[Illustration: GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.]
Journeying westward from the metropolis and beyond the sources of the
Thames, let us mount to the tops of the Cotswold Hills, in which they
take their rise, and look down upon the valley of the noble Severn River
beyond. We have already seen the Severn at Shrewsbury, Wenlock, and
Bridgenorth, and, uniting with the classic Avon, it drains the western
slopes of the Cotswolds, and, flowing through a deep valley between them
and the Malvern Hills, finally debouches through a broad estuary into
the British Channel. There is much of interest to the tourist along the
banks and in neighborhood of this well-known river. As we stand upon the
elevations of the Cotswolds and look over "Sabrina fair," the lower part
of its valley is seen as a broad and fertile plain, and the Severn's
"glassy, cool, translucent wave," as the poet has it, flows through a
land of meadows, orchards, and cornfields, with the hills of the Forest
of Dean rising on the western horizon. Alongside the river is the
cathedral city of Gloucester, the depot for a rich agricultural region
and for the mining wealth of Dean Forest, the Berkeley Canal leading
from its docks for sixteen miles down the Severn until the deep water of
the estuary is reached. The Romans early saw the importance of this
place as a military post, and founded Glevum here, upon their Ermine
Street road, as an outpost fortress upon the border-land of the
Silures. Fragments of tessellated pavements, coins, and other relics
from time to time exhumed attest the extent of the Roman settlement.
When the Britons succeeded the Romans, this settlement became gradually
transformed into Gleawecesore, forming part of the kingdom of Mercia,
and in the seventh century AEthelred bestowed it upon Osric, who founded
a monastery here. Athelstan died here in 941, and a few years afterwards
the Danes, who overrun and devastated almost the whole of England,
burned the town and monastery. The history of Gloucester, however, was
without stirring incidents, excepting an occasional destructive fire,
until the siege took place in the Civil War, its people devoting
themselves more to commerce than to politics, and in the early part of
the seventeenth century engaging extensively in the manufacture of pins.
Gloucester, however, gave the title to several earls and dukes,
generally men not much envied; as, for instance, Richard Crookback, who
sent from Gloucester the order for the murder of his nephews, the young
princes, in the Tower. But the town never took kindly to him, and warmly
welcomed Richmond on his avenging march to Bosworth Field. The siege of
Gloucester was made by King Charles's troops, the citizens having warmly
espoused the cause of the Parliament and strongly fortified their city,
mounting guns for its defence which they got from London. A polygonal
line of fortifications surrounded Gloucester, which was then much
smaller than now, and the bastions came down to the river, with outlying
works to defend a small suburb on the opposite bank. The Cavaliers were
in great strength in Western England, and the malignity of the
Gloucester pin-makers seriously embarrassed them. On August 10, 1643,
the siege began with a summons to surrender, which the authorities
refused. Parts of the suburbs were then burned, and next morning a
bombardment began, red-hot balls and heavy stones being plentifully
thrown into the place, knocking the houses into sad havoc, but in no
wise damping the sturdy courage of the defenders. They replied bravely
with their cannon and made repeated sorties, which inflicted serious
damage upon the besiegers. After over three weeks of this sport, the
Royalists shot an arrow into the town, September 3, with a message in
these words: "These are to let you understand your god Waller hath
forsaken you and hath retired himself to the Tower of London; Essex is
beaten like a dog: yield to the king's mercy in time; otherwise, if we
enter perforce, no quarter for such obstinate traitorly rogues.--From a
Well-wisher." This conciliatory message was defiantly answered in a
prompt reply signed "Nicholas Cudgelyouwell;" and two days later, Prince
Rupert having suffered a defeat elsewhere, the Cavaliers abandoned the
siege. Charles II., upon his restoration, took care to have himself
proclaimed with great pomp at Gloucester, and also took the precaution
to destroy its fortifications. The castle, which had stood since the
days of the Norman Conquest, then disappeared. The west gate, the last
remains of the walls, was removed, with the old bridge across the
Severn, in 1809, to make room for a fine new bridge. This structure is
chiefly known through a humorous connection that Thackeray has given it
with King George III. That monarch made a royal visit to Gloucester, and
in his lectures on the "Four Georges" Thackeray says: "One morning,
before anybody else was up, the king walked about Gloucester town,
pushed over Molly the housemaid with her pail, who was scrubbing the
doorsteps, ran up stairs and woke all the equerries in their bedrooms,
and then trotted down to the bridge, where by this time a dozen of louts
were assembled. 'What! is this Gloucester new bridge?' asked our
gracious monarch; and the people answered him, 'Yes, Your
Majesty.'--'Why, then, my boys, let's have a hurray!' After giving them
which intellectual gratification he went home to breakfast."
The town is quaint and picturesque, but the buildings generally are
modern, most of them dating from the days of good Queen Anne, but they
exhibit great variety in design. The most noted of the older Gloucester
houses is the "New Inn," on Northgate Street. After the murder of Edward
II. at Berkeley Castle, not far from Gloucester, where he had been
imprisoned in a dungeon in the keep, in 1327, his remains were brought
to the abbey church at Gloucester for interment, a shrine being raised
over them by the monks. The king was murdered with fiendish cruelty.
