74 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. No 56., Jan. 24. '57. 



cast from the Protector's face, which has been in 

 the family of the descendants (there are lineal de- 

 scendants yet) since Richard Cromwell, conse- 

 quently a most authentic pedigree is attached, but 

 from its age is becoming soft and unfit to be han- 

 dled. The bust was modelled by Henry Weigall, 

 Esq., of Wimpole Street, who, to his honour and 

 credit as an artist, has treated his subject in a 

 bold and most masterly manner. 



The bust was shown to Prince Albert and the 

 Committee of the House of Commons (which sat 

 to determine what statues should be placed in the 

 new Palace at Westminster), and elicited surprise 

 and pleasure ; but it was stated that the wnnt of 

 funds would in all probability prevent its being 

 cut in marble. 



It is a question whether the exclusion of such 

 an appropriate bust of the man who had raised his 

 country to the highest pitch of honour and credit 

 with all foreign powers, was not to be attributed 

 more to the unfortunate period when the outcry 

 was raised, " Shall Cromwell have a place " among 

 the good kings his predecessors, and before the 

 exemplary ones who succeeded him. This low and 

 vulgar public cry of humbug I believe was the 

 real stumbling block to the raising the bust within 

 the walls of a similar building, wherein his voice 

 was once heard vociferating "Away with this 

 bauble," and where his cool indomitable spirit 

 cleared the House, locked the door, and quietly 

 walked to Whitehall. 



H. W. F. (Lineal Descendant.) 



LEANING TOWERS. 



(2°^ S. ii. 456. 478.) 



The article in the Penny Magazine (March 21, 

 1835, p. 111.) is not chargeable with propagating 

 the hypothetical story of a dispute betwixt the 

 builder of Chesterfield Church and the Corpora- 

 tion ; and so far from treating the slanting appear- 

 ance as an optical illusion, that valuable miscellany 

 points out the error of Mr. Rickman, who, in his 

 work of Gothic Architecture, says : 



" The apparent bearing of the spire arises partly from 

 the curious spiral mode of putting on the lead, and partly 

 from a real inclination of the general lines of the wood- 

 work of the spire ; " 



and replies, that had he ventured to mount the 

 tower, and walk round the spire, he would have 

 seen on the south, or rather at the south-western 

 angle, the ball at the summit almost vertical to his 

 head, while on the opposite side the same ball 

 would be hidden from the sight by the swelling of 

 the middle of the spire. Its real crookedness has 

 been proved by a careful measurement, which es- 

 tablished that it deviated from the perpendicular 

 six feet to the south, and four feet four inches to 



the west, giving its greatest angle of inclination 

 somewhere near to the south-west angle. The 

 writer suggests that this deviation of form may 

 have been occasioned by lightning, instancing 

 Linthwaite Church, near Huddersfield, struck 

 Feb. 8, 1835, so as to bend the spire out of the 

 perpendicular. The comparative exemption of 

 our ancient spires from the subtile effects of elec- 

 tricity is remarkable in reference to the liability 

 thereto of our modern spires. Our practical ap- 

 plication of electricity to use has not advanced in 

 architecture. 



I conceive the spire may have been constructed 

 in this spiral shape, instead of conical form, inten- 

 tionally. The use of these lofty masses was to 

 guide the worshippei-, before the era of turnpike 

 roads, through the moors and forests, and over the 

 streams and valleys, he had to traverse to get to 

 church ; and the symbolic meaning of the flame- 

 like form was probably indicative of light and 

 illumination derivable from church attendance. 

 It is not improbable that the same principle which 

 guided the construction of the leaning towers of 

 Bologna may have been pursued in Chesterfield 

 Church, probably first erected in the time of Wil- 

 liam II.*, and certainly before 1234. The optical 

 illusion which these leaning towers and spires pre- 

 sent is noticed by Dante in reference to the tower 

 of Carisenda, near Torre Mozza : 



" Qual pare a riguardar la Carisenda 

 Sotto il chinato, qufh^Jo un nuvol vada 

 Sovr' essa s'i, ch' ella in contrario penda." 



Inf., xxxi. 136. 



That is, when a cloud, against which the tower 

 hangs, is passing over it, the tower appears to 

 stoop to one beneath the leaning side. 



These spires were not always conical. Of the 

 two western spires of Lichfield Cathedral the south 

 is a cone, the north one is hollowed inwards, ap- 

 proximating to the shape of a trumpet, which may 

 be symbolic of the gospel trumpet summoning the 

 believers to worship. T. J. Buckton. 



Lichfield. 



ANTIQUITY OF THE FAMILY OF BUTTS. 



(2°'> S. ill. 16.) 



I am obliged to Dr. Doran for his reference to 

 Mrs. Sherwood's Autobiography, a work I have 

 not seen. I must still, however, in spite of her 

 reference to Camden, express my disbelief of the 

 antiquity of the family at Shouldham Thorpe, 

 where they were stated by E. D. B. to have been 

 situated, and inheriting a property descending 

 through many generations, from before the time 

 of Edward II. I have referred to Camden's 



* About A.D. 1100, according to Lysons's Mag. Brit. 

 (vol. V. p. 80.), William Rufus gave this church to the 

 Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, who are now the patrons. 



