There age after age the prayer of faith,
the anthems of praise, and the divine services have been offered.
In the glow of a summer's evening its heavenly architecture stands
out, a mass of wondrous beauty, telling of the skill of the masons and
craftsmen of olden days who put their hearts into their work and
wrought so surely and so well. The greensward of the close, wherein
the rooks caw and guard their nests, speaks of peace and joy that is
not of earth. We walk through the fretted cloisters that once echoed
with the tread of sandalled monks and saw them illuminating and
copying wonderful missals, antiphonaries, and other manuscripts which
we prize so highly now. The deanery is close at hand, a venerable
house of peace and learning; and the canons' houses tell of centuries
of devoted service to God's Church, wherein many a distinguished
scholar, able preacher, and learned writer has lived and sent forth
his burning message to the world, and now lies at peace in the quiet
minster.
The fabric of the cathedrals is often in danger of becoming part and
parcel of vanishing England. Every one has watched with anxiety the
gallant efforts that have been made to save Winchester. The insecure
foundations, based on timbers that had rotted, threatened to bring
down that wondrous pile of masonry.
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