SALISB UR Y CA TIIEDRAL. 309 



Along the sides of many of the streets of Salisbury there flows, 

 in little canals some six feet wide by two or three deep, with 

 frequent bridges to the houses, a beautifully clear, rapid stream 

 of water. Otherwise, the general appearance of the town is of 

 meagre interest compared with others we have been in. But it 

 has one crowning glory the cathedral. 



The cathedral, in many of its parts, and from certain positions, 

 as a whole, is very beautiful ; the symmetrical spire, especially 

 against an evening sky, is very fine. It is taller by several feet 

 than any other in England, though overtopped by several of the 

 Continental churches. 



We have more pleasure in contemplating it, and enjoy more 

 to wander around and through it, than any we have seen before. 

 It is more satisfactory to us. This, I believe, is partly because 

 of its greater size, partly because of its completeness, its unity : 

 though six hundred years old, you would not readily perceive in 

 approaching it that it was not entirely a new edifice ; no repairs, 

 no additions, especially no meddlesome restorations. Its history 

 is worthy of note with respect to this : it was only thirty-eight 

 years in construction, except the spire, which was added rather 

 later, and is more florid, which is only to be regretted. 



We admire and enjoy it, and yet not nearly so much as we 

 should have expected to from an imagination of what such a 

 great, expensive, and artistic pile would be. You will wonder 

 why. I don't know that I can tell you. It fails in massiveness 

 and grandeur. From some quarters it appears a mere clutter of 

 wall, windows, buttresses, and pinnacles, each of which may be 

 fine enough in itself, but which gain nothing from their combina- 

 tion. There is nowhere a sufficient breadth and mass of wall, I 

 suspect, for the grandeur we demand. Once or twice only did it 

 awaken any thing like a sense of sublimity, and then it did not 

 appear to me to be due to any architectural intention. 



