But there is another fine feature about the interior of Norwich, as in that of Gloucester: it is the striking contrast of light and shade, of shadowy nave and brilliant choir. Hereford presents us with the reverse effect—bright nave and gloomy choir. Both effects are dramatic; both, doubtless, are unintentional. If they had known how, or could have afforded it, the Hereford people would have flooded their choir with sunshine, Norwich and Gloucester their naves. The mediæval builders wanted none of these dramatic contrasts of light and shade; they were always working to get rid of the dim religious light that nowadays we venerate; they would have liked their churches lighted thoroughly well throughout. What they wanted was the light, uniformly good, of Lichfield and Exeter: or Salisbury, bright and gay as a ball-room. [Illustration: APSE OF CHOIR.] But the most subtle and most important element in the beauty of the interior of Norwich is to be found in its proportions. The nave is of an immense length, but it is very narrow. York, Canterbury, Lincoln, Durham, all have naves far too short for their breadth. And what is more important still is the ratio of the height of Norwich nave to its span. In most English cathedrals it is 2 to 1; but in Norwich nave the ratio rises to 2⁴⁄₇, and in the presbytery it is 3 to 1. In Norwich presbytery, then, we have just those proportions which we find in the great Gothic cathedrals of France, but in England hardly anywhere except in Westminster Abbey. People admire Norwich presbytery and Westminster presbytery for the same reason, and, no doubt, in most cases, without knowing what the reason is. One thing more remains to be said in praise of Norwich, as of Gloucester. It is that all the glory of the church is concentrated at one spot, and that the most important spot in the church. It is in approaching the high altar that vaults and clerestory soar aloft, that loveliest vistas open out into ambulatory and chapels, while the noble windows above fill all with light and atmosphere. “I would back it,” says Dean Goulburn, “against any similar effect in almost any cathedral in Christendom.” The Cathedral Church of Christ, Oxford. [Illustration: FROM THE FIELDS.]