Let us look at the chief features of the exterior:
“The WEST FRONT consists of an eight-light canopied Perpendicular window, with a band of elaborate tracery succeeded by ordinary tracery of the period in the head, set between two banded octagonal turrets, which are battlemented. The west door is peculiar; it consists of an arch under a square head, with foliated spandrels and a range of angels in the mouldings, deeply recessed under a larger arch with another square head. On each side are four crocketed niches, with pedestals denuded of their statues. To the west is a four-light canopied window, under a panelled band and flanked by a rich but empty niche on either side.
“The door of the SOUTH PORCH is Tudor with two-light, square-headed windows and a canopied niche, and an intervening rich band. The windows of the aisles and clerestory of the nave are Perpendicular; the parapet is shallow. The SOUTH TRANSEPT, as long as the choir and as broad as the nave, has a Perpendicular clerestory and south windows, the former of four lights and with two transoms. The windows of the aisle are Late Decorated and of four lights separated by buttresses. This description applies to the south side of the choir, but the aisles are extended within one bay of the east end of the Lady-chapel, which has Perpendicular windows; the great east window is of the same date. Traces of Early English architecture appear in the north side of the choir and Chapter-house. The north window of the transept and windows of the nave are Perpendicular.”—(Wal.)
We can enter, as we prefer, by the west door, or the south porch. The Nave is uninteresting. It consists of six bays, the piers are groups of attached shafts terminating in foliage capitals. The roof is modern.
Decorated windows light the South aisle. The North aisle contains some old Norman work. Here we find an ancient Italian font, presented in 1885, and an old piece of tapestry that has been in the Cathedral since 1668.
The North transept is small, owing to the monastic buildings on this side. Here we find Norman work. Some of the windows exhibit Perpendicular tracery. The roof is Perpendicular.
Until 1881 the South Transept was, as we have said, the Parish Church of St. Oswald. It has Decorated windows. Perpendicular windows light the west aisle.
We now enter the Choir. The screen is modern and by Sir G. Scott.
“The choir is remarkable for the great beauty of the wood-work which it contains, as well as for its architectural merits. The style is that of the transition between the Early English and Decorated. The north side differs from the south, especially in regard to the mouldings. The north side is earlier than the south, the building having been commenced at the east end of that side. The mouldings on the north are bold rounds, while those on the south are shallow and small hollows. The triforium has a series of elaborately-carved cusped arches, and the clerestory windows are light and graceful with geometrical tracery. The vault is modern, constructed of good English oak. At the east there are figures of the sixteen prophets and at the west are angels playing musical instruments. There are some curious grotesque corbels, from which the vaulting shafts spring.
“The carving of the CHOIR STALLS is equal, if not superior, to anything in England. These are Fourteenth Century work and rival the noble stalls of Amiens. They have been restored with much accuracy and taste. The carving of the dean’s stall should be noticed, as it represents the Jesse tree, surmounted by the Coronation of the Virgin. That representing Jacob’s Dream is modern. The misereres are extremely interesting and curious and full of religious instruction, though often conveyed in the way of sarcastic reproof. There are forty-eight, of which three are modern. Some of the most curious are: a pelican feeding her young; St. Werburgh and the stolen goose; a wife beating her husband; the strategy of the fox; stag hunt; Richard I. pulling out the heart of a lion; a fox in the garb of a