ortunity
of attending services at the Minster. The splendid music of the great
organ was enough to atone for the long dreary chant of the litany, and
the glory of the ancient windows, breaking the gloom of the church with
a thousand shafts of softened light, was in itself an inspiration more
than any sermon--at least to us, to whom these things had the charm of
the unusual.

York Minster, with the exception of St. Paul's in London, is the largest
cathedral in England and contests with Canterbury for first place in
ecclesiastical importance. Its greatest glory is its windows, which are
by far the finest of any in England. Many of them date back to the
Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, and when one contemplates their
subdued beauty it is easy to understand why stained-glass making is now
reckoned one of the lost arts. These windows escaped numerous
vicissitudes which imperiled the cathedral, among them the disastrous
fires which nearly destroyed it on two occasions within the last
century. The most remarkable of them all is the "Five Sisters" at the
end of the nave, a group of five slender, softly-toned windows of
imposing height. The numerous monuments scattered throughout the church
are of little interest to the American visitor. We were surprised at the
small audiences which we found at the cathedrals where we attended
services. A mere corner is large enough to care for the congregations,
the vast body of the church being seldom used except on state occasions.
Though York is a city of seventy-five thousand population, I think there
were not more than four or five hundred people in attendance, though the
day was exceptionally fine.

There are numerous places within easy reach of York which one should not
miss. A sixty-mile trip during three or four hours of the afternoon gave
us the opportunity of seeing two abbey ruins, Helmsley Castle and
Laurence Sterne's cottage at Coxwold. Our route led over a series of
steep hills almost due north to Helmsley, a town with unbroken
traditions from the time of the Conqueror. Its ancient castle
surrendered to Fairfax with the agreement that "it be absolutely
demolished and that no garrison hereafter be kept by either party." So
well was this provision carried out that only a ragged fragment remains
of the once impregnable fortress, which has an added interest from its
connection with Scott's story, "The Fortunes of Nigel"

Two miles from Helmsley is Rievaulx Abbey, situated in