, and is
of peculiar interest, since it is a record of many features now
entirely removed. The early reredos appears still in its place, but
the upper portion of it is gone. This was a gallery which was
accessible from either triforium, across which boys early in the
century used to run races by starting up the staircase in one aisle
and down that in the other. The absence of the gallery in the drawing
shows that it was made after 1829, the year in which the gallery was
removed. The "glory" which was added to the reredos during the
eighteenth century appears just above the altar. On the south side of
the choir are some spectators in the gallery above the stalls. There
were also at this time other galleries on the north and south of the
sanctuary, and above the arch on the east side of the north arm of the
transept was a gallery too. To this last there was access from the
staircase that led to the chamber above the east chapel of the
transept close by. These drawings show what the interior of the church
was like up to the time when that extraordinary revival of activity in
matters ecclesiastical began in the nineteenth century.
[25] See illustrations, pp. 33 and 125.
[26] Supposed to be by Carter, an architect of Winchester.
Like other churches, that at Chichester felt the sting of controversy
in unnecessary vandalism. But it may be admitted that destruction,
like a storm, carried at least some virtue in its clouds. In
attempting to sweep away the accumulated refuse heaped within the
building, some precious things fell before the broom of zealous
furnishers, and were lost for ever in the dust raised by this new
cleansing dream.
[Illustration: THE NAVE, ABOUT 1836. _From Winkles's Cathedral
Churches_.]
The removal of the gallery above the old fifteenth-century reredos in
1829 was the beginning of a serious attempt to repair, restore, and
reanimate the fabric. This revival of faith began to try to do good
works--but not always with discretion, not always with knowledge,
wisdom, and taste. Here was rash ardour, often without the hesitation
of true reverence.
[Illustration: THE RETRO-CHOIR AND REREDOS, ABOUT 1836. _From
Winkles's Cathedral Churches_.]
It is certain the building was not all it should have been when these
works were begun; it is not what it might have been had some of them
been deferred. Consequently any illustrations which show its condition
before the middle of the nineteenth century are o
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