On the floor, beneath, is a fine old Muniment Chest of elaborate workmanship, the gift of one Hugh Offley, a Sheriff of London in 1588. Before leaving this transept, let us look at those CARVED OAKEN BOSSES, with their strange devices. We may observe the crown of thorns; "the pelican in her piety" feeding her young from her pierced breast, a well-known medieval symbol of the "Chalice of the grapes of God" in the Holy Sacrament; a rebus of Henry de Burton (three burrs issuing out of a tun), who was the Prior when the groined vaulting of wood was set up in the Nave in place of the stone roof which had fallen down in 1469 (Ed. IV.) The quaintest and most extraordinary of all is that flame-coloured face of a fiend swallowing a man. Many conjectures have been made as to its meaning. Most probably it represents Satan swallowing Judas Iscariot, and this view is confirmed by the following lines from Dante's Inferno, canto 34 : "Now this behold For on his head three faces were upreared, The one in front of a vermilion hue: At every mouth his teeth a sinner tore. Let us proceed along the North Aisle. Immediately to the right, as we descend by one step, there was the Prior's doorway, a considerable portion of which still exists on the outer face of this wall, flanked by a damaged Bénitier or Holy Water Stoup. Portion of the Prior's Doorway (Norman, 1106) between the Church and the Cloisters, preserved in situ, in the new Nave, outside. Nearly 800 years old. Note the Consecration Crosses + midway on the jamb. It was a very ancient custom to fix the mark of the Cross on some stone or stones in a Church on the occasion of its completion and consecration, to indicate that both the Church and its site were to be henceforth reserved exclusively for the offices of the Christian religion. "With the mark of the Cross Churches are dedicated, Altars are consecrated.-(S. AUG. HOM. LXXV. de Divers). The last vestiges of the Cloisters and Priory Buildings, which at one time extended to the river, and from London Bridge to St. Mary Overy's Dock, were swept away about 1835. A few paces bring us to a monument which would be sufficient of itself to render any church famous. John Gower. (1327-1408.) ST T. SAVIOUR'S can boast the unique treasure of the resting-place of the first English poet. Seven cities claimed the honour of the birth-place of the great blind Homer; and similarly more than one spot has coveted a like distinction in respect of our own bard, who was also blind during the eight closing years of his life. John Gower, it can be easily proved, possessed property and had relatives of his name in Kent; and we believe he was a Kentish man,* He was Poet Laureate to Richard II. and Henry IV., the latter conferring upon him the SS Collar, with the Lancastrian Badge of the Swan. 19 S * Retrospective Review, 1828, N.S., vol. ii., pp. 103-117. † Observe this Collar. There are various interpretations of the "SS." The simplest is that the links of the chain are in the form of the letter S. I incline to think "SS" are the initials of "Silver Swan," the badge of the powerful de Bohun family, who settled in this country soon after the Norman Conquest. When Henry of Bolingbroke, afterwards. 20 Tomb of the First English Poet, GOWER. The above illustration shows the Monument as it was in the South Transept. It is now in its original place. Henry IV., married Mary de Bohun, he assumed this cognizance of her house. This monarch's tomb in Canterbury is profusely adorned with this favourite device of his, accompanied with the word Soverayne, a mistake for Soveigne, which is an old form of the French word Souvenez. And so a very pretty derivation of the meaning of the S repeated is suggested by the following extract of a warrant (Wardrobe Accounts in the Office of the Duchy of Lancaster A° 20 Ric.) "Pro pondere unius Colerii facti cum Esses de Floribus De Soveigne vous De Moy" (Forget-me-nots). |