boldly
detached from the pear-shaped moulding round which they are grouped.
These shafts carry the ribs of the groined vault, and divide the porch
into two square bays. Their capitals are very boldly undercut, and
bear distinct traces of Romanesque influence; indeed, the volutes of
the cap on the west side give it almost the appearance of a very
freely-carved Corinthian capital. Those at the angles are of like
fashion, except that on the north-east, which has fuller and freer
foliage, wherein stands a man shooting with his bow at a bird, the
whole most vigorously conceived.

[Illustration: The North Porch.]

In the uppermost arcade the little touch of foliage that is worked on
to the junction of the mullions (which are made up of four pear-shaped
mouldings) illustrates the love of delicate things that is so
characteristic of this architect. Below is a projecting double arcade,
behind which, against the wall, is a third row of arches: the outer
mouldings intersect and the abaci of the outer caps are finished off
in a carefully restrained curl of foliage; those on the soffit are
deeply undercut, by means of which a very black shadow is secured. All
the capitals are carved with the stiff-leafed foliage; and in the
spandrels are grotesque beasts, full of character. The string-course
below is finished with dragons who bend round and swallow the end of
the string, their tails (on the west side) twisting right along the
moulding. It is significant of the free way in which the masons were
employed, that the carving varies very much on the two sides. The
grotesques in the spandrels above mentioned are finest on the east
side, but the dragons of the string course are best on the west side,
where their expressions, as they bite the moulding, are full of life
and humour. On this western side, too, the foliage which fills the
spandrels of the lowest arcade is at its best; it is indeed the purest
and truest piece of decorative work in the whole cathedral. Each
moulding in this beautiful porch, from the filleted ribs of the groins
to the bands round the shafts, and the moulded edge of the stone
bench, is most carefully thought out, and adapted to its position, in
a way that every architect will appreciate. The double doorway which
leads into the church has an unusual and most effective moulding on
its jambs, very large and simple, with slight projections worked upon
it: the inner moulding of the enclosing arch, however, is a boldly