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212 THE CHURSHES
When a modern architect would design, say, a portico in a Grecian
style, he is disappointed to find that the most servile imitation of the
Parthenon or a temple at Pzestum will not produce the desired effect
if it is applied to a building of double the size. Hence many of the
failures among our public buildings. St. Stephen s, Walbrook, ought
to be looked upon as a national monument. It has fallen into bad
hands and has been more ruthlessly pulled about than any other
of Wren’s churches, except, of course, those which have been utterly
destroyed. Prior to experience, it might be thought that no modern
architect would dare to lay hands on Wren’s masterpiece, as many
of the best architectural critics consider St. Stephen’s; yet within the
past few years everything short of actually pulling it down has been
tried in this church to obliterate the marks of Wren’s hand, and to
rasp down all the features he had thought out so carefully into a dull