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doomed, excommunicate-no more "Decorated," but "Debased." Our eyes and hearts pleaded that what had so long pleased us could not -such was our vanity-be so very bad; that what was not so very bad was worth keeping, whether five hundred and fifty or only two hundred years old; that the architect of the seventeenth century might just possibly have only renewed (allowing for inaccurate details) what he of the thirteenth had originally erected; finally, we ventured to whisper that at any rate the poor perpetrator of "Debased" work might, after all, be nearly as good a judge as Mr. Blore. But no; the upper part was Debased;" there was a palpable break in the masonry-granted; therefore the present upper part must be of a different design from the original-a piece of argument which did not altogether harmonize with our recollections-somewhat dim ones, certainly-of the precepts set forth by Dean Aldrich and Archbishop Whately. Besides, Heads of Houses were sitting (judicially, we mean,) upon these pinnacles ; so we had nothing to do but to wait patiently, and see what our betters might determine. So we waited, knowing that it was not for us to penetrate that mysterious process of legislation, which sometimes determines in steeples, and sometimes in statutes, but fully reserving to ourselves, in both cases, unlimited power of saying non placet" to the result, whether in the Convocation-House, or in the pages of the Ecclesiologist. At last it came, the days of Debased" were past; the star of Blore was in the ascendant; the mighty pinnacle appeared,

βριθύ, μέγα, στιβαρόν.

..

66

Those who ventured to think that the powers of the University were not confined to the Delegates' Room, nor the art of Architecture to the ravager of Westminster, sometimes gently murmured that at all events theDecorated" artist never meant this; sometimes more boldly hinted that, if he did, the poor "Debased" wight understood his business better than he. Well, there was a pause; there the great pinnacle stood, keeping company with the three little ones, on what terms we know not. In the meanwhile the ordinary Academic cycle has run, and the University is provided with a new "Resident Governor." Now it may be a fallacy of post hoc, ergo propter hoc, but certainly soon after this time a change came over the spirit of the designers or approvers of pinnacles; and the Juggernaut of Buckingham Palace drove his car in triumph over another specimen of "Debased;" but lo, "tempora mutantur," and the devotion so lately paid to the solid, the sturdy, the immoveable, was suddenly transferred to the slender and elegant, and specimen No. 2 was offered up as the apparently destined victim of every unusually high wind; a fatality, however, we must in justice add prudently provided against by flying-buttresses of fairy texture and proportions. There now they stand, in everything but number, reminding us of the Three Bears, the Great, the Little, and the two Middle Pinnacles, to which latter, unless something very much better than the two first be soon excogitated, we shall be happy to drink long life and prosperity.

We have treated this subject more lightly than usual; but to those who have watched it on the spot, the ludicrous side of the transaction cannot fail to be that which first presents itself; the solemnity, the mystery, the self-sufficiency, the sweeping assumption that seventeenth

century work must all be wrong, are only worthy of Mr. Blore and his present employers. To any one who has studied the Oxford revived Gothic of the seventeenth century, two considerations would present themselves; first, that if the Jacobean or Caroline architect found the old pinnacles standing, the probability certainly was that he would replace them with copies as accurate as his imperfect knowledge of detail allowed; secondly, that if he found them completely broken off, his taste and judgment might be safely trusted to provide an original design perfectly adapted to the position in every point of proportion and outline. Did he not do so in point of fact? Were not the old pinnacles very good pinnacles-pinnacles so good that nothing but a minute investigation of points altogether unconnected with their proportion and general effect-the break in the masonry namely and the character of the crockets, &c.-could ever have shown them to be other than original work? Have not thousands upon thousands admired their magnificent grouping without any such suspicion, while the ugliness of Mr. Blore's substitutes thrusts itself at once upon any eye of the least pretensions to taste? Finally, would anybody have expected that any persons professing, rightly or wrongly, to represent the University of Oxford, would have raked so far back into past ages, as to disinter an architect, to whom, whatever may have been his reputation in the days before Chronus and the moon, no lover of mediæval art would now intrust so much as a mediæval pig-stye, if there be one, much less the fabric of the University church, and a spire one of the most remarkable and beautiful in existence.

