■» 
 
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 LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/descriptiondefenOObuck 
 
DESCRIPTION AND DEFENCE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 RESTORATIONS 
 
 OF THE EXTERIOR OF 
 
 atncoltt titatftefcrai, 
 
 WITH 
 
 A COMPARATIVE EXAMINATION 
 
 OF 
 
 THE RESTORATIONS OF OTHER CATHEDRALS, 
 PARISH CHURCHES, &c. 
 
 By J. C. BUCKLER, 
 
 ARCHITECT. 
 
 <&xfortr, 
 
 RIVINGTONS, HIGH STREET 
 
 WATERLOO PLACE, 
 LONDON. 
 
 TRINITY STREET, 
 CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 ILmcoln, 
 
 COUSANS AND GALE. 
 
 1866. 
 
15AXTER, PRINTER, OXFORD. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The subject of the following pages has been 
 forced into print by the persevering attacks 
 which have been made upon the recent restora- 
 tions of Lincoln Minster. The more potent 
 amongst the number of these assaults, although 
 arising from various quarters, appear all to have 
 proceeded from the same source, and undoubtedly 
 have been persisted in for several years past with 
 the greater boldness, as these adversaries have 
 hitherto been left with forbearance, without the 
 check of wholesome admonition. 
 
 The critics could not have been long in doubt 
 as to the responsibility in the conduct of the 
 works referred to ; nor as to the individual with 
 whom they would really have to deal, in case 
 they pushed matters beyond the verge of good 
 taste, and of fair and sensible criticism. 
 
 The reader should therefore be informed at the 
 outset, that the objects of the present publication 
 
vi 
 
 are two-fold; namely, first, the vindication of the 
 writer, as the director and constant superintendent 
 of the restorations in question ; and, secondly, the 
 consideration of the works performed under this 
 same designation in other places, by those very 
 persons who have made themselves most con- 
 spicuous in censuring the proceedings adopted 
 at Lincoln. Assuredly it ought to be a matter 
 of some moment, that those who go out of their 
 way to find fault with the performances of others, 
 should themselves be invulnerable, at least, in 
 those matters upon w T hich they presume to descant 
 so freely to the detriment of their neighbours. 
 
 The latter part of the undertaking will neces- 
 sarily occupy a conspicuous place in these pages. 
 The examples to be mentioned will illustrate the 
 general remarks upon architectural innovation, at 
 the same time that they will appear in unfavour- 
 able contrast with the system which has been 
 thoughtfully pursued and conducted at Lincoln. 
 
 The writer's present undertaking has been one 
 of duty and of interest, — of that peculiar interest 
 which can alone be felt by those who have an 
 inborn relish for the subject, which was destined 
 to be the chief occupation of their lives. His 
 duty to his employers cannot be overrated or 
 
vii 
 
 overvalued ; and the obligation is performed with 
 increased satisfaction, since the subject consigned 
 to his professional care is a specimen of very 
 ancient architecture, with whose walls are inti- 
 mately connected some of the most noted incidents 
 of contemporary history. 
 
 This last consideration is an additional incentive 
 to care in the treatment of subjects so valuable ; 
 and a reasonable motive for allowing the archi- 
 tecture, with which remarkable historical facts are 
 inseparably associated, to be brought prominently 
 forward, and to be examined and described with 
 as much exactness as the occasion permits. 
 
 This, therefore, seems to be the proper place 
 for the insertion of a brief tabular list of the 
 Prelates concerned in the foundation of the 
 Cathedral, and its reediflcation after the ravages 
 of a succession of fierce onslaughts. 
 
 
 A.D. 
 
 A. D. 
 
 Bishop Remigius, Founder 
 
 1088- 
 
 -1092 
 
 
 1092- 
 
 -1123 
 
 Alexander de Blois .... 
 
 1123— 
 
 ■1147 
 
 
 1186— 
 
 -1200 
 
 Translation of St. Hugh . . 
 
 
 1282 
 
 John Welbourne, Treasurer,] 
 and Master of the Works. J 
 
 
 1380 
 
viii 
 
 The present inquiry is necessarily limited to the 
 mass of building which composes the front, ex- 
 hibiting the elevation of Remigius's Church, the 
 measures of which were ultimately expanded and 
 most splendidly enriched. 
 
 Oxford, 
 December 8, 1865. 
 
PART I. 
 
 Treats of Architectural Innovation in the ordinary acceptation 
 of the term, and as it is practised in these days under the specious 
 pretext of Restoration; interspersed with references to the System 
 of Restoration adopted at Lincoln Minster, and followed by a detailed 
 description of the several processes employed in the execution of 
 the work. 
 
 The time has arrived when the writer can no 
 longer allow himself to be silent in regard to the 
 remarks which, from time to time, have been 
 made in reference to the restorations of Lincoln 
 Cathedral. He has unwillingly resumed his pen 
 to enter upon the subject of Architectural Inno- 
 vation, but the matter in dispute is deeply 
 interesting to him ; and, moreover, it becomes a 
 duty to correct the errors of the mischievous, and 
 to expose the sophistry of the selfish and the 
 wilfully ignorant. The task therefore is under- 
 taken ; no less for the purpose of explaining and 
 defending the course pursued at Lincoln, than to 
 bring to notice, in contrast therewith, the truly 
 destructive method, which has become the fashion 
 of the day, in what is misnamed the restoration of 
 ancient architecture. 
 
 The truth is that, instead of being carefully and 
 faithfully restored, our fine old Churches are 
 being daily deprived of their ancient character 
 and costume, and are made to assume new forms 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 and features unknown to the age of the structure, 
 and in opposition to its original organization. 
 
 It is impossible to separate the two subjects now 
 brought together, since the authors and abettors of 
 the latter system are the very persons who question 
 the soundness of the former, as exhibited in the 
 renovation of Lincoln Minster. It is perhaps 
 natural that it should be so, since the innovators 
 feel their own process to be condemned by the 
 example which spares the laceration and disfigure- 
 ment of every portion, whether plain or ornamental, 
 of the original design. The one is in accordance 
 with the spirit of the term employed ; the other in 
 direct contravention of it. The former leaves the 
 subject still indisputably ancient; the latter changes 
 its aspect, and destroys the various and valuable 
 traces of antiquity. The choice between these 
 opposite systems depends in great measure upon 
 the taste and feelings of those who undertake the 
 work of restoration ; and experience proves that 
 it too frequently falls into the hands of individuals, 
 who know but little of the history and the 
 characteristic diversities of ancient architecture at 
 its different periods, and who therefore are unable, 
 even if they would, to treat its remains with the 
 regard which they deserve. 
 
 But there is another powerful engine always in 
 operation against the integrity of ancient archi- 
 tecture, viz. the vanity of the person employed, 
 who chafes at the thought of being reduced to the 
 
3 
 
 level of a mere copyist. But to this an architect 
 must submit, if he has resolved to be faithful to his 
 trust. He can claim no right to injure the design 
 which he is called upon to restore and preserve. 
 Restoration by repair, and restoration by re- 
 building, are very different operations ; and every 
 candid person will admit that the latter is the 
 reprehensible course in cases where the former 
 can be successfully achieved* 
 
 In undertakings of this nature, the pride of the 
 architect should be to preserve every footstep of 
 antiquity; but alas! vain-glory steps in, and 
 ancient Churches are forcibly stamped with the 
 unauthorized inventions of the aspirant to fame. 
 A consistent, unaffected, and laudable respect for 
 the magnificent edifices of former ages, would 
 naturally lead to the scrupulous preservation of 
 every feature and ornament which time or mischief 
 has not defaced or destroyed ; and the absence 
 of this feeling, backed by a large share of conceit, 
 would lead to the overthrow of whole members of 
 a design for the recompense of so much new 
 stone-work, garnished with interpolations of modern 
 taste in design and execution. 
 
 There is therefore very little hope of reconciling 
 systems so much at variance ; but if the same 
 process which the writer sanctions at Lincoln had 
 not been pursued some fifty years since at York 
 and Beverley, and of which he was a frequent 
 eye-witness, the splendid fronts of those Minsters 
 
 b2 
 
4 
 
 would not wear the face of antiquity now so much 
 admired. No undefaced stone in either instance 
 was permitted to be removed ; and the repairs 
 were so dexterously performed, that it is scarcely 
 possible in any instance to distinguish between the 
 ancient and the new work. This honest course of 
 proceeding deserves to be imitated : it was pursued 
 in direct opposition to the destructive schemes of 
 the celebrated James Wyatt, and should never be 
 allowed to become obsolete. The same system 
 has been pursued at Lincoln, to the great benefit 
 of the architecture, and to the economy of the 
 resources, which elsewhere are lavished in re- 
 fashioning the interiors of Cathedrals and Abbey 
 Churches, in such manner as to give them the 
 appearance of Exhibition buildings. 
 
 It must not be supposed that the writer lays 
 any claim to the credit of having set on foot at 
 Lincoln the course of restoration which he strenu- 
 ously advocates. It had been the practice for 
 many years, and a large portion of the south side 
 was completed before he was called upon for 
 professional assistance, and time is fast concealing 
 from detection the inserted mason-work. The 
 just pride of the Chapter is, that they still possess 
 their Church in its original costume ; they can 
 look upon the ancient windows, and walls, and 
 buttresses, and are reminded of historical asso- 
 ciations, which abound in the annals of this 
 celebrated city. For these, they will not receive 
 
5 
 
 in exchange the works of yesterday. The Chapter 
 have no relish for new architecture in place of 
 ancient, for new workmanship in hard and 
 unsatisfactory imitation of that of the thirteenth 
 century. 
 
 The cabal against the restorations at Lincoln 
 has been in movement for some time past : it is a 
 sort of organized body, its " four or five" members 
 working up to the note of their leader, who at 
 length makes his appearance in the person of 
 Mr. G. G. Scott. 
 
 These pages will not be brought to a close 
 before ample consideration has been given to the 
 method pursued in the execution of the works 
 denounced by this gentleman ; neither will their 
 purpose be fully answered, until a sufficient num- 
 ber of instances of his own performances have 
 been adverted to, in evidence of the truly mis- 
 chievous results of his method of restoring ancient 
 Church architecture. We shall then be in a 
 position to appreciate the nature and the dis- 
 interestedness of the reverend regard for the 
 buildings of antiquity to which he lays claim, 
 and to exhibit the constant contradiction which 
 his examples give to the sincerity of his pre- 
 cepts. He would fain have it believed, that 
 he would rather lose his right hand than allow 
 it to injure the surface of a single block of 
 venerable stone. He weeps, and scolds, and 
 coaxes, determined to make an impression by 
 
6 
 
 some means in favour of his own prescription. He 
 has always at hand one of his choice little lucu- 
 brations upon the miserable method of attempting 
 to repair an ancient Church without first pulling 
 it down. If perchance a village Church has fallen 
 into other hands, he is on fire, and volunteers to 
 write up its merits as vehemently as if he had 
 before him an edifice of wondrous merit, and that 
 the nation was about to be robbed of one of its 
 most precious jewels. He has no sooner poured 
 his tears over the threatened fate of the un- 
 assuming little Church, than he hastens to the 
 proudest monument of architecture in England, 
 invades the feretory of St. Edward, and denounces 
 the altar and reredos, the latter harmonizing with 
 the tomb of King Henry V, and surrounded by 
 an assemblage of unrivalled works of art, which 
 profane hand never before touched ; and he puts 
 his pen to paper, to be his own chronicler of 
 these strange and antagonistic statements. 
 
 These preliminary observations may be sufficient 
 to shew the nature and scope of the subjects 
 embraced in the following pages. The substance 
 of what is here written was in part prepared in 
 the year 1859, and laid aside in the hope that 
 Mr. G. G. Scott would not again take the pains 
 to provoke a discussion, which would lead to their 
 publication, or continue to pursue on his own 
 account the destructive processes of which he 
 had given fleeting hopes ; but he has acted other- 
 
7 
 
 wise ; and since we are at issue as to the value 
 of our ancient architecture, and the most proper 
 method of sustaining it, the writer has no choice 
 but to give publicity to the facts and observations 
 contained in the present pamphlet. 
 
 The reader is not to suppose that Mr. G. G. 
 Scott had any footing at Lincoln, and was there- 
 fore at liberty to discuss and recommend, to 
 censure and decry, whatever he observed in the 
 Cathedral contrary to his own notions of right 
 in the processes of restoration in the course of 
 fulfilment. Nothing of the kind : he voluntarily 
 forced himself and his notions, his prescriptions and 
 his practice, upon the attention of the Chapter, 
 and with so good an opinion of these recom- 
 mendations, and of all that he had said and done 
 almost every where, that he lingered for a length of 
 time upon the hill, and, nothing daunted, prepared 
 for the charge again and again as opportunities 
 favoured the experiment. He was not encouraged 
 to " waste his sweetness on the desert air," nor 
 was he provoked by opposition from any quarter 
 to repeat his prose compositions, and to persist in 
 his good offices in favour of the Minster. 
 
 It may be as well to remark, that so long ago 
 as July 1859, Mr. G. G. Scott addressed a letter 
 to Dean Ward, in reference to the repairs of 
 the Minster; the remarks thus voluntarily ad- 
 vanced at that date were not the result of his 
 own observations upon the building, but were 
 
8 
 
 derived from hearsay ; and the report had been 
 so often repeated and transposed, that the original 
 word of gossip cannot now be recognised. The 
 Dean gave a broad hint, that there was no room 
 for Mr. Scott at Lincoln, and that he must still 
 send forth his plaint for the alleged wrongs of 
 the Minster from a distance. Truth to tell, 
 there could be no mistake as to the precise 
 meaning or motive of Mr. G. G. Scott's affection- 
 ate outpourings, and of the plaintive style of his 
 address. Nothing abashed, the hero of the clique 
 favoured the Chapter with a refresher, December 
 1860; but as the first communication contained 
 the full measure of what Mr. Scott had to say, 
 reference will be almost limited to it in a few 
 of the following pages. It is abundant in matter 
 for observation, and must be allowed ample space, 
 seeing that the penman observes great ceremony 
 and solemnity in laying down doctrines, the value 
 of which must be estimated not by the amount of 
 talk to which they give rise, but by the influence 
 which they exercise upon his own works. 
 
 That Mr. G. G. Scott's authorities in these 
 invidious and intrusive appeals are sometimes 
 questionable, has already been shewn ; and that 
 they are likely to be sometimes astray, may be 
 inferred from the following curious anecdote : 
 " Some months since, Mr. Scott told me that 
 he had seen in some French book, but in what 
 book he could not remember, a statement that 
 
9 
 
 St. Hugh built Lincoln after some Church at 
 Blois. This French statement, coupled with the 
 likeness mentioned of the north rose window of 
 Lincoln Transept to one at Blois, seems to tend 
 much towards the verity of your supposition. 
 No doubt some one will be able to point out 
 Mr. Scott's authority a ." 
 
 How exceedingly interesting to antiquaries yet 
 unborn, to be informed that, in these our enlight- 
 ened days, somebody was heard to say something 
 about St. Hugh of Lincoln ; and that diligent 
 search had been recommended, in order to make 
 the discovery. 
 
 Mr. G. G. Scott's letter to Dean Ward is as 
 follows. 
 
 The Grove t Hampstead Heath, 
 July 1, 1859. 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 
 I trust that the inestimable value of that great treasury 
 of mediaeval art, of which you are the guardian, will be 
 considered as a sufficient excuse for one deeply in- 
 terested in the preservation of ancient art, and having 
 had some experience in restoration, in venturing to 
 offer, with the. utmost respect, a few remarks on the 
 works which I hear are going on at your Cathedral. 
 
 The work to which I would intend to call your 
 attention, is the chipping away of the external surface 
 of the stone-work. When Church restoration commenced 
 many years back, the word was conventionally under- 
 stood to mean the removal of the ancient surface, and 
 
 a Gentleman's Magazine, February 1861. 
 
10 
 
 the bringing the building back to the appearance of a 
 new structure. Even then, however, this process was 
 occasionally protested against. Carter, about the year 
 1800, describes it as "either receiving a new-fangled 
 dress, or falling beneath the workmen's hands into un- 
 distinguished dust.'" I take the liberty of copying some 
 published remarks of my own on this point, which may 
 explain my meaning. " An original detail, (especially in 
 carving,) though partially decayed or mutilated, is in- 
 finitely more valuable than the most skilful attempt 
 at its restoration. A decayed or broken capital, or 
 bas-relief, retains a beauty and an interest which can 
 never attach to a perfected copy ; and it is much better, 
 as a general rule, to leave such fragments of art to tell 
 their own story, which they will do with immeasurably 
 greater truthfulness without our aid. Restorers, even 
 when disposed to be conservative, often mistake the 
 true meaning and object of restoration, which is not 
 to make a building look as if it were new, but (so 
 far as concerns the fabric) to put it in seemly repair; 
 to replace features which have been actually destroyed 
 by modern imitations, where they can be indisputably 
 traced; to clear the ancient surface from modern over- 
 laying, and to check the progress of decay and 
 dilapidation. The more of the ancient material and 
 the ancient surface remain, and the less new intro- 
 duced, the more successful the restoration. If more 
 cannot be saved, even one or two old bemossed stones, 
 in a window or a cornice, give value and truthfulness 
 to the work; but when it is possible, all or the great 
 majority of the old stones should retain their untouched 
 and unsmartened surface ; and even where a wall is 
 of necessity taken down, it is often possible, and would 
 be always desirable, to rebuild it stone by stone. There 
 is an individual character even in the old ashlar, which 
 should not be overlooked. ,, 
 
11 
 
 I was aware that many years back the system of 
 chipping off the old surface had been followed up at 
 your Cathedral; but I had hoped that, with the increased 
 amount of thought given to the subject of restoration, it 
 had been discontinued. It happens that I do not often 
 pass through Lincoln, but I heard with dismay about 
 this time last year, that this destructive process was 
 extending itself to that most precious architectural 
 monument, the eastern arm or " presbytery." I take 
 shame to myself that I did not at once take the liberty 
 of pleading with you against this. I have now been 
 again told of it, and am told that it has extended itself 
 to and around that gem of English art, the south-eastern 
 portal, though thus far this invaluable relic has escaped. 
 I hear too that the statues which exist near to this 
 portal have been restored, a work at which I should 
 have thought that the first sculptor in the land would 
 have trembled. 
 
 Now / beg of you to excuse my expressing to you my — 
 I can truly say — grief and agitation at hearing of this, 
 and my entreating you to pause while a large part of 
 this precious monument is untampered with. There is, 
 no doubt, much decay which it is well to repair, and 
 much may be done to prevent further decay, but the 
 process of chipping away the old surface has these 
 four effects: (1.) it destroys the marks of ancient 
 manipulation, which every one who has gone much into 
 the study of architectural antiquity highly values : 
 (2.) it destroys the beautiful natural colouring which time 
 has given to the stone, and which contributes so greatly 
 to the beauty and impressive character of a building: 
 (3.) if applied to mouldings, it is manifest that it must 
 alter their section, increasing the width of hollows and 
 reducing that of rounds ; and if applied to carving or 
 sculpture, it is simply destruction : and (4.) it tends to 
 hasten decay, by removing the harder crust of the stone, 
 
12 
 
 and exposing the softer interior, which has lost much of 
 what workmen call its " nature." Against these evils 
 I do not know of a single advantage which can be set 
 off, and the cost which is thus misdirected is also a 
 matter of consideration. 
 
 Earnestly and most respectfully begging you to 
 excuse the liberty I am taking, and still more earnestly 
 entreating you to put a stop to this fatal system of 
 so-called restoration, which I do not for a moment 
 attribute to you, as I well know that it commenced long 
 before your connection with the Cathedral. 
 
 I have the honour to be, 
 Reverend Sir, 
 Your very obedient Servant, 
 (Signed) G. G. Scott. 
 
 To the Very Rev. the Dean of Lincoln. 
 
 Deanery, Lincoln, 
 July 22, 1859. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have to thank you for your interesting letter, which 
 I received between two and three weeks ago, and which 
 I have communicated to the parties concerned. 
 
 Of course great attention is considered to be due to 
 any remarks of yours on architectural matters. But 
 as I cannot observe that you speak, as of your own 
 knowledge and personal observation, of what has been 
 doing and done in this Cathedral in the way of 
 restoration of the exterior, I must suppose that your 
 opinions might be somewhat changed or modified upon 
 inspection with your own eyes. I believe there has 
 been no wanton chipping, but only some needful adapt- 
 ation where utterly decayed stones have been removed, 
 and replaced by new. The two or three statues to 
 
13 
 
 which you allude have been restored by the hand of an 
 eminent sculptor, under the advice of a well-known 
 architect. The south-eastern portal remains untouched, 
 together with its sculpture. 
 
 J am, Sir, 
 Your obliged and faithful Servant, 
 (Signed) J. G. Ward. 
 
 The letter of Mr. G. G. Scott surely can be the 
 production of no other than an uncompromising 
 defender of ancient architecture. No thought but 
 that of saving Lincoln Minster from indignity 
 could have entered into the mind of the writer. 
 The sentences breathe a degree of tenderness for 
 venerable stones and mortar, rarely experienced 
 in modern times. With such intense sensibility 
 in behalf of architectural antiquities, the author 
 of this document could scarcely be supposed 
 courageous enough to engage in the necessary 
 repair of any one of these inestimable works of 
 precious art, lest he should brush away the dust 
 of ages, or do foul mischief to the admired 
 corrosions of time. 
 
 Mr. Scott's reverence for the most time-worn 
 ornament would not allow him to detach from its 
 ancient bed so much as a block of stone, which 
 had been assigned to its position by the hand of an 
 artisan six centuries ago. Marvellous affection for 
 mediaeval architecture! Assuredly the whole body 
 of the Ecclesiologists will weep for joy, when they 
 read of an individual so completely overwhelmed 
 
14 
 
 with concern at the bare rumour that the awful 
 architecture of Bishop Remigius has fallen into 
 unfaithful hands, and will summon their most 
 accomplished penman b to do honour to this 
 prodigy of valour. 
 
 But alas ! the charming spell is broken ; for the 
 soft words are closely followed by the harsh 
 sounds of Church windows, walls, and buttresses, 
 thrown into ruins in too many places. These words 
 and works clash strangely on the faculties of the 
 common mind, and, as things irreconcilable, must 
 be considered separately and with due deliberation. 
 
 The inauguration of the remarkable document 
 just given, and the passage in which the penman 
 announces that he was aware " many years back, 
 that the system of chipping off the old surface had 
 been follozved up at Lincoln', 1 are affecting in the 
 extreme. The broken-backed apology which leads 
 the way, but poorly ushers in the culmination of 
 Mr. G. G. Scott's agony. He stepped out of his 
 way to attack what proved to be a phantom ; his 
 tears, his grief, and his agitation, were all trumpeted 
 forth upon the creation of some mischievous busy- 
 body. The inconsistency of the foregoing remarks 
 is somewhat amusing : according to Mr. Scott's 
 own account, and notwithstanding his intense 
 anxiety, he allowed a whole year to pass before he 
 kindly called the Dean's attention to the " chipping 
 process" which, we must imagine, was wasting the 
 b Ecclesiologist, October 18G5. 
 
15 
 
 Cathedral all that time, the damage " extending 
 itself to that most precious architectural monument, 
 the Presbyter if " 
 
 Mr. Scott made a great mistake when he lent 
 his ear so readily to the evil reports from Lincoln. 
 He did not reflect upon the hazard of adopting 
 the statements of those who can assume the 
 character of spies ; it may be the jealous, the 
 conceited, or the ignorant. 
 
 It has been almost stated, that the exterior of 
 the repaired walls of the Cathedral have been 
 coated with plaster : no doubt the report will 
 vegetate with fertility, and by the time it arrives 
 at head quarters, will have assumed the shape of 
 unquestionable truth. 
 
 Mr. Scott is well-nigh persuaded that all he has 
 heard of Lincoln is confirmed by all that he has 
 since seen there : he wishes to believe it, and 
 what so easy as to believe whatever one hopes to 
 find true. As he has thought proper to father 
 this paragon of deformity, he must expect to be 
 dealt with as its legitimate author. 
 
 We have a right to expect that as Mr. Scott 
 evinces so much regard for the genuine cha- 
 racter of the Minster, and thrusts himself forward 
 as the zealous advocate of every antique edifice, 
 at least of that number with which he has no 
 
 c The sanctuary, as distinct from the choir, is properly 
 styled the Presbytery ; the term " Presbytery," as applied to 
 Lincoln by Mr. G. G. Scott, is wrong. 
 
16 
 
 professional concern, that he is extremely tender 
 and scrupulously exact in his treatment of the 
 time-worn buildings consigned to his care. 
 
 His works surely may be supposed to covet 
 the closest scrutiny. His hand, so lenient in 
 its pressure upon the works of art which belong 
 to another, would no doubt touch with painful 
 delicacy every blemished stone in wall and arch 
 of olden workmanship, whenever he takes charge 
 of a Cathedral or an Abbey Church. He is in 
 an agony at the thought that other hands, rather 
 than his own, should press upon a building so 
 sacred by all the associations which history can 
 gather around its walls, as the Minster at Lincoln. 
 So fastidious a practitioner as he cannot readily 
 be supposed to have wounded any ancient Church, 
 or to have diminished the time-worn aspect of the 
 surface. 
 
 If Mr. Scott had not possessed such tenderness 
 for every aged stone of this famed Cathedral, and 
 were not ready to expire at the thought that its 
 purity and beauty should be violated by the rude 
 assaults of the careless and the profane, the writer 
 would not think it worth while to remind him 
 of his own questionable emendations of ancient 
 Churches : the mere breath of the report which 
 has unnerved him — such is the zeal of his anti- 
 quarianism — sufficed to tip his pen with subtle 
 sweetness ; but he must be told, that there is 
 no place at Lincoln for anguish and anxiety 
 
17 
 
 about the fate of a Cathedral, alas ! almost 
 remarkable for the constant, careful, and judicious 
 exertions bestowed upon it through a long course 
 of years. 
 
 The "grief and agitation" of Mr. Scott!—- he, 
 who without compunction could perform such 
 deeds of havoc at Wakefield Bridge and Don- 
 caster, at Stafford and Gloucester; who could 
 destroy or modernise with the relish of the earlier 
 mnemoclasts, and find no difficulty in collecting 
 tears from the banks of the Nile, to pour out 
 upon an imaginary injury at Lincoln ! If injured 
 stone could speak, what tales would it tell of 
 the unsparing excision of ancient mouldings, 
 sculptures, and other valuable ornaments ; of 
 hurling to the ground of clerestories, and the 
 stone-work of superbly traceried windows ! Mr. 
 Scott, it seems, is privileged to mutilate and 
 modernise ancient Churches. He certainly has 
 no competitor at Lincoln in this unworthy calling; 
 and must endure to be told, that to himself belongs 
 the transient glory of having detracted from the 
 interest of some of our finest remains of archi- 
 tecture ; and, under the influence of new feelings 
 and expressions of taste, of impoverishing archi- 
 tectural history, by the extermination of forms, 
 features, and combinations, which were engrafted 
 on the original piles as they came into existence. 
 
 Which of our Churches does not testify to the 
 truth of this remark ? wherefore are those which 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 were deformed and defaced by Essex and Wyatt, 
 now viewed with diminished interest ? Gloucester, 
 until recently intact, is a treasury of architecture; 
 but if the cost of painted glass is to be the re- 
 building of its elevations, or the casting out of the 
 tracery, the windows had better be left without 
 the lustrous garnish. Happy Lincoln, to have 
 escaped this process, and yet to have acquired 
 painted glass worthy of the glorious fane ! 
 
 James Wyatt was an antiquary, devotedly at- 
 tached to the subject. Ancient Churches and 
 Chapels were his fondest delight. He advertised 
 himself in very insinuating terms, paraded his 
 experience in innovation, ycleped improvement 
 or restoration, and revelled in mischief long 
 enough to immortalize his name. Oh ! that the 
 arcades and screens of Lichfield, the sepulchres 
 and tombs of Salisbury, the proud architecture 
 of the Normans at Durham, and the Chapel of 
 New College, with its screens and stall-work 
 and roof, had voices to tell of his loving — his 
 conservative attachment to them! He knew that 
 a coat of plaster would cover a multitude of 
 faults : these have been brought to light at 
 Lichfield ; but better things are done in these 
 days ; nothing is now left for prying eyes to 
 discern in time to come. Windows, and walls, 
 and buttresses are stripped or thrown down, and 
 rebuilt : these things are marked with the rust 
 of antiquity ; the tooth of time has nibbled at 
 
19 
 
 an ill-tempered block of stone, which found a 
 place here and there ; and no pardon can be 
 extended to the window, or the buttress, which 
 contains such imperfections ; it must be pulled 
 down, stone by stone, every stone, then some- 
 times a novel design be interpolated, sometimes 
 an affected copy of the original set up, and 
 sometimes the whole thing wiped out. Not 
 Saul, when he saw the vision of the departed 
 prophet, could have been more astounded than 
 was Mr. G. G. Scott, when Professor Willis in 
 Lichfield Cathedral, before the Archaeological 
 Institute, evoked the erased mouldings. 
 
 The precept and the practice are at variance. 
 The writer will not allow testimony to get on 
 the blind side of truth ; the question at issue is 
 plain, and must be stated without reserve. If 
 Mr. G. G. Scott, like James Wyatt, had never 
 boasted of his loves — if he had ignored archi- 
 tectural antiquities — he might have escaped the 
 severity of censure ; but he is so deeply enamoured 
 with the subject, that the fancied sounds of the 
 " scraping" or the " chipping" of the walls at 
 Lincoln, vibrated in his ears in the far south ; 
 and after pouring out all the sorrows of Werter 
 in behalf of the Minster, he turns aside, and 
 commends, it may be, another bay of some 
 Cathedral to the tender mercies of the despoiler. 
 
 The writer has been placed in a position under 
 the Chapter of Lincoln — the office of Honorary 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 Architect or Surveyor — which delegates no power 
 to interfere with the established custom of carrying 
 on the repairs, supposing that he disapproved, in- 
 stead of readily giving sanction, to the system 
 adopted. He has not stepped out of his way 
 on the present occasion, nor approached a subject, 
 for the mastery of which he does not feel himself 
 fully qualified. 
 
 It is impossible, while the works at Lincoln 
 are being called in question, to shut one's eyes 
 to those in progress elsewhere under the care 
 and conduct of Mr. Scott. His process, at least, 
 ought to be of the most delicate description. 
 Who would think from his precept that he could 
 summon resolution to remove a single stone or 
 ornament that might be kept in its place, or 
 reinstated therein ? Who would think that this 
 very care and ceremony is undeviatingly practised 
 at Lincoln, and is not nor has been practised by 
 Mr. Scott, at least in the instances above cited ? 
 He may talk loud and long of the conservation 
 of architectural antiquities, foreign and native, but 
 he all the while accomplishes the modernisation 
 of almost every example within his reach. 
 
 There is no taint of modernism in the councils 
 at Lincoln ; no parade of new ornament, nor need 
 of it, in the presence of the noble architecture of 
 Bp. Alexander, or the delicious architecture of 
 St. Hugh and his successors. The work of his 
 munificent patronage glories in the perfection 
 
21 
 
 which just proportion, graceful outline, and the 
 due subordination of every constituent feature, 
 gave to this wonderful style of pointed archi- 
 tecture. The classic taste of Lord Burlington 
 was not proof against the impression which the 
 examination of the west front of Lincoln forced 
 upon him, and he declared that it was the finest 
 design in Europe. 
 
 Mr. Scott's insinuant and excursive letter is 
 amply sufficient to justify the remarks which have 
 already been made, and whatever others may be 
 appended. He cannot be offended, if the writer 
 measures him by his own standard : he is evidently 
 proud of his authorship, and of the dogmas which 
 he enunciates ; and there will be no difficulty in 
 proving that, in their full meaning, he intended 
 them for the benefit of every body but himself. 
 Great pity it is that, when he wrote down his 
 " grief and agitation," he had not dropped a tear 
 upon the words, and blotted them out for ever ! 
 
 The writer feels at liberty to publish the sub- 
 stance of a communication, which he addressed to 
 the Chapter upon the subject of the " chippings :" 
 it was not penned to see the light in this form ; 
 but, with the best desire to avoid collision, the 
 writer has found himself under the necessity of 
 enlarging upon the subject ; and thereby at once 
 to demolish the fabric of error which Mr. Scott 
 has lent himself to rear. It is refreshing to ob- 
 serve the plain and unsophisticated manner in 
 
22 
 
 which the letters therein referred to are written. 
 There is no possibility of extracting a second 
 meaning from the expressions. Clever, practical 
 workmen very often possess the talent of em- 
 ploying the right words in their descriptions : 
 they have but little to tell, and they tell it with 
 precision. 
 
 Mr. Scott will find no reason to congratulate 
 himself on account of the pains he has taken to 
 state what he would have done at Lincoln : this 
 could easily have been borne, but he affects 
 concern for the antique appearance of the walls, 
 and is agitated with grief lest the glare of modern 
 masonry should disturb the sober colouring of 
 time : " even one or two old bemossed stones, in a 
 window or cornice, give value and truthfulness to the 
 work; there is an individual character in the old 
 ashlar, which should not be overlooked." Lincoln 
 does, but Gloucester, since it has been at the 
 tender mercy of Mr. Scott, does not fully 
 acknowledge the correctness of this doctrine, 
 however clumsily expressed. It is true that, at 
 the latter Church, " one or two old bemossed stones" 
 have been put back again; at the former, this kind 
 of operation has never taken place : regard is 
 shewn for the building, not by any thing that is 
 said, but by every thing that is done for it. There 
 is nothing new in the requirements just quoted ; 
 the strange circumstance is, that, where we have 
 a right to look for their observance, they are 
 
23 
 
 disregarded, and are found in full practice 
 where they have been supposed to be unknown. 
 Moreover, the prepossessions of the antiquary- 
 have been convoked to strengthen the force of 
 professional persuasion, and every loophole so 
 effectually barred against retreat from the position 
 taken by the assailant, that he may escape the 
 dilemma as best he can. 
 
 The master-mason at Lincoln has always been 
 guided by specific and well-defined instructions, 
 and has been governed by directions correspondent 
 with those which Mr. G. G. Scott prescribes for 
 others ; but it is one thing to prepare instructions 
 for the guidance of others, and quite another for 
 the propounder to prepare restrictions and dis- 
 pensations for himself. 
 
 The following letter, which owes its origin to 
 the receipt by the writer of the full particulars 
 relative to the strictures which have been passed 
 upon the mason-work at Lincoln Cathedral, would 
 not have been inserted, but for the value and 
 importance of the extracts from the communi- 
 cations of the master-mason, which are so straight- 
 forward and intelligible as to be quite conclusive. 
 
 To the Very Reverend the Bean, and the Chapter 
 of Lincoln. 
 
 As very weighty charges have been brought against 
 Sandall, the master-mason at Lincoln, I wrote to him 
 upon the subject of the restorations in progress on the 
 exterior of the Cathedral, wishing to have his own 
 
24 
 
 account of the proceedings in addition to my own 
 testimony ; and he has complied with my request, by 
 sending me the following particulars, which I take leave 
 to lay before you, with such comments as have occurred 
 to me in the perusal of those documents. 
 
 Sandall states, that "a scum collects on the surface of 
 the stone, and this we wash and scrape off, but the 
 surface of the stone is not injured; it is quite impossible 
 to scrape it away without violence. As to working or 
 chipping away the stone, no practical man would ever 
 think of doing any thing of the kind. We merely 
 remove the dirt from the sound surfaces, and the decayed 
 stones are cut away and restored by sound stone, and 
 strictly to the original form, let it be moulding, 
 decoration, or plain ashlar. The stone itself that is 
 sound has a face upon it so hard that we could not 
 scrape it away. The way that we now scrape to clean 
 it was carried on before I had any thing to do with the 
 Cathedral. I came as a journeyman in 1846, and was 
 made master-mason in 1851 ; and my order was to carry 
 on the restorations as they had previously been done — 
 to wash and scrape away the dirt from the sound stone, 
 cut away the bad and insert new stone, and to point 
 the joints in the way you see it done — all under the 
 guidance of the Cathedral Surveyor. The south side 
 was going on in 1846, and I am not able to say how 
 long previous to that time. The work was completed at 
 the south-east corner in 1859. 
 
 " The stone used throughout the Cathedral is from the 
 Lincoln quarries, with the exception of the small Chapels 
 attached to it, which are of Ancaster stone ; and in the 
 repairs at different periods they have introduced York- 
 shire stone, and various other kinds of stone, which 
 I consider are far inferior to Lincoln stone, if selected 
 and of the best quality. The weak part of the native 
 'stone suffers from the wet at the joints; these we point, 
 because by far the greatest part of the stone is sound, 
 
25 
 
 and firmly fixed. Unless we did this, we should have 
 to cut almost every block of ashlar away, which would 
 really be unnecessary. 
 
 " The Lincoln stone of good condition has on each bed 
 a soft layer, which is easily injured by the weather, and 
 which in old times was not always taken off by the 
 workmen, as it is now, with care. 
 
 " The best stone is as perfect now as when it was first 
 put into the building. It does not fracture, and that 
 which gains a hard surface, about f of an inch in 
 thickness, never suffers any kind of injury from the 
 weather. The dirt hangs to it, but the stone is too 
 sound to be damaged by it, and no right-minded man 
 would cut away that surface or any part of it. 
 
 " At the west end we did not, as you know, do any 
 thing but scrape off the scum, as had always been done 
 before ; but what makes the west front so clean, is its 
 being so close to the black portion unfinished, which 
 is blacker than any other part of the Cathedral." 
 
 I had at one time thought to say nothing about the 
 chipping process, simply because I believed that every 
 intelligent person would doubt the probability or 
 practicability of such an operation. There can be no 
 question that it is a miserable expedient, one that is 
 never tried upon good material, and that is certain of 
 ultimate failure in case of a bad one. My own 
 observation leads me to believe that Sandall speaks 
 truly, when he states that he has not disturbed the 
 general surface of the ancient masonry, either in the 
 west front or on the south side ; but this particular of 
 the subject will be again referred to. 
 
 It is quite to the purpose to observe, that this 
 magnificent elevation had five entrances, two having 
 been added to the three in existence at the time of the 
 amplification of the front in the thirteenth century. 
 These two doorways were walled up with singular care 
 
26 
 
 and solidity at some now unknown date. The deep 
 recess of the arch, which has been reopened, is pillared 
 and groined, all which work was found in a perfect state 
 of preservation ; and nothing whatever has been done to 
 any part of the newly-disclosed masonry, surface, arches, 
 or pillars, beyond the substitution of one or two new 
 stones for others in the roof or arch, which had been broken 
 away. Mason-work fresh from the quarry cannot look 
 more brilliant than this, or workmanship from the chisel 
 of yesterday more fresh and crisp. The "scraped" stone 
 in contact with this particular arch presents the same 
 general appearance and colour, or that kind of texture 
 produced by the severance of the blocks, without any after 
 process for superior finish. This would not be its state, 
 if any other than the operation expressed by the above 
 term had been adopted by the mason, and performed by 
 him with greater care and caution than is implied by the 
 term as damaged by the critics. I pressed him upon this 
 subject, and he reminded me that, if he had performed 
 the work in any other manner, it would not have 
 escaped the watchful eye of the Precentor, who viewed 
 with jealous carefulness the restoration of the arches, 
 pillars, and ornaments of this portion of the west front : 
 the defects around were not numerous, and their repair 
 cannot easily be discovered. 
 
 There is this difference betweeen the restorations just 
 spoken of, and those on the south side of the choir, 
 that you cannot in the former, as you can in the latter, 
 distinguish with precision between the ancient and the 
 modern work, owing to the greater or less degree of 
 susceptibility of the material from the action of the 
 weather. But be this as it may, the general appear- 
 ance of the cleansed portion of the front, compared 
 with the newly-disclosed recess of the archway, is in 
 favour of the correctness of Sandall's statement, backed 
 by the writer's attentive observations ; and not less so 
 
27 
 
 with respect to the enduring quality of the stone, which 
 retains its primitive, if not in part acquired, hardness ; 
 and that such a process as "chipping" could never have 
 suggested itself to any but Mr. Scott's prompters. 
 
 A hasty and superficial observer is very likely to 
 arrive at an untrue conclusion upon the subject. The 
 dread of such an operation is praiseworthy, however it 
 may be excited ; and the warning voice useful, however 
 ill and invidiously it may happen to be applied : and 
 1 may add, that the mistaken notion would never have 
 gained ground, if experienced, instead of unpractised, 
 eyes had first caught the alarm. The " scum" (as 
 it is termed) of age is seldom viewed as a dissight 
 by antiquaries ; but it should be remembered, that all 
 men of taste in architecture are not antiquaries. The 
 question whether the dirt and dust, which for years 
 have gathered and settled upon the surface of the 
 walls and among the rich carvings, should be allowed 
 under any circumstance to remain, is scarcely doubtful, 
 considering the multiplicity of the pieces of new stone- 
 work, which towards the basement mingle with the 
 original ornaments of a sumptuous design ; and con- 
 sidering also the quality of the material. 
 
 There is, however, no dealings with cynics; no chance 
 of pleasing every body : the course pursued at Lincoln 
 is the right one, and will be sanctioned by time and 
 experience, when all captious objections and jealous 
 feelings shall have passed away. The subject was 
 soberly and sensibly considered, before the system was 
 approved and adopted ; and the building supplies the 
 most satisfactory evidence of assent, which can be offered 
 to angry objectors. I do not confound the tint of time 
 with the extraneous and parasitic matter, which clogs 
 the finer portion of the workmanship. The age and 
 the presence of rubbish of this kind are valueless. 
 Time and the weather do not operate destructively 
 
28 
 
 upon the stone of the soundest quality at Lincoln. 
 The accumulated matter gradually fastens upon the 
 surface, which, however, is too hard to be penetrated 
 by it. On the contrary, such is the quality of the 
 material employed in other districts, that vegetable 
 matter or lichen forms upon and appears to combine 
 with the complying surface of the stone, which in return 
 it commonly throws off, exhibiting plainly the imper- 
 fect nature of the material, and announcing its unfitness 
 to be tampered with. The worst mischief the scum 
 does is to choke up the more delicate and highly 
 relieved ornaments, and to mislead superficial observers, 
 as Mr. Scott was misled — a fact which wi]l plainly 
 appear later on. 
 
 Finally, with respect to the Lincoln stone, the con- 
 dition of the glorious Minster will render unnecessary 
 a multitude of words in commendation of its quality. 
 It is easy now to select the good material, and with this 
 kind the whole of the repairs have for many years past 
 been made — repairs of blemishes, which would scarcely 
 have appeared, even at this distant time, if the early 
 builders had not been constrained to employ the blocks 
 as they came to hand. 
 
 The mason at Lincoln is a faithful workman, and 
 true to the conditions of his trust ; his exertions are 
 unceasing in behalf of the integrity of the archi- 
 tecture of the Church. I need scarcely tell you what 
 he would not do at Lincoln : he would not tear out 
 whole windows, as the preparatory step to the intro- 
 duction of painted glass ; nor throw down elegantly- 
 garnished buttresses, for the sake of renewing the 
 entire design. 
 
 The evidences of antiquity in our noble Cathedrals 
 are much too valuable to be thus incautiously obliterated : 
 their interest and their identification with the past are 
 by these means swept away for ever. The original of a 
 
29 
 
 fine work of art is an infinitely greater treasure than 
 the most servile imitation can possibly be. 
 
 Our discussions upon these subjects have generally 
 arisen in the presence of Lincoln Cathedral, which, 
 while it possesses some of the most admirable speci- 
 mens of modern painted glass in existence, exhibits 
 those glowing productions, framed in architecture, of 
 the happiest period of the art in England, with scarcely 
 a touch of modern workmanship, but with many indi- 
 cations of hoar antiquity. 
 
 If my observations on the new work are scanty, it 
 must be ascribed to my disinclination to intrude upon 
 your time and attention remarks which convey neither 
 novelty nor instruction ; and partly to my desire that 
 it should be explained by a witness more familiar with 
 its execution : but, in any event, I maintain that the 
 principle upon which the restorations are conducted, 
 as to the repair of the substantial and ornamental 
 portions of the building, is the correct one ; and that 
 the sweeping system elsewhere advocated by your de- 
 tractors, is no less injurious to the value and interest 
 of the monuments of ancient architecture, than were 
 the pernicious meddlings of the notorious James Wyatt. 
 
 J. C. Buckler. 
 
 Oxford, Jan. 20, 1861. 
 
 As the subject-matter of the foregoing com- 
 munication will be frequently referred to in the 
 succeeding pages, and as Mr. Scott's address of 
 counsel to the late Dean Ward affords copious 
 materials for comment and quotation connected 
 with the same subject, the writer will at once 
 subjoin a few remarks upon this stirring docu- 
 ment. 
 
30 
 
 There is a very observable artifice in this 
 missive. It can be viewed in no other light than 
 as a cut and dried production, always at hand to 
 be thrust upon the good nature of any one whose 
 position renders him assailable. Mr. G. G. Scott 
 quotes himself by way of strengthening his argu- 
 ment, and will not allow his earlier effusions to 
 rest quietly in the depths of oblivion. The danger 
 of saying too much is braved ; the shallowness of 
 the stream is betokened by its turmoil. The author 
 of the paper to be examined cannot consistently 
 object to be tried by the terms of its contents : he 
 can claim no exemption from the tests by which he 
 would bring to judgment every defaulter in anti- 
 quarian orthodoxy. His faith in ancient archi- 
 tecture should be seen in his works. This must 
 be assumed at least on the present occasion. Just 
 so far as he has gone in his observations in 
 reference to Lincoln Cathedral, so far will the 
 writer follow him ; it shall not be said that he has 
 travelled beyond the record. 
 
 As a newly-professed antiquary, Mr. G. G. Scott 
 cannot object to things in architecture as they 
 appeared in the olden times : he requires this of 
 others, and therefore cannot be supposed desirous 
 of excepting himself from the like responsibility. 
 He does not, in theory at least, fix a limit to the 
 age of the specimens of architecture which are to 
 be admired and preserved : he is not satisfied with 
 less than all antiquity, for he knows full well that 
 
31 
 
 ancient architecture, from its dawn to its dissolution, 
 is a subject which cannot safely be mutilated by 
 partiality or prejudice. 
 
 By all means allow to architecture of the 
 present day all the merit it can claim, but do not 
 force the edifices of antiquity to wear the unfitting 
 garb, of modern origin. From the study of these 
 great works we have gained all the information we 
 possess upon the subject, but it would seem that it 
 shouM now be our aim to improve the architecture 
 which has supplied the knowledge of which we so 
 vauntingly speak. Almost as much as this may 
 be gathered from the compilation in hand, and it 
 remains to be shewn to what extent the doctrines 
 are held in estimation by the author of the con- 
 tribution to the statutes in defence of architectural 
 antiquities. 
 
 First shall be noticed the exquisite front of the 
 Chapel on Wakefield Bridge. It was a gem of the 
 fourteenth century, built in stone from the quarries 
 at Roche Abbey, and exhibited even in its state of 
 decay a very considerable quantity of ornament, 
 distinctly intelligible ; and as we are informed that 
 u a decayed or broken capital, or bas-relief, retains 
 a beauty and an interest which can never attach to a 
 perfected copy so it is " much better, as a general 
 rule, to leave such fragments of art to tell their own 
 story, which they will do with immeasurably greater 
 truthfulness without our aid." And Mr. Scott quite 
 forgot that " the object of restoration is not to make 
 
32 
 
 a building look as if it were new," but only to 
 " replace features which have been actually de- 
 stroyed ;" that the "more of the ancient material 
 and the ancient surface remain, and the less next) 
 introduced, the more successf ul the restoration ; and 
 that, when possible, all or the great majority of the 
 old stones should retain their untouched and un- 
 smartened surface ; and even where a xvall is of 
 necessity taken down, it is often possible, and 
 would be always desirable, to rebuild it stone by 
 stone" 
 
 Part of the front which escaped the waves of 
 the Calder was rescued for the ornamentation of a 
 garden ! What became of Mr. G. G. Scott's 
 obedience to his own laws ? 
 
