"Mistake not, reader, I thee crave,
This is an altar not a grave,
Where fire raked up in ashes lyes,
And hearts are made the sacrifice, &c.
"Which two words, altar and sacrifice, 'tis said, did so provoke and kindle the zealots indignation, that they resolve to make the tomb itself a sacrifice: and with axes, poleaxes, and hammers, destroy and break down all that curious monument, save only two pilasters still remaining, which shew and testifie the elegancy of the rest of the work. Thus it hapned, that the good old knight who was a constant frequenter of Gods publick service, three times a day, outlived his own monument, and lived to see himself carried in effigie on a souldiers back, to the publick market-place, there to be sported withall, a crew of souldiers going before in procession, some with surplices, some with organ pipes, to make up the solemnity.
"When they had thus demolished the chief monuments, at length the very gravestones and marbles on the floor did not escape their sacrilegious hands. For where there was any thing on them of sculptures or inscriptions in brass, these they force and tear off. So that whereas there were many fair pieces of this kind before, as that of abbot William of Ramsey, whose large marble gravestone was plated over with brass, and several others the like, there is not any such now in all the church to be seen; though most of the inscriptions that were upon them are preserved in this book.
"One thing, indeed, I must needs clear the souldiers of, which Mercurius Rusticus upon misinformation charges them with, viz.:-That they took away the bell clappers and sold them, with the brass they plucked off from the tombs. The mistake was this: the neighbourhood being continually disturbed with the souldiers jangling and ringing the bells auker, as though there had been a scare-fire, (though there was no other, but what they themselves had made,) some of the inhabitants by night took away the clappers and hid them in the roof of the church, on purpose only to free their ears from that confused noise; which gave occasion to such as did not know it, to think the souldiers had stolen them away.
"Having thus done their work on the floor below, they are now at leasure to look up to the windows above, which would have entertained any persons else with great delight and satisfaction, but only such zealots as these, whose eyes were so dazzled, that they thought they saw popery in every picture and piece of painted glass.
"Now the windows of this church were very fair, and had much curiosity of workmanship in them, being adorned and beautified with several historical passages out of scripture, and ecclesiastical story; such were those in the body of the church, in the isles, in the new building, and elsewhere. But the cloister windows were most famed of all for their great art and pleasing variety. One side of the quadrangle containing the history of the Old Testament; another, that of the new; a third, a history from the first foundation of the Monastery of King Peada to the restoring of it by King Edgar; a fourth, all the kings of England downwards from the first Saxon king. All which notwithstanding were most shamefully broken and destroyed."
[But little remains to be seen of these famous cloisters beyond the mouldings of arches imposed in rough walls on each side. The five recesses in the south wall were partly the lavatories used by the Monks before entering the refectory by the richly cut door in the corner.]
"Every window had at the bottom the explanation of the history thus in verse:-
First Window.
Col. 1.
"King Penda, a paynim, as writing seyth,
"'Gate yese five children of Christen feyth."
Col. 2.
"The noble Peada, by God's grace,
"Was the first founder of this place."
Col. 3.
"By Queen Ermenyld, had King Wulfere,
"These twey sons that ye see here."
Col. 4.
"Wulfade rideth, as he was wont,
"Into the forest, the hart to hunt."
Second Window.
Col. 1.
"Fro' all his men Wulfade is gone,
"And 'suyth himself the hart alone."[21]
Col. 2.
"The hart brought Wulfade to a well,
"That was beside Seynt Chaddy's cell."
Col. 3.
"Wulfade askyd of Seynt Chad,-
"Where is the hart that me hath lad."
Col. 4.
"The hart that hither thee hath brought,
"Is sent by Christ, that thee hath bought."
Third Window.
Col. 1.
"Wulfade prayd Chad, that ghostly leech,
"The feyth of Christ him for to teach."
Col. 2.
"Seynt Chad teacheth Wulfade the feyth,
"And words of baptism over him he seyth."
Col. 3.
"Seynt Chad devoutly to mass him dight,
"And hoseled Wulfade Christy's knight."
Col. 4.
"Wulfade wished Seynt Chad, that day,
"For his brother Rufine to pray."
Fourth Window.
Col. 1.
"Wulfade told his brother Rufine
"That he was christned by Chaddy's doctrine."
Col. 2.
"Rufine to Wulfade said again,-
"Christned also would I be fain."
Col. 3.
"Wulfade, Rufine to Seynt Chad leadeth,
"And Chad with love of feyth him feedeth."
Col. 4.
"Rufine is christned, of Seynt Chaddys,
"And Wulfade, his brother, his godfather is."
Fifth Window.
Col. 1.
"Werbode, steward to King Wulfere,
"Told that his sons christned were."
Col. 2.
"Towards the chappel Wulfere 'gan goe,
"By guiding of Werbode, Christy's foe."
Col. 3.
"Into the chappel entred the King,
"And found his sons worshipping."
Col. 4.
"Wulfere in woodness his sword out drew,
"And both his sons anon he slew."[22]
Sixth Window.
Col. 1.
"King Wulfere, with Werbode yoo,
"Burying gave his sons two."
Col. 2.
"Werbode for vengeance his own flesh tare,
"The devil him strangled, and to hell bare."
Col. 3.
"Wulfere, for sorrow, anon was sick,
"In bed he lay, a dead man like."
Col. 4.
"Seynt Ermenyld, that blessed Queen,
"Counselled Wulfere to shrive him clean."
Seventh Window.
Col. 1.
"Wulfere contrite, hyed him to Chad,
"As Ermenyld him counselled had"[23]
Col. 2.
"Chad bade Wulfere, for his sin,
"Abbeys to build his realm within."
Col. 3.
"Wulfere in haste performed than,
"Brough that Peada his brother began."
Col. 4.
"Wulfere endued with high devotion,
"The abbey of Brough with great possession."
Eighth Window.
Col. 1.
"The third brother, King Ethelred,
"Confirmed both his brethren's deed."
Col. 2.
"Saxulf, that here first abbot was,
"For Ankery's, at Thorney, made a place."
Col. 3.
"After came Danes, and Brough brent,
"And slew the Monkys as they went."
Col. 4.
"Fourscore years and sixteen,
"Stood Brough destroyed by Danes teen."
Ninth Window.
Col. 1.
"Seynt Athelwold was bidden by God's lore,
"The abbey of Brough again to restore."
Col. 2.
"Seynt Athelwold to King Edgar went,
"And prayed him to help him in his intent."
Col. 3.
"Edgar bade Athelwold the work begin,
"And him to help he would not lyn."
Col. 4.
"Thus Edgar and Athelwold restored this place,
"God save it and keep it for his grace."[24]
"But to proceed, notwithstanding all the art and curiosity of workmanship these windows did afford, yet nothing of all this could oblige the reforming rabble, but they deface and break them all in pieces, in the church and in the cloyster, and left nothing undemolisht, where either any picture or painted glass did appear; excepting only part of the great west window in the body of the church, which still remains entire, being too high for them, and out of their reach. Yea, to encourage them the more in this trade of breaking and battering windows down, Cromwell himself, (as 'twas reported,) espying a little crucifix in a window aloft, which none, perhaps, before had scarce observed, gets a ladder, and breaks it down zealously with his own hand.
"But...
