the frugality of ancient times, and have, in general, formed mistaken notions as to the habits of expenditure which then prevailed. 'Sir John Fortescue speaks of five pounds a year as a fair living for a yeoman, a class of whom he is not at all inclined to diminish the importance.' ""* The dresses, however, which were worn in the fifteenth century were not in keeping with the simplicity of domestic conveniences and habits; for however plain our ancestors might be in their arrangements at home, they made a decidedly dashing appearance when they came abroad. The long-toed shoes were, during the period of which we speak, longer than ever, till, in the vagaries of fashion, they changed their form, and expanded vastly in breadth; whereupon Parliament, in its legislative wisdom, restricted the breadth of a man's shoe to six inches. The tippets of the hoods reached to the ground: high caps with feathers were also worn; and low robes trimmed with fur, in some cases having sleeves, in others simply arm-holes, were deemed exceedingly graceful. The ladies were fond of lofty head-dresses, adorned with horns, and robes not unlike the riding-habits of the present day, with trains, which, in walking, were thrown over the arm.† Many a gentleman and many a dame, thus attired in the costume of the age-a Justice Shallow and a Mrs. Ford, for instance-are seen, by the eye of fancy, enlivening the picture of the Windsor of

* Hallam.

+ A gown was a costly article. In the privy purse expenses of Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII., when a workman's wages were sixpence a-day, we find 15 yards of black damask, for a gown, charged 7s. per yard.— Paston Letters," vol. i., p. 1.

that day, walking along the streets, or sitting under the shadow of a noble elm, on a summer's afternoon.

In describing the antiquities and historical associations of Windsor Castle in the fifteenth century, we shall first direct our attention to the royal chapel, keeping, for the sake of convenience, our description of its history and architecture distinct from the rest of the narrative.

In the thirteenth year of his reign, Edward IV. appointed Richard Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury, to the office of surveyor of the chapel, and gave him full authority to remove whatever might be necessary to make room for the erection of the new edifice.* In consequence of this, three towers, and some other buildings on the east and north sides of the chapel were pulled down, and the materials employed in repairing the castle. The new chapel was soon commenced, and the work was speedily prosecuted; for within five years it was ready to receive the bells, and contracts were entered into for carving the stalls in the choir. Most of the stone was brought by water from Tainton, in Oxfordshire, and some came from Caen, in Normandy, whence large supplies of stone were often obtained for ecclesiastical edifices in the middle ages. The timber was procured from places in the neighbourhood of Windsor. Many entries in the accounts of Bishop Beauchamp, which have been preserved, throw light upon the expenditure incurred in the undertaking. There is an entry in the eighteenth year of King

* Mr. Britton thinks it is more likely that Edward IV. enlarged, altered, and embellished the royal chapel, than that he built it anew.-" Architectural Antiquities," vol. iii., p. 28.

Edward's reign, of 9755 feet of stone, at 2s. a foot; of £151 12s., for the conveyance of stone from Tainton to Windsor Bridge; of £29 10s. 3 d. for the carriage of timber; of £141 8s. 1d. for materials and stores necessary for the prosecution of the works; and £556 6s. 1d. for workmen. Several entries of charges for carved work also appear. Six tabernacles for the choir, made by Robert Ellis and John Filles, cost £40; and St. George and the Dragon, with St. Edward and other saints, were paid for at the rate of 5s. the foot, in length. Other years furnish other examples of sums paid for timber, stone, and workmen. The funds for the erection of this noble structure were obtained from the estates of Lords Shrewsbury, Wiltshire, and Morley, who were minors at the time, and wards of his majesty; a fact illustrative of the unjust prerogatives of the crown at that period, and by no means calculated to reflect honour upon the royal builder, or to add pleasing associations to the origin of an edifice devoted to the service of religion.

At the time of Edward IV.'s death, the eastern portion of the church was roofed, and the choir nearly finished. The roof of Lincoln Chapel, with the adjoining compartment at the east end of the south aisle, the corresponding compartment on the north side, and the passage at the back of the altar, are the only portions which could have been executed by Beauchamp. After his death the works were carried on by Sir Reginald Bray, who seems to have united the talents of a statesman with the genius of an architect. He was an important agent in the elevation of Henry VII. to the throne, and promoted the marriage between that prince and Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward IV., an union

which happily terminated the long-continued animosity between the rival houses of York and Lancaster. His patriotism and integrity are celebrated by Polydor Virgil, but his talents and virtues do not seem to have ever been fully appreciated by posterity. So devoted was he to the erection of St. George's Chapel, that he liberally contributed to it while he lived, and devoted all his property to the same object after his death. He died in 1502, and in his will he directed that his executors should, after his decease, 66 cause a convenient tombe to be made in the said chapell upon his grave in all goodly haste;" and that thirteen poor men and women yearly should receive a pound each at "the dore of the said chapell." The directions respecting his tomb were most ungratefully disregarded, and no monument but the building itself, which he so zealously carried forward, remains to perpetuate his fame. Dr. Christopher Urswick was for some time associated with Sir Reginald Bray in superintending the works in St. George's Chapel. He was raised to the Deanery of Windsor in 1495, after having been one of the canons for a considerable period. Like his coadjutor, he possessed talents as a statesman, and was employed by Henry VII. on several important foreign embassies. In the year 1505 he resigned his preferments, and retired to the rectory of Hackney, where he spent the remainder of his days, and died in 1521. The little chapel, containing the well-known cenotaph of the Princess Charlotte, still bears his name; and the dean's residence, erected at his expense, is an instance of his liberality.

St. George's Chapel is one of the latest of the ecclesiastical edifices in the cathedral style in England. It belongs to the

third period of English gothic architecture, extending from the reign of Richard II. to that of Henry VII. Different appellations have been given to this style of building, for it is marked by so many striking features that it is extremely difficult to select any one term which would convey an accurate idea of its character. It has been called both perpendicular and horizontal, for numerous lines of both kinds may be traced in its principles and details. The truth is that one of the most distinctive peculiarities of many of its specimens consists in a beautiful arrangement of panels, as is the case in the chapel at Windsor, and especially in King's College Chapel at Cambridge, a building of about the same date.

On walking round the exterior of the chapel at Windsor, the attention is immediately arrested by the fine windows in both aisles, and especially by the noble western window lately restored, whose depressed arches and highly decorated mullions and transoms are characteristic of the period when the chapel was built. Of gothic doorways of that date there are no good specimens in the building, the beautiful entrance to the cloisters at the east end of the chapel being generally considered to be earlier. The western doorway (which has been much repaired), however, still exhibits the square outline and spandrel. As the eye passes along the elegant pile, the flying buttresses yielding their light and ornamental supports to the clerestory produce a pleasing effect. Yet the buttresses here, it should be observed, are very plain compared with some erected in the same age. This part of the edifice is a striking example of the combination of utility and ornament, which is so important a principle in Gothic