A very charming feature of English country life is the pleasure one can
derive from boating on the small rivers. Our American watercourses are
generally too wide or too turbulent to become such a domestic pet as we
all know the river Thames to be. To one who has not seen Boulter's Lock
on a bright Sunday, or who has never witnessed a Henley Regatta, that
most brilliant of all athletic spectacles, it would be difficult to
explain how thoroughly the Englishman enjoys and how constantly he uses
the opportunity which Father Thames affords for a short outing. Nor is
the Thames the only stream thus available. Small watercourses of the
same sort are to be found all over the country, and afford delightful
trips for those who are willing to travel in so leisurely a fashion. The
writer remembers with the keenest pleasure certain canoe trips, one of
three days from Bedford to Ely on the Ouse, another on the Stour, from
Sudbury to Manningtree, lasting two days, and a third of similar
duration from Petworth down the Rother into the Arun at Pullborough and
thence to Arundel. All the preparation necessary is to buy your canoe a
third-class ticket, put it into the luggage van at the railway station,
and set out for the point at which you wish to begin. Jerome K. Jerome
has immortalised a similar trip taken down the Thames from Oxford to
London. One of the most charming of all English river journeys is that
down the Wye. If one wishes to take a long trip, the start can be made
at Hay, thirty-four miles above Hereford, or perhaps better at Whitney,
twenty-eight miles above. The next stretch is from Hereford to Ross,
twenty-seven miles, and, if desired, this can be lengthened by
continuing on down to Monmouth, Tintern and Chepstow. The charming bits
of scenery that unfold themselves as this little river lazily winds down
the Welsh Marches are most varied and delightful. It must, however, be
admitted that it is only the middle section of this agreeable trip that
properly concerns one engaged in glass-hunting. We should, therefore,
content ourselves with the stretch from Hereford to Ross, twenty-seven
miles, if, indeed, we have the time to devote to this slow method of
travelling. Over by the river end of the peaceful town of Hereford is
the lovely green Close which lies about the sturdy reddish brown
cathedral. Few churches, even those of great size, give such a square
and solid impression as results here from the combination of the ruddy
tones of the building material and the early type of its architecture.
The defacing effects of an earlier restoration are being rectified by
the erection of a new west front, now almost completed. The massive
Norman columns that support the nave within, carry out in their grand
simplicity the sturdy promise of the exterior. Every division of the
church seems spacious, the ample transepts, wide choir aisles, and large
Lady chapel, completing the effect begun by the nave and choir. Indeed,
so commodious is the Lady chapel, that it is used as a parish church.
The cathedral has a number of interesting possessions, chief among which
is the large Mappa Mundi made in 1300, and showing the world as then
known. It hangs in the south choir aisle. The world is represented as
round like a plate, and in addition to the cities and countries marked
thereon, there also appear the fabulous animals which were then a part
of orthodox geography. It was about this time that there was written the
adventures of that famous traveller, Sir John de Maundeville, whose
voyages were only exceeded in extent by his imagination. His reports of
fabulous beasts, &c., are in excellent accord with the pictures on this
map.
The ancient glass here is somewhat limited, and is all of the Decorated
period. On the south side of the Lady chapel we shall remark two
windows, chiefly glazed in greenish grisaille, but each bearing four
coloured decorations placed one above the other. In one case these prove
to be geometrical designs outlined in colour, while in the other they
are small coloured groups, the topmost scene showing Christ, on a red
background, pointing upward. Glass even more typically Decorated is to
be seen in the eastern wall of the north-east transept, and again in the
most easterly embrasure of the south choir ambulatory. These windows
each contain four lancets surmounted by tracery lights, and in each
lancet is a coloured figure framed in an unusually lofty canopy--in fact
the latter is three times as high as the figure it encloses. Note the
brassy tone of the early golden stain used in the architecture. Modern
grisaille has replaced its ancient prototype, which, in accordance with
the conventions, surrounded these early canopies to increase the
light-admitting power of the embrasures. This glass was formerly in St.
Peter's Church, but about sixty years ago that church disposed of it for
L5 to a purchaser who presented it to the cathedral. Limited though it
be in amount, it will repay a careful examination.