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York Minster
By
The Very Rev. A. P. Purey-Cust, D.D.
Dean of York
Illustrated byAlexander Ansted
London: Isbister & Co. Ltd.
15 & 16 Tavistock Street Covent Garden
MDCCCXCVII
York Minster
“UTrosa flos florum sic est domus istadomorum” are the words whichsome unknown hand has inscribedupon the walls of our Minster; andwe who love the habitation of His house andthe place where God's honour dwelleth ventureto think that these are “words of truthand soberness” even now, though we rememberthat when they were written there weremany features of art and taste adorning thegreat fabric which have long since passedaway. Still York Minster is “a thing ofbeauty” in spite of ruthless improvements[Pg 8]and fanatical zeal and Puritan Philistinismand indiscriminating utilitarianism and ignorantrestorations.
In spite of these, and in consequence ofthese perhaps, York Minster is what it is;and if we cannot recall all that tradition tellsus once adorned its courts and enriched itssanctuaries, we can admire and appreciatewhat has come into our hands, and thankGod that it is our privilege to worship in ahouse so worthy of His holy name. Yes,and it is a pleasure and interest to recall thegradual development thereof through so manygenerations of men; how it has come up likea flower, from a very small and insignificantbeginning, putting forth gradually, as timewent on, larger developments, like the seed,first the blade then the ear; extending likethe vine of old her branches unto the seaand her boughs unto the river—each withsome fresh and characteristic novelty, asaffected by the different schools of architecturaltaste, which, like the different seasons[Pg 9]of the year, have shed their influence over it.And we love to idealise the scenes whichhave taken place therein, and the persons,many not unknown to history, who havehad their share in the g