HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. Ill 



with their chief gentlemen of the towne, waited upon his Majesty to 

 his quarters."* 



In March, 1646, the Close was invested by the Parliament's army, 

 under Major-General Lothian, and continued to harass the garrison 

 till the 10th of July, when Colonel Bagot being satisfied that the 

 King had not an army in the field, and that all the fortresses and 

 garrison-towns in possession of the Royalists were besieged, he 

 surrendered on very honourable terms. 



As this was the first Cathedral that was seized by the republicans, 

 from the circumstance of its being situated in a fortified place, it 

 was damaged more than any other, by the cannon of the besiegers 

 and the fanaticism of the soldiers. According to the most moderate 

 computation, the damage done to the Cathedral alone was estimated 

 at o14,000. It continued in a ruinous and neglected state till the 

 Restoration, when Bishop Hackett was appointed to this See. This 

 magnanimous and pious prelate came to Lichfield in the beginning 

 of the year 1662, and found his Cathedral in an indescribable state 

 of ruin ; 2000 cannon-shot and 1500 hand-grenadoes having been 

 discharged against it. He resolved to restore this venerable edifice 

 to its former magnificence ; and the very morning after his arrival 

 he roused his servants by break of day, and set his own coach- 

 horses with teams, and hired labourers, to remove the rubbish. By 

 his own contributions, the benefactions of the Dean and Chapter, 

 and the money which he collected by a personal application to every 

 gentleman in the diocese, this excellent and public-spirited man in 

 eight years completely restored the magnificence of the Cathedral 

 to the admiration of the country. 



When the Cathedral was finished, the Bishop consecrated it with 

 great pomp and solemnity, and composed a service for the occa- 

 sion. The following account of this memorable ceremony is truly 

 interesting : 



"His Lordship being arrayed in his episcopal vestments, attended 

 by the Dean, Dignitaries, Prebendaries, and other members of the 

 church, accompanied by many of the nobility and gentry, the bailiffs, 

 citizens, and civil officers of the city and county of Lichfield, with an 

 immense concourse of people, entered at the great west doors of the 

 Cathedral. The Vicars, Choristers, &c. first walked up the south 

 aisle of the church, when the Bishop, with a loud voice, repeated the 

 first verse of the 144th psalm. Afterward, the whole choir alter- 

 nately sang the psalm to the organ. In the same order they pro- 



* Green's MSS. 



