ough which is the passage into the Choir, under a pointed
arch, over this is rich tracery within a high pointed gable, having an
elegant foliated cross on the apex: on either side are three smaller
openings, each divided into two parts by a bar or transom, and
finished at the top with a gable; the openings below the transoms are
filled with elaborate grilles of brass foliage; a beautiful cresting
runs over the whole, with a high pinnacle of tabernacle work at each
end; several statuettes have been placed under canopies in each face,
which add considerably to the general effect. The screen was designed
by Sir G.G. Scott, and executed by Mr. Rattee; the statuettes by M.
Abeloos, and the brass gates with the foliage in the lower panels by
Mr. Hardman: the whole testifies highly to the taste of the designer
as well as to the skill of those who executed the several parts.

In making a particular survey of the Choir, it would perhaps be better
to examine carefully the architecture of the six eastern bays first,
and then the three western bays, which were built subsequently to the
others, before examining the reredos, monuments, &c.; this is simply a
suggestion, we leave the visitor to follow his own inclination, and
continue our description in the order of our course from west to east.

The architecture of the three first bays is greatly to be admired as a
specimen of the Decorated style, perhaps not surpassed by any other in
the kingdom; they were erected about the same time as the Octagon, and
most probably under the superintendence of the same skilful architect,
and for which purpose Bishop Hotham left a sum of money at his death;
they were built during the episcopate of his successors, Bishops
Montacute (1337-1345), and L'Isle (1345-1361). The lower columns are
nearly, the capitals entirely, of the same form with those of the
Octagon, but the arches are more ornamented, some of them having
bosses of foliage attached to their mouldings; and those of the
triforium are, as Mr. Bentham observes, "embellished with tracery work
of such elegance and delicacy as seems scarcely consistent with
strength." Between each of the lower arches is a corbel or elongated
bracket profusely adorned with foliage carved in high relief, richly
coloured and gilded; from this rises a column between the upper
arches, and from the top of this column spring the ribs of the
vaulting, which spread in lavish ramifications over it, dividing it
into angu