Floreat Etona: Anecdotes and Memories of Eton CollegeNevill, Ralph
History
Floreat Etona: Anecdotes and Memories of Eton College
Nevill, Ralph
Eton College
In the Ante-Chapel, behind a railing, is a font, placed there at
the time of the renovations sixty years ago. It was presented by
some Collegers as a memorial to C. J. Abraham. The last baptism for
which it was used took place two or three years ago, when an Eton
boy of fourteen or fifteen was christened in the Chapel. About to be
confirmed, it was discovered that he had never been baptized. In all
probability he was a foreigner. There stood previously at the same
place an older font, of which there is mention as early as 1479.
Lipscomb describes the earlier one as “a beautiful ancient font of
white marble, of an octagon shape, elegantly carved in relief and
supported by a pedestal on a square plinth.” It would be interesting to
know what has become of this font. If not broken up, it has probably
been sent away to some village church.
In the Ante-Chapel, before the Reformation, there existed four altars,
the chief of which, still marked by a row of niches, was in the
south-eastern corner behind where now stands the statue of Provost
Goodall. This was called the Altar of St. Catherine, or sometimes the
Altar of Thomas Jourdelay, after a certain inhabitant of Eton who lies
buried near it. Provost Bost (1477-1504) left a sum of money for an
extra chaplain who should say Mass at this altar at least three times a
week for him and his relations. The altar in the north-eastern corner
of the Ante-Chapel was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The remaining
two were on either side of the entrance to the choir and were dedicated
to St. Nicholas and St. Peter.
One of the few relics which the spirit of change has left intact in
this old Chapel is the lectern, which within recent years has once
more been taken into use. It dates from the fifteenth century, and
escaped destruction by the Puritans in 1651, when the College paid
sixpence for its removal. A considerable number of Etonians are
fittingly commemorated in the Chapel, but the Marquis Wellesley, in
all probability the greatest lover of Eton who ever lived, has his
memorial in the North Porch, where may be seen the Latin elegiacs which
he wrote as his own epitaph. The tablet on which they are inscribed was
erected by his brother, the great Duke. A good rendering in English
verse was made by Lord Derby:--
Long tost on Fortune’s waves, I come to rest,
Eton, once more on thy maternal breast.
On loftiest deeds to fix the aspiring gaze,
To seek the purer lights of ancient days,
To love the simple paths of manly truth,--
These were the lessons of my opening youth.
If on my later life some glory shine,
Some honours grace my name, the meed is thine.
My boyhood’s nurse, my aged dust receive,
And one last tear of kind remembrance give!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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