 The front of this Chapel presented rich and 
 delicate patterns of reticulated tracery and diaper, 
 with much peculiarity of detail and construction. 
 The ordinary rules of jointing had been laid aside: 
 arches, tracery, crocheted gablets, and vertical 
 panels were all wrought in single blocks of stone. 
 Never perhaps in a building exposed to the weather 
 was so great a diversity of panelled and sculptured 
 embellishment associated with so few joinings, and 
 perhaps material of no other quality than the one 
 employed would, after the lapse of about five 
 centuries, have retained such indubitable re- 
 mains of the gem-like workmanship so exqui- 
 sitely executed. Where now is all this beauty ? 
 The whole front was ruthlessly hurled down, and 
 
33 
 
 the material employed in its reconstruction gave 
 early indication of untimely relapse into worse 
 ruin. 
 
 The grand tower of Doncaster Church was not 
 hastily condemned : it was reserved among the 
 surrounding ruins for preservation, and every anti- 
 quary in the kingdom heard, and for a long time 
 believed, that its pardon was ensured. Its strength 
 for duration was ascertained, and yet it was 
 thrown down by one who mourns inconsolably 
 over the fable that a few feet of the ancient stone- 
 work of Lincoln Cathedral have been " scraped." 
 How it happens that the assistant libellers, to 
 whom allusion has been made, have such sharpened 
 sight when they mount the proud elevation on 
 which the Minster stands, and have no accurate 
 vision at all when they find themselves at 
 Wakefield or Doncaster, at Stafford or Gloucester, 
 is passing strange. Is Gloucester less worthy 
 of jealous care than Lincoln ? Are the antique 
 stones of Lincoln in themselves more estimable 
 than those which compose any other Cathedral ? 
 
 Observers of the general state of Lincoln 
 Cathedral throughout will be satisfied of the 
 great care which is taken of it. Its interior is in 
 beautiful condition ; hundreds of pounds are 
 annually expended upon the fabric, from the 
 uppermost pinnacle to the most lowly moulding 
 of the plinth. Every part of the glorious structure, 
 within and without, is cared for with impartiality ; 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 and well it deserves the attention which it receives, 
 for every portion of the edifice has been worthily 
 wrought with an equal amount of labour and skill. 
 The system which has been so long in practice by 
 the Chapter of Lincoln, while vastly beneficial to 
 the Church, is both thoughtful and prudent, as 
 they are enabled to retain workmen in constant 
 employment in different parts of the building, 
 thereby keeping pace, as it were, with the 
 operations of time and the weather. It is this 
 judicious and long-established system which has 
 done so much permanent good to the fabric ; and 
 this, without any of the show of new work which 
 so unhappily defaces and deteriorates the antiquity 
 of so many of our ancient Churches. The repairs 
 at Lincoln do not present an inharmonious appear- 
 ance in point of colour, at least not for any length 
 of time, in contrast with the general aspect of the 
 ancient stone-work; and much of the new masonry, 
 over which a few years have cast a tinge of sober 
 grey or yellow, could not be detected by those 
 who are unacquainted with the fact of the 
 amendments. But considerable as has been this 
 kind of work, and laborious in every part of the 
 execution, it is in most places by no means large 
 in proportion to the work which is left untouched. 
 The beautiful architecture has been in existence 
 so long, that here and there it needs assistance ; 
 this is all that it requires, and all that it receives ; 
 and p'eople have only to examine the building to 
 
35 
 
 be satisfied that, in accordance with this ob- 
 ligation, every feature of the restoration has been 
 made. 
 
 In the same spirit the restorations of ancient 
 architecture every where should be accomplished. 
 If the object be to save as much as possible of the 
 original work, the means to so desirable a con- 
 summation are obvious — to do as little to it as 
 may be consistent with the safety and perfection 
 of the building. The Chapter of Lincoln are too 
 proud of their Cathedral, and of their experience 
 in the value of its restoration, to abandon their 
 system, or to transfer it to hands which, if un- 
 controlled, might do more in a few weeks to 
 disturb the solidity of its masonry, and to displace 
 its ancient details, than six centuries have effected. 
 They too fully appreciate the majesty and purity 
 of the interior to permit it to be tricked out with 
 ornament, as if the purpose were to catch the 
 unconsidered applause of strangers with the glitter 
 of new work, and thus to overlay or overpower 
 the effect of the stately architecture. 
 
 Let it be hoped that Essex was the last of the 
 tribe of innovators who will ever be allowed to set 
 foot in Lincoln Minster with line and rule in hand. 
 That architect, so able beyond the pale of ancient 
 Churches, needlessly blemished the interior when 
 he applied the supports of which the western 
 towers were in need. The single idea of massive 
 strength filled his mind, and he accordingly 
 
 d2 
 
36 
 
 encumbered this part of the Church with unsightly 
 masonry, as if he thought it no harm to deface the 
 interior, provided he maintained the security of 
 the superstructure. 
 
 He who can appreciate and enjoy one of the 
 most perfect specimens of early architecture ever 
 produced by the taste and skill of man, has the 
 opportunity to sate his refined appetite within and 
 around Lincoln Cathedral, unalloyed and unim- 
 poverished by extravagant displays, in which 
 workmanship would claim, and perhaps receive, 
 the applause, which ought to be bestowed upon 
 the genius of the design. 
 
 Architects in these days should be satisfied with 
 working up to the edifices of antiquity, and not aim 
 at transcending in richness by every application 
 they make to the original fabric. Whatever is re- 
 quired to be done in the interior should be in 
 subordination to the architecture. Examine and 
 consider the stupendous Churches abroad and at 
 home, and then say whether, in any instance, the 
 accessories tend to diminish the effect of the 
 pillared arcades and their graceful adornments. 
 But now-a-days eye-traps are so dexterously 
 invented and set, that the unthinking visitor is 
 unwittingly caught by the multiplicity of over- 
 wrought and glittering ornament : it exhausts his 
 superlatives of praise, and he has nothing left to 
 bestow upon the storied windows, the clustered 
 pillars, the almost living capitals, and the rest 
 
37 
 
 of the architecture in which mind exhibits so great 
 mastery over matter. 
 
 It is refreshing to pace the aisles of Lincoln 
 Cathedral, and to have the faculty of reason 
 exercised upon the wondrous combinations of the 
 architecture by which the spectator is surrounded, 
 the attention undisturbed by Gothic modernisms, 
 which require explanation before they can be 
 understood, and are not always appreciable when 
 described. The architecture of St. Hugh was 
 sustained, and not rivalled or reduced to simplicity 
 by whatever adornments were chosen to grace the 
 aisles. There has been no deficiency of embellish- 
 ment at the base of his building, but there never 
 was any excess : nothing is to be found there merely 
 for ornament, for the ancients knew full well that 
 " beauty never dwells where use is exiled." 
 
 Fidelity, honesty, and precision are enforced 
 in the execution of the restorations at Lincoln. 
 These, within and without, are unostentatious : 
 they seek not applause. They are doing good 
 to the fabric ; making it, as far as they extend, 
 such as it once was, and fitting to be acknow- 
 ledged by future generations as an unalloyed 
 monument of antiquity. Its glories will still be 
 those of its founders : its exquisite architecture 
 will have nothing to frown upon as surreptitious 
 and intrusive. The pride of the mason is to do 
 his duty in his work to the satisfaction of his 
 employers, and for the benefit of the Cathedral. 
 
38 
 
 That he is unlettered is not his fault ; it is his 
 praise that he is conscientious in the fulfilment 
 of the obligations of his rightful calling. 
 
 The statements in the preceding extracts from 
 his written reports are borne out and fully justified 
 by the evidence which has been given by intel- 
 ligent and candid observers for years past. The 
 success of the system is too well confirmed to 
 be disparaged, or faith in its value skaken by the 
 feeble and indirect assaults of meddling querists. 
 
 But how remarkable that the process which the 
 Dean and Chapter have for a long period pursued, 
 should be precisely the same as that which Mr. G. 
 G. Scott has lately committed to print as some- 
 thing very original ! His description is a syllabus 
 of the specification which governs Sandall. It is 
 exactly what was done at York by Mr. Shoults 
 the master-mason, and at Beverley by Mr. Cum- 
 ming, one of his pupils. The writer witnessed 
 those repairs, " stone by stone," throughout the 
 west front during many successive years : they 
 were carried on as are those at Lincoln at this 
 day, but in material scarcely so valuable as 
 that which is readily procured for this favoured 
 Cathedral. 
 
 But there must be no manner of doubt as to 
 the precision of what has been just stated : and 
 in order to be true to the very letter as to Mr. 
 G. G. Scott's enunciations, the reader is referred 
 to his elaborately worded epistle on a previous 
 
39 
 
 page. There can be no misinterpretation of the 
 meaning of the weighty paragraphs. The pre- 
 cepts are framed with exactness, as if the author 
 intended that there should be no escape from 
 the terms on which he sought the suffrages of 
 the Dean and Chapter. Who, upon reading an 
 advertisement of the kind spoken of, would not 
 suppose that the author meant to be guided, nay, 
 scrupulously governed, by the terms so explicitly 
 set forth ? Who would suppose that these things 
 were written to be used only on an occasion like 
 the present ? What, innocent reader ! will be 
 your astonishment when informed, by reference to 
 selections from Mr. G. G. Scott's favourite works, 
 that his stringent rules are utterly cast to 
 the winds, and that he adopts a totally different 
 process of restoration! He hands these precepts to 
 the Chapter of Lincoln, and in an agony of grief, 
 and in broken accents, informs them that all 
 that they are doing to their beautiful Church 
 is wrong. The writer can affirm that they are 
 not wrenching whole windows and buttresses 
 from the walls ; prescribing a new ashlar, and 
 altogether a new elevation, with the exception 
 of " one or two old bemossed stones :" they are 
 only performing the very kind of work which 
 Mr. G. G. Scott says ought alone to be recom- 
 mended and adopted in the restoration of ancient 
 Churches. There is enough of decay at Lincoln 
 to make this same experiment of vasty restoration, 
 
40 
 
 if there were the inclination to do things on a 
 showy scale ; but the cunning workman knows 
 his business better, and his suitable repairs will 
 in time obliterate the hitherto unchecked mischief, 
 which has in some measure tested the strength of 
 the walls and buttresses. 
 
 The spread of the surface joints may be regarded 
 as the cost of the preservation of the strength of 
 the walls, and their combination with their sup- 
 ports and embellishments. The ordinary practice 
 elsewhere is to sweep away large superficial 
 quantities of masonry, by reason of the partial 
 decay or damage to the mouldings, defect of 
 the jointings, and of the general surface ; in other 
 words, to get rid as much as possible of the 
 appearance with the reality of antiquity — to make 
 things anew, rather than adopt a restorative. 
 The reverse of this practice obtains at Lincoln. 
 Sandall points the joints, because by far the 
 greatest part of the masonry is sound ; and if 
 he did not do so, he would be obliged to cut 
 away many more of the stones. But there is 
 nothing coarse or excessive in this part of the 
 work; it is cited as an instance of the scrupulosity 
 with which the preservation of every portion of 
 the ancient work is calculated and enforced. By 
 a contrary course, the mason would follow in the 
 same path of mischief which is habitual with 
 others less thoughtful ; but by being satisfied with 
 doing less than they, he preserves considerably 
 
41 
 
 more valuable quantities of the ancient work, and 
 may appropriate the legitimate interpretation of 
 the term " restoration." 
 
 The admission that Lincoln Cathedral is an 
 admirable specimen of builders' work, that its 
 walls are formed of stone of rare excellence, 
 and that the core is as compact and strengthy 
 as it could be made, would be an inadequate 
 excuse for the excessive meddling with the con- 
 struction of other less favoured Churches. The 
 commendation of the best copy of any work of 
 art is little better than no praise at all : in 
 architecture it usurps the place of the original, 
 and is downright insolence. That "restorers often 
 mistake the true meaning and object of restoration " 
 is true beyond all question, seeing that course 
 after course of solidly combined masonry, whether 
 wrought or plain, is in many places torn away on 
 account of luckless flaws of the kind named ; 
 the too common custom is to make short work 
 of it, by casting the whole aside for a renewed 
 surface. 
 
 Rules so vaguely expressed as the foregoing 
 are the offspring of hasty impressions, otherwise 
 the contingencies in dealing with buildings from 
 three to nearly eight centuries old would never 
 have been overlooked. It is reasonable to suppose 
 that "restorers" cannot always do according to 
 their inclination : necessity — imperative necessity — 
 will often force obedience to its authority, and in 
 
42 
 
 its course will well-nigh demolish the whole 
 category of such fragile laws. " One or two old 
 bemossed stones," instead of the hundreds which 
 are tossed about at Gloucester and Worcester, 
 cannot surely be the requirement. At Lincoln 
 the latter proportion keep their places, and this 
 should be the meaning of the injunction. This 
 favourite precept, however, is completely over- 
 ruled by another, which pleads for the " ancient 
 material and the ancient surface" it being desirable 
 that "all" or the "great majority of the old stones 
 should retain their untouched and unsmartened sur- 
 face," Here again, for faithful adhesion to the 
 sound principles of restoration derived from York, 
 Lincoln will depose Gloucester. 
 
 "An original detail, {especially in carving,) though 
 partly decayed or mutilated, is infinitely more valu- 
 able than the most skilful attempt at its restoration, 
 A decayed or broken capital, or bas-relief, retains 
 a beauty and an interest which can never attach 
 to a perfected copy ; and it is much better, as a 
 general rule, to leave such fragments of art to 
 tell their own story, which they will do with im- 
 measurably greater truthfulness without our aid" 
 Precisely so. Look at the Minster in its different 
 aspects — the walls, the buttresses, the parapets, 
 the windows, the arcades, the cornices, the 
 plinths, are not new ; they were all, in places, 
 dislocated by time, but now embrace pieces of 
 work worthy of their positions, and which their 
 
43 
 
 companions do not disown ; they are held in 
 their places by the original masonry : labour was 
 unthought of, and expense has never been a 
 consideration in the pursuit of so important an 
 undertaking. This is the commendable way to 
 " check the progress of decay and dilapidation." 
 
 It sounds very learned to talk about the " marks 
 of ancient manipulation" and of u the individual 
 character in the old ashlar" but where are these 
 signs to be witnessed in any of Mr. G. G. Scott's 
 restorations ? He, at least, ought to exhibit imi- 
 tations of these particulars of the handiwork 
 of the ancients. Are they to be discovered at 
 Gloucester ? The elder artisans were not always 
 minded to produce an even surface, even in the 
 interior of the walls which were adorned with 
 painting and gilding, the general effect of which 
 was not impaired by disregard of that smoothness 
 which is almost always given to modern ashlar. 
 If the object is not to " make a building look as 
 if it were new" wherefore this departure from the 
 law which is announced with so much gravity ? 
 It might easily be proved that this admired 
 "manipulation" was not at any period a set ob- 
 ject with the ancient workmen ; in other words, 
 that it was sometimes owing to the make of the 
 tool, and was most commonly the result of free 
 workmanship, which discountenanced that degree 
 of nicety in . this part of the process, which is 
 now so often made to do duty for carefulness of 
 
# 
 
 44 
 
 design ; but this is not the place wherein to dilate 
 upon the subject. 
 
 The Collegiate Church of St. Mary at Stafford 
 shall first bear its testimony to the value of Mr. 
 G. G. Scott's precepts to himself. This is a noble, 
 and was once a very interesting building ; cruci- 
 form, and, like many Churches of remote origin, 
 combined in its design a considerable variety of 
 architecture, the latest examples of note being 
 the clerestories of the Nave and Transepts ; 
 abundantly windowed, in the place of steep 
 gable roofs, which, no doubt, characterized the 
 edifice until the fifteenth century, when the 
 alterations spoken of were made. A loftier interior, 
 and a more sumptuous design than the early 
 timber roof could present, with an increase of 
 light through the medium of painted glass, were, 
 we may presume, the influential incitements to 
 the alteration in the fifteenth century, which 
 involved no less than the remodelling of a very 
 considerable portion of the edifice. The hori- 
 zontal line of the parapet had been considerately 
 maintained ; but by the modernisation of the 
 South Transept, the transverse limb of the build- 
 ing has become lop-sided. We have nothing to 
 do with the taste or the style of this ancient 
 alteration. Mr. Scott makes no exception, and 
 cannot seek shelter under any one of his own 
 canons for the proper restoration of ancient 
 architecture. He is so anxious that every scrap 
 
45 
 
 of ancient stone, whether carved or plain, should 
 escape the workman's hands untouched, that one 
 may be excused for deriving the conclusion, that 
 he would almost rather take pains to keep a 
 Church in ruins, than engage in the task of 
 upholding one, through the dread of tarnishing 
 the "beautiful natural colouring which time has 
 given to the stone" 
 
 But in his fervency he pushes the subject 
 further : he says, " restorers often mistake the true 
 meaning and object of restoration, which is not to 
 make a building look as if it were new, but (so far as 
 concerns the fabric) to put it in seemly repair, and 
 to replace features, which have been actually destroyed 
 by modern imitations, where they can be indisputably 
 traced" At Stafford, in place of gables, the walls 
 of the Nave and Transept were in the fifteenth cen- 
 tury carried up, squared, and embattled, resulting 
 in a remarkably handsome clerestory, adorned with 
 pinnacles on the exterior, with a worthy timber 
 roof within. A singular attention to harmony in 
 the design of the front of this Transept was 
 observable, produced at the cost of the original 
 window which was removed, and replaced by one 
 which occupied the breadth of the Transept, 
 between the buttresses. It consisted of seven 
 untransomed compartments within an arch which 
 ascended to the roof, and amply compensated the 
 more sparingly pierced side walls. No superfluous 
 altitude was granted to the oaken frame : a different 
 
46 
 
 form of roof had obtained favour ; panel work had 
 been allowed to rival, or almost to supersede, the 
 grand outline which admitted the aisle to be 
 spanned with arches. 
 
 There was more genuine architecture in the 
 design of the early roofs than in those of later 
 date ; with these the tall gable would be out of 
 place ; accordingly its depression, or its absence, 
 was suitable to the roof, and multitudinous are 
 the examples in which the horizontal parapet, in 
 place of a gable, was adopted, as in St. Mary's 
 Church. Determined, however, to prove that he is 
 not obliged to obey the laws which he makes and 
 propounds, Mr. Scott sweeps away the clerestory 
 of the south wing of the Transept, and builds up a 
 gable in defiance of his own declaration, that " the 
 more of the ancient material and the ancient 
 surface remain, and the less new introduced, the 
 more successful the restoration" 
 
 Our Churches are mostly assemblages of miscel- 
 laneous architecture, the greater number combined 
 upon Norman foundations, or Norman walls and 
 arcades. These are the means by which we 
 became possessed of so many choice specimens of 
 different ages. A whole Church in a single style 
 is of rare occurrence : when we meet with an 
 instance, it is appreciated; but an injury is done to 
 the history of architecture, by reducing Churches 
 of various styles to this condition. The contrast 
 they present is valuable, the diversity instructive ; 
 
47 
 
 but the appearance of a Church modernised after 
 this fashion is tame, and devoid of the worth which 
 it possessed by the successive improvements of 
 antiquity. The features on the south side of the 
 choir of St. Mary's at Stafford were, at the same 
 time, denounced and utterly destroyed, and others 
 set up more in accordance with Mr. Scott's taste 
 than with that of antiquity. 
 
 The integrity of the history of pointed archi- 
 tecture must be advocated against such reckless 
 inroads as these among the objects by which it is 
 illustrated. The age of the building or the quality 
 of its architecture is not the question which 
 determines its fate, nor is its strength or its 
 weakness at all more concerned in the decision ; 
 but an excuse is always at hand, where the will of 
 a conceited architect has the liberty to gratify 
 itself. The fifteenth century was a Church-building 
 period of considerable distinction, and antiquaries 
 cannot spare its examples, distant as they may be 
 from the source of perfection. For instance, how 
 deep the interest which attaches to the gateway 
 tower of Evesham Abbey. It closed the history of 
 that style of ecclesiastical architecture in England. 
 The workmen had scarcely quitted their labour upon 
 its parapet, when the Deed of Suppression arrived 
 at the gate. The destroyers rushed through its 
 newly-formed archway, and desolation commenced 
 among the buildings, for the protection of which 
 it was designed. Singularly enough, this tower is 
 
48 
 
 almost the only evidence remaining above ground 
 of the vast group of edifices within the precincts 
 to which it gave access. 
 
 The wealth of the Church in the fifteenth century 
 favoured great undertakings ; but the taste which 
 was brought to bear in art was lower in standard, 
 and more unsteady, than heretofore. In East 
 Anglia, rich beyond any other district in Church 
 property, some of the best, and many of the 
 plainest, examples are to be met with. The 
 architecture of this period, exhibiting almost the 
 last scintillations of the pointed style, takes a 
 conspicuous place in history, and its claims to 
 preservation cannot fairly be questioned. It is 
 not the destruction of so much ancient stone-work 
 at Stafford of which the writer complains, a 
 sacrifice which Mr. G, G. Scott affects to de- 
 nounce; — the loss will be discovered in the history 
 of the architecture of the Church ; — it was a 
 wasteful alteration of a composite design of 
 considerable merit and antiquity. The clerestory 
 was complete in its elevation from north to south, 
 and from west to east up to the choir arch, and, 
 according to Mr. G. G. Scott's own showing, 
 ought to have been preserved with religious 
 care. The architecture of this Church included 
 examples of the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, 
 and fifteenth centuries : its history has been 
 damaged, its consecutive order disturbed, and the 
 concatenation broken and destroyed. He who 
 
49 
 
 enters an ancient Church willing to change the 
 form of the fabric, to displace tombs or screens, 
 to destroy windows, or whatever features con- 
 tributed to the perfection of the design as it has 
 been handed down to us, borrows a leaf from the 
 " black book" of the sixteenth century. 
 
 Lincoln, it is to be hoped, will never imitate so 
 heedless an example : it has nothing to spare of 
 the little which it contains of the fifty years which 
 preceded the Reformation. Speak of " poor 
 fifteenth century work !" there is nothing of 
 the kind. Architecture was rapidly waning in 
 the fifteenth century, but its specimens at the 
 close are no less genuine than those which were 
 produced at the beginning, or at any earlier date, 
 whatever may be their presumed demerit in these 
 fastidious days. Every specimen therefore ought 
 to be saved. But grant the liberty to demolish 
 the clerestory of the south Transept of Stafford 
 Church, or " improve" the stately tower of Don- 
 caster, and there is no consistency in visiting with 
 the severity of censure any other instance of 
 innovation. 
 
 In this almost proscribed style may be discovered 
 the first traces of that cyclical course for which 
 the ancient architecture in the latest stages of its 
 existence was remarkable, and the more so the 
 farther it was removed from the goodness of its 
 character, or it may be said the closer it ap- 
 proached its final state of existence. This is a 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 particular of its history which has hitherto escaped 
 observation, but which can here only be mentioned. 
 
 No sufficient argument ever has or can be made 
 for " architectural innovation/' however small the 
 scale on which it may be practised. Improvement, 
 or restoration, is now as formerly the ready excuse 
 for the mischief ; but it is quite inadmissible. 
 It was reserved for Mr. G. G. Scott to add to the 
 general expression of the law, " that the more of 
 the ancient material and the ancient surface remain, 
 and the less new introduced, the more successful the 
 restoration;" and how comforting to antiquaries, 
 and withal how intelligible the remainder of the 
 sentence ! " If more cannot be saved, even one or 
 two old bemossed stones, in a window or a cornice, 
 give value and truthfulness to the work" 
 
 No doubt Essex and Wyatt plumed themselves 
 upon their skill in the application of stone and 
 plaster to the Cathedrals of Lincoln, Ely, and 
 Lichfield, and admired the improvements which 
 they effected therein ; and if such an example as 
 that at Stafford is pardonable, there is no saying 
 where the line of demarcation is to be placed. 
 Archaeologists of the present day cannot but 
 deplore the ravages which have been made in 
 Cathedrals, in diminution of their history and 
 their interest. The close juxtaposition of barbaric 
 weight and rudeness of material, and of barbaric 
 finery, with the fairest architecture produced by 
 lofty genius from the close of the twelfth century 
 
51 
 
 to about the commencement of the fourteenth 
 century, were to be seen in two of the most 
 superb Cathedrals, Ely and Lincoln, after Mr. 
 Essex had effected his supposed improvements 
 therein. It is amazing that he could perpetrate 
 the varied deformities which have been so long 
 seen and condemned, and altogether miss the 
 character of the architecture, the effect of which 
 he fondly fancied he should amend. His obtuse 
 perception did not enable him to discover or 
 appreciate the harmony which reigned throughout 
 the interior of these Churches. He was unable to 
 perceive that the vast eastern member of Ely 
 Cathedral was not built for a single purpose, and 
 that therefore it was not in his power to reduce it 
 to this state, without throwing the varied design of 
 the edifice into confusion. It was built, or rather 
 rebuilt, in portions, the extent of each of which 
 was denoted by screens, and shrines, and tombs. 
 He rudely burst through all these partitions, 
 removed or demolished the memorials of the 
 distinguished dead, just as if the ancients had 
 made a mistake in the arrangement of their own 
 design, and the appropriation of the interior; 
 and as if it were within his province to give to 
 the choir becoming order and proportion. 
 
 A restraining hand seems always to have been 
 present at Lincoln: the interior could not possibly 
 escape without some havoc, but here it laid a 
 lighter stress than elsewhere upon the remains 
 
 e 2 
 
52 
 
 which had survived earlier assaults. The most 
 mischievous alteration made by Essex was in the 
 screen which separated the Sanctuary from the 
 space beyond. It is composed of two walls, with 
 a space between them : the eastern side retains 
 its original position, and the design of the solid 
 portion of the elevation has not been materially 
 injured. This formed the outer wall of a passage, 
 of which the inner, or reredos, was destroyed. 
 Within the space, a circular stone stair, at the 
 north angle, led aloft. The central part of the 
 design appears to have been prominent, indicating 
 that the altar stood within a recess, and this, no 
 doubt, furnished the idea for the present over- 
 weighted canopy ; but in what form the pinnacles 
 and canopy-work ascended, or how richly they 
 were clustered to compose the supreme finish of 
 the design, is unknown. Light was admitted to 
 the passage between the walls of the screen, by 
 piercings in the tracery, which still exist : the 
 entrance was at the south end by a door on the 
 altar pace. There can be little doubt from the 
 position, and the peculiar arrangement of this 
 screen, its approach, and the means of ascent 
 to the summit, that it was prepared for the re- 
 ception of a shrine, which was elevated upon 
 the parapet in the centre, and was to be seen 
 through the open work of the richly adorned 
 canopy, which surrounded and surmounted the 
 high altar. All traces of this arrangement, be- 
 
53 
 
 yond the few hidden signs which have been 
 noticed, were obliterated by Essex. He destroyed 
 the pattern of the original screen, and substituted 
 another, without effecting any improvement. He 
 overlooked the consistency and unity of the 
 original composition, which stretched across the 
 breadth of the Sanctuary, and gave no companion- 
 able features to the new substitute. 
 
 This screen, once preeminent for beauty, now 
 rendered unworthy of its position and of the sur- 
 rounding architecture, formed a portion of many 
 splendid additions, which were made within and 
 around the Choir and Sanctuary in the early 
 years of the reign of Edward L Among the 
 number were the shrines of St. Hugh the Car- 
 thusian, Bishop of Lincoln, and the extremely 
 elegant shrine of St. Hugh the Martyr, in the 
 south aisle, of which the mutilated remains of its 
 resting-place still cling to the screen. 
 
 The difference between examples of innovation 
 at all periods is chiefly in degree. Formerly, its 
 disciples hacked and hewed in the interior, with 
 but little discrimination ; restored the exterior of 
 aged Churches largely ; and then wrote books to 
 confirm their knowledge of the subject. But 
 latterly, the books have been written first, as a 
 certain guarantee that these matters are capable 
 of being handled with a delicacy of touch which 
 will reinstate the pristine beauty, without diminish- 
 ing even the venerable hue and texture of the 
 
54 
 
 declining buildings. The piteous plaints of Church 
 walls would fill many a portly volume : but the 
 eloquence is unheeded, perhaps because expressed 
 in language understood by few except the initiated 
 in mediaeval art. 
 
 Give ear, reader, to the last doleful murmurs 
 which issued from the Benedictine walls of 
 Gloucester Cathedral. 
 
 "It has been my misfortune to have some of my 
 most noble windows glazed with modern painted 
 glass. My beauty is such, that it would do honour 
 to the ornament, and my whole fabric would rejoice 
 in the favour, if I had not been called upon to 
 make most cruel sacrifices for this embellish- 
 ment. As time advanced, after my first perfect 
 appearance, my magnitude was extended, and, 
 in the change of fashion, the rays of the western 
 sun were made to pass through a most noble and 
 rich frame-work of stone, which, for full three 
 centuries, has afforded me protection. I have 
 lately received so many blows, and suffered so 
 many and grievous dislocations, that I trembled, 
 and felt as if I were going to be altogether de- 
 prived of existence. But all this proved to be the 
 ceremony for doing me good : I do not complain, 
 only the novelty of the assault, from which in my 
 ignorance I thought my elevated position would 
 have secured me, startled and astonished me ; and 
 it was soon made known that my strength in this 
 arm remained stubborn and trustworthy. 
 
55 
 
 " My exterior had, it is true, been somewhat 
 defaced, and my fringe-like ornaments torn and 
 disordered ; but, although to outward appearance 
 a little the worse for wear, I could claim the 
 advantage of a good constitution, and was un- 
 commonly well knit together, and, what is very 
 unusual, was buttressed, so that this part of my 
 tall and slender frame possessed a double amount 
 of strength, without any diminution of beauty. 
 
 " My present masters were surely unaware that, 
 although partially decayed, I was infinitely more 
 valuable in that state, than I should be in a 'per- 
 fected copy; 9 and you know that ' it is much better, 
 as a general rule, to leave mutilated fragments of 
 art to tell their own story, which they will do with 
 immeasurably greater truthfulness without aid' My 
 friend, Abbot Seabroke, rejoiced over me, and 
 gave me some of my richest garniture : he was 
 a powerful and good master ; and although he 
 became such in my later days, and it pleased him 
 to dress me in gorgeous apparel, I had reason to 
 be grateful to him for the bountiful care he took 
 of me ; and can truly say, that I bore his precious 
 gifts with pride and satisfaction. He had observed 
 the strength of my main limbs, my comely pro- 
 portions, and robust condition ; and had no mis- 
 givings, when in the fulness of his bounty he 
 almost encumbered me with jewellery, beyond 
 almost any thing that any of my contemporaries 
 could rival. 
 
56 
 
 " If, in former times, a gap were made in any 
 part of my frame, I could guess the meaning, and 
 felt secure in the hands of the builders, who were 
 the inventors of the architecture they practised : 
 they were not likely to deface my appearance, 
 for these men were not copyists in design : they 
 learnt the practical part of their profession from 
 their elders ; but the application of the forms and 
 details, the complex combinations, and the peculiar 
 character which marked the elevations of the 
 architecture they practised, were their own, and 
 were therefore strictly original. If, for a time, 
 I felt somewhat uneasy from the violent treatment 
 I received, I had the satisfaction to imbibe a vast 
 deal of good from my unflinching disposition. 
 I used to flatter myself that I was all the more 
 interesting for the additions to my original costume, 
 a piece at a time, the best of its kind, if not always 
 in the taste which would be approved by fastidious 
 critics ; for, as you know, the novel race known 
 by this name, who do not possess a grain of the 
 inventive suitable to my case, consider themselves 
 the best judges in the world of what is correct. 
 Now-a-days, when I sustain a gash, it is only that 
 the wound may be patched up again, in imitation 
 of what I was before. I own that I do not under- 
 stand this imitation-work, which is sometimes 
 thrust into the sound portions of my frame : the 
 preparation shakes me dreadfully, and I do not 
 feel so sound as I am sure I was before. 
 
57 
 
 " But look at me in another aspect. Do you 
 not see that the busy-bodies are at this moment 
 lacerating my sunny side : they will not allow 
 me to retain my garb of antiquity in that most 
 favoured portion of my exterior, flippantly as they 
 talk about 6 bemossed stones, 9 ' ancient manipulation? 
 — a thing by the way never thought of during 
 the long course of my being, — and the ' beautiful 
 natural colouring which time has given to the stone. 9 
 Quackery in architecture was unknown when my 
 first foundations were laid, and when I received 
 the adornments which made my giant structure 
 the superb whole which I was acknowledged to 
 be. I felt that in former years I was benefitted 
 by the genius which held the mastery over pointed 
 architecture, significant as this garniture which I 
 now wear was felt to be of diminished power of 
 expression, although not a whit behind its prede- 
 cessors in copiousness of invention. 
 
 " I could multiply reasons for my preservation, 
 but will now only ask you to look upon those 
 features on my side which have not yet been 
 violated. A touch here and there from the tooth 
 of time is sure evidence of my age ; not that 
 I crave to retain these signs that I have spent 
 a long space in the world, but I am desired to 
 hold fast these bits and scraps of ornament as of 
 ( inappreciable value/ and in the next breath these 
 and a hundred other undefaced embellishments are 
 torn from me, and unhesitatingly scattered at my 
 
58 
 
 feet. Wherefore thus destroy my identity with 
 the early Edwardian era ? Let me not forget to 
 tell you that I was generously ordered to receive 
 back a few bits of ashlar ; but of my exuberant 
 riches in ball-flower,, no token has been returned 
 worth mentioning. The greedy chisel has de- 
 prived this part of my frame of the stamp of 
 genuineness, mocked my beauty, and reduced me 
 from an original production of art to a base-born 
 imitation. Here I must hold ; and ' beg of you to 
 excuse my expressing to you my — / can truly say — 
 grief and agitation, 9 on account of the hard treat- 
 ment I so unworthily suffer." 
 
 There is manifestly no equivalent in a case of 
 this kind. Who does not delight in the con- 
 templation of a beautiful elevation over which five 
 centuries have passed, during which period highly 
 cultivated taste, and untiring genius in the pro- 
 duction of works of art in architecture, have 
 brought nothing to bear in comparison with the 
 merit of the design referred to ? History claims 
 its associations : the Church was proud of its 
 antiquity and its origin : its architects were among 
 the grandest in the middle ages of the world ; and 
 perhaps some gifted individual offered this donative 
 to the Abbey, a timely contribution, it may be 
 monumental, or the permitted gift of a newly- 
 produced example of decorative design. In return 
 for this, we are to receive a smooth-faced copy, 
 an unstamped imitation, without a spark of the 
 
59 
 
 genius which made the original inappreciable. 
 The luxury of the style is seen in the preparation 
 of the mouldings for the exhibition of the ball- 
 flower, without rivalry, in double rows throughout 
 the beauteous design of the tracery. 
 
 What an enviable opportunity has been lost of 
 bringing the full force of the written rules and 
 requirements to bear upon this single member of 
 the Cathedra] ! How great would have been the 
 triumph, to let the world see that these profound 
 laws were written to be obeyed at Gloucester ; and 
 that the aisle of the nave was destined to exhibit 
 the realization of a system, which, with the power 
 of a charm, would restore the decayed strength, 
 and stop the ravages upon the beautiful sculptures! 
 " Stone by stone" every " bemossed stone" should 
 again have found its place, without the harsh 
 sound of the " chipping or scraping process." 
 " There is an individual character even in the old 
 ashlar which should not be overlooked" How 
 grateful to those " deeply interested in the pre- 
 servation of ancient art" to be assured that " all, 
 or a great majority, of the old stones should retain 
 their untouched and unsmartened surface" and be 
 safe from the obliteration 66 of the marks of ancient 
 manipulation!" How gratifying, while beholding 
 " an original detail {especially in carving), to be 
 told that, " although partially decayed or mutilated, 
 it is infinitely more valuable than the most skilful 
 attempt at its restoration /" Nay, " a decayed or 
 
60 
 
 broken capital, or bas-relief, retains a beauty and 
 an interest which can never attach to a perfected 
 copy ;" and bless the lawgiver, all ye antiquaries! 
 for he tells you, that " it is much better, as a general 
 rule, to leave such fragments of art to tell their own 
 story, which they will do with immeasurably greater 
 truthfulness without our aid" 
 
 66 Restorers, even when disposed to be conservative" 
 &c. Who does not admire the conservatism of 
 the rules here laid down in theory, and sorely 
 lament over the rampant radicalism in practice at 
 Gloucester ? 
 
 The writer eschews unauthorized reports, and 
 speaks from the evidence of his own observation. 
 He could not be unmindful either of the decay 
 or the repair of this richly instructive Cathedral. 
 With such stringent precepts as the foregoing 
 ringing in our ears, the eye must needs be dis- 
 appointed, when it rests upon the quantity and 
 the quality of the rejected fragments which lay 
 strewed over the foreground, and many of which 
 long lingered there, proving that mullions, tracery, 
 "bemossed stones," and all, were never again to be 
 replaced, although exhibiting perfect workmanship, 
 (( ancient manipulation," sound material, and " un- 
 chipjjed" joinings, with only a difference of colour 
 between the outer and the inner half. On the sod 
 were to be seen piles of mullions, and pieces of 
 tracery, among other beautiful stone-work ; of 
 worthy scantlings, thirty-three inches by thirteen, 
 
61 
 
 by six inches, with mouldings and ball-flowers as 
 perfect as when first wrought, and only defaced 
 by being thrown down. Two windows remain 
 untouched, but the ominous scaffolding is at this 
 time (Feb. 1861) nearing their summits, and, if 
 report speak truly, their fate is determined. If 
 one of these windows is to be torn to pieces for 
 the sake of a new one, what original window is 
 henceforth likely to be preserved ? These two 
 windows have been since destroyed d . 
 
 Odious comparison cannot but be made between 
 the repaired work on the south side of Lincoln 
 Cathedral, and that on the same side of Gloucester 
 Cathedral. The contrast is so striking, that the 
 two cannot possibly be the result of the same 
 process. In the one, the irresistible impression 
 is, that the eye rests upon the actual production 
 of the thirteenth century visibly restored to per- 
 fection, not by that method of restoration which 
 involves the destruction of a wall, a buttress, or 
 
 d The " Ecclesiologist" for April, 1866, advocates the 
 removal of the stone screen, and the alteration of the 
 Benedictine arrangement of the western stalls, translating 
 its motto in a new sense ; and anticipating that, when the 
 interior it still further "swept and garnished," we may expect 
 in Gloucester Cathedral to see worshippers on their knees 
 from early dawn to latest day, so striking will be the 
 resemblance to Milan and the Ambrosian rite ! It will 
 be delightful to get in and out of the Church, and to have 
 the chain of the south door freely unloosed : the rest of the 
 similitude, we presume, will exist only in the inconsistent and 
 eccentric ecclesiological mind. 
 
62 
 
 a window, but with a thoughtful consideration 
 for the end in view, and a faithful adhesion to 
 the principle acknowledged in the interpretation 
 and acceptance of the term — the replacing and 
 strengthening whatever has gone to decay — a 
 fragment here and a fragment there, with that 
 religious regard for every efficient block of ancient 
 masonry, whether wrought or plain, which admits 
 of no abatement, no parleying with persuasive 
 conceit, no yielding to indifference or negligence. 
 There perhaps never was a Cathedral (York 
 alone excepted) which has received the benefit 
 of incessant guardianship like that of Lincoln. 
 Decay and dilapidation are discovered and checked 
 at once ; and where there is no inclination, there 
 is no excuse for passing the bounds of necessity 
 in this employment. No more shall be said of 
 the south aisle of Gloucester Cathedral, than that 
 if the bye-laws for the restoration of ancient 
 Churches had been heeded, the good which has 
 been obtained would have been sufficiently visible; 
 while the modernism so much deprecated " as a 
 general rule" and yet so ostentatiously exhibited 
 in this instance, would have been within pardon- 
 able limits. 
 
 The artisans of the thirteenth century at Lincoln 
 found a material worthy of their ability, and of the 
 design to which it was to give reality. From the 
 same source is still derived the supply for the 
 repairs, which will leave the exterior unscathed 
 
63 
 
 in times when perhaps the new stone-work at 
 Gloucester will have yielded the presumptuous 
 "smartness" of its appearance. 
 
 Reference having frequently been made to the 
 Lincoln stone, and the writer having had the 
 opportunity on several occasions, apart from the 
 Cathedral, to consider and appreciate its valuable 
 qualities, special mention may be made of it in 
 these pages, for the information of those who 
 might otherwise be misled with respect to it. 
 What higher or more venerable commendation of 
 this material, for the purpose of raising an enduring 
 monument of art, can be sought, than is presented 
 by the interesting remains of the early Norman 
 Church, which was built at a period when it was 
 customary to import stone from Caen, with the 
 architecture and the artificers. The material on 
 the adopted ground at Lincoln was of a quality ap- 
 proved by the Norman builders, and they sought 
 no other. Their successors, age after age, desired 
 nothing better than the best stone ; and surely, 
 with these high authorities, the moderns may well 
 rest satisfied with the same natural product of 
 the soil, seeing that it is not inferior to that of 
 antiquity. The steadfast selection which is made 
 now-a-days, but could not be pursued formerly, 
 is justly regarded as a source of security; decay 
 is thereby removed to an immeasurable distance. 
 It is a positive fact, that the Lincoln stone of 
 the hardest and best quality, is almost inde- 
 
64 
 
 structible ; and that the most ancient portions of 
 the building which exhibit it are as perfect, where 
 violence has not been the occasion of mutilation, 
 as at first. 
 
 In the quarry, the valuable layer of stone is a 
 hard bed between two soft ones, which the ancients 
 were not always careful to distinguish ; frequently 
 a strip was left on the edge of a sound block, and 
 in this part alone decay is visible, the worst 
 consequence being that the breadth of the joint in 
 places is increased. It must be obvious from this, 
 the well-known quality of the best stone at Lincoln, 
 that neither time nor the various operations of the 
 weather, even in the most exposed aspects, would 
 act upon the walls as elsewhere. It would be an 
 error to suppose, that the foreign matter which 
 collects in the course of years forms a crust, and 
 at length an integral portion of the material ; it 
 may correctly be said to form a coating, or 
 covering, more or less firm in some places than in 
 others : but the stone successfully resists the en- 
 trance of it into its substance, which is so indurate, 
 as not to be in the slightest degree disturbed or 
 decomposed ; nay, it is so perfect, that when 
 cleansed it actually exhibits the u ancient mani- 
 pulation," so well appreciated and so much 
 admired. Careful observation enables the writer 
 to state, that the acquired hardness of the Lincoln 
 stone penetrates to the depth of about -f of an 
 inch ; upon this the " scum" settles, and as the 
 
65 
 
 master-mason has sensibly observed, " no right- 
 minded man would cut away that surface, or any 
 portion of it." The inferior stone, lacking this 
 armour-like casing, inevitably decays, it may be in 
 a moulding, a capital, a column, or upon the 
 ashlar; a block so decayed is removed, and 
 another of superior kind substituted. But not so 
 when a joint is only widened by decay : respect 
 for the building requires that the least injurious 
 expedient should be adopted for its amendment, 
 and this is the perpetuation of the broader joint 
 by cement, as the best security against the action 
 of the weather. What has been just stated, 
 happens when a hard block is blemished by soft 
 edges, which decay to a considerable depth ; this 
 being the case with the entire exterior surface of 
 many of the stones, some of which moulder away, 
 others are roughened or honey-combed, the dif- 
 ferent effects of the weather upon a material more 
 or less capable of bearing the destructive operation. 
 Time would be wasted, if spent upon a confessedly 
 faulty material : the writer has only to deal with 
 the faultless, which is unflinchingly hard, not 
 brittle ; and time, or the treatment of a more 
 speedily destructive foe, has yet to prove by what 
 force its admirable composition is to be reduced to 
 particles. 
 
 The Norman front, like the rest of the elevation, 
 is composed of stone, both good and bad ; and, 
 when repaired, was supplied with material from 
 
66 
 
 Broadsworth, and other districts in Yorkshire — a 
 soft kind of free stone of a pale yellow colour. 
 Ancaster stone occasionally occurs, but not a 
 single block of Caen stone ; so that it is quite 
 certain that the Norman builders, in their skill, 
 discovered in good time the worth of the native 
 production. 
 
 It is hard to give up Purbeck marble, which has 
 conferred so much beauty upon the designs of 
 many of our finest Churches. When left alone it 
 assumes a rich variety of colours, not including 
 black, which is usually its appearance in its 
 modernised state. The writer is not sure that 
 this unrivalled material does not suffer injury from 
 damp, even in the interior of Churches, and is quite 
 certain that its disappearance is the cause of much 
 of the dilapidation which appears on the exterior 
 of many : it is lamentable to think that its restora- 
 tion is not to be recommended in the climate of 
 Lincoln. The loss of Purbeck on the exterior of 
 the Minster has been very great, and of late has 
 been so frequent in the west front, that it is often- 
 times dangerous to choose the western entrance. 
 The most prominent and isolated positions were 
 selected for the application of this favourite marble : 
 it has been broken and bound together, and kept 
 in its place as long as possible ; and, antiquary as 
 the writer professes himself, he must give up the 
 notion of retaining the material, even if it were as 
 abundant now as formerly, and not costly in the 
 
67 
 
 preparation. If authority were necessary, sufficient 
 is at hand to prove that, with its absence, the archi- 
 tecture of the thirteenth century was not thought 
 to have yielded any indispensable feature of em- 
 bellishment, greatly as its presence was courted, 
 and its appearance was made attractive. The 
 luxury of Purbeck was maintained for about a 
 century. Various ingenious methods were put in 
 practice to retard the operations of the weather, 
 but the climate was not lenient to the material ; 
 and, as its use was greatly lessened before the close 
 of the thirteenth century, the architecture itself 
 may be said to have confirmed its ultimate re- 
 jection by the builders. 
 
 Living architects deserve great praise for the 
 introduction of other native marbles in architecture : 
 it remains to be seen how much of the material 
 will be well treated by the weather. In the in- 
 terior it takes its place becomingly with Purbeck, 
 which, it is hoped, never will be altogether dis- 
 carded. 
 
