There was a problem when proofreading this page.
Melbourne Church, Derbyshire.
301
tinctly point out the situation of the Porticus, through which was the entrance[1]. We also learn by this, and indeed by other authors, that the fashion of the churches of that age was formed from the Basilicæ[2], or Courts of Justice[3], in consequence of those places, (which were very well adapted for a congregation,) being originally made use of for this purpose in the time of Constantine the the Great. We are also informed that the Porticos of these Basilicæ were WITHIN the building, and indeed precisely corresponding with the Porticos of the church of Melbourne, and as must be understood from the relation of Bede, and other ancient writers[4].
* Mellitus confecr. Bp. of St. Paul's in the ti'me of K. Ethelbert.
- ↑ The entrance into the Athenian Temples was through the Portico (Pronaos, Anti-Temple, or Vestibule); some of their temples had an entrance at both ends, when the back front was called the Posticus, and that entrance the Posticum. The plan of those temples which had entrances at both ends were said to be Amphyprostylos. Stuart's Athens, ch. ii. p. 9.
- ↑ But upon the conversion of Constantine many of these (Basilicæ) were given to the church, and turned to another use for christian assemblies to meet in, as may be collected from that passage in Ausonius, where speaking to the emperor Gratian, he tells him, 'The Basilicæ, which heretofore were wont to be filled with men of business, were now thronged with votaries praying for his safety; by which he must needs mean, that the Roman halls, or courts, were turned into christian churches, and hence I conceive the name Basilicæ came to be a general name for churches in after ages/ Bingham's Antiq. of Xn. Chs. B. viii. ch. i. p. 274.
- ↑ Heathen temples were also converted into churches; and it was by advice of pope Gregory to Mellitus*, that for the better accommodation of the christians of these times, the heathenish temples should not be demolished, but converted into christian service. Hen. Huntingd. fol. 322. As his successor Boniface obtained of the emperor Phoca, to have the Pantheon at Rome transformed and dedicated to the honour of St. Mary and All Saints, to this day called Sancta Maria Rotunda. Stavely's Hist. of Chs. in Eng. p. 70.
- ↑ This seems to be implied also by the prophet Joel: "Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar." Joel, ch. ii. ver. 17.
Palladio
