Chapter 4

Shortly after the death of de Blois a dispute arose between the Hospitallers and the bishop, but after the lapse of many years the management was restored to the latter, then Peter de Rupibus, who appointed Alan de Soke as Master. In 1446, Cardinal Beaufort, Wykeham's successor in the see, added a new foundation to St. Cross, to be called "The Almshouse of Noble Poverty". De Blois's charity had been intended to benefit the very needy; this of Beaufort's was designed for those who had fallen upon evil days after a life of ease and comfort. There were to be two priests, thirty-five brethren, and three sisters. The brethren were to be of gentle birth, or old servants of the founder. The scheme, however, was never completed, owing to the Wars of the Roses intervening, with the result that the estates with which he had intended to endow his almshouse were claimed by the Crown on the accession of the House of York. So it came about that in 1486 Bishop Waynflete was compelled to reduce the recipients of Beaufort's charity to one priest and two brethren. Fortunately, St. Cross was spared at the Reformation, and its endowments were not confiscated. The Vicar-General reported that there were "certain things requiring reformation", and that sturdy beggars were to be "driven away with staves"; also that the Lord's Prayer and the Creed were to be taught in English, and that relics and images were not to be brought out for the devotion of pilgrims. In 1632 Archbishop Laud caused a strict enquiry to be made, with the result that the Master, Dr. Lewis, reported that the fabric was in a state of great dilapidation. This Master lost his post through his loyalty to Church and King, and John Lisle, the regicide, became Master of the Hospital until Cromwell made him a peer, when his place was filled by John Cooke, the Solicitor-General who drew up the indictment against Charles I. Both these regicides met with misfortune, for Cooke was executed and Lisle assassinated, so that at the Restoration Dr. Lewis was restored to the mastership. Between the years 1848 and 1853, chancery suits, costing a large sum of money, resulted in an entirely new scheme being drawn up, under which the two charities were treated as separate foundations under one head. The differences of qualification between the two sets of Brethren are carefully laid down, and a portion of the income is used for the maintenance of fifty out-pensioners, the modern equivalent for the "Hundred Poor Men" of mediaeval days. The distinctive dresses of the Brethren are the same with regard to colour and cut as those worn in the time of Henry VI, those worn by the recipients of Beaufort's charity being of red cloth, with the badge, a cardinal's hat and tassels on a silver plate, worn on the left breast. The Brethren of the older institution, founded by de Blois, wear black gowns, with the silver cross _potent_ pinned on the left breast. On the death of a Brother the cross is placed on a red velvet cushion and laid on his breast in the coffin; but before burial the cross is removed and fastened by the Master on the breast of the Brother elected in place of the deceased.

The Hospital buildings consist of an outer courtyard and gateway, to the right of which are the kitchens, and on the left the old brewhouse and remains of some of the earlier buildings. Immediately facing us is the tower gateway, thoroughly restored, if not built originally, by Cardinal Beaufort, under the groined archway of which is the porter's lodge, where the "Wayfarers' Dole" is still distributed to all who apply at the hatchway, an interesting and almost sole survival of the mediaeval custom by which food and drink were offered to passers-by. The daily dole at the present day consists of two gallons of ale and two loaves of bread, divided into thirty-two portions. The apartment over the archway is the Founder's room, wherein are stored all the ancient documents relating to the foundation. Beaufort's arms appear in one of the spandrels above the gateway arch, the corresponding spandrel exhibiting the ancient regal arms of England. On this side of the entrance are three niches, one of which contains a figure of the cardinal in a kneeling posture. The vacant niche in the south front once held a statue of the Virgin, which fell to the ground more than a century ago, and nearly killed one of the Brethren in its descent.

Passing through this noble gateway, which, somehow or other, does not look as old as we know it to be, we enter the great quadrangle, around which the various buildings are grouped. On the eastern side is the Infirmary, with the Ambulatory beneath it, a long, low cloister of sixteenth-century date, which extends along the whole side to the church. In one of the rooms above, a window opens into the church, where there may once have been a gallery to enable the infirm to hear the services. In 1763 Bishop Hoadley granted a license to the Master to pull down the cloister and use the materials for other purposes, but fortunately this was never done. On the opposite side of the quadrangle are the houses of the Brethren. Each dwelling consists of two rooms and a pantry, and has a garden attached.

The Brethren's Hall stands on the north side of the quadrangle, and is a portion only of the old "Hundred Mennes Hall"; but enough is left to enable one to form a good idea of the original apartment, which measured 36 feet by 24 feet, until a portion was cut off to provide rooms for the Master, who is now lodged in a modern dwelling outside the gates. At the east end of the hall is a table where the officials sat, those for the Brethren being ranged along the sides. Some black-leather jacks, candlesticks, salt-cellars, pewter dishes, and a dinner bell, all dating from Beaufort's time, are still carefully preserved. At the opposite end of the hall is a screen with the minstrels' gallery above, whence, on high days and holidays, the Brethren were enlivened with music during their feastings. The chief festivals of the year were All Saints' Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Twelfth Day, and Candlemas Day, on which occasions the Brethren had "extraordinary commons, and on the eve of which days they had a fire of charcoal in the Common Hall, and one jack of six quarts and one pint of beer extraordinary, to drink together by the fire. And on the said feast-day they had a fire at dinner, and another at supper in the said hall, and they had a sirloin of beef roasted, weighing forty-six pounds and a half, and three large mince-pies, and plum broth, and three joints of mutton for their supper, and six quarts and one pint of beer extraordinary at dinner, and six quarts and one pint of beer after dinner, by the fireside; six quarts and a pint at supper, and the like after supper." During Lent, each brother had eight shillings paid to him instead of commons, and on Palm Sunday the Brethren had a "green fish, of the value of three shillings and fourpence, and their pot of milk pottage with three pounds of rice boiled in it, and three pies with twenty-four herrings baked in them, and six quarts and one pint of beer extraordinary". On Good Fridays they had at dinner "in their pot of beer a cast of bread sliced, and three pounds of honey, boiled together, which they call honey sop". Beneath the hall is a fine vaulted cellar, of ample proportions, a worthy resting-place for the stock of St. Cross ale.

