to necessity. Increased mechanical experience taught them to reduce both the thickness of their walls, and the size and number of their piers. This gradual improvement is shown in Plate XI., where the remains of the respond of the Norman choir arcade, falling against the north-east pier of the tower, are seen in contrast with the Decorated respond. The Norman respond occupies twice the space; whilst the Norman wall was of the same thickness with its pier, and the Decorated wall of the choir is considerably thicker than the pier which it overhangs on each side.

The bays between the tower piers and the first transept piers were altered during Wykeham's transformation of the nave. The main arch is carried as high as the capitals of the triforium arches, and the crown of the triforium arch is seen above the Perpendicular gallery. The Norman clerestory is unaltered.

A flight of eleven steps, rendered necessary by the height of the crypt below, leads from each transept into the choir aisle. The Norman choir, as has been said, was at a somewhat lower level than that which now exists; and some portion of this escalier was carried across it at its eastern end. The presbytery east of the tower was thus raised considerably above the choir of the monks. This is evident from the position of the bases of the piers, which are partly on the level of the escalier, and partly on that of the choir aisle. Below again, they descend to the transept level.

In the south transept, the first bay of the western

aisle was enclosed to serve as a sacristy, apparently during the episcopate of Bishop HENRY DE BLOIS (1129 -1171). The main Norman arches, toward the transept and toward the aisle, were filled in with masonry, and in each arch two pointed arches, of transitional character, with rich zigzag mouldings, were inserted. In the eastern aisle of this transept are two chapels enclosed by screens of stone tracery. This enclosure, together with the walling up of the Norman arches of the south aisle, was probably the work of Prior SILKSTEDE (1498-1524). The southernmost of these chapels was certainly remodelled by him, and bears his name. The letters of his Christian name, Thomas, are carved on the cornice of the screen, the "M. A." which form the monogram of his patroness, the Virgin, being distinguished from the rest. The skein of silk is his rebus. The beautiful iron-work of this chapel, of late character, should be noticed. Under a modern Normanized arch, between the tower piers, is the great tomb of SIR ISAAC TOWNSEND, died 1731; and a plain black marble slab in Prior Silkstede's chapel marks the tomb of another Isaac, whose name is somewhat better known. It is that of ISAAC WALTON (died December 15th, 1683), the "prince of fishermen," and the author, besides his "Angler," of those "Lives" which will endure as long as the English language. The inscription on the slab (which, it has been suggested, may have been written by Bishop Ken) runs thus:

Transepts.

"Alas! Hee's gone before,

Gone to returne noe more.

Our panting Breasts aspire
After their aged sire,

Whose well-spent Life did last
Full ninety yeares, and past.
But now he hath begun
That which will ne'ere be done,
Crown'd with eternall blisse
We wish our souls with his."

"Votis modestis sic flerunt liberi."

27

Walton died at the house of his son-in-law, Dr. Hawkins, Prebendary of Winchester.

Against the west wall of the transept is a small and well-designed tablet for Colonel CHARLES CHESTER, Major of the 23rd Regiment Bengal Native Infantry, killed in action at Badlee Suraie, June 8th, 1857.

A door opens from the south aisle of the transept to a staircase leading to the Chapter Library. (See § XXV.)

The north transept deserves special attention. All the main arches are slightly horse-shoed; and there are considerable remains of the coloured designs with which they were originally ornamented. These remains exist chiefly on the arches of the north aisle, especially on the soffit of the western arch in that aisle, and on the inner portions of the others. The patterns here are of late Norman character, and consist of crossed lines, conventional leafage which is nearly Early English, and small circles containing stars of leaves. On the wall on the north side of the northeast window (in the north aisle) is the figure of a

king, crowned, and bearing the sceptre; and on the abacus of a shaft adjoining are the letters DVS-part of a name, which was possibly EDVARDVS, since the wall painting here is of much later date than the Norman work, and may have been added when the Decorated east window was inserted. It will be seen that the three bays of the eastern aisle have been more or less altered in the Decorated period. In the northeast bay, besides the window, a boss of Decorated foliage has been inserted in the centre of the Norman vaulting; and in the north wall is a Decorated recessed tomb with canopy, much mutilated. It is not known to whom this tomb belongs; but it is most likely that of the person by whom this bay, and perhaps the whole aisle, was remodelled. In the central bay, the Norman work has been cut away on either side of the massive pier, and canopies formed in it, each terminating in a bracket of foliage, joined to the central Norman shaft. The capitals of the side shafts, in the same main piers, have been curiously altered. One of these has a woman with a dice or draught-board; another a male figure; and the corresponding capitals on the east side are angels. The east window is Decorated. The window of the southeast bay is also Decorated, but of a different character. This bay, with its unchanged Norman work, is shown in Plate XV.

Between the two northern piers of the tower, and fronting the north transept, is the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, which may have served as the Easter sepul