The province of the archbishop of York consists of the six northern counties, with Cheshire and Nottinghamshire ; to these were added, by act of parliament in the time of Henry VIII., the Isle of Man : in this province he has five suffragans, the bishop of Sodor and Man, the bishop of Durham, the only see in his province of Saxon foundation, the bishops of Carlisle, Chester, and Ripon. Of these, the bishopric of Carlisle was founded by King Henry I. in the latter part of his reign, and the bishopric of Chester by King Henry VIII. ; so thinly scattered was the seed of Christianity over the northern parts of the kingdom in the Saxon times. To the above have been added the bishopric of Ripon, created by act of parliament (6 & 7 Wm. IV. c. 77) in 1836, and the bishopric of Manchester, also created by the same act ; but a bishop was not to be appointed for Manchester until a va cancy occurred in either the see of St. Asaph or Bangor.
The rest of England and Wales forms the province of the archbishop of Canterbury, in which there are twelve bishoprics of Saxon foundation ; and the bishopric of Ely, founded by Henry I. ; the bishoprics of Bristol, Gloucester, Ox ford, and Peterborough, founded by Henry VIII. ; and the four Welsh bishoprics, of which St. David's and Llandaff exhibit a catalogue of bishops running back far beyond the times of St. Augustine. The Welsh bishoprics will be reduced to three by the union of St. Asaph and Bangor whenever a vacancy occurs in either. The twelve English bishoprics of Saxon foundation are Lon don Winchester, Rochester, Chichester, Salisbury, Exeter, Bath and Wells, Worcester, Hereford, Lichfield and Co ventry, Lincoln, and Norwich.
The dioceses of the two English arch bishops, or the districts in which they have ordinary episcopal functions to perform, were remodelled by 6 & 7 Wm. 1V. c. 77. The diocese of Canterbury comprises the greater part of the county of Kent, except the city and deanery of Rochester and some parishes transferred by the above act, a number of parishes distinct from each other, and called Peculiars, in the county of Sussex, with small districts in other dioceses, particularly London, which, be longing iu some form to the archbishop, acknowledge no inferior episcopal au thority. The diocese of the archbishop of York consists of the county of York, except that portion of it included in the new diocese of Ripon, the whole county of Nottingham, with some detached districts.
Exact knowledge of the diocesan divi sion of the country is of general import ance as a guide to the depositaries of wills of parties deceased. But all wills which dispose of property in the public funds must be proved in the Prerogative Court of the archbishop of Canterbury ; and in cases of intestacy, letters of admi nistration must be obtained in the same court ; for the Bank of England acknow ledges no other probates or letters of ad ministration.
Lives of all the archbishops and bishops of England and Wales are to be found in an old book entitled De Pra sulibus Anglia Commentarius. It is a work of great research and distinguished merit. The author was Francis Godwin, or Goodwin, bishop of Llandaff, and it was first published in 1616. A new edi tion of it, or rather the matter of which it consists, translated and recast, with a continuation to the present time, would form a useful addition to our literature.
There is also an octavo volume, published in 1720, by John le Neve, containing live of all the Protestant archbishops, but writ ten in a dry and uninteresting manner. Of particular lives there are many, by Strype and others ; many of the persons who have held this high dignity having been distinguished by eminent personal qualities, as well as by the exalted station have occupied.
St. Andrew's is to Scotland what Can terbury is to England ; and while the episcopal form and order of the churen existed in that country, it was the seat of the archbishop, though till 1470, when the pope granted him the title of archbishop, he was known only as the Episcopus MUX1• mus Scotite. In 1491 the bishop of Glas gow obtained the title of archbishop, and had three bishops placed as suffragans under him. Until about 1466 the arch bishop of York claimed metropolitan ju risdiction over the bishops in Scotland. In Ireland there are two archbishop rics, Armagh and Dublin. The arch bishoprics of Tuam and Cashel were re duced to bishoprics by the act 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 37. Catalogues of the archbishops of Ireland and Scotland may be found in that useful book for ready reference the Political Register, by Robert Beatson, Esq., of which there are two editions. To enumerate all the prelates through out Christendom to whom the rank and office of archbishop belong would extend this article to an unreasonable length. The principle exists in all Catholic coun tries, that there shall be certain bishops who have a superiority over the rest, forming the persons next in dignity to the great pastor pastorum of the church, the pope. The extent of the provinces belonging to each varies, for these eccle siastical distributions of kingdoms were not made with foresight, and on a rep lar plan, but followed the accidents which attended the early fortunes of the Chris tian doctrine. In Germany, some of the archbishops attained no small portion of political independence and power. Three of them, viz. those of Treves, Cologne, and Mainz, were electors of the empire. In France, under the old regime, there were eighteen archbishoprics, all of which, except Cambray, are said to have been founded in the second, third, and fourth centuries ; the foundation of the archbishopric of Cambray was referred to the sixth century. The number of bishops in France was one hundred and four. The French have a very large and splendid work, entitled Gallia Chris liana, containing an ample history of each province, and of the several subordinate sees comprehended in it, and also of the abbeys and other religious foundations, with lives of all the prelates drawn up with the most critical exactness. Since the Revolution forty-nine dioceses in France have been suppressed, and only three new ones have been created. The French hierarchy consists at present of fourteen archbishops and sixty-six bi shops. According to the Metropolitan Catholic Almanac' for 1844, published in the United States, the number of Roman Catholic archbishops in Europe is 108, and of bishops 469, and there are 154 bi shops in other parts of the world, making a total of 731 bishops.