metropolis by money, and if it is properly insured, the money would be forthcoming. But no insurance can secure the value of an ancient edifice. I would rather see old buildings restored than demolished; but restoration must, to be of any use, be carefully and almost reverently done.

I cannot but say that I regret much the demolition of many old buildings, both in London and Paris, in this present century. We and the French are leaving but little to the twentieth century of the relics of our venerable capitals.

But the case of London remains appeals not only to the people of England (and every Englishman has some connection with London, and no Englishman can, or ought to, say that London is nothing to him), but also to the whole British Empire; nay, more, to all English-speaking people. As the greatest eulogium at the unveiling of Pepys' monument in St. Olave's was by Mr. Lowell, the U.S.A. Minister, we may say that these monuments belong to the Americans as much almost as to our colonists. The American, the Australian, and the New Zealander of the future, will look to the archæological remains in London and England as the records in stone of his ancestors. These remains of the metropolis will always be more accessible than those of Chester, Canterbury, York, or even Oxford. The few remains we have of medieval and Tudor London spared by the Great Fire, and the almost as destructive agencies of rebuilding and commercial needs, are therefore likely to grow more and more valuable as the interest in archæology increases (as I sincerely believe it must, as culture grows more diffused), and as the people of Greater Britain learn more to realise England as the home of their ancestors, and London as the true metropolis (both in the vulgar and ancient Greek sense) of the English-speaking peoples of the world.

In this sense, even Wren's churches assume an archæological value, such as they would not under other circumstances. All of them are connected with the life and history of London in the Georgian epoch, which to posterity will seem, perchance in another century, an antique age. The London of Dr. Johnson and Boswell,

of Garrick and Goldsmith, of Hogarth and Addison, is almost to our young generation as much a matter of history as the London of Shakespeare and Bacon, or of More and Erasmus, or earlier still, of Chaucer and Whittington. Wren's churches are becoming venerable in age, and witness to the age of London's progress. Some of them are already of historic value. In St. Mary Aldermary, we have Wren's masterpiece in Gothic architecture-a last expression in a noble and beautiful work of art of the grand English pointed architecture until the revival of Pugin. It has its value in the history of art as of England, for here, in the absorbed parish of St. Antholin, the throne of England was shaken under Charles I by the Puritan St. Antholin lectures. Then, again, Wren's chief masterpiece, St. Stephen's, Walbrook, is not without historic memories, as well as being thing of beauty and a joy for ever"—perhaps the loveliest church of its style in England.

a

The whole conception of Wren's churches is increasing in popularity, and his genius is being more and more appreciated. As for his towers, they probably were built on one scheme, and each told on the other in one of the grandest designs of city architecture in Europe.

Taken as a whole, we have a precious heirloom in the old City churches which will be of value to posterity, not only in England, but throughout all the British Empire and North America: a history of the making of England illustrated in stone. May we be faithful to our trust!

BY MRS. COLLIER.

(Read March 17th, 1897.)

HE ancient church of St. Martin at Bowness, in the parish of Windermere, appears scarcely to have received as much attention from antiquaries as it deserves; although in this age of restoration it has not been neglected, but has had its share of repairing and renovation. The east window, its best-known feature and chief glory, has certainly been much admired, besides having occasioned, some years ago, a warm discussion as to its history and origin, authorities having differed on the subject; but the question may now be considered settled by experts, whose convincing reasons for their final dictum I will refer to in the course of my remarks in this paper.

I propose, however, commencing with a short account of the church and its general points of interest, from its past to its present condition.

The actual date of erection of St. Martin's church is not recorded, although without doubt it is a very ancient structure. The materials employed have been traced to Roman origin, and were probably brought from a Roman station which is known to have existed in the neighbourhood. The present church has some signs of fifteenthcentury work, but, like most of the churches in the Lake District, it is simple and rudimentary in construction: consisting, until the recent additions, of a nave with two

THE CHURCH AND PAINTED GLASS AT BOWNESS.

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aisles, a chancel, and low embattled tower, formerlyaccording to Whellan's account-carrying three bells and a Saint's bell. A recessed arched doorway, now unused, gave access to the tower. A porch at the south side of south aisle is the principal entrance to the church; narrow arched doors are at the east end of the same aisle, and west end of north aisle. The south aisle is lighted by four square stone-mullioned windows, while those on the north side are five in number. There is a clerestory with six windows. The great east window is late Perpendicular. There is no tracery or architectural enrichment; the walls, arches, capitals, columns and bases are equally devoid of ornament, and were covered with several coats of whitewash by successive worthy and painstaking churchwardens of the pre-Restoration period.

The arched roof is open to framing, and is of oak black with age; the arches dividing nave from aisles are pointed. As to its historical record, the date of its foundation is lost in antiquity.

Nicholson, in his history published in 1777, states that St. Martin's at that period was a rectory valued in the King's books at £24 6s. 8d., certified to the governors of Queen Anne's Bounty at £78; parsonage and land £30, composition, tithes of wool, lamb, etc., at £44, and surplice fees £4. Deductions reduced same to £71 7s. 2d.; amongst which were, "To receiver of Crown rents £1 13s. 4d., and to Vicar of Kendal 13s. 4d." The latter item is a curious memento of the former status of St. Martin's; as I find that anciently this parish was part of the parish of Kendal, and although Bowness is some miles distant from that county town, St. Martin's was a chapelry in Kendal Parish; but having, through distance and difficulty of communication, acquired the reputation of a distinct parish; the rector pays to this day, in token of submission to the mother-church, a pension of 13s. 4d. to the vicar of Kendal.

At the appropriation of the church of Kendal to the abbey of St. Mary's at York,1 the patronage of the

1 By Ivo de Taillebois: the patronage of the chapel was excepted.

chapel (of St. Martin), as it was then called, was not given to the said Abbey, as was that of Kendal, but remained to Ingelram de Gymes and Christian his wife, grantees of the Crown; and there was from that time a pension of 33s. 4d. paid out of the chapel funds to the said Abbey.

The next notice records that by the inquisition post mortem of Joan de Coupland, 49 Edward III, it is found that she held by grant of the King for life the advowson of the chapel therein named of Wynandermere, valued at 100 shillings, and pays, in token of subjection, to the vicar of Kendal 13s. 4d.1

The patronage and advowson of the church continued in the Crown till the seventh year of Elizabeth, when the same was granted to William Herbert and John Jenkins, to hold of the Queen in free socage by fealty as of the manor of East Greenwich. After several mesne con

veyances the same was purchased by Sir William Flemming, who devised the same by will to his four daughters, and the advowson was, in 1860, exercised by Lady Flemming.

Reverting to the church and examining the interior more closely, there is first, on entering the principal door, the old font of pale red sandstone, octagonal in form, and ornamented with rude sculptures.

During a periodical cleaning of the church in the year 1864, an accidental chipping of the plaster discovered a series of inscriptions on the walls of the nave, which, though they had been concealed under several coats of whitewash, were sufficiently legible to read, and were curious enough to deserve preservation. These questions and answers, relating to the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, belong to the reign of James I, and have been taken from Robert Openshaw's catechism, entitled Short Questions and Answers concerning the Somme of Christian Religion, and printed at the "3

1 Afterwards reverted to the Crown till Elizabeth, when, in the year 1535, advowson valued at £24 6s. Ed. Tithes were commuted for yearly rent charge of £87. Whellan (1860) states that the rector has a "prescription of so much a boat in lieu of tithes of all fish which is caught in the lake, which is divided into twelve fisheries".