Review.

It was with a sense of astonishment that, after so great a lapse of time, this interesting communication, so voluminous in detail, and, so apparently explanatory of doubts and difficulties in connection with the obscure problem of the Loretto Chapel, should have presented itself unsought, unexpected, and inclusive of strange new elements which suggested the existence at Glastonbury in Bere's day of an architectural model which would be unique for the period in these islands, and probably without parallel in Northern Europe.

Several questions arise in the mind. Could the little windows in Coney's sketch have stimulated a subconscious dream of an Italian chapel? But where are we to look for the original model of these undulating parapets, Lions sejeant with shields, patellæ, fruit and flower enrichment, the conchoidal "Cava Virginis," and the precision of the general proportions? Was there, in the subconscious memory of either of the sitters, some forgotten impression of a building in Padua or elsewhere in Northern Italy, which in its main features, or subsidiary detail, might tally with what was here given? That we cannot say, for nothing of the sort could or can be recalled by the conscious mind.

Should the day come when the bank of rubble on the north side of the nave of Glastonbury Abbey can be thoroughly explored, it may be that beyond some traces of the freestone wall spoken of by the old gardener there may be found nothing>; but if, on the other hand, it should appear that by the same obscure mental process which has already, in the case of the Edgar Chapel, predicated the existence, with practical truth in form and detail, of a building whose very memory was lost (and the evidence for which had been ignored, nay even scouted, by the most competent antiquaries), another architectural treasure, long buried and forgotten, might once again be brought to light, and its wealth of Italian detail verified; then, indeed, would come into sight new vistas, new possibilities of exploration and research into the secrets of old time, and we should stand at the threshold of the Gate of Remembrance.

SITTING. 16th August, 1917 (at Gloucester).

Note.—The objects sought in this communication were formulated by F.B.B. in advance. They chiefly concerned the discrepancies between the two descriptions of Bere's buildings given at previous sittings, 13th June, 1911, and 4th December, 1916, the first of which referred to some work unidentified. F.B.B. suggested that the discovery of the footings of the transept "aisle" immediately before the former of these two sittings had created a mental bias in favour of a "chapel" there, and thus confused the script.

"Maestro ... Francesco de Padua qui me instruxit et capella(m) cognoscit in Italia. Ille etiam scripsit cum me et ille ... (struebat) in modo Italiano, et mecum in nave navigavit ad Brit(tanniam). Ille aedificavit et ornavit."

"Deepe, by ye Bank, is ye walle where ye fathers didde sit in their old age; and they had not the use[52] of the younger brethren, but were free—and who wished to spend hys dayes in ease and luxury? But capella wasne in muro in Boreali parte. I have told ye. It was soe, and in the banke deepe down ye shall find hym full perfect as I do think. There was a deepe place where they destroyed and they covered him and made a banke full six feet high, and soe saved the wall at the west end for all tyme.

"Ask ye, what was the chapel under the Tower beyond the Porche? He was for the reliquaries, and ye did enter hym from the garth on the syde of St. Mary's and uppe four steppes to him, and soe through to the upper garth and ye road to the John's Gate."

"Wysdom—it was best soe. The Land was ycovered with the houses of God, and the grass he could not grow, and it was in the providence of God that the houses were destroyed, for they held no life. Men desired fuller life in ye world, and to travel far; and the old faith[53] was no longer needed, for the minds of men were no longer as ye beasts that perish, but each man was a light unto himself and did need no father to control him—so it was best, though much loveliness was destroyed in the undoing. The Spirit liveth still, and what we lived for, in new guise we give to you. Grow in the Spirit. We are a symbol of great truths, and ye read the symbol aright. That which we did dream lives on, and in the Spirit we pass it on to you, from symbol to symbol—ever higher, ever wider.

"As great books were we, and our work was in stone—a language handed down for you to read, which we had forgotten, and so fell.

"What wold ye?"

At this point there was a pause in the writing. Neither F.B.B. nor J.A. were aware of anything that had been written. The sheets were replaced and laid aside as they were filled, and nothing was suggested during the writing by either sitter. There was a little conversation on other subjects. At this point it occurred to F.B.B. (though in ignorance of the question "What wold ye?") to ask the following, and he wrote it down on the paper.

