yet allow them to fit on to his nave without
any appearance of incongruity.

He may also have expected that a loftier nave would soon be built, and
set a temporary roof on his transepts which could be easily removed and
adapted to new requirements.

Be that as it may, the transepts are altogether a curious patchwork, yet
when entered from the south end they seem almost entirely satisfactory,
since the eye is so engrossed by the magnificence of the five great
lancets of the north front, and the great height of the lantern, that it
is unable to take note of any smaller and less satisfactory details.

The two transepts are alike in the arrangement of their bays and in the
general lines of their design, though they differ wholly in the
arrangement of their fronts, and in many little points of detail.

Their bays are planned on wholly different proportions to those of the
nave and choir. There every bay is divided into two main divisions, and
the main arch is nearly half of the whole. Here the divisions are
three--a main arch, a very large triforium, and a smaller clerestory.
The ornamental details are very rich and bold, but the design, taken as
a whole, is not altogether excellent. Professor Freeman says bluntly
that "the feeble clerestory and broad and sprawling triforium are
unsatisfactory." This is true enough, but the whole effect is far better
than might be expected. The great width of the transepts in proportion
to their length, and the great size of the lantern, coupled with the
fact that they are not vaulted, makes one apt to forget that they are
divided into bays at all, and to regard the whole as a gigantic hall
divided into three storeys and magnificently decorated.

The plan of the bays, like that of the decorated part of the choir at
Ely and the nave of Lichfield, is probably a reminiscence of Norman
proportions. It is certainly better suited to the bold outlines and
masses of the Norman period.

Here, as in the nave, the main piers are rather thin. The triforium
appears to be "sprawling," because it consists of a single great arch in
each bay, sub-divided into four smaller ones. The clerestory is small
rather than feeble. Its five lancets, though not large, are boldly
decorated with shafts, carvings, and mouldings.

The chief drawback to the design lies in the exceeding prominence of the
triforium, owing to which the eye is drawn to the middle storey, rather
than led up from the floor to the roof. And