CORRESPONDENCE.

DORCHESTER ABBEY.

IT was as candid of an American to say that he came to England "for his history," as it was ready and patriotic on the part of an Oxford guide, in answer to the question, "How do you manage to make ybur College lawns look so well P" to say, "Well, you see, we mows 'urn, and we rolls 'um, and we keeps 'um a thousand years." This claim of antiquity for a fading grass-plot amid the age-grey gables of the University city is a delicious stroke of unconscious humour, and, by an American party who came to see something old, the sally of the College beadle must have been richly enjoyed. But Oxford is young compared with its hoary neighbour, Dor- chester. By using Mr. Goschen's reconstructive imagination (a long way after Shakespeare, though), the Briton, the Roman, the Saxon, and the Christian rise up and play their part before us. Here is the key to our national history. Here are visible and tangible object-lessons in our country's progress. That continuity in our development which Mr. E. A. Freeman has succeeded in dinning into us, is here seen and realised to perfection. In so small a place, it is amazing to find so many lines of interest centre, for here the old and the new, the pagan and the sacred, the kingly and the churchly, meet and mingle together. At Dorchester reigned Cynegils, King of Wessex, the ancestor of Queen Victoria ; at Dorchester also lived Berinus, the Apostle of Wessex, and one of the founders of our common Christianity.

Driving from Wallingford, and crossing the bridge near the town, the visitor's eye is arrested by the Wittenham Hills, standing bold up on his left. In the other name—Sinodune —we probably see the modern reading of Syno's Hill, and this, again, is short for Cynobelin's Hill. And so the mind is thrown back to the fact of this being the fortified hill at the entrance of Cynobelin's Kingdom. The later Saxon name, Cair Dauri—City Gate—supports this notion.

"It is a fine example," says Mr. James Parker, "of a British fortress, the vallum and trench complete all the way round, and of considerable depth. The top is nearly 250 ft. above the level of the plain beneath. The area also is of considerable size, the circumference, taken at the bottom of the trench, being not less than a mile." Besides the fortress with the trench, there is a western knoll, almost equal to it in extent, but it does not appear to have been fortified. Then opposite this British fortress—the Sinodune Hill—there are undoubted proofs of a Roman camp. With their usual sagacity, and desire to economise labour, a bend in the river was chosen for the site of the camp, so that the river itself

defended three sides of it. "On the fourth side," as Mr. J. H. Parker puts it, "a high rampart was constructed, and the

earth dug out to make the rampart formed a trench wide enough and deep enough to make a very efficient fosse, through which a branch of the river was made to run, so that when com- pleted the river was made to defend the whole camp." Coins, urns, a perfect specimen of Constantine's labarum, as well as the following inscription found upon an altar, all show what an important military centre Dorchester became :—

" Jovi optimo Maximo

Et numinibus Augusti, Marcus Varus Severus Beneficiarius Consulis Aram cum Cancellis De suo posuit."

The Briton and the Roman now disappear from the scene, and the sturdy Saxon takes their place. Yet while the Imperial Roman withdrew, the Christian Roman appeared in the person of Berinus, who was specially sent to convert the West Saxons, whose King, Cynegils, made Dorchester the seat of sovereignty. So successful was he (Berinus), that, in the words of Bede, "the King himself, having been catechised, was baptised, together with his people; and Oswald, the most holy and victorious King of the Northumbrians, being pre- sent, received him as he came forth from baptism, and by an alliance most pleasing and acceptable to God, first adopted him thus regenerated, for his son, and then took his daughter in marriage." A pretty historical scene this,—Oswald and Cynegils bowing before a higher spiritual power. The sequel is prettier still,—the two Kings agreeing to ask Berinus to be the first Bishop of Dorchester, a See which went on increasing in extent and power till, in Mr. Freeman's words, it became the grandest in the Kingdom (Nor. Con., c. iv., 130). Time and space alike prevent us from reciting the story of the removal of the bishopric from Dorchester to Lincoln by Remigius,—a Bishop, as the old Chronicler phrases it, having the smallest body but the lordliest soul in the Kingdom ; the story of the Augustine Canons securing the building for an abbey ; but we must linger over the good service of Richard Beauforest, who, when the abbeys were suppressed, bought Dorchester for £140 (23,000), and left it as a legacy to the parish in these quaint words :—

