 | A book of Bristol sonnets |  |
SITE OF THE ANCIENT HIGH CROSS,
The High Cross, erected 1247, embellished with royal
statues 1373, painted and gilded for Elizabeth's visit,
August 14, 1574, was removed to suit the whim of a timorous
silversmith 1733, lay in fragments in Guildhall, reerected
in College Green; thence removed to please a
querulous citizen, was lumber in the Cathedral: Dr. Cutts,
Dean of Bristol in 1768, sold it to his friend Sir Colt Hoare,
of Stourhead, in whose grounds it now stands, with its
statues of King John, Henry III., Edward IV., Henry VI.,
Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I.
The High Cross was market place, forum, scene of
religious festivals—e.g., Corpus Christi Day, 14th June.
Henry VII. and Elizabeth were here received with pageant.
Colonel Fiennes, on Saturday, March 4, 1642, here publicly
burnt the King's proclamation concerning the Navy.
But it is most memorable as the spot where Scrope Earl of
Wilts, Bushey, and Green, Privy Councillors, and adherents
of Richard II., were executed, at the people's cry, July 29,
1399. See Shakespeare's Richard II., Act iii., Scene 1.
Here, too, the tyrannical Thomas de Spenser, Duke of
Gloucester, soon after met a like fate.
The High Cross, erected 1247, embellished with royal statues 1373, painted and gilded for Elizabeth's visit, August 14, 1574, was removed to suit the whim of a timorous silversmith 1733, lay in fragments in Guildhall, reerected in College Green; thence removed to please a querulous citizen, was lumber in the Cathedral: Dr. Cutts, Dean of Bristol in 1768, sold it to his friend Sir Colt Hoare, of Stourhead, in whose grounds it now stands, with its statues of King John, Henry III., Edward IV., Henry VI., Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I.
The High Cross was market place, forum, scene of religious festivals—e.g., Corpus Christi Day, 14th June. Henry VII. and Elizabeth were here received with pageant. Colonel Fiennes, on Saturday, March 4, 1642, here publicly burnt the King's proclamation concerning the Navy.
But it is most memorable as the spot where Scrope Earl of Wilts, Bushey, and Green, Privy Councillors, and adherents of Richard II., were executed, at the people's cry, July 29, 1399. See Shakespeare's Richard II., Act iii., Scene 1. Here, too, the tyrannical Thomas de Spenser, Duke of Gloucester, soon after met a like fate.
AT JUNCTION OF HIGH STREET, BROAD STREET, CORN STREET, AND WINE STREET.
At these cross-ways the City's pulses meet;Here trade's Charybdis with its greed is rolled;
The wave of traffic, that will break in gold,
Confounds the listener in the crowded street!
Is there no rhythm for these clattering feet,
Does music cease when wares are bought and sold,
Can melody no weary hearts uphold,
Is life for all these hurrying ones too sweet?
Birth says not so; here Southey's harp was strung!
And death denies; hard by is Savage laid!
Here Coleridge mused! here Wordsworth as he sung
Of Tintern's woods, immortal shrines has made
For sad Reflection, moving in the crowd,
And lonely Silence, where men's tongues are loud!
| A book of Bristol sonnets | |