the similarly situated walls on the other
side of the church, probably because they had the cloister and other
conventual buildings to support and shelter them. Several attempts were
made, in particular, to render the transept secure. A first was by the
fixing of wooden ties, with large iron bolts, in the main timbers of the
roof; a second, in 1751, in pursuance of advice by Mr. Sloane, by the
raising of two great brick buttresses; and a third, about twenty years
later, by lightening the roof. These were useful for a time, but, as
the wall was still evidently declining, Mr. Mylne was consulted and, by
his direction, piles of bricks were erected in the undercroft, and other
methods were used to discharge the weight of the upper works. These
schemes were brutal and inartistic. Though they answered their purpose
for some years, they were afterwards found to be doing harm rather than
good.

[Illustration: NORTH-WEST VIEW, EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY
(FROM AN ENGRAVING BY JOHN CONEY, 1816).]

In his "History of Kent" (1782) Hasted gives expression to some very
gloomy views as to the state of the fabric. We there read: "The whole
bears venerable marks of its antiquity, but time has so far impaired the
strength of the materials with which it is built, that, in all
likelihood, the care and attention of the present chapter, towards the
support of it, will not be sufficient to prevent the fall of great part
of it, even in their time." Dr. Denne, however, thought the case, though
bad, not quite so hopeless as this, and his more sanguine opinion has
proved to be correct. Constant care, however, has had to be bestowed on
the place.

A fine new organ was constructed for the cathedral in 1791. During the
closing years of the eighteenth century or the earliest ones of the
nineteenth occurred the destruction of the upper portion of Gundulf's
tower, which was, before it suffered this injury, one of the most
curious and interesting pieces of architecture in England. Some
sketch-books of Mr. Essex, who was, in the closing years of last
century, employed on restorations in the cathedral, are preserved in the
Department of MSS. at the British Museum. They contain many notes on,
and sketches of, the building and details in it, but nothing of interest
for this history as they do not illustrate his work in the church.

Since the close of the Napoleonic wars the cathedral has passed through
four busy periods of restoration. The first of these l