three feet. So that by walking
off, _by long steps_, till you have counted two hundred and fifty of
them, you can see how long this church was to be; and then by turning a
corner and measuring one hundred and twenty-five paces in a line at
right angles to the first, you will see how wide it was to be. To walk
entirely round such an area as this would be nearly a third of a mile.

The church was laid out and begun, and during the whole generation of
the workmen that began it, the building was prosecuted with all the
means and money that could be procured; and when that generation passed
away, the next continued the work, until, at length, in about a hundred
years it was so far advanced that a portion of it could have a roof put
over it, and be consecrated as a church. They still went on, for one or
two centuries more, until they had carried up the walls to a
considerable height in many parts, and had raised one of the towers to
an elevation of about a hundred and fifty feet. When the work had
advanced thus far the government of Holland, in the course of some of
the wars in which they were engaged, closed the mouth of the Rhine, so
that the ships of Cologne could no more go up and down to get out to
sea. This they could easily do, for the country of Holland is situated
at the mouth of the Rhine, and the Dutch government was at that time
extremely powerful. They had strong fleets and great fortresses at the
mouth of the river, and thus they could easily control the navigation of
it. Thus the merchants of Cologne could no more import goods from
foreign lands for other people to come there and buy, but the
inhabitants were obliged to send to Holland to purchase what they
required for themselves. The town, therefore, declined greatly in wealth
and prosperity, and no more money could be raised for carrying on the
work of the cathedral.

At the time when the work was interrupted the builders were engaged
chiefly on one of the towers, which they had carried up about one
hundred and fifty feet. The stones which were used for this tower were
very large, and in order to hoist them up the workmen used a monstrous
crane, which was reared on the summit of it. This crane was made of
timbers rising obliquely from a revolving platform in the centre, and
meeting in a point which projected beyond the wall in such a manner that
a chain from the end of it, hanging freely, would descend to the ground.
The stones which were to go up were the