"seems to be a
collection of architectural essays, with respect to the disposition
and form, both of the essential parts and of the subordinate
ornaments. Here we find the ponderous Saxon pillar, of the same
dimensions in its circumference as in its length, which, however
supports an incipient pointed arch. The windows and arches are some of
them short, with semicircular heads; and some of them immoderately
long, and terminating like a lance; others are of the horse-shoe form,
of which the entry into the north porch is the most curious
specimen:[3] in one place, (on the east side of the south transept,)
we have a curious triangular arch. The capitals and bases of the
columns vary alternately in their form, as well as in their ornaments:
the same circumstance is observable in the ribs of the arches,
especially in the north and south aisles, some of them being plain,
others profusely embellished, and in different styles, even within the
same arch. Here we view almost every kind of Saxon and Norman
ornaments, the chevron, the billet, the hatched, the pillet, the fret,
the indented, the nebule, and the wavey, all superbly executed."[4]

[3] The writer of the paper in _The Crypt_, already referred
to, observes that the above arch is not what he
understands by _horse-shoe_: "it is, in fact, one of those
short, wide doorways, used both early and late, the
proportions of which we know not how to describe better
than as the earliest pointed arch curtailed of about
one-half its usual height betwixt the base and capital.
The entrance to St. John's House, Winton, is a good
example."

[4] Milner's Winchester, vol. ii. p. 149.

The lower part of the Nave, as we have already seen, is the most
ancient, and allowed to be the work of De Blois. A portion is included
within the choir by throwing back a high wooden screen, within which
reclines the full-length figure, in brass, of John de Campden, the
friend of Wykeham, who appointed him master of the Hospital. "The
arches which separate the nave from its aisles are pointed; but the
columns are of enormous compass, their circumference being equal to
their height; the capitals are varied, the bases square, and three out
of the four decorated at the angles with huge bosses of flowers. The
roof is simple, with the arms of Beaufort, Wykeham, and others, at the
intersections of the ribs, which spring from corbel heads."