How sharply its pinnacled angles and its wilderness of
spires were cut against the sky, and how richly their shadows fell upon its snowy roof!
And if we enter the interior of the edifice, who has overthrown that colossus of Saint Christopher, proverbial for magnitude among statues, as the grand hall of the Palais de Justice was among halls, as the
spire of Strasbourg among
spires?
They seemed to be falling right into the middle of a big city which had many tall buildings with glass domes and sharp-pointed
spires. These
spires were like great spear-points, and if they tumbled upon one of them they were likely to suffer serious injury.
This enclosure, all green and gold and glittering with precious gems, was indeed a wonderful sight to greet our travelers, who first observed it from the top of a little hill; but beyond the wall was the vast city it surrounded, and hundreds of jeweled
spires, domes and minarets, flaunting flags and banners, reared their crests far above the towers of the gateways.
No rays from the holy heaven come down On the long night-time of that town; But light from out the lurid sea Streams up the turrets silently - Gleams up the pinnacles far and free - Up domes - up
spires - up kingly halls - Up fanes - up Babylon-like walls - Up shadowy long-forgotten bowers Of scultured ivy and stone flowers - Up many and many a marvellous shrine Whose wreathed friezes intertwine The viol, the violet, and the vine.
The hills ran up clear above the vegetation in
spires of naked rock.
In the valley beneath lay the city they had just left, its more prominent buildings showing as in an isometric drawing--among them the broad cathedral tower, with its Norman windows and immense length of aisle and nave, the
spires of St Thomas's, the pinnacled tower of the College, and, more to the right, the tower and gables of the ancient hospice, where to this day the pilgrim may receive his dole of bread and ale.
Whose vales I leave -- whose
spires fade fast from me
On the
spires of some old-fashioned churches you will see sheet-iron whales placed there for weather-cocks; but they are so elevated, and besides that are to all intents and purposes so labelled with Hands off!
All they could see was a mass of towers and steeples behind the green walls, and high up above everything the
spires and dome of the Palace of Oz.
Patches of bush and isolated trees here and there smoked and glowed still, and the houses towards Woking station were sending up
spires of flame into the stillness of the evening air.
These two circumstances, however, happening both unfortunately to intervene, our travellers deviated into a much less frequented track; and after riding full six miles, instead of arriving at the stately
spires of Coventry, they found themselves still in a very dirty lane, where they saw no symptoms of approaching the suburbs of a large city.