d relics of canonized prelates. At the east
end of this subterraneous retreat, from the window through which the
light faintly gleams, the scene is interesting to astonishment. Here
you perceive the massy arches ranged in perspective on huge cylindrical
pillars, with variously sculptured capitals, each differing from the
other, and all in the real Saxon style; to this add the groined roof,
and the stairs at the west end, leading up into the church, enveloped in
a luminous obscurity, from the scanty light admitted by the window at
the east end. From the account given by Venerable Bede, that the body
of Cedd was interred on the right of the altar, we may suppose that the
crypt was built after the erection of the church, though the time cannot
be ascertained.

About fifty years ago, the remaining part of the venerable monastery,
founded by Cedd, was razed, and its walls, hallowed by the dust of the
holy brotherhood, furnished materials for building. The Rev. W. Ellis,
the then incumbent, whose indignation, at the circumstance, was
unbounded, wrote some Latin verses on the subject; but they have been
lost in the stream of time, and, like the ashes of the hand that wrote
them, cannot be found.

The late Mr. Jackson, R.A., was a native of the village of Lestingham;
and, with feelings of regard for the land of his childhood, he proposed
to execute a painting, as an altar-piece for the church. His Grace the
archbishop of York and the Rev. F. Wrangham, were consulted on the
subject, and gave it their approval; but, we believe, the meritorious
artist died before he had finished the painting.

* * * * *

NEW BOOKS.

* * * * *

WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

This book is a grievous failure--that is, if the merits of books are to
be adjudged with their titles. The writer is the author of _Stories of
Waterloo_, from whom better things might have been expected. He has
taken for his model, Mr. Lloyd's really excellent _Field Sports of the
North of Europe_; but he has woefully missed his mark. The title of
the work before us is equivocal: a reader might as reasonably expect the
Sports of the Western World, as adventures in Ireland, such as make up
the present volumes. What we principally complain of is the paucity of
Sports among their contents. It is true that the title also promises
Legendary Tales and Local Sketches, but here they are the substance, and
the Wil