Q. "Do you confirm all that was told us of the Italian design of the chapel of the Loretto? Please say what building in Italy was the model chosen by Abbot Richard Bere for this work."

A. "Francesco de Padua aedificavit. Two would speak of it—he who made it and I who moved for my fannes and English. We both made hym—I, and he, my friend."

"Capella di Marco[54] at Padua—hym by the Key.[55]

"Dominic di Vallera Castiglione[56] aedificavit anno 1497—via St. Ursula."

At this point the sitting was broken off and resumed on the evening following—17th August, 1917.

Q. by F.B.B. "Please tell us plainly, what was the building 22 feet long and 4 paces wide spoken of on 13th June, 1911? What was its use and what was its dedication? This is the building with the fan-vaulting. Tell us exactly where it stood."

"Vincula ecclesiae disrupta sunt. Claustra aperta sunt.

"Claustra quae vocantur, vento Boreali aperta est (sic)[57] in vestibulo sub turre—English volts—and Capella Lorettae (in) Ytaliano modo.

"Capella Loretta was on ye lower level, with four or six steppys up to the pavement. One steppe to hym from the way from John's Gate to the North Porche.

"Seek my chapple as I told ye in ye Banck. He was entered from ye West, and had a door into the littel cloister by ye transept of ye grete Church, and four stepps up to the pavement.

"Ye door was in ye transept wall at ye end thereof.

"Wold ye have many things? The Vineyard was by the Ponds behind the Priests' Houses that I ybuilded, over against the (road?), and beyond ye gallery at the Maudlin Gate by the water. On ye side of ye grete Courte was ye brick yarde—beyond ye fishponds. Seek ye foundations at ye east of ye great Court where ye pryor's chapel was, and I ybuilded in front of hym. Digge also near by the Kitchens, which were near together.

"That which the brethren of old handed down to us, we followed, ever building on their plann. As we have said, our Abbey was a message in ye stones. In ye foundations and ye distances be a mystery—the mystery of our Faith, which ye have forgotten and we also in ye latter days.

"All ye measures were marked plaine on ye slabbes in Mary's Chappel,[58] and ye have destroyed them. So it was recorded, as they who builded and they who came after knew aforehand where they should build. But these things are overpast and of no value now. The spirit was lost and with the loss of the spirit the body decayed and was of no further use to (us).

"There was the Body of Christ, and round him would have been the Four Ways. Two were ybuilded and no more. In ye floor of ye Mary Chappel was ye Zodiac, that all might see and understand the mystery. In ye midst of ye Chapel he was laid; and the Cross of Hym who was our Example and Exemplar.

"Braineton, he didde much, for he was Geomancer to ye Abbey of old tyme."

These curious statements appear to have a bearing on certain facts recorded of the Lady Chapel and upon others which have come to light as a result of the study of the whole plan of the Abbey Church and Monastic buildings. The latter were found to be laid out on a series of commensurate squares of 37 × 2 (or 74) feet, and it has been observed that there is no divergence from the symmetry of these squares in the works of the successive centuries right up to the time of the last Abbot, for the Edgar Chapel falls into line with the rest. Thus the outer measure of the total length of the Great Church with St. Mary's Chapel is 592 feet, or eight commensurate and consecutive squares of 74 feet each, and the width of the Nave and Quire are each one such square. The plan has been already most useful in locating the position of walls destroyed and lost. There is much yet to be done in order to complete the plan, but it is, in the main, recovered, and has been published in the Proceedings of the Somerset Archæological Society, from which it is here reproduced (Fig. 12).

As to the engraved geometric lines on the floor of St. Mary's Chapel, it may be well to quote William of Malmesbury, whose record of this dates from the twelfth century. This old chronicler says, speaking of this chapel, which was on the site of the oldest Christian church:

"This church, then, is certainly the oldest I know in England, and from this circumstance derives its name (vetusta ecclesia).... In the pavement may be seen on every side stones designedly inlaid in triangles and squares, and figured with lead, under which, if I believe some sacred enigma to be contained, I do no injustice to religion."

