8 PAPERS, ETC. 



for the difference is constnictive, one having to sxipport a 

 spire, and tlie other not ; the aiTangement at Dunster ia 

 intermedlate. This Othery steeple is, in fact, one quite 

 sui generts, and deserves attentive examination. Its height, 

 füi- a central tower, is extraordinary, rising fiUly as miich, 

 in Proportion to a smaller churcli, above tlie main body of 

 the building, as the tallest of the western towers. The 

 helfry-stage contains one tall, broad, four-centered win- 

 dow — window, that is, in the Somersetshire sense, as only 

 a small portion is pierced — the efFect of whlch is very 

 striking, and to my raind not altogether unpleasing. The 

 intermediate stage contains niches. 



The nsual double buttress, with a tnrret at one angle, 

 occiu's in several central towers. To this head \ve may 

 perhaps refer the tower of Bristol Cathedra!, a low and 

 massive, bnt singnlarly venerable structure, and for whicli, 

 as for the rest of the church, I must confess a special 

 affection. There is something extremely affective in the 

 five Windows side by side, and the broad space above in 

 the parapet, with its niimerous small battlements. At 

 Axbridge is a noble tower of this class, of remarkable 

 height, with pinnacles at the three corners, and a bold 

 turret at the north-east. It has, however, very much the 

 effect of a western tower. Wedmore has another slightly 

 resembling it, but having no pinnacles, and being alto- 

 gether inferior. But there is a far more stately tower, 

 though of somewhat smaller elevation, at Ilminster, which 

 is evidently a Perpendiciüar vei'sion of the central tower 

 at Wells. It is, indeed, one of the very noblest parochial 

 towers 1 know ; and the only approach to a fault that I can 

 discern in it is, that the single angle-turret breaks in upon 

 the regularity of design more than is desirable in an erec- 

 tion of such great architectural splendour. This steeple 



