ns of the old nave there may be seen at the western end
of either aisle one of Archbishop Roger's buttresses, and at the eastern
end a roughened surface where another buttress has been removed. The two
buttresses that remain have a large set-off near the bottom, and they do
not diminish as they ascend; while from their upper portions, which are
visible outside the church, it would seem that they rose to the very top
of the walls. At a little over 16 feet from the ground there remains
upon them a portion of an external string-course, which is not on a
level with any of those on the exterior of the transepts. Either aisle
opens into the transept with a massive arch resembling those of the
north main arcade, and has along the foot of its wall a bench table,
from which rise the vaulting-shafts. But though preparation had been
made for stone vaulting, the roofs were of wood until the last
restoration, when Sir Gilbert Scott put up the present stone groining.
The effect is good, but would have been better had there been ridge-ribs
and bosses.

[Illustration: THE TWO FONTS, TWELFTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES.]

=The South Aisle= contains the font, which was probably among the latest
additions to the church before the dissolution, and formerly stood at
the west end of the nave. This font is raised upon two circular steps,
and is octagonal and of blue marble, with the various surfaces of base,
stem, and bowl slightly hollowed. The sides of the bowl and also of the
base bear shields and lozenges alternately, and upon the base the
lozenges are richly carved. In a corner hard by stands another and much
older font--probably that of Archbishop Roger's church. It is a
circular basin, adorned with an arcade of trefoil arches.[76]

[Illustration: BAS-RELIEF IN THE SOUTH AISLE OF THE NAVE.
(Reduced from a rubbing.)]

Against the wall a little further eastwards is an altar-tomb of great
interest. The marble slab at the top has at one end a bas-relief
representing a grove, and in it a lion walking away from a man, who
kneels in an attitude of supplication with his back to the lion, while
between the two figures is a bird flying toward the man. Tradition says
that this is the tomb of an Irish prince who brought back from Palestine
a lion that had there become attached to him, but a story of this kind
was popular in mediaeval romances,[77] and the tradition, though of some
age, is not, perhaps, very probable. It has been well suggeste