Original Position of the High Altar 137 
part with one of our members who has special qualifications for 
forming a judgment on the question, and the present paper, though 
bearing my name as the writer, is put forth as the result of that 
conference. It expresses the united ‘opinions of the Right Rev. 
Bishop Clifford, a professional friend of my own parish, and myself, 
as to the real solution of the question. We visited the Cathedral 
together in January last and spent some hours there; Mr. Adye, the 
architect above referred to, kindly making: the illustrative plans for 
us which accompany this paper. 
I will candidly admit that, as we stood at the eastern extremity 
of the present choir, and glanced at the roof-paintings extending 
westward to its entrance, which are themselves of the date of the 
13th century, we felt that there was much to be learnt from them, 
Not only are they all sacred subjects, but there is a marked gradation 
in them, First, we have a number of medallions, each with a patri- ~ 
arch or psalmist or prophet or saint of olden time painted within 
it, extending to the western arch of the lesser transept; and then, 
in the square formed by the intersection of the choir and transept, 
which is in four divisions, we have first of all the apostles in three 
of them, whilst in the fourth and eastern one we have a majestic 
figure of Our Blessed Lord enthroned in glory, surrounded by small 
medallions of the four evangelists. As we gazed on this portion of 
the vaulted roof, and observed how all these sacred subjects culmi- 
nated in the figure of Our Lord, it seemed to us almost irresistibly 
to point out the spot below, as that where the altar once stood, the 
centre round which the worshippers gathered, and to proclaim :— 
‘Non est in tota sanctior ede locus.” 
On the other hand, when we looked further east-ward along what 
is now the presbytery, the roof-paintings are all of a secular character, 
emblems in fact of the various months of the year, and in execution, 
as it appeared to us, inferior to those in the roof of the choir. We 
were aware, from Sir Gilbert Secott’s pamphlet, of Mr. Beresford 
Hope’s ingenious interpretation of the series as typifying the ever- 
recurring services of prayer and praises that have been offered now 
for so many centuries\within these hallowed walls. Still the fact 
