cular, with various architrave mouldings, ornamented with carved figures, foliage, &c. and on each side are columns which are also decorated with sculpture. These door-ways are of handsome proportions, and the sculpture is but little mutilated. On each side of the two small doors is a large niche under a semicircular arch, above which are some pieces of ancient emblematical sculpture in relief. Over the great western door-way are some statues of kings, &c. under decorated canopies, and above them is the large western window, with mullions and tracery; a circular window, with a cinque-foil mullion, is seen above this; at the sides of which the flat wall is ornamented with a sort of trellis work, or lozenge-shaped tracery. This facing prevails in the lateral gables, north and south of the two western towers; also within the towers. The general shape and ornaments of the western front will be understood by reference to the annexed plate, from a drawing by Buckler.

The upper transept, and the choir, appear the next in point of date. These are in the sharp-pointed or early English style; and their architecture is very irregular, having pillars with detached shafts of purbeck marble, in different forms, but all very light; those on the sides of the choir have been formerly strengthened. Some of the arches are high and pointed, others obtuse, with straight upright lines above their imposts; a few small arches are semicircular, and many are of the trefoil-shape. The vaulting is generally simple, the ribs of a few groins only have a billetted moulding; a double row of arches or arcades, one placed before the other, is continued round the inside, beneath the lower tier of windows. The windows, which are lofty and narrow, are placed two or three together the greater buttresses in front are ornamented in a singular manner, with detached shafts, terminating in rich foliage; the parapet is covered with lead, and the ailes have a plain stone parapet, with a billeted moulding underneath. Some of the sculpture is well executed; but the arches and mouldings are very imperfect. This part of the fabric was probably built by

:

Bishop St. Hugh. The great transept, the gallilee porch", and the vestry are nearly of the same, but in a later style. The vestry is vaulted, the groining having strong ribs; and beneath it is a crypt, with groins, converging into pointed arches.

The nave and central tower were next rebuilt, probably begun by Hugh de Wells, as the style of their architecture is that of the latter part of the reign of John, or the beginning of Henry the Third. It seems to have been carried on from the west, as the two arches next that end are narrower than the others; perhaps they stand on the old bases. The clustered pillars of the nave are not uniform, some being worked solid, and others having detached shafts: the upper windows are clustered three together, and two are included within each arch of the ailes. The lower part of the north wall is plainer than the south, whence it may be concluded that this was built first. Part of the great tower was erected by Bishop Grosthead, who also finished the additions, which had been begun to the old west front; for there is the same fascia or moulding under the uppermost story as is continued twice round the rood tower, and altered it to its present forin. The part extending from the smaller transept to the east end, was probably built by Bishops Gravesend, Sutton, and d'Alderby, about the conclusion of the thirteenth, or commencement of the fourteenth century. Over the south porch, which is highly ornamented, is a representation of the final judgment,' in bold relief. The lower windows have slender clustered pillars, with capitals; and the heads are ornamented with circles, cinque-foils, and other devices: but the large east window does not correspond in richness with the other component parts. The upper windows have double mullions; and a gallery runs between the upper and lower tiers. Bishop d'Alderby built the upper story of the rood tower, and added a lofty spire, which

VOL. IX.

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was

*This is said to have been formerly appropriated to the use of proba tionary penitents, previous to their being re-admitted into communion with the faithful.

was constructed of timber, and covered with lead. This was blown down in a violent storm of wind, A. D. 1547; and the damages then sustained, were not wholly repaired till the year 1775.

Bishop Alnwick probably raised the western towers, and erected the wood spires, the taking down of which, lately by the dean and chapter, has provoked much splenetic animadversion. He added also, the three west windows, and the figures of our kings, from the conquest to Edward the Third. The arch of the centre win

The ceilings of the towers,

dow is much older than its mullions. and facing of the interior parts of the three west entrances, are of the same age. The great marigold window at the south end of the lower transept, was built about the time of Edward the Third.

