Highways and Byways in Cambridge and ElyConybeare, John William Edward
History
Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely
Conybeare, John William Edward
Cambridgeshire (England) -- Description and travel; Isle of Ely (England) -- Description and travel
All these statues and memorials are in the Ante-Chapel, which is
separated from the Chapel proper, as at King's, by the screen on which
stands the great organ. This organ is the largest and best-toned in
Cambridge,[51] but it is far from being as effective as the King's
organ, to which the magnificent acoustic properties of its Chapel lend
so wondrous a power. In Trinity there is always the sensation that the
harmonies are boxed in; indeed the shape of the Chapel does very much
suggest a box. In justice, however, to its designers, it must be
remembered that the box-like effect would be very much lessened by the
east and west windows with which it was originally provided. The
latter was closed by Nevile's putting back the clock tower to abut
upon it; the former still exists, as may be seen from the outside, but
is utterly shut off from the interior by a huge and far from beautiful
baldachino erected (not at his own cost but at that of the
impoverished Fellows) by Dr. Bentley. This famous scholar was one of
the few unpleasant Masters with whom the Crown (in which is here
vested the right, usually belonging to the Fellows, of appointing the
Head of the College) ever saddled Trinity. He passed his whole time as
Head in one long unceasing quarrel with his College. To begin with, he
was unpopular as being a member of the adjoining Foundation of St.
John's, between which and Trinity there existed an age-long rivalry.
Not many years before something like open war had been levied between
the Colleges on the occasion of a Trinity merry-making, the Johnian
onlookers being attacked with burning torches and using swords in
their defence; while an attempt which they made to rush the great
gates was beaten off by showers of stones and brickbats which had
been stored to that end on the roof of the Gate Tower.
[Footnote 51: It was made early in the eighteenth century by the
celebrated Father Smith, an organ-builder of world-wide fame.]
St. John's was at this time the largest College, and despised Trinity;
a sentiment which Bentley, who was a born bully,[52] expressed with
the utmost frankness, publicly calling the Fellows "asses," "dogs,"
"fools," "sots," and other scurrilous names, as they piteously set
forth in their complaints to their Visitor,[53] the Bishop of Ely.
Finally he was degraded by the Senate,[54] and reduced to the status
of "a bare Harry-Soph," as a contemporary diarist (quoted by Mr.
Clark)[55] puts it. But no Master, except Nevile and Barrow, has left
so enduring a mark upon the College; for the ruinous expenditure into
which he dragooned the unhappy Fellows has given the Chapel not only
the baldachino, but the stalls, the panelling, and the organ; to say
nothing of the clock, and the splendid oak staircase in the Lodge.
[Footnote 52: By his arrogance Bentley incurred the undying hatred of
Pope, who denounces him in the "Dunciad" as boasting himself (in
addressing Dullness)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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