=The Great West Window.=--The tracery of this window has already been discussed in the description of the exterior. The present glass was placed there in 1869, to the memory of Canon Hutchinson, who, perhaps, of all was most eager for the restoration of the cathedral, and to whose untiring energy, it is said, is due the wholesale renovation of the interior by Sir Gilbert Scott. This window was the result of a public subscription, and is the work of Messrs Clayton & Bell. The six large figures represent St. Michael, St. Joseph, St. Mary, and the Three Magi, while underneath are small pictures of the Annunciation, the Angel warning Joseph, the Nativity, the Journey of the Magi, the Magi inquire of Herod, and the Flight into Egypt. As to the previous glass in this window, there seems to be no record of that which must have decorated it before the Civil Wars. In Shaw's "History of Staffordshire," there are long lists of the glass to be found in the cathedral; but it is difficult to decide which window is being described. After the Restoration, we have in a Bodleian MS. the following record:--"Oct. 6, 1671. Arms in the Great West Window, Arms of King Charles the Second, Crest and Supporters; Arms of James Duke of York, his brother, Crest and Supporters. And beneath them, _Serenissimus princeps Jacobus dux Ebor hanc fenestram. F.F._" Britton says it was afterwards filled with painted glass, the work of Brookes, by the legacy of Dr Addenbroke, who died dean of this cathedral in 1776.
Over the great west door in the inside of the cathedral was formerly inscribed:--
_Oswyus est Lichfield fundator, sed reparator_ _Offa fuit; regum fama perennis erit:_ _Rex Stephanus, rex Heniricus primusque Richardus,_ _Rex et Johannis, plurima dona dabant._
_Pene haec millenos ecclesia floruit annos,_ _Duret ad extremum nobilis usque diem,_ _Daque deus longum, ut floreat hae sacra aedes_ _Et celebret nomen plebs ibi sancta tuum._
_Fundata est ecclesia Merciencis_ _Quae nunc Lichfieldia dicitur_ _Facta Cathedralis_ _Anno Domini_ _DCLVII_
Dugdale, in his "Visitation of Staffordshire," gives us this inscription. It has long since disappeared. Pennant mentions a curious or, as he calls it, "droll" epitaph on the floor near the west door, but there is no sign of it now:--"_William Roberts of Overbury, some time malster in this town (tells you) for the love I bore to choir service, I chose to be buried in this place._ He died Decr. 16th, 1768."