of a Milles, a Bryant, a Warton, a Mathias, ami a Southey. '1 he preceding narrative is given to shew the contra- il^ tory and vague statements that have hitherto 1 made, as to the age and history of the present edifice. It remains for me to elicit, from this crude mass, some- thing like architectural elucidation, and endeavour to point out the ages, styles, and dates of the varied por- tions of the church. As I have not been fortunate enough to obtain any authentic and unsuspicious document on this subject, my inferences can only be conjectural ; but if these conjectures appear founded on rational and pro- bable grounds, they will partly supply the place of genuine history, and it is hoped will afford the critical reader some satisfactory information. From the intimations contained in the preceding extracts, and from the architectural styles of the different parts of the church, I am induced to assign to it the following dates. The superstructure of the whole church displays three distinct and different eras of architecture. Th middle north porch is certainly the oldest portion, and this corresponds in its pilaster-columns, arches, and mould- ings, with the buildings of the thirteenth century. At this age it appears that Simon de Burton lived, and was engaged, in 1292, either in constructing a new church, or " re-edifying" a former building. Here then we find a part of the edifice (though certainly only a very small part) correspond with a sp< ite. Of a subsequent age and style are the tower and i^raiul northern porch, in both of which we recognise a later species of architecture; where the tracery of the ceiling, the niches, and nnmeron> moulding, are \ 10 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. much more enriched and elaborate character than the former specimen : these parts were prohably raised in the reign of Edward III. by William Canynge, sen.* In the finishing of the nave, choir, and transepts, we must look for the works of William Canynge, jun., the rich merchant of Bristol, and Dean of Westbury : but in these the style is not so strictly in unison with the era. Still, however, we must contemplate the greater part of the church as the workmanship of his time. A more decorated species of architectural design is shewn in the entrance door-way to the vestry ; and also in Sir Thomas Mede's monument in the north aile, the last of which was probably raised about the year 1480. * He is recorded as Member for Bristol in the years 1364, 1383, and 1384. Barrett's History, p. 151. NATURE AMI ART. )| CHAP. II. Description of the Church, with reference to the accompli, Prints. EVERY object of nature and of art, that is inherently grand, or beautiful, is calculated to afford pleasure to the human mind. The sublime and towering mountain, the romantic cascade, the interminable and restless ocean, the broad and translucent lake, are all highly interesting and impressive ; but these are the inimitable works of an omniscient Architect : man vainly endeavours to mimic them, and advance the productions of art to vie with those of nature. Though, however, his works be compa- ratively small and insignificant, they often excite the amazement and admiration of his fellow-creatures. Ge- nius, aided by Science, can produce surprising effects; can furnish, to the curious and inquisitive mind, ample sources of study and delight. This is fully verified in the ancient architecture of Great Britain, as well as in the splendid and much-praised edifices of Greece and of Italy. It has long been the fashion, founded on preju- dice, to praise the latter at the expense of the former ; hut the impartial historian and critic will award to each its proper and just share of excellence. Each style of architecture has its peculiar heauties, merits, and defects; and each will afford important lessons to the judici 12 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. architect: but the man who tamely and frigidly copies either, will impeach both his taste and his judgment. In the Church of Redcliffe the architect has mani- fested both genius and science. Its design has some traits of novelty, and its execution is founded on geome- trical principles. Though its ornaments, and some of the parts, are similar in many other churches, yet the whole is unique ; and it may be justly called a grand, and truly interesting specimen of the architecture of the age in which it was erected. Loftiness, lightness, and variety, are its marked characteristics. Every part, both inter- nally and externally, is charged with ornaments ; is en- riched with sculpture, and architectural embellishments : but these are not so prominent and obtrusive as in the gorgeous chapels of King's College at Cambridge, and of Henry the Seventh's at Westminster.* It may not inaptly be compared to a graceful and elegant female, dressed in a light and flowing drapery, when the latter adorns the former. To continue the metaphor, and thus portray the edifice and its situation, we may further remark, that the former resembles a dignified beauty, accidentally sur- rounded, and incommoded by a motley group of the rabble. This will not be thought exaggerated by the stranger who visits Redcliffe church from Bristol. The usual approach is by a long narrow street, skirted by small shops, and from its contracted nature and peculiarity of position, is generally very dirty, black, and perilous to the passenger. Several manufactories, warehouses, and workshops, of not the most pleasant and odoriferous kind, are distributed on * Plans, views, and details, w^th histories and descriptions of these two buildings, are given in " The Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain," vols. i, and ii. VIEW AND SITUATION OF THE CHURCH 13 the right and left ; whilst the narrow thoroughfare is ge- nerally crowded by colliers, sandmen, sledges, Bailors, asses, and carts. In such a situation personal safety is the first care. Having " run this gauntlet" for about a quarter of a mile, the stranger is at once astonished and iK-liujhtal, to find the street expanded, the ground rising, and to see a towering fabric elevated on the brow of a natural terrace. This view is singularly impressive and prepossessing, both from its intrinsic and individual eflVd. and as contrasted with the inauspicious approach. The lit lily decorated tower, west front of the church, unique north porch, and transept, with flying buttresses, pinna- cles, and perforated parapets, all unite to constitute a mass of architecture, which cannot fail to delight the artist, and astonish the common passenger. Built on the side of shelving ground, it was necessary to have a flight of many steps from the level on the north, to the pavement of the church, which is still below the surface of the cemetery, on the south. A fine and very picturesque feature is thus produced (See PLATE VI.); and the same elevated site confers on the tower and church a lofty and imposing aspect. The twelve accompanying prints display the forms, features, and architectural peculiarities of nearly the whole edifice: and with a few descriptions, having reference to these prints, it is hoped that the reader will at once be made acquainted with the style and arrangement of tin- Church, and be satisfied with my endeavours to illus- trate it. Various parts of the Exterior of the building are BheWD in IMat.-s III, IV, V, VI, and VII; and of tin* -, in those inmibfivd VIII. IX. X, XI, and XII. 14 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. The extent, arrangement, and ground plan, are laid down in Plates I. and II. PLATE I GROUND PLAN. The original design of the church was probably uniform and regular; but as it has been built at different periods, the later additions have not been raised in accord- ance either with the style, or plan of the previous erections. The eastern chapel, choir, and ailes, the transept, and a large portion of the nave, display a correspondency of parts and style ; but the vestries, or chantries, P. and Q. ; the porches, R. S. and X., with the tower D., are addi- tional members. The ground plan shews the internal arrangement of the church, the projections, number, and relative situation of the clustered columns between the body and the ailes, also the walls, windows, doors, buttresses, porches, skreens, monuments, and the varied forms of the groins, or ribs beneath the vaulted roof. The capital letters refer to the primary divisions of the church ; the small letters to different parts and ornaments; the figures to the mo- numents; and the roman numbers with a star to each, to the points of view displayed by the different prints. A. A. the nave, B. B. the south aile, C. C. the north aile ; D. the tower, at the north-west angle of the church ; E. the centre of the transept, over which a principal tower is usually raised in many large churches : by the size of the four piers in this place, it seems very probable that it was originally intended to have a tower here ; F. the chief aile of the north transept ; G. that of the south; H. I. J. and K. REFERENCE TO THE PLAN. 15 the side ailes to the transepts, of corresponding height and character to the ailes of the nave and choir. This continued aile, or double aile to the transept, is not com- mon in churches. I believe it only belongs to the present church, and to those of York, Ely, and Westminster: L. the choir, but here kept apart for the chancel; M. andN. the north and south ailes to the choir ; O. the virgin cha- pel, now used as a school- room. At the west end of this chapel is a stone skreen, with tracery, shields, &c. On the north and south sides are stair-case turrets, and the whole is lighted by five windows.