[Illustration: CARDINAL BEAUFORT'S GATE AND ANCIENT BREWERY.]
About sixteen miles south-west of Selborne is the chief city of
Hampshire and one of the great historical cities of the
realm--Winchester--built on the side of a chalk-hill rising from the
valley of the Itchen, a stream that was Izaak Walton's favorite
fishing-ground. This was the Roman Venta Belgarum, and was made an
episcopal see in the seventh century. Nothing remains of the earlier
cathedral, which was replaced by the present structure, begun in the
eleventh century, but not finished until the fifteenth. Winchester
Cathedral is five hundred and sixty feet long, and its nave is in the
highest degree impressive, being the longest in England, extending two
hundred and sixty-five feet. The western front has recently been
restored. Within the cathedral are many noted tombs, including that of
William Rufus, and above the altar is West's painting of the "Raising of
Lazarus." In the presbytery are six mortuary chests containing the
remains of kings and bishops of the ancient Saxon kingdom of Wessex. St.
Swithin's shrine was the treasure of Winchester: he was bishop in the
ninth century and the especial patron of the city and cathedral.
Originally interred in the churchyard, his remains were removed to the
golden shrine given by King Edgar, though tradition says this was
delayed by forty days of rain, which is the foundation of the popular
belief in the continuance of wet weather after St. Swithin's Day, July
15. In the Lady Chapel, Queen Mary was married to Philip of Spain in
1554, and the chair on which she sat is still preserved there. The
cathedral close is extremely picturesque, surrounded by houses of
considerable antiquity. Among the prelates of Winchester were William of
Wykeham and Cardinal Beaufort: the former founded St. Mary's College
there in the fourteenth century--a fine structure, with the picturesque
ruins of the old palace of the bishops, Wolvesey Castle, near by; the
latter, in the fifteenth century, built Cardinal Beaufort's Tower and
Gateway in the southern suburbs, on the Southampton road, when he
revived the foundation of St. Cross. This noble gateway, when approached
from the city, is seen through the foliage, with a background of quaint
high chimneys, church, and green leaves. The river Itchen flows
alongside the road, half hidden among the trees. The St. Cross Hospital,
with the thirteen brethren still living there in their black gowns and
silver crosses, gives a vivid picture of ancient England. Adjoining the
gateway on the left hand is the brewery, formerly known as the "Hundred
Men's Hall," because a hundred of the poorest men in Winchester were
daily entertained there at dinner, and, as the repast was provided on a
bountiful scale, the guests always had ample provisions to carry home to
their families. The tower and surrounding buildings are excellent
examples of the domestic architecture of the fifteenth century. In this
hospital the custom still prevails of giving the wayfarer a horn of ale
and dole of bread, the ale being brewed on the premises and of the same
kind made there centuries ago. The old West Gate of Winchester, the only
survivor of the city's four gates, is a well-preserved specimen of the
military architecture of the time of Henry III. Winchester Castle was
originally built by William the Norman, and continued a residence of
the kings until Henry III., but of it little remains beyond the hall and
some subterranean fragments. Here hangs on the wall what is said to be
the top of King Arthur's round table. There is a beautiful cross in
Winchester, recently restored, and originally erected on the High Street
by Cardinal Beaufort, who seems to have spent much of his vast and
ill-gotten wealth in splendid architectural works. Shakespeare
introduces him in _Henry VI._, and in the scene that closes his career
truthfully depicts him:
"If thou be'st death, I'll give thee England's treasure,
Enough to purchase such another island.
So thou wilt let me live and feel no pain."