What awful pérspective! while from our sight
With gradual stealth the lateral windows hide
Their portraitures, their stone-work glimmers, dyed
In the soft chequerings of a sleepy light.
Martyr, or King, or sainted Eremite,
Whoe'er ye be, that thus, yourselves unseen,
Imbue your prison-bars with solemn sheen,
Shine on, until ye fade, with coming night.
But from the arms of silence—list! O list!
The music bursteth into second life;
The notes luxuriate, every stone is kissed
By sound, or ghost of sound, in mazy strife;
Heart-thrilling strains, that cast, before the eye
Of the devout, a veil of ecstasy!
Appendix
List of Provosts from the Year 1443
| William Millington, D.D. | April 10, 1443 |
| John Chedworth, D.D. | Nov. 5, 1446[Y] |
| Robert Woodlarke, D.D. | May 17, 1452 |
| Walter Field, D.D. | Oct. 15, 1479 |
| John Dogget, D.C.L. (Oxon) | April 18, 1499 |
| John Argentine, D.D. and M.D. | May 4, 1501 |
| Richard Hatton, LL.D. | Mar. 21, 1507 |
| Robert Hacumblen, D.D. | June 28, 1509 |
| Edward Fox, D.D. | Sept. 27, 1528[Z] |
| George Day | June 5, 1538 |
| Sir John Cheke, M.A. | April 1, 1548 |
| Richard Atkinson, D.D. | Oct. 25, 1553 |
| Robert Brassie, D.D. | Oct. 3, 1556 |
| Philip Baker, D.D. | Dec. 12, 1558 |
| Roger Goad, D.D. | Mar. 19, 1569 |
| Fog Newton, D.D. | May 15, 1610 |
| William Smith, D.D. | Aug. 22, 1612 |
| Samuel Collins, D.D. | April 25, 1615 |
| Benjamin Whichcot, D.D. | Mar. 19, 1644 |
| James Fleetwood, D.D. | June 29, 1660 |
| Sir Thomas Page, M.A. | Jan. 16, 1675[AA] |
| John Coplestone, D.D. | Aug. 24, 1681 |
| Charles Roderick, LL.D. and D.D. | Oct. 13, 1689 |
| John Adams, D.D. | May 2, 1712 |
| Andrew Snape, D.D. | Feb. 21, 1719 |
| William George, D.D. | Jan. 30, 1742 |
| John Sumner, D.D. | Oct. 18, 1756 |
| William Cooke, D.D. | Mar. 25, 1772 |
| Humphrey Sumner, D.D. | Nov. 3, 1797 |
| George Thackeray, D.D. | April 4, 1814 |
| Richard Okes, D.D. | Nov. 2, 1850 |
| Augustus A. Leigh, M.A. | Feb. 9, 1889 |
| Montague R. James, Litt.D. | May 13, 1905 |
| Sir Walter Durnford, LL.D. | Nov. 16, 1918 |
List of Organists from 1592
| Edward Gibbons, Mus.B. (Cantab. & Oxon) | 1592-1599 |
| John Tomkins, Mus.B. (Cantab.) | 1606-1622 |
| Matthew Barton | 1622-1625 |
| Giles Tomkins | 1625-1626 |
| —— Marshall | 1626-1627 |
| John Silver | 1627 |
| Henry Loosemore, Mus.B. (Cantab.) | 1627-1671 |
| Thomas Tudway, Mus.D. (Cantab.) | 1671-1728 |
| Robert Fuller, Mus.B. (Cantab.) | 1728-1743 |
| John Randall, Mus.D. (Cantab.) | 1743-1799 |
| John Pratt | 1799-1855 |
| William Amps, M.A. (Cantab.) | 1855-1876 |
| Arthur Henry Mann, F.R.C.O., Mus.D. (Oxon), 1882; M.A. (Cantab.), 1910 | 1876- |