BRITTON AND BRAYLEY’S BEAUTIES OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 
_and also for the use of the cattle, Mr. Brooks 
dismantled the courtlage, the linhays, sheds, 
wc, and began to sink an extensive pond. 
When the workmen had sunk about ten feet 
from the surface, the strata appearing ina 
‘natural state, they came to a spongy matter ; 
‘it appeared to be a very thick cuticle of a 
brown colour. They soon found bits of bones, 
and lumps of solid fat, of the same colour. 
Astonished at this discovery, one of therm ran 
for his master, who, upon viewing the place, 
sentfor Mr. Sharland, a person of great expe- 
rience and practice as a farrier in the neigh- 
bourhood, It was then resolved cautiously 
_to work round the carcase; and at fast the 
complete body of a hog was found, reduced 
.to the colour and substance of an Fgyptian 
Mummy : the flesh was six inches thick, and 
the hair upon the skin very long and clastic, 
As the workmen went on further, a consi- 
derable number of hogs, of various sizes, 
,were found in different positions; in some 
places, two or three dogiathieri in other places 
singly, ata shortdistance. Upon the bodies 
being exposed in contact. with the open air, 
_they did not macerate nor reduce to powder, 
_as is usually the case with the animal econo- 
my after lying two or three centuries divested 
fe: perhaps this may be occasioned by the 
™mucilage of the bacon. his piggery con- 
tinued to the depth of twelve feet, when the 
workmen stopped for the season, and the 
pond was filled with water, ‘The oldest man 
an the parish had never heard that the grownd 
had ever been broken; and, indeed, the se- 
veral strata being entire, renders it inypossible 
to conjecture from what causes this extraor- 
dinary phenomenon can be accounted for. 
The family of Cruwys have a complete jour- 
nal of remarkable events which have hap- 
pened in the parish for three centuries ; aud 
not the least mention is made of any disorder 
which could occasion such a number of 
_$wine to be buried in such a situation.” 
_ Exeter, the capital of the county, is 
“treated of at considerable length ; and a 
Very minute account is given of the ca- 
thedral. The description of this vene- 
fable and elegant structure is obviously 
derived from personal study and inspec- 
tion, and as it contains many particulars 
“hitherto unnoticed, we shall select a part 
as a favourable specimen of the style 
_and talents of the author. 
a, “The cathedral consists of a nave, with 
_ two side aisles ; two short transepts, formed 
by the towers already noticed; a chapter- 
house, a choir, wiih side aisles, and ten cha- 
. pels, or oratories, with a rooin called the con- 
_ sistory court, ‘The nave presents a magnifi- 
cent and grand appearance on entering it 
_ from the western door; though much of its 
. Grandeur is destroyed by the seats and pews. 
_ im this part of the fabric. 11 measures se- 
_ veuty-six feet in width within the walls, and 
475 in Iength from the western door to the — 
423 
organ screen. The roof is supported by four- 
teen massive clustered columns, from which 
spring sixteen pointed arches; and above 
them are two tiers of small open arches. On 
the north side, over one of the arches, is a 
projecting kind of stone pew, called the min- 
strel’s gallery, which is ornamented with 
some figures in alto-relievo, holding different 
musical instruments. The choir is of the 
same width as the nave, and measures J28 
feet in length. St. Mary’s Chapel is 61 feet 
in length, and between that and the altar 
screen is a space of 25 feet. The whole ca- 
thedral measures 408 feet from east to west, 
including the walls; the height of the roof, 
or vaulting, is 69 feet; and of the Norman 
towers, to the top of the battlements, 130 
feet, 
«« The stones with which the walls of this 
noble edifice were principally built,’ observes 
Bishop Lyttleton, * came tom Here, near 
Cullyton, in Deyon: the vaulting stone, of 
which the roof is composed, from Silverton, 
‘in the same county ; the pavement of the 
choir from Kam, by sea to Toppesham : 
quere, if not Caen in Normandy ? a 1¢ vestry 
belonging to St. Mary's chapel, rebuilt im 
Henry the sixth's time, of Woneford stone: 
all which appears by the fabric rolls. ‘The 
thin fine pillars which are seen in every part 
of the church, and idly supposed to be arti- 
ficial composition, came from the Isle of Pur- 
beck, near Corfe, in Dorset,’ 
«« The towers, though very similar in shape 
and character, display some varieties in their 
ornaments; for the fascia, or intersecting 
arches, on the exterior of the north tower, are 
entitely different from any parts of those on the 
south; its upper story 1s more modern, and 
the turrets at the angles are later additions. 
The exterior appearance is massive grandeur: 
and though the architect has diversified the 
surface with shallow niches, numerous co- 
lumns, and zig-zag mouldings to the arches, 
yet the beauty and lightness intended to be 
prodnerd by these enrichments, are eclipsed 
by the style of architecture, which prevails 
in the windows and ornamental parts of the 
cathedral. 
«©The chapter-house is a large handsome 
room, of a parallelogramatie shape, and is 
said to have been built by Bishop Lacy in 
1430; but Sir H. Englefield thinks that this 
prelate only built the upper part of it; as 
‘ the lower part of this elegant room is so dif- 
ferent from that of the superstructure, and so 
much resembling the architecture of the 
church, that it is highly prabable that Bishop 
Quivil, who is recorded to have begun the 
Cloisters, did also build, or at least begin, the 
chapter-house.’ 
“The windows of the nathedral are ver 
large, and many of them contain fire speci- 
mens of painted glass. They are all of the 
same shape, yet the architect has ornamented 
each with a studied variety of tracery, hy 
which plan there are not two windows ex- 
actly gimilor ou either side of the building, 
Le 4 