Fig. 13.
Note.—This plan shows the state of knowledge in 1912. A western aisle to the north transept is shown on the site of the foundations which had been discovered.

To fold between pp. 148, 149.

The plan of the Chapel is itself a perfect instance of the Vesica Piscis, the proportions of the double equilateral triangle and the most sacred and cherished mystery of the Christian temple builders (see Proceedings of the Somerset Archæological Society, vol. lxii., 1916, pp. xxxviii-xl). For the "Four Ways" see such early instances of the Rood as the example at Lucca Cathedral, where the arms of the Cross are held in a circle, suggestive of the zodiac, and point to the position of the four fixed signs Aquarius, Leo, Taurus, and Aquila or Scorpio, corresponding to SS. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, figured in the Christian symbology by the Angel, the Lion, the Bull, and the Eagle respectively. What is implied in the foregoing communication, when it is stated that of the four ways, they only builded two, is not known to the writer.

F.B.B., not being yet quite satisfied on the subject of the script of 13th June, 1911, repeated a part of his former question, as follows:

Q. "But where was that building 22 feet long and 4 paces wide, with three four-light windows and fans. I cannot see how the measure of 22 feet is obtained. Was this an east-and-west measure, or to be taken north-and-south?"

A. "Ye door into ye transept in ye north, which I, Camel, used; he was in ye west porche and under the three high windowes.

"What wold ye? The newe Chappell, he was in ye Bank far oute, in line with ye Transept as I remember yt. He wasne finished or ever. Chappells a many! Everywhere! Why cumbered they the ground when faith was dead, and there was no longer any need for hym? The purse[59] was full, it must be spent, and so, when nor barn nor byre nor pent called for it, it was yspent. Why should roysterers and evil men have it to spend? So we builded much.

"Chapels everywhere—ne need of them.

"Small chance it is preserved (passage doubtful), but it was well ycovered, I wot, for them who would pull downe.

Fig. 14.—Glastonbury Abbey: Plan of the Chapel of Our Lady, built A.D. 1184, on the Site of the Church of Joseph of Arimathæa.

The plan lies in a hexagon. Its measures are based upon the standard British foot of 12 inches. The breadth between the faces of the central buttresses is 37 feet, in harmony with the general scheme of measures found in the Abbey. The length of the vesica is approximately 64 feet, and its points touch the outer faces of the end walls. External to this is another vesica embracing the plinth-course (see plan). The interior shows a third, marking three-quarters of its length. Each vesica contains a rhombus of two equilateral triangles. Their measures are symbolic and explanatory of the sacred geometry of which the "Gematria" of the Greek scriptures is illustrative. Thus, the solid rectangular area of this building is 37 by 64, or 2,368 square feet, by Gematria the equivalent of ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Jesus Christ) or Ὁ ἉΓΙΟΣ ΤΩΝ ἉΓΙΩΝ (The Holy One of Holy Ones). The rhombus contained has the area 1,184 square feet, very possibly designed to record the date (A.D. 1184) of the erection of the Chapel. It will be noted that William of Malmesbury alludes to the "sacred enigma" believed to be concealed in the triangular and other figures on the floor of the Chapel.

"Stones carven and yguilded—ne spirit, I wot. How could these things stand in the day of wrath? Pride! Ostentation! Much glory and much tinsel; but ne worship, ne humbleness, ne object for us to continue more.... So passe old tymes away."

Q. "But how was that 22 feet length arrived at?"

A. "A cloyster from ye Nave to ye Lobby, and four steppes unto ye Transept floor, and from ye lobby, on ye west, ye Chappell.

"Ne Chappell but ye Cloyster in ye corner of ye grete Church. Claustrum to ye Chappel along ye aisle—then ye lobby and ye Chappel west of hym."

Fig. 15.—The North Transept, showing the "Claustra" along the Aisle, then the Lobby, with its Four Doors, and the Loretto Chapel to the West.

Fig. 16.—Glastonbury Abbey: Complete Plan, showing All the Principal Features mentioned in the Script.

