178 AN OCTOBER ABROAD. 



and buildings ; yet the glimpses he does get here and 

 there through the opening made by some street, 

 when passing in its vicinity, are very striking and 

 suggestive ; the thin veil of smoke, which is here as 

 constant and uniform as the atmosphere itself, wrap- 

 ping it about with the enchantment of time and dis- 

 tance. 



The interior I found even more impressive than 

 the exterior, perhaps because I was unprepared for 

 it. I had become used to imposing exteriors at home, 

 and did not reflect that in a structure like this I 

 should see an interior also, and that here alone the 

 soul of the building would be fully revealed. It was 

 Miltonic in the best sense ; it was like the mightiest 

 organ music put into form. Such depths, such solemn 

 vastness, such gulfs and abysses of architectural space, 

 the rich, mellow light, the haze outside becoming a 

 mysterious, hallowing presence within, quite mas- 

 tered me, and I sat down upon a seat, feeling my first 

 genuine cathedral intoxication. As it was really an 

 intoxication, a sense of majesty and power quite 

 overwhelming in my then uncloyed condition, I speak 

 of it the more freely. My companions rushed about 

 as if each one had had a search-warrant in his pocket ; 

 but I was content to uncover my head and drop into 

 a seat, and busy my mind with some simple object 

 near at hand, while the sublimity that soared about 

 me stole into my soul, and possessed it. My sensa- 

 tion was like that imparted by suddenly reaching a 

 great altitude ; there was a sort of relaxation of the 



