What would they be with the sun shining through them!
With all their brilliancy, moreover, they were as soft as rose-leaves.
I never saw any piece of human architecture so beautiful as this
chapter-house; at least, I thought so while I was looking at it, and
think so still; and it owed its beauty in very great measure to the
painted windows: I remember looking at these windows from the outside
yesterday, and seeing nothing but an opaque old crust of conglomerated
panes of glass; but now that gloomy mystery was radiantly solved.
Returning into the body of the cathedral, we next entered the choir,
where, instead of the crimson cushions and draperies which we had seen
yesterday, we found everything folded in black. It was a token of
mourning for one of the canons, who died on Saturday night. The great
east window, seventy-five feet high, and full of old painted glass in
many exquisitely wrought and imagined Scriptural designs, is considered
the most splendid object in the Minster. It is a pity that it is
partially hidden from view, even in the choir, by a screen before the
high altar; but indeed, the Gothic architects seem first to imagine
beautiful and noble things, and then to consider how they may best be
partially screened from sight.
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