The cathedral of Bristol is one of the most interesting relics of
monastic splendour which have been spared from the wrecks of desolation
and decay. It is dedicated to the holy and undivided Trinity, and is the
remains of an abbey or monastery of great magnificence, which was
dedicated to St. Augustine. The erection of this monastery was begun
in 1140, and was finished and dedicated in 1148, according to the
inscription on the tomb of the founder, Robert Fitzharding, the first
lord of Berkeley, who, together with others of that illustrious family,
are enshrined within these walls. It was also denominated the monastery
of the black regular canons of the order of Saint Victor, who are
mentioned by Leland as the black canons of St. Augustine within the city
walls. By some historians, Fitzharding is represented as an opulent
citizen of Bristol; but generally as a younger son or grandson of the
king of Denmark, and as the youthful companion of Henry II., who,
betaking himself from the sunshine of royal friendship, became a canon
of the monastery he himself had founded. In this congenial solitude he
died in 1170, aged 75. Such is the outline of the foundation of this
structure, and it is one of the most attractive episodes of the early
history of England; for the circumstance of a noble exchanging the
gilded finery of a court, and the gay companionship of his prince, for
the gloomy cloisters of an abbey, and the ascetic duties of monastic
life, bespeaks a degree of resolution and self-control which was more
probably the result of sincere conviction than of momentary caprice.
The present cathedral is represented to have been merely the church of
the monastery, which was entirely rebuilt in the commencement of the
fourteenth century. The style of architecture in the different parts of
this cathedral is accurately discriminated in the following account from
the pen of Bishop Littleton, F.S.A.:--"The lower parts of the chapter
house walls," says he, "together with the door-way and columns at the
entrance of the chapter-house, may be pronounced to be of the age of
Stephen, or rather prior to his reign, being fine Saxon architecture.
The inside walls of the chapter-house have round ornamental arches
intersecting each other. The cathedral appears to be of the same style
of building throughout, and in no part older than Edward the First's
time, though some writers suppose the present fabric was begun in king
Stephen's time; but not a single arch, pillar, or window agrees with
the mode which prevailed at that time. The great gateway leading into
the College Green is round-arched, with mouldings richly ornamented
in the Saxon taste." From this account it appears probable that the
chapter-house and gateway are all the present remains of the ancient
monastery. The mutilations which the cathedral of Bristol has undergone,
are not entirely to be referred to the era of the dissolution of the
monasteries, since this structure suffered very considerably during
the period of the civil wars. The ruthless soldiers discovered their
barbarism by violating the sacred tombs of the dead, and by offering
every indignity which they supposed would be considered a profanation of
the places which the piety of their ancestors consecrated to religion.
At such instances of the violence of civil factions, the sensitive mind
shudders with disgust.
The cathedral of Bristol is rich in monumental tributes to departed
worth. Among them is an elegant monument, by Bacon, to Mrs. Elizabeth
Draper, the _Eliza_ of Sterne; and the classical tomb of the
Hendersons. Here, too, rests Lady Hesketh, the friend of Cowper; Powell,
of Covent Garden Theatre; besides branches of the Berkeley family, and
various abbots.
The bishopric of Bristol is the least wealthy ecclesiastical promotion
which confers the dignity of a mitre. Its revenue is generally stated to
amount to no more than five or six hundred pounds per annum. In the list
of bishops are Fletcher, father of the celebrated dramatist, the
colleague of Beaumont; he attended Mary Queen of Scots on the Scaffold;
Lake, one of the seven bishops committed to the Tower in the time of
James I.; Trelawney, a familiar name in the events of 1688; Butler, who
materially improved the episcopal palace of Bristol; Conybeare and
Newton, names well known in literary history; with the erudite
Warburton, whose name occurs in the list of deans of Bristol.
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