modern; the last is the only one which is held without a
canonry. In accordance with the Act of 1840, the Sub-Deanery has been
suppressed, the Prebendaries have been reduced to four, and their style
has been changed to that of Canons. In 1841, provision was made for the
appointment of Canons honorary. There is also a precentor, and three
other clergy who act as minor canons, and assist him in discharging the
cure of souls--for though the huge mediaeval parish has been gradually
divided into many, the greater portion of the city itself is still
served from the cathedral church. The choir is composed of six
lay-clerks and twelve choristers. There was as late as 1890 a
Choir-school, but most of the present choristers come from Jepson's
Hospital--a charity which was founded in 1672, in Water Skellgate, and
the old buildings of which were pulled down in 1878.

There are still some relics of the ancient jurisdictions of the Chapter
and the Archbishop. Though the secular jurisdiction has been gradually
reduced by legislation to the scope of Quarter and Petty Sessions, the
Liberty has Quarter Sessions of its own, and its justices are still
nominated by the Archbishop, while his Court Military survived at any
rate into the nineteenth century. A copyhold court, called the Canon Fee
Court, is also still held by the Chapter. As regards ecclesiastical
jurisdiction, the mediaeval right of the Chapter to hear testamentary and
matrimonial cases (which were not taken away from the ecclesiastical
courts till 1857) probably survived at least until the abolition of the
Peculiar. Peculiars, with but one or two exceptions, had ceased to exist
by 1850, and Ripon, once exempt from archidiaconal authority, is now
itself an archdeaconry. The Bishop of Ripon has, of course, his
Consistory court, which is held at the Cathedral.

In ending this account of one of the most venerable of English churches,
it is worth while to remark that, of the four mother-churches of the old
diocese of York, Ripon is the only one besides York Cathedral itself
which still has a collegiate foundation.

[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The archbishopric of York arose out of the bishopric of Northumbria
in the eighth century.

[2] The name in this form is modern. In common speech the street is
always 'Stammergate,' which is probably a corruption of 'Stanbriggate.'
The latter is the original name of the street, and appears fre