Returning into the body of the cathedral, we next entered the choir,
where, instead of the crimson cushions and draperies which we had seen
yesterday, we found everything folded in black. It was a token of
mourning for one of the canons, who died on Saturday night. The great
east window, seventy-five feet high, and full of old painted glass in
many exquisitely wrought and imagined Scriptural designs, is considered
the most splendid object in the Minster. It is a pity that it is
partially hidden from view, even in the choir, by a screen before the
high altar; but indeed, the Gothic architects seem first to imagine
beautiful and noble things, and then to consider how they may best be
partially screened from sight. A certain secrecy and twilight effect
belong to their plan.
We next went round the side aisles of the choir, which contain many
interesting monuments of prelates, and a specimen of the very common
Elizabethan design of an old gentleman in a double ruff and trunk
breeches, with one of his two wives on either side of him, all kneeling
in prayer; and their conjoint children, in two rows, kneeling in the
lower compartments of the tomb. We saw, too, a rich marble monument of
one of the Strafford family, and the tombstone of the famous Earl
himself,--a flat tombstone in the pavement of the aisle, covering the
vault where he was buried, and with four iron rings fastened into the
four corners of the stone whereby to lift it.
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