1831.] Britanny.-Repairs of St. Andrew Undershaft. 217 Feudal usages were more common in Brittany than in any part of Europe. The gentry claimed the right of plundering travellers whom they found passing through their plantations. The rights of primogeniture were more strict, and the dependance of younger brothers more entire, in this province, than in any other. The isle of SEIN, near the bay of Douarnenez, is the ancient Sena, the abode of Druidesses, who were consulted by inquirers from all parts of Gaul. It is also the reputed birth-place of the enchanter Merlin. The affinity of the Bas-Breton dialect to the Welsh is still a subject of antiquarian research. How far the British emigrants changed the condition of the country is doubtful, but it is most probable that they selected it as a retreat, because their language was already spoken there. The first missionary who preached the Gospel to the Armorican Bretons in their own tongue, was St. Corentin, a British exile of the 5th century. Many of the romances of the Middle Ages are claimed by continental as well as insular Britain. The scene of the Court Mantel is laid at the castle of Joyeuse Garde, on the road from Brest to Landerneau. In real history the castle is called Goy-la-Forest. St. Gildas de Rhuis, in the diocese of Vannes, was the abbey of the unfor tunate Abelard. He describes the monks as indolent and depraved, and complains of his ignorance of the popular language. The rochet, in ecclesiastical costume, derives its name from a Celtic word, which in Bas-Breton signifies chemise. The first crusade, which produced a closer intercourse of nations, is regarded as the æra of the deterioration of the Bas-Breton, which ceased from that period to be the language of the gentry. The forest of Brecilian, where Merlin is supposed to be buried, and where the scenes of many romances are laid, is the present forest of Paimpont. De Rancé, the reformer of the order of La Trappe, conscientiously refused the bishopric of St. Pol de Leon, because he was ignorant of the language of the diocese. The Tartuffe of Moliere is founded on the adventures of a young Breton, who came to Paris as a tradesman, and became a hypocritical devotee. Tartuffe is a name peculiar to Lower Brittany. Father Martin the Jesuit, and the abbé Tourmel, are mentioned as eloquent preachers among the Bas-Bretons in the 17th century. The latter was called le Ciceron de la Basse-Bretagne. The chapel of Nôtre-Dame at BREST is called Recouvrance, from the vows addressed to the Virgin by seamen for the recovery of their property. The installation of the Mayor of Brest was accompanied at its first occurrence in 1749 by a curious ceremony. The Mayor took the oath of allegiance before the governor of the castle, who swore, on his part, to respect the liberties of the town, and in testimony of his sincerity opened a bird's cage, and set it free. Brest was visited by the Emperor Joseph II. in 1777. The Princess Mary of Scotland landed at MORLAIX in 1548, on her way to the French Court, previous to her marriage with Francis II. As her guards passed over the bridge, some confusion took place, and a cry of treason was raised. The Seigneur de Rohan, who stood by the door of her carriage, exclaimed, Jamais Breton ne fait trahison, and the tumult ceased. Mr. URBAN, Aug. 16. THE following notices of recent alterations and improvements in the Metropolis may perhaps be acceptable to your readers. E.I.C. ST. ANDREW UNDERSHAFT CHURCH, The tower has been cased with compo, and rendered uniform in apGENT. MAG. September, 1881. pearance.* Four pinnacles have been added to the angles, and a new lantern of an octagon form built; in a carpenter's Gothic taste it is true, but more in unison with the structure than the former one. The portico over the principal door has been removed, and some pannelling in compo with The tower had previously been covered with this material, the bane of sll antiquity. 218 Architectural Improvements in the Metropolis. shields of arms substituted, but the handsome bases of the columns attached to the jambs of the doorway, which were wantonly destroyed some few years ago, have not been restored. The windows on the clerestory had lost their mullions at some distant period, which have been now restored in stone, uniform in design with the aisles. In the interior, some few alterations for the better have been effected; the altar-screen of wainscot, of Corinthian architecture, has been entirely removed, and a new one with arched compartments in the Pointed style, occupies its place. The new screen is surmounted with a frieze of foliage interspersed with the monogram I. H. S. The handsome east window is now fully exposed; its lower mullions had been concealed by the former screen; they were disclosed some years since, when a part of the screen was removed, and the portion of window formerly concealed was glazed with painted glass; at the same time a painting on glass of St. Andrew, in the head of the arch, was removed, and the tracery it had displaced was restored. On the south side of the chancel an altar tomb and canopy of the sixteenth century, which was partly hid by wainscotting, has been brought to light. Stow's monument, which had been tastelessly painted in colours, has been cleaned, and the material, which all the Surveys of London have set down as composition, appears to be a beautiful antique marble richly veined with light red; the face of the Antiquary has gained by the alteration an appearance of deep thought and intellect in the features, which the brush of the house painter had completely ob scured. ST. AUGUSTINE'S CHURCH. In the recent repair, the steeple has been lowered, and the taper and graceful pyramidal proportions reduced to the standard of the new Churches. Architects should be careful how they meddle with the works of Wren; their utmost efforts cannot improve them, but any carpenter can