Part 5 (1/2)
these names being those given above. The chronicle expressly records of Kinsius, ”_jacet tumulatus in scrinio juxta magnum altare in parte boreali_.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: Portion of Abbot's Tomb.]
Queen Katherine of Arragon was buried in the north choir aisle, just outside the most eastern arch, in 1535. A hea.r.s.e was placed near, probably between the two piers. Four years later this is described as ”the inclosed place where the Lady Katherine lieth,” and there seems to have been a small altar within it. Some banners that adorned it remained in the cathedral till 1586. About the same time some persons were imprisoned for defacing the ”monument,” and required to ”reform the same.” The only monument, strictly so called, of which there is any record, was a low table monument, raised on two shallow steps, with simple quatrefoils, carved in squares set diamond-wise. Engravings of this shew it to have been an insignificant and mean erection. A few slabs of it were lately found buried beneath the floor, and they are now placed against the wall of the aisle. One of the prebendaries repaired this monument at his own cost, about 1725, and supplied a tiny bra.s.s plate with name and date, part of which remains in the floor. This monument was removed in 1792. A handsome marble stone has quite recently been laid down to the Queen's memory above her grave, with incised inscription and coats of arms.
A tablet has been erected in the south choir aisle to record the fact that Mary Queen of Scots had been buried near the spot. Recent explorations have proved that the exact spot was just within the choir.
The funeral took place on the first of August, 1587. Remains of the hea.r.s.e between the pillars were to be seen so lately as 1800. On Oct.
11, 1612, the body was removed to Westminster Abbey, by order of King James I., the Queen's son. A photograph of the letter ordering the removal, the original of which is still in possession of the Dean and Chapter, is framed and hung on an adjacent pillar.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Portion of Abbot's Tomb.]
In the south choir aisle is a fine monument with a life-size effigy of Archbishop Magee in his robes. It is carved in pure white marble. On the side are impaled coats of arms and an inscription. The likeness is excellent.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Portion of Abbot's Tomb.]
The other tablets and inscriptions hardly require detailed descriptions.
In the New Building is the mutilated monument to Sir Humfrey Orme: no names or dates remain; at the top are the words _Sanguis Iesu Christi purgat nos ab omnibus Peccatis nostris_. Near this is an elaborate erection to Thomas Deacon, 1721, a great benefactor to the town. On a stone to John Brimble, organist of S. John's College, Cambridge, 1670, we read that he was _Musis et musicae devotissimus, ad coelestem evectus Academiam_. Among many inscriptions some interesting items will be found. John Benson, 1827, was the ”oldest Committee Clerk at the House of Commons.” Humfrey Orme, 1670, was _A supremo Ang'iae senatu ad superiorem sanctorum conventum evocatus._ On the memorial to Bishop Madan, 1813, are the lines:--
In sacred sleep the pious Bishop lies, Say not in death--A good Man never dies.
[Ill.u.s.tration: South Aisles of Choir and Nave.]
On the tablet to Bishop c.u.mberland, 1718, are four Latin lines from Dean Duport's epigram upon the Bishop's confutation of Hobbes. In the south choir aisle, on the tablet to Dean Lockier, 1740, is the only instance of the arms of the Deanery impaling another s.h.i.+eld, on a monument. Near this is a wooden tablet executed in good taste, recording the fact that the iron screens are a memorial to Dean Argles, whose munificent gifts to the cathedral are well known. The Norman arch at the west end of this aisle has a modern painted inscription, believed to be an exact copy of the original:--
_Hos tres Abbates, Quibus est Prior Abba Johannes Alter Martinus, Andreas Ultimus, unus Hic claudit Tumulus; pro Clausis ergo rogemus_.
Near this is a tablet to Roger Pemberton, 1695, with a line from Homer in Greek, ”The race of men is as the race of leaves.” In the north choir aisle John Workman, Prebendary, 1685, is described as _Proto-Canonicus_, probably meaning that he held the first stall. The tablet to Frances Cosin (d. 1642), wife of the Dean, afterwards Bishop of Durham, was not erected till after the Bishop's death in 1672. He prescribed in his will the words of the inscription. On the large tablet above the piscina is a punning motto, _Temperantia te Temperatrice_, the person commemorated being Richard Tryce, 1767.
