Wonders Of Operative Masonry.

Dissolution in A . D . 1537 there remained but thirty-three monks , Avho signed the deed of surrender , and were ejected . They had flocks and herds , and largely exported wool . They also had mills , fisheries , and iron mines . Furness was the second Abbey in wealth in the

kingdom , being only exceeded in this respect by Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire ; and it was the mother of numerous other Abbeys , in Cumberland , the Isle of Man , Lincolnshire , and Ireland . In the north aisle of Furness there lie two Avell-scul ptured

effigies in red sandstone—one that of a warrior , armed cap-a-pie , in mail , with a draivn sword ; and since Reginald King of Man was the only crowned head known to have been buried in the Abbey , it probably commemorates him . Over the chancel window are the crowned heads of

a King and Queen , supposed to represent Stephen , the founder , and Maud , his wife . The great East WindoAv is in size 47 feet by 23 feet . On the mouldings are carved nondescri pt animals , which it was the pleasure of the early architects to create ,

" but whose prototype never issued from the Avomb of nature . " The sedilia , or canopied seats , are elaborately carved , and their ceilings worked into groins , while their arches spring from corbels presenting a variety of grotesque abortions of

humanity , Avhich must have disturbed the gravity of the more volatile monks when their eyes rested upon their ludicrous forms . Three mutilated statues lie in the chancel , effigies of Crusaders—armed men with crossed legs . On one of the tombstones , outside

of the chancel , the Convpasses are engraved —doubtless in memory of some Freemason architect , who died here while superintending the buildiug of a portion of the edifice . While the ancient glory of Furness Abbey has departed , it yet has a glory all its

own" There ' s beauty in the old monastic pile When purple twilight , like a nun appears , Bending o ' er ruined arch and waisted aisle—Majestic glories of departed years . "

What though the tapestry of the spider waves where ouce an Abbot's vestments graced his chair ; what though all of the outl ying monasterial buildings have

disappeared , including the Brew House ancl Kitchen ( concerning which , quaint old Fuller said " all is marred if the Kitchen be omitted " ); still here " Pensive contemplation loves to linger , And people all the silent solitude

With the conceptions of the soul within . " PETERBOROUGH CATHEDRAL , at Peterborough , 81 miles north from London , Avas founded as a monastery by the son of Pendy , King of Mercia ; destroyed by the Lanes ; rebuilt by King Edgar in A . D .

970 ; rebuilt again in 1177 A . D . by the Abbot , ancl converted by King Henry VIII ., at the Dissolution of the monasteries , into a Cathedral . Its prevailing style of architecture is Anglo-Norman . The length of the Cathedral is 471 feet ,

with transepts of 180 feet . Its western front is a magnificent one , 156 feet in breadth . The design of this front is singularly unique and superb , being of the richest Gothic . The porch has three grand arches , and these , with the receding Avails , enriched doorways , groins , pillars , pediments , niches , statues , pinnacles and spires , constitute a gigantic ancl gorgeous

front , unlike that of any other Cathedral in the world , ancl far surpassing most others in splendour . Its interior is one of the best examples of the Norman style in England , only exceeded in magnificence and richness of detail by the splendid Norman interior of Durham Cathedral .

It has its share also of the mighty dead . In 1536 Katherine of Arragon was buried here , and in 1587 the funeral of Mary Queen of Scots was solemnized within its Avails , and her remains interred in the south aisle , but afterwards removed to

Westminster Abbey . The Abbot Hedda ' s monument ( a stone bearing date A . D . S 70 , and commemorating the massacre of eightyfour monks by the Danes)—the last of the Abbots , under the east window ; and the effigies of various abbots in the south aisle

and Lady Chapel , are among the notable objects in this ancient Cathedral . HOLYROOD ABBEY , at the eastern extremity of the city of Edinburgh , was founded in A . D . 1128 , by King David I ., for Canons of the Order of St . Augustine . Its present ruins include the nave of the ancient edifice , and the western front of the Abbey , which with its