Arthur Dimock

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St. Paul's Cathedral, from the West.

ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, FROM THE WEST.ToList

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CHAPTER V.ToC

NEW ST. PAUL'S.

EXTERIOR.

"It would be difficult to find two works of Art designed more essentially on the same principle than Milton's 'Paradise Lost' and Wren's St. Paul's Cathedral. The Bible narrative transposed into the forms of a Greek epic, required the genius of a Milton to make it tolerable; but the splendour of even his powers does not make us less regret that he had not poured forth the poetry with which his heart was swelling in some form that would have freed him from the trammels which the pedantry of his age imposed upon him. What the Iliad and the Æneid were to Milton, the Pantheon and the Temple of Peace were to Wren. It was necessary he should try to conceal his Christian Church in the guise of a Roman Temple. Still the idea of the Christian cathedral is always present, and reappears in every form, but so, too, does that of the Heathen temple—two conflicting elements in contact—neither subduing the other, but making their discord so apparent as to destroy to a very considerable extent the beauty either would possess if separate."[68]I give this quotation at length, not because I by any means agree with one half of the fault-finding, but because it helps to explain the architecture. St. Paul's is often called "Classical," or "Roman," or "Italian"; it is not one of these three: it is English Renaissance. It was, too, a distinctly happy thought of Fergusson to suggest that the Cathedral takes a like place in English architecture to that which the immortal "Paradise Lost" does in English literature. The ground-plan suggests the Gothic; the pilasters and entablature the Greek and Roman; the round arch is found in both Roman and Romanesque, and that commanding feature, the Dome, is the common property of many styles and many ages. The general plan resembles the long or Latin Cross, with transepts of greater breadth than length; and the uniformity is broken by an apse at the east, and the two chapels at the west end.

The best views are, perhaps, the two oblique ones approaching from Ludgate Hill and from Cannon Street. The upward view from the churchyard on the south side by the angle of nave and transept gives the proportions of the lower stages of the dome effectively; and those who care to make the weary ascent of one of the Crystal Palace towers, will be rewarded by the aspect of the dome emerging above the pall of surrounding smoke, and appearing to preside like a watchful and protecting deity over the destinies of the city at its feet.

The dimensions are as follows, in feet:—Length, 513, which may thus be divided: nave and portico, 223; breadth of transept, 122; length of choir, 168. Length of transepts, 248 feet. Breadth of nave, 123; of transept and choir a trifle less; of west front with chapels, 179. Height, to summit of balustrade, 108; to apex of roof, 120; to stone gallery, 182; to base of sphere, 220; to upper gallery at the summit of the dome, 281; to the summit of the cross, 363 feet.

The material is from the quarries of Portland, chosen because of its durability in regard to both weather and smoke, the facilities for transport, and the size of the blocks. Had Roche Abbey stone from South Yorkshire been more easily obtainable, these quarries might have been used as well. The size of the blocks contributes an important feature to the architecture, where so much depends upon the breadth of four feet; and even the procuring of this, as time went on, and the stonecutters had to work at a greater distance from the sea, became a matter of delay and difficulty, and the masons might have to wait months for their blocks.

The combination of the stability with such lightness and gracefulness as were procurable, can in a measure be estimated by the comparative area taken up by the walls, pillars, and other points of support. This area amounts to seventeen per cent., and compares favourably with St. Peter's at Rome, which is more than half as much again, as well as with St. Sophia and the Duomo at Florence. On the other hand many of our Gothic cathedrals require only ten per cent.[69] Wren would have said that they lack stability, and that he had calculated accurately on the minimum of massiveness requisite for security; and besides this, they have no heavy dome to be poised. Throughout there are two stages or stories. The lower has the Corinthian Order, which was always Wren's favourite, as he held that it was at once more graceful and bore a greater weight of entablature than the earlier Doric and Ionic. Wren's first design of a Greek Cross followed St. Peter's in consisting of one main order plus an attic.[70] While Bramante at St. Peter's found stones of nine feet in diameter in the quarries of Tivoli, Wren, after making inquiries all over, could not procure sufficient stone for his columns and pilasters of a greater diameter than four feet, and he would not depart, at least to any degree, from what he held to be the correct Corinthian height of nine diameters. Had a sufficient quantity of larger blocks been obtainable, we should have had the Corinthian order plus the attic, instead of the two regular orders of Corinthian and Composite.[71] And this, it seems, was his reason for departing in this respect from the First Design; as also partially from the Approved Design. The pilasters are grouped in pairs throughout, not only for stability, but also for sufficient space for the circular-headed windows ornamented with festoons. Above the entablature rises the second stage or story, or order. Here the coupled pilasters have that slight difference in base and more particularly in capital which constitutes the Composite order. The capitals have the larger scrolls or volutes of the Ionic above the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian proper. In reality the difference is, here, but slight; and the best authorities maintain that there is less difference between the Corinthian and the Composite than between different examples of the Corinthian itself. The reason for the dressed niches, with pediments instead of windows, like those in the lower stage, will come later on. A main architrave and cornice run round the entire building like an unbroken string course, and above this, excepting at the different fronts, a balustrade, to which a history is attached.

