1 SEPTEMBER 1888, Page 15

PETERBOROUGH CATHEDRAL.

[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] SIB,—I agree with Mr. Benson that the tower of Peterborough Cathedral, as it now appears, is "unemphatic," and it is un- finished. But surely to replace the high turrets " in the Norman style " upon the fourteenth-century tower would be an abomination and an absurdity " obviously offensive to taste." They were done away with because their proportions were unendurable ; they copied Norman design, and were -elevated to a height (by the error of Dean Kipling) which made them a solecism. There is, however, a true and right mode of finishing the central tower—to revert to the form of turret left by the Gothic builders, of which there are sufficient drawings—an addition very easily completed, and for the cost of which an offer is already made by one of those who see with regret the shaven state of the tower as it is. This ought soon to be considered by the committee. With regard to Mr. Benson's desideratum, the south-western tower, he will find, on reading the original appeal put forth for the restoration, that it is included among the things desired by the architect, although it cannot be contemplated under present circum-