class, and was once, I suspect, much richer in the bibliographical lore
of the fifteenth century.

On reaching the last descending step, just before entering the church,
the Vice-Principal bade me look upward and view the corkscrew staircase.
I did so; and to view and admire was one and the same operation of the
mind. It was the most perfect and extraordinary thing of the kind which
I had ever seen--the consummation, as I was told, of that particular
species of art. The church is the very perfection of ecclesiastical
Roman architecture; that of Chremsminster, altho' fine, being much
inferior to it in loftiness and richness of decoration. The windows
are fixt so as to throw their concentrated light beneath a dome, of no
ordinary height, and of no ordinary elegance of decoration; but this
dome is suffering from damp, and the paintings upon the ceiling will,
unless repaired, be effaced in the course of a few years.

The church is in the shape of a cross; and at the end of each of the
transepts, is a rich altar, with statuary, in the style of art usual
about a century ago. The pews--made of dark mahogany or walnut tree,
much after the English fashion, but lower and more tasteful--are placed
on each side of the nave, or entering; with ample space between them.
They are exclusively appropriated to the tenants of the monastery. At
the end of the nave, you look to the left, opposite--and observe, placed
in a recess--a pulpit, which, from top to bottom, is completely covered
with gold. And yet, there is nothing gaudy or tasteless, or glaringly
obtrusive, in this extraordinary clerical rostrum. The whole is in the
most perfect taste; and perhaps more judgment was required to manage
such an ornament, or appendage--consistently with the splendid style
of decoration exacted by the founder, for it was expressly the Prelate
Dietmayr's wish that it should be so adorned,--than may on first