This Norman church was
greatly enlarged in the twelfth century, when the nave now destroyed
was built, the tower piers were then cased in the Transitional style
and the arches which carry the tower were altered. Later, about 1235,
the chancel we see and its aisles, as lovely as anything in southern
England, were added in the Early English style, that often reminds one
of Chichester Cathedral. To the fourteenth century belong the south
porch and more than one window in the aisles, while the font and other
windows are Perpendicular.

I had often read of the unique vaulting of the choir of Boxgrove
Priory, but the twilight was so deep in the church, for it was already
evening, that I could not see it. I saw, however, the empty tomb, very
fine and splendid, of the Earl de la Warr, who begged Boxgrove of
Thomas Cromwell unsuccessfully; and then I went out and marched on into
Chichester, the East Gate of which I entered not long after dark.

CHAPTER XV

CHICHESTER

The mere plan of Chichester proclaims its Roman origin. It is a little
walled city lying out upon the sea plain of Sussex, cruciform by reason
of its streets, North Street, South Street, East Street, and West
Street, which divide it into four quarters, of which that upon the
south became wholly ecclesiastical: the south-west quarter being
occupied by the Cathedral and its subject buildings, while the south-
east quarter was the Palatinate of the Archbishop. As for the quarter
north-east it was appropriated to the Castle and its dependencies, of
which however, nothing remains, while the quarter north-west was
occupied by the townspeople, and to-day contains their parish church of
St Peter Major. These four quarters meet at the Market Cross, whence
the streets that divide the city set out for the four quarters of the
world.

To come into Chichester to-day even by the quiet red-brick street--
South Street--from the railway station, the least interesting entry
into the city, is to understand at once what Chichester is; one of
those country towns that is to say, cities in the good old sense,
because they were the seat of the Bishop, which are not only the pride
of England, but perhaps the best things left to her and certainly the
most characteristic of all that she truly means and stands for. If such
places are without the feverish and confused life of the great
industrial centres of modern England, let us thank God for it, they
have nevertheless a quiet