Page:Over fen and wold; (IA overfenwold00hissiala).pdf/207

 the fact, though it proves really nothing, for the engraver or artist may easily have added the water, imagining that it ought to be there. Here again the advantage of photography is apparent, for the lens has no bias, and if it seldom lends itself to the picturesque, at least it does not invent accessories.

On the parapet at the foot of the bridge is a mutilated and weather-worn statue, having apparently a crown on its head and a globe in its hand. An absurd local tradition declares this to be intended for Cromwell holding a ball. Why it should be fathered on to the Protector is beyond my understanding; it is more than probable that it existed centuries before he was born. Looking sideways at the figure it is noticeably thin, and was manifestly only intended to be seen from the front. One may therefore, I think, reasonably conclude that it originally came from a niche in the abbey, for it is quite out of place on the bridge, and could never have properly belonged to it. Most probably, judging from similar old sculptures, it was intended for our Lord, and had place in the centre of the pediment over the west front of the abbey, a portion of the building that has now disappeared. Some antiquaries, however, maintain that it is intended for King Ethelbald, the founder of the monastery; this would be a plausible enough suggestion but for the fact that this king is already represented amongst the statues that still adorn the abbey.

The mouldings, ribs, and vaultings of the arches indicate the date of the present bridge to be about the middle of the fourteenth century. It is worthy of