 Enough has been said in the course of these 
 pages to confirm the impression intended to be 
 conveyed, that both Essex and Wyatt were in- 
 fluenced in their alterations of Cathedrals by a 
 strong predilection for scenic effect. With much 
 pretension, there was nothing of the grandeur of 
 art in the mind of Essex: he was cold and in- 
 sensible to its impressions, and could pace the 
 aisles of stupendous Cathedrals without being 
 
 f 2 
 
68 
 
 awed by their sublimity. The temples reared 
 by the hands of Christian architects, never to be 
 equalled, were approached by him with feelings 
 little less rebellious than those which hurried in 
 the fanatic destroyers aforetime. They performed 
 their bidding with heedless violence ; he, with the 
 attributes of a man of science, went the same way 
 to work, and his deeds were only less mischievous 
 than those of his forerunners. The far-famed 
 Cathedral of Ely, with such an eastern elevation 
 and such a western facade, with such a glorious 
 octagonal lantern in the centre and such a re- 
 splendent Lady Chapel by its side, takes almost 
 the highest place among the illustrious Cathedrals 
 of England. The hand of an inferior man never 
 impressed any part of this marvellous edifice with 
 unworthy inventions before the sixteenth century. 
 It was throughout the production of colossal 
 genius. The builder of the twelfth century com- 
 menced the mighty work on a grand scale of 
 dimensions : he of the thirteenth felt that he could 
 bring to this undertaking the most finished taste, 
 whereby to call into existence, or to carry to the 
 summit of perfection, a style of architecture, which 
 was destined to surpass whatever the magnificent 
 abilities, which before the dawn of the following 
 century had sought a new path of taste, were able 
 to achieve. The splendour of the work of this 
 period proves that the full powers of men of tran- 
 scendent genius were brought to bear upon the 
 
69 
 
 subject. The source of its beauty, however, was 
 not the same as that which is observed in the pre- 
 ceding style. The prelates of the fourteenth 
 century, inheriting the qualifications, and the 
 wealth, and the opportunity of their predecessors, 
 kept pace with them in their encouragement of 
 the builder's science ; and their own Cathedral 
 continued to receive fresh accessions of archi- 
 tecture, which could not be excelled in purity and 
 good handling. It would have been strange, if the 
 edifice of this Church had yielded up any portion 
 of its architecture in obedience to the dictate of 
 fashion in the fifteenth century, observing, as the 
 writer has, that the great bulk of the parish Church 
 architecture in the county is anterior to that 
 period. But the Cathedral has descended a step 
 lower than this in the scale of style, the extremities 
 of the eastern aisles having given shelter to designs 
 of the sixteenth century, extremely elaborate, as 
 if the industry of the chisel were meant to atone 
 for the deficiencies of merit in the invention. 
 
 The foregoing are the majestic alterations which 
 dignitaries in power, and men in high practice, 
 combined in successive ages to effect in Ely 
 Cathedral. The writer owns himself an approver 
 of the system which, among the earlier Churches, 
 has left but few examples of unmingled purity. 
 A great proportion of the admiration which is so 
 justly showered upon Ely Cathedral, is due to 
 this circumstance, — the eye wanders with delight 
 
70 
 
 through its majestic aisles, and dwells with admira- 
 tion on each remove, from the sublimity of the 
 Norman design, until it fixes its vision on the 
 eastern extremity, the splendour of which is un- 
 matched. There perhaps never was a Cathedral 
 or Abbey Church completed throughout its extent, 
 on a model so exquisite as this specimen. The 
 choir of Rievaulx Abbey is a work to wonder at, but 
 the genius of its elevation is below the grandeur 
 of the front of Ely, and the marvel is, that its 
 correspondent aisles were deteriorated by the 
 inserted Chapels in the sixteenth century. 
 
 The founders and rebuilders of Churches gene- 
 rally appointed the place for their sepulture, and if 
 their canopied memorials were not erected under 
 their own direction, these trophies were set up by 
 their faithful friends and executors; and there is 
 no instance in which these grateful records were 
 so placed, that they would interfere with any part 
 of the interior devoted to the services of religion. 
 Westminster Abbey, the richest depository of 
 ancient sepulchral monuments in England, may be 
 named as an example, with Winchester Cathedral 
 and Tewkesbury Abbey Church. The eastern part 
 of Salisbury Cathedral was once dignified and 
 adorned with the like memorials of piety and 
 worth, and it remained enriched by these acces- 
 sories until the early years of the present century, 
 when James Wyatt was deemed to be the best 
 judge of what the proper character and appearance 
 
71 
 
 of the interior of ancient Churches should be, and 
 accordingly he was permitted to remove the 
 Beauchamp and Hungerford Chapels, and a con- 
 stellation of tombs from the graves of their owners, 
 to destroy some, to deprive others of their canopies 
 and effigies, and to translate the mutilated frag- 
 ments to the aisle arches, or other less dignified 
 positions. 
 
 He and Essex persistently laboured in sacrilege, 
 under the mistaken idea of improving the appear- 
 ance of the interior. Ely, for example, seems not 
 to have been regarded as a place wholly devoted 
 to the services of religion. If this object may be 
 supposed to have shared attention, fully as much 
 was yielded to the gratification of sight-seers : the 
 lengthened vista was formed with deliberate pre- 
 cision, and the monuments and effigiesnvere nicely 
 and neatly disposed in regular order along the sides, 
 as pretty objects for the cold observation of the 
 thoughtless and the idle. The recent alterations 
 at the entrance and the termination of the choir, 
 though by no means restorations, are improve- 
 ments ; but one of the grievous faults of Essex has 
 been played with by Mr. G. G. Scott, who has not 
 disdained to give his sanction, by example, to the 
 inexcusable absurdity of his predecessor, who felt 
 no shame when he tossed about the monuments, 
 and treated them like the contents of a curiosity 
 shop ; for the grand monument of Bishop Hotham 
 has been economically divided, as too much for the 
 
72 
 
 adornment of one arch, while another on the 
 opposite side was found to be empty. One cannot 
 but admire the regard which even in these days 
 is paid to distribution of ornament, and at the same 
 time extol the ancients, whose designs were so 
 happily composed, that the clustered canopy, which 
 gave dignity to a tomb, could be detached there- 
 from, set up at a distance, and there be viewed as 
 sufficiently monumental to excite the applause of 
 visitors. So much for the accomplished taste and 
 judgment of the compiler of canons, which are 
 thrust forward with the utmost grace and gravity, 
 as if they alone contained the rules of right, and 
 their soundness were irrefragable ! The vision of 
 splendour in the interior of this Cathedral is now 
 dimly seen through all that has been done to atone 
 for the depredations of the last century. 
 
 Mr. G. G. Scott may well view with awe the 
 remains of ancient statuary, if he may not so 
 readily assume that there is a lofty point in that 
 noble art beyond the reach of modern sculptors. 
 He remembers, no doubt, the insipid and un- 
 meaning character of his own productions in this 
 department as quite unworthy of his architecture. 
 The sculptors of antiquity, more especially those 
 of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, were 
 preeminently gifted, and proved themselves perfect 
 masters of their art. The epoch at which Henry 
 III. ruled in England was almost universally 
 brilliant : the fine arts every where exhibited them- 
 
73 
 
 selves in the highest state of perfection : archi- 
 tecture could have no higher hopes than it was its 
 good fortune to attain at that period. The con- 
 ventional rules awarded to the sculptor greater 
 freedom, than the sister art of painting, to name no 
 other, was allowed. He treated his subject with a 
 master hand, and, unused to rigid restraint, felt 
 that he could indulge his talent, and vary the 
 expression of the grace and beauty which so 
 eminently distinguish his works. Next to the 
 architect, the genius of the sculptor of the highest 
 degree was called to aid the great undertaking in 
 hand ; the two worked together, but it is not so 
 now ; there is seldom any affinity between the 
 design and the statuary ; images of would-be saints 
 look as if they wondered how they came there ; 
 those of the ancients belong to their positions, and 
 plainly tell the meaning of their presence. 
 
 It is very strange that so little advantage has 
 been derived from the comparison of the con- 
 temporary productions of the artisans in different 
 departments of their labour. Each had by common 
 consent his own peculiar method of expressing the 
 same object : the angular character of the figures 
 in the works of some of the ancient limners and 
 enamellers, is very remarkable ; while the sculptor, 
 engaged at the same time in adorning the same 
 building with statuary in niches, or with recum- 
 bent effigies, used freedom with his designs, which 
 would enable him to give a masterly character to 
 
74 
 
 his representations. The want of study — a wider 
 range of thought than is allowed to the subject — 
 has been the fruitful cause of confusion in the 
 modern treatment of other branches of art, as well 
 as of statuary. The stiffness of the artist's work 
 in illuminations, in painted glass, and in enamel 
 work, is now imitated as if formerly, each had 
 not its own peculiar process and expression. 
 
 Lincoln is only one instance of many of the 
 supremely beautiful productions of the sculptor 
 in statuary. This valuable embellishment is no 
 longer so abundant here as in some other Cathe- 
 drals ; but it may be supposed that the pedestals 
 provided were once occupied, although no signs 
 remain of the method of securing the statues 
 in their places against the level surface of the 
 wall and buttresses ; one can scarcely imagine 
 a more sumptuous exterior than was thus pre- 
 sented at Lincoln. Mr. G. G. Scott's remark 
 upon the remains on the south side would apply 
 to the statuary at Gloucester, or any where else. 
 In truth, the subject is a difficult one to treat 
 with fidelity, more especially in instances in which 
 the figures are unaccompanied by emblems. It 
 requires a greater extent of knowledge in ancient 
 usages, than perhaps any other branch of anti- 
 quities connected with architecture, and is one 
 to which but few, comparatively speaking, can 
 lay claim to adequate information. The statues 
 on the south side of Gloucester Cathedral remain 
 
75 
 
 in a state of mutilation, owing perhaps to this 
 very circumstance. Those at Lincoln are readily 
 definable, whether as forming parts of a group of 
 sacred character, or connected with an event in 
 English history. Doubtless " the first sculptor 
 in the land" would pause, if he did not "tremble," 
 on approaching, with chisel in hand, a figure, the 
 intention and object of which surpassed his means 
 of information. As a proof of the sincerity and 
 value of Mr. G. G. Scott's opinion on this part 
 of the subject, I may refer to his own treatment 
 of the series of sculptures of the fourteenth cen- 
 tury, which adorned the front of the Chapel on 
 Wakefield Bridge. The fifth group was entirely 
 expunged by the highly " conservative " eccle- 
 siologist, an act of vandalism scarcely surpassed 
 in the most benighted period of so-called "re- 
 storations." Assuredly Mr. G. G. Scott is among 
 the last who could with consistency call in 
 question the propriety of what was scrupulously 
 done , after mature deliberation — to restore two of 
 the headless figures at Lincoln. 
 
 Much less than has been said in the foregoing 
 pages would have been required on an occasion 
 like the present, if the desire of the writer had 
 not been to address very unlearned antiquaries, and 
 to check, if possible, the vanity which may lead 
 them to perform acts of mischief, or to pronounce 
 words of nonsense in branches of the history 
 of art, which have not been sufficiently studied. 
 
76 
 
 " Bemossed stones " and " ancient manipulation, 
 which every one who has gone much into the study 
 of architectural antiquity highly values," are poor 
 substitutes for sound observations and artistic 
 powers of expression. 
 
 Age has given an air — an aspect — to ancient 
 buildings, which add indescribably to the interest 
 which their origin and their architecture forcibly 
 excite. Many are the wondrous charms of the 
 glorious old Churches of England. The sanctity 
 which reigns through the interior of Lincoln 
 Minster, makes a lasting impression upon the 
 feeling mind. There is a mysterious solemnity 
 in its vast arcaded avenues ; a deep toned, calm, 
 and unworldly expression in its majestic and 
 lengthened perspective, which inspiration and 
 antiquity alone can confer upon good architecture. 
 Its floors tell, at almost every step, the names of 
 distinguished personages recorded in early history; 
 but not a trace is to be discovered of those 
 exciting events, which were brought to a close 
 in the first year of the reign of King Henry III, 
 when the Norman Cathedral founded by Bishop 
 Remigius, advanced by Bishop Alexander, and 
 extended and most sumptuously adorned by 
 St. Hugh in the twelth century, was reduced 
 to ruins in the sack of the city. The history 
 of the Minster in Wild's book was wholly de- 
 rived from the ancient document lately published 
 by the Reverend James F. Dimock; but the writer 
 
77 
 
 is not aware that any treatise upon the architecture 
 of the Cathedral includes the circumstances just 
 mentioned. The building cannot but be viewed 
 with greater interest and pleasure, the more fully 
 and accurately the chronology of its architecture 
 can be traced and defined. 
 
 St. Hugh's noble work, and perhaps some other 
 portions built in immediate succession, were at- 
 tached to the Norman Church, of which only the 
 nave remained in the day of the calamity. The 
 whole building is supposed to have been reduced 
 to ruins ; but St. Hugh's architecture happily 
 survived, while the nave of the Norman founder, 
 first injured, was finally removed from the lantern 
 to the pronaos, to give place to the present refined 
 structure. Thus furiously was way made for the 
 complete remodelling of the Cathedral ; and the 
 plan devised in the thirteenth century was fully 
 realized. As the edifice was then built, so it now 
 stands, perfect in every limb, rich beyond com- 
 parison in architecture, so graceful, so refined, that 
 a single word cannot be found to concentrate the 
 expression of its perfections. 
 
 The Minster has no rival in the affinity of its 
 architecture, in the consecutive order in which it was 
 supplied, until the whole of the vast structure was 
 brought to completion. The gradation throughout 
 its length and breadth is so regular, the scale so 
 proportionate, and the features so justly balanced 
 in arrangement and elaboration, that the nicest 
 
78 
 
 judgment is not disturbed by the presence of any 
 kind of contrariety in the design. The grand 
 pattern established by St. Hugh shed a lustre 
 upon the Cathedral, and completely threw into 
 shade the architecture of early date. 
 
 The intelligence which produced this great 
 change in the character of the building had been 
 industriously at work, and, as the result, improve- 
 ment in architecture, assisted by the pointed arch, 
 dawned in England before the middle of the 
 twelfth century. We perceive how rapidly it had 
 advanced when St. Hugh sought his knowledge 
 in the science, and attained proficiency in it before 
 his settlement at Lincoln. His work at the Minster 
 became the archetype of its ultimate splendour. 
 It was seemingly for him to announce by a worthy 
 example the superior advantages of the pointed 
 arch, at the moment of its expansion, upon 
 disengagement from Romanesque influences. 
 
 In its early transition state, architecture had 
 derived immense benefit from the new element ; 
 and, at the period under consideration, it required 
 only a brief space to carry the style thus far 
 advanced to perfection. The evidence of this 
 progress can no where be seen in greater grandeur 
 than at Lincoln. Its appearance in quick suc- 
 cession to the potent architecture of St. Hugh, 
 is singularly instructive and interesting. The 
 steady adherence of the builders to the purity of 
 the first perfected style in which they entered on 
 
79 
 
 their work, is here manifest. The front of 
 Remigius, and the upper Transept by St. Hugh, 
 determined the extent of the enterprise, which 
 was indeed stupendous, but it was set on foot 
 at once, and carried up without intermission. 
 
 The study of such a building as this will give taste 
 and judgment a safer direction than those qualities 
 are wont to exhibit in the absence of attention to 
 so influential an instructor. St. Hugh and his 
 successors convey in noble lessons a full idea of 
 their great attainments in architecture. Their 
 knowledge could go no farther : it had reached 
 the limit of perfection. Solid and serious study, 
 with intellects fitted for the theory and practice of 
 the science, were the fortunate inclinations of the 
 ancient builders, especially those of the thirteenth 
 century, and they failed not to arrive at the 
 highest distinction. 
 
 The inroad of the infuriated Barons was the 
 undesigned occasion of the increased splendour of 
 the Cathedral, which arose from its ruins in 
 unsurpassed beauty, and, as a whole, became 
 almost more illustrious than any other. The 
 period was favourable to the undertaking : the 
 ablest heads and the most dexterous hands united 
 their energies, and no room was left to sigh for 
 the Church, which was well remembered in the 
 place of the renewed edifice. It is not grateful to 
 the authors of such wonderful productions as our 
 Cathedral and Abbey Churches, to deteriorate 
 
80 
 
 their value or to lessen their number. We are 
 not yet so perfect in our knowledge of the archi- 
 tecture as to be able to lose sight of the originals, 
 which have taught us all we know of the extinct 
 styles in which it was produced. The archaeological 
 branch of the study has well-nigh overpowered 
 the practical part. This is the educational portion 
 of the science, and Mr. G. G. Scott adds his 
 testimony, that the greater the care taken of the 
 models, and the less they are altered or repaired, 
 the more valuable and trustworthy they will be 
 found. All the pretty picture-books that ever 
 were or ever will be compiled, cannot supply the 
 information which is to be obtained by the study 
 of the originals. The most faithful pencil cannot 
 possibly convey to the untaught eye the full effect 
 of a composition like that of the east end of Ely 
 Cathedral ; the harmonious and magnificent pro- 
 portions cannot be transferred to paper in the 
 ordinary way of representation ; and it sometimes 
 happens that, in attention to detail, the general 
 character, which is the highest merit of the design, 
 escapes expression. In any case, the preservation 
 of the originals is of the utmost importance. The 
 destruction or dismemberment of ancient design, the 
 unscrupulous trespass out of bounds in restoration, 
 and the excess of precision in detail, are the pro- 
 lific sources of deterioration, which, if continued at 
 the present speed, will leave the antiquity of our 
 Churches a mere matter of record and history. 
 
81 
 
 The antiquary alone can appreciate the riches 
 of ancient Churches, consisting as they do of 
 accumulated architecture, the ingrafts of different 
 dates singularly knit together, with or without 
 regard to appearance, more or less open to view, 
 and sometimes so completely imprisoned, as to be 
 brought to light only by accident. The most 
 ancient and renowned Churches furnish very 
 interesting particulars of this kind, and perhaps 
 no one has yet given up the full amount of its 
 treasury of information. These are among the 
 secrets of architectural history, not to be revealed 
 within the ordinary means of observation and 
 research. 
 
 It has happened in the course of events that, 
 since the date of Mr. G. G. Scott's first interference, 
 the Deanery of Lincoln has several times changed 
 hands. Perhaps the intervals were not sufficient 
 to favour a repetition of the complaints, and only a 
 few chance shots by other hands have been made 
 with the intent of wanton mischief, and the aimless- 
 ness of incompetency. That Mr. G. G. Scott is in 
 earnest, there can be no doubt ; but that he can 
 flatter himself that he is in the right as far as 
 Lincoln is concerned, his published lucubrations 
 render very questionable. He has dropped the 
 "chipping" charge, and, in his dainty supplication 
 to the present Dean, lays double force upon the 
 equally inapt term " scraping :" but it answers his 
 purpose ; the term haunts him, and hangs at the 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 tip of his pen, dropping its impression in every 
 sentence. If Mr. G. G. Scott's faith in his own 
 precept and practice be not the ruling motive for 
 his obstinacy in attack, it may be that he is so 
 fully persuaded of his mastery of the subject, as to 
 brave the rod of chastisement which he might 
 have foreseen, and which has been benevolently 
 withheld, in the hope of his amendment ; but 
 forbearance having failed, the sentence, mercifully 
 delayed, must be allowed to take effect. In other 
 terms, the pages prepared several years since 
 have now passed revision, and have received such 
 additions as were called for by Mr. G. G. Scott's 
 untiring anger with Lincoln Minster, and his 
 loving attentions to other Cathedral and Abbey 
 Churches. 
 
 If the communication alluded to were a single, 
 intelligent, and unbiassed statement of facts, the 
 outpouring of an antiquary distressed at the evil 
 treatment of an inestimable treasure of ecclesiastical 
 architecture, the writer would applaud the zeal of 
 Mr. G. G. Scott, and congratulate the dumb walls 
 of ancient Churches on the acquisition of a 
 champion. But Mr. G. G. Scott is not the right 
 sort of friend to ancient Churches ; their walls „ 
 groan under his prescriptions and his operations ; 
 death and destruction to antiquities follow his foot- 
 steps in many more instances than can be enume- 
 rated on the present occasion. He is not unaware 
 of this fact, and while he is lecturing youth upon 
 
83 
 
 the sin of injuring a "bemossed" stone, rushing 
 from place to place, writing up the value of 
 fifteenth century scraps of architecture, and telling 
 the " Times " of his zeal, his prowess, and his 
 power, he meditates havoc among the Churches 
 in other quarters, as shall be proved by his sign 
 manual. 
 
 Curiously enough, the architect's report upon 
 the progress of the repairs had reached the Dean 
 and Chapter only a few days before Mr. G. G. 
 Scott intruded a second invective. The force of 
 Mr. G. G. Scott's excursive remarks will be dis- 
 covered from the terms of the reply made to the 
 Dean and Chapter by their architect. 
 
 " Lincoln Cathedral. 
 
 " Report of a survey of certain substantial 
 repairs, and of the restoration of considerable 
 portions of the ornamental work in the west 
 front of the Cathedral. 
 
 " Oxford, Sept. 1, 1864. 
 
 "Reverend Sir, 
 " I think that I ought not to rest satisfied with 
 having stated to you in conversation the opinion 
 I entertain with respect to the system upon which 
 the restorations of the exterior of the Cathedral 
 have been based, and upon which they have been 
 pursued in the front elevation since my former 
 visit to Lincoln. I take leave, therefore, to place 
 
 g2 
 
84 
 
 in your hands the following remarks upon the 
 subject, trusting that you will excuse their lengthi- 
 ness ; but as this is my first written report in 
 reference to the method by which the improve- 
 ments have been effected, it seems necessary that I 
 should enter somewhat fully into it, since it has 
 been the means of preserving inviolate nearly the 
 whole of the original ornamental work, and at the 
 same time of leaving undisturbed by much the 
 greatest portion of the superficies of the walls. 
 
 " It has not been thought necessary at Lincoln 
 to tear down windows, or buttresses, or pinnacles, 
 or canopies, or door-ways, simply because small 
 portions of these several features may happen to 
 be time-worn, or extensively decayed. This is the 
 ordinary practice ; but the Chapter of Lincoln 
 have viewed the matter in a different light, and 
 with a more worthy feeling, and have determined, 
 under the influence of that religious regard for the 
 marvellous splendours of their Cathedral, which 
 has guided their movements in the path of restora- 
 tion, to replace only such blocks of stone as by 
 lapse of time had perished. The care and trouble 
 thus devoted to the several operations are amply 
 rewarded by the appearance of the Church, and 
 the recollection that it is still the ancient edifice, 
 and that its strength has in no respect been 
 impaired by the wanton dislocation of any of its 
 members. 
 
 "Restoration — honest, wholesome restoration of 
 
85 
 
 the decayed features of the Church — is the steady 
 resolution of the Chapter, and the clever mason 
 employed is alive to the advantage of the necessity 
 of adhering to this rule in its true spirit ; and after 
 carefully examining the west front, as the latest 
 specimen of the work, I can confidently confirm 
 the complete success of the restoration in every 
 branch of the workmanship. The ambition of the 
 surveyor, and of the master-mason as seen therein, 
 is to maintain the character of the ancient detail, 
 wherever necessity obliges its renewal; not to 
 exhibit their own talent in copying ornaments, 
 and their boldness in casting aside the originals as 
 rubbish. 
 
 " In the course of the following remarks, based 
 upon notes which have been made recently in the 
 presence of the revived features in the front of 
 the Cathedral, it will appear that the original 
 surface of the mason-work, roughened by the 
 finishing process, more or less in use in former 
 times, has been brought to view and left uninjured. 
 I lay stress upon this particular of the Norman 
 artificers' practical labour, because its perfectness 
 proves the cautious handling to which it has lately 
 been subjected. It is an unimportant distinction of 
 the workmanship, and is only referred to in proof 
 that nothing relating to the original treatment of 
 the masonary, however minute, has been over- 
 looked or disregarded. 
 
 " If ancient walls could speak, those of Lincoln 
 
86 
 
 would have no tales to tell of the unsparing excision 
 of ancient mouldings, sculptures, and other valu- 
 able ornaments ; of hurling to the ground of 
 canopies and statues ; and of tearing down pillars 
 and buttresses, for the sake of re-casting the details 
 in a modern mould. Gentler processes are em- 
 ployed by those who direct and those who execute 
 the restorations at Lincoln. The surface of the 
 original masonary is brought to its pristine appear- 
 ance, (that is, before the " scum " and dirt had 
 time to settle, and to fill up and obscure the finer 
 parts of the workmanship,) by the simple procedure 
 of softening by washing in pure water, and scraping 
 away the scum which in the course of ages has 
 collected upon it. The first of these terms is 
 mischievously used by those among the critics who 
 ought to show better taste, and stronger judgment 
 in their remarks, whether they relate to those who 
 perform the work, or to those who patronise it. 
 The operation of scraping may be so described as 
 to convey the notion that it removes the surface 
 of the stone, but this, as you know, is not the case. 
 I should as readily sanction the use of the chisel, 
 as of an instrument that would wilfully damage 
 the hard crust of the material. That this is the 
 real effect of the operation, is a notion sedulously 
 maintained by the critics, but it is altogether 
 untrue. If the walls were to be so sinned against, 
 they would cry out : that they have not been so 
 treated, they themselves acknowledge by the 
 
87 
 
 antique complexion they wear : it has been the 
 growth of ages, and cannot be removed, without 
 serious detriment to the aspect of the building, and 
 to the detail of the workmanship. It is somewhat 
 remarkable that the daily destroyers of ancient 
 Churches should be so anxious to fix upon me the 
 stigma which they have so industriously earned. 
 All that I shall say for myself is, that I should not 
 have been employed at Lincoln, if my unaffected 
 veneration for ancient architecture had not been 
 well known and appreciated within the precinct. 
 
 " Excessively decayed stones are removed, and 
 replaced by sound material, and strictly to the 
 original form, be it moulding, decoration, or plain 
 ashlar. The local material spoken of is of ex- 
 cellent quality : very much of it, as seen in the 
 walls of the Cathedral, is no less perfect now than 
 it was when first prepared and employed. It does 
 not fracture, and, when it gains a hard surface, 
 very rarely suffers injury from the weather. Dust 
 and dirt settle upon it, but the stone is too sound 
 to be damaged by these accumulations, or the 
 means adopted for their removal. 
 
 The remarks which have been made apply 
 especially to the Norman architecture ; that of the 
 thirteenth century, among which some members 
 which have been blocked up for more than three 
 centuries, are now open to view, and appear in 
 their original lustre. Masonry fresh from the 
 quarry cannot look more brilliant than that of the 
 
88 
 
 two deeply recessed entrances which have been re- 
 opened in the front ; nor can workmanship from 
 the chisel of yesterday appear more fresh and 
 crisp than that of these elegant porches. The 
 cleansed masonry, brought into close contact 
 with the long hidden arches, pillars, and moulded 
 work of these newly-discovered features, presents 
 the same general appearance, colour, and quality 
 of execution ; and, in some places, of that kind of 
 texture, produced by the rough severance of the 
 blocks, without any after process for the sake of 
 superior finish. 
 
 " The more intently I consider the method of 
 restoration adopted at Lincoln, and the more 
 attentively I regard its results, constantly bearing 
 in mind the grandeur and the importance of the 
 edifice, the more strongly I am confirmed in my 
 opinion, that the course pursued by the Chapter is 
 the right one. The two processes of cleansing and 
 repairing are drawn from the golden rule, which 
 was better known and appreciated formerly than 
 it is now by the modern restorers of ancient 
 Churches, or their advocates. In this instance it 
 is quite clear that inconsiderate observers confound 
 the tint of time with the extraneous and parasitic 
 matter, which clogs the finer portion of the work- 
 manship. Time and the weather do not operate 
 destructively upon the Lincoln stone of the soundest 
 quality : the intrusive matter spoken of fastens 
 gradually upon the surface, which, however, is too 
 
89 
 
 hard to be penetrated by it : it resists vegetable 
 matter or lichen, and is not very obedient to the 
 modern chisel. 
 
 " The last general repairs of the front of the 
 Minster were undertaken in the year 1817, but 
 the main object, at that time, was to perform the 
 work in the readiest and least expensive manner, 
 and therefore without scrupulous attention to the 
 original design. These repairs, although of a 
 general kind, were neither numerous nor con- 
 spicuous. Stone of imperfect quality found its 
 way into the building in the thirteenth century, 
 and many of the pillars aloft had broken away 
 from their places, or perished under the influence 
 of the weather. These were renewed, but in 
 another and inferior material. Much of the work 
 which Essex left undone, would, if it had been 
 executed a quarter of a century earlier, have 
 rescued from destruction a vast number of the 
 Purbeck pillars, and perhaps many of the moulded 
 members connected with them. The repairs 
 which he actually performed had the merit of 
 substantiality. He gave plain pillars for elaborately 
 carved ones on the sides of the Norman entrances 
 to the aisles, their fragments being removed for 
 that purpose. But it was his custom to give dross 
 for gold ; he ashlared the lower portions of the 
 piers of the lofty arches, within whose deep recesses 
 the entrances were formed. Essex was indifferent 
 to the perception of his subject, and so lost to good 
 
90 
 
 taste as to rebuild the basements of the piers with 
 acute angles, in opposition to the authority before 
 him, which required pillars on the angles well 
 relieved. Considerable portions of the ancient 
 ashlar were renewed under the same direction, but 
 in an unbecoming manner, and with material of 
 an inferior quality. 
 
 " Much of this base patch-work has from time to 
 time, in recent years, been removed, and replaced 
 by new material, and, in point of workmanship, in 
 accordance with existing authorities. The quality 
 of the mason-work referred to is in exact agree- 
 ment with that to which it is joined. And it 
 seemed proper that it should be so in this parti- 
 cular position, since any approximation to the 
 manner in which Essex restored the walls, would 
 have produced the same violent contrast, which in 
 his performance has ever since offended the eye- 
 sight even of common observers. The joint is not 
 now what it was when first formed : it was not 
 gaping, not broad ; even, but never close. Such, 
 however, has been the effect of the weather upon 
 the edges of the stone of the early Norman era, 
 that at all the joinings it has formed broad cavities, 
 in the depth of which the actual joints are seated. 
 Wherever the restoration has been performed, it 
 has been done in so skilful a manner as almost to 
 elude discovery. Much remains to be done in the 
 same way, and happily there is sufficient authority 
 of Norman date extant, for the restoration of the 
 
91 
 
 pillars and bases of the side door-ways, and for 
 other members injuriously treated at the period 
 above-named. 
 
 " It should further be observed that, in the re- 
 storations hitherto made, the mason has not been 
 permitted to remove any of the slightly decayed 
 members of the ornamental work. Wherever the 
 pattern is only partially intelligible, as in some of 
 the capitals, including the abacus members of the 
 great central entrance, such portions remain un- 
 touched. Nor has a single ornament been renewed, 
 except from ancient authority side by side with the 
 imitation. 
 
 " Some of the carved-work of this noble archway 
 was executed under the direction of Essex, whose 
 hard hand is distinctly seen in places where decay 
 had worn away the pattern of the stone. Except 
 in these instances, no attempt was made at the 
 same time to carry out the rich work of the 
 original design. 
 
 " It would be easy to multiply instances of the 
 successful repair of the ancient mason-work, but it 
 seems unnecessary, at least on the present occasion, 
 to do more than point to a few of the prominent 
 examples of the care and ability with which the 
 artisan has performed his duty to his employers. 
 The new work is not unworthy of the Cathedral, 
 and is a memorable example of restoration in the 
 true spirit of the term. If it were not betrayed by 
 its colour, (no attempt having been made to soften 
 
92 
 
 away the brightness of the modern stone,) it would 
 not easily be distinguished among the surrounding 
 performances of antiquity. 
 
 " I trust that the generous undertaking, thus far 
 prosperously advanced, will proceed without delay. 
 There is no room for misgiving on the part of the 
 Chapter ; none for objection in other quarters, 
 except with those who delight in finding fault, and 
 vainly imagine that by the exercise of this privilege 
 they show themselves men of superlative judg- 
 ment, and, worst of all, as expert architectural 
 antiquaries 6 . 
 
 " I have the honour to remain, &c. 
 
 " J. C. Buckler. 
 
 " The Reverend the Precentor, 
 Lincoln'' 
 
 On the 19th of September, 1864, Mr. Scott 
 favoured the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln with a 
 
 e Since these and the accompanying pages were penned, the 
 writer has felt himself under the necessity of entering at very 
 much greater length than he at first intended into the state of 
 the ancient carved-work, and the extent to which the repairs 
 and restorations have been carried under his direction But he 
 has failed to discover the necessity for setting aside any part 
 of the earlier composition, or for re-casting the whole mass of 
 materials, so as to make it applicable exclusively to the present 
 state of the subject. He endeavoured to persuade himself 
 that he should not be under the necessity of giving publicity 
 to any of these documents and observations, but he has been 
 goaded to the task of again employing his pen, and his resolu- 
 tion to appeal to the press has been confirmed with reluctance. 
 
93 
 
 missive, a copy of which was forwarded to the 
 writer, and acknowledged in the following com- 
 munication, which contains all that is worth giving 
 of its querulous contents. 
 
 " Reverend Sir, 
 
 " I have received and thank you for a copy of 
 Mr. G. G. Scott's letter, addressed to the Dean 
 and Chapter. The more Mr. Scott writes upon the 
 subject, which he loves so well and appreciates so 
 clearly, the more conspicuous are the blunders he 
 commits. He sees without perceiving, and hears 
 without understanding ; and when he takes up his 
 pen, he unfailingly lays himself open to the severity 
 of criticism. 
 
 " The matter is not worth the time it will take 
 to examine, but as the Dean and Chapter desire 
 my attention to it, I am in duty bound to comply 
 with their request. 
 
 "I pass over the apt exordium which leads to the 
 first remark upon which I would comment. It is 
 as follows : ( I entirely disapprove of the scraping 
 over of the surface of old stone to give it a fresh 
 colour : .... it tends to the furtherance of decay, 
 rather than to the arresting its progress.' Now 
 it must be obvious to those who have seen the 
 Minster since its repair, and who view it fairly and 
 considerately, that the 6 scraping' has not been 
 performed in the manner here described, nor for 
 the purpose mentioned, but simply for the sake of 
 
94 
 
 restoring to view the original surface of the mate- 
 rial, and with this the colour and the ancient 
 tooling, all these having been completely coated 
 over and obscured. The operation, therefore, does 
 not tend to the 6 furtherance of decay J The surface 
 has not been disturbed, and the misstatements are 
 inexcusable. It has been taken for granted, that 
 although the system of cleansing stone is spoken 
 of in general terms in this passage, the Minster is 
 glanced at as if its exterior surface had sustained 
 injury. This is disingenuous, inasmuch as the 
 writer of the letter persistently avoids any men- 
 tion of the Lincoln stone, and leaves it to be 
 supposed by strangers as only worthy to be classed 
 with the worst Oolite, or with Clunch. 
 
 "Material of different qualities was used an- 
 ciently, of which the major portion is the best 
 Lincoln stone, which remains in sound condition. 
 The material of inferior quality is gone to decay ; 
 hence the present restorations. 
 
 "The stone is not scraped in the mischievous 
 sense in which Mr. G. G. Scott wishes you to ac- 
 cept the term. I repeat that the surface of the 
 stone has not been disturbed, a fact against which 
 the critic has closed his eyes, otherwise he would 
 have observed that every original block of stone, 
 whether with a plain or a carved surface, retains so 
 much of the black matter in the grain of the work- 
 manship, as to set the question at rest in the mind 
 of every candid observer. Mr. G. G. Scott has 
 
95 
 
 failed to perceive that no attempt has been made 
 to tarnish or obliterate the deep colour of the 
 ancient mason-work which has been recovered to 
 view. But the tints of age have no charms for his 
 vision; if they had, he would not have allowed the 
 beauty of the gorgeous south porch to be sullied 
 in the finest portions of its sculpture for the sake 
 of plaster casts, the preparation for which has 
 given bright tints of blue in the midst of the rich 
 yellow hue of antiquity. 
 
 "If Mr. G. G. Scott would take the different 
 qualities of the stone into account, he could not 
 escape the conclusion that the repairs are made 
 only where the faulty material occurs, and where 
 scraping would be worse than useless. But he 
 proceeds in the same thoughtless strain of mis- 
 conception to the remark, that the ' damage already 
 done to many parts of the exterior by this process has 
 been more serious than I care to say ; indeed, in 
 many places, the contour of the mouldings has been 
 irrevocably destroyed. This it is impossible zvholly 
 to avoid where this course is pursued, though 
 I believe it has been aggravated by the employment 
 of labourers, instead of masons, in scraping over 
 works of excessive refinement of design, which men of 
 the most delicate appreciation of their beauty would 
 have shrunk from touching. The head mason ex- 
 cuses this on the ground that, when stone is partially 
 decayed so that parts of its surface are more tender 
 than others, it is impossible but that the iron tool 
 
96 
 
 used in scraping it should penetrate more deeply 
 into the softer than the harder parts. This statement 
 is no doubt true, and accurately accounts for the 
 deplorable state of some of the scraped details, which 
 are so altered in form as to be with difficulty 
 intelligible.' This artful paragraph must not be 
 allowed to obscure the plain truth. ' Many parts' 
 and ' many places' are comprehensive terms, which, 
 however, in this instance are reduced to a single 
 short length of cornice, the filling-in piece between 
 capitals in the basement arcade. 
 
 " The paltry character of this criticism, taken in 
 connexion with the circumstances under which it 
 was pointed out, is only worthy of notice, as 
 showing the meanness of the attack so perse- 
 veringly followed up by the critic. The perfectness 
 of the capitals, right and left, is amply sufficient 
 to assure a candid observer that the connecting 
 piece of moulding had suffered only from age and 
 unsoundness. This is the simple truth of the 
 matter, and nothing but the laboured exordium in 
 reference to the trifle would have induced the 
 writer to bestow so many words upon a blemish, 
 the occasion of which would be readily recognised 
 by all who prefer facts to fancies. 
 
 " But Mr. G. G. Scott has not taken the trouble 
 to understand his subject. He did not extend the 
 object of his vision, or consider with the aptitude 
 of experience the probable reason for injury of 
 pieces of work in remarkable and corresponding 
 
97 
 
 places. There are still to be seen hard by exactly 
 similar instances of intervening cornices in dif- 
 ferent states of decay. The capitals and bases 
 deserved, and systematically received, stone of the 
 best nature. It may be supposed that the builders 
 had at times no choice but to make use of the 
 material before them, whatever its degree of 
 inferiority : that they could discriminate, and 
 largely make their selection for the bulk of the 
 work, is undoubted ; and the evidence is no less 
 certain that they were constrained to appeal to 
 a quality of stone fit only for subordinate positions. 
 
 " The master-mason is not allowed to decide as 
 to whether a moulding or any other ornament 
 shall be removed, and restored in new stone ; and 
 it is due to him to observe that, wherever a doubt 
 arises as to whether decay has done its work, 
 or may be allowed to proceed in its course, he 
 holds his hand. In the instances referred to the 
 decayed fragments were left, whether touched 
 with the chisel or not is of no consequence, and 
 there they must remain, until an opportunity 
 offers for the performance of what the mason 
 would have been forgiven, if he had thus far 
 transgressed his instructions. When the time 
 arrives for the restoration of the miscellaneous 
 blemishes in the mason-work, Mr. Scott will be 
 proved to have been a false prophet. It would be 
 well if he observed the same system in his 
 restorations ; his first operation is to sweep away 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 every thing, — door, buttress, window, cornice ; and 
 he cannot endure that Lincoln Minster should be 
 treated more considerately. 
 
 u Mr. G. G. Scott's examination of the workman's 
 tools, calls to mind an anecdote of the artist who 
 was discovered peeping into Turner's colour box, 
 when re-touching a picture at the Academy. The 
 great artist observed, " Sir, it is not in the box." 
 Large or small, for the tools are of all sizes, — what 
 are they compared with the crowbars and pickaxes, 
 the instruments with which Mr. Scott restores 
 ancient Churches ? 
 
 " In the next paragraph Mr. G. G. Scott assumes 
 the antiquarian garb, but it does not fit him ; it is 
 too new to agree well with the older features of his 
 costume. ' The stern and simple work of Remigius 
 is a landmark referred to in all discussions on the 
 earliest Norman. It is simply invaluable, but its 
 value is almost entirely destroyed where the hand of 
 the modern mason has passed over it, and thrown 
 doubt upon the workmanship ; and I should mention, 
 that the actual manipulation of the surface, with the 
 mode of jointing the stone, and thickness and nature 
 of the mortar joints, are among the elements of its 
 antiquarian value, — elements which the ignorant 
 workman, and perhaps the more practical clerk of 
 the works, is wholly incapable of understanding or 
 appreciating.' With respect to the architecture 
 of Remigius, the remarks upon its restoration are 
 so utterly at variance with the facts, as to cast 
 
99 
 
 doubt and discredit upon any statement Mr. G. G. 
 Scott may make in reference to the general repairs 
 of the Cathedral. The closing remark in the 
 paragraph just quoted, may be taken as a fair 
 description of the work which has recently been 
 performed in that venerable member of the west 
 front. Jealous of the fidelity of the imitation, and 
 of the evidence it supplies that the ( ignorant 
 workmen' were equal to their employment, the 
 critic dwells upon ( manipulation' and e mortar 
 joints, 9 as if he had made some recent discovery. 
 This instance of conceit may be overlooked, but 
 here, as in every other passage of the tirade, he 
 repeats the fiction that the ' surface has been in- 
 jured indeed he has repeated it so frequently, that 
 it becomes doubtful whether he believes it himself. 
 
 " Mr. G. G. Scott was ' informed long ago that 
 sufficient attention had not been paid to the mortar 
 joints in early Norman work' The truth is, that 
 the Norman builders were by no means agreed 
 upon this particular of their workmanship. Where- 
 fore should they be, or how could there be any 
 compact between the artisans upon such a matter 
 in the performance of their labour ? The quality 
 of the material, its natural or artificial shape, are 
 among the circumstances which most commonly 
 governed the size of the joint. The writer in- 
 formed Mr. G. G. Scott ' long ago u of this fact. 
 If, instead of the thickness , the composition of the 
 f History of St. Alban's Abbey Church, 1847. 
 
 h2 
 
100 
 
 joint were examined and carefully considered, 
 there would be some sense in litigating the 
 subject. The attempt to view the joint as a 
 characteristic of Norman artisan ship at any period, 
 would be absurd. In the early building at Lin- 
 coln, there is a remarkable disagreement in the 
 mortar-joints, owing to the unevenness of the 
 beds of the masonry. A shrewd eye may make 
 these discoveries in the west front, and an in- 
 quisitive one may, by searching, discover still 
 more useful information, as regards the thought 
 and feeling evinced in the design, and the master- 
 ship exhibited in the construction. But Mr. G, 
 G. Scott indulges the persuasion, that the breadth 
 of the joints as seen in the neighbourhood of the 
 recent repairs has not been sufficiently respected, 
 he not knowing that they have been made what 
 they are by the operations of the weather. 
 Casualties of this description would not have 
 pardoned the walls of a Church elsewhere ; at 
 the Minster no injuries are inflicted to bring 
 back the memory of its ancient condition*. 
 
 s Mr. G. G. Scott, who is very fond of reiterating reproach- 
 fully the charge of "ignorance" against the workmen at the 
 Minster, should recollect that the absence of the right quality 
 of knowledge is not limited to men of this degree. These 
 artificers have performed their duty in a satisfactory manner; 
 and that they are not ignorant in the department of the 
 trade they follow, but, on the contrary, that they possess 
 an useful amount of practical knowledge as masons, will 
 be admitted by those who remember the forethought and 
 
iOi 
 
 " ' The central door-way is already dealt zvith — 
 / will not say otherwise than carefully, so far as the 
 system adopted permits, but involving the principle 
 acknowledged to me by the mason of scraping off 
 every loose or softened part of the surface, and thus 
 rendering parts hitherto intelligible no longer so.' 
 If one passage in this 'most precious' communi- 
 cation can be more discreditable to the penman 
 than another, it is this ; but jealousy and prejudice 
 have so completely blinded Mr. G. G. Scott, that 
 he does not perceive the fallacy of his statement. 
 He asserts freely, but he advances nothing in proof 
 of the truth of his assertions ; and I rather choose 
 to take the word of the mason, who said nothing to 
 
 ability evinced in their alteration of the canopy over the 
 altar, set up by Essex. This uncouth successor of the elegant 
 structure which stood in advance of the screen, ascends with 
 pillars in front and on the sides, and a solid wall at the back, 
 to a great altitude, being abundant in pediments, pinnacles, 
 and crockets. The removal of the wall from beneath the 
 impending weight, jointed as it was with the coursed mason- 
 work of the pillars, and prepared as it required to be for the 
 insertion of mullions and tracery, formed an undertaking of 
 considerable hazard ; but the alteration was executed under 
 the writer's direction, by the very persons who are reproached 
 for ignorance in their calling. Mr. G. G. Scott should re- 
 member that " ignorant workmen " are employed at other 
 places besides Lincoln. To individuals of this class engaged 
 in the restoration of St. John's Church at Coventry, was 
 attributed, fairly or not, the introduction of a thick central 
 mullion, which was carried from the sill to the point of the 
 arch of the east window. This instance of disregard to good 
 taste was challenged, and the blemish averted by the reasoning 
 of an unprofessional adept in architectural antiquities. 
 
102 
 
 warrant the laboured paltering in which Mr. G. G. 
 Scott has indulged. How could he ? His employ- 
 ment is well defined, regular, and consistent : every 
 stone with a loose or softened surface injurious to 
 the sculpture, is sentenced to removal ; every 
 carved stone of a superior quality, but not equal 
 to the best Lincoln stone, is left unhandled ; and 
 every stone worthy of the soil which produced it, 
 yields nothing more than the sable skin which has 
 accumulated upon it : the original surface is left 
 uninjured. It has no objection to a little pure 
 water, after which the 6 scum ' is rased off, and 
 the texture of the ancient mason-work reappears. 
 The evidences of these different operations are so 
 abundant, so obvious, so convincing, as to brand 
 with forgery any statement that may henceforth 
 be made to the contrary. 
 
 u ' There remain, however, two yet more precious 
 door-ways; .... they are of the most valuable 
 period perhaps in the whole range of mediaeval 
 architecture, and their workmanship is so subtle, that 
 I feel sure that no modern workman could appreciate 
 it. One range of capitals is, in my opinion, about the 
 most precious morsel remaining in the country. I 
 have some years back, in my lectures at the Royal 
 Academy, gone carefully into the evidences of the 
 employment of Byzantine carvers in the French build- 
 ings of the twelfth century, a subject I have since 
 more fully followed up, and I know few investi- 
 gations more curious. The capitals in question shoxv 
 
103 
 
 the same influence extended to our own country are in 
 a most delicate form, such as even our best carvers, 
 unless instructed on the evidences I allude to, would 
 jail to appreciate' It is obvious from this passage 
 that Mr. Scott plumes himself upon his knowledge 
 as an antiquary. He has lately made so many 
 discoveries of 'precious" objects of art at Lincoln, 
 as to cast a strong doubt upon his familiarity 
 ' some years bach' with the finest or most curious 
 specimens of ancient architecture abroad and at 
 home ; and it becomes questionable whether his 
 understanding is quite clear upon the subject, 
 
 " Without condescending to a controversy with 
 Mr. G. G. Scott upon the history of ecclesiastical 
 architecture, the writer will observe that he has 
 here written just enough to show that he had 
 better investigate and learn much more before he 
 again ventures to dogmatise. He has written just 
 enough to prove that, if he has not missed some of 
 the most remarkable and instructive specimens of 
 architecture in France, he has misunderstood them. 
 I refer to specimens in which Roman and Ro- 
 manesque work appear side by side in the same 
 structure, the former in some instances altered to be 
 more in keeping with the latter : dark marble pil- 
 lars and white marble capitals ; fluted columns, and 
 a variety of other genuine features of the classic 
 orders ; the remains of temples and of other struc- 
 tures, not only mingled with the Romanesque and 
 Norman, but actually occupying places made con- 
 
104 
 
 siderately for them in the midst of the pillars and 
 mouldings of the twelfth century. The French 
 builders never lost the regard, evinced in these 
 early examples for the high authority to which 
 they were so much indebted. The characteristic 
 signs of the classic model appear age after age in 
 their magnificent Churches, which glory in the 
 sculpture with which they are adorned, and which 
 is worthy of such originals. 
 
 u In an inquiry into the early history of ecclesias- 
 tical architecture, the fountain head must be reached 
 before the pen can be safely set to work. The 
 searcher into this subject must proceed beyond 
 France for enlightenment ; another clime, and 
 earlier tastes at more remote periods of civiliza- 
 tion must needs be consulted. But I must pause, 
 and Mr. Scott had better take the friendly hint, 
 and say no more about 6 Byzantine carvers in the 
 French buildings,' or repeat that f the capitals in 
 question show the same influence/ &c. If he had 
 studied more and written less, he might have 
 attained to some knowledge of the history of 
 the subject, embracing in the compass of his in- 
 quiry Norman and Anglo-Norman architecture, of 
 the particulars of which he seems to be amusingly 
 innocent. 
 
