DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20917#0030
22 CHRIST CHURCH, CANTERBURY,
and repels all competition. It demands and re-
ceives our homage involuntarily. Surely many a
pious orison must have ascended from this hill;
and the deep chorus of the pilgrims who visited
the shrine of St. Thomas must have spontaneously
echoed from the woods in hymns of salutation at
the c< firsfc impression" ariling from the scene of
his martyrdom spread before them. Those mis-
taken enthusiasts meant to expiate their sins by
fruitless cries to the Archbishop, and doubtleffly
experienced fervent impuises of devotion. How
different were my sentiments ! At one glance the
mental tablet was impressed with the recollection
of the sublime ideas entertained of religion when
that cathedral ascended from its foundation. How
great and unutterable were the conceptions of those
men who reared it! " What man dared they dared,"
and accomplished. Canterbury, and every city
honoured by a cathedral or an abbey, exhibits at
first light their reverence for the Divinity. The
House os God, crowned by towers and spires,
proclaims that his worship demanded and received
the most exalted honours.
The founders laboured to make Christ church
an object: of exclulive interest, and I confess they
have fully succeeded with me. However massy
and venerable the walls of the city, however
singular the architecture of the houses of antient
erection,
and repels all competition. It demands and re-
ceives our homage involuntarily. Surely many a
pious orison must have ascended from this hill;
and the deep chorus of the pilgrims who visited
the shrine of St. Thomas must have spontaneously
echoed from the woods in hymns of salutation at
the c< firsfc impression" ariling from the scene of
his martyrdom spread before them. Those mis-
taken enthusiasts meant to expiate their sins by
fruitless cries to the Archbishop, and doubtleffly
experienced fervent impuises of devotion. How
different were my sentiments ! At one glance the
mental tablet was impressed with the recollection
of the sublime ideas entertained of religion when
that cathedral ascended from its foundation. How
great and unutterable were the conceptions of those
men who reared it! " What man dared they dared,"
and accomplished. Canterbury, and every city
honoured by a cathedral or an abbey, exhibits at
first light their reverence for the Divinity. The
House os God, crowned by towers and spires,
proclaims that his worship demanded and received
the most exalted honours.
The founders laboured to make Christ church
an object: of exclulive interest, and I confess they
have fully succeeded with me. However massy
and venerable the walls of the city, however
singular the architecture of the houses of antient
erection,