1828.]

Mr. URBAN,

Dec. 13.

YOU have frequently indulged the
Gloucestrians with notices and

particulars of that interesting feature in the county, the Abbey Church of Tewkesbury; allow me, therefore, to offer a very accurate view of the west front of this beautiful specimen of early architecture, together with the old abbey gateway. (see Plate II.)

To enter into a full history of the Abbey would be occupying too much of your space, though my collections towards a History of the Town and Abbey, would afford me most ample, valuable, and entertaining particulars. A portion of its early history shall, however, be given.

Antecedent to the erection of the Abbey by two of the Dukes of Mercia in the latter end of the 7th or beginning of the 8th century, for the precise date is not clearly ascertained, we are told that one Theocus, a hermit, had fixed his residence here, and hence the derivation of the name of the place; but this is at the best but legendary conjecture, and a more satisfactory etymon has been offered. It was of the Benedictine order, and dedicated to the Virgin Mother, a circumstance which has also contributed to furnish us with a far-fetched origin of the name of Tewkesbury, William of Malmsbury bringing it all the way from the Greek Theotocus, Mother of God !!

Very little of the subsequent history of Tewkesbury is known till the arri val of the Normans, into whose rapacious grasp it fell, one of whom, Robert Fitz-Haimon, had the grant of it from the red-haired William. The possessions of the church did not suffer by the arrival of the Normans. That otherwise usurping people respected the endowments of the Church; and instead of enriching themselves with its spoil, sought, by largesses of great magnificence, to atone for their temporal and worldly cruelties. This Fitz-Haimon was a gallant lord, of the blood of Rollo, and a great favourite of Rufus. His grants to the Abbey of Tewkesbury were numerous and munificent; he rebuilt the church and offices with increased magnificence; and because the situation was very fertile and pleasant (the monks knew the land flowing with milk and honey), increased the number of its religious by removing hither the monks GENT. MAG. December, 1828.

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from Cranbourne, previously the superior house. The list of its subsequent patrons exhibits a variety of the most illustrious, royal, and noble names that grace or disgrace our history. To their bounty, largely and liberally bestowed, the monks owed their amazing possessions, and to their power and interest the important privileges attached to a mitred abbacy. In such great respect was its sacred precinct held, that one of the seven copies of the Magna Charta and Charta de Foresta, granted at Runnymede by John, June 15, 1215, was here consigned for safety and provincial consultation. Amongst the names of the patrons are the De Clares, the Le Despencers, and the Beauchamps, names conspicuously blazoned on the roll of fame.

We are now approaching the era of the Tudors, a race of monarchs of whom but one deserves the praise of posterity. Henry, whose passions were unbounded in their depth of feeling, and their rapacity of indulgence, having exhausted the stores of his miserly tyrannical father, turned his longing eyes to the glittering jewels at the altars, and the possessions of the monasteries; and having broken spears with the Pope, gradually proceeded to line his coffers with treasures rendered sacred by long appropriation to the uses of the temple. The work did not proceed quietly though effectually-obstinacy on the part of the monks was often evinced, and Tewkesbury affords an instance of it, and its consequences. The place was fired, and in the conflagration perished the cloisters, the abbacy, the chapter house, lady chapel, and other appendages. It was the last religious house in the county that yielded to his rapacity, and its revenues were valued at about 1600l. per annum. By the piety and good feeling of the inhabitants, the church was saved, but the money once obtained, the devouring Monarch would not return any for the maintenance of a parochial minister.

Since its appropriation as a parish church, it has undergone numerous repairs. In 1666 the great west window was blown down, and in 1686 was rebuilt. "A brief for the repair of Teuxbury Abbey, dated Feb. 25, 1720, stated the value of reparation at 39291. The length of the church from east to west is 321 feet, and the breadth of the cross aisle 136 feet.

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On Ancient and They set forth they have expended in repairs in a few years 13371. and in the last year in two levies 384/., but that the whole roof must be taken down and new framed, and lead new cast, several buttresses be erected, and several arches be rebuilt." In 1724 this was effected by the aid of a brief granted by Lord Chancellor Parker.

The annexed view represents the fine west window and tower, remains of the architecture of Fitz-Haimon, who did so much for the place as to have been considered by the monks as their founder.

I will not here enter into any controversy with respect to Mr. King's opinion of what Fitz-Haimon built, but I cannot help expressing my surprise at the general inaccuracy and improbability of his notices of this

Church.

