From London to Lands End | Page 9

defaced
more churches, than all the Roundheads in England beside.
This church, and the schools also are accurately described by several
writers, especially by the "Monasticon," where their antiquity and
original is fully set forth. The outside of the church is as plain and
coarse as if the founders had abhorred ornaments, or that William of
Wickham had been a Quaker, or at least a Quietist. There is neither
statue, nor a niche for a statue, to be seen on all the outside; no carved
work, no spires, towers, pinnacles, balustrades, or anything; but mere
walls, buttresses, windows, and coigns necessary to the support and
order of the building. It has no steeple, but a short tower covered flat, as
if the top of it had fallen down, and it had been covered in haste to keep
the rain out till they had time to build it up again.
But the inside of the church has many very good things in it, and worth
observation; it was for some ages the burying-place of the English
Saxon kings, whose RELIQUES, at the repair of the church, were
collected by Bishop Fox, and being put together into large wooden
chests lined with lead were again interred at the foot of the great wall in
the choir, three on one side, and three on the other, with an account
whose bones are in each chest. Whether the division of the RELIQUES
might be depended upon, has been doubted, but is not thought material,
so that we do but believe they are all there.
The choir of the church appears very magnificent; the roof is very high,
and the Gothic work in the arched part is very fine, though very old; the
painting in the windows is admirably good, and easy to be
distinguished by those that understand those things: the steps ascending
to the choir make a very fine show, having the statues of King James
and his son King Charles, in copper, finely cast; the first on the right
hand, and the other on the left, as you go up to the choir.
The choir is said to be the longest in England; and as the number of
prebendaries, canons, &c., are many, it required such a length. The
ornaments of the choir are the effects of the bounty of several bishops.
The fine altar (the noblest in England by much) was done by Bishop
Morley; the roof and the coat-of-arms of the Saxon and Norman kings
were done by Bishop Fox; and the fine throne for the bishop in the
choir was given by Bishop Mew in his lifetime; and it was well it was
for if he had ordered it by will, there is reason to believe it had never

been done--that reverend prelate, notwithstanding he enjoyed so rich a
bishopric, scarce leaving money enough behind him to pay for his
coffin.
There are a great many persons of rank buried in this church, besides
the Saxon kings mentioned above, and besides several of the most
eminent bishops of the See. Just under the altar lies a son of William
the Conqueror, without any monument; and behind the altar, under a
very fine and venerable monument, lies the famous Lord Treasurer
Weston, late Earl of Portland, Lord High Treasurer of England under
King Charles I. His effigy is in copper armour at full-length, with his
head raised on three cushions of the same, and is a very magnificent
work. There is also a very fine monument of Cardinal Beaufort in his
cardinal's robes and hat.
The monument of Sir John Cloberry is extraordinary, but more because
it puts strangers upon inquiring into his story than for anything
wonderful in the figure, it being cut in a modern dress (the habit
gentlemen wore in those times, which, being now so much out of
fashion, appears mean enough). But this gentleman's story is particular,
being the person solely entrusted with the secret of the restoration of
King Charles II., as the messenger that passed between General Monk
on one hand, and Mr. Montague and others entrusted by King Charles
II. on the other hand; which he managed so faithfully as to effect that
memorable event, to which England owes the felicity of all her happy
days since that time; by which faithful service Sir John Cloberry, then a
private musketeer only, raised himself to the honour of a knight, with
the reward of a good estate from the bounty of the king.
Everybody that goes into this church, and reads what is to be read there,
will be told that the body of the church was built by the famous
William of Wickham; whose monument, intimating his fame, lies in the
middle of that part which was built at his expense.
He was