We begin on the western side. There are seven sculptures on the
western, southern, and northern sides: six on the eastern; counting the
Lamb over the entrance door of the tower, which divides the complete
series into two groups of eighteen and eight. Itself, between them,
being the introduction to the following eight, you must count it as the
first of the terminal group; you then have the whole twenty-seven
sculptures divided into eighteen and nine.
Thus lettering the groups on each side for West, South, East, and
North, we have:
W. S. E. N.
7 + 7 + 6 + 7 = 27; or,
W. S. E.
7 + 7 + 4 = 18; and,
E. N.
2 + 7 = 9
There is a very special reason for this division by nines but, for
convenience' sake, I shall number the whole from 1 to 27,
straightforwardly. And if you will have patience with me, I should like
to go round the tower once and again; first observing the general
meaning and connection of the subjects and then going back to examine
the technical points in each, and such minor specialties as it may be
well, at the first time, to pass over.
1. The series begins, then, on the west side, with the Creation of Man.
It is not the beginning of the story of Genesis; but the simple
assertion that God made us, and breathed, and still breathes, into our
nostrils the breath of life.
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