that the various orders of angels[1] were represented in the principal tracery lights of the Antechapel and Choir windows, besides the Coronation of the Virgin, and Wykeham's Adoration of Christ, which are to be seen in the tracery of the East windows of the Antechapel. I have no other clue to the subjects formerly represented in the central West window than what is derivable from the fragments removed from this window to make way for Sir Joshua Reynolds's design, and which are still, I believe, preserved in boxes at Winchester College. From the names which I found on searching these fragments during the Institute's visit to Winchester, in 1845, I conclude that single canopied figures of Church saints occupied the lower lights of this window; but I should state that I also met with part of a small mitre, apparently belonging to the subject of Becket's Martyrdom, which, however, judging from the small size of the mitre, might have been inserted in the tracery lights of this window.[2]
I am sensible that the opinion I have formed respecting the original arrangement of the glass rests partly on hypothesis, partly on evidence, in no case conclusive, and in many cases weak and uncertain. With this apology I must leave the matter in the reader's hands, and hope that he will be amused with the description I shall give of the glass, however much he may otherwise differ from my views.
It will be convenient to commence with an examination of the glass in the Northernmost of the West windows of the Antechapel, in which window, as it would seem, the series of subjects originally began; and, in order to compensate as much as possible for the want of illustrative aid, I give the accompanying diagram of this window, in which the lower lights are distinguished by numbers, and the principal tracery lights by letters. I shall employ the same diagram in explanation of all the other windows, except the central West and the two East windows of the Antechapel.
- ↑ One complete set of angels is engraved in "The Calendar of the Anglican Church illustrated," Parker, Oxford, p. 116.
- ↑ The glass in Winchester College chapel unfortunately throws no light on the subject. That chapel has no west window. Its side windows are fitted with canopied figures of saints and angels; and its east window with a design composed of the following subjects: The Stem of Jesse, the Crucifixion, and the Last Judgment. When represented by itself, the Last Judgment is, I believe, most commonly assigned to a west window, but when associated with the Crucifixion, it is very frequently met with in an east window, The Crucifixion is usually represented in an east window.