Various Chapels were erected, and chantries founded at different periods, for the interment of the great, and the performance of mass, to propitiate the Deity in favour of their departed spirits, and those of their friends and relations. A chantry was founded within the close of the cathedral, by Joan de Cantelupe, in the thirty-first of Edward the Third, for a warden and seven chaplains, to pray for the soul of Nicholas de Cantelupe, her husband; as also for her own soul, after death, and for the souls of all the faithful departed. John Welbourn, treasurer of this church, fortieth of Edward the Third, founded a chantry here. In an ancient MS. of the dean and chapter, containing copies of deeds and charters respecting this chantry, &c. is a curious instrument, which conveys the house that belonged to Elye" (Elias) the son of a Jew, who was hanged at Lincoln, and the lands of another Jew, who was outlawed.

Richard Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln, built a chapel near the north door, where a statue lies on an altar tomb of marble in his pontifical robes. Bishop Russel, in the time of Henry the Seventh, also built one for the place of his interment, on the south side of the presbytery. And in imitation of this, during the suceeeding reign, Bishop Longland erected another for the like pur

pose.

pose. This is a beautiful and interesting specimen of the architecture of the age.

The late Earl of Burlington, whose taste for architecture gave him the title of the English Palladio, in a question of precedency between the cathedrals of York and Lincoln, gave a decision in favour of the latter; and preferred the west front of it to any thing of the kind in Europe, observing, "That whoever had the conducting of it, was well acquainted with the noblest buildings of old Ronie; and had united some of their greatest beauties in that very work." That nothing might be wanting to render this church as splendid in furniture as it was elegant in its decorations, it received the most lavish donations. Indeed so sumptuously was it supplied with rich shrines, jewels, vestments, &c. that Dugdale informs us Henry the Eighth took out of its immense treasure no less than 2621 ounces of gold, and 4285 ounces of silver, besides pearls and precious stones of the most costly kind. Also, two shrines, one called St. Hugh's, of pure gold; and the other of massy silver, called St. John's, of d'Alderby: at the same time the episcopal mitre is said to have been the richest in the kingdom.

From the time the custom of burying in churches was adopted till the present, this cathedral has had its share of costly sepultures; its chapels, walls, and columns have been ornamented or disfigured by monumental records and emblems of mortality. But when the observer views the state of such pious memorials, and compares them with the number and grandeur of those, which history relates to have been here erected in the different periods, he is strongly reminded of the transitory nature of the very exertions made to counteract the oblivious ravages of time; and of the ineffectual mode of securing to ourselves or others the meed of posthumous fame, by the pomp of monument or lettered stone. Of many of these tombs not a vestige remains, nor are the places known where once they stood.

At the reformation, for the purpose of finding secreted wealth, and under the pretence of discouraging superstition, many of them were destroyed. Bishop Holbech and Dean Henneage, both vio

lent zealots, caused to be pulled down or defaced most of the handsome tombs, the figures of saints, crucifixes, &c. so that by the close of the year 1548, there was scarcely a perfect tomb or uomutilated statue left. What the flaming zeal of reformation had spared was attacked by the rage of the fanatics in the time of Charles the First. During the presidency of Bishop Winniffe, A. D. 1645, the brass plates in the walls, or flat stones, were torn out, the handsome brass gates of the choir, and those of several chantries pulled down, and every remaining beauty, which was deemed to savour of superstition, entirely defaced; and the church made barracks for the parliamentary soldiers.

In 1782, the floor of the cathedral was new paved, which occasioned a great change in the state of inscribed stones, and the alterations lately made in the transepts and choir, have totally disarranged many of the principal tombs. In the choir were four monuments, one of which is said to have belonged to RE. MIGIUS, the first bishop. Mr. Gough* observes, "both Remigius, who began to build this church, and his successor Bloet, who finished it, are said by Willis to have been buried in the church of Remigius's building; the first in the choir, the other in the north transept, and both to have had contiguous monu ments, or as he calls them, chapels on the north side of the choir." It seems probable that the present monuments ascribed to both were erected over their remains within the old choir, when it was rebuilt by Bishop Alexander in the reigns of Henry the First and Stephen. This choir was continued further east about the close of Henry the Third's reign, and the screen, rood-loft, and stalls, made in that of Edward the Second. To one of these periods may those monuments therefore be ascribed. The kuights on the front of this monument may denote soldiers placed to guard our Lord's sepulchre; as on a tomb in the north side of the altar at Northwold in Norfolk, where are three armed men between three trees, all in a reclining posture. Another monument commemorates Catharine Swinford, wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

* Sepul. Mon. Vol. I. Part II. p. 11, 18.

Her