Progress of the New Operations A quantity of valuable work has already been carried out in the re storation, or it would be more correct to say the maintenance, of Westminster Abbey. These develop. ments have been rendered possible by the great fund which was set on foot by the appeal of the Dean of Westminster three years ago.
The great Chapel of King Henry VII was felt to be more urgently in need of attention than any other part of the fabric. Accordingly a start has been made here and much has already been done to save the ruined stonework, portions of which three years ago were actually falling into the road from time to time. The public will probably have observed that a portion of the exterior of this chapel has been treated with an experimental sample of fimewash, For ihe moment this portion of the building hag perhaps a somewhat startling effect, but this disadvantage will disappear speedily enough under the influence of our smoke-laden London climate.
It is not proposed that the entire exterior of the Abbey should be subjected to this process of limewashing at any one time, despite sundry rumours to the contrary. Such a development would neither desirable nor practicable. The present suggestion is by degress (following the slow progress of the work) to clean down with this solution of limewash the exterior of Henry VII's Chapel, before the present scaffolding is re-moyed in the natural course of events.
The objects in view are four in number: (1) To place an extra preservative on top of the silico-fluorides; (2) to mitigate the inevitably patchy effect produced by the presence of the new stones inserted here and there to replace the decayed masonry; (3) to reveal to the eye the exquisitely beautiful and minute details of the stonework, hidden for long years past beneath the darkness of 2 covering of soot; and (4) to bring back a treatment of stonework which is at once reasonable and pd: sessed' of ancient authority.
The chemical stone preservative at present being employed on King Henry VIL Chapel is silico-florid::. Tt has been applied ander the ad vice and superintendence of Dr. Cecil H. Dench. This preservative solution is of a transparent character, and his practically no effect, whatever colour the actual stonework, One glance at that portion of the building which has already undergone this treatment is sufficient to show that stone thus
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.