4:16 THE OPENING OF 



Carve or raise a model of it ill some other part of the city, 

 but touch not the actual edifice, except only so far as may be 

 necessary to sustain, to protect it. I said above that repairs 

 were in many instances necessary. These necessary operations 

 consist in substituting new stones for decayed ones, where 

 they are absolutely essential to the stability of the fabric ; in 

 propping, with wood or metal, the portions likely to give way ; 

 in binding or cementing into their places the sculptures which 

 are ready to detach themselves ; and in general care to remove 

 luxuriant weeds, and obstructions of the channels for the dis- 

 charge of the rain. But no modern or imitative sculpture 

 ought ever, under any circumstances, to be mingled with the 

 ancient work. 



Unfortunately, repairs thus conscientiously executed are 

 always unsightly, and meet with little approbation from the 

 general public ; so that a strong temptation is necessarily felt 

 by all superintendents of public works, to execute the re- 

 quired repairs in a manner which, though indeed fatal to the 

 monument, may be, in appearance, seemly. But a far more 

 cruel temptation is held out to the architect. He who should 

 propose to a municipal body, to build in the form of a new 

 church, to be erected in some other part of their city, models 

 of such portions of their cathedral as were falling into decay, 

 would be looked upon as merely asking for employment, and 

 liis offer would be rejected with disdain. But let an architect 

 declare that the existing fabric stands in need of repairs, and 

 offer to restore it to its original beauty, and he is instantly re- 

 garded as a lover of his country, and has a chance of obtain- 

 ing a commission which will furnish him with a large and 

 steady income, and enormous patronage, for twenty or thirty 

 years to come. 



I have great respect for human nature. But I would rather 

 leave it to others than myself to pronounce how far such a 

 temptation is always likely to be resisted, and how far, when 

 repairs are once permitted to be undertaken, a fabric is likely 

 to be spared from mere interest in its beauty, when its de- 

 struction, under the name of restoration, has become perma- 

 nently remunerative to a large body of workmen. 



