Salisbury Cathedral by Esther Singleton

W. J. LOFTIE

Salisbury Cathedral, from the point of view of the architectural / artist, is the most beautiful and the most perfect in England. The / visitor who sees it first on a bright day, can never forget the / impression it has made on his mind. Unlike the architects of the / so-called "Great Gothic Revival," the builders of Salisbury put their / trust in proportion. Incidentally they made their details as elaborate / and perfect as possible; but they were subordinated to the general / effect, and when during the frightful ravages of the "restorers," let / loose upon the church in the past and present centuries, many of the / best and most precious of these details and ornaments perished or were / renewed, the main building survives, raising its exquisitely graceful / spire into the blue sky, its thousand pinnacles all pointing upward and / gleaming white against the deep green of the old trees and the emerald / turf of the surrounding close. "How long," asked an American visitor, / "does it take to grow such turf? " "Oh! not long," was the reply; "only / a couple of centuries."