III. The best general views of the cathedral will be obtained from the north-west and from the south-east; but there are many excellent points of view from the lawn by which the building is now happily surrounded. The outlines--owing greatly to the Lady-chapel with its projecting chantries, to the eastern chapels of the transepts and choir-aisles, and to the open-work of parapets and pinnacles--are unusually varied and picturesque. The manner in which the exterior mouldings of the great east window, of the west window, and of the openings in the tower, are carried upwards, so as to form a kind of gable, is a marked feature, which first appears within, in the beautiful arches across the transepts, on which the groining drops; and which was adopted, apparently from them, by the designers of the succeeding work. But the light and graceful tracery of the parapets, and of the pinnacles of the tower, is that which gives especial character to the exterior of Gloucester. Against a clear, mid-day sky this open-work is sufficiently striking; but when its tracery is projected against the red glow of sunset, an effect is produced which is altogether unrivalled. The tower of Gloucester may be compared with the central tower of Canterbury Cathedral, of later date, (Gloucester 1450-1460, height 225 feet; Canterbury 1495-1517, height 235 feet,) and of more massive character. Both towers form admirable centres to the masses of building clustered round them; and well illustrate the great advantage (which English architects alone seem to have appreciated) of “placing the principal features of their churches on the intersection of the nave with the transept[3].” At Gloucester, even more than at Canterbury, the various lines of the Lady-chapel, the transepts, the choir-aisles, and the choir-roof with its eastern gable, lead the eye gradually upwards to the great tower, with its crowning pinnacles. This effect is perhaps increased by the shortness of the transepts,--which here and at Worcester (the parent cathedral of Gloucester) are of the same dimensions, (128 feet from north to south[4]). IV. For a more particular notice of the exterior, [Illustration: THE NAVE.]