 " e These capitals (of the north aisle entrance) are 
 sufficiently sound if left to themselves, but I see 
 plainly that their substance is blistered and softened 
 below the surface, so that if the scraping process is 
 
105 
 
 applied, their value will be utterly destroyed" This 
 remark is introduced with a glaring inaccuracy. 
 The capitals are not sufficiently sound : their pre- 
 sent condition is in proportion to the quality of 
 the material in which they are wrought; in that 
 of the strongest kind the workmanship remains 
 perfect ; where the material is less sound, the 
 decay is considerable in some places, and exces- 
 sive in others. The abacus member in several 
 instances is quite worn away, or reduced to a 
 shapeless state. Several of the capitals are sadly 
 gone to decay, and several are in good condition, 
 neither ' blistered' nor ' softened below the sur- 
 face,' and will appear all the more interesting and 
 valuable for being relieved of the foul matter which 
 clogs the sculpture. Mr. Scott's affected expres- 
 sions of regard for scraps of detail, deceive nobody 
 at Lincoln. He has destroyed so many 'precious 
 morsels 9 in different parts of the kingdom, and is 
 carrying on the destructive branch of his favourite 
 employment with so much zest, that his bewail- 
 ments are unheeded on the Acropolis of Lindum. 
 
 " ' Sufficiently sound if left to themselves /' that 
 is, if they are in such a condition that when touched 
 they will fall to powder, they must be left to them- 
 selves ; but this I repeat is not true of the parti- 
 cular capitals referred to, and it is almost super- 
 fluous to add that, if it were, then surely the time 
 has arrived for their restitution. These are hardy 
 capitals, and when their merit is unveiled, they will 
 
106 
 
 deserve more admiration than they can now be 
 expected to receive. 
 
 " 6 1 counsel the execution in stone of the best copies 
 which can be made of the details of these door-ways, 
 and the laying up of these authenticated copies in 
 stone, so as to be ready to be referred to, if at any 
 future time the original becomes so decayed as to be 
 unintelligible.' Very ' precious counsel/ indeed ! 
 The Cathedral is to be allowed to fall into hope- 
 less ruins, and the funds, which now keep it in 
 admirable repair, are proposed to be wasted in 
 copying its constantly decaying ornaments, which 
 are to form a vast museum ; and when time has 
 performed its work, and the beautiful architecture 
 of Lincoln Minster has become quite unintelligible, 
 then, but not till then, are to be drawn forth from 
 their repository the copies which are to give a 
 new face to the edifice. Has Mr. Scott done any 
 thing towards proving his faith in his own doctrine ? 
 Restoration ! he has ruthlessly destroyed, and con- 
 tinues to destroy, as will presently be shown, ' the 
 most precious remains of the architecture of the most 
 valuable periods/ 
 
 " But to what does all this puerility amount; this 
 fiddle-faddle with a stone here and a stone there, 
 always missing his aim ? Mr. Scott crawls, snail 
 like, over a few superficial feet of Lincoln Minster, 
 and wonders at the little unevennesses he meets with 
 in his movements. He frets and fumes because a 
 trim surface is not every where prepared for his 
 
107 
 
 creeping passage over ground and building upon 
 which he intrudes, always leaving behind him slip- 
 pery signs of his unwelcome presence. His minute 
 perception in works not his own is distressed by 
 the revived freshness of the stone-work at Lincoln, 
 and he obstinately disbelieves, in the face of posi- 
 tive evidence, that it is the veritable work of the 
 ancient builders, upon which no modern hand in 
 these days has been permitted to inflict an injury. 
 It cannot be that the ghost of Remigius has met 
 him on his errand, and craved his championship 
 for the begrimed stones, whose foulness is now 
 supposed to have so large a share in giving the 
 stamp of antiquity to the venerable architecture. 
 
 " Mr. Scott concludes his missive by saying, 
 ' / write this mainly for the sake of making myself 
 clearly understood,' — a very unnecessary instance 
 of trouble, seeing that he was very ' clearly under- 
 stood' at the outset. His destructive propensities 
 are regarded in so serious a light, that his approach 
 to the Cathedral was heralded by strange sounds 
 and appearances. The stone statues shuddered, 
 when he passed under the walls of the Minster. 
 
 u I repeat that Mr. G. G. Scott has succeeded in 
 his aim, and has shown how easily the judgment 
 may be warped, the vision dimmed, and the tongue 
 and pen placed at variance, when selfishness over- 
 masters every generous feeling, and the hope is 
 entertained that pertinacious interference may be 
 rewarded by praises for towering ability, and by 
 
108 
 
 usurped pretension to the matchless glories of 
 Lincoln Minister. 
 
 " I have the honour to remain, &c. 
 
 " J. C. Buckler. 
 
 " To the Very Reverend the Dean of Lincoln"' 
 
 The writer may as well insert in this place a 
 copy of the Specification, under the direction of 
 which a considerable portion of the recent restora- 
 tions have been carried forward and completed. 
 He has exercised due consideration in laying 
 before the reader as many of the original docu- 
 ments, connected with the repairs of the Cathedral, 
 as would place the whole subject in a fair point of 
 view. The number might easily have been ex- 
 tended ; but if those which have been admitted 
 fail to convey a just notion of the merits of the 
 subject, it must indeed be greatly in want of 
 elucidation. Certain however it is, that much has 
 been said and written in reference to the Minster 
 by persons who have never seen it, or by others 
 who, having given its glories the usual meed of 
 chilly approbation, were incompetent to form a 
 judgment in regard to the recent restorations. 
 The organization of the tirade is observed in the 
 system with which it has been pursued, from the 
 great captain down to his meanest follower. But all 
 will be of no avail against the sober judgment, the 
 clear eyesight, and the honest conviction of those 
 who have no prejudice to serve, nor time to bestow 
 
109 
 
 upon a subject in which they take no real interest. 
 The achievements of fame are not likely to be the 
 reward of persevering industry, when pursued under 
 the colours of false pretences. 
 
 "Lincoln Cathedral. 
 
 " The following instructions relate to the north 
 entrance in the west front, including the broad 
 and lofty arch within which it is recessed, and also 
 to the smaller arch towards the north, together 
 with the surrounding surface of the wall, in height 
 from the pavement to the cornice over the sur- 
 mounting range of intersected Norman arches, 
 and in width to the extent of the Norman work, 
 that is, from the north angle of the original front 
 to the angle of the great central arch. 
 
 " The whole of the plain masonry is to be care- 
 fully cleansed in the manner already adopted, and 
 by the same processes; namely, by washing the wall 
 repeatedly with pure water, and then removing the 
 ' scum,' without in the least degree disturbing the 
 surface of the stone. 
 
 " This work is to be performed, so as to leave, as 
 heretofore, the particles of black matter adhering 
 to the stone in the minute furrows of the rough 
 workmanship of the ancient builders. 
 
 " None of the ancient blocks are to be removed 
 and replaced by new ones, except in instances in 
 which the entire face of the block has been 
 destroyed to a depth which renders restoration 
 
110 
 
 necessary. These instances have been enume- 
 rated. 
 
 "The whole of the modern mason-work at the 
 base of this portion of the west front is to be 
 removed, if needful, and new stone of the best 
 quality substituted, in courses and blocks corre- 
 sponding with the Norman ashlar. 
 
 " The surface of the new stone-work to present 
 the same kind of roughness as the old, regardless 
 of the defects of age and accident, attention being 
 paid to the perfect specimens of mason-work re- 
 maining under cover on the north side. 
 
 " The joints to be flush with the inner edges of 
 the stone-work. The mortar to be a fine concrete 
 composition, as before described, and not to be 
 smoothed with the trowel. 
 
 61 A more minute description of this part of the 
 work need not be repeated on the present occasion, 
 but reference should again be made to the almost 
 uninjured portions of the Norman building, which 
 were concealed from common observation by the 
 enlargement of the front of the Minster in the 
 thirteenth century. Therein, the joints vary in 
 thickness considerably. This part of the work 
 was at the choice of the builder, who squared the 
 blocks with greater or less accuracy, thus pro- 
 ducing the difference which is now more apparent 
 in the west front than it was formerly, owing to 
 the partial or excessive decay of the edges of the 
 stone. 
 
Ill 
 
 " The pillars on the angles of the piers, in courses 
 corresponding with the rest of the mason-work, 
 require careful but slight repair, to preserve the 
 joints from the further inroads of the weather. 
 The capital of the facing pillar of the pier between 
 the first and second recesses, near the north angle 
 of the front, already pointed out to the mason, is 
 formed of two blocks of stone. The portion of the 
 design on one block is in perfect preservation, but 
 that formerly carved on the other has completely 
 perished, owing to the quality of the material. As 
 the mode of executing work of this kind has been 
 frequently described, and minutely explained to 
 the master-mason in view of the ancient authorities, 
 it is only necessary to remark, in reference to the 
 restoration of this ornament, that the workmanship 
 must be free, and the imitation of the shape 
 characteristic, 
 
 " In reference to the range of intersected arches 
 at the summit of the Norman wall under considera- 
 tion, very little need be said in addition to former 
 instructions, the rather as almost all the original 
 mason-work is in good condition. 
 
 " The mouldings, cornices, and other ornamental 
 features more or less sculptured, have been so 
 slightly blemished by time, as to require little more 
 than the renewal of the mortar in the joints, to 
 prevent the further abrasion of the edges. 
 
 "The foregoing descriptions apply also to the 
 insides of the recesses of the two Norman arches ; 
 
112 
 
 the angles, the pillars, and every other part of the 
 mason-work therein, and corresponding with those 
 portions of the design already specified, are to be 
 treated in the same manner. The workman is 
 required to remember, that slight or partial injuries 
 to masonry are not to lead to any kind of repair ; 
 and that entire destruction of the surface of a block 
 will, as above observed, alone justify its replace- 
 ment by new material. 
 
 " The architect would here remark, for the 
 information of the Dean and the Chapter, that 
 the descriptions of the works of the several kinds 
 required have been so frequently repeated, and so 
 minutely explained to the master-mason, in pre- 
 sence of the building, and are beyond doubt so 
 well understood by him, that it would be tedious 
 and profitless to take any lengthened notice of the 
 rest of the work of the same nature included in 
 the present undertaking. 
 
 " It is of importance to direct especial care and 
 attention to the bands of sculpture which extend 
 along the entire front on the piers of the great 
 arches of the elevation : on this account the 
 description of the process, for relieving the 
 groups of figures of the foul matter which now 
 clogs the sculpture, will be reserved for a later 
 opportunity. 
 
 " The injuries inflicted upon the entrance to 
 the north aisle of the nave, not to mention the 
 pillars, are less numerous than might be expected, 
 
113 
 
 and, fortunately, only a few occur in the more 
 novel and elaborate features of the design. 
 
 " The mischievous mutilation of the zig-zag orna- 
 ment on the left-hand jamb, from the base upwards 
 to about one-third of the height, has so completely 
 defaced the pattern as to render restoration in new 
 stone-work indispensable. 
 
 " The corresponding ornaments on the right- 
 hand side are partially defaced, and require repair 
 in places, as already pointed out ; but no attempt 
 must be made to restore any part of the carved- 
 work, on account of its partial injury by the 
 weather. 
 
 " Almost every process of restoration and repair 
 that can occur in the architecture of the front of 
 the Minster has already been forced upon notice 
 by repeated descriptions and explanations ; and, 
 hitherto, the work has been successfully accom- 
 plished. The experience thus gained, after repeated 
 instructions and personal assistance, renders it 
 unnecessary, on the present occasion, to do more 
 than refer generally to the extent and the nature 
 of the several works to be forthwith taken in 
 hand. 
 
 " The six plain pillars with their bases, forming 
 a portion of the repairs made many years since, 
 are to be replaced by pillars and bases, the former 
 of rich design, to be copied from existing autho- 
 rities. With respect to the capitals, very great 
 care must be taken in relieving the ornaments 
 
 i 
 
114 
 
 from the foul matter by which they are clogged. 
 The stone is sound, and the carved-work in good 
 preservation. 
 
 " No fresh instructions need be given for this 
 part of the undertaking; but it may be well to 
 remind the mason of the care, and patience, and 
 dexterity with which the whole of the sculpture 
 must be handled. 
 
 " Notice should be taken of the difference in 
 shape and ornament, of the abacus member of 
 capitals one and two on the left-hand jamb. In 
 one, the sculptured foliage was carried to the top 
 edge of the member ; in the other, the abacus 
 terminates with a band, indented with a ring orna- 
 ment, up to which the sculpture is carried. 
 
 " The astragal has been pared away in every 
 instance. Its original size and shape have been 
 reduced and flattened, and only slight and unin- 
 telligible traces appear in one instance of some 
 kind of ornament with which they were originally 
 embellished. This was one among many altera- 
 tions effected when the new pillars were made to 
 replace the old ones. 
 
 " The slight imperfections in the other capitals 
 are not to be repaired, neither are any of the 
 smaller defects in the ornaments of the arch, nor 
 those in any other part of the design, to be restored 
 in new material. The rule formerly laid down, 
 namely, that ornaments, although partly defaced, 
 but still retaining the pattern of the sculpture, are 
 
115 
 
 to be left untouched, is to be strictly adhered to 
 on the present occasion. 
 
 " The surface-work of the walls, and piers, and 
 recesses, including the range of intersected arches 
 at the summit, are to be commenced as soon as 
 convenient ; but the restoration of the entrance is 
 not to be undertaken until a written order is given 
 for that purpose, which order will define the 
 progress of the work in such portions at a time 
 as the architect may think proper to determine. 
 
 " J. C. Buckler. 
 
 " Oxford, 25th March, 1865." 
 
 The reader is not to suppose that the interpreta- 
 tion of the foregoing Specification was left to the 
 mason, or that the whole of the information con- 
 tained in it was for his benefit. The document 
 was provided, not for publication, but for the 
 information of all parties concerned, especial in- 
 structions being given to the master-mason, besides 
 the personal assistance he received from the archi- 
 tect, from the commencement to the close of the 
 several works. 
 
 Repairs and restorations of the kind spoken of 
 do not admit of that easy and explicit description 
 which follows the unceremonious destruction of 
 walls, and pillars, and archways. There is no 
 delegation of agency in a case like that of Lincoln ; 
 no assumption of responsibility which is not felt 
 and duly fulfilled. The fault-finder has an easy 
 
 i 2 
 
116 
 
 task to perform, and he undertakes it as if the 
 worst, instead of the best, opportunity had been 
 presented for a successful result. But there has 
 been enough of mason-work done at Lincoln in 
 years gone by, to satisfy every intelligent observer 
 that the restorations are faithful ; that nothing has 
 been rashly undertaken, or carried on to the end, 
 with less satisfaction than the scope of the work 
 permitted. It is something to be able to state, 
 unfeignedly, that no stone has been wantonly 
 destroyed ; no ornament either carelessly or de- 
 liberately defaced ; no fresh surface on the ancient 
 ashlar produced. The impressions of age, and the 
 indentations of accident or design, remain in too 
 great abundance to change the aspect of the grand 
 old Minster, or to diminish the honour which it 
 has never failed to receive. 
 
 Mr. Scott has ventured to speak and to write 
 upon a subject with which he is very imperfectly 
 acquainted. He knows nothing of the various and 
 wanton injuries which were inflicted upon the 
 front of the Cathedral, from the base to the sum- 
 mit, in and before the year 1817. He perceived 
 coarse handling here and there, and ascribes it to 
 the ignorance of the workmen now employed. 
 All the joints of the mason-work, executed under 
 the direction of Essex, being close, he indulges in 
 trite remarks upon the wide joints in the original 
 building, thus insinuating that the new work, 
 which he does not mention, is likewise close- 
 
117 
 
 jointed. Sundry abominable chippings of the 
 ornamental members, in different parts of the 
 elevation, were permitted at the date mentioned ; 
 but half a century has swept these injuries from 
 memory, and, in a great degree, from cursory 
 observation. Modern vision seems to require 
 severe prompting, before it can observe these fancy 
 works of bygone days ; and when at length the 
 effort succeeds, the information leads only to the 
 confusion of the discoverer. The grand entrance 
 was barbarously defaced when the new columns 
 were set up. Piers and walls, plain and orna- 
 mental work in great variety within reach, were 
 renewed in some sort, always in materials opposed 
 in colour and quality to the local production. 
 
 All these things, and many other instances of 
 departure from sound authority, were well known 
 to and regretted by the parties chiefly concerned 
 in the well-being of the Cathedral, almost from the 
 time of their performance. It is as unnecessary, as 
 it would be tedious, to extend the enumeration 
 of such minute particulars merely to confute the 
 mischievous invectives of any critic. No reference 
 would probably have been made to the curious 
 means resorted to formerly, for the purpose of 
 healing the more conspicuous wounds inflicted 
 by decay and spoliation, if Mr. G. G. Scott had 
 not rendered the employment necessary at the 
 hands of the writer. There was nothing wilful in 
 these undertakings, but the right feeling was not 
 
118 
 
 at hand to direct the remedies. No thought of 
 doing mischief, for its own sake, entered the mind 
 of Essex, or of any other practitioner, and no proof 
 can be adduced that he wantonly assailed the 
 edifice. Mr. G. G. Scott could not muster patience 
 or perception enough to distinguish between the 
 work done now and formerly. 
 
 The rich garniture of this wondrous Church 
 pointed it out as a fitting object for depredation, 
 and the marvel is that worse things were not 
 done to blemish its exalted merits. Mr. G. G. 
 Scott is evidently at fault when he enters into 
 details like the foregoing, and might be excused 
 for not knowing the history of innovation at 
 Lincoln, if he had not assumed the air of familiar 
 acquaintance with the events beyond the reach of 
 his inquiry. His own are sweeping schemes in 
 architecture, — operations which get rid of incon- 
 venient doubts and difficulties, as cleverly as if the 
 actor inherited the celebrated cap of Fortunatus. 
 Spick and span new work obliterates all beauties 
 and all blemishes : away with history, bemossed 
 stones, and u all the material links between the 
 present and the past" As clap-traps, these sayings 
 may have their use ; but Mr. G. G. Scott's fondest 
 delight is to stamp Cathedral and Abbey Churches 
 with his own signet and modernisms. The time- 
 honoured walls of Lincoln cast silent reproaches 
 and overwhelming condemnation upon his daily 
 practice, while in his pocket he carries " solemn 
 
119 
 
 protests" against the removal of a single stone that 
 can be saved in buildings with which he has no 
 profitable concern. 
 
 In recent years, the inroads upon ancient archi- 
 tecture have been revived with more than their 
 former virulence and persistency. Formerly, the 
 greater Churches were most commonly the objects 
 of injury ; but in these days of enlightenment, no 
 town or village Church is safe from this all- 
 devouring pestilence. The variety of mischief 
 practised under the specious pretext of Restora- 
 tion is almost incalculable. The term may not be 
 adopted for the purpose of misstating the fact, 
 nevertheless it is plausible and convenient ; and 
 the multitude are not inquisitive on points of 
 antiquarian interest in the blaze of colour and 
 carved-work offered in atonement for their ad- 
 miration. 
 
 Wyatt claimed the credit of having restored the 
 nave of Hereford Cathedral ; an assumption not 
 more shocking to common sense, than it would be 
 to affirm that the ancient and very curious gate- 
 house of the Castle at Cambridge, or the Church 
 at Doncaster, or the west front of St. David's, had 
 been restored or set up again in the edifices which 
 now occupy their places. But this misused term 
 finds its proper application in the mason-work 
 performed at Lincoln. The building regains both 
 strength and ornament, and the members which 
 are now permitted to remain, time-worn and im- 
 
120 
 
 perfect, must, in years to come, receive the care 
 which is now withheld out of regard for original 
 fragments of sculpture, sufficiently perfect to make 
 known the merit of the design in their original 
 state. These savings are obvious ; but no 
 stranger's eye can select the evidences of the 
 malpractice of the workmen half a century ago 
 on a large scale ; the mouldings, and other fine 
 members which were reduced by a rough process, 
 have not yet been wholly expunged. 
 
 A whisper has been heard that Mr. Scott has 
 recanted, and that his sins against ancient archi- 
 tecture ought not therefore to be had any longer 
 in remembrance. It were heartily to be wished 
 that this rumour rested upon a solid foundation ; 
 but, alas ! the evidence is still strong on the other 
 side. In theory, there is much to be said in this 
 new view of the matter ; but if practice may be 
 allowed to supply evidence as to the correct state 
 of the case, there can remain no doubt that, so far 
 from repentance having made its way into Mr. 
 Scott's . inclination, and checked his hand in its 
 busy meddlings with the treasures of ancient art, 
 he increases in obduracy as a spoliator. The 
 evidence still to be adduced in support of this 
 statement, is of a nature to determine the question 
 in the affirmative in the mind of every reflecting 
 person, how slightly soever he may be imbued with 
 the tastes and feelings of an antiquary. It is 
 passing strange, that among the number of those 
 
121 
 
 who peruse Mr. Scott's industriously circulated 
 precepts, there are only a few who allow them, 
 selves to perceive his glaring inconsistency ; and 
 are astounded at the excisions, the mutilations, 
 and the impoverishments, which are the necessary 
 preparations for his restoration of ancient Churches. 
 
 Who can wonder at the solemn mien assumed 
 by the architecture of Remigius when Mr. G. G. 
 Scott approached the walls ? Wicked hands had 
 more than once pressed heavily upon them ; but 
 these offences were sparing and merciful, com- 
 pared with the hard measure so pompously dealt 
 to antiquities by Mr. G. G. Scott. The few 
 instances referred to in the foregoing pages would 
 alone be sufficient to sustain any charge which 
 could be brought against the innovator. A 
 Scottified Church is, "as a general rule" never 
 allowed to retain the curious features which 
 enhance its interest up to the time of his entrance 
 for the purpose of restoration. All this may be 
 in accordance with Mr. Scott's notions of the rule 
 of right. There is no accounting for taste, nor for 
 the want of it ; but we have a right to expect 
 consistency ; and, clearly, there should be no such 
 discrepancy between precept and practice as 
 already noticed, and will be made still more 
 manifest in the future pages. 
 
 Mr. G. G. Scott's love for ancient architecture — 
 unfaithful lover as he is — blazes forth with 
 vehemence wherever he is not professionally en- 
 
122 
 
 gaged. The quiet village Church of Heston in 
 Middlesex, threatened with innovation, occasioned 
 an outburst of zeal and indignation sufficient to fill 
 all the antiquaries in England with amazement, if 
 the name of the owner of these ready-made com- 
 modities had not been appended to the letter in 
 the " Times " f . He commences with "melancholy 
 satisfaction," and having been driven to the 
 Church, finds it of course "one of the best speci- 
 mens of the village class" Some heathen called it 
 " a jumble of old English architecture:" good-bye, 
 replies Mr. Scott, " to architectural archaeology, and 
 to nearly all the material links between the present 
 and the past. We have generally supposed that the 
 fact of there being such jumbles was one of the great 
 charms of our ancient Churches," — Stafford to wit. 
 He then refers to a Cathedral, the interest of 
 which, he says, consists in the diversity of its 
 styles, which constitutes its " architectural history" 
 But this was not found to be the "interest" of the 
 Collegiate Church of Stafford ; on the contrary, 
 the existence of "diversity" was the occasion of its 
 injury. The little bits of fifteenth century work at 
 Heston "are not to be over-looked" and are "com- 
 mended as good for their period ;" but the handsome 
 clerestory of the transept of Stafford Church was 
 swept away, although it was good work of the 
 fifteenth century. The champion was informed 
 that Heston Church was to be rebuilt, and, in the 
 'September 6th, 1864. 
 
123 
 
 burning violence of his zeal, he enters his " solemn 
 protest against any thing short of conservation of all 
 which can be preserved" &c. ; " every where ' restora- 
 tion' is made a stalking-horse for devastation? This 
 last is a rich saying for appropriation by Mr. Scott, 
 especially so soon after his return from Westminster 
 Abbey, whose glories make not half the impression 
 upon his mind as do the "bits" and scraps of the 
 modest little Heston. 
 
 The following curious piece of intelligence ap- 
 pears in the "Oxford Times," January 13th, 1866. 
 " Mr. G. G. Scott recently undertook the restora- 
 tion of Heston Church, and, after all his senti- 
 mentalism, succeeded in destroying every archi- 
 tectural feature of the very Church he had 
 undertaken to restore." 
 
 The renowned Church of Westminster, in whose 
 history there is so much of national dignity and 
 greatness to cast over it the perfect shield of 
 protection, has yielded to the modern fashion of 
 restoration. The sanctuary is to be re-arranged, 
 but the amount of alteration and destruction 
 meditated is at present only imperfectly known. 
 The announcement fell like a thunderbolt upon 
 the whole Society of Antiquaries. Even the 
 Ecclesiologists were aroused for a moment from 
 their lethargy, and, in terms marvellously polite, 
 deemed it "unfortunate" that the new scheme 
 involved the "removal of the solid altar g ." 
 
 « " Gentleman's Magazine," July, 1864. 
 
124 
 
 Mr. G. G. Scott congratulates himself on the 
 removal from its place in the sanctuary of the 
 plain old altar, made for the most part of odd 
 fragments of stone, and that thereby he has done 
 no mischief, and hopes to achieve very much good 
 by the addition of a vast amount of ornament. 
 He does not know that ancient altars, of whatever 
 date, were frequently composed, at least in part, of 
 more ancient materials ; and an instance cannot 
 be named in which the high altar of stone in a 
 Cathedral, or an Abbey Church, received any 
 kind of carved embellishment, or any thing more 
 than the ordinary amount of finish granted to 
 plain mason-work. The removable antepeudia, 
 &c. furnished the altar with its suitable and 
 seasonable adornments. 
 
 The writer has not studied architectural anti- 
 quities in Mr. Scott's fashion, and he cannot now 
 afford space to extend the subject, or to remark at 
 length upon the various application in ancient 
 times of still more ancient fragments, such as 
 carved ornaments, statuettes of very remote date, 
 elegant crosses, and other relics of assumed value, 
 besides rough-looking stones and ledgers, re- 
 spected, it may have been, for the ceremonies 
 they had passed through, for the positions they 
 had occupied, or for the individuals they had 
 once commemorated. There were thus employed 
 articles of almost every variety and description in 
 plain and costly carved-work ; broken pieces of 
 
125 
 
 grave-stones frequently found their way into the 
 very structure of ancient altars, also into walls and 
 staircases, there to do good service to the building 
 in return for their security against profanation. In 
 one instance, the stair to a rood-loft had been 
 purposely built up with various fragments of 
 curious workmanship, huddled together in haste 
 for preservation, among the most valuable being 
 the image removed from the rood, carved in oak, 
 and in good preservation. 
 
 Mention has been made of Mr. Scott's tender 
 regard for objects of ancient architecture not 
 under his own care, and of his merciless severity 
 towards those completely under his control \ At 
 Bristol, local architects were employed to alter 
 and beautify the interior of the Cathedral under 
 the supervision of Mr. G. G. Scott, who had the 
 power to save the stone screen in front of the 
 choir, and to modify any plan which dared to 
 interfere with ancient and valuable features of the 
 interior arrangement ; but he cared nothing for 
 the rood-screen, and unhesitatingly sanctioned its 
 destruction. It was an elaborate and admirable 
 piece of work, and retained portions of its painted 
 ornaments. The whole design was well-shaped, the 
 parts were symmetrical, and the details elaborate, 
 the entrance being distinguished by a variety of 
 enrichments in high relief, and in a worthy style of 
 sculpture. 
 
 h The lantern of Ely Cathedral is an example. 
 
126 
 
 A detachment of the destructives entered the 
 magnificent Church at Christchurch, Hants, and 
 have, as a matter of course, condemned the screen, 
 one of the most universally admired remains of 
 antiquity in England, the forerunner of those of 
 Winchester, St. Alban's, and Southwark. The 
 Earl of Malmsbury has denounced in indignant 
 strains this shameful thought of vandalism, and it 
 is fervently to be hoped that his Lordship's 
 generous intervention will be the means of saving 
 the county from the disgrace with which it is 
 menaced 1 . In this instance, Mr. Scott thrusts 
 himself forward to cast his suspicious vote in 
 favour of the invaluable treasure of Christchurch. 
 
 Mr. G. G. Scott is now on his trial at St. David's. 
 From east to west the Cathedral there is a com- 
 position of superb architecture of various periods. 
 The sanctuary presents some of the most re- 
 markable combinations of detail any where to be 
 met with. The late Norman architecture of the 
 nave is perfectly beautiful, and the roof by which 
 it is enclosed is a most curious example of timber- 
 work, complicated in construction, and rich in 
 ornament. It is worth all the trouble and money 
 its repair would cost : the design is unique, and 
 the artisanship very ingenious. The stone rood-loft 
 is of unrivalled interest : it contains tombs and 
 effigies in its deep recesses, and the open groin 
 work, over the arched passage to the choir, is not 
 1 " Standard," November 25, 1865. 
 
127 
 
 the least among its choice and varied ornaments. 
 The oaken stalls, with the episcopal seat ] at the 
 upper end, on the south side, and the screen at 
 the entrance to the sanctuary, remain. Bishop 
 Vaughan's chapel, placed transversely between 
 the sanctuary and the lady chapel, is enclosed 
 with a roof of stone, handsomely enriched with 
 tracery of the fan pattern, formed on an arch. 
 For the sake of this chapel the superb triplet was 
 walled up. At the time of this alteration, the 
 question lay between the value of the light im- 
 mediately over the altar, and the worth of the 
 appendage which occasioned its obliteration. There 
 is no need of light in this part of the interior. The 
 gain in this respect would be superfluous ; the 
 destruction of the chapel would be a diminution of 
 the interest of the Cathedral. The representative of 
 one period in its history would be obliterated ; the 
 monument of one of the ancient prelates would be 
 cast out of the Church. But even the remains of St. 
 David's may, in these days, be thought too abundant 
 in curious and valuable architecture to be allowed 
 any longer to retain its rich possessions. The aisles 
 are dignified by sepulchral effigies, and other me- 
 morials of the departed. It has been the good 
 fortune of the writer to have delineated almost 
 every feature of this richly adorned Cathedral, and, 
 
 j Commonly, but improperly, called the throne, which was 
 placed on the north side of the sanctuary, opposite the 
 sedilia. 
 
128 
 
 should a long life be lengthened, he hopes to visit 
 old Menevia after its restoration. What will he 
 then find left ? 
 
 He may add that, in the summer of the year 1815, 
 he relieved with his own hand the reputed tomb of 
 St. David, on the north side of the sanctuary, from 
 the masonry with which its early piercings were 
 then completely filled, Canon Payne being at that 
 time residentiary. This Cathedral has for several 
 generations been exposed to ill usage, which 
 forms a large and melancholy part of its modern 
 history. Few churches, few episcopal palaces, few 
 endowed colleges, were so irreverently and so 
 dishonestly treated by those who were placed 
 over them for their guardianship and defence, 
 as were the ancient establishments within the 
 walled precincts at St. David's. It will be well, 
 and quite encouraging, if the Church survives its 
 present visitation with the bare traces of antiquity. 
 
 The reader may judge fairly as to the value of 
 Mr. G. G. Scott's strictures in reference to the 
 repairs of Lincoln Minster. The preservation of 
 every stone, " bemossed" or otherwise, shocks him, 
 because he treats ancient Churches in the 
 fashionable and more summary manner ; and 
 cannot advance an example to show how beau- 
 tifully he has learnt to inlay carved-work when he 
 has built the Church to receive it. Lincoln may 
 well dread the iron hand of pseudo restorers. Its 
 pride is to contemplate and admire ancient walls 
 
129 
 
 and towers. Its magnificent limbs constitute a 
 figure of stupendous magnitude from east to west, 
 and from north to south, in which the eye of cor- 
 rect judgment is not offended with modernisms. 
 The healing hand of repair has been so judiciously- 
 employed, that the edifice is all the better for the 
 assiduous attention it has received, and presents no 
 kind of deformity as the result of harsh and un- 
 feeling laceration. The writer claims to be heard 
 in defence of the Minster. The process adopted 
 therein is neither new nor uncommon-: for thirty 
 years he has enjoyed frequent opportunities of 
 observing the repairs during their progress ; and 
 such is the firmness of his hereditary regard for 
 ancient architecture, that no fear of giving offence, 
 no dread of losing patronage, would have induced 
 him to withhold his censures, if truth and justice 
 had required them at his hands. 
 
 The least ancient, and also the least gorgeous, 
 architecture with which the front of the Minster 
 was embellished, after it had been shaped and fitly 
 adorned in the thirteenth century, must now 
 receive the notice promised in a former page ; 
 not, however, that any attempt will be made to 
 speak in terms worthy of its merit, but simply for 
 the purpose of referring, in full utterance, to the 
 care which has been taken of it, as far as the recent 
 repairs have extended to its specimens. These 
 handsome samples have been brought into close 
 contact with the Norman work of Remigius, and 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 the Anglo-Norman work of Alexander. The 
 architecture of the thirteenth century was ex- 
 punged from the recesses, to be supplanted by 
 the broad windows which now occupy the spaces, 
 towards the end of the fourteenth century. The 
 skilful builder of the earlier period pressed his 
 walls against the side of Remigius's building, an 
 artificial joint having been made in the front for 
 the purpose. His tall windows pierced the inner 
 wall in the work of exquisite quality, as exhibited 
 in the circular window which was preserved. If 
 the subsequent builder could afford the room 
 occupied by this feature at the head of the arch, 
 he found no space to spare at the sill, where he 
 stationed a range of beautiful niches, dividing the 
 favour as regards position between the Norman 
 archway and the window, and certainly without 
 partiality for the former, the brow of which was 
 removed to form a resting-place for the con- 
 tinuous range of pedestal upon which the statues 
 are seated. 
 
 That the increase of light to the interior was 
 regarded as an important acquisition at this period, 
 may be inferred from the open character of the 
 windows, viewed in comparison with the rich and 
 more meritorious design of blank tracery on the 
 side within the pronaos, and still further from 
 the manner in which the compartments are cusped 
 for the sake of retaining every inch of light. It 
 would be a waste of time to mention with par- 
 
131 
 
 ticularity the emendations which have been made 
 in the features of the architecture of this period, 
 and of others on the same level in the front. The 
 very circumstance, that every member of the recent 
 restorations has been denounced in superlative terms, 
 is against the probability of accuracy on the part 
 of the detractors of Lincoln. Small portions of 
 mouldings in different positions, and of ornaments 
 of the canopies which had disappeared, have been 
 renewed ; that more was not needed is owing to 
 the strength of the stone, and that less was 
 required than the releasement of so trustworthy 
 a material, is an argument that cannot possibly be 
 maintained. Whatever has been done to the 
 figures has been performed with special care, and 
 with dutiful regard for Royalty. They were spared 
 through a dark, dreary, and mischievous period ; 
 and the writer is not the man to damage crowned 
 heads, which barbarians gazed upon, but feared to 
 touch. 
 
 The ill-founded censures alluded to may be 
 quickly dispatched, for the Minster will speak 
 better things for the writer than he cares to utter 
 for himself. He has not been careful to avoid the 
 occasional repetition of the more important facts 
 connected with the different restorations. The 
 pertinacity of the accusers in some instances, and 
 the bold asseverations in others, have rendered 
 this course necessary. There seems to be no 
 sound reason wherefore fact should not be re- 
 
 k2 
 
132 
 
 iterated with as much resolution as fiction. The 
 law was laid down by Mr. Scott, and "the Jews 
 assenting said, that these things were so." This 
 part of the subject may well bear the repetition of 
 remarks made with the view of pointing out the 
 pristine beauty of the building, and the cautious 
 method which has been adopted in its restoration. 
 The difficulty in discovering the new pillars, the 
 new pieces of moulding, and other signs of repair 
 above the line of the entrances, is very great. 
 These, and all other amendments, have been made 
 for the good of the edifice, for its appearance as 
 well as its substantiality ; and the success aimed at 
 is demonstrated by the uniform aspect of antiquity 
 which it exhibits. Such wondrous architecture 
 as that of the thirteenth century shines with un- 
 rivalled brilliancy in the presence of more antique, 
 and of less venerable productions of art, but both, 
 of vast interest, called for the regard which they 
 have received, and which they acknowledge in 
 the expression of every feature and lineament of 
 the composition. 
 
 Lincoln, rich in historical associations and in 
 architecture of surpassing splendour, has long since 
 passed the ordeal which is sweeping from other 
 great Churches their distinctive boundaries, their 
 screens and rood-lofts, and other features of anti- 
 quity, without restraint and without compunction. 
 These are among the restoratives prescribed in the 
 present day as proper for the sustenance of the 
 
133 
 
 order, and as conducive to the correct economy 
 of the edifices of antiquity. 
 
 It does not occur to the advocates of these 
 destructive principles that the compensation which 
 a Church receives is not in proportion to the 
 sacrifice it is called upon to make. The exchange 
 of old things for new, in architecture, is profitless 
 barter ; it is trickery, and sheer waste. For 
 example : you give up a rood-screen, rich in 
 intelligence relating to the period in which it was 
 produced ; the quality of the design, the com- 
 position of the sculpture, and the expertness of its 
 execution ; the heraldry, the badges, the costume 
 of the figures, and the character of the accom- 
 panying ornaments ; all conveyed useful informal 
 tion, connected with the history of the fine arts as 
 regards architecture. And what do you receive in 
 return ? a stone screen, manufactured yesterday, 
 dull and unintelligent ; or a brazen one, all shine 
 and glitter. Again, you defraud a Church of its 
 clerestory, because you presume to say that it is 
 not old enough ; and you give it another form of 
 roof, fashioned and set up yesterday. You cannot 
 give the stamp of genuineness to this invention : it 
 *s a counterfeit, and the brand can never be re- 
 moved from its forehead. 
 
 The fashion of our ancient Churches cannot be 
 changed without diminishing or destroying their 
 beauty and their interest. The aisles by which 
 these buildings are enlarged, the chapels by which 
 
134 
 
 they are begirt, cannot be thrown down, or meta- 
 morphosed, without damage to the design of the 
 arcades, which were so frequently made to suit the 
 appendage to which they belonged. This part of 
 the history of a Church, in its ancient state, 
 is intelligible. The building relates its periodical 
 changes circumstantially ; its accessions of strength, 
 of adornment, of usefulness, all are explained and 
 illustrated in due order, and exhibit a chronological 
 and consistent course of structural achievement, 
 leaving no doubt as to the degree of value to be 
 assigned to these accretions to the body of the 
 edifice, and which ought always to be respected. 
 
 But the state of feeling in this direction is far 
 otherwise in these days remarkable for novelties, 
 and rapidity of movement, in the preliminaries for 
 Church restoration. The thought foremost in the 
 mind is to give it the expression of the taste of the 
 present day ; but do these improvements improve 
 architecture ? Take Cirencester as a moderate 
 sample of the approved process of restoration. All 
 the oaken screens belonging to the different aisles 
 and chapels have been torn from their places, either 
 wholly or in part, and huddled together in one pro- 
 miscuous heap in the north aisle. The whole floor 
 has been uncovered and excavated in places, but not 
 near foundations. The walls and piers have been 
 often wantonly un coated in different parts of the 
 interior ; and the main roof is deposited piecemeal 
 on the floor, there to undergo the process of repair, 
 
135 
 
 which is likely to end in few pieces of the old 
 wood reappearing in the new roof. If the roof of 
 St. Mary's Church at Bury St. Edmunds had been 
 repaired and restored after this manner, the cost of 
 the work would have half ruined the county. 
 
 These are the preparatory measures of the severe 
 and expensive system according to which ancient 
 Churches are now too frequently restored. A more 
 merciful course was pursue'd at a period when it 
 was supposed that these venerable buildings were 
 less appreciated than they are at the present day. 
 The builder who enters an ancient Church with 
 the flattering unction of establishing its good 
 condition, has no sufficient reason to assign for 
 stripping it to the skin ; nay, of laying bare the 
 whole scheme of its anatomy. The healing art in 
 architecture ought to be better understood, or 
 more benevolently applied, in these days. Its 
 course should be to bind up wounds, not to begin 
 by making them ; to maintain, not to hazard, the 
 constitution of the fabric. The age of a Church 
 has, with good reason, been supposed to be a 
 portion of its value. Its walls cannot be expected, 
 at least by the considerate, to be so robust now as 
 they were six or seven centuries ago. Regardless, 
 however, of these facts, their blemishes are pointed 
 out with avidity : no allowance is made for casu- 
 alties : the limb is lopped off without hesitation, 
 and a substitute given, which sends the reputable 
 structure limping on its way to the next genera- 
 
136 
 
 tion. The ancients were not always lenient to the 
 architecture of their elder brethren ; but no con- 
 sideration of this kind can justify the moderns in 
 sweeping away ancient edifices, either wholly or in 
 part ; or in mutilating them, in order to bring them 
 into formality, — to wear a new aspect, and thereby 
 to cut them off from their alliance with antiquity, 
 and from their connection with history. There 
 can be no doubt that the present morbid appetite 
 for novelty is not only injurious to correct taste 
 generally, but utterly fatal to the existence of the 
 monuments of ancient architecture. 
 
 The revival of architectural innovation, on the 
 present extended scale, is mainly due to the 
 example and encouragement given to the system 
 by Mr. G. G. Scott, who has trodden incautiously 
 in the footsteps of his predecessors in that in- 
 glorious path to fame, and has at least equalled the 
 most adventurous of them in the fatal art of 
 diminishing the interest and antiquity of our 
 venerable Churches. The heroes of by-gone days 
 are not often chargeable with the excess of finery 
 and the parade of ornament, of which Mr. G. G. 
 Scott is not to be acquitted. They laid no serious 
 claim to taste in Gothic architecture : of the 
 perception of its merits, as to style, they were 
 perfectly innocent ; and it follows that they had 
 no appreciation of the combinations which suc- 
 cessive builders formed, as age after age introduced 
 some new or improved element becoming the 
 
137 
 
 design or due adornment of Churches. Knowledge 
 of this kind was far beyond the reach of the 
 earlier Church restorers, as they fondly deemed 
 themselves ; but their insufficiency of information 
 was not supplied by conceit,, or assumption of 
 knowledge, which they had neither courted nor 
 cultivated. Their faults, which were many and 
 lamentable, have not served as beacons to the 
 present generation, whose practitioners, one and 
 all, give dross for gold ; they blot out the evidence 
 of the genuine works of art, and give in their place 
 improved imitations. Under this regimen, Churches 
 are fast becoming places for the exhibition of finery 
 in wood, and stone, and metal, instead of being 
 regarded as houses of prayer. In thus fitting up 
 the interior the eye is allowed no repose ; the 
 mind is distracted with the glut of ornament. 
 Architecture is too often out of the question ; 
 even when considered, sobriety in its costume is 
 unthonght of; the approbation of the multitude 
 must be taken by storm. Diversity, formerly the 
 growth of ages, the natural fruit of piety, of 
 affection, or of gratitude, is now produced all at 
 once, from the cold recesses of selfishness, and a 
 tasteless disregard of every principle which ought 
 to take the lead in works of art of the highest 
 order. The ambition of ornament is supreme : 
 its place is every where. Ornament has become 
 the essence of taste, whatever the term may 
 mean ; its tyranny is beyond dispute. It looks 
 
138 
 
 with indifference upon the gorgeous monuments 
 of Percy, of Crouchback, of Aylmer de Valance, 
 and Gervase Alard, the distinguished Warden of 
 the Cinque Ports. These in stone, and the match- 
 less choir stalls at Winchester in oak, are as far 
 outstripped by the quantity of carved-work in 
 modern performances, as they excel in mind, and 
 in artistic handling and expression, the laboured 
 imitations. 
 
 Modern genius has no right, under the assumed 
 name of restoration, to overturn and cast away 
 boundaries, and furniture, and memorials, which 
 have always belonged to the Church, and which 
 are only just now discovered to be out of place. 
 The structure of the Cathedral, the Abbey, or the 
 stately parish Church is no longer the object of 
 admiration. It is rare to meet with an instance in 
 which the architecture of the fabric is referred to : 
 the array of new and often tasteless ornament 
 ravishes the sight, and absorbs all admiration. The 
 march of ornamentation, in ancient times, was 
 encouraged in a different and more scientific 
 manner : the whole fabric partook of improve- 
 ment, but the windows were especially favoured, 
 for they received the double enrichment of tracery 
 and painted glass. 
 
 In the compositions of antiquity from the twelfth 
 to the sixteenth century accessions to the archi- 
 tectural wealth of Churches were continually 
 made. If the Church, as originally built, were 
 
139 
 
 not large enough for the increase of magnificence 
 in sepulchral memorials or mortuary chapels, 
 these, with such other features as were required, 
 were added, and found proper places, and in forms 
 and proportions suitable for their positions ; just as 
 if the taste of an artist were always at hand to 
 give effect to the assemblage, as is seen in such 
 impressive grandeur at Winchester. 
 
 Finally, the observation may be made that, while 
 the propriety and fitness of ornament in archi- 
 tecture is disregarded, and only love for sensuous 
 decoration applauded and encouraged, the grander 
 features of design will continue to be overwhelmed 
 by finery, or so injuriously affected by it, as to lose 
 suitable expression in the general composition. 
 The sanctuaries of Gloucester, Tewkesbury, and 
 Westminster, superbly as they are begirt with 
 canopied monuments, chapels, and other becoming 
 objects of sumptuous design, present with a rich 
 diversity that agreeable order, and that proper 
 subordination, without which these wonderful 
 Abbey Churches would not glory in their un- 
 rivalled splendour and magnificence. 
 
 But architectural innovation as here exemplified 
 will find no lack of sympathisers in the ranks of 
 such a race as the ecclesiologists, who countenance 
 the destruction of ancient architecture by shutting 
 their eyes to, and keeping aloof from, the con- 
 stantly multiplying instances within their reach, 
 and thereby becoming the abettors of those who 
 
140 
 
 mutilate or destroy the invaluable remains of 
 antiquity. 
 
 Their idle tales have done no harm at Lincoln : 
 good to the Minster they never intended. Where 
 is the evidence to be found of their strenuous 
 exertions in favour of a condemned Church ? 
 Were their industrious efforts to ward off mutila- 
 tion, or their zealous energies in opposition to the 
 dismemberment of ancient Churches and Chapels ? 
 In what instance have they marshalled their forces 
 to save " solid " altars, beautiful screens, and rood- 
 lofts, and sepulchral monuments ; to denounce 
 the substitution of iron for stone in these admirable 
 features of ecclesiastical costume ? Their doctrine 
 teaches, that to " scrape 99 away rubbish from the 
 walls of a Church is sacrilege. To cast the 
 structure to the ground, and to raise another on 
 its site in a fresh shape, is regarded as a happy 
 instance of generous " restoration." To preserve 
 a Norman arch by reparation is an act of 
 barbarity ; but to tear one away from the wall, 
 and to set up an imitation of the original, is 
 allowed to be an act of sound ecclesiological 
 rectitude. 
 