* At i. is an entrance porch, and at k. a passage from the south aile., Beneath this chapel is a crypt. P. a vestry, and Q. an inner apartment to the same. These two rooms have others over them, and appear to have been appropriated as a dwelling for a chantry priest: R. a porch, or vestibule between the hexagon porch and the north aile of the church. This porch is certainly the most ancient part of the whole fabric, and is probably part of Simon de Bur- ton's building. It is a regular square, with small insu- lated columns against the walls, supporting pointed arches of the lancet shape. The vaulted roof has only two ribs, or groins, crossing from the extreme angles, and intersect- ing each other at the centre. On the western side is a door-way to a stair-case, u., which communicated \\itli a room above, and also with the tower of the church. An- * In the your l.')71, Quocn Elizabeth founded a School here for grammar and writing, as expressed by her deed, and also gave a building, called tin- IIo' v - ( .host chapel, for the school house. This was situated near the south-west angle ueliil'e church; but was taken down in the year 1766, when an ancient stone coilin,\vith a titrurc in basso relievo, mul an inscription on the lid, was found iu the western wall. mil 1'l.ui. 16 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. other door-way, T., is cut through the wall on the east side, and leads to a gallery round the hexagon porch, and also to the noted Chattertonian apartment over it. S. the Hexagon, or outer porch, which, with the former porch, are shewn more at large in PI. II. W. the Stairs to a room over the southern porch, X. Small letters of reference in the plan : a. Organ skreen ; b. a bracket against this pier supports a carved sword, which belonged to Sir Robert Yeamans, Knt. and Bart, and who was mayor of Bristol in the year 1669. His remains were interred in the north aile of this church. Near this relic is an object of popular curiosity, tradi- tionally called a rib of the noted Dun-cow, slain by Guy, Earl of Warwick ; but it is more likely to be the rib of a whale, or of some other large fish : c. an old stone font ; d. a modern font, enclosed ; e. and f. skreens of stone, with open work, dividing the ailes from the chan- cel, which is also separated from the nave by an iron skreen ; g. and h. stone skreens, closing up the whole of the two arches on the north and south sides of the altar ; i. communion table, behind which is a modern skreen of wainscot, carved, gilt, and painted ;* k. door-way to the lady chapel, now closed up ; 1. porch to the same chapel ; m. door-way to the south aile, near the east end ; n. the western door-way ; o. stair-case to the organ-loft, tower, and roof of the church. The figures, No. 1 to 13, refer to the monuments * The carpenter who designed this, and the organ loft, fancied he should display a fine classical taste, by mimicking the Roman architecture, instead of following the style of the church ; and has therefore introduced columns which have some resemblance to the corinthian, or composite orders ; but, exclusive of the column, there is scarcely any other architectural member. NORTH I'oiu II. 17 which will be described hereafter; and the figures III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. and XI. frith a star to each, mark the situations, or directions, whence the views were taken, corresponding with the same numbers on the top of each plate. PLATE II. GROUND PLAN OF THE NORTH PORCH, &c. I was induced to have this second plan engraved for the purpose of displaying, more distinctly, the horizontal form and peculiarity of the great north porch ; also its union with the inner porch, and the insulated columns, door-ways, stair-cases, skreen, and groining of the latter. The grand external porch is certainly a very singular structure, and eminently entitled to minute illustration and inquiry. Its form, ornaments, appropriation, and " eventful history," all conspire to render it exceedingly curious and interesting. The original use and intention of this appendage cannot easily be accounted for. A porch was already erected on the same side of the church, and that porch was provided with a room over its vaulted ceiling. The plan is an irregular hexagon, with bold triangular buttresses at the external angles. A stone seat runs round the interior base, a large and singular door- way faces the north ; a smaller one opens towards the CUM, a closet is in the western wall (at f.), and blank arcades, with purfled pediments, are placed in the lower story. An ornamental cornice, with sculptured busts and flowers, continue round five sides of the room ; and over the cor- nice i> a series of five windows, each divided into three c 18 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. days, or lights, with the lower portion walled up. At the sill of these windows is a passage, extending from the stair-case at the south-east angle, to the pier at the corresponding angle. The vaulted roof of this porch is adorned with several ribs ramifying from the centre, in thirty-two radii, to the circumference. At thirteen dif- ferent points of intersection are as many sculptured bosses, or orbs. The external feature of this porch is shewn in PL. VII.* where the principal elevation, consisting of a curi- ous door-way, a series of niches, with acute canopies, the upper part of a window, two triangular buttresses, part of the north transept, and part of the tower, with modern ballustrades and steps, are tastefully and faithfully de- lineated. The small openings near the summit of this porch afford light to the apartment, which contains frag- ments of the famous Rowleyan chests.-)- It is probable that this room was originally intended for the reception of the church muniments : Barrett says it was called the treasury. u In the old church of Redcliffe," he remarks, " were formerly keepers of the porches : the present porches have several apartments, with fire-places over them," (or rather in them,) " probably for the habitation of the porter, with many of the chaplains and other reli- * The engraver of this plate has at once enhanced his own reputation, and conferred an honour on the graphic art, by the specimen before us. It is one of those rare works of the burin, which pleases the common observer, and delights the most skilful artist. f Barrett says, that one of the largest of the chests, which formerly occupied this room, is noticed in a deed of Canynge's, in the following terms : " Cysta serrata cum sex clavibus vocata cysta Willielmi Canynges in domo thesauraria ecclesise Beatse Mariae de Redclive." This chest, continues Barrett, " furnished Mr. Morgan with many curious parchments relating to Mr. Canynges and the rhurch of Redclive." Hist. Bristol, p. 576. SOUTH AND EAST SIDES OP THE CHURCH. 19 gious persons belonging to the same."* Externally and internally this porch consists of two principal tiers, or stories, each dissimilar to the other, and each adorned with niches, canopies, crockets, pediments, &c. grand door-way is a curiosity in architecture, being unlike any other, I believe, in this country. It has some ana- logy, in form and ornament, to one in the monastery of JJatalha, in Portugal, which was designed by David Hacket, an Irishman, about 1400.f On the east side of the porch is a small door-way, ornamented with a triangu- lar pediment, pinnacles, crockets, finial, and foliage run- ning round the inner moulding. The brackets in the niches consist of statues, some of which are very singular and curious. Near the door-way just noticed, these figures, as well as other sculptured ornaments, are in good pre- servation. PLATE III. VIEW OF THE CHURCH FROM THE SOUTH EAST. This print shews nearly the whole of the southern side of the Church, with part of the Lady Chapel ; the tower and truncated spire, and the southern porch. In this view, though not so carefully defined as I could wish, the forms and tracery of the windows an- pointed out ; and it will be perceived, that the whole wall of the upper story of the church, from east to west, with the exception of the transept, is covered with panelling and ribbed * History of Bristol, p. 576. t Sec Murphy's " Plans, Elevations, &c. of the Church of Batalha," with 27 Engravings, folio. c 2 20 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. mouldings. The lofty and narrow proportion of the mid- dle aile of the transept is also characterised ; and it will be seen that an open-worked parapet extends along the summit of the aile, and another at the top of the church. This part was formerly adorned with pinnacles. Flying buttresses extend from the upper story of the church to the attached buttresses of the ailes ; but the transept is deprived of these supports. PLATE IV. VIEW OF THE EAST END. This print represents the eastern and two northern windows of the Virgin Mary Chapel, with one of the buttress-staircases to the same ; also the entrance to the crypt, and the open parapet at the top. The contour of the eastern window over the altar, now closed up, is also seen, as well as the window at the east end of the north aile. PLATE V. SOUTH PORCH * Though this appendage to the church is at present in a mutilated and disfigured condition, it has been highly adorned with architectural dressings. A range of five niches, with acutely pointed and crocketed pediments, is displayed immediately over the central door-way; and at the angles are double graduated but- tresses, with sculptured canopies and pinnacles. Behind * As this plate has been executed by three different hands, I have not put an engraver's name to it. TOWER, NORTH PORCH, AND NAVE. 21 the porch is shewn three divisions of the upper part of tin- nave, with the clerestory windows. The style of tin- upper parapet, and of the angular pinnacle, with the panel- ling on the outer wall, are also represented in tli PLATE VI. VIEW OF THE TOWER. Has been already described, p. 1 1 ; and it is only necessary to remark, that the whole of the present view cannot be seen from any one point ; as there are houses abutting against the north-west angle of the wall. Under the steps, at the west end, is a conduit. PLATE VII. VIEW OF THE NORTH PORCH. Is the last of the series of plates which I have appro- priated to the exterior of the church ; and this has been fully described, pp. 17 and 18. PLATE VIII. INTERIOR VIEW OF THE NAVE. In this print, the style and decoration of the nave are displayed ; also the choir, or chancel part, and a view into the south aile, with part of the southern transept: at tin distant end is shewn one of Hogarth's pictures, which, with a large curtain, and a modern wooden skreen, hide the eastern window as well as the original altar-piece. It will be seen by this print, that the ceiling of the whole church is richly adorned \\ith tracery, and that the v. .ill Ixtween the large arches and the upper tier of clerestory 22 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. windows, is covered with panelling and ribs. The forms of the pillars, with their bases and capitals, are charac- terised in this print. PLATE IX. VIEW ACROSS THE TRANSEPT FROM NORTH TO SOUTH. The ornamental finishing of the central division of the transept, with its lateral ailes, the clustered pillars, or piers of the nave, and a clerestory window of the same, with two of the very highly ornamented windows of the south transept, are the features of this print. But the chief reason for selecting this point of view is, to shew the picturesque arrangement of forms and parts ; and the brilliant effect which is frequently seen in this portion of the church. Unfortunately, the engraver, after having finished two plates of this subject, has not succeeded in producing the desired effect in either. PLATE X. VIEW IN THE NORTH AILE. In this print is displayed the stone skreen, which divides the north aile from the chancel, with a stone seat attached. The groined character of the ceiling is also shewn; and a lofty, close skreen, which fills up the eastern arch of this aile, opposite to which is the fine monument for Sir Thomas Mede, and Philip his brother. DOOR-WAY AND SKREEN TO THE NORTH PORCH. 