to advertise all men of his comming at hand. But in the meane season, the Lord Edward Courtneie, Earl of Devonshire, and the valiant Lord William his sonne, accompanied with Sir Edmund Carew, Sir Thomas Trenchard, Sir William Courtneie, Sir Thomas Fulford, Sir John Halewell, Sir John Croker, Walter Courtneie, Peter Edgecombe, William Saint Maure, with all speed, came into the citie of Excester, and holpe the citizens; and at the last assault was the Earle hurt in the arme with an arrow, and so were many of his companie, but verie few slaine. When Perkin saw that he could not win the citie, when he saw it was so well fortified with men and munitions, he departed from thence, and went unto Taunton." The conduct of the citizens during this siege so conciliated the favor of Henry the Seventh, that, on his visit to the city shortly after the flight of Warbeck, he bestowed on them great commendations, and gave them the sword which he then wore, as a testimony of his good-will; directing it to be borne before the Mayor on all public occasions. Henry continued in the city several days, examining into the particulars of the insurrection, and either punishing or pardoning as caprice or policy dictated.

The last siege which Exeter experienced was in the reign of Edward the Sixth, when the proposed changes in religious worship occasioned an alarming insurrection of the inhabitants of Devon and Cornwall. The insurgents being assembled in considerable force, encompassed the city on the second of July, 1549; but, after several vain attempts to reduce it, through a period of five-and-thirty days, were obliged to abandon their enterprise; several bodies of their confederates having been vanquished by John, Lord Russel, and other persons who commanded for the King. The inhabitants, during the latter days of this siege, were nearly reduced to famine; being obliged to feed on horseflesh, and other loathsome viands. Their loyalty, and brave defence, occasioned the King to make a grant to the city of the entire Manor of Ex-Island.*

* In Holinshed's Chronicle, p. 1014, et seq. is a very particular account of this siege, and generally of all the events of the insurrection, by Hooker, who declares himself to have been an eye-witness,

The venerable and magnificent CATHEDRAL claims our first and principal attention among the buildings and antiquities of Exeter. This noble memorial of religious zeal, and national science, is singularly interesting to the admirer of ancient English architecture.* Its " high embowered roofs," "storied windows richly dight," clustered columns, spacious aisles, sepulchral tablets, and numerous statues, with its various other appropriate appendages, must excite interesting emotions in the mind that is in any respect imbued with a taste for architectural science and grandeur. The variety of styles discovered in this edifice, and the ambiguity, and silence, of our early historians concerning its foundation, have been fruitful themes for various and opposite opinions. The gc

nerality of writers, from Hooker, in 1584, to those of the present time, have stated, that St. Mary's Chapel (at the east end of the choir) is the ancient Saxon church; and that the whole of the present fabric was five hundred years in building. The subsequent description will enable every person to determine the various eras

of

*We apply the term English to that style of ecclesiastical architecture, which . originated, or obtained perfection in this country, and prevailed, with some improving variations, from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. The word Gothic has long been adopted, and often very improperly and indiscriminately applied to all ancient buildings. It was first used by the Italian writers, as expressive of their contempt for that style of building which prevailed in the middle ages, and which was incompatible with the rules of Palladio, and the systematic five orders. As science and knowledge advances, writers acquire an improved critical accuracy in language. Hence the Society of Antiquaries have at length adopted the term ENGLISH, and pledge themselves to use it instead of Gothic in all their subsequent publications, when speaking of the pointed style which characterize the buildings of that period. "It is to be hoped," they observe, no English antiquary will be offended at the substitution of an accurate and honorable name in the place of one which is both contemptuous and inap propriate." As this authority will strengthen and justify our own determination, we shall henceforth apply the term English architecture to" that light and elegant style of building, whose principal and characteristic feature is the high pointed arch struck from two centres, and whose component members are slender clustered columns, large windows charged with tracery, canopied niches, and ornaments, as prevail in the nave and choir of the Cathedrals of Exeter and Salisbury, the Church of St. Mary Redcliff, and the Chapels of King's College, Cambridge, St. George's, Windsor, &c.

of its erection, from the styles which characterize the different parts of the structure.

Exeter was at one period called Monktown, from the number of religious houses established within its walls. Three of these were situated within the precincts of the close belonging to the Cathedral, and were inhabited by nuns and monks. The nunnery occupied the site of the Dean's House and College of Vicars. King Etheldred founded a monastery here about the year 868: and in 932, Athelstan founded a second monastery for Benedictines. The latter did not long enjoy their new foundation: for the piratical Danes assailed the town; and the monks were dispersed, to seek safety and sustenance in other parts of the country. But they found a new friend and patron in King Edgar, who passing through Exeter in 986, on his way to visit Ordegar, Earl of Devon, whose daughter Elfrida he had married, commisscrated their distressed state, replaced them in their former establishment, and appointed Sydemann, who was afterwards Bishop of Crediton, to be their abbot. This re-establishment scarcely continued seventeen years; for on the conquest and subsequent desolation of Exeter, by Sueno, the Dane, the monasteries suffered in the general wreck. Soon after the accession of Canute to the English throne, the monks were once more settled at Exeter; and in 1019 this Monarch invested them with all their former privileges. About thirty years after, on the removal of the See of Devon to this town, the monks were sent, by Edward the Confessor, to Westminster. Leofric, the first Bishop of Exeter, caused the nunnery and monastery to be taken down, and proper habitations for the members of this Cathedral to be erected in their stead: and, after making ordinances for his church and clergy, and exercising his episcopal office for about twenty-three years, resigned his official and mortal functions in 1073. He was buried in the cemetery of his own church, in a place which is now included within the walls of the south tower. In 1568, a monument was erected to his memory at the expence of the Dean and Chapter.

The episcopal See of Devon was seated at Crediton previous to its establishment at Exeter; but Leotric, who was Bishop of the See,

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