This untoward behaviour has had the effect of rendering the work imperfect; for, had the crossing remained, one could supply the choir and nave with a fair amount of certainty. As it is, we cannot make any imaginary restoration, for the whole of the centre, with the adjoining bays, has been rebuilt in a later Norman style, influenced by a morbid fear of a second catastrophe, which led to an undue bulkiness in the piers, where better foundations and harder material would have supplied sufficient security. Let us hope that no second Rufus may be buried beneath the shadow of our precious monuments of art-history! The tower, however, as rebuilt, is a noble work, though of small height. That such stumpiness of proportion was not viewed as essential to the style, we have practical proofs at St. Alban’s, Tewkesbury, and Norwich; so we may safely conclude that, like the needless bulk of the renewed piers, it was the result of the fear that their power would again refuse to canopy the red-haired king, who still lay in the midst of the church, though removed a few feet from being under the tower. The crypt (Fig. 257), which gives us the form of the original sanctuary and eastern chapel, is a fine example of the Early Norman where used for simple purposes. The columns bear some resemblance to those of King Edward’s work at Westminster, though much lighter. Their proportions, however, cannot be seen, owing to their being buried deep in earth, which is, I am sorry to say, not the only barbarism for which the chapter there are responsible. [Illustration: Fig. 257.--Crypt, Winchester Cathedral.] The nave, as is so well known, was converted into another style by Wykham and his predecessor, Eddington (Fig. 258); the last-named of whom must, I suppose, have destroyed the two western towers, if ever they had been carried up. We know them only by their foundations. In the same county are the two noble minsters of Christchurch and Romsey, the former of which I will mention presently; meanwhile I will carry you in thought to Ely, where Walkelyn’s brother, Abbot Symeon, undertook, a little later and in his extreme old age, the reconstruction of his abbey church on a vast scale. The parts built or commenced building by Symeon were the eastern arm, the transepts, the central tower, and probably a bay of the nave; for, be it [Illustration: Fig. 258.--The Nave, Winchester Cathedral.]