The clerestory windows are transitional, as is proved among other things by their being pointed, for purely æsthetic reasons, and not (as in the case of the north and south tower-arches) from any structural necessity. Each window has a smaller blind arch on either side of it, making a triple opening within to a single window in the wall; and the shafts of this triple opening are made to carry small attached shafts which bear the arches above. The capitals of the larger and lower shafts spread in an unusual manner, having to support a mass of walling.
The Roof is a fine example of sixteenth century woodwork, and doubtless replaced a simpler Norman roof of wood; but the brackets which support it were added later to the Norman shafts, in order to carry a Perpendicular vault of stone, which was never carried out. It is divided into small panels, whose ornament, though rich, is rather mechanical.
The nave and choir are used as the College Chapel of Christ Church. In the returned stalls by the organ-screen sit the two censors; most of the undergraduates occupy the benches of the nave (which are modern woodwork carved by Chapman after
Sir G.G. Scott's designs), as far as the raised seats where the choir sits; the central benches under the tower are reserved for the freshmen; while the dean, canons, students (i.e., fellows), and graduates fill the stalls of the choir, the other seats of the choir being occupied by the Scholars. The public use the aisles, transepts, and chapels on Sundays, but on weekdays are free of the nave for the two special cathedral services.
Monuments of the Nave.—Berkeley's monument is attached to one of the north pillars, which it entirely defaces. George Berkeley was Bishop of Cloyne, and died in 1753, during a visit to Oxford; he was as good as he was famous, and his monument is as large as it is ugly. The epitaph, though not altogether untrue, and doubtless well meant, has the unfortunate effect of prepossessing the reader against its subject,—Si Christianus fueris, si amans patriae, utroque nomine gloriari potes Berkleium vixisse. Beneath is inscribed the quotation from Pope,—
"To Berkeley every virtue under heaven."