ustle and
life of a place obviously so old. All the streets are steep and narrow
and the chief of them, the High Street, seems always to be gay and
full of business, and is as truly characteristic of Rye as those still
and grass-grown ways cobbled and half deserted, which lead up to the
noble great church in its curious _place_.

It is of course to this great sanctuary dedicated in honour of the
Blessed Virgin, that everyone will go first in Rye. It has been called
the largest parish church in England, and though this claim cannot be
made good, it is in all probability the largest in Sussex, is in fact
known as the Cathedral of East Sussex, and if a church became a
cathedral by reason of its beauty and size it might rightly claim the
title. It is certainly worthy of the most loving attention.

The church of Our Lady at Rye is a great cruciform building with
clerestory, transepts, and central tower, but without western doors,
the chief entrance being in the north transept. The church is of all
dates from the Norman time onward, a very English patchwork, here due
to the depredations, not so much of time, as of the French who have so
often raided and burnt the town. The oldest part is the tower, which
is Norman, as are, though somewhat later, the transepts, where certain
details show the Transitional style. In this style again, but somewhat
later, is the nave. The chancel and its two chapels are Early English,
but with many important Decorated, Perpendicular and modern details,
such as the arcade and the windows. The Early English chapel upon the
north is that of St Clare, that upon the south is dedicated in honour
of St Nicholas. In the south aisle of the nave is an Early English
chantry, now used as a vestry. The communion table of carved
mahogany is said to have been taken from a Spanish ship at the time
of the Armada, but it would seem certainly not to be older than the
end of the seventeenth century. The curious clock whose bells are
struck by golden cherubs on the north side of the tower, is said to
have been a gift of Queen Elizabeth and to be the oldest clock in
England still in good order. It is probably of late Caroline
construction, but even though it were of the sixteenth century its
claim to be the oldest clock now at work in England could not be
upheld for a moment, that in Wells Cathedral being far older. The
pulpit is of the sixteenth century. In the north aisle is a curious
collection of Bibles and canno