e on early, and somewhat imperfect, seals dating from
the end of the eleventh century. The first has a church with cresting of
fleurs-de-lis on a hipped and tiled roof, two gable crosses, flanking
pinnacles, an arcaded clerestory, and a double door with ornamental
hinges, on each side of which is a quatrefoil opening. The second seal
shows an arcaded building standing on a stone plinth of four courses,
and flanked by towers with conical roofs and ball finials. The roof is
surmounted by a large fleur-de-lis, and exhibits an unusual form of
tiling. A third seal (1194-1206) shows the west front of the Cathedral
with two western towers and a central porch, and a large roof turret.
Another view of the west front occurs on the seal of the Archdeacon's
official, 1267, and in this example there are three pointed towers, the
central one carrying a cross, the others being capped with flag vanes.
In the doorway stands a figure of the official. The two Norman
transeptal towers still standing give the Cathedral a unique appearance,
this arrangement being found nowhere else in England, save at the highly
interesting and not far distant Collegiate Church of Ottery St. Mary.

Having thus briefly sketched from pictorial evidence the architectural
characteristics of the predecessors of the present Cathedral, we may
begin our tour of the building. Exeter is known as a Cathedral of the
Old Foundation, as in pre-Reformation days it was served by secular
canons, and as such it was not refounded by Henry VIII; so that there
has been no break in the continuity of its ecclesiastical history since
its original institution in the days of Leofric. With the exception of
Carlisle, which was served before the Reformation by Augustinian or
Austin canons, all the cathedrals of the Old Foundation were served by
secular canons. It must be remembered that although nearly the whole of
the architectural merit of the Cathedral lies in the interior, and
particularly in the magnificent stone vaulting of the roof, which is the
high-water mark of vaulting on a large scale in England, there are
several portions of the exterior that are worth noting. Externally the
great defect of the building is the low elevation of the body, and the
want of a central tower to counteract the heavy effect produced by solid
square towers at each transept.

The west front, with its low, embattled screen of figures, is not a very
happy architectural composition, and is not to be comp