The west front retains much of its original appearance; the centre consisting of a large six-turned semicircular arch, supported by as many lofty and slender columns, with capitals and bases, receding within each other. At the angles are two light and elegant turrets, with staircases in each. The parts on each side the arch are filled up with a double row of small semicircular arches and columns. The magnificent arch which incloses the west window, (the inharmonious erection of 1686,) probably contained seve ral windows similar in their dimension and figure to those in the tower, and a doorway beneath them. Over this entrance we see the square massive tower rising in rich and beautiful magnificence from the roof. Each face of the tower is decorated with three rows of columns and semicircular arches, ornamented with zig-zag and billet mouldings, five of which are perforated to give light to the inside. The middle row are intersecting arches, and the whole has a very rich appear

ance.

Almost immediately before the Church, as appears in the annexed engraving, is the Abbey gate-house, a square embattled building, of considerable height. Mr. Willis, in his Mitred Abbeys, calls this the prison house; but it is uncertain whether it was ever applied to that purpose. The arch is of very good proportions, and the cornice is decorated with flying angels, similar to those on the Campanile Tower, which formerly stood in

"On passing through the forest of Kaaglar, on our way from the lake of Venern to Stockholm, we saw near the road side several large heaps of stones, which, dropped by the pious hands of the passengers, point out the spot where the remains of some unfortunate traveller repose beneath the shade of the waving pines. This practice is very general in Sweden." (Captain de Capell Brooke's Travels in Sweden and Norway in 1820, p. 22.)

The custom of erecting crosses in conspicuous situations, as objects of devotion, or as monuments of guilt, seems to be almost universal in continental and other foreign countries. Captain Head, in his amusing" Rough Notes," taken amongst the Andes, relates that in his passage over the Great Cordillera he saw on one of the highest summits a large wooden cross, which had been erected by two arriers to commemorate the murder of their friend. (P. 168.) Lieutenant Brand, in his recent work containing an account of his journey over the Andes on foot in the snow, notices frequently the same circumstance. On the ascent to the Hospice of the Grand St. Bernard several crosses stand near the road side, as similar memorials. This custom is also observable on the banks of the Rhine, in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Lord Byron thus alludes to its existence in the latter country, in his magnificent description of Cintra : "And here and there, as up the crags you spring, [path, Mark many rude-carv'd crosses near the Yet deem not these devotion's offering,

1828.]

Childe Harold, Canto I. xxi. In all ages and in all countries of the world, mankind has appeared to feel and to express by external signs, a deep and well-founded abhorrence of the crime of murder, whether committed by the deliberate hand of the suicide or the assassin. This feeling, implanted by Providence in the human breast, has no doubt given rise to, and perpetuated the custom alluded to.

It was a well-known practice amongst the Roman soldiers, when they applauded a speech of their General, to strike their shields with their swords, as a testimony of their approbation. Of this we may read many instances in the works of Livy, and several of the ancient classic poets. Tacitus also relates that the Germans, who always carried their arms with them, were accustomed, in their public assemblies and debates, to testify their approval or dislike of the harangues made to them by striking their weapons together, if pleased; and, if the contrary, by loud murmurs and other tokens of displeasure. He adds, that the former was considered the most honourable proof of satisfaction, turbæ placuit, considunt armati, nihil autem neque publicæ neque privatæ rei, nisi armati, agunt. Mox rex, vel princeps, prout ætas cuique, prout nobilitas, prout decus bellorum, prout facundia est, audiuntur, auctoritate suadendi magis quam jubendi potestate. Si displicuit sententia, fremitu aspernantur, sin placuit, frameas concutiunt. Honoratissimum assensus genus est, armis laudare." (Germania, xi.) A similar custom is mentioned by the same author in his Histories on occa

"Ut

sion of the Speech of Civilis. (Lib. iv. 15.)

The historian Gibbon, in his admirable Summary of the Character and Manners of the Ancient Germans, abridged from the "Germania" of Tacitus, has thus referred to the foregoing passage:

"If the orator did not give satisfaction to

499

his auditors, it was their custom to signify, by a hollow murmur, their dislike of his counsels. But whenever a more popular speaker proposed to vindicate the meanest citizen from either foreign or domestic injury, whenever he called upon his countrymen to assert the national honour, or to pursue some enterprise, full of danger and glory, a loud clashing of shields and spears expressed the eager applause of the assembly. For the Germans always met in arms, and it was to be dreaded, lest an irregular and uncontrouled multitude should use their arms to enforce as well as to declare their furious resolves." "#

Milton also alludes to this custom in his "Paradise Lost," when describing Satan's address to his legions, and their declaration of war against Heaven:

arms

highly they raged Against the Highest; and fierce with grasped [war, Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of Hurling defiance tow'rds the vault of Heav'n." Book i. 666-669.

