Page:The House of the Lord.djvu/194

178 stones are each four feet seven inches high, three feet six inches wide, and ten inches thick.

Star-stones are numerous; each bears in relief the figure of a five-pointed star. On the east center-tower immediately below the battlements are sixteen of these, four on each face; and on each of the east corner-towers are twelve such stones, making forty on these towers alone. The keystones of the doorways and those of the window arches belong to this class, each bearing a single star.

Star-stones of another kind appear on the face of the center tower at the west. Here, above the highest window and extending to the base of the battlement course, are seen the seven stars of the northern constellation Ursa Major or Great Bear, otherwise known as the Dipper. The group is so placed that the two stars called pointers are practically in line with the North Star itself.

Cloud-stones, two in number, are seen on the upper face of the east center tower, immediately under the cappings of the main buttresses. These show a cluster of cumulus clouds through which the sun's rays are breaking. The face so carved is five feet by three and a half feet in area.

Reference has been made to inscription-stones which form part of the exterior walls. The principal stone of this class is seen on the east centre tower, above the windows, corresponding in position to the starry constellation on the center tower at the west. The main inscription, which occupies a surface a little over twenty by six feet, consists of letters deeply cut and heavily gilded. In the arches over the great windows of the central towers