"In the name of God Amen, the xiii. daye of July, the yere of our Lord God, 1554, I Richard° Beauforest, of the Towne of Dor- chester, within the Countie of Oxford, Gent.,beyng sicke in bodye and hole of mind and memory (thanks be to God), considering that nothing is more certen to me than death, and nothing more uncerten than the houre of death, doo make my lasts Wyll and Testaments in forme hereafter followinge. Fyrste, I bequeth my sowle to .A limightie God, my Maker and Redeemer, to have the fruition of the Deitie with our blessed Ladie, and my bodye to be buried in our Lady Ile within the Churche of Dor-

chester aforesaid Itm [sic], I bequeth the Abbey Church° of Dorchester, which I have bought, and the implements thereof, to the parish of Dorchester aforesaid, so that the said parishioners shall not sell, alter, or alienate the said churche Implements, or anye part or pice thereof, without the consents of my heires and executors."

How well it would have been for the country if a few more devoted Churchmen had acted in this liberal and laudable manner ! Entering the stately building, whose imposing mass, nestling amongst the fading autumn foliage, can be seen for miles around, the first object to arrest the attention is the quaint leaden font. It dates from the twelfth century, and round the rim runs a series of figures, each standing under a semi-circular arch. In one niche is a representation of St. Teter, with the key as the symbol of spiritual authority.

On the south side of the chancel is an effigy, of the thirteenth -century, of a cross-legged knight in the act of drawing his sword. "His name," says Leland, "is out of remembrance," though archmologists believe it to represent Lord Segrave, of Edward I's time. Can any one throw light on this matter of leg-crossing? Does it betoken an actual Crusader? And

-does the position of the crossing,—i.e., at the ankle, at the

.calf, or at the knee, indicate degrees of service ? But the unique feature of this Abbey church is the " Jesse " window. -" The figure of Jesse," says the local historian, "is recumbent at the base of the window, and from his body, which may be .considered the root, the tracery or branches of the tree spring.

Twenty-five figures are sculptured in the masonry, representing his descendants. Most of these figures have scrolls, on which were formerly inscriptions, but these are now obliterated with whitewash, which when removed the letters disappear with it. The sixteen figures of painted glass exhibit, probably, more of the descendants of Jesse. These have likewise inscriptions upon them; but they are composed of detached pieces of glass, so that the letters are not in connection, and the meaning consequently cannot be made out." Something like this is found on a smaller scale in the Church of Aston-on-Trent, where at the base of a decorated window there is a carved boss on which is seen a figure of Jesse,—root, stem, and fruit being, if rudely.

yet suggestively represented.

Before parting with Dorchester—a battle-field of history, a fount of royalty, and a cradle of religion—let a word of hearty praise be said for the admirable work of restoration which has gone on during the last fifty years ; the generous spirit of the old Abbot—Richard Beanforest—is not yet dead amongst 'us; for the chaste and hearty way in which the daily and Sunday services, plain and choral, are now conducted; for the public spirit and fine wisdom which have made this ancient missionary centre another training-place for men who, like Berinus before them, are to be the lovely messengers" of God's good-will to the unenlightened children of men :—

" 0 Faith of our Fathers in England,

0 Home of the living Lord ; Full fountain of faith for the ages, And witness firm of His Word.

From Alban, Augustine and Aidan, Berinus, and Cuthbert, and Bede, To our day, ours even, what armies

Of Christ His long triumph lead !"—Par, GRAVE.

T. F.