d that the
sculpture represents deliverance from a lion in answer to prayer; but as
it is possibly only part of a larger composition, its full meaning must
still be doubtful.[78] The work is rather Flemish in character, and may
be assigned to the fourteenth century, with which date the costume of
the man agrees. Thus the slab is considerably older than the wall to
which it is now affixed, and it is doubtless older than the lower part
of the tomb itself, which may be of the same date as the aisle. There
is a black-letter inscription upon the front of the structure, but it is
unfortunately quite illegible. An entry in the Chapter Acts[79]
indicates that this tomb was used as a money-table in business
transactions between the mediaeval townsmen.

The windows have their sides moulded, but somewhat clumsily. That above
the font contains the only mediaeval glass in the Cathedral, a collection
of fragments chiefly of the fourteenth century. Most of these were
originally in the great window of the choir, where, being in the upper
tracery, they had escaped the violence of Sir Thomas Mauleverer's
troopers. Among the figures in the medallions are St. Peter, St. Paul,
and St. Andrew, and there is a fine shield of the arms of England, with
a border or mantling of France, and surmounted by a label of three
points azure.[80] The quality of the glass is exceedingly good, and the
window, when the sun shines through it, resembles a screen of gems, and
puts its neighbours to shame. The fourth window from the west, however,
by Clayton & Bell, is of considerable merit. The vaulting-shafts are in
clusters of three, and have overhanging bell-shaped bases with polygonal
plinths, while upon the capitals are angels bearing shields, one angel
to each cluster. The last two shields eastwards are charged respectively
with the arms of Archbishop Savage (1501-1507), and with the three stars
of St. Wilfrid. Where these shafts break the string-course under the
windows they are encircled by a thin band. Upon the eastern fragment of
the old nave there remains in this aisle another portion of Archbishop
Roger's external string-course, and also (near the last capital of the
arcade) some trace of a band of ornament.

The western end of the =North Aisle= is the Consistory Court, and has been
used as an ecclesiastical court since 1722, when Ripon was still in the
diocese of York. Over the Chancellor's seat is a modern canopy of
stained deal, which formerly su