Ixii. CHEDDAR, WELLS, AND GLASTONBURY. 



could not help recalling to mind the fact that precisely the same 

 fate befel Mr. Richman, a Rector of St. Peter's, and his wife, 

 earl}- in the 19th Century. 



By the courtesy of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the party 

 were admitted to the Palace. In the hall they were shown the 

 gorgeous cope presented to the Bishop for his use at the 

 Coronation. They next proceeded into the Early English 

 undercroft, above which are the drawing-room and librar}-. Dr. 

 Reunion's predecessor, Lord Arthur Hervey, converted this 

 undercroft into a beautiful and unique dining hall ; thence into 

 the Bishop's Chapel, a lofty and elegant building in the 

 Decorated style. The vaulted roof is supported by clustered 

 columns which rise between the three beautiful geometrical 

 windows on each side. The reredos and sedilia have rich 

 canopies. The chapel, originally erected by Bishop Joceline, 

 was rebuilt by Bishop Burnell and judiciously restored by Bishop 

 Law. Going upstairs the party next entered the picture gallery, 

 the walls of which are hung with an interesting collection of 

 portraits of many of the Bishops of the See. 



The Cathedral. 



At 5.45 the party were met at the imposing west front of the 

 cathedral by the Dean, who, in the course of a short sketch of 

 the histor}^ of the cathedral, stated that probably at Wells, as at 

 Glastonbury, the first beginning was a wooden church roofed 

 either with hides or with thatch. Then came the building of a 

 very small Saxon church and then of a larger Saxon or Norman 

 church. One relic of the ver}^ old times could be seen in the 

 south corner of the church — a late Saxon font, very simple and 

 too small ever to have been intended for any cathedral a quarter 

 of the size of Wells. They would also find a little dog-tooth- 

 ornament here and there, and stones dressed with a Norman axe. 

 The cathedral in the main Avas consecrated in 1182. In the 

 year 1300 there was nothing of the church east of the present 

 site of the pulpit ; but early in the 14th century Dean Godley 



