towards the building fund. One of his first duties was to complete the choir, a payment being made to William Canon of L35 2s. 8d. for "marble from Corfe for the columns." But the choir was really Bytton's, the new bishop had only to give to it "a few final, though not unimportant, touches." Still he found plenty of work to hand that might receive the impress of his sole initiative. He designed and completed the triforium arcade above the choir arches, and directed the colouring of the choir vault, the total expenses for oil and colour being estimated at L1 9s. 73/4d. By these "final touches" the transformation of the choir into the Decorated style was completed. But Stapledon determined to further enrich his already beautiful church with accessories of surpassing splendour. He erected a high altar of silver, also the beautiful sedilia, and though there has been a good deal of dispute about the matter, the more trustworthy authorities attribute to him the bishop's throne of carved wood. At any rate, in 1312, there is a charge of L6 12s. 81/2d. for "timber for the bishop's seat." The altar, unfortunately, has disappeared, but it is reputed to have cost a sum equivalent to L7,000 of our money. Canon Freeman thus describes it: "Above, as it should seem (for the entries are very obscure), was a canopy of considerable extent, wrought with bosses internally. The whole seems to have been surmounted by a figure of our Lord." With Stapledon building seems to have been a favourite recreation; for though he gave most largely both of time and money to the cathedral work, he found opportunity to build and endow Harts Hall, Stapledon Inn--now Exeter College--Oxford, and the "very fair" Essex House in London. In 1320 he was created Lord High Treasurer by Edward II., and later in the same year received from his sovereign the power of holding pleas of "hue and cry" in the lands, tenements, and fees of the bishopric in the county of Cornwall. The neglected condition of many of the parish churches in his diocese distressed him, and almost his last public appearance in the west of England was at Lawhitton, where he spoke severely on this matter to his Dean and Chapter, and bade them see to it that in future there should be no good cause of complaint. In the autumn of 1324 he set out for France, accompanying the young Prince Edward, who was about to do homage to the French king for the duchies of Aquitaine and Poitou. But his "irreproachable integrity" made him unpopular, and his life was threatened. On his return to England he saw that a crisis was at hand, and almost immediately after his arrival Queen Eleanor landed on the coast of Suffolk. Edward II., in a brief moment of wisdom, assigned to the faithful bishop the government of London and retreated to Bristol. But it was too late to effect a reconciliation or prevent a catastrophe. With a firm hand Stapledon endeavoured to restore order and quiet, and