Page images
PDF
EPUB

sures it might be best to adopt. At this conference, a foreign rabbin, who had come to England for the purpose of instructing his brethren, harangued them to the following effect. "Men of Israel!-our God, whose laws I have prescribed to you, commands that we should always be ready to die for those laws: and now when death looks us in the face, we have only to choose whether we shall prolong a base and infamous life, or embrace a gallant and glorious death. If we fall into the hands of our enemies, at their will and pleasure we must die: but our Creator, who gave us life, did also enjoin, that with our own hands, and of our own accord, we should devoutly restore it to him again, rather than await the cruelty of an enemy. This several of our brethren, in great tribulation, have bravely performed: they knew how to do it, and our situation points out to us the most decent mode of execution." But though many of the Jews acceded to this dreadful counsel of the rabbin, others chose rather to try the clemency of the christians than to follow it. The former, how ever, who persisted in their resolution, after setting fire to the castle towers, and consuming or otherwise destroying all their riches and effects, began the horrible tragedy by cutting the throats of their wives and children: they

then all slew themselves, or each other, the rabbin, their adviser, dying with the rest.

The scarcely less unhappy wretches who had chosen life, now applied themselves to extinguish the flames spread through the castle by the zealots their deceased companions. The besiegers renewing their assaults at day-break, these miserable men appeared upon the walls, and made known the fate of their brethren, They threw the dead bodies from the ramparts in proof of the fact they related, entreated mercy with the most moving prayers, and added the promise of all becoming christians. The people, callous to the sight of so much misery, by pretended pity obtained the surrender of the castle: but no sooner had they entered, than they massacred every one of these unresisting creatures, who to the last moment cried out for baptism. This savage exploit performed, the murderers hastened to the cathedral, wherein, as a place held sacred by the Christians, the Jews had deposited their bonds for monies lent by them to numbers of the faith of their destroyers. These obligations they committed to the flames, to the release of themselves and numerous others from the just demands upon them. The 11th of March, 1190, was the day made memorable for ever in York by an event so appalling: and as William

D

of Newbury reckons that five hundred men, with their wives and children, had taken refuge in the castle, it is only moderate computation to say, that two thousand persons in the whole must have perished by this horrible carnage.

It would insult our readers' acquaintance with general English history, to carry details of that nature beyond the period just men tioned: we resume, therefore, our more pleasing subject, the stupendous, the sublime Cathedral. Celebrated as it is as one of the largest structures of the kind in Europe, this edifice is not less justly so as one of the most magnificent, Enter by the great western door!-architecture has never perhaps produced, nor can imagination well conceive, a vista of more grandeur and beauty than presents itself. The florid screen which separates the nave from the choir, as it does not intercept the view of the east end, with its columns, its arches, and most superb window, only adds to the general richness of effect. Beauties of every order crowd upon us as we advance. On either side, the windows assume a rich and highly decorated character; especially that, which, on glancing behind us, is seen to occupy so large a portion of the west end, and which, when illumined by the rays of the setting sun, displays a grandeur surpassing all the powers of descrip

[ocr errors]

tion. The choir rises superior to the nave in magnificence and beauty. The roofing displays more tracery: an elegant kind of festoonwork depends from the capitals of the pillars whence the vaulting springs: through every part is seen a greater profusion of ornament: the whole exhibiting a nearer approach to the highly florid style, which prevailed before the end of the fifteenth century. The windows of this part of the edifice shed their richly-varied light through numerous figures of kings, prelates, saints, escutcheons, and representations of sacred story; while those of the small transepts are remarkable for their height and elegance, reaching almost to the roof, and being divided into an hundred and eight compartments, each of which contains some device suggested by holy writ. But the grand east window is perhaps unrivalled in the world, for beauty, splendour, and magnitude. Separated into upwards of two hundred compartments, these filled with representations of the Supreme Being, of monarchs, mitred priests, saints, and the prin cipal events recorded in the sacred scriptures– the effect produced by the whole must be witnessed in order to be in any degree ap preciated.

Nor must we omit a more particular mention of the cross aisle; affording, as it does, a noble

[ocr errors]

specimen of the style of architecture prevailing in the latter part of the reign of Henry the Third. The circular arch, at that time not ́entirely laid aside, appears in the upper part, 'enclosing others of the pointed form. The pillars supporting the larger arches are of an angular shape, encompassed by slender columns a little detached; and the rich leafy capitals of all the columns unite to form a foliated wreath round the head of the pillar. The windows are long, narrow, and pointed; consisting of a single light, or divided into several by unramified mullions, and variously decorated on the sides by slender free-stone or marble shafts. Between the upper arches appear the quatre-feuille and cinque-feuille ornaments, afterwards transferred to the windows, and there forming the first steps towards the beautiful work which decorates those of the nave and choir. The architecture of the north and south transepts is in a similar style.

Our notice of this interesting building, must close with a brief mention of the Chapter-house; a structure, as magnificent as singular in its kind. It is an octagon, whose diameter is sixtythree feet, and its height nearly sixty-eight. This large space is uninterrupted by a pillar, the entire roof depending upon a single pin geometrically placed in the centre. The stalls for the ca

« PreviousContinue »