[Picture: St. Paul’s Cathedral]
This is a wonderfully fine building! and the countryman’s amazement on
first seeing it, is very naturally expressed in the following lines:
Of all the brave churches I ever did see,
Sure this seems the greatest and grandest to me!
What a wonderful place! I am full of surprise,
And hardly know how to believe my own eyes.
Why sure that gold cross at the top is so high,
That it must, now and then, prick a hole in the sky;
And, for my part, I should not be much in amaze,
If the moon should run foul of it, one of these days.
It is not only the outside of this fine building that commands attention,
but the inside also. The whispering gallery, the great bell, the
library, and so many other curiosities are to be seen, that even to name
the whole would require more space than we can afford in our little work.
A young country gentleman, who was never before on any thing higher than
a haystack, has now reached the top of St. Paul’s, and is admiring the
prospect from the iron gallery.
Well, certainly, this is a wonderful sight;
And pays one for climbing up here such a height.
Dear, what a large city! and full, in all parts,
Of churches and houses, of horses and carts.
What hundreds of coaches, and thousands of folk!
And then, _above all_, what a very thick smoke!
I could stand here all _day_ to behold this fine town;
Tho’, as night’s coming on, I had better go down.
I think so too, young gentleman: and mind how you go along the dark
staircase, for it would be a sad thing to fall down among that frightful
scaffolding. Walk gently, and lay hold of the rail as you go along, and
you will be safe enough.