The Antiquities Of Wells, Somersetshire.

But to return to architecture . I have omitted to mention lie Bishop ' s Barn , which is a very fine and perfect one of the early part of the fifteenth century , probably built hy Bishop Bubwith , as the construction of the roof is the same as that of jjjs almshouse , although plainer . St . Cuthbert ' s Church does not properly belong to my subject ; but , in order to complete the history of the Mediaival buildings remaining at AVellsperhaps a short account of it may be

desir-, able . It was originally a cruciform church of the thirteenth century with a central toiver , and AA-ith aisles to the nave , but of the church all that remains in the original state is a part of the north transept ; the centra ! tower has been removed , tire chareh entirely rebuilt in the fifteenth century , without a . vestige of the old work . The pillars and arches of the nave have been rebuilt in the fifteenth century also , and the pillars lengthened

considerably . The arches , Avith their dripstones , preserved and used again on the taller pillars , and most of the capitals have had the foliage cut off * . The aisle walls , the clerestory , and roof , are all Late Perpendicular , about the time of Henry the Seventh ; but the beautiful west tower is evidently earlier than the clerestory and roof , and lias the mark of the old roof on the east side of it , coming below the present clerestory . This fine toiverwhich is certainlone of the finest of its classand

, y , AA-hich Mr . Freeman considers , I believe , to rank only second to one other , is said to have been built in the time of Bishop Bubivith , or about 1430 ; and this appears to me probable . The character of the Avork is rather Early Perpendicular , and the groined vault under the belfry appears to be an imitation of the Decorated vault of the cathedra ) . The arms in the spandrels of the Avest door belong to benefactors whose families

disappear from the City Records about 1450 . If the toiver prove to be of tbe time of Bishop Bubwith , it is a valuable date to have ascertained , as these rich Somersetshire towers are usually considered to be half a century later ; and it seems more

probable , as Mr . iYeeman observed to us last year , that they do in reality spread over about a century , than that they were all built in twenty or thirty years afc the end of ifc . As I have noiv said all that appears to me to be necessary respecting the buildings of AVells , I may , perhaps , be allowed to add a feiv Avords as to the manner in ivhich it is probable that funds were provided for building them . There AA-ere , no doubt , at all periods some men who were fond of building , and when

these men happened to be wealthy they built a great deal , as in the case of Bishop Beckington , ivho must have expended a very large sum during his lifetime in huilding , and left the remainder of his fortune to his executors to be expended in the same manner . But there are men who are fond of huilding in these days also ; the difference is , thafc building was almost the only mode of displaying wealth in those days , and every one likes to leave some memento of himself behind him if he can .

For those buildings belonging to a cathedral chapter there is , however , another mode in Avhich funds may have been supplied , at least in part . In nearly all these foundations certain estates were set apart by the founder , or hy the chapter , from its earliest days to form the fabric fund ; out of this fund a gang of AA-orkmen Avas kept in the regular employ of the chapter , and Ave find from the records of several of our cathedrals that the same families continued to serA-e tire chapter as masons or

carpenters or smiths generation after generation . In this manner they acquired great skill in their arfc ; and although the architect , or master-mason , may have travelled and got neiv ideas from time to time , the greater part ofthe AA'orkmen Avere stationary , and naturally formed a school of their own , Avhich accounts for the provincial character we very often find in mediaeval buildings . After the cathedral ivas completed these men Avould

naturall y be employed hy the chapter in any other Avorks that Avere required , such as houses for the canons or officers , or for building churches on the manors belonging to the chapter , " 'hen a parish Avas an independent rectory it commonly had a

apartment ; although , happily , a better form of Avorship is noiv 'celebrated there than at the period referred to ivith such apparent regret . Mr . Parker may hai'e easily ascertained that the charity is vested in thc nean and Chapter of AVells , with the mayor and part of the council as n ? rt . ' E' ^ av'esi Esq ., being the goi-ernor ofthe almshouse . The funds ° t the charity having been much improved under the present management , Ane trustees , ivith a very laudable desire to extend the benefits of the charity •-na comfort of the inmates ( and not from any ' qualms of conscience '! , „? , to prepare plans and specifications , consistent ivith the ehatlle builtini ? their and thc ivorks ivere

