27 JANUARY 1894, Page 42

Our English Minsters. By Frederic W. Farrar, D.D., and Others.

With illustrations by Herbert Railton and Others. (Isbister and Co.)—One of these papers—that on "Lincoln Cathedral," by Precentor Venables—has been already mentioned in our notice of the Sunday Magazine ; another of them, " Winchester Cathedral," by Canon Benham, was published in Good Words, and was also selected for notice. The other five are "Westminster Abbey," by Archdeacon Farrar (rightly, in consideration of its pre-eminent interest, occupying more than a third of the total space); " Canterbury Cathedral," by Canon Freemantle ; "Durham Cathedral," , by Canon Talbot ; " Wells Cathedral," by S. W. S. Pereira ; and "Gloucester Cathedral," by Dean Spence. The illustrations are, as might be expected, of excellent quality.—Along with this volume may be mentioned a Handbook of English Cathedrals, by Mrs. Schuyler van Rensselaer. Illustrated with drawings by Jacob Pennell. (T. Fisher Unwin.)—This is the second edition of a'book published last year, the first edition being itself a reprint, with considerable revision, of articles which appeared in the Century Magazine. It is need- less to do more than remind our readers that it is largely concerned with the architecture of the cathedrals (Canterbury, Peter- borough, Durham, Salisbury, Lichfield, Lincoln, Ely, Wells, Winchester, Gloucester, York, and St. Paul's, London, are the buildings treated), and that the subject is discussed with abundance of knowledge, though the author is careful to tell us that it is " a book for amateurs, not architects."