New Kent Road, Mr. URBAN, Aug. 7. IT is no new observation, but not the less on that account to be considered, that nothing presents remarkable passages of history to our imagination in so forcible a manner as certain visible objects contemporary and connected with them, which have survived the accidents of each succeeding age. Such is WALTHAM CROSS, a monument remarkable for the illustrious historical character whom it commemorates, and rendered still more precious by the beauty of its architectural design. This elegant structure reminded the passenger, by a striking example, of that mortality which awaits the highest as well as the lowest, and of that future and eternal state of existence into which all must pass; while he was superstitiously taught to pray for the soul of her whom the rich monument commemorated; for a spirit fled beyond the reach of human intercession, and summoned before the just and merciful tribunal of God who gave it. The act, it must be confessed, savoured of charity in him who performed it; but the doctrine had no foundation in Holy Writ, and held out a dangerous compromise for crime. What mattered it how worldly goods were spent or acquired, provided a portion of them should be left to procure a stipendiary priest, for the purpose of praying the soul of the defunct owner out of that dread "prison house," the secrets of which the poet has told us are unfit for mortal ear? The compact was indeed fraudulent; for payment was received for a benefit which no pecuniary bribe could purchase, Eleanor, daughter of Ferdinand the third, King of Castile and Leon, the only child by his second wife Joan, daughter and heir of John Count of Ponthieu, was married to Prince Edward, eldest son of Henry the Third, when he was yet but fifteen years of age, in 1254, at Burgos in Spain, with the approbation of her brother Alphonso, who had succeeded to the kingdoms before named. Alphonso was so much struck with the commanding stature and elegant deportment of the youthful prince, that he himself invested him with the GENT. MAG. August, 1882, girdle of knighthood. Returning with his bride to his father's court, Edward was welcomed, says Matthew Paris, as an angel from God, with the highest demonstrations of joy, “quasi angelus Dei cum summâ suscipitur jubilatione." Fabian tells us he brought his princess to London, where "she was honourably received of the citizens, the city richly curtained and garnished with divers rich cloths; the King (Henry III.) was present at her coming, and she was conveyed through the city to St. John's without Smithfield, and there lodged for a while, but after removed to the Savoy.” ↑ One of the prince's attendants on this matrimonial expedition, John Mansel, brought with him the charter of the King of Castile and Leon, sealed with a bulla of gold, by which he quit-claimed the whole of Gascony for himself and his heirs to the King of England and his successors. Henry, on recognition of this gift, more complimentary than substantial, immediately surrendered it to his son, with Ireland, Wales, the towns of Bristol, Stamford, and Grantham. Edward, fifteen years after his marriage with Eleanor (during which interval he had distinguished himself in various chivalrous encounters and political events), was signed with the cross at Northampton by Ottobon, the legate of the Pope, at the same time with his brother Edmund and the Earl of Gloucester. Two years subsequent to this ceremony, he set out on his expedition to the Holy Land, in accomplishment of his vow, accompanied by his wife, the faithful companion of his perils, who there gave birth to a daughter Joan, surnamed de Acre (Acon), from the place where she first drew breath. This Joan became the wife of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester. While Edward was sojourning at Acre, a correspondence was opened with him by a certain Saracen Amiral of Joppa, who professed a high respect for his character, and testified a desire to become a Christian. The messenger employed by the Amiral was one Anzazim, a member of that extraordinary tribe called Assassins, whose elective * Matt. Paris, Hist. Angl. edit. Watts, p. 890. + Fabian's Chronicle, reprint, p. 338. Matt. Paris, p. 1005. monarch received the appellation of the Old Man of the Mountain, and who have since given a name to all hired murderers. This man, we are informed, had been brought up according to the custom of the sect to which he belonged, in a subterraneous cavern, a troglodyte from his birth; in order that, unaccustomed to the influence of civilization, and thus unawed by respect for rank, he might rush on any prince an enemy of his religion, and put him to death; instructed to believe that, if he should perish in such an act, the joys of Paradise in life eternal awaited him. We may doubt, after this statement, of the innocence of the Amiral's intentions alleged by historians, since he employed such an ambassador. Anzazim on one of these missions approached the English prince, and requested a private audience. Edward dismissed his attendants, and retired with the messenger to an oriel window, when on a sudden the wily Assassin drew a poisoned dagger and stabbed the King twice in the arm, and once, probably thrusting_at his breast, under the arm-pit. Edward struck the villain down with his foot and slew him with his own knife, in wresting which from his grasp, he dreadfully wounded his hand. According to others, he dashed out the miscreant's brains with the tripod supporter of a table standing by. The wounds festered from the venom with which the paint of the weapon that inflicted them had been imbued. Edward's affectionate consort is said with her own mouth to have extracted