23 PLATE XL DOOR- WAY AND SKREEN TO THE NORTH PORCH. This skreen, consisting of two portions, is an archi- tectural curiosity and beauty. In the centiv i* a door- way, with a square head, and ornamented with several richly sculptured bosses in a hollow moulding. On each side is a series of ornamental panels, crowned with Ogee arches, the outer moulding of which is adorned with fine crockets and finials. Over the door-way is an elaborate frieze, charged with vine-leaves, busts, animals, and foli- age; and above that is another portion or story of the skreen, with four panels, and surmounted with another rich frieze. Behind this skreen is a blank window, the mul- lions and tracery of which correspond with the others of the aile. See PL XII. 4. PLATE XII, > Displays four different windows, a door-way, and part of a ballustrade. Fig. 1. A lofty, narrow window, at the extremity of the north and south transepts. 2. A window, with tracery beneath it, and an arch, of the upper story of the south transept. The outer ornaments and filling up of this window are singular. 3. Win- dow, panelling, and an arch of the nave. 4. Window of the ailes, finished at the top with an obtuse, triangular moulding. 5. Door-way from the north aile to the vestry, uhich was probably a chantry erected by Sir Thomas Mede. 6. The perforated parapet,* hid i CI..\MI> the upper wall of the church. 24 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. The Vignette Border in the title-page, shews part of the ribs, and tracery of the ceiling, in the north aile. The bosses here are fancifully sculptured. In the east aile of the south transept, at p. in the ground plan, is a boss on which are the figures of a sow, with young pigs ; a very strange and unusual device. Having thus referred to all the accompanying prints, and pointed out the chief architectural features, and pe- culiarities of the church, I proceed to specify the princi- pal monuments. JOHN LAMVNGTON. JS CHAP. III. Description of the Monuments, with reference to the Numbers on the ground Plan, including Anecdotes of John Lamyngton, Simon de Bur- ton, William Canynge, John Bleaker, William Cole, John Jay, John Brooke, Sir Thomas Mede, Mrs. Fortune Little, John Inyn, Everard le French, Thomas Broughton, William Barrett, Sir William Penn. No. 1. JOHN LAMYNGTON. Near the south-west angle of the church is a large stone coffin, with a statue in demi-relief on the lid, and beneath it two words in old characters, which Barrett reads, " 3)oanitfg SUmjWg= ton*" This coffin was placed here in 1766, having been discovered under the west window of St Sprite's chapel, which formerly stood close to the church, and was demo- lished in that year. Upon first opening the coffin, tlu solid parts of the body retained their natural position in the most perfect manner, but on being touched they im- mediately crumbled to dust. John Lamyngton is mentioned in Barrett's list of vicars, as having been chaplain of this church in 1393. The same author hazards a conjecture, but upon what grounds he does not state, that St. Sprite's chapel was called Lamyngton's Lady-Chapel, before it received it- subsequent appellation, from the fraternity of tin- Holy Ghost, to which socii-ty the use of it is said to have been 26 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. granted in 1383, by the principal or master of the Hos- pital of St. John.* No. 2, is a flat stone, with a cross and two words upon it, which are almost obliterated. Several fragments of other flat grave-stones, with defaced inscriptions, con- stitute part of the pavement of the western end of the church ; some of them apparently of more ancient date even than any part of the present edifice. No. 3, is an altar monument supporting the recum- bent statue of a warrior, or knight, habited in a coat of chain mail, and having his legs crossed. The name of the person to whom this monument properly belongs, is unknown, there being no inscription, or any distinct mark upon it, by which it can be decidedly ascertained. Tra- dition assigns it to William Burton ; Barrett to Robert de Berkeley, who was Lord of Bedminster and Redcliffe. Besides the tradition of the name, nothing is known concerning William Burton. Indeed, no evidence of the existence of such a person, who could possibly be the owner of this monument, can be discovered from any species of record. The tradition then is probably altoge- ther erroneous, unless it may be supposed that in the lapse of ages, some accident has led to the substitution of the prenomen William, for that of Simon, in which case this may be regarded as the tomb and effigy of Simon de Burton, the original founder of the church, and also of the almshouse called after him, " Burton's Alms-house." It is not likely to have belonged to Robert de Berkeley, * Barrett's History of Bristol, p. 596. WILLIAM CANYNGE. 27 for most of the persons of that family were interred in the church of St. Augustine's monastery. No. 4, is a plain altar tomb, supporting the recum- bent figure of a man in sacerdotal robes, with a large scrip, or pocket attached to the left side. An angel is placed at his head, and a dog, with a large bone in his paws, at his feet. There is no inscription upon it, to mark decidedly the person to whose memory this monu- ment has been erected. Mr. Cole states it to be a third tomb to William Canynge ; tradition, however, assigns it to his purse-bearer.* No. 5. WILLIAM CANYNGE. f Under a large canopy * The opinion of Mr. Cole on this subject is extremely doubtful, as it seem* very improbable that the same individual should have three distinct monuments, all immediately adjoining to each other. The traditional account, on the other hand, most likely approximates the truth, for though it may not be the monu- ment of the purse-bearer, it is certainly that of some person intimately connected with Canynge. If the existence of such a person as Thomas Rowley, a prieet, and the confidential friend of that distinguished character, could be fully ascer- tained, I should have little hesitation in ascribing it to him. It is, however, cer- tain that Thomas Rowley, a merchant, was interred in St._John^8 church, in Bris- tol, where a brass commemorates his name and memory. Cole's MSS. in the British Museum, vol. x. p. 51. f The following extract from a volume of the Parish Register of St. Mary Redcliff, for the years between 1678 and 1694 inclusive, furnishes many curious particulars relating to Canynge, and to the church which we are illustrating. " William Cannings, burgess and merchant of Bristol, by his deed, dated the 20th of October, 1467, and in the year of King Edward the 4th. did give unto the vicar and wardens, and also to the senior and major part of all the parishion- ers of the church of tin- bli-ssi-d Mary of Ki-iUliir. in liristol, the sum of 340 of current money, upon condition that the said vicar and church- wardens and their successors for ever should for that gift and with the said money sufficiently repair, or cause to be repaired and re-edified, the ruinous buildings, tenements, and houses whatsoever of the said church, and wiih tin- rents and issues of the laud and tenements of the same church should provide, find, and give unto two chap- 28 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. beneath the centre window of the south transept is an altar tomb of stone supporting the recumbent effigies of lains, called St. Mary's Priests, nine marks apiece per ann. To two clerks, suffi- ciently instructed in reading and singing, at 2. 13*. 4d. apiece, and for executing the sexton's office 1. 6s. 8d. with divers other gifts, as per the record of the same deed in the great red book, fol. 291, it may appear. More he gave to the said vicar, churchwardens, and parishioners, to the use aforsesaid, certain jewels of Sir Theobald Knight, which were pawned to him for 160 pounds of like money. He founded one chantry to the honour of God and St. Catherine, and an- other chantry to the honour of God and St. George. And endowed such chantry with lands of the clear value of 10 per annum towards the maintenance of each chantry priest. He devised and gave by his will, dated January 14th, 1474, and in the 8th year of King Edward the 4th, five tenements, with the vaults and cellars thereto adjoining and belonging, being in and about the Trough-house, going between St. Nicholas-street and Baldwin-street, unto Elizabeth Canninge, late wife to John Canninge his son, for term of life ; the reversion of her life to Elizabeth Canuinge his niece, daughter of Thomas Canninge his brother, late grocer and alderman of London, and to her heirs : and ordained by his will, that for want of such issue, the Mayor and Common Council of Bristol, and the Proctors of Redcliffe, for the time being, should sell the said tenements, and divide the money thereof coming to the uses following, viz. the one-half to be delivered to the said proctors for the use and sustentation of the said chantry of St. Catherine and St. George, and the other half to be devised to the Chamber of Bristol, for the use and common profit of the town. He was bountiful to the poor in Bristol, and to the poor of West- bury upon Trim in the county of Gloc r> He founded an alms-house upon Redcliffe 1 Hill, and gave every one of his poor there 20s. apiece. He gave 20 to the house of the Friars Minors, and 10 apiece to the men- dicant friars in Bristol, viz. the Friars Preachers, Friars Augustines, and Friars Carmelites. He was liberal to all fraternities in Bristol, and gave the church of Redcliffe his great ledger books. He was bountiful to all his servants, and gave 60 pounds to all the poor blind and lame dwelling in Bristol. Then he gave and devised divers other lands and tenements in Bristol to his nephew William Cannings, and the heirs of his body ; and for want thereof, the same to remain to his niece Elizabeth Canninge and the heirs of her body ; and for want thereof, that the lands should be sold by the Mayor and Common Coun- cil of Bristol and the Wardens of Redcliff, and that the money thereof proceed- ing should be devised (divided) to the use aforesaid, viz. the one half to the use of the said chauntries, and the other half for the use and common profit of the town, as appears in the great Orphan Book, fol. 200. WILLIAM CANTNQE 29 a man and a woman. The first is in Mayor's roU-s, aiul the second according to the fashion of the The said William Cannings, being afterwards dean of the collegiate church ' and college of Wcstbury, founded an alms-house at Westbury for six poor men and six poor women, to be continually placed therein ; and ordained that one of the men should always be presented to the said alms-house by the Mayor of Bris- tol for the time being. And one woman continually presented by the Mayoress ' of Bristol, with consent of her sister the late Mayor's wife, as often as any such place should be void. Elizabeth Canninge, niece of the said William Canninge, married with Mr. John Houlden, of London, draper, and had issue between them Richard Houldcn, who at the age of three years deceased ; and afterwards the said Elizabeth de- ceased without any issue ; and the said John Houlden being possessed of the said tenements which were devised by his said wife, and holding the same by the courtesie of England, sold his interest therein to the Mayor and Recorder and two Aldermen of the town of Bristol ; and after the mayor and commonalty of Bristol, and the vicar, chaplains, and proctors of Redcliffe, with the consent of the senior part of the parishioners of Redcliffe, for a certain sum of money, to be paid to the chamber of Bristol and the proctors of Redcliffe, to the uses afore- said, sold all the said tenements to the said Mayor, Recorder, and two Aldermen, as by their deed, dated in the 1st year of King Edward the 5th, 1483, which is recorded in the great Red Book, 247, where it may appear. William Spencer, executor of the last Will of William Cauninge aforesaid, gave to the Mayor and commonalty of Bristol, 87/. 