| 1. The Translation of Enoch. | 2. Solomon receives his mother Bath-Sheba. |
| 3. Assumption of the Virgin. | 4. The Coronation of the Virgin.[X] |
Window XXVI.
The West Window was filled with stained glass depicting the Last Judgment, by Messrs. Clayton and Bell, of London, in 1879. There is no doubt that in the original scheme of the windows this was intended to be the subject of the west window.[8] Like the east window, it consists of nine lights, divided by a transom into two tiers. The general idea is to set forth the scene of the Judgment as within a vast hall of semi-circular plan. In the central light of the upper tier is seated the figure of our Lord on the throne of judgment. On each side of the principal figure are groups of angels jubilant with trumpets and bearing emblems of the Passion.
On the right and left, each in three divisions, are seated figures of Apostles and other Saints. In the three lights below the figure of our Lord are St. Michael and two other angels, the one on the dexter side (the left side as you look at it) bearing a Lily, the other on the sinister (right) holding a flaming sword. St. Michael in the centre is in full armour. He carries the scales of judgment, and rests one hand on a cruciferous shield.
The lower portions of the lights show, on the one side, the resurrection of the blessed, with angels receiving them. A special feature of the design is seen in the lowermost portion near the centre. Here appears the figure of the founder, King Henry VI. He rises from his grave gazing upward, and bearing in his hands a model of the chapel itself. On the other side the lost are shown, driven out by angels threatening them with flaming swords.
In the tracery are arranged various shields and heraldic devices, which comprise the arms of Queen Victoria, Henry VI, Henry VII, Henry VIII, the Provost (Dr. Okes), the Visitor (the Bishop of Lincoln, Chr. Wordsworth), F. E. Stacey, Esq. (the Donor), with those of King's College, Eton College, and the University.
The question has often been asked, How did the windows escape during the Civil War? There is one story that the west window was broken by Cromwell's soldiers (who certainly were quartered in the chapel), and that the rest of the glass was taken out and concealed inside the organ screen. Another, which appears in a small book called "The Chorister," is that all the glass was taken down and buried in pits in the college grounds in one night by a man and a boy. Both these stories are entirely fictitious. The best answer to the question may be found in the words of the Provost of Eton (Dr. M. R. James), who says, in one of his addresses on the windows: "It is most probable that Cromwell, anxious to have at least one of the universities on his side, gave some special order that no wilful damage should be wrought on this building, which, then as now, was the pride of Cambridge and of all the country round." The windows have been taken out and re-leaded at various times—first between 1657 and 1664; next in 1711-1712; thirdly in 1725-1730; fourthly in 1757-1765; fifthly in 1847-1850; and fourteen of them (one in each year) in a period extending from 1893 to 1906, by the late Mr. J. E. Kempe, when several mistakes which then existed were put right.