either of those below; then another battlement; and lastly, shooting up to a height nearly two hundred feet from the ground, a series of turrets and crocketted pinnacles. On either side of this central compartment, as we have said, are the buttresses, rising tier after tier, and most richly adorned with panelling, niches, statues, canopies, tracery, crockettings, and finials. Among the statues near the great doorway are those of William de Melton, Robert de Vavasour, and William de Percy, early benefactors of the cathedral. In the arch over the door, in full tracery-work, is represented the temptation and expulsion of Adam and Eve.

York Minster is a uniform structure, having nave, choir, and transepts. It is, perhaps, the most complete text for a history of Gothic architecture in England; since the portions successively erected exemplify the various changes which this style underwent in this country during two or three centuries,-from the earliest adoption of simple pointed windows, to the rich adorn ment of the decorated style. The following are a few of the measurements. The extreme length from east to west, 524 feet; interior length, 487; extreme length of transept from north to south, 241; interior length, 225; length of the nave, 264; height of the nave, 99; breadth of the centre aisle, 47; breadth of the side aisles, 18; breadth of the transepts, 94; height of the central tower, 213; height of the two western towers, 196; breadth of the west front, 109; breadth of the east front, 105; dimensions of the great east window, 75 feet by 32 feet.

Let us glance first at the exterior of the venerable Minster. (Cut, No. 9.) The west front is, perhaps, the finest west front of all our cathedrals, partly on account of its great magnitude. Its window is inferior only to the west window of Carlisle Cathedral; but in other respects it is perhaps unrivalled. It consists of a central portion between two lofty towers. The lower part of this centre is occupied by the deeply-recessed, richly-adorned entrance; exhibiting a series of side columns supporting arches which become smaller and smaller as we advance farther. Exteriorly, this doorway is bounded by a triangular canopy; and on either side of it are rich niches filled with statues. Above the entrance stands the great west window, with its eight lofty lights, its rich tracery, and its surmounting canopy. On either side of the window is a panelled front, partially occupied with statues in niches; and above it is a battlemented pediment.

Next we approach the towers: those most majestic productions, which, standing at the north-west and south-west corners of the building, form such con-spicuous objects on three sides. Each tower consists of a central compartment, flanked by two series of magnificent buttresses. First, or lowermost, there is a recessed porch; next above this a canopied, traceried window; then a flat space of panelling; next another window, but without a canopy; then a short battle

The

The east front is very little less beautiful than the west, so far as its lower elevation will admit. great window has been considered by some architectural critics, as the finest in the world in the perpendicular style: it is unquestionably a noble work. The window occupies in width the entire space between the buttresses, and comprises no less than two hundred compartments, filled with stained glass. At the base of the window is a row of fifteen heads, supposed to have been intended for some of the characters of Scripture. The buttresses at the corner of the east front are adorned with niches, statues, pedestals, and canopies, scarcely yielding to those of the west front in richness. Above the window is the statue of the venerable founder of the choir, Archbishop Thoresby, mitred and robed, sitting in his archiepiscopal chair, and holding in his left-hand a model of the cathedral.

York Minster is so unfortunately hemmed in by houses and buildings, that the south side is but imperfectly seen. The south transept, the most ancient part of the cathedral, is distinguished by a number of narrow and acutely pointed arches, with slender pillars, crowned with plain or slightly ornamented capitals. There are no prominent buttresses; the windows are comparatively small; and the whole arrangements mark an earlier and simpler style of art than the east and west fronts. Between the south transept and the south-western tower rise six small pinnacles, originally intended for buttresses to the lower part of the nave. The south side of the choir is much richer than that of the nave. "The massy columns," says Mr. Britton, "finely decorated with a variety of figures, and terminating in richly ornamented pinnacles; the windows large, and displaying a beautiful tracery; the small transept of the choir, with its superb light; and the screen work before the three farthest windows of the upper tier-all concur to render this external part of the structure strikingly beautiful and magnificent.

The north side is less encumbered with buildings than the south, and consequently displays its beauties more uninterruptedly. There are here five long lancet windows, locally designated the Five Sisters, which instructively illustrate the early pointed style. There are three minor entrances to the cathedral on this side; one opposite the residentiary house, another opposite the Deanery, and a third opening into the east aisle of the south transept.

YORK MINSTER: THE INTERIOR.

