rom
which the following is extracted:--

"After passing through the screen, the visiter is introduced to the
choir, which is grand in scale and rich in adornment. On each side is a
series of 20 stalls, with 12 at the west end, beneath the organ. These
are of oak, and are peculiarly rich in their canopies and carved
decorations. Each seat, or stall, has its movable miserecordia, with
projecting rests for the elbows, from which rise two detached slender
columns, supporting an elaborate canopy. At the eastern end of the
choir is the altar-table, raised above the regular floor by a series of
15 steps.

"On the north side of the altar, over the grated window that lights the
crypt, is an ancient pew, or gallery, to which there is an ascent by a
flight of narrow stairs, of solid blocks of oak. The exterior of this
gallery is very neat, and it is certainly older than the Reformation.

"Behind the stalls of the choir are closets, some of which are used as
vestries by the singing-men: modern staircases have been constructed,
leading to the galleries erected above, and which disfigure the view
into the aisles. These closets are fronted, next the aisles, by open
screens of oak, some of which are of excellent carving, and more
elaborate than others. In the centre of the choir stands a desk for the
vicars-choral to chant the litany in; it is enclosed in a pew of carved
wood."

The Minster was lighted with gas, to which the conflagration was at
first attributed; but the fire appears to have originated in one of the
vestries. When we remember the beauty of the carved work which has thus
been destroyed, and the elaborate skill which had been bestowed on its
execution, our sympathies are deeply awakened for its fate. Indeed, the
most listless admirer of art, as well as the antiquarian devotee, has
just cause to lament this accident; especially as the taste and labours
of our times fall far short of the olden glories of architecture. When
we think of the "unsubstantial pageant" of the recent "Festival," and
associate its fleeting show with the desert remains of this venerable
pile, our feelings deepen into melancholy, and the smoking fragments of
art seem to breathe--

Tell thou the lamentable fall of me,
And send the hearers weeping to their beds.

* * * * *

HARD FROSTS IN ENGLAND.

_(For the Mirror.)_

In the year
220. Frost lasted 5 months.
250. The Thames frozen 9 weeks.
2