door-way of entrance to the choir, the exterior moulding of which assumes the ogee shape, and terminates with a richly sculptured finial. The whole screen consists of a series of fifteen compartments of niches, with corresponding pedestals, canopies, and statues." The statues, on the north side, represent William the Conqueror, William II., Henry I., Stephen, Henry II., Richard I., and John; and, on the south side, Henry III., Edward I., Edward II., Edward III., Richard II., Henry IV., Henry V., and Henry VI. The speculation of Dr. Milner, that this screen was taken from St. Mary's Abbey, is generally discredited, as it appears to be supported by no sort of evidence. After the fire of 1829, the propriety of removing the screen was warmly discussed; but it was finally resolved not to remove it from its position.

On passing through the gate of the screen into the choir, the unrivalled EAST WINDOW-"whose glory doth appear like a triumphal arch,"-bursts upon the astonished eye. It is difficult to conceive any thing more majestical. The vastness of its span,-the softness, beauty, and vividness, of its innumerable tints,-the comeliness and symmetry of its wondrous proportions-the admirable art in its arrangement, the masterly execution in all its parts, render it impossible for mere words to express the emotions which the contemplation of the window itself cannot fail to inspire :

The Moon on the east oriel shone,

Through slender shafts of shapely stone,

By foliaged tracery combined;

Thou would'st have thought some fairy's hand,
'Twixt poplar's straight, the osier wand,

In many a freakish knot, had twined;

Then framed a spell, when the work was done,

And changed the willow wreaths to stone.

The silver light, so pale and faint,

Showed many a prophet and many a saint,
Whose image on the glass was dyed;

Full in the midst his cross of red

Triumphant Michael brandished,
And trampled the apostate's pride;
The moon-beam kissed the holy pane,

And threw on the pavement a bloody stain.

Lay of the last Minstrel.

"What may be justly called the wonder of the world," says Drake," both for masonry and glazing, is the noble east window. It is very near the breadth and height of the middle choir. The upper part is a piece of admirable tracery; below which, are one hundred and seventeen partitions, representing so much of holy writ, that it almost takes in the whole history of the Bible. This window was begun to be glazed, at the charge of the dean and chapter, anno 1405; who then contracted with John Thornton, of Coventry, glazier, to execute it. He was to receive for his own work four shillings a-week, and to finish the whole in less than three years. We may suppose this man to have been the best artist in his time for this kind of work, by their sending so far for him. And, indeed, the window shews it."

The window is 75 feet in height, and 32 in breadth; and on the painted glass are displayed representations of the following subjects:

FIRST PARTITION.-1. God represented creating the World, Gen. chap. i. ver. 1. The Fallen Angels beneath. 2. God's Spirit dividing the Waters, &c., ver. 2. 3. The Herbs of the Field, ver. 11. 4. Light and Darkness, ver. 4 and 5. (This and the precedent pane seem to have been transposed.) 5. Birds and Fishes, ver. 20, 21. 6, Beasts and creeping Things, ver. 24. Adam made, ver. 26. 7. God with his Face like the Sun in Glory, sitting in the Middle of his Creation, seeing every Thing was good, ver. 31. 8. Adam and Eve eating the forbidden Fruit in Paradise; the Serpent represented with its Head like a beautiful Woman, chap. iii, ver. 6. 9. An Angel driving them out, ver. 24.

SECOND PARTITION,-1. Cain and Abel in the Field, and the latter slain by his brother, chap. iv. 8. 2. Noah in his Ark, chap. vii. 7. 3. Noah drunk, and his three sons, chap. ix. 23. 4. Building of Babel, chap. xi. 5. Melchizedek blessing Abram, chap. xiv. ver. 19, &c. 6. Isaac blessing Jacob, chap. xxvii. ver, 28, 29. 7. Meeting of Jacob and Esau, chap. xxviii. ver. 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. 8. Moses and Aaron joining Hand in Hand. 9. Jacob's Sons shewing him Joseph's bloody coat, Gen. xxxviii, ver. 32.

THIRD PARTITION-1. Moses found by Pharaoh's Daughter, Exodus chap. ii. ver. 6. 2. God out of the Bush, calling Moses, Moses, Exod. chap. iii, ver. 4. 3. Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh; the Rod turned into a Serpent, chap. vii. ver. 10. 4. Pharaoh drowned in the Red Sea, chap. xiv, ver. 28. 5. Moses receiving the Law on Mount Sinai, chap. xx, from ver. 1 to the end of the 17th. 6. Moses rearing up the Brazen Serpent in the Wilderness, Numbers xxi, ver 9. 7. Sampson throwing down the House of Dagon on himself and the Philistines, Judges chap. 16. ver. 29. 8. David killing Goliah with a Sling. 1. Sam. chap. xvii, ver, 49. 9. Joab killing Absalom hanging on the Tree, 2. Sam. chap. xviii. ver. 14.

