llery or some other inconspicuous place. The word
"choir," indeed, formerly applied to all the clergy taking part in
services of the church, and the restriction of the term to the singing
men and boys, who were in their origin no more than the representatives
(vicars) of the clergy, is a comparatively late development. The
distinction between "choir services" (Mattins, Vespers, Compline,
&c.)--consisting of prayers, lections, the singing of the psalms,
&c.--and the service of the altar was sharply drawn in the middle ages,
as in the modern Roman Church. "Choir vestments" (surplice, &c.) are
those worn by the clergy at the former, as distinguished from those used
at the Mass (see VESTMENTS). In England at the Reformation the choir
services (Mattins, Evensong) replaced the Mass as the principal popular
services, and, in general, only the choir vestments were retained in
use. In the English cathedrals the members of the choir often retain
privileges reminiscent of an earlier definite ecclesiastical status. At
Wells, for instance, the vicars-choral form a corporation practically
independent of the dean and chapter; they have their own lodgings inside
the cathedral precincts (Vicars' Close) and they can only be dismissed
by a vote of their own body. (W. A. P.)

In an architectural sense a "choir" is strictly that part of a church
which is fitted up for the choir services, and is thus limited to the
space between the choir screen and the presbytery. Some confusion has
arisen owing to the term being employed by medieval writers to express
the entire space enclosed for the performance of the principal services
of the church, and therefore to include not only the choir proper, but
the presbytery. In the case of a cruciform church the choir is sometimes
situated under the central tower, or in the nave, and this is the case
in Westminster Abbey, where it occupies four bays to the west of the
transept. The choir is usually raised one step above the nave, and its
sides are fitted up with seats or stalls, of which in large buildings
there are usually two or three rows rising one behind the other.

In Romanesque churches there are eastern and western choirs, and in
former times the term was given to chantries and subsidiary chapels,
which were also called chancels. In the early Christian church the
ambones where the gospels and epistles were read were placed one on
either side of the choir and formed part of its enclosure, and this