A new commission had been nominated after the death of Queen Anne[72] (which by the way included Sir Isaac Newton), and this commission insisted upon a balustrade unless the surveyor "do in writing under his hand set forth that it is contrary to the principles of architecture, and give his opinion in a fortnight's time." Wren answered, "Persons of little skill did expect, I believe, something they had been used to in Gothic structures, and ladies think nothing well without an edging." He urged that he had already terminated the building, and that his design of pairs of pedestals in continuation of the pilasters would better resist the wind. As in other matters, he had to give way; and the difference in the effect cannot be judged from mere illustrations.[73] The four angles, where the transepts join, are filled up with the huge supporting bastion-like piers of the dome; and internally are left, so to speak, hollow; that at the south-west being utilised as a staircase, and the others on the ground floor as vestries.

No roof is visible from below. The actual roof of oak and lead was so flattened as to be invisible in accordance with the ideas of the architect. "No Roofs almost but Spherick raised to be visible." "The Ancients affected Flatness." "No Roofs can have Dignity enough to appear above a Cornice, but the Circular."[74]

We now come to that peculiarity upon which so much adverse criticism has been bestowed. The usual observer will wonder why there are niches instead of windows in the upper stage, as light is so much needed. On entering the interior he will notice that the height of the aisles does not correspond with the exterior; and on ascending to the Stone Gallery will ascertain that this upper stage of the exterior is not part of the actual wall of the church, which stands back some thirty feet. It is, in fact, a screen or curtain wall; the lower stage alone is the wall of the aisles, and the disfiguring square openings with which the pedestals below the niches are pierced, give light to the passages and galleries between the aisles and the roof. Externally one is supposed to see the wall of the cathedral; in reality one sees the lower story forming the wall, and an upper story in continuation made to look as though the church were immediately behind, but in reality quite disengaged from it. The following is an able specimen of the adverse criticisms that have been directed against this curtain: "It is a mere empty show with nothing behind it, and when once this is known it is impossible to forget it, or to have the same feeling towards the building which a spectator might have, despite its defects of detail, who believed its external mass to represent its interior arrangements."[75] Yet an attentive study of the "Parentalia" enables us to plead a great deal in mitigation. The spectator will notice that there are no substantial buttresses; and the reason is the simple one that Wren held them to be disfigurements. "The Romans always concealed their Butments."[76] "Oblique Positions are Discord to the Eye unless answered in Pairs, as in the Sides of an equicrural Triangle.... Gothick Buttresses are all ill-favoured, and were avoided by the Ancients."[77] Such were the opinions of Wren; but how was he to procure stability? The answer is, by the curtain wall. By its dead weight pressing on the walls of the aisles it renders them stable and immobile, free from all danger of thrust, while it conceals the buttresses which render secure the clerestory stage of the building proper. To paraphrase his own words: "I do not add buttresses, but I build up the wall so high as by the addition of this extra weight, I establish it as firmly as if I had added buttresses."[78] Thus this wall performs a double function: it is a substitute for buttresses in respect to the aisle walls, and a screen for the actual buttresses of the clerestory stage.

Such is the purpose of the upper story. An ingenious critic who did not seem to know this vindicates it on the plea that "uninterrupted altitude of the bulk in the same plane, is absolutely necessary to the substructure of the mighty dome."[79] No doubt the size of the dome requires a proportionate rise in the lower elevations; but the fact remains that the exterior and interior do not correspond. A greater authority than this critic has thus defined good architecture: "The essence of good architecture of any kind is that its constructive system should be put boldly forward, that its decorative system should be such as in no way conceals or masks the construction, but makes the constructive features themselves ornamental."[80] And at his uncle's cathedral of Ely, Wren might have borrowed and worked out an idea which would have silenced all accusation of fraud and deceit. There, in the central part of the choir on the south side, the roof was removed and placed lower down centuries ago, the better to light up certain shrines below. This roof was never restored to its original position; and the upper stage of the wall is pierced with empty windows through which flying-buttresses can now be seen. The effect, though altogether unusual, is far from displeasing; and the spectator who remembers that Wren was perfectly familiar with this building, is led to wonder why he did not by piercing the niches, imitate Ely at St. Paul's.

