Classical Theology.—Vi.

advice of Minerva , he p lanted in the ground . Suddenly , a harvest , so to sjseak , of armed soldiers sprang up , who , quarrelling among themselves as fast as they arose , cut each other down , until only five were left , by whom , afterwards , the country was populated . Wherever the earth was to be replenished it would almost appear that in ancient fable there

always figured a serpent of some kind . Cadmus and . Ms wife eventually took the form of serpents . * Cadmus is said to have invented sixteen of the letters of the Greek alphabet , a , / 3 , y , § , E , i , k- , X , p , v , o , -K , p , a , , V , which about the period that the Judges ruled in Israel , he brought out of Phoenicia into Greece . Two hundred and fifty years ¦

afterwards , Palamedes added four more letters , £ , 6 , f , % , that is , during the period of the siege of Troy ; although some assert that Epicharmus contrived the characters 6 and x- About six hundred and fifty-six years after the demolition of Troy , Simonides constructed the other four letters , namely , ?; , w , ' ( , i // . Cadmus is also said to have been the inventor of brass

; he taught the manner of composing in prose , and ho was the first among the Greeks who consecrated statues to the honour of the gods . We have said that the invention of letters is likewise attributed to A ] iollo . We cannot but fairly conclude that the art of writing was known to the Jews before the letters of the Greek alphabet ever organized a syllable

, and that hieroglyphical or represenfcive types were in use among the Egyptian , and perhaps with the Chinese , before the time of Joshua the son of Nun . " The angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal ; " " Enoch walked with Gocl ; and he was not ; for God took him . " Elicius was one of Jupiter ' s names , because the " prayers of men may bring him down

from heaven ; the learned Hetrusci taught that he assisted aud obliged all mankind ; and upon examining other sacred chronicles we find that we must arrive at an evident and conclusive supposition of one known ( omnipotmtis Olympi ) , taught , and general written language , long preceding the deluge . Eusebius speaks of Jupiter Lapiswho reigned in Crete ;

, this may be in reference to the stone presented to Saturn by his wife Ops . But perhaps after all Caclmus was in truth King of Sidon—a Kadmonite—as his name intimates ; which peojile were perhaps the same with the Hivites , and of the number of those mentioned by Moses , who possessed the mountain Hermon , thence also called Herrnohcei . So it

came to pass that the wife of Cadmus bore the name of Hormone or Hermione . The word Ifevceus , iu the Syriac , signifies a serpent : another word in the same language , of a double meaning , occasioned the fable that armed men sprouted forth from the teeth of the subtle beast , and that the servants of Cadmus were converted into serpents . As to the five soldiers who were said to have survived all the rest , the like

Syriac word expresses the number " five , " and " men read y for battle , " according as it may be differently accented . In fact the same letters may stand for both " serpent ' s teeth , " aud " brazen spears , " which latter will explain for what use Cadmus constructed brass , as it was with shining shields and weapons of this metal that lie armed his followers iu Greece . Let us now again glance at the passage over the Jordan .

Perhaps there never was a time when the love of the Lord towards his people was more immediately visible , and his anger more hot against Israel , in consequence of their transgressing his covenant in their wanderings , in their turning quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in , after Baalim and Ashtaroth , which otherwise read , mean Jupiter

and the moving stars . Wc mean the planets in their courses , for although we know that all stars have a progressive motion , some of the ancients appear only to havo suspected it . Nor could they have done more by their own observations , we may presume , when ive take into account those which have been two , three , and five thousand years in performing one revolution round the earth , and others which

Classical Theology.—Vi.

have never yet made their circuit . But our space is limited , and we must leave this interesting subject , to return to its discussion at an early opportunity .

Basilica Anglicana—Iv.

BASILICA ANGLICANA—IV .

YORK MISTSTER . THE reader needs hardly to be told that the word " minster " is a corruption of the medisBval Latin word monasterktm , and that in ancient times , and among all ancient nations , the . jjrincipal sacred edifices in the course of centuries canio to stand for , and to be associated with , the names of the cities or communities which grew up in their vicinity ; so we have our Westminster , Kidderminster , Axminster , Leominster , and others too numerous to mention .

The most glorious of all the noble buildings of the middle ages is unquestionably York Minster . It affords to the student a text book of Gothic art . No building , perhaps , combines so elegantly magnitude and elaboration—a rare merit it must be allowed , when we consider the many recent failures that have occurred owing to the excess of ornament .

The utilitarian spirit of the age has tended iu no small degree to obscure its external beauties , which are imperfectly seen in consequence of the crowd of houses that aiiproach almost to the very walls . Let us , however , glance at its magnificent west front . The first object that strikes us is its windowplaced between two lofty towersand surmounted

, , by a triangular canopy . Immediately underneath is a deeply recessed entrance , exhibiting a series of side columns , supporting arches which become smaller inward , the arch being of the most elegant form of the pointed style also receding in bands which diminish , and divided into two by a pillar supporting two wavy arches . On either side of this doorway

are two smaller entrances , characterised by the same architectural features , and in the intermediate spaces are rows of rich niches filled with statues . Above the side doorways are two windows , the lower one exhibiting the triangular

canopy , and the other surmounted by a battlementcd band , which extends along the whole front , coincident with the commencement of the roof above which rise tlie two towers , crowned by beautiful pinnacles and ed ged with angular headed buttresses , between which is a triangular space topped by battlements , pierced with lancet arches , the effect of

which is exceedingly imposing . The buttresses on the angles of the towers are richly adorned with canopies , niches , traceries , and crockettings . In the cast front is the great window , with its two hundred compartments of stained glass , and bordered beneath with a row of scriptural heads . The south arm of the crosscorresponding with the transeptis

, , distinguished by a number of acutely pointed arches , with slender pillars . Tlie south side of the choir is perhaps unrivalled as a specimen of Gothic art . " The massy columns , " says an accomplished writer and architect , " finely decorated with a variety of figures , and terminating in richly ornamented pinnacles—the windows largeand displaying beautiful

, tracing—the small transept of tlie choir , with its superb light—and the screen work before the three farthest windows of the upper tier—all concur to render this external part of the structure strikingly beautiful and magnificent . "

On the north side , which is less encumbered with buildings than the south , there are three minor entrances , in which the architectural features already described prevail more or loss ; but the chief and most striking characteristics . are five long lancet windows which illustrate very instructivel y the early pointed style , and to which tlie good people of York

have given the name of the " Pive Sisters . " Over tlie centre rises the grand tower to the height of 213 feet , and supported on four pillars of extraordinary massiveness . It appears , however , that this was by no means the altitude of the architect ' s original design . We learn from , 'Dngdale , who gives the measurements with much apparent exactness , that iu the progress of the work fears began to be entertained for