This statement is now sufficiently explicit. It is possible to form a plan (see Figs. [15] and [16]). The little cloister alongside the wall of the transept forms a western aisle to the same, covering one bay, whose width is known to have been 22 feet nearly. At this point it merges into a lobby or vestibule, at or near the foot of a fair-sized turret which stands at the north-west angle of the transept. This lobby has doors on all sides—(1) south, from the cloister communicating with the nave; (2) north, to the upper garth, and the path used by Camel the Purser, who lived in High Street; (3) east, and up the steps through the transept wall, into the transept itself; and (4) west, into the short corridor of 10 feet leading to the Loretto Chapel.

A final question was asked, and the result is interesting, as the question was a mental one, asked by F.B.B., not written nor communicated to J.A. by any ostensible means. F.B.B. formulated the question in his mind thus: "What was the surname of the Paduan architect Francesco?" Answer: "Vecchi.—Francesco di Vecchi."[60]

This not being quite as clear as was wished, the question was repeated, and the reply came as follows: "Vecchi di Torcello in Italia."

PLATE V.

CONJECTURAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NORTH TRANSEPT, WITH THE "CLAUSTRUM" ATTACHED
On the left, under the turret, is the open vestibule, leading to the Chapel of the Loretto (on extreme left).

To face page 154.

[CONCLUSION]

So ends the "Loretto Chapel" script, with a series of precise and categorical statements, offering no means of escape from the final alternative of truth or falsehood, fact or fiction. This situation will be clear to the reader, as it is to the writer of this narrative, who, for the reasons now about to be given, entertains no misgivings as to the course he has taken in publishing it.

His motto here would be, "Prove all things, and hold fast that which is good." These writings, whose value is at present unproven, and in respect of the detailed statement of names, dates, and places, highly problematical, are put forward as an illustration of the working of his method.

They are not to be accepted with credulity, but are subjects for critical analysis, and must be weighed and examined, with all the rest, in the light of reason, assisted by every useful means of normal research and exploration.

If we are resolved to accept nothing which is not first fully endorsed by reason and common sense, and afterwards fortified by deductions fairly made from data, however slender, we stand but little risk of being deceived. Let us, therefore, apply to this case the same rule which the writer has already successfully applied in the case of the Edgar Chapel.

Intuition has played her part. From the depths of the subconscious mind her power has evoked these images. Now let Reason and Logic take the reins and drive the argument. Let us analyse the facts, such as they are, which bear upon the case, and in the light of the intuitive results see whether an argument may be built up which will be capable of supporting weight.

In this lies the true utility of the method we have chosen. It claims a double value—(1) in its ability to remember and to review subconsciously an infinitude of minor things, slightly or casually impressed upon the mind and unnoticed or unremembered by the working brain; and (2) the faculty of balancing, assessing, and combining these in such manner as the brain itself is rarely if ever able to do, and hence to evolve from slenderest data a scheme in which all probabilities which can lawfully be inferred from these minutiæ are welded into a complete whole.

For a moment, let us go farther and assume that some of the statements made in the script are not merely incapable of proof, but are found actually inconsistent with facts. Where then do we stand with our theory?

As I have said, until the statements are accepted, no one is deceived unless by his own rashness. All that has happened is that two people having a perfectly honest purpose have attempted to record by automatic process knowledge arrived at by the trained exercise of the subconscious mind, and have obtained—let us say—fiction or romance instead of the fact they sought.

The logical inference from this failure will obviously be that the particular method employed, whilst it may have the value claimed for it of supplementing the ordinary reasoning powers, has proved unreliable where applied for the purpose of procuring statements whose truth does not (as in the case of the Edgar Chapel) depend upon the deductive or inductive probabilities, but upon isolated facts unrelated to others, such as the names of places and people unknown; and that therefore, as a general conclusion, the method is unsuited for the purpose of obtaining such information, and we have used it for an end for which it is not adapted.

Thus may the legitimate bounds of the automatic method be prescribed; Intuition must bring all her results to the bar of Reason for provisional acceptance, and when this test is passed then the matter becomes ripe for further research.