The Windows, round-headed and without tracery, contrast unfavourably with the Lancet and Decorated. Wren recognised the value of tracery, as is evident from his remarks on Salisbury Cathedral, although he objected to the Perpendicular mullions and transoms.[81] Yet it is difficult to see how he could have devised anything more elaborate or graceful to harmonise. The carving above and below, in the conventional festoons of the day, is almost universally voted as respectable and nothing more. Mr. Ruskin is very severe on these festoons, on the ground that they are tied heavily into a long bunch thickest in the middle, and pinned up by both ends against a dead wall, and contends that the architecture has no business with rich ornament in any place. Yet he admits that the sculpture is as careful and rich as may be; and let any one study, for instance, the window immediately east of the south portico, and particularly below, where the details can be better observed. In spite of a heavy top-coat of smoke, the combination of cherubs, birds, grapes, and foliage is as graceful and artistic as possible; and the work beneath the east end and north transept windows will also well repay careful study. These details are apt to be neglected, possibly because they seem dwarfed by the immense proportions of the building.[82]The North and South Chapels, as we hear on probably trustworthy authority, were added at the instance of James, Duke of York, who looked forward to the day when the Roman Catholic services would be substituted for the Anglican. Although Stephen is silent as to his grandfather's intentions, there is evidence given by Mr. Longman and Miss Lucy Phillimore to show that Wren tried his best to finish the building without them. Whether seen from the north-east or south-west they interfere with the perspective, and the independence of the lowest stage of the West Towers is completely lost; and curiously enough in this last respect the South-West or Consistory Chapel does very much what St. Gregory's did to the Lollards' Tower in Old St. Paul's.

We now turn to the different parts and members.

North and South Fronts.—These are similar, each part corresponding to each, excepting a slight difference in the steps of the porticoes caused by the ground on the south side sloping towards the Thames; and this uniformity or symmetry is invariably carried out in the different parts wherever feasible. Take the three main windows of the choir aisles on either side, and compare them with the three of the nave aisles on either side between the transepts and the chapels. The windows themselves and their pilasters exactly agree, as do their distances.

Where the uniformity of the fronts is broken by the projecting transepts and chapels, it is broken after one manner, so that when you have seen the north side you have seen the south, excepting for the above-mentioned difference caused by the slope.

The North and South Fronts are approached by flights of steps of black marble. The steps on the north side are twelve in number, and are reached from the whole semi-circle; on the south side they are twenty-five in number, and are reached from the ends, the front having a low wall. Here, the flanking urns on either side afford another instance of the disregard of Wren's wishes. The difference in the number of the steps is caused by the slope towards the Thames, and is interesting as affording an instance of a difference between the two fronts. The Corinthian pillars, of the full diameter of four feet, cleverly support the semi-circular entablature above, which is part of the general entablature continued all round. These porticoes have semi-dome shaped roofs, and are flanked on either side by the windows of the transept aisles. The central windows above the porticoes are slightly larger than the others, and have niches on either side. Above these are triangular pediments, and above these again, and in alignment along the balustrade, are statues of ten of the Apostles—five to each front. The sculpture on the northern pediment depicts the royal arms, with angels bearing palm branches for supporters, and on the southern is a Phoenix with the motto "Resurgam."

North-East View of St. Paul's.

NORTH-EAST VIEW OF ST. PAUL'S.ToList

By universal consent these faÇades are admirable in the justness of their proportions, and the harmonious way in which they blend both with the west front and the entire building. Caius Gabriel Cibber received six pounds for modelling and a hundred pounds for carving the Phoenix.

The East End.—The Apse was intended for the reception of the altar. It has three windows in either stage. Underneath the lower central window is a crown, with cypher of William and Mary, surrounded by the garter. This device was intended to show in whose reign the choir was built. It was probably correct when put up; but poor Mary died before the completion. The apse is of the breadth of the centre, and on either side are the windows of the aisles, while the central one in the basement belongs to the Crypt Chapel. There is nothing very striking or remarkable in this part, the details being similar to the rest of the church. Very different is the case with our next feature of interest.

