The

St. Werstan on the spot miraculously pointed out to him in the vision. The angels elevate their right hands as before, in benediction; one bears a processional cross; another, who approaches the closed entrance of the chapel, bears the thurible, and seems prepared to knock against the door, and cry aloud, according to the impressive ancient ritual of the Latin church, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, that the King of Glory may come in! A third angel bears the cross-staff, and raises the aspergillum, or hyssop, as if about to sprinkle with holy water the newly completed edifice; whilst the fourth touches the bell, which is suspended in an open turret, surmounted by a spire and finial cross. roof of the chapel is coloured blue, as if to represent a covering formed of lead. In this pane we must at once recognise the representation of a miraculous dedication of the chapel, which had been built by the hermit Saint in obedience to a vision from above, and was now consecrated by the same ministering spirits who had been sent forth to direct him to undertake its construction. It is interesting to compare this subject with the curious drawing, preserved at Cambridge, which may be seen in a series of representations illustrative of the life of Edward the Confessor; amongst these occurs the miraculous dedication of the church of St. Peter, at Westminster, by the arch-apostle in person, according to the legendary history; St. Peter is there seen accompanied by angels, who perform the services of the attendant acolytes, in singular and close conformity with the curious representation at Great Malvern, above described. The drawings in question exist in a MS. in the library at Trinity College, and appear to have been executed towards the commencement of the fifteenth century.

"In the third compartment of the window the eye is at once struck by the stately aspect of a regal personage, a figure of larger dimension as compared with those which have been described he appears vested in a richly embroidered robe lined with ermine, a cape of the same, and the usual insignia of royalty. In his right hand he holds a charter, to which is appended the great seal, bearing the impression of a cross on

red wax, and apparently is about to bestow a grant upon a person who kneels at his feet. The king is at once recognised by the inscribed scroll, Sc's Edwardus rex; the figure of the suppliant, to whom the charter is accorded, is represented as of much smaller proportion than that of the sovereign, in accordance with a conventional principle of design in old times, by which persons of inferior station were often represented as of diminutive size, in comparison with their more powerful neighbours. Over the head of this smaller figure is a scroll, which bears the following inscription, Will' m': Edwardus: It does not appear, in the absence of all legendary or historical evidence, who was the person thus designated, upon whom a grant was conferred by the Confessor, and who here appears as connected with the history of St. Werstan. He is clad in a sleeved robe and hooded cape, the former being blue, and the cape bordered with white: it is not properly the monastic habit, and it differs from that in which St. Werstan appears, as before described. It may be conjectured that the hermit, disturbed in his peaceful resting-place upon the Malvern heights by some oppressive lord of the neighbouring territory, had sent a messenger to intercede with St. Edward, and obtained by royal charter lawful possession of the little plot whereon the celestial vision had led him to fix his oratory. Certain it is, as recorded in the charter of Henry I., dated 1127, that amongst the possessions of Great Malvern were numbered lands* granted by the Confessor, although no regular monastic establishment appears to have existed previously to the Conquest. It seems therefore reasonable to conclude from the introduction of the subject now under consideration, in connection with the circumstances of the legend of that saint, that, according to received tradition, the period when St. Werstan first resorted to this wild spot, and established himself on the locality marked out by a heavenly vision, was during the times of the Confessor. "The fourth, and last subject of the series, which appears in

dedit.'

"Una virgata terre in Baldeh, de feudo de Hanley, quam Rex Edwardus Carta R. Heur. I. A.D. 1127. In another charter of Henry I., cited in Pat. 50 Edw. III., per inspeximus, it is called 'Baldehala,' and in Plac. 12 Edw. II., Badenhale.'"