Architecture never
can, and never will, produce their like again. They give us aspiration
in its highest form and noblest symbol, and wonderful was that mind
which conceived them. This choir so darkly bright, its stalls and
seats carved in black oak, its flame-like arches, gorgeous with
evening light, were a preparation and excitement of mind. Yet it's
remarkable about these old-time cathedrals, that while their is every
grand and solemn effect of architecture, there is also always an
abundance of subordinate parts, mean, tawdry, revolting, just like the
whole system they represent. Out of this beautiful choir I wanted to
tear all the tinsel fixtures on its altar, except two very good
pictures, and leave it in it noble simplicity.
I remarked here a black oak chandelier, which the guide said was taken
from the cathedral of Cologne. It was the very perfection of Gothic
carving, and resembled frostwork in its lightness. The floor of the
cathedral was covered with effigies in stone, trod smooth by the feet
of worshippers; so we living ones are ever walking above the dead,
though we do not always, as here, see the outward sign thereof.
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