Under the Gallery is the Revelation of St. John.

FIRST PARTITION.-1, 2, and 3. Panes of Glass, St. John in the Caldron of Oil, banish'd by the Emperor Domitian, and sailing to the Island of Patmos, Vid. Each. Eccl. Hist. vol ii, pag. 412. 4. An Angel coming unto St. John, as at his Devotion. 5. The Son of Man amidst the seven Candlesticks, Rev. i. 13, 6. The Seven Churches of Asia, verse ult. 7, 8, and 9. The Elders worshipping God on the Throne, chap. iv. ver. 4.

SECOND PARTITION.-1. Angel sounding a Trumpet, proclaiming, chap, v. 2. 2. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, ver. 5. 3. The Lamb, the Four Beasts and Elders, ver. 6. 4. A Multitude following the Lamb. 5. The Lamb opening first Seal, the white Horse and its Rider with a Bow, chap. vi. 1, 2. 6. Lamb opening the second Seal, the red Horse, and its Rider, ver. 3, 4. 7. The fourth Seal opened, the pale Horse and Death, chap. vi. 8. 8. The sixth Seal opened, Sun, Moon, &c. ver. 12. 9. The third Seal opened; the Black Horse, its Rider having a Balance, ver. 5. (But these, as several others, have been misplaced since the restoration of the Windows by General Fairfax.)

THIRD PARTITION.-1. Angels holding the four Winds, and another ascending, chap. vii. 1, 2. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Angels and Elders about the Throne, ver. 9, 10, 11, 12, &c. 7. Opening the 7th Seal, chap. viii 1. 8. Giving the seven Angels Trumpets, ver. 2. 9. The fifth Seal, Souls under the Altar, chap. vi. 9.

FOURTH PARTITION-.1, 2, 3. Angels sounding, chap viii. ver. 7, to 12. 4. Locusts like Men, chap ix, 7, 8. 5. Our Saviour with a Lamb, the four Evangelists, and a Book sealed with seven Seals. 6. Armies of Horse, chap. ix. 16 7. The Angel opening the Book, chap. x, 1, 2. John eating the Book, ver. 10 9. The Temple from whence the Voice came, chap xvi. 1.

FIFTH PARTITION.-1, 2, 3. Two Witnesses slain in the City, and ascending up, chap. ii, ver. 3 to 12. 4. Elders worshipping, ver. 16. 5. Ark of the Testament, ver. 19. The Woman cloathed with the Sun in Travail, and the Dragon appearing to devour her Child, chap. xii. 1, 2, 3. 7. Michael warring against the Dragon, ver. 7. 8 The Woman flying into the Wilderness, and the Dragon casting out a Flood of Waters to overwhelm her, chap. xii. 6, 15. 9. Another Beast risen from the Earth, chap. xiii, ver. 11 to 16.

SIXTH PARTITION.-1. Dragon sceptered, giving Power to the Beast with seven heads, and 10 horns, ver. 2. 2. The World worshipping the Monster, ver. 4. 3. An Angel pouring out a Vial on the afflicted People, chap. xxi. 2. 4. People worshipping the Beast, chap. xiii. 4. 5. The third Angel pouring his Vial on the Rivers, chap. xvi. 4, 5, 6. (Our Blessed Saviour appearing above in Heavenly Glory.) 6. Another Angel with the Gospel, chap. xiv. 6, 7. 7 The Angel over Babylon pronouncing the fall thereof, chap. xviii. 1, 2, 3. 8. Christ with a Sickle, &c., chap, xiv, ver. 14 to 19. 9. Angel treading the Wine-Press to the Horses Bridles, ver. ult.

SEVENTH PARTITION.-1. Elders with their Harps on a Sea of Glass, chap. xv. 2, 3. 2. One of the four Beasts giving the Angels the seven Vials of Wrath, chap. xv. 7. 3. Beasts warring with the Saints, chap. xiii. 7. 4. Angel pouring a Vial on the Sea, chap. xvi. 3. 5. Victory of the Lamb, chap. xvii. 14. 6. Fourth Angel pouring a Vial on Sun, &c., chap. xvi. 8, 9. 7th Pane, is the fifth Angel pouring a Vial on the Seat of the Beast, ver. 10, 11. 8. Unclean Spirits, &c., going to Battle, ver. 13, 14. 9. Angel pouring a Vial on the River Euphrates, which runs by Babylon, verse 12. Note, the precedent two Panes of Glass are misplaced.)

EIGHT PARTITION.-1. The Whore sitting upon the Beast, chap. xvii. 3. 2. Babylon's fall, chap. xviii. 1, 2. 3. God praised in Heaven, chap. xix. 1, 2, 3, &c. 4. St. John falling at the Angel's feet, ver. 10. 5. Heaven opened; one on a white Horse, Armies, &c., ver. 11 and 14. 6. Angel crying to the fowls.

ver. 17. 7. Beast, Kings and Armies, ver. 19. 8. Beast taken, ver. 20. 9. Angel casting him in the bottomless pit, chap. xx. 3.

NINTH PARTITION.-1. Saints on Thrones, ver. 4. 2. Satan loosed out of Prison, ver. 7. In the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Panes of Glass, are the Sea, Death and Hell delivering up their Dead, who stand before Christ as in Judgment, (attended by Angelic Powers holding the Instruments of his Passion, while the Books are opened by other Angels) on his right hand are the Blessed, and on the left the Miserable, chap. xx. ver. 11 to the end. 7. New Heaven and new Earth, chap. xxi. 1. 8. New Jerusalem, over which is Christ enthroned, an Angel with a Vial and Golden Reed, St. John beholding, ver. 2, and the pure River of Water of Life, clear as Chrystal, proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb, chap. xxii. ver. 1. 9. Our Saviour appearing with a Book opened, on which is written, Ego, Alpha & Omega, ver. 13, and St. John writing the wonderful Things he had seen.

TENTH PARTITION.-1. Pope Gregory VII., and Archbishop Thomas I. 2, 3, and 4, are nine Kings, viz., Ethelbert, Lucius, Ceolwulph, Edwin, Oswald, Oswin, S. Edward the Confessor, Harold, and William the Conqueror. Abp. Aldred at Prayers. 6. Archbishop Zouch, with St. Augustine and St. Honorius, Archbishops of Canterbury. 7. St. Paulinus, Pope Eleutherius, and St. Wilfrid. 8. St. John of Beverley, St. Calixtus Bishop of Rome and St. Egbert. 9. King Ebianos between two Flamines or Heathen Priests; one of these High-Priests being dig nified with the Title of Proto-flam or first flam, the other with Arch-flam only. Above the screen through which we pass into the choir, stands the ORGAN, presented by the earl of Scarborough, after the conflagration of 1829; one of the largest and most powerful instruments in Europe. It contains three sets of keys, of six octaves each, from CCC to CCC in alt; two octaves of pedal keys, from CCCC to CC. There are 53 stops all through; i.e., 24 to the great organ, 9 to the choir organ, 12 to the swelling organ, and 8 to the pedals. There are 6 copula stops, and 7 composition pedals; the number of pipes is upwards of 4200, and there are 57 complete ranks of pipes through the manuals. The names and dimensions of the stops in the Savile Organ, are as follow :—

The longest pipe of the thirty-two feet double metal pedal diapason is 20 inches in diameter; and the diagonal of the thirty-two feet double wood diapason longest pipe is 4 feet. The manual metal open diapasons, 16 feet pipes, vary from 12 to 13 inches in diameter.

The CHOIR, as it now stands, is nearly an exact transcript of the choir destroyed by Martin. There is some slight deviation in the wood-work; the tabernacle work of the stalls and their canopies being somewhat lighter than that of their predecessors. The workmanship, both in stone and wood, must be admitted to be exquisite; and the general effect is gorgeous in the extreme.* At the eastern end of the choir is the altar table, raised above the floor by a series of fifteen steps. Behind it is a screen, which divides the choir from a large space between it and the great east window, already described. This screen is ornamented with mullions, tracery, a parapet, &c.; and, its open lights being filled with plate glass, a distinct view of the eastern window is afforded. Before the year 1726 a large wooden screen, painted and gilt,

* R. Smirke, Esq., was the architect by whom the restoration was effected. The tabernacle work was executed by Mr. Moon, of London; the pews, gal leries, &c., by Messrs. Wolstenholme, Mason, and Coates, of York.