I have said little of the Cathedral. That is, indeed, too large a subject. The visitor must see it for himself. I have referred to the opinion of Mr. Ruskin. His exact words, written at the time of the opening of the School of Art, to the Mayor, were these: “I have always held, and am prepared against all comers to maintain, that the Cathedral of Lincoln is out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British islands, worth any two other cathedrals we have got.” {121c} Viewed in the distance, from the neighbourhood of Woodhall Spa, its three towers seem to coalesce into one, almost of pyramidal form, to crown the hill on which it stands. That form was once more lofty, and more pointed, for each of the three towers had a spire. An entry in the Minster Archives records the fall of the largest—ruina magnæ pyramidis—in 1547. In 1808 the two other lesser spires were taken down, not without strong remonstrances and much skirmishing in the public papers and elsewhere, as to the propriety of the act. The Lincoln people proved themselves more law-abiding than they had been on a previous occasion, for when, in 1726, the Chapter had decided to remove them, there was a very considerable riot, called “The Religious Mob,” of which an amusing account was found among some MS. “_Tuesday night_, _Sept._ 20, 1726, _a mob was raised in Lincoln to hinder the puling down the_ 2 _west End spirs of the Cathedrall_, _which was then began to be puled down it was computed ther was aBout_ 4 _or_ 500 _men_. _On Wednesday following by orders of the Marsters of the Church sent an order to the Mayor and Aldermen desiering them to send a Belman through the town with this cry_, _whereas there as Been a Tumult for this_ 2 _or_ 3 _Long Day_, _upon puling the_ 2 _west end Spirs of the Cauthed Church of Lincoln_, _this is to give satisfaction that they have made a stop’ and that the spirs shall be repaired again with all speed_.” On hearing this important proclamation “the mob with one accord gave a great shout and said ‘God bless the King.’” The emeute terminated with no more serious results than some headaches the next day, as the beer barrels in the Chancellor’s cellars were broached and drained to the last drop by the exultant crowd. {122}