VII. The _south aisle_ of the nave was changed to its present state in 1318, during the abbacy of JOHN THOKEY, (1306-1329). The Norman south wall remains in the interior, together with the half piers, which resemble those in the north aisle. Abbot Thokey erected the present external façade against this Norman wall[8], and re-groined the roof. The exterior of this aisle (see § XX.) is a very fine example of early Decorated[9]. The deeply recessed windows are enriched with the ball-flower, and resemble one of the windows in Merton Chapel, Oxford, from which chapel (founded about 1280), or from that of Gloucester College, founded for student monks of this monastery in 1283, the windows here may have been directly copied. The ball-flower occurs again in profusion at Ledbury, in Herefordshire; but it is rarely used to such an extent as in this aisle, and in the tower of Hereford Cathedral, which is nearly of the same date. At Gloucester a horizontal line drawn across the head of the window, just above the spring of the arch, cuts no fewer than thirty-two ranks of the ball-flower, sixteen within and sixteen without. All the windows of this aisle, as far as the south porch, have been filled with stained glass. The _first_ (beginning from the east) is by WARRINGTON; the _second_, by CLAYTON and BELL, contains the story of Edward II.;--his imprisonment in Berkeley Castle; his murder; the Abbot of Gloucester taking possession of the body; the procession of monks with the body to Gloucester; and the entombment. This window is good and interesting. The glass of the _third_ window is by BELL of Bristol, and is very bad. The _fourth_, by CLAYTON and BELL, represents the coronation of Henry III. in Gloucester Cathedral. The _fifth_, by WARRINGTON, and the _sixth_, by BELL of Bristol, are equally bad. The representations in the stained glass of the cathedral of the great historical events which have been connected with it is an excellent idea, provided such historical glass is not allowed to intrude itself unfittingly. The great defect of the glass in Gloucester Cathedral is its want of plan and uniformity,--owing to the various artists (some very indifferent) who have been employed.