Then our young warrior! with a boy's fresh glow, And I alone of all the band am left, The heart's best treasures fade in slow decay. All this is in the world; but ye, no more May know stern desolation's might, to pour A flood of sorrow on the sinking soul: Your race is run; quickly ye reach'd the goal, Ere the bright sun went down. The flowers ye wreathe Are amaranthine, and ye freely breathe Heaven's own pure air. Redeem'd and glorified, Ye stand from taint of sin all purified; "Bless'd are the dead in Christ," the Spirit said, Then ye are blesséd-Oh, ye Early Dead! BEVERLEY, a town of some importance, is situated in the East Riding of Yorkshire, one hundred and eighty-three miles north of London, and twenty-nine miles eastsouth-east of York. It is remarkable chiefly for its Minster, which, though in point of size inferior to many of the principal churches of England, is superior perhaps to most, as it respects beauty of architecture and symmetry of proportion. The church of St. John,-popularly called BEVERLEY MINSTER,-is a collegiate church, the history of which comprehends several points of interest. According to a writer of considerable authority, the present Minster owes its origin to John, Archbishop of York, who, in the year 700, founded upon its site a convent of monks, dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The same archbishop is said to have also founded, in the immediate vicinity of this convent, a college, consisting of seven clerical, and seven lay members; and a society of female religious recluses, or nuns. The times, however, were turbulent; and about one hundred and sixty years later, these buildings are related to have been plundered and burned by the Danes, and their inhabitants dispersed. In process of time, however, some of the secular canons of the ruined church, having escaped from the fury of their Danish captors, began to pine after their old place of residence; and returning once more to Beverley, they are said to have repaired their church, which was afterwards, by the favour of King Athelstan, endowed with revenues for the support of seven canons, and with various important privileges. Of the religious house thus restored, succeeding monarchs, and succeeding archbishops of York claimed the patronage; and under their auspices its prosperity was such, that at the time of the dissolution of monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII., this collegiate society consisted of a provost, eight prebendaries, a chancellor, a preceptor, seven rectors choral, together with numerous chantry priests, clerks, choristers, officers, and servants. To this monastic establishment, the revenues of which were unusually large, the town of Beverley is indebted for the origin of its prosperity. St. John of Beverley, to whom the Minster is dedicated, was born at Harpham on the Wolds, about the year 641. With great reputation for sanctity, he presided over the see of York during a period of more than thirty-three years; and subsequently betaking himself to the religious house which bore his name, he there ended his days in humility and devotion. This celebrated archbishop "was educated," writes Fuller, "under Theodorus, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Yet was he not so famous for his teacher as for his scholar, the Venerable Bede, who wrote his life; which he hath so spiced with miracles, that it is of the hottest for a discreet man to digest into his belief." Superstition was the great characteristic of that age; and even the Venerable Bede was not exempt from its pervading influence. After his death, which took place in the year 721, this same archbishop was canonized under the title of St. John of S. S.-VOL. III. Beverley; and such was the veneration in which his memory was held, that when, between three and four centuries afterwards, William the Conqueror advanced upon the town of Beverley, he issued strict orders that his soldiers should respect the property of the monastery. The original church of St. John was almost totally destroyed by fire in the year 1188; the present edifice, which is a fine cruciform structure, having two noble towers at the west end, is believed to have been completed during the early part of the reign of King Henry III. Notwithstanding the mixture of styles which this building presents, it is regarded, by some of the first authorities in matters of architecture, as equalling in chasteness of design, beauty of detail, and general elegance of execution, any cathedral in this kingdom. A well-known author* thus writes of this noble church:-" The north porch of Beverley Minster is, as a panelled front, perhaps unequalled. The door has a double canopy, the inner an ogee, and the outer a triangle, with beautiful crockets and tracery; and is flanked by fine buttresses breaking into niches; the space above the canopy, as far as the cornice, being panelled; the battlement is composed of rich niches, and the buttresses crowned by a group of four pinnacles. Of perpendicular fronts," observes the same writer, "by far the finest is that of Beverley Minster. What the west front of York is to the decorated style, this is to the perpendicular, with this addition, nothing but one style is seen-all is harmonious. Each tower of this noble church has four large, and eight small pinnacles, and a very beautiful battlement. The whole west front is panelled, and the buttresses are ornamented by various tiers of niche-work, of beautiful design, and most delicate execution. The doors are unusually rich in ornament; the canopy of the great western door rises above the sill of the window above it, and stands out in a manner remarkably effective. The east front is imposing; but its style is less pure, being mingled with that of the early English age of architecture. In the choir of Beverley Minster, there is a beautiful monument to a lady of the Percy family; and the north transept contains an altar-tomb, which affords a fine example of that highly-decorated style, which is so richly "With foliaged tracery combined, That one had thought some fairy's hand In many a freakish knot had twined; Then framed a spell when the work was done, And changed the willow wreaths to stone." The view of an ancient church like this, forcibly suggests to the mind of the spectator Mrs. Hemans's noble "Cathedral Hymn." "A dim and mighty Minster of old Time! A temple shadowy with remembrances Of the majestic past! The very light • Rickman. |