VII. The windows, however, were, as usual, in the builders’ hands throughout the whole of the fourteenth century—especially those of the dark Norman nave. In the Curvilinear period flowing tracery was inserted in the lower range of lights in the sanctuary, and improvements were made in the clerestory of the south transept, now that it was to be used as a Lady chapel. In the Perpendicular period the narrow north aisle of the choir, darkened by Gundulph’s tower on one side and on the other by the solid wall of the choir, was raised, lighted, and vaulted. Then the nave was taken in hand; Perpendicular windows were inserted in the aisles, and a great window in the west end; the whole of the Norman clerestory was taken off, a new clerestory and a new wooden roof were put up. Thus the nave got plenty of light. VIII. In 1664 the south aisle of the nave was recased; and in 1670 the third, fourth and fifth bays, counting from the west, in the north aisle of the choir, were rebuilt. IX. In 1830 Cottingham put up the present central tower. In 1871 the cathedral was restored by Scott. The Cathedral Church of St. Alban. [Illustration: FROM SOUTH-WEST.] Of all our cathedrals none is so composite and heterogeneous as the ancient church of the Benedictine abbey of St. Alban. It is mainly built—even the fourteenth-century Lady chapel—of Roman tiles. Saxon balusters appear in the triforium of the transepts. In the nave and transepts and tower is Early Norman work, unequalled in extent and grandeur; in the south transept are built up the fragments of a Late Norman doorway, to which period, or to the first days of the Transitional period (1145-1190), belongs the interlacing arcade now placed above it. In the west front and the western bays of the nave is Lancet work of two periods (1190-1245). In the sanctuary is seen Early Geometrical work (1245-1280); the ante-chapel, commenced in the Early, was finished in the Late Geometrical period (1280-1315). The Lady chapel (1291-1326) is a most interesting example of the transition from the Late Geometrical to the Curvilinear style. The latter is represented by the five eastern bays on the south side of the nave, by the remains of the cloisters, by the shrines of St. Alban and St. Amphibalus, and by the Holy Rood screen (1315-1360). Perpendicular work is represented by the alterations to the cloisters, by the abbey gatehouse, by the triforium windows on the north side of the nave and choir, inserted when the aisle roofs were lowered, by the watching-loft, by the chantries of the Duke of Gloucester and Abbot Wheathampstead, and by the reredos and painted ceiling. Tudor work appears in the chapel of the Transfiguration, and in the admirable chantry of Abbot Ramryge; while the “Gothic revival” is stamped on every feature of Lord Grimthorpe’s façades to the west, north and south. There is not a single hiatus in the series. St. Alban’s is a veritable architectural handbook, written in brick and stone. The