Above all, let us not be superstitious. There is no need to invoke the action of supernatural agencies of a malevolent sort to explain the outcome of our own fallibility. If a man or woman sits down and produces automatically a story which turns out to be fiction, why, I ask, should that fiction be regarded as anything inherently worse in origin than the mass of fiction, good, bad, and indifferent, which writers produce consciously?

Where is the essential difference? The only answer I can find to this question is that the difference lies in the folly of the credulous, who are at all times willing to attach greater importance and credit to a statement made from an unknown source than to one which has a definite human and personal origin. "Omne ignotum pro magnifico."

For the imaginative function, whether working consciously or unconsciously, is the same in either case. Give it truth to feed upon and it will evolve truth. And through the door of truth may enter that which will guide us to a wider knowledge.

[APPENDIX]

THE LORETTO CHAPEL

SYNTHETIC OR CONSTRUCTIVE ARGUMENT

Based on Conclusions offered by the Automatic Script, and the Weighing of All available Data in the Light of Same.

A.—As to the Position of the Loretto Chapel.
Script.Existing Data.Result.
August 16, 1917. "Deepe,by ye Bank, is ye walle," etc."But capella wasne in muro inBoreali parte ... and in yeBanke deepe downe ye shall findhim," etc. There was a deepplace where they destroyed, andthey covered him, and made abanke full six feet high, and soesaved the wall at the west endfor all tyme."
December 4, 1916. "AbbotBere ybuilded ye Loretto Chapelfaire and large to the north sideof the Navis. Itt was not yeChapitre House.... Bere'sChapel was distant from yeNavis thirty-one feet and a half,and from ye aisle of ye transepthe was fulle tenn feet....The same was forty feet bytwenty or thereabouts, and hischief doore was to the west, anda pavement joyned him to theroad from St John's Gate to yeChurche."
August 17, 1917. "CapellaLoretta was on ye lower level,with four or six steppys up to thepavement."
"Seek my chapple, as I toldye, in ye Banck."
"He was entered from ye west,and had a door into the littelcloister by ye transept of yegrete Church, and four stepps upto the pavement."
"All ye measures were markedplaine on ye slabbes of St.Mary's Chappel ... so it wasrecorded, as they who buildedand they who came after knewaforehand where they shouldbuild."
"The newe chappell he wasin ye bank far oute in line withye transept as I remember it."
September 1, 1910. "On yenorth syde of ye grete church,at ye ende, near to ye newechappel which Bere (builded)."		The Deep Place.—The mention of a"deep place" calls attention for thefirst time to a number of facts whichgroup themselves in a manner suggestiveof such a probability. They areas follows:
(a) Stukeley's view (1723) (seeFig. [9]) seems to indicate a drop onthe north side of the nave and transept,to a lower level.
Coney's view (see Plate [IV].) certainlyshows the small building on thenorth side of the nave with a breakin the ground just in front of it, markinga lower level for the wall.
(b) The configuration of the groundis in favour of this. Above and eastwardof the Abbey enclosure is anarrow valley running west, and filledup in its lower part, over which lies thenorthern section of the Abbey enclosure.The High Street runs downthe north side of this valley, and parallelto it, and closely adjoining theAbbey wall is Silver Street, a namesaid by some antiquaries to indicate aford.
(c) The drainage of the Abbeychurch is down the north side, as wouldappear by the direction of the drainagechannel in the foundations of theEdgar Chapel, and the larger water-channelwhose course was traceddiagonally beneath the floor of thequire.
(d) In excavating the north porch,a very deep pit was found right againstthe north-west angle of the footings.It went down nearly 10 feet below thefloor-level of the church. This mayhave extended east and west, and thenorth porch may in that case be supposedto have been approached by apaved way over a bridge.
The Bank.—The foot of the bank, asnearly as may be estimated, lies about27 feet north of the position of thenave wall (outer face). This wouldbring the 31 and a half feet distance indicatedby the script for the wall of thechapel, about 4 and a half feet within thebank, and this would seem to accordwith the old gardener's recollection.
The bank runs westwards as far asthe north porch, or about 108 feet westof the transept, so that the west end ofthe chapel as described would be wellcovered, being some 40 feet east of thetermination of the bank.
