for streets and edifices, but whose inhabitants seem cast into a
profound repose. What a pity that we cannot borrow some small share
of this soporific disposition! It would temper that restless spirit
which throws us sometimes into such dreadful convulsions. However,
let us not be too precipitate in desiring so dead a calm; the time
may arrive when, like Antwerp, we may sink into the arms of
forgetfulness; when a fine verdure may carpet our Exchange, and
passengers traverse the Strand, without any danger of being smothered
in crowds, or lost in the confusion of carriages.

Reflecting, in this manner, upon the silence of the place, contrasted
with the important bustle which formerly rendered it so famous, I
insensibly drew near to the cathedral, and found myself, before I was
aware, under its stupendous tower. It is difficult to conceive an
object more solemn or imposing than this edifice at the hour I first
beheld it. Dark shades hindered my examining the lower galleries or
windows; their elaborate carved work was invisible; nothing but huge
masses of building met my sight, and the tower, shooting up four
hundred and sixty-six feet into the air, received an additional
importance from the gloom which prevailed below. The sky being
perfectly clear, several stars twinkled through the mosaic of the
spire, and added not a little to its enchanted effect. I longed to
ascend it that instant, to stretch myself out upon its very summit,
and calculate from so sublime an elevation the influence of the
planets.

Whilst I was indulging my astrological reveries, a ponderous bell
struck ten, and such a peal of chimes succeeded, as shook the whole
edifice, notwithstanding its bulk, and drove me away in a hurry. No
mob obstructed my passage, and I ran through a succession of streets,