represented in the engraving. But the _brasses_ have long since
disappeared, and left only the empty grooves to which they had been so
elaborately adjusted by the skilful artists of that day. Brasses, or
<g>Latten</g>, are considered to be good illustrations of the architecture of
their period, owing to the designs of canopies, crosiers, &c. delineated
upon them. They are seldom to be met with in any reign prior to that of
Edward the Second; nor did they become general till towards the close of
the fourteenth century, when the effigies are commonly surmounted by
arched canopies, ogee-shaped and crocketed, of the same kind of inlaid
work elaborately engraven. These subsequently vary, according to the
style of the age, and in general rather preceding than following it. Of
the brasses, which--owing to the rank and character of its founder and
benefactors, as well as its abbots and others--must have formed no
inconsiderable feature in the decorations of Tinterne Abbey, not a
fragment remains.
Where <g>Latten</g> marked the abbots’ grave,
And sculpture spread her trophies round it;
Rank weeds in wild luxuriance wave,
And mock the gaudy shrine that crowned it.
Here, they who for the <g>Cross</g> had died,
And they who led the way to glory--
Here mitred pomp, and martial pride,
Have not a stone to tell their story.
VI.--<g>Doorway leading into the Sacristy.</g>--This is a double doorway--a
specimen of the Early English--divided by a moulded shaft, with a
circular opening, or quatrefoil, over it. The outer arch is deeply
‘recessed,’ consisting of five or six successive shafts, or mouldings,
on either side, without capitals, and meeting above at the centre of the
arch. The inner arches are foliated, and the cusps richly fluted.
Clasping this elegant and massive structure, the ivy has so incorporated
itself with the masonry, that--massive as it is--art must gradually
yield to that natural process which seems to make every root of ivy, if
once insinuated between the jointed stones, act like a fulcrum for their
dislodgment--
“Ha, ha!” laughs the Ivy, “let men uprear
Their ‘<g>Castles and Abbeys</g>,’ far and near;
Pile upon pile, let their fabrics rise,
Darkening the earth, and mocking the skies;
Lifting their turrets so haughtily--
Boasting their grandeur--but what care I?
Buttress and bastion, cloister and hall--
_I conquer them all--I conquer them all!_”
VII.--<g>The Refectory.</g>[186]--Of this building enough remains to show,
that, in their palmy days, the Abbots of Tinterne had a truly noble hall
for their private and state entertainments. Of refectories in general,
some account has been already given at page 51 of this volume. Of the
style of architecture employed in this dining-hall, the numerous
windows, with their mullioned partitions, tall shafts, and foliated
arches, face-shafts, and corbel heads along the walls, from which sprang
the lofty groined vault that covered and connected the whole, present a
tolerably distinct picture.
“Along the roof a maze of mouldings slim,
Like veins that o’er the hand of lady wind,
Embraced in closing arms the key-stone trim,
With hieroglyphs and cyphers quaint combined,
The riddling art that charmed the Gothic mind.”
With regard to the minor details, we may notice the <g>dole</g>, a small double
aperture, near the archway on the left; and on the opposite side, is
another door through which the dishes were handed in from the kitchen.
Near the dole is a low-arched doorway in the eastern wall, showing the
passage by which communication was kept up with the adjoining offices,
the hospitium, the locutorium, and the dormitories. The situation of the
reading-desk, or lectern, will be seen by referring to the new <g>plan</g> of
the abbey here introduced; and this closes our notice of the engraved
illustrations.
* * * * *
“On the whole,” says Grose, summing up his observations on Tinterne,
“though this monastery is undoubtedly light and elegant, it wants that
gloomy solemnity so essential to religious ruins; it wants those yawning
vaults and dreary recesses, which strike the beholder with religious
awe--make him almost shudder at entering them, and call into his mind
all the tales of the nursery. Here, at one cast of the eye, the whole is
comprehended, nothing is left for the spectator to guess or explore; and
this defect is increased by the ill-placed neatness of the poor people
who show the building, and by whose absurd labour the ground is covered
over by a turf, as even and trim as that of a bowling-green, which gives
the building more the air of an artificial ruin in a garden, than that
of an ancient decayed <g>abbey</g>.”
