(_b_) Bere was impregnated with the new ideas, and was the friend of Erasmus. A letter of his to Erasmus is extant. His sympathy with new and more liberal views would be reflected in a wider culture, and the influence of the Italian Renaissance, already affecting English art in minor ways, may well have moved him to become a pioneer in introducing the style which, a half-century later, usurped the place of our native "Tudor" forms. These he used as a master, and had developed them to their highest pitch. (_c_) The duration of his visit to Italy is at present unknown to us, but the circumstance of the death of Pius III.--if he overstayed that event--would make for delay and give him time to devote to the study of Italian architectural models. (_d_) The circumstances of his vow are also, so far as we know, not a matter of history; but the vow itself or the intention which clearly implies it is our reading of Leland's note. The Chapel is undoubtedly a thank-offering. It is built to the honour of Our Lady in the particular aspect of an "Italian" saint of local repute, possessed of the attribute of protection to life and health. The choice of a style and character for the monument designed by Bere would very naturally be consonant with that prevailing locally--_i.e._, Italian. (_e_) A few fragments of plain moulded work, of Italian character, have been noted amongst the débris of the Abbey. These were hitherto supposed to have belonged to some Elizabethan building, now destroyed, whose remains had somehow found their way into the general mass of Abbey fragments. WORKING HYPOTHESIS. _That a Chapel dedicated to an "Italian" Madonna, erected by an Abbot of liberal views, impressed by the newer learning and culture, immediately on his return from a visit to Italy, at a time when the forms of Italian Renaissance were in process of adaptation to Gothic buildings, might well have been influenced in its design by Italian ideas, even to a wholesale extent, and that if an Italian master were employed, as appears by no means an unreasonable idea, an entirely Italian model may have been followed._ _That the type that would evoke most readily the Abbot's artistic sympathies would be a North Italian type, not too far removed from the principles of architectural form to which he had been habituated. An entirely Roman model, on purely classic lines, is for this reason less likely. But the selection of an Italian master for the purpose of carrying out Bere's scheme almost necessarily follows if the intention to employ an Italian style be conceded. Bere could not do this unaided, as an Abbot would not be his own architect._ D.--AS TO THE STYLE OF THE BUILDING AT THE ANGLE OF THE TRANSEPT AND NORTH AISLE OF NAVE. SCRIPT