YORK CATHEDRAL OR MINSTER.

THE year 627 is generally assigned as the foundation of York Cathedral, by Edwyn, King of Northumberland; and report states it to have been erected on the site of a wooden church or oratory. Paulinus, the first Bishop of York, dedicated it to St. Peter, and in the year 634 Pope Honorius sent to him the archiepiscopal pall, giving to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York the mutual power of ordaining each other. It was not before the time of Edward III. that the Pope decreed that the Archbishop of Canterbury should bear the title of Primate of all England, and the Archbishop of York that of the Primate of England. Afterwards the Church was built with stone, and completed in 642, by Oswald, Edwyn's successor about 720 it was repaired and beautified by Wilfrid, commonly called St. Wilfrid, the founder of the Churches of Hexham and Ripon. In 741 it was destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt by Archbishop Egbert, and, together with the chief part of the city, destroyed by the Danes.

The title of fifth founder was given to Thomas, a canon of Bayeux, the first archbishop after the Norman conquest, who rebuilt the Cathedral in a far grander style: about the same time that at Durham was rebuilt. In 1137 an accidental fire again destroyed it, with St. Mary's Abbey, and thirty-nine parish churches; after which event it lay in ruins for more than thirty years. The tradition that the site of the Cathedral was originally that of a Roman temple was confirmed by an accidental discovery of a curious crypt, through the timbers, at the fire in

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1829, breaking through the floor of the choir: another tradition declares the temple to have been dedicated to Diana, another to Bellona.

In 1171 Archbishop Roger began to rebuild the choir, with its crypt; in 1227 Archbishop Walter Grey began the erection of the southern transept; and in the reign of Henry III. the northern was finished, A.D. 1260, by John le Romain. The tower of the Cathedral was, likewise, erected by him. On the 7th of April, 1291, his son, the Archbishop of York, laid the foundation of the nave, which part of the Church was completed by his successor, Archbishop William de Melton. The foundation of the present choir was laid by Archbishop John Thoresby, on the 29th of July, 1361; at the same time the lantern-tower was rebuilt, and other parts were completed, under the direction of Archbishop Bowett.

The date of the Chapter-house is uncertain; it has been ascribed to Archbishop Walter Grey, in the reigns of John and Henry III.: it is probably more recent. Its architecture has a near correspondence in style to those parts which were founded in 1291; some, therefore, fix it in the reign of Edward I. On one of the pillars is inscribed, in golden letters,

"At Rosa flos florum, sic est Domus ista Domorum."

After the destruction of a great part of the interior by the fire, in 1829, the restoration of the Cathedral was well executed by Shoults, who preserved the original beauty of the decorations. The restoration of the choir was entrusted to Robert Smirke. The ground-plan of the Cathedral is cruciform, the length from east to west extending to about 515 feet; from north to south, at the transept, to about 240 feet. The western front has three grand entrances, the southern transept one, and the northern transept one, formerly the communication with the Archbishop's ancient palace, which stood on this side of the Church.

The western front has been compared with the celebrated façade of Rheims Cathedral, as to its architectural beauty; yet different eras may be traced. The front, belonging to the time of Edward II., massive and highly enriched buttresses divide into three parts: the central porch, which opens on the nave, a clustered pillar subdivides, and a circular window, of six lights, is in the space beneath the recess of the arch. On each side of the entrance are two tiers of canopied niches, which, filling the whole space, entirely cover it with ornaments. Upright mullions, gracefully diverging into the flamboyant tracery of the fourteenth century, divide the eastern window (itself a magnificent specimen of art) over the porch into eight lights; crockets on the tracery-ornamented heading, which terminates in a rich finial, continue the outer mouldings of the window.. Towers, rising to 196 feet in the western front, form the two lateral divisions. There are two tiers of windows above the porches of entrance to the aisles, the architectural design of those in the first being like that in the central window, whilst those in the second tier are more plain. The angles of each tower and sides of the windows are bounded

by buttresses, terminating at the upper cornice, above which are the parapets, framed of perforated battlements. The sculptured forms at the different springings of the canopies differ in character from those in the main front, and the mullions of the windows are divided by a transom.

