and friends, who provided funds which ultimately amounted to upwards of 30007.

A new roof and ceiling was now bestowed on the nave, and its clerestory lights were repaired. The choir was groined, its windows re-glazed and repaired, a new altar-screen was erected, and some minor operations effected in the choir.

In consequence of the Report of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and under the provisions of an Act of Parliament, 6 & 7 Will. IV., c. 77, an Episcopal See was erected at Ripon, consisting of that part of the County of York heretofore in the Diocese of Chester, of the Deanery of Craven, and of such parts of the Deanery of the Ainsty and Pontefract, in the County and Diocese of York, as lie to the westward of the Liberty of the Ainsty and the Wapentakes of Barkstone Ash, Osgoldcross, and Staincross-a district containing the great towns of Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Wakefield, and Huddersfield, among a host of lesser note.

By this act, also, the Collegiate Church of Ripon, and the Chapter thereof, were made the Cathedral and Chapter of the new See; and, according to ancient precedent, the town of Ripon became dignified with the appellation of a city.

The Rev. Charles Thomas Longley, D.D., the amiable and learned head master of Harrow School, was appointed first Bishop of Ripon ; and was consecrated in York Minster, Nov. 6, 1836.

The constitution of this Chapter was further changed by the Act 3 & 4 Vict., c. 113, which directs that the Prebendaries shall in future be designated Canons, and be reduced to four-each one of whom shall keep residence three months in each year, and the Dean eight months; that the first vacant Canonry shall be suspended, and the second filled up, and that the Sub-deanery, also, shall be suspended on the next avoidance; that the Canonries shall be in the patronage of the Bishop of Ripon, who is constituted visitor of the Chapter; and that a certain sum shall be paid by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, to provide for the efficient performance of the duties of the said Chapter, and for the maintenance of the fabric thereof. It had been previously directed, by 2 & 3 Vict., c. 55, that upon the vacancy of any two Canonries or Prebends Residentiary in the Cathedral Church of Ripon, among others, that a successor should be appointed to the second of such vacant stalls respectively. It is enacted, also, by the 4 & 5 Vict., c. 39, that Honorary Canons shall be forthwith established in this, among other Cathedral Churches; but none, as yet, have been appointed.

is now re-edified, yet sufficient remains to indicate the entire plan and design of a work which deserves considerable attention, not merely as the work of a noted builder and a member of the Church of Canterbury when the "glorious choir of Conrad" was in existence, but as having respect to a Continental, rather than an English development of the Romanesque method, and as forming a useful study in comparison with the neighbouring and contemporary structures of Fountains and Kirkstall, Jervaux and Byland.

The several alterations, which were subsequently introduced, have been sufficiently indicated in the brief historical account of the building, from which, also, it will have been perceived that the Cathedral contains an example of every style of Christian architecture that has been used in England from its introduction in the Saxon times to its utter debasement in the sixteenth century.

WEST FRONT.

On approaching the church by Kirkgate, which leads thither from the market-place, the western façade rises before the spectator in imposing dignity and beauty. Except the modern addition of pinnacles and battlements to the tower, it remains free from those superinductions which, however intrinsically beautiful, often offend the eye in this portion of cathedral and conventual churches, and presents one of the most majestic specimens of the Early English style in this kingdom. Though it was erected nearly a century after the death of Archbishop Roger, in amplification of his west end of the nave, which probably resembled in spirit that of the north transept; yet, with all its more artistic subdivision of individual parts, the general spirit-allowing for just assimilation-is strongly respective of Romanesque distribution, as exhibited in Roger's work, as the particular treatment of the design is shown to be by the west end of Southwell Collegiate Church.

