which architecture it is a beautiful specimen, although the arch is not circular, but pointed. For the curious observer will perceive, from the imperfect junction of the masonry at the key-stone, that such an alteration has taken place, when it was the fashion and practice to change the forms of windows and doors from Saxon to Gothic. Five mouldings, delicately and expressively sculptured, run parallel through the recess. Two are composed of foliage and flowers, one of Angels in ovals, two of Patriarchs and Saints. Among the latter, and on the lowest range, is supposed to be S. Chad, the patron Saint, administering Baptism to the Saxon Prince, Wulfere.

THE SOUTHERN PORTAL

Is of the same character, but has undergone considerable alterations at the close of the 17th century, as appears by the insertion of the arms of Bishop Lloyd, and of Dean Addison, among its sculptured

ornaments.

The arms in a Lozenge adjoining are of the paternal coat of Lady Catherine Leveson, Grand-daughter of the celebrated Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and wife of Sir Richard Leveson, of Trentham, K.B.*

She was a bountiful benefactress to the Cathedral at the time when it was restored by Bishop Hacket; and opposite to the arms are the remains of another tablet, which has contained an inscription recording this Lady's pious munificence.

Of the Statues over this door no written or traditionary information is left. They are miserably defaced. The central one seems to have been representative of Christ, on his right the Virgin, on his left probably S. Chad, to the westward S. Peter with

* ARMS. Or, a lion rampant doubled queued, vert. Crest, a bear rampant, muzzled and chained, supporting a ragged staff.

keys, to the eastward S. John the Baptist, bearing upon a medallion a Lamb.

Near the outside of this portal is an ancient, but venerable and elegant monument in stone, with a recumbent figure of a Dean or Canon of this Church; but neither history nor tradition have transmitted his name. It is in the style of the 14th century. On the north side, under one of the windows, west of the transept, are the remains of Dean Yotton's monument and chantry, 1512.

In the tabernacle, on one of the external buttresses of the choir and its southern aisle, is the figure of a female saint, the face destroyed, but the drapery, light and elegant, wonderfully preserved, through times of danger, in an exposed situation.

A Sketch of the Restorations,

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF

MR. G. G. SCOTT, R.A.

WHEN the restoration of the interior was commenced in 1856, a most curious and difficult field of enquiry was opened out, in reference to the original forms of the pillars and arches of each of the three westernmost bays of the Choir. In viewing these pillars and arches from the aisles, it had always been evident that they were of nearly the earliest period of Pointed Architecture, retaining even some Norman features, while those of the remaining bays eastward, are of the first half of the fourteenth century, or at least a century and a quarter later in date. The three western bays, however, when viewed from the Choir, differed entirely from either of these styles, agreeing, in fact, with the intermediate style which prevails in the Nave, an anomaly which must have puzzled many an architectural antiquary.

On removing the stalls, it was found that the work of this intermediate style was a mere overlaying of Roman cement, having no reference to the older work, but a mere whim of one of the architects to whom the work at the end of the last, or the

commencement of the present century, had been committed. To make matters worse, they had cut away the ancient stonework, and that to a depth in some places of a foot or more, to make way for the intended features which were prepared for, by a groundwork of bricks, tiles, spikes, and packthread, on which they laid their cement-work. This mutilation rendered it a work of extreme difficulty to ascertain what was the design; and the more so, as that design was itself the work of two very distinct periods. It was found that the earlier pillars, as seen from the aisles,-which in plan are octagons, with a triple clustered shaft added on each face,—had originally been complete on the side facing the Choir. This had, however, been altered during the re-modellings of the fourteenth century by cutting off the cluster of shafts which faced inwards towards the Choir. The whole of the Clerestory and Triforium having been at the same time rebuilt, it appears that they had extended their alterations downward to the main arches, and had even re-constructed the outer order of mouldings of each, supporting their new mouldings by inserted capitals similar to those of the columns which they had erected eastwards, and supporting their vaulting shaft by corbels in the form of angels, which they inserted in the face of the octagonal columns, from which they had removed the clustered shafts. For some reason connected with the height they had adopted for their new bays towards the east, they had scarcely height enough for the western arches; to obviate this, they made their new order of mouldings not concentric with the old ones, which has a singular effect. It would be difficult to particularise the evidence on which these facts have been ascertained; suffice it to say, that it has been most minutely traced out and proved beyond doubt, and the work restored to its ancient form,

that is to say, to the form which it attained in the fourteenth century, and which it must have, in the main retained, till nearly the end of the eighteenth. The design of the angels was really almost the only point left to conjecture. Their existence was proved, first, by the necessity for something to support the vaulting shafts ( a portion of one of which remained behind the cement and below the level of the capitals); secondly, by the existence of stones inserted for such corbels, having fragments still projecting; and thirdly, by the remains of angels existing on the western piers in similar positions, and carved in stones of the same description and of the same depth with those found to have been inserted in the other pillars.

The niches over these pillars, with their statues, had been entirely destroyed, but have been restored, partly from the old descriptions of them and partly by reference to the niches remaining in the Lady Chapel. The corresponding positions in the spandrels of the four easternmost arches were found to have been ornamented with cusped circles, similarly to those of the Nave. These had been cut away, but the marks of them were found on removing the whitewash, which has led to their restoration.

Some curious remnants, apparently of overhanging vaulting, perhaps belonging to the Rood-screen, were found against the south-west pier: these have been left to speak for themselves.

The great work, however, has been the double one, of throwing the Choir open to the Nave, and of bringing back the Reredos and Altar Table to their original position. The Stalls again, as formerly, occupy the first three bays, while the next three bays eastward are devoted to the Presbytery and Altarspace, the two easternmost opening, as at first, into the Lady Chapel, which will be made use of for early service.