6*. Sd. to the intent following, viz. twenty pounds he appointed should be freely lent to the Mayor for the time being, during the term of his mayoralty, and so to have continued from mayor to mayor for ever. The other at 67/. 6*. 8rf. he appointed should be lent to the Bay- liffs of the said town, and they to enjoy the same for the time of their being in their ofliee, paying therefore weekly 2s. per week to the priest of St. George's Chapel on every Saturday, who shall presently distribute the same to the poor in the alms-house in Lewens Mead : which the said William Spencer built with the money and goods of the said William Cannings, as appears in the great Red Book, folio 3 17. Moreover he bequeathed to certain feoffees, one messuage lying on the back of Bristol, now in the tenure of Richard Pley, of the yearly rent of four pounds, on condition thut the said feoffees and their heirs for ever should provide every year, with the profits of the said tenement, three priests sufficiently instructed in sacred divinity to preach the word of God in the parish church of St. Mary Red- cliffe, or the yard of the said Church, before the Mayor and commons of the said town, and other devout people thither resorting in the Feast of Pentecost, and to very of the priests there so preaching 6. 8rf. To the mayor for the preacher's 30 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. times. The inscription, on 1 the back of this tomb, is as follows : " William Cannings, y e richest marchant of y e towne of Bristow, afterwards chosen 5 times Mayor of y e said towne for the good of the common wealth of the same : he was in order of priesthood 7 years, and afterwards Dean of Westbury, and died the 7th Novem. 1474, which said William did build, within the said town of Westbury, a college (which his canons), and the said William did maintain by space of 8 years, 800 handycrafts men, be- sides carpenters and masons, every day 100 men. Be- sides, King Edward the IVth had of the said William 3000 marks for his peace to be had in 2470 tons of shipping." " These are the names of his shiping and their burthens: The Mary Canynges, 400 tons; The Mary and John, 900; The Kathrine, 140; The Little Nicho- las, 140; The Katharine of Boston, 220; The Mary Redcliff, 500; The Galliot, 050; The Mary Batt, 220; The Margaret, 200 ; A ship in Ireland, 100."* " No age nor time, can wear out well woon fame, The stones themselves a statlie work doth shew, dinner at his table, 3s. 4d. each day. To the clerk and sexton for ringing the bell, and placing the forms for the mayor and common council, twelve-pence per diem. The residue of the rents he appointed should remain towards payment of quit-rents, the repairing the same tenements, and the common profit of the town, as appears in the said book and leaf." * The preceding part of this epitaph has most likely been translated from William of Worcester's Itinerary, (p. 81, 99,) and is presumed to be of much later date than the death of Canynges. It is singular that his buildings at Redcliffe Church are not mentioned in the above epitaph, though, it is supposed, the " 800 handycrafts men" were employed on that edifice. INSCRIPTION ON CANYNGE'S TOMB. 31 From senceless grave we ground may mens good name, And noble minds by vcntrous deeds we know. A lonterne clecr setts forth a candcl light, A worthy act declares a worthy wight ; The buildings rare, that here you may behold, To shrine his bones deserves a toinbc of gold. The famous fabricke which he here hath donne, Shines in its sphere as glorious as the Sonnr. "What needs more words, the future world he soughte, And set the pomp and pride of this at noughte : Heaven was his aime, let heaven be still his station, That leaves such works for others imitation." No. 6. is an altar tomb, on which lies the effigy of a man in priest's robes. The head is shaved, and the hands are raised, as if in the act of devotion. This mo- nument is commonly ascribed to William Canynge? as Dean of Westbury. The head, however, is very different to that on the other tomb ; and both have the appearance of being portraits. This of No. 6 presents a very extra- ordinary face : a long aquiline nose ; a narrow project- ing chin ; high cheek bones, and very thin cheeks, com- bine to produce a very singular countenance. At the feet j of this statue is a small figure of a man, apparently in great bodily agony, which is a very unusual occurrence. The following Latin inscription, on a loose board, is some- times attached to this tomb : " Hie inferius tumulatur corpus nobilis, circumspect i * Canynge's Will, according to Will. Worcester. I tin. 83, is dated 12th Nov. 1474, and he died 17th of that month." His obiit was yerely celebrated, for which, in the yo:ir 1 17.'), there is charged in the annual account, " For our Master William Canynge's obiit at Lamnias-day, as the composi- tion viu>( yfvi th, 21. 17*. Orf. Paid for our Master William Canynge's years myude, 21. 11*. 8 p] de Ame." D 34 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. John Jay was Sheriff of Bristol, and a merchant of eminence. His wife was sister to William of Worcester, as appears from the following notice in his Itinerary, p. 267. " Johannes Jay secundus maritus Johannae Sororis meae obiit die 15 mensis Maii anno Christi." No. 12. THOMAS MEDE. At the eastern end of the north aile, is a very handsome monument, consisting of an altar tomb, surmounted by a richly ornamented canopy. Eecumbent on the former are effigies of the deceased, and of his wife, with their heads resting on cushions, and having two figures of angels supporting the pillow. The plinth of the tomb, as well as the back and sides, are covered with panelling and tracery. Immediately over the tomb are five crocketed canopies, with pinnacles, &c. and the whole is surmounted with a richly sculptured frieze and parapet. On the verge is this imperfect in- scription : " --- pdict. CgotW JWfete ac ter majoris istius ville Bristoll : q. obiit xx. diemes Decebrs, A. Dm. m. cccc. Ixxv. qm. anabs pper." de Amen. Thomas Mede was Sheriff of Bristol in 1452, and subsequently thrice mayor of that city. He had a country seat at Nayland, then called Mede's-Place, in the parish of Wraxal, and county of Somerset. Barrett, Hist. Bris- tol, p. 585. Collinson's Somersetshire, vol. iii. 156. No. 13. PHILIP MEDE. Attached to the former monument, and of the same style and character, but without any effigy, is another to the memory of Philip rilll.il' .MEDE. MRS. FORTUNE LITTLE. r, Mede., with the following inscriptions on labels, and en- graved brasses with figures of a man and two women : " S!! trinitas un* d e miserere nobis Pater de caelis deus miserere nobis." Philip Mede was brother to Thomas Mede, whose monument has just been described. He appears to have been several times mayor of Bristol, and to have repre- sented that city in two parliaments held at Coventry and at Westminster, in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of Henry the Sixth. His Will is dated Jan. 11, 1471, and directs his body to be buried at the altar of St. Stephen, in Redcliffe Church. Barrett, 153, 680, 681. Cole's MSS. Brit. Mus. x. 54, 55. MRS. FORTUNE LITTLE. A small marble slab, at the north-east angle of the transept, is inscribed with the following lines from the pen of Mrs. H. More. " Near this pillar are deposited the remains of Mrs. FORTUNE LITTLE, widow of Mr. John Little, late of this parish. She died June 28, 1777, aged 57. Oh ! could this verse her bright example spread, And teach the living while it praised the dead : Then, reader, should it speak her hope div; to record her faith, but strengthen tin. Then should her ev'ry virtue stand confeas'd, .1 every virtue kindled in thy breast : But, if thou slight the monitory strain, she has lived to thee, at least, In vain, Yet let her death an awful lesson gi The dying Christian speaks to all that live ; Enough for her, that here her ashes rest, Till God's own plaudit shall her worth attest SfamtA Ifbrv. 36 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. SIR JOHN INYN. In St. Mary's chapel is a large stone, with a brass plate inlaid in the centre, bearing an engraved figure of the deceased in his Judge's robes. On a slip of brass round the margin is this inscription : " Hie jacet Johannes Inyn Miles capitalis justicia- rius domini regis ad placita coram ipso rege tenenda, qui obiit 24 die Marcii, Anno Domini, Millesimoc.c.c.c.xxxix. cujus animae propitietur Deus, Amen." Few particulars, besides those mentioned in the in- scription, are known respecting this judge. Barrett states, that his country seat was at Bishopworth, near Filwood, now a farm house. EVERARDUS LE FRENSSHE, Or LE FRAUNCEYS. Near the centre of the transept is a plain altar tomb, supporting the recumbent figure of a person in magiste- rial robes. The inscription, now nearly crazed, was as follows : " Hie jacet Everardus le Franshe, qui in hac ecclesia duas fundavit cantarias et duas alias in ecclesia St. Nico- lai, et fuit ter maior hujus villae, cujus animae propitietur Deus. Amen. M.CCC.L." Everardus le Fraunceys was Mayor of Bristol in the years 1333, 1337, and 1339, and member for that city in three different parliaments held at Westminster in the twenty-first and twenty-second years of the reign of Ed- ward the Third. Barrett, Hist. Bristol, p. 151, 675. THOMAS YOUNG. On a marble monument in the cross aile, is this inscription : REV. THOMAS BROUGHTON. WILLIAM BARRETT. 