But, interesting as are all these portions of the Hospital of St. Cross, it is the church which has the greatest attraction for architect and antiquary alike, for it contains good examples of every style. From Romanesque, through Norman and Early English, to Later Decorated, and to Transition Norman, the church is considered to be the best example in existence. This building, unfinished after nearly two hundred years, was roofed with lead, in place of the thatch which originally covered it, by William of Edyndon, the famous Wiltshireman who became Master of St. Cross in the fourteenth century, and who restored the fabric from the ruinous state in which he found it to a condition of beauty and strength. The windows of the clerestory were erected by him; he re-roofed the "Hundred Menne's Hall", and built a new chamber for the Master.

On entering the church, through the north porch, one is struck by its loftiness and dignity, the vaulting throughout being of stone, while almost every ornamental feature of the Norman style can be seen. Proceeding to the western end of the church, and looking down the nave, the gradual development of its architecture can be well seen. The east end is Norman, the bay next the transepts Transition Norman, while the west end is Early English. The windows vary from Norman and Transition Norman to Early English, while those of the clerestory are Decorated. Mention must be made of the fine stone screens and tabernacle-work on either side of the altar, the altar slab of Purbeck marble, the triforium of intersecting arches in the choir, and the roof pendants. The western portion of the church was built during the mastership of Peter de Sancto Mario, and his fine canopied tomb is a striking object on the north side of the nave. Interesting, too, are the beautiful fourteenth-century tiles, some bearing the appropriate motto "Have Mynde"; and a very human note is struck in the mason's marks, still to be seen in various parts of the building, especially around the staircase door in the south transept. What these signs actually mean is unknown, but some authorities, notably Leader Scott in her work on _Cathedral Builders_, trace them through the Comacine Guild to the Roman _Collegia_.

In the south-east corner of the south transept, on the exterior of the church, is a "triple-arch", which is thought to have been a doorway, and may have led to the "clerken-house", the original habitation of the seven choristers and their master, but which was pulled down by de Cloune, Master of St. Cross in the fourteenth century, who also allowed other parts of the fabric to fall into a state of great dilapidation. Here also, on the south side of the quadrangle, stood the original houses of Beaufort's foundation, which were not pulled down until 1789.

No groups of buildings are in their way more charming or more impregnated with human associations than the famous episcopal foundation of St. Cross--an asylum of peace and rest, comfort and repose, to those who find shelter within its ancient walls, and a standing monument to the memory of the pious Henry de Blois and the princely churchman, Cardinal Beaufort. Winchester, like many an English city, would be shorn of much of its interest were this benevolent institution to be removed. The general air of peace and quietude, the grass-bordered walks, the stately church, all contribute to convey an appeal which is almost sacred in its simple eloquence. In the words of one who loved it well: "No one can pass its threshold without feeling himself landed, as it were, in another age. The ancient features of the building, the noble gateway, the quadrangle, the common refectory, the cloister, and, rising above all, the lofty and massive pile of the venerable church, the uniform garb and reverend mien of the aged brethren, the common provision for their declining years, the dole at the gatehouse, all lead back our thoughts to days when men gave their best to God's honour, and looked on what was done to His poor as done to Himself, and were as lavish of architectural beauty on what modern habits might deem a receptacle for beggars, as on the noblest of royal palaces. It seems a place where no worldly thought, no pride, or passion, or irreverence could enter; a spot where, as a modern writer has beautifully expressed it, a good man, might he make his choice, would wish to die."

The country around this beautiful city by the Itchen is full of quiet charm, for life's ever-changing drama has but one and the same background. The actors come and go, but the stage remains much the same, and the devotions, the meditations, and the acts of men who lived centuries ago were set in the amphitheatre of the same green hills, and took place beside the same winding river as those we gaze upon to-day.

Literature, too, has worthy names here in Izaak Walton and Jane Austen, both of whom lie buried in the cathedral; while the house at Winchester in which the author of _Persuasion_ lived, for a brief period before her death, stands beyond the college gate. Above the door is a wooden tablet recording that here Jane Austen spent her last days, dying July 18, 1817. She had previously resided at Chawton for some eight years, but her house in the village is now a Workmen's Club. At the same time, Chawton is a pretty little spot, watered by land springs, known locally as "lavants"; while some few miles away is Farrington, where Gilbert White, of "Selborne" fame, was curate.

Other literary associations of the Winchester country are those furnished by Hursley, where John Keble was vicar; by Otterbourne, the home for many years of Charlotte Yonge; and by Eversley, where Winchester's immortal son, Charles Kingsley, lies buried.

Each succeeding visit to Winchester can only strengthen one's love for the city, and one's reverence for the Cathedral in its midst. Our pilgrimage of Winchester the beautiful is over.

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

_At the Villafield Press, Glasgow, Scotland_