front-screen and the oak-panelling all
round are very rich examples of late Gothic, and the stone vaulting has
been compared in point of elaboration with that in the chapel of Henry
VII. at Westminster. On the groining, at the junction of the ribs, is
carved Bishop Langton's rebus, consisting of the musical sign for a
"long" upon a tun, while his motto _Laus tibi Christe_ also occurs. It
is supposed that the magnificent carved vine on the upper part of the
oak-panelling which runs round the chapel originally formed the rebus of
Langton's see, the tun from which it sprang being now lost. The
woodwork, which is certainly one of the most striking things in the
cathedral, is unfortunately mutilated, as is also part of the heraldic
work on the entrance door. At the east end of the chapel above the
former altar there is a row of seven tabernacles, under which is a
cornice which was originally gilt and painted. The statues which once
occupied the tabernacles are no longer extant. The central tomb here is
that of Bishop Langton himself. Queen Mary's chair now stands in this
chapel; it is in a wonderful state of preservation for its age, and the
woodwork is still sound.

The entrance to the #Crypts# is in the north transept, as was noted
above. They are three in number, the main division stretching from the
eastern tower-piers to the first piers of the retro-choir. It consists
of a central room divided by a row of five columns in the middle, with
an apsidal eastern termination, and is flanked by two aisles with square
eastern ends. The well here is said to be considerably older than the
building above it. From this opens out a narrower crypt, which also has
five columns down the centre, while its apse reaches to the eastern end
of the retro-choir. These crypts cannot, as some have supposed (and the
tradition still survives), form part of the old Saxon church, since it
has been fairly established that the site of this was not that of the
present building. The plan of the chambers is in perfect accord, as
Willis says, with that of Norman churches in general. The main crypt
shows by its circular apse what was the form of the east end in the old
Norman church. The actual work is strikingly like that of the transepts,
the peculiar thin square abacus, combined with a round capital, being a
noteworthy point in both these portions of the building. The third
crypt, which is narrow like the second, is rectangular in shape, and its
vaultin