is honour during his life, or to his memory
soon after his death; probably in the early part of the eighth
century: this would make it earlier by nearly four hundred years than
anything else in the church. The Bissexcentenary, or twelve-hundredth
anniversary of the foundation of the monastery at Ely by St.
Etheldreda was commemorated by a grand Festival in October, 1873.
[Footnote 33: Bentham's History, i. 45, &c.]
The doorway at the east end of the aisle, under the last window,
formerly the entrance for the monks from the cloisters, now the south
entrance to the Cathedral, is also worthy of special observation; the
head is trefoiled, and ornamented with figures holding pastoral
staves; above, two dragons are represented with their necks entwined;
the mouldings are rich and various, and the capitals and jambs are
sculptured with grotesque ornaments. By some persons it has been
thought that these doorways were insertions, as they do not accord
with the lines of the adjoining wall, perhaps brought from some other
building, and re-erected here when the cloisters were built.
On the second pillar from the east end of the Nave in both aisles, may
be observed a niche with a canopy, indicating the position of the
rood-screen at the western extremity of the original Choir, which
extended eastward across and beyond the space now covered by the
Octagon.
The windows of the aisles, as also those of the triforium, were
originally Norman, but were altered at some subsequent period to a
later style; those, however, of this aisle have, with one exception,
been restored to their original form, and all are filled with stained
glass. We will endeavour to describe them in their order, beginning at
the western end of the aisle.
_1st._ The days of Creation; Adam expelled from Eden; the
punishment of Mankind; the Offerings of Cain and
Abel--executed by Messrs. Henri and Alfred Gerente, of
Paris; the contributions of Visitors to the Cathedral.
_2nd._ The Building of the ark; the entry into the ark; the
Flood; and Noah's Sacrifice--by M. Alfred Gerente: the gift
of Mrs. Pleasance Clough, as a memorial of her aunt,
Susannah, wife of John Waddington, Esq.
_3rd._ The Annunciation; the Salutation of Mary and
Elizabeth; the Birth of Christ--by Mr. Warrington: his own
gift.
_4th._ The Tower of Babel and the Confusion of tongues--by
Mr. Howes: the contribution of variou
|