Oxford, and yet, so convenient is it, that no better
model could be chosen should there ever come any general return to the
old collegiate life; for a settlement, for a model factory, one can
imagine nothing better even now. There are forty-two houses,
twenty-one on either side: each consisted originally of two rooms, one
above the other, with a staircase; for the vicars were single men. Now
that the vicars-choral are married, many of them live in the town, but
all the theological students are lodged here, and there are always a
few rooms to be let to those visitors who are wise enough to stay in
this charming place.

The tall chimneys rise up through the eaves of the little houses;
octagonal at the top, they are perforated like a lantern, with two
openings on each side. On them are shields bearing the arms of the
see, of Bishop Beckington and his executors, Swan, Sugar, and Pope,
sugar-loaves and swans abounding in the decoration.

At the farther end of the close is the tiny chapel (finished by
Bubwith, and finally consecrated in 1489, after Beckington had added
the wooden ceiling and the chamber above), where compline is still
said by the theological students. It is one of the most beautiful
things in Wells--a jewel, like so much of its period--and it has been
well decorated in sgraffitto and colour by Mr Heywood Sumner. An
interesting feature of its exterior is that some of the old Early
English carving was worked in with the masonry of the wall, by way of
decoration, and very effective it is. A passage at the side leads to
the Liberty, where are some of the prebendal houses.

Over the entrance, and leading into the bridge of the Chain Gate, are
the hall and its offices, which are approached by a fine staircase. In
the hall is a painting of much interest, which represents Bishop Ralph
seated on his throne, the vicars kneeling before him; the petition
which he holds runs--_Per vicos positi villae, Pater alme rogamus, Ut
simul uniti, te, Dante domos maneamus_; and the answer, which has the
episcopal seal, is--_Vestra petunt merita, Quod sint concessu petita:
Ut maneatis ita, Loca fecimus hic stabilita._ On the right are
seventeen figures with ruffles, evidently added in Elizabethan times;
corresponding inscription has also been added--_Quas primus struxit_,
etc.

There is also a pulpit over the fireplace, which is large, with good
mouldings and an inscription, _In vestris prec[=i] habeat^s
comedat[=u] do[=m] Rica