Towards the close of the seventeenth century the central spire was in
an unstable condition, and Elmes, in his "Life," says of Wren that he

"took down and rebuilt the upper part of the spire of the
cathedral, and fixed therein a pendulum stage to counteract
the effects of the south and the south-westerly gales of
wind, which act with some considerable power against it, and
had forced it from its perpendicularity."

It is interesting to have this record, for the spire during the
following century was still a cause of trouble.

Spershott's memoirs show that about 1725

"a new chamber organ was added to the choir of the
cathedral, the tubes of which were at first bright like
silver, but are now like old tarnished brass."

Whether this organ contained any parts of that which was destroyed in
the previous century is not known; but many old prints and drawings
show that the case of the one that was now built on the top of the
Arundel screen was quite as beautifully designed as the one in Exeter
Cathedral, or King's College Chapel at Cambridge.

About 1749 the Duke of Richmond's vault was "diged and made" [23] in the
lady-chapel, and ten years later "the kings and bishops in the
cathedral" were "new painted." The floor of the lady-chapel was raised
to give height to the vault beneath, and a fireplace and chimney built
up in front of the east window. Portions of the other windows were
plastered up, and so left only partly filled with glass. These served