ANCIENT SCULPTURE IN LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.

THE easternmost portion of the Cathedral-church of Lincoln has commonly obtained the name of the Angel Choir, from the conspicuous elegance of the winged figures, in high relief, which adorn the spandrils of the Triforium arches.

This elongation of the church was effected about the year 12821 for the reception of the canonised remains of St. Hugh, which were deposited in a golden shrine of exquisite workmanship, admired and venerated by popular devotion in the length and breadth of the land.

Its admirable sculptures could not fail to attract the regard of artists; with whom they have at all times been in high estimation. Mr. Wild, in his elegant engravings of Lincoln Cathedral, Plate XIV., was, however, the first to illustrate them in any degree, by a selection (in a small scale, indeed) of some of the most striking; but no attempt has hitherto been made by that gentleman or any other to penetrate the significance of this angelic host, or to set forth the merits of their conception, and of their execution.

The Puritan dread of imagery, which still clings to our Church (contrary to the highest authorities on this interesting question 2), and the long disuse and depreciation in this country of the sculptor's art as applied to religious architecture, have occasioned these precious relics of a noble school to be ignored by the public to the present times; and perhaps we owe their fortunate preservation rather to their lofty position than to the clemency of the authorities;

In 1256, the Dean and Canons petitioned for leave to remove the city wall, in order to extend the choir, and carry out this "new work." From 1186 to 1258, Bishops Hugh de Grenoble (or St. Hugh, who is said to have laboured with his own hands in the work), William

de Blois, Hugh de Wells, the famous Grossetete or Great head, Lexington, Benediet de Gravesend, and Oliver Sutton, had rebuilt the Cathedral from west to east.

2 See Dr. Wilson's "Ornaments of Churches considered."

for, in Worcester Cathedral, a contemporaneous work, of similar arrangement, and probably, therefore, of equal merit, has been lamentably effaced by the iconoclasts of the seventeenth century.

The investigation of the series in Lincoln Cathedral, so happily preserved during 570 years, in every detail, has a twofold interest;-first, the expounding of the religious subject; the thesis which animated the author of this sculptured homily; and, secondly, the claim which it undeniably asserts in favour of the English school of sculpture, as coeval and of equal merit with that of countries hitherto reputed as the originators of the revival; and the proof it affords that the national genius distinguished itself in this fine art, no less than in those other branches of science and renown which surround the names of Roger Bacon, Greathead, Michael Scot, Duns Scotus, and many others of our countrymen in the thirteenth century, with such imperishable lustre.

Next to the written page, sculpture and painting undoubtedly present to the lover of antiquity the most familiar and explicit illustrations of the intellectual spirit of their day,-in fact, a hieroglyphic of almost equal value, it is by their means that many precious details, disdained by the historian, or treated as matters of course, are made manifest to us. In such a series as this, we read at a glance, in terms which architecture could not possibly convey, and which the historian would require space and time to explain, the state of religious doctrine, the taste of poetic expression, the manners, the humour, wit, grace, and devotional feeling of the times; of which it is the transcript and the mirror.

To the artist attracted primarily by the beauty and cogency of the design of these sculptures of the Angel Choir, perceiving its regularity, and the unmistakeable intention of the principal figures, a lofty and most appropriate purpose is soon apparent ;—and a little meditation soon developes a consistent series of consecutive subjects relating to the Promises of the Almighty from the beginning of the world; the Revelation of His Word through the Patriarchs and the Prophets; the Incarnation of the Word;-the great doc

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trines of the Atonement, of Judgment to come, and of Rewards and Punishments; the joys of Heaven; the dignity of the Church, as the depository of divine things; and, finally, the Revelations of the future destinies of man.-And truly, the adequate treatment, in thirty pieces, of a subject so awful and momentous; with propriety, solemnity, and pathos; free from pedantry and superstition;—a theme worthy a Miltonian spirit; implies a profound knowledge of the written Word (as well as a culture of the poetic faculty, and of art in the expression of it to the popular feeling) of extraordinary attainment in any age; and which cannot fail to raise our estimation of that age in our own country, which was then in another preparing a Dante and a Giotto.

