During the time of Dean Bullock, the nave and aisles were new paved, the decayed stone work repaired, and the interior, as far as possible, restored. The cathe dral was repaired and beautified in 1763, and again in 1807, upon an extensive scale, at the expense of the dean and chapter. The west front of this cathedral, though a perfectly heterogeneous mixture, produces a striking effect. It is composed of a large central compartment of the same size as the nave, and two lateral divisions of an agreeable proportion with the side aisles. The large central window in this front is of the perpendicular English style, and divided into three feading compartments in height, and the same number in width, which are again subdivided. The grand entrance doorway, beneath, is formed by a bold deep pointed arch, with its spandrils and side fascia highly enriched with mouldings, niches, pedestals, statues, and other sculptured decorations. Each of the lateral elevations is divided into three compartments, all of the semi-circular or Norman style. At the bottom a doorway opens to the aisle, and above this is a series of four windows, separated by small columns, over which are three blank arches. A small staircase turret at each end is surmounted by a modern dome; and the terminations of the larger turrets in the central division have been censured as a kind of nondescript architecture. The nave and aisle of this edifice present five tiers or stories of windows and arcades; though part of the lowermost is obscured by one side of the cloisters. Above this is a series of blank arches, or arcades of the semi-circular style, divided into fourteen compartments, by a flat buttress between each, and every division consists of six arches. In the next tier upwards, each compartment shews three semi-circular arches, the centre one being open and glazed, and the two others blank. Over this is a flatly pointed arched window, with two mullions in each division.

The transept is unusually lofty and narrow. Above this is a series of arches to the upper part of the nave, displaying in each compartment a pointed arched window in the middle, with a semi-circular moulding over it, and two lateral blank arches. The sides and front of this transept nearly correspond in number and style of arches with the other divisions. A lofty tower, surmounted by a spire, the whole height of which is 315 feet, rises with the intersection of the transept from the nave and choir. The tower is divided into four stories or gradations, besides that of the battlements, and each is ornamented with arcades, columns, and tracery mouldings, of variegated and curious workmanship. The battlements and pinnacles at the angles are of a later style than the rest, as is also the octangular spire, which has bold crotchets attached to and running up the ribs at each angle. The architecture of the exterior of the choir displays several windows with square heads, divided by three mullions and tracery, among which are curious and rare examples of form. Bold buttresses project across the aisles from the upper part of the choir.

The circular arch, and large short column, which are the leading features of the architecture of this church, have been received as the most certain indications of the Norman style. These are ingeniously varied in size, mouldings, and ornaments in different parts of the edifice, which consists of a nave with side aisles, a transept, a choir with a semi-circular east end, and an aisle surrounding it. On the northeast side of the latter is a place called the confessional, from which a small aperture communicates with the great altar. Near the east end of this aisle is a small chapel dedicated to Jesus, and on the opposite side at the south-east angle of the church, another called St. Luke's chapel. West of this, the square building projecting from the aisle is now used as the

Consistory Court. Heydon's chapel and the old chapter-house are between this and the transept; and abutting to that of the south are the precinct's gaol or dungeon, and St. Edmund's, or the prior's, chapel. West of these, but joined to the south side of the nave, are the cloisters, which form a square of 174 feet within the walls. Branching off from the southern transept, these cloisters enclose a square court or area; on the western side of which are eleven windows, or arched openings, twelve on the eastern side, and eleven on the northern and southern sides. All these windows are divided into three lights, and are all decorated with tracery. At the south-west angle is a large lavatory. The roof is supported by groins springing from clustered columns, ornamented with bold and variously sculptured bosses at their points of intersection. A very curious doorway in the pointed arch style leads from the eastern aisle of the cloisters to the nave. It has four columns on each side with corresponding archivault mouldings, and in the front of this, seven canopied niches, with richly sculptured crochets, each including a statue. The confessionary, Blomefield observes, was formerly very dark: it was here the people stood when they confessed to the priest, who placed himself within the altar rails, between the eighteenth and nineteenth north pillars, the voice coming through a hole in the wall made for that purpose, which still remains. This place is now called Queen Elizabeth's seat, because when she visited this cathedral she had a seat erected for her between these pillars.

Of the shaft or spire of this cathedral, the same author has remarked, that it is the highest in England, except that of Salisbury; being more lofty than those noted ones of Lichfield, Chichester, or Grantham.

At the restoration, when it was repaired and a new gilded weather-cock placed on it, there were stages made at the upper windows, and many persons went

up to the top of the pinnacle, whence is a prospect all round the country.

What at present is the organ loft in this cathedral was, till the reformation, called the reredos, or holy rood loft. Here stood the principal rood or cross, with the effigies of the Saviour in full proportion, and the imago principalis, or image of the Holy Trinity. The rood, or image of Christ upon the cross, was generally made of wood, and in most churches placed in a loft made for that purpose, immediately over the passage out of the nave into the chancel the nave representing, as they said, the church militant, and the chancel, the church triumphant. Those therefore that would pass out of the former into the latter must go under the rood loft, or under the cross, and suffer affliction. But it is to be observed that no rood was complete without the images of the Virgin Mary and St. John, one standing on each side of the cross. These holy roods were very highly venerated.

The interior of this cathedral, it has been observed, is grand and solemn in its general effect: the nave is the finest and most complete specimen of Norman architecture in the kingdom: the choir is also a noble specimen of the same style, and considerably like the church at Romsey: the modern fitting up however of the choir, the pewing in the aisles and the encumbered state of the transepts, miserably disfigure the building, and injure the harmony and character of the whole. It has been objected that the present choir, the part appropriated for divine service, has been extended from the semi-circular end across the transept, and to the third column in the nave, which space is nearly enclosed with boarded and painted partitions, filling up the arches, and preventing any thing like a grand and comprehensive view of the whole.

The church is far from rich in monuments, yet to describe all the tombs and inscriptions would require a

This

volume of itself. For these, Weever, Sir Thomas Browne, Blomefield, and others, may be consulted. The tomb of Bishop Herbert, and many more, were destroyed during the civil wars; but a new altar monument was erected to his memory by the dean and chapter in the year 1682. It is in the central part of the choir, enclosed within an iron palisade. part also contains the graves of most of the prelates who have filled the see. There are mural stones to the memory of Bishops Scambles and Overall; and between the ninth and tenth pillars, reckoning from the west, a chapel, now thrown open, contains an altar tomb deprived of its brasses, belonging to Sir James Hobart, attorney general to King Henry VII. In Jesus chapel is another tomb to the memory of Sir Thomas Wyndham, who died at his seat at Felbrigg, October 22, 1521. This church was also the place of sepulture of John Heydon, esq. a great favourite of Edward IV. of Sir Henry Heydon, knt. Sir William Boleyn, knt. great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth, Sir Roger Bigod, knt. sewer to Henry I. &c. &c. In the chapel called Our Lady the Less is an arched mural monument to Sir William Beauchamp, the founder, who lived in the reigns of Edward I. and Edward II.

In the church of the Holy Trinity is the tomb of Bishop Goldwell, on which he lies in stone in his mitre and pontifical habiliments, with a lion at his feet, and a priest on his knees, praying, with a book before him; but the inscription is lost, and the tomb defaced.

The cloisters on the south side of the church have the largest quadrangle of the kind in England. The stone roof is adorned with several scripture pieces and many legends; those of St. Christopher and St. Laurence are particularly mentioned by Blomefield. At the grand south entrance of the church are what are called the espousals, or sacrament of marriage, carved in stone. It was formerly the custom for the