student should remember, however, that at St. Alban’s there is a good deal of what is called assimilation. The Lancet bays and the Curvilinear bays in the nave are not typical and characteristic of their respective periods. The architects of these bays had not a free hand. They were not able to compose the design simply to suit the fashion of the day. Their bays were to be Lancet and Curvilinear only so far as might be without ruining the general design and proportions of the nave as a whole. With these reservations, the tyro in architecture is recommended to select St. Alban’s as his “Introduction to Mediæval Architecture.” If he comes from London, he should choose the longer route, by the London & North-Western Railway: he will have less distance to walk on arriving, and will see the cathedral from the most picturesque point of view. If time permits, he should proceed direct from the railway station to Verulamium, and see the Roman walls and fosse, and the interesting church of St. Michael’s, with the famous monument of Lord Bacon, before visiting the cathedral. [Illustration: NAVE, NORTH SIDE.] In Roman times the town was on the other side of the little river, the Ver, a tributary of the Colne, and hence was called Verulamium. In the revolt of Boadicea it was burnt, but was soon rebuilt. In the year 303, “there was gret persecution of Christen pepell by the tyrant Diocletian”; and Alban, a citizen of Verulamium, who had given shelter to a Welsh priest, Amphibalus, was scourged, and then dragged along the ancient British causeway, which still exists, across the Ver, and up the lane to the top of the hill afterwards called Holmhurst, and there put to death. Amphibalus suffered the same fate. On the west wall of the north transept of the cathedral, just under a round-headed window, is a small black cross cut in stone. “This marks the traditional site of the martyrdom of St. Alban, when there was neither town nor abbey in this place, but only a flowery slope planted with trees.” In the fifth century the English conquered the district. They abandoned Verulamium, and built the present town on the hill of Holmhurst, calling it Watlingceaster, as Watling Street ran through it. In the year 793, Offa, king of Mercia, treacherously murdered Ethelbert, king of East Anglia (see HEREFORD). It was revealed to him in a vision that, by way of penance, he should seek out the body of St. Alban, and there erect a monastery. King, archbishop, bishops, priests, and a great multitude of common people, searched the hill of Holmhurst, and found the relics of the martyr. A church was built, and richly endowed, and was entrusted to Benedictine monks. It remained a Benedictine abbey-church till the Dissolution, in 1539. Then it became a parish church, and in 1875 a cathedral. [Illustration: TRIFORIUM OF TRANSEPT.]