Wonders Of Operative Masonry.

YORK MINSTER , in the old Masonic city of York , two hundred and ten miles north from London , has a memorable history . On its site , in A . D . 626 , King Edwin erected an oratory of wood , where previously had stood an ancient heathen temple . On Easter Day , A . D . 027 the

, King and his two sons were baptized there . Subsequently it was rebuilt of stone , but it has often been laid in ashes and erected anew . In A . D . 1361 , while it was being restored , it is noteworthy that but threepence a day were paid for the wages of the

Master Masons that laboured upon it . In A . D . 1380 , it was completed in about its present form . AVith its magnificent stained g lass windows , beautiful traceries , extended nave—the most spacious of that of any cathedral in Europeexcept St . Peter ' sat

, , Rome—it combines vastness of dimension with elaborateness of finish , so that it is scarcely surpassed in beauty or magnificence by any building in the world . Its great east window is seventy-five feet high , aud from beneath it there is a vista alone

the nave of more than five hundred feet in extent . York Minster , or Monastery , is the pride of Yorkshire and the ornament of England . Eanh of these structures is famous also

for the events that have transpired in them and the dead that lie buried within their precints . Take AVINCHESTER CATHEDRAL , for example . In it , in A . D . 827 , Egbert was crowned king ; in A . D . 1042 , Edward the Confessor-, and in A . D .

1194 , Richard Cceur de Lion . Two sovereigns were married there—Henry IV , A . D . 1401 , and Bloody Mary , in A . D . 1554 . Then there are interred , the remains of Kinegils , the first King of the AVest Saxons ( A . D . 641 ) , Ethelwolf ( A . D .

857 ) , Kenalph , the builder of the Cathedral in the Saxon times ( A . D . 714 ) , Egbert , the founder of the English monarchy ( A . D . 837 ); Canute , the good Danish king ; the tyrannical William Unfits ; Echnuud , son of King Alfred ; and

Richard , son of William the Conqueror ; aud there is a monument to Hardicnauute , the last of the Danish monarchs ( A . D . 1041 ) . The sites of twenty altars are discoverable ( in York Minster there were once thirty ) . Whether you regard the famous dead of Winchester Cathedral or its splendid Gothic arches , clustered

columns and groined roof , it is a wonder of Operative Masonry ; a " school of architecture , " it has been called , because in this pile the rise , progress and perfection of the Gothic style may be fully traced . Its "Lady Chapel" alone would render it famous .

JEDBURGH ABBEY IS m ruins , but it is a magnificent rain . It is situated thirtyfive miles south-east from Edinburgh . Its style of architecture is a mixture of the Saxon aud Early Gothic . From , the centres of the beautiful clustered columns iu the navecrowned with zig-zag

mould-, ings , there springs a tier of elegant semicircular arches , and above these another tier of fine pointed windows , while the great Norman portal in the western gable is of exceedingly beautiful workmanship , with a profusion of ornamented mouldings .

The tower of Jedburgh Abbey is 30 feet square and 120 feet in height , and the prospect from it is probably unrivalled in Scotland .

AVEsraiiNSTEfl ABBEY , London , with its Henry VII . ' s Chapel , its Poet ' s Corner , its AVALHALLA of the mighty dead , and splendid architectural features , would furnish a subject for treatise iu a volume or eveu series of volumes , hence we can do no more than allude to it here . Its nave

is the loftiest in lingland , measuring 102 feet . ' Some of its statues are so natural as to seem to be endowed with life . " Hush , " said Gayfees , the Abbey Mason , as he stood before Sir Francis Vere ' s effigy surrounded by four knights" Hush , " pointing to one of the knights

, " he will soon speak . " AVestminster Abbey was the scene of the coronation of the majority of the English sovereigns , commencing with Harold , and the Coronation Chair has a remarkable history . But Poet ' s Corner and its vicinity possess the

greatest attractions for visitors . Addison ' s reflection ivhile standing there was as solemn as forcible — " When I read the several dates of the tombs , of some that died yesterday and some six hundred years agoI consider that great clay Avhen

, Ave shall all of us be contemporaries and make our appearance together . '' But space fails us to describe this abbey . Nor , indeed , can we refer , as Ave should like , to Furness Abbey , Selby Abbey , Fountains Abbey ( with its wonderfully graceful