ented with foliage. The main entrance, though small, is
extraordinarily beautiful. It consists of a single arch, divided into
two smaller cusped arches by a central pillar with a circular opening
above it, glazed and filled with six divisions of cusped tracery. Above
the main arch is a gable, in which are five niches, the central one
containing the figure of an archbishop. It is uncertain whether this is
Archbishop John Romeyn, who began the nave, or Archbishop Melton, who
finished the west front and glazed the central window. On either side of
the gable are statues of the Percy and Vavasour, who gave the wood and
stone necessary for the building of the nave. These statues, and the
greater, part of the porch, have been restored. But even after
restoration the fine proportions and delicate workmanship of the porch
are evident. The slender shafts supporting the arches are well grouped
and contrasted. The capitals, though characteristically small, are most
delicate, and the mouldings are admirably varied with foliage, figures,
canopies, and brackets for statues, formal decoration, and courses of
plain stone. These mouldings contain the history of Adam and Eve. Even
the porches at Sienna and Orvieto, though made of far more costly
materials, can hardly be more beautiful than was this porch at the time
of its completion. There is but little other statuary remaining on the
west front. A few figures of saints remain in the upper niches of the
buttresses, and there are fragments of sculpture on some of the lowest.
The towers are 201 feet high, and are uniform in design. The front of
each contains three large windows; the highest, Perpendicular in style,
containing three lights; the middle, curvilinear Decorated, containing
four; and the lowest, the west windows of the aisle, being geometrical
Decorated, and containing three lights. The middle windows to the north
and south are of very curious half geometrical, half curvilinear
tracery. The highest and lowest windows of the towers have ornamented
gables above them, the lowest being triangular, the upper ogee-shaped.
The towers are topped with large battlements and pinnacles.

[Illustration: The West Front--Main Entrance.]

It will be seen, therefore, that this west front is planned on the most
regular lines and the most ambitious scale. True, some French facades
are loftier, as at Amiens for instance, but, as Professor Freeman has
pointed out, the effect aimed at at York is one