240 
LIFE OF DEAN B[ICELAND. 
[CH. IX. 
contents of the side-chapels and other parts of the Abbey 
which had not hitherto been shown to the public. To the 
duties of the night watchman he attached great import¬ 
ance, and in Poets’ Corner fixed a tell-tale clock, which 
registered the punctuality with which the watchman every 
quarter of an hour went his rounds. The cold was so 
intense at times in the Abbey that, as he used to say, “ the 
fellow might go to sleep and the Abbey be burnt, as York 
Minster had been, from an alarm not being given in time.” 
One of his first acts, on coming into residence, was to 
overhaul the fire-engine, which he found in a very crippled, 
useless condition. Great amusement was caused to the 
dwellers in the precincts by the various trials of its effici¬ 
ency, and by the exercises through which the firemen were 
put in Dean’s Yard. 
In 1848 the interior of the Abbey choir was restored. 
The stalls and sittings were entirely reconstructed, and, 
in spite of numerous objections, the Dean removed the 
heavy oak screens in the north and south transepts, thus 
adding fifteen hundred sittings to the accommodation. He 
took great pleasure in drawing attention to the woodwork 
of the stalls, many of the bosses and finials of which were 
carved from nature by Messrs. Ruddle, of Peterborough, 
showing that the modern carvers can compete in skill with 
their ancient brethren in the craft. The cost of these 
restorations amounted to over £ 7 , 000 . The “ marigold ” 
window in the south transept (Poets’ Corner) was filled 
with stained glass by Dean Buckland, as the “ rose ” 
window of the north transept had been by Dean Atterbury. 
At the same time the Abbey organ was improved at the 
