In 1627 the see was held by Joseph Hall, a man of great distinction. Though too conciliatory to care greatly for Laud's policy, he wrote a justly famous "Defence of the Church of England and her doctrines." After his translation to Norwich he underwent a good deal of persecution, which he himself has recorded, and was for six months a prisoner in the Tower. He is buried in Higham parish church, his monument a skeleton holding "in the right hand a bond to death sealed and signed, 'Debemus morti nos nostrique,' and in his left the same bond torn and cancelled, with the endorsement 'Persolvit et quietus est.'" Fuller says of the famous satirist that he was "not unhappy at controversies, more happy at comments, very good in his characters, better in his sermons, best of all in his meditations."
John Gauden, who became bishop in 1660, was far more fortunate, though probably not more happy. He does not seem to have been over scrupulous, and his desire for "a good manger" is unpleasantly obvious. But as the author of the ΕΙΚΩΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ he is remembered. The authorship has been disputed, but Charles II. certainly recognized his claim, and Clarendon believed his assertions about it. He was clever enough to have written even a better book, and there is no sufficient ground for depriving him of this honour. It is certain that he owed his preferment to his reputed merit as its author; though, oddly enough, he had taken the covenant and preached a notorious sermon against "pictures, images, and other superstitions of popery." But he publicly recanted, later, and protested against the murder of the king, whose supposed last prayers and meditations he was skilfully inventing. After being in Exeter two years he was removed to Worcester. But he had looked to become bishop of Winchester, and it is said that his death was hastened by disappointment.
Seth Ward, who followed him, had, as dean of Exeter, distinguished himself by his zeal and courage. He drove from the cathedral precincts the buyers and sellers who had encroached thereon, and the partition wall that divided the cathedral was taken down at his request. During the Commonwealth "the building which was now formally called 'the late cathedral church' was divided by a brick wall into two places of worship, known as East Peter's and West Peter's." The east portion was used by the Independents and the west by Presbyterians. Ward spent £20,000 on redeeming the cathedral from the degradation it had suffered, and bought an organ, "esteemed the best in England," which cost him £2,000. He was translated to Salisbury in 1667. He was a man of considerable ability and was a founder of the Royal Society.
Sparrow succeeded to the see in 1667. During his episcopate the Grand Duke Cosmo visited Exeter and wondered at the worthy bishop, his wife, and his nine children. The Duke of Tuscany was spoken of in the local reports as the Duke of Tuskey, and he received from the corporation a gift of "£20, or thereabouts." Sparrow, on his translation to Norwich, was succeeded by Lamplugh, whose political acumen, at any rate, compels admiration, if not respect. He fervently bade his flock rally round the unfortunate James II, and then, posting to London, was rewarded by the grateful king with the archbishopric of York. He then without any compunction crowned William of Orange, King of England. But his smartness availed little, "for within three years continuance of that high throne of York he was summoned before an higher." Macaulay has finely described the entrance of the prince into the cathedral. "As he passed under the gorgeous screen, that renowned organ, scarcely surpassed by any of those which are the boast of his native Holland, gave out a peal of triumph. He mounted the bishop's seat, a stately throne, rich with the carving of the fifteenth century. Burnet stood below, and a crowd of warriors and nobles appeared on the right hand and on the left. The singers robed in white sang the 'Te Deum.' When the chaunt was over Burnet read the Prince's declaration; but as soon as the first words were uttered, prebendaries and singers crowded in all haste out of the choir. At the close, Burnet, in a loud voice, cried, 'God save the Prince of Orange,' and many fervent voices answered 'Amen.'" This is certainly the most remarkable, as it is also the last, of the great historical events that have happened under the shadow of the cathedral walls. There had been nothing to compare with it since the day when Grandisson with his armed retainers met Mepham at the close gate three hundred years before. Offspring Blackall is the last bishop we need mention. He was a famous preacher, and worked hard for the comfort and education of the indigent classes. To him Exeter owes her charity schools.
Of the remaining bishops there is nothing of moment to record.
It has seemed wiser in this brief sketch to devote a paragraph to each of those bishops who either architecturally or historically made their episcopates events of national importance. The early bishops, especially, busied themselves exceedingly in making beautiful their principal church. It is by knowing something of their lives and times that one can best appreciate their labours, and trace with intelligent interest the causes of the splendid result to be studied minutely in the remaining chapters of this book.
Moreover, all lovers of the great in art, all who love what is beautiful, as all may with a little trouble, will not be sorry to have even a passing acquaintance with those who have wrought so nobly. And this short notice of the most famous of the bishops of Exeter proves that they were for the most part chosen, not for their lineage, however splendid, nor the favour they had gained as gracious courtiers, but for their excellent lives, their plain living and high thinking, their taste and learning, and for qualities which, if rarer now, were not common even hundreds of years ago.
THE FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL.
THE EXTERIOR.
Before examining the various details, it may be well to recall the following facts, which have already been referred to. First, the cathedral was Saxon and remained so for nearly seventy years; then came a Norman bishop who pulled down the existing building and replaced it by the foundations and towers of a finer one. For ninety-nine years, sometimes languishingly, sometimes vigorously, the work continued: so that by the end of Marshall's episcopate (1206) Warelwast's noble ambition was realized. Between this date and 1280 the church was scarcely touched, but a chapter house was built by Bishop Bruere "to God and the Church of St. Mary and St. Peter, a sufficient area to make a Chapter House in our garden near the Tower of St. John." A third style, Early English, was then introduced, to be followed by the almost complete transformation of the entire building into the Decorated style. Following on this we get some examples of Perpendicular work. Now, this series of changes is noticeable in itself, and remarkable because it has not affected the building in a way that might have been expected. The first impression, indeed, that a view of the exterior gives one, is that it is the result of one design, which is largely the case. It is only on closer inspection that the remnants of the pre-decorated periods are visible. "The Church," as Professor Freeman neatly puts it, "grew up after one general pattern, but with a certain advance in detail as the work went westward."
The second thing that strikes the visitor is that he has never seen a church quite like it. "It forms a class by itself, and can be compared with nothing save its own miniature at Ottery."