The West Front.—The best view is that from the direct front; but by looking from the north or south-west the conjunction of the chapels comes in sight, and the spectator can judge for himself whether or no, so far as the exterior is concerned, they are any improvement. A few additional dimensions are necessary. The summits of the towers are 222 feet high; the statue of St. Paul above the apex of the pediment is 135 feet. I have already given prominence to the cause of the defeat of Wren's original conception of one main order and an attic, namely, that he could not get blocks of stone of a sufficient size. The Approved Design, so far as the colonnade is concerned, seems to have been borrowed from the portico of Inigo Jones. The dimensions of the blocks had been discovered, yet there was only one order of columns, with a second story of three windows, and supported by Inigo Jones' harp-shaped buttresses; the only buttresses that Wren even wished to have visible. Now, the old portico was not cleared away until 1686; and the west front was built after Wren's taste and judgment had been given time to ripen. In consequence we have a complete revolution, so far as the Approved Design is concerned, and something infinitely more noble and dignified; and we may congratulate ourselves that his blocks of stone were no larger, so that he produced two orders of columns. At St. Peter's, where marble of 9 feet (8-1/4 only according to more recent accounts) was used, the pillars have a shaft of 74 feet, not including capital or base, and the highest statue is 175 feet from the base, as compared with the 135 feet of St. Paul's.[83] Yet Wren, by resorting to two orders of columns, has so increased his apparent height, that those who have compared the two, assert that the west front of St. Paul's appears to be as high as St. Peter's.

In the lower order the columns are twelve in number, fluted and in pairs. Claude Perrault had recently adopted this method of coupling in the eastern faÇade of the Louvre, as is duly acknowledged in the "Parentalia." According to Stephen Wren, it "is not according to the usual Mode of the Ancients in their ordinary Temples, which for the generality were small; but was followed in their Coloss or greater Works; for instance, in the Portico of the Temple of Peace, the most magnificent in old Rome, the Columns were very properly and necessarily doubled to make wider openings." Italian buildings are likewise cited. The columns project slightly in advance of the Front; and as the central part with the great doorway is recessed some twenty feet, a depth of shadow is produced in the Pronaos.

As the great doorway for "Solemnities" requires a wider opening in front than the two side ones in daily use, the two central pairs are placed Eustyle—i.e., with a supposed space between of two and a half diameters—while the rest are placed Pycnostyle—one and a half diameters.[84] In the second story, owing to the towers above, the outside couples are displaced by pilasters; and the eight remaining columns support the architrave and cornice, and the great triangular pediment above of seventy-four feet in breadth and eighteen in height. On this is represented in bas-relief the Conversion of St. Paul. Saul of Tarsus still seated on his horse, which is crouching on the ground, looks up at the rays of light; and the alarmed escort are trying to control their frightened steeds. In the distance is Damascus. The sculpture is the work of Francis Bird, and he was paid for it the handsome sum of £650. The statue on the apex is that of the patronal saint; the two near him are those of St. Peter and St. James, while the four more remote are those of the Evangelists, with their emblems taken from Rev. iv. 7.The Towers, with their Italian details, complete the FaÇade. They consist of five stages besides the domes, of which the two lower correspond with the rest of the front. The third is pierced with circular openings, which in the southern are filled up with the faces of the clock. The fourth is transitional between the square and the octagon; from each angle of the square below spring two pairs of Corinthian columns, half-concealing, half-revealing the supports of the small domes. The fifth is an octagon, with two orders of open arches in each face, and an exterior arcading, urn-shaped pedestals being freely adopted as in the stage below. The domes, the pine of which was modelled by Francis Bird, is designed with curves of contrary flexure for the purpose of adding to the height. Mr. Longman likens these towers to Alpine aiguilles, and points out how picturesquely they form outposts to the great mass of the dome.

Both towers are used as campaniles. The north contains the "five minutes" bell, and the new peal, numbering twelve. The southern contains the three bells on which the clock is struck; and the largest of these, weighing 5 tons 4 cwt., is the passing bell on great occasions. On June 3, 1882, the citizens heard for the first time their new Great Paul. This monster, weighing nearly seventeen tons, came from the foundry of Messrs. Taylor, at Loughborough, and its progress by road was duly chronicled like that of some great personage. It was placed in the south tower, and is reckoned amongst the largest bells in the world. Part of the magnificent railings, cast without the use of coal, at Lamberhurst on the Kent and Sussex border, have been removed, and, after suffering shipwreck, now enclose a monument at Toronto. We can but regret that some second home was not found in London for such a specimen of an extinct industry: but the throwing open of the area, so that justice might be done to the view of the cathedral, is in strict accordance with Wren's views. So is the present arrangement of the steps. In the landing the red marble is from Laconia, in Southern Greece, the dark grey from Porto Venere, near La Spezia, in Italy, and the granite from Shap, in Westmoreland.

