St. Peter and an angel are standing close to a gate into which the righteous are entering. A choir of angels with musical instruments are above.
In the bottom corner on the right the mouth of hell is represented, into which the lost are being thrust by attendant demons. There is a grim figure inside a globe, possibly intended for the Prince of this world, seizing a soul by the hair. At the bottom are other fiends helping to torture the unhappy lost.
Sir G. Scharf, in Archæologia, vol. xxxvi., says that the picture is English, and is of great importance. He thinks it was painted during the latter years of the reign of Henry VIII. or during that of Edward VI., and points out that it is an epitome of the famous altar-piece at Dantzig, painted in 1467. It is remarkable that in this picture the Virgin and St. John the Baptist, who are usually associated in pictures with the Saviour, are altogether omitted.
The second, or south-eastern chapel, contains many interesting remains of coloured tiles, old carving, some being linenfold panels. There are also some finely-carved pilasters, which once formed part of the Queen Anne reredos, put up by Dean Chetwood about 1710. This reredos was taken down in 1807, and was for many years in the old church at Cheltenham. When, however, the church at Cheltenham fell into the hands of the restorer, parts of the carved work were brought back to Gloucester.
Passing towards the Whispering Gallery, the flying buttresses inserted to support the walls of the clerestory, which were weakened by the insertion of the great east window of the choir, 1347-1350, should be noticed.
The Whispering Gallery, to which the ordinary visitor pays more attention than anything else in the building, has remarkable acoustic properties. A whisper (the lower in tone the better) can be easily and distinctly heard at the other end of the gallery, and to this peculiarity the following lines, by Maurice Wheeler (head-master of the King's School, 1684-1712) have reference: