It remained to ascend the opposite tower.  At each of the four corners there is a spiral stair-case, of which the exterior is open work, consisting of slender but lofty pillars; so that the ascending figure is seen at every convolution.  It has a fearful appearance to the adventurer:  but there is scarcely the possibility of danger.  You go round and round, and observe three distinct terminations of the central work within—­forming three roofs—­of which, the third is eminently beautiful.  I could not help expressing my astonishment at some of the exterior columns, which could not be much less than threescore feet in height, and scarcely twelve inches in diameter!  Having gained the top of one of these corner spiral stair-cases, I breathed and looked around me.  A new feature presented itself to my view.  About one hundred feet beneath, was the body of this huge cathedral.  Immediately above, rose the beautifully-tapering and curiously ornamented SPIRE—­to the height of probably, one hundred and twenty-five feet!  It seemed indeed as if both tower and spire were direct ladders to the sky.  The immortal artist who constructed them, and who lived to witness the completion of his structure, was JOAN HUeLTZ, a native of Cologne.  The date of their completion is 1449.  Thus, on the continent as well as in England, the period of the most florid style of gothic architecture was during the first half of the fifteenth century.

I essayed to mount to the very pinnacle; or bouton of the spire; but the ascent was impracticable—­owing to the stair-case being under repair.  On the summit of this spire, there once stood a statue of the Virgin, above a cross.  That statue was taken down at the end of the fifteenth century, and is now placed over the south porch.  But, what do you think supplied its place during the late Revolution, or in the year of our Lord 1794, on the 4th day of May?  Truly, nothing less than a large cap, made of tin, and painted red—­called the Cap of Liberty! Thank heaven, this latter was pulled down in due time—­and an oblong diamond-shaped stone is now the finishing piece of masonry of this wonderful building.  In descending, I stopped again at the platform, and was requested to see the GREAT BELL; of which I had heard the deep-mouthed roar half a dozen times a day, since my arrival.  It is perhaps the finest toned bell in Europe, and appeared to me terrifically large—­being nearer eight than seven feet high.[209] They begin to toll it at four or five o’clock in the summer-mornings, to announce that the gates of the town are opened.  In case of fire at night, it is very loudly tolled; and during a similar accident in the day time, they suspend a pole, with a red flag at the end of it, over that part of the platform which is in a line with the direction of the fire.