now occupied by the sloping sides.  And yet there is no alteration in the style of ornamentation:  nor are the diamonds, which are divided by the line where the slope joins the horizontal portion, unduly elongated, as would seem to be necessary in the part nearest the wall.  Some change was clearly made when the Decorated arches were built; for above the Norman cornice on which the roof was originally laid, there is now a length of painted wood containing coats of arms obviously of later date than the ceiling.  It is not possible to pronounce with certainty on the question.  But considering (1), that the whole ceiling was certainly raised in consequence of the superior height of the tower arch (2), that no difference can be detected between the centre compartments and those at the side in the patterns, and (3), that additional height has been secured by the Decorated boarding above mentioned, the most probable solution seems to be that the whole is the original Norman work, practically unaltered, and that it was never flat, but had always sloping sides as at present.  All agree that the style of the painting is perfectly characteristic of the period.  The divisions are of the lozenge shape; in each lozenge of the central line is a figure, and in each alternate one of the sides.  The middle set has more elongated lozenges than the others.  The borders are black and white, with some coloured lines, in odd zigzag patterns.  The figures, which are mostly seated, are very quaint and strange.  Some are sacred, some grotesque.  We can see S. Peter with the keys, kings, queens, and minstrels; we find also a head with two faces, a monkey riding backwards on a goat, a human figure with head and hoofs of an ass, a donkey playing a harp, a winged dragon, a dancing lion, an eagle, and other curious devices.

[Illustration:  The Choir and Nave, looking West.]

=The Font= stands between the first and second piers on the north side of the nave; the basin is of a local marble of thirteenth century date, but the lower part is modern.  For many years it was used as a flower pot in one of the prebendal gardens, whence it was rescued by Dean Monk and ultimately restored to its original use in the south end of the western transept.  It was placed where it is in 1920.  Another font had been erected in 1615, as appears by an entry in the cathedral register of that date, when the son of one of the prebendaries was baptized “in the new font in the bodye of the Cathedral Church here.”

=The West Transept= extends beyond the aisles.  The huge pointed arches covered with Norman mouldings are very remarkable.  The arcading which goes round the lower part of the aisle walls was continued round the east sides and the ends of this transept, but it has all been hacked away, and the walls now are flat.  The position of the arcade is very plainly to be seen.  The south end in 1921 was again restored to its former use as a chapel by the Dean of Winchester, Dr. Hutton.  The north end of this transept is used as a vestry.  It is screened off, with the adjacent bays of the north aisle, by some of the woodwork that has been removed from Dean Monk’s choir.  From these specimens the general character of the whole can be easily gathered.