other "fine jointed masonry," and this is the best and safest distinction between early and late Norman work, the rule is almost of universal application. In confirmation of this, we may cite another passage from William of Malmesbury, describing the work of his own time, and what he had probably seen himself. "He (Roger, bishop of Salisbury) was a prelate of great mind, and spared no expense towards completing his designs, especially in buildings; which may be seen in other places, but more particularly at Salisbury and at Malmesbury, for there he erected extensive edifices at vast cost, and with surpassing beauty, the courses of stone being so correctly laid that the joint deceives the eye, and leads it to imagine that the whole wall is composed of a single block. He built anew the church of Salisbury, and beautified it in such a manner, that it yields to none in England, but surpasses many; so that he had just cause to say, 'Lord, I have loved the glory of Thy house."" The buildings here alluded to were erected between 1115 and 1139, this may then fairly be considered as the turning point between early

and late Norman work; and here it will be convenient to pause in our history, and describe the characteristic features of early Norman work. It will be desirable in the first place again to call in the evidence of an eye witness to the change, and this we are fortunately able to do. Gervase the monk, in his description of the reconstruction of Canterbury cathedral after the great fire, draws this contrast between the old and the new work.

"It has been stated that after the fire nearly all the old portions of the choir were destroyed and changed into somewhat new and of a more noble fashion; the differences between the two works may now be enumerated. The pillars of the old and new work are alike in form and thickness, but different in length. For the new pillars were elongated by almost twelve feet. In the old capitals the work was plain, in the new ones exquisite in sculpture. There the circuit of the choir had twenty-two pillars, here are twenty-eight. There the arches and every thing else was plain, or sculptured with an axe and not with a chisel. But

Part of Arcade, Canterbury, shewing the junction of old and new work, A D. 1110 and 1180

No marble columns were there, but here are

innumerable ones.

There in the circuit around

the choir the vaults were plain, but here they are arch-ribbed and have key-stones. There a wall set upon pillars divided the crosses from the choir, but here the crosses are separated from the choir by no such partition, and converge together in one keystone, which is placed in the middle of the great vault, which rests upon the four principal pillars. There, there was a ceiling of wood decorated with excellent painting, but here is a vault beautifully constructed of stone and light tufa. There was a single triforium, but here are two in the choir, and a third in the aisle of the church. All which will be better understood by inspection than by any description."

It will at once be seen that although this is a description of a particular building, a great deal of it is of general application. It is not probable that if the workmen employed on the early Norman buildings were accustomed to the free use of the chisel, they would have used the axe only, in so important a work as the glorious choir of Prior Conrad, who completed St. Anselm's work. Accordingly, we

find in early Norman work that the chisel was very little used, most of the ornaments are such as can be readily worked with the axe, and whatever sculpture there is, appears to have been executed afterwards, for it was a general practice to execute sculpture after the stones were placed; some of the capitals in the crypt of Canterbury are only half finished to this day, the work of carving having probably gone on until it was stopped by the great fire. If the sculpture is early it is very rude, and the work is shallow, of which the font at East Meon, in Hampshire, is a good example.

Although the roofs of the aisles at Canterbury had been vaulted, the choir itself had a flat boarded ceiling, painted like that still remaining at Peterborough.

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