We then ourselves were perfectly satisfied with the old pinnacles; we would even go the length of saying that, if the original pinnacles could really be proved to have resembled either of Mr. Blore's designs, the artist of the seventeenth century so far improved upon his predecessor as to render it by no means clear whether, supposing renewal necessary, a modern architect would not be more than justified in reproducing his design-of course with the necessary improvements in detail-in preference to the original. But we cannot deny that a very considerable difficulty exists. At the point where the masonry breaks, and the slenderer portion of the pinnacle commences, both in the old design and in Mr. Blore's last, the upright line of the panelling is cut through in so abrupt a manner as to look as if some design of which it formed a part had been destroyed. If the change in thickness were a part of the original design, even supposing that the Jacobean restoration had destroyed some enriched horizontal line at the point of junction, still the design of the panelling would be meagre and unusual, though of course not absolutely impossible. We should naturally look for an arched head or some such ornament on each side of the vertical line; and this, though it can hardly have existed originally, Mr. Blore has supplied in his last design. In his earlier one, where the pinnacle is carried up of the same thickness throughout, and finished with gables, the existing portion of panelling is continued naturally enough. So far as the panelling goes, this design is more likely to be the original than the old one; the objection to it rests on its general clumsiness of effect, supported by the fact that, even as far as the panelling is concerned, the other is not impossible. But, even

supposing Mr. Blore to be right in his first conjecture-i. e., supposing the seventeenth century to have improved on the thirteenth-he has forfeited any credit thus gained by the portentous absurdity of his last design, which is simply the old pinnacle eviscerated and bedizened to the level of the most thorough gimcrack of ten years back, and which, as we have seen, is in point of panelling clearly impossible. The original architect might have produced Mr. Blore's first pinnacle; it would have been an error in taste, but still a credible one; that he should ever have imagined Mr. Blore's last achievement is beyond all human belief.

The last intelligence is that the vicar of the parish has stepped in to rescue his church from the fate to which it appeared destined. It has been examined by Mr. Butterfield and Mr. Salvin, who have both declared in favour of the old pinnacles. We need not again say how thoroughly we agree with them on the general æsthetical point, but we shall look with great anxiety to their report as to the manner in which the panelling was finished or continued, and whether they have found any satisfactory means of harmonising what remains of it with the clearly preferable outline.

Oxford contains individuals, parishes, colleges, who have done much for ecclesiastical art, but the corporate efforts of her present governors are certainly not happy. The University has been made ridiculous by the erection of the most thoroughly hideous of human structures on the scene of her more modern studies; let us hope that it is not too late to rescue her from the more serious charge of the further mutilation and disfigurement of her earliest dwelling-place and most honoured sanctuary.

P.S. While on the subject of the architectural doings of the Heads of the University of Oxford, we may state that a report has just reached us that the President of S. John's College contemplates the destruction of the well-known roodscreen in the parish church of Handborough, Oxon. We trust that this is not the case, or that if it is so, reclamations will be made sufficiently strong to put an end to this proposed vandalism.

MY DEAR SIR,

COLOGNE CATHEDRAL.

To the Editor of the Ecclesiologist.

Brighton, July 23, 1849.

Having passed through Cologne during last month, I will endeavour, in compliance with your suggestion, to furnish you with some account of the progress which the works for the restoration of the cathedral have made, since the date of the last notice of them that appeared in the Ecclesiologist.

The transepts, nave, and aisles are now completed to the height of the clerestory, and are roofed in temporarily. Fixed benches are placed in the nave, and a pulpit is erected against the second (?) south

pier, all of simple and appropriate design. The whole building is furnished with gas-burners, projecting from the piers and walls at regular intervals, and cast-iron alms'-boxes, for receiving contributions towards the restoration, are placed at every conspicuous point. The consecration crosses, painted in vermilion, within quatrefoils, strike the eye at every corner of the new building, at about ten feet from the ground. The six magnificent new windows, the gift of the ex-king of Bavaria, in the south aisle, add greatly to the beauty of the interior; but, from their gorgeousness and large masses of colour, injure the effect of the six old windows in the north aisle, the style of which, containing much uncoloured glass, is so very different. I am not capable of offering an opinion on the execution of these new windows, but I remarked that, in comparing them with the old ones opposite, the new colours (I would instance especially the rubies and the violets), by no means equal in richness the ancient work, which is also much purer and brighter in tincture. The ex-king's name and donation is ostentatiously recorded on a shield in each window. The wall filling up the choir-arch remains unremoved, thus preventing the effect of the completed nave and south aisle being fully perceived. Within the choir no alteration has been made, except that one of the piers on the north side has been painted in diaper of two colours, red and gold [?], up to the height of the screen. A sacristan told me that traces had been found of such colouring on all the piers, and that all would eventually be so decorated. He also said that it was intended to replace the present Italianesque altar and reredos by one of more appropriate design.