37 " Hie inferius sub lapide marmorea sepelitur corpus YOUNG armigeri, iiuper de villa Bristol, ac lilii ac hanvdis Thomae Young unius justiciorum in communi Banco, et Jocosae uxoris ejus qui quidem Thomas ohiit 15 Mali, A.D. 1506, quorum animabus propitietur Deus, Amen." Thomas Young was several times representative for Bristol during the reign of Henry the Sixth. Barrett, Hist. Bristol, p. 153, 583. The Rev. THOMAS BROUGHTON was buried in the north aile of this Church, in December, 1774. He was born in London, July, 1704. Bishop Sherlock presented him with the living and prebendship of Bedminster and Redcliffe. He was one of the original writers in the Biographia Britannica, and also author of a musical drama, entitled, " Hercules." See Jones's Biographia Dramatica, vol. i. p. 72. WILLIAM BARRETT. Attached to a column in the south transept, is a small marble tablet, commemorative of WILLIAM BARRETT, F.S.A., Surgeon, and author of " The History and Antiquities of Bristol." This gentle- man having become the dupe of young Chatterton, unfor- tunately incorporated many of the fictions of that juvenile hard in liU history, and thereby rendered the whole apo- cryphal. It is evident that Mr. Barrett collected a large mass of materials, but was incompetent to the task of selecting, arranging, and discriminating their relatiu* nn-rits. Many of his papers were left to Mr. Gapper ; those relating to ChatU -rton were disposed of to the Rev. 38 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. Mr. Kerrich of Cambridge, for Dr. Glynn, and were after- wards deposited in the British Museum. Sir John Smith, of Ashton, purchased some MSS. at Mr. Barrett's sale. SIR WILLIAM PENN.* Attached to a column in the south transept, is a flat slab, with the following inscrip- tion, which so fully details the character and public ser- vices of the person it commemorates, that it is scarcely necessary to say more. " To y e Just Memory of S r WILL. PEN K* & some- times Generall, borne at Bristol An. 1621 son of Captain Giles Penn Severall years Consul for y e English in the Mediterranean of y e Penns of Penns Lodge in the County of Wilts and those Penns of Penn in y e C. of BvcKs & by his Mother from y e Gilberts in y e County of Somerset Originally from yorksheire Adicted from his youth to Maritime affaires, He was made Captain at y e yeares of 21 ; Rear-Admirall of Ireland at 23 ; Vice Admirall of Ireland at 25 ; Admiral to y e Streights at 29 ; Vice Ad- mirall of England at 31 ; & Generall in y e first Duch Warres at 32 ; Whence retireing in An 1655 ; He was Chosen a Parliment man for y e Towne of Weymouth 1660 : made Commissioner of y e Admiralty, & Navy Gouernor of y e Towne & forts of King-Sail, Yice-Admirall of Mun- ster, and a Member of that Prouinciall Counseill, & in Anno 1664 was Chosen Great Captain-Commander under * In a very interesting work, by Thomas Clarkson, M.A. just published, are some notices of Admiral Penn, with a very ample memoir of his son, Williatn Penn. 2 vols. 8vo. 1813. I have unfortunately lost some authentic particulars of the Admiral, which were communicated to me by one of his descendants. SIR WILLIAM PENN 39 his Royal Highnesse ; In y e Signall & Most Euidently successfull fight against y 1 ' Dutch fleet: " Thvs He Took Leave of the Sea, His old Element, Bvt Continued still is other Employs Till 1669 at what Time, Throvgh bodely Infirmitys (Contracted By y e Care & fatigve of Pvbliqve Affairs) He Withdrew, Prepared & Made for his End; & With a Gentle & even Gale In mvch Peace Ariu'd and Ancord In his Last and Best Port, At Wanstead In y e Covnty of Essex y e 16 Sept: 1670, being then but 49 & 4 Months old. " To whose Name and Merit, His Summing Lady hath Erected this Remembrance." 40 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. CHAP. IV. Painted glass. Church furniture. Cross. Paintings. Thunder Storm. IN the course of the preceding pages, it has been stated, that Redcliffe church contained two chantries, or altars, dedicated to St. George and to St. Catharine : Barrett fur- ther states, that there were others to St. Blaze, St. Ste- phen, and St. Nicholas. William of Worcester intimates that the principal porch was dedicated to the Virgin : " Ubi Sancta et beata virgo venerato." He also says, that " the principal chapel of St. Mary contains effigies of kings curiously wrought in freestone," and that the " en- trance door-way is curiously wrought." In one of the windows of the north transept are some fragments of an- cient stained glass, which appear coeval with the church. On one piece is represented six women in a boat, possibly alluding to a particular event connected with the church. There are also some diagrams, arms, and letters, which probably marked certain benefactors who contributed to- wards finishing the fabric. Figures of the virgin and child, with crowns on their heads, are pretty perfect. Among the MSS. that have been discovered in, and relating to Redcliffe church, the following is entitled to record here, because it was certainly in existence before ANCIENT SEPULCHRE. 41 UiutUTtmfs birth. A copy of this paper was communi- cated to the Society of Antiquaries of London, in the year 1736, by Mr. Theobald. The original is said to have been in the possession of Mr. Browning, of Barton-Hill, near Bristol, who, I learn from Lady Millman, a relation of Mr. Browning's, also possessed some MS. poems of Chatterton, never printed. Walpole published the follow- ing account in the first edition of his Anecdotes of Paint- ing, 1762 ;* but his copy was very inaccurate, and has never been corrected. Barrett, in his History of Bristol, repeats it from Walpole. In the Nugoe Antiquffi-f it was printed more fully and accurately, and from that work the following is copied. " The iind<'i m ~wntten memorandum was found (among oth>-r curiosities j in the cabinet of the late John />/ Esq. of Barton, near Bristol" " Item. That Maister Canynge J hath deliver'd this 4th day of July, in the year of our l/)rd 1470, to Maister Nicholas Fetters, vicar of St. Mary Redcliffe ; Moses Con- terin, Philip Barthelmew, procurators of St. Mary Red- * It is evident that Chatterton was acquainted with Walpole's Anecdotes of Painters : and it is very probable that a sight of this document, in print, not only induced him to write to Walpole, but to commence fabricator of ancient trrituty*. f Sec a new edition of this work, 2 vols. 8vo. 1804, with additional and cor- n-ctivc notes, by T. Park, F.S.A. J " He was ordained Alcolythc, and received the higher orders of subdcacon, deacon, and priest, in 1 l<>7-8. See Tyrwhytt's Introduction to Rowley's Poems." Park's note to Nugae Antiquee, 1 12. Walpole spells the word Cumings: several otln . . in the two works. 1) tors 42 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. cliffe, aforesaid ; a new sepulchre well gilt with golde, and a civer thereto . " Item, An image of God Almighty rising out of the same sepulchre, with all the ordinance that 'longeth thereto (that is to say), a lathe made of timber and the iron- work thereto. " Item, Thereto 'longeth Heaven, made of timber and stain'd clothes. " Item, Hell made of timber, and iron-work thereto, with Divels to the number of 13. " Item, 4 Knights armed, keeping the sepulchre, with their weapons in their hands ; that is to say, 2 axes and 2 spears with 2 paves.* " Item, 4 payr of Angels' wings for 4 Angels, made of timber and well painted. " Item, The Fadre, the Crowne and Visage, the ball with a Cross upon it, well gilt with fine gould. " Item, The Holy Ghosht coming out of Heaven into the sepulchre. " Item, Longeth to the 4 Angels 4 Chevelers."t Among the ancient relics, formerly attached to Red- cliffe church, was an old STONE CROSS, which is men- tioned by William of Worcester, and by several other writers. A passage in Eay's " Itineraries," p. 253, con- tains this notice of it and of the church : Ci June 19, 1662. Saw Ratcliff church, built by one Cannings. It is in the form of a cathedral arched with stone, well gilded on the roof. In the church-yard is a fair stone cross, whereat are preached four sermons every year; to wit, on * " A pavice was a large shield that covered the whole body." Park. f Park says they are " supports." Lord Orford reads Chevelures, perukes. PAINTINGS BY Hoi, . Mil II. 43 Good-Friday, Easter Sunday, Monday, and Tuesd William of Worcester's wortls are, " Crux pulehrrrima urtiticiose operata est in raedio die ti ( iinit. i ii. Paintings in Redcliffe Church. At the east end, over the altar, are three large pictures* by Hogarth,-f re- presenting the following sacred subjects; viz. 1. The Ascension of Christ ; 2. The High Priest and Servants the Tomb; and 3. The three Marys at the Se- It is incompatible with the constitution of man, and the qualifications of genius, to excel in different branches of art, or to acquire positive pre-eminence in two distinct departments of science. The productions of Hogarth, * These were hung up in the church in the year 1757, and are said to have cost 500 guineas, besides the frames. The lofty eastern window is closed up for the purpose of hanging the largest of these paintings. f More volumes and essays have been published respecting Hogarth and his works, than of any other ancient or modern artist. Almost every picture that he painted, and sketch that he made, has been perpetuated and circulated by meant of the graver. He commenced this practice himself, and engraved many of his own pictures. Since his death, both John and Samuel Ireland, Dr. Trailer, Cook, and Nichols have published numerous annotations on his works, and prints from subject they could collect. It is singular that only one, of the three pic- tures at Redcliffe, has been copied and noticed in these publications : and it is equally singular thut this print (in John Ireland's Illustrations) is so inaccurately copied, that it appears as if " done" from memory, rather than from the picture. Hogarth was certainly an artist of peculiar and distinguished talents. He stood alone in art, and formed a school of his own. He was at once the pictorial satirist, monitor, and historian of the age in which he lived. I use the latter term, from a conviction that his pictures will always be referred to with pleasure and advantage, as recording the features, costume, and corporeal characteristics of many eminent and illustrious persona, and of many public and private event* of his time. Sec a very interesting essay " on the genius and character of Hogarth," by Chas. Lambe, in " The Ki-tli < tor ; " also a brief memoir of him in Ree's Cy- clopedia, article HOGARTH, by T. Phillips, U.A.. an artist highly qualified to ap- preciate his talents. 