“How unlike,” he adds, “the beautiful description of the poet!--
‘Half-buried there lies many a broken bust,
And obelisk and urn, o’erthrown by time,
And many a cherub here descends in dust,
From the rent roof and portico sublime;
Where reverend shrines in Gothic grandeur stood,
The nettle or the noxious nightshade spreads;
And ashlings, wafted from the neighbouring wood,
Through the worn turrets wave their trembling heads.’”
These objections have been repeated by other writers of unquestionable
taste; but we may venture to predict, that among the numerous strangers
who annually resort to these deserted shrines, few will return home
without expressions of unqualified admiration of “Tinterne, as it is.”
The care employed by its noble owner in arresting the progress of decay,
is creditable to his taste and reverence for antiquity. Had these ruins
been consigned, as some would have had them, to the wasting hand of
time, their vaulted wonders would long ere now have fallen piecemeal
into the area beneath; but wherever a stone is observed to be losing its
hold, the hand of art is immediately applied to restore it to its
original place: and thus, what might have passed away in a few inclement
seasons, has been propped up and secured for the delight of many
generations to come.
And lo, these mouldering fragments to sustain,
Her graceful network nature’s hand hath hung;
Bound every arch with a supporting chain,
And round each wall her living verdure flung;
And o’er the floor that sepulchres the dead--
The saints and heroes of departed years;
The flower of memory lifts its modest head,
And morning sheds her tributary tears.--_W.B._
* * * * *
<g>Poetical Votaries.</g>--Having quoted so largely from chroniclers and other
prose writers in the preceding pages, we must not quit the subject of
Tinterne Abbey, without selecting a few stanzas from those minstrels who
have sought and found inspiration on the spot. Wordsworth, from whose
poem on the Wye we have already quoted, addresses the following
<g>Lines to a Cistercian Monastery.</g>
‘Here man more purely lives, less oft doth fall,
More promptly rises, walks with nicer heed,
More safely rests, dies happier; is freed
Earlier from cleansing fires, and gains withal
A brighter crown.’ On yon <g>Cistercian</g> wall
_That_ confident assurance may be read;
And, to like shelter, from the world have fled
Increasing multitudes. The potent call
Doubtless shall cheat full oft the heart’s desire;
Yet, while the rugged age on pliant knee
Vows to rapt Fancy humble fealty,
A gentler life spreads round the holy spires;
Where’er they rise the sylvan waste retires,
And aëry harvests crown the fertile lea.
<g>Tinterne Abbey on the Wye.</g>
Sudden the change; at once to tread
The grass-grown mansions of the dead.
Awful to feeling, where, immense,
Rose ruin’d grey magnificence;
The fair wrought shaft all ivy-bound,
The tow’ring arch with foliage crowned,
That trembles on its brow sublime,
Triumphant o’er the spoils of time.
There, grasping all the eye beheld,
Thought into mingling anguish swell’d,
And checked the wild excursive wing,
O’er dust or bones of priest or king;
Or rais’d some <g>Strongbow</g> warrior’s ghost,
To shout before his banner’d host.
But all was still. The chequered floor
Shall echo to the step no more;
No airy roof the strain prolong,
Of vesper chant or choral song--
<g>Tinterne</g>! thy name shall hence sustain
A thousand raptures in my brain;
Joys, full of soul, all strength, all eye,
That cannot fade, that cannot die.--_Bloomfield._
<g>Evening at Tinterne Abbey.</g>
<g>A pilgrim</g>, at the vesper hour,
I stood by Tinterne’s hallowed tower;
While o’er the walls, in golden hue,
The setting sun its farewell threw;
Then, paling slowly, flushed and fled,
Like a smile from the cheek of the recent dead.
