HEREFORD CATHEDRAL.

THE Cathedral Church of St. ETHELBERT, at Hereford, is peculiarly interesting, both on account of its antiquity, and of the numerous architectural beauties which it displays ;-not, perhaps, to the cursory inspector: for its general features, though venerable, are rather of a sombre and gloomy character, but it contains curious specimens of almost every style of ecclesiastical architecture, and many valuable and rare appendages.

The See of Hereford is mentioned as Suffragan to the Archbishopric of Caerleon, as early as 544; and in 601, the Bishop of Hereford was one of the seven Saxon prelates who attended the synod convened by Augustine at Canterbury: from which time. we trace the regular descent of bishops, in succession, down to the present day. But the See of Hereford becomes more conspicuous in our ecclesiastical history, from a circumstance which is curiously alluded to in a design which forms the embellishments of a remarkably interesting shrine, preserved in the library of the Cathedral*. The circumstance alluded to, is this. Ethelbert, son of Ethelred and Leofrun his wife, succeeded his father in the kingdom of the East Angles, and was a prince of great promise. It seems, that his great popularity amongst his subjects, induced them to desire that he should perpetuate the blessings of his rule, by giving them an heir to his throne: and, accordingly, Althrhida, daughter of Offa, King of the Mercians, and of Quenreda his Queen, was proposed as a princess worthy of sharing in his throne. To gain her hand, he proceeded with a gallant retinue to the Mercian court, at South Town, (now called Sutton Walls, about four miles North of Hereford,) where he was entertained at first with great respect. But Quenreda, either envying his equipage and pomp, or disliking the proposed alliance for her daughter, persuaded her husband, that Ethelbert's views were rather to seduce the affections of his people, than to woo his daughter, and she succeeded, by her base intrigues, in effecting the murder of the Prince. The assassin Guymbert, a domestic of Ethelbert's father, induced to perpetrate this foul deed, by promise of a large reward, conveyed the head of his murdered lord to Offa, and, Judas-like, received the promised price of his villany, upon which Offa directed the remains to be interred, which was done in the neighbouring church at Marden. Being subsequently roused to a sense * This piece of antiquity is formed of oak, so entirely covered with plates of copper, that the wood is no where visible, except at the bottom: it is 84 inches high, 7 long, 3 broad, and much ornamented with enamel and gilding. The colours of the enamel consist of three shades of blue, a green, yellow, white and red. On the front there are two compartments, separated and surrounded by a border. The uppermost contains six human figures, and a kind of bier with a corpse upon it, their heads only are in relief. The two outermost are in long robes, with bare feet, each holding a censer in his hand, the two next are in the act of raising the bier, behind which are two others; one with a pastoral staff seems to direct the way, the other holds a tablet, with the inscription that appears in the plate, representing the shrine, which is certainly older than the time of Henry the Second, and which has been submitted to many learned antiquaries for elucidation, but without success. The other compartment contains four figures, three of them in armour, two with swords, and one with a battle-axe; the fourth represents a person in his robes, with a crown in his hand, paying his devotions before an altar, on which stands a chalice covered with a patine, and a cross on a pedestal. The figure nearest to this personage is cutting off his head, whilst he, in the convulsions of death, seems springing up to meet a hand extended from a cloud, to receive him. At one end, in a Gothic niche, is a figure in long robes, holding a book, and at the other, another glorified person in the act of ascending from the earth. The back of the shrine is covered with a pattern of mosaic work in small squares, containing four leaves of flowers. On the ridge of the shrine rises a narrow plate with holes, adorned with three enamelled studs, and on it are three fractured places, from whence some ornaments have been broken off. A red cross, the usual token of a relic, is painted on the inside, on a part of the wood stained with a dark liquid, which was probably considered as the blood of the martyr, and part of the floor on which that blood was shed.

of his wickedness, by the repeated prodigies which were said to have occurred at the grave, he repented of his crime, and ordered Brithfriduș, a Mercian nobleman, to remove the body to the monastery at | Hereford, which, with the aid of Egmundus, was accordingly done. Here, say the legends of the day, the miracles were multiplied†, and Milfrid, the Viceroy of Mercia, hearing of their fame, sent thither large sums of money, and caused to be built, some say by the desire of Offa, in expiation of his crime, and in memory of the murdered prince, over his body, a stately and elegant church, appointed it the bishop's See, endowed it with great revenues, and decorated it with splendid ornaments.