As an illustration of the theological spirit which up to this time had animated the Church, these sculptures are most important; and in their spirituality we recognise, in the words of Dr. Henry, that "the schoolmen of the former period made the scriptures the chief subject of their studies, and the texts of their lectures, as some of them still continued to do, who for that reason were called Bible Divines.-It was in the course of the thirteenth century that the Holy Scriptures, together with those who studied and explained them, fell into great neglect, not to say contempt. The illustrious Roger Bacon inveighed very bitterly against this abuse; and his excellent friend, Robert Greathead, (Bishop of Lincoln from 1235 to 1253), wrote a pathetic letter to the Regents in Theology in the University of Oxford on this subject, earnestly entreating them to lay the foundation of theological learning in the study of the Scriptures, and to devote the morning hours to lectures on the Old and New Testaments. But all these remonstrances and

Of

3 Two hands, of very different merit, are plainly exhibited in these works. the best are 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18; the remainder, though often of excellent design, are of inferior execution. We must hope that a future and more elaborate examination of these sculptures, with scaffolding and other appliances (wholly wanting in the present) will reveal other and more interesting

particulars. They are carved in the same stone employed in the architecture of the Cathedral. They were wrought in the sculptor's workshop, and subsequently placed in their positions; this fact is plainly shown in the wings of No. 11, across which the joints of the stone were not adjusted in the building exactly as they had been wrought in the workshop.

exhortations had little or no effect." It was in the latter part of the thirteenth, and the beginning of the fourteenth centuries, that the extravagant devotion of the schoolmen to the study of Aristotle, while it perverted the science of Theology, was fatal, also, to her handmaidens, the Arts; and paved the way for all that decline and triviality into which they fell rapidly in the following century.

The intellectual energy of more than six centuries, in this country, had made religion its chief business; by institutions, by predications, and by illustrations of all kinds, from Bede and Alfred to Robert Greathead. Latterly a more popular method had been adopted, and the imagination was engaged and amused by allegorical representations of the great doctrines of the faith. This great prelate (Robert Greathead) embraced this method, and amongst many theological works, "de Septem Vitiis et Remediis"-"the Pricke of Conscience," and others, he wrote the "Chateau d'Amour," a poem which, under the ideas of chivalry, represents the fundamental articles of the Christian belief, and has the air of a system of divinity written by a troubadour *-in effect, the Pilgrim's Progress of the thirteenth century.-Robert Mannynge (about 1300) translated many works into English rhyme; amongst others, Meditacyuns of the Soper of our Lord Jhesu, and also of hys Passyun, and eke of the Peÿnes of his swete Modyr Mayden Marye, the which made yn Latyn Bonaventure Cardinall."

But the prevalent defect of letters made other still more popular illustrations necessary for the great end. The powerful aid of the fine arts-the mute eloquence of the pencil, the chisel, and the line and rule-was largely invoked; and even histrionic art was made the vehicle of religious instruction. Such elements of education of the public mind were well calculated to produce the sculptures of Lincoln.

4 Warton, Hist. of Eng. Poetry, vol. i., p. 73, tells us that in the Bodleian are two MSS. of this poem; one thus entitled, "Ce est la vie de D: Jh'u de sa humanité,

fet e ordiné de Saint Robert Grossetete ke fut eveque de Nichole" (the French for Lincoln).

In attempting to trace the intention of these sculptures, and the scriptural and noble manner in which it appears to have been carried out, so unexceptionable to the most austere Reformer, it is hoped the reader will pardon the presumption of a layman in handling these sacred things, and in suggesting to better judgments those interpretations which his acquaintance with the language of art enables him professionally to offer. The texts occur so naturally from the consideration of the individual subjects, and their significant symbolism, that their citation can hardly be hazardous, at least as a guide, and must ever be edifying, treating, as these works do, of things" which the Angels delight to look into."

The reader acquainted with the architecture of this age (the 13th) will readily follow the customary arrangement of the Triforium, which placed two arches (each inclosing their foliated openings) over the single bay of the pier arches of the nave. This arrangement offers one complete spandril and two half-spandrils in each; the latter formed by the up-shooting column which carries the main ribs of the vaulted ceiling. Thus the five bays of the Angel Choir (more properly called the Presbyterium) contained fifteen spaces on either side, north and south, which had to be adorned by the sculptor, making thirty in all, and forming a beautiful frieze of 118 feet on either side.

Finally, in approaching the explanation of this solemn and beautiful cycle of the Revelations of God, we may well quote the Epilogue of Paul's Epistle to the Romans :

"Now to Him that is of power to stablish you according to my Gospel, to the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest; and by the Scriptures of the Prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of Faith;

"To God only wise be glory, through Jesus Christ, for ever, Amen."