y
belonging to the cathedral, have their houses, as is usual in all cities,
where there are cathedral churches. These are so considerable here, and
the place so large, that it is (as it is called in general) like another
city.

The cathedral is famous for the height of its spire, which is without
exception the highest and the handsomest in England, being from the
ground 410 feet, and yet the walls so exceeding thin that at the upper
part of the spire, upon a view made by the late Sir Christopher Wren, the
wall was found to be less than five inches thick; upon which a
consultation was had whether the spire, or at least the upper part of it,
should be taken down, it being supposed to have received some damage by
the great storm in the year 1703; but it was resolved in the negative,
and Sir Christopher ordered it to be so strengthened with bands of iron
plates as has effectually secured it; and I have heard some of the best
architects say it is stronger now than when it was first built.

They tell us here long stories of the great art used in laying the first
foundation of this church, the ground being marshy and wet, occasioned by
the channels of the rivers; that it was laid upon piles, according to
some, and upon woolpacks, according to others. But this is not supposed
by those who know that the whole country is one rock of chalk, even from
the tops of the highest hills to the bottom of the deepest rivers.

They tell us this church was forty years a-building, and cost an immense
sum of money; but it must be acknowledged that the inside of the work is
not answerable in the decoration of things to the workmanship without.
The painting in the choir is mean, and more like the ordinary method of
common drawing-room or tavern painting than that of a church; the carving
is good, but very little of it; and it is rather a fine church than
finely set off.

The ordinary boast of this building (that there were as many gates as
months, as many windows as days, as many marble pillars as hours in the
year) is now no recommendation at all. However, the mention of it must
be preserved:--

"As many days as in one year there be,
So many windows in one church we see;
As many marble pillars there appear
As there are hours throughout the fleeting year;
As many gates as moons one year do view:
Strange tale to tell, yet not more strange than true."

There are, however, some very fine monuments in this church; partic