The verger complained bitterly of the swarm of annoying commissionaires who infested the church, and offered their unwelcome services to strangers and visitors, diverting, thereby, in many cases, to their own pockets, the contributions which would, if given, as is directed by the authorities, to the sacristans, all flow to the fund for restoring the cathedral. The verger said, " these commissionaires are forbidden to exercise their trade in the church, but when my back is turned, they are too many for me;" he most pathetically repeated in his Cologne patois, Ich bin allein, "and the police gives me no assistance, what can I do?"

The works of the exterior are proceeding slowly. The magnificent south door is almost completed; its wonderful tracery and panelling, crockets and finials, are nearly all perfect, and only the statues to be placed in the numerous niches, and the garland of figures to surround the door arch require to be partly filled up. Workmen are occupied both on the north and south transepts. The worksheds seemed well filled both with material and workmen, and a good deal of stone lay ready cut and prepared for being made use of in the building.

I should apologise for offering so meagre an account of so splendid a work, but can only allege the insufficient excuse, that it did not occur to me, during my hurried visit to Cologne, that a notice of it would be acceptable to the Ecclesiologist.

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DISCOVERY OF AN EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH AT

ATHENS.

[We have been favoured with the following extract of a letter from Athens (dated June 8th, 1849) containing an account of the discovery on a small island in the Ilissus, of an ancient temple subsequently converted into a church. A curious topographical description of Athens and its environs, existing in a Manuscript of the fourteenth century in the Vienna Library, and lately published by Dr. Ross, leaves no room to doubt that it is identical with the temple of Juno, subsequently converted into a church of the Blessed Virgin, the position of which, minutely described by the anonymous author, precisely corresponds with that of the ruin lately exhumed.]

"THE attention of the public has been drawn of late to some ruins recently discovered on the little island in the Ilissus, above the Calirrhöe, just on the spot where Leake supposes the Eleusinium stood. About one half of this little island, towards the north-east is occupied by a garden, surrounded by a mud wall. The owner, wishing to extend his possession, began to dig on the southerly side of his wall, and immediately came upon traces of ancient ruins, and further investigation shows that they are the remains of a Christian church of considerable size (about 140 feet long). The iepòv Bijua is distinctly marked out, and the pavement is of Mosaic. The inner side of the walls seems to have been completely faced with polished thin slabs of Hymettus marble; and from this and other points of resemblance with the Christian church within the Erectheium, it is supposed that this church is of the same period, i. e., of the ninth century. Just in front of the ἱερὸν βῆμα, as if placed there for a step, there is a large slab of Pentelic marble, showing traces of an ancient inscription, all of which has been carefully erased, except the following KAI THI AOHNAIAI... and over the erased portion is now found an inscription in Byzantine characters which is itself in such a state that nothing can be traced out but the letters ΚΑΙ ΘΕΟΔΟΣΙΣ. There is, moreover, a very curious crypt, within the nave of this church, about fifteen feet below the surface, the entrance to which is also within the walls of the church on the south side, by an inclined plane. It is built entirely of brick, and contains four arches, exactly east, west, north, and south, the south serving for the entrance. The other three seem to have served for places of burial, as I found quantities of human bones in the eastern one, the only one that has been opened: it is curious enough that the inner portion of the walls of this crypt is also lined with marble slabs, precisely like those of the church. An anonymous Greek manuscript of the fourteenth century (found in Vienna, and recently published by Dr. Ross) has the following passage which throws some light on the subject. Pray excuse me if I copy it in modern Greek writing. Ἵσταται κατ ̓ ἀνατολάς καμάρα μεγίστη καὶ ὡραία· εἰσὶ δὲ ὀνόματα ̓Αδριανοῦ καὶ Θησέως (This alludes to the arch of Adrian.) Πρὸς δὲ νότον ἐστίν οἶκος βασιλικός (Query, the Temple of Jupiter Olympius ?)

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