present includes Canterbury, York, Salisbury, Durham, Winchester, and a halfdozen other of the more prominent cathedrals. While the subjects are not treated in the extreme of the popular style, yet the books are easily read, are not abstruse, and do not weary the reader by minute details. By far the most important period of ecclesiastical history in connection with the study of English cathedrals is, as has been said, the period of the Norman Conquest, and the years just preceding and following. Many churches and not a few cathedrals had risen in the more populous parts of the island before the coming of William from Normandy. Within a century after the arrival of Augustine, in 597, the little green island was dotted with churches which were generally of simple, even rude construction. In the centuries immediately succeeding, the Saxon built his sturdy structures, and both cathedrals and abbeys were numerous. The general expectation, however, that the world would come to an end in the year one thousand operated unfavorably to the rearing of elaborate or important architectural work. Why build that which could last but a few years? reasoned the mediæval bishop. old, dingy attire, and putting on a new white robe." On his accession to the English throne in 1017, Canute began to repair the ravages made in churches and cathedrals by himself and his father, and to put up new buildings. But the great monument of the days just before those of William was, unquestionably, the noble Abbey of Westminster, which the Normanbred Edward built, of Norman style, and, it is said, of Norman workmanship. The most powerful reason for the general upbuilding of churches in the Norman days is to be found in the fact that the clergy who had accompanied William from Normandy were natural builders. They brought with them traditions of splendid cathedrals in their own land. At Caen rose the stately, grandly proportioned Abbey of St. Stephen, and the more delicate but sumptuous little Abbey of the Holy Trinity, reared respectively by William and his bride, Matilda of Flanders, by order of the Pope, in penance for their hasty marriage. At Le Mans was the famous Church of St. Julien, stately and glorious, in which William made his "Joyeuse Entrée," a few years before the Conquest. The year of 1070 was called the year of peace in Normandy, because so many churches, among them those of Evreux, Bayeux, and Bec, were consecrated. The incoming Norman naturally despised the work of the Saxon builder, just as the later Gothic builder in turn despised the Norman, each deeming the other clumsy and rude. ROUND WINDOW AT ST. MARY'S, CHELTENHAM (1320) Flourishing church organizations existed, when William came, at Durham, York, Peterborough, Winchester, Exeter, Canterbury, and elsewhere, some of them of the monastic or regular, and others of the secular foundation. And when the thousandth year had passed, and the sun still continued its steady habit of rising and setting, men breathed more freely, and naturally inclined towards religious works. Many structures of great size and beauty were undertaken, and so early as the year 1003 it was said that in France and Italy the number of churches and monasteries in process of building was so great that "the world appeared to be putting off its And while the dispossessed Saxon was hunted to the forests or cowered in the cities before the invader, the old Saxon bishops were being replaced by Norman prelates, and the newly consecrated Norman bishops in their new church homes began to put up on old sites and new sites those magnificent buildings, many Who hoped these stones should see the day When Christ should come; and that these walls Might stand o'er them till judgment calls. Lanfranc at Canterbury; Gundulf, architect of London's mighty Tower, at Rochester; thrifty Herbert Losinga at Norwich; Walkelin at Worcester, and Thomas at York-these were some of the names of bishop-builders of the Norman days. For a lively presentation of ecclesiastical life in the Norman period, I know of no better authority than Freeman's "Norman Conquest," to be followed, if you please, by his "William Rufus," which vivify the lives of archbishops and bishops and the few saints of these stirring times in a manner unknown to the numerous recorders of mere facts and dates. The size of the five volumes of the "Conquest" may deter the busy student from undertaking them, but so richly do the pages sparkle with light and color, with vivid incident and picturesque character-painting, that none but a dullard could fail to enjoy them. If it be impossible to read the volumes as a whole, selections may be made. From Volume II. take Chapter VIII., which introduces one to William the King, and assists to the understanding of his course of action. All along the remaining pages of this volume are interesting allusions to the new ecclesiastical life then upspringing in the conquered land. In Volume IV., Chapter XIX., named "The Ecclesiastical Settlement of England;" in Volume V., Chapter XXIII., "The Norman Kings in England." In Chapter XXIV. of the same volume, "The Ecclesiastical Effects of the Norman Conquest," and in Chapter XXVI. of the same volume, "The Effects of the Norman Conquest on Art" (which in these days was chiefly architecture), the student will find excellent, enlightening material for careful reading. A very good account of the dissolution of monasteries and of the "Pilgrimage of Grace" which followed, are to be found in the illustrated "Notes on English Church History " and the "Turning-Points of English History" mentioned above, also in any extended history of England. That Something mo of facts is necess rich flavor of an toric imagination ops, abbots, and us, heroes; the long-ago centurie entrancing. To in the study of ecclesiastical lif better work of 66 6 Hereward, the The blood mov this stirring reco of the daily lif and Croyland; night long in t aration for hi while the monk and of how he f like the lightni been bestowed birds on the Hereward is c last brave stand the monks agai the flight into th desertion of He rows of good T land and down the hunted Sax place their hand and become " 66 Her reading loses the flavor love for Peter sympathy for th victims of Will pain and b wastes of the f For a daily life, take the Warden," " Ba ley Parsonage, Barset;" or so rene weavings cathedral shad icles of Caring Curate." Only a little speak of gene of England. book for Ame been publishe are of Englis in some. um Britton The twe tra is c clas abo sto use and me of t pur lish Ar ain illu cle wh fre pri ence, but expensive, large, and cumberOf these, the latest and most complete in all ways is "Our National Cathedrals," in three large volumes, in part a revision of the extended series of Winkles's "Cathedrals," and using his excellent illustrations. This is up to date, and almost alone in that respect. and Willis are good names, and suggest rows of volumes giving minute particulars is' concerning the cathedrals, with elaborate notes and exquisite illustrations; but the busy reader has not time for the text. For cold statements of fact and ample illustration, both general and special, there are the Murray Handbooks, in several inexpensive volumes of varying interest. I have found very great pleasure in the four quaint volumes of Storer's "History and Antiquities of the Christian of Cathedrals of Great Britain," published in London in 1819, to be had at the Astor Library in New York, and doubtless in any other large library, but I find no trace of it in modern book-stores. A recent of work called, in its American reprint, "Westminster Abbey and the Cathedrals of England," by Canon Farrar and others, is misleading in its title, because sketches of only half a dozen of the cathedrals are given; but these are of surpassing interest, and have been prepared by those in- Rid timately connected with the life of which they write. The S. P. C. K. mentioned above publishes a very good pictorial popular book by the Rev. H. H. Bishop, which, while not handsome typographically, contains many excelent descriptions and illustrations. The choice and scholarly volume by Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer, "Cathedral Churches of England" (The Century Company, $3), tur contains twelve comprehensive monographs of as many representative cathedrals, and an introductory paper of great value. The beginner in the study of Gothic architecture and cathedrals will do well to preface this with some elementary work, but as a broad, serious study, Mrs. Van Rensselaer's volume has no equal. try Ar the ous oth we tur Re ure Ar and An wh Sta er' and T por tw Fo Wi lar ec cat est Of smaller books, take the little volume of W. J. Loftie, which supersedes the two mi volumes of Walcott's "English Minsters." In the preface Mr. Loftie explains that fro he attempted to revise Walcott and bring wh it to date, but decided to write a new vol fas |