Knh f <> ' ' or approval ; afterwards MDstantially executed by a respectable builder . I would venture to add that con -7 i advoeato a return to the dwellings of former times , in order to be lint S i ' sl , ou ' ' ° return to the manners and customs then prevailing ; * ' , „ . '„ . f , > should ilrst practice what they preach , and have charitv "" vards others . * EDWAKD HirrisiEr , Sarrevor . " '

The Antiquities Of Wells, Somersetshire.

fabric fund of its own ; and any one ivho has read many of the wills of the middle ages must have met with many bequests to the fabrics , and these do not always prove that any particular work was going on , although they were , of course , more numerous at such times . When great ivorks were going on , and funds fell short , the chapter sent round briefs or begging letters in all directions , and frequently obtained large contributions to their fabric fund . It Avas therefore bthe joint action of the

y voluntai-y principle and the hereditary principle , or the endow--rnents bequeathed hy our ancestors , that those magnificent series of structures Avere erected . Extract from the Chapter Books , A . D . 1325 . " Item—That the Bishop shall contribute to the fabric of the neAv work of the church of Wells one moiety of the proceeds of his visitation .

" Item—Because the stalls in the choir are ruinous and ugly , it was ordered on the same day , that all and every of the Canons who are duly constituted in the dignity and office , shall make their own stalls at their oivn expense , and that the dean may compel them to do so . " This shoAvs that the buildings were not completed in 1325 ; ifc is probable that the Lady Chapel and the Chapter House were

the ivorks then carrying on . The stalls then ordered to be made were turned out as rubbish a feiv years ago , having previously been much spoiled . One of the ends of a stall-desk has been fortunately preserved by Mr . G . Gr . Scott , AA'ho obtained ifc by accident and kneAv its value . A photograph Avas exhibited by Mr . Parker , and Avas acknoAvledged by all to be a very fine specimen of the woodwork of the fourteenth century .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

STONE OJ ? FOUNDATION . At what period was the English Eoyal-Arch Degree deprived of this legend ? for which see Bro . Oliver in Quarterly Freemasons' Magazine , 1841 . — -A . THE MUSES . "What have the heathen , p . vea , or the Muses to do with Freemasonry ?—F . E — [ Eusebius derives the word from

that given by our correspondent . He says it is to "initiate and instruct , " because the Muses taught things above the vulgar comprehension . In this sense there are lodges of the Nine Muses to be found in England , Eussia , and France . Of that in the latter country the celebrated Bro . Benjamin Franklin ivas a member . ]

THE POET HILTON AND EKEEMASONJtY . I Avas startled , some weeks since , by hearing a brother say that Milton must have been a Freemason . I am but a working brother , and my time is othervrise employed than to read poetry , for I can hardly devote sufficient to keep up my Masonie work , but I should be glad if any of your correspondents , having the leisure , would inform me on what grounds it can be shown that Milton was a Mason ?—YORK .

JESUITICAL ENMITY TO THE CEAPT . I send you an extract from the second number of The Canadian Freemason , published at Montreal , in June 1860 , to show the enmity of the Jesuits to the Craft . They had an organ of their own called " L'Ordre " and the folloAving was inserted ifc , in French : — " We learn that Messrs . OAA-IBI- and Stevensson have

commenced publishing a periodical paper , entitled The Canadian Freemason , Avhich Avill be the organ of the lodge . Messrs . Chvler and Stevenson are themselves Freemasons , and this journal , it appears , Avill be edited in a manner Avhich the members of the society can alone appreciate . Ifc is a pity that in so Catholic a country as Canada , the brethren of a secret society dare publish their shameful turpitude and act publicly as if it Avas to ridicule all principles . " The Editor of The American Freemason thus comments on the above ¦ —¦

" Ihe paragraph speaks volumes and proves clearly hoiv soon our liberty Avould be taken away if that order could bear the SAA-ay . We happily live in a country where ive can promulgate the exalted principles of Freemasonry in spite of Jesuitical interference . " —Ex . Ex .