Recent Wiltsltire Books, Parn2)hletH, ArticlcH, &c. 191 



of any visible foundation. To take one point alone, is it credible, su]j- 

 po.sing the structure to have played the important part in the pacifica- 

 tion of Southern Britain that he assigns to it, that it should have borne 

 no sign of a Roman inscription setting forth its object and origin, and 

 should never have been mentioned by any ancient writer ? Noticed^ 

 Wiltshire Gazette, July 27tli, 1911. 



A History of Salisbury by E. E. Dorling^, M.A., F.S.A. 



London: James Nisbet A: Co., 22, Berners Street. 1911. 



Boards, Tin. x 4:|in., x)p. x. -j- 193. Illustrations from pen drawings 

 of Cathedral from N.W., Old Castle, Close Wall, Church of St. Martin, 

 Palace, Harnham Bridge, Church of St. 'Thomas, St. Anne's Gate, 

 Trinity Hospital, Poultry Cross, Joiners' Hall, College of Matrons. 



As might be expected this little book is a scholarly epitome of the 

 history of the city with which it deals. Moreover it is written in a 

 picturesque style which makes it very readable. The prominent facts 

 are emphasized and the details where they are given are such as serve 

 to illustrate and to explain the main course of the story. In the earlier 

 chai)ters on Old Sarum the author's imagination is allowed to fill up 

 the spaces where history is at fault, but with the foundation of the 

 present Cathedral he finds himself on ground which he has made his 

 own. His account of the building, both in its history and its archi- 

 tecture, is excellent. The newest light available is always requisitioned, 

 and his work is by no means mere compilation from earlier accounts. 

 Of the Cathedral itself, after an ecstatic description of the beauty of 

 its exterior, including even the west front, which he boldly declares, in 

 the face of much modern criticism, to be neither a sham nor a failure, 

 but a very fine screen for the display of sculpture, he turns to the 

 interior, of which he truly says, " It has been so cruelly scraped and 

 tidied ; it is so bare and flooded with light ; so much that was venerable 

 and beautiful has been sacrificed to the craze for vistas, and the desire 

 to make a glorified Parish Church of it. What the misguided zeal of 

 reformers left has been ruthlessly swept away by the vanity of restorers, 

 and the trail of Wyatt, its evil genius, is over it all." The monuments 

 and the heraldry, of course, come in for their due amount of notice. 

 He records that Bichard of Farleigh was the builder both of the belfry 

 and of the tower and spire, and that the former was begun in 1334. 

 Family history, of the Earls of Salisbury, for instance, occupies a con- 

 sideraV)le space, whilst the general tendencies of history in their relation 

 to the growth and devclo])ment of the city are sufficiently dwelt ujton. 

 and the character and work of the successive ]]islioi)sare concisely and 

 judiciously summed up. The story ends with the death of Bisho]) Seth 

 Ward in 1687/8. "The scope of this little book is the beginning 

 of things and something of their development rather than thoj^e 

 matti'vs which may be gleaned from guide books and newspa])ers. fn^m 

 memoirs and the recollections of contem])oraries." There arr two 

 valuable a])pfndii'es, on tlu; name and arms of tlir city. As to the 

 name, the Koman Soyhiodunuin and the rarliei- Saxon Searoln/ritj 

 btManic in later Saxon days *S'm)r6e'>/ and in Domesday iUH)k San'sheri. 

 \\y liiOU it was Sarcsberia, by 12r)0 the r was doubled, 6^jnw6ma, 



