Cloisonné

“ Beyond the south transept, a short passage and a few steps lead to the Cloisters, the most famous of Provence, perhaps of France. Large, graceful, and magnificent in wealth of carving, they have yet none of the poetic charms that linger around many a smaller Cloister. The vaultings are not more beautiful than other vaults less known; although they have the help of the great piers, the little, slender columns seem too light to support so much expanse of roof, and even the church's tower, square and high, looks dwarfed when seen across the close. ”

“ The church refectory, dormitory, and other buildings belonging to the professional life of the brethren, surround the great cloister. The small cloister beyond, with its scribes cells, library, hall for disputations, &c., is the centre of the literary life of the community. The requirements of sickness and old age are carefully provided for in the infirmary cloister, and that for the aged and infirm members of the establishment. The same group contains the quarters of the novices. ”

“ The ambulatories now serve as a museum of sculpture. The internal dimensions are 415 ft. 6. in. in length, 137 ft. 10 in. in breadth, while each ambulatory is 34 ft. 6. in. wide by 46 ft. high.
The cloister of a religious house was the scene of a large part of the life of the inmates of a monastery. It was the place of education for the younger members, and of study for the elders. A canon of the Roman council held under Eugenius II., in 826, enjoins the erection of a cloister as an essential portion of an ecclesiastical establishment for the better discipline and instruction of the clerks. ”

“ The voice that had been so beautiful broke a little. Sister George did not speak. Sister Edgar waited a moment for the words that failed to come, and understood the feeling under her friend's silence. The sympathy so deep, though unexpressed, wrung her soul to an outburst that startled the repressed woman before her.
"I have known the truth for a long time," she hurried on, speaking, even in these moments of agitation, with the preciseness of the cloister inmates. "I am afraid I have rebelled against it. I am still young, and my work is not done. Life is sweet and peaceful here. ”

“ In the cloister, one suffers in order to enjoy. One draws a bill of exchange on death. One discounts in terrestrial gloom celestial light. In the cloister, hell is accepted in advance as a post obit on paradise. ”

“ In every monastery next in public importance to the church came the cloisters. The very name has become a synonym for the monastery itself. The four walks of the cloister formed the dwelling-place of the community. With the progress of time there came into existence certain private rooms in which the officials transacted their business, and later still the use of private cells or cubicles became common, but these were the exception; and, at any rate, in England till the dissolution of the religious houses, the common life of the cloister was in full vigour. ”

“ Lord Colambre did not hear or heed her; his eyes were fixed, and they never moved.
Lord Clonbrony was at the open carriage-door, kneeling on the step, and receiving Lady Clonbrony's 'more last words' for Mr. Soho. The two waiting-maids stood together on the steps.
'Look at our young lord, how he stands,' whispered Mrs. le Maistre to Anne, 'the image of despair! And she, the picture of death!—I don't know what to think.'
'Nor I; but don't stare if you can help it,' said Anne. 'Get in, get in, Mrs. le Maistre,' added she, as Lord Clonbrony now rose from the step, and made way for them. ”

“ But imagine the unfortunate young nobleman's feelings when his Majesty peremptorily refused to accept it!
"Is this the way you would do me service?" he asked. "Handing me a duster in return for all the privileges your family have enjoyed for centuries—and especially with the windows in their present state!"
"Does your Majesty, then, require me, Count Seraphin Zonnbiem, to clean a pane of glass with a silk handkerchief?" exclaimed the Count.
"I expect you to clean thoroughly every pane in the palace that requires it." ”

“ At first, letters from her drifted back into the cloister at close intervals, strange letters, showing how rapidly the girl was turning the pages of life's great ledger. And at longer intervals a letter from the cloister went to her, sweet with the love and prayers of the gentle friends behind the convent walls.
Katherine Randolph used to re-read these letters sometimes, and even think them over a little. But she was very busy, for she wished to see life and the world, and many men and women showed a sociable willingness to set them before her. ”

“ They of the cloister had long doubted the child's continuance in her chosen career; not that they lacked faith in her, but because they knew the ways of life.
"The man," she hazarded; "he must be good if you care for him."
"He is—he is all that is good," came the stifled tones from the head now buried in her lap. "He is so kind, so generous, he does so much for my poor people. It was through them that I met him, for he works among them too. He is Dr. Richard Schuyler."
The nun looked at the water bubbling in the fountain near them. ”

“ The eye first rests upon the turf of the garth, now tastefully laid out after many years of comparative neglect. Flanking the garth on every side are the exquisite windows of the Cloister—a cloister which no other can surpass. Above the Cloister will be seen on the eastern side the sober, impressive Norman work of the Chapter-House in which so much of our English history has been made. To the south of this is the Library, built close against the walls of the north transept, which tower above, and lead the eye upward to the great tower which, "in the middest of the church," crowns the whole. ”

“ The town has a considerable agricultural trade, and there are corn mills and manufactures of agricultural implements. A former lace-making industry is extinct. The market-place, called the Diamond, occupies the summit of the slight elevation on which the town is situated. Clones was the seat of an abbey founded in the 6th century by St Tighernach (Tierney) , to whom the Protestant parish church is dedicated. Remains of the abbey include a nave and tower of the 12th century, and a curious shrine formed out of a great block of red sandstone. ”

“ After advancing about half-way between the church and the grave they stopped; and the woman in the cloak turned her head towards her companion. But her side face, which a bonnet might now have allowed me to see, was hidden by the heavy, projecting edge of the hood.
"Mind you keep that comfortable warm cloak on," said the same voice which I had already heard—the voice of the woman in the shawl. "Mrs. Todd is right about your looking too particular, yesterday, all in white. I'll walk about a little while you're here; churchyards being not at all in my way, whatever they may be in yours. ”

