SOME INTERIORS
The visitor has been conducted through the College without pausing to
enter any of the buildings. We now retrace our steps to describe these
parts of the College open to inspection. It must be understood that
during a great part of the year the inspection of these interiors is
subject to the needs of a large resident Society, and as a rule it is
best to inquire at the gate for information as to the hours when these
parts of the College are open.
_The Chapel._
The present Chapel was built between the years 1863 and 1869, from the
designs of Sir George Gilbert Scott; it was consecrated by the Bishop of
Ely, 12th May 1869. As we approach it we see on the right the outline of
the old Chapel, which had served the College and the Hospital which
preceded it for something like six hundred years. This former Chapel was
a building quite uniform and simple in appearance, filling the whole of
the north side of the Court. Originally built to serve the needs of the
Hospital of St. John, it was considerably altered when the College was
founded. Side Chantries were then, or shortly afterwards, added. In
early times a good deal of the life of the College centred in the
Chapel, in addition to its uses for worship. It was regarded as a place
in which the Society was formally gathered together. In it the statutes,
or rules for the government of the Society, were read at stated times,
so that all might become aware of the rule under which they lived. The
names of those who had not discharged their College bills were publicly
read out by the Master. The elections of the Master and of the Fellows
and Scholars were held within it; of this practice the sole part that
remains is the election of a Master, which by the present statutes must
be held in the Chapel. The scholastic exercises of Acts and Opponencies,
in which certain doctrines were maintained and opposed, took place
there. The seal of the College was kept in the vestry, and the sealing
of documents took place in the Ante-Chapel. Though documents are now
sealed elsewhere, the stock of wafers for the College seal is kept by
the Chapel Clerk.
The erection of a new Chapel for the College was contemplated for about
200 years before it was carried out. Dr. Gunning, who was Master from
1661 to 1670, afterwards successively Bishop of Chichester and of Ely,
left by his will the sum of L300 "to St. John's College, towards the
beginning for the building for themselves a new Chapel." Gunning died in
1684, and in 1687 the College paid to Robert Grumbold the sum of L3 for
"a new ground plott modell of the old and new designed Chappell."
Nothing, however, came of the proposal at that time, though the idea
seems always to have been before the Society.
Preaching on Commemoration Day (May 6), 1861, Dr. William Selwyn, Lady
Margaret Professor of Divinity, and a former Fellow, pointing out that
the College was celebrating "its seventh jubilee," just 350 years having
passed since the charter was granted, pleaded earnestly for the erection
of a larger Chapel. The matter was taken up, and in January 1862 Sir
(then Mr.) George Gilbert Scott was requested "to advise us as to the
best plans, in his opinion, for a new Chapel." The scheme grew, and in
addition to the Chapel it was determined by the end of that year to have
also a new Master's Lodge, and to enlarge the Dining Hall. It was then
intended that the scheme should not involve a greater charge on the
corporate funds of the College than L40,000. As a matter of fact, before
the whole was carried out and paid for, the cost had risen to L97,641;
of this L17,172 was provided for by donations from members of the
College, the rest was met, partly out of capital, partly by a charge on
the College revenues, which ran for many years.
The Chapel was built on a site to the north of the old Chapel, and
through this site ran a lane from St. John's Street to the river. An Act
of Parliament had to be obtained before this lane could be closed, and
the consent of the borough was only given on condition that St. John's
Street should be widened by pulling down a row of houses on its western
side, and throwing their site into the street.
The foundation-stone of the new Chapel was laid on 6th May 1864 by Mr.
Henry Hoare, a member of the College, and of the well-known banking
firm. As originally designed the Chapel was to have had a slender
_fleche_ instead of a tower. This had been criticised, and Mr. Scott,
the architect, designed the present tower; the additional cost being
estimated at L5000. This Mr. Hoare offered to provide in yearly
instalments of L1000, but had only paid two instalments when he died
from injuries received in a railway accident. The finial on the last
pinnacle of the tower was fixed on 13th December 1867 by Mr. (now Sir
Francis) Powell, M.P. for the borough of Cambridge, and a former Fellow
of the College; Mr. Powell was accompanied on that occasion by Professor
John Couch Adams and the Rev. G. F. Reyner, the Senior Bursar of the
College.