 Can it then be a matter of wonder that our rich 
 stores of architectural antiquities are suffering 
 daily diminution ; that our Cathedrals and 
 Abbeys, our parish and village Churches, are 
 being deliberately defrauded of their character 
 and of their interest, and things trumpery largely 
 
141 
 
 given in exchange for sterling material, fashioned 
 by sterling taste ? 
 
 The wonder will be, if the descendants of the 
 present generation find much to look upon of the 
 ecclesiastical architecture of which we are now so 
 justly proud. They will see productions of the 
 vanity and vitiated taste now in full vigour, not 
 demonstrative of talent, single and alone, a state 
 which might forrn their excuse ; but, alas ! as things 
 occupying the places of buildings once brilliant in 
 genuine architecture ; or so infesting by their 
 impertinencies the walls and arcades of honest 
 designs, as to mar the grace and dignity of a style 
 which genius had placed beyond the reach of 
 rivalry. 
 
PAET II. 
 
 Contains observations upon the Architecture of the Front of the 
 Minster, with especial reference to that portion of it which belonged 
 to the original Church ; followed by a description of the recent 
 repairs and restorations, with remarks in defence thereof. 
 
 Preeminently as Mr. G. G. Scott has appeared 
 in the insidious attack upon the tried and un- 
 flinching friends of Lincoln Minster, and inclined, 
 therefore, as the writer feels, to track his steps on 
 an occasion so interesting and so important as the 
 well-being of the glorious fane, yet he cannot 
 allow himself to exclude, or even any longer to 
 delay, other considerations besides those which so 
 deeply concern the personage to whom so much 
 time and space have already been granted. The 
 foregoing pages abound in remarks explanatory of 
 the subject, forcibly pressed into notice by Mr. 
 G. G. Scott's uncourteous persistency in main- 
 taining communication with parties concerned in 
 the matter propounded, long after he must have 
 felt convinced that his interposition would produce 
 no results satisfactory either to himself, or to those 
 whose counsel he questioned. 
 
144 
 
 It has been found expedient to lay before the 
 reader an account, at some length, of Mr. G. G. 
 Scott's processes of restoration, in order, in the 
 first place, to show his disqualification for the 
 office of censor in a case like the present ; and, in 
 the next place, to dispel the doubt that might arise 
 as to his purpose in going so far out of the way to 
 engage in the defence of a Cathedral which has 
 had the good fortune to escape his professional 
 visitation. Good-natured readers, imperfectly ac- 
 quainted with a subject so unpromising as archi- 
 tectural innovation, might readily be led to think, 
 upon the perusal of Mr. G. G. Scott's lucubrations, 
 that he is living, and moving to and fro in the 
 world, with no other object in view than the rescue 
 of ancient Churches from the hands of barbarians. 
 To be sure, the same good people might be startled 
 at the disregard of diffidence in his addresses, and 
 his pertinacity in recommending nostrums which 
 were never heard of before ; these he concocted 
 for the express purpose of preserving the existence 
 of the Minster, as were the prescriptions for Heston 
 Church, the success of which goes a great way 
 towards showing what would have been the fate of 
 the Cathedral, if its front wall had been doctored 
 with the same sense and delicacy of handling. 
 
 No adequate notion could be formed by strangers 
 of the subject, for which this contention has been 
 agitated and pursued, by a perusal of the foregoing- 
 pages. It is one of the most interesting in the 
 
145 
 
 kingdom. The Minster is a structure so ancient, 
 so curious, so uncommonly magnificent, and withal 
 so slightly blemished with modern conceits and 
 trappings, that it would have been treated with 
 great injustice indeed, and with great disrespect, 
 if only fugitive notices of its splendid architecture 
 had found their way into the midst of criticisms 
 and strictures, to which value and intelligence are 
 given by frequent references to matters of detail 
 belonging to some of the most admirable works of 
 art ever produced by human genius. Not that 
 a space sufficiently large to do justice to such a 
 subject can here be allowed. That particular 
 portion of the stupendous edifice, to which ob- 
 servation will be more assiduously directed on the 
 present occasion, must receive the writer's chief 
 attention ; and it will be well if he finds op- 
 portunity to do more than partial justice to a 
 feature of the Minster, which has no rival in the 
 compound qualities of its architecture, or in the 
 aggregate of beauty and magnificence with which 
 exalted genius has invested it. 
 
 As in the former section of this slender volume 
 the riches of the architecture of the Minster are 
 mentioned, and references to its individual forms, 
 and masterly compositions, will be found in almost 
 every page ; so in the present division the fame and 
 defence of its architecture will pervade almost 
 every sentence. The antiquary could neither 
 desire, nor perhaps discover, a more rich and 
 
146 
 
 abundant topic for research and meditation than 
 this. Remigius, the Norman, erected the first 
 Cathedral at Lincoln, and to this day a considerable 
 member of the building of the eleventh century 
 remains in durable condition ; hale, more orna- 
 mented than his sober mind ever contemplated, 
 and made so much more vast, that the Norman 
 front, looked upon as stately in its day, has since 
 been regarded as moderate in its dimensions. But 
 owing to the rich embellishments which it received 
 within one hundred and seventy years after the 
 death of the founder, it has become in these times 
 an object of great solicitude, and of uncommon 
 veneration. It has always been loved, and 
 honoured, and protected by its guardians ; and 
 strangers of every degree now bestow their praises 
 upon its architectural splendours. 
 
 Very little assistance is required from imagina- 
 tion to bring into full view the front of the 
 Minster, as it appeared when the builder in the 
 thirteenth century stood prepared to amplify the 
 measures of the elevation at the expense of the 
 choicest embellishments of the Norman design. 
 The contribution of Bishop Bloet to the design of 
 Remigius, whatever its quality and extent, is un- 
 known, and is lost for ever. We cannot take a 
 full view of the great gifts of his successor, Bishop 
 Alexander, to the fabric of the Church ; they must 
 have been of a munificent description, not excelled 
 in richness of workmanship by any contemporary 
 
147 
 
 Church ; and, in beauty of design, seem to have 
 comprehended all that taste and genius could 
 confer upon architecture at that day. The nature 
 of his work is finely represented by existing 
 remains, the study of which is necessary to the 
 full appreciation of the aggregate of ability pos- 
 sessed by the Anglo-Norman builders then in 
 employ. 
 
 Remigius had imbibed, with unshaken firmness, 
 the regard which his countrymen evinced for 
 precedent in all matters relating to architecture. 
 Travellers of observation cannot be long in making 
 this discovery. Nothing English entered into his 
 counsels : his early prepossessions as a builder 
 are discoverable in the huge frame, and in the 
 minor parts of the pronaos ; and we may believe 
 that the same characters were not wanting in the 
 body of the Church. 
 
 The original intention of the founder might have 
 been carried out to the full by Alexander, at least 
 so far as regards the main fabric which, we may be 
 sure, was planned on a figure of genuine simplicity, 
 and in measures consistent with the primitive scale. 
 When this early Church received the last ac- 
 cessions of dignity and beauty to its elevations, 
 the term of the Anglo-Norman fashion of building 
 was drawing to a close : it had ceased to appear 
 with any of the finest ornaments to which it had 
 given rise : the vigour of the stubborn style was 
 well-nigh exhausted : the time was fast approaching 
 
 l2 
 
148 
 
 when the supremacy of the Norman was to sink 
 before the irresistible claims of the pointed arch ; 
 and St. Hugh is entitled to the honour of having 
 remodelled a large portion of the eastern half of 
 the structure. The grandeur of his design is 
 worthy of his fame. With the finely shaped 
 features of the early pointed style are therein 
 combined general forms, and particular details, 
 which are retained in just sufficient strength to 
 denote the feeling which prevailed with the builder 
 at the precise time referred to. But the complete 
 triumph of pointed architecture was achieved when 
 the Church, westward of the transept, replaced 
 the ruinated original. 
 
 The supposition that the founder did not live to 
 complete his design beyond that condition which 
 enabled him to promote the ceremony of con- 
 secration of the altars, albeit that the whole upper 
 part of the structure had not attained its intended 
 height, is probable. Bishop Alexander seems to 
 have studiously preserved the square form of the 
 front, which he heightened, and carried up thereon 
 two towers, with shallow wings to the north and 
 south, all in superb architecture, and in a more 
 polished quality of workmanship, which commonly 
 ktept pace with the finish or the refinement of the 
 general design. He also inserted three grand 
 entrances, the like of which, fdr variety and 
 beauty of enrichment, was not known before his 
 time — a remark which does not exclude the 
 
149 
 
 conjecture that certain of the carved pillars be- 
 longed to the work of the founder. 
 
 The precise state of the front of the Church, 
 when Bishop Alexander came into power, is a 
 particular in its history beyond the reach of 
 inquiry. It certainly is a matter of doubt whether 
 he found a perfect basis for towers, or very much 
 of the elevation carried up above the level, on which 
 he planted a range of intersecting arches above 
 the existing range, as may be seen on the north 
 and south sides of the towers. In the review of his 
 extensive building operations, which chiefly related 
 to the exaltation of the edifice, he cannot be said 
 to have spared the remnant of Bishop Remigius's 
 Church. It was not in his power to diminish the 
 breadth of the front to any extent, or to interfere 
 with its even surface ; but there was nothing to 
 prevent such croppings above the arches, as would 
 facilitate the advancement and the uniformity of 
 his admirable design. We may be sure that, since 
 the days of Bishop Alexander, nothing more of the 
 front of the founder's Church remained than is 
 now to be seen. The wall could not be cut down 
 much lower ; and in the thirteenth century it did 
 not suit the purpose of the builder to go low enough 
 to sweep away from the elevation every feature 
 of Alexander's work. In breadth and altitude, 
 his yearnings after grandeur appear to have been 
 fully satisfied without this sacrifice. The Norman 
 arch in the centre disappeared at this time ; the 
 
160 
 
 builder could do no less than make a clear space 
 for the crowning feature of his elevation, the 
 parapet being carried up to the level of the sills 
 of the tower windows. 
 
 The front of Remigius and Alexander, greater 
 in breadth than the nave with its aisles, carried to 
 the summit in its full width at the base, and in one 
 even surface with a straight line of parapet, was 
 an austere and very uncommon specimen of the 
 architecture of the genuine Norman school. In 
 its present curtailed condition, dwarfed by the 
 expansion of the surrounding architecture, it re- 
 mains without an equal in the peculiarity of its 
 conditions, and is perhaps the most considerable 
 and the most curious specimen of early date 
 extant. The thought which produced it must 
 have possessed resources of a peculiar kind — 
 original, and stubborn. Remigius exercised his 
 own genius, without reference to any thing around 
 him in England, and the produce of his assiduity 
 was destined to remain a solitary example. 
 
 The difference between this and the Anglo- 
 Norman part of the design and workmanship is 
 striking and instructive. Throughout the artisan- 
 ship, the dissimilitude is as conspicuous as it 
 appears in the integral parts of the composition ; a 
 result not surprising, if we consider that the native 
 talent struck out a new and more refined method, 
 both in figure and in detail, than appeared in the 
 models produced in this country by the early 
 
151 
 
 Norman builders. They had learned from their 
 immediate predecessors valuable lessons in archi- 
 tecture ; but their English taste and genius soon 
 led them to treat the science with a polish quite 
 their own ; it was national in its general com- 
 position, and in its ornaments. 
 
 The succeeding builders, whose lot it was to 
 raise from the ruins of the former Cathedral, grand 
 as was its bearing, one of the most splendid 
 examples of the early pointed style in existence, 
 handled the* Norman relic with great freedom ; 
 and, considering that they threw down every thing 
 else of the same early age, its preservation with so 
 much of its formal composition unblemished, is 
 fortunate, since it was the means of gathering 
 together, in a single elevation, four of the most 
 valuable examples of ecclesiastical architecture 
 any where to be met with. It is, however, worthy 
 of remark, that the builders in succession, whose 
 alterations were structural, were impressed with 
 the advantage of adopting the horizontal character 
 of the Norman front, upon which the towers had 
 been reared sufficiently far back from the parapet 
 to insure the appearance of decided disconnexion. 
 The writer's inclination would lead him to a 
 searching investigation of this upper part of the 
 structure, rendered excessively interesting by 
 the combined work of the several periods just 
 named ; Bishop Alexander's style yielding to the 
 encroachments of the younger, just as itself had 
 
152 
 
 superseded whatever shapes and proportions Bishop 
 Remigius had assigned, as suitable accompaniments 
 to the towers suggested by his plan. The rough 
 signs of these several alterations, in hidden places, 
 are as apparent to the inquisitive eye, as the 
 refined artisanship of the screen work, by which 
 the old straight line of the elevation was marked, 
 has always been to common observation. 
 
 But this part of the subject must be dealt with 
 briefly, although not all at once : not so, however, 
 the final alterations which were made in the front. 
 The builders, one after another, seem never to 
 have been satisfied with the previous contributions 
 towards its adornment : they persisted in the 
 attempt to make it preeminent for the breadth, the 
 beauty, the diversity, and the elegance of its 
 architecture. Bishop Alexander made his altera- 
 tions with a firm hand, and from the base to the 
 summit superseded or surmounted his predecessor's 
 work with his own, with the single object of 
 supplying adornment to the sullen design. The 
 last achievements in this progressive course ex- 
 punged the windows, which had supplanted those 
 set up by Remigius. 
 
 But the towers, as the supreme finishings of the 
 facade, had become stunted by the raising of the 
 front. The enterprising builder, in the fourteenth 
 century, removed the Norman summits, as a meet 
 preparation for the present exalted and very hand- 
 some superstructures, whose character was not 
 
153 
 
 blemished by later additions of tapering spires and 
 pinnacles, composed of timber and lead. a What- 
 ever may be said adverse to the addition of the 
 spires and pinnacles, there can be no doubt that 
 
 a It would seem that the builder, in carrying up these 
 western towers on the Norman basements, had not calculated 
 with sufficient exactness on the weight to be supported. 
 The first shock they received was probably witnessed by the 
 author of the addition, immediately after he had reduced his 
 mental scheme to practice. But this awakening sign of 
 weakness in the old walls, thus early exhibited, was not 
 followed by any symptoms of continuous defection. The 
 load once imposed, and at one moment inclined to undue 
 oppression, ended in a safe union ; but it is to be remarked, 
 as a common occurrence in the enlargement of towers of 
 Churches, that the finishing features of the design were not 
 given. As this was the case at Lincoln, the admirable pro- 
 portion of the belfry stage has never been fully brought into 
 view. The additional weight to the parapet was not to be 
 encouraged ; and, after an interval of some years, an in- 
 adequate finish was made of the work which had been so 
 ardently commenced. 
 
 The pains undertaken by Essex to recruit the strength of 
 the lower walls, and to insure the safety of the superstructure, 
 were considerable, and in part singular. Vibration was 
 evidently one of the active sources of apprehension ; and to 
 guard against the probability of mischief from this cause, he 
 filled up all the Norman windows of the towers with solid 
 masonry, notwithstanding the fact that no fresh signs of 
 weakness had appeared in these structures for a vast number 
 of years ; and no cause existed for future apprehension ; since 
 the removal of the great bell had been finally determined. 
 Some curious instances might be adduced of the custom in 
 former years of filling up arches on the same account, and 
 also for the purpose of securing arches in perfectly good 
 condition from injury by pressure. 
 
154 
 
 the towers thus elevated have produced a valu- 
 able effect upon the front, beyond the mere ap- 
 pearance they present in the general view of the 
 Minster. The facade had been so far outmeasured 
 in the thirteenth century, that the Norman towers 
 were deprived of their due proportion : the agree- 
 ment or harmony of the measures of the entire 
 front had been subverted. 
 
 The appropriation of the front of Remigius's 
 Church, and the steady resolve to retain it after 
 the first decision in the twelfth century, are among 
 the boldest incidents in the history of ecclesiastical 
 architecture. No real difficulty presented itself to 
 the Anglo-Norman builder. He gained upon the 
 original upward dimensions, and thereby broke 
 away the settled relation of comparative measure 
 originally fixed. Height, under his direction, 
 obtained the preponderance ; but this order was 
 disturbed by the first alteration in the pointed 
 style, under which the Norman design was severed 
 in its altitude. The scheme was brave and clever, 
 the necessity for it was imperious, and the result 
 perfectly satisfactory. It was incumbent that, while 
 the new stage at the summit should bear a just 
 proportion to the upright additions, which were at 
 the same time to be made to the breadth of the 
 elevation, it should assume an importance para- 
 mount over all that would remain of former 
 designs. It was made the unrivalled feature of 
 the front, and resembled a broad band of jewellery, 
 
155 
 
 thickly set with statuary, enshrined in panel- 
 work of rare elegance. The grandeur and almost 
 mysterious sublimity of Norman architecture had 
 not lost its influence upon the mind of the builder 
 of Lincoln Minster at this period, and no one will 
 surely be found courageous enough to question 
 the soundness of his judgment, or his mastery in 
 the art of design. To Ely, in another phase of 
 taste, was given the vertical arrangement, which 
 lifts its proportions to an amazing height in the 
 most graceful manner imaginable. 
 
 All the lovely work at Lincoln, in immediate 
 connexion with the original elevation, is so 
 elaborately interwoven with the Norman walls, to 
 which the present design, as a whole, owes so 
 many of its advantages, that it would be inex- 
 cusable if, on the present occasion, mention were 
 not made of some of the more prominent altera- 
 tions by which the required junctions were 
 effected, and thereby intricacies produced within 
 and around a building so singularly formed as the 
 pronaos of the early Minster. Of the exterior of 
 the Norman front nothing more need be said at 
 present, than that its original breadth of one 
 hundred and nine feet ten inches was diminished 
 by three feet ten inches at each extremity, for 
 the purpose of forming notches for the safe junc- 
 tion of the huge walls of the thirteenth century. 
 These walls are nine feet two inches in thickness 
 above the plinth, and the vertical joint on either 
 
156 
 
 hand, not over smooth, is as close now as at first. 
 The north side of the pronaos is a broad surface of 
 plain wall, originally unenclosed, and disconnected 
 with any kind of building or lean to, and was only 
 so far altered at the above period as to allow the 
 groin-work to be attached to it ; but much more 
 than this was done on the south side, chiefly on 
 account of the great circular staircase in this 
 angle. The direct ascent from the foot was 
 blocked up to the height of about fourteen feet, 
 and a new way made, ten feet towards the east, 
 within the recess of the arch corresponding with 
 the aisle arch in front ; a slant passage being 
 forced through the solid angle, to regain the 
 ancient ascent on the raised level. All, therefore, 
 that the south side had to exhibit was to be seen 
 at a glance from without : almost all that awakens 
 interest and sharpens curiosity, on the opposite 
 side, is encased by a wall three feet in thickness. 
 
 The north and south passages on the out- 
 side of the pronaos, rendered necessary by 
 the elongation of the facade, were, at the outset, 
 intended to form entrances to the Church ; but 
 these were no sooner provided, than the way was 
 barred by cross walls, which, on the east face, are 
 arcaded with all the elegance of the architecture 
 with which they are associated in the interior. 
 These were only parapet walls, so that the groined 
 roof, and the circular window over each of the 
 west entrances, added greatly to the handsome 
 
157 
 
 effect of this part of the interior, before the 
 modern severance was made. 
 
 The block plan of the pronaos is an oblong, 
 placed transversely at the extremity of the nave, 
 and forming the front of the original Church, 
 whose measures are one hundred and nine feet ten 
 inches by forty-one feet three inches. The breadth 
 of the Church was eightv feet six inches between 
 the walls, which were six feet in thickness, and 
 extended across the pronaos to the west wall, 
 thereby giving it the same dimensions and sub- 
 divisions as those of the nave, altogether excluding 
 the wings which filled out the measure of the 
 front. By a common scale, the plan of the nave 
 was divided into four equal parts ; two were 
 assigned to the breadth of the nave, and one to 
 each aisle, the pillars being placed centrically on 
 the division lines. By this arrangement, the wings 
 of the pronaos stand nine feet six inches in advance 
 of the aisle walls. The organization of the plan 
 of this member, so plain and robust, was well 
 adapted to sustain the arrangement which gave 
 rare distinction to the upper half of the elevation. 
 Bishop Alexander had found unfinished or ruinated 
 walls to work upon, and, contemplating a magni- 
 ficent design, may be supposed to have pared them 
 down to the lowest convenient level, and to have 
 adapted them as basements for his intended towers, 
 he being most probably encouraged by substantial 
 evidence of the founder's preparation for the like 
 
158 
 
 features. No such height, nor any thing like such 
 ornament as was afterwards given to these struc- 
 tures, was contemplated by Remigius. Nor could 
 Bishop Alexander, magnificent as was his spirit, 
 imagine that his bold increase in the altitude of 
 these commanding members of the design would 
 be more than doubled in after times. There is 
 scarcely a probability that his raised towers pro- 
 duced damage to the interior walls, which possessed 
 the full measure of strength. If any thing of the 
 kind took place, the warning was very gentle, and 
 passed unheeded : oppression by weight increased 
 with time, until at length the burden affected the 
 Norman supports to such an extent, as to excite 
 the apprehension of the scientific, and to expedite 
 the application of assistant strength. The dis- 
 turbance of the founder's building after it had 
 received, and for a long period sustained with 
 confidence, Bishop Alexander's additions, told in- 
 juriously upon the compact firmness of the interior 
 walls. The shock, which the eastern side in par- 
 ticular sustained in the thirteenth century, was 
 severe. It was of the same nature as that which 
 took place very shortly afterwards at Fountains. 
 But at Lincoln, the original abutments of the 
 tower were in great part removed, in order to give 
 greater space to the new nave. 
 
 Next to this, in the way of injury to be made 
 evident in future times, was the alteration finely 
 conceived, and bravely executed at the end of the 
 
159 
 
 fourteenth century, by John Wellbourne, the 
 Master of the fabric. He removed the Norman 
 arches, one opening to the north, the other to the 
 south, within the pronaos, and also their piers, 
 which were combined with the substance of the 
 main props of the towers towards the east. The 
 original side arches were as piercings in the wall 
 on either hand, by reason of the breadth of the 
 jambs. The reality of strength was given to every 
 member of this remarkable building by the 
 founder ; but the Master of the fabric, in the 
 fourteenth century, removed both arch and wall 
 up to the clerestory, and to the full width of the 
 bay. He gave compensation in the shape of bulky 
 piers, which he attached to the Norman supports 
 of the towers at the two inner angles ; and to 
 prove his consideration in this part of his under- 
 taking, and the importance he attached to strength 
 in these positions, he threw his arches out of the 
 centre, in order to effect his purpose in the manner 
 named, without adding sensibly to the pressure 
 upon the original pillars eastward. 
 
 Successive alterations like those just mentioned^ 
 affecting the main strength of the building, re- 
 quired nothing less as a basis than the stout 
 edifice of Remigius to sustain shock after shock, 
 which fell chiefly upon the interior walls and 
 pillars. These, as originally knit together, were 
 most admirably arranged, so as to receive and 
 disperse the pressure which descended from the 
 
160 
 
 upper walls. The confederate duties, for which 
 adequate preparation had been made by the builder, 
 were ably performed by the walls which were inter- 
 sected in rectangular order. The first alteration 
 or improvement the efficiency of the preparations 
 sustained, but the alterations of the thirteenth 
 and fourteenth centuries proved sadly injurious, 
 in evidence whereof several fractures made their 
 appearance to the north and the south, chiefly on 
 the inside, the more considerable have been encased, 
 the others have not increased by age ; but no kind 
 of injury from the same source has reached the 
 front wall. Great, therefore, in a structural point 
 of view, and in a proportional degree weakening, 
 have been the several alterations at the foot of the 
 edifice. The founder's preparation for detaching 
 the towers from the west front was adopted by 
 Bishop Alexander, without disturbing the firmness 
 of this part of the older work, which proved so 
 lusty, that no subsequent addition shook a joint 
 in the double wall, or distorted the curve of any 
 one of the arches dependent upon its solid frame, 
 until the superstructure was overweighted by the 
 last attempt at aggrandisement. Then unfair 
 pressure was thrown upon the abutments, and the 
 south and north sides sustained serious injury. 
 
 Bishop Alexander's additions to this building 
 presented a no less striking contrast in the days 
 of Anglo-Norman taste, than the work of the 
 thirteenth century did under the influence of the 
 
161 
 
 pointed style. The upper range of work, added to 
 the pronaos in the twelfth century, consisted of 
 an ornamental design of the richest and most 
 admirable quality ; exhibiting arches, single or 
 intersected, pillars and capitals, and mouldings 
 boldly practised in patterns for varied embellish- 
 ment among the diminutives of the chief features 
 of the design, all without carved-work or minute 
 enrichment. The existing remains faintly make 
 known the uncommon sumptuousness of the design 
 when entire. The talent of the Anglo-Norman 
 builder was of the highest order. The merit of 
 his artisanship deserved the most beautiful invention 
 in architecture for its exercise. It will be generally 
 admitted, that the additions at this period, relics of 
 which still grace the front, illustrate the condition 
 of the science in the most excellent manner. No 
 material was better calculated, than that produced 
 by the quarries at Lincoln, to exhibit and retain 
 the good quality of the workmanship, which has 
 passed through many centuries almost unscathed, 
 and with less change of colour than might be 
 expected. 
 
 The specimens in the front were spared, because 
 they were below the line on which the builder of 
 the thirteenth century could carry his part of 
 the design, without disturbing the relative propor- 
 tions of the elevation. This judicious builder gave 
 to the parapet range the measure of about twenty- 
 nine feet, or nearly one-third of the whole height 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 of the front. Its architecture is worthy to asso- 
 ciate with that of St. Hugh, whose great work is 
 always spoken of with reverence, and is never 
 viewed but with admiration. The band of inter- 
 sected Norman arches, ten feet high, is now as 
 fresh and as perfect as when its builder struck the 
 scaffold. It had no defects to number with those 
 above, below, and around ; and therefore has 
 received no amendments worthy of mention. 
 
 Bishop Alexander increased the weight, with the 
 beauty of the superstructure, beyond perhaps any 
 thing that the founder had meditated. He had a 
 substantial basement to work upon, the eastern 
 wall being seven feet and a half in thickness, the 
 piers broad, and the arches narrow. In this state 
 the building may fairly be supposed to have 
 remained, until after the second and most magni- 
 ficent undertaking for the adornment of the 
 pronaos. By this time the style of architecture 
 had undergone a complete change. Bulk of pier 
 or pillar had ceased to be a distinctive charac- 
 teristic : relative proportions were reversed : and it 
 was in the practice of this new rule, on the side 
 next the nave, that mischief gave conspicuous 
 signs of its injurious operations. Its revenge was 
 augmented by the temerity of the next builder, 
 who desired to leave to posterity, engrafted upon a 
 weighty old stock, an eminent specimen of the art, 
 according to the intellectual discernment with 
 which he had studied it. He broke through and 
 
163 
 
 made havoc of the original bays within, not con- 
 sidering with sufficient care that the loftiest part 
 of the superstruction mainly depended upon the 
 interior walls and piers; But even at this time 
 every original feature on the outside was sedu- 
 lously respected. The five arches which fill the front, 
 and rise from the sides to the centre, surpass in 
 conception any other Norman design remaining. But 
 symmetry does not extend beyond the front angles. 
 
 The Norman builder formed blank passages in 
 the front of the Church, between the outer wall 
 and that of the towers, communication therewith 
 being opened by stairs in the angles. But the 
 galleries in the thickness of the walls, the recesses, 
 and the blank passages, are so numerous, irregular, 
 and so frequently connected by precipitous steps 
 and narrow links, dark, crooked, and fearful to 
 pursue, that no description can here be given of 
 them. Suffice it to say, that the builders in the 
 thirteenth century saw good reason to augment 
 the number, and that he of the fourteenth century 
 approved the system ; and if he did not add to the 
 extent of these darksome passages, he assuredly 
 maintained them in the walls with which he in- 
 terfered. In the way through these singularly 
 connected and circuitous passages, ascending and 
 descending with different degrees of steepness, and 
 at the foot of archways either open or guarded, 
 the work executed under Bishop Alexander is 
 seen to advantage. The interior of the towers, 
 
 m 2 
 
164 
 
 not much interfered with by floors, exhibits plain 
 mason-work of the best quality, and in a fine state 
 of preservation, free from fractures, wanton deface- 
 ments, casual settlements, or defects suggestive of 
 weakness. On the contrary, these structures are 
 in full health and strength, and as steady and 
 robust as the best friends of Church walls could 
 desire. The constructive part of the building is 
 worthy of its exterior adornments, and the fine 
 workmanship of many of those portions which 
 were once open to the weather, may now be 
 approached and examined without trepidation. 
 
 Among the number of the most accessible, 
 straightforward, and efficiently illumined galleries, 
 are those in the front of the Church, over each 
 aisle of the pronaos. They are one over another, 
 but lead to nothing; and are vacant spaces opening 
 upon the staircase, as well formed and windowed 
 as if designed for purposes of frequent use. The 
 lower one, adorned on the outside by the inter- 
 sected arches, is thirty-two and a half inches wide, 
 ceiled with flag stones resting upon corbel courses, 
 the outer wall being pierced with loops. The 
 middle passage is thirty-one and three quarter 
 inches wide, roofed in stone, with a floor of rough 
 concrete. The upper passage is twenty-seven 
 inches and a half wide, covered with slab stones, 
 squared and properly jointed, and supported with 
 a strength of corbel cornice, meritorious in an 
 edifice designed for remote posterity. It is interest- 
 
165 
 
 ing to observe, at the extremity of these passages > 
 the coupling of the newer thickness of the front 
 wall with that of Remigius ; the admirable quality 
 of the early Norman mason-work is here seen to 
 advantage ; and the observation cannot fail to be 
 made, that, while no decrepitude appears in the 
 older building, nor the deeply channeled marks of 
 age upon the surface, the newer wall has declined 
 from the perpendicular, producing a conspicuous 
 fissure. 
 
 The level upon which Bishop Alexander com- 
 menced his improvement on the outside is indis- 
 putable, but is not so decisive within the building ; 
 or, at least, cannot be so safely affirmed, without 
 more laborious research among the intricacies of 
 the interior than the writer has found leisure 
 to bestow upon the subject. The clerestory is 
 clearly the work of this Bishop, and is the level 
 which was reached under the last structural altera- 
 tion made in this part of the interior : it was so 
 comprehensive, as to leave only faint traces of the 
 early architecture within the pronaos. The object 
 was to blot it out from remembrance ; and the 
 enterprising builders well-nigh succeeded in their 
 purpose. But the remnants are instructive : from 
 them we gather the information, that the building 
 had recovered from the accidents which had thrown 
 it into ruins, and that the renovated structure was 
 of a substantial kind, made so by Bishop Alexander, 
 who undertook the reediflcation. The Minster 
 
166 
 
 had no doubt suffered excessively : he found this 
 part of it in a less deplorable state of ruin than 
 the rest ; its walls were trustworthy, and for sound 
 reasons he adopted or prepared the levels, as the 
 case might be, whence the walls were to reappear 
 under his auspices, but in forms and proportions of 
 loftiness and beauty very rarely equalled at that 
 time. 
 
 The great staircase in the south angle was 
 partially altered upon the renewal of the work : it 
 is unusually spacious, and although the newel was 
 diminished from twenty-one inches to thirteen, the 
 diameter of the well was not so suddenly changed. 
 The steps are edged with stone, the principal block 
 being one and the same with the course of the 
 newel. The main strength of the construction 
 depends upon the rubble and concrete mass in 
 which the masonry is embedded, and which com- 
 pletes the shape of the steps, and wholly composes 
 the underside, or spiral covering overhead. 
 
 The interior of the tower connected with this 
 angle is well worthy of particular observation. So 
 far as it is seen within the Church, it is roofed in 
 stone, upon wall arches, in an elaborate and hand- 
 some pattern of tracery groin-work : the other 
 tower corresponds. The merit of this architecture 
 is very great. It was in great part covered up by 
 Essex, and barbarously treated in every respect. 
 The mouldings of the arches intersect intricately 
 in the angles, the pillar mouldings and the capitals 
 
167 
 
 are exquisitely formed, and the wall-arcade is 
 perfectly magnificent. Ascending to the area over 
 the groined roof of the south tower, the attention 
 is arrested by a block of rough stone vaulting, 
 adhering to the wall near the north-west corner, 
 the remains of the Norman roof over this bay of 
 the triforium range within the pronaos. Connected 
 with it is a strong arch of mason-work flush with 
 the wall, and a similar relieving arch appears in 
 the south wall, which, in this stage, is five feet and 
 a half thick, pierced with a Norman arch, perfectly 
 plain, and eight feet one inch wide. It opens to 
 a short passage, five feet one inch in width, within 
 the upper part of the wing, which is so handsomely 
 ornamented externally. The window facing the 
 arch, now blocked up, spreads to the width of 
 three feet eleven inches, and gave light to the 
 tower. At the east end of the passage is a loop 
 window. In the west wall of the tower, near the 
 south angle, is the approach from the principal 
 staircase. The walls of this tower were thought 
 to be so strong and trustworthy, that Essex did not 
 deem it necessary to block up the arch on the 
 south side just mentioned ; but he had not so good 
 an opinion of the corresponding arch, or rather 
 perhaps of the wall, in the north tower, and it was 
 nearly filled with solid stone, forming a portion of 
 the bulky work of which so much is seen within 
 the Church. 
 
 The stubborn boundaries of the pronaos have 
 
168 
 
 preserved, among other curious relics of informa- 
 tion, one which no written document appears to 
 have recorded ; the fact is thereby determined, that 
 the Norman nave was carried up in three stages, 
 the aisle arcade having been surmounted by a 
 triforium, and a clerestory. It is perhaps scarcely 
 a matter of doubt whether this was the design of 
 the founder, or an augmentation of the dignity of 
 the building by his successors, resort having been 
 had to stone vaulted N roofs, as soon as the necessity 
 for such a provision for safety was declared. 
 Perhaps the remark should be made, that the 
 pronaos, when fashioned, as in this illustrious 
 instance, and consisting of an oblong mass of 
 building, attaining to its summit in the same plain 
 figure as its distinctive character, presented its 
 three stages one over another in an even elevation 
 of wall. But in the nave adjoining, the clerestory 
 wall surmounted the aisle arcade. The wings, 
 advanced beyond the aisles, added considerably to 
 the distinction of this grand feature in the example 
 exhibited at Lincoln ; but in others of inferior note, 
 wherein the breadth of the pronaos and the Church 
 was coequal, the difference was marked solely by 
 the retreat of the clerestory in the latter, to its 
 position over the arcade. The Anglo-Norman 
 architect was determined to save the venerable 
 pronaos of the Minster in the integrity of its 
 figure, and to give it a most noble summit. His 
 successor demonstrated his skill in masking its 
 
169 
 
 ponderous bulk without diminution of its strength, 
 except on the eastern side. Its seclusion from the 
 rest of the nave saved it for a time from further 
 alteration. The builder of the nave might well 
 rest satisfied with his magnificent architecture, 
 and not care to do more to the interior of the 
 pronaos, than to reduce and then to case its piers, 
 and erect over its middle space a groined roof, in 
 order to bring the Norman building somewhat into 
 keeping with the new work. He accordingly 
 spared the Norman bay on either hand, and thus 
 gave the opportunity to his successor, towards the 
 end of the fourteenth century, to remove almost 
 every conspicuous feature of the original design 
 from this part of the interior. 
 
 In the midst of its bulky walls and piers, the 
 bays just spoken of, as in three stages, afforded no 
 scope for the genius of scientific, or for the capacity 
 of tasteful men in the thirteenth century ; and the 
 builders of that period never looked upon the 
 stately simplicity of the interior with a view to its 
 alteration. This feature, which so frequently con- 
 stituted one of the most striking and interesting 
 portions of ancient Churches of different ranks, is 
 observed in the faintest representative to have been 
 dealt with generally very unlike any of the ordinary 
 members of the building : indeed, it could not be 
 reconciled thoroughly with them. Before it could 
 be fashioned, so as to fit adroitly the nave of a 
 parish Church, as that at Chinnor, it resigned a 
 
170 
 
 considerable measure of its characteristic seclusion, 
 and of its external configuration. The example 
 at Lincoln was stern and very grand, and so con- 
 stituted, as not to admit of being remodelled, but 
 at the cost of its distinctive expression. This 
 remarkable limb has often survived every other 
 remain of contemporary architecture, and has been 
 spared in its primitive simplicity, when all beside 
 has been lacerated, transformed, or expensively 
 garnished, at the cost of its characteristic members. 
 At Lincoln there was no place to be found but 
 this for the display of the brilliant talents of the 
 Master of the fabric in the fourteenth century. So 
 anxious was he to cast out the strong piers and 
 arches which marked the symmetrical division of 
 the interior, in order to make one space of the 
 area a broad and open transverse porch or passage 
 across the nave at its entrance, that he may be 
 said to have well-nigh hazarded the stability of the 
 towers, at the same time that he added to the 
 weight they had to sustain. 
 
 No dread of mischance in so fearful an under- 
 taking in an edifice of great dimensions, checked 
 the operations which were requisite as preliminary 
 to the fulfilment of the project. That this able 
 builder should have spared any thing of Norman 
 date within the pronaos is marvellous ; but he 
 remembered that he had to deal with the lower 
 walls of the towers, which he desired to improve 
 at the summit with as much zeal and generous 
 
171 
 
 feeling as he evinced in the adornment of the base. 
 His work reached to the foot of the topmost arch 
 of the bay, it being made to range with the Norman 
 clerestory, but it was simply an aperture to the 
 tower. The Norman cornice at the sill remains, 
 and there can be no doubt that the lines of mould- 
 ing, which formed the horizontal divisions here, 
 extended throughout the nave. The bay on each 
 side retains at its summit, in strongly defined lines, 
 the semicircular curve of the stone roof with which 
 the nave was enclosed ; but the rough vaulting was 
 formed, and attached to the walls, without the 
 finish of wall arches. The Master of the fabric 
 was not satisfied with any thing less than the 
 whole height from the pavement to the roof of the 
 triforium, in the way thereto passing through and 
 destroying the vaulted roof of the aisle. It is 
 evident that one part of his ambition was to rival 
 the altitude of the aisle arcade of the thirteenth 
 century : the other was to carry the new groin- 
 work of the towers up to the greatest height within 
 his reach. Both these objects were effected with 
 consummate skill, and with a beauty of archi- 
 tectural embellishment very much to be admired. 
 He was not careful to obliterate all manifest 
 evidence of his adventurous undertaking: he 
 gained his object without sparing the older work : 
 this done, he left the shattered remains to bear 
 testimony to their former value in the primitive 
 design, and to tell how great had been the sacrifice 
 
172 
 
 for the sake of comely appearance. He did not 
 interfere with the stout but rough arch, which in 
 years gone by had faithfully discharged the in- 
 cumbent weight from the apertures beneath. 
 Within this useful arch on the north side is, or 
 appears to be, the curve of a small arch ; but 
 beyond these slender particulars, nothing can be 
 ascertained relative to the general design of the 
 Norman Church. 
 
 Altogether these fragmentary remains possess a 
 value of some moment. They are confirmatory of 
 the reediflcation of the founder's Church, and of 
 the truth of the testimony, that the restored building 
 was roofed in with stone in every stage to prevent 
 the recurrence of the accident which laid the first 
 Cathedral in ruins. The influence of the Norman 
 remains in the dealings of the future builders with 
 the architecture by which they were to be joined 
 at the western extremity of the Minster, is apparent. 
 So large and massive a pile as this, crowned with 
 towers, required in the junction with its walls that 
 due deference should be paid to its form and pro- 
 portions, since it was distinguished by its size, and 
 was magnificent in its design, and withal presented 
 very rich architecture, which, in the thirteenth 
 century, had attained no great age. Its peculiar 
 framework, when brought into contact with the 
 graceful members of the structure, junior only to 
 the architecture of St. Hugh, necessitated con- 
 siderable management, especially as the builder 
 
173 
 
 was determined to choose his own dimensions for 
 the breadth of the new nave. The Norman 
 measures at the base were established beyond the 
 power of alteration, except partially in point of 
 bulk. The two eastern piers, which received the 
 abutments of the original aisle arcades, were 
 diminished to the shape of pillars, and otherwise 
 altered to suit the meditated design, being garnished 
 all over with that happy talent which was always 
 present, when the builders of the thirteenth century 
 took in hand an ungain subject in a prominent 
 position. Thus, the new features conferred on the 
 interior of the pronaos made it companionable with 
 the surrounding work. The elegant additions of 
 slender pillars, carved capitals, aspiring arches, 
 and delicate mouldings, soften but do not disguise 
 the ponderous character of the Norman building, 
 in which the expression of strength was more 
 forcible before the sumptuous additions were made 
 to it in the fourteenth century. This alteration, 
 following that of the preceding century, completely 
 dislocated the eastern pillars. They had lost the 
 direct abutments on one side, and those on another 
 were removed only to be partially restored. 
 
 From this time, the gradual sinking of the 
 pillars, which before had been shaken from the 
 base to the summit, became evident, but not 
 alarmingly so until after the lapse of more than 
 three centuries and a half. It may be that the 
 builder in the thirteenth century considerately left 
 
174 
 
 the north and south bays within the pronaos un- 
 touched, and that the ambition of his successor led 
 him to remove them for the purpose of extending 
 his design from side to side in one connected whole. 
 He accordingly availed himself of the full breadth, 
 and of all the height he required, in order to make the 
 new arches range with those of the nave, surmount- 
 ing their points with a cornice, which turned the 
 eastern angles of the pronaos, and joined on a level 
 line the cornice at the foot of the triforium. These 
 new arches were made to spring out of the west 
 wall, the other extremity resting upon a clustered 
 pillar, boldly advanced, thus restoring in some 
 measure strength to the eastern supports of the 
 towers. These arches have been completely filled 
 up. The doer of the outrage was unaffected by 
 their grandeur, and the richness of the mouldings 
 which he encased, and which occupied a breadth 
 of five feet in soffit. 
 
 The interior of the pronaos is not defaced by 
 flaws. The arched aperture in each clerestory 
 remains in perfect preservation. Each is edged 
 with slender pillars : the capitals are carved, and 
 the bases finished with a moulding, all flush with 
 the wall. The moulding of the arch corresponds 
 with the girth of the pillars. The inner apertures 
 are smaller than the outer, but are not connected 
 by splays : the depth between is in two portions, 
 both cut straight through the wall. The one on 
 the south side merits further remark. The wall of 
 
175 
 
 the tower thus pierced is seven feet and a half in 
 thickness. The opening between the pillars is six 
 feet one inch wide ; the inner opening four feet 
 There is a recess on either hand, in the thickness of 
 the wall, twenty-one inches within the face of the 
 pillars, the recess being twenty-seven inches and a 
 half wide, five feet eight inches deep towards the 
 west, and three feet ten inches opposite, arched 
 over with stone in a semicircle. 
 
 The wall of the clerestory was not much higher 
 than it is at present. The builder of the thirteenth 
 century levelled it nearly to the underside of the 
 vault, finishing it with a moulding, over which he 
 carried to the apex of a pointed arch, not often ex- 
 ceeded in acuteness,his favourite reticulated pattern 
 as a surface ornament. This arch springs from single 
 Norman pillars, which define the width of the bay. 
 The capitals were added, and are elegantly carved, 
 as helps towards the transformation of the founder's 
 design. The one near the west wall, on the south 
 side, rests upon the broad ledge at the sill of the 
 great window ; but both pillar and base were muti- 
 lated when the aisle arch was inserted. The cor- 
 responding pillar of the north bay was removed, 
 when a corbel was fixed to receive the springer of 
 the aisle arch. But these alterations were as 
 nothing, compared with that which was made when 
 the west wall within the great Norman arch was 
 rebuilt. The substance was insufficient for the 
 designer of the window, in the arch and supports 
 
176 
 
 of which the pillars, mouldings, and dog-tooth 
 ornament were so largely and superbly clustered, 
 that he was forced to encroach upon the interior, 
 and thereby so much upon the entrances to the 
 passage in the thickness of the old wall, that he 
 slanted off the new one, in order to regain at the 
 extremities what was given up in the centre. 
 
 So ponderous a basement, and so bulky a super- 
 struction, must have been provided by the founder 
 to exhibit in the form of its topmost features an 
 arrangement, which, however uncommon, might 
 not have given rise to any particular expression of 
 ornament. But this preparation, and the extent to 
 which the front was raised under the auspices of 
 Remigius, are things beyond the reach of testi- 
 mony. It may however be supposed, that the 
 original scheme was known to Bishop Alexander, 
 and that he allowed his genius to work out the 
 first thought with all the advantages of his own 
 practice in design. It was not the founder's in- 
 tention to advance the towers to the front of the 
 Church ; the figure and peculiar construction of 
 the basement prove beyond question that they 
 were designed to rise from within the front and the 
 side walls of their basement, an arrangement which 
 determined the bulk of the pronaos, and its extent 
 in advance of the aisles. Bishop Alexander had 
 to deal with the wings, and the space between the 
 towers and the front wall; and, in the performance 
 of this work, he exhibited his skill in a design of 
 
177 
 
 uncommon figure and beauty. He crested the 
 ancient walls with almost all the riches of Anglo- 
 Norman architecture, finishing the parapet in front 
 with a gable, as the finish of the extremity of each 
 aisle; and the wing on each side with a similar 
 gable, the parapet being continuous, and the orna- 
 ments alike, as represented in the engraving in the 
 "Vetusta Monumenta." All this work in front 
 was displaced in the thirteenth century, and the 
 proportion of the gable in the centre was at the 
 same time adapted to the more elevated roof of the 
 new nave. The novelty of the Norman design was 
 without eccentricity ; the composition of the 
 building led to the shape of its ornamental features 
 above the parapet, and the array of rich embellish- 
 ment thus produced, was worthily crowned by the 
 handsomely proportioned and admirably ordered 
 windows of the towers in several stages, flanked by 
 portly turrets. The former existence of the first 
 and third gables is proved by the weather mould- 
 ings, which remain on the front wall of the towers, 
 now altogether under cover, the spaces within the 
 roof being still void, but not free of access. 
 
 The elevation of the south wing corresponded 
 precisely with the design of the adjoining portion 
 of the front as far as the great arch in the centre, 
 and was open to view. Within the deep recess of the 
 larger arch is still to be seen the original window, 
 which gave light to the triforium, further illumined 
 by a similar window within the corresponding arch 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 in the west front. The existing window is perfectly 
 plain, and deepened with a single rectangular 
 member ; but there is no appearance of its ever 
 having been glazed : from a slight chamfer, the 
 whole aperture, which is thirty-nine inches wide, 
 spreads through the thickness of the wall to a 
 considerable breadth on the inside ; but it was 
 walled up in the fourteenth century. Over the 
 arch of the apse recess is a sculpture forming 
 the last subject of the range which extends across 
 the front. The figures are faintly relieved, the 
 design is imperfect, and scarcely intelligible. 
 
