The Interior Op A Gothic Minster.

allowed a fixed stall in the upper form . In all cases where rood-screens are modern , we shall do well to remove them , allot the nave exclusively to the laity , with an open screen to the choir entrance . Where the screen is , ami the stalls are not ancient , we may form the western part of the choir into a

quasi-nave , with the seats of the laity facing eastward ; and re-arrange the stalls towards the presbytery in sufficient numbers to contain every member of the capitular body , and the entire staff of vicars and clerks , dividing the clergy from the congregation by a IOAV chancel-screen . Balso

y placing open screens in the eastern bays , aud by using again the triforia as was intended , large additional numbers may be accommodated both in the choir aisles and those upper galleries . According to " Eulogium Historiarum" ( i . 204 )

Pope Boniface II ., c . 533 , first made a distinction between the clergy and laity at mass . By the council at Nantes ( 658 , c . hi . ) , lay persons were forbidden the choir ( Martene , Thes . Anecdot ., 962 , 1108-9 , 1202 , 1247 ; Archseol ., xi . 388-9 ; Prances , c . V . n . 42 , 44 ; Comic , of Tours , 566 ,

c . 4 ) , and Martene complains that the laity , interdicted from approach except for communion ( Frances , p , 78 ) , pressed into the choir , and women sat on the altar steps ( de Ant . Hit . Eccles . i . 124 ); and this , probably , occasioned the introduction of the side screens of tho presbytery , as

at Winchester , 1528 ; at Carlisle , 1484 ; and another of Cinquecento AA ork , c . 1540 . They also gave access to the aisles by means of doors , and permitted the passage of processions without interruption to the choir service . The Boocl Beam . —A screen of lighter construction than that which fenced the entrance of the

choir parted off the sanctuary at the extremity of the stalls , like a chancel rail . A solitary instance remains at St . David ' s , and , till recently , at St . Alban ' s . The end of the moulded beam of the thirteenth century remained embedded in one of the pillars : formerly , an altar of the holy cross

enclosed within an iron screen , stood beneath it . At Malmesbury a similar screen is said to have existed ( Eccles ., x . 152 ) . The Presbytery or Sanctuary ( Prances c . v ., n . 37-41 ; c . xiii . 121 ; Jewell ' s Controv ., i . 128 , -310 , 311 ; Cone . Rom . s . P . Bug ., ii . c . 33 ;

Bracar ., i . c . 31 ;• Vasense , c . 3 ; iv . Garth , c . 93 ; Bingham , viii . ch . vi , § 1 ; Scarf ., i . 84 ) , occupied the space between the choir and the altar ; it was also known as the caputium , secretarium , and sancta sanctorum . An ascent ( gradus prasbyterii ) from the choir led to the presbytery ,

and a second flight of stairs ( gradus alteris ) led from the planum presbyterii to the altar . The presbytery usually stands on a higher level than the choir , being raised upon the crypt , the choir in turn being raised above the level of the nave ( at Worcester and in other places the latter distinction has been obliterated in modern times ) ; but at Canterbury , Winchester , Worcester , and

York , noble flights of stairs from the ascent to presbytery ; but at Norwich a Basilican arrangement Avas preserved probably until the stall Avork work Avas erected , in the five arches of the apse . The steps to the central throne of the bishop remain in the east wall ; and the doorway is still

Aasible in the aisle . At that period , when the altar stood in the chord of the apse , a IOAV screen and bench table for the clergy extended to either side , and the aperture in the vault through which the sacrament light Avas let down marks the position of the high altar . At ElySalisburyand

, , Gloucester a more richly carved boss denotes its site . In the thirteenth century the square east end became common in England , and the apse was replaced by a single east window ; and it must be let to the taste of individuals ivhieh of the two

forms is preferable , the grand apses of Peterborough , Norivich , Pershore , Tewkesbury , Westminster , or the noble Avindows of Lincoln , Dorchester , Carlisle , York , ancl Gloucester , and the tiers of lancets at Ely . At Canterbury , on the top of the flight of steps behind the altar , stood

the patriarchal chair . The primate ' s marble throne of the thirteenth century is still preserved , and at Peterborough the abbot ' s stone chair remained until the civil Avars , adjoining the altar . Above the high altar , which at Canterbury , York , and Worcester was flanked by lateral altars , stood a

beam at Canterbury , Westminster , Chichester , St . Alban's , Hereford , and Salisbury , upon which ivere arranged a rood , the relic chests , angels , and many tapers . At Chichester it was painted , supporting a crucifix and eight lights , and at Canterbury , where it carried seven gilded relic chests

( someAvhat like those at Winchester , of Cinquecento date , set up by Fox as the side screens ) , a majesty , and images of SS . Dunstan and Elphege , supported on tAvo pillars covered Avith rich metals ,

and flanking a cross set with sixty crystals . Adjoining it Avas a gilt , star-like glory , supported by archangels Avith expanded wings . The high altar erected in 1397 , and screened Avith curtains , was backed by a reredos ivith two doors leading to the feretory , and immediately behind it was a

small ' sacristy containing reliquaries . At Chichester , Llandaif , Canterbury , and York , there Avas a sacristy behind the high altar for the reliquaries and the use of the bishop at his enthronisation or pontifical mass . At York and Chichester there was a minstrel ' s gallery above it . At York

Avere St . Stephen on the north , and St . Mary on the south , and the paschal taper was adorned with colours , floAvers , ribbands , and a dove , and , as at Exeter , Avith pendant ancl pennons . At Canterbury , on the north , was the altar with the shrine of St . Elhegeand on the south that of St .

p , Dunstan . At Worcester , on the north side , was St . Osivald ' s ; on the south , St . Wolstan's shrine , each Avith its bracket and Avestern altar . MattheAV Paris has fortunately preserved to us a descrip tion , of the appearance of a Norman high