DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6095#0048
3o A TOUR THROUGH
It is executed in the raost masterly style,
and is indeed one of the finest remains of
antiquity. It is preserved in the great
church, which is noted through all Sicily
for a remarkable echo; something in the
manner of our whispering gallery at St.
Paul's, though more difficult to be ac-
counted for.
If one person stands at the west-gate, and
another places himself on the cornice, at the
raost distant point of the church, exa&ly
behind the great altar, they can hold a
conversation in very low whispers.
For many years this Angularity was little
known ; and several of the conferring chairs
being placed near the great altar, the wags,
who were in the secret, used to take their
station at the door of the cathedral; and by
this means heard distinctly every word
that palled betwixt the confessbr and his
penitent ; of which, you may believe, they
did
It is executed in the raost masterly style,
and is indeed one of the finest remains of
antiquity. It is preserved in the great
church, which is noted through all Sicily
for a remarkable echo; something in the
manner of our whispering gallery at St.
Paul's, though more difficult to be ac-
counted for.
If one person stands at the west-gate, and
another places himself on the cornice, at the
raost distant point of the church, exa&ly
behind the great altar, they can hold a
conversation in very low whispers.
For many years this Angularity was little
known ; and several of the conferring chairs
being placed near the great altar, the wags,
who were in the secret, used to take their
station at the door of the cathedral; and by
this means heard distinctly every word
that palled betwixt the confessbr and his
penitent ; of which, you may believe, they
did