“ From the south, the grand size of the cloister, which connects the steeple with the church, gives it somewhat the effect of being in fact at the west end of an enormous building, of which the cloister may be the nave; whilst from the west, as the ground falls considerably, nothing of the church is seen but the central lantern rising slightly over the cloisters, whilst the steeple rears its whole height boldly to the right, and makes the whole scheme of the work utterly unintelligible until after a thorough investigation. ”

“ Without waiting at this moment to examine the church more closely, we pass through a great doorway on the left and find ourselves in the cloisters.
Here too is a marvellous vision. Few cloisters in the world compare with them. The four sides are unequal, but this almost heightens their attraction. They have been little interfered with and are almost in their original state. The simple round arches rest on coupled pillars of marble, slender and graceful. The capitals are extremely rich, elaborate and delicate in their carving. ”

“ The plan did not especially appeal to the quiet inmates of the cloister, but they had nothing better to suggest, except that she remain in its safe shelter with them. They did this only tentatively, for nuns are not prone to give such advice to their pupils. The gentle proposal did not appeal to Miss Randolph. She shook her auburn head, and her red-brown eyes twinkled mischievously.
"I must see life first," she laughed. "There is a big, beautiful world beyond these walls, and I want to know what it's like. ”

“ Originally there were four walks, but the south walk is destroyed. The general style of the cloisters is that of the fifteenth century, with carved cornice key-stones at the intersections of the vaulting; the arches of the windows are depressed. A lavatory projects from the west walk of the cloisters, and did extend along the south walk; over the east walk was a dormitory, which was some time ago destroyed, much to the injury of the appearance of these venerable conventual ruins. It is obvious that the present cloisters are only a restoration of an earlier one. ”

“ Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister. [Dramatic Lyrics, in Bells and Pomegranates, III., 1842, under the title of “Camp and Cloister—I. Camp (French) , II. Cloister (Spanish) .”] There is, of course, no historical basis for the subject-matter of this poem; but there is no reason why such things should not occur in a convent or monastery. Human nature, we find, is pretty much the same, under whatever conditions we examine it; and petty malice, ill-nature, and evil passions, find their congenial soil alike in the cloister and the world. ”

“ The Cloister.—Archdeacon Freeman thinks that originally the cloister "was confined to the east side, as a necessary communication between the chapter house and the great south door of the nave." During Stapledon's time a desire had been evinced to enlarge this cloister; and in 1323 there is a record to the effect that eight heads had been carved for vaulting the cloister. In the Fabric Rolls are entries that show the work of building proceeded with some activity and considerable cheapness. ”

“ To the north of the nave lie the cloisters. These form a most wonderful Early example of fan-tracery, constructed some time between 1351 and 1390. Here in the south end of the cloisters were set apart a series of stalls, better known as the carrels, in which the monks studied and wrote. They may have undergone great hardships and austerities, but they evidently had a great sense of beauty. They have left us the finest works of architecture possible, which have not been surpassed by any modern erection. ”

“ By the thirteenth it is provided that within the cloisters there shall be dormitories, refectories, cellars and other habitations; that all shall sleep in one dormitory, living as brethren in one society, except those to whom the bishop shall give leave to sleep separately on separate couches in their own dwellings in the cloister, with seniors among them to watch over them; and that no female or laic shall enter the cloister. ”

“ The nuns all looked happy and smiling—they always do, and I always wonder why. Life in a cloister seems to me so narrow and monotonous and unsatisfying unless one has been bred in a convent and knows nothing of life but what the teachers tell. ”

“ Amongst the iron-work of the door there are fragments of human skin, which in all probability once pertained to these robbers, and ever after remained as terrible warnings to the monks, as they walked along the Cloisters. The king's money was henceforward kept elsewhere, the regalia after a time sent to the Tower, and the relics disappeared at the Reformation.
From the Cloisters we can readily reach the Chapter-House, the octagonal building so conspicuous on the left hand before entering the Abbey at Poets' Corner. ”

“ Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things ”

“ This is the case in the English cathedrals, formerly Benedictine abbeys, of Canterbury, Gloucester and Chester, as well as in that of Lincoln. Other examples of the northward situation are at Tintern, Buildwas and Sherborne. Although the covered ambulatories are absolutely essential to the completeness of a monastic cloister, a chief object of which was to enable the inmates to pass from one part of the monastery to another without inconvenience from rain, wind, or sun, it appears that they were sometimes wanting. ”

“ It has a round tower that threatens to fall, and will, too, some windy night; an abbey almost gone, but whose age and weakness is propped up by modern repairs, as, they say, the tenure of some land depends on the old gable of the abbey standing; a three-story fort, that, as Clones is built on a hill and the fort is built on Clones, affords a wide view of the surrounding country. Clones has a population of over two thousand, has no manufactory, depends entirely on the surrounding farming population, does not publish a newspaper, and is quietly behind the age a century or two. ”

“ Crossing the nave, we see opposite to us a door, introducing us to the Cloisters of this once powerful Abbey. The arch we are now passing under is a Norman specimen of exceeding purity; and disfigured as it has been by modern improvements, yet affords a high degree of interest to the intelligent antiquary. The Cloisters once formed a quadrangle of 110 feet square; but the south portion has almost entirely disappeared, the bases of some of the pillars alone remaining. The east walk has a doorway leading into the Chapter House, through a vaulted Vestibule of great architectural beauty. ”