The new Chapel was, as we have said, opened in 1869, and the old Chapel
then cleared away. The woodwork of the stalls had been transferred to
the new Chapel, but most of the internal fittings were scattered. The
ancient rood-screen stands in the church of Whissendine, in
Rutlandshire, and the old organ-case in Bilton Church, near Rugby, and
other parts of the fabric were dispersed; it was perhaps inevitable. Sir
Gilbert Scott's idea was that the new Chapel should be of the same
period of architecture as the old, but it is absolutely different in
design; in the lover of things old there must always be a feeling of
regret for what has gone. The mural tablets in the old Chapel were
removed to the new Ante-Chapel, the slabs in the floor were left. It is
worth noting that Eleazar Knox, a Fellow of the College, and one of the
sons of John Knox, the famous Scotch Reformer, was buried in the Chapel
in 1591. His elder brother, Nathanael Knox, was also a Fellow. To the
north of the old Chapel, and bordering on the lane which has been
mentioned, stood the Infirmary of the Hospital which preceded the
College. This was originally a single long room, of which the eastern
end formed an oratory. In this the poor and sick, for whose benefit the
Hospital was founded, were received, and Mass said for them, and in
their sight, as they lay in their beds. This Infirmary, after the
foundation of the College, was devoted to secular uses. For some time
it was used as a stable and storehouse for the Master. Then later it was
fitted up with floors and turned into chambers. It was approached by a
tortuous passage at the eastern end of the Chapel, and was popularly
known as the Labyrinth. When the Infirmary was taken down a very
beautiful double piscina was found covered up on the walls; this is
preserved in the new Chapel.
The new Chapel is built of Ancaster stone, and is in the style of
architecture known as Early Decorated, which prevailed about 1280, the
probable date of the Chapel of the Hospital. Sir Gilbert Scott very
skilfully made the most of the site, and by the device of the transeptal
Ante-Chapel made full use of the space at his disposal.
At the springs of the outer arch of the great door are heads of King
Henry VIII. and of Queen Victoria, indicating the date of the foundation
of the College and of the erection of the Chapel. On the north side of
the porch is a statue of the Lady Margaret, and on the south one of John
Fisher, Bishop of Rochester.
The statues on the buttresses are those of famous members of the
College, or of its benefactors. Those facing the Court are William
Cecil, Lord Burghley; Lucius Carey, Viscount Falkland; John Williams,
Lord Keeper to James I.; Thomas Wentworth, Lord Strafford; William
Gilbert, author of _De Magnete_, in which the theory of the magnetism
of the earth was first developed, and physician to Queen Elizabeth;
Roger Ascham, and the Countess of Shrewsbury.
[Illustration: MONUMENT OF HUGH ASHTON]
We enter the Ante-Chapel. This has a stone-vaulted roof; over the
central bay the tower is placed. On the south wall are placed the arches
from Bishop Fisher's Chantry in the old Chapel. The monument with the
recumbent figure is that of Hugh Ashton, comptroller of the household
to the Lady Margaret, a prebendary and Archdeacon of York. He was buried
in the old Chapel, and this tomb originally stood in a chantry attached
thereto. He founded four fellowships and four scholarships in the
College, the Fellows being bound to sing Mass for the repose of his
soul. The carving on the tomb and on the finials of the railing around
it include a rebus on his name, an ash-tree growing out of a barrel
(ash-tun). On the north wall is a bust of Dr. Isaac Todhunter, the
well-known mathematical writer; on the western wall a tablet by
Chantrey, to the memory of Kirke White, the poet, who died in College.
He was buried in the chancel of the old Church of All Saints, which
stood opposite to the College; when the church was pulled down the
tablet was transferred to the College Chapel. The statue is that of
James Wood, sometime Master of the College, part of whose bequests went
towards building the Chapel. On the east wall is an old brass to the
memory of Nicholas Metcalfe, third Master of the College, the words
"_vestras ... preces vehementer expetit_" have been partly obliterated,
probably during the Commonwealth. The roof of the Choir is of high
pitch, of quadripartite vaulting in oak, and is decorated with a
continuous line of full-length figures. In the central bay at the east
end is our Lord in Majesty, the other bays contain figures illustrating
the Christian centuries. Owing to the deep colour of the glass in the
windows, it is only on a very sunny day that the figures can be clearly
discerned. The windows in the Choir have been given by various donors,
the subjects being scenes from Scripture at which St. John was present;
his figure robed in ruby and green will be seen in each. The five
windows in the apse, the gift of the Earl of Powis, High Steward of the
University, depict scenes from the Passion, Crucifixion, and
Resurrection of Christ. In the apse is preserved the double piscina
which was found covered up in the walls of the Infirmary, and removed by
Sir G. G. Scott, with such repairs as were absolutely necessary. It is
probably one of the oldest specimens of carved stonework in Cambridge.
