CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES. 669 



considerations of health, we pay too dearly for the fine, lurid effect of 

 smoke. The black coat on buildings obscures the shadowing to which 

 cornice and colonnade owe much of their beauty. The growth of 

 vegetation is so checked as greatly to impair the contribution of blossom, 

 foliage and tracery of boughs which is desirable not only for its own 

 beauty but as a foil to the insistent forms of architecture, multiplied in 

 cities beyond the endurance and capacity of the eye. The effect of 

 smoke is equally adverse to the social scenery of our cities, for, by screening 

 the warmth, the brightness and the vitalising rays of the sun, inducing 

 fog and smirching every garment of fine texture and bright colour, it 

 militates against the habit of al fresco meals and social intercourse out of 

 doors during hours of rest which adds so much to the scenery of cities in 

 warm and sunny lands. When the pall of smoke is removed it will be 

 found that the paving and surface draining of towns has lessened the 

 drawback of our natural climate for sedentary outdoor recreation, which 

 is mainly that of exhalation from damp ground. Moreover, the better 

 growth of vegetation will bring something of country fragrance to the 

 air of towns, the fragrance which has so strong an influence upon our 

 aesthetic mood and power of appreciating beauty. 



The preservation of scenic harmony is never more difficult than where 

 new construction has to be undertaken among venerable buildings. Yet 

 such problems can be solved, as I learnt when I lately went to Winchester 

 to revive the memory of ancient beauties which I had not seen for thirty 

 years. It was a perfect day in early spring, and Cathedral Close and 

 College Precinct were seen in all their mellow charm. Noticing a new 

 building in College Meads I turned aside and found myself within a 

 cloister erected as the war memorial of Wykhamists. Here I felt the 

 spirit of the past and saw an added glory to Winchester. There was 

 neither lifeless imitation of traditional forms nor architecture so alien as 

 to introduce incongruity. The roof of rough stone, suited to its exposure 

 and pleasantly breaking up the sunlight, the good smooth stone and 

 reposeful circle of the arches, the splendid message of the inscription to 

 the dead which circles the knapped-flint walls of the cloister in letters of 

 white stone shaped to the old Lombard script, are the satisfying outcome 

 of that co-operation between an artist and a scholar which should always 

 be sought for construction in such sites. Moreover, the hand of the 

 careful craftsman can be seen, the final satisfaction of the nearer view of 

 architecture. 



3. Scenic Harmonies of Suburbs and Seaside Resorts. 



Ever since our towns grew large, the city man longing for the sweet 

 fresh air of the fields and the scenery of vegetation has sought a home in 

 the situation bordering both the country and the town, but no sooner 

 was he settled than the locus of these advantages shifted further out. By 

 fixing a rural ring round the city and building compact suburbs beyond, 

 the selection of a home permanently suitable for the average business man 

 would be made possible for the first time since the beginning of the 

 industrial epoch. 



The present suburbs are often pre-eminent in garden decoration, 

 especially in the tree blossom and flowering shrubs displayed to the road, 



