ansitional work, while in the triforium and clearstorey
Decorated arches have been filled with Perpendicular tracery. In the two
remaining bays the main arches are entirely Decorated, the lower order
being of limestone and the large moulding under the soffit having a
fillet. Over the last two complete columns there is a little foliage,
and of the corbels of the vaulting-shafts one is enriched with foliage
while the other consists of a head between two embracing figures. There
is foliage upon the capitals of these vaulting-shafts, and upon the
capital and base of that which supports the last pendentive of the
vaulting. With the exceptions mentioned, these bays resemble those
opposite.

It has been remarked that the choir was probably as long in the twelfth
century as it is now. The point is indeed proved if (as there seems no
reason to doubt) the last complete column on either side is original and
occupies its original position; but a further indication is to be found
in the fact that the fragment of the original south wall, the end of
which is visible on the exterior between the south aisle and the apse,
extends well into the last bay of the present choir.[94]

The huge east window, which is not splayed, has a deep rear-vault
bounded by a massive rib, whose outer edge rests on slender engaged
shafts with foliage on their capitals, while the inner edge ends in
bunches of foliage. Between this rib and the tracery is another rib
springing on the north side from a bunch of foliage and on the south
from a grotesque corbel. The inner arch has slender shafts, and so has
the moulding next to the tracery, but in the latter case the capitals
are plain.[95] Few acts of vandalism are more to be regretted,
probably, than the destruction in 1643 of the magnificent fourteenth
century glass which once occupied this window. The present very poor
glass, by Wailes of Newcastle, commemorates the revival of the see of
Ripon in 1863.

[Illustration: A Bishop and a King.]

[Illustration: The Expulsion from Paradise.
BOSSES FROM THE CHOIR-VAULT.]

Over the window may be seen the mark of one of the earlier roofs. The
choir is thought to have received a groined vault of oak after the
rebuilding of the east end, but this vault was probably renewed more
than once, especially after the accident to the tower about 1450, and
the fall of the spire in 1660. Sir Gilbert Scott found a vault of lath
and plaster (probably the work of Blore) fo