Transcribed from the [1852] George Prichard edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org. Transcribed from British Library scans. [Picture: Book cover] A HISTORY OF CHESTER CATHEDRAL: WITH BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF THE BISHOPS AND DEANS. BY A Member of the Chester Archæological Society. * * * * * “On entering a Cathedral, I am filled with devotion and with awe; I am lost to the actualities that surround me, and my whole being expands into the infinite; earth and air, nature and art, all swell up into eternity, and the only sensible impression left is, _that I am nothing_.”—COLERIDGE. * * * * * CHESTER: GEORGE PRICHARD, BRIDGE STREET ROW, AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. * * * * * TO THE VERY REVEREND THE DEAN OF CHESTER, THE FOLLOWING HISTORY OF THE Cathedral Church IS (BY HIS KIND PERMISSION) RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY HIS MOST OBEDIENT SERVANT, THE PUBLISHER. A VISIT TO THE CATHEDRAL. WHEN we reflect upon the momentous and happy results which have always followed the introduction of Christianity amongst a people;—how it has ever proved an up-lifting and progressive power; influencing man in the holiest affections and most inward laws of his moral being; extending its benign agency through all the relationships of social life, and acting in various methods as a living principle in the community;—we think that in ascribing to our religious history a deeper significance and importance than appertains to any other department of inquiry, we are only claiming for it a position which may be established by a wide induction of facts. The condition of a nation, socially and politically, is to a great extent decided by the character of its religious teaching and worship. The history of our own country, and that of every other in the world, affords many striking illustrations of the fact. Many instances might be quoted where the connection is remarkably verified, and we venture to ascribe the proud position of England mainly to the operation of its Christian faith.