An
inscription told us that these suits of armor had been left by Charles I.
after the battle of Worcester, and presented to the city at a much later
date by a gentleman of the neighborhood. On the stone floor of the hall,
under the armor, were two brass cannon, one of which had been taken from
the French in a naval battle within the present century; the other was a
beautiful piece, bearing, I think, the date of 1632, and manufactured in
Brussels for the Count de Burgh, as a Latin inscription testified. This
likewise was a relic of the battle of Worcester, where it had been lost
by Charles. Many gentlemen--connected with the city government, I
suppose--were passing through the hall; and, looking through its interior
doors, we saw stately staircases and council-rooms panelled with oak or
other dark wood. There seems to be a good deal of state in the
government of these old towns.
Worcester Cathedral would have impressed me much had I seen it earlier;
though its aspect is less venerable than that of Chester or Lichfield,
having been faithfully renewed and repaired, and stone-cutters and masons
were even now at work on the exterior. At our first visit, we found no
entrance; but coming again at ten o'clock, when the service was to begin,
we found the door open, and the chorister-boys, in their white robes,
standing in the nave and aisles, with elder people in the same garb, and
a few black-robed ecclesiastics and an old verger.
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