the poison, applying her tongue to the rankling wounds until they healed, and receiving no injury herself from the act. On which relation an old authority has taken occasion, somewhat quaintly, to observe on the sovereign efficacy of a good wife's tongue when properly applied." Knyghton takes the credit of the cure from Queen Eleanor, and gives it to a skilful surgeon, who boldly excised the mortified flesh from the arm of his royal patient. If this should be considered the more probable account, there is no reason to doubt of the Queen's anxious attendance on her husband under this casualty, which might give rise to a romantic version of her conduct. She bore Edward four sons, of whom the youngest succeeded to his crown, the unfortunate Edward the Second, surnamed of Caernarvon; and nine daughters; and having been his wife for thirty-six years, deceased, in an expedition with him towards the northern borders, on the 27th November, 1290, at the house of Sir Richard Weston at Herdby or Harby, in the parish of North Clifton upon Trent, five miles from Lincoln.‡ Edward caused her body to be conveyed to London in great pomp, and himself retraced his steps to attend it.. It was received into the churches at different stages on its road, namely, at Lincoln, Newark, Grantham, Leicester, Stamford, Geddington, Northampton, Stony - Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St. Alban's, Waltham, &c. and at every one of these resting-places the King caused a Cross to be erected, bearing statues of her and the armorial achievements which appertained to her dignities. *Speed, Hist. of England. Hen. de Knyghton apud Decem Scriptores, p. 2457. Descriptions for Stothard's Monumental Effigios, p. 31. The design of the Northampton Cross very closely resembles that of Waltham : the principal distinctions being that it has eight sides, and that there are four statues of the Queen. It is more perfect than Waltham Cross; and indeed its chief injuries are those of addition. Four dials are placed on the uppermost story; and on the front next the road are the arms of Queen Anne, and two ostentatious tablets, commemorating two repairs in 1713 and 1762. It is high time these should be removed. A remarkable feature among the ornaments is an open book, carved on four of the sides, about the proper height to be read, probably intended to represent a missal, and to suggest to the traveller to offer his devotions for the defunct. The situation of this Cross is very favourable, on a bank next the high road, on the hill above Northampton. It terminates with a plain cross. The design of the Cross at Geddington is different; and it was probably erected at a considerably less expense. It is triangular, except that the centre of each side projects. with a very slight angle. The shaft for the height of about twenty feet is a flat surface, diapered with flowery patterns in six long pannels. On these are placed the shields, as on the other crosses; and above are three statues of the Queen in niches. The crowning member is a group of buttresses, with pinnacles and finials. There are views of all three of the Crosses, by which their features may be compared, in the Vetusta Monumenta, vol. III. and Britton's Architectural Antiquities, vol. I. The Abbey Church of Waltham Holy Cross received the sad remains of departed royalty for the night, and at the point where the procession diverged from the high road to convey the body to the sacred precinct, Waltham Cross was erected. The venerable Church at Waltham had been originally founded by Tovy, stalhere or standard-bearer to King Canute, for the reception of a crucifix of stone, bearing an image of our Saviour, and said to have been discovered in the west of England, by the miraculous direction of an angel from heaven, delivered to a poor smith.* The demesne of Waltham (Weald ham, the hamlet in the forest,) reverting to Edward the Confessor on the death of Tovy, he gave it to Harold, afterwards King of England, the nephew of Editha his wife. Harold constructed a spacious Church of stone on the spot, and endowed it for a dean and eleven secular canons. These canons were expelled by Henry II. to make room for Augustine monks; and Henry III. probably rebuilt a great portion of the Church, for Matthew Paris speaks of a dedication of it with great pomp in the year 1242.t That part of the Church now standing, consisting of the nave, was, I have no doubt, of Harold's erecting; and consequently the very ailes remain at this day, which re-echoed with solemn dirges for the Saxon monarch, emphatically styled "infelix," and for the illustrious Eleanor of England, Castile, Leon, and Ponthieu. These reflections press on the mind of the antiquary, who views the massive columns and huge circular arches, their indented ornaments, and gro tesque heads, which characterize the architecture of the remnant of the Church of Waltham Holy Cross. Its extensive site eastward is still indicated by the level sward which has replaced its pavement, and which lies * Cotton MSS. Brit. Mus. + Matt. Paris, Hist. Angl. p. 595. at least a yard lower than the adjoining burial-ground. Waltham Cross has been often described, and descriptions of buildings seldom convey a well defined idea; it will be better therefore to call in the efficient aid of delineation, and to lay before your readers an etching, chiefly derived from Mr. Clarke's plan for its restoration; and to content myself with observing that it is a structure of the most chaste and elegant period of the pointed style, and that it owes the state of sharpness and preservation in which the greater part of its ornamental details at present appear, to the hardness of the stone in which they have