the shrine, and the stone screen to the west of the shrine probably
belongs to his time. His supplanter, Edward IV., when settled on the
throne, granted oaks and lead for the roof, while his wife, and the
little son who was born in the Abbot's house, gave thank-offerings of
money. Another gap followed during the troublous reign of Richard III.,
but by the end of the fifteenth century, when Henry VII. felt his title
absolutely secure, and his dynasty established, the west end was quite
finished, within and without, while then, and then only, the last remains
of the old nave were cleared away.
We have thus briefly sketched the building of the church in which we
stand, and now must turn our attention to the historic names which are
all around us on the walls and pavement. The very earliest monument, the
only tolerably artistic one in the nave, was put up in 1631 to a certain
Mistress Jane Hill, and till nearly the end of the seventeenth century
few others were added. But unfortunately from that time the custom grew
apace of covering the wall space, even the floor itself, with memorials
of soldiers, sailors, statesmen, physicians, men of science, and, in
fact, a truly miscellaneous collection of people, till not a vacant spot
is left, and {28} the ancient arcading is completely or partially covered
up, in some cases even cut away. The committee of taste appointed to
assist the Chapter were of some use here, for by their advice the Dean
moved one or two monuments from the centre to the wall, and the iron
railings in front of all of them were taken away. Dean Stanley, more
than a century later, curtailed some of the most aggressive memorials,
but none have been removed, for there would be no end to such a difficult
undertaking, and in any case the ancient arcading was already ruined.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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