The steps leading up to the Altar are paved with Purbeck, Sicilian, and
black Derbyshire marbles. The spaces between the steps are decorated
with a series of scriptural subjects in inlaid work in black and white
marble, with distinctive inscriptions. The Altar is of oak, with a
single slab of Belgian marble for its top. On the sides of the Altar are
deeply carved panels; that in the centre represents the Lamb with the
Banner, the other panels contain the emblems of the four Evangelists.
The organ stands in a special chamber on the north side; the carved
front was not put in place till 1890. It was designed by Mr. J. Oldrid
Scott, a son of Sir Gilbert Scott. In 1635 the famous Robert Dallam of
Westminster built a "paire of new orgaines" for the College. The organ
has been repeatedly enlarged, altered, and improved; it may be that some
of Dallam's work still remains, though this is uncertain. The present
organ is one of the best in Cambridge; its tone throughout is uniformly
beautiful.
The brass reading-desk was given to the old Chapel by the Rev. Thomas
Whytehead, a Fellow of the College; the pedestal is copied from the
wooden lectern in Ramsay Church, Huntingdonshire; the finials, which are
there wanting, having been restored, and the wooden desk replaced by an
eagle.
As we return to the Ante-Chapel we may note the great west window,
representing the Last Judgment; this was given by the Bachelors and
Undergraduates of the College. There are also windows in the Ante-Chapel
to the memory of Dr. Ralph Tatham, Master of the College, and to the
Rev. J. J. Blunt, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity.
The oil-painting which hangs on the south wall of the Ante-Chapel near
the door--a Descent from the Cross--is by Anthony Raphael Mengs. It was
given to the College in 1841 by the Right Hon. Robert Henry Clive, M.P.
for Shropshire.
_The Hall._
We enter the Hall from the Screens, between the First and Second Courts.
The southern end is part of the original building of the College. It was
at first about seventy feet long, with one oriel only, the old
Combination Room being beyond it. When the new Chapel was built the Hall
was lengthened, and the second oriel window added. The oak panelling is
of the old "linen" pattern, and dates from the sixteenth century; that
lining the north wall, beyond the High Table, is very elaborately
carved, being the finest example of such work in Cambridge. Within
living memory all this oak work was painted green. The fine timbered
roof has a lantern turret, beneath which, until 1865, stood an open
charcoal brazier. From allusions in early documents it would appear that
members of the Society gathered round the brazier for conversation after
meals. In addition to its use as a dining-room, the Hall also served as
a lecture-room, and for the production of stage plays. On these latter
occasions it seems to have been specially decorated, for Roger Ascham,
writing 1st October 1550, from Antwerp, to his brother Fellow, Edward
Raven, tried to picture to him the magnificence of the city by saying
that it surpassed all others which he had visited, as much as the Hall
at St. John's, when decorated for a play at Christmas, surpassed its
appearance at ordinary times.
[Illustration: The Hall, St. John's College]
Many of the College examinations are held in the Hall, and in the days
of the brazier, examinees were warned by their Tutors not to sit too
near the brazier; the comfort from the heat being dearly purchased by
the drowsiness caused by the fumes of the charcoal.
Many interesting portraits hang on the walls. That of the foundress in
the centre of the north wall is painted on wooden panel, and is very
old. She is flanked by Lord Keeper Williams, and by Sir Ralph Hare,
K.C.B., both benefactors to the College. Other noteworthy portraits are
those of Sir Noah Thomas, physician to King George III., by Romney;
William Wordsworth, poet-laureate, by Pickersgill; Professor John E. B.
