The Interior Of A Gothic Minster.

St . Martin , enclosed m a " cappa or covering ; hence the name of chaplains for the priests who served with the army , ancl also celebrated in the oratories of the palace , in which during time of peace these shrines were deposited ( Mayer , 1 , § vh . p . 38 ; Scarfantoni , lib . 1 , t . iii . p . 12 ) . The

eastern screens at Fountains , the lady chapel of Hexham , and the Nine Altars of Durham , seem to have been further developments of the same idea , which appears also in the longitudinal lady chapel of Peterborough . At Pershore , Tewkesbury , Westminster , Gloucester , and Norwich , there are

radiating chapels opening from the circular processional path . At St . David ' s by a unique arrangement , where we should expect a shrine we find a Trinity chapel , c . 1509 , divided off from the processional path . The Lady Chapel . —The earliest lady chapel

in England was that in the western apse of Canterbury , which was removed to the north aisle of the nave by Lanfranc ; and , finally , to the east side of the north arm of the transept , as that of St . Alban's was in the Norman period , on the

east side of the south arm , and also later at Worksop . The earliest lady chapel , as a separate building , can scarcely be dated , before the close of the twelfth , or rather the beginning- of the thirteenth century . It was in its ordinary position at the extreme east end , as at Lichfield ,

Hereford , Wells , Exeter , Chichester , Gloucester , Salisbury , being a chapel , or included under the same roof as the presbytery , as at York , Lincoln , Worcester , St . Paul ' s , Selby , Howden , Hull , Hexham , and Carlisle . But there are exceptions . At Rochester the presbytery absorbed it

, and , as at Waltham , it is on the south side of the nave ; at Bristol , Canterbury , and Oxford , ifc lies parallel with the north choir aisle ; at Ely , as formerly at Peterborough , it is actually detached on that side ; at Ripon , it is over the chapter-house on the south side of the choir ; at

Wimborne ifc was the south arm of the transept . At Bristol there was , besides the older -lady chapel just mentioned , a second later chapel at the east end . At Christchurch there is a chapel of St . Michael above the lady chapel , with stair turrets on either side . Afc Sfc . Leu there is a

chapel above the lady chapel . In the piers on each side of the western arch of the lady chapel at St . John ' s , Chester , there are indications of staircases to an upper chapel , used for the exhibition of relics on certain festivals , wifch ascending and descending stairs for the pilgrims . The

common type of the Cistercian churches in this country was a square east end , without a projecting lady chapel ; but it must be remembered that all were dedicated to St . Mary . At Lichfield , by Bishop Heyworfch's statutes , St . Chad ' s chaplain sang the matin mass at five a . m . daily iu

the lady chapel , and by Bishop Hacket ' s statute , an early service was to be said at six a . m ., for the convenience of small tradesmen , labourers , and

The Interior Of A Gothic Minster.

servants . At Ripon , the lady loft is built in a second story , c . 1480 . At Ofctery it is entered under a screen and gallery . In the case of an apse the lady chapel was the central of three radiating chapels , as at Norwich , Gloucester , Battle , Reading ; or more , as at Westminster ,

Tewkesbury , Pershore . A curious modification of the additional chapels is found at Norwich , where the smaller chantries were ranged on either side of the presbytery . At Canterbury , the socalled Becket ' s crown ( the name being derived from the peculiar junction of the vault shafts )

forms the eastern end . From its octagonal form it probably was intended to form a baptistry : a detached building of this character is known tohave stood at an earlier time on the south adjoining the eastern arm . The font of' Canterbury was of silverand usually carried to Westminster

, on the occasion of royal christenings . In thecathedral of Drontheim there is a somewhat similar octagon , enclosed with screens of stone ,. c . 1311 . ( To le continued . )

On Some Peculiar Features In The Ecclesiastical Sculptured Decorations Op The Middle Ages.

ON SOME PECULIAR FEATURES IN THE ECCLESIASTICAL SCULPTURED DECORATIONS OP THE MIDDLE AGES .

We have been favoured with the following paper containing the substance of a lecture delivered on the 9 th inst . before the members of the Society for tlie Encouragement of the Eine Arts , at their rooms , No . 9 , Conduit-stjjeet , Hanover-square , by Mr . WILLIAM PAGE SMITH , Mr . HUELSTONE , B . A .,

presiding . Mr . SMITH commenced by observing that he should have to conciliate the sympathy of his hearers , inasmuch as he believed he was about to enunciate a theory which he was not aware had been expounded before , namely , that the sculptors of the friezes and

art decorations of the ecclesiastical and semi-ecclesiastical buildings of the period embraced between the time of the Crusades and the Reformation , found the means of expressing , and did express , in stone , before fche invention of printing , the symbolical signs , or conventional watchwords , of the revolutionary

faction or liberal and auti-Papal party in Europe . Taking a general and discursive view of the subject , the lecturer proceeded to show that , before the Crusades , the ornamental sculpture of Christian ecclesiastical edifices symbolised the prevailing faith of the people ; and in this aesthetic character was remarkablypure in the selection of its objects . As in the cross

-, the lamb , the trefoil , tlie quatrefoil , the pelican feeding its young from its own breast , and the like , all distinctly symbolising the leading tenets of the Christian Church ; but that after the Crusades , a marked corruption of the Gothic was observable ; that is to saya multiplicity of ornamentation was

, introduced into the friezes and other sculptured decorations of ecclesiastical edifices , not only not in accord , but in discord , with the religious sentiments , frequently of a burlesque , and sometimes of an indecent character—as in collegiate buildings , many examples of which must be familiar to the archaaologist . Iunne-