Ancient_and_modern_York_a_guide

MODERN YORK. 69
was granted ; but the man. did not live to execute his pur
pose: "for," adds Ghent, "he was hurried away by a
violent death, no longer than about a week before he
thought to have put his impious designs into execution."
Thus, fortunately, escaped from destruction, one of the
most elegant structures of the kind in England !
From the north transept, doors open into the vestibtjie
that forms the approach to the chapter-house. The
vestibule is in itself remarkable : the sides are all pierced
with windows, richly painted, and of beautiful tracery ; the
walls beneath them being adorned in a style corresponding.
The chapter-house is built in the form of an octagon ; 63
feet in diameter, and 67 feet 10 inches in height. The
roof is supported without a pillar of any sort ; being
sustained by a pin, geometrically placed by its scientific
constructors, in the centre. Arched windows, of great
beauty, fill seven sides of the house ; and on the eighth side
there is tracery on the wall, above the door-way, corres
ponding with the pattern of the windows. The whole
circumference below the windows is occupied by forty-four
canopied stalls of stone for the canons who composed the
chapter. The arches of these stalls are richly ornamented,
affording a specimen of English tabernacle-work in its
earliest state, and are supported by columns of Petworth
marble ; each column being separate one from the other.
Above the stalls is a walk or gallery that goes round the
chapter-house. The sculpture of this part of the Cathedral
is remarkable for the ludicrous images represented on the
walls. "Here," quoth Ghent, "are antick postures both
of men and beasts. In one place or another, is a man cut
out, half-way, as if he was thrusting and striving with all
strength to get out of a window, or some narrow passage.
In another are several faces, having different aspects, as
one crying, another laughing, a third making wry mouths,
&c. And, what is also very ingenious, in another place is
to be seen an old bald-pated friar kissing a young nun in
the corner." The vaulted roof is of wood, and was, until a