three bold
arches and its simple yet delicate decoration. After the fire in 1829 it
was proposed to remove it, and one is almost tempted to regret that it
was not removed. The nave at York would be enormously improved by a
closer connection with the choir. Under any circumstances the nave must
be somewhat cold and ineffective; it would be far less so if the eye
could pass with scarcely a break into the sumptuous choir. The naves of
English cathedrals are too apt to look like splendid museums rather than
places of worship, and this is peculiarly the case with the nave at
York. Doctor Milner has stated, though apparently without authority,
that this screen was taken from the Abbey Church of St. Mary, close to
the cathedral. It is difficult to understand how it could have fitted so
much narrower a building.

[Illustration: The Choir, looking East.]

[Illustration: Bay of Choir--Interior.]

The choir itself, with the retro-choir or Lady Chapel, is divided into
nine bays. It is considerably the largest and loftiest in England, being
over 100 feet high and 99 wide. The altar is three bays from the east
end, and one bay west of the altar are the eastern transepts. The choir
was begun at the east end in 1361, and finished in 1405. There are
differences between the earlier work east and the later work west of the
transepts, which will be pointed out, though the plan of both is the
same.

The plan, allowing for differences in detail caused by the change of
style, is very like that of the nave. It is, therefore, an interesting
example of a Perpendicular building carried out on the lines of an
earlier Decorated design. When the east end of the choir was begun
(1361) the Gothic style was fast reaching its fullest development in
England. The nave of Winchester, a contemporary building, is the finest
example of that development. There, as has been pointed out, the
vertical division made by the vaulting shafts and the mouldings on each
side of them becomes the most important feature in the design. The
window tracery is planned merely as a frame for glass, and not as a
design interesting in itself. Decoration supplied in earlier work by
carved foliage, deep and various mouldings, and elaborate tracery, gives
way to a system of lines emphasising construction as completely as
possible. The contrasts between masses of ornament and blank walls,
which play so great a part in earlier Gothic, disappear; and the only
contrast is between th