CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2149, 17 April 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL.

Tub foundations of the present cathedral were laid by Bishop Ralph Luffa, a stalwart man and a stout chain pian of the Church, a man who "raised his See from a state of' great poverty to one of order and importance. He left all hit goods to the poor, directing their distribution in his own sight as be lay on his death-bed." Of the church which he built a good deal remains in the present cathedral, though the earlier work ii of more than one date. The building was consecrated in 1148. In the year 1187 a second fire damaged the ediSce,and subsequently the cathedral was altered and enlarged. It -was not until the fourteenth century that the spire, which wa« its glory, was added. In 1861 the spire fell, and although it has been replaced with a new one, yet this has not the same iuterest attached to it as that which had been the landmark to the whole district round for so many generations. It has been noted by one writer that there is a triplicity pervades all the Seffered part of the cathedral, as it was dedicated by him to the Holy Trjnity. In the nave and transepts are several monuments of interest, among them being i the tomb of, Richard FitzAlan, fourteenth Earl of Arundel, who was beheaded in the year 1397, and that of Richard de la VVych, Bishop of Cbiohester, who was canonised and known in after-times as S. Richard of Winchester. Another man, a favourite of King Henry 111., had been elected by the canons to the vacant See ; but the Pope refused to accept him, and consecrated Richard de la Wych, then a Dominican monk, during the sitting of the Council of Lyons. The king retorted by iconfiscating the revenues of the See, but yielded after a time, and the bibhop was left in peace. He died ft Dover, was canonised, and his remains brought ; to Chiohester, where legends of miracles gradually accumulated, and pilgrims .thronged to his tomb. Among the monuments of modern da_te there is a statue to Huskisson, and a monument to the poet William Collins. The latter was a native of Chichetter, and ended his unhappy Hfo in a house near the cathedral. He is represented as reading the New .Testament, in refrence to an incident which occured in the last year of his life. Dr Johnson visited him at Islington during one of the intervals of his attacks of insanity, and found him thus reading ; and the poet remarked, " I have but one ; book, and that is the,' best." There are portraits of the Bishs of Selsey aud Chichester. The choir of the cathedral is very fine, and therein are several bishops entombed, or in the Lady Chapel. The library contains valuable relies, In the south isle of (be choir is a monument to, the late Dean Hook. On the south side of the cathedral are cloisters, enclosing a burial-ground or "Paradise. 1 ! In the south cloister William ' Chillingworth was buried. He bad shared in the dangers of the seige of Arundel, where his mechanical skill had .aided the defenders. A Presbyterian divine named Cheynell showed him kindness ; but rewarded himself for this consideration to a fallen enemy by a " little plain-speak-ing at his grave." He brought a copy of Chillingworth 's celebrated work. "The Religion of Protestants, a safe way to Salvation," and flung it into,, the grave upon the body of the author, crying, '•Get thee gone, though cursed book, which hap seduced so many precious souls ! Get thee gone, though corrupt, rotten book ; earth to earth, and dust to dust 1 Get thee gone, to the place' of rottenness, that thou mayest rot with thy author and see corruption I So much for the bnrial of his errors. Touching the burial of bis corpse, I need say no more than this : it will be most proper for men of his persuasion to commit the body of their deceased friend, brother, master, to the dust, and it will be most proper for me to harken to the counsel of my Saviour. ' Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.' So I went from the grave and preached on that text to the congregation."

The Eev. Joseph Cook declares that the American people are the most drunken race on the planet, and that the misrule of the large cities is all due to the liquor interests. Sergeant John Penx, one of the " Six Hundred," has just died at Dunbar. Perm was specially mentioned in Kinglake's "History of the Crimea " as being a most dashiDg soldier. He had eight medals. Five lads were returning from ■chool in East Middlesex, England, last July, "when a strange dog new at them and bit them all." These victims are now dead, despite cauterization of the wounds, the last one having succumbed to hydrophobia in a hospital a few weeks ago.