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The origin of Winchester is involved in obscurity; but tradition, and the evidence of our oldest historical monuments, concur in representing it as one of the earliest settlements of the first inhabitants of the island. It was termed Caer Gwent by the Britons, Venta Belgarum by the Romans, and Wintanceaster by the Saxons. It became the capital of England under the Saxons when the country was united under the sway of Egbert, King of Wessex, in the beginning of the ninth century, and it retained this dignity till the reign of Edward the Confessor in the middle of the eleventh century. Here lie the bones of Alfred the Great and of the famous Canute. In this city, in 1002, commenced the horrid massacre of all the Danes who had settled in England. From this massacre sprung the old English custom of the Hocktide merriments. Here William the Conqueror built a castle and a palace, part of the foundations of which is yet to be seen. Here his son, William Rufus, was crowned, and here he was buried

and here were the royal mint, treasury, and public record-office. Winchester suffered severely during the wars between Stephen and the Empress Matilda Here Richard Cœur-de-Lion was crowned a second time with great pomp after his return from the crusades. Here John ratified his ignominious submission to the Pope's agent, Pandulph, and did homage to him for his crown. Henry III. was born here, and always bore the name of Henry of Winchester. Henry IV. here married Joan of Brittany. Parliaments were held in this city both it. the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Prince Arthur, son of Henry VII., was born at the castle; and Henry VIII. entertained the Emperor Charles V. at the same place in 1522. At the Reformation, it suffered severely from the dissolution of its monasteries and other religious buildings, so that it had the appearance of a city sacked by a hostile army. Here Queen Mary was married to Philip of Spain. James I. made Winchester the scene of the disgraceful trials of Sir Walter Raleigh, Lords Cobham and Grey, and their assumed accomplices; and three of these royal victims, the Hon. George Brooke, brother of Lord Cobham, and the priests, Watson and Clarke, were executed here on the Castle-hill. The castle was garrisoned during the civil war, first by the adherents of the Parliament, from whom it was taken by the Royalists in 1643. After the battle of Naseby, it was retaken by Cromwell, who blew it up with gunpowder, battered to pieces the fortifications of the city, and demolished Wolvesey Castle, the bishop's palace. His troopers stabled their horses in the cathedral, and committed great excesses, demolishing the monuments, and mutilating and injuring parts of the edifice. The bishop's palace was rebuilt in 1684. Winchester was a favourite city of Charles II., who commenced the erection of a palace in 1682 on the site of the old castle, which, so far as finished, stands there now, and is occupied as barracks. Richard Cromwell, after resigning the Protectorate, passed the remainder of his life in retirement in the neighbourhood of this city, at the old manor of Merdon at Hursley.

Winchester is situated on the eastern slope of an eminence, at the foot of which flows the beautiful river Itchen. The city has a solemn and venerable appearance. It consists of several good streets, lighted with gas, and well paved. Of the five ancient gates only two are now remaining; and all traces of the ditches and old walls have been obliterated. The most interesting public building in Winchester is the cathedral. Kinegils, the first of the Saxon kings who embraced Christianity, laid the foundation of a cathedral here, which, after his death, was carried on by his son, Kenewalch, and completed in 648. It stood on the spot which is occupied by the existing building. Having fallen into decay, it was rebuilt by St Ethelwold in 980. Bishop Walkelyn, the prelate who was first appointed to the see after the conquest, rebuilt the central tower, and made various important repairs and additions. Bishop Godfrey de Lucy rebuilt A portion of the east end towards the close of the eleventh century. Various extensive improvements were made about the middle of the fourteenth century by Bishop William de Edyndon; and his illustrious successor, William de

Wykeham, who held the see of Winchester from 1366 to 1404, rebuilt nearly the whole of the cathedral to the westward of the central tower. A considerabie part of the church to the east of this tower was restored by Bishop Richard Fox in the early part of the sixteenth century. The building is in the form of a cross, its length from east to west being 560 feet, and the breadth of the nave and aisles 86 feet. The nave, 250 feet in length, is considered one of the finest in England. The length of the transepts is 186 feet. The tower is 138 feet in height and 50 feet by 48 in breadth. By far the noblest part of the building is the west front, built by William of Wykeham, with its great central doorway, its noble window, rich with perpendicular tracery, its buttresses and pinnacled turrets, its crowning tabernacle, with its statue of the builder, and its pinnacled side aisles. The interior has a peculiarly solemn and magnificent appearance, and is rich! ornamented. Around the walls are numerous monuments of bishops, deans, nobles, and gentlemen of neighbouring families. The chapels or chantries of Wykeham, Edington, Fox, Cardinal Beaufort, Waynflete, and Gardiner, are of the most beautiful and elaborate workmanship. "So delicately, so elaborately are they carved out, that they have more the appearance of being wrought in ivory than in stone. In these, on stately tombs, the sides of which are figured with the richest panelling, lie the effigies of these magnificent old prelates, and here were daily masses chanted for the repose of their souls." The workmanship of the choir is remarkably rich and beautiful. On the floor, a plain bevelled stoue of dark marble marks the tomb of William Rufus; and arranged on each side of the sanctuary are six mortuary chests, containing the bones of many of the most eminent Saxon princes. Behind the altar is a magnificent stone screen of the most exquisite workmanship, erected by Bishop Fox ; and a painting by West, of the raising of Lazarus, now occupies the place where the high aitar formerly stood. In the floor of Prior Silkstede's chapel, in the old Norman south transept, is the tomb of Izaak Walton.

The most interesting building in Winchester next to the cathedral is St. Mary's College. William of Wykeham, by whom it was founded and endowed, was originally a poor boy of the neighbouring town of Wickham, who, having attracted the notice of Nicholas Uvedale, the lord of the manor, was sent by him to the old grammar-school of Winchester, which stood on the very spot where his college now stands. It has been justly said, that "his architectural works at Dover, Queenborough, Windsor, and other castles for the king-the building of his two colleges, this and New College, Oxford,-and his rebuilding the nave of his cathedral-mark him as the greatest architectural genius of the age." Winchester College was begun in the year 1387, and was completed six years afterwards. The society consisted of a warden and ten priests, who are perpetual fellows, three chaplains, three clerks, and sixteen choristers, a schoolmaster and under master, and seventy scholars. The establishment continues in the same condition; but besides the seventy scholars, there are now taught a considerable number of youths who are not on the foundation. The college is built round two courts, with towers

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