. The New England magazine. ried ex-amples of English work, from theSaxon piers in the crypt to the lateGothic of thechantries and theLady-Chapel. Hewill find there abuilding solidand substantial,simple and may safelybe asserted thatfor dignity andmassive grandeurthe exterior ofWinchester willhold its ownamong Englishcathedrals; andyet as we enterthe cathedralclose by the nar-row passagewhich leads fromthe old HighStreet, we are al-ways struck bythe great plain-ness and simplic-ity of the wholebuilding, and atfirst sight cannothelp a feeling ofdisappointment,especially if wehave just
. The New England magazine. ried ex-amples of English work, from theSaxon piers in the crypt to the lateGothic of thechantries and theLady-Chapel. Hewill find there abuilding solidand substantial,simple and may safelybe asserted thatfor dignity andmassive grandeurthe exterior ofWinchester willhold its ownamong Englishcathedrals; andyet as we enterthe cathedralclose by the nar-row passagewhich leads fromthe old HighStreet, we are al-ways struck bythe great plain-ness and simplic-ity of the wholebuilding, and atfirst sight cannothelp a feeling ofdisappointment,especially if wehave just comefrom a study ofCanterbury. We miss the decoratedwestern towers and the south porchof Canterbury, with their wealth ofornamentation. We miss the gloriousBell-Harry tower. We do not at firstappreciate the immensity of the build-ing, its great length, the height of thenave, nor the effect which the largetransepts will produce as we study thebuilding more carefully. The west front as we now see it WINCHES TER CA THEDRA L 43. BISHOP GARDINER. took the place some five hundredyears ago of a Norman entrance withhuge towers, which had been built in1079, when Norman work took theplace of nearly all the old Saxonbuilding. It is plain, not old Norman front must havebeen much more impressive. InNorman days this front projected far-ther into the close by forty feet, mak-ing the entire length of the churchnearly 600 feet. In the niche of thegable above the window is the statueof the famous Bishop Wykeham. Be-low is a stone balcony or gallery, fromwhich the bishops gave their benedic-tions to the people on festival days. Entering the church by the westdoor, we see before us one of the mostimpressive cathedral naves in theworld. Not only are the proportionsmagnificent, but there is an exceed-ing grace in the piers and of the 555 feet which make thelength of the entire building can herebe seen not broken, as is often thecase, by the organ, which here isplaced under
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublisherbosto, bookyear1887
