The ceiling is certainly too early in design to have been built by Wolsey, as was supposed. But there are traces in the work which have led some antiquaries to suppose that, though begun about 1480, its western bay may not have been finished till the Cardinal's time, or even till the end of Henry's reign. The head on the large corbel over the Dean's stall certainly wears a Tudor crown, and is bearded. This would lead one to suppose it to be a likeness of Henry VIII.: furthermore, the face is broad but emaciated, with the beard straggling; and we learn from historians that the King did let his beard grow longer at the end of his life, when he was worn and ill, and expressed more penitence for his many misdeeds than he is generally given credit for. The woman's head on the corbel opposite, also wearing a Tudor crown, would probably be the last of his wives, Katherine Parr. The face wears the happy expression of one delivered from great anxiety.
In the arched space nearly above these heads are four canopied figures: on the north, St. Peter with his keys, and St. Mary Magdalen (suggestive of Wolsey's own college in Oxford); on the south St. Luke, over his bull (possibly because of the connection of St. Frideswide's with the healing art), and St. Catherine, holding the remains of a sword in her right hand, and retaining a fragment of the wheel in her left. St. Katherine will be found in the same attitude in a painted window of the Latin Chapel. The central bosses of the roof are interesting. Over the altar is the head of our Lord, surrounded by an aureole, the beard twisted into three points: in the next bay is the Madonna and Child, and next a graceful figure, identified as St. Frideswide by the curious sceptre with heavy foliage at the end, which she is again represented with in the middle window of the Latin Chapel. An angel is on either side of this figure. In the next bay is an archbishop (Augustine?) with his cross; and on the last a bishop (perhaps Birinus), holding his pastoral staff and supported by two figures which may be chaplains or acolytes.
The clerestory of the choir was converted into Perpendicular at the time when the roof was vaulted. The old walls were simply covered with panelling, and the old windows enlarged into Perpendicular ones.
The East End, now one of the most characteristic features of the cathedral, is the work of Sir G. Gilbert Scott, and is supposed to be a reproduction of the original twelfth century design: for enough fragments of the old work were said to remain on the walls to leave no doubt as to its original plan. Of course the detail has the usual machine-made look of modern carving; but it is something to have recovered the original effect, especially as the Decorated window which it has replaced had been spoilt in the seventeenth century, when it was altered from its original five lights to three. The design, says Mr. J.H. Parker, is very rare in England, and not common anywhere. It consists of a large wheel-window, with an intersecting arcade under it, and two round-headed windows below: the wheel-window is set in a large round arch that seems to rest on two stout pillars. This round window is an imitation of an old one in Canterbury Cathedral. The arcade has a truer and less mechanical look than most of the restored work. The whole effect of the East End is excellent; dignified and varied, it has something of that refined homeliness which is so strong a characteristic of the cathedral. The stained glass in the windows by Clayton and Bell is not at all unpleasing when seen from a distance. It is in character with the stone-work, and only just fails to be really fine in colour. Dr. Liddon and Sir John Mowbray were the donors of the glass.
It was formerly thought that the Norman presbytery was part of the original choir, and therefore presumably the earliest portion of the church; but Mr. Harrison gives the following technical reasons for holding that it was an addition to an older building with an apse, built by Ethelred:—
1. The arches of the two side windows cut through string courses which run eastwards on both sides of the presbytery, being, in fact, continuations of the abaci proper of the half-capitals at that end of the choir. 2. If the east windows were designed from fragments of previously existing Norman ones, these cannot have been of the same date as the choir arches. The mouldings are later, and the old bases of the windows still in the east wall are clearly of transitional character, differing essentially from those belonging to corner shafts in the east aisles of the transepts. 3. The east walls of the choir aisles, which had been heightened to carry the vaulting, abut against and cover the jambs of the two side windows of the presbytery on the outside, a thing which could not have happened had the presbytery and choir aisles formed part of the same design.
The Reredos, an anonymous gift, erected in 1881 in red Dumfries sandstone, is a pleasant contrast to the chilly erections which now deface so many of our cathedrals. It has been said to be "perhaps the most exquisite piece of modern workmanship in Oxford," though this would not necessarily be very high praise. But, though a little too small for
its position, a little wanting in breadth and overstrained in detail, it is a sound and sincere piece of work. Nor can we agree with the criticism which says that nothing can make it look like part of the structure, for this is the fault of the structure in its present condition; when the old colouring is revived, the reredos will certainly not be too rich for it, and there is plenty of late Gothic in the choir to harmonise with its carving. Mr. Bodley designed it, and Mr. Brindley was the sculptor of the figures. They are of marble (rosso antico), and are excellent both in feeling and execution. The central panel represents the Crucifixion, with Our Lady and St. John at the foot of the cross, and Jerusalem in the background. In the niches on the left are St. Michael in armour, and St. Stephen in a dalmatic; on the right, St. Augustine, in cope and mitre, and a very feminine looking St. Gabriel. Above the niches are carved and gilt shields bearing the emblems of the Passion. The warm effect of the whole is heightened by two handsome, green curtains on either side. The inscription, under the crucifix is Per crucem tuam libera nos Domine.
The High Altar, of cedar wood, is less successful. Its eight clumsy legs, which are the only part visible, are covered with unpleasant, geometrical carving, most inappropriately accentuated by gilding: the result is that an impression of some strange, many-legged insect fastens on one in entering the church, and is hard to dislodge. One could wish that the altar were panelled, or frontals used to cover the legs.
The two silver-gilt candlesticks are extremely fine examples of seventeenth century plate; they are rather squat in shape, with large bases richly embossed. The alms-dish which stands over the credence is also silver-gilt of the same date, magnificently embossed. These were given at the Restoration, and bear the date 1661-2. The chalices, patens, and flagons have been made to match them in more recent times. The altar books are good specimens of binding in velvet and precious metal. They were given in 1638 by Canon Henry King. On the fly-leaf of each book is a curious inscription in Latin, of which the following is a translation:—"Bequeathed to the Church of Christ, Oxford. A brand snatched from the burning, 1647, by the zealous care of R. Gardiner, Canon of Ch. Ch., but displaced from his rightful position by the greed of his times." These books were in use when Charles I. worshipped in the cathedral during the civil war.