The practice of dedicating Chapels to the Blessed Virgin was introduced into this country during the twelfth century, shortly after the monastic orders had gained the supremacy over the parochial clergy. These buildings were generally founded not only to satisfy the spirit of the age, which demanded the veneration of the Mother of our Lord, but also to afford the necessary accommodation at the east end for the increased number of clergy. The founders, moreover, hoped to secure an augmentation of the revenues, by the offerings of the faithful at the shrines of the new Chapels, as appears to have been the case at Walsingham, Norfolk; All Hallows, Barking; and S. Stephen's, Westminster. The building, in many instances, became the depository of the relics of a saint. The Galilee Chapel at Durham, dedicated to S. Mary the Virgin in 1175, contains the bones of the Venerable Bede, the earliest historian of the Church of England, who died at Jarrow-on-Tyne, on the eve of Ascension Day, A.D. 735. These relics were translated, in 1370, from the tomb of S. Cuthbert, and placed in the Chapel, in a magnificent shrine of gold and silver. The Lady Chapel at Oxford contains the shrine of S. Frideswide, the daughter of the founder of the convent, and its first prioress, whose relics were translated from the north choir aisle in 1289. This Chapel is now called the Dormitory, as the remains of several deans and canons have been laid to rest within its walls. The Lady Chapel has frequently served as the mausoleum of saints, princes, noblemen, and dignitaries of the Church. The stately and magnificent edifice at Westminster, known as Henry the Seventh's Chapel, was built for this purpose in 1502, by the first Tudor monarch, on the site of the original Lady Chapel, erected by Henry III. in 1220. The royal founder, his wife, and other royal personages now await the resurrection in the tomb set up in this famous building. The Lady Chapel at S. Mary's, Warwick, which is said to be the chief ornament of that church, was also built as a tomb-house in 1443, by Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. Their desire to rest in the chapel, dedicated to the blessed Virgin, was closely associated with the idea which chiefly moved our forefathers to erect these buildings. They had been taught to believe in the invocation of saints, and were anxious to secure, for themselves and their dear ones, the mediation and intercession of the Mother of our Lord, whose influence with her Divine Son, they supposed, was all prevailing. So they founded these chapels in her honour, and solicited her good offices on their behalf by frequent services and prostrations before her image, which occupied the place of honour above "oure Ladye's Altar" crowned as the Queen of Heaven, and profusely adorned with splendid jewels and exquisite embroidery. They believed, moreover, that as she could succour the living, so she would prevail with her Son on behalf of the dead. These sacred buildings were,