ed and gloriously ornamented.
Traces of the colour can be seen in the mouldings of the panellings and
in the carving upon the walls.

[Illustration: WEST END OF LADY CHAPEL.
_S. B. Bolas & Co., Photo._]

The #Reredos#, judging from the traces that are left, must have been a
gorgeous sight, and literally a blaze of colour. Applique work has been
lavishly employed in its decoration. Anyone who is privileged to
examine it very closely will note the writing on the stonework, which
has been laid bare in the niches by the ruthless removal of the figures.
At present what the present Dean, in his article on the Great Abbeys of
the Severn Lands, calls its "pathetic scarred beauty," is temporarily
veiled by a very modern screen. The reredos, though a ruin, has a charm
all its own, and it is better to leave it frankly as it is now than to
partly hide it. There are some, no doubt, who would restore it, but it
is to be hoped that funds will not be forthcoming. Restoration has
effectually marred the beauty of the pavement of the choir, and given us
a flashy reredos there, of which the less said the better; but every one
with a particle of feeling must feel that restoration and decoration of
the Lady Chapel reredos would be a crime.

Bishop Benson covered the reredos with stucco, and put up a huge gold
sun in front of it. Portions of this are now at Minsterworth. An
engraving of it may be seen in Bonnor's "Perspective Itinerary,"
published in 1796, and this plate also shows the long rows of pews
removed from the choir by the same bishop.

The sedilia are very fine, and worthy of careful inspection.

The #East Window# consists of nine lights, and has been terribly
mutilated, partly by fanatics, partly owing to lack of care within the
last century. In design the window resembles the windows on the north
and south sides of the chapel. It was erected in Abbot Farley's time
(1472-1479), and possibly by a Thomas Compton, seeing that in the
quatrefoiled circles in the heads of the lower lights there are
rebuses--a comb with TO, and CO with a TON (for Compton), as well as two
intertwining initials. Much of the glass seems to have been put in after
removal from other windows in the cathedral, and this makes the
deciphering of this window no easy undertaking.

The tiles in the Lady Chapel are of great interest, and one cannot help
regretting their gradual deterioration under the feet, occasionally the
hobnailed feet of vis