We now approach the interior. Here presents itself a scene which most writers consider to be unequalled among our cathedrals. Mr. Britton, indeed, goes so far as to say, that "Architecture, perhaps, has never produced, nor can imagination easily conceive, a vista of greater magnificence and beauty than that which is seen from the western entrance of the cathedral. The screen which separates the nave from the choir, rising only just high enough to form a support for the organ, does not intercept the view of the eastern end of the church, with its columns, its arches, and its most superb window. In proceeding from the western to the eastern end of the cathedral, the progressive improvements in the architecture are visible, and the style of the cross aisle may be contrasted with that of later periods."

The great western entrance to the cathedral, as at St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey, is reserved for state occasions. Whether this species of exclusion in such a place is altogether judicious, must be decided by the reader for himself; but it takes away considerably from the impressive effect which would be wrought on the mind of an observer, by making the western entrance the general one. The glorious view through the nave to the choir should precede all minor details. But let us be thankful for it under any form. When within the great entrance, we find the pier-arches to be eight in number on each side, separated by seven piers or columns. Each arch is of the lancet shape, about fifty feet high, and is enriched by bold and highly adorned mouldings. The piers are solid quadrangular masses, having three-quarter columns on their faces. Above the arches is a range of clerestory windows, having below them an open screen to the triforium, with trefoiled heads, crocketed pediments, and quatrefoiled cornice. At the height of about forty-five feet from the ground, commence the ribs or mouldings which form the framework of the beautiful roof of the nave. The roof is formed of wood; and at the intersections of the beautiful tracery into which the ribs are carved, there are knots or clusters, which are carved into representations of incidents in Scripture history. The triforium gallery formerly contained statues of the

Arrived at the centre of the building, we find ourselves beneath the great tower, with the nave behind us, the choir in advance, the south transept on the right hand, and the north on the left. The tower is supported by four massy piers formed of many-clustered columns. From the capitals which surmount these columns spring four noble arches, nearly 100 feet in height; and on the tops of these arches the square walls of the tower are built. Each side of the tower contains two lofty windows. The roof of the tower, visible from the cathedral below, is of beautiful carved oak tracery, analogous to that of the nave.

The interior of the south transept is a fine example of early English. It is here that the usual entrance to the cathedral is situated; but the principal interest of the transept is centred in its windows. These are ranged in three tiers. At the top is a splendid marigold window, nearly thirty feet in diameter; below this are three windows, filled with representations of apostles and saints; and below these is another range of more modern windows. The east and west sides of the transepts contain many monuments and effigies, of which the most beautiful is the tomb of Archbishop Walter de Grey, a fine specimen of the work of the thirteenth century.

The north transept is in a somewhat more advanced style of architecture. The chief adornment of this part is the series of five windows, or rather five departments of one great window, to which the name of the Five Sisters has been given: a name originating in the circumstance that five sisters presented these windows to the cathedral, and wrought with their own hands the embroidered patterns for the devices. The roof of the transept has been recently raised, to render these beautiful windows more extensively visible. The sides of the transept are richly adorned in arches and compartments; and in the east aisle, which faces St. Nicholas' Chapel, is the exquisite tomb of Archbishop Grenefield.

The organ-screen, which closes in the choir from the rest of the building, now meets our view. It is in the richest form of the perpendicular style. The lower part is divided into fifteen compartments or niches, in which are placed statues of the kings from William the Conqueror to Henry VI., in ancient regal costume. Above these are three rows of smaller figures, representing the angelic choir; so that the whole screen presents an extraordinary display of mediæval sculpture. In the middle of the screen is the entrance to the choir; a beautiful canopied recess, with mouldings and sculptures around the arch, and elaborate iron gates. After the fire of 1829, a proposition was seriously discussed, whether or not to remove this screen further back, so as to bring the great tower

raised quite an agitation at the time; but it was ultimately resolved to leave matters as they were.

Upon this screen is now placed an organ, which is, we believe, deemed the finest in the kingdom: at any rate, it is one worthy of the building which contains it. The old organ was destroyed by the fire of 1829; and neither expense nor talent were spared in the placing of a new one. The specification of the organ was made out by Dr. Camidge, the organist; the execution devolved upon Messrs. Elliott and Hill, of London; and the expense was borne by the Earl of Scarborough. There are three sets of keys, of six octaves each; and two octaves of pedal keys. There are 90 stops or sets of pipes; and the total number of pipes exceeds 6,000. In nearly all its features it excels the great organs of Birmingham and Haarlem. If ever the sublimity of sound can be brought home to the feelings of all, it is when such an organ is pouring its vast body of tones through the vaulted avenues of this cathedral.

