. We see now only two large monuments on either side of the choir
screen, which, as we approach nearer, prove to be those of the great
philosopher, Sir Isaac Newton, and of a less renowned personality, Earl
Stanhope.

* * * * * *

Although practically impossible to stand at the west end and discourse at
any length on the history and architecture, it is well to get some idea
of the shape of the building and the period of each portion before we
start. On either side are the lower parts of the towers, behind us is
the great west window, finished, as we heard before, in the reign of King
Henry VII. The bells hang in the belfry, the south-west tower, and the
north-west tower is still called the baptistery, because baptisms used to
take place there. The font is now in Henry VII.'s Chapel. The glass of
the window over our heads dates only from George II.'s time; the two
smaller ones, left and right, are filled with fragments of ancient glass,
as is also the east window, which we see at the other end of the church.
The building itself is in the usual cruciform shape, and we stand now, as
it were, at the foot of the cross, the nave and ritual choir forming the
beam, the transepts the arms, and the apse, with its circle of small
chapels, the head. Behind the apse, we know from our previous survey,
{24} is the Chapel of Henry VII., which takes the place of the old Lady
Chapel. The nave is divided into twelve bays, intersected at the eighth
by the choir screen, upon which is placed the organ. At the twelfth bay,
where the nave properly so called ends, the ritual choir begins, and we
can see the sanctuary and high altar through the open gates. On either
side of the nave beyond the screen are the aisles, now included, as is
all this part at the present time, in the choir. Look first at the
graceful arcading of the triforium, then higher still from the clerestory
windows carry the eye to the roof, 100 feet above our heads, and thence
along the clustered columns and arches straight in front. The whole
resembles that magnificent and peculiarly English beauty, an ancient
beech avenue with its arching and interlacing boughs reaching up to
heaven. Except to the student of architecture, the church might have
risen from the ground in a single night, so harmonious and perfectly
proportioned are the lines, so carefully did the old builders follow out
the ideas of the thirteenth-century designers. H