some confusion of orders, Doric
and Ionic prevailing, still as a whole the front is majestic and
imposing. The towers are each over two hundred feet in height, and are
also of mingled orders. In the western tower is the great bell,
_nineteen feet_ high, named Santa Maria de Guadalupe. We know of nothing
of the sort exceeding it in size and weight except the great Russian
bell to be seen in the square of the Kremlin at Moscow. The
basso-relievos, statues, friezes, and capitals of the facade of the
great edifice are of white marble, which time has rendered harmonious
with the gray stone. Though millions of dollars have been lavishly
expended upon the interior,--the cost of the bare walls was over two
millions,--it will strike an artistic eye as incongruous. Like the grand
and costly interiors of the churches at Toledo, Burgos, and Cordova, in
Spain, the general effect is seriously marred by placing the choir in
the middle of the nave. It is like breaking midway some otherwise grand
perspective. The cathedral is over four hundred feet in length and two
hundred in width. Quadruple pillars, each thirty-five feet in
circumference, support its roof, which is a hundred and seventy-five
feet from the floor. The high altar--there are six altars in all--was
once the richest in the world, and though the church has been many times
plundered, it still retains much of its magnificence. The solid gold
candlesticks, heavier than a single pair of arms could lift, the statue
of the Assumption, which was also composed of solid gold, inlaid with
diamonds, rubies, and other precious stones, valued at a million
dollars, besides many other equally extravagant and nearly as costly
objects, have from time to time disappeared. But with all of its losses,
this cathedral is doubtless decorated in a more costly manner than any
other in America. The railing of the choir is a remarkable affair,
manufactured in China at great cost, and weighs nearly thirty tons. It
is said to be composed of silver, gold, and copper, containing so much
gold that an offer has been made to take it down and replace it with one
of solid silver in exchange. The original cost of this railing is stated
to have been one million and a half dollars! (Spanish authority.) There
are a dozen or more side chapels, inclosed in bronze gates, in one of
which the Mexican Emperor Iturbide is buried, though he was condemned
and executed as a traitor. Two invaluable oil paintings hang upon the