Through the doorway in the organ-screen we enter the choir, the most highly decorated portion of the cathedral. Sir Robert Smirke has rebuilt this part in scrupulous imitation of its former self. The richly carved stalls, the cathedral or archbishop's throne, the pulpit-all are restored in the ancient style. There are nine side arches, above which the triforium and clerestory are much more richly adorned than those in the nave. A screen used to exist behind the altar, with a music-gallery above it; but this intercepted the view of the grand east window; and few, we imagine, can regret its removal.'

Beneath a portion of the choir is the ancient cryptone of those solemn, impressive, subterranean vaults, which a few of our cathedrals exhibit. There are nine massive pillars, in three rows, supporting the vaulted roof; and each of the four aisles into which the crypt is thus divided used to contain an altar and a chantry. In one of these remarkable underground chapels, designated "the chantry of the altar of St. Mary in Cryptis," mass was celebrated. All the sanctity of these crypts is gone in our day: they are little better than lumberrooms-the more is the pity!

Ascending again from the crypt to the choir, we find that the side aisles of the choir, and the Lady Chapel behind it, are the chief depositories of the monuments which the minster contains. These are of the usual kind-monuments to bishops, deans, privy counsellors, peers, generals, gentry; persons who may have filled their respective stations creditably; but whose monuments are too often but sorry accompaniments to the exquisite architecture of the building. Moving from these to the magnificent east window, we there find representations which do belong to the building, and to the age when it was built. This unequalled production is divided into two hundred compartments, each about a yard square, and each filled, in stained glass, with figures about two feet in height. The scriptural characters and incidents recorded in this way are extraordinary for their number-the Saviour, angels,

the creation, the temptation, the expulsion, the deluge, the stories of Jacob and Joseph, the finding of Moses, the scenes on Mount Sinai; the exploits of Samson and David and Abraham; the seals and vials and trumpets of the apocalyptic vision, interpreted according to the notions of the time-all form a kind of transference of the Bible to the stained glass of a window.

THE CHAPTER HOUSE: THE BELLS: ST. MARY'S
ABBEY.

The Chapter-house is the only structure, exterior to the cathedral, which we need notice; but this is indeed a gem. It is perhaps the finest Chapter-house in England. It is supposed to have been built in the latter half of the 13th century. The Chapter-house is an octagonal building, 63 feet in diameter by 68 feet high, and wholly supported without a central pillar. It is the absence of any central support which gives to this structure so much of its beauty. One side of the octagon is formed by the entrance, divided by a richly canopied central pier into two doorways, occupied by richly carved oak doors. The other seven sides of the octagon are occupied each with a noble lancetheaded window, nearly 50 feet in height. Beneath each window is a series of six semi-octagonal stalls, profusely carved, and bounded by carvings and sculptures, the subjects of some of which look strange enough to modern eyes. At a height of nearly forty feet from the ground, spring the mouldings or ribs for the vaulted ceiling, which is bound together with exquisite skill and taste.

We can hardly find room for it, yet a paragraph must be spared for the Bells of the fine old minster. There is a Peal of Bells, and there is a Great Bell; and both are worthy of note. The peal is situ ated in the south-west tower. When the fire of 1840 occurred, the old bells were so damaged by the flames as to be rendered useless. Dr. Beckwith supplied the funds for a new set; which were rung for the first time to celebrate the restoration of the cathedral on the 4th of July, 1844. The bells are twelve in number; they vary in height from two and a half to five and a half feet, and in weight from seven to fifty-three hundred-weight. But the great bell, named the Great Peter of York is the reigning monarchnot only over the other bells of this minster, but over all the bells in the United Kingdom. London, Lincoln, and Oxford-all boast of their mighty bells; but all must yield to the Great Peter. The large bell at St. Paul's Cathedral weighs about five tons; the Great Tom of Lincoln about five tons and a half; and the Old Tom of Oxford about seven tons and a half; but the Great Peter weighs no less than twelve tons and a half (about 28,000 pounds). The height of this monster bell is seven feet two inches, and its thickness at the sounding curve is seven inches. Seventeen tons of metal were melted for it, and were run into the mould in seven minutes and a half. It

took fourteen days in cooling before the clay-mould was removed from it. The ornaments on the exterior of the bell are similar in style to many of the details of the cathedral; and an inscription round the top, in Lombardic characters, runs thus :—

"In sanctæ et æternæ Trinitatis honorem
Pecunia sponte collata, Eboracenses
Faciendum curaverunt in usum
Ecclesiæ metrop. B. Petri, Ebor."

