[Illustration: CASTLES & ABBEYS OF ENGLAND]
<g>The Castles and Abbeys of England</g> may be justly regarded as the great
fixed landmarks in her history. They stand like monumental pillars in
the stream of time, inscribed with the names of her native chivalry and
early hierarchy, whose patriotic deeds and works of piety they were
raised to witness and perpetuate.
Viewed in this connexion, they are subjects of enduring interest and
curiosity; especially to those whose minds have been strongly imbued
with a love of the arts, a veneration for the great minds and the wise
measures of which they are the splendid memorials. We linger in the
feudal court, and muse in the deserted sanctuary, with emotions which we
can hardly define: in the one our patriotism gathers strength and
decision; in the other, that piety of which it is the outward evidence,
sheds a warmer influence on the heart. We traverse the apartments that
once contained the noble founders of our national Freedom; the venerable
and intrepid champions of our Faith; the revered fathers of our
Literature; with a feeling which amounts to almost devotion. We turn
aside to the mouldering gates of our ancestors as a pilgrim turns to
some favourite shrine; to those ruins which were the cradles of liberty,
the residence of men illustrious for their deeds, the stronghold and
sanctuary of their domestic virtues and affections. The mutilated
altars of our religion, the crumbling sepulchres of our forefathers, are
pregnant with an interest which no other source can afford. In these
venerable remains, the visible stamp of sanctity still clings to the
threshold; we tread the ground with a soft silent step, overawed by the
solemnity of the scene; we feel that--although the sacred fire is
extinguished on the altar, the hallelujahs hushed in the quire, and
priest and penitent gone for ever--we feel that the presence of a
divinity still hallows the spot; that the wings of the presiding
cherubim are still extended over its altar.
But turning from the cloistered abbey, to the castellated fortress of
antiquity, a new train of associations springs up. The vaulted gateway,
the rudely sculptured shield, the heavy portcullis, and massive
towers--all contrast forcibly with the scene we have just left, but
present to the mind’s eye a no less faithful picture of feudal times. It
was from these towers that the flower of English chivalry went forth
under the banner of the Cross--carried the terror of their arms to the
gates of Jerusalem, and earned those glorious ‘badges’ which are now the
proud distinction of their respective houses.
In a survey of these primitive strongholds, these rude citadels of our
national faith and honour, every feature is invested with traditionary
interest. They are intimately associated with our native Literature,
civil and sacred; with History, Poetry, Painting, and the Drama; with
local tradition, legendary and antiquarian lore.
To the early founders of our castles and abbeys, we are mainly indebted
for the blessings we still enjoy as a free and independent nation. It
was the unflinching fortitude and uncompromising faith of our baronial
ancestors which extorted from the hands of Despotism the grand charters
of English freedom; and, if the men who achieved such things ought to
live in the grateful remembrance of their country, surely the local
habitations with which their names are identified, must ever be viewed
as classic scenes with which the grandeur and glory of England are
inseparably connected.
It is there that the very Genius of chivalry still presents himself with
that stern and majestic countenance which views with disdain the
‘luxurious and degenerate posterity’ which has robbed him of his
honours. It is there that the scenes of other days recur to the
imagination in all their native pomp and solemnity. These were the
ancient schools where the manly exercises of knighthood, the generous
virtues of patriotism, fortitude, honour, courtesy and wisdom, were
habitually taught and practised.
The love and reverence of antiquity are imbibed with our earliest
classic discipline; but when we turn to the history of our own country,
and contemplate in her castles, abbeys, and cathedrals, the monuments of
her former greatness, we become animated with a different emotion; we
feel the strong bond of relationship which unites us with their
founders. We dwell with romantic interest on their valour, munificence,
hospitality; a hospitality which was open to all; to knight, pilgrim,
and minstrel; to him whose honoured office “wedded to immortal verse”
the fortunes, achievements, and festivities of the noble owner; and by
exciting the first efforts of wit and fancy, secured an introduction to
every species of polite learning--to all the softer influences by which
the stern manners of the age were gradually softened and refined.
