screen of tracery, which formed the sides, was, below the clerestory,
merely plastered on to the Norman wall; or the original Norman columns
had been chipped down till they harmonised with the general design."

Professor Freeman, in writing of this casing work, said, "Paid for by
the offerings at Edward II. shrine, ... to that abnormal worship the
abbey of Gloucester owed its present form. I am half inclined to put it
the other way, and to make it a new count in the articles of deposition
against the unworthy king that this misguided devotion has cost us the
minster of Serlo in its perfect form, and hinders us from studying the
contrast which we should otherwise have been able to mark between its
eastern and its western limb."

[Illustration: CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.]

[Illustration: PLAN OF TRIFORIUM OF THE CHOIR.
From a Drawing by F. S. Waller, F.R.I.B.A.]

We, however, have nothing to do with the question of the merits or
demerits of Edward II. The beauty of the casing work compels our
admiration. If we want to get an idea of what the choir would have been
without the Perpendicular casing we must go to Norwich, and inspect the
uncased work in the choir that is there, or else to Tewkesbury.[3]

[Illustration: Plan of Feretory (High Altar) as laid bare when the new
Reredos was erected in 1873. The site of the old Norman
Piers could be as distinctly as in this sketch.

From a Drawing by F. S. Waller, F.R.I.B.A.]

There is nothing left to prove the original height of the choir, though
much of the old stonework has been re-used in the clerestory windows, a
practice, as before stated, common throughout the cathedral, the Norman
piers and arch-mouldings having in many cases been turned into
four-centred arches, and Norman capitals into bases. The casing of the
old Norman work with the new by Staunton and Horton is very ingeniously
managed, and attention should be given to a feature resulting from the
treatment of the ribs of the vaulting, which are very cleverly provided
for in the centre of the tower arches. The ribs are apparently supported
by a light arch thrown across the lower arches. Something of this sort
was necessary, as the only alternative would have been to alter the
springing of the vaulting-ribs. These light arches are very graceful and
are best seen from the transepts or else from the triforium of the
choir. Another feature worth noticing in the to