"Yes," replied Mr. George. "That must be the celebrated whispering gallery."
"How do you know?" asked Rollo.
"I have read descriptions of it in books," said
Mr. George. "They said that the whispering gallery was a gallery passing entirely around the centre of the church, over the choir, and just under the dome; and so that must be it. All that is the dome that rises above it."
"Let us go up there, then," said Rollo.
The party walked about the floor of the church a few minutes longer, though they found but little to interest them in what they saw except the vastness of the enclosed interior and the loftiness of the columns and walls. There were several colossal monuments standing here and there; but in general the church had a somewhat empty and naked appearance. The immense magnitude, however, of the spaces which the party traversed, and the lofty heights of the columns, and arches, and ceilings which they looked up to above, filled them with wonder.
At length, near the foot of a staircase, in a sort of corner, they found a man in a little office, whose business it was to sell to visitors tickets of admission, to enable them to view such parts of the church, especially those situated in the upper regions of it, as it would not be proper to leave entirely open to the public. For these places attendants are required, to guard the premises from injury, as well as to show the visitors the way they are to go and to explain to them
what they see; and for this a fee is charged, according in tariff, which is set down in the guide books thus:——
COST OF ADMISSION.
| s. d. | |
| Whispering, Stone, and Golden Galleries, | 0 6 |
| Ball, | 1 6 |
| Library, Great Bell, Geometrical Staircase, and Model Room, | 0 6 |
| Clock, | 0 2 |
| Crypt and Nelson's Monument, | 0 6 |
| —— | |
| 3 2 |