privately with less anxiety for the same object. Some of the best portions of the remains the Vicar has already, to his personal discomfort, decided to preserve, and I confidently trust that he will ere long arrange some plan which shall embrace the whole. I may add that the most important parts, the pest pavements and bath, have been from the first temporarily roofed in, and preserved as far as possible from injury. I am, Sir, yours obediently, WILLIAM SPICKERNELL. Freshwater, August 27, 1859. CORRESPONDENCE OF SYLVANUS URBAN. THE DATE OF WALTHAM ABBEY CHURCH. IN our last number we inserted Mr. Freeman's letter entire and without note or comment, because we wished to give him fair play, and we do not consider it quite fair to accompany a communication from a correspondent with notes contradicting all that he says, although we are aware that such is the common practice in reviews, magazines, and newspapers when the opinions of the correspondent do not agree with those of the editor. We wish it to be understood that the pages of the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE are open to a fair and honest controversy on any subject of historical or archæological interest. Mr. Freeman has convicted us of some carelessness and looseness of expression, sins of which we fear we are too often guilty from the hurry in which we are frequently obliged to write; but he has not satisfied us that he is right and we are wrong in any one substantial point, and we hardly imagine that he has succeeded in convincing any of our readers, even if he has altogether satisfied himself. He has convicted us of using the word monks in a loose and popular sense, as including the members of all the religious houses, just as we speak of the dissolution of monasteries, including in the term the houses of the friars and secular canons. If the reports of a recent meeting of the Somersetshire Architectural Society at Glastonbury are correct, Mr. Freeman himself was guilty of the same fault when speaking of the " Monastery of Taunton," instead of the Augustinian Priory of Secular Canons at Taunton; and this was since he brought this grave accusation against us. King Edward the Confessor himself was guilty of the same fault, for in his foundation charter he calls the establishment " Monasterium," an expression, we are well aware, of very general meaning, comprehending, perhaps, all churches in which there was a foundation for more than one priest. But in common parlance the word monks is equally comprehensive, and nearly synonymous The church at Waltham was not intended for parochial use; there is in the charter no mention of or allusion to any congregation being present, nor, according to the ide is of that age, was there the slightest necessity for one. Mr. Freeman con siders the words of the charter of foundation as a mere ordinary matter of form; we are not at all of that opinion. He says that all religious foundations were to say masses for the souls of their founders and benefactors; this is very true, but this was no mere matter of form, it was the primary object of all these foundations. Congregational worship was altogether secondary and subordinate, almost accidental; therefore, as might be expected, so soon as a sufficient portion of the buildings could be got ready for the chorus to chant masses, that portion was consecrated for immediate use, and the remainder of the church was finished leisurely afterwards, often not for many years afterwards, often, indeed, not at all, for very many churches were never finished, and the part unfinished is always the nave, or includes the nave. The parts to be built next after the choir were usually the transepts, and one of the western towers to hold the bells, and the nave was the last part to be built. This was usually begun at both ends; the west front was begun along with, or immediately after, the one west tower which formed part of it; but the second west tower was often left unfinished for a very long period, the upper part of this second tower and the central bays of the nave being usually the latest parts of the church. Mr. Freeman doubts whether this customary mode of building a large church can be traced back so early as the eleventh century, and challenges us to produce instances. We accept the challenge, and here are a few examples; our memory is not so good as Mr. Freeman's, or we could greatly increase the number, and we should be disposed to reverse the challenge, and ask him to point out any one large church which was built throughout at the same time in the eleventh or early part of the twelfth century. The instances which occur to us are Canterbury Cathedral, Carlisle Cathedral, St. John's and St. Werburgh's at Chester, and the two great abbey churches at Caen. The choir has been rebuilt in almost all cases, but the foundations of the original choir have frequently been traced, and the important point for our argument is that different parts of the nave are of different dates. At Canterbury there is good reason to believe that one of the western towers was the only part of the early Norman nave that was completed. At Carlisle, the pier-arches of the two bays which remain of the nave are evidently of earlier date than the triforium and clerestory. At St. John's, Chester, the pier-arches of the nave are nearly a century older than the triforium and clerestory. At St. Werburgh's, one of the western towers is early Norman, the other late Perpendicular; the nave is of different dates, but the north wall is the only part that remains of Norman work. At St. Etienne, or the "Abbaie aux hommes," at Caen, the upper part of the nave is considerably later than the lower part; and this is the case also at the "Abbaie aux dames." In these cases, and in the case of Westminster Abbey, it is for Mr. Freeman to prove that the early nave was ever completed. The evidence of the Bayeux tapestry appears to us very unsatisfactory; there are numerous cases in which representations exist of churches as they were intended to be, which have never been completed: for our own parts, we do not believe that the Confessor's church at Westminster was anything like the length of the present church; therefore the present nave is not a mere rebuilding of his nave. We cited it only as a familiar example of the general