Milefred were not only augmentod by the revenues arising from the donations of Offa, but still farther increased by the numerous offerings made by the pilgrims, who flocked in multitudes to the shrine of the murdered king, the work was soon completed, but no description of it is supposed to exist; for within less than 200 years it appears to have wholly fallen to decay; it was however rebuilt by the munificence of Bishop Atheistan, who was appointed to this see in the year 1012, over which he presided till the time of his decease in 1056; in which year, the cathedral itself was destroyed by fire, during the hostile incursion of the Welsh under Gryffyth, and the Earl of Chester, and remained in ruins till the succession of Robert, surnamed Lozing, in the year 1079, when that bishop began the present edi fice, on the model of the Church of Aken, now Aixla Chapelle, in Germany, but Lozing, dying in the year 1095; and leaving the cathedral unfinished, his design was afterwards completed by Bishop Raynelm, who was appointed to this see about the year 1096, and who is recorded in the Calendar of Obits*, to be the founder of this church, probably from the great extent of the work erected during his prelacy. This venerable structure, has however, been greatly encreased and beautified by several of the bishops since its erection, and the last alterations of any considerable importance are of a very recent date, having been effected since the year 1786, when the tower over the west front gave way, and falling to the ground destroyed all the parts immediately beneath it, together with the adjoining parts of the nave. The west end has since been rebuilt, and the whole cathedral repaired under the direction of Mr. Wyatt.

The cathedral destroyed by Gryffyth is supposed to have extended beyond the lines of the 5 Kal. Oct. obitus Renclmi episcopi, fundatoris ecclesie Sancti Ethelberti.'

f

present

present building, and particularly towards the southeast; where, near the cloisters of the college, Silas Taylor, the antiquary, discovered, about the year 1050,such stupendous foundations, such capitals, and pedestals, such well-wrought bases for arches, and such rare engravings, and mouldings of friezes," as left little doubt in his mind, but that they formed parts of the church built by Athelstan.

The general plan of the present venerable structure is that of a cross, with a lesser transept towards the east, and a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary beyond it. At the intersection of the nave and transept, is a square stone tower, which had formerly a spire of timber, cased with lead, and rising 92 feet in height above the battlements, but this was pulled down, during the late repairs, in order to relieve the arches of the tower from so much of the superincumbent weight. Though the greater transept is not uniform, its north end being larger than the south, yet an additional building, originally employed as the treasury, but now used as the chapter-house, gives its appearance an air of symmetry.

The exterior parts of the present edifice are very dissimilar in appearance, particularly since the recent construction of the west front, the architecture of which is extremely incongruous to the style, which it pretends to imitate. "Whatever was the cause (sa s a modern writer) of this departure from the ancient character of the building, whether it arose from the inadequacy of the funds, or from the want of skill in the architect, its effects are certainly to be lamented, inasmuch as they detract greatly from the sublimity of the original design. The great door, as it now appears, can hardly be compared to any thing else than a very ill-formed niche, with an obtuse arch, bounded by two buttresses, and surmounted by battlements; the great window is in the high-pointed style; and the centre terminates

with battlements, and has an empty niche. Besides the buttresses above-mentioned, the facade has two five-sided and two common buttresses. The niches over the side doors are paltry in the extreme: the more beautiful front, whose place has been usurped, is described by Mr. Duncomb nearly as follows:"The original west front was carried on in the Saxon style, as high as the roof of the nave in the centre, and of the aisles on the sides. At the west entrance several series of small Saxon columns, with circular arches intersecting each other, extended horizontally over the whole facade, and were divided from each other by lines or mouldings, variously adorned. Under the first or lowest series of arches, the billet ornament prevailed; under the second, the embattled frette; under the third, the nail-head; and under the fourth, the zig-zag: the bases, shafts, capitals, and most of the arches, were plain; but some of the last were distinguished by the zig-zag, and others bad the nail-head ornament, both of which decorated other parts of this front. The entrance was under a recessed circular arch, supported by five plain pillars on each side, and over the door and side aisles mosaic patterns prevailed in the sculpture. On the centre of this front a tower was afterwards constructed in the pointed style: it was raised on long and irregular shafts, aukwardly projecting from the inside of the original walls of the nave, affording an inadequate support, and proving, by their construction, that the tower itself formed no part of the original building or design. The central window, which was greatly enlarged, and altered into the pointed form, in the beginning of the reign of Henry VI. was divided horizontally into three parts, by stone transoms; and each was again divided perpendicularly, by mullions, into six lights, terminating above in trefoil arches. Over the point of the arch, was a human face, with foliage expanding on each side in the form of wings; this served

as

as a corbel to a small ornamented column, which rose to the parapet of the tower: on the sides of the window, under cinquefoil arches were efficies, as large as life, of St. Paul and Bishop Cantipule, towards the north, and of St. Peter and King Ethelbert, towards the south: under the feet of each a quartrefoil was sculptured over a tretoil arch; and long and slender shafts, supporting cinquefoil arches, with pediments and pinnacles, enriched with crockets, completed this range of sculptured decoration. Above the pinnacles were two rows of windows, four windows in each row: the upper contained two lights in the lancet form; the lower was somewhat less simple; a single mullion divided each into two lights, as before, and reaching the head, branched off to the sides, forming a trefoil arch over each light, from which an upright was carried to the curve of the window on each side, and completed the design. A border, resembling the nail-head, crossed the tower horizontally above, between, and below the windows; a similar decoration was also carried down the corners of the tower; above the whole was an embattled parapet, decorated with the trefoil arch. Four square buttresses, with Saxon ornaments, projected from the sides of the tower; and the extremities of the front terminated in hexagonal pinnacles, surmounted with crosses; those in the centre reached above the parapet; but those on the sides were lower by one third part." This tower, which was 80 feet in breadth, and 130 feet in height, gave several intimations of its approaching fate, and some attempts were made to prevent it; but the decay had become too general to admit of this being effected; the arches entirely gave way on the evening of Easter-Monday, in the year 1786; and the whole mass instantaneously became a heap of ruins. In rebuilding this portion of the cathedral, the foundations were removed more inward, in consequence of which the length of the nave was considerably diminished.

Nearly

Nearly 18,000l. were expended upon the new works and about 2 0001. more were appropriated to the general repair of the central tower, and other parts of the fabric; of these sums 7,0007. were subscribed by the clergy and laity, and the remaining 13,000l. were charged on the estates of the church.

The exterior of the nave on the north side resembles much of its original character; though the tops of the buttresses, clerestory windows, parapets, &c. are modern: the porch, which forms the grand 'entrance on this front, was built by Bishop Booth, about the beginning of the 16th century, and is constructed with four clusters of small pillars, which support as many pointed arches, one leading into the cathedral, and the other three opening into the church yard. The columns, which are six feet in height, rise twelve feet from the level of their capitals to the crown of the arch, making it lofty and pointed. The capitals are plain and circular, and divided into several lan.ina, gradually decreasing in their circumference from that which is uppermost. The three principal mouldings of the arch leading into the church are curiously sculptured with the figures of men and animals. The roof, which is vaulted with stone, is divided by ribs into angular. compartments, having quatrefoils, and other foliage, at their intersections. On each side of the north arch is an hexagonal turret, in which are winding staircases, leading to a small chapel over the porch, which projects before the more ancient one of the cathedral, and which is also vaulted with store, and has ribs diverging in three directions from each corner; those on the sides forming the arch of their respective walls, and those in the middie meeting in a centre orb, which is adorned with foliage similar ribs also meet the orb at right angles from the opposite sides. At the south-east angle of the ancient porch there is a small circular tower, having a winding staircase, which, reaching above