el
in the cloisters was pulled down, and the infamous Duke of Somerset
robbed it of its wealth and meditated further sacrilege. Amongst these
desecrators and despoilers there was a mighty hunger for lead. "I
would that they had found it scalding," exclaimed an old chaplain of
Wells; and to get hold of the lead that covered the roofs--a valuable
commodity--Somerset and his kind did much mischief to many of our
cathedrals and churches. An infamous bishop of York, at this period,
stripped his fine palace that stood on the north of York Minster, "for
the sake of the lead that covered it," and shipped it off to London,
where it was sold for L1000; but of this sum he was cheated by a noble
duke, and therefore gained nothing by his infamy. During the Civil War
it escaped fairly well, but some damage was done, the palace was
despoiled; and at the Restoration of the Monarchy much repair was
needed. Monmouth's rebels wrought havoc. They came to Wells in no
amiable mood, defaced the statues on the west front, did much wanton
mischief, and would have caroused about the altar had not Lord Grey
stood before it with his sword drawn, and thus preserved it from the
insults of the ruffians. Then came the evils of "restoration." A
terrible renewing was begun in 1848, when the old stalls were
destroyed and much damage done. Twenty years later better things were
accomplished, save that the grandeur of the west front was belittled
by a pipey restoration, when Irish limestone, with its harsh hue, was
used to embellish it.

A curiosity at Wells are the quarter jacks over the clock on the
exterior north wall of the cathedral. Local tradition has it that the
clock with its accompanying figures was part of the spoil removed from
Glastonbury Abbey. The ecclesiastical authorities at Wells assert in
contradiction to this that the clock was the work of one Peter
Lightfoot, and was placed in the cathedral in the latter part of the
fourteenth century. A minute is said to exist in the archives of
repairs to the clock and figures in 1418. It is Mr. Roe's opinion that
the defensive armour on the quarter jacks dates from the first half of
the fifteenth century, the plain oviform breastplates and basinets, as
well as the continuation of the tassets round the hips, being very
characteristic features of this period. The halberds in the hands of
the figures are evidently restorations of a later time. It may be
mentioned that in 1907, when the quarter jacks we