There is a
general light hue, moreover, like that of whitewash, over the whole of
the roof and walls of the interior, pillars, monuments, and all; whereas,
originally, every pillar was polished, and the ceiling was ornamented in
brilliant colors, and the light came, many-hued, through the windows, on
all this elaborate beauty, in lieu of which there is nothing now but
space.
Between the pillars that separate the nave from the side aisles, there
are ancient tombs, most of which have recumbent statues on them. One of
these is Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, son of Fair Rosamond, in chain
mail; and there are many other warriors and bishops, and one cross-legged
Crusader, and on one tombstone a recumbent skeleton, which I have
likewise seen in two or three other cathedrals. The pavement of the
aisles and nave is laid in great part with flat tombstones, the
inscriptions on which are half obliterated, and on the walls, especially
in the transepts, there are tablets, among which I saw one to the poet
Bowles, who was a canon of this cathedral. The ecclesiastical
dignitaries bury themselves and monument themselves to the exclusion of
almost everybody else, in these latter times; though still, as of old,
the warrior has his place. A young officer, slain in the Indian wars,
was memorialized by a tablet, and may be remembered by it, six hundred
years hence, as we now remember the old Knights and Crusaders. It
deserves to be mentioned that I saw one or two noses still unbroken among
these recumbent figures.
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