“All agree that the style of the painting is perfectly characteristic of the period. The divisions are of the lozenge shape; in each lozenge of the central line is a figure, and in each alternate one of the sides. The middle set has more elongated lozenges than the others. The borders are black and white, with some coloured lines, in odd zigzag patterns. The figures, which are mostly seated, are very quaint and strange. Some are sacred, some grotesque. We can see St. Peter with the keys, kings, queens and minstrels; we find also a head with two faces, a monkey riding backwards on a goat, a human figure with head and hoof of an ass, a horse playing a harp, a winged dragon, a dancing lion, an eagle, and other curious devices.”--(W. D. S.) The =Choir= begins with the two east bays of the nave (the same arrangement occurs at Norwich), and runs through the space under the tower and [Illustration: PETERBOROUGH: CHOIR, EAST] [Illustration: PETERBOROUGH: SOUTH] takes up four bays east of the tower. The piers are alternately round and polygonal. “This portion was the earliest part of the Cathedral, and was constructed by Abbot de Sais (1114-1125). The hatchet moulding is conspicuous. The triforium arches are double like the nave, and the clerestory has triple arches, the centre one being the highest. The apse is particularly fine. The Decorated style is evident in the windows, which were inserted in the Fourteenth Century instead of the old Norman ones, and the hanging tracery of graceful design was then added. The roof of the choir is late Fourteenth Century work except at the east end where the roof is flat. Here Cromwell’s soldiers discharged their muskets at the figure of our Lord in glory, which they deemed to be an idol. This ceiling was decorated in 1884 by Sir Gilbert Scott. The bosses of the rest of the roof are curious. Nearly all the old glass was destroyed in the Puritan desecration; the remaining fragments have been placed in the two highest east windows. The fittings of the choir are modern except an ancient lectern of Fifteenth Century date, given by Abbot Ramsay and Prior Malden, as the inscription testifies, though it is now scarcely legible. The choir-stalls are remarkably fine. The carved figures contain a history of the Cathedral written in wood.”--(P. H. D.) Passing behind the High Altar we come to the Retro-Choir, or =New Building=: