_carillons_, which play certain airs at intervals, produce a sweeter
effect than I remember any where else; and one of the pleasant
recollections I retain of Antwerp arises out of the frequent, but
unobtrusive, chimes that salute the ear during the day. We left Notre Dame
this time with "lingering steps and slow."

But how can I give an idea of the exterior? The tendency to placid
reflection which we had caught within found ample food for indulgence when
we came to witness the effect of the architecture without, combined with
the particular time of night--about nine o'clock--different tints and
shadows displaying themselves upon the angles of the building, as the light
decreased. Imagine a spire of light, ornamental, elegant open-work, carried
up about a hundred feet higher than St. Paul's. I believe it is the
loftiest in Europe, with the exception of Strasbourg, than which, in the
opinion of many, it is more handsome. The only drawback upon its beauty
is the glaringly large dial of the clock; but even this may suggest
appropriate reflection: for may we not consider it an emblem of Time, whose
course it measures, intruding upon the fairest prospects of our lives,
to remind us that all human monuments and enjoyments must yield to his
irresistible hand? The spire rises on one side of the principal entrance;
and there is a corresponding tower on the other, to the height of the base
of the steeple part, as if there had been an intention to erect one of
similar dimensions there also, like the twin towers of Westminster Abbey;
but I cannot help thinking, that as two and two are said not always to make
four, the projecting counterpart, instead of doubling the effect, would
have lessened the feeling of stupendous height with which the present
single pinnacle inspires the beholders. As there cannot be two suns in the
same sphere, neither could the spire of Antwerp have borne a rival near its
solitary, aerial throne. It soars aloft with such grandeur, that in gazing
upon it my brain actually grew dizzy with the sight: never was I conscious