The elevation exhibits a gabled compartment, 103 feet high and 43 feet wide, flanked by two towers of little superior altitude. In the basement story are three deeply-recessed doorways, surmounted by two tiers of lancet lights, occupying its whole width,—and divided by clustered and banded shafts, enriched with the toothed ornament, and terminated by foliated capitals. Each of these ten windows is divided into two trefoil-headed lights, and a surmounting quatrefoil—an arrangement which has been thought subsidiary

to the original design; though the date I have assigned to the work will prove not to be incongruous with the last gradation of the Early English style. Above the upper tier, the centre window being the tallest, and the rest receding in proportion, according to the spirit of the old Lombard fronts, are three lancet lights conjoined, in the swiftly declining pediment, which is finished by a bold corbel table, and crowned by a modern cross. The towers are on the same plane as the centre compartment, though divided from it by unstaged buttresses, that give a slight projection to each angle of the towers, and relieve the flatness that pervades the vast expanse of the western elevation. They are divided, above the basement-story, which shows in front a trifoliated arcade, into three stages, in each of which, the face, originally disengaged from the old nave, has an arcade of three members; the centre compartment of each being pierced with a lancet light, and the archivolt supported by tall banded shafts, some single, some clustered. A corbel table surmounts the last stage, and prepared originally for the lofty octagonal spires of timber and lead, that long and ably completed the effect of an original and striking design.

To finish the curtailed extremities, battlements were erected; but these being much injured by a violent wind in 1714, the offensive appearance remained until 1797, when Dean Waddilove added a similar work, with pinnacles-the best relief that, under circumstances, could be devised.

The southern tower contains a peal of eight BELLS, of the aggregate weight of 90 cwt. O qrs. 3 lbs., cast by Lester and Pack, in March, 1762. There hung there previously five bells, and one in the opposite tower, which was said to have been brought from Fountains Abbey.

THE CLOCK was put up by Thwaites, of London, at the cost of 400%., in the south tower, in 1809, in the place of a similar public convenience, provided by Dean Dering, in 1723.

EXTERIOR OF THE NAVE.

Before a visitor enters the church, I would advise him to examin its northern elevation, in order to obtain a definite idea of some features that might otherwise seem inexplicable within, though the eye, refreshed by the beautiful western façade, may not relish the more severe character of the transept, or even that of the nave that rises by his side. The nave is divided in length into six bays;

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the windows of the clerestory, from the absence of a triforium, being sufficiently capacious to contain five lights, while those of the side aisles have but three, and consequently less ramified tracery. On the south, and, perhaps, earlier side, the tracery of the aisle windows, as well as the section of the vaulting shafts, are of less angular character than the opposite members, and the buttresses have also a third or additional stage. On both the sides, the buttresses have been prepared for pinnacles, which should be supplied, as well as to the battlement of the clerestory, where they would contribute much to break the monotony of its long horizontal lines and the gloom of the slated roof.

TRANSEPT.

The north transept is the best example of the style of Roger's "Basilica," the corresponding member having been partially renewed in the fifteenth century. Each side is divided into bays by a pilaster process-though, from the addition of an eastern aisle, differently treated in detail. Yet, in front, the unfashionable Norman arrangement of a central pilaster-easy to be contrasted at Fountains-is discarded, and those at the angles are expanded sufficiently to form two square bell turrets, which rise to a level with the apex of the pediment. They are pierced in the summit of each face by a plain round-headed aperture, divided by a mullion, while cylindrical shafts enrich the angle of each turret, and form rudely-pointed pinnacles to its pyramidal termination, surmounted by a plain knob or pommel; the whole being a good example of an arrangement which shows the germ of a spire and pinnacles. The semicircularheaded lights are arranged in two tiers, between which the triforium intervenes in the interior. Below the six windows of the front is the doorway, not placed in the centre, but towards the west, and immediately opposite to one of nearly similar design in the south transept. This doorway is very remarkable, having a plain trefoil head, rising from a corbel-like projection, placed at the impost of the soffit, and is flanked by three receding shafts, whose elegantly foliated capitals assimilate with this Romanesque trefoil, and support an archivolt of bold but undecorated mouldings.

The transept has an eastern aisle, over which was originally a chapel, communicating with the triforium both of the transept and of the choir; but, when that part of the structure was considered superfluous, the apertures in the transept wall were closed, and the