tagon was built;
and under these, Bishop Hotham and Prior Crauden, the great
officers of the Cathedral at that period. The tracery
contains the arms of the University of Cambridge in the
centre, and on either side the arms respectively of those
whose figures are represented in the window. The cost of a
portion of this was graciously defrayed by Her Majesty;
Bishop Turton and Dean Peacock gave the cost of their own
figures respectively, and the remainder was paid by the
capitular body.

Midway up each vaulting shaft is a canopied niche of unusual but very
beautiful character; these niches rest upon sculptured corbels
representing some striking incidents of St. Etheldreda's life, by
beginning at the right-hand side of the north-west arch, and
continuing our course to the right-hand round the Octagon, we may
examine them in detail.

The first represents her marriage.

The second, her taking the veil at the Monastery of
Coldingham at the hands of Wilfred, bishop of York; her
crown laid upon the altar.

The third, her pilgrim's staff taking root and bearing
leaves and branches over her whilst she slept by the way.

The fourth, her preservation, with her attendant nuns, on a
rock surrounded by a miraculous inundation, when pursued by
the king and his attendants.

The fifth, her installation as abbess of Ely, by Wilfred.

The sixth, her death and burial.

The seventh, a legendary tale of one Brithstan delivered
from bonds by her merits.

The eighth, the translation of her body.

These were probably placed there to break the apparent great
preponderance of vertical lines. The vaulting is of wood, and its
fan-shaped compartments terminate at a distance from the centre, thus
allowing an aperture thirty feet wide, over which rises the Lantern,
an exact octagon, having on each of its sides a large pointed window
of four openings with rich tracery, all filled with stained glass,
which has the effect of subduing the light; below these windows are a
series of panels with decorated heads, and under them another series
of smaller ones; above the ceiling is a chamber formerly used for
bells. The Lantern also is of English oak, and its construction a
curious piece of carpentry. The whole has been thoroughly repaired,
and in a great measure restored in exact conformity with the original,
at a considerable expens