Two tablets of interest in connexion with the Great War are to be seen in the south aisle of the nave, one in marble to Nurse Cavell, and the other in bronze to the ”lonely Anzac,” Thomas Hunter, an Australian who died in Peterborough from wounds received in France.
Last of all we must speak of the one memorial which is usually looked at first, the famous picture of Old Scarlett, on the wall of the western transept. He is represented with a spade, pickaxe, keys, and a whip in his leathern girdle; at his feet is a skull. At the top of the picture are the arms of the cathedral. Beneath the portrait are these lines:--
YOV SEE OLD SCARLEITS PICTVRE STAND ON HIE BVT AT YOVR FEETE THERE DOTH HIS BODY LYE HIS GRAVESTONE DOTH HIS AGE AND DEATH TIME SHOW HIS OFFICE BY THEIS TOKENS YOV MAY KNOW SECOND TO NONE FOR STRENGTH AND STVRDYE LIMM A SCARBABE MIGHTY VOICE WITH VISAGE GRIM HEE HAD INTER'D TWO QVEENES WITHIN THIS PLACE AND THIS TOWNES HOVSEHOLDERS IN HIS LIVES s.p.a.cE TWICE OVER: BVT AT LENGTH HIS ONE TVRNE CAME WHAT HEE FOR OTHERS DID FOR HIM THE SAME WAS DONE: NO DOVBT HIS SOVL DOTH LIVE FOR AYE IN HEAVEN: THOVGH HERE HIS BODY CLAD IN CLAY.
On the floor is a stone inscribed: ”Ivly 2 1594 R S aetatis 98.” This painting is not a contemporary portrait, but a copy made in 1747. In 1866 it was sent on loan to the South Kensington Museum.
[Ill.u.s.tration: South Side of the Close, 1801.]
CHAPTER IV.
THE MINSTER PRECINCTS AND CITY.
There are many objects of great interest to be seen in the Minster Yard.
This name is not unfrequently given to the whole of the territory belonging to the Dean and Chapter surrounding the church. The correct t.i.tle is, however, as given above, the Minster Precincts; and it is by this name that the parish is described, for the Abbey Church, like a few others, is a parish church, as well as the Cathedral of the diocese.
Although without churchwardens, this parish still appoints its own overseers of the poor. Old residents distinguish the Close from the Precincts, limiting the use of the former expression to the area west of the Cathedral. Contrary to what all would expect, the great gateway to the west is not the boundary of the Precincts, for they extend a little further west, and include one or two houses beyond the gateway.
This ancient entrance to the monastic grounds naturally first arrests the attention. It was built by Abbot Benedict in the last quarter of the twelfth century. Though it has been much altered, a considerable part of the original structure remains. As we see it from the Marketplace we observe a fifteenth century look about it: on closer inspection we see that a late Decorated arch has been built in front of the Norman arch, and that a facing of the same date has been carried above. Here is an arcade, with the alternate panels pierced for windows. On each side of the gateway are also good Norman arcades; the doorway in the arcade to the north opens into a residence, that on the south gives access to the room above. This was originally the Chapel of S. Nicolas. On the eastern side of the room is a three-light window, manifestly a late insertion, and adapted from some other building. It is said to be part of a shrine which formerly was in the Cathedral, a portion of which still remains in the new building. This statement has been repeated over and over again; but it is difficult to see any resemblance between the two.
The chapel over the gateway has been put to various uses since the dissolution of monasteries. In 1617 it was a.s.signed to the porter as part of his residence. At a later period it was let. It has served the purposes of a muniment room, a Masonic lodge room, a tailor's workshop, a practising room for the choristers, a cla.s.s-room for the Grammar School. In the flouris.h.i.+ng days of the Gentlemen's Society, when members met and read papers, and kept up a considerable literary correspondence with learned men in various parts of the kingdom, its meetings were held here; and it is now used as a Record Room for the Diocese of Peterborough.