44 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. among those of several other justly famed artists, serve to illustrate this maxim. In pictures of comic character, rich humour, and moral satire ; and particularly in dis- playing the human figure and countenance in its common and popular forms, he certainly excelled all other painters ; many of his pictures were also executed in a masterly style of colouring, grouping, and effect. Like the gene- rality of artists, he was occasionally required to paint subjects from ancient and sacred history; but he then wandered out of his element, and at once betrayed a want of judgment and of taste. In the three pictures at Red- cliffe church this is exemplified: as specimens of colour- ing, however, they possess much merit, and may be viewed with advantage by the young artist ; but in the forms and expression of the figures, and in their attitudes and group- ing, we seek in vain for propriety, dignity, or elegance. Immediately over the altar-table is a picture, repre- senting Jesus restoring to life the daughter of Jairus, by Henry Tresham, R.A. presented in 1792 to the church by the painter's uncle, Sir Clifton Wintringham, Bart. Thunder Storm. I have already mentioned the re- sult of lightning on Redcliffe church, in the year 1445, when the upper part of the spire was thrown down, and the western end of the church was much damaged. In 1812 I had an opportunity of observing the appearances and effects of an appalling thunder storm in this edifice, which was really so awful and grand, that I conceive an attempt to describe them will neither be thought irrele- vant nor unamusing. Never did I witness a scene so truly sublime. It reminded me of necromancy and en- chanted palaces. Busily and intently engaged, alone, in THUNDER STOKM 45 surveying this large church, deciphering the old inscrip- tions, and examining the monuments, an almost sudden darkness came on ; the distant pictures and columns be- came scarcely perceptible; the rain, accompanied with large hail stones, fell in torrents on the leaden roof ; and the glass of the windows seemed in imminent datfger of being shivered to atoms. A heavy cloud appeared to be suspended immediately over the church, and discharged, from its swoln bosom, an accumulation of water, hail, lightning, thunder, and wind. In any situation such a storm must have been terrific ; but placed as I was, in the midst of this church, impressed with a recollection of the destroyed spire ; enveloped in gloom, and surrounded by knights in armour, monkish effigies, and other images of deceased persons, the effect was truly sublime and awful. At one moment the whole space was, as Milton terms it, " darkness visible," in the next, the vivid light- ning blazed through the long ailes, and illuminated every object. It glanced on the clustered column, played around the brazen eagle, flashed on the supplicating sta- tue : alternate gloom and dazzling glare pervaded the whole church. An almost incessant peal of thunder continued to accompany reiterated flashes of lightning: it now seemed exhausted, but only to come again with additional fury of sound, and more awful crashes. Though so truly terrific, I own that it excited more of admiration than of fear ; for my whole faculties were absorbed, and seemingly entranced in contemplating the varied, brilliant, and pow- erful effects of the scene. The sensations of the heart were suspended or overpowered by the more powerful emotions of the soul. With a few verbal alterations, the following passage 46 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. from Walter Scott is at once apposite to, and descriptive of, this scene: " And sudden, through the dark'ned air A flash of lightning came, So broad, so bright, so red the glare, The fabric seem'd on flame. Glanced every column through the aile, Glanced every statue clad in mail. Each trophied tomb, each sculptured stone, Were instant seen and instant gone : Seem'd all on fire within, around, Deep sacristy and altar pale ; Shone every pillar foliage crown'd, And glimmer'd all the dead men's mail." Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto VI. BIRTH AND DEATH OF CIIATTERTO.V 47 CHAP. V. An Essay on the Life, Character, and Writings of THOMAS CHATTEBTON. " Never ending, still beginning." " And yet poor Edwin was no vulgar boy ; Deep thought oft seem'd to fix his infant eye : Dainties he heeded not, nor gaude, nor toy, Save one short pipe of rudest minstrelsy. Silent, when glad ; affectionate though shy : And now his look was most demurely sad ; And now he laugh'd aloud, yet none knew why ; The neighbours star'd and sigh'd, yet bless'd the lad : Some deem'd him wond'rowt wise, and some betiev'd him mad." MINSTREL. SUCH is the portrait which Beattie has drawn of his ima- ginary young bard the Minstrel : and this is so correct a delineation of Chatterton, that he may be considered as the prototype. Every line and touch defines a marked feature of this youth, and at once portrays his mind and character. To those who are not familiar with the events of Chatterton's life, and with the complicated and voluminous controversy excited by his writings, it will be expedient to unfold a few particulars ; without some knowledge of which, the following Essay would be uninteresting and inexplicable. Thomas Chatterton's father was a school- 48 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. master, and verger of Bedcliffe Church, and died before the birth of his son, who was born Nov. 20, 1752. He continued under the care of his mother, and in Colston's charity-school, till July 1, 1767, when he was placed, as articled clerk, with Mr. Lambert, an attorney of Bristol. In that gentleman's office he continued three years, when he left his native place, his friends, his home, and his only social comforts, to seek literary fame, and acquire an honest livelihood, in the immense metropolis of the Bri- tish empire. Confident in the powers and versatility of his own talents, he vainly conceived that a large fortune might be acquired by the exercise of his pen : he also fancied that an English Maecenas might be found to vie with the illustrious Boman in the proud exercise of pa- tronage; but his expectations were visionary, his hopes were blasted : he wrote much for little remuneration ; he struggled some time with penury and want ; and at length, in a moment of mental derangement, terminated the cares of life by a dose of poison, in August 1770. Such is the short history of the most extraordinary youth that ever lived. His various essays, in prose and verse, display a vivid imagination, and singular precosity of talent. The chief of his works have been published in three large octavo volumes, but he caused many more to be written. The life and character of Chatterton constitute one of those subjects on which the essayist may expatiate without fearing his prolixity will become tedious, or that his repetitions will be censured as impertinent ; and the author of the present work, while he was conscious that but little could be added to the speculations of his pre- decessors, on a topic that has already exhausted the learn- ing, and confounded the sagacity of our most celebrated PECl I.I AK1TIES OF CIIATTERTON'S \\K111\GS. 49 critics, was yet unwilling to commit his present vol to the world, without attempting to gratify the natural expectation of his readers. It is not ln> intention, how- ever, to comment at length on the various difficulties of the Rowleyan controversy, or to dwell with minuteness on the personal history of the youth towhom the com- position of the disputed productions is attributed ; con- \ine. il as he is, that the poems ascribed to Rowley are the effusions of a stripling of the eighteenth century, he A\ ill confine himself to a cursory review of those promi- nent features in the character of Chatterton, which appear to indicate his peculiar aptitude to imitate old writings, and to such correlative observations on incidental topics, as may correct the errors, or supply the imperfections of his critics and biographers. The only question, indeed, that remains undecided, regards the qualification of Chatterton to produce poems ascribed to Rowley; and on this point I wish to be particular and explicit. The external testimony is known to every one ; ami respecting the internal evidence of the poems themselves, the /mli/ir has long been decided. The frequent personification of abstract terms, and tin- copious employment of metaphysical imagery; the con- sistency with which the characters and manners are .- ported; the frequent employment of words and phrases unknown to the age in which Rowley is supposed to have flourished; the use of the pindaric measure; the adop- tion of a stanza unknown, in it.s finished state, till the time of Prior; the varieties of metre; and the unit'. harmony of the diction and the verse; all conspire to in- dicate the existence of their author in a fastidious and cultivated age, when the poet could improve his first r I 50 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. efforts from the study of existing models, and combine the regularity which arises from experience, with the native energy of genius. It would be injustice, indeed, to the learned and able advocates for the authenticity of the poems, to deny, that on minute and isolated points of dispute, they have frequently combated with success the positions of their antagonists. But the extent and minuteness of their researches, is in itself the strongest argument against the justice of their conclusions: had the poems been authentic, their claims to antiquity would have been easily supported by the most cursory reference to the works of our earlier poets: the same peculiarities of diction and phraseology which were most observable in the poems of the Eowleyan poet, would have been discovered on the surface of our ancient literature; nor would a Bryant and a Sherwen have been content to triumph in the justification of frequent and important anomalies, by an isolated passage in some obscure writer, discovered after the research of many years, and brought forward with all the ostentation of decisive authority. It may be true, that more than twenty instances of the use of han, combined with the third person plural, are to be found in the writings of our ancient poets ; but such evidence, by shewing the infre- quency of this, and similar peculiarities, demonstrates the poems of Rowley to be, even in their grammatical con- struction, unlike the compositions with which they are the most easily compared, and evinces them to be the productions of a juvenile imitator, unable to distinguish between the current language of our forefathers, and their mistakes and affected irregularities. Were it possible for the observer of life and manners TRAITS OF CHATTER! 