the distracted reigns of the feudal times) were generallyEmitted to the custody of some trusty person, who seemsav e been indifferently styled governor or constable. Some-th es also they were put into the possession of the sheriff ofoffi count y> w ho often converted them into prisons. Thator cer w as then accountable to the exchequer, for the farmhis^ r °^ UCe t ' ie ^ an< ^ 3 belonging to the places entrusted to0 j. Care > as well as all other profits: he was likewise, in casew ar or invasion, obliged to victual and furnish them withn *hon out of the issues of his county; to which he wast e reCte< l by writ of privy seal. Variety of these writs,p P- Edw. III., may be seen in Madox’s History of theth Ctl f1 uer > and it appears, from the same authority, thats Aarons of the exchequer were sometimes appointed to®arr ^ t * iese cast les, and the state of the buildings and worksy>ng on therein.—Rees’s Cyclopedia.

ASTRA, the Latin name for a camp.

ASTS. See Cast and Casting.c ] ATABASION (from Karajiaivo), I descend), in the Greekc ’> a hollow place under the altar, wherein the relics^ e Pb an( i through which was the descent into the^.beneath.

of , AIABULUM, a building, or stable, in which the beastsThe 11 . an< ^ carr iages were kept for the public service,in ancien t Christians were sometimes condemned to serve

ftcatabula.

^A1ACAUSTIC CURVE. See Caustic Curve.iiH„ MACOMB, a grotto or subterraneous place for theInj eDt t ' ie dead.

of Su] ta v > this term is particularly applied to an assemblageV ia , ter raneous sepulchres, three leagues from Rome , in theten f 'ri aa . Each catacomb is three feet wide, and eight or* J l ’oh, running in the form of an alley or gallery, andto pleating with each otlier. Some authors imagine them8 elv es l le ce ^ s wherein the primitive Christians hid tliem-earjy an d °thers take them to be the burial-places of the'^•'odij ^ anS ’ * Je ^ ore the practice of burning the dead was

H ‘y ®°st celebrated catacombs are those of Egypt ,The a* 11 ^ le an cient inhabitants deposited their mummies,holes • Scent into them is through a square aperture withJhe sides, for the feet, somewhat like an uprightHid ' r ! le se excavations are hewn out of the solid rock,hie rQrr j C °nri s t3 of free-stone, and the walls are adorned with°f \v a ^ ' P* ucs ) and representations of utensils and implementsOATati h’ocock, Norden, and Denon.

*etti n , h)ROME , an engine used in building, for lifting and^ATar 11 great wei ght8.

ALCO (from the Italian), a decoration, of arclii-c X hib SCU1 P ture . or painting, raised on a scaffold, on whichCAl’p .I 1 c °ffin or cenotaph, in a funeral solemnity.

98 c ount» ^'^hhAIN, in the construction of canals, the samer " t la ' n ’ sometimes it also implies the feeders of a

jhlii f, 0( j NARIA, a mechanical curve, which a heavy flex-ing fr c /i °» nniform thickness, would form itself into, ifst iriv e g/ * rom i ts two extremities. The famous Galileo\t a Par' ti' e nature of this curve, and supposed it to

' °Us. j d °ia- _ This problem, after being proposed byf 0 affirm e F nou ^®> was first solved by Dr. D. Gregory, whor. the Zl : t the inverted catenaria was the best figure

a. eh of a bridge; the intrados of which, however,

ust j

1 ^A'pFip'J. en t’rely upon the curvature of the extrados.

,, j T)RAL, (from the Greek, KaOtBfia, a chair;*° c ese yy] 0111 * a ®*fopai, sedeo, I sit,) the head church of aiffiri',^ lere in is the see or seat of a bishop. ,

<= he first ages of the church, cathedrals were pro- |

bably more numerous than other churches, as we know thatthere was a bishop in every town of importance whereverthe Christian religion prevailed. The bishop, the head ofthe church, was assisted in the services of religion by hispriests and deacons, the bishop, however, retaining the moreimportant duties, such as preaching and the administrationof the sacraments, which he seldom delegated to the assistantpresbyters, unless necessitated so to do. In process of time,as occasion offered, other churches were formed, subject tothe mother-church and to the jurisdiction of its bishop ; atthis early period, however, it cannot be doubted but that theproportion of bishops to the lower order of the clergy wasmuch greater than at the present day, and consequently thenumber of cathedrals o/ bishops’ sees must have been morenumerous. It is not our intention, however, in this place, todwell at length upon the general subject; we would confineourselves more especially to our own country, and will ac-cordingly proceed to investigate the accounts we have left usof the early cathedrals of Great Britain .

Jfo one, probably, would think of controverting the factof the early introduction of Christianity into this country; itmay indeed be questioned whether Saint Paul , or Saint Joseph,or the British king Lucius, be the benefactor to whom weowe its introduction ; but its existence here during the firstcentury will scarcely admit of a doubt. We know furtherthat the British church was episcopally governed, for wehear of the presence of‘British bishops at the council ofArles , as early as the commencement of the fourth century;and we have consequently every reason to conclude that theepiscopal form of government was co - existent with thechurch, and further, that if churches existed at all, somesuch churches must have been cathedrals.

We cannot speak with any degree of certainty of the date,form, or material of the first cathedrals. Dr. Milner says,that a cathedral was erected by Lucius, at Winchester, of theenormous length of 600 feet, as early as the close of thesecond century. Whether the dimensions given do not beliethe whole statement must be left to the judgment of indi-viduals ; but there is good reason to believe that churches didexist at this period, as we hear of their demolition during theDiocletian persecution, which took place a.d. 303.

Upon the success of the Pagan-Saxons, the Christian churches of England were of course destroyed, whilst thosein Wales and south-west of England, where the British Christians had retreated, were considerably increased ; thiswas especially the case with monasteries, which served ina measure as places of safety, and in building which theBritons followed the salutary advice of Saint Germain. Uponthe conversion of the Saxons by Saint Augustine , churchesagain made their appearance in Kent, as we learn that acathedral was erected by that missionary-bishop at Canter-bury, and dedicated under the title of Christ Church. At anot much later period we hear of the foundation of thecathedral churches of Saints Paul and Andrew, the one atLondon and the other at Rochester. Shortly after Augus-tine’s mission in the south, the wonderful success of Paulinus in the northern parts of the island, in converting the king,Edwin, and his pagan subjects, gave rise to the cathedral ofYork. It is stated that Edwin first erected a church of tim-ber in this city, but afterwards built a larger church of stone,in which the timber one was enclosed. Paulinus , again suc-cessful at Lincoln, caused to be erected a church of stone, of“ admirable workmanship,” as Bede tells us.

Stephen Eddy, a writer older than Bede , informs us thatWilfrid, bishop of York, finding, upon taking possession ofhis see, that the old church built by Edwin and Oswald wasin a dilapidated condition, set about repairing it—“ skilfully

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