The Interior Op A Gothic Minster.

THE INTERIOR OP A GOTHIC MINSTER .

LONDON , SATURDAY , JUNE 18 , 1864 .

( Continued , from page 459 . ) Stalls . —The chorus , or schola cantorum , was at first devoid of seats , the ancient discipline requiring a standing position ( Stat . Poict ., c . 1 ; Mart . Anec , iv . 1071 ) . In course of time , the infirm , at first , and then all the choir , were allowed a

resting crutch ( lb ., de Ant . Eccles . Rit ., lib . iii . p . 9 ) . Forms were used by the clerks ( Stat . Line , 1212 ; Lichf ., 1259 ) . Half the choir stood and half sat during the Psalms ( Stat . Lichf ., 259 ; Austin Canons , Mart . u . s . 297 ); or one between two sat at Psalms , Alleluia , Gradual , and Epistle

( lb ., 307 ) . If any could not bear the fatigue , they were to sit in loco talibus constitute . At Besancon , sitting during the Psalms AA'as reprobated ( Beyerlinck , Theatr ., ii . 71 ) . Quod quidem juris et is nostrum habeat qui in chore existens corporali obstaculo nonnisi sessu frui commode potest . ( Comp . Stat . Ratisp ., cap . vii ., where only sitting , standing , aud genuflexion are permitted

in choir , —Mayer , i . 187 ; and Stat . Braunschw ., c . lvii ., —ibid . 115 ; and " Incwrvi super misericordias aut super formas : " " reclinando super misericordias ; jaciendo super formas , " Mar bene , iii . 327 . ) Waterville at Peterborough , " ordinavit clwrum" ( H . Cand ., 93 ) , and W . de Lindsay , in

the thirteenth century , contributed to the stall work ( p . 199 ) , AA'hich was coA ered with paintings of Scripture subjects . In the ninth century , benches were introduced by the more luxurious communities ; and about the twelfth century , stalls , ivith their misericords , were introduced as a

compromise to rest the canons without deviating from a standing position . The Early English benches may be seen at Rochester : three unique shafts , with capitals of gilded AA'ood , are preserved at Peterborough . At Wells , the Early English stalls have been recently destroyed , and incongruous stone seats erected between tho pillars , a plan folloAved with the stalls at Durham in the modem

reconstruction . At Hereford and Winchester are stalls of the thirteenth century ; at Gloucester and Ely of the fourteenth century ; at Carlisle , Saint David ' s , Ripon , Nowich , and Chester , of the fifteenth century ; at Manchester , Beverley , and Bristol , of the sixteenth century . Perpendicular

stalls remain at Cartmel , Sherborne , Selby , and Dorchester ; of the Cinque-cento period , at Christchurch ; Jacobean , at Wimborne ; and of the seventeenth century at Salisbury and Durham . There are also some stalls preserved at Hexham , HullPeterboroughOtteryand TeAvkesbury .

, , , Those of Canterbury were destroyed in 1704 ; and the carved panels of the stalls at Winchester survived until the civil wars . The introduction of tabernacles and canopied backs Avas of later use than the stalls or forms . Bishop Lacy , at Exeter , in the fifteenth century ,

gave hangings , to be placed behind the canons and vicars , of damask for summer use , and of green poivdered with flowers , in winter time to preserve them from wind and cold , and sixty years later cloths were hung in the choir for a similar purpose . The solid wall at Rochester and Llandafi _

and the stone screen an Canterbury , c . 1304 , enabled the monks to dispense with canopies ; but the cold ivas so keenly felt at Peterborough and Ely , 1254 , that caps were Avorn during the inclement season of the year—Michaelmas to Easterin choir . Polydore Vergil , in the sixteenth

century , gave hangings embroidered Avith his arms for the stalls at Wells ( Leland , ii . 124 ) : those given by Prior Goldstone to Canterbury are now at Aix . The screen hangings used for shelter and ornament at Exeter represented the story of the Duke of Burgundy , and Avere blazoned with chequey arms , the gift of the Courtenays . At

Peterborough , in the transepts , tapestry , with the Deliverance of St . Peter out of Prison , of thetime of Henry Y 1 TL , is the solitary relic of sixteen pieces used on festivals and suspended from the choir triforium . At Manchester , tapestry of a much later date , c . 1661 , and at Chester , served

till lately as a dorsal . At Lichfield , four times a year , —from . Christmas to Purification , from Easter Eve to the octave of Trinity Sunday , from the Assumption to Michaelmas , and on St . Chad ' s day , —the church was adorned with silken hangings and cloth . At York , Archbishop Lamplugh

gave tapestries for hanging the reredos . At Westminster , tapestries were hung round the easternmost bays at the coronation of Charles I .. Until 1765 , the bays between the pillars were hung with tapestry at Carlisle ; at Peterborough , the tapestry hangings remained till 1643 ; at Nonvich , till 1740 ; at Westminster , in Dart ' s time .

At Exeter , the vicars—then as numerous as their masters , the canons—Avere in the upper stalls at the east end , ivith only the archdeacons and the chancellor and treasurer beyond them . The annuallars , chaplains , and clerks were of the second form . At Lichfield , by a bad arrangement after

the restoration , the stalls of the canons were interrupted by the vicars' and other stalls in the centre of the range . In cathedrals of canons regular , the bishop Avas vice-abbot , in place of abbot , Avith a prior as president ; in monastic churches , the abbot , under the bishop , had jurisdiction in matters concerning the rule ( Prances , xxxi . n . 59 , 60 ) .

There were three ranges of seats , called at Chichester "books , " but ordinarily forms . At Hereford , in the third form sat canons and priests ; in the second , deacon and sub-deacon vicars ; in the first , clerks in inferior orders ; but at Chichester , the choristers Avere called boys of the third form ,

the order being inverted . The double choir dates from the Arian heresy ( Prances , p . 87 ) . The clerks sat in front of their masters at Beverley .