Curiously enough,
in this instance, this effect of immensity is not due to an unbroken
stretch of nave-aisles or to a lengthy procession of pier-arches, but to
the magnificent sweep of the unencumbered vaulting in the roof. An organ
screen intercepts the line of vision at the entrance to the choir. This,
however, is the sole obstruction which the eye encounters. Above, the
great roof, with its unbroken 300 feet of interlacing lines, rises like
some mighty forest, its airy loftiness giving to the entire interior a
certain open-air atmosphere of breadth and vastness....

What most deeply concerned us was the desire to secure an uninterrupted
session of contemplative enjoyment. We had lost our hearts to the beauty
of the cathedral, and cared little or nothing for a clever dissecting of
its parts. We came again and again; and it was the glory of the cathedral
as a whole--its expressive, noble character, its breadth and grandeur, the
poetry of its dusky aisles, and the play of the rich shadows about its
massive columns--that charmed and enchained us. It was one of the few
English cathedrals, we said to each other, that possess the Old-World
continental charm, the charm of perpetual entertainment, and whose beauty
has just the right quality of richness and completeness to evoke an
intense and personal sympathy; for in all the greatest triumphs of art
there is something supremely human.

LICHFIELD [Footnote: From "Our Old Home." Published by Houghton,
Mifflin Co.]

BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

I know not what rank the Cathedral of Lichfield holds among its sister
edifices in England, as a piece of magnificent architecture. Except that
of Chester (the grim and simple nave of which stands yet unrivaled in my
memory), and one or two small ones in North Wales, hardly worthy of the
name of cathedrals, it was the first that I had seen. To my uninstructed
vision, it seemed the object best worth gazing at in the whole world; and
now, after beholding a great many more, I remember it with less prodigal
admiration only because others are as magnificent as itself. The traces
remaining in my memory represent it as airy rather than massive. A
multitude of beautiful shapes appeared to be comprehended within its
single outline; it was a kind of kaleidoscopic mystery, so rich a variety
of aspects did it assume from each altered point of view, through the
presentation of a different face, and the rearrangement of its peaks and
pinnacles an