The Church Towers of Somerset. A Series of Fifty-one Etchings
by E. Piper. With Descriptive Articles by J. L. W. Page (Frost and Reed, Bristol.)—The church towers of Somerset have been long recognised as of exceptional beauty. Often, indeed, a quite small and architecturally inferior church will be ennobled by a tower which has the magical quality which we may call style, or proportion, and which makes stone and mortar into a work of art. Mr. Page tries to account for the beauty of the Somersetsbire towers by the quantity of fine building - stone of different kinds to be found in the county. But Venetian and Lombard architects had only baked mud with which to create their cam- panili. The etchings in the present work are disappointing. The etching line is perhaps the most telling of all lines. For this very reason its force should be husbanded.. This is essentially the art of leaving out, and these plates are crowded with irrelevant detail, to the detriment of the object which set the artist to work, namely the church tower. It is to be hoped that in this series Publow will not be forgotten. Though not one of the largest, it is certainly one of the most perfect in proportion of the Somerset towers.
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