Amongst the curiosities shown at the present day, is a fractured, but tolerably well-preserved effigy of Ethelbert, which once stood on a pedestal yet remaining, over against the high altar, and which is said to be the original image of the canonized and patron saint.

This Cathedral of Offa, or Milfrid, was rebuilt or enlarged by Athelstan, about the year 1012, and continued in safety only till the year 1055, when Algar, son of Earl Leofrick, Earl of Chester, for some misdemeanour, being banished, retired to Ireland, and there procuring eighteen ships, and being joined by Griffin, Prince of Wales, invaded Herefordshire, and having routed Ralph, Earl of Hereford, King Edward's sister's son, within two miles of Hereford, with the loss of five hundred men and many wounded, entered the city, marched to the Cathedral, and there slew seven canons, who defended the great doors of it. They then plundered the church, and set fire to it and to the city. Tradition asserts, that the beautifully carved work about the Gothic stalls, now extant, was made of the old oak of that fabric, and accounts for the appearance of human teeth, in the wood, by affirming that they are those of the seven noble, but ill-fated canons, who fell a sacrifice to the ruthless invaders.

The rebuilding of the church was commenced in the year 1075, by the pious Robert Lozing, Bishop of Hereford, was carried on by his successor Reynelm, and finished by their successors: whether the south transept, as is by some maintained, retains portions of the early church, it may be difficult to say; but the greater part is composed of the fabric of Athelstan, Lozing, and Reynelm. The numerous monuments of the earlier bishops are extremely remarkable, and illustrate in an interesting manner the progressive alterations in the ornaments of the different styles of architecture, whilst the chapels, and especially "The LADY CHAPEL," exhibit beautiful specimens, the latter in particular, of the end of the twelfth century, being one of the most remarkable of the early English style in the kingdom.

The tower belongs to the thirteenth century, and was erected about the time of the rebuilding of the north transept, a very beautiful and striking feature in the Cathedral, and rendered more interesting from the elaborately-carved shrine of St. Cantelupe, a canonized bishop of this see. In honour of this prelate, the arms of the see were changed from those of the kings of the East Angles, which had been borne before, to those of this bishop; and this very circumstance marks the great antiquity of the silver mace which is carried before the dean and canons, on which are embossed the ancient arms of the bishopric with those of the deanery, which also has an extensive peculiar, combining archidiaconal and episcopal jurisdiction, except, of course, as to the

The water of St. Ethelbert's well, not far from the Cathedral, is even now said to work cures of several maladies.

especial functions of a bishop, ordination, and confirmation, over thirty-two parishes in and immediately about the city of Hereford.

On the entrance to the Cathedral, its beautiful north porch will attract the attention of the visiter, and in traversing the venerable pile he will be struck with the mutilated appearance of many of the ancient monuments, and by traces of elaborate brasses on the floors. But he may feel a shudder creeping over him, when reminded that these venerable effigies, which were consecrated by the hands of affection and piety, have become the monuments of a blind and misguided zeal, of a sour and uncharitable fanaticism, which not only vented its fury on the images of saints and prelates, but constrains us to mourn the ruin of the once-elegant chapter-house, of part of the cloisters, and many an elaborate and beautiful edifice belonging to this church; not to mention the destruction of two, if not three, of the parish churches of the city.

But to withdraw the mind from these painful reflections, though not without the hope that the allusion to them will operate as a salutary caution to posterity, let us point out the interesting collection of illuminated manuscripts which the Cathedral library contains. Among them is a copy of Wicliff's Bible; and the valuable and very ancient grants and charters to this church preserved in the Dean's Archive-room. There are also two other curiosities worthy of attention; the one, a very ancient map of the world, drawn with a pen upon vellum stretched on boards; it is five feet four inches wide, by six feet four inches high, and professes to be a copy of the map of Nicodorus, Theodotus, and Polycletus, or Zenodoxus, and to have been drawn by them, as early as the consulate of Julius Cæsar; the triple-mitred prince, the introduction of York Cathedral, and the Norman French, and other such matters, prove it, however, to have been of later date than the Conquest, though it might have been done from the Roman map above alluded to. It was copied a few years ago by the Geographical Society of London, and may, probably, ere long, be given to the public in prints on a reduced scale. It is certainly the greatest curiosity in the kingdom.