Lord Berkeley at the castle would willingly have protected him, but he
fell sick; and one dark September night Edward was given over to two
villains named Gurney and Ogle. The ancient chronicler says that the
"screams and shrieks of anguish were heard even so far as the town, so
that many, being awakened therewith from their sleep, as they themselves
confessed, prayed heartily to God to receive his soul, for they
understood by those cries what the matter meant." The king's shrine in
Gloucester naturally attracted many pilgrims, and the New Inn was built
about 1450 for their accommodation. It is a brick-and-timber house, with
corridors leading to the chambers running along the sides of the inner
court and reached by outside stairways, as was the common construction
of houses of public entertainment three or four centuries ago. The inn
remains almost as it was then, having been but slightly modernized. Most
of the pilgrims to the shrine brought offerings with them, and hence the
pains taken for their accommodation. The usual tale is told about a
subterranean passage connecting this inn with the cathedral. New Inn is
enormously strong and massive, and covers a broad surface, being
constructed around two courtyards.
[Illustration: NEW INN, GLOUCESTER.]
Gloucester has many churches in proportion to its size--in fact, so many
that "as sure as God is in Gloucester" used to be a proverb. Oliver
Cromwell, though the city had stood sturdily by him, differed with this,
however, for a saying of his is still quoted, that "there be more
churches than godliness in Gloucester." In later days the first
Sunday-school in England was opened here, and just outside the city are
the fragmentary remains of the branch of Llanthony Priory to which the
monks migrated from the Welsh Border. The chief attraction of
Gloucester, however, is the cathedral, and the ruins of the Benedictine
monastery to which it was formerly attached. The cathedral is of
considerable size, being four hundred and twenty feet long, and is
surmounted by a much-admired central tower. The light and graceful
tracery of its parapets and pinnacles gives especial character to the
exterior of Gloucester Cathedral, and when the open-work tracery is
projected against the red glow of sunset an unrivalled effect is
produced. This tower is two hundred and twenty-five feet high, and forms
an admirable centre to the masses of buildings clustered around it. The
monastery, founded by Osric in the seventh century, stood on this site,
but after the Danes burned it a convent was built, which passed into the
hands of the Benedictines in 1022. One of these monks was the "Robert of
Gloucester" who in 1272 wrote in rhyme a chronicle of English history
from the siege of Troy to the death of Henry II. Their church was
repeatedly burned and rebuilt, but it was not until the shrine of Edward
II. was placed in it that the religious establishment throve. The rich
harvest brought by the pilgrims to this shrine led to the reconstruction
of the older church, by encasing the shell with Perpendicular work in
the lower part and completely rebuilding the upper portion. This was in
the fourteenth century, and by the close of the next century the
cathedral appeared as it is now seen. Entering the fine southern porch,
we are ushered into the splendid Norman nave bordered by exceptionally
high piers, rising thirty feet, and surmounted by a low triforium and
clerestory. The design is rather dwarfed by thus impoverishing the upper
stories. The choir has an enormous east window, made wider than the
choir itself by an ingenious arrangement of the walls; and this retains
most of the old stained glass. The choir has recently been restored, and
in the old woodwork the seat of the mayor is retained opposite the
throne of the bishop. On the floor an oblong setting of tiles marks the
grave of William the Conqueror's son Robert, who died at Cardiff, and
whose monument stands in an adjoining chapel. The Lady Chapel is east of
the choir, and has a "whispering gallery" over its entrance. Beneath the
choir is the crypt, antedating the Norman Conquest, and one of the
remains of the original church of the Benedictines. On the south side of
the choir is the monument to Edward II., standing in an archway. The
effigy is of alabaster, and is surmounted by a beautiful sculptured
canopy. The cloisters north of the nave are most attractive, the roof
being vaulted in fan-patterns of great richness. There can still be seen
along the north walk of these cloisters the lavatories for the monks,
with the troughs into which the water flowed and the recesses in the
wall above to contain the towels. Beyond the cloisters are the other
remains of the monastery, now generally incorporated into houses.
Gloucester has been a bishop's see since the reign of Henry VIII., and
one of its bishops was the zealous Reformer who was martyred in sight of
his own cathedral--John Hooper: his statue stands in St. Mary's Square,
where Queen Mary had him burned as a heretic. Gloucester also has its
Spa, a chalybeate spring recently discovered in the south-eastern
suburbs, but the town is chiefly known to fame abroad by its salmon and
lampreys. The lamprey is caught in the Severn and potted for export,
having been considered a dainty by the epicures of remote as well as
modern times. It was in great request in the time of King John, when we
are told "the men of Gloucester gave forty marks to that king to have
his good will, because they regarded him not as they ought in the matter
of their lampreys." This was the favorite dish of Henry I. (Beauclerc),
and over-indulgence in lampreys finally killed him. It was the custom
until 1836 for the corporation of Gloucester to send every Christmas to
the sovereign "a lamprey pie with a raised crust."
[Illustration: MONKS' LAVATORY, GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL.]