as to set up a gorgeous shrine in
which they placed, with much pomp and circumstance, the supposed relics.
Archbishop Warham, who then ruled at Canterbury, accordingly replied by
causing the shrine in our cathedral to be opened, and was able to declare
triumphantly that he had found therein the remains of a human body, in the
costume of an archbishop, with a plate of lead on his breast, inscribed
with the words "SANCTUS DUNSTANUS." In the course of the subsequent
correspondence which passed between the two monasteries, the Abbot of
Glastonbury, after trying to argue that perhaps part only of the saint's
relics had been conveyed to his church, at last frankly confesses "the
people had believed in the genuineness of their saint for so long, that he
is afraid to tell them the truth." This shrine of St. Dunstan stood on the
south of the high altar, and was erected after the manner of a tomb:
though the shrine itself perished at the time of the Reformation, there
still remains, on the south wall of the choir, between the monuments of
Archbishops Stratford and Sudbury, some very fine open diaper-work, in
what is known as the Decorated style, which once formed part of the
ornamentation of St. Dunstan's altar. The shrine of St. Elfege, or
Alphege, who was archbishop at the time of the sacking of Canterbury by
the Danes, and was murdered by them, has been altogether destroyed.

#The Choir Screen#, a solid structure of stone we know to be the work of
Prior de Estria, _i.e._, of Eastry in Kent, who was elected in 1285, and
died in 1331. According to the Obituary record, he "fairly decorated the
choir of the church with most beautiful stone-work cunningly carved." In
his Register there is an entry which evidently refers to the same work:
"Anno 1304-5. Reparation of the whole choir with three new doors and a new
screen (_pulpito_)." The three doors referred to are the north and south
entrances and the western one. It has already been pointed out that the
present western screen is a later addition. Professor Willis, whose great
work on the Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral should be
studied by all who wish to examine the details of the building more
closely than is allowed by the scope of this work, describes De Estria's
screen as follows: "The lateral portions of this wall of enclosure are in
excellent order. In the western part of the choir, namely, between the
eastern transepts and the organ-screen, this wall is built s