es, on his own and his father's behalf, warranted the bell
sound, and, further, that the second, which he agreed to turn, "the
striking sides being much worn," should be "as good as a new bell and
retain the same note." This, the second, bell is the only one that bears
no inscription; the fifth has, besides its inscription, the royal arms
on its waist. The treble was again re-cast by Pack and Chapman, of
London, in 1770, and in 1834 the tenor was re-made by Thomas Mears.
After all these re-castings, it would be interesting to know how much
old metal, from Bishop Hamo's or even older bells, the present peal
still contains. Mention will be made of some very early bells when
Gundulf's tower is described.

#The West Front# has recently been very carefully restored. Its great
central window, and the flat gable above, belong to the Perpendicular
period, but all the rest is either original Norman work, or as accurate
a reproduction of this as possible.

In design the facade surpasses those of many cathedrals. The aisle ends,
for instance, are not here, as in some cases, carried as screens to a
greater height than is structurally necessary. This is more correct and,
at the same time, allows the flanking towers to be more imposing and
effective.

The nave end, the main central portion of the front, contains the great
west door, to be described later, and over it the great window, inserted
during the second half of the fifteenth century. The dripstone of the
window terminates in two carved heads. On each side of the doorway is a
round-headed recess, and on the level of the door-arch, and interrupted
by it, runs a row of blind arcading, the shafts of which rise from
plinths, that project in carved heads from an elaborate string course.
The first complete bays of this arcade, on the north and south sides of
the door, contain niches, within which statues of two bishops, Gundulf
and John of Canterbury, were placed, in 1894, by the Freemasons of Kent.
These statues are not at all worthy of praise. The space between the
heads of the arcade and the decorated string course, crossing at the
level of the window sill, is filled with a diaper pattern. There are
three more blind arcades above, all interrupted by the window, before we
come to those that run round the gable turrets. The lowest has a band of
chevron moulding crossing the tops of its shafts, while carvings fill
the lunettes in its heads. Next come two rows of a double interlaci