The Antiquities Of Wells, Somersetshire.

perfect , and adds much to the picturesque beauty of the house , the rest of which is entirely modernised ; and the original offices seem to have been destroyed , as is frequently the case . The singing-school is over part of the west Avail of tho cloister , and joins on to the south-ivest corner of tire cathedral . The organist ' s house is close to this , and is one of the smaller houses of the fifteenth century , the plan of Avhich Avas that ofthe letter T » the hall forming the top strokeand the rest of the house

, the stem ; but the house has been almost entirely spoiled during the last century ; vile additions having been made to it , encroaching on the small space originally left between the house and the cloister , and destroying the outline of the house , AA'hich , when it stood clear , must have been extremely picturesque . The interior is also spoiled by modern partitions , IIOAV become more old-looking and more rotten than the original roof of the half which remains .

Most of the canons' houses have been either rebuilt entirely or much spoiled by modern alterations ; one of them to the north-east of the cathedral ( IIOAV occupied by Canon Brodrick ) has a good porch and a panelled battlement of the fifteenth century . Another house , rather farther to the east ( noiv the school ) , is partly of the fourteenth century , with a . good finial on the gable , and the moulded arch of a doorway of that period ,

•evidentl y the chief entrance to the hall originally , but long blocked up . Tiris hall has a fine timber roof with angel corbels , but quite concealed hy modern lath and plaster ceilings . The cellar or store-room remains , with several lockers in the wall , •and is noiv the school-room . The solar over this is modernised , feut this also contains the old roof , ivith its gable and coping . To this , wings have been added in the fifteenth or sixteenth ¦ century , apparently to obtain additional bed-rooms ; and it is

probable that at that time the original kitchen and offices at the other end of the hall ivere destroyed , and new ones made in the new wing . Such a change as this was very frequently made in the sixteenth century . The very remarkable and picturesque Vicars' Close is so well ¦ known that it is not necessary to repeat any long story about it , but the outline of its history may be mentioned . The Vicars ' Choral formed part of the original establishment of the

cathedral , and were incorporated by Bishop Joceline in the beginning ef the thirteenth century ; and , as he was a great builder , it ,-is probable that he built houses for them ; hut all that we have remaining of his time are some fragments of beautifully-sculptured ornament used up as old material , and built in the spandrels of the arches of the windows , and in the parapet . These correspond exactly with his work in the cathedra ! , and with the remains of his palace at AVookey ; but they may have been

brought from some part of the cathedral IIOAV destroyed , and the original vicars' houses may ha ve been of Avood only , as AA-as very usual at that period . These ivere rebuilt by Bishop Ralph , of ShreAvsbury , in the fourteenth century ; and he expressly mentions in his will the houses that he has built for the vicars ; but all that now remains of his work is the hall , with its west windoiv and side windows ; the east end over the gateway was lengthened in the time of Henry VIII . hRichard Pomeroy .

y The present houses were entirely built hy the executors of Bishop Beckington , late in the fifteenth century , on one uniform plan ; and several of these remain perfect , though in many cases they have been altered , and two houses thrown into one . JTov can Ave complain much of this when we remember that the houses were originally intended for bachelors only , and each consisted of tAvo rooms Avith closets at the back , but no offices . The vicars dined together in their common hall , and required

no kitchen in their houses . The Close was , in fact , a college , in which each student had a separate small house , instead of his t \ vo rooms in a large one . The very beautiful gate-house and bridge over the road from the Vicar's Hall to the cathedral is part of the numerous works of Bishop Beckington , one of the greatest benefactors of the city . The southern arch of this bridge , the one nearest to the Chapter-house , has long bee . u concealed from vieiv on the east

side by a wall , Avhich has lately been removed ; on the Avest side by a stable built up against it , probably in the seventeenth century , but constructed of old materials so ingeniously put together as to deceive the eye at a very short distance , and to appear like part of the original structure . This obstruction , 1 am happy to say , is about to be removed and the arch left open , ivhich will greatly improve the effect of this very remarkable bridge . I can see no reason for keeping the passage across this bridge always closed , or Avhy the theological students should not he

allowed to go across it from their library , formerly the Vicars ' Hall , to the cathedral , as the vicars did of old . This would be , in fact , restoring it to the purpose for which it was built ; for the present theological students much more truly represent the class of persons for whose use the Vicars' Close itself and the bridge was built , than the present corporation of vicars does . The degradation of the class of vicars choral generally , nowcalled singing men , is one of the curses brought upon the Church

by the change in the value of money . The only other jtfediawal house is , I believe , Bishop Bub-Avith ' s almshouse , near St . Cuthbort's Church . This is remarkably perfect and very interesting , though much spoiled about a dozen years ago by some stupid builder , who could not understand or appreciate the wise arrangements of our ancestors . The original plan ivas a great hall , with a chapel at the end of it , and with cells along the sides for tlie almsmen , ivhich ivere

open at the top to the lofty and fine timber roof , so that each old man had the benefit of many hundred cubic feet of air ; and , in case he became ill or infirm , he could hear the service chanted daily in the chapel Avithout leaving his bed ; and if he was able only to craiA-1 to the door of his cell , he could see the elevation of the host hy looking along the central passage to the chapel , and he could always attend divine service , hpAvever old ov infirm he might be . At the opposite end of tlie hall ivas a building of

two stories , the loiver one of Avhich Avould he the common room of the almsmen ; and over it the chaplain ' s or master ' s apartment . In this apartment is noAv preserved a very fine moneychest of the fifteenth century , Avith the usual three locks , and painted in the old style ivith a scroll patera . This is supported on a stand made for ifc in the time of James I ., Avith some curious doggerel verses upon it . It is , perhaps , hardly necessary to observe that the arrangement of the cells along the sides of a

large hall is exactly the same as that of the dormitory of a monastery . This arrangement is the most economical of space consistent with an abundance of air , and has been adopted in the dormitory of Ridley school , and some other large schools , where

the masters are enlightened enough to profit by the wisdom of their ancestors . The same arrangement is also adopted in some of the public baths lately erected in various places , and for the same reasons . Tire partitions of the cells give privacy without losing space ; and , being open at the top to the roof , there is plenty of air . At Glastonbury , an almshouse of this description has had the hall roof destroyed , and each of the cells roofed over , so as to turn them into a little street of cottages . I cannot see

the advantage of this change , When the old arrangement was kept up , the almsmen , or the monks , were kept warm in the winter hy hangings and an awning- over the cell . But the modern builder has effected the improvement of making each cell as nearly air-tight as possible with lath and plaster , and introduced a second set of cells on a floor over the original ones ; thus entirely spoiling the old hall , and alloiving each almsman only a i-ery limited lof airhardlsufficient for

suppy , y health . I knoAv nothing ofthe history of this alteration , hut ifc seems natural to suppose that it has been done under the direction of some corporate body of governors , and has been considered a clever and ingenious construction , to accommodate double the number of almsmen in the same space and under the same roof ; and it looks as if the trustees of the property with Avhich the hospital was endoived by the founder , had , after long neglect , been seized Avith some qualms of conscience , or some

Avliolesome fear of the Charity Commission , and had observed that their funds were more than sufficient for the then existing number of almsmen at the then rate of payment . In such cases it very commonly happens that the change in the value of money since the time of the foundation is entirely forgotten . IE tlie endowment ivas in land , as it probably was , it is worth noiv , in nominal money value , tAventy times the sum afc Avhich it was reckoned by the founder . This is no random assertion , hut is well known to those who have studied the subject ; and I am not now ' speaking of the AVells case in particular : I only guess from appearances that the case is one of those of constant occurrence evervAvhere *