“We now notice the Porch with the parvise over it. This was built late in the Fourteenth Century in order to give additional strength to the west front and act as a kind of buttress to the piers of the central arch. The design is very beautiful. The entrance has an obtuse arch, and above a Perpendicular window with elliptical arch. Buttresses empanelled with niches stand on each side. It has a stone vault of good design. One boss is curious, representing the Trinity. The attitude of the Saviour shows that the figure was designed by a freemason, and bears witness to the antiquity of that fraternity. The parvise is now a library.”--(P. H. D.) In the latter years of the Fourteenth Century the central porch, with its upper room, =Parvise=, was added between the two middle piers of the west front. It has been regarded by some critics as a blemish and by others as an improvement, but it was probably a necessity for the purpose of extra stability. “The construction of this elegant little edifice is extremely scientific, especially in the matter in which the thrust is distributed through the medium of the side turrets so as to fall upon the buttresses in front. These turrets being erected against one side of the triangular columns, on the right and the left hand, support them in two directions at once, viz., from collapsing towards each other, and from falling forward. The latter pressure is thrown wholly upon the buttresses in front, which project seven feet beyond the base of the great pillars.”--(F. A. P.) Turning now to a description: