Wonders Of Operative Masonry.

Canterbury Cathedral is extremely ancient and interesting , the eastern windows presenting the finest specimens of the early state of the art of painting on glass in the kingdom . We should also not fail to note the exceedingly rich heraldic decorations on the . groined ceilings of the cloisters , where there are more than eight hundred shields of arms of benefactors of the

Cathedral—an heraldic assemblage which is unparalleled in any other Church . The precincts of the Cathedral are famous for containing many venerable remains of ancient domestic architecture , for there , in the monastic ages , stood the dwellings of the various priors .

GLASTONBURY ABBEY , in Somersetshire , 130 miles west of London , is famous as the most ancient Abbey , the " first ground of God , " in England . The tradition is that it was founded by Joseph of Arimathea , and was the burial place of King Arthur

, ( A . D . 543 ) and his Queen Gninevera . It was spoiled for its stones and architectural devices , which have been built into many houses iu the town of Glastonbury . The great gate house of the Abbey is now an inn . Buildings erected in connection

with the Abbey , from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century , are still standing . The Abbey was 530 feet in length . All that now remains of this once magnificent pile are , some portions of the . Church , St . Joseph ' s Chapeland the Abbot ' s kitchen .

, It once contained monuments to Kings , Bishops , Priests and Nobles . Until the year 1154 the Abbots of Glastonbury had precedence of all the Abbots in England .

The famous Glastonbury Thorn which is reputed to blossom every year at Christmas , had its origin here . The legend is , that Joseph of Arimathea , ancl his companions , sat clown on the hill , now called Weary-all-Hill , all weary with their journeyand as he sat down St . Joseph thrust

, his dry hawthorn stall' into the ground . From this there sprang up the Glastonbury Thorn . Absurd as the tradition is , it is undoubtedly a fact that this Thorn flowers one or two months before the ordinary timeand sometimes as early as Christmas

, day . There was also , at the same place , a miraculous walnut tree . The famous antiquary , Elias Ashmole , says , "in the churchyard of Glastonbury grew a walnut tree that did put out young leaves at

Christmas . Both of these wonders , however , are now no longer to be found at Glastonbury Abbey . DURHAM CATHEDRAL , on the banks of the Wear , 2 . 58 miles north of London , was erected in A . D . 1093 , and dedicated to St . Cuthbertwhose bones are interred

, within its walls . The Cathedral rises with great majesty , being of * unrivalled size , and built upon a commanding site . It is , architecturally , the most perfect example in England of the massive Anglo Norman style . Its interior is 420 feet long in the

nave , and 176 broad , in the transepts , while its central tower is 212 feet hi gh . The round , massive columns , with semicircular arches springing from them ; their enrichments—the simple fillet , wavy chevron , and the like , all in true character

with the antiquity of the prevailing style ; ancl the entire massiveness of the composition , impress the beholder with admiration wonder , ancl awe . We may add that the Bishopric of Durham is deemed the richest in the Kingdom , the prebends being usually styled " the golden prebends of of Durham . "

BYLAND ABBEY , Yorkshire , is 220 miles north of London , and 25 miles north of York . It was founded by Roger de Mowbray , in the reign of Henry I ., ancl was dedicated in A . D . 1177 . The west front only of the Abbey is now standing , but it is a remarkablinteresting ruinerected

y , in the earl } pointed style of architecture . It' contains three enriched portals , all varied in design . Over the central one are lancet windows , surmounted by the remains of a large Rose window , The Gentleman ' s Magazine for December 1812 ,

contains a fine view of the elegant front of this Abbey . WHITBY ABBEY is in Yorkshire , on tho sea coast , at the mouth of the river Esk , 45 miles north east of York . This cloistered ile was among the earliest relig ious

p foundations in England , having been foundec ! by Oswy , King of Northumberland , in A . D . 657 . It Pvas destroyed by the Danes , ancl rebuilt in 1074 by William de Percy . The present Abbey was erected iu the reign of Henry I . and is a perfect

, specimen of the lance shaped Gothic Many of the noble family of the Percys were buried in it . The ruins are of singular elegance , and from their elevated situation