Posterity may be thankful that Wren was allowed a free hand in departing from the Accepted Design, and in carrying out his more fully developed conceptions. The well worked out designs of the different parts and details, and the combination of these into one harmonious whole with the dome for a background, leave nothing to be desired.[85]

Before leaving, the visitor may stand by Queen Anne's statue and reflect that near that very spot was erected the scaffold on which suffered Sir Everard Digby, Robert Wynter, John Grant, and Thomas Bates, for their share in the Gunpowder Plot. Digby was said to have been the handsomest man of his day. He died "penitent and sorrowful for his vile treason," as did all save Grant.

The Dome.—To the end, Wren's wish seems to have been to have made the external height no greater than was required by the formation of the internal cupola. "The old Church having had before a very lofty Spire of Timber and Lead, the World expected that the new Work should not in this Respect fall short of the old (tho' that was but a Spit and this a Mountain). He was therefore obliged to comply with the Humour of the Age, (though not with ancient Example, as neither did Bramante) and to raise another Structure over the first Cupola." Stephen might have said two other structures. Not only did Wren wish the interior height to be somewhat less, so as to make it more perfect for the purpose of an auditorium, but he thought any greater exterior height unnecessary, and would have finished off the exterior elevation in some other way.

As matters eventuated, he raised the internal sphere so that the disproportion with the external might be reduced. The whole dome has three shells. (a) The majestic exterior visible to the eye, an outward roof of wood covered with lead and ribbed for the sake of ornament. (b) The intermediate brick cone which supports the lantern and its accessories of 700 tons weight. This springs from the level of the stone gallery, and rises in straight lines which converge at the circular opening beneath the lantern. This, although seen neither from the outside or from within, constitutes the most solid and substantial part. Between this and the outside visible shell is an ingenious network of beams supporting the latter, and at the base of this network a strengthening of which the account had better be given in Stephen's own words: "Altho' the Dome wants not Butment, yet for greater Caution, it is hooped with Iron in this Manner; a Chanel is cut in the Bandage of Portland-Stone, in which is laid a double Chain of Iron strongly linked together at every ten Feet, and the whole Chanel filled up with Lead."[86] (c) The interior dome, also of brick. The height of this third and smallest shell reaches only to the level of the curved lines of the fluted patterns of the exterior shell, a difference of from fifty to sixty feet.

Section of the Dome.

SECTION OF THE DOME.ToList

Since the outside cupola does not bear the heavy weight of the lantern it has been denounced as a sham, but this is an exaggeration. It is evident, as we look at it, that it is incapable of bearing any such weight. Much more practical is the objection of Gwilt that the elaborate framework of beams supporting this outside cover is certain to decay in course of time. A third objection is that of deception—the exterior and interior are presumed to be one and the same. This is not correct. Neither roof nor steeple is assumed to have such correspondence, and Wren might surely be allowed a like liberty with his dome. As Mr. Wightwick very properly says, it will be time enough to find fault when the roofs of churches are the same outside as within.

The Romans are credited with first applying the Dome to larger buildings. It travelled eastward to Constantinople, and was in use in Italy during mediÆval times. The word "Dome" is derived from the Duomo of Florence, where Brunelleschi covered in the octagon with his famous cupola in the earlier part of the fifteenth century.[87] But Wren's particular study was the Pantheon, which we have no evidence whatever that he saw; and, indeed, he erected his dome without having ever seen, so far as we know, anything like it.

The Lantern, from the Clock Tower.

Photo. S.B. Bolas & Co.

