The history of an English Cathedral is an integral part of the history of England. Kings have been its nursing fathers and Queens its nursing mothers. Its charters are an important part of the national records. Its foundation, its decay, its restoration, mark epochs in the religious progress of the country. He who would tell the whole story of a cathedral can scarcely pass over without mention any great event of the national history; alike in war and in peace, in time of religious calm and in periods of wild fanatical discord, the grey time-honoured walls of the cathedral have borne their part. It has been the home of religion, the centre of light, the sanctuary where were gathered together the relics of poets, statesmen, warriors, theologians, kings; the last resting-place of the best and greatest men that have adorned the nation's annals.

Among the scarcest illustrations of monastic arrangement are original ground plans, such as those of Canterbury, Chester, the Charter House, and Tynemouth, with descriptions of a later date in the Rites of Durham. Next in value are inventories in detail, as in the case of Christ Church (Hants), Bridlington, and Tewkesbury; these also are extremely rare, but I have been able to add to them those of Whalley Abbey, Stanlaw, St. Martin's Newark, Dover and the Maison Dieu in the same town, Minster in the Isle of Sheppey, St. Osyth's (Essex), and St. Alban's, in the time of Edward VI.