The Octagon.

We now come to this special glory of the Cathedral, "in which," says Mr. Millers, "elegance, magnificence, and strength are so happily blended, that it is impossible to determine in which respect it is most admirable." We follow up the description nearly in his own words. Here stood originally a square Norman tower, which in the year 1322, from the unequal pressure of the four parts of the church, gave way and fell eastward, crushing in its fall several adjoining arches. "It could not have happened at a more favourable conjuncture; as the convent was rich, spirited, and liberal; and though another great work had been begun the preceding year, (the erection of a new Lady Chapel,) the repair of this great dilapidation was immediately undertaken, and completed in a few years, by Alan de Walsingham, at that time sacrist,[34] an officer under whose particular charge were all the monastic buildings. It has continued above five hundred years, and may it yet continue a noble proof of his consummate skill as an architect!" The conception was original, being perhaps the first building of the kind ever erected. By throwing the weight upon eight strong piers and arches instead of four, he has probably guarded against the recurrence of a similar accident; at the same time he has given a larger space, a more agreeable form, and greater scope for embellishment, which is, however, most judiciously confined within such limits as not to interfere with sober and impressive grandeur. No one can behold it without admiring the skill which has suspended, rather than supported, a very heavy timber roof over so wide an area without a pillar.

"It is not equilateral; there are four longer and four shorter sides, alternate and respectively equal. Four lofty arches, in the four longer sides, open into the four principal parts of the church: alternately with these, in the four shorter sides, are as many more, much lower, opening obliquely into the aisles above and below the Transept. The arches are all supported by elegant clustered and conjoined columns, and their capitals are wreaths of flowers and foliage."

In the shorter sides there is room for some ornamentation, but the ornaments are chaste and not profuse. The four low arches in them are under canopies resting on good carved heads, which remain perfect. Those on the north-east are said to be intended for Edward III. and his queen Phillippa, in whose time the building was erected; on the south-eastern arch are represented the heads of a bishop and a priest, perhaps meant for Bishop Hotham and Prior Crauden, superiors at the period of erection. On the north-west arch are the heads of another priest, apparently younger, and of some secular person with long hair; the former is supposed to represent Alan de Walsingham, the skilful architect of this noble work; and the latter the chief mason. On the remaining arch are two figures, the meaning of which we can scarcely comprehend.

A little above each of these lower arches are three brackets, or corbels, with canopies; the original figures (if any) placed on these brackets have long since disappeared, but the spaces have lately been filled with sitting figures of the Apostles,[35] executed in stone by Mr. Redfern, each holding a symbolical instrument. If we start from the Choir and proceed to the right hand we shall find them placed in the following order:—

{St. Matthew—box.
S.E.St. John—chalice and dragon.
St. James, minor—club.
{St. Philip—small cross.
S.W.St. Paul—sword.
St. Bartholomew—knife.
{St. Thomas—mason's square.
N.W.St. Peter—keys.
St. Andrew—cross.
{St. Jude—spear.
N.E.St. James, major—pilgrim's staff.
St. Simon—saw.

There are also sixteen small stone heads, four connected with each group of three Apostles, which are not very clearly seen, perhaps, from the floor of the Cathedral, but which, when examined, shew by the conventual prophetic cap given to them, that they are intended to represent the sixteen Prophets of the Old Testament. Above these canopies, in each of the four sides, is a gallery or passage with an embattled parapet, and above that a large window of four lights with geometrical tracery; it is extremely sharp pointed, and towards the top each window is faced internally with a trellis or lattice-work of stone, which adds to its elegance without intercepting the light. These windows rise to the same height as the higher arches; they have been filled with stained glass by Mr. Wailes, and the subjects are chiefly representations of persons who were instrumental in the foundation, erection, or restoration of the Cathedral, of the reigning sovereigns at the respective periods, and of others who figured in the traditionary history of the foundress.

The window in the south-east angle is designed to commemorate the principal persons who figured in the traditionary history of the foundress. The figures in the upper tier represent Anna, father of St. Etheldreda; St. Etheldreda as queen; Tonbert, her first, and Egfrid, her second husband. In the lower tier, St. Etheldreda as abbess; Wilfred Bishop of York; St. Erminilda, the third abbess; and St. Sexburga, the second abbess. The tracery contains other figures and emblems, with the arms of the donor, the late Canon E.B. Sparke.

The window in the north-east angle, in continuation of the same design, contains in the upper tier figures representing St. Withburga, St. Edmond, St. Werberga, fourth abbess of Ely, and Archbishop Dunstan. In the lower tier, Bishop Ethelwold; Brithnoth, Duke of Northumberland; Abbot Brithnoth, and King Edgar. The tracery contains the arms of the University of Cambridge, with other figures and devices: contributed by subscriptions from the Bachelors and Undergraduates of the University of Cambridge.

The window in the north-west angle also contains eight representative figures, viz., in the upper tier, (reading from right to left) are William I., Henry I., Henry III., and Edward II.; and under these, Abbot Simeon, who commenced the present Cathedral; Harvey, the first Bishop of Ely; Bishop Northwold, who erected the Presbytery; and Alan de Walsingham, the skilful architect of the Octagon. The tracery contains medallions in which are pictured the shrine of St. Etheldreda; Abbot Simeon laying the foundation stone of the Cathedral; Alan de Walsingham and monks weeping over the ruins of the central tower; the arms of the University of Cambridge, of the See of Ely, of Bishop Sparke, with other devices. Half the cost of this window was defrayed by subscriptions from some graduates of the University of Cambridge, and the other half by a portion of the accumulation of the money given by Bishop Sparke[36] for the east window.