ons having been
limited to the portion east of the central tower.

As we enter at the west door we see at a glance the entire length, and
the whole beauty of the admirable proportion of the several parts. While
many may wish that the great arches of the tower which can be seen from
the west end had never been altered from the round form of the Norman
builders, few will regret that the Decorated arches which took their
place were retained when the tower was rebuilt, instead of having new
arches in the Norman style substituted. The want of colour which is so
marked a defect in many English cathedrals is not so conspicuous here,
because of the painted ceiling.

The Norman work being in the main so complete, it will be best to begin
the description where the building itself was begun, at the apse. At the
west door we stand where the work was finished. We know when the
building commenced, in 1117, but we do not know exactly when the whole
was finished to the western wall; but, speaking roughly, though not very
far from the truth, we may say that the minster took eighty years to
complete. This may be slightly more than was actually taken. During that
time the work was not continuous: there were some Abbots who appear to
have done little or nothing towards extending the works, and sometimes
accordingly there was an entire cessation from active operations.
Including the west front, we should have to assign nearly 120 years to
the completion of the building.

=The Choir=.--Up to the commencement of the apse the choir is of four
bays. The pillars are alternately round and with eight or twelve sides;
all have cushioned capitals, indented to agree with the mouldings above;
all had a shaft on the inner side rising to the roof, to support the
wooden groining, but the lower parts of some of these shafts were cut
away to make room for the woodwork of Dean Monk's choir. The
ornamentation throughout is plentiful, but we see nothing but the
billet, the chevron, and the hatchet moulding, all indicative of early
work. The triforium has two recessed arches, beneath the principal arch,
divided by a plain shaft. It is specially to be noticed that all the
tympana in the triforium range are differently ornamented. In each bay
of the clerestory range are three arches, one large and two small ones;
the capitals to the shafts have the plain cushion (as in the triforium)
and from these shafts a narrower arch connects them with the outer wall.
The