_New Aberdeen._--The Parish Church of St. Nicholas, said to be the largest mediaeval parish church in Scotland, was made collegiate about 1456 by Bishop Ingeram de Lyndesay (1441-1459), and is said to have possessed, besides the vicar, "chaplains to the number of thirty."[230] Its clergy were named the "College of the Chaplains" of St. Nicholas, and after, as before, the institution of this new order the church remained the parish church. Only two portions of the ancient building now remain--the transepts and the crypt at the east end below the choir.[231] The present nave was rebuilt about 1750; the choir was taken down in 1835 and rebuilt in the most tasteless fashion; the walls of the crypt and transepts were all refaced except the north front of the transept, which was altered considerably in the seventeenth century; the central tower was burned in 1874, and the existing central spire was thereafter erected. A carillon of thirty-seven bells has been placed within it. After the Reformation the rood-screen gave place to a wall, and St. Nicholas was divided into two churches, the West consisting of the former nave, the East of the choir, and the Romanesque transept between (known as Drum's and Collison's aisles) serving as vestibule. For the early architecture attention must be confined to the interior of the transept and crypt. The transepts are of the transitional style of the end of the twelfth century; the piers which carry the central tower are of the usual transitional type, having graceful capitals and square abaci supporting round arches; on each side of the north transept there are two original clerestory windows, and one of them has angle shafts, with carved caps and mouldings. The present large north window has remains of its original features, but its tracery is of late work. There is a transition attached shaft with carved cap and square abacus in the low pointed recess. There is only a shaft on one side of the recess, and the pointed arch of this recess, as well as the tomb alongside, below the large window, are of later work.[232] On the west side of the north wall there has been a round arched doorway, and traces of it are yet visible. The crypt is at the east end of the choir, but is on a lower level, and was approached by two stairs, one from the north and another from the south aisle of the choir. Only their round arched openings remain as recesses in the walls of the crypt. The present stairs are modern. The crypt consists of one central and two side aisles, with an eastern apse; it is pronounced to be a very picturesque and interesting structure, and it fortunately escaped being rebuilt, like the rest of the church. It has a groined roof, and the three compartments in the length are separated by pointed arches that spring from moulded caps on octagonal responds. "The opening into the apse has a stunted round arch, and is a prominent example of the love of the Scottish builders for