THE LANTERN, FROM THE CLOCK TOWER.ToList

A few words will suffice for the main features. The first stage of the superstructure is the Stylobate, of 25 feet in height and some 140 to 145 feet in diameter. The next, the Peristyle or Colonnade which lights up the interior. It has thirty-two Composite columns of a height of 38 feet, including the pedestals. Every fourth intercolumnation is filled up with an ornamental niche (if the term be allowable for a recess of the size) to hide the supports behind. This alternation, while it agreeably affects the play of light and shade, yet allows a partial glimpse of the supports. Why could not Wren have done as much with his curtain wall? Above the peristyle comes the Stone Gallery with its balustrade—a great attraction for visitors—just about half-way up to the summit of the cross. Here the diameter decreases by the breadth of the gallery to 108 feet, and the Tholobate[88] rises. It has pilasters, with lights between, in the upper parts. Above is the outer dome proper—the spherical part—with a further contraction to 102 feet. Wren had the advantage of St. Peter's to profit by, and abstained from inserting the "luthern" lights of the larger edifice. The absence of these and the ribbing of the lead coating was, in his opinion, "less Gothic." The lights, again, could not easily have been reached for repairs; and if left unrepaired would have been the means of causing injury to the supporting timbers underneath. The effect, no doubt, is better, and the lighting above and below sufficient for the stairs leading to the lantern.The Lantern.—The Golden Gallery is almost exactly a hundred feet above the Stone Gallery. The Lantern is an elegant and graceful piece of design and workmanship, and consists of three square stages, each of them with lights and with recesses (or chamfered, so to speak) at the angles. The second has Corinthian columns, which must be fifteen feet in height, and a plain entablature, and some more urn-shaped pedestals. The third is completed with a miniature dome, and has upper and lower lights in each face. Standing immediately underneath, or by Nelson's tomb in the Crypt, these lights produce a striking and almost unique effect. The present gilt ball and cross, which crown the edifice, replaced the originals of Francis Bird, being put up by Cockerell—the then Clerk to the Works—in 1821. The extreme height is from 363 to 365 feet, and in 1848 the Ordnance Survey placed a "crow's nest" against the cross for the purpose of observations from the highest attainable point.

Miss Lucy Phillimore has published a paper of Wren's in which the Surveyor remarks that for the architect it is necessary "in a conspicuous Work to preserve His Undertaking from general censure, and so for him to accommodate his Designs to the Geist of the Age he lives in, though it appear to him less rational." As regards the height of the dome, we are the gainers because he was compelled to do this. It is not, indeed, the whole of St. Paul's or its only important feature; for St. Paul's is not a Byzantine church in which the dome is practically not a part, but the whole. It is the most magnificent member of a magnificent building, and with its graceful equipoise and conscious evidence of stability stands alone and in a class by itself amongst the cathedral superstructures of the land.

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FOOTNOTES:

[68] Fergusson's "History on the Modern Styles of Architecture," p. 243. The Pantheon at Rome as restored A.D. 202 was, or rather is, a rotunda with a portico. The rotunda, according to Fergusson ("Handbook," p. 311), is about 125 feet in internal diameter, and an external elevation of about 150 feet. The Basilica of Maxentius, or Temple of Peace, may have been finished in the reign of Constantine (Maxentius, A.D. 311-312; Constantine the Great, 325-337). The ruins show an oblong of 265 feet by 195 feet in internal measurement, including aisles. The whole length is divided into only three bays ("Handbook," p. 319). Fergusson should have added St. Peter's at Rome, which exercised such an influence over Wren. This immense building has, in the exterior, only one Order and an Attic. All three have the round arch.

[69] Fergusson, "Modern Architecture," p. 390.

[70] An Attic is a small story above the cornice, or principal elevation of a building. [The same would read better by substituting "story" for "elevation".] An Attic order is an inferior order of architecture, used over the principal order of a building. It never has columns, but, sometimes, small pilasters. (Longman, note, p. 164.) Very common in Roman and Italian, but unknown in Greek.

[71] "At St. Paul's the Surveyor was cautious not to exceed Columns of four Feet, which had been tried by Inigo Jones in his Portico; the Quarries of the Isle of Portland would just afford for that proportion, but not readily for the Artificers were forced sometimes to stay some Months for one necessary Stone to be raised for their Purpose, and the farther the Quarry-men pierced into the Rock, the Quarry produced less Stone than near the Sea. All the most eminent Masons were of Opinion, that Stones of the largest Scantlings were there to be found, or nowhere. An Enquiry was made after all the good Stone that England afforded. Next to Portland, Rock-abbey Stone, and some others in Yorkshire seemed the best and most durable; but large Stone for the Paul's Works was not easily to be had even there. For these Reasons the Surveyor concluded upon Portland-stone, and also to use two Orders, and by that Means to keep the just Proportions of his Cornices; otherwise he must have fallen short of the Height of the Fabrick.... At the Vatican Church [St. Peter's], Bramante was ambitious to exceed the ancient Greek and Roman Temples ... and although by Necessity he failed in the due Proportions of the proper Members of his Cornice, because the Tivoli stone would not hold out for the Purpose; yet (as far as we can find) he succeeded in the Diameter of his Columns, viz., nine Feet."—Parentalia, p. 288.

[72] The Royal Commissions expired with the sovereign.

[73] Mr. Longman gives the two together, p. 143.

