being the work of Wykeham himself, but of Warden Thurbern."

The Chapel is entered by a handsome vestibule; and the interior has several beautiful painted windows, and a lofty and highly-ornamented roof. At the altar is a fine painting of the Salutation, presented by Dr. Burton, formerly Head Master. The Cloisters are not a part of Wykeham's building, but appear to have been erected in the next century. On the pavement are many ancient brasses; and in the centre an elegant building, intended as a Chantry, but now used as a Library, and containing a good collection of books, and a few natural curiosities.

The Hall, or Refectory, is 63 feet long, and proportionably wide and lofty. The roof is of oak, and exhibits a variety of curious ornaments. The School Room is a plain brick building, 90 feet long, and 36 wide, erected in 1687; over the door is a fine bronze statue of Wykeham, presented to the College by Gabriel Cibber, the celebrated sculptor, whose son was educated here, and who was related, by marriage, to the founder. Many eminent persons have received their education at this seminary, among whom are, Sir Thomas Brown, Otway, Young, Somervile, Collins, and Warton.

Beside its Cathedral, and the churches and chapels attached to its numerous ecclesiastical establishments, Winchester, at one period, is said to have possessed nearly 90 churches, of which no more than eight are now in use. St. Lawrence, near the Cross, is considered the mother church, and every new Bishop takes formal possession of the diocese " by entering into this little edifice." It consists of one large aisle, and has a lofty square tower, with five bells. St. Maurice's was formerly collegiate; it is a very ancient building, and has a Saxon porch, much obscured and dilapidated. This Church consists of two aisles, one of which is very spacious, and a strong tower. St. Michael's is a low and ancient building, with two aisles, and a tower, in which are five bells. St. Thomas's, a venerable structure, with a low and mean tower, is divided into two aisles by pillars supporting arches of Norman workmanship. St. Swithin's might be, with propriety, styled a Chapel; it consists of a large neat room, over a postern in

the city wall called Kingsgate, and is approached by a stone staircase. St. Peter's Cheesehill has two aisles, of unequal size, and a neat tower, with three bells. St. John's at Hill is divided into three aisles by pillars of a very ancient style of architecture, and has a massive tower, surmounted by a turret, with a clock. St. Martin's Winnall, having fallen into decay, was rebuilt about 1736, and is a plain building, of one aisle, with a small tower at the west end, and a single bell. Winchester has also several places of worship for Dissenters of various denominations, and a Roman Catholic Chapel, dedicated to St. Peter, which was erected in 1792, in imitation of the pointed architecture of the middle ages, and is ornamented with several painted windows, and an elegant altar-piece representing the Transfiguration. Nearly in the centre of the High Street, stands

THE CITY CROSS,

an elegant specimen of the decorative architecture

of the reign of Henry VI. It is 43 feet high, of three stories, adorned with arches, niches, and pinnacles. At the top are still the remains of the cross by which it was terminated; and in the second story is a statue, supposed, by Dr. Milner, to represent either St. Lawrence, or St. Amphiballus, as it bears in its hand "a palm branch, the sure token of a martyr." In 1770, this elegant edifice, which had been spared by the fanatical soldiers to whom the city was given up, was condemned to be pulled down, from the most mercenary motives, by the Commissioners for paving the streets, who are said to have sold it to a neighbouring gentleman. The inhabitants, however, with a spirit which does them honour, rose in its defence; drove away the workmen employed to take it down, and evinced such a determination to prevent the execution of this nefarious scheme, that its Vandalic projectors were obliged to abandon it, and the Cross still remains, one of the few specimens of those tasteful erections which formerly decorated every city and considerable town in the country.

The ruins of the Bishop's residence, called Wolvesey Castle, (which name it is said to derive from the tribute of 300 Wolves'-heads ordered by King Edgar to be annually paid here by the Welsh), are situated at a short distance from the College, and consist principally of a part of the Keep, and the Chapel. This building was erected, on the site of a former castle, in 1138; shortly afterwards it was besieged by Robert of Gloucester; was dismantled by order of Henry II; and, having been repaired, was again besieged and taken by the Barons in the reign of Henry III; it continued to be the episcopal residence until its final destruction by Cromwell, in 1646. After the Restoration, Bishop Morley employed Sir Christopher Wren to erect a new Palace here; but this was never completed, and what was built has been since pulled down.

Winchester Castle was erected by William I, in a commanding situation at the south-west of the city, and was once a place of great strength, as may be collected from the various sieges it underwent. These have been narrated in the preceding pages, as well as the gift of the Castle by James I, to Sir B.

Tichborne, from whose son it was seized by the Parliament, dismantled, and the ruins, with the surrounding demesne, granted to Sir William Waller. By him, the Chapel, which had escaped the general destruction, was sold to certain persons, who converted it into a County Hall, for which purpose it has ever since continued to be used. The site and ruins of the rest of the Castle were purchased by Charles II, of the Corporation, for the trifling sum of five shillings; and, in the erection of his new Palace, now called the King's House, the greater part of the materials were employed. This building, had it been completed according to the original plan, would have been a magnificent edifice, and might have prevented the lamentation which, after the waste of millions in cottages, pavilions, and nondescripts, is still heard, that the King of England is worse lodged than many of his subjects*." The principal floor is a noble range of apartments, containing 160 rooms, and was occupied, during the war, by prisoners on their parole.

The remains of the Castle are now very inconsiderable, its dimensions, as given by Dr. Milner after a long and careful investigation of the ground on which it stood, are 850 feet in length, and 250 in width, gradually narrowing, however, as it approached the west gate of the city. The Keep is supposed to have been about 100 feet square, and had a tower at each corner, with a fifth over the entrance. The walls appear to have been about nine feet thick, and the whole fortification was surrounded by ditches, and strengthened by various towers, &c. It extended nearly to the city walls, and formed a defence on the south-west side, as did the Bishop's Castle on the north-east.

The Chapel, now (as previously stated) used as a County Hall, is supposed to have been erected in the reign of King Stephen, and was dedicated to the saint of the same name. It is about 110 feet long,

* If the fact be so, it is occasioned by the folly and bad taste with which the immense sums obtained from Parliament have been expended in raising and pulling down such structures as Kew Palace, the Pavilion at Brighton, the New Palace at Pimlico, the Cottage at Windsor, &c.; sums which, if they had been employed with good taste and sound judgment, might have sufficed to rear a nobler palace than the world has yet

seen.

The

and was divided into aisles, but has undergone many alterations to adapt it for public business. principal object of curiosity here is the celebrated relic of antiquity called

which is suspended above the judge's seat, at the east end of the building, and is attributed by tradition to the hero of romance whose name it bears; modern investigation has, however, given to Stephen the honour of this ingenious contrivance to prevent disputes for precedency among his chivalrous knights. The Table is 18 feet in diameter, and is composed of stout oaken planks; at the upper part, as it is suspended, appears the figure of King Arthur, and in as many compartments the names of 24 of his knights, collected from the romances once so popular in this country. In the centre is a rose, and the royal costume, with the letters of the inscriptions, are those of the early part of the sixteenth century, when the Table was first so painted by order of Henry VIII, in honour of his illustrious guest the Emperor Charles V, with whom he spent here a week of festivity in 1522. At each subsequent painting the characters have been copied, but so incorrectly that the most expert antiquary would be puzzled to decipher them, but for his previous acquaintance with the names of the worthies thus recorded. It has