the fairest prospects of our lives,
to remind us that all human monuments and enjoyments must yield to his
irresistible hand? The spire rises on one side of the principal entrance;
and there is a corresponding tower on the other, to the height of the base
of the steeple part, as if there had been an intention to erect one of
similar dimensions there also, like the twin towers of Westminster Abbey;
but I cannot help thinking, that as two and two are said not always to make
four, the projecting counterpart, instead of doubling the effect, would
have lessened the feeling of stupendous height with which the present
single pinnacle inspires the beholders. As there cannot be two suns in the
same sphere, neither could the spire of Antwerp have borne a rival near its
solitary, aerial throne. It soars aloft with such grandeur, that in gazing
upon it my brain actually grew dizzy with the sight: never was I conscious
in an equal degree of such a feeling of awe from a work of art, and my mind
really ached with the intensity of the impression.--We seemed to view this
sublime object with mutual wonder and admiration--gazing upon it in one
position, then in another--walking about--stopping--excited as it were by
the same impulse. Once, when nearly dark, as our eyes were fixed upon the
top, a gentle light suddenly appeared upon the very summit, crowning the
majestic fane with glory, as if pointing it out for admiration to a
surrounding world: it was a star twinkling upon the very spot where the
highest point of the spire rested on the sky.

The name of Antwerp is derived from _Hand-werpen_ or
_Hand-thrown_: so called from a legend, which informs us that on the
site of the present city once stood the castle of a giant, who held the
neighbouring country in thraldom, and who was accustomed to amuse himself
by cutting off, and casting into the river, the right hands of the
unfortunate wights that fell into his power; but that being at last
conquered himself, his own immense hand was disposed of, with poetical
justice, in the same way. With the impression of this story on my mind, it
came into my head that the giant was personified by the towering spire: no
wonder, thought I, that Don Quixote mistook a windmill for a giant, since
I, even in my sober senses, cannot get rid of the idea that I see the
mighty hand-thrower before me. With a little confusion of the image, I then
imagined the spire to be the guardian of the city--that it took cogni