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chiefly to the relief of decayed gentlemen: and he appointed that the Hospital, which he nearly rebuilt should be called the Alms House of Noble Poverty.

The present establishment of St. Cross is but the wreck of the two ancient institutions, having shared the fate of many other hospitals at the reformation. Instead of seventy residents, as well clergy as laity, who were here entirely supported, besides one hundred out-members, who daily received their meat and drink, the charity consists at present but of ten residing brethren and three out-pensioners, exclusive of one chaplain and the master. The allowance to the inmates is one pound of meat per day, three quarts of good small beer, and five loaves of wheaten bread, each loaf weighing twenty-four ounces, besides certain additional allowances of meat and drink on particular days, and sixpence weekly. The outpensioners have each a stipend of 10l. per annum during life: the sum of 25s. is also distributed among the poor every year, being the remainder of the revenue formerly appropriated to the feeding of the poor in the Hundred-mens-hall. There is besides at this time a daily allowance to the porter, of a certain quantity of bread and beer, for the refreshment of poor travellers, who are entitled to a piece of white

bread, and a cup of beer on demand: this demand is frequently made by persons of different quality, for the sake of enjoying the peculiarity of the custom.

This Hospital is entered on the north side through a large gateway that leads into the first court, which is rudely covered with grass. Here, on the left hand, is seen the Hundred-mens-hall, being the refectory in which the hundred out-boarders used to be served with their daily portions. High up at the eastern end of it, there appears to have been a window, by means of which the master was enabled, from an apartment communicating with it, to inspect the behaviour of this class of poor men. It is about forty feet long, and is now turned into a brewhouse. On the right hand is a range of buildings, which constituted the kitchen, scullery, and other offices necessary for preparing food for so large a family. In front of us we have, on one side, the back of the porter's lodge, on the other, the two north windows of the brethren's hall, and in the centre, the lofty and beautiful tower raised by the second founder Beaufort, whose statue, in his cardinal's hat and robes, appears kneeling in an elegant niche on the upper part of it. There are two other niches on the same level and of the same form. In the cornice, over

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ARCHES IN SOUTH TRANSEPT, CHURCH OF ST. CROSS.

the gates of the tower, we behold the cardinal's hat displayed, together with the busts of his father, John of Gaunt, of his royal nephews Henry IV. and Henry V. and of his predecessor Wykeham. In the spandrils, on each side, appear the founder's arms, viz. France and England quarterly. The key-stone in the groining of the said gateway, is carved into a curious cross, composed of leaves, and surrounded with a crown of thorns. On the left hand is the door of the porter's lodge. Through the gate of this tower may be seen the north porch of the church; this is entered by an arch, the supporting pillars of which appear to have given way, though according to Dr. Milner, from whose History of Winchester the present account of St. Cross is principally extracted, it was originally so constructed.

We now pass into the second or principal court, where we behold the church of De Blois, which advances a considerable way into the court, and prevents its being a perfect parallelogram. On the left hand of the court, stretching from the north transept of the church to the porter's lodge, is a long open portico 135 feet in length, called in ancient times an Ambulatory, being calculated for the exercise of the brethren in bad weather. This part of the fabric,

with the chambers over it, bear proofs of the altera. tions that have been made in them, both by Sherbourne, master of the Hospital in the reign of Henry VII. and by Compton, who governed it in that of Charles II.; still, however, it is not improbable, that the substance of the building is part of the original work of the first founder, De Blois. The aforesaid chambers are to this day called The Nuns' Rooms, being the apartments which the three hospital sisters, who were appointed to attend the sick, occupied, as likewise the infirmary, where the sick brethren themselves were lodged during their illness. At the east end of these apartments is seen a window communicating with the church, which being opened, the patients as they lay in their beds, might attend to the services there going forward. Looking upon the south front of the tower, from the inside of the court, we see a single niche, resembling those which are seen on the north side; this was filled with a statue of the Virgin Mary, until within the last fifty years, when it fell down, and not being replaced, was soon destroyed. Adjoining to the tower, on the west side, is the common hall or refectory, to which we ascend by a flight of stone steps. The windows are elegantly proportioned and mullioned, and have

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NORTH SIDE OF THE CHANCEL, CHURCH OF ST. CROSS.

heretofore been entirely filled with painted glass, the remnants of which, and in particular the cardinal's arms and motto, still remain in most of them; the roof is left open to the timbers, which are of Irish oak, and well disposed in the Gothic fashion. Next to the hall are the master's apartments, which are spacious and convenient. The windows of one of its galleries are ornamented with some curious specimens of ancient painted glass. The whole west wing consists of cells of the brethren, each one of whom had three small chambers to himself and a separate garden, being the precise allotment of the Carthusian monks. The south wing having been long untenanted and out of repair, has been taken down within these few years.

This court is ornamented with a neat grass plat, and planted in many places, particularly along the ambulatory, with a diversity of shrubs and banks of flowers, which give it a most pleasing appearance; affording a thoroughfare for the country people, it has a gate of egress near the west end of the church; hence the path leads through meadows well planted with forest trees, and beautifully varied by the winding stream. The land being unincumbered with underwood, forms an agreeable and convenient plea

sure ground for the brethren, who are frequently seen in their cross-impressed gowns wandering among the

trees.

The church is regularly built, in the cathedral form, consisting of a nave and side aisles, 150 feet long a transept, which measures 120 feet; and a large square tower over the intersection. It is entirely the work of De Blois, except the front and upper story of the west end, which are of a later date, and seems to have been an effort of that great encourager of the arts William of Wykeham, to produce a style of architecture more excellent, and better adapted to ecclesiastical purposes than what had hitherto been known. This style soon after made its appearance in a regular shape. The west door is an elegant specimen of the early pointed or Gothic style; it consists of a double arch with trefoil heads, and an open quartre-foil in the centre above them, forming altogether one elegant pointed arch, which 'rests upon four slender columns, with neat plain capitals and bases. The arched moulding that rests upon the inward pillars, consisting of the cup of a flower inverted, in open carved work, is an appropriate ornament of the pointed order, being different from every kind of Saxon moulding. We have here also

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