* * * * *
<g>’Tis night</g>--on the ivy-mantled walls
The shadows deepen, and darkness falls;
And forth from his roost, in the fretted aisle,
The solemn owl wheels round the pile;
But no lighted shrine, no vesper-song,
Is seen, or heard, these aisles among;
For hymnless now the day returns,
And voiceless sets on their nameless urns;
Nor laud, nor chant, nor matin chime,
Retard the fleeting steps of time.
* * * * *
<g>The Shrine</g>, from which the anthem rushed,
When evening glowed, or morning blushed,
Like them, who reared the pile on high--
A landmark pointing to the sky;
Like them, by slow and sure decay,
That shrine is crumbling o’er their clay.--_W.B._, 1848.
<g>The Abbey by Moonlight.</g>
I tread the moonlit <g>abbey</g>! Oh, my soul,
How nobly art thou struggling to be free,
Spurning the temple’s, and the world’s control,
And feeling most inadequate to thee
The loftiest dome, the grandest scenery;
O’er views that would oppress thee or appal,
Rising, like light bark o’er the mounting sea;
And where, if weak or mortal thou wouldst fall,
Expanding to survey and compass more than all!
<g>Palace of Piety</g>! Devotion here
Should wear a crownèd angel’s robe of white,
And antedate the ardours of a sphere,
Where all is tranquil as this noon of night!
The moon--the regal moon--intensely bright,
Shines through the roseate window of the west;
Each shaft, an artificial stalactite
Of pendent stone, with slumber seems oppressed,
Or with a charmèd dream of peaceful rapture blessed.
And through thy lofty arch, a single star
Is gazing from a depth of spotless blue,
As if to learn how soft thy splendours are,
And feel them deeply, as I fain would do!
While now supine upon thy pave of dew
I let thy loveliness my soul pervade,
And pass with unimpeded influence through
Its quiet depths, like moonlight through thy shade,
To haunt with beauty still that shrine of hopes decayed.
Forgive me, <g>abbey</g> of the watered vale--
Forgive that, when I feel my spirit swell
With an unwonted energy, I fail
To hymn thy desolated glories well!
Not yet the chrysalis has burst its shell--
Not yet expanded its immortal wings;
The restless rudiments of vast powers tell
The soul a deathless thing; from earth she springs,
But fast and feebly falls, the while of thee she sings.
_J. C. Earle, St. Edmund’s Hall, Oxford._
<g>Tinterne Vesper-Hymn.</g>
Like crimson on the dimpled Wye
Sleeps the glowing summer sky;
O’er the landscape, widely thrown,
Belted rock, and mountain cone;
Hamlet, tower, and haunted stream,
Are basking in the vesper-beam;
And holy <g>friars</g>, robed in white,
Cross them in the waning light--AVE MARIA!
Now, along the abbey walls,
Soft the purple _gloaming_ falls;
Aloft, on every turret’s height,
In the dim and doubtful light,
Here retiring, there advancing,
Weeds are waving, wings are glancing,
And yon effigies of stone
Seem to hail the vesper-tone--AVE MARIA!
Deeper yet, and deeper still,
From winding stream, and wooded hill,
Shadowy cliff and rippling _weir_,
Nature’s music fills the ear;
Notes of mingling praise and prayer
Float along the solemn air,
Where, from cloistered arches dim,
Swells the everlasting hymn--AVE MARIA!
Hark, ’tis midnight! but, unsleeping,
Here their faithful vigil keeping;
Pale <g>white friars</g> raise again,
In lengthened chant, the solemn strain!
Hark! throughout the sacred dwelling,
High the mingled notes are swelling;
Angels, stooping from the sky,
Bear the sacrifice on high--AVE MARIA!--_W. B._ 1849.
