The Interior Op A Gothic Minster.

tion the hymnal and the antiphonar by heart , and in the second year the psalter , so that they ivould not require li ghts . At Ripon late in the last century , the church was in a blaze of light on Candlemas-day , at evening service . At Durham there Avas a bell behind the stalls for singnalling

to the sacrists the time for ringing or stopping the church bells . One of the most extraordinary occupants of a stall is mentioned by Batholemew Cotton , under the year 1290 , whom a canon ' of Hereford found after matins—an unearthly imp vested in robesbut deaf and dumb ; however

, , the canon motioned him under awful penalties to remain until his return , wiien , with the Avhole collective chapter , he fell upon the wretched creature " like Germans , " put him in fetters , and left him heavily chained before the Cantelupe Shrine . At Lincoln the churchwardens were greatly

annoyed by the spirits of Bloet and others walking about the church at night . Mats ( Comp . Reg . of Durh ., p . 174 ) were provided for the upper grade and second form at Exeter annually ; at York twice a year . They Avere also provided in the chapter-house and

before the altars . Hay or straivs ivas laid down in the choir , sacristies , and loft , for Avarmth . At York and Hereford , on great days , it ivas sprinkled with ivy leaves . Rushes were also used at Salisbury and York , and at Bristol , even Exeter , silver pendant corona ? were also employed now , when the mayor attends in state . The cold ,

however , Avas still felt ; for , in 1390 , the vicars choral were delated at York for wearing clogs and patterns in choir . At Chichester the church was SAvept out with brooms twice a-year . A . t Lichfield the choir , till a recent date , was paved with cannel coal and alabaster . The use of

marble jiavements in the choir commenced in the seventeenth century ; at Canterbury it Avas laid down in 1704 . In the choir of St . David ' s there is a fine pavement of encaustic tiles ; at Gloucester one in the sanctuary of armorial character , c . 1450 . Good specimens also remain at Malvern

and Worcester . At Canterbury and Westminster very beautiful mosaic pavements have been preserved . Out of the fragments of the French porphyry , Avhich Edsvard I ., in his eighth year , brought from France for his father ' s tomb , he made pavements of tesselated Avork ( Leland ' s

Coll ., iii . 404 ) . At Lincoln , a slab remains in the floor , marked " Oantate hie ; " and Pugin discovered the marks of the chairs occupied by the rectors of choir . On the great festivals the pveecentor " ruled the choir , " standing at the altarstep , with the rectors of choir on either side , who

carried staves in their hands , Avith which , marking the time of the chant , they walked to and fro up and down . At Lichfield , and probably in other cathedrals destitute of cloisters , the ceremony of the Maunday took place in the choir . At York there are some stalls and aumbries in the north side of the choir , which were probably connected

Avith the ceremonial . Ancient statutes exhibit some curious customs and grave irregularities in choir ; those of Exeter forbid banquetings and drinkiugs , and complain of talking and levity and irreverence . Bishop Grandison peremptorily forbade the acting of plays at Christmas , in 1360 . At

Lichfield , on Christmas Eve , was performed the representation of " The Shepherds ; " at the dawn of Easter , "The Resurrection ; " and on Easter Monday , " The Pilgrims to Emmans . " At York "The Three Kings" were represented at Epiphany , and " The Shepherds" at Christmas , stars

beingemployed in the scene . At Wells no plays or spectacles , or exhibition of monstrous marks by laymen at Whitsuntide , were to be suffered ; nor gesticulations at Christmas time by the vicars during the divine service , in the si ght of the people , under pain of excommunication . In the earlier statutes a distribution of Avine was made

after mortuary masses to the canons and vicars present in choir , but a money payment Avas afterwards made in commutation . At Durham the brass eagle for the lectionary stood in the choir , and another , of wood , near the choir-door . One was erected at Peterborough

in 1472 . There is au ancient specimen at South - ivell , ivhieh formerly belonged to Newstead ; at Winchester ; York , 1686 ; Canterbury , 1663 , used as a Litany desk ; Lincoln , 1667 ; Bristol , 1683 ( HOAV in St . Mary-le-Port ); and at Salisbury , 1714 . Besides the eagle there Avas the lectern

, or lectricium , for the rectors of the choir at Hereford , probably resembling the stone desks at Wenlock and Evesham , c . 1218 ( ArcliEeol . xvii . 278 ) , and that of Gloucester . It stood in the midst of the choir , and was used for the reading of the Gradual and Alleluia , and for the lections

on certain high days . The sub-deacon read the epistle from the lectern at the step of the choir at Hereford , the Gospel being read from the upper step on the north by the deacon ; but at Salisbury the Epistle Avas read from the rood-loft , or pulpit , on Sundaysand when the choir was ruledbut

, , at other times on the choir-step . At St . David ' s the book-desk used by the bishop rests on the stand of a lectern of the sixteenth century . A Late Decorated lectern in the shape of a pelican remains at Norwich . A simple brass desk is at Wells , c . 1660 .

In re-arranging the choir of a cathedral of the new foundation on the principle adopted for seating dignitaries in the old foundations , Ave can place the dean and sub-dean in the two western , and the archdeacons not canons in the tAvo eastern stalls ; the canons residentiary near the western

ends ; and the hon . canons ( ansAvering to nonresident canons ) eastAvard ; with the minor canons and their precentor ( ansAvering to the vicars and succentor ) still more eastward , next the archdeacons , if there is room , or in the second range ; and then , perhaps , the vicar in course , as the deputy of the hebdomadary canon , should be