, its
drainage and tramways; but they are absolutely ignorant of its
history, its associations, of architectural beauty, of anything that
is not modern and utilitarian. Unhappily, into the care of such men as
these is often confided the custody of historic buildings and
priceless treasures, of ruined abbey and ancient walls, of objects
consecrated by the lapse of centuries and by the associations of
hundreds of years of corporate life; and it is not surprising that in
many cases they betray their trust. They are not interested in such
things. "Let bygones be bygones," they say. "We care not for old
rubbish." Moreover, they frequently resent interference and
instruction. Hence they destroy wholesale what should be preserved,
and England is the poorer.

Not long ago the Edwardian wall of Berwick-on-Tweed was threatened
with demolition at the hands of those who ought to be its
guardians--the Corporation of the town. An official from the Office of
Works, when he saw the begrimed, neglected appearance of the two
fragments of this wall near the Bell Tower, with a stagnant pool in
the fosse, bestrewed with broken pitchers and rubbish, reported that
the Elizabethan walls of the town which were under the direction of
the War Department were in excellent condition, whereas the Edwardian
masonry was utterly neglected. And why was this relic of the town's
former greatness to be pulled down? Simply to clear the site for the
erection of modern dwelling-houses. A very strong protest was made
against this act of municipal barbarism by learned societies, the
Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings, and others, and we
hope that the hand of the destroyer has been stayed.

Most of the principal towns in England were protected by walls, and
the citizens regarded it as a duty to build them and keep them in
repair. When we look at some of these fortifications, their strength,
their height, their thickness, we are struck by the fact that they
were very great achievements, and that they must have been raised with
immense labour and gigantic cost. In turbulent and warlike times they
were absolutely necessary. Look at some of these triumphs of medieval
engineering skill, so strong, so massive, able to defy the attacks of
lance and arrow, ram or catapult, and to withstand ages of neglect and
the storms of a tempestuous clime. Towers and bastions stood at
intervals against the wall at convenient distances, in order that
bowmen statione