The other curious relic was discovered in digging a grave in the Presbyterium of the Choir, in the year 1813, two feet two inches below the marble floor, in a coffin of rude unnailed boards, deposited in the vault with the remains of a corpse, mouldered to dust, except the back part of the skull, on the left side of which was some red hair quite perfect, and a little curled. On the place of the right breast lay the head of the crozier, the staff crossing the body to the left foot. To the crozier was attached, by a skein of silk in a perfect state, the bulla of Pope Clement the Sixth, as the inscription shows: to this, although no traces of it remained, was probably annexed the instrument which had appointed the deceased to the see of Hereford. A hand's breadth below the top of the crozier lay a gold ring, and near it a stone of the amethyst kind, which, on being replaced in the ring, was found to fit exactly. Some pieces of silken texture were spread on the dust, but too much decayed to be removed. It is evident from Leland and other writers, that these relics belonged to John Tullich, forty-eighth bishop of Hereford, who sat there sixteen years, and died about Christmas 1352.

In the year 1786, the massive Norman tower, which stood at the west end of the nave, fell with a tremendous crash, a short time after the congregation had left the Cathedral, and crushed, in its fall, the

This part was

whole of the upper part of the nave. subsequently rebuilt at a great expense, but unhappily, though under the superintendence of Mr. Wyatt, it was not restored in the original style of the building, and the plain pointed arches above the venerable semicircular ones, based on the noble piers which support them, have not a consistent effect, and are very inferior when compared with what the nave once exhibited, and which still retains its ancient character.

It remains only in this cursory notice of our venerable fabric to observe, that adjoining the Cathedral is the College of Vicars Choral, who form the entire choral force of this Cathedral, being twelve in number, where, excepting the ten choristers and four sub-vicars choral, there are no lay singers. This constitution, though peculiar, has this advantage, that the service of the church is performed by its members in holy orders, and they are well qualified for their interesting duties.

How delightful to hope that those who serve the Lord in this branch of the "beauty of holiness," should, by their sacred calling and their ordination vows, feel not only the responsibility which attaches to them, as the ordained servants of the Lord of life, but, that from this very circumstance, their minds are led to appreciate that far-increased responsibility at the present day, to execute those duties which, when carelessly and coldly performed, justly induce disgust; but when solemnly and feelingly, raise indeed the soul to converse with heaven, attune it to the choirs of saints and angels, enforce the devotion of all who witness it, that "so falling down, they will worship God and confess that God is in us of a truth."

Oh let it not be forgotten, that within these venerable walls, for ages, have the hymns which Miriam sang, and David tuned, the respondent chant and service, and the inspired anthem, floated up to heaven upon the pealing organ's accompaniment, in adoration to Him, to whom for centuries they have been dedicated, and who has deigned to set his name therein. Let it not be forgotten that in such places as this has the daily service been continued, the morning and the evening incense of our church been offered up; let it not be forgotten that when Jehovah ceased to protect his once favoured people, when the portentous voice was heard in the temple of Jerusalem, “let us go hence," their daily service had ceased, that this was the prelude to their nation's woes.

Δ.

SUNDAY is not a day to feast our bodies, but to feed our souls.

THERE is something remarkable in the composition of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, that, although in every language they are the easiest book to a learner, they are yet dignified, interesting, and impressive. The Pentateuch, Psalms, and Gospels, unite, in a singular degree, simplicity and perspicuity, with force, energy, and pathos. I cannot satisfy myself what the literary peculiarities, the felicities of language are, which make them so universally compre hensible, and yet avoid insipidity, feebleness, and tedium which display so often such genuine eloquence and majesty and yet are neither affected nor elaborate, nor, in general above the understanding of the common reader.TURNER'S History of England,

IN the time of Henry the Eighth, to be in possession of Tindal's Bible, constituted heresy.—Life of Henry VIII THERE is many a wounded heart without a contrite spirit. The ice may be broken into a thousand pieces, it is ice still. But expose it to the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and then it will melt.—MIDDLETON.

THE MINES OF GREAT BRITAIN.

THE FIRST SHAFT.

No. III. ON THE DISCOVERY OF MINERAL VEINS, AND THE MODE OF FIRST OPENING A MINE. IN preceding numbers of the Saturday Magazine*, a short and general outline has been given of the mode in which the mineral productions of Cornwall are obtained from the bowels of the earth, of the processes they undergo on the mine, and also a slight sketch of the progress of mining from remote ages. Resuming the subject at a somewhat greater length, we shall now proceed to describe the manner in which mineral veins are originally discovered, and to trace more fully the nature of the operations by which the miner is enabled to extract their metallic produce.

