s
resources. He displayed the very highest powers of genius by the
thorough originality of his conceptions, and by the entirely new path
that he struck out in art. Well may Englishmen be proud of his name. And
as time shall step between his day and those that follow after him, the
more will his works be appreciated. We have since visited his grave,
and stood over his monument in St. Paul's.

LETTER XI.

_York Minster--The Great Organ--Newcastle-on-Tyne--The Labouring
Classes--The American Slave--Sheffield--James Montgomery._

_January, 1850_.

Some days since, I left the Metropolis to fulfil a few engagements to
visit provincial towns; and after a ride of nearly eight hours, we were
in sight of the ancient city of York. It was night, the moon was in her
zenith, and there seemed nothing between her and the earth but
glittering gold. The moon, the stars, and the innumerable gas-lights,
gave the city a panoramic appearance. Like a mountain starting out of a
plain, there stood the Cathedral in all its glory, looking down upon the
surrounding buildings, with all the appearance of a Gulliver standing
over the Lilliputians. Night gave us no opportunity to view the
Minster. However, we were up the next morning before the sun, and
walking round the Cathedral with a degree of curiosity seldom excited
within us. It is thought that a building of the same dimensions would
take fifty years to complete it at the present time, even with all the
improvements of the nineteenth century, and would cost no less than the
enormous sum of two millions of pounds sterling. From what I had heard
of this famous Cathedral, my expectations were raised to the highest
point; but it surpassed all the idea that I had formed of it. On
entering the building, we lost all thought of the external appearance by
the matchless beauty of the interior. The echo produced by the tread of
our feet upon the floor as we entered, resounding through the aisles,
seemed to say "Put off your shoes, for the place whereon you tread is
holy ground." We stood with hat in hand, and gazed with wonder and
astonishment down the incomparable vista of more than five hundred feet.
The organ, which stands near the centre of the building, is said to be
one of the finest in the world. A wall, in front of which is a screen
of the most gorgeous and florid architecture and executed in solid
stone, separates the nave from the service choir. The beautiful
wor