[74] Tracts in "Parentalia," pp. 352-353. Stephen Wren (p. 269) explains how his grandfather departed from the conventional arrangement of architrave, frieze, and cornice in his entablatures, omitting one or other of these whenever he thought good. Here, above the pilasters and windows of the lower order he seems to have merged the three, and in the corresponding part of the upper order to have omitted anything like a frieze.

[75] Builder, January 2, 1892.

[76] "Parentalia," p. 298.

[77] Ibid., p. 352.

[78] Ibid., p. 301, with diagram, showing how a wall does the same as buttresses.

[79] Mr. Wightwick, quoted in Longman, p. 188.

[80] E.A. Freeman, Fortnightly Review, October, 1872, p. 380.

[81] Yet he preferred the Early English windows of Salisbury to any later.

[82] "Who among the crowds that gaze upon the building ever pause to admire the flowerwork of St. Paul's?... It is no part of it. It is an ugly excrescence. We always conceive the building without it, and should be happier if our conception were not disturbed by its presence. It makes the rest of the architecture look poverty-stricken, instead of sublime; and yet it is never enjoyed itself" ("Seven Lamps," iv. 13). All I can say is I have enjoyed studying it. Mr. Edward Bell also sends me the following: "We have a familiar instance in the flower-work of St. Paul's, which is probably, in the abstract, as perfect flower sculpture as could be produced at the time; and which is just as rational an ornament of the building as so many valuable Van Huysums, framed and glazed, and hung up over each window" ("Stones of Venice," I., xxi. 3). In my humble opinion this criticism is overdrawn; and, after all, Mr. Ruskin commends the sculpture.

[83] Dugdale, p. 191; but some authorities give double that of St. Paul's.

[84] Fortunately for effect the technical distances are slightly exceeded. The "Parentalia" says "alternately," but the central is wider than the remaining four, which are similar.

[85] The objection that the exterior of the West Front does not correspond with the interior is not accurate. The west end inside contains (a) the lower stage, with the great arch and doorway, and (b) the upper, with the window.

[86] "Parentalia," p. 292.

[87] A curious instance of how words change their meaning, (a) A building—domus; (b) the most important building; (c) the most important and striking feature of the building. As everybody now speaks of the "Dome" of St. Paul's, I have adopted the word instead of "Cupola."

CHAPTER VI.ToC

INTERIOR.

The measurements show a marked diminution from the exterior—viz., 460 feet in length, a little under a hundred feet in breadth without reckoning the recesses underneath the windows, and 240 feet across the transepts.

In the Surveyor's favourite the Dome was almost everything; the four short arms being so constructed as to afford picturesque and varied vistas. Probably the acoustic properties would have been superior, and for the ordinary purposes of congregational worship there would have been less unused space. Hence it need take no one by surprise that some, although they recognise the superiority of the present exterior, give the preference to the originally designed interior. The short arms were expanded into choir, transepts, and nave; the elaborate vestibule has gone, but the west chapels have appeared. Finally, the curved lines at the angles of the arms, designed to aid the interior vistas, have given way to the orthodox right angles. It is impossible to say how far Wren would have altered his opinions had he ever seen the present building filled from door to door, as it now occasionally is.[89]

Disappointed at the rejection of his pet scheme, Wren turned his attention to the Basilica of Constantine, with its three aisles of three arches apiece. "This Temple of Peace being an Example of a Three Aisle Fabric is certainly the best and most authentic pattern of a cathedral Church, which must have three Aisles according to Custom, and be vaulted."[90] Piers were used in this building, the columns being merely ornamental; but the interior of St. Paul's is in many respects essentially different from its Roman model. In the Temple of Peace three arches cover the enormous length of over 250 feet, and seriously diminish the apparent size; in St. Paul's their span is less than half of this. Indeed, in this respect Wren adopted a via media between the Roman and the Anglo-Norman and Pointed. Old St. Paul's, for instance, contained twice as many arches in the same length as its successor, and Rochester still more. This use of larger arches renders the perspective less effective, as any one can see by comparing the views of Old and New St. Paul's. A second alteration from the Temple of Peace to be mentioned is the massiveness of the piers. Wren's regard for stability caused him to make his vast square supports of a solidity exceeding those of Mainz and Speier. From the Romans the Surveyor adopted the round arch, with its borrowed Grecian architecture partly cut away; and this, next to the dome, is the most striking feature of the interior.