51 to place before him an imaginary picture of embryo genius, and to contemplate with ideal enthusiasm the peculiarities of temper and of habit which might be \ Mimed most strongly to foretell the future expansion of latent excellencies, the creation of his fancy would not present him with a more perfect object of scrutiny or of admiration, than was exhibited by Chatterton during his boyish years. " I remember (says Mrs. Newton) his early thirst for pre-eminence, and, that before he was five years old, he would always preside over his play-mates as their master, and they his hired servants. His spirits were rather uneven; sometimes so gloomed, that for several days together he would say very little, and that by constraint; at other times extremely cheerful." While he exercised his juvenile talents in the com- position of pieces which his seniors and instructors might have vainly endeavoured to equal, he pursued the bias of his genius in solitude and silence ; disdaining a com- petition in which the glory of success bore no comparison with the possible mortification of defeat. He united the assiduity of the student with those habits of reflection which give life and beauty to tin* materials on v\hich they operate; and combined the pride of conscious superiority, the ambition that animates to the pursuit of great and arduous objects, and the practical activity and persever- ance that ; i re necessary to sustain the flights, and embellish the labours, of the most exalted genius. The discipline, indeed, to which he was subjected, confined him, during his early years, to occasional and desultory efforts ; but the observer, who contemplates in the charity-boy of Bristol the future representative of a minstrel of the fifteenth century, will indulge in the supposition, that K 'J 52 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. during his evenings of school-boy gloom, and eccentric meditation, his faculties were absorbed in the combination and creation of those images which ennobled the strug- gles of Ella, and which diffuse their splendid, but melan- choly lustre on the beauty, the innocence, and the sorrows of his bride. The perseverance and the enthusiasm so necessary to the performance of great undertakings, were perverted by the peculiar bias of his mind: the uniform testimony of his friends asserts, that he was prone to artifice ; that he sometimes contemplated the possibility of a fraud, like that which we suppose him to have accomplished ; that all the stratagems and evasions to which an individual actually committing it would have recourse, were observ- able in his conduct, and, that he confessed himself to be the author of more than one composition which he had previously given to his friends as the production of Bowley. If we suppose the pretended compositions of Rowley to be the writings of Chatterton, his falsehoods and in- consistencies are susceptible of easy explanation. He would have imposed the first part of the Battle of Hastings on Mr. Barrett, as an ancient production, and only confessed the deception in a moment of surprize and inadvertence. Is it to be supposed, if that gentleman had made no inquiries into the authenticity of the verses, that Chatterton would have voluntarily undeceived him*? And if we admit, that in this instance he endeavoured to betray the confidence of his friend by fraud and falsehood, at what point are we to limit his deceptions ? On the other side, if vanity excited him to claim as his own, a genuine production of Rowley, why did he not claim BATTLE OP HASTINGS. &3 the composition of the rest of the manuscripts $ He might have done so uith impunity ; ami since he was not restrained by any reverence for truth, it is probable that he was only withheld from acknowledging his productions by the same motives that led to their ascription to an imaginary parent ; the conviction that they would be despised and neirhrtrd as the production of an apprentice- boy, of obscure birth and imperfect education. To obviate these difficulties, it has been supposed hy the later advocates for the authenticity of the poems, that Chatterton did actually discover certain compositions of Kowley among the neglected parchments; that he ex- panded and improved them, and wa> excited, in one or two instances, to imitate their appearance and phraseology. Consistently with this supposition, it must be con- jectured, that the parchments he endeavoured to di>i:ui>e were intended as the materials of this mode of amusement, and that he submitted the first part of the Battle of Hastings to the inspection of Barrett, as the best exj mcnt by which he could determine his own success. But to indulge in these speculations is only to explain one wonder by another. The individual who wrote the iir>t part of the Battle of Hastings, must have had learning enough, at least, to compose all the rest of the poei and to distinguish the interpolated passages from those v.hich are supposed to be genuine, is a task to which the most accomplished critic would he found unequal. It is record, d h\ his relatives, that having occasion to write to an absent friend, his letter was composed of all hard \\nrds that he could collect, and contained a request, that it might be answered in a similar manm r. '1 his circumstance affords a clue to the composition of 54 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. Rowley, and to all the subsequent writings of their author. Having become, in some degree, conversant with the obsolete language of the fifteenth century, he was willing to exercise the same species of ingenuity in the production of more elaborate works, which he had before devoted to the composition of a letter. The Poems of Mason, and particularly the Tragedy of Elfrida, were at that time the themes of critical applause, and of popular imitation. Walpole's " Castle of Otranto" had just attained peculiar publicity, and was published with all the arts of fiction, mystery, and falsehood. The poems of Ossian, or rather of Macpherson, were likewise the subject of public criticism, curiosity, and controversy. These were all calculated to fasten on the mind of Chatterton, and it is very probable, that he was accustomed to amuse himself during the hours of sedentary confinement, by couching his own imitations of these and other popular com- positions, in the obsolete language and phraseology of the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries. By the assistance of Speght and Bailey, he was enabled to accomplish his pur- pose with a facility, which would not be suspected, but by those who have repeated the experiment. Surprised at his own success, the amusement of his solitude became his regular and his favourite occupation. A new field was opened to his personal and literary ambition, and in the name of Rowley he foresaw the easy acquisition, and durable existence of a species of literary fame, to which the pretensions of the unlettered boy would have been partially and unwillingly conceded. To render the deception so complete, that it should defy the scrutiny of common inquirers, he possessed all CHATTERTON ^ KNOWLEDGE. 6ft the learning and all the resources that were necessary. An inaccurate acquaintance with the vocabulary of our forefathers ; a cursory knowledge of Speght, and Stow, ami Camden; a superficial recollection of Saxon genea- logy, and of one or two ancient chronicles, were all the materials which were requisite to the accomplishment of the forgery. That Chatterton had access to many of these resources, is known from positive testimony ; the few authors to whom his reference has not been positively traced, are neither rare nor valuable ; and his deficiency in antiquarian and historical knowledge, was supplied by the opportunities of his local situation. It has been observed, that in the Battle of Hastings, the names of the Saxons are but sparingly interspersed, while the Normans are minutely and distinctly comme- morated ; and Mr. Warton accounts for the circumstance by informing us, that Chatterton copied the names of the Normans from Fuller's Church History, while of the Saxons he had only the scanty knowledge that might obtained in the general course of his reading. It is known that an old translation of Camden was among the books to which he had access, and many of the names and facts which Mr. Bryant enumerates as beyond the research of a school-boy, are to be found in the Britannia. In various instances, as in bestoike and (.'/n rirnnncie, he has been misled, as in others he was assisted by Bailey's Dictionary. But we are triumphantly reminded of the short and hurru'd intervals, in which, on the supposition that Chat- ti-rton was the author of the poems, he must have accomplished such important and multifarious \\ritings. Jl might be siiilicinit, without adverting to the evidence, 56 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. to reply, that the labour of deciphering, transcribing, and explaining the works of Rowley, supposing them to have been genuine, must have been equal to that expended on their original composition. On reviewing the history of his youth, it will appear, however, that his opportunities of literary labour were fully equal, allowing for his known rapidity of composition, to the production of still more extensive and arduous undertakings. At Colston's school, the hours of application were, in the Summer, from seven to twelve, and from one to five ; in the Winter two hours less each day. He was always in bed by eight o'clock ; but was permitted to be absent on Saturdays and Saints' days, from one or two at noon, till seven or eight in the evening. Admitting, therefore, an hour in each day to have been devoted to the purposes of cleanli- ness, there were in summer three hours, and in winter five of each day, besides about three half days in every fort- night, that he could devote to his juvenile pursuits. His habits were solitary; and the intervals devoted by the other boys to the sports of childhood, were employed by him in reading or contemplation. In Mr. Lambert's office a very small portion of the day was devoted to business. Within the compass of a year and a half, assisted by leisure, and stimulated by enthusiasm, many poets have outdone the labours of Chatterton ; and even after sup- posing one-half of his time to have been devoted to his glossary and his Camden, it may be questioned, whether the number of his works exceeded, in proportion to the time expended in their composition, the perform- ances of a Blacket and a Dermody.