that glorious choir, to wit, which had been so magnificently
completed by the care and industry of Prior Conrad" ("Gervase," translated
by Willis). The work of rebuilding was immediately begun by William, the
architect of Sens. At the beginning of the fifth year of his work, he was,
by a fall from the height of the capitals of the upper vault, "rendered
helpless alike to himself and for the work, but no other person than
himself was in the least injured. Against the master only was the
vengeance of God or spite of the devil directed." He was succeeded in his
charge by one "William by name, English by nation, small in body, but in
workmanship of many kinds acute and honest." Now in the sixth year from
the fire, we read that the monks were "seized with a violent longing to
prepare the choir, so that they might enter it at the coming Easter. And
the master, perceiving their desires, set himself manfully to work, to
satisfy the wishes of the convent. He constructed, with all diligence, the
wall which encloses the choir and presbytery. He carefully prepared a
resting-place for St. Dunstan and St. Elfege. The choir thus hardly
completed even with the greatest labour and diligence, the monks were
resolved to enter on Easter Eve with the 'new fire,'" that is, the
paschal candle which was lit on Easter Eve and burnt until Ascension Day.
The kindling of this light was carried out in a very ceremonious manner as
enjoined in Lanfranc's statutes. A fire was made in the cloister and duly
consecrated, and the monks, having lit a taper at this fire carried it on
the end of a staff in solemn procession, singing psalms and hymns and
burning incense, and lit the paschal candle in the choir with it.

Thus was the new choir completed, in the sixth year after the burning of
Conrad's. This part of the cathedral will be peculiarly interesting to the
architectural student, owing to the curious mixture of styles, which
enables him to compare the Norman and Early English characteristics side
by side. A striking feature in the aspect of the building, as seen from
the choir, is the remarkable inward bend with which the walls turn towards
one another at the end of the cathedral. The choir itself is peculiar in
the matter of length (180 feet--the longest in any English church), and
the lowness of the vaulting. The pillars, with their pier-arches and the
clerestory wall above are said by Willis to be without doubt the work of
William of Sens: but the w