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bite: CHURCHES 213
emptiness and uniformity. The perpetrators of the last vandalism
are not to be reached by the hatred and scorn of the civilised
world; but it seems as if something must be very wrong in the
government of the
city if there is no
means of calling
them to account
and of forcing
them to replace
what they have
so brutally de¬
stroyed.
Another of
Wren’s best effects
has also lately
perished. The
tower of St. An-.
tholin’s, Watling
Street, was unique;
and, besides, it
formed part of a
composition of
great importance
to any one who
would make an
estimate of Wren s
place as an artist. Contrasted with the square tower of St. Mary
Aldermary, it enabled us to judge as to the comparative merits of
square towers and tapering spires, and also as to the merits of
Gothic and classical architecture. In it Wren showed us how, with