y to bear these facts in mind in considering
the never-to-be-determined question of whether the apse of St.
Bartholomew's was ever completed by Rahere.

These two friends of the founder's were Richard de Belmeis, Bishop of
London, and William de Corbeil, or Corboyle, Archbishop of Canterbury,
and they were not only themselves Austin Canons, but were actively
engaged in spreading the influence of that order. The Bishop had then
recently built the Priory of St. Osyth, in Essex, of which the
Archbishop, who had previously been connected with the Priory of Merton,
had been the first prior. Moreover, Corbeil, soon after he had received
the pallium, obtained permission to suppress the monastery of St.
Martin-le-Grand--for monasteries were suppressed in the reign of the
first Henry, as well as in the reign of the last--and devote its
revenues to building a new priory for Austin Canons, outside the walls
of Dover. This priory, known as St. Martin New-work, of which
considerable portions remain to this day, presents what may be regarded
as a model plan of a church of this order, and consisted of a small
square-ended choir, shallow transepts, and a large nave with aisles.
From this it is evident that Rahere's building differed most essentially
from the recognized type, and the question is, did his friends point out
to him his deviation from the almost invariable rule of the Austin
Canons to give their churches a square east end in time to enable him to
modify his design, or were they able to induce him, after he had
completed his apse, to remove the two easternmost piers, and to insert
in place of them a square-ended chapel? But to this question no answer
has ever been discovered.

[Illustration: FIG. 1--NORMAN CAPITAL.

_Discovered in 1863._]

[Illustration: FIG. 2--PRIORY GATE AND CHURCH TOWER IN 1863.]

[Illustration: FIG. 3--TRANSITIONAL CAPITAL.

_Discovered in 1863._]

At the death of Rahere, in 1143, but a small part of his great scheme
had been achieved, of the existing church perhaps no more than the choir
to the top of the triforium and the choir aisles; but judging from
fragments discovered from time to time, such as the capital to a nook
shaft shown in fig. 1, which clearly belong to this period, he had
completed other works which have now been destroyed. Perhaps during his
life-time the conventual buildings, as was the case at Merton, were
mainly of wood, and of a merely temporary character; but it may be
as