with pictures of saints and martyrs, and the houses we can see from its
windows are built and carved in stone.

The chief object of interest is, undoubtedly, the cathedral itself, for
although we may find many curious old houses, everything gives way in
importance and interest to this one central building. The noble west
front, with its pointed Gothic towers and spires, is familiar to us in
many an engraving and painting, but what these illustrations do not give
us on a small scale is the beauty of the carved doorways, the
clustering of the ornaments about them, and the statues of bishops,
priests, and kings. Later than the cathedral itself, and 'debased in
style' (as our severe architectural friends will tell us), the work on
these beautiful porches has exquisite grace; the fourteenth-century
sculptor gave free scope to his fancy, his hands have played about the
soft white stone till it took forms so delicate and strange, so
unsubstantial and yet so permanent, that it is a marvel of the
sculptor's skill.[19]

The interior is 315 feet long and 81 feet high, open from one end to the
other, and forms a very striking and imposing effect. 'The west end,' to
quote a few words from the best technical authority, 'consists of florid
Norman arches and piers, whose natural heaviness is relieved by the
beautifully diapered patterns wrought upon the walls, probably built by
Henry I., who destroyed the previously existing church by fire. Above
this, runs a blank trefoiled arcade in the place of a triforium,
surrounded by a clerestory of early-pointed windows, very lofty and
narrow. The arches of the nave, nearest the cross and the choir, ending
in a semi-circle, exhibit a more advanced state of the pointed style,
and are distinguished by the remarkable elegance of their graceful
clustered pillars. The circular ornaments in the spandrils of the arches