If I must discover a
defect, I should say that the lines appear to want substance; the
mouldings of the arches are shallow. The building is all window. Were
it made of cast iron, it could scarcely look less solid. This effect is
particularly increased by the circumstance of the clerestory-gallery
opening into the glazed tracery of the windows behind, the lines of the
one corresponding with those of the other. To each of the clustered
columns of the nave is attached a tabernacle, consisting of a canopy and
pedestal, evidently intended originally to have received the image of a
saint. It does not appear to have been the design of the architect that
the pillars of the choir should have had similar ornaments; but upon one
of them, at about mid-height, serving as a corbel to a truncated column,
is a head of our Saviour, and, on the opposite pillar, one of the
Virgin: the former is of a remarkably fine antique character. The
capitals of the pillars in this part of the church were all gilt, and
the spandrils of the arches painted with angels, now nearly effaced.
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