injure their matchless proportions. ST. ANTHOLINE'S CHURCH. In Watling-street, in an obscure part of the City, is this elegant and [Sept. graceful steeple, which for chasteness of form and delicacy of proportion, may vie with the works of the Pointed style. It was one of the finest specimens of Wren's steeples, and having in 1829 fallen out of the perpendicular, fourteen feet were taken down, and very accurately restored. The weathercock was set up on the 12th of August in that year. The Church was repaired at the same time; the whole expense being 2400!. The restoration was creditable to the united parishes. The works of Wren all display talent of the highest order, and ought to be preserved inviolate. ST. BOTOLPH ALDERSGATE. A portion of the east end has been laid into the street, by setting back the front wall, one corner of which would have protruded on the same line of street; a more architectural design than the former has been substituted in compo. AUSTIN FRIARS CHURCH. The nave of the Priory Church, which now serves for a Dutch congregation, is a specimen of the architecture of Edward III.'s reign. It was substantially built with stone, and, though black, was comely. In the worst possible taste which could be thought of, with reference to an ancient building, it has been covered with compo, by which means a spruce even surface has been given to the old walls, destroying every appearance of antiquity, and giving to a fine remnant of the monastic glories of London the appearance of a modern gimcrack. To complete the absurdity, the plasterer has set up over the principal window the date in Roman numerals, A.D. M.CCLIII. thereby misleading the public, who may thence conclude not only that the present structure was built at that date, but that the covering which conceals its ancient walls was also the work of the same period. If the walls had been scraped and cleaned, their appearance would have been mended. In addition, the plasterer has altered, to suit his own fancy, the splays of the buttresses on the north side of the Church, reducing them from five to four on the second story, and from four to two on the first; on the south side, the buttresses remain unaltered. THE arrangements of the late Coronation were a compromise between economy and parade. Many things were omitted to satisfy the popular demand for the one, and others added to gratify the popular taste for the other. With a wish to coincide in all measures of just and honourable economy, we cannot, as Englishmen and admirers of the "good old times," resist some feelings of regret that we should have witnessed a Coronation when the noble Hall of Rufus has been left in its ordinary desolation, and our national hospitality proved to be so decayed that a King of England cannot be permitted to feast his nobles in his ancestral banqueting-house, not even for once in his reign. The ceremonies being confined to the Abbey on the present occasion, the walking procession of the several estates was omitted from want of space; and the gallant vision of rank, and beauty, and valour, passing in long array, was 219 lost to the spectators. Within the church, the immediate attendants on their Majesties and the Regalia were alone sufficient to occupy the extent of the nave. To those without the church, and in the line between the Hall and the Abbey, it was a poor exchange to see merely a train of gay equipages and beautiful horses; although, as a spectacle, the cavalcade was certainly magnificent, and, in its extended passage, afforded gratification to thousands. This "riding" to the Coronation is the more remarkable, as being a partial revival of one of the ancient ceremonies, on an occasion when other portions were for the first time omitted. At the coronation of the Kings and Queens of England, for more than four centuries (and as high as the accounts extend), we find the ceremony preceded by a cavalcade through the City of London. After having been omitted by King James the First, on account of the plague, this proces The accompanying engravings are three out of four which were published in the Observer newspaper only two days after the ceremony took place; aud, considering the haste in which they must have been produced, are wonderfully correct. Allowance must be made for the omission of several minor figures, which, if inserted, might perhaps have confused the principal personages: particularly the soldiers who lined the platform in the nave; the Gentlemen Pensioners within the choir; and the Dean and Prebendaries, and several of the attendant officers, near the altar. These engravings are striking proofs of the liberality and public spirit of the proprietor of the Observer; our opinion of which, it may be imagined, is not a little increased by his kindness in affording us the present gratuitous use of them. We were indebted to him for a similar favour at the period of the last Coronation; and beg to refer to our vol. xci. part ii. p. 105, for a view of the Abbey from the Altar, at the moment the crown was placed on the King's head, as the only important varieties on the present occasion consist in the presence of a Queen, and the musicians being placed near the ordinary organ of the Abbey at the entrance of the choir. The hangings around the area were very similar on both occasions. + The historical collection of these ancient Processions, which has been recently published, under the title of "London Pageauts," was reviewed in our last number, p. 145, and some extracts were given in our number for July, p. 19. One of the most pleasing narratives it contains is that of the procession made by the high-spirited and popular Elizabeth, in whose hearty English feelings no subsequent Monarch has so fully agreed as our present gracious Sovereign. Elizabeth, it is remarked, was so desirous to meet halfway the efforts made to do her honour, that she was ready to take part herself