 The elevation of the north wing beyond the 
 apsidal recess, as before observed, presents an even 
 surface of wall by reason of the appropriation of 
 the interior, which is formed in two stories, the 
 upper chamber being approached from the sill of 
 the front window in the north aisle ; the lower, 
 which is the loftier division, and the smaller area, 
 was originally approached only from the outside. 
 The entrance is peculiar : it consists of a segment 
 of a semicircle springing from the ground, twelve 
 feet four inches diameter, and five feet three inches 
 to the crown. On the outside, the arch stones are 
 in two rings, twenty-seven inches deep, surmounted 
 by a plain weather moulding ; but on the inside, 
 there is only one ring of arch stones. The wall 
 thus pierced is thirty-seven inches in thickness. 
 This recess measures sixteen feet three inches by 
 six feet four inches, and had no communication 
 
179 
 
 with the Church before the fourteenth century. 
 The interior is plain, the roof semicircular, with a 
 slight arch across the centre. In each compart- 
 ment of the vault is an aperture to the chamber 
 over, about three feet by two feet, bordered with 
 four flat blocks of stone, overlapped at the angles. 
 
 The destination of the upper chamber is very 
 doubtful. The immediate approach to it is in the 
 thickness of the front wall of tfre Church, by a 
 somewhat large, well-like, shapeless chasm ; per- 
 pendicular, without steps, or any means of ascent, 
 unless a friendly ladder can be obtained. The 
 height to climb is considerable, and the aperture at 
 top so limited, that he who ventures the ascent, 
 must stoop cleverly to obtain a footing on the floor 
 of the chamber without personal injury. This is 
 the only entrance. The edge of the gap is just 
 within the wall of the room, within which is a bulk 
 of mason-work eleven feet eight inches by four 
 feet four and a half inches, through which the 
 passage into the room is pierced, and finished with 
 a Norman arch. This bulk was added after the 
 chamber was formed, and perhaps finished ; but so 
 soon after, that the fact can only be detected by 
 the straight and open joints against the main 
 building. The interior length of the chamber is 
 thirty-one feet one inch, and its breadth nine feet 
 nine inches. It has an east and a west window, 
 and formerly had two windows facing north ; one 
 remains, the other was obliterated from the out- 
 
 n 2 
 
180 
 
 side in the thirteenth century. The remaining 
 window agrees in section with that on the south 
 side, and appears to have been open to the 
 weather. The room has a square bulk in the 
 north-west angle, of constructive value to the 
 building. The length of the interior is subdivided 
 by a pilaster on each side, thirty-two inches broad, 
 terminating abruptly at the springer of the roof, 
 which is semicircular and of rough stone-work. 
 The appearance is as if Bishop Alexander found 
 this part of the building unfinished, and roofed it 
 over upon the unlevel wall, without regard for the 
 quality of the workmanship, or to the fitness of 
 carrying the arch across from pilaster to pilaster 
 according to the original intention. The walls 
 have a chamfered plinth ; and the east and west 
 windows are so formed as to admit of temporary 
 enclosures, but they were neither glazed nor 
 barred. 
 
 The recesses, the passages, and the stairs are 
 numerous and intricate in almost every part of this 
 remarkable building. Many of these narrow, steep, 
 and crooked ways, are due to the original arrange- 
 ment ; others have been formed subsequently, and, 
 owing to the nature of the plan, have no outlet. 
 Others again are joined with greater ingenuity 
 than convenience to preexisting ways in the thick- 
 ness of the walls, to the great increase of their 
 length and irregularity, rendering the passage and 
 the footing hazardous. To these references to 
 
181 
 
 artificial chasms should be added a remark upon 
 those formed in the arches of the front recesses : 
 they sever the arch in a vertical direction, between 
 its broad members, in the manner so commonly seen 
 in the parapets of military architecture. The gap 
 is carried up through the thickness of the wall, but 
 for what purpose, and to what height, are parti- 
 culars which were unconsidered in the thirteenth 
 century, and are now unknown. 
 
 Such was the bulk, the grandeur, and the 
 beauty of the Norman front of the Minster till 
 the thirteenth century. But in this form, and 
 with these varied features of the elder architecture, 
 it was neither large enough, nor sufficiently 
 splendid, as a porch to the new nave, by which it 
 was to be brought into direct union with the 
 admirable building of St. Hugh. The clever 
 junction of the work in front has been mentioned ; 
 but no particular reference has been made to the 
 slashing method adopted for its contignation with 
 the Norman wall. By prescriptive assent, the 
 face of the elevation was to remain even, and its 
 design independent of accessory members. The 
 elongation was made with due consideration for 
 the aisles and chapels beyond ; and the new 
 entrances thereto claimed positions consistent 
 with the scheme in its several bearings. The 
 builder considerately dilapidated the solid angles 
 of the front. By this operation he gained breadth, 
 and a fast hold for his new work. These plain 
 
182 
 
 Norman piers were five feet three inches broad on 
 each face ; and it is worthy of remark, that the 
 same size was given to the eastern angle on the 
 south side. The front angles were removed to the 
 width of three feet ten inches, but to an uncertain 
 depth, the new mason-work being made to do 
 double duty. The forced union has proved lasting. 
 But the more curious observation to be made upon 
 the operation necessary to this end is, that the 
 line of severance and of junction was effected with 
 but little regard either for the perfectness of the 
 panels with sculpture, or for the vertical joints in 
 the Norman mason-work. The artisans met with 
 opposition from the quality of the ancient material ; 
 its hardness resisted many a blow, and the repetition 
 of violence seems to have shaken the firmness of 
 many a block ; some having lost half, others only 
 thin slices of their scantlings. It fell out that, at 
 the south angle, several of the sturdy cubes were 
 just too long, or just too short, and required to be 
 pieced in strips one inch and a half wide. This 
 unsightly process was stopped twenty-six and 
 a half inches above the ground ; the first stone 
 thus mended received the plinth moulding of the 
 new work. Otherwise it may be said, that the 
 builders of this period dealt with the Norman front 
 as with a relic worthy to be enchased in a costly 
 manner. The generous architect of the thirteenth 
 century provided that its remarkable features should 
 predominate in the centre of his sumptuous design. 
 
183 
 
 It was the wont, in former ages, to pay this 
 grateful tribute to the memory of founders and 
 benefactors. The builders of the Minster preserved, 
 in succession, an extensively valuable portion of 
 the ancient and ill-fated Church, as an evident 
 and lasting memorial of the munificence of Bishop 
 Remigius in the erection of the first Cathedral at 
 Lincoln. He who performed this grateful obliga- 
 tion, and reared a monument which has received 
 universal admiration, had, like his Anglo-Norman 
 predecessor in the science, made 'some sacrifices, 
 the better to adapt the new design to the ancient 
 basis ; but without any endeavour to disguise the 
 masculine forms of the architectural composition, 
 or to detract from the seriousness of its expression. 
 Thus honoured, and thus through ages studiously 
 preserved, the work of Remigius still exists in all 
 but its original strength, a specimen of the archi- 
 tecture of Norman origin, more perfect in design, 
 more peculiar and more interesting in its artisanship, 
 than can any where else be seen. The charac- 
 teristic parts of the design, spread over a broad 
 surface, and made manifest by the primitive work- 
 manship of harsh artificers, are important as au- 
 thorities, and altogether not to be matched else- 
 where in England. The spirit of early Norman 
 architecture is plainly recognised in this example : 
 among other features, in all the recesses rect- 
 angular members retreat from the outer surface 
 of the wall towards its centre, and plain aper- 
 
184 
 
 tures are pierced straight through the walls in 
 perfect simplicity. 
 
 The limited, but perhaps interesting, particulars 
 which have been related in the few foregoing pages 
 concern the pronaos in its full extent, and include 
 some notice of the alterations effected therein, 
 whereby the architecture of later date was elabo- 
 rately combined with it. The nature of the early 
 building pointed out to Bishop Alexander the 
 necessity for carrying up double walls in the upper 
 part of the structure, to the extent of the Norman 
 elevation ; and this method could not be evaded 
 in the performance of subsequent improvements. 
 The ornament and the strength that were of neces- 
 sity taken from the Norman front were quickly 
 and adequately recompensed by the faithful builder, 
 who executed, with consummate ability, the im- 
 portant work which his genius had devised. The 
 front of the Church, as it now appears, is, as he 
 left it, in the full possession of its proportions, and 
 of all its architectural distinctions, save the inevit- 
 able wear of time and the elements. This subject, 
 which is of the deepest interest, must receive the 
 ample examination and description which it de- 
 serves, and which the occasion calls forth. 
 
 The front of the Minster has already been so 
 far described as to convey a general notion of its 
 figure and composition. The nucleus of the design 
 was the front of Remigius's Church. It was re- 
 garded all the more valuable, since it survived the 
 
185 
 
 fury which brought to the dust all besides of the 
 work of the great Norman prelate. It was spared 
 by the piety of successors until one appeared in 
 due time, and assumed the guardianship of the 
 Church, which by his genius and reverence was 
 appointed in so substantial and costly a manner, 
 as to give it the best assurance of lasting protection 
 and security. 
 
 As a design, there is no approach to it in 
 any other Church. The simplicity and grandeur 
 of the outline, the proportions of the elevation, 
 and the chaste beauty of the ornamental features, 
 are rare and uncommonly striking. And so in- 
 teresting is the union of the later with the earlier 
 building, so remarkable the manner in which the 
 junction was effected, and so deferential to the 
 monument of the founder's genius, that the subject 
 is of absorbing concern as well to the historian as 
 to the antiquary. It is not the mere age of Bishop 
 Remigius's work that constitutes its claim to our 
 veneration and regard, or the mere richness of the 
 pointed architecture that challenges approval. 
 The embellishments of different periods, and in 
 different degrees of merit, are considerable and 
 admirable ; but the exercise of the mind rather 
 than that of the hand is referred to in the pro- 
 duction of this noble work. Such a conjunction 
 of architecture as that which gives preeminence 
 to the Minster, can only be viewed as the result of 
 thoughtful consideration, and the perfect mastery 
 
186 
 
 of the science. Skill thus grasped and employed 
 by practitioners of undoubted proficiency brought 
 this great undertaking to pass. Age has performed 
 its beneficent part in corroborating the tie between 
 these distant productions of sterling talent, and its 
 influence in casting a charm over them is both 
 powerful and preservative. 
 
 The rebuilder of the Cathedral enshrined this 
 estimable remain in exquisite architecture. It was 
 reverenced by those who only a few years before 
 had paced the aisles to which it led as a porch, 
 and who had witnessed its consecration to the 
 services of religion. As a monument of remote 
 times, and of past taste in ecclesiastical architecture, 
 this venerable building has been, and continues to 
 be, viewed with as much curiosity and respect as 
 any other vestige of remote antiquity. 
 
 The determination to incorporate the work of 
 the first founder with a design so light and elegant 
 as that which rose out of the ruins of the nave, 
 was ably conceived and skilfully performed. The 
 builder was happily circumstanced : the fragment 
 occupied a desirable position, and contained the 
 grand entrance ; and, in fitting order, eastward 
 were to be seen in lofty proportions an almost 
 unwounded limb of the wasted Church, pertaining 
 to the choir. Moreover, the western fragment 
 had acquired many goodly ornaments, and much 
 substantial enlargement, in the later practice of 
 the Norman school. It glittered with enrichments 
 
187 
 
 of the choicest description ; no marvel, then, that 
 it was appropriated as worthy of excellent dis- 
 tinction, Its deep profile occasioned considerable 
 irregularity in forming the lofty passages by which 
 it is sided. The new work was fitted to the old 
 cleverly, and entrances were thus obtained to the 
 handsome chapels, which jut out beyond the aisles 
 at the extremity of the nave. The features in 
 the interior, on the south side, are various and 
 interesting. 
 
 English builders were not much given to the 
 elegant method of casting a refined veil of masonry 
 over the ponderous features of the primitive archi- 
 tecture, which was spared in conspicuous stations. 
 The French were magnificent practitioners in 
 this way, but the feeling they brought to the work 
 was more respectful to the fabric than that of the 
 bold and clever English designer, whose beautifully 
 wrought net-work was made in some Churches 
 to overspread the whole surface. The sterling 
 memorial of Remigius was not to be descried 
 through the ramifications of airy screen-work, 
 marvellous in its make, such as was effected at a 
 later period at Gloucester to mask the gigantic 
 arcades on the sides of the choir. The stout 
 structure is mainly useful in the position it occupies, 
 and its value is at this day appreciated no less than 
 that of the splendid array of pointed architecture, 
 by which the front was subsequently enlarged and 
 adorned. 
 
188 
 
 The building of Remigius was reduced to the 
 altitude of forty-nine feet six inches, and is in- 
 creased to sixty feet, by what remains of Bishop 
 Alexander's work. The superaddition of the 
 matchless range of arches, with clustered pillars 
 standing out from the wall, completes the elevation. 
 All these are structural combinations ; the fourth, 
 or final augmentation of the design, may be re- 
 garded as ornamental, as far as regards the 
 exterior. 
 
 In relation to the condition of this rich and 
 varied assemblage of architecture, the observation 
 may be made, that it had never, within memory, 
 fallen below the scale, with respect to repair, 
 applicable to any other Cathedral. Lincoln has, 
 perhaps, required this attention less frequently and 
 less extensively than almost any other. The more 
 elevated the stages in the edifice, the more perfect 
 the condition of the material and the workmanship. 
 In mid air the fewest blemishes have been found in 
 the work : the summits of the towers have lost 
 nothing of their freshness. The great majority of 
 features and ornaments within reach have suffered 
 more or less damage. The trouble or fatigue of 
 doing mischief have saved the sculptures of many 
 a Church, and Lincoln is indebted to this for less 
 extensive mutilation than it would otherwise have 
 received. The indications of age were, until recent 
 years, mainly observed in the absence of the pillars: 
 no other defect suddenly struck the eye in passing 
 
189 
 
 over the upper half of the elevation. The purbeck 
 shafts, shivered and time-worn, were refixed and 
 banded, and kept in their places, until they were 
 no longer fit for their duty or their positions. 
 They fell from time to time, whole or in pieces, 
 with fearful violence and with so great danger in 
 the front of the entrances, that they could no 
 longer be allowed to remain, threatening mischief 
 to passers by : great numbers had in former years 
 been removed, and stone substituted for Purbeck 
 marble, which does not wear well at Lincoln. 
 Essex commenced the repair of these features, and 
 bargained for the exchange of the material. His 
 example was followed at different times up to the 
 year 1817 : this part of the work has been fully 
 accomplished in more recent years. 
 
 No general repairs were undertaken before the 
 year 1761. The same architect commanded all 
 these operations ; many were judicious ; but he 
 wanted the quality of taste, or refined judgment, 
 to render his speculations in architecture as ad- 
 mirable for their beauty as they were for strength 
 and security. The front demanded a large share 
 of his attention, and received very substantial 
 assistance at the basement of the main piers, and 
 within the recesses. Besides the pillars, the arches 
 and other moulded members had suffered from 
 age, and still more from the mixed quality of the 
 material. These remarks apply equally to the 
 Yorkshire stone, which was frequently employed 
 
190 
 
 in the thirteenth century, as it has been in the 
 eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and often- 
 times to very good purpose: it has been found, 
 when well selected, to resist the weather as stub- 
 bornly as the native material, and to retain very 
 much of the finely finished workmanship it received 
 at that early period. Many, in recent days, have 
 been the repair of mouldings which had gone to 
 decay ; but it is worthy of observation, that the 
 capitals, bases, and nearly all the more prominent 
 members of the design, were wrought in stone of 
 the hardest quality, and remain immoveably firm in 
 their places, and in the contour of their mouldings. 
 It should also be remarked, that the same difference 
 in the quality of the material as that just mentioned 
 appears in the inferior members, on the sides of 
 the recesses of the beautiful entrances which have 
 been lately opened b . 
 
 An attentive observer is not likely to overlook 
 the fact, that the greater the polish of the work- 
 manship, the longer the resistance of the stone, 
 
 b The writer has not undertaken to notice all the absurd 
 things which have been penned by ignorant scribblers for the 
 purpose of misleading the readers of the different publica- 
 tions in which the paragraphs have appeared; but one of these 
 mendacious morsels, which, judging from the authors name, 
 Edward Godwin, must have well-nigh " choked " him, is 
 much too good to be omitted. It occurs in the " Times," 
 and conveys the information, that the " weather-worn masonry 
 of the thirteenth century work at Lincoln has been cut down to 
 a clean surface, and that the Norman work is being sacrificed in a 
 similar manner." 
 
191 
 
 when of a good quality, to the weather and the 
 accumulation of foul matter. No part of the 
 thirteenth century work, or of the later Norman, 
 has required labour equal to that which has been 
 expended upon other portions of the building. 
 Neither the early carved-work of the front, nor 
 the plain masonry of the walls, was finished with 
 the care which became the common practice when 
 the builders devoted their utmost energy to every 
 part of the artisanship. This example presents 
 irrefragable evidence of the truth of the remark 
 which, if pursued, would lead to the belief, that 
 the builders of the thirteenth century vied with 
 each other in their performances ; and they seldom 
 failed to procure material worthy of the handling 
 it was destined to receive. 
 
 It is remarkable, in the horizontal division of the 
 thirteenth century work by which the front was 
 extended, how considerately the supreme arcade 
 was treated. Nothing was allowed to clash with 
 it as the chief feature of the enlarged elevation. 
 The side portions appear above the basement 
 range, in two partitions, each equal in dimensions, 
 or very nearly so, to the top stage. But these 
 heights are subdivided, and are distinct in design ; 
 the conspicuous feature being a circular window 
 over the entrance on either hand. Greatly as the 
 Anglo-Norman builders were given to vary the 
 ornamental features of their architecture in corre- 
 sponding members of their designs, they were 
 
192 
 
 occasionally overmatched by the freedom of their 
 brethren in after times in departure from uni- 
 formity. In fact, this component part of the 
 pictorial design was very much a matter of choice. 
 The taste and talent of the builder determined in 
 his own mind the place for these touches, which 
 were to enrich, and enliven, and diversify his work, 
 and to enhance its interest in the eyes of all men, 
 in all ages, imbued with congenial sentiments. The 
 combined works of the twelfth and thirteenth 
 centuries in the front of the Minster are con- 
 spicuous for these diversities, which were accom- 
 plished with greater boldness of effect than could 
 be expressed by the dashing tints of a painter, 
 who delights in the change of colour, as the 
 accomplished builder derives gratification from the 
 contrast of forms with different degrees of ex- 
 pression. There was great similarity of feeling 
 between these artists; but the worker in stone 
 in the thirteenth century had done nothing at 
 Lincoln to distress the delicate vision of modern 
 connoisseurs. 
 
 The letters in the foregoing pages, addressed 
 by the writer to the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, 
 contain many notices of the unblushing asser- 
 tions which certain persons have ventured to 
 publish in regard to the recent restorations in the 
 front of the Minster. As far as these veracious 
 critics are concerned, the writer would not have 
 thought it worth his while to enter more fully 
 
193 
 
 into a refutation of the misstatements ; but feeling 
 that he has a duty to perform to his employers, 
 paramount to every other consideration, he will 
 allow no thought of trouble, no fear of tiresome 
 repetition, to deter him from undertaking a minute 
 description of the whole range of ornamental 
 work, which overspreads the surface around and 
 above the triple entrances; and of the still more 
 curious, but less refined workmanship of an earlier 
 period connected therewith. 
 
 Of the founder's work, the capitals of the pillars 
 attached to the piers, and those within the several 
 deep recesses of the design, are now as they ever 
 have been among the most strikingly characteristic 
 ornaments of the building. The like of these 
 features is rarely to be met with in English archi- 
 tecture. Modifications of the pattern are by no 
 means common ; it is still more rare to discover 
 in the edifices of the twelfth century, oftentimes 
 so sumptuous as seemingly to have exhausted 
 invention in carved-work, any specimens of those 
 lustrous capitals, which, without rejecting all alle- 
 giance to the typical pattern, exhibit the most 
 finished taste in the sculptor's art. The examples 
 in the pronaos at Lincoln, forty-two in number, 
 have, with perhaps few exceptions, received less 
 finish than was their due, judging from several of 
 the favoured examples. The workmanship, at its 
 best, does not in a single instance amount to the 
 distinction of sculpture. Therein is seen the pecu- 
 
 o 
 
194 
 
 liar treatment which was destined to mark indelibly 
 the highly-wrought capitals of the very same 
 edifice in another position, these being viewed as 
 the result of patient study, and of progressive taste 
 and talent in the advance of architecture, from its 
 crude beginnings in the ornamental department. 
 That the original entrance, as designed by Remigius, 
 presented a considerable share of this merit, is a 
 fact which can be placed beyond reasonable doubt, 
 and deserves to be noticed ; since the capitals in 
 the upper part of the front may, by inconsiderate 
 and ignorant critics, be referred to, as not simply 
 characteristic of their age, but also as declaratory 
 of the precise state of the art at that period. 
 Capitals of the peculiar kind mentioned had their 
 places in the early architecture as features identified 
 with it. Those at Lincoln are not more unequal 
 in point of workmanship, than the examples so 
 frequently to be met with in Normandy. The 
 more finished among the number, wherever found, 
 would be regarded in these days as little more 
 than patterns roughed out by the handicraft of the 
 ordinary mason, and left in this state to receive at 
 another opportunity a degree of polish which by 
 neglect was never bestowed. 
 
 Critical observers possessed of only a moderate 
 amount of knowledge in architecture, ought not 
 to be ignorant that the capitals of this remarkable 
 group, so common abroad, are there to be seen in 
 almost every degree of finish or of unfinish, and 
 
195 
 
 in the different proportions they assumed, accord- 
 ing to the positions in which they appeared, and 
 the periods in which they were executed. Many of 
 those distant examples accord precisely with those 
 at Lincoln, where, in the depth of the recesses, 
 ill-jointed, lop-sided, undefined, and with smooth 
 spherical surfaces, they remain just as they were 
 left by the early workmen, save the slight blemishes 
 of the weather where most exposed to its in- 
 fluences. In one instance only, the mischief arising 
 from a faulty block of stone required that one-half 
 of the capital of one of the facing pillars should be 
 restored to correspond with the remaining half, 
 which, being on a separate block, survives un- 
 injured. 
 
 The following enumeration of the range of 
 capitals spoken of commences on the south side. 
 
 Apsidal recess. Five of the capitals therein 
 were left unconcealed by the junction of the wall 
 of the thirteenth century with the Norman front. 
 Two on the left side : — (1) This capital has a volute 
 springing from a perfectly smooth surface : it is 
 notched in a singularly rude manner to the ad- 
 joining one (2), which has volutes, and a row of 
 leaves slightly curved outwards : the surface whence 
 they spring is smooth. On the right hand, two 
 within the recess have small volutes, and are plain 
 faced. The third is applied as the facing pillar of 
 the pier, (two feet and half an inch wide,) which 
 separates this recess from the next facing the aisle. 
 
 o 2 
 
196 
 
 This arrangement of one of the outer pillars of 
 each of the smaller recesses is singular, but un- 
 productive of irregularity in the springers of the 
 arch, the respond in every instance, formed on the 
 angle of the recess, agreeing in depth with the 
 profile of the large column in front, the capital of 
 which has a plain face : one of the volutes has 
 been destroyed. This south recess has sustained a 
 variety of injuries, of which those attributable to 
 the weather before its enclosure are the least 
 detrimental to its good appearance. Its fractures 
 are of early origin, and are no worse now than 
 when Essex referred to the injuries which were 
 produced by the overloading of the towers. The 
 
 c With respect to the western towers, Essex remarks, " We 
 may reasonably suppose they (the ancients) did not set about 
 so great a work, without first considering whether the work 
 below was capable of supporting so much additional weight: 
 in this examination, the two pillars within the Church were 
 the most liable to suspicion, because of their natural weak- 
 ness ; and finding that they had been displaced by the pressure 
 of the side arches so much as to crack the towers above, (as 
 appears on the north side of one and on the south side of 
 the other,) they added another arch under the flat one of St. 
 Hugh, (?) but much thicker, and highly pointed ; and think- 
 ing the legs sufficiently secured by this work, they raised the 
 towers to the height they are at present: but notwithstanding 
 all this precaution, the towers settled after they were raised, 
 and the cracks which were in the old work were continued to 
 the top of the new. But the slender casings of St. Hugh, 
 before mentioned, upon which the new arch was built, being 
 too weak a foundation for it, began to crack in many places, 
 and separate from the pillars within it, which cracks, growing 
 larger by time, and probably by frequent shaking of the 
 
197 
 
 edges of the masonry were worn away considerably, 
 in places, before the whole length of the wall was 
 
 towers by ringing the bells, or by high winds, were so much 
 increased, that about thirty years ago the towers themselves 
 were thought in danger of falling, to prevent which the new 
 work within the Church was then erected." Survey of 
 Lincoln Cathedral, by James Essex, Sept. 1761. MS. in the 
 possession of the Dean and Chapter. 
 
 Mr. Essex does not describe the nature and extent of the 
 additions made within the Church to the weakened supports 
 of the towers : they were probably not bulky, and as they do 
 not appear to have been effectual, were probably not very 
 obtrusive. All doubt was removed as to the ultimate supply 
 of strength to the building. The necessity for so huge a 
 quantity was questioned at the time, and the tradition has 
 never been forgotten, that the bulky and unsanctined piles of 
 stone around the pillars, and within the arches, were made to 
 perform the duties of science as well as their own ; and that 
 they were vastly beyond the blemishes for which the eastern 
 pillars of the pronaos were " encumbered with help." 
 
 In connexion with the foregoing subject, and in conse- 
 quence it may be of the remark of Essex, that the great bell 
 had helped forward the injuries of the north-west tower, the 
 observation may be made, that in the year 1834 the celebrated 
 bell was removed from the said tower to the lantern tower, 
 under the direction of that able architect, Mr. James Savage. 
 Although Essex was so tender over the western towers, and 
 took so much pains to blame the bell for the slight disorder 
 in the outer wall of the tower in which it was deposited, he 
 had no misgivings as to the great tower over the crossing, the 
 flaws in which could not have escaped his researches, since 
 he examined the timber frames of the different roofs, and 
 their leaden coverings, with minute accuracy. But his re- 
 mark was remembered, and finally acted upon. He was 
 probably acquainted with the defects of the great tower, and 
 thought lightly of them. Certain, however, it is, that Mr, 
 Savage expressed to the writer his deliberate opinion that, 
 
198 
 
 enclosed. The joints were formed with great 
 irregularity, some being closely pressed together, 
 the rest made with different degrees of breadth. 
 
 Within the broad recess, which occupies the 
 remainder of the south wall, appear six capitals, 
 three on either hand. Those to the left have 
 volutes slightly relieved, the surface in each in- 
 stance being perfectly smooth. The three on the 
 right hand are among the most finished now re- 
 remaining. The volute ornaments are well defined, 
 as is also a single row of leaves, so to name them, 
 in each instance. These peculiar features are 
 connected, and add to the substance of the 
 capitals : they have a slight curve outwards, and 
 have received so much more careful workmanship 
 at the hands of the mason than in any other 
 instance, that they may be viewed as fair examples 
 of the builder's purpose in regard to the orna- 
 mentation of the capitals at starting ; but the 
 pattern was left alone. 
 
 The arch of the apsidal recess in front, close to 
 the south angle, is sustained by six capitals, five 
 of which, two on the left hand and three on the 
 right, are of the ordinary kind. Of the former 
 number, (1) has volutes and a middle block, both 
 in reveal : the front of the capital is left unfinished. 
 The leaves are outlined, and carried to a point. 
 
 notwithstanding the severe lacerations in one of the walls, 
 the new bell, with its massive frame-work, might be lodged 
 with safety in the tower. 
 
199 
 
 In No. (2) the volutes appear in reveal, and the 
 middle blocks are relieved down to the astragal, 
 the surface being perfectly smooth. The inner- 
 most on the right-hand side has a single volute 
 and one block, also leaves slightly curved, all formed 
 in soffit, the front being perfectly plain. The 
 second capital has imperfect volutes in soffit, and 
 a plain front, in which the block only is shaped d . 
 No. (3), volutes and blocks, arranged in a 
 
 d The plain and perfectly smooth surface of the capitals of 
 this early period is one of its characteristic distinctions. In 
 all that the Minster has to offer, in illustration of this feature, 
 the evidence is decisive. But as this authority may perchance 
 be questioned, reference shall be made to the like features in 
 the grand Norman Cathedral at Norwich. The date of this 
 Church is a few years later than that of the pronaos ; but the 
 early Norman characteristics prevail throughout the interior. 
 The peculiar shape and finish of many of the smaller order 
 of capitals closely agree with those above described. The 
 patterns at Lincoln are not all alike, but there is a greater 
 diversity in the forms at Norwich. Many resemble those at 
 Lincoln, and many have received singular novelties at the 
 hand of the carver : but their genuineness is undoubted, and, 
 as works of the eleventh century, are of great value. The 
 magnificent triforia, as spacious and lofty as the aisle beneath, 
 contain the curious treasure of early workmanship referred 
 to. No kind of injury has been inflicted upon these specimens 
 which appear in ranges on either hand. Many centuries have 
 passed away, and have left the collection with all the fresh- 
 ness it owes to the Norman artificer. If " critics were not 
 ready made," the bold asserter of the alteration of the capitals 
 at Lincoln would have been acquainted with these examples, 
 and with others of the same age and character remaining in 
 early Norman Churches and Chapels in different parts of the 
 kingdom. 
 
200 
 
 similar manner : leaves slightly curled, front plain, 
 a single leaf only being faintly marked. The sixth 
 capital forms the finish of the facing column of the 
 pier between this apsidal recess and the arch con- 
 taining the south entrance, and has been reserved 
 for especial remark. It was no doubt left by the 
 first builder a plain block of stone, and so re- 
 mained until the thirteenth century dawned upon 
 the Church, and in its early years bestowed upon 
 this remarkable portion of the building some of 
 its most elegant and most costly adornments. At 
 this propitious season, the unfashioned lump of 
 stone, large and prominent, and environed by a 
 rich display of elaborate architecture and of highly 
 wrought carved-work, was destined to be trans- 
 formed into a cluster of foliage, the semblance of 
 which had never entered the Norman mind so far 
 back in the twelfth century. The workman who 
 lent his hand to give form to a capital in this 
 position, was an adept in his art. His judgment 
 was too sound to allow him to make this un- 
 associated object of his attention a work of refined 
 composition and workmanship, to put out of 
 countenance its immediate surroundings. It is 
 not at all like the early pattern, neither is it in 
 conformity with the graceful models of later date. 
 The design and sculpture are so cleverly handled 
 as to disagree with both authorities, without de- 
 generating unpleasingly from the bolder examples 
 of the reigning school. The arch of the adjoining 
 
201 
 
 recess in front of the south aisle claims a share of 
 the usefulness of the capital just described. There 
 are only two facing pillars, which occur on the 
 only two narrow piers in the design. The piers 
 between the triple recesses are full seven feet wide, 
 the pillars being indented in the angles. 
 
 Within the deep retreat of the southern entrance 
 are six pillars, three on either hand, sustaining the 
 plain members of the arch. The capitals have 
 never had more finished workmanship than they 
 now present : the volutes are well-shaped but 
 minute, thus adding to the singular diversity which 
 occurs in the execution of these features. They 
 were wrought without • regard to scale, but the 
 characteristic expression of the design was never 
 missing even from the least favoured performance. 
 
 The grand recess in the centre of the front 
 retains its original pillars, but all the capitals were 
 removed with the Norman arch when the builder, 
 in the thirteenth century, determined to give great 
 distinction to this prominent feature of the enlarged 
 elevation. No needless sacrifice was made of the 
 founder's work for the benefit of this needful 
 change. The walls may at that time have pre- 
 sented a rough exterior, but their solid worth and 
 their historical associations forbade treatment of 
 greater harshness than was needful for the orna- 
 ments by which they were to be crested. A 
 pointed arch, surmounted by a superbly enriched 
 pediment, crowns the ancient recess at a loftier 
 
202 
 
 elevation than the semicircle was carried. The 
 Norman pillars were heightened, and finished with 
 richly carved capitals. The arch of the west 
 window springs from the level of the Norman 
 work, upon which a new wall was raised on each 
 side, but set back considerably, and faced with the 
 reticulated ornament. The vault of the roof is 
 connected therewith, but the groins spring from the 
 capitals, thus giving the ribs singular prominency. 
 This recess still contains some of the most exquisite 
 productions of ornamental architecture. Beneath 
 its brow is a circular window, of unequalled 
 elegance, fourteen feet seven inches diameter on 
 the inside. 
 
 The arch in front of the north aisle contains 
 six capitals, exclusively of the two at the outer 
 angles. All these are in general accordance with 
 the set pattern, which authorized extreme plain- 
 ness in the body of the capital, but with such 
 slight deviations as the freedom of the sculptor 
 permitted. The volutes and intermediate blocks 
 are more or less distinctly defined, but no relief 
 was given to the bulk of any number of the 
 capitals. While the same smooth surface is fre- 
 quently observed in examples abroad, others are 
 to be seen with patterns marked out or partially 
 indented ; thus, step by step, sculpture gained 
 ground in early architecture, but without casting 
 aside the primitive forms which have been so fre- 
 quently referred to. 
 
203 
 
 The adjoining apsidal recess contains six capitals. 
 On the left side, (1) has volutes in profile only, 
 
 (2) volutes with middle block : the capital smooth. 
 
 (3) One volute and one leaf on this capital, a row 
 of leaves slightly indicated. Opposite, (1) and (2), 
 volutes and middle block well relieved, but without 
 any kind of finish ; also a row of leaves with 
 slightly curled points. (3) Volute and square block, 
 with leaves faintly relieved : the workmanship 
 primitive. In this example, allusion is made to 
 only one-half of the facing capital, which was 
 formed of two blocks of stone, the other having 
 perished. The two capitals of the front thus dis- 
 tinguished are much larger and more prominent 
 than the rest. These are marked features of the 
 design, so rendered by their order in connexion 
 with the outer rib of the arches, (exclusively of 
 the one in the centre,) as to evince considerateness 
 in the setting or joining together of the parts of 
 the frame and its members for strength or orna- 
 ment, and to leave no doubt of painstaking and 
 the exercise of judgment in the settlement of the 
 design. The facing pillar occurs, in each instance, 
 on the narrow pier between the aisle arch and the 
 apsidal recess. It sustains the united springer of 
 two arches, whose opposite springers rest upon 
 pillars placed in soffit. If this instance of in- 
 genuity, productive of opposition in the line of 
 direction of the capitals, was settled without 
 thought, it was executed without dissonance in 
 
204 
 
 union with the arch, and occurs to check the 
 notion that the simplicity of the elevation was an 
 unstudied characteristic. There is more finish in 
 the arches of the apse recesses than in the others : 
 they have label or weather mouldings scalloped on 
 the under edge. Their width is nine feet and a 
 half, and their depth eight feet. The three great 
 arches, which carry out the horizontal extension of 
 the front, are pierced through the thickness of the 
 wall for the entrances, seventeen feet in the centre, 
 fifteen feet ten inches facing the north, and fifteen 
 feet five inches facing the south aisle. 
 
 The apsidal recess on the north side, encroached 
 upon in the thirteenth century, retains five of its 
 original capitals, alike in shape, having for orna- 
 ment volutes with square blocks between, and 
 roughly shaped leaves, curving outwards, with 
 different degrees of relief. 
 
 It will readily be imagined, from the foregoing 
 enumeration of the leading peculiarities observable 
 in the early Norman capitals, that these remark- 
 able features present lineaments, and a variety of 
 forms incidental to incomplete workmanship, be- 
 yond the reach of description. But in the midst 
 of these irregularities, and crude performances, 
 may be traced the signs of a thoughtful adjust- 
 ment of the members, and a liberty or freedom in 
 figuring them, significant of a perfect knowledge 
 of the complete character which had been assigned 
 to the invention. The constituent forms and 
 
205 
 
 ornaments were but few. The English version of 
 the design, as seen in the front of the Minster, is 
 not inferior to many of the earliest examples in 
 Normandy ; but there the advance of the art 
 from such rough beginnings may be examined 
 thoroughly, in due order, and most instructively. 
 The gradual development of foliage, its sym- 
 metrical arrangement and fine execution, are to 
 be seen in regular progression through the twelfth 
 and thirteenth centuries, exhibiting, under con- 
 ventional treatment, the Corinthian and composite 
 capitals in extraordinary beauty and perfection. 
 The value, therefore, of these primitive perform- 
 ances in sculpture at Lincoln cannot be doubted 
 by the architectural antiquary, unlikely as they 
 are to arrest the observation, or to receive the care, 
 of those who only sport with ancient architecture. 
 To judges such as these, whether professional or 
 amateur, the proud monuments of antiquity are 
 not likely to yield the treasures of information 
 which are incorporated in their very substance : 
 their mute eloquence is unintelligible to the great 
 class of hypercritics who scoff at venerable au- 
 thority ; and especially to the flippant fault-finders, 
 who, under the disguise of reproaching modern 
 workmen, have fastened their censures upon the 
 handiwork of the artisans of old. 
 
 The chief differences which occur in the design 
 of these capitals have been mentioned ; but it is 
 manifest, by comparison of those which have been 
 
206 
 
 under cover for ages, with the greater number 
 which found shelter in the recesses of the west 
 front, that the surface of the stone, and the quality 
 of the workmanship, are the same now as they 
 have always been ; in other words, that no edges, 
 no prominences of any size or shape have been 
 reduced or obliterated. There were but few of 
 these distinctions in this branch of art in the 
 eleventh century, and therefore but few can be 
 expected to remain at the present day. So much 
 of the substance of many of the capitals was cut 
 away by the ancient mason, that no after process 
 in, mediaeval days could have produced foliage, or 
 any kind of ornament, in relief. But however this 
 may be, there can be no doubt that intelligent 
 observers will easily discern in the capitals which 
 uphold the retreating members of the arches of 
 the pronaos, the handling of Norman workmen 
 beneath a thin but firm and unwounded incrusta- 
 tion of the stone, a covering which time has spread 
 over the surface, and for which the writer is 
 grateful, since it avouches his honest claim to the 
 reputation of an antiquary, at once witnessed and 
 unjustly assailed in the restorations of Lincoln 
 Minster. But the glorious Minster has been 
 assailed by many a false friend, and must not 
 expect to be spared by the ecclesiologist, who so 
 lately yearned to improve the celebrated Norman 
 Church of Stewkeley by enlarging it, using the 
 veritable plea that its elongation would not be 
 
207 
 
 injurious to its proportions, or to its primitive 
 character. How strong, how sincere must be the 
 regard of such an one for Lincoln's Norman 
 design ! How keen his relish for, and his percep- 
 tion of, the glossy surface of ancient mason-work 
 which he labours so industriously to destroy ! 
 
 Bishop Alexander, being firmly minded in his 
 dealings with the remnant which had been spared 
 of the elder edifice, to prove his respect for the 
 genius of its designer, carried up the ruinated walls, 
 and undertook such repairs and alterations as were 
 rendered necessary by the violent accidents which 
 had mutilated the several parts of the building 
 they did not destroy. He honoured the founder 
 of the Cathedral, and gave full proof of his ap- 
 preciation of ornament in architecture, by his 
 munificent treatment of the plainly devised features 
 of the work of Remigius. 
 
 Attention has been directed to the sumptuous- 
 ness of the architecture with which the elevation 
 was carried up on an even line of wall. The 
 skilful builder readily imagined the good effect 
 which would result from a rival display of orna- 
 ment within the front recesses, which sheltered the 
 approaches to the interior ; and accordingly the 
 gates of the triple aisles were enlarged and most 
 splendidly enriched. No narrow scale was taken 
 in hand for the setting forward of this work. The 
 grand approach in the centre could scarcely find 
 room enough in its deep retreat for the ample 
 
208 
 
 breadth of the arch, and of its supports. A square 
 of twenty-two feet gives the exact measures of this 
 entrance, which is worthy to be crowned by kings, 
 so magnificent is its amplitude, its range of columns, 
 and its sculpture. The original entrance was lofty, 
 but characterized by narrow proportion, as in the 
 arch within the porch of the Castle Keep at 
 Norwich, and still more evidently in the front door 
 of Rochester Cathedral : it found ample room, 
 and appeared with a breadth of plain wall on each 
 side. In the treatment of the aisle entrances, the 
 proportions just mentioned were adopted ; and 
 great indeed was the taste with which the designer 
 gave extraordinary beauty of an elegant kind to 
 these features. 
 
 The style of the front windows of the pronaos 
 at this time is not to be conjectured from the one 
 remaining on the south side, which cannot be 
 accepted as good authority, knowing that the 
 front had received the especial attention of Bishop 
 Alexander, who may be supposed to have given to 
 these apertures marks of superiority commensurate 
 with their position in the design. The preservation 
 of a relic saved from the burning, has seldom been 
 effected with stronger determination than this of 
 the pronaos of the first Minster at Lincoln ; and 
 no other was destined to revive, surrounded by so 
 many stanch evidences of respect and regard, and 
 to bear about its ponderous walls the splendid gifts 
 of science and of wealth, directed by the passionate 
 
209 
 
 ardour of the Cathedral community. And so it 
 happened that the founder's building was pulled 
 about, the rough walls made smooth, pierced, and 
 filled up again, receiving at each operation dona- 
 tions of greater extent and worth than the dead 
 matter which was taken away. Three times, at 
 periods distant from each other, was this grave 
 block of building assaulted by its friends, but no 
 harm was done to the governing members of the 
 aged design ; indeed its forms were so stubborn, 
 that if the object had not been, as it certainly was 
 by hereditary consent, to preserve its characteristic 
 aspect, their transformation would have proved a 
 hopeless undertaking. But the ancient builders 
 did not seek to preserve, by the adverse process of 
 pulling down or of masking, the objects of their 
 veneration : they viewed the front of Remigius's 
 Church as a treasure, and its value is enhanced as 
 time advances. Not a single stone of the large 
 surface of wall to within a few feet of the pave- 
 ment has ever been displaced, or otherwise injured, 
 than by age. Its tried armour of weather-worn 
 stone is still vigorous, and is proof against assaults 
 which have defaced the goodly lineaments of many 
 fine old Churches. 
 
 Bishop Alexander's work is alone sufficient to 
 rescue Norman architecture from the coarse invec- 
 tives with which, as a style, it is sometimes assailed. 
 The north entrance of the Minster is quite fasci- 
 nating. Its beauty is beyond the reach of descrip- 
 
 p 
 
210 
 
 tion. There is another motive for lingering before 
 the exquisite detail of its design, in the enumeration 
 of which the effect of the commixture of mould- 
 ings and carved-work will scarce be alluded to. 
 The recess of the entrance is in continuance of the 
 recess of the older work, to which the jambs are 
 closely attached. It is formed with three disengaged 
 pillars on each side, with a broad inner member as 
 the margin of the aperture. The rectangular 
 members of the arch spring from capitals with 
 which they agree in shape. This is a character of 
 very early date ; but while the English builder 
 retained this form of plan, he so ordered the section 
 of the mouldings, that they changed the effect of 
 the prescribed pattern, and thereby set on foot that 
 elegant treatment of Anglo-Norman ornamentation, 
 which led directly to the transition state of the art. 
 
 The front or outer member of the arch is covered 
 on both faces with zig-zag, which is conjoined on 
 the outer angle, where, by the indentations, aided 
 by the delicacy of the pattern, the ornament is 
 made very effective. Every part of the work is 
 genuine, and in fine preservation. The second 
 member consists of two deeply-cut hollows, with a 
 torus on the prominent angle. Each hollow con- 
 tains thirty-four ornaments, square and notched, 
 resembling the depressed dog-tooth figure, with 
 this difference, that the four leaves have a flat 
 termination, pierced. They remain precisely in 
 the state in which age has left them. The 
 
211 
 
 weather has defaced only a few ; in the most 
 perfect specimens the leaves are curved, and the 
 edges sharp. The yellow hue of the stone denotes 
 beyond controversy the original surface as un- 
 disturbed. The third member consists of a hollow 
 and a torus, over the face of the capitals only, 
 overlaid by twenty-five many-tongued heads, in 
 different varieties of the grotesque ; all adroitly 
 carved and curiously embellished, but all clasp 
 with their variously-formed beaks the great torus 
 placed within their reach. This remarkable and 
 favourite device of the Anglo-Normans is exhibited 
 to perfection in the front of the Minster, and the 
 specimens noticed are in a state of great perfection, 
 both as to sculpture and the surface of the material. 
 The inner member of the arch is rich in zig-zag 
 carving, which is scarcely defaced ; keenly edged, 
 and relieved for the effect of light and shade in a 
 manner unattainable by any but straight-lined orna- 
 ments. It retains its freshness, its colour, and the 
 purity of its hardened surface. The inner or door 
 jambs are decked with the like pattern. The outer 
 jambs are also bordered with the same kind of effec- 
 tive device, which, in its simple or primitive form, 
 constituted the acknowleged decoration of the de- 
 signs at that period; and in its different varieties 
 afterwards, and its singular yet handsome combina- 
 tions of mouldings, thickly set with the endless nail- 
 head, (a minute ornament, as constant to this archi- 
 tecture as the dog-tooth to that of the thirteenth 
 
 p 2 
 
212 
 
 century,) it formed the brilliant and admired 
 embellishment of the most noble Anglo-Norman 
 Churches in England. 
 
 A large portion of this and of the other 
 elaborately wrought work, easily assailable from 
 its unguarded position, has been barbarously 
 maltreated by violence ; but other sources of 
 mischief are apparent, namely, those of age, and 
 the weather acting upon faulty stone, which has 
 so far yielded as to deprive the carving of its 
 sharpness, without wearing it so far away as to 
 warrant its removal in the judgment of antiquaries 
 resolved to inflict no harm upon venerable and 
 worthy architecture, and thereby to diminish the 
 value and the aggregate quantity of its remains. 
 With this nervous sensibility for the uncor- 
 ruptness of the choice architecture of Bishop 
 Alexander, the removal by order of the writer of 
 any part of the solidly embedded mason-work, 
 became an effort of obligation against duty to the 
 good estate of the Minster ; and this hard measure 
 was dealt out as leniently as possible to the main 
 supports of this entrance. Numerous blocks, in 
 consecutive order, have been taken away, and 
 replaced by others in sound stone, formed and 
 relieved with carving scrupulously exact, and 
 handled with a knowledge of the subject, far more 
 valuable than all the care and precision of servile 
 and oftentimes ignorant imitation. The writer 
 repeats that this severe but necessary measure was 
 
213 
 
 kept within the utmost limit of absolute necessity ; 
 and it may be that the age-worn ornaments per- 
 mitted to remain wherever they occurred, and in 
 different stages of decadency, offend nice observers 
 by the contrast they present to their more for- 
 tunate companions, or the opposition manifest by 
 their contiguity to the adjoining portions of 
 perfectly new work. 
 
 Those who by their professional knowledge, or 
 by their literary pretensions, are expected to be 
 foremost in defending the preservative course 
 which has been considerately adopted at Lincoln, 
 and to be the very last to misstate facts for which 
 ignorance is an insufficient excuse, are the per- 
 severing enunciators of misconceptions with regard 
 to the precise movements in these repairs and 
 restorations. Stronger testimony of the repugnance 
 with which the renewal of the lost ornaments 
 was sanctioned cannot be given ; but irrefutable 
 evidence is not acceptable to the emulous parties, 
 who on this occasion have placed themselves in 
 antagonism with the writer. They know very well 
 that no portion of the ancient stone has been 
 scraped in the way in which they use the term, 
 and wish it to be understood by their partisans ; 
 because they are aware that the material, from the 
 peculiar crust which hardens upon its surface in 
 the lapse of time, is thus made capable of resisting, 
 in the most effectual manner, the miserable process 
 of recutting, and thereby reducing ornamental 
 
214 
 
 work. They cannot help perceiving that the sur- 
 face of the front wall throughout remains un- 
 disturbed ; and that it is no other than that which 
 has been exposed to the atmosphere from the 
 twelfth to the nineteenth century, — a period which 
 has fixed upon it an inimitable hue, permanent, 
 indurated, and lustrous. They know full well the 
 jealous, and to the writer the costly, care with 
 which he has for two generations held the defensive 
 shield over these priceless remains of ecclesiastical 
 architecture, and the objects of every branch of 
 art connected therewith : not, let it be stated, in 
 ignorant admiration of things ancient, simply be- 
 cause they are so ; but from regard hereditary, and 
 confirmed by the incessant study of the memorials 
 of genius and of refined taste, which have been 
 bequeathed to the present age by the enterprise 
 and wealth of ancient days. 
 
