cornice with the MA, the monogram of the Virgin, standing out
distinctly. The screen in this chapel is worthy of remark, and is
divided into four compartments, the upper part of each being open-work
and arched with pierced quatrefoils in the spandrels. In this chapel
traces of painting were discovered in 1848, beneath the whitewash on the
eastern wall, the subject apparently being Christ upon the water,
calling to him S. Peter, who, in an attitude of hesitation, holds the
prow of the boat. Fine canopy-work surmounts the whole. Originally there
were eight canopies enclosing figures, but little except the canopies
remain, the distemper-painting having almost vanished. On the floor of
the chapel may be found a black marble slab, the tomb of Isaak Walton,
with Bishop Ken's often-quoted inscription, which, however, it is
perhaps pardonable to quote again:--

"Alas! Hee's gone before,
Gone, to returne noe more;
Our panting hearts aspire
After their aged Sire,
Whose well-spent life did last
Full ninety years, and past.
But now he hath begun
That which will nere be done:
Crown'd with eternal Blisse,
We wish our souls with his."

[Illustration: DOORWAY FROM THE CLOSE INTO THE RETRO-CHOIR.
From a Drawing by H.P. Clifford.]

[Illustration: BISHOP WILBERFORCE'S TOMB IN SOUTH TRANSEPT.
_Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo._]

[Illustration: SOUTH AISLE, FROM TRANSEPT. _S.B. Bolas & Co., Photo._]

Next to Prior Silkstede's chapel comes the "Venerable" chapel, which
serves as a vestry for the minor canons of the cathedral. The screen of
this fills the whole archway, the six canopies extending beyond the
sweep of the arch. Down each side are untenanted niches, and the
openings of the tracery show some beautiful and elaborate iron-work,
dating from the Renaissance. A similar screen, though without canopies,
divides the Venerable Chapel from Silkstede's.

#The Library# is approached from an old wooden staircase in the south
aisle of this transept. It is a "long, low room, with oaken presses
curiously carved and ornamented with gilded knobs, after the fashion of
the latter half of the seventeenth century." It contains three or four
thousand books, most of which are the gift of Bishop Morley, and there
are many fine MSS.; but its chief treasure is a Vulgate of the twelfth
century, in three folio volumes on vellum. The gorgeously illuminated
manuscript is the best work extant of the Winchester schoo