[Illustration]
<g>Appendix.</g>
Of the Abbots of Tinterne the historical notices are very scanty. The
following occur in the “Parliamentary Writs,” by Sir Francis
Palgrave:--[187]
<g>A.D.</g> 1294.--<g>Abbas de Tynterne</g> is summoned to a council of the
clergy, to be held before the <g>King</g> in person, at Westminster, on
the Feast of <g>St. Matthias</g> the Apostle, on the twenty-first day of
September, and twenty-second of <g>Edward</g> I. Again--
1295.--The <g>Abbas de Tynterne</g> is summoned to Parliament at
Westminster, on Sunday next after the feast of <g>St. Martin</g>,
thirteenth day of October, and twenty-third year of the reign of
<g>Edward</g> I., prorogued to Sunday next, before the Feast of <g>St. Andrew</g>
the Apostle, the twenty-seventh of November. Thirdly--
1296.--Summoned to Parliament at <g>Bury St. Edmund’s</g>, on the morrow
of <g>All-Souls</g>, November the third day, and twenty-fourth year of the
reign of <g>Edward</g> I.
1300.--<g>Abbas de Tynterne</g>--Letter of Credence addressed to him
concerning the expedition against the <g>Scots</g>--at Blith, the
seventeenth day of January, and twenty-eighth year of the reign of
<g>Edward</g> I. Again, the same year, the <g>abbot</g> was summoned to
Parliament in London, on the second Sunday in <g>Lent</g>, being the sixth
day of March.
1301.--<g>Abbas de Tynterne</g> is summoned to Parliament at <g>Lincoln</g>--in
eight days of <g>St. Hilary</g>--the twentieth day of January, and
twenty-eighth year of the reign aforesaid.
1305.--Summoned to Parliament at Westminster, on Tuesday, in
fifteen days of the <g>Purification</g>, the sixteenth of February;
afterwards prorogued to Sunday next, after the Feast of <g>St.
Matthias</g> the Apostle, the twenty-eighth day of February--but to
which he was not resummoned--and thirty-third year of the reign of
<g>Edward</g> I.
1316.--<g>Abbas de Tynterne</g>, certified pursuant to writ, tested at
Clipston, March the fifth, as one of the lords of the township of
<g>Acle</g>,[188] in the county of Norfolk, in the ninth year of the reign
of <g>Edward</g> II.
1316.--<g>Johannes de Tynterne</g>, certified in like manner, as holding
part of the burgh of <g>Lyme-Regis</g>, in the county of Dorset, in the
ninth year of the reign of <g>Edward</g> II.
* * * * *
The following is the original document referred to in various passages
of the foregoing articles on Chepstow and Tinterne:--
<g>Genealogia</g> Fundatoris (Ex MS. Codice in Bibl. Cottoniana [sub
Effigie Vitellii, F. 4], fol. 7).
<g>Gunnora</g> Comitissa Normanniæ duas habuit sorores, una Turulpho de
Ponte-Adamaro conjuncta erat in matrimonio, et procreavit <g>Humfridum</g>
de Vetulis qui fuit pater <g>Rogeri</g> de Bellomonte, ex quo comites de
Warwike et Leicestriæ processerunt.
<g>Turketillus</g> fuit frater istius Turulphi, cujus filius Hasculfus de
Harecurt aliam sororem predictæ Comitissæ Gunnoræ con ... erat duos
procreavit filios; scilicet <g>Walterum</g> de Giffard, primogenitum, qui
alium Walterum procreavit, et dictus fuit Walterius Giffard
secundus. Rohesia, una sororum Walteri (duas plures enim habuit)
conjuncta in matrimonio <g>Ricardo</g> filio comitis <g>Gisleberti</g>, qui in re
militari, tempore Conquestoris omnes sui temporis magnates
præcessit. Prædicta Rohesia supervixit et renupta <g>Eudoni</g>, dapifero
Regis Normanniæ qui construxit castrum Colecestriæ, cum cœnobio, in
honore Sancti Johannis, ubi sepultus fuit, cum conjuge sua, tempore
<g>Henrici</g> primi. Margareta filia eorum nupta fuit <g>Willielmo</g> de