With respect to our ecclesiastical foundations, our abbeys, priories,
and cathedrals; how great is the proportion that was built and endowed
by our ancient nobility! Next to the glory of bearing arms in the Holy
Land, was the desire of founding churches at home; for to honour God
with their substance, to brave every danger in defence of their
religion, were maxims that regulated the chief actions of their lives,
and extended their view beyond the boundaries of time. To them and their
long line of descendants, we are indebted for feats of arms, for
examples of Christian fortitude, which have preserved our throne and
constitution inviolate, and raised the British character to its zenith
of national glory. By the practical lessons which they afford, they
inspire us with admiration of their lofty virtues. Their patriotism at
home, their perilous adventures abroad, their indomitable courage and
inflexible faith, their triumphs at the scaffold and the stake,--all
evinced a constancy in virtue, a confidence in God, which nothing could
shake or overthrow.
In the history of feudal times, when turbulence and faction were
constantly troubling the serene atmosphere of public and private life,
we observe the spiritual and temporal power mutually aiding and
restraining each other: both uniting to regulate the balance of the
state, to enforce obedience to the laws, to resist those
unconstitutional and oppressive measures which produced such frequent
and painful divisions between the sovereign and his vassals.
But, while thus adverting to the character and polity of feudal times,
we are far from maintaining that there was no flaw in the system, no
flagrant act of injustice in its administration. On the contrary, we
freely admit its imperfection; but we as freely applaud its excellences.
We grant that every castle had its dungeon; every dungeon, perhaps, its
prisoners and captives; but still, viewed as a scheme of civil freedom,
the feudal polity ‘bears a noble countenance. Deprived of its sustaining
power, the very names of right and privilege must have fallen prostrate
at the feet of unlimited despotism.’ If, says Hallam, ‘when the people
were poor and disunited, the nobility had not been brave and free, the
tyranny which on every favourable occasion was breaking through all
barriers would have rioted without control.’
In these prefatory remarks, however, we refrain from supporting our
views by the evidence of facts; but to the indulgent reader, who feels
an interest in the subject, and will accompany us in our tour[1] through
the feudal monuments in question, we hope to prove by many interesting
records, anecdotes, and illustrations, the beneficial influence of a
system, prolific beyond all others in the grandeur of its institutions,
and forming what may be justly styled the monumental ages of England.
But along with their graver history, these primitive strongholds of the
national faith and freedom unite a thousand pleasing and faithful
pictures of social life. It was in these palaces, castles, abbeys,
halls, and manor-houses, that, in the ‘merry days of England,’ the
festivals of our Church and the fêtes of Chivalry, were celebrated in
all their splendour. It was there the noble host collected around him
his friends and retainers, that the walls were hung with banners, that
steel-clad warders paced the battlements, that the sound of the horn
summoned the guests from the ‘joust’ or the chase,--that the ‘boar’s
head’ smoked on the ample board,--that mantling cups were drained to the
health of ‘beauty,’ and fresh honours decreed to the ‘brave.’
It was in these halls that the ‘Christmas log,’ flashing through the
painted casement, announced the reign of hospitality,--when the ‘roast
beef of Old England,’ her nut-brown October, and the national songs and
dance, conspired to produce one long scene of mirth and festivity; when
the ‘harper’ sang those romantic and heroic ballads at which the young
caught fire, and the old threw aside the weight of years. Who can
reflect on these scenes, now the subject of history, without a lively
interest in the Castles and Abbeys of England?
Hitherto, the grand objection to works of this description, has been
their expense, which has confined the circulation of picturesque
antiquarian works to the opulent classes of society. The great
recommendation of the present work is its unprecedented cheapness, being
illustrated by original views taken on the spot, and not amounting in
general to more than a twentieth of the price at which its predecessors
in the same field have been published.