the cathedral standing entirely separate
from any other building, its gray walls and buttresses rising sheer up
from velvety turf such as is seen in England alone. It was planned and
completed within the space of fifty years, which accounts for its
uniformity of style; while the construction of most of the cathedrals
ran through the centuries with various architecture in vogue at
different periods. The interior, however, lacks interest, and the
absence of stained glass gives an air of coldness. It seems almost
unbelievable that the original stained windows were deliberately
destroyed at the end of the Eighteenth Century by a so-called architect,
James Wyatt, who had the restoration of the cathedral in charge. To his
everlasting infamy, "Wyatt swept away screens, chapels and porches,
desecrated and destroyed the tombs of warriors and prelates, obliterated
ancient paintings; flung stained glass by cart loads into the city
ditch; and razed to the ground the beautiful old campanile which stood
opposite the north porch." That such desecration should be permitted in
a civilized country only a century ago indeed seems incredible.
[Illustration: A COTTAGE IN HOLDENHURST, HAMPSHIRE.
From Water Color by Noelsmith.]
No one who visits Salisbury will forget Stonehenge, the most remarkable
relic of prehistoric man to be found in Britain. Nearly everyone is
familiar with pictures of this solitary circle of stones standing on an
eminence of Salisbury Plain, but one who has not stood in the shadow of
these gigantic monoliths can have no idea of their rugged grandeur.
Their mystery is deeper than that of Egypt's sphynx, for we know
something of early Egyptian history, but the very memory of the men who
reared the stones on Salisbury Plain is forgotten. Who they were, why
they built this strange temple, or how they brought for long distances
these massive rocks that would tax modern resources to transport, we
have scarcely a hint. The stones stand in two concentric circles, those
of the inner ring being about half the height of the outer ones. Some of
the stones are more than twenty feet high and extend several feet into
the ground. There are certain signs which seem to indicate that
Stonehenge was the temple of some early sun-worshiping race, and Sir
Norman Lockyer, who has made a special study of the subject, places the
date of construction about 1680 B.C. No similar stone is found in the
vicinity; hence it is proof positive that t
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