Familiar as every person must be with the varied uses and infinite importance of the metals in all the arts of life, information like the present can hardly fail to be interesting; and we may further remark, that there is no country in the world, of the same extent, which is known to possess the same degree of mineral wealth as our own. Indeed, if we except quicksilver and the precious metals, Great Britain may be said to contain, and generally, in considerable abundance, nearly all the mineral and metallic substances with which we are acquainted. It is to this liberal provision of nature that we may, without difficulty, trace much of that superior national importance, which so strikingly contrasts with the small territorial extent of the British empire.

In order to render the subject more intelligible, we must remind the reader that veins are tabular masses of mineral substance, which are frequently found occupying what were once doubtless vast rents, or chasms, in the rocky masses constituting the crust, or exterior, of the globe. These veins or fissures run for a very considerable extent in a horizontal direction, in which line they may sometimes be traced for several miles, and have, indeed, in no instance been followed to an actual ter

mination. Their direction below the surface is generally more or less inclined from the perpendicular, and very commonly forms an angle of from See Vol. III., p. 178, and Vol. IV. p. 43.

seventy to eighty degrees with the horizon. The distance to which they extend downwards is unknown, for although at a certain depth veins generally become unproductive of the metallic ores, and are, therefore, no longer followed by the miner, they have never been known actually to terminate in this direction.

The width of veins is extremely variable, some being but a few inches wide, while others are many feet; indeed, the same vein is subject to considerable variations in this respect. Generally speaking, however, mineral veins do not in this country exceed three or four feet in width, although, in some few cases, they have been known to be as much as from twenty to thirty. When this occurs, it is commonly owing merely to a swelling or expansion of the vein, and does not continue for any very great distance in a horizontal direction. Mineral veins are also subject to many irregularities from the crossing, separation, and junction, of other veins, but which need not here be further noticed.

The most important circumstance, however, relative to mineral veins, is the nature of their contents, or the substances of which they are composed, and of which one or more of the metallic ores, usually forms a considerable proportion. The most abundant substance, however, which is found in mineral veins, is commonly a compact earthy substance, or spar, which is either crystallized, or what is termed by the mineralogist, massive, or without any definite form. This substance is generally termed the "veinstone," or in the north of England, the "rider" of the vein. The most common veinstones are quartz, fluor spar, calcareous spar, &c., and the ores are often, more or less, intermixed with the veinstone.

in great measure of either of these substances, the Now if we suppose a vein or fissure to be composed ore (which alone forms the object of the miner's research,) may be said generally to occur here and there in masses, of every possible variety of form and extent, with unproductive portions of veinstone interposed between them, the form and extent of which are, of course, equally irregular. It is from this circumstance, or the very irregular manner in which the masses of ore occur in veins, that most of the difficulties and uncertainty of mining arise, for although some general laws respecting their position may be recognised, they do not hold good in all cases, and the miner is therefore continually obliged to have recourse to actual trials.

It seldom happens that mineral veins are visible at the surface, as they are generally hidden by the vegetable mould and loose broken stone, which, in most eases, form a superficial covering to the solid rock wherein they are situated. this covering has been swept away, as in the beds of Where, however, rivers and torrents, or where the rock is laid open to view, as in precipices and cliffs on the sea-shore, they may occasionally be seen.

drive a horizontal passage, termed an "adit," upon In this case, the first operation of the miner is to the vein, following all its windings and irregularities. This passage, of course, he commences from the face of the rock, and at the greatest depth that may be convenient. In this manner the vein is laid open, and its contents exposed to view, and by excavating both above and below, the ore can readily Should want of air or other circumstances render be obtained, wherever it is sufficiently abundant. obtained by sinking a pit, or shaft, so as to comit desirable, a second outlet to the surface may be municate with the adit. In cases of this kind, the workings of the mine may proceed indefinitely, by continuing the adit upon the vein, and sinking shafts

as often as may be necessary. By means of these shafts, other passages or "levels" may be driven upon the vein, both above and below the first, if the ore is found to extend in these directions, and when thus laid open, may readily be taken away, or "worked out." This mode of opening mines will easily be understood, by reference to the annexed sketch.

