Indeed the multiplicity of puerile ornaments profusely lavished, the strong and beautiful perspective, and that romantic air of grandeur so visible in this structure, and above all the height of the middle isle at our first entrance, fill the eye, strike us in a very forcible manner, and at once raise our admiration and astonishment. To which let it be added, that the ranges of venerable monuments on each hand, some of them most magnificent, have a natural tendency to strike the mind with an uncommon degree of solemnity, and to raise the most serious reflections. The extent of the building is very considerable; for it is 360 feet within the walls, at the nave it is 72 feet broad, and at the cross 195. The Gothic arches and side isles are supported by 48 pillars of grey marble, each composed of clusters of very slender ones, and covered with ornaments. The moment you enter the west door the whole body of the church opens itself at once to your view, the pillars dividing the nave from the side isles being so formed as not to obstruct the side openings, nor is your sight terminated to the east, but by the fine painted window over Edward the Confessor’s chapel, which anciently, when the altar was low, and adorned with the beautiful shrine of that pretended saint, must have afforded one of the finest prospects that can be imagined. The pillars are terminated to the east by a sweep, enclosing the chapel of Edward the Confessor, in a kind of semicircle. And it is worthy of observation, that as far as the gates of the choir, the pillars are filletted with brass, but all beyond with stone. Answering to the middle range of pillars, there are others in the wall, which as they rise, spring into semiarches, and are every where met in acute angles by their opposites, and meeting in the roof are adorned with a variety of carvings. On the arches of the pillars are galleries of double columns fifteen feet wide, covering the side isles, and enlightened by a middle range of windows, over which there is an upper range of larger windows, and by these, together with the four capital windows, facing the north, east, south and west, the whole fabric is so admirably enlightened, that in the day you are never dazzled with its brightness, nor incommoded by its being too dark. But before we leave these capital windows, which are all finely painted, it is necessary to observe, that in the great west window is a curious painting of Edward III. to the left of which in a smaller window is a painting of one of our Kings, supposed to be Richard II. but the colours being of a water blue the features of the face cannot be distinguished. On the other side the great window is a lively representation of Edward the Confessor in his robes, and under his feet are painted his arms. At the bottom of the walls between the pillars are shallow niches, arched about eight or ten feet high, on which the arms of the original benefactors are depicted, and over them are their titles, &c.