The extreme projection of the transept,beyond the line of the inner faceof the nave wall, would be about 60feet, and not less than 54.
The thirty-one and a half feetmeasure from the outside of the navewall, if added to the probable thicknessof the latter, will give a total of39 or 40 feet, and if this measure is assumedto be to the inner face of thechapel wall (south) the position of itsouter face would accord with the 37 feetgeneral line, following the symmetricscheme on which the whole abbey isfound to be built (see Fig. [12]), and thenorth side of the chapel will then comevery nearly into line with the transept.		That the ground on the northside of the Church sloped downformerly to the bed of the brookcoming from the hill behind thetown. This would make a depressionabout 10 feet deep alongsidethe Church, at a distance,roughly, of about 40 feet northof the outer face of the nave aislewall, and immediately north ofthe projection of the north transeptand porch. The bed wouldhave been partly filled when theAbbey was standing, and therewould be a system of drains beneaththe soil, which would havebeen levelled to form a garth orgarden a few feet below the navefloor, terminated on the west by apath or pavement from the porchto St. John's Gate (running duenorth), and beyond this, again tothe west, would be another garthat a still lower level, to the northof St. Mary's Chapel and theGalilee, following the generaltrend of the grounds, which slopeto the westward. This part wasthe cemetery of the laity.
It is inferred that Bere's Chapelof the Loretto may have stood onthe upper garth, its floor a fewfeet below the nave, and at aboutthe distance mentioned in thescript.
That the present aspect of theground, which shows a uniformrise to the north of the Abbey, isthus totally misleading, and thebank and the higher level beyondon the town side must be altogetherartificial, and nothing buta huge accumulation of débris fromthe destruction of the Abbey. Thebulk of the ancient work nowdestroyed was so enormous thatthere is no difficulty at all in supposingthis, notwithstanding thefact that a great quantity of themasonry went, as is known, tomake a foundation for the newroad to Wells.
The further inference is madethat under this bank will mostlikely be hidden a great deal offragmentary work, and that itsremoval will bring to light manythings of archæological interest.
That the Loretto Chapel, if itsposition be correctly given in thescript as 31 feet 6 inches fromnave, would appear nearly in linewith the transept (north end),when viewed from the north, but,if anything, rather further out(see Fig. [14]).
B.—As to the Western Aisle to the Transept,and the Suggestion of a Cloister or Passage inSame, and the Character of the Building.
June 13, 1911.... "Somewhatremaineth of ye outer walls,and ye walle by ye crossinge....Ye doore unto hymis at the west (see note), nighunto the pillar of the Navis; onedoore only, on Nave.
"Yn feete twenty and two,and foure paces in the widththereof, and ye walle of ye Navewas strengthened thereby," etc.
December 4, 1916. "Bere'sChapel was distant from yeNavis thirty-one feet and a half,and from ye aisle of ye transepthe was fulle tenn feet with acovered way unto, and foursteppes up unto ye aisle aforesaid.
"There were four steppes—nay,six—to the aisle of ye transeppt,and a covered way vaultedin a round vault to ye chappel."
August 17, 1917. "Claustraquae vocantur, vento Borealeaperta est—in vestibule subturre—English volts."
"Seek my chapple as I told yein ye Banck. He was enteredfrom ye west, and had a doorinto the littel cloister by ye transeptof ye grete church, and fourstepps up to the pavement. Yedoor was in ye transept wall atye end thereof."
"Ye door into ye transept inye north, which I, Camel, used,he was in ye west porche andunder the three high windows.
>"A Cloyster from ye Nave toye Lobby, and four steppes untoye Transept floor, and from yeLobby, on ye west, ye Chappell.
"Ne Chappel but ye Cloyster inye corner of ye grete church.Claustrum to ye Chappel alongye aisle, then ye lobby and yeChappel west of hym."
(Italics mine.—F.B.B.)		(a) The wall-footing discovered in1911 shows a possible breadth of 12 feetor so for this aisle. The thickness ofthe footing is evidence of a strong construction.There were some marks ofa cross-foundation at a point over20 feet out north, and near the face ofthe bank.
