xxvin RIVERSIDE LETTERS 217 



it was spoilt. The carving in the choir, 

 the Norman work in the nave and the north- 

 west porch way, which is early decorated, are 

 all very well worth seeing. I made a couple 

 of little outline sketches, one of the little 

 canopied quatrefoil in the porch and another 

 from the northern end of the transept, which 

 I enclose, though I dare say you know the 

 place well. Whilst drawing in the porchway 

 I was much struck by the contrast of some 

 restored mouldings to the older work ; the 

 old work had the look of being all alive and 

 growing, whilst the other seemed as dead as 

 the stone it was carved in. I could not con- 

 vey this living look to the lines of my sketch 

 try all I knew, though I think I could have 

 given something of it if I had taken a week 

 over it with colour and brushes. 



The coast scenery in this neighbourhood 

 must have been wonderfully fine before the 

 public found out Bournemouth ; sandy gorse- 

 clad cliffs and chines of the most picturesque 

 character, as good as Hampstead Heath in the 



