rced to leave
them to some better discovery than I was able to render of them; as also
the venerable shrine of St. William." John Weever, whose "Ancient
funerall Monuments" was published in 1631, agrees with our Norwich
lieutenant as to the dilapidated state of the older monuments in the
church in his time. People are at times found, who thoughtlessly charge
the Roundheads with all such defacements as these, but the above
authorities clear them in many cases, though still leaving acts of
"vandalism" that they are responsible for.

In "A perfect diurnall of the severall passages in our late Journey into
Kent, from Aug. 19 to Sept. 3, 1642, by the appointment of both Houses
of Parliament" we have an official account of the doings of the
Parliamentary soldiers in this cathedral as elsewhere in the county. Of
the last day of their stay in the town on their outward journey, we
read: "On Wednesday, being Bartholomew Day, before we marched forth,
some of our souldiers (remembring their protestation which they tooke)
went to the Cathedrall about 9 or 10 of the clock, in the midst of their
superstitious worship, with their singing men and boys; they (owing them
no reverence) marched up to the place where the altar stood, and staying
awhile, thinking they would have eased their worship, and demanded a
reason of their posture, but seeing they did not, the souldiers could
not forbeare any longer to wait upon their pleasure, but went about the
worke they came for. First they removed the Table to its place
appointed, and then tooke the seate which it stood upon, being made of
deale board, having 2 or 3 steps to go up to the altar, and brake that
all to pieces; it seemed the altar was so holy that the ground was not
holy enough to stand upon. This being done they pluckt down the rails
and left them for the poore to kindle their fires; and so left the
organs to be pluckt down when we came back again, but it appeared before
we came back they tooke them downe themselves. When this work was
finished we then advanced towards Maidstone." At Canterbury it was far
worse. There, "on Saterday morning before we departed some of our
souldiers visited the great Cathedrall, and made havock of all their
Popish reliques.... When they had done their pleasure we all marched to
Dover." Their pleasure meant terrible injuries to this grand church.

The Cavaliers themselves agree that Rochester Cathedral suffered far
less mischief than many other sacred e