The enormous clapper for the bell was made at one of the Yorkshire iron-works; it weighs four hundred weight, and is beautifully worked in wrought iron. The oaken stock in which the bell is fixed, with its bolts, weighs three tons. The bell is rung with two wheels, one on each side of the axle, fourteen feet in diameter; and it is said that fifteen men are required to ring it. Its sound (in the key of F) is deep, mellow, and rich in the grandest degree. The citizens of York subscribed the fund for defraying the expenses of this bell: it amounted to £2000.

Here we quit the fine old minster. Simply as a matter for occasional comparison, we may state that, in total length, York Minster is excelled only by Winchester Cathedral; in total breadth, only by St. Paul's; in length of choir, only by St. Paul's and Norwich; in length of nave, only by Ely; while in the breadth and the height of the nave, the choir, and the aisles, it excels them all. The breadth of York Minster exceeds the entire length of each of the cathedrals of Carlisle, Bath, Bristol, and Oxford.

One of the pleasant relics of antiquity at York is the Abbey of St. Mary. There are many parts of the city from whence the ruins can be well seen; and from the back-ground of trees standing near them, they have a very beautiful appearance when a summer's sun lights up the green foliage. The original St. Mary's Abbey was built by William Rufus in 1088; it was destroyed by fire in 1137, and remained in ruins till 1270, when Simon de Warwick rebuilt it on a magnificent scale. The Abbey Church was of great size, having had a choir and nave of equal dimensions, north and south transepts, and a central tower; the existing ruins are only a part of the north wall of the nave of the church. The Abbey was inhabited by a fraternity of black monks, of the Order of St. Benedict; and these monks appear to have had a sort of standing quarrel with the citizens of York; for many frays are recorded as having occurred between the citizens and the retainers of the monks; and the monks obtained a licence from Henry III. to fortify their monastery by a wall and towers. At the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, the revenues of this Abbey were very large; but from this period the decay of the fine old building was lamentably rapid: it was indeed not a natural decay, but a destruction by the hand of man. The Abbey and its church were used as a quarry: some of the stones were used by Henry VIII. for building the Manor House; another portion, in 1701, for rebuilding the County Jail at York; another, in 1705,

for rebuilding the adjoining church of St. Olave; another, in 1717, for repairing Beverley Minster; and throughout the same century the stones were used as a storehouse whence to make lime for building purposes. Had not the Yorkshire Philosophical Society obtained a grant of the Abbey and its ground from the Crown in 1822, there is no knowing how much (or how little) of the ruins might be now left. The portion of the ruins yet remaining consist chiefly of eight beautiful light gothic window-arches, with carved capitals, and a small portion of the clustered columns of each end. In the excavations necessary for building the new Museum of the Philosophical Society (the Museum stands between the Abbey Ruins and the Roman Tower) the whole plan of the Abbey was laid bare: it extended 371 feet in length by 60 in breadth. A little eastward of this ruin is a small court, surrounded by a wall built of broken columns, capitals, and stones, bearing marks of fire, and supposed to be part of the Abbey destroyed in 1137. A few other fragments of various buildings once belonging to the Abbey, are visible in different parts of the vicinity.

BEVERLEY AND ITS MINSTER.

The flat country between York and Beverley is so thoroughly agricultural, so thinly inhabited, and so utterly without mountains to please the artist, and minerals to attract the manufacturer, that even the railway magnates shake their heads at "running a line" through the district. Pocklington and Market. Weighton are the two agricultural towns met with along this route; besides these, there are only villages. And such, indeed, is the character of the greater part of the East Riding. The exception is furnished by the northern part of the Riding, where the hills called the Wolds give more diversity to the scene, and where the approach to the bold coast at Bridlington and Scarborough opens to the view of the visitor an entirely different landscape.

Beverley is also an agricultural town; that is, it is the centre of an agricultural district. But it is something more than this. It is a venerable minster town, and has a history which extends far back into our Saxon times. It is, too, a right pleasant town: clean, well-built, with tolerably wide streets, a good marketplace, and a race-course which is well known throughout the East Riding to those who are attached to the stud. When the antiquaries tell us that Beverley used to be spelt Beverlac; that one among many Yorkshire lakes was situated near the town; and that the name ("lake of beavers ") was derived from the circumstance that beavers used to abound in the neighbouring river Hull -we begin to speculate as to the number of centuries which must have elapsed since that state of things existed.