in the allegorical pageantry which was exhibited, and mixed in the dialogue of the fictitious characters who addressed her. The speech she made to the Lord Mayor and citizens must have rung in their ears and penetrated their hearts. Taking with both hands the purse they had presented, she said, "I thank my Lord Mayor, his brethren, and you all. And whereas your request is that I should continue your good Lady and Queen, be ye assured that I will be as good unto you as ever Queen was to her people. No will in me can lack; neither, do I trust, shall there lack any power. And persuade yourselves that, for the safety and quietness of you all, I will not spare, if need be, to spend my blood. God thank you all!" "Which answer," remarks the chronicler, "of so noble-hearted a Princess, if it moved an extraordinary shout and rejoicing, it is not to be marvelled at; since both the heartiness thereof was wonderful, and the words so jointly knit." 220 Preparations for the Coronation. sion was added some months after as a "residue of the solemnities of the Coronation." By Charles the First it was first entirely omitted, on the same plea, but partly to save the expense (a war with France then pressing upon the resources of the Exchequer); at the coronation of Charles the Second it was revived with enthusiasm, but for the last time. The late procession from St. James's Palace, formed on a scale of trifling expense, was a happy method of gratifying the loyal feelings of a large portion of the community; and it may be taken as a desirable precedent for future occasions, although we trust not to the omission of the walk ing procession of Peers and Knights and Ladies fair, or of a suitable entertainment in the Royal Hall of our English Kings. It was well remarked in the Atlas newspaper, that "the sight of Westminster-hall, denuded of the grandeur which in all times has clothed it on such occasions, was melancholy and reproachful. The peers and rich commoners ought to have subscribed more largely to the encouragement of trade, the support of their sovereign's dignity, and the becoming splendour of the great national festivity." Even the editor of the Times, who would abridge a great part of the Coronation ritual as "" compounded of the worst dregs of popery and feudalism," is in favour of a procession, in which he says there is "no harm, but much to put the people in good humour, were it for nothing but a train of graceful and lovely women sweeping past in the robes and ornaments which denote their station." In recording the ceremonies of the Coronation, we shall describe, first the preparations and temporary erections, and then the proceedings of the day. In consequence of the Abbey door being the place where their Majesties were first to alight from their carriages, it was found desirable to erect some retiring rooms on that spot. The design was supplied by Sidney Smirke, esq. F.S.A. architect to the Board of Works, and consisted of a tall pointed arch, between two gables each rising over a window composed of two wide lancet lights. Round the corner, on the north, was another gable and window, surmounted by the arms attributed to King Edward the Con [Sept. fessor (and now appropriated to the City of Westminster), with his Crown, as it was engraved in our last Magazine. On the front were also three coats of the present Royal arius, with open crowns of gold. These were tastefully designed by Mr. Willement, the author of "Regal Heraldry," and the whole was excellently painted in imitation of stone by Mr. Paris, the painter of the Coliseum. The archway opened immediately into a gallery or passage seventy feet long by nineteen wide, which was papered in imitation of stone, a high wainscoting of oak, and a cieling in oak panels. High on the walls were painted the shields of England, Ireland, Scotland, Hanover, Brunswick, Lunenberg, Saxony, the Crown of Charlemagne, and the conjoined Rose, Thistle, and Shamrock. On the spandrels of the inner arch were beautifully painted two medallions, of angels with labels, inscribed 'ne, salbum fac Regem, and Decus et Cutamen. The apartment for the King was on the right, and that for the Queen on the left, each approached through a small anticbamber. They were papered with a rich crimson paper, the ceilings were of azure blue, with gilt cornices, the carpets of crimson, and each room was suitably furnished with chairs, sofas, tables, and glasses. Along the nave was extended a platform, twenty feet in width, covered with matting, and the centre with blue cloth. The side ailes were wholly filled with two galleries, supported on flat pointed arches, the fronts of which were exceedingly well coloured to harmonize with the general tint of the building. Seats were also erected in the vaultings, or nunneries, above the side ailes, and, as they projected in front of the arches (which had not been the case on any former occasion), they appeared suspended in midair. All these were let to the public, having been erected by individual speculators, on contract with the Dean and Chapter. As it was determined to make use of the organ of the Abbey in its usual situation, (not, as on the last occasion, to place the music gallery over the altar,) it was considered desirable to raise the organ screen, in order that the performance of the vocal and instrumental musicians might not be lost in the vast open space. On the beautiful new stone screen which has been recently erected by Mr. Blore, the Abbey architect, was raised a wooden erection of about the same height, so as to inclose the music within the choir: and the front next the nave was painted to harmonise with the stone-work, being ornamented with niches containing statues of Edward the Confessor and Henry the Third, and a row of shields in colours. From the choir all the stalls and readingdesks were removed, and the platform was continued down the centre, while five rows |