But better than either we
realized the perfection of the church interior as a whole, so
ample, so simple, such a comfortable and just sufficient eyeful.
IV
From other interests in St. Botolph's you somehow keep always, or
finally, coming to the Stump, as the tower is called somewhat in
the humor of our Boston. It is not so fair within as without;
that could not be in the nature of things; and yet the interior
of the tower has a claim upon the spectator's wonder, if not his
admiration, which, so far as I know, the interior of no other
tower has. It is all treated as a loftier room of the church, and
its ceiling, a hundred and fifty feet from the ground, is
elaborately and allegorically groined. The work was done when the
whole church was restored about half a century ago, and has not
the claim of medieval whim upon the fancy. Not so much pleasure
as he might wish mingles with the marvel of the beholder, who
carries a crick in the neck away from the sight, and yet once,
but not more, in a way, it is worth while to have had the sight.
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