THE NEW PILGRIMS 213 



XXXVIII 



Soon after this came the downfall. With the struggles 

 of the Reformation went the relics, the gold and 

 jewels, and — worse than all — the decorations and 

 painted windows of the Cathedral. With many abuses 

 and with the disgusting humbug of the old order of 

 things went also, it is sad to think, much of the living 

 reality of religion : and Canterbury Cathedral is to-day 

 an historical museum to the crowd of tourists, and an 

 architectural model for students of that first of all the 

 arts. Curiosity, and little else, draws the crowd. 

 Byron has caught the spirit of the times happily enough 

 (although " beadle " and " cathedral " are not among 

 the elegancies of rhyme) when he says of Don Juan and 

 his companion : — 



They saw at Canterbury the Cathedral, 



Black Edward's helm, and Becket's bloody stone, 



Were pointed out as usual by the beadle, 

 In the same quiet uninterested tone : — 



There's glory for you, gentle reader 1 All 

 Ends in a rusty casque and dubious bone. 



And how very dubious are the bones that are said 

 to be those of Becket is a question that may not be 

 enlarged upon here. 



For the rest, a holy calm reigns unbroken in the 

 Cathedral Close. Hemmed in and surrounded * by 

 massive walls, modernity has no place here, and if 

 the interior of the building is somewhat disappointing, 

 the exterior and its surroundings, especially the 

 north-east aspect, viewed from the Green Court, must 

 be seen to be appreciated. To be sure, this part of 

 the building is Norman and Early English, and no 

 other periods produced such wildly irregular masses. 

 Added to the original irregularity of outline are the 

 puzzling ruins — ivied wall and broken window — 



* Mr. Gladstone has said, most notoriously, that to be " hemmed in " is 

 not to be " surrounded." But that was part of the political game of bluff, 

 and may not be regarded as a contribution to philology. 



