|building, with a clustered pillar in the middle, the frieze all |round, under the windows, has reliefs of scripture history in |tolerable preservation. The cloister on the south is the largest |and most magnificent in England. The west front and buttresses of |the cathedral all round have been filled with statues. In the |nave, choir, and transepts, are many handsome and ancient |monuments of the earls and bishops of Salisbury. The whole |cathedral has of late years undergone a thorough repair, and |received many improvements. The east window, which is twenty-three |feet in height, is composed of beautiful painted glass; the |windows on each side are painted in mosaic, as well as those on |the north and south sides of what was called the Lady Chapel. This |cathedral is the most elegant and regular Gothic structure in the |kingdom, and its spire, which is the loftiest in England, is 410 |feet high. | |The church of St. Thomas was built by bishop Bingham, as a chapel |of ease to the cathedral, and contains several handsome monuments; |it is ornamented with a well adorned tower, ninety feet high to |the top of the stone work, the finishing above being of wood |covered with lead. In the tower are eight bells, with a set of |chimes. On the east side of the tower is a dial near ten feet |square, and on the south side are two figures in niches, of Thomas |à Becket, and the Virgin Mary with our Saviour in her arms. | |The market place is very extensive, being a handsome open square, |in the south-east corner of which stands the council house, a |magnificent structure, occupying the site of the old Guildhall; it |was erected at the expence of the Earl of Radnor, and completed in |1795. It is a square building of white brick, with a grand Doric |portico at the entrance to the two courts of law on the west side, |and a large bow window projecting from the great room on the east. |The principal entrance is on the north, with a flight of steps |leading to the door through a noble façade, consisting of four |Doric columns; the whole building is surrounded by a rich cornice, |and the angles of each front are ornamented with handsome rustic |work in stone. In the different apartments contained in this |building all the public business of the city is transacted. | |Salisbury was first incorporated by Henry the Third, and increased |so much after the desertion of Old Sarum, the building of the |cathedral, and the turning the western road through it by a grant |from Edward the Third, that it soon became one of the most |thriving cities in England. It has a considerable manufacture of |flannels, and the cloth called Salisbury whites, and some traffic |in cutlery. The streets are in general spacious, and built at |right angles.