First, there are
these round arches, supported by gigantic columns; then, immediately
above, another row of round arches, behind which is the usual gallery
that runs, as it were, in the thickness of the wall, around the nave of
the cathedral; then, above all, another row of round arches, enclosing
the windows of the clere-story. The great pillars are ornamented in
various ways,--some with a great spiral groove running from bottom to
top; others with two spirals, ascending in different directions, so as to
cross over one another; some are fluted or channelled straight up and
down; some are wrought with chevrons, like those on the sleeve of a
police-inspector. There are zigzag cuttings and carvings, which I do not
know how to name scientifically, round the arches of the doors and
windows; but nothing that seems to have flowered out spontaneously, as
natural incidents of a grand and beautiful design. In the nave, between
the columns of the side aisles, I saw one or two monuments. . . . .
The cathedral service is very long; and though the choral part of it is
pleasant enough, I thought it not best to wait for the sermon, especially
as it would have been quite unintelligible, so remotely as I sat in the
great space.
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