the cylinder goes round catch against wooden
levers which raise clappers that in their fall strike the bells. The
same tune is played all through each day, but a different tune is played
each day of the week; at the end of the week the barrel is automatically
set so as to begin the series of tunes again. There is, moreover,
another tune--the Trinity hymn--which can be set by hand, and this is
used on the greater festivals.

Besides the peal of eight the sacring bell which once hung near the high
altar is now hung in the tower.

It may be well to finish the description of the church with a few notes
about the material used and the method of building, abbreviated from a
paper by Mr. James Neale. He says that during the restoration many
examples were found of lead dowels in the joints of detached shafts.
Sinkings were cut in the upper surface of the lower stone and in the
lower surface of the upper, so that when in place these sinkings would
be opposite to each other; a small hole one-eighth inch in diameter was
then bored in the upper stone, through which lead was poured into the
sinkings. The mortar used between the outer stones of the
fourteenth-century bays of the nave was mixed with oyster-shells,
contained a large amount of lime, and was very hard. There is much
clunch stone used in the interior and this is in a good state of
preservation, but any that has been used externally has decayed. The
abaci of the Early English capitals in the main arcade are of Barnack
stone, which is harder than clunch and so more suitable for bearing a
weight. The Norman stonework was cut with an axe, the Transition with a
chisel. The Early English is bolster-tooled; the Decorated ashlar
(including the bays on the south side of the nave) is claw-tooled, the
mouldings being scraped; the Perpendicular is finely scraped.

[Illustration: SOUTH CHOIR AISLE.]

CHAPTER IV.

THE HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY AND SEE.

Although, as stated in Chapter I., Albanus suffered martyrdom in 303
A.D., and a small church was soon afterwards built over his grave, and
another of larger size subsequently erected, it was not until the eighth
century that the monastery was founded.

The foundation was an act of atonement on the part of Offa II., King of
the Mercians, in the year 793. In the previous year he had been at the
court of Ethelbert, King of East Anglia, and was a suitor for the hand
of his daughter. But he treacherously murdered his host and