The three grand architectural divisions mark the southern front in the nave, transept, and high choir. The windows of the southern aisle are similar to those on the western front; those of the clerestory, which cast light on the nave, have also a correspondence to them. On the western side of the transept is the Record-office, with the Library over it. The building of the southern transept is imputed to Walter Grey, in the reign of Henry III.; but though the general uniformity is not abandoned, the style of architecture very much differs from that in the nave. The choir, which Archbishop Thoresby re-erected, during the reign of Edward III., is as high as the nave; but the design presents variations. There is a small transept in this portion of the building, consisting of a bold projection to the extent of the aisle, with a mullioned window to the full height of the Church in front, producing an admirable effect, which is peculiar to this Cathedral. In the windows of the Lady's Chapel, and the eastern part of the choir, is a curiously formed screen before each, which is also peculiar to the place. The Treasury and the Vestries are on the southern side the central tower, or L'ouvre, so called from being open in the interior, is 188 feet above the pavement, consisting of one story, surmounted by a perforated parapet and battlements, its angles also being strengthened by buttresses, adorned by tabernacle work.

Three grand divisions constitute the eastern front: these are formed by buttress-turrets, and between the two central the space is filled by the magnificent eastern window. The Chapter-house, entered from the transept, is on the northern front: it is an octagon, 63 feet in diameter, unsupported by a pillar; and if we reckon to the middle arch of the roof, the altitude will be found 67 feet 10 inches. The five tall Church windows in the front of the northern transept are traditionally called those of the five sisters. This Cathedral is without cloisters.

The admeasurement of the nave is 250 feet in length, 103 feet in breadth, 92 feet in height: the aisles are equal in dimensions. Clusters of pillars mark the eight divisions of the nave; and the painted glass of the great western window represents the first eight archbishops and eight saints of the Church. In the uppermost window of the northern aisle are figures in emblazoned surcoats of the kings of England, France, Arragon, Rome, Castile and Leon, Jerusalem and Navarre, with portraits of other noble personages. The four vast arches of the central tower surmount the whole height of the nave: the first story of the lantern-tower is above them. An elegant gallery, with a perforated parapet, is round the lantern; and the ceiling of the tower is groined. In the southern transept stands Archbishop Walter Grey's monument.

The superb screen at the entrance of the choir has fifteen statues of

our kings, one, indeed, recent. The organ is a magnificent instrument. The new choir, opened May 6, 1832, has nine divisions: from the gates to the eastern end it is 222 feet, by 46 feet 6 inches, in dimensions. There are at least one hundred and fifteen historical subjects, chiefly from the Old Testament, on the eastern window: the figures are beautifully drawn, and mostly 2 feet 2 inches high. In the eastern window of the southern aisle, a representation of the meeting of the Virgin Mary and Elizabeth, which originally was in the Church of St. Nicholas, at Rouen, and is supposed to have been the design of Sebastian del Piombo, Giorgione's pupil, but in 1814 was presented to the Dean and Chapter of York, by the Earl of Carlisle, forces itself on the attention of visitors. York Cathedral is, indeed, a school for study.

Nor must the monuments be omitted. Those of the various Archbishops of York, that of Walter de Grey, those of Godfrey de Ludham, alias Kimton, of William de Grenefeld, of Archbishops Scrope, Henry Bowett, and Thomas Rotherham (the second founder of Lincoln College, Oxford), of Archbishops Savage, John Piers, Matthew Hutton, Tobias Matthew, of Archbishops Accepted Frewen, Sterne, John Dolben, Thomas Lamplugh, John Sharp, (none of the succeeding Archbishops having been buried in the Cathedral), in various degrees, according to the skill of the respective artists, arrest the eye and demand the verdict of the taste. In the northern aisle of the choir William of Hatfield, son of Edward III., has a monument, and in the northern transept, John Haxby, treasurer of the Cathedral: besides these there are many others, too numerous to be recapitulated. Two ancient stone coffins, which were discovered under ground at Clifton, on the banks of the Ouse, about a mile to the north of the city, are preserved in the northern aisle of the choir. The situations in which many illustrious persons have been interred within the walls are unknown.

The Vestries, on the southern side, contain many antiquities worthy of attention; the most curious of which is the ivory horn of Ulphus, Prince of the western parts of Deira, by which several estates, called Terræ Ulphi, are holden by the Cathedral. Three silver chalices, found in the graves of three of the Archbishops, several rings, similarly found in tombs, the silver pastoral staff given by Catherine of Braganza to her Confessor, and the ancient chair in which some of our early Kings are reported to have been crowned, are among these relics of former days.

On the northern side is the Cathedral Library, formerly a chapel of the archiepiscopal palace, which now contains one hundred and eight manuscripts, one of which is Wicliffe's version of the New Testament, which belonged to Queen Elizabeth, and has her autograph, and about 6,000 printed volumes. Such is York Cathedral, scarcely to be surpassed in the particularities of its grandeur, in whatever direction we may turn our architectural criticism.