Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/518

 424 The Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal. [Jan., date. Their office and purport are not immediately apparent ; but we may be sure they were not placed there heed- lessly or wantonly. Near the semi-circular end of the great crypt are two chapels projecting from the outer walls. That on the north side is used as a private cellar ; and the other to the south is a dark, dank vault. The inner or semi-circular end has been completely walled up ; but on a recent examination was found to be ornamented with much painting on the roof and walls. East of the crypt already described, and communicating with it by a double arch in the centre, having a double column between, and two lateral arches, is the crypt under the Trinity Chapel, the plan of which assumes a very un- common form, nearly that of the usual horse-shoe arch. Its vaulted roof is sustained by a series of eight large, double columns ; with two small slender columns in the middle. Emerging from the crypts, we cross the locality of the martyrdom and find ourselves in the great cloister, a large quadrangular ambulatory, or covered walk, with a^Wall on one side and a series of open windows, with mullions and tracery on each of the other sides. The effect of light and shade in these vast crypts is remarkable. The con- templative mind has here much to dwell upon. The massive piers sustaining the solid groining, suggesting to the be- holder the greatness of the pile which rises on such shoulders. The solemn, gloomy grandeur which reigns in silence in this place or tombs, where the ashes of the proud are sheltered alike with the modest dust of the worthy dead. All seems a deep, dark dream of the far by- gone, an enduring lesson in the book of time. The skill of man is here made to rear alike a monument and a rebuke to human vanit}'. What a colossal under- taking the whole Cathedral was ! The plan carried out is very nearly the same that the architect first laid down the lines of. Thus showing that the idea was gigantic from its very inception ; and these crypts which we now review are the foundation of the mighty Min- ster as it was to be, and is. Centuries have rolled away since the stupendous work was first laid upon its footing- courses, and generations have crowded into the book of Time, by each and every one of which some interesting page of choice historic lore has been added, to help tell the story of this Minster. Its venerable towers, in all the graceful grandeur of architectic skill, sing from their bell-chambers the pleasing yet melancholy music of memory which ever still recalls " The light of other days." Canterbury Cathedral is rich in mo- saics, and stained-glass : and its mural and other monuments are so numerous, and so worthy of notice, that it would be absurd to name any. We will, there- fore, take our leave of this grand old Minster of the Metropolitan See of Eng- land, from the days of William the Con- queror to our own, with a mind filled with suggestive reflections on the muta- bility of all human affairs, ecclesiastic as well as laic.