[4] Milner’s Winchester, vol. ii. p. 149.

The lower part of the Nave, as we have already seen, is the most ancient, and allowed to be the work of De Blois.  A portion is included within the choir by throwing back a high wooden screen, within which reclines the full-length figure, in brass, of John de Campden, the friend of Wykeham, who appointed him master of the Hospital.  “The arches which separate the nave from its aisles are pointed; but the columns are of enormous compass, their circumference being equal to their height; the capitals are varied, the bases square, and three out of the four decorated at the angles with huge bosses of flowers.  The roof is simple, with the arms of Beaufort, Wykeham, and others, at the intersections of the ribs, which spring from corbel heads.”  The great western window consists of four parts; on each side are two lights terminating in a distinct arch; in the centre, one light of larger dimensions; and over these, a Catherine wheel composed of three triangles.  The whole is filled with painted glass, a small portion of which is ancient; the remainder was presented in 1788, by Dr. Lockman, the late master.  Dr. Milner terms it curious:  but the critic of The Crypt refers to it as “an exemplification of how much trash and vulgarity in the art can be crowded into a certain compass."[5] Beneath this window stands a double doorway, surmounted by a small quatrefoil window of like colours, enclosed within a pointed arch.  The exterior view of this portal is very fine, and Messrs. Brayley and Britton place it next to the east end, (which is hardly of later date than 1135,) in gradation of style, and refer to it as “an elegant specimen of the time of King John, or the early part of the reign of Henry the Third."[6] Dr. Milner describes this portal as “one of the first specimens of a canopy over a pointed arch, which afterwards became so important a member in this style of architecture:”  he also refers to the window above it as “one of the earliest specimens of a great west window, before transoms, and ramified mullions, were introduced; and therefore the western end of the church must have been altered to receive this and the door beneath it, about the beginning of the thirteenth century, the eastern extremity of the church being left, as it still continues, in its original state.  There is a plain canopy, without any appearance of a pediment over the arch of this window, like that over the portal."[7]

    [5] We should imagine The Crypt Correspondent to be no
        enthusiastic admirer of ancient painted glass, unless of
        the first order of execution.  It must be confessed that
        some ancient specimens have been immoderately over-rated,
        and the olden art has altogether been enveloped in such
        mystery as to cause modern attempts to be unfairly
        estimated.

    [6] Beauties of England, vol. vi. p. 111.