My heart till then. He smiles and sleeps!-Sleep on Of a world scarce less young: sleep on, and smile! And shining lids are trembling o'er his long Lashes, dark as the cypress which waves o'er them; Half open from beneath them the clear blue SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. flat, each divided and subdivided by others, and rest on short clustered columns. The range of the upper or clere-story is occupied by a series of triple lancet windows, with their centre light raised considerably above the other two. The vaulting is plain and simple, being turned with arches and cross springers only, but tufts of foliage mark the intersections. The choir and transepts differ little from the nave. The lady chapel consists of a single elevation; but such is the height and almost in. credible lightness of the marble columns which divide the body and side aisles, and support the vaulted roofs-the single pillars being nearly thirty feet high, and only nine inches in diameter-that this part of the building excites the highest degree of admiration. The ecclesiastical superintendence of the west of England was for many years under the bp. of Winchester, but on the death of bp. Hedda the diocese was divided, and a second bishopric established at Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, in 705, comprehending Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. About 905, the three last-named counties received bishops of their own by the authority of Plegmund, archbp. of Canterbury, and a fifth see was created for Wilts, the bishops residing at Wilton, the then chief town of the county. On the death of Elfwold, bp. of Sherborne, between 1050 and 1058, Herman, bp. of Wilton, effected the re-union of that see with his own; and about 1704 | removed it to Searesbyrig, now Old Sarum, from whence it was removed to Salisbury in 1220, the foundation stone of the new building being laid by Pandulph, the pope's legate; and in five years a sufficient portion was completed for the public worship, when it was consecrated by archbp. Langton. Three years afterwards bp. Poore was translated to Durham, but he left his friend Elias de Derham, to whom he had from the first intrusted the ma- At the intersection of the nave with the chief nagement of the work, to superintend its progress, transept, four lancet arches on four clustered which he did for the first twenty years. Bp. Bing-columns, 81 feet in height from the pavement, rises ham carried on the building eighteen years; his the spire. successor, William de York, continued it during The tower consists of two equal divisions, the nine. In the second year of the elevation of bp. lower of much more solid workmanship than the Egidius (or Giles) de Bridport, on the 30th Sept., upper, but less highly decorated. The spire is oc1258, after having been rather more than thirty-tagonal, and consequently arches were thrown across eight years in progress, the cathedral was solemnly dedicated to the Virgin Mary by archbp. Boniface. The whole cost, according to an account delivered to Henry III., amounted to 40,000 marks, or about 25,6667. 13s. 4d. sterling, raised by voluntary contributions. The greater part of the tower and the spire were not then erected. The building was raised to its present elevation about a century after, and chiefly from the remains of the cathedral at Old Serum, granted to the chapter in 1331. During the rebellion the cathedral suffered. The members of the establishment were insulted and dispersed. The possessions of the church were alienated. The edifice itself was profaned, and its architectural decorations mutilated and defaced. Yet even then some were interested in the preservation of the building. When this cathedral was erected, the singularly beautiful-pointed arch had just begun to prevail in this country over the massive circular arch of the Saxon and Norman styles; and, consequently, a mixture of the two was chiefly in use in buildings of that date. Here this is not the case. It is the only cathedral which never had any intermixture of styles, and is the first instance of the pure unmixed gothic in England. It is in the form of a Greek cross, the long arm of which consists of the nave, choir, and lady chapel, following each other in succession from west to east. At the juncture of the nave and choir this arm is crossed by the principal transept, and again near the centre of the choir by a second of smaller dimensions. The nave, the choir, the eastern side of the two transepts, and lady chapel, have all side aisles. The northern aisle of the nave is broken by a very handsome porch. The nave, choir, and transepts rise in three regular tiers of pointed arches: the lower in the nave are of the lancet shape, and of very considerable elevation, and rest upon a succession of clustered columns, each consisting of four pillars surrounded by as many slender shafts. The second tier is a kind of open gallery, corresponding with the roof of the aisles, the arches of which are | The number of windows of the cathedral, and of the marble pillars in the interior, is very striking. Camden remarks, "They say this church hath as many windows as there are days in the year; as many pillars and pilasters as there are hours; and as many gates as months." the four angles at the summit of the tower, to form an eight-sided foundation; and in nothing has the builder more clearly displayed his taste and skill, than in the beautiful cluster of pinnacles which he placed on each of the angles, since they have the joint advantage of confining the arches, and causing the different forms of the tower and spire to blend and harmonize together. The walls of the spire gradually diminish from two feet to nine inches, which, after the first fifteen feet, is their thickness upwards. A timber frame, however, consisting of a centre-piece, with arms to the walis, and hanging from the iron standard of the nave, after it passes through the capstone, binds the whole together. The height of the cross from the ground is 399 ft. 10 in. It is supposed to have been originally 400 feet, but to have lost two inches by a settlement in two of the columns below, which threw its structure nearly 29 inches general decline towards the southwest. The summit is obtained first by stone staircases of 365 steps, to "the eight doors" at the top of the tower; from thence by wooden ladders to "the weather door," 42 feet from the cross; and after that by iron rings fixed on the outside. The dimensions of the cathedral are as follows:Feet. In. Feet. In. Extreme length.. outside 473 0 Inside 449 0 Principal transept 229 7 203 10 Eastern transept.. 170 0 Nave ...... width 111 4 height 81 0 .... ... 143 0 229 6 151 0 68 6 The vane is 6 ft. 11 inches in length, and the capstone of the spire 4 ft. 2 in. in diameter; which last affords a good idea of the great height of the spire, |