ions on each
face. These provide the slight entasis to the outline which is found
in so many spires, as it is in classic columns, and is designed to
correct the appearance of hollowness which would occur in so long a
straight line. The upper two-thirds of the spire has triple angle
rolls, and, just halfway in the total height, are eight canopied
panels of which four are pierced. The beauty of the steeple and its
pre-eminence among those belonging to parish churches (even if such a
reservation be necessary) sufficiently justifies the length of this
description.

[Illustration: SOUTH PORCH, FROM ST. MARY HALL.]

The oldest existing part of the church is the large =south porch=,
almost facing the entrance to St. Mary Hall. The date of this is not
later than 1300. Each jamb of the outside arch has four external and
two internal attached shafts; the pointed arch is deeply moulded,
while the arch rising from the fourth shaft is of round-headed trefoil
form. The ceiling is vaulted with diagonal and intermediate ribs, and
has the appearance of having been added rather later.

A doorway on its east side led to the Cappers' Chapel and there is a
chamber over the porch for centuries appropriated to the meetings of
the Cappers' Company. The present chapel and chamber are contemporary
with the nave.

[Illustration: SOUTH-WEST DOORWAY.]

The external wall of the Dyers' Chapel (now the Baptistery) is canted
so as not to block the Lane, St. Mary Hall having been already built.
Passing east, the road dips gradually and gives this end of the church
a more imposing elevation. After the Cappers' Chapel, there is only a
single aisle forming the Mercers' Chapel and extending as far as the
Presbytery. A door here, made in 1750, is opposite to the Drapers'
Hall. The apse is now encircled with a series of sacristies divided
into five chambers and spanned by flying buttresses. The first two
bays on the south were built at the last restoration the vestry then
removed not being part of the original design. Beneath them on the
ground level is the engine-room pertaining to the organ. Though
sometimes spoken of as an Ambulatory its position on a lower level,
its original want of connection with the south side and above all the
need for sacristies in so large a church dispose of the idea.

Some have thought that the apsidal Lady Chapel of Lichfield Cathedral
built about fifty years earlier suggested an apsidal termination in
the design of Cove