* Fluency may be * The history of this extraordinary poet, and indiscreet youth, has been mi- MuNol.V u\ (H UTI.KluV 57 attained by perseverance, and the compositions of the man of genius may flow from his pen with the same nutely narrated by Mr. Raymond, in two volumes, 12mo. Among Dcrtnody's poems is " A Monody on Chattcrton," of MK h exquisite pathos and eloquence, and so peculiarly apposite to our present subject, that I conceive the reader will be gratified in perusing the following passages from it. MONODY on CHATTERTON, written by the late THOMAS DKRMODY, m the \2lh year of hi* age. Daughters of Ilcav'u ! blest sisters of sweet song, Who nurse the seedlings that prolific rise From Poesy's illustrious birth, Firing some favour'd son of earth, And lending to his breast a portion of the skies; O ! hither move along In pensive pace, Lead bright Imagination's seraph-throng O'er the rude stones that frown uncouth In yon deep dell's oblivious gloom Sadly sleeps a once lov'd youth. Ye wood-flowers breathe your wild perfume, Ye shrouded warblers harmonize the gale, Here, Autumn, fling thy brilliant bloom, And fence from wayward winds the sacred vale ; Tread soft, ye infants of the air, While in the mazy dance you turn, Tread soft and pause to mourn, Mingling your mystic sports with sickly care, For genius slumbers here ! True Genius, prompt to mount the sphere Of fancy, thro* pure raptun '* maze, And view her with unshrinking gaze, Prompt to veil in antique drCtt Wh:it ancientry could ne'er express; Catch the Buskin's lofty mien, Or woo the lauirhtcr-lming Queen. Immortal Boy, thee angels fed With Poesy's abstracted food, 58 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. exuberant rapidity that marks the unpremeditated com- positions of the copious, but feeble versifier. Pride, unbounded and solitary pride, was the leading feature in the character of Chatterton ; and had its direc- tion been guided, or its exuberance repressed by the salutary influence of religious or moral truth, instead of exciting him to a secret and selfish triumph over the dupes of successful forgery, its influence would have in- spired the honourable zeal of open and manly emulation. Thy bowl was fill'd from Fancy's fountain head, Thy bowl with wondrous ecstasies embued ; By heaven's own chymic skill refined, Thine was the manner of the mind. Had he but gain'd his manhood's mighty prime, Bright as the Sun, and as the Sun sublime, His soaring soul had borne the awful wand Of magic power, and o'er the fairy land Of Fancy shed a new poetic race, Lending creation to his favor'd place. But oh ! the dying sounds decay, Ah ! they fade away, Melting, melting, melting, Melting from the ear of day. Despair assumes the Muse's lyre, Damps each softly sinking fire, Presses the fury spirit down below, And tells his stubborn soul the bitter tale of woe. At last, superior to her chain, He flies o'er Madness' wild domain, Despis'd and dejected he faints and he sighs ! Too rigorous Heav'n ! how ghastly his eyes ! Thus I triumph o'er all lo ! a Chatterton dies ! Spare oh ! spare Almighty pow'r ! H is frenzy'd passions and his last black hour ; Spare his mortal portion, spare ! Think upon his case distrest, And of his soul's fine essence grant a share to some pure breast ! HORACE WALPOLE. vj It has been the fashion of modern literature to depre- date the character of Walpole. That, as a man he was sar- castic, fretful, and fastidious; prone to satirical comment on the failings of his friends; easily disgusted by uncouth- ness of manners, or impropriety of speech ; accustomed to regard the world of professional literature with the supercilious smile of conscious elevation, is evident from his letters, and the memorabilia published in " Walpoliana." These imperfections and eccentricities were the natural accompaniments of an irritable temperament, and an aristocratic education ; they were confirmed and ex- asperated by the exquisite sensibility of his taste ; which detected with a sort of intuitive rapidity the slightest deviation from good manners. The architect of that iYi- volous piece of " modern gothic," the villa of Strawberry Hill, and the author of " the Castle of Otranto," was not likely to shew much courtesy or kindness to poor merit, or give encouragement to a manufacturer of romance, or to an explorer after real or fictitious " Anecdotes of Artists." To this individual, of habits so fastidious, so select in his intercourse, and so tender of his literary fame, it was the misfortune of Chatterton to apply ; ami had Walpole possessed the lights in which we at present view the endowments of his supplicant, there seems no reason to doubt that he would have sacrificed many of his jealousies and prepossessions to the encouragement of so extraordinary a phenomenon. As it was, he must have felt indignant at the presumption ami mercenary spirit of a boy, who could fir>t attempt to make him the dupe of hi> forgeries, and afterwards endeavour to iv>t his claim ^ for support, or patronage, on the productions of his artifice. 60 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. Walpole's discretion, or his humanity, however, overcame his anger, and in a letter equally remarkable for the gentleness of its reproof, and its good sense, he exhorts him to apply with industry and perseverance to the duties of his station, as the surest means of enabling him hereafter to discharge the debt of gratitude to his re- latives. The same sacrifice of principle to the expectation or possession of pecuniary advantage, that marked Chatter- ton's application to Walpole, is too visible in his lite- rary undertakings after his settlement in the metropolis. Some weeks after his arrival, he calculates on the profits that might have been made on Rowley, had the gude old priest been a Londoner instead of a Bristowyian. He writes on either side of the question, as suits his imme- diate convenience ; and at a time, when, if we believe his own account, he entertained no dread of pecuniary dis- tress, he coldly estimates the death of a man whom even his enemies lamented, at the price of his elegy. He seems, in his letters, to be conscious that his frequent appearance at public places demands an apology ; and his Burlettas, written for Marylebone Gardens, appear to testify his intimacy with the leaders of those circles in which no young man of enthusiasm ever moved without corrup- tion. His vices and his errors were the natural result of ardent passions, uncontrolled by any restraint but con- venience, undirected by any motive but the immediate gratification of the passing hour. Had he died a death less premature, it is impossible that a mind like his should not have discovered the folly of that pride which finds its chief gratification in singularity; and that sacrifices to a ( IIATTF.KToN'S LETTERS. Cl vain display of intellectual independence, the most mo- mentous interests that can excite the speculation, or all. < t tlu- happiness of man. His pride would have been sub- dued into virtuous dignity ; the stubbornness of unbending vanity would have been converted into the undismayed and persevering fortitude of the Christian ; and instead of terminating, with the melancholy resolution of despair, a short and unhappy career, he might have improved, by his example, that community which he had adorned and enlightened by his talents ; honoured during the splendid progress of his mortal existence by the learned and the good, and the theme in after ages of virtuous reverence, and literary praise.* The following letters from Chatterton to Dodsley, the bookseller, respecting the Play of jElla, &c., have never before been published ; but as they tend to strengthen the arguments here advanced, I am induced to print them. The cunning, deception, and finesse of the young poet, are strongly illustrated in these letters. They were written before he commenced his correspondence with Walpole. * The precocious talents and unhappy fate of Chatterton continue to occupy the attention and sympathy of the literary student The inhabitants of Bristol have lately raised a cenotaph to his memory, adjoining Redcliffe church. Mr. Grant, of Cambridge, has published a very neat and interesting edition of his " poetical works, with notices of his life, history of the Rowley controversy, a selection of his letters and notes, critical and explanatory," 2 vol. small 8vo. 1842. 62 REDCLIFFE CHURCH. LETTER I. Bristol, Dec. 21, 1768. SIR, I take this method to acquaint you, that I can procure copies of several ancient Poems ; and an Interlude, perhaps the oldest dramatic piece ex- tant ; wrote by one Rowley, a Priest in Bristol, who lived in the reigns of Henry Vlth and Edward IVth. If these Pieces will be of service to you, at your com- mand copies shall be sent to you, by Your most obedient Servant, D. B. Please to direct for D. B. to be left with Mr. Thomas Chatterton, Redclift Hill, Bristol. For Mr. J. DODSLEY, Bookseller, Pall Mall, London. LETTER II. Bristol, Feb. 15, 1769. SIR, Having intelligence that the Tragedy of ^Ella, was in being, after a long and laborious search, I was so happy as to attain a sight of it. Struck with the beauties of it, I endeavoured to obtain a copy to send to you : but the present possessor absolutely denies to give me one, unless I give him a Guinea for a consideration. As I am unable to procure such a sum, I made search for another copy, but unsuccessfully. Unwilling such a beauteous Piece should be lost, I have made bold to apply to you : several Gentlemen of learning who have seen it, join with me in praising it. I am far from having any mercenary views for myself in this affair, and, was I able, would print it on my own risque. It is a perfect Tragedy, the plot clear, the language spirited, and the Songs (interspersed in it) are flowing, poetical, and elegantly simple. The similies judiciously applied, and though wrote in the reign of Henry Vlth, not inferior to many of the present age. If I can procure a copy, with or without the gratification, it shall immedi- ately be sent to you. The motive that actuates me to do this, is, to convince the world that the Monks (of whom some have so despicable an opinion) were not such blockheads, as generally thought, and that good poetry might be wrote in the dark days of superstition, as well as in these more enlightened ages. An imme- CIIATTERTON'S LETTERS. 63 diate answer will oblige me. I shall not receive your favour as for myself, but as your agent I am, Sir, Your most obedient Servant, T. CHATTERTON. P. S. My reason for concealing my name, was, lest my Master (who is now out of Town) should sec my letters, and think I neglected his business. Direct for me on Rcdclift Hill. After a specimen of the Tragedy, in part of speech, he says The whole contains about 1COO lines. If it should not suit you, I should be obliged to you if you would calculate the expenses of printing it, as I will endeavour to publish it by subscription on my own account. For Mr. JAMES DOOSLEY, BooksfUer, Pall MaU, London. DRURY. 1 17, Bridf*wMer Square, Barbican, London. - \ \ pvtf .< ttlttfit'tu oflht Church whuti ,!., 'tit an- ll II ll - thf . \',*i>. rn- jA^L ,AA/^Ai M< , . XTTE vi SXTKt: * JM - A,,S ,u :: ' ' ' ^- :' * - ' " - ./// 7'fM/itrr* milt*.* f iut .fn'itst.lfntNf lalt ./v. 3B3EID^IL3I /;. (lit J{. . ;h.>r ,./' - . IB31fl>