88 YORK: WITH A FEW NOTES ON BEVERLEY. 
feet thick. The window consists of two sets of mullions, one 
behind the other. These are tied together by cross transomes at 
various points, the whole being finally attached to the outer tracery. 
At this point there is a platform at least two feet wide (at any rate, 
wide enough) for persons to walk across; and, as a matter of fact, 
there are staircases provided in the angles of the Lady Chapel giving 
access to this passage across this window. Now, with reference to 
the mechanical principle of this arrangement ; it will be, of course, 
patent to anyone that the double mullion, by giving such an 
extended base, and being tied in at various levels, and connected 
longitudinally by the tracery to the outer stonework, acts in the 
same way asa table with four or more legs and spindle bars; for, 
whereas a table leg by itself would have no possibility of standing, 
yet, when connected with the other legs by transome framing, it 
becomes at once stable and strong, and it would be difficult to 
push it over; so with the tracery of this window, and yet it is so 
beautifully designed and arranged that the interior mullion in no 
way interferes with the stained glass, and a casual observer would 
never know that what I have attempted to describe was an actual 
fact until he got within a few feet of the window. 
The Chapter House itself is sixty-three feet in diameter, and is 
nearly sixty-eight feet high. 
This Chapter House has no central pillar as in most chapter 
houses, and this is considered to add to its beauty, but at any rate 
it does not add to its usefulness ; for the immense space, without 
anything to break up the sound waves, is conducive to an echo 
that entirely prevents anything being heard even half across the 
diameter of the place; and although there are forty-four stone stalls 
for the chapter dignitaries arranged around the walls, they can be 
of no use whatever for business purposes. These stalls are 
ornamented with splendid projecting canopies, enriched with 
wonderful carving, no two of which are alike. The windows, with 
the exception of one, are all filled with magnificent old stained 
glass. This Chapter House is considered to be an architectural 
gem. 
The west front is an elaborate combination of niches and 
