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astrous lire of 1174. Should any of our members desire to sec and 

 examine for themselves, I would suggest that they ask for Mr. Pugh, 

 one of the most observant, indeed intelligent, men in his position of 

 life, I have ever met with either at home or abroad. I must here 

 mention how well the monks and men of old understood the dura- 

 bility of materials, both in wood and stone. "Well might they 

 select Stalagmite for their pavement, they knew full well that it 

 would outwear all other kinds of stone. Tlicre is a legend that it 

 was brought by some great man of piety, as an atonement, from 

 one of the caverns in Italj', near Naples, and I am almost inclined 

 to believe it, inasmuch as we know in early times such things were 

 often done by way of penance, and are still done, by the Kouiish 

 Church, in many places abroad, and even now in England. Be 

 this as it may, I have sought specimens of the same kind from 

 all parts of the world, and at very great expense, and can find 

 none. Alabaster from Stalactite is sometimes pure white, but this 

 kind is not so durable as that which is light yellow in colour or 

 veined. The iron, which is the colouring matter, communicates 

 to the stone a degree of hardness, and on this account the coloured 

 alabaster was more prized by the ancients, and mostly selected by 

 sculptors, in preference to the pure white. The substance was 

 very much used by tlie ancients, and called by them alabaster, and 

 alabastrite ; the alabaster used by tlie moderns is more frequently 

 gypsum, or sulpliate of lime. Stalactites form so rapidly, in some 

 caverns and mines, as to close up the entrance, and fill up the 

 excavations with the depositions of calcareous earths, found on the 

 floors of the caverns, by the Avaters which drop from the roofs. So 

 much for the relics of our dear old Cathedral. In all its materials, 

 its very structure, condition, and grandeui-, there is something to 

 dwell upon by every reflecting mind. 



"We do not trace this l^talagmite paving in the time of Ernulf, 

 previous to Conrad ; the paving of Ernulf being of a very difl'erent 

 character. I am somewhat surprised that no jeweller in this town 

 has had sufiicient enterprise to work up this material into articles of 

 ornament, which could be easily done, and would be much coveted 

 by the pilgrims of various nations, as well as visitors. 



I find by a small book published in the year 178?, by the Rev. 

 John Duncombe, M.A., mention is made of certain alterations, at 

 the time the wooden stalls and screens were set up, when the old 

 monkish stalls were cleared away (and which said wooden screens in 

 their turn were also cleared away about forty years ago, and sold for 

 one hundred pounds, being the work of Grinling Gibbons, and stowed 

 away in the crypt to decay), two steps were taken up and placed 

 three or four more feet toward the east, when melted lead was dis- 

 covered in the joints of the pavement, most probably occasioned by 

 the fire, when the roof of Conrad's glorious choir was destroj cd. 

 Eastward, towards the altar rail, was paved Avith large slabs of 



