JUNE 131 



story windows to make way for broad, shallow lights in 

 the modish Perpendicular style. It is true that Bishop 

 Edington had begun the mischief; for he had pulled down 

 the massive west front, and left ample funds, which he 

 directed his successor to apply to 'perfecting the nave.' 

 But the heartless transformation is indelibly associated 

 with the name of Wykeham, and it is ours to deplore the 

 thoroughness with which he carried it out. Luckily the 

 transepts remain undeformed, with their fine ashlar- work 

 and massive piers, although those supporting the central 

 tower have been cut away to an alarming extent. 



It is cold comfort to read Dr. Kitchin's opinion that 

 ' the result is that the nave is the finest, and perhaps the 

 most simple, specimen of Perpendicular work extant/ 1 Of 

 all the phases through which Gothic building passed in its 

 decline the Perpendicular is the most monotonous, and, so 

 Mr. Ruskin has declared, the most vicious. It is unknown 

 except in England, or as copied from England ; for Scottish 

 architects, save in the instance of Melrose, followed the 

 Dutch Flamboyant model. The effect of these great stone 

 gratings thrust in the place of the grave, round-headed 

 Norman arches, must have been excruciating when they 

 were new and glaring white. Now we suffer them gladly, in 

 their silvery, time-worn tones, and even Edington's paltry 

 west front, viewed down the paved avenue of lofty limes, 

 looms solemn and grand. But still we repine at the craze 

 for novelty which altered the older and nobler design. 



Sadly as the Old Minster was marred by Wykeham, it 

 was to suffer far worse things under Bishop Home in the 

 sixteenth century. Not that he meddled with the archi- 

 tecture : he was not going to spend more than would keep 



1 Winchester. By G. W. Kitchin, D.D. 