Beverley was a grown child when Hull was yet in its cradle; and it was not without a struggle that the former gradually yielded the palm of commercial supe

riority to the latter. Beverley was favoured by many of the early kings: Athelstan granted a charter to the town, exempting it from certain tolls, and conferring upon it important privileges. In the Minster is still to be seen the following distich, placed between the pictures of Athelstan and St. John of Beverley, in allusion, apparently, to these privileges:

"Als free, make I the,

As hert may thynke, or eyh can see."

Athelstan's charter was confirmed by later monarchs; and King John especially conceded to the townsmen freedom from "toll, pontage, passage, stallage," &c. Beverley Minster is, without dispute, the second finest ecclesiastical structure in Yorkshire: the first place being, of course, appropriated to the venerable cathedral of York. It is one of the most ancient establishments, too, in the kingdom; for a cathedral or collegiate church, at Beverley, existed thirteen hundred years ago. It does not seem to be very well known by whom, or at what time, the present structure was built; but as it presents specimens of the Early English, the Decorated, and the Perpendicular styles, it must have been built at many different times. The general character of the building is Early English; and as the minster has the advantage of being completely insulated, its beauty is easily observable. The general form of the exterior, to an uncritical eye, somewhat resembles that of Westminster Abbey, in so far as it is without a central tower, and has two square towers at the west front. The minster is cruciform, having the usual arrangement of nave, choir, and transepts. The west end is truly magnificent, and yields the palm to very few of our cathedrals; indeed, Rickman says, that "the west front of this church is to the Perpendicular what that of York is to the Decorated style" that is, its finest example. The porch is a richly-recessed gothic arch; and over it is a splendid window, surmounted by a richly-panelled compartment, in front of which is the ornate canopy of the window. The corners of the entire front are occupied by the noble towers, which are distinct and complete compositions from the ground to the summit. There are two elaborately decorated buttresses on the west side, and two on the lateral side, of each tower; and between these buttresses are four windows, two in each front, one above another. Above the level of these windows is a panelled compartment, and above this another window, still richer than the lower ones. Above the upper windows the tower contracts in dimensions, and is terminated by a series of pinnacles, more rich and varied, perhaps, than is presented by any of our cathedrals. The dimensions of the Minster are as follow: Length fron cast to west, 334 feet; breadth of the nave and side aisles, 64 feet; length of the great cross aisle, or transept, 167 feet; height of the nave,

67 feet; height of the side aisles, 33 feet; height of the two west towers, 200 feet.

The chief beauties of the interior are the screen and the Percy Monument. In the last century a gorgeous wooden composition was put up as an altar-screen: behind this were the remains of the ancient altar-screen or rood-loft; it was of the Decorated style, and enriched to an almost unexampled degree in carved stone. Mr. Rickman deemed it, even in its dilapidated state, one of the best schools wherein to study the details of the Decorated style. About forty years ago the mayor and corporation of Beverley, as trustees of the Minster fund, engaged the services of Mr. Comins, at a regular salary, to take charge of the gradual restoration of the Minster. One of Mr. Comins' undertakings was, to restore the old altar screen. He took casts of the ornaments and mouldings, and carved a new screen of elaborate beauty, in the exact model of the old one: this was completed in 1826. The entire exterior has been restored: the porches, buttresses, canopies, pinnacles, all have been brought into so admirable a state, that the Minster has now few parallels, in tl.is respect, among the cathedrals of England. One change effected in the interior has been the removal of the pews and galleries, which for some generations had disfigured the nave. The parishioners offered much opposition to the change; but, in 1822, the authorities succeeded in replacing those seats by others in the choir, quite as convenient for divine service, and leaving the nave in its original grandeur as a columned vista. In the choir there is a most beautiful monument to one of the Percy family, of Decorated character, and gorgeous execution. In the nave there is a monument, earlier than that of the Percys, and less superbly ornamented, but equally chaste in composition.

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'Tis an honour to Beverley to contain two such churches as those which adorn the town. "St. Mary's Church, Beverley," says Mr. Rickman, "if it had not so rich a neighbour as the Minster, would be thought a curious and valuable church." It has a beautiful west front, with pierced towers and fine windows: the chancel has some curious groining; and the piers and arches of the western half, or nave, are very fine. "Every part of this church," says the competent authority just quoted, "is curious. The original buildings were evidently Norman and Early English: some portions are very early Decorated, and of various gradations to advanced Perpendicular; and the additions have been made not only round, but, under the former work, so as to cause some curious anomalies."

There was a time when Beverley had its monastery of Black Friars, its monastery of Franciscans, its House of Knights Hospitallers, and other establishments more or less connected with the ancient religion of the country but these are gone. The Minster and St. Mary's Church are the links which connect the present with the past.

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