Similar allusions are to be found in Shakspeare (Coriolanus, act i. sc. ix. dramatic poets. and Julius Cæsar, act v.) and in other Thus also Spenser,

in his Faery Queen:

"And clash their shields, and shake their swords on high."-Book i. canto 4, st. xl.

The ancients were accustomed to

suspend in their temples shields, with appropriate inscriptions, and many divinities. In the Eneid Virgil reother votive offerings in honour of their presents his hero Æneas, in the narration of his adventures after the sacking of Troy, as thus alluding to the prac tice:

"Ære cavo clipeum, magni gestamen Abantis,

Postibus adversis figo, et rem carmine signo, Eneas hæc de Danais victoribus arma."† Book iii. 286-288.

Dædalus also, when he had finished his aerial voyage, and arrived in safety at Chalcis, is related by the same poet to have consecrated his wings to Apollo, and to have erected temples to that divinity, in commemoration of the

event.

*Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. ix.

"De clipeis votivis cum titulo inscripto inter donaria suspensis res nota," observes the commentator on the passage above quoted.

600

"Redditus his primum terris tibi Phoebe

sacravit

Remigium alarum, posuitque immania templa." Eneid, vi. 18. This custom of making votive offerings, as I have had occasion to remark in a former Number, is still preserved in Catholic countries, as their various churches and places of worship amply testify. Amongst innumerable buildings of this description may be mentioned the Pantheon, which, though originally dedicated by the Romans to all the divinities of the heathen mythology, is now devoted solely to the service of the Virgin Mary; and its walls are accordingly hung round with presents which have been from time to time offered by her worshippers as tokens of gratitude, and as memorials of her miraculous interference in their behalf, in cases of shipwreck, sickness, and distress. In the church of the Campo Santo, an extensive cemetery near Bologna, the chains of several Christian captives redeemed from slavery amongst the Turks and Algerines, are suspended from the walls as propitiatory offerings, and to perpetuate the memory of their deliverance. -Washington Irving also, in his recent interesting Life of Columbus, mentions that Columbus, on his return from his first voyage of discovery, went barefoot with his crew on a pilgrimage to the nearest shrine, in performance of a row which he had made during a furious storm, and offered up several gifts to commemorate his gratitude and unexpected preservation. Pilgrimages of this kind were frequent in those days of early navigation, in which mariners were less able to avoid the dangers of the deep than at the present time, when numerous ingenious inventions and improvements have so greatly diminished the difficulties and perils attendant on long voyages. Hence we so often find in works which treat of maritime adventures at the period referred to, constant allusions to these traces of ancient popular customs, and to the strong resemblance which existed between them. R.

[Dec.

party who have hitherto been the means of preventing the accomplishment of this desirable object. That so fine a Church should remain in a state of neglect and decay, in an age when the preservation of our national antiquities is so much encouraged, argues very unfavourably for the intelligence and liberality of the Borough of Southwark; and it is to be deplored, that so beautiful a memorial of past ages, interesting not only as a work of art, but for the historical recollections connected with it, should be at all under the controul of persons who have neither taste to discern its beauties, nor feeling to appreciate its merits.

The question at issue is whether Mr. Gwilt's plans for the gradual restoration of the Church are to be proceeded with, or whether a new Church in the style of the neighbouring meeting houses is to usurp its place. Now one of the learned Thebaus of the vestry having discovered that the buttresses are" under minded," argues most forcibly the necessity of taking down the present structure, and building a new Church.

Your readers will ask why are the parishioners so zealous for incurring an additional expence? The question is answered easily; very large funds are at the command of the parish, and available for the purpose; but if a twopenny rate had been wanted for the purpose either of repairing or re-edification, we should have seen these zealous Church-builders among the first to cry out against rates and taxes for the maintenance of a Church which they perhaps have only visited in their character of orators.

The choir, it is generally known, has been restored from the excellent designs of Mr. Gwilt; how well that has been effected is not my purpose to speak at present, the work being still unfinished. The transepts are now partitioned off from the Church by whitewashed brick walls with mean glazed windows in them, which were erected to prevent the repairs from interfering with divine service. The choir is occupied with temporary benches, and the pulpit set up in the middle of it, like the rostrum of a dissenting meeting; in this unfinished state, to the detriment of the congregation and divine service, (for seats for many hundreds of persons in the transepts are in consequence rendered use