lt with by the wisdom and taste of a later century.

Let me quote the remarks of one who lived when these things were done.
He says they

"plundered the Cathedral, seized upon the vestments and
ornaments of the Church, together with the consecrated plate
serving for the altar; they left not so much as a cushion
for the pulpit, nor a chalice for the Blessed Sacraments;
the common soldiers brake down the organs, and dashing the
pipes with their pole-axes, scoffingly said, 'hark how the
organs go!' They brake the rail, which was done with that
fury that the Table itself escaped not their madness. They
forced open all the locks, whether of doors or desks,
wherein the singing men laid up their common prayer books,
their singing books, their gowns and surplices; they rent
the books in pieces, and scattered the torn leaves all over
the church even to the covering of the pavement, the gowns
and surplices they reserved to secular uses. In the south
cross ile the history of the church's foundation, the
picture of the Kings of England, and the picture of the
bishops of Selsey and Chichester, begun by Robert Sherborn
the 37th Bishop of that see, they defaced and mangled with
their hands and swords as high as they could reach. On the
Tuesday following, after the sermon, possessed and
transported by a bacchanalian fury, they ran up and down the
church with their swords drawn, defacing the monuments of
the dead, hacking and hewing the seats and stalls, and
scraping the painted walls. Sir William Waller and the rest
of the commanders standby as spectators and approvers of
these barbarous impieties." [18]

[18] "Mercurius Rusticus" (1642). Quoted by Walcott.

This is a history in little of what took place in nearly every
cathedral and other church in the kingdom, and this after the
Reformation and its best work had been a fact for a century.

The most important disaster to the fabric during the seventeenth
century was that which so seriously affected the structure at the west
end. It is difficult to decide exactly when and how north-west tower
fell or was removed. Professor Willis [19] is content to say:

"Mr. Butler informs me that there is evidence to show that
the north tower was taken down by the advice of Sir
Christopher Wren, on account of its ruinous condition."

[19] "Arch