ing, by permission of "Church
Bells."_]

At their first meeting on the subject (24th January) the vestrymen
endorsed the proposal of the Bridge Committee by a large majority. At
a subsequent meeting, held within a week, public opinion had been
aroused on the subject, and the majority was reduced to three. The
moral victory for the Church and Borough of Southwark, headed by
Bishop Sumner, was secured by the poll there and then demanded, the
result of which was announced, in two days' time, as: "For the
retention of the building, 380; against, 140; majority for the
retention, 240."

The retro-choir was saved, and Mr. Gwilt completed the good work by
restoring it, giving his services gratuitously. The nave had been
already doomed. It had got into such a ruinous state by 1831 that at a
Vestry Meeting holden on the 3rd, and confirmed on the 10th, of May,
it was resolved:

"That the whole of the roof, from the western door to the west
end of the tower, called the nave, consisting of ceiling,
roof, walls, and pillars, as far as dangerous, be sold and
cleared away; the remainder of the walls, pillars, and family
vaults to be left open to the weather. And that the choir,
north and south transepts, be enclosed, to the eastern part of
the church, for divine service; and that the pews, situated in
the nave, be removed into such part, for the accommodation of
the inhabitants."

In 1838 the nave, having been sufficiently operated on by the climate
and other destructive forces, was taken down; and in the following
year the foundation stone of a mean and flimsy substitute, in the
"Gothic" of the period, was laid by Dr. Sumner, then Bishop of
Winchester. The interior, thus limited and reduced, was fitted up with
timber staircases, wainscoting, galleries, high pews, and a
"three-decker" pulpit, which answered the double purpose of obscuring
the sanctuary and enabling the preacher to command his audience in the
galleries.

The barbarous result did not escape the sensitive eye of Mr. A.W.
Pugin, the great Gothic revivalist, who gave vent to his indignation
in a scathing article in the "Dublin Review." He said:

"It may not be amiss to draw public attention to the
atrocities that have lately been perpetrated in the venerable
church of St. Saviour's, Southwark. But a few years since it
was one of the most perfect second-class cruciform churches in
England, and an edifice fu