custom of the middle ages, which we believe to have prevailed from the eleventh to the sixteenth century. Mr. Freeman is so well acquainted with the subject, and must know so many examples in churches of later date, such as Worcester Cathedral, for instance, where this leisurely mode of construction is evident, that he only doubts the early introduction of the custom, and it appears to us to have been quite as usual in the early period as in the later. He cannot see any difference of style at Waltham beyond what he accounts for by the caprice of different workmen at the same time, which appears to us rather a bold assumption, and that the difference of a few years is a far more probable explanation; the clerestory appears to our eyes quite late Norman, and evidently later than the lower part. Mr. Freeman lays stress upon the coronation of William having taken place at Waltham; but if we are not mistaken, the coronation usually was in the choir, and not in the nave. He also lays stress upon the fragment of the true cross which was the special object of worship at Waltham, but all churches had some relics to be exhibited on special occasions, and such an exhibition often took place in the open air, or doubtless in the unfinished nave, which would very probably have a temporary wooden roof over it. We do not at all mean to say that the Norman Conquest produced any immediate change of style; we do not doubt that the choir of Harold at Waltham and the choir of Edward at Westminster were in the Norman style, or that the foundations of the whole church were laid at the same time, but we doubt whether in either case the nave was completed during the lifetime of the founder; and we still doubt whether the existing remains of the nave of Waltham are of the time of Harold. The church is about to be carefully repaired under the trustworthy hands of Mr. W. Burges, and as the plaster and whitewash will naturally be removed, we hope to have the opportunity of examining whether there are any joints in the stonework to confirm our views or not. If the work is all of one period, the courses of masonry will all be even and on the same level, and there will be no distinct joints anywhere. When we find this to be the case, we will acknowledge Mr. Freeman to be right, and that the whole of the existing remains of the nave are the work of Harold. Until then, we must still beg to consider this as a doubtful question. In order to enable our readers better to understand this controversy, we present them with an engraving of one side of the church, shewing the style and the variation spoken of. The church is so well known that this was perhaps hardly necessary, but we have had complaints from persons who do not distinctly remember it, and could not enter into the spirit of this controversy for want of something to recall it to their memory. LORD PALMERSTON AND MR. SCOTT." MR. URBAN,-In justice to Lord Palmerston, it should be said that he is a fair representative of the generation which is passing away, and only acknowledges boldly and honestly that ignorance which they commonly pride themselves upon, an ignorance of many things relating to the history of our own country, and our own ancestors. They cannot understand the spirit of the present day; the enthusiastic admiration and love for every thing belonging to the Middle Ages is a mystery to them. And yet it is only a natural reaction from the spirit of the Georgian era, of which the chief characteristics were ignorance and conceit, and a despising of all that they were unable to appreciate. To them the history of Sparta and Athens was far more important than that of England and France; the laws and customs of the ancient Greeks more necessary to be studied than the origin of the British constitution, and of the laws, habits, and customs which influence our daily lives. It is a remarkable fact that the authorities of the University of Oxford (which is always governed chiefly by old men) have never yet recognised the Oxford Architectural Society, which has been one of the main instruments in that revival of pure taste which has exercised so much influence over England, and is rapidly spreading over all Europe. It has taken firm root in France,-witness the restoration of the Sainte Chapelle, Notre Dame, and the Hotel de Cluny, and almost every Cathedral in France. Germany is not far behind; witness Mr. Scott's magnificent buildings at Hamburgh, which won the day in open competition with all the world. The same spirit is gradually spreading over Italy; and even Spain, in spite of the vigilance of the Jesuits, who still cling to the idea that St. Peter's at Rome is the model of perfection, and that all the world should stand still there, whether their churches require windows or not. Who that has seen the windows of St. Peter's can ever wish to see them repeated ? It appears hardly credible that at this moment Alma Mater cannot find a room in which the Oxford Architectural Society can hold its useful meetings, and in which may be permanently preserved that valu able chronological series of casts of mouldings and ornaments, by which a student maylearn more in an hour than he can learn without it in a year, and which affords the necessary key to the whole subject. There is great probability that this collection will be turned out of Oxford, and sent to form part of the National Museum at South Kensington, there to remain as a standing disgrace to the University of Oxford, which could not understand or appreciate the spirit of her own sons, because they are rather too much in advance of their fathers.-I am, &c. London, Sept. 20. HUYSBURG ABBEY. MR. URBAN, Having on my return from a late excursion in the Harz mountains visited this interesting spot, which is assuredly known to few, if any, of the readers of your Magazine, I beg leave to send you the following short account of it. At the north-east corner of the Harz district, about four English miles from M. A. the quaint old town of Halberstadt, in Prussian Saxony, rises a mountain range called the Huy, composed of lime and sandstone, six hundred feet above the level of the sea. It is covered with one of the finest woods in Germany; oak, beech, and maple grow luxuriantly, and are in the best preservation. The air is sharp, but pure, containing, as is said, |