Great Britain -- History -- Elizabeth, 1558-1603 -- Fiction
Anthony, walking up and down in the little tiled cloisters by the creek,
a few minutes before the hour fixed, heard organ-music rolling out of the
chapel windows; and went in to see who was playing. He came in through
the vestry, and looking to the west end gallery saw there the back of old
Dr. Tallis, seated at the little positive organ that the late Archbishop
had left in his chapel, and which the present Archbishop had gladly
retained, for he was a great patron of music, and befriended many
musicians when they needed help--Dr. Tallis, as well as Byrd, Morley and
Tye. There were a few persons in the chapel listening, the Reverend Mr.
Wilson, one of the chaplains, being among them; and Anthony thought that
he could not do better than sit here a little and quiet his thoughts,
which were nervous and distracted at the prospect of his coming
interview. He heard voices from overhead, which showed that the
Archbishop was engaged; so he spoke to an usher stationed in the vestry,
telling him that he was ready as soon as the Archbishop could receive
him, and that he would wait in the chapel; and then made his way down to
one of the return stalls at the west end, against the screen, and took
his seat there.
This February afternoon was growing dark, and the only lights in the
chapel were those in the organ loft; but there was still enough daylight
outside to make the windows visible--those famous windows of Morton's,
which, like those in King's Chapel, Cambridge, combined and interpreted
the Old and New Testaments by an ingenious system of types and antitypes,
in the manner of the "Biblia Pauperum." There was then only a single
subject in each light; and Anthony let his eyes wander musingly to and
fro in the east window from the central figure of the Crucified to the
types on either side, especially to a touching group of the unconscious
Isaac carrying the wood for his own death, as Christ His Cross. Beneath,
instead of the old stately altar glowing with stuffs and precious metals
and jewels which had once been the heart of this beautiful shrine, there
stood now a plain solid wooden table that the Archbishop used for the
Communion. Anthony looked at it, and sighed a little to himself. Did the
altar and the table then mean the same thing?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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