Mayor, by Herkomer; Professor B. H. Kennedy, long headmaster of
Shrewsbury School, by Ouless; Professor E. H. Palmer, Lord Almoner's
Reader of Arabic in the University, and a famous oriental scholar, by
the Hon. John Collier; and Professor G. D. Liveing, by Sir George Reid.
The shields in the windows are those of distinguished members of the
College, or benefactors. The further oriel window has busts of Sir John
F. W. Herschel and Professor John Couch Adams.
_The Combination Room._
We enter by the staircase at the north end of the Hall. This was
originally about 187 feet long, extending the whole length of the Second
Court, and was used as a gallery in connection with the old Master's
Lodge. The ceiling dates from 1600, and the panelling from 1603. In 1624
about 42 feet were sacrificed to obtain a staircase and vestibule for
the Library; the ceiling can be traced right through. In the eighteenth
century partitions were put up, dividing up the gallery into rooms.
When the new Master's Lodge was built these partitions were removed, and
the whole now forms two Combination Rooms.
In the oriel window on the south side is an old stained-glass portrait
of Henrietta Maria, Queen of King Charles I. The tradition runs that the
marriage articles between Prince Charles and Henrietta Maria were signed
in this room; King James I. was at that time holding his Court in
Trinity College.
A number of interesting portraits hang on the walls: George Augustus
Selwyn, Bishop of New Zealand, afterwards of Lichfield, by George
Richmond, R.A.; a chalk drawing (also by Richmond) of William Tyrrell,
Bishop of Newcastle, New South Wales; of Sir John Herschel and Professor
J. C. Adams; of William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson, the opponents
of the slave-trade. There is also a very beautiful sketch of the head of
William Wordsworth; this study was made by Pickersgill to save the poet
the tedium of long sittings for the portrait in the Hall. It was
presented to the College by Miss Arundale, a descendant of the painter.
The smaller Combination Room contains many engraved portraits of
distinguished members of the College.
The institution of the Combination Room seems gradually to have grown up
in colleges as a place where the Fellows might meet together, partly
about business, partly for the sake of society. In early times, as the
Fellows shared their chambers with their pupils, there could have been
no privacy. The room seems to have been called the Parlour for some
time; the name Combination Room is now universal at Cambridge, and may
have arisen from the fact that the cost of running the room was met by
the Fellows combining together for the purpose. At the present time the
Combination Room is used for College meetings, as a room where the
Fellows meet for a short time after dinner and for dessert on those
nights when there is a dinner in Hall to which guests are invited.
_The Library._
The Library is only open to visitors by leave of the Librarian, or to
those accompanied by a Fellow of the College. The usual access is by
staircase E in the Second Court, but leaving the Combination Room by the
west door we find ourselves in front of the Library door. The visitor
may note that the moulded ceiling of the Combination Room extends
overhead. This portion, as we have already seen, originally forming part
of the long gallery.
The door of the Library is surmounted by the arms of John Williams,
impaled with those of the see of Lincoln. The original position of the
Library, as has been already stated, was in the First Court, next the
street, and to the south of the entrance gate. In 1616 the books were
moved out of this Library to a room over the Kitchen, and in the
succeeding year the Master and Fellows wrote to the Countess of
Shrewsbury to intimate their intention of building a Library, and
hinting at the possibility of her aid in the scheme. The answer of the
Countess, if there was one, has not been preserved. In the year 1623,
Valentine Carey, Bishop of Exeter, and a former Fellow, wrote announcing
that an unnamed person had promised L1200 towards a Library. After some
little time Lord Keeper Williams disclosed himself as the donor, and
some further advances were promised. The Library was commenced in 1623,
and the books finally placed in it in 1628. The style of the building is
Jacobean Gothic, and its interior, with the whitewashed walls and dark
oak roof and bookcases, is singularly striking. John Evelyn visited it
while at Cambridge in 1654, and describes it as "the fairest of that
University"; after 250 years the description still holds good.
The upper part of the Library has been little altered since it was
built. The intermediate (or lower) cases were heightened to the extent
of one shelf for folios when Thomas Baker left his books to the College;
but two, one on either hand next the door, retain their original
dimensions, with the sloping tops to be used as reading-desks.
