of the Lions.

Again, on the capitals and bases of many of the piers, with the
exception of those of the central nave, Byzantine influence may be seen.

So each age, according to its best ken, dealt with the Cathedral. In
among the varying styles of architectural decoration, the sister arts
embellish the stone surfaces or are hung upon them. There are paintings
by Titian, Giovanni Bellini, and Rubens, by El Greco, Goya, and Ribera;
Italian and Flemish tapestries, and frescoes too. Probably the greater
portion of the main walls were covered with them, for here and there
traces are still to be seen and a tree of Jesse remains in the tympanum
of the south transept, and near it an enormous painting of Saint
Christopher.

While the "Tresorio" may have been the treasure-house of the clergy, the
church itself was that of the people. Here was their art museum, here
were their galleries. The decorations became the primers from which they
learnt their lessons. Here they would meet in the afternoon hour as the
light fell aslant sapphire and ruby, through the clerestory openings. It
would light up their treasures with strange, unearthly glory and form
aureoles and haloes of rainbow splendor over the heads of their beloved
saints. Cool amethyst and emerald and warmer amber and gold touched the
darkest corners, and a gold and purple glory illuminated the high altar.

Some of the earlier glass is as fine as any to be found in Europe. The
depth and intensity of the colors are remarkable. Probably none of it
was Spanish, but all was imported from France, Belgium, or Germany. The
glass in the rose of the north transept and in the eastern windows of
the transept clerestory can hold its own beside that of the cathedrals
of Paris and Amiens. The subject scheme of the rose in the north
transept is truly noble. The earliest glass is that in the nave (a
little later than 1400), and this is Flemish. The windows of the aisles
are at least a century later. Their composition is simple and broad, the
coloring rich and deep, and the interior dusk of the church enhances the
value of the sunlight filtering through the glass.

Better than to descend into the immense crypt below the Cathedral, with
its eighty-eight massive piers corresponding to those above, is it to
stray into the broken sunlight of the green and fragrant cloister
arcade.

Bishop Tenorio procured the site for the church from the Jews, who here,
right under the walls of the Chris