Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/80

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54
THE PAINTED GLASS IN

the canopy-work is also original; and the original inscription, Principat', remains at the bottom of the lights A and B.

The North windows[1] will not require a detailed notice of any but the tracery lights, in which alone any part of the original glazing is preserved. It appears, from an inscription in the first window from the east, that the glass in the lower lights was painted by W. Peckitt, in 1765; and certainly one cannot but perceive how much the art of glass-painting had deteriorated since the days of Price. The general design is the same as that of the south windows. A figure under a canopy occupies each light; but the figures are poorly drawn, and the canopies are weakly designed, except the bases of those in the lower tier of lights, which, with the founder's legend that crosses them, are copied from the old ones in the Antechapel. Their enamel blue spire ground produces a flimsy effect, and the colouring of the windows generally is inferior to that of the south windows. Some pot-metal, and much enamel coloured glass, is used in the draperies; as well as stained red, and some bad, heavy-tinted, streaky ruby, much resembling the ruby used by Peckitt in the east window of Lincoln Cathedral, which was painted by him in 1762. The shading is muddy, there are no clear lights, and the deep shadows are quite black. Our Saviour, the Virgin Mary, the Twelve Apostles, St. Paul, and St. Barnabas are represented in the two first windows from the east; and a series of prophets, patriarchs, and worthies, ending with Adam and Eve, in the other windows. Under the figure of the Virgin, in the second window from the east, is the following coat:—Argent, on a chevron, sable, three quatrefoils, or; and on a scroll beneath is written, Johannes Eyre, Arm., Hujus Hosp. Soc.

TRACERY LIGHTS.—FIRST NORTH WINDOW FROM THE EAST.

The glass in these lights is original. A female figure holding a lamp, under a canopy, occupies each of the lights A to F, inclusive. Virgines is written across the base of

  1. The following account of these windows is given by Gutch, in a note to Wood, p. 199. "The windows on the north side, done by .Mr. Peckitt, of York, in 1765 and 1774. The three nearest the screen contain in the lower range the chief persons recorded in the Old Testament, from Adam to Moses. In the upper, twelve of the prophets. Mr. Rebecca gave the designs for these. In the two other windows, are our Saviour, the Virgin Mary, and the Twelve Apostles."