Mandevill, et fuit mater <g>Gaufredi</g> filii comitis Essexiæ et jure
matris, Normanniæ dapifer. Prædictus <g>Ricardus</g> apud sanctum <g>Neotum</g>
jacet sepultus. Huic rex Willielmus concessit baroniam <g>De Clare</g>,
villam verò cum castello de Tunbridge, de Archiepiscopo
Cantuariensi, pro aliis terris in Normannia, perquisivit in
excambium. <g>Baldwinus</g>, frater istius Ricardi, Willielmum, Robertum,
et Ricardum, cum tribus sororibus genuit. Ex prædicta <g>Rohesia</g> hanc
sobolem procreavit Ricardus, <g>Rogerus</g> natu secundus terras patris
sui in Normannia adeptus est; <g>Walterus dominium Wenciæ inferioris,
in Wallia, qui construxit Abbatiam de Tinterna, anno Domini</g> MCXXXI;
<g>obiit sine prole</g>.[189]
The <g>Deed</g>, by which the privileges originally granted by the founders
were confirmed and completed by Roger Bigod, after the lapse of a
hundred and seven years, is expressed in the following terms:--
<g>Rogerus le Bygod Comes Norfolciæ</g>, et Mareschallus Angliæ, Salutem in
Domino. Noverit universitas vestra me intuitu Dei et pro salute animæ
nostræ, et animarum antecessorum nostrorum, et hæredum nostrorum,
concessisse et confirmasse Deo et ecclesiæ beatæ <g>Mariæ de Tinterna</g>,
Abbati et monachis et eorum successoribus ibidem Deo servientibus, in
liberam puram et perpetuam elemosynam, omnes terras et possessiones,
libertates, et liberas consuetudines subscriptas quas habent ex donis
antecessorum nostrorum et aliorum fundatorum seu donatorum, sive ex dono
nostro--videlicet: Totam hayam de <g>Porcassek</g>, et ex altera parte co
opertorium nemoris [~c] omnibus pertinentiis suis in bosco et plano, et
quicquid habet in Pentirk de tenementis terris redditibus boscis et
planis [~c] aliis libertatibus suis et totam terram de <g>Modisgat</g> [~c]
omnibus suis pertinentiis--videlicet: cum pastura ovium et aliorum
animalium suorum ubique in _chacia_ nostra de <g>Tudenham</g>, et de Subbosco
in dictu chacia quicquid eis necessarium fuerit ad ardendum et ad
_hayas_ claudendas, etc. His testibus domino Joanne le Bÿgod fratre meo:
Dom. Joanne le Bÿgod <g>Stocton</g>: Nicholao de <g>Kingeston</g>, militibus: Elya de
Aylbreton, tunc Seneschallo meo de <g>Strugull</g>: Philippe de <g>Mora</g>: Rogero de
<g>Sancto Mauro</g>: Willielmo de <g>Dynam</g>: Andreæ de <g>Bellocampo</g>, et aliis.
Datum apud <g>Modesgat</g>, quarto die Augusti, <g>anno Domini</g> M.CCCI.
* * * * *
AUTHORITIES quoted or referred to in the preceding article on
Tinterne Abbey and its vicinity:--Dugdale’s Monasticon and
Baronage--Thomas’s Tinterne--Camden--Giraldus Cambrensis--Robert of
Gloucester--Matthew Paris--William of Worcester--Fosbroke’s British
Monachism--Dallaway’s Arts--Reed--Barber--Mores Catholici--Life of
St. Bernard--French Monastic Writers--Annales et Usus
Cistercienses--Morton’s Monastic Annals--Nicolson’s History--West’s
Furness--Wonders and Traditions of Wales--Bp.
Godwin--Burnet--Pictorial Hist. of Engl.--Sir H. Ellis’s Original
Letters--Wilkins’s Concilia--Macaulay’s History--Blunt’s Sketch of
the Reformation--Latimer’s Sermons--Madden’s
Penalties--Warton--Taylor’s Index Monast.--Heraldic
Enquiries--Henniker--Cowel--Chronicles of England--Local historians
and poets--Gilpin--Heath--Barber--Thomas, whose work on “Tinterne
and its Environs” is the best hand-book that has yet appeared on
this locality--Notes taken by the Editor during a Tour on the
Wye--Hints and Suggestions from Correspondents, etc.
[Illustration]