"Our work at the west end," he wrote,
"has fallen about our ears." Two pillars had come down with a crash,
and the rest was so unsafe that men were afraid to go near, even to
pull it down. He added, "You are so absolutely necessary to us that
we can do nothing, resolve on nothing without you." This settled the
question.
There is a little difficulty with regard to the drawing, preserved
in the library of the cathedral, of the West Front after the Fire.
Evelyn, as we have seen, seems to describe it as far more ruinous than
the picture before us shows. Perhaps the artist filled up some of the
details from his memory, for the drawing hardly looks so desolate a
ruin as Evelyn implies. The gable of the nave roof is striking
enough, and evidently exactly according to fact; and the tower of St.
Gregory's preserves its external form, though it is inwardly
consumed, as is the whole nave. I am inclined to judge that this is
substantially the appearance of the porch after the west end had
been fitted up for worship as Sancroft described. However, Wren had
condemned the structure as unsafe, and the Dean had acquiesced, and
the new cathedral was resolved upon.
Pages:
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165