"that the
cathedral suffered much for want of glass in the windows, and the
churchyard lay very indecently, and the gates down, because the dean and
chapter refused to be visited by him on pretence that the statutes were
not confirmed under the broad seal." Here the king wrote in the margin:
"This must be remedied one way or other, concerning which I expect a
particular account of you." There was probably a considerable likelihood
then of the imposition of a new set of statutes of the archbishop's
devising; the dean and chapter, however, managed to retain the old ones.
They submitted to a visit from the archbishop, as metropolitan, in the
following year, and in answer to one of his questions stated that the
cathedral was sufficiently repaired in all its parts, the only defects,
and these small, being in the glass of some of the windows. These
defects had been left for a little while, owing to the great charges
that they had incurred of late years. If they had been among the first
parts repaired they would probably have wanted mending again before the
other works were finished. This would have involved more expense. In
addition to their ordinary annual outlay on the fabric, they had
recently expended on it and on the "making of the organs" more than
L1,000. The archbishop evidently thought this report correct, for with
regard to the cathedral and its furniture he only found it necessary to
enjoin: that the windows should be repaired without delay in a decent
manner, and the bells together with the frames put in good order; that
there should be a new fair desk in the choir, and new church books
provided without delay; that the communion table should be placed at the
east end of the choir in a decent manner, and a fair rail put up to go
across the choir as in other cathedral churches. That they had not of
their own accord seen to what he considered such an important matter as
this last, is sure to have influenced him against them. In their answer
the dean and chapter said that all these things were either done, or
would be taken in hand as soon as possible, but pointed out that, if the
altar were removed quite to the end, the clergyman ministering at it
would be almost out of hearing of the congregation, and suggested
instead the erection of a screen behind it, in the more westerly
position, where it then was and again is, for it to stand against. This
suggestion seems not to have been accepted. They pointed out the
imposs