[30]
and west is four hundred and twenty feet; north and south, one hundred and forty-four feet; the breadth of the body, eighty-four feet; the height of the choir, eighty -four feet; and that of the tower, two hundred and twenty-two feet. Eight enormous Saxon pillars on each side, upwards of twenty-one feet in circumference, separate the nave from the side-ailes. The most remarkable features of the structure are the grand East Window, said to be the largest in the kingdom; the Lady's Chapel, of extraordinary dimensions; the beautifully ramified Roof of the Choir; and the singular Whispering-Gallery, which stretches from one side of this part of the cathedral to the other, at the eastern end. Its form is a semi-octagon, and its length seventy-five feet; the phænomenon which we were directed to remark here, is the circulation of a whisper in a clear and distinct manner, delivered by a person placed at one end of the passage, and received by the ear of one placed at the other extremity. This effect is the more difficult to be accounted for, as the gallery-contains several openings in it, by which it should seem the volume of sound would be interrupted or dissipated. General opinion, however, attributes it to the repercussion produced by the angles which the form of the gallery occasions in its interior.
