ry. Above the round apse of the
choir at the east end--probably the oldest part of the building--rose
outline upon outline, all bearing the refining mark of age. Much of it
appeared never to have been touched or restored. On the south side was a
tower, of which the lower part was Romanesque, the remainder fourteenth
century and octagonal. Apart from the east end most of the church is
transitional. The roofs are covered with pantiles, but they are not the
original covering, and are not quite in harmony with the rest of the
work.

The west doorways are very fine. Those that open to the aisles are of
the earliest date; the central and more important is fourteenth century,
deeply recessed, with a massive buttress on each side. This doorway
rises to a triangle, above which are many statues of the apostles in
Gothic niches. Above the Romanesque side doors are rose windows with
rare and delicate tracery, and the south door has a finely carved relief
of the Entry into Jerusalem.

The internal effect was most impressive. Few cathedrals are more solidly
built, yet few display greater ornamentation. The columns are splendid,
their richly-carved capitals redeeming the somewhat stern severity of
the pure transition work. The piers are very massive, and the eye is at
once arrested by the early-pointed clerestory and unusually large bays.
The view of the interior of the transept, above which rises the
octagonal lantern with its narrow pointed lights is especially striking.
A little of the coloured glass is very brilliant and sixteenth century,
but the greater part is modern. The chancel is pure Romanesque, the
chapels are chiefly fourteenth century. In the baptistery the font is a
Roman sarcophagus found in the palace of Augustus.

But the cloisters are the gem of the cathedral. Here again was an
architectural dream, grand in design, of noblest proportions: six
splendid bays on each side, each bay enclosing three round arches. These
are divided by coupled shafts of white marble, decorated with dog-tooth
mouldings. Above them two large circles are pierced in the wall, some
retaining the original interlacing work of extreme beauty and delicacy,
and of Moorish origin.

Many of the capitals are quaintly carved, with humorous subjects: one of
them, for instance, representing a procession of rats carrying a cat to
her burial. The cat shams death, and the too-confident rats omit to bind
her. Presently the tables turn: the cat comes to li