(b) The indications were in favourof a lower level for this work. Thedrop from the transept level to that ofthe nave is about 4 feet, and this aisleor passage would appear to be on thenave level.
(c) Benedictine houses did not usuallyhave western aisles to the transepts,as is the case with cathedralchurches. But Glastonbury followedWells in some things, and at Wellsthere are western aisles to the transepts,and that on the north side hasscreens on two sides, within arches tonave and to transept.
(d) The detail found on this site wasof very fine late perpendicular window-tracery,showing the existence ofwindows with heavy central mullions,and most likely of four lights.
(e) Camel's house was in the HighStreet at a point which would bereadily approached by a path towardsthis part of the Abbey Church.		That the foundation discoveredin 1911 is not that of a chapel, noryet of an aisle to the transept,properly so called, although itmight be thus described since itwould have that appearance fromwithout.
The inference is that this adjunctwould have been on the navelevel, and its use connected withthe nave. It would have beenprimarily a passage-way from thenave to a court or to buildings onthe north side, and it would beproperly described as a cloisteralley.
In this position it would, ifsubstantially built, most readilyserve the useful purpose of contributingsupport to the centraltower and to the walls near thecrossing, adding stability to thetransept if affected by the weaknessof the tower, and furnishingsupport for flying buttresses to thenorth-west angle of the crossingand tower itself.
There would be little object incarrying it out further north thanwould be requisite to cover onebay of the transept wall. Thiswould make it a possible 22 feet ininternal measure. There wouldbe normally a double square onplan, and if fan-vaulted thiswould give two bays, and twowindows to the west and one to thenorth—three in all.
C.—As To the Italian Style of the Chapel.
December 4, 1916. "AbbotBere ybuilded ye Loretto Chapelfaire and large, to the north (sideof the) Navis.... Yt wasybuilded by Bere most faire andwonderful in ye newe stylebrought from Ytaly when hedidd go there...."
"We have said, he was of theYtalian style, new and veryfaire, and Bere ybuilded comingfrom embassadrie in Ytaly....He wasne like anything else, (butwas of the) newe style."
Here followed the detailedsketches showing—
1. A rectangular chapel offour bays, with a small apse tothe east, as a "Cava Virginis."
2. Parapets of undulating outline,and others suggestive of thefleur-de-lys, with indications offruit and flower enrichment.
3. Sitting lions, bearingshields, over each division of thebays, mounted on small pillarswith "patellae" or plaques,dividing the parapets.
4. Heads of angels or cherubs,probably in the cornices.
5. Round-headed windows,and vaults with bands of carvedfruit and flowers on the groin-ribs.		(a) The Chapel was built just afterBere's embassage to Italy. He was acultivated and learned man with aknowledge of architecture, as is evidentfrom the quality of his building works.He must have been supported by capable,if not eminent, master-buildersand craftsmen.
(b) Bere was impregnated with thenew ideas, and was the friend of Erasmus.A letter of his to Erasmus is extant.His sympathy with new andmore liberal views would be reflected ina wider culture, and the influence of theItalian Renaissance, already affectingEnglish art in minor ways, may wellhave moved him to become a pioneer inintroducing the style which, a half-centurylater, usurped the place of ournative "Tudor" forms. These he usedas a master, and had developed themto their highest pitch.
(c) The duration of his visit to Italyis at present unknown to us, but thecircumstance of the death of Pius III.—ifhe overstayed that event—wouldmake for delay and give him time todevote to the study of Italian architecturalmodels.
(d) The circumstances of his vow arealso, so far as we know, not a matter ofhistory; but the vow itself or the intentionwhich clearly implies it is ourreading of Leland's note.		That a Chapel dedicated toan "Italian" Madonna, erectedby an Abbot of liberal views,impressed by the newer learning andculture, immediately on his returnfrom a visit to Italy, at atime when the forms of ItalianRenaissance were in process ofadaptation to Gothic buildings,might well have been influencedin its design by Italian ideas,even to a wholesale extent, andthat if an Italian master were employed,as appears by no meansan unreasonable idea, an entirelyItalian model may have beenfollowed.
