a; and were not the transition rendered
gradual to the eye by the deep shades of the orange court. As you
advance towards the centre nave, this darkness aids in producing the
effect of immensity, which is the next idea that presents itself. In
fact the enormous elevation and width of the edifice is such as at first
to overpower the imagination, and to deprive you of the faculty of
appreciating its dimensions. It produces a novel species of giddiness
arising from looking upwards.

To arrive at the intersection of the principal nave and transept, you
traverse two side naves, both about eighty-five feet in height, and
spacious in proportion. The centre nave is a hundred and thirty-two
feet, but rises at the quadrangle, forming its intersection with the
transept about twenty feet higher. The ceiling here, and over the four
surrounding intercolumniations, is ornamented with a groining of
admirable richness. That of the centre quadrangle is here and there
tinged with crimson and orange tints, proceeding from some diminutive
windows placed between the lower and upper ceilings.

After having sufficiently examined the upper view, the eye wanders over
the immense vacuum of the transept, and rests at length on the bronze
railings which, on the east, separate you from the high-altar, and on
the west from the choir. These are superb.

That of the Capilla Mayor rises to an elevation of sixty feet, and is
throughout of the most elaborate workmanship. It is the work of a
Dominican monk, who also executed the two pulpits. The choir forms, as
usual, a sort of saloon, which occupies the centre of the church, that
is, in this instance, two of the five intercolumniations which reach
from the transept to the western portal. Passing round it, in the
direction of the western doors, where the view is more open, the plan
and style of the building are more easily distinguished. They are
remarkably simple. The area is a quadrangle of three hundred and
ninety-eight feet by two hundred and ninety-one, and is divided into
five naves by four rows of pillars, all of about sixty feet elevation.
The width of the centre nave and transept is fifty-nine feet, and the
whole is surrounded by chapels. The distance between the pillars, of
which there are only eight in each row, has the effect of generalizing
the view of the whole edifice, and imparting to it a grandeur which is
not obtained in the cathedral of Toledo, of almost equal dimensions;
while the sm