L CHAPTER VIII. A SCOTCH CATHEDRAL. The Old Barony Church-Improvements since Rob Roy's EAVING the precincts of the narrow, uphill, twisting High Street, with its wretched closes and wynds, we come upon a fine open space where we can both breathe and move more freely. Before us is the Infirmary, a finelooking structure, built on the site of the old castle, or palace of the bishop. To our right is the Barony Church, built in 1801, from the designs of Adams, the architect of the Infirmary; it is in wretched taste, and the less said about it the better. But it is necessary to refer to it, as it was built for the accommodation of the worshippers in that old Barony Church, in the magnificent crypt of the cathedral, of which Pennant says, the congregation may truly have said Clamavi e profundis;' and of which Sir Walter Scott has introduced the following oft-quoted description in the pages of 'Rob Roy': 6 MIDNIGHT MEETING OF ROB ROY.' 81 'We entered a small low-arched door, secured by a wicket, which a grave-looking person seemed on the point of closing, and descended several steps, as if into the funeral-vaults beneath the church. It was even so, for in these subterranean precincts, why chosen for such a purpose I knew not, was established a very singular place of worship. Conceive, Tresham, an extensive range of low-browed, dark, and twilight vaults, such as are used for sepulchres in other countries, and has long been dedicated to the same purpose in this, a portion of which was seated with pews, and used as a church. The part of the vaults thus occupied, though capable of containing a congregation of many hundreds, bore a small proportion to the darker and more extensive caverns which yawned around what may be termed the inhabited space. In those waste regions of oblivion, dusky banners and battered escutcheons indicated the graves of those who were once, doubtless, "princes in Israel." Inscriptions which could only be read by the painful antiquary, in language as obsolete as the acts of devotional charity which they implored, invited the passengers to pray for the souls of those whose bodies rested beneath. Surrounded by those receptacles of the last remains of mortality, I found a numerous congregation engaged in the act of prayer.' * It was in this church in the catacombs, it will be remembered, that Frank Osbaldistone received his mysterious warning to give Rob Roy the midnight meeting on the bridge. These subterranean vaults and charnelhouses formed the Barony Church—the Laigh Kirk of Glasgow,' which Andrew Fairservice so greatly preferred to that High Church' just over their heads, where Rob Roy, ii. chap. 3. G 6 there was to be found but 'cauld rife law-work,' and 'carnal morality, as dow'd and as fusionless as rueleaves at Yule,' instead of the real savour of doctrine.' The chief characteristics of the crypt are somewhat changed since the day when they were so vigorously described by Sir Walter Scott; for the pews, and other lumber and rubbish, have all been swept away, together with a deposit of earth nearly six feet in depth, so that the bases of the pillars and the pavement are now exposed to view, and the 'low-browed vaults' have consequently gained six feet in height. All the stone-work, too, has been scraped, and admirably restored by Blore (during the last fifteen years) at the Government expense; and the massive columns and early English arches have now a clean and cared-for appearance. The bosses on the groined roof, and the capitals of some of the pillars, are elaborately carved. From the sloping nature of the ground towards the east of the Cathedral, sufficient window-space is obtained for lighting the crypt, which now presents anything but the appearance of a 'dark cavern ;' although, from the number of the pillars and arches, the light is so intercepted, as to make it of that 'dim, religious' character, which harmonises with the solemnity of the spot. The effect was greatly improved in January, 1862, by the introduction of three beautiful specimens of painted glass, the work of an Italian artist.* * Executed upon the mosaic enamel principle, these works illustrate the perfection to which the art of painting upon glass can be carried. The drawing is admirable, and the colours powerful and harmonious. These windows exhibit, in a satisfactory manner, the present state of art in Italy. The artist has, from the size of the lancet, enjoyed more scope in the subject of our Saviour and the woman at the well. The canopy, by a very curious design, forms the covering of the well, and to those familiar with fine old wells of medieval times, this will recall THE TOMB OF ST. MUNGO. 83 The crypt is thus described by the Rev. Cæsar Otway, as it appeared to him thirty years since: It is fit for nothing else than a cemetery; and how any one could have continued to sit in this dark, cold, and dismal crypt to hear to an end a Presbyterian minister's long sermon and prayer, is to me astonishing. It is semisubterraneous, and so thick, and so numerous are the columns, requisite as they are to support all the superincumbent edifice, that there is not more than the space of a man's length between any two individual pillars in the whole crypt. Entering this place, and observing the light and shade distributed among its numerous columns, and the mighty arches overspread with their massive and unwrought interlacings, and recollecting not only the grave and quaint people that preached and listened there, and the old Romish bishops that, together with St. Mungo, lie here interred, I certainly was struck with the solemnity of the scene, and was caught up in the recollections which it gave birth to."* The tomb of St. Mungo (or St. Kentigern) occupies the eastern part of the crypt, immediately below the altar-the probable situation of the spot where his body was interred, many beautiful examples in England and on the Continent. The figures tell the touching story admirably sitting by the well, weary and footsore, the Saviour turns to the listening woman, who came to draw water, with a gentle and persuasive look and action; she pauses and listens with an absorbed air; the seed which is to bear fruit in her soul is sown, the gracious promise of the text printed beneath, so freely offered to her although of so miserable a condition, converts her to a new life. The artist has felt and expressed this in his fine painting. The other two windows are smaller: one of them represents St. Luke the Apostle, and is designed and painted with feeling and skill. The other window represents St. John the Baptist. The earnest, eager, impressive look of the inspired preacher is well rendered by the artist. This window is erected by Mr. John Ferguson, merchant, of Glasgow, to the memory of his uncle, the late Rev. Edward Irving. *Three Weeks in Scotland. January 16, 601. Miracles (of which his biographer Joceline gives an account) were wrought at his tomb, and his body, as a matter of course, was long preserved in the reliquary of the Cathedral, together with many other relics, more nasty than authentic. It seems astonishing that any one with the very smallest portion of common sense, or the minutest atom of reasoning faculties, could ever be found to pin a particle of faith either on the authenticity or efficacy of Romish relics. But, as Cardinal Caraffa said of the Parisians, in that wellknown Latin adage- If the people like to be deceived, why, let them. And the more fools they! I dare say the wily Cardinal added, with his tongue in his cheek. And the way the Mungovians liked to be deceived was, in flocking to honour those dry bones that had been so wondrously preserved for a thousand years —although the exact spot where the body of the saint had been laid was never known; and although, for five hundred years after his death, there is such a total blank in the ecclesiastical history of the place, that the only satisfactory way of accounting for it is by pulling in that Deus ex machiná of the period, the Danes, who are supposed to have destroyed the church, and routed the religious community. Where were the relics all this time? But the Glasgow worshippers never doubted the credibility of those miraculously-preserved bones; and, by their example and precept, induced others to make pilgrimages to St. Mungo's shrine, and be repaid for their time and toil by a sight of the following venerated relics, of which (as the chief attractions of the Cathedral) a list has been preserved. Here it is, for the satisfaction of those enthusiasts who may wish to trace out the sent locale of any of these lost and scattered relics.* * Archbishop Beaton fled with them to France, in 1560. pre |