 Architecture has almost ceased to be a study 
 according to known and acknowledged rules, and 
 the unimpeachable authority of antiquity. The 
 judgment is so much at fault in relation to this 
 science, that precedent is altogether ignored. 
 Purity of style is lost, caprice has usurped the 
 influence which once controlled sober-minded 
 practitioners, no two of whom in these days agree, 
 except in eccentricity and extravagance. The 
 grotesque has displaced solid, serious, thoughtful 
 composition : patchwork and paint are chief among 
 the ingredients by which popular approbation is 
 
215 
 
 sought : the taste, the feeling, the sound influence 
 of the artist, are no longer combined with con- 
 structive science in the production of works worthy 
 of the name of architecture. 
 
 The critics have divided their suspicious praises 
 and their harmless censures upon this beautiful 
 north door of the Minster. But neither this, nor 
 the south, nor the central entrance has suffered 
 harm under the direction of the writer ; and 
 thoughtful people will, after observation, be con- 
 vinced that the course which has been pursued, 
 and which is now nearly brought to a close in the 
 front of the Minster, was the right one for the 
 sustentation of its antiquity. This northern door, 
 remarkable for its elegance, had endured a double 
 share of spiteful injury. Indeed so great were its 
 losses below the capitals, that nothing of an orna- 
 mental kind was left whole, or even intelligible, 
 except in places. Just before or shortly after the 
 commencement of the present century, its state of 
 dilapidation was so excessive as to require that, 
 with other work in the front, its substantial 
 reparation should be undertaken without regard to 
 the finer part of the ornamental work, this happily 
 being deemed a work of supererogation ; but as 
 related to the plinth, the wall over it, the jambs of 
 the entrance, and the sides of the recess, these 
 portions could no longer be left alone. Of the 
 carved pillars several were absent, and the rest 
 were so much shattered and otherwise defaced, 
 
216 
 
 that their amendment was deemed to be hopeless, 
 and in the true spirit of restoration, which was well 
 understood in those days, the remains were set 
 aside, and six new and plain shafts of Yorkshire 
 stone planted upon bases of a classical character f . 
 These pillars, with their bases, have been removed, 
 and the places supplied with carved shafts and 
 moulded supports, in harmony with the ancient 
 work ; but the lower member of the entire range 
 of capitals had been defaced in a manner not to 
 be modified or mended : they were not simply 
 recut in the days of Essex, but their size and 
 section were altered, and in so coarse and slovenly 
 a manner, that the stone will always retain the 
 evidence of ill-treatment in this respect. The 
 capitals differ in design, and have been defaced 
 more perhaps by the weather than by mischievous 
 hands. The third is in the worst condition, and 
 remains in the state to which it has been gradually 
 reduced. The abacus members are richly carved : 
 Nos. (1) and (2) have been restored; the (3rd), 
 being considerably less defaced, has been left un- 
 touched. The impost member on either side of 
 the entrance was shockingly defaced, and has been 
 carefully renewed, and with it nearly one-half of 
 the quantity of zig-zag by which it is supported. 
 
 f These plain pillars are represented in the " Vetusta 
 Monumenta," vol. iii, 1791 ; and in two large and elaborately 
 detailed drawings of the front, dated respectively 1799 and 
 1809, by John Buckler, F.S.A. 
 
217 
 
 The remainder has been cleansed, but the surface 
 of the stone has been left undisturbed, and the 
 nail-head ornament remains just as it was found, 
 still rotten and coated with dirt. These observa- 
 tions apply also to the knob flowers, once so 
 prominent in all the indents of the zig-zag, where it 
 meets on the angle of the rectangular members of 
 the jambs. The capitals on the right-hand side 
 exhibit designs of uncommon interest and beauty, 
 and call to mind the French examples, which are 
 numerous, and abound in every quality of ex- 
 cellence ; the like whereof are rarely to be met 
 with in English architecture. While havoc has 
 spread its fangs over the ornaments around, these 
 elegant capitals have escaped mischief, and retain 
 their carved-work in almost perfect preservation. 
 The first and third are begirt by two rows of leaves, 
 gracefully formed, and curled outwards. The 
 middle capital has tall leaves in a single row. 
 This and the outer one have volute ornaments, 
 which however are not prominent. The remark 
 should be added, that the astragals are separate 
 strips of stone, which were inserted when the 
 pillars were set up, but not shaped in accordance 
 with the original pattern, as attested by the traces 
 of ornament observable on the opposite side where 
 excision was spared. 
 
 The foregoing is a brief and truthful description 
 of an assemblage of sculptures, which have suffered 
 more or less damage in by-gone days by opera- 
 
218 
 
 tions equally destructive, but very different as 
 regards culpability. The natural decay of merito- 
 rious works of art open to the weather is lament- 
 able. This process is so distinct from that which 
 is marked by vicious propensities, that a practised 
 eye is not likely to confound or mistake appearances. 
 This charming entrance has given rise to so many 
 paltry criticisms, that notice should be taken in 
 this place of the fact, chiefly to express regret that 
 a subject so deeply interesting in the history of 
 architecture as the front of the Minster, should be 
 treated like a target by its fine, false friends. The 
 previous remarks test the qualifications of the 
 especial critics at Lincoln, and prove their inability 
 to discriminate between the different qualities of 
 the modern work, as performed at different periods 
 on the component members of this entrance ; how 
 unwittingly they have made known the real purpose 
 of their interference, and how successfully they 
 have demonstrated that the undertaking, in its 
 serious aspect, was beyond their ken. 
 
 The remark is invited by the fulness of this door 
 for its place between the early wall pillars, that 
 Bishop Alexander removed the whole of the 
 original wall within each of the three great re- 
 cesses, as the needful preparation for the triple 
 entrances ; not to push observation further, and 
 conjecture in what manner he dealt with the 
 windows over. The insertion of his new work, 
 which consisted of a substantial wall, is shown 
 
219 
 
 distinctly on the sides of the archways ; and, as just 
 observed, this Norman entrance fills the breadth 
 so fully, that the grotesque heads of the weather 
 moulding, which is carried over the arch, make so 
 little approach to the chord line as to leave vacant 
 spandrels, which the indefatigable carver worked 
 into patterns of singular merit. These are surface 
 ornaments, wrought on the wall stones, rich in 
 design, consisting of tendrils interlaced and 
 leaved. The sunken ground is sufficient to give 
 expressive relief to the ornament, every part of 
 which is kept level with the surface. Truth to 
 tell, this sculpture has received no kind of injury, 
 save that which age has impressed upon it. It is 
 still flush with the wall, and bears upon every part 
 of its curvings and cut work the same aged colour 
 as the masonry. Relics in abundance, of the foul 
 matter which for many ages has clogged its in- 
 terstices, still cling with tenacity to its unwelcome 
 resting-place. So also with respect to the weather 
 moulding, which is set with a curious specimen of 
 the zig-zag : many of the sharp and saw-like points 
 have been broken off, and remain thus far defective. 
 The indelible colour of age, and the dusky spots 
 of foul stuff, keep their hold of the material un- 
 disturbed. Can evidence, either of successful care 
 or of true regard for the good condition of valuable 
 architecture, which is seldom seen elsewhere so 
 thickly encrusted with rubbish, or true devotion 
 to the interests of antiquity, surpass that which is 
 
220 
 
 here produced in behalf of the north entrance of 
 the Minster ? 
 
 The south entrance, like the one just described, 
 was symmetrically planted between the pillars of 
 the fabric, and with a strength of construction 
 ensured by the substance of the new wall which 
 was carried up with it. This entrance was framed 
 with elegance, and adorned with carved-work, of 
 which it may be said that the age had nothing 
 superior to offer ; but it had suffered sadly, more 
 from the gradual decay of the stone, than from 
 violent and indiscriminate damage. The design 
 is not so elaborate, nor the ornament so much 
 varied, as in the other entrance ; but the even dis- 
 tribution of the enrichments, and their refined 
 character, confer great distinction upon this fine 
 production of the twelfth century. The inner and 
 the outer members of both jambs are distinguished 
 by broad bands of ziz-zag, which by being re- 
 peated in reveal present a very rich effect. It has 
 been found necessary to restore a considerable 
 portion of this work, but the remains bear about 
 them the customary evidences of ancient injuries, 
 which would not have spared a single stone of the 
 number under less lenient censorship. 
 
 The six capitals are ancient, and sadly defaced ; 
 their patterns are intelligible, but to the common 
 eye uncouth. This, however, and many congenial 
 discrepances, must be endured by those who place 
 the same value upon a copy as upon an original, 
 
221 
 
 and whose predilections are satisfied with avidity 
 by the pseudo-antiquaries of the present day. 
 
 The first member of the arch is faced with zig- 
 zag, lozengy, repeated in soffit, with only a few 
 pieces in modern workmanship upon new material. 
 The second member is a plain but very effective 
 pattern of the same Anglo-Norman ornament, 
 counterchanged, and repeated in soffit. The third 
 member consists of two hollows, in each of which 
 is a row of beaked heads, with a band or moulding 
 passed from one to the other over the torus 
 member, by which they are separated. This well- 
 known sculpture was never more pleasingly applied 
 than in this sample, and, accompanied by the band, 
 forms an elegant ornament : of the fifteen twice 
 repeated, two sets only have been restored. The 
 weather moulding of the arch descends to the 
 springer, and has had a grotesque animal's head 
 of formidable expression on each side ; but some 
 nerveless person in by-gone days exercised the 
 caution of removing, with almost anatomical pre- 
 cision, the threatening jaws. The remains still 
 sustain the moulding, which is twisted like a rope, 
 thickly set with the nail-head carving, and in excel- 
 lent preservation. The places, perhaps the remains 
 of the six pillars, were taken by plain shafts of stone, 
 whose colour rebelled as strongly against their 
 application to the Norman building as their meanly 
 wrought surface ; consequently, these have been 
 superseded by others in pattern, set upon the 
 
222 
 
 original plinths, with the intervention of new 
 bases. 
 
 All these substantial repairs had been made 
 under the direction of Mr. Essex, and were per- 
 formed in good earnest, strength alone being 
 regarded. Sound Lincoln stone, as well as sound 
 Yorkshire stone, having been employed in the 
 ashlar, the suggestion was worthy of deliberation 
 as to whether the more prudent course would not 
 be to leave the former in all its strength, simply 
 reworking the surface and the joints. This has 
 been done so cleverly, that the modern courses 
 can no longer be ascertained, and the curious will 
 search for them in vain. The rarity of the process 
 cannot be alleged as a good reason for its dislike. 
 Hence have been removed the last traces of the 
 ill-chosen stone, which blemished the basement of 
 the Norman front throughout its extent. 
 
 The magnificent entrance in the centre is re- 
 cessed with four detached pillars on each side, 
 terminating in a broad member in which the door^ 
 way is formed, enriched with zig-zag in soffit, 
 edged with a pillar, and faced with beak heads — 
 an assemblage of forms and indentations which 
 give this member a singular general appearance. 
 The outer jambs, and the corresponding band of 
 the arch, are faced with the fret ornament which 
 is identified with the Anglo-Norman architecture 
 of the twelfth century, and is conspicuous in the 
 interior of St. David's Cathedral. The prominency 
 
223 
 
 of this device at Lincoln has exposed it to so much 
 injury in the course of time, that a large portion 
 of it demanded, and has received with advantage^ 
 substantial renewal. The member of the arch 
 over the first column, on either hand, consists of a 
 group of mouldings ; that over the second column 
 is faced with zig-zag ; that over the third is formed 
 of mouldings only. The fourth is the most dis- 
 tinguished, having as its chief ornament, and seated 
 in a broad hollow, a series of carved knobs, rising 
 from a square base, and finishing with a rosette : the 
 workmanship is rich and various in pattern, and 
 only a very few of the number are, of necessity, 
 of modern make. The remark should be made, 
 that there is little genuine Norman feeling in much 
 of the sculpture which has been described ; but 
 there are many indications of that luxury of orna- 
 ment which was so soon to be exhibited in the 
 transition style. The inner or facing member has 
 not been sparingly injured. The beaked heads 
 have been selected for mischief, as the following 
 remarks upon those on the right hand, sixteen in 
 number, will attest. One at the base, for the 
 most part recut under the Essex repairs, which in 
 the article of sculpture connected with this entrance 
 was not only considerable, but of a more dainty 
 quality than was often attempted ; but at Lincoln 
 an uncommon amount of care was bestowed upon 
 the sculpture, in the first place with a desire to 
 make the fragments, which had been evidently 
 
224 
 
 selected from a promiscuous heap, appear in their 
 proper places as representatives of the genuine 
 Norman manner of garnishing pillars ; and in the 
 next, to maintain a passable semblance of the dis- 
 tinguished richness of this gate, by making up 
 deficiencies with carvings of his own choice or 
 invention. Essex was not nice in discriminating 
 between the sculpture of different ages ; perhaps 
 it could be shown that he despised chronology in 
 all matters connected with architecture. He was 
 no adept in the art of designing or cutting groups 
 of figures, animals, and foliage, to which he could 
 attach no definite meaning ; but he laboured to 
 repair broken Norman pillars, and with enough 
 success to cheat the eye and the judgment of the 
 ecclesiologists of the present day. He has given 
 a singular instance of the brief limit of his anti- 
 quarian paroxysm, when he found himself in the 
 presence of whole lengths of pillars to the measure 
 of eight feet two inches ; and rather than pursue 
 the thankless undertaking, he cast aside the 
 models, some of which are still in existence. 
 
 In the range of beaked heads mentioned above, 
 his indifference to the handling of ancient sculpture 
 is strongly evinced. The second beaked head is a 
 new one, the third and fourth are original, followed 
 by three which are new, and these by six which 
 are ancient. The fourteenth is new, the fifteenth 
 and sixteenth are ancient. 
 
 The number of grotesque heads on the left- 
 
225 
 
 hand jamb is also sixteen. Six of these at the 
 bottom are ancient, but the sculpture is not 
 altogether original. Three at the top are genuine, 
 and retain their defacements. The rest have been 
 restored or recut by Essex, who may be answer- 
 able for the stiff workmanship which appears in 
 the number first mentioned. His doings in this 
 department were so considerable, that he must 
 bear the blame for all the chisel-work which 
 detracts from the value of the early sculpture. 
 
 In this instance, as in every other connected with 
 the recent restorations of the Minster, the rule has 
 been to save as much as possible of the ancient 
 work, and not in the least degree to interfere with 
 the sculpture of Essex. New carving cannot be 
 expected to contrast agreeably with it ; but, in 
 point of fact, the question is between leaving a 
 portion of a building and sweeping the whole 
 away. The artisans of Essex divided their atten- 
 tion between good and evil processes in their 
 pursuits at Lincoln. They gave their attention to 
 patterns and devices which contained no mystery, 
 and were not distinguished by superior handicraft. 
 The west entrance of Lincoln Minster is indelibly 
 marked with the capricious treatment of Essex 
 and his followers in the elaborations of its design 8 . 
 
 8 It is singular that, although this prodigious arch was 
 exactly proportioned to the space, yet in planting it between 
 the Norman pillars the centre was so inexactly observed, that 
 its outer curve could not be completed without paring away 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 Bishop Alexander removed certain pillars from 
 the front door of Remigius's Church, and included 
 them in his own design for a more spacious and 
 more sumptuous approach to the interior. The 
 relics, no doubt in full number, thus selected and 
 cared for, subsisted with varying fortune for ages. 
 Before the transit, these curiously-wrought objects 
 of early art were to be seen in perfect sculpture, 
 and erect, among a vast pile of ruinated walls and 
 arches. In their new positions the favoured 
 columns fulfilled the double purpose of safety and 
 ornament, assigned to them in the amplified porch 
 of the original Minster. These celebrated pillars 
 of the olden Church had witnessed singular vicissi- 
 tudes. Their resting-place, after their translation, 
 was left undisturbed for ages. They were viewed 
 as time-honoured objects, even after the Church 
 had changed its first guardians ; at one time 
 befriended by neglect, at another suddenly ex- 
 posed to rough usage ; thus passing through 
 uncertain time, until the days of their weakness 
 and of their dismemberment set in. They lingered 
 
 the left side of the wall. This was done in a slant direction, 
 and in a rough manner, with a bold disregard for appearance. 
 The magnitude of this entrance was not often exceeded in 
 Norman times, but it was greatly outmeasured by that of the 
 Episcopal Chapel at Hereford. This very curious building 
 was raised on a square plan, with massive walls, one side of 
 which was fully occupied by the arch, the extreme width of 
 which was twenty-eight feet, the recess of the doorway from 
 the face of the wall being thirteen feet. 
 
227 
 
 in an infirm condition : the regard of olden times 
 had not altogether passed away, but the respect 
 which survived was insufficient to secure their 
 presence in the ample range which lined the 
 entrance. By an act. of generosity, not by any 
 means common fourscore years ago to the remains 
 of ancient architecture, however venerable and 
 curious, the fallen and the tottering pillars, 
 witnessed by Remigius himself in all their strength 
 and merit, were in part again set up and secured, 
 and continue to this day to perform good service 
 to the building ; to increase the interest with which 
 it is regarded, and to enlarge the measure of its 
 historical importance. The salvable remains at 
 the last period of their restoration were found to 
 compose four pillars, placed third and fourth in 
 the order observed, on each side. An even num- 
 ber was deemed indispensable, and for want of a 
 companion, or grudging the labour of still further 
 piecing new and old, a fifth pillar, in perfect pre- 
 servation, was set aside. 
 
 The first of the original columns on the left- 
 hand side is in two pieces, of unequal lengths. 
 The sculpture is alike in both. It completely 
 covers the surface in an elaborate pattern ; and as 
 the diameter of the pillar has not been reduced, it 
 would be hazardous to say that the carved-work 
 had been fined down at any time. The cleansing 
 process recently accomplished has been performed 
 with the utmost care; otherwise the ancient hue 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 
 
 of the stone would not appear uniform over every 
 part of the surface; nor would the accidental 
 scratches and lines, which are all too minute to 
 affect the general appearance of the material, have 
 remained. It was necessary, in order to preserve 
 the rotund form of the pillar, that there should be 
 a certain flatness in the figures, whose bodies and 
 limbs could not be expressed without breadth. 
 But in other parts of the design, in which the flat- 
 ness spoken of does not occur, the relief of the 
 sculpture is perfect, and is raised to the surface of 
 the circle ; and the antiquity of the workmanship 
 cannot reasonably be doubted. The writer ex- 
 presses this as his considerate and sincere opinion 
 with respect to the sculpture generally. It would 
 require an acute eye to determine that spurious 
 handling of any kind whatever, from early days to 
 those of Essex, and since his time to the present 
 hour, has been permitted upon the great body of 
 the sculpture. For the latter period, the writer 
 can vouch that nothing of the kind has taken 
 place : he can go farther, and point to the emenda- 
 tions in many parts of the sculpture attempted by 
 workmen during the general conduct of the repairs 
 by Essex. Decay had worn off the sharpness, 
 comparatively speaking, of the features, and of the 
 curled and flowing tresses of several of the figures ; 
 of parts of the tendrils and foliage ; and other 
 among the finer forms of the workmanship. These 
 injuries are very conspicuous, and, viewed in con- 
 
229 
 
 trast with the ancient carving, go near to prove 
 that this coarse work was the first and the last 
 inflicted upon these curious and elaborate pillars. 
 Minute examination will lead to the discovery, that 
 the great majority of the finer quality of detail 
 remains as it was left by the first sculptor. This 
 will appear as plainly as the fact, that, previous to 
 1817, an incautious chisel was let loose upon the 
 work, and made choice of what should be done, 
 and in what manner the amendments should be 
 performed. Things so ancient are not to be spoken 
 of as works manufactured in the middle of the 
 nineteenth century. The eye that cannot readily 
 penetrate through the darksome depth of seven or 
 more centuries, and decide at a glance what was 
 done, and with equal precision what was not done, 
 within that period in a work of sculpture, will not 
 be regarded as trustworthy by the deliberate 
 thinker ; nor will this conceited faculty gain pro- 
 selytes by asseverating that the modernisms, more 
 than half a century old, were perpetrated in broad 
 day-light a few months since. 
 
 The companion pillar is in a single stone, and is 
 covered with sculpture, which consists of a greater 
 number of figures than the other, with less com- 
 plicated tendrils and foliage, as frames for the dif- 
 ferent subjects represented. The genuineness of 
 the design and of the carved-work cannot fairly be 
 doubted. The peculiar expression of the features, 
 and the character of the curled locks, are notice- 
 
230 
 
 able in the figures. These and many other par- 
 ticulars of detail are distinct and unadulterated, 
 and forbid the notion that the surface of the pillar 
 has at any period been exposed to rough usage, 
 or that its diameter has been reduced. The hard 
 and dingy qualities of the stone are among the 
 slow processes of age, and are observable wherever 
 the strength of the material is sufficient security 
 against the weather. The sculpture has been re- 
 lieved of the impurities which clogged the patterns 
 and obscured the workmanship, without damage 
 either to the colour or the texture of the stone, its 
 acquirements by age, and its indisputable evidence 
 of fair dealing. A little, but very little was done 
 by the chisel of Essex to this pillar. He did not 
 voluntarily recarve the ancient ornaments in any 
 part of the building. He demurred at the caprice 
 of setting up pillars, new and old, side by side the 
 one of his own production, and alarmingly ac- 
 curate ; the other, perhaps, in his estimation 
 miserably deficient in nicety and exactness. In 
 a case like this, and at such a period, the antique 
 object is almost certain to suffer through well- 
 meant but mistaken notions of improvement, as 
 the result of paring away the corrosions of time, 
 and reproducing the pattern. Tamperings of this 
 baneful kind are not so numerous on this as on 
 the other pillar. 
 
 The third and fourth pillars, or the opposites to 
 those described, are also of early Norman work- 
 
231 
 
 manship coeval with the foundation of the Church. 
 The first is in two pieces of nearly equal lengths. 
 The modernised stone gives support to the ancient. 
 In recutting the work, the imitation has been made 
 by a hand unskilled in the conventional treatment 
 of objects, which, to appear at ease, and to be 
 subservient to the minor decorations of archi- 
 tecture, should only be analogous to natural 
 objects. This work of repair is hard, edgy, un- 
 feeling, and destitute of character, an expression 
 to which the fine art productions of antiquity owe 
 so much of the admiration which they excite. 
 The original pattern consists of rings formed of 
 bands thickly set, with the effective nail-head 
 device. The subjects represented are grotesque 
 animals and foliage, entangled by the ingenuity of 
 the workman who, in early days, were expert in 
 compositions of this class. Such is the condition 
 of the fragment — so pure, so perfect — that no doubt 
 can be raised as to the genuineness of the 
 sculpture. The difference between the two speci- 
 mens thus brought into juxtaposition, consists in 
 the freedom or feeling in handling the subject. 
 In one instance, the workman understood what he 
 was about ; in the other, he laboured to copy, and 
 completely lost the likeness of the original. These 
 fragments are valuable and instructive : they are 
 of certain date and of Norman device. The ori- 
 ginal workmanship has not been greatly damaged 
 by the restorer : here and there, a careless 
 
232 
 
 touch, wantonly applied, offends against correct 
 taste. 
 
 The proper length for the fourth pillar was 
 obtained by the addition of twenty-five inches of 
 new stone at the base. The elaboration of the 
 design is great, its interwoven character is remark- 
 able; the workmanship is skilful, and the ingenuity 
 of the devices surprising. Figures of human make, 
 and animals of monstrous deformity, mingled with 
 things of known and unknown kinds, peer from 
 among briers and branches and clotted foliage, 
 and no doubt quaintly represent events which 
 were once intelligible. No modern hand was 
 urged, under any pretence, to interfere with the 
 sculpture : it remains in the state in which it was 
 left in the eleventh century, save the injury of the 
 weather ; but it has been hardened for time to 
 come. With age it has assumed a colour and a 
 surface which will resist the elements successfully. 
 
 A few more words will complete the history of 
 these columns. Although sneered at in these 
 days, the sculptured fragments were respectfully 
 treated when the honest judgment of Essex was 
 called upon to decide their fate. He preserved 
 less than he might have done, for it was in his 
 power to have pursued the process of piecing, 
 until he had exhausted the store of the material. 
 All the pillars were in single lengths originally ; 
 but in the choice of pattern, when they were last 
 taken in hand, it happened that the best or least 
 
233 
 
 injured specimens of sculpture were found in 
 imperfect lengths. Resort, therefore, was had to 
 piecing ; each stone was cut, until a passable fit 
 was made of the pattern. The hand once laid 
 upon these curious columns was not removed until 
 it had reworked the borrowed pieces, and extended 
 the unwise performance to the main part of the 
 shaft. 
 
 This kind of pillar is found to have given great 
 distinction to many of the early Norman Churches, 
 and more particularly to some of the smallest, and 
 now most obscurely situated in England. The 
 pillars of the twelfth century received ornaments 
 not less elaborate, but of a very different quality of 
 sculpture to that patronised by Bishop Remigius. 
 
 The residue of the columns on either hand 
 were supplied by Mr. Essex. The range of 
 capitals, like their supports, is composed of new 
 and old sculpture. The first on the left side is 
 ancient, and has been left in the defaced condition 
 in which it was found. The second is modern, 
 also the fourth, both the handiwork of the re- 
 doubtable Essex. The third and fifth are ancient, 
 defaced, and left untouched. A new abacus has 
 been added to the second capital ; the others are 
 original, richly sculptured, but all in a state of 
 more or less decay. The moulded bases of the 
 pillars on either hand were restored by Essex, but 
 the original plinths remain. All the capitals on 
 the right-hand side are ancient and richly carved, 
 
234 
 
 but all more or less defaced by the weather. The 
 line of abacus is beautifully enriched, but sadly 
 defrauded of its perfection by age. That portion 
 over the third and fourth pillars has been re- 
 newed. The astragal of the inner member of the 
 arch is ancient, and wrought upon the block which 
 receives the capital ; but the portion over the pillar 
 was restored by insertion, under Essex. This 
 slight member of the capital seems to have been 
 defaced in almost every instance before the close 
 of the last century, and to have been replaced by 
 rudely shapen slips of stone, coarsely worked, and 
 not suitably fitted to the pillars, being so ill- 
 matched in diameter as to produce a very un- 
 sightly appearance. But still another fault attended 
 this luckless alteration ; it occasioned so much 
 injury to the capitals, that their proportion is 
 stunted and their effect displeasing. 
 
 The weather moulding of the arch is a broad 
 member, with the billet ornament on the inner 
 edge, and an elegant pattern of half-circles, con- 
 joined. The supports of this arc are two monster 
 heads, almost as extravagant in sculpture as in 
 design. A considerable amount of elaborately 
 finished work has been referred to as conferring 
 distinction upon this splendid gateway, and mention 
 has been made of those portions which have been 
 recently restored ; but as a sparing hand is always 
 extended by the writer to the artisanship of 
 antiquity, a large proportion of partially decayed 
 
235 
 
 stone-work has been left in regard for the orna- 
 ment which survives. With respect to the harsh 
 dealings of Essex with sculpture, the merit of 
 which was beyond his professional comprehension, 
 no shelter from reproach can be extended to it. It 
 stands out so distinctly, in so large a quantity, and 
 with an individuality so widely apart from its sur- 
 roundings, that the wonder is not that it should 
 have been overlooked, but that it should have been 
 mistaken by one critical visitor after another as a 
 thing of recent origin. 
 
 But singular for its situation is the ornament, 
 which more than others connected with this 
 entrance has been evil spoken of, in the spandrels 
 of this vast semicircle. Its presence has already 
 been accounted for as an elegant compensation for 
 the abbreviation of the outer or finishing arc of 
 the design. The spaces, in this instance, were 
 adequate to a diversity of pattern ; and now that 
 its beauty has been made manifest by an innocent 
 process, it is duly appreciated. The patterns are 
 on the surface above and below the dragons' heads, 
 and touch the early Norman piers on the sides. 
 The relief is produced by sinking around the 
 devices, the forms of which are thickly set. There 
 is no gradation of relief: the whole pattern is 
 uniform with the surface, and is carried to an even 
 depth in the wall. These conditions of the design 
 are alone sufficient to vouch for the genuineness 
 of its handling in every part. 
 
236 
 
 The founder's serious design may not have 
 included more than one doorway in the front ; 
 but Bishop Alexander had a more perfect know- 
 ledge of the way by which the organization of a 
 Cathedral Church might be improved, without too 
 familiar an intercourse with the outer world. His 
 example was not generally followed by contem- 
 porary Church builders. The single entrance was 
 maintained in many illustrious examples ; and it 
 would be difficult to find in England a rival to 
 Lincoln in its exhibition of triple doorways, all so 
 richly adorned. From the original foundation to 
 the present day, the semicircular arch has sheltered 
 the way to the nave and its aisles. The northern 
 was probably the congregational entrance, the 
 folding-gates in the centre not being thrown open 
 on ordinary occasions. 
 
 Doubtless the Master of the fabric in 1380 
 thought it within his reach to improve the design 
 of his predecessor by the interpolation of windows, 
 devoid of the strength of limb, which he disliked, in 
 the division of the slender compartments of the 
 foregone style. Accordingly the gay features of his 
 invention take their places within the recesses of 
 Remigius's massive building, and are overshadowed 
 by the lofty brows of the protecting arches. The 
 slenderness of the stone-work, and the openness 
 of the different compartments, are among the 
 remarkable characteristics to which architecture 
 had submitted since the middle of the thirteenth 
 
237 
 
 century. The plain interior walls of this inter- 
 esting part of the building received at the hands 
 of the indefatigable treasurer, John Welbourne, 
 as a portion of the ornamental work with 
 which he had undertaken to enliven the vene- 
 rable structure, a new lining, embellished with a 
 wall arcade of uncommon singleness and beauty ; 
 but to this meritorious product, and to the 
 lofty architecture confederate with it, Essex paid 
 no more deference than he could help. The 
 west windows, as refashioned at this time, are not 
 unused to admiration, nor are they undeserving 
 of it. The gap between this exhibition of the 
 versatility of architecture and the style of the 
 thirteenth century was broad, and decisive as to 
 its further stretch towards utter dissolution ; but 
 this state of things was no bar to its introduction 
 into older designs of unquestioned merit, and a 
 dwelling-place was given to the treasurer's inno- 
 vation in a commanding position. 
 
 The treasurer confirmed the goodness of his 
 taste, and the soundness of his loyalty, by the 
 introduction of an assemblage of kings in an 
 uniform series of eleven canopied recesses, of rich 
 open-work and pinnacled ornaments, as the 
 guardians of the great gate of the Chuch. The 
 sculpture in all its parts is superb. This donation 
 to the riches of the architecture, is the most 
 valuable they received after the reedification of 
 the Minster. The figures are without distinctive 
 
238 
 
 costume, and present no very strongly expressed 
 difference either of feature or of age. The hair 
 is waved and flowing in the manner of the four- 
 teenth century, and the jewelled crowns are 
 superb. The bodies are slightly turned in different 
 directions, and the limbs are variously disposed, 
 angularly, but not ungracefully ; and if the hands 
 had still grasped the sceptres, their dissimilar 
 positions would have warranted the directions in 
 which the arms are placed. All the figures are in 
 armour, and belted ; the feet are long and narrow, 
 and sharply pointed, agreeably to the fashion of 
 the period. Every figure, in the rich and elegant 
 cast of the folds, evinces the fine talent of the 
 sculptor. These admirable statues have been 
 shamefully abused by the contemptuous remarks 
 which have been passed upon the extraordinary 
 care which has been bestowed upon them, in order 
 to relieve their sculpture, and the recesses of their 
 resting-place, from the accumulated defilements of 
 the weather of ages. Let it be hoped that these 
 honoured representatives of sovereign dignity may 
 be preserved in time to come, as they have been in 
 times past, from the treacherous commendations 
 of all their assumed friends. 
 
 The inference derivable from the foregoing re- 
 marks as to the perfection of the sculpture, and 
 its freedom from recent blemish while under the 
 writer's care, would be sufficient to content the 
 generous minded and the unprejudiced, who view 
 
239 
 
 and appreciate these estimable objects of art ; but 
 the "restorers" of ancient architecture, and of its 
 rich appendages, are a very different class of 
 observers. They affect intense regard for every 
 stone of the Minster, and view with microscopic 
 eye, and enumerate with mathematical exactness, 
 every scratch and crevice upon the surface ; assign 
 periods to these and such like choice specimens 
 of " manipulation ;" and, wherever markings of 
 the like kinds are not to be found, ascribe their 
 absence to ignorant meddling. The faculties of 
 ecclesiologists are most conveniently tempered; 
 for, 
 
 " With eyes that hardly serve at most 
 To guard their master 'gainst a post," 
 
 they have not the ability to discern the benefit of 
 clearing away foul, foreign matter, which, according 
 to their refined taste, gave to the ancient work a 
 large- portion of its merit. Under these peculiar 
 circumstances, the writer declares emphatically 
 that these objects of the fierce attack of the 
 "ecclesiologists" have not sustained any kind of 
 injury ; that they have not been scraped in the 
 meaning of the term, as defined in their new 
 vocabulary; and that "injury or destruction" in 
 every thing ancient connected with architecture, 
 is the darling motto and the sole property of 
 that fraternity. 
 
 In speaking of the central doorway, Mr. Scott 
 hazards the remark that it has been "dealt with 
 
240 
 
 carefully, so far as the system adopted permit :" a 
 cold, and careless, and faulty expression, fatal to 
 his credit in Lincoln as a critic. When he next 
 visits the Minster, he must be careful how he 
 meets the indignant glance of the kings who 
 protect the entrance, which he treats with so 
 much levity and with such unmerited disrespect. 
 The truth is, that, considering the amount of 
 dilapidation, but little has been done to this 
 magnificent arch under the present system of 
 restoration. It had received so many and such 
 various kinds of injury, under supervision less 
 stringent than the present, that it would have 
 defied a sharper critic than he to discover the 
 different degrees of meddling it had sustained, 
 under the plea of restoration, within the last 
 seventy years. The way was made plain for 
 him just before his arrival, but determined to look 
 upon every feature of the design as corrupted by 
 modern hands, a single word consigned the stately 
 entrance to the limbo of degraded things. If he 
 had carried an intelligent eye to the subject, and 
 had taken the time and bestowed the attention 
 which, as a critic, he was bound to grant to the 
 thousand ornaments of this stupendous archway ; 
 if he had followed the march of its pillars from 
 the extraordinary distance of twenty-one feet eight 
 inches to the deeply recessed centre, and had 
 discovered the dissonance which is conspicuous 
 in so many members of the composition, he would 
 
241 
 
 have hesitated before he cast the door as it were 
 aside, as having just received its doom. 
 
 There can remain no doubt that Essex found 
 this part of the exterior of the Church in a mourn- 
 fully dilapidated condition. Clusters of pillars, and 
 an exuberant assortment of ornaments, all within 
 reach of destructive hands, were likely to suffer 
 excessive damage in the lapse of time. The 
 quantity of elaborately carved-work, and the state 
 of ruin to which it had been reduced, bewildered 
 the architect, who had not been used to contem- 
 plate with a professional eye, much less to handle, 
 such gorgeous and curious performances of the 
 chisel ; bold in relief, and wrought with the as- 
 siduity of adepts in the art. Essex, therefore, 
 made short work of the repairs ; but if his intention 
 were honest, the result of his labour in great part 
 proved injurious to the integrity of the design. 
 Some of the pillars had disappeared, others having 
 been broken down were removed and dispersed. 
 The mason-work of the jambs was in ruins, the 
 capitals were left without support, and the bases, 
 firm on their lowly foundations, were crushed and 
 useless. This is only a faint description of the 
 dilapidations which called for amendment. The 
 good deeds of Essex, in the way of repair, have been 
 described, and allusion has been made to the rare 
 expedients he adopted, in order to fulfil the under- 
 taking with brevity, instead of painstaking assiduity. 
 
 Mr. G. G. Scott gave up the central entrance as 
 
 R 
 
242 
 
 hopeless. The sneer was levelled at the whole of 
 the gate, as having been deprived of the full value 
 it retained to the day when its ornaments were 
 brought into perfect view, and the destroyed parts 
 expertly restored by the present workmen. Mr. 
 Scott's eye is not discriminating, nor is the faculty 
 encouraged which would enable him to fasten, 
 without fear of mistake, upon the wrong-doing of 
 modern artisans upon ancient architecture. He 
 viewed every thing at Lincoln Minster with pre- 
 judice. The work there did nor bear out his own 
 destructive processes. He could feel no necessity 
 to pore over every stone, or scrutinize every bit of 
 sculpture. His inclination is to produce as much 
 new work as possible. Ancient architecture ! 
 Lincoln Minster, Westminster Abbey, St. David's ! 
 What are these things in comparison with new de- 
 signs, stamped with the signet of Mr. G. G. Scott h ? 
 
 Some one of the public prints lately made 
 mention of a new screen in Westminster Abbey. 
 This announcement, although delicately expressed, 
 is sufficiently alarming. If the report be true, 
 Mr. G. G. Scott's method of dealing with the 
 sumptuous architecture of this peerless Church 
 cannot be thought to justify his censures at 
 Lincoln, nor to proclaim the sincerity of his 
 regard for the remains of antiquity. 
 
 What he calls his " recollections" of Westminster 
 
 h The choir of Lichfield Cathedral is an instance of un- 
 faithful restoration. 
 
243 
 
 Abbey- — recollections apparently of very recent 
 origin — give ample proof of his antiquarian medi- 
 ocrity. He has in these fugitive pieces approached 
 a subject of the deepest interest in the history of 
 Anglo-Norman architecture ; but he has shown 
 himself unable to penetrate to the depth necessary 
 to supply him with materials, which would well- 
 nigh set at rest a warmly disputed question 
 connected with the early ecclesiastical styles. His 
 want of knowledge in this department would be 
 excusable, were his pretensions as an antiquary 
 less boldly vaunted, or did his treatment of ancient 
 architecture evince a decent amount of right 
 feeling. If Mr. G. G. Scott's substitute of modern 
 materials and workmanship for ancient is not a 
 diminution of the interest of the Abbey, what 
 process of wanton spoliation can be said to rob 
 the gems of our most exalted national monument 
 of their genuineness? Which of the royal or noble 
 monuments is likely to escape destruction ? 
 
 The foregoing description of the present ap- 
 pearance and condition of the carved-work in the 
 recessed arches, and of the vast variety of superior 
 sculpture which garnishes the entrances of Lincoln 
 Minster, may perhaps be accepted as explanatory as 
 words can be of the shapes, the tints, the texture, 
 and the roughnesses produced by age and decay. 
 With this statement in full detail are associated 
 other useful particulars of information, regarding 
 the cleansing and the renewal of several of the 
 
 r 2 
 
244 
 
 ornaments ; and also the reason for leaving some 
 of the sculptures in the state of partial decay, to 
 which they have been reduced in the course of 
 ages. Whatever may be the measure of ill-will 
 with which the front of the Minster, in its 
 restored state, has hitherto been viewed, or 
 may still be regarded, by a party under the 
 influence of prejudice and misconception, the 
 faculties of those at least whose judgment is 
 unbiassed, and who are not unfamiliar with the 
 time-worn complexion of architecture and its 
 ornaments, will no doubt lead to conclusions 
 favourable to the system which shields the anti- 
 quity of the architecture. The evidence adduced 
 is confirmatory of the fact of the total absence of 
 modern handling, which is said to be spread "over 
 every part of the sculpture." The eye, guided by 
 exact judgment, can neither be coaxed nor forced 
 into antagonism with the testimony supplied so 
 abundantly over every part of the edifice itself. 
 None of its limbs are clothed with modernisms, 
 and the hues of the stones are those which age 
 alone could confer. 
 
 The writer can make no effort to convince the 
 obstinate and the obdurate of the errors they so 
 fondly cherish. He is well satisfied to leave the 
 matter to the sober decision of future and more 
 generous observers. The intention at the com- 
 mencement of the useful undertaking was to do 
 neither more nor less than has been steadily 
 
245 
 
 performed. The determined purpose has been 
 to preserve as much of the ancient work as 
 possible ; to do as little to it as was consistent with 
 the integrity of the design ; and to introduce as 
 little new material, either plain or ornamental, as 
 possible. These stipulations have been faithfully 
 observed, and the front of the Minster, thus 
 handled, remains invested with the admirable air 
 of antiquity. There can be no doubt, in the view 
 thus taken of the subject, that nothing modern 
 interrupts the general aspect of the front. The 
 original surface of the masonry remains uncon- 
 taminated, and the ancient sculpture, with com- 
 paratively few exceptions, remains untouched. 
 The eye is not cheated with new work vainly 
 made to appear, all at once, like old. The few 
 introductions which have been made of new stone 
 are distinguishable at a glance, and help to prove 
 the quality and the genuineness of every thing 
 around them. It would have been reprehensible, 
 if any thing calculated to bring the merit and 
 relief of the sculpture into full view had been left 
 undone; or to have failed in supplying the places 
 of such ornaments and mouldings as had been 
 destroyed, or so greatly defaced, as to have become 
 unintelligible. 
 
 Ill-natured aspersions, however boldly reiterated, 
 stand no chance against incontrovertible testimony, 
 brought to the mind by clear and intelligent eye- 
 sight. It is to observers of this class that the writer 
 
246 
 
 addresses himself: their critical attention would 
 not fail to rest upon the distinctive characters or 
 signs in the handiwork of antiquity, which place 
 them far above the reach of insipid imitations by- 
 modern hands. The conventional treatment of 
 ancient sculpture generally places it beyond the 
 ability of even moderate imitation. The diversity, 
 and in some instances the peculiarity, of the 
 earlier patterns in the Minster increases the 
 difficulty, and perplexes the judgment of inexpert 
 critics ; and the ancient handling is not always 
 alike in one and the same pattern. To attribute 
 dissimilitude of this kind to recent interference, is 
 not simply a proof of unskilfulness, but is certain 
 evidence that the objector is not well up in his 
 antiquarian information : it is a fabulous accusation, 
 because those who risk the censure assume a quali- 
 fication which they do not possess. 
 
 The description which has been given of the 
 ancient ornaments sufficiently refutes the nonsen- 
 sical charge of their having been tampered with. 
 Loss of size, and of relief, would be apparent ; 
 thinness where substance formerly appeared could 
 not be concealed ; newness in work of this kind 
 could not be masked. Surface ornaments can 
 neither be raised nor sunk without immediate 
 detection : in the execution, both wall and 
 ornament would inevitably lose every trace of 
 antiquity. None of these appearances are dis- 
 cernible at Lincoln. The combination of the 
 
247 
 
 zig-zag is so remarkable, that it defies such an 
 operation : the new and the old pieces are 
 mingled, and their surfaces are even ; the new has 
 not been made to look like old, nor the old to 
 assume the appearance of ' new : they are united 
 on the same level surface. 
 
 The writer owns that he is not so well ac- 
 quainted with these practical injuries to ancient 
 architecture as his adversaries appear to be, and 
 may be excused if he doubts the practicability 
 of recutting the rich sculptures of an arch, without 
 producing a total change in the relief, and a very 
 considerable alteration in the detail of the several 
 patterns. Ingenuous observation, extended to the 
 whole range of sculpture which has been referred 
 to in the front of the Minster, will establish the 
 congruity of these observations as to the reality 
 and fidelity of the things specified. The evidence 
 is ever present, substantial, and durable ; and no 
 amount of invective, no ingenuity of animadversion, 
 can affix a counterfeit mark to the genuine pro- 
 ductions of antiquity. 
 
 In a restoration conducted upon the principles 
 adopted at Lincoln Minster, the insertion of en- 
 tirely new stone-work in places cannot be avoided. 
 It must for some time to come be obvious, and 
 ought not on this account to be dimmed by any 
 kind of process. It would be trifling with the 
 detail of ancient architecture to imitate in any 
 manner the defects of age ; and it would be 
 
248 
 
 cynical to find fault with the new sculptures, 
 because they are associated with half-decayed 
 members, these being still too valuable to be de- 
 stroyed. This methodical procedure may perhaps 
 be regarded as establishing a new authority in 
 restoration ; but it is consonant with the con- 
 servation of any ancient building, and will be 
 regarded in that light by those who truly respect, 
 and sincerely desire, the preservation of every 
 trace of the footsteps of antiquity. 
 
 The writer's attention to the methods of repair 
 and restoration pursued in the earlier work of the 
 west front, must not allow him to pass unnoticed 
 a particular of the system which has been adopted 
 for the sake of preserving as much as possible of 
 the ancient ashlar of the thirteenth century. No 
 part of it has been disturbed on account of flaws, 
 or of decay on the edges and angles of the once 
 squared blocks. Defects, such as these, have 
 brought destruction upon many a buttress and 
 church-wall, but at Lincoln nothing of the kind 
 has been permitted. The joints, widened by the 
 decay of the material, and the angles of the 
 mason-work broken away in almost innumerable 
 instances to the depth of nearly two inches, have 
 been carefully filled in with the best cement. This 
 process was adopted after careful consideration, as 
 preferable to the ordinary practice of destroying 
 the ancient ashlar. The progress of decay has been 
 retarded for very many years. Of this, at least, 
 
249 
 
 the writer is confident that, by thus treating the 
 inferior blemishes in the mason-work, its strength 
 has been maintained ; whereas it would have been 
 seriously impaired, if he had permitted the facing 
 of the building in any part to have been torn 
 away for a modern substitute. 
 
 There is enough of originality in the restorations 
 of the Minster, and of evidence of their value, after 
 the test of many years, to justify a much more 
 diligent announcement than can now be made. 
 To point to repairs, which the vision of casual 
 observers cannot detect; to the application of 
 remedies, which obliterate defects without evincing 
 any distinct traces of modern handling; or causing 
 interruption to the harmonious effect of the 
 original detail, would be labour uselessly applied. 
 The writer has no conceit to gratify, and has made 
 no attempt in these pages to evade a full and 
 fair explanation of the various amendments which 
 admit of observation and criticism. For many 
 of these he is answerable, and for many he is 
 not ; but such is the obtuseness of professional 
 censurers, that they can descry none of those 
 distinctions, and in the zeal of their disparagement 
 they assign the whole category of blemishes to the 
 present date. 
 
 Some further remarks upon the ancient front 
 may be useful in this place, the rather as Mr. Scott 
 has formed no very elevated notion of its dis- 
 tinction among the remains of ancient architecture. 
 
250 
 
 It must indeed be a remarkable building that has 
 received so much attention, and for the preserva- 
 tion of which so many distinguished personages 
 have exerted their influence and ability to do 
 honour to it, and to ensure its lasting preservation. 
 English architecture is rich in " land-marks," a 
 piece of intelligence which leaves the information 
 contained within the walls of the pronaos in 
 quietude and uselessness. 
 
