little banal. Another American critic, Mrs. Van
Rensselaer, in a sympathetic study of the cathedral which appeared in
"The Century Magazine," says: "If we think it feeble, it will be
because we cannot see strength where it has been brought to perfect
poise and ease. If our verdict is 'banal,' it will be because we
cannot tell the commonplace from the simply and exactly right, or we
do not know how rare the latter is--because we long for eccentricity
as a proof of personality, and need what the French call _emphase_ to
impress us; there is no over-emphasis about Salisbury, neither in its
effect as a whole, nor in any of its parts, neither in its design, nor
in its treatment. But just in this fact lies its greatest merit, and
just by reason of this fact, joined to its mighty size and its
exceptional unity, it is intensely individual, personal, distinct from
all other churches in the world."

Dean Stanley, in comparing it with Westminster Abbey, hardly
overpraised it in saying: "Salisbury is all-glorious without,
Westminster is all-glorious within." Canon Venables considers it "as
an architectural composition, more especially as seen from the
outside, the most perfectly designed building in the world." Elsewhere
he speaks of it as "presenting none of those architectural problems so
baffling and perplexing at Canterbury, Lichfield, or Lincoln." Its
appearance from a distance has been the theme of poets, and a
favourite subject for artists. Constable especially delighted to paint
it. Among several of his different versions of the theme, the view
from the meadows (with the rainbow), made popular by Lucas' mezzotint,
is perhaps the best known.

Studying the building more closely one feels it is not accident that
gives to it its peculiar charm, but pre-arranged design; the idea of
one conception carried to its logical completion. This striking unity
(despite the afterthought of the spire) certainly helps to impart an
air of modernity to the building, that is lacking in far less ancient
work, for oddly enough it is often the decaying features of the
latest decorated style that impress the vulgar by their apparent age.
The extreme care in the masonry has imparted a machine-like finish. As
Professor Willis wrote: "The regularity of the size of the stones is
astonishing. As soon as they had finished one part, they copied it
exactly in the next, even though the additional expense was
considerable. The masonry runs in even bands,