Architecture And Aechæology.

of their peculiar plan . Wc maj- surely lie ah owed to sympathise with our ' p ilgrim fathers' in their wish to retain such a memorial of Jerusalem and its holy places , and recognise it as a natural feeling of those days ivhen thc land consecrated by our Saviour ' s footsteps ivas an ohjece of devout aspirations to thousands as they left these shores , and of p ious remembcranee to the much smaller number

who returned to worship the King of the New Jerusalem in their own land . Two of the churches thus owing their form , and their very existence , to these facts and feelings , were erected by the Templars and Hospitallers respectively , —tivo religions orders associated under the most solemn vows for the protection of p ilgrims to Jerusalem . These ivere the Temple , in London , so wiled because it belonged to tho

Templars ; and Little Maplcstcnd , in Essex , which was attached to a commander } - ofthe Hospitallers . But if those two churches seem to be more especially interesting , from thc chivalrous orders to which they owed their erection , tho other two have also a peculiar claim , and , perhaps , a higher , on account of their greater antiquity . These are St . Sepulchre ' sin Cambrid and the church in this town of

, ge , tho same consecration . Of these the church in Cambridge , lias perhaps , the priority , having been consecrated in 1101 ; hut that in Northampton followed immediately after , beingassigned with great probability , to Simon do St . Liz , Earl of Northampton , ivho died in 111 . 0 , after having been long absent from this country . The church , then , if erected by himmust bo as old as the formerwithin a very few years

, , , and may be even older ; and there is nothing in the character of its original portion , which at all casts doubt upon the most remote antiquity wc might be inclined to give it . Thus , besides its connection with the history of the Crusades , which ifc shares with all the round churches , wc claim for Sfc . Sepulchre ' s a date scarcely , if at all , less remote than

that of thc oldest of tho other three . And if anything beyond this bo necessary to commend it to the interest of our society , and of thc town and county of Northampton , we may add that its foundation , remote as it is , is assigned to the first Norman who assumed the name of this town as bis title . Ho ivas not , indeed , the first Earl of'Northamptoii , for the title goes back one generation further , and to

another race . Its descent to this Simon de St . Liz , ivith those parts of bis history , which bear on tho subject of a clinrch commemorative of his pilgrim propensities , may fairly bo considered introductory to a few remarks on the history of the church itself . Thc first Earl of Northampton was Walthcof , son of Siward , Earl of Northumberland , a noble and valiant Dane . "Walthcof was one of the most

formidable of the Conqueror ' s opponents ; but William , in respect for the doughty champion of a fallen race , confirmed him iu his former honours , and added to them the earldoms of Northampton , and Huntingdon . He gave him , too ( Ictus hope ifc was not wittingly ) , a teacherous and cruel companion in his greatness . He gave him Judith , his niece , to wife , who afterwards procured Walthcof ' s execution , by base , and probably false , accusation . At the same time there ivas in

"William ' s court one Simon de St . Liz , a noble Norman , but lame in one leg , a defect which turned out greatly to his happiness ; for when William ivould have given him his niece Judith , the teacherous widow of the noble 'Walthcof , with all his possessions , thc lady refused to ratify her part of the bargain ou account of his lameness . Simon , happy to lie thus rejected , married the daughter of Judith instead ,

and so succeeded to thc greater part of Walthcof ' sestatcsand his titles . Soon after this , Simon de St . Liz , built the Castle of Northampton ; ancl , about the year 108-1 , he largelyendowed the Convent of St . Andrew , making it , however , unhappily , an alien priory , subject to the Cluniac Abbey of St . Mary cle Caritate , on thc banks of the Loire . As ' he advanced in years , his zeal for the faith advanced also ,- and ,

towards the close of bis life , he took the cross and went to the Holy City . He ivas fortunate enough to return , and zealous enough to repeat his journey ; but , being seized with an illness on his homeward way , he died about the year lllo , at the foresaid Abbey of St . Mary de Caritate , and ' ivas there buried . The condition in which he left thc church of St . Sepulchre ' s may be very probably inferred from several indications still remaining , ft seems certain that it consisted of the present round , together with the chancel , terminating