At the end of each of the taller cases, in small compartments with
doors, are class catalogues written about 1685. These catalogues have
been pasted over original catalogues written about 1640; small portions
of the earlier catalogues are yet to be seen in some of the cases. Of
the treasures in manuscript and print only a slight account can be given
here. One of the most interesting to members of the College is the
following note by John Couch Adams:--
"1841 July 3. Formed a design, in the beginning of this week,
of investigating, as soon as possible after taking my degree,
the irregularities in the motion of Uranus, wh. are yet
unaccounted for; in order to find whether they may be
attributed to the action of an undiscovered planet beyond it;
and if possible thence to determine the elements of its orbit,
&c. approximately, wh. wd. probably lead to its discovery."
The original memorandum is bound up in a volume containing the
mathematical calculations by which Adams carried out his design and
discovered the planet Neptune.
Lord Keeper Williams, who was instrumental in building the Library,
presented to it many books; amongst others, the Bible known as
Cromwell's Bible. Thomas Cromwell employed Miles Coverdale to revise
existing translations, and this Bible was printed partly in Paris and
partly in London, "and finished in Aprill, A.D. 1539." Two copies were
printed on vellum--one for King Henry VIII., the other for Thomas, Lord
Cromwell, his Vicar-General. This College copy is believed to be that
presented to Cromwell, and is now unique, the other copy having
disappeared from the Royal Library; the volume is beautifully
illustrated, and has been described as "the finest book in vellum that
exists."
One of the show-cases in the centre contains the service-book which King
Charles I. held in his hand at his coronation, and the book used by Laud
on the same occasion, with a note in Laud's handwriting: "The daye was
verye faire, and ye ceremony was performed wthout any Interruption,
and in verye good order." The same case contains the mortuary roll of
Amphelissa, Prioress of Lillechurch in Kent, who died in 1299. The nuns
of the priory announce her death, commemorate her virtues, and ask the
benefit of the prayers of the faithful for her soul. The roll consists
of nineteen sheets of parchment stitched together; its length is 39 ft.
3 in., and its average width is about 7 in. There are in all 372 entries
of the ecclesiastical houses visited by the roll-bearer for the purpose
of gaining prayers for the soul of Amphelissa. The roll-bearer visited
nearly all parts of England: there are entries by houses at Bodmin and
Launceston in Cornwall; at Dunfermline and St. Andrews in Scotland; each
house granting the benefit of its prayers, and concluding in each case
with the formula, "_Oravimus pro vestris: orate pro nostris._" As a
collection of contemporary handwritings, such a document has great
value; and it is interesting to note that in 600 years the roll has had
only two owners, the Priory of Lillechurch and the College, which
succeeded to its possession.
In this case there is also an IOU of King Charles II.: "I do acknowledge
to have received the summe of one hundred pounds, by the direction of
Mr. B., Brusselles the first of April 1660. CHARLES R." The "Mr. B." was
John Barwick, a Fellow of the College, afterwards Dean of St. Paul's.
The date seems to indicate that the money was advanced to enable Charles
to return to England for the Restoration.
In the other show-case there is a very curious Irish Psalter of the
eighth century, with crude drawings. Its value is much increased by the
fact that the Latin text is interlined throughout with glosses in the
Irish dialect.
Of printed books one of the choicest is a very fine Caxton, "The Boke of
Tulle of old age; Tullius his book of Friendship." The volume contains
the autograph of Thomas Fairfax, the Parliamentary General, who entered
the College in 1626. It was presented to the College by Dr. Newcome,
Master from 1735 to 1765. To Dr. Newcome the College owes a very fine
collection of early printed classics; among these is a copy of Ovid,
printed by Jacobus Rubaeus at Venice in 1474; this was formerly in the
possession of Lorenzo de Medicis.
Dr. Newcome and Thomas Baker share between them the distinction of
having added many of the chief glories of the Library. Matthew Prior,
the poet, a Fellow of the College, presented his own works and many
interesting French and Italian works on history. There is also a
presentation copy from Wordsworth of his poems.
_The Kitchen._
The Kitchen (opposite to the Hall) may sometimes be visited when the
daily routine permits. The whole has been recently modernised, and a
picturesque open fire with rotating spits done away with. To gain more
air-space it was necessary to incorporate in the Kitchen some rooms in
the floor above. One of these was the set occupied during his College
life by the poet Wordsworth, and the fact is commemorated by a
stained-glass window.
[Illustration: The Library: St. John's Coll:]