JEPHTHA'S DAUGHTER. Since our Country, our God--Oh, my Sire!- Since thy triumph was bought by thy vow, Strike the bosom that's bared for thee now! And the voice of my mourning is o'er, And of this, oh, my Father! be sure- And the last thought that soothes me below. Though the virgins of Salem lament, Be the judge and the hero unbent! I have won the great battle for thee, And my Father and country are free! When this blood of thy giving hath gush'd, Let my memory still be thy pride, And forget not I smiled as I died! BYRON. The diocese of Norwich is of great autiquity, although the seat of its chief pastor was not established in its present position earlier than the Norman conquest. Sigebert, king of the East Angles in the seventh century, whose dominions comprised Norfolk, Suffolk, and part of Cambridgeshire, had embraced Christianity. He invited Felix, a Burgundian priest, into his kingdom, and appointed him bishop of a new diocese, the see of which he fixed at Dunmoc, or Dunwich, his capital city. Four prelates sat here, the last of whom, an aged man, divided the diocese into two, Dunwich and North Elmham. Over the former eleven bishops are said to have presided, and over the latter ten; when the two dioceses were re-united, and the see continued at Elmham till 1075, at which time the incumbent removed it to Thetford, then the most considerable town in Norfolk. Here, however, it did not long remain; for Herbert de Lozinga, the bishop, solemnly translated it to Norwich, April 9th, 1094. In 1096 this prelate laid the foundation of the new cathedral, which was soon after constituted by the pope the mother-church of Norfolk and Suffolk. On the north side was placed the bishop's palace, and on the south the priory; and in five years the works were so far advanced, that sixty monks were, in 1101, settled in the monastery. The choir with its aisles, the tower, and the two transepts, were, in all probability, the parts of the cathedral completed by Lozinga, who also surrounded the precincts with a lofty wall. His successor, bishop Eborard, added the nave and aisles from the roodloft door to the west end; and, as this was a very large part of the fabric, he is said by some to have built the whole church. to which the reader's attention is called is the tower, with its spire. We have here a noble specimen, unrivalled in England, of a perfect Norman tower. Its plan is square, with square turrets at the corners, their external angels being cut off. The faces of this tower are divided into four compartments by horizontal bands. Between the first and second compartment a billet-moulding runs, continued over the turrets; and, as this is not the case with any of the other bands, it has been thought that this, with a plain parapet, was at first intended to be the termination. If this were so, the subsequent erections must soon have been added, as they are strictly in the same style. The tower is crowned with a battlement, as are also the four turrets, upon each of which is a richly crocketed spire; and in the centre rises the great spire, of most graceful proportions. The base is decorated with projecting buttresses, which terminate in crocketed pinnacles set at the eight angles of the spire. Above these pinnacles are windows pointed and canopied ; and higher up, smaller ones of the same description. Some plain horizontal bands encircle the spire at different heights; and the whole is richly crocketed and crowned with a finial, on which stands the weathercock. time entered Norwich cathedral, as about to receive imposition of hands for the sacred office of a deacon. The interior of this cathedral consists of a nave and choir, with a north and south transept, forming altogether a single cross. On entering the western door, the nave, vaulted with stone, spreads magnificently before the spectator as far as the choir screens and organ; unfortunately, by these obstructions the rest of the building is concealed. The older part of the nave thus seen is characterized by simplicity and solidity: the upper part is The western front of Norwich cathedral is plain, of a more light and elegant style. From the west consisting of three compartments, which correspond end to the transept are fourteen semicircular arches to the nave and its side aisles. Of these compart- on each side, supported by suitable piers, excepting ments, the middle is much the largest. In it is a that near the choir are two vast cylindrical columns deep portal of pointed architecture within a square with spiral flutings opposite each other. The choir is head, above which is a well-proportioned pointed of unusual length, extending beyond the transept and window. It is flanked by square turrets, which rise central tower into the nave; so that the choir, proto the height of the gable point, and are surmounted perly so called, is left free from stalls or pews. by a kind of dome or cupola, terminating in a ball. The effect produced is striking, and deeply imThe side compartments are divided into three sto-pressed the writer's mind when he for the first ries in the lowest is a round-headed door; in the next, an arcade of round-headed arches; in the third, a similar window, with a single arch of the same kind on each side. On the top are battlements; and each of these compartments also is flanked by turrets, at first square, afterwards round, and, like the others, crowned with leaden cupolas and balls. It is proper to add, that all the four turrets were originally surmounted by lofty spires. Such is the principal front of this structure; which stands in such an encumbered situation, that a good view of scarcely any other part of the exterior is to be obtained. The eastern end is round; and, just where this round part begins, there is on each side a chapel of very curious character, belonging to the original work of Lozinga. A better idea will, however, be conveyed of these by the engraving, than by a minute description. But in order to give a distinct representation of this interesting part of the cathedral, a wall and some trees belonging to an adjoining garden have been omitted by the artist. One of these chapels is now used as a parish church. The Lady chapel to the east of the choir is destroyed; but it will be seen that traces of it yet remain in the marks of the roof visible on the eastern wall, and the arched door-way now walled up; above which are three windows close together. The only other part of the exterior The cloisters on the south side of the cathedral Length from east to west (exterior).... Breadth of tower (exterior) Total height of weathercock from the 82 10 212 O 70 4 170 45 0 180 30 6 73 0 140 0 45 6 169 0 313 O |