 The history of this ancient Minster, never yet 
 sufficiently investigated, can receive only slight 
 elucidation in the course of these pages, in so far 
 as the composition of one portion, at least, of the 
 design is concerned. But it will be interesting to 
 go a little further back, for the purpose of con- 
 sidering the state and quality of the place for the 
 sake of which Bishop Remigius left the seclusion 
 of Dorchester. He took up his abode amongst 
 Roman ruins, without any of the partiality for the 
 substantial relics so strongly evinced by his 
 countrymen at home. The footsteps of the 
 Romans are ineffaceable in this ancient city. 
 They were strongly marked on all hands, when 
 the inquisitive and ardent prelate made his way 
 thither to view the ground of which he desired 
 possession. The ruins of Roman edifices were 
 abundant, when he surveyed the plot most appro- 
 priate as the site for the Cathedral; for to the 
 north, beyond the precinct, there are now con- 
 siderable remains of buildings, and walls, and base- 
 
251 
 
 merits. The Church was planted in the midst of 
 foundations, from many of which the dilapidated 
 walls were riven, to clear the surface for the 
 Christian edifice. Nothing of whatever was ob- 
 served of Roman art was spared. It may be that 
 no building of eminence remained to contribute 
 its pillars and its stones to the Church, in the 
 manner in which such relics were preserved in 
 several of the ancient cities of France and Italy. 
 
 Some of the leading characteristics of Remigius's 
 architecture were not far removed from the sim- 
 plicity of Roman models ; indeed, they were nearer 
 to some of the classical forms, than are those in 
 the architecture of the Church of his namesake, 
 St. Remi, at Rheims, in the composition of which 
 Church are included a rich variety of the marble 
 pillars and capitals of heathen buildings of note. 
 The walls of the Minster may, in part, have been 
 based upon Roman materials, of which the site has 
 probably never been without memorials : many 
 still linger within the compass of the cloister. 
 
 Remigius accomplished his desire, and his 
 Church triumphed over the ruins of heathenism. 
 Its early days were marked by calamity ; but after 
 each untoward event, the edifice rose in superior 
 dignity. St. Hugh established its reputation for 
 elegant architecture ; and nothing was afterwards 
 done derogatory to the rank of its proud walls 1 . 
 
 1 The third volume of the " Vetusta Monumenta," the 
 fourth volume of the " Archseologia," and " Gough's Col- 
 
252 
 
 But ere it attained to the grandeur of mien in 
 which it is now presented, it was sorely tried. The 
 sack of the city, and the revengeful overthrow of 
 the Cathedral, are prominent among the events in 
 the history of Lincoln. The temporary desolation 
 of all within the ancient fortifications was a rude 
 blow to the splendour of the place, and to all its 
 belongings. The first Church planted here under 
 the Norman sway was not, we may believe, planned 
 on so large a scale, nor adorned so handsomely, as 
 to satisfy the successors of the founder ; and from 
 east to west its limbs were enlarged and beautified, 
 the latter improvement, as usual, being first pushed 
 eastward. With respect to the original nave, we 
 may almost allow ourselves to imagine, that it bore 
 a strong resemblance in the severity of its style to 
 that of the Abbey Church of Bernay. The evidence 
 for this conjecture appears in the peculiar finish- 
 ings of the design of the massive bulk of building, 
 which gave shape to the western extremity of the 
 Minster, and which survives, forming the centre of 
 the present front. 
 
 lections " in the Bodleian Library, all contain carious par- 
 ticulars of information relating to the Minster at different 
 periods. But any reference to these valuable works would 
 have obliged the writer to stretch the present subject beyond 
 reasonable limits, and on this account he has not gone 
 beyond the authority of his own resources and observations 
 within the Cathedral, with which he is very well acquainted, 
 and which would readily present a much greater number of 
 interesting features, than he could notice within the compass 
 of a publication of this description. 
 
253 
 
 The early pronaos was always strong of limb, 
 very much enclosed, and furnished with features 
 distinct from those of the nave. It possessed 
 more than the usual formality or " stiffness of 
 Norman design, and, as seen at Lincoln, presented 
 more sullen simplicity than is observable in any 
 other example. The area of its elevation was 
 single in height and in breadth. It had no 
 prominently defined line of subdivision in its 
 altitude, a character which was confirmed by the 
 recesses, which were the only interruptions of the 
 one even surface of the capacious wall. A straight 
 course of parapet, with a gable in the centre, was 
 the presumed finish of the design. Such was the 
 edifice which formed the basis of all the archi- 
 tecture that has since been conferred upon it. 
 The impression that these distinctions were in- 
 alienable, prevailed most strongly in the mind of 
 the builders who, one after another, engaged in its 
 structural alteration. But this alteration, in the 
 first instance, never aimed at any thing more than 
 an improvement of the parapet, which Bishop 
 Alexander carried up with due regard to the same 
 even line of wall. And when this beautiful ad- 
 dition was removed in the thirteenth century, the 
 architect of that period returned to a more close 
 resemblance with the original design than his pre- 
 decessor had observed, in that he retained the 
 single central gable, and stretched out the hori- 
 zontal parapet on either side to twice the length of 
 
254 
 
 the Norman original. These are interesting circum- 
 stances in the history of this facade, and of archi- 
 tecture generally. The front of Salisbury Cathedral 
 and the front of Selby Abbey Church supply au- 
 thority for the remark, that this form was quite con- 
 sistent with the pointed style in its finest condition. 
 
 In this remarkable feature of the Minster, we 
 behold the genius of Bishop Remigius as evinced in 
 the architecture of his age. The cast of the design 
 is simple and grand, in few parts, and in bold 
 relief. The early character here presented to 
 view was not often imported from Normandy so 
 genuine and perfect in its peculiar and characteristic 
 detail ; so austere in the main forms of the com- 
 position, and that too at a period when the 
 builders were not unfamiliar with anglo-versions 
 of the architecture in question. Remigius adhered 
 to the type he had chosen, and there can be no 
 doubt that the general contour of the first Church 
 at Lincoln was designed to present, in all its 
 members, the same severe forms, relieved in front 
 by a proportionately tall entrance, on which the 
 carver's talent was liberally employed. 
 
 In general aspect, and in every particular, the 
 style of this early work is unique. The few years 
 which intervened between the arrival of the 
 founder at Lincoln, and the accession of Alex- 
 ander to the See, are insufficient to account for 
 the disparity which is conspicuous in the archi- 
 tecture of the Cathedral. The downright singleness 
 
255 
 
 in the design of the one, and the attentive 
 elaboration and high finish in that of the other, 
 produce a remarkable contrast, and at the same 
 time clear evidence, that the discerning faculty of 
 the builders of the latter period had arrived at a 
 state of accuracy at once elegant and beneficial. 
 
 Remigius's professional abilities lay dormant at 
 Dorchester, where, in his time, the state of that 
 ancient city gave no encouragement to building 
 speculations on a grand scale. Lincoln, on the 
 contrary, was prepared for aggrandisement, and 
 the Norman Bishop was destined to plant therein 
 a See, whose prosperity and fame would soon 
 become manifest among the elder ecclesiastical 
 establishments. Here Remigius essayed as a 
 patron of architecture on a great scale, and 
 brought to the employment, with conspicuous 
 energy and ability, his early acquired predilections 
 in favour of the old Norman style ; and his work 
 indicates that his partialities in the art of design 
 had lost nothing of their resolvedness. This is 
 apparent in the remains of his Cathedral. The 
 mere simplicity and formal square of the building, 
 without buttresses, the slender angles having no 
 security in addition to the strength of the wall,, 
 are features not now referred to ; the genius of 
 the composition in plan and elevation, and the 
 rude and somewhat coarse shape of the capitals, 
 are decisive as to their foreign origin. With these 
 traits of character, the bulk of building referred to 
 
256 
 
 is not to be brought into comparison with any 
 other now remaining on English soil. 
 
 No part of the front has escaped the mischiefs 
 of time. The works of the eleventh, the twelfth, 
 and the thirteenth centuries have yielded to its 
 pressure, and have been gratefully sustained in the 
 days of their weakness, and in the darkest periods 
 of their misfortune. A large portion of the em- 
 ployment of Essex concerned the strength and 
 perfectness of the ornamental features of the 
 design ; such as the renewal of the pillars, the 
 restoration of the arches, the repair of the parapet, 
 of the plinth, the cornices, and other members 
 which had gone to decay, or had been wilfully 
 torn down or mutilated. But, as already remarked, 
 he must not be held answerable for all the coarse 
 handling which may be discovered in the front, 
 the repairs having been carried on, not without 
 intermission, to the year 1817. The defects in 
 the ashlar were repaired periodically, and with 
 great care and judgment, both as regards the 
 quality of the stone produced by different quarries, 
 and the condition of the surrounding mason-work; 
 permanent security being at the same time given 
 to injuries of great moment in the several arcades. 
 Whatever was done by Essex, in relation to the 
 stability of the church-walls, has lasted well ; and 
 the material of those shares of it which have been 
 brought into a state of disguise, will endure for 
 many generations to come, and deserves its 
 
257 
 
 position amidst the antique construction of the 
 Norman builder, whose mason-work had been buf- 1 
 feted by relentless and uncontrollable antagonists. 
 The same architect performed a considerable 
 number of renewals among the array of ornaments 
 with which the front of the Minster is adorned, 
 bestowing in its execution all the ability and 
 judgment of which he was master ; and it might, 
 in some instances, have been owing to restricted 
 means that he did not proceed with greater assiduity ? 
 or extend the scale of his operations beyond the 
 area of the front. He was particular in specifying 
 the nature, and settling the quantity, of the work 
 to be undertaken ; and does not appear to have 
 had at any time the command of thousands, with 
 liberty to expend them just when, and in what 
 manner, he pleased. His own head and his own 
 hands gathered with industry, and supplied with 
 discrimination, the information and instruction 
 which guided the artificers at Lincoln. In his 
 useful survey of the state of the Minster, generally, 
 he enumerated defects which were discovered by 
 his own vision, and witnessed in the course of a 
 few years the benefits which the Minster derived 
 from his advice and sound practical abilities. The 
 modest tone of his references to the necessities of 
 the edifice does credit to his ingenuousness and 
 his discernment ; and his application of a fresh 
 material to the ancient walls, has been apolo- 
 getically viewed in evidence of the honesty of his 
 
 s 
 
258 
 
 purpose. Indispensable work of the same kind 
 has since been executed on safer conditions. So 
 far from wantonly destroying any of the ancient 
 artisanship for the sake of providing new, he may 
 be said to have failed in carrying his repairs far 
 enough, not as to the mode of executing them, 
 but as to the quantity undertaken ; it being quite 
 certain, that the term of seventy years has proved 
 sufficient to obliterate patterns which were only 
 defaced in his day, and at that time capable of re- 
 production. In truth, Essex had not the folly or 
 the vanity to suggest the possibility of his being 
 able to improve the architecture of the Cathedral. 
 When he gained a footing within its walls, he went 
 straight to his work with intelligence, and singleness 
 of mind and purpose. He made no discoveries of 
 defects or deficiencies of costly character before 
 unheard of, but bent the energies of his eminently 
 practical mind to the task of strengthening the 
 supports of the western towers ; and how much 
 soever the necessity for all that he did in this 
 behalf has been thought dubious, no questioner 
 has yet appeared fraught with resolution to diminish 
 the rocky bulk, supposing that he had the oppor- 
 tunity to carry out so hazardous an experiment. 
 Although the misdoings of Essex in Cathedrals 
 can neither be forgotten nor forgiven, it is 
 impossible to withhold the meed of praise from 
 a man with so much sterling worth in his 
 profession. He acted like one who thought only 
 
259 
 
 of the work he had in hand, and never ran wild 
 among the profuse gatherings of architectural 
 splendour in any Cathedral. His taste and his 
 parsimony were nearly equally matched : he can 
 never be blamed for extravagance, as the term is 
 illustrated in these days ; nor for a propensity to 
 sport with ornament, as if architecture had no 
 higher recommendation. Lincoln Minster may 
 rejoice that this, at least, was not one of the 
 darling passions of Essex : its walls will re-echo 
 from aisle to aisle the sounds of joy, that they 
 have escaped the pollutions which have swept 
 antiquity and seriousness from other Cathedrals. 
 
 The writer makes no attempt to shelter himself 
 under the experience of Essex, or the misdoings of 
 Mr. G. G. Scott. He admits no degrees of inno- 
 vation, and believes that the processes, sanctioned 
 and pursued at Lincoln, to be the surest and safest 
 for the interest and value of the edifice, and for 
 the honour of its guardians. Mr. G. G. Scott, and, 
 in imitation of him, his coadjutors in the march 
 of invective, have carefully abstained from all 
 reference to the different qualities of building- 
 stone, which in fairness ought to be considered in 
 a question of this nature. It was not fair to deal 
 thus with the rare material of Lincoln,— to make 
 general remarks, which may mislead strangers, and 
 which may be applied to any kind of stone; those, 
 for example, of oolite of the worst description. 
 The Minster is not to be treated or spoken of as if 
 
 s 2 
 
260 
 
 the material of its walls bad been derived from the 
 quarries at Shotover. 
 
 Under this reserve, Mr. G. G. Scott has made 
 heart-rending appeals to churchmen, and to the 
 lovers of church-walls generally, on the subject of 
 " scraping " the good old Norman stone-work. He 
 has given the term the most injurious meaning 
 it could receive, and has taught his followers 
 to repeat the aspersion in reference to the restora- 
 tive works which have lately been accomplished at 
 Lincoln. But whatever may be the quality of the 
 process, the universality of the application must 
 be admitted; and, therefore, there would be no 
 difficulty in proving that Mr. G. G. Scott is the 
 greatest " scraper" in England. It is this process, 
 more or less sharply applied, which produces the 
 beautiful manipulation in modern mason-work ; the 
 markings thus named in ancient artisanship pro- 
 ceed from the make of the instrument employed, 
 without design on the part of the artisan ; hence 
 the presence or the absence of unevenness on the 
 surface of the material. It is well for Mr. G. G. 
 Scott that Remigius's master-mason cannot make 
 his appearance in defence of his own stone-walls : 
 he would grimly smile at the simplicity of a lecture 
 upon the incidental markings, which his underlings 
 had left upon the coarsely-separated or coarsely- 
 prepared blocks of stone. The Anglo-Norman 
 builders frequently polished every part of their 
 work with care and precision : the close joint and 
 
261 
 
 the smooth surface appear in many of their 
 grandest structures. 
 
 The issue of ancient and modern scraping has 
 been made known to a certain extent at Lough- 
 borough, where the venerable white-wash, coat 
 upon coat, had clung to the pillars with fond 
 embrace for centuries. The eye had become 
 quite accustomed to this constant and adhesive 
 friend of church-walls, and cannot be easily recon- 
 ciled to the " smartened" stone-work. The whole 
 interior has been scraped after the censure of the 
 same harmless process at Lincoln ; the grandly 
 arcaded aisles still echo with the sounds of the 
 operation performed by scientific hands, guided 
 by heads full of all knowledge in ancient archi- 
 tecture. 
 
 The writer has reserved for this place a remark 
 upon certain of the capitals of the north entrance 
 in the west front of the Minster. The sculptures 
 are valuable, and Mr. G. G. Scott made a point 
 of bringing them into notice with great ceremony, 
 terminating with a prophecy which has signally 
 failed. Of these admirable objects of the sculptor's 
 chisel, Mr. G. G. Scott says, " the capitals are suf- 
 ficiently sound if left to themselves, but I see plainly 
 that their substance is blistered and softened below 
 the surface, so that if the scraping process is applied, 
 their value will be utterly destroyed" The writer's 
 observations, more close and attentive, led him 
 to a different conclusion ; and now that the sculp- 
 
262 
 
 tures are released from their defilements, Mr. G. 
 E. Street daringly asserts that they have been 
 recut : these are his words — " the capitals of this 
 door have been to a large extent recut, and not by 
 skilful hands, so that their architectural value is 
 entirely destroyed." If there were a syllable of 
 truth in this statement, Mr. Street ought to have 
 proved it by reference to the signs of reworked 
 capitals, — signs which could not be effaced from 
 any of the members above and below connected 
 with them. This, among many other shameless 
 assertions, has placed Mr. Street out of court, 
 and no farther notice will be taken of his sweeping 
 invectives. He who tosses ancient architecture 
 to the right and to the left, and maltreats and 
 disfigures with architectural coxcombery the re- 
 mains he spares, must needs exhibit his ecclesio- 
 logical veracity at Lincoln. His tirade produced 
 the following letter. 
 
 "Dec. 9, 1865. 
 
 "Reverend Sir, 
 
 " I have hitherto thought it unnecessary to 
 take any notice of the various and supercilious 
 criticisms, which from time to time have been 
 made upon the restorations in progress in the 
 front of Lincoln Minster. But the last effusion 
 upon the subject from the hasty, prolific, and 
 ill-guided pen of Mr. Street, contains assertions 
 so extravagant, and so boldly inaccurate, that I 
 
263 
 
 feel bound to notice the matter, lest you, or 
 any of the members of the Chapter, should for 
 a moment entertain a doubt as to the faithful 
 performance, on my part, of the duties with which 
 I have been entrusted. 
 
 " I pass over a multitude of flippant observations, 
 designed for those who lack the opportunity, or 
 the inclination, to ascertain for themselves the 
 true facts of the case, and refer at once to the 
 leading remarks upon certain ornamental features 
 in the architecture of the front of the Minster. 
 
 " The critic affirms, among other things, that 
 the ornaments of one of the original pillars, on 
 the right-hand side of the central doorway, have 
 been cut all over, the delicate leaf-work confused 
 and altered, and the faces, hair, fyc. of the figures 
 and animals to a great extent recut, and so forth. 
 The small nail-heads in the north-west door have 
 nearly all been cut afresh, reduced in projection 
 and spoilt, and the mouldings have been reworked. 
 The beak-heads are covered with marks of the sharp 
 cleaning tool, and the faces of the stone are to a 
 great extent new. Thj four-leaved flowers have 
 been wrought alt over, and their original character 
 almost destroyed. The capitals of this door have 
 been to a large extent recut. Some flat foliage 
 on the wall just above has been hacked, till scarce 
 a mark of the old carver's hand remains. 
 
 " These and many other assertions of the same 
 nature are entirely unfounded. So far from its being 
 
264 
 
 true that the carved-work has been cut all over, 
 it has not been cut over in any part ; it has 
 not been confused or altered, nor has it in the 
 least degree been deteriorated. Nor is it true that 
 any part of the ornamental work has been cut 
 afresh, reworked in any particular of detail, or 
 in any degree impoverished. The assertions as to 
 the mutilation, defacement, or destruction, whether 
 of the plain or ornamental work, or whether in re- 
 lation to the architecture or the statuary, are one 
 and all prejudiced, inaccurate, and absurd. ( Truth 
 cannot be drowned ; plunge it as deep down as 
 you like, it always returns to the surface, and 
 floats triumphantly thereV 
 
 "The critics of this school are determined to 
 make no allowance for the wear and tear of time ; 
 none for the inequality of Norman carved-work ; 
 none for the various properties of the materials ; 
 none for the misdoings among the ornaments at 
 the several periods of restoration already mentioned. 
 They close their eyes to evidence which would 
 be satisfactory to reasonable men, and will only 
 represent, and therefore only believe, that every 
 visible roughness, every insignificant proportion, 
 and every antique scratch ; in short, that every 
 real or imaginary defect has been scraped or 
 carved into existence upon Norman workmanship, 
 which before was perfect and unblemished. I will 
 neither waste time, nor affront your good sense, 
 j St. Pierre. 
 
265 
 
 by prolonging my remarks upon these veracious 
 criticisms. Their authors are the destroyers of 
 Church architecture; the assistants of those whose 
 daily employment it is to impoverish the value of 
 the remains of antiquity ; and who think that, by 
 going to Lincoln, they can veil the condemnation 
 they deserve for betraying the interests of the 
 science, which it was their obligation as ecclesio- 
 logists to have upheld. 
 
 " Mr. Street, like his exemplar, is a biassed and 
 an incompetent judge. He is not aware of the 
 multiplicity of innovations which the front of 
 the Minster sustained, between the closing years 
 of the last century and the year 1817. If he 
 had taken time to master the subject, before he 
 followed the multitude of objectors in the tirade 
 against the conscientious preservation of the anti- 
 quities of the Minster, he would not have aspersed 
 the workmen of the present day for the wretched 
 handling of those of former years, nor have added 
 to the number of cunningly-devised fables, which 
 harm only the inventors thereof. He would not 
 have confounded the corrosions of age with the 
 operations of modern artisanship : neither would 
 it have escaped his notice, that, as (according to 
 his own statement) the black particles remain in 
 the crevices of the entire surface, the most con- 
 vincing evidence is adduced that the original 
 surface has been left undisturbed. 
 
 " The singular subject of by-gone innovation in 
 
266 
 
 the front of the Minster, which has hitherto passed 
 unnoticed in the presence of unnumbered ' eccle- 
 siologists,' keen of sight, and in judgment exquisite, 
 will be carefully elucidated in the defence of the 
 restorations of the architecture of the unrivalled 
 Minster, as soon as a convenient opportunity 
 arrives for its publication. 
 
 " I have the honour, &c. 
 
 " J. C. Buckler. 
 u The Very Reverend the Dean of Lincoln." 
 
 One instance, at least, ought to be produced of 
 this critic's treatment of ancient Churches : and 
 the one selected will be sufficient to announce the 
 quality of his taste, and his appreciation of the 
 subject upon which he allows his pen to dilate. 
 The village of Cowley, in Oxfordshire, presented, 
 until recently, a modest little Church, of Norman 
 origin, placed far enough away from busy multi- 
 tudes to retain its genuine quality in accordance 
 with the surrounding scenery. It preserved every 
 lineament of its primitive character, until Mr. Street 
 entered the walled enclosure to give it the benefit 
 of his genius. A chancel, a nave, and a western 
 tower constituted its figure, the relative propor- 
 tions of which were exact, and the Church was 
 suitable to the wants of the rural population. 
 
 One builder after another, in the course of 
 ages, had done good service to the original struc- 
 ture, without interfering with the proportions ; 
 
267 
 
 but no desire for flashy ornament was at any time 
 evinced, before the ecclesiologist undertook its 
 restoration. To this end the walls of the Church 
 and chancel were considerably heightened, and 
 on these were raised roofs so preposterously steep, 
 that the one attached to the tower outtops its 
 battlements by several feet, and so it is allowed to 
 remain. In the interior, the walls and the chancel 
 arch have been bedaubed as a preparation for 
 bands of vulgar painted-work, as if in derision of 
 the characteristic features of the Norman era. 
 
 Cowley, in Gloucestershire, has a Church of the 
 same class. Here, too, are painted ornaments, 
 which were produced with the architecture at the 
 beginning of the thirteenth century. It is evident 
 that the builder and the limner worked together. 
 On the score of ornament, the former gave way to 
 the talent of the latter, and well he merited the 
 deference which was paid to his ability. He left 
 no doubt of his mastership of the art. His 
 correct judgment is seen in the selection and 
 application of ornaments designed to take the 
 place of carved-work. Their value and beautiful 
 effect are very striking : they supply the places of 
 pillars, capitals, mouldings, and other embellish- 
 ments, with a strength of colour no less remarkable 
 than the adherence to the conventional character 
 in the detail of the different designs. The art was 
 thoroughly understood at that early period ; no 
 wonder that the difference in merit should be great 
 
268 
 
 between this production at Cowley, and the crude 
 performances of the present day. 
 
 The preceding pages of this pamphlet treat fully 
 of every part of the subject aspersed so freely by 
 the unobservant writer of the letter, from which 
 the foregoing extracts have been made. It would 
 be a waste of time to add any thing to the remarks 
 appended. The same charges have been advanced 
 and refuted over and over again, but there is no 
 limit to the cleverness of hypercritics. If half the 
 number of pages, or even sentences, that have been 
 written by a party to find fault with the restora- 
 tions of Lincoln Minster, had been directed against 
 the shameless alterations and merciless ravages 
 which are constantly taking place in ancient 
 Churches of all classes, treasures of architecture 
 which have been destroyed would have been saved. 
 This wickedness proceeds with the tacit appro- 
 bation of the very persons before named, many of 
 w 7 hom are so forward to censure at Lincoln what 
 they have never seen; mere scribblers, who feel no 
 interest in the employment, and are aroused by no 
 regard for the objects of high architectural art, 
 which are being daily diminished in number and 
 value by the mischievous industry of their own asso- 
 ciates. They do not reflect upon the serious truth 
 spoken more than a hundred years ago, that ancient 
 architecture constitutes the fairest monuments in 
 the land. 
 
 The beauty of our Churches, and the instructive 
 
269 
 
 teachings of their stone walls, are distinct ex- 
 pressions ; but these advantages are not limited 
 to the architecture on the inside and outside of 
 the structure before us, how rich soever and lovely 
 it may be. Lincoln Minster teems with objects of 
 great value in connexion with its history— objects 
 spread through the building, and secured from the 
 ken of superficial and heartless observers ; but no 
 less instructive or reliable than written records 
 to those who know how to appreciate tangible 
 evidence. But under any circumstance whatever, 
 every effort should be made to secure from deface- 
 ment or destruction, as well the curiosities of 
 architecture, as of architecture itself. Within the 
 compass of the pronaos of the Minster are to be 
 found in different shapes, and under different cir- 
 cumstances, the materials for a whole volume of 
 archaeological information, not to be exceeded in 
 worth by any kindred subject elsewhere. The 
 writer has mentioned only a few of these particulars, 
 because his subject forbids him to stretch far 
 beyond its limits. 
 
 In the antiquarian department, as connected 
 with the history of ecclesiastical architecture, the 
 absorbing interest of this portion of the Minster 
 from the underground basement 11 to the summit, 
 
 k The outside pavement was raised considerably, and in 
 early times, before the front of the Minster, with the view, it 
 would seem, of ascending by steps, from the common level of 
 the ground, to a broad landing, commensurate with the length 
 
270 
 
 and in its breadth and its length, can only be ap- 
 preciated by those who have brought time and 
 devotion to its attentive examination. Nor does 
 curiosity alone find the means of gratification. The 
 highest hopes of architecture are here accom- 
 plished, and fill the mind with wonder, while 
 imbibing its perfections. 
 
 The writer would not have been excused, if he 
 had failed to discriminate between the sculptured 
 work adopted by Bishop Alexander, and that pro- 
 vided by his own workmen ; or to account for 
 remains of the same early date, which, not being 
 employed, were carelessly scattered, and for the 
 most part lost to the Church. The wits of the 
 ecclesiological critics were not sharpened for the 
 evidence which stood out to view before them in 
 the works of Remigius, of Bishop Alexander, or of 
 the notable Essex, associated and combined in the 
 elevation. All were treated alike, and all declared 
 to have been so much modernised by having been 
 simply cleansed, as to have lost their identity and 
 their value. The difference in colour between the 
 original pillars and of portions of the jambs and 
 arches escaped observation ; the operations, per- 
 formed at different and distant times, were un- 
 
 of the Norman front. The architect, in the thirteenth century, 
 suited the basement of the Church to the ordinary surface of 
 the ground, and that of the front to the raised pavement. The 
 height and expanse of the basement on the angles met the 
 difficulty : the design and the performance are of the most 
 masterly description. 
 
271 
 
 thought of and unknown ; but these circumstances 
 alone did not occasion that diversity of colour, 
 which has always been remarked as analogous to 
 the antiquity of the masonry. Essex, having re- 
 worked with different degrees of rigour the several 
 members which have been described, produced 
 partially new surfaces to the stone ; but beyond 
 what this mischievous operation rendered neces- 
 sary, he does not appear to have removed the foul 
 substance from the carved -work. A long course 
 of years has not restored to the ancient artisanship, 
 thus treated, a hue in harmony with the members 
 which escaped pollution. These blemishes are 
 easily distinguishable from the softened workman- 
 ship of remote antiquity, by the sharp and stiff 
 lines of the interpolations. 
 
 One cannot praise, and it would be hard to 
 blame, all that this architect did with better 
 intention than judgment. The light in his days 
 did not shine brilliantly upon ancient ecclesiastical 
 architecture. The necessities of the case were 
 urgent : he did good service to the structure, 
 but thought one entrance for the Church sufficient, 
 and therefore sufficient for his own care. As a 
 rule, he did not rework any of the ancient surfaces; 
 wherefore should he, seeing that they could not 
 receive amendment ? Nor has the recent simple 
 process of cleansing the same good old mason-work 
 interfered in the slightest degree with its genuine- 
 ness, or with the quality of the carving. The 
 
272 
 
 evidence is indisputable. That new surfaces have 
 not been brought to view on any part of the ancient 
 masonry is proved by its texture, which the writer 
 must repeat retains, in all its minute indentations, 
 the remains of the blackness with which they had 
 been coated- The same observation applies to the 
 sculpture. In both, the deep, dusky yellow colour, 
 which has been caused by the lapse of time upon 
 the quality of the material, is beautiful in effect, 
 and lasting. The rays oFthe western sun confer 
 upon it extraordinary splendour, and thereby 
 abnegate the insensate remarks which, having 
 been obstinately repeated, require to be firmly 
 resisted. The facts, as here stated, are not to be 
 overborne by the intemperate assertions of eccle- 
 siologists, who refuse to recognise the contrast of 
 the venerable and variegated hues, with the fresh 
 appearance of the newly inserted stone-work. Not 
 one of the blemishes now so eagerly fastened upon, 
 was believed to have existed before the commence- 
 ment of the recent repairs and restorations. 
 Unbelief is insatiable. Not one of the critics can 
 be persuaded that the front had sustained any kind 
 of injury in by-gone years. The crude work of 
 Essex was passed by unheeded. As to the mingled 
 artisanship of Remigius and Alexander in matters 
 of detail, the eye, and the judgment requisite for 
 such a discovery, were too much to expect from 
 ecclesiologists, who slumber year after year over 
 the ruins of famed Churches ; who give no ear to 
 
273 
 
 the destruction of screens, or of rood-lofts ; who 
 care nothing for the substitution of modern 
 architecture for ancient, of sculptured ornaments 
 of reverend antiquity for others of yesterday, 
 without once breaking from their repose to utter 
 a murmur of reproach. 
 
 Individuals and whole societies were in a state 
 of somnolency, until a few of the conscience- 
 stricken and therefore less drowsy partisans dis- 
 turbed their guileless repose ; and when at last 
 aroused from their lengthy night of mental 
 quietude, their faculties proved to be sadly out of 
 order for their bidding. The pen was hurried 
 into duty, without time to guide it in the right 
 direction ; and the retina, so long unused to ob- 
 servation, and at best but ill-skilled in close and 
 accurate attention to the details of ancient archi- 
 tecture, had the ill-luck to fall upon objects which, 
 in better days, it would have pointed out for defence, 
 and to see as it were the name of some modern 
 artificer, where more keen-sighted observers could 
 distinctly descry the well-known marks of Essex. 
 
 This singular race, chamelion-like, can change 
 their colours. They sleep, that they may know 
 nothing of passing events amongst antiquities : they 
 awake, that they may denounce what they are told 
 is fatal to the interests of ancient architecture. 
 The mnemoclasts of former years were more 
 ingenuous. James Wyatt made no attempt to 
 conceal the fact, that he entered Cathedrals and 
 
 T 
 
274 
 
 other Churches for the purpose of remodelling 
 them. He took uncommon pains at Hereford to 
 depart from the design of the nave. The ruins of 
 the Norman arches and pillars were capable of 
 restoration to a very considerable extent, but he 
 had no mind to restore the architecture which had 
 been mutilated or thrown down, and was permitted 
 to deface the Cathedral with his own professional 
 theorisms. The simple restoration of the front 
 of St. David's never entered the mind of Nash, 
 when he approached the Palmyra of British 
 architecture. He set his inventive powers to 
 work, and, in place of the Norman elevation, 
 built up a gable wall with buttresses, remarkable 
 for solidity and ugliness. James Wyatt waged 
 war against screens and rood-lofts, merely to 
 show how well he could supply their places ; 
 but he did not give iron and brass, for gold and 
 precious stones. He dreaded to interfere with the 
 uncommonly interesting and magnificent one at 
 St. David's, and feared terribly to set his foot in 
 Westminster Abbey. He was at no loss for an 
 excuse for mischief when he entered a Church, 
 and was famous as the giver of plaster for stone ; 
 but the finery of carved and painted ornaments, 
 of tin, and brass, and iron, were not among the 
 playthings with which he aimed to captivate the 
 multitude. 
 
 The careful repairs, and conscientious restora- 
 tions at Lincoln, convey strange intelligence to 
 
275 
 
 the ears of ecclesiologists, who cannot endure that; 
 in the midst of the wide-spread destruction and 
 of wanton innovation, which by their silence they 
 deliberately sanction and promote, a contrary 
 instance should occur in which no conspicuous 
 sign of modern handling appears in the midst of 
 the rich elaborations of ancient days. The writer 
 has passed his life in uncompromising hostility to 
 innovation in ancient architecture, and is not 
 likely to be excused by the ardent advocates of 
 the modern foppery, which is now so freely 
 interpolated in lieu of architecture into the 
 designs of antiquity. 
 
 The Minster will remain a proud example of 
 honest and faithful restoration : by the writer not 
 a stone has been injured, not a stone removed, 
 that could be spared ; while many Cathedral and 
 Abbey Churches will exhibit modernisms foisted 
 into the place of sober and consistent architecture^ 
 which has been swept from the structure at the 
 instance of conceit and false taste. A more 
 generous influence has prevailed at Lincoln. 
 There the spirit of restoration, faithful restoration, 
 has never been departed from ; and the whole 
 fabric of the Church, the most glorious combination 
 of early architecture in the kingdom, the labour of 
 much industry for many years up to the present 
 time, is without a contemporary rival. This great 
 work has been accomplished, stone by stone ; not 
 a single buttress has been rebuilt; not a single 
 
 t 2 
 
276 
 
 window riven from the walls ; not a length of 
 cornice nor a moulding disturbed ; not a pinnacle 
 thrown down ; not a foundation supposed to be 
 defective. The curious leaden parapet has been 
 regarded as a worthy feature of the design. No 
 dashing ornaments have been foisted into the 
 design, nor broad display of new stone-work, with 
 zoological and botanical exhibitions of sculpture, 
 to outvie the artistic and more effective productions 
 of antiquity, and to bear the blushing and signi- 
 ficant legend, 
 
 EGO : ET : SANCT I HUGO I FECIMUS. 
 
 At Lincoln the modern work bears so small a 
 proportion to the original, that the air of the 
 building, from whatever point it is viewed, is un- 
 disturbed. Such a range of architecture as is here 
 presented to view, facing the south, exceeding five 
 hundred feet in length, is nowhere else to be seen. 
 Lofty, contemporary, or closely consecutive as to 
 date, and in the finest style, this stupendous edifice 
 has remained undefaced in recent days. Not a single 
 modernism distracts the vision, as the eye passes 
 from one vast feature to another in the lengthened 
 perspective. Such a series of buttresses and 
 windows, symmetrical and harmonious, all in 
 slender proportions, lofty, and exquisitely finished, 
 is unrivalled. This unusually rich combination is 
 the result of the double bays in which the design 
 is cast. The effect within the aisles is very fine, by 
 reason of the system of arching and groining the 
 
277 
 
 roof: on the outside the divisions are distinct, 
 formed by buttresses alternated in size, thus mark- 
 ing the main separations of the range. 
 
 There has been no want of funds at Lincoln for 
 whatever was judicious in the work of restoration. 
 No waste upon fantastic novelties, or upon work 
 undone for the sake of doing it over again. No 
 pains have been spared in the supervision, no zeal 
 has been wanting in the antiquarian department, 
 nor any appliance absent wherever it was needed. 
 Essex gave stability to the weak part of the edifice ; 
 and in his first written document upon the subject, 
 he made no ostentatious statement of dangers and 
 of difficulties, to pave the way for thousands where- 
 with to make needless havoc, or to play, after he had 
 secured a footing in the Church. He did not, as 
 before observed, affect the antiquary, and laid no 
 claim to supereminent taste in ancient archi- 
 tecture. Cold or warm, his genius and ability 
 extended from the east to the west in the Minster. 
 He perhaps saved an important portion of it, and 
 daubed no part of the interior with pigments, which 
 his predecessors in early times had considerately 
 excluded from the ornaments. 
 
 If enough has been said to rescue the walls of 
 Lincoln Minster from the unjust aspersion of having 
 been either " chopped " or " scraped," surely less 
 than enough has been written upon the injuries of 
 these kinds practised in other directions. Perhaps 
 no other Church besides that of St. Mary Redcliffe, 
 
278 
 
 at Bristol, can be named, in which the true meaning 
 of these terms is exemplified by the processes in 
 operation. But no ardent member of the fraternity 
 is indignant at the harsh sounds which vibrate on 
 the senses ; no voice has been raised, no pen em- 
 ployed, to denounce this wicked interference with 
 ancient "manipulation" and the proper contour 
 of mouldings. These are among the doings which 
 are hastening the monuments of architecture into 
 dust. Violence and hypocritical favour have done 
 more to diminish their number than age, or any 
 other foe to things mundane. To their walls and 
 pillars was given incalculable strength, the double 
 production of nature and of art; but every day 
 brings home the conviction that their term of 
 existence is hastened. That it has its limit, there 
 can be no doubt : the principle of decay is in their 
 very substance. The fabric of a Church is no 
 sooner brought to perfection than it begins to 
 decay ; but if the hand of man did not busy itself 
 in promoting this irresistible operation, the natural 
 process would not, in very many cases, bring stately 
 edifices to a premature end. The subject is sicken- 
 ing : but there seems to be no limit to architectural 
 innovation. 
 
 The rampant friends of Lincoln Minster, and of 
 all antiquity, have by their silence sanctioned the 
 sacrilege which has been committed in St. Paul's 
 Cathedral. They had not a syllable to utter in 
 defence of Sir Christopher Wren's noblest pro- 
 
279 
 
 duction in Church architecture. No professional 
 critic, no doughty amateur came forward to avert 
 the foul disgrace upon the nation's fame ; for 
 such was the removal of the organ-screen, 
 which formed a constituent part of the design, 
 and the absence of which has very seriously 
 blemished the approach to the choir, and the 
 general effect of the interior. It was nought in 
 their estimation to throw down the boundaries 
 which Sir Christopher Wren had considerately set 
 up ; to cast out of his Church the beautiful pro- 
 ductions of his magnificent genius, or to condemn 
 by a sweeping clause the disposition which he had 
 established 1 . Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's 
 may go to the dogs, for aught that such ecclesi- 
 ologists care ; but at Lincoln, (where the clique 
 have no professional concern,) where no mischief 
 has been permitted ; no screens, no rood-lofts have 
 been swept away as rubbish ; no reproach cast 
 upon a Remigius, an Alexander, or a Welbourne, 
 there they have given flight to their ill-tempered 
 weapons, and have blunted them against the 
 Norman walls which they have insulted. 
 
 1 After having irreparably mutilated the interior of the 
 Cathedral, the perpetrators of the sacrilege advertise for funds, 
 
 " FOE THE COMPLETION AND ADOENMENT OF THE INTEEIOE OF THE 
 CATHEDEAL ACCOED1NG TO THE DESIGNS OF SIE CHEISTOPHEE 
 
 ween ;" and the ecclesiologist, so far from being shocked at the 
 inconsistency of these proceedings, tacitly sanctions them, 
 and parades the advertisement in the face of his own title- 
 page. 
 
280 
 
 Woe worth the day when any of these dread 
 friends of Lincoln enter the fane ! The exuberance 
 of Purbeck marble throughout the interior, and 
 hitherto preserved from contamination, would dis- 
 tress the vision of visitants such as these. What 
 an opportunity would here be presented for the 
 commencement of " restoration ;" what a favour- 
 able ground for the improvement of Purbeck by 
 favour of the daubing pencil ! He who could 
 deface the sanctuary of one of the most admired 
 Churches of Norman date in England, could meet 
 with no difficulty in smothering one of the proud 
 distinctions of Lincoln Minster with painted vul- 
 garisms. 
 
 Listen to the dulcet sounds of the exultant 
 ecclesiologists over the opportunity for the de- 
 struction of the rood-screen ! over the liberty to 
 cast their supercilious eyes upon the even line of 
 richly-carved oaken screens, which extends along 
 the whole eastern range of the great transept! 
 See ! the mnemoclasts now enter the choir, un- 
 dismayed, and unimpressed by the majesty of 
 St. Hugh's building, which was viewed as glorious 
 among the mighty works reared in the early days 
 of pointed architecture. A whisper is heard that 
 the canopied stalls are old-fashioned and cumbrous, 
 and must be thrown down ; and that new seats 
 sprawled thence along the floor of the nave, would 
 be regarded by the elite of fashion as unquestion- 
 able evidence of restoration and revival. And, oh ! 
 
281 
 
 how much would the dignity of the interior be 
 enhanced, if the arcades of the choir were but 
 filled with fanciful ironmongery, polychrome, and 
 alabaster ! These friends of Lincoln Minster, no 
 less zealous in their regard for church-walls than 
 were the well-remembered " visitors " of old, would 
 carry restoration into every quarter of the edifice ; 
 for would it not be restoration to destroy the 
 original organization, and to introduce another 
 contrary to the figure of the building ? Would it 
 not be restoration to bedizen the whole interior — 
 to dress it in a manner adverse to the pure taste 
 of the designer of the Church ? Would it not be 
 restoration to confuse the fair forms and lineaments 
 of the architecture with coarse lines in flaunting 
 colours, and to perch insipid and meaningless 
 effigies in impertinent situations ? 
 
 These are among the fondly devised improve- 
 ments which would be heralded as befitting the 
 interior of the Minster, if the tribe of restorers 
 were to cross its threshold. Its wondrous archi- 
 tecture, and its consistent embellishments, would 
 be lauded to the skies, and at once consigned to 
 the heroes of improvement. They would not be 
 likely to overlook the sumptuously canopied monu- 
 ments, which would be found to deserve a share 
 of their attention and respect. No doubt these 
 trophies would be found much too magnificent for 
 individuals, however illustrious in rank, and might 
 be divided with advantage, the tomb to be allowed 
 
282 
 
 to keep its place on one side, and the canopy to be 
 planted in full view on the opposite side. Elegant 
 taste, and severe propriety, could not go beyond 
 so thoughtful an arrangement as this. Beings 
 with propensities like these, in regard to ancient 
 architecture, may well wish for so fair a field for 
 the exercise of their restorative powers as Lincoln 
 Cathedral. But the star of the Minster is in the 
 ascendant, and it will not wane, that the gates may 
 be thrown open for their footsteps. The losses 
 which other great Churches have sustained, will, it 
 is to be hoped, be the means of preserving to this 
 renowned edifice its exuberant treasures of the 
 finest architecture in the world. Every thing in 
 the interior is in its proper place ; every thing is 
 modest, and in subordination to the architecture, 
 which, in beautiful symmetry, enshrines and gives 
 dignity to the many worthy objects within its 
 walls. 
 
 The guardianship of forty years m has preserved 
 Lincoln Minster from the evil genius of innovation, 
 and the writer is too sound in his antiquarian prin- 
 ciples to direct or sanction the injury or the 
 destruction of any ancient edifice still qualified 
 to hold its ground, and of conveying valuable 
 information which can never be communicated 
 by a copy, supposing that a faithful copy is ever 
 willingly made by the destroyer. 
 
 m The year 1817 closed the former repairs and re- 
 storations. 
 
283 
 
 The west front will always receive a large 
 share of the admiration with which this won- 
 derful Church is viewed. The singularity of its 
 composition, the diversity of its dates, and the 
 varied merits of its details, are now seen to great 
 advantage, exempt from the foulness with which 
 the admirable workmanship has so long been 
 clogged. Judgment honestly applied will make 
 this acknowledgment, and gracefully accept the 
 benefit conferred. The very stones will tell un- 
 sound observers that they exhibit no violation 
 of any one of the canons of good taste, and of 
 correct appreciation in the order of the treatment 
 from the summit to the basement. In the general 
 aspect, it has lost nothing of the admired garnish 
 of age. Its mighty wall still supplies gratification 
 to the artist's fastidious vision, and his admiration 
 of the rich glows of colour, which overspread the 
 height and breadth of the elevation. Its more 
 antique members will never shun the scrutiny 
 of the intelligent critic. It is well that Essex 
 went no farther in the path of restoration, and 
 left so much to be done at the present time. 
 When another period of seventy years shall have 
 passed, the wonder will be that so much of the 
 fine work, which has now been considerately 
 spared, was left untouched ; that the towers and 
 windows were not destroyed, because they were 
 not erected in the right century ; that nothing 
 modern should appear, and nothing ancient be 
 
284 
 
 missing. These will be among the prominent 
 distinctions of Lincoln Minster in time to come. 
 It will then be seen and acknowledged that no 
 disrespect has been offered to the memory of 
 Remigius, of Alexander, or of St. Hugh ; that 
 the single, devout object undertaken was faith- 
 fully fulfilled ; and that preservation and restora- 
 tion, truly interpreted, were kept steadily in view 
 in regard to the most minute particulars. 
 
 The critic of parts and probity will then look 
 around and find in Churches of every degree, in 
 every direction, the evidences of relentless spolia- 
 tion, and but little to gratify his yearnings after 
 mediaeval architecture, — only a little besides nine- 
 teenth century imitations of ancient Churches, 
 or, what will be still more disappointing, only 
 bare-faced substitutes for ancient designs. The 
 murmurs of jealousy, and the sounds of coarse 
 invective, will then have passed away; but Lincoln 
 Minster will stand erect in its proud position, in 
 all its grandeur and antiquity and rich adorn- 
 ment, and will frown with the recollection of 
 its witless adversaries. It will speak in eloquent 
 but silent language, and endorse the conservative 
 virtue of the system, which has empowered the 
 present generation to hand down to the future 
 an edifice undefrauded of the handiwork — the 
 actual workmanship of its original ornaments. 
 
 Lincoln Cathedral shall still wear its ancient 
 costume. What, though it be a little tarnished 
 
285 
 
 by use, and defaced by the ill-usage of thoughtless 
 passers by ? Its covering is still protective, genuine, 
 graceful: the tatters produced by more than seven 
 centuries have inflicted infinitely less mischief than 
 the deliberate assaults of violence. The one may 
 not be disturbed, the other in shame should be 
 obliterated. It would be criminal to displace 
 firmly-seated stones, for no other reason than 
 that their outside appearance is not so perfect 
 as it once was : it would be sacrilege to recut 
 the ornaments of antiquity. Neither such follies 
 as have been enumerated, nor any thing pertaining 
 thereto, have been permitted at Lincoln. Fortu- 
 nate Minster! to have for its furious advocates 
 those who demolish, and those who abet the 
 demolition of ancient Churches, and the over- 
 throw of the invaluable relics of furniture within 
 their walls. 
 
 Lincoln Minster has closed its doors against 
 these fashionable misdoings. Antiquity reigns 
 supreme within the Cathedral, and around its 
 cloud-capped towers, and its magnificent elevations. 
 Its foundations repose firmly on the lofty hill, and 
 its stately walls shall not be riven nor blemished 
 by the insatiate despoiler of ancient architecture. 
 The rich garniture which it received in past ages 
 it still wears gratefully and becomingly. No 
 fashion has driven it out of date ; no vicissitudes 
 have shaken its strength, so perfect is its com- 
 position, so sound its material. Time has spared 
 
286 
 
 its gorgeous workmanship : wilful men have shrunk 
 from its presence, and dropped the weapon which 
 was ready to fall upon its guarded gates. 
 
 May the time to come be equally propitious to 
 the renowned Minster, and may it continue to 
 descend to its faithful friends in all the beauty 
 it now wears, and with the additional charms 
 which age alone can confer upon its doughty 
 walls ! 
 
 THE END. 
 
 BAXTER, PRINTER, OXFORD. 
 
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