ntique houses of the close, the grand
facade of the cathedral, and the episcopal palace with its ruined
banquet-hall and surrounding moat. From the ancient market-square of the
city, stone gateways surmounted by gray towers give access, one to the
close and the other to the enclosure of the palace. Entering the close,
the western front of the cathedral is seen, the most beautiful facade of
its kind in Britain--an exquisite piece of Early English architecture,
with Perpendicular towers and unrivalled sculptures rising tier upon
tier, with architectural accompaniments such as are only to be found at
Chartres or Rheims. The old Saxon cathedral lasted until Bishop
Jocelyn's time in the thirteenth century, when he began a systematic
rebuilding, which was not finished until the days of Bishop Beckington
in the fifteenth century, who completed the gateways and cloisters.
Entering the cathedral, the strange spectacle is at once seen of
singular inverted arches under the central tower, forming a cross of
St. Andrew, to whom the building is dedicated. These arches were
inserted subsequently to the erection of the tower to strengthen its
supports--an ingenious contrivance not without a certain beauty. The
choir is peculiar and beautiful, and produces a wonderful effect, due to
its groups of arches, the Lady Chapel and retro-choir, and the rich
splendors of the stained glass. The chapter-house, north-east of the
northern transept, is built over a crypt, and is octagonal in plan, the
roof supported by a central column, while the crypt beneath has an
additional ring of columns. The cloisters are south of the cathedral,
having three walks, with galleries above the eastern and western walks,
the former being the library. Through the eastern wall of the cloisters
a door leads to a private garden, in which and in the Bishop's Garden
adjoining are the wells that name the city. The most important of these
is St. Andrew's Well, whence a spring issues into a large pool. The
water from the wells falls by two cascades into the surrounding moat,
and a conduit also takes away some of it to supply the town. From the
edge of the pool is the most striking view of the cathedral.

[Illustration: VIEW UNDER CENTRAL TOWER, WELLS CATHEDRAL.]

[Illustration: RUINS OF THE OLD BANQUET-HALL.]

The close is surrounded by various ancient houses, and the embattled
wall with its bastioned towers and moat encloses about fifteen acres.
Here is the gateway known