I rather prize the incident as the sole fact concerning
the Minster which I could make sure of even after repeated
visits, and if I am indebted for my associations with it, long
after the event, to Dr. Raine's scholarly and interesting sketch
of York history, there is no reason why the better-informed
reader should not accompany me in my last visit fully equipped. I
walked slowly all round the structure, and fancied that I got a
new sense of grandeur in the effect of the east window, which
was, at any rate, more impressive than the north window. It was a
long walk, almost the measure of such a walk as one should take
after supper for one's health, and it had such incidents as many
pauses for staring up at the many restorations going on. From
point to point the incomparable Perpendicular Gothic carried the
eye to the old gargoyles of the caves and towers waiting to be
replaced by the new gargoyles, which lay in open-mouthed
grimacing in the grass at the bases of the church. While I stood
noting both, and thinking the chances were that I should never
look on York Minster again, and feeling the luxurious pang of it,
a verger in a skull-cap was so good as to come to a side door and
parley long and pleasantly with a policeman.
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