St. Nicholas Church, Liverpool..Lancashire. Ditto after the Fall of the Spire.. Nave of Clee Church Transcept ditto. Harlech Castle, Pl. 1.. Ditto Pl. 2 Walsingham Priory Statue of Cardinal Wolsey Shrewsbury Castle Abbey Church ditto North View Ditto South View Monument of Roger de Montgo- Ancient Knife Handle, Lake. Coventry... St. Michael's Church ditto.. .... Part of the Cloisters, ditto.. St. Mary's Hall, Coventry. Lincolnshire. Merionethshire. Norfolk. Oxfordshire. Shropshire. Somersetshire. Wiltshire. Warwickshire. Yorkshire. Coe, Printer, Little Carter Lane, London, BRISTOL. THE Cathedral or Church of the Holy Trinity at Bristol, is part of the monastery of St. Augustine, which was founded in the year 1140 by sir Robert Fitzharding. It is situated upon a rising ground, commanding a most delightful prospect of the adjacent country. The area which the buildings formerly occupied is very extensive, and shews that this was a most spacious and magnificent monastery. The foundation was for an abbot, prior, sub-prior, and about fourteen friars or canons regular. These, like the generality of monks, were far from observing the sanctity which they professed; for it appears by the visitation of Godfrey, bishop of Worcester, that this abbey was in spiritual matters greatly decayed; he therefore ordered, "that in future they do not as bees fly out of the choir as soon as service is ended; but devoutly wait as become holy and settled persons, not as vagrants and vagabonds; and returning to God due thanks for their benefactors, and so receiving at last the fruits of their religion to which they have specially devoted themselves." And as the present abbot was not sufficiently instructed to propound the word of God in common, ke appointed others in his stead. The same bishop also B ordered, that in the infirmary food and drink be provided for the sick; and forbid, under a curse, that any feign himself sick when he is not so; to live a dissolute life, and fraudulently despise God's worship; nor should the friars that were in health meet in the infirmary for the sake of drinking and surfeiting; also that during their meals they should abstain from detraction and obscene speech, and use words of honesty and good tendency to edify the soul. This being one of the great abbies, came to the crown by the statute of the thirty-first of Henry VIII. and, according to Speed, was estimated at £767:15:3 per annum. Henry, in the midst of his rapacious career, made a shew of refunding by the erection of six new bishoprics, of which this dissolved monastery was one, and the church of the monks was fixed upon for the Cathe dral, though it scarcely escaped the demolition that threatened it, on account of the lead with which it was covered. The work of destruction was already commenced, and after uncasing the roof, the workmen were proceeding quickly to destroy the structure itself, which was in part effected, when an order was sent by the king, signifying that he was informed, that there was yet left standing of the fabric sufficient to make it a Cathedral for the bishop's see. The church being thus deprived of its western part to the tower, consists at present of the choir and two side aisles, with one of the transcepts, making but two parts of its original cross; its length is now from east to west 175 feet, of which the choir is 100 feet, so that in its perfect state it must have extended 100 feet further: the length of the cross aisle from north to south is 128 feet, the height of the tower 127 feet. It has a singular beauty not to be met with in any other cathedral, namely, that the two side aisles are of equal height with the nave and choir; the breadth of the body and side aisles is seventy-three feet. The College Green, which fronts the Cathedral, adds much to the beauty of the place; it is laid out in pleasant walks with rows of lime trees, and is the resort of much company, who use it as a promenade; it was formerly the burying-place of the dead, and is called in ancient deeds the cemetery of the abbot and convent, by whom a solemn procession was usually made around it on festival days. On digging up some old trees in the ninth of Henry VII. there was found here tombstones and human skulls. The like discoveries were made while preparing the foundation for houses a few years since. The centre of the Green was once graced by a handsome cross, which was removed from the High Street hither, for the purpose of rendering the way more commodious for passengers: it remained in this spot for many years, but at length wanting repairs, Mr. Hoar at Stourton, apprehensive of its being neglected, obtained permission to remove it to his beautiful grounds, where it now remains (in the possession of sir Richard Hoar), an ornament much admired. Б 2 |