place.

Through the thirteenth-century presbytery, begun by Abbot John of York, and continued and completed by his successors and namesakes, John Pherd and John of Kent, we pass to the beautiful and striking eastern transept-the Lady Chapel or Chapel of Nine Altars. This was mainly, if not altogether, the work of the indefatigable John of Kent. Its façade, 150 feet in length, is the first part of the church to become visible when the more distant glimpses of the tower have been lost in the winding approaches of the valley. The great east window, 60 feet by 23 feet 4 inches, is obviously a late fifteenth-century addition. The nine lights and elaborate tracery of this window seem to have replaced three original lancets, such as may still be seen in the corresponding position at Durham.

With the exception of this and two other windows of the same date in the gables, the Chapel of Nine Altars is pure Early English, and may be compared with the work of Bishop Poore at Salisbury, as well as with the Nine Altars at Durham.

John Darnton, Abbot of Fountains from 1479 to 1494, has not left us in doubt as to the date and authorship of the later parts of the work. On a keystone inserted to hide a settlement in one of the original lancets has been carved the bust of an angel

holding a tun and bearing on his breast the word "Dern." Above is an eagle, and a scroll with the words "B'N'D'FONTES DNO" (Benedicite fontes Domino), and on the inside of the same stone an angel holding a blank shield, a mitred head,

and a figure of St. James of Compostella, standing on two fishes. There is also on the keystone of another Early English window, at the north-east of the chapel, a human head entwined with leaves, and on the inside an angel with a scroll on which is the date" Anno Domini 1483." The lower walls of this chapel, as well as of the presbytery, are adorned

with a beautiful trifoliated arcading, the design of which was repeated in the reredos of the high altar and the screen walls in the arcades. Of the upper walls of the aisle I cannot speak with equal admiration. The lancets are here placed each under an arcade of one pointed arch between two round

headed ones. The latter rest on one side on single columns from which spring the pointed arches over the lancet windows, while on the other they descend much lower to meet the clustered shafts which carried the vaulting ribs. It is perhaps difficult in the present state of the building to judge of the original effect of this arrangement, but it must surely have

been more striking than beautiful. At present, indeed, the presbytery is at best but a seemly antechamber to the glories of the Lady Chapel, but in justice to Abbot John de Cancia we should remember that such was neither the intention nor the original effect of his design.

At the end of the north transept, rising to a height of nearly 170 feet, is Abbot Huby's tower. In the inscriptions above and below its belfry windows, this majestic structure seems to plead humbly for its own right to existence :-"To the King eternal, immortal, invisible"; "To God alone be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen." "Only to the praise of God, and not for any pride or extravagance of men," it seems to say, "was the old Puritanism forgotten. Times have changed, and what was seemly in the twelfth century and suitable to the poverty of a new order is unworthy now of the greatness and prosperity of this famous Cistercian house." What St. Bernard would have said to this "doctrine of development may be open to question, but there can be little doubt that Abbot Huby's best apology is not in the humility of his inscription, but in the triumphant beauty of his work. He must indeed be an uncompromising hater of perpendicular architecture who can resist the simple charm of such perfect proportion.

As we, not seldom, wear the semblance of our own past selves, and preserve in a look or turn of speech some grace long lost out of our lives, so the old tradition seems to have lurked and lingered among these innovators, the old severity to have haunted and subdued their thoughts.

It is time to say a few words about the domestic buildings which at Fountains are so well preserved and so interesting. Instead of attempting a general description, it will be best to confine ourselves mainly to that which is here most distinctive.

The

In speaking of Rievaulx Abbey, I referred to the Cistercian frater, and its pulpit; and I shall therefore only mention here that the great size of the frater at Fountains, viz. 109 feet by 46, prevented its being roofed in a single span, and it was consequently vaulted on a row of four marble columns, of which, however, little or nothing now remains. hall is a fine specimen of Early English domestic architecture, but it is in fact less remarkable than the kitchen. In accordance with the invariable Cistercian plan, the latter is placed immediately on one side of the frater, and, with its yard or garth, corresponds to the warming-house and its woodyard on the other.1

1 Under the frater and through, or close by, both these yards, may usually be traced the main drain of the monastery.