been executed. The arms of England, Castile, and Leon, and Ponthieu, || on shields suspended by their guiges or straps, from knots of foliage, decorate the hexagonal compartments of its basement story. The elegant style of these ornaments closely resembles that of the ancient shields in the nave of Westminster Abbey, commemorating the benefactors to the fabric. The three figures of the Queen which adorn the second stage, and whose draperies are disposed in a taste that would not disgrace the Grecian school, have suffered much from exposure in an elevated situation to the stress of weather. Those who have hitherto attempted in drawings to restore these figures, have greatly erred in altering their attitude, and in placing a sceptre and a mundus in the Queen's hands, which latter distinction is inappropriate, for the orb, as the mark of sovereignty, can only belong to queens regnant. Luckily we are in possession of excellent authority for restoring the figures of Queen Eleanor at Waltham Cross. The attitude in which they were placed is that which was much in vogue in representing females on the seals and sculptures of the period; ✰ "The Church of this Monastery," says Weever, " hath escaped the hammers of destruction, and with a venerable aspect showeth us the magnitude of the rest of this religious structure. Herein Harold made his vows and prayers for victorie, when he marched against the Norman conqueror."-Fun. Monum. p. 642. § See them boldly delineated in Mr. Coney's etching, in the new edition of Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. VI.; also three plates in Britton's Architectural Antiquities, vol. III. The arms of Castile and Leon, Quarterly, Gules, a castle Or, and Argent, a lion rampant Purpure. These were used by Eleanor's father Ferdinand, as King of Castile and Leon, and are considered to be the first instance of two coats being borne quarterly in one shield. The arms of the Earldom of Ponthieu were, Or, three bendlets Azure within a bordure Gules. the left hand seizes the cordon of the mantle, and draws it over the shoulders, while the right holds a short sceptre in an easy position. The posture of the statues on Waltham Cross was precisely that of the female figure represented on the seal of this Queen engraved in Sandford's Genealogical History of England, and also on that of her daughter-in-law Queen Isabella, and which have accordingly been referred to by the artist who executed the accompanying etching. The eye of the most unpractised observer will at a glance perceive the elegance of this position, contrasted with that of a figure holding a long sceptre in one hand, and a ball in the other. Little difficulty in the restoration of these images will therefore arise; the bolder folds of their draperies are still extant; the crown on one remains very perfect; and the effigy in the Abbey* will supply the features. The point likely to be mooted by critics in our ancient architecture, is the proper mode of restoring the Cross which surmounted the whole structúre. A small portion only of its shaft remains. I could suggest that an appropriate example for its completion might be derived from a cross which I conceive to be of the period of Edward I. and which stands in the high road, in the village of Stretham between Cambridge and Ely. I sketched it in 1824, as below. Stretham Cross, Cambridgeshire. * See the beautiful etching after the effigy of Queen Eleanor, by the late C. A. Stothard, esq. F.S.A. in his "Monumental Effigies of Great Britain." I have a strong suspicion, however, from the undecorated character of the supporting plinth and of the portion of the shaft which remains, that the structure at Waltham was terminated by a plain cross, approaching the form of the cross patee in the upper limb and transverse portion. Such indeed is the cross which crowns Queen's Cross at Northampton; and one of a similar form appears on a curious ancient seal of the Abbey Church of Waltham. This cross is there planted on a rock (Mount Calvary), by two supporting angels. Round the verge, in uncial characters, is the inscription, HOC EST SIGILL' ECCLESIE SANCTE CRVCIS DE WALTHAAM. To return, however, to the subject of the restoration of Queen Eleanor's Cross. I ardently hope, Mr. Urban, that the gentlemen who have stepped forward to preserve this national historical monument, will meet with the support they deserve. The Crown itself will surely not be reluctant to contribute towards an undertaking in which the remembrance of its ancient dignity is concerned.‡ In conclusion, may I ask, when shall we hear of some spirited and influential individual convening a public meeting for the purpose of forming a General Conservative Fund for Ancient English Architecture?" a plan which I ventured to suggest to you in a communication to your Magazine of April last, p. 303, and which appears to me the only one likely to be made extensively efficient in preserving objects so important to our national glory, and the general diffusion of intelligence and taste. A. J. K. 'MANY even of those who have made History their peculiar study, are not perhaps aware how much Chro + See Ogborne's History of Essex. The Society of Antiquaries, at the instance of their Secretary Dr. Stukeley, interfered to preserve it, and at their suggestion the brick-work was carried round its hase, and posts erected, in the year 1757, by John, second Lord Monson, lord of the manor of Cheshunt, in which parish the Cross stands. See Clutterbuck's Hist. of Hertfordshire, vol. II. p. 78. In this work is a beautiful view of Waltham Cross, and the landscape to the eastward of it, drawn by E. Blore, from a sketch by the late W. Alexander, and engraved by H. Le Keux. |