above the corbel, near the level of the capitals, they assume the form of a triple vaulting shaft of the usual design. The same arrangement has been copied in the transept (Fig. 790), where the piers seem to have been carried up from old bases, as the double vaulting shaft has no proper base, but simply buts against the round form of the ancient base (see Fig. 787), and in some cases fits on to it awkwardly. [Illustration: FIG. 783.--Melrose Abbey. Abbot Hunter’s Arms.] Turning now to the choir, we find that the east wall and the other eastern parts of the structure are more recent than the nave. Probably this portion of the church (see Fig. 774) had been more damaged by Richard II. than the nave, and required to be almost wholly rebuilt. The style here corresponds closely with the “perpendicular” of England which prevailed in the fifteenth century. Most of the clerestory windows of the choir and presbytery are markedly in this style. The great eastern window (see Fig. 774) is exceptional and unique, but it has more of the character of perpendicular than any other style. The design of the buttresses is slightly different from that of the south wall of the transept (compare Figs. 772 and 774), but the niches and canopies are very similar. The upper part of the gable consists of a series of niches [Illustration: FIG. 784.--Melrose Abbey. West Side of South Transept.] over the window arch, which diminish as they ascend towards the apex; and the gable coping, crowned with a pierced parapet, filled in with quatrefoils, corresponds generally in both cases. The design of the choir appears to have been borrowed from that of the transept, but is of a lighter character; or possibly the latter may have been damaged in 1385, and the upper part of both gables may have been designed by the artist who had charge of the restoration in the fifteenth century. It will be observed that flying buttresses are continued round this part of the structure as well as the nave. [Illustration: FIG. 785.--Melrose Abbey. Clerestory Window in West Wall of South Transept.] As above stated, the upper portion of the choir walls has been reconstructed at a date in the fifteenth century later than the nave. The [Illustration: FIG. 786.--Melrose Abbey. Base of Pier, South Aisle of Nave.] [Illustration: FIG. 787.--Melrose Abbey. Base of East Piers of Transept.] [Illustration: FIG. 788.--Melrose Abbey. Bases of Nave Piers and Base of Exterior of Choir.] [Illustration: FIG. 789.--Melrose Abbey. Vaulting Shafts of Main Nave Piers.]