The author of the work entitled English
Architecture, seems to prefer the Gothic
to the Grecian architecture, as most suited
to the purposes of devotion, and gives this
edifice as an instance, " There is in it,
" says he, a majesty and grandeur, a
" sedate, and if we may so speak, reli-
" gious dignity, which immediately strikes
" the imagination; and never failed to
" impress on the most insensible observer,
" that holy awe which should attend, and
" which always disposes the mind to de-
" votion."  But this holy awe, thus me-
chanically incited, would be as friendly to
Paganism as to Christianity; and indeed,
this awe is so far from being holy, that it
is a thing intirely distinct from rational
piety and devotion, and may be felt with-
out any inclination to enter the choir.

Indeed the multiplicity of puerile orna-
ments profusely lavished, the strong and
beautiful perspective, and that romantic
air of grandeur so visible in this structure,
and above all the height of the middle isle
at our first entrance, fill the eye, strike us
in a very forcible manner, and at once raise

The extent of the building is very con-
siderable; for it is 360 feet within the
walls, at the nave it is 72 feet broad, and
at the cross 195.  The Gothic arches and
side isles are supported by 48 pillars of grey
marble, each composed of clusters of very
slender ones, and covered with ornaments.
The moment you enter the west door the
whole body of the church opens itself at
once to your view, the pillars dividing the
nave from the side isles being so formed as
not to obstruct the side openings, nor is
your sight terminated to the east, but by
the fine painted window over Edward the
Confessor's chapel, which anciently, when
the altar was low, and adorned with the
beautiful shrine of that pretended saint,
must have afforded one of the finest pro-
spects that can be imagined.

The pillars are terminated to the east by
a sweep, inclosing the chapel of Edward
the Confessor, in a kind of semicircle.  And