August 16, 1917. "MaestroFrancesco de Padua qui me instruxitet capellam cognoscit inItalia ... struebat in modoItaliano.
"Francesco de Padua aedificavit.Two would speak of it—hewho made it, and I who movedfor my fannes and English. Weboth made him."
(Name of the model for thiswork)—
"Capella di Marco at Padua—hymby the Key."
"Domenic di Vallera Castiglioneaedificavit anno 1497—viaSt Ursula."
(Name of Bere's architect)—
"Vecchi—Francesco DeVecchi."
"VECCHI di Torcello in Italia."		The Chapel is undoubtedly a thank-offering.It is built to the honour ofOur Lady in the particular aspect of an"Italian" saint of local repute, possessedof the attribute of protection tolife and health. The choice of a styleand character for the monument designedby Bere would very naturally beconsonant with that prevailing locally—i.e.,Italian.
(e) A few fragments of plain mouldedwork, of Italian character, have beennoted amongst the débris of the Abbey.These were hitherto supposed to havebelonged to some Elizabethan building,now destroyed, whose remains hadsomehow found their way into thegeneral mass of Abbey fragments.		That the type that would evokemost readily the Abbot's artisticsympathies would be a NorthItalian type, not too far removedfrom the principles of architecturalform to which he had been habituated.An entirely Roman model,on purely classic lines, is for thisreason less likely. But the selectionof an Italian master for thepurpose of carrying out Bere'sscheme almost necessarily followsif the intention to employ anItalian style be conceded. Berecould not do this unaided, as anAbbot would not be his own architect.
D.—As to the Style of the Building at the Angle of the Transept and North Aisle of Nave.
Script, June 13, 1911. "Imade that building. All that Ididde anywhere is fannes. Nebarrel vault. And under them,three faire windowes of fourelights, with transomes and littelcastel-work on the ramps thereof ... andeach fanne hadtwelve ribs, and they wereycoloured red and gold, like mychapel of Edgar....
"... Ye roundels of ye voltewere golden, and also ye bosses,and ye hollows were bright redde,likewise ye tabernacle of OureLadye in the est wall golde andredde; and ye windowes were ofglasse yellow in canopies withredde and blewe in ye little lightsthereof. Ye floore was of tileisred, with shields and ornamentsin yellow likewise."...		(a) As an integral part of the Churchthe probabilities lie in the direction ofthe use of Bere's own master-masonsfor this work, and the choice of thecustomary English style seems tofollow. This would be all the moreconsistent with probabilities if the workwere involved with the strengtheningof the older masonry at the crossing ofthe Church—a work known to havebeen necessary, since Leland recordsthe fact that Bere strengthened thecentral tower by the addition of the"St. Andrew's" arches beneath it (seePlate [III]).
(b) The fragments of window-traceryalready referred to as having beenfound on the site are English in character.		That the building in the angleof the nave and transept wasformed with the double object of asupport to the weak walls of thecrossing, and as a covered approachto the Chapel of theLoretto, erected by Abbot Bere ona site adjoining the north side ofthe nave, but not attached directlyto same, and that this cloister wasbuilt in the later English style inwhich his own masons wereexpert.

[ENVOI]

THE LAMPLIGHTER

One by one, along the crowded street

The footsteps falter, and the stillness grows

Oppressive as the sudden hush that falls

In shaded chambers whence a life has flown.

One by one, the ruddy windows fade

To utter darkness, while behind closed doors

The voices cease, and all the shadowy night

Broods o'er a city of the seeming dead;

Save only that amid the shadows gleam

Dim lights that trace the form of street and square

And guide the wanderer in his mazy quest

Through ways all unfamiliar. He that lit

The starry welcome now is seen no more.

His light extinguished and his duty done,

He peaceful sleeps within his silent home.

We see him not; and yet perchance he hears

In dreams our echoing voices as we pass

Athwart his shuttered windows—hears us bless

The light he lighted, gleaming through the night

A welcome to the lost and weary; wakes perchance

To murmur, "All is well," then sleeps again.

So may he sleep in peace until the Sun

From which his flame was borrowed wakes the East

To crimson glory, and his glimmering lights

Merge in the splendour of the breaking Day.

John Alleyne.

[INDEX AND SYNOPSIS]

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