When, hovever, the vein is not visible at the surface, it is generally discovered by digging trenches a few feet in depth, and crossing the direction in which it is probable veins may run, that direction being very generally, in this country, nearly east and west. These trenches are made of sufficient depth to penetrate the loose soil, and lay open the firm rock in which the vein is as it were imbedded. By this process, therefore, the miner is enabled to discover whatever veins may be situated in the tract he explores.

As it very generally happens, that the face of the country is not so mountainous and abrupt, as conveniently to admit of driving an adit in the manner before noticed, so as to explore the vein at a proper depth, mines are generally opened by sinking a shaft from the surface, in the manner shown in the annexed sketch. The direction and dip of the vein, or "lode," having first been ascertained, generally by sinking a few small pits for a short distance upon it, a spot is chosen for a shaft, determined by some promising indication the vein may exhibit there, or any other favourable circumstance. As mineral veins seldom, however, contain ore in any quantity, at a less depth than ten or twenty fathoms, the shaft is generally so placed as not to intersect the vein, till it reaches this or a greater depth. A rectangular space, usually about six feet by four, having been marked out on the surface, the sinking of the shaft commences, much in the same manner as that of a common well, the pick-axe and shovel being generally the only tools at first required. At the depth of fifteen or twenty feet, however, the vegetable mould and loose rubble, which always lie immediately under the surface, generally terminate, and the hard solid rock makes its appearance. Here then the work becomes much slower and more difficult, and the pick, and gad, the borer, and mallet, are put in requisition. If the rock is very hard indeed, the work is chiefly performed by the latter tools, the borer or jumper being driven into the rock, the hole charged with powder, and then blasted. When the ground is not so hard, the pick is often sufficient.

When the excavation has proceeded a very few feet below the surface, two very essential points must be provided for, the extraction of the stuff, and the support of the soil. A glance at the cut will show at once the manner in which this is accomplished. A very strong windlass, similar to that of a common well, is fixed over the shaft, and to each end of the rope a large iron bucket, or kibble, is attached, so that while the one is ascending, the other is descending, and while the upper one is being emptied of its contents at the surface, the lower one is being filled at the bottom of the shaft. In order to admit of sufficient power being applied, the windlass is provided with two handles, which are turned round by a couple of men, as shown in the drawing. The requisite support for the sides of the shaft is obtained, by placing within it, a timber framework, constructed in the following manner. At the mouth of the shaft, and at successive intervals of four or five feet below it, four pieces of strong timber are placed, framed together at the ends, and corresponding in form and size with the shaft itself. These horizontal timbers

are further strengthened by uprights, connecting the corners, thus forming a continuous framework of great strength within the shaft. Small boards or laths, are then driven in, nearly ciose together, between the framing and the sides of the shaft, thus affording the necessary support all round. This kind of timbering is generally used only for the first twenty or thirty feet, as shown in the drawing, as the solid rock is generally firm enough to stand without support. Sometimes, however, shafts must be timbered nearly from top to bottom.

It is also necessary, even in this early stage of operations, to provide for ventilation, as the burning of the candles, blasting, and respiration, all tend greatly to vitiate the air, and the gases thus formed, being heavier than the atmosphere, will of course remain at the bottom of the excavation.

This evil is remedied by the following simple contrivance. A wooden pipe carefully rendered air-tight, is fixed along one corner of the shaft, reaching to within a foot or two of the bottom, and rising to seven or eight feet above the surface of the ground. At the top of this pipe a large square funnel is fixed, in such a manner that it can always be turned round, facing the wind. The air entering this funnel, having no other outlet, is obliged to descend to the bottom of the shaft, when rising again to the surface, it forces out the foul air before it, and thus a perfect ventilation is effected.

In the annexed drawing, the shaft has just attained its first object, that of cutting the vein. Two men are seen employed in sinking it, one is breaking the ground at the bottom with his pick, the other preparing to fill the descending bucket or kibble, with the ore and other substances which have been detached in forming the excavation. F. B.

Ir was not till the time of Elizabeth that the English learnt the art of making needles, the manufacture of them had of Henry the Eighth. hitherto been carried on by foreigners.-Life and Times

HE that makes light of small faults, is in a ready way to fall into great ones.

SIR HENRY SIDNEY was the brave and virtuous father of the more renowned Sir Philip. To a friend of a fretful weak man complains of others, an unfortunate man of and quarrelsome temper, he said, "Take it from me, a himself: but a wise man complains neither of others nor of himself,"