The Second,
Or Outward, Of Each Pair Of Aisles Is Too Low, And The
First Too High; Without This Inequality The Nave Would
Appear To Take An Even More Prodigious Flight.
The
double aisles pass all the way round the choir, the
windows of which are inordinately rich in magnificent
old glass.
I have seen glass as fine in other churches;
but I think I have never seen so much of it at once.
Beside the cathedral, on the north, is a curious
structure of the fourteenth or fifteenth century, which
looks like an enormous flying buttress, with its sup-
port, sustaining the north tower. It makes a massive
arch, high in the air, and produces a romantic effect
as people pass under it to the open gardens of the
Archeveche, which extend to a considerable distance
in the rear of the church. The structure supporting
the arch has the girth of a largeish house, and con-
tains chambers with whose uses I am unacquainted,
but to which the deep pulsations of the cathedral, the
vibration of its mighty bells, and the roll of its organ-
tones must be transmitted even through the great arm
of stone.
The archiepiscopal palace, not walled in as at Tours,
is visible as a stately habitation of the last century,
now in course of reparation in consequence of a fire.
From this side, and from the gardens of the palace,
the nave of the cathedral is visible in all its great
length and height, with its extraordinary multitude of
supports.
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