in an eastern apse . Tho principal entrance was most likcly through a highly-enriched doorway ut the west-end of the round , ivhieh has given way to the present tower . Instead of a tower or other steeple to the original church , the round ivas crowned with a lofty clerestory or lantern , with a conical roof of high pitch ; and , as there was a tril ' oi-ium over the aisles of the round , which has now disappeared , tho

ivhole elevation would not bo deficient in height . The chancel , I imagine , hacl no aisles : ancl , like that of Little Maplcstcad , which was also without aisles , terminated iu an apse . In the interior , the central circle of ei ght pillars and arches was surrounded by an aisle with a groined roof , over which was a triforium opening into the church by a series of archesprobably little inferior in heiht to thoso below .

, g Resting on these , and rising to some considerable height above them , was the clerestory or lantern , doubtless of eig ht , lights , with appropriate decorations . A richly-moulded arch , ivould lead to the chancel , the details of which can bo supplied only by probable analogy . This , at least , there can be no reason to doubt , ivas both externally and internally a structure of very considerable eleganceaud

one-, which would excite the admiration , as well as the interest , of all who looked on it as a legacy from the deceased Crusader to those who had not been privilcdgcd to sec its prototype in thc Holy City . It did not , however , satisfy more than , tivo or three generations in the state in ivhieh Simon de St .. Liz left it ; and probably it was then , as it was often again , and now , perhaps for tho last timeto be enlarged in

con-, sequence of want of space for those who would worship in it . It was probably about 1180 , during the time of the gradual introduction of the Pointed arch , but ivhile the old Norman details were generally retained ( thus forming a transition era ) , that the northern wall of the chancel ivas cut through , to form an arcade , for the addition of a northern

aisle . The work does not seem to havo boon judiciously or even carefully conducted , for the changes about this time originated a series of failures in the fabric , which led first to the necessary erection of certain unsightly buttresses , and ultimately , perhaps , to thc failure of the round , and the sacrifice of the old triforium and clerestoiy . Thc twelfth century , however , probably closed upon a church scarcely

differing from that which Sfc . Liz had finished before 1115 , except that a northern aisle had been added to tho chancel . Thus , so far as at thc present appears , thc church remained for upwards of a century , for it is not till earl y in the fourteenth century that there are any indications of a south chancel aisle . And it was before the close of the same century that thc present tower and spire were erected . This

ivas not ivithout a purpose ; for the round had probably suffered so much b y former changes as to require great repairs . The aisle vaults and thc triforium were probably sacrifice ! at tin ' s time , and the clerestoiy rebuilt on a much more meagre scale , though certainly not so wretchedl y as at present . A tower and spire were therefore required to give character to thc church . I need hardly tell you that this last feature is of great beauty ; and long may it remain an

ornament , not to this church only , but to the town of Northampton . "Whatever lias happened to St . Sepulchre ' s since the erection of thc spire has been by way of destruction and deterioration . The only comfort wo can derive from an inspection of it is this , that ' tho very fact that matters have been getting worse aud worse for two hundred years necessitates so entire a reconstruction , that we destroy , ivithout

compunction and regret , ivhat the exigencies of restoration and enlargement require to be swept aivay ; and that wc are certain , under the direction of our very * able architect , to hand over the remodelled edifice to the parish , and to tho people generally , as greatly increased in beaut y as in usefulness , and not diminished in interest . " Sir Henry Drydon , bart ,, in proposing " That the historial

interest of St . Sepulchre ' s Church recommends its preservation , " said nothing was truer than a remark made by Mr . James , that restoration not unfrcquentl y meant destruction . More mischief had been done in the last twent y-five years than in any previous half-century , and tho time ivould come ivhen loud and greivous would be thc lamentations . They could not do more mischief than to set about knockin g down right and left and then to commence the work of restoration according to their oivn fancy . Those old churches worn left