202 



SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. (4.) 



This is, in some respects, the most imposing structure of English 

 cathedrals, and it may be said to stand completely isolated, having only on 

 one side its own cloisters and chapter house : the external appearance is 

 noble and striking, and the spire is the finest thing of the kind in this 

 country. The inside, though it cannot vie with the magnificence of 

 other cathedrals, can yet lay claim to be considered chaste and beautiful. 

 The fagade of the west front is nearly in the form of a square, and is 

 richly ornamented with niches, statues, tracery, &c. Over the central 

 door is a large window divided into three compartments, the middle one 

 rising considerably above the others. The length of this front is one 

 hundred and twelve feet, but the line is extended for two hundred and 

 seventeen feet farther to the south, by the west wall of the square forming 

 the cloisters; east from this is the square chapter house, an octagonal 

 building, fifty-eight feet in diameter by fifty-two in height. The extreme 

 length of the church, externally, is four hundred and seventy-four, and 

 of the transept two hundred and thirty feet; the height from the floor of 

 the nave to the roof is eighty-one feet. But the glory of Salisbury 

 Cathedral is its greatest central tower, with the sharp pointed spire by 

 which it is crowned. The entire height is four hundred and four feet 

 (according to some, four hundred and forty-three feet). It is the highest 

 building of stone in England ; the tower up to the point at which the 

 spire commences, is adorned with pilasters, columns, pinnacles, &c. : the 

 spire is evidently of more modern erection, and it is said that the spire 

 is, from the sinking of the tower, twenty-two inches out of the perpen- 

 dicular. The cathedral (except the spire) was finished in 5260, by Giles 

 de Bridport, the then bishop of the diocese. 



SAINT PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. (5.) 



The following is an estimate of its dimensions : 



feet. 



From east to west within the walls .... 510 



From north to south within the doors of the Porticos . 282 



Breadth of the west entrance. . / . .100 



Its circuit . . . . . . . 2292 



Its height within, from the centre of the floor to the Cross . 404 