Before proceeding to the different members, the symmetry and correspondence of parts and details require to be mentioned. They strike the eye everywhere. Those who claim that in this respect Exeter is the most perfect cathedral, not only in England but throughout the world, must limit their comparison to the older buildings. Here, when we have described the details of the architecture of the nave, we have little or nothing that requires to be said of the architecture of the choir and transepts. The dome, of course, has features peculiar to itself.

THE NAVE.

As we pass under the western portico we notice the bas-reliefs of Francis Bird above the doors, and on either side of the main door. They are respectable and nothing more. Over the central door St. Paul is preaching at Berea. The original pavement of Purbeck, Welsh, and Torbay marble remains throughout the building, excepting where the new reredos has necessitated certain alterations. The length to the dome area is a little over 200 feet, the width as above, and the height of the central vaulting 89 feet.

The main west doorway has the round arch resting upon coupled pilasters, the keystone is adorned with the head and arms of a winged figure. On either side are likewise coupled pilasters of the largest size. The doors of the small rooms or closets on either side reveal the enormous size of the end piers projecting from the west wall. Above the entablature of the main arch is a gallery, and the window has lately been filled in with designs in Munich glass in memory of Mr. Thomas Brown, of the firm of Longmans and Co. The subjects are appropriately taken from the life of St. Paul—the Conversion, and the subsequent visit of Ananias at Damascus. The kneeling figures below are those of Mr. Brown and his wife.

The general ground-plan is of five compartments. Four are formed by the arcading, and the fifth by the great transverse archway connecting the nave and dome. The western bay or severy has a greater extension east and west than the three to the east, and corresponds to the adjacent chapels. It is square in the plan, and the others oblong; an important difference, as we shall see when we come to the Vaulting.There are throughout in reality three stages in the elevation—The Main Arcade, Triforium Belt, or "Attic," and Clerestory. The pedantic objection to the use of this simple and familiar terminology and system of classification seems to have arisen from the idea that St. Paul's must be treated as though it were a purely Classical building. Upon their fronts the piers have great Corinthian pilasters. These are continued above the capitals, and the great transverse arches of the vaulting spring from the continuations on a level with the top of the triforium. These great pilasters form the divisions east and west into severies.

The Main Arcade.—The sides of the piers (east and west) have smaller pilasters, coupled and with narrow panels between, and above these is a plain entablature from which the broad arches rise. This method of making the arches spring from an entablature instead of letting them rest naturally upon the capitals, was an idea borrowed from the Romans, who in turn borrowed it from the Greeks. With the Greeks the entablature was useful, as they had no round arch; and the Romans, just as they borrowed Greek forms and Greek metres for their native Italian literature, in a like spirit borrowed their entablature. It is not necessary, and Freeman calls it a mere stilt.[91] The earliest instance we know of its disuse is in the colonnade of the great hall of Diocletian's palace at Spalatro. The greater space of the west severy is diminished by the introduction of detached columns, so that the arches may all be of a like span. These columns, coupled and placed in front of the lesser pilasters, are of white veined marble, and exceedingly graceful. As the arches more immediately rest upon them than upon the pilasters, the Roman use of the entablature as a stilt can be here more clearly seen. I may add that in the church of St. Apollinare Nuovo, at Ravenna, the pillars have only blocks above their capitals, instead of the old entablature reaching from column to column; and this church, built about 500 A.D., accordingly represents the Transition stage between the Roman proper and the Romanesque.

Turning next from underneath the arches, and taking our stand in the central aisle, we are in a position to notice the details of the main entablature above the arches. The keystones are ornamented with heads and other pieces of sculpture. As Wren employed so few arches they rise to a great height, and of the different members of the entablature which rests upon the Corinthian capitals of the greater pilasters, part had to be cut away. The crowns of the arches take a great piece out of the architrave, and their keystones reach well within the plain and narrow frieze. Only the cornice of the first stage remains intact, and this runs round the four limbs of the church like a string course in any Romanesque or Gothic building.

The Triforium Belt.—This used to be called the "Attic," in imitation of the Classical nomenclature; but surely this term is incorrect, since there is a clerestory above, and the vaulting springs from it as well. On the other hand, "Triforium" pure and simple implies arcading, and the above term is adopted from Fergusson as less open to exception.[92] In continuation of the greater pilasters are abutment piers, from the summits of which spring the great arches spanning the nave, the window arches of the clerestory, and the pendentives which connect these with the vaulting. The blank fronts between the piers are relieved by panels, but otherwise destitute of adornment. Openings connect the nave with the galleries behind.

The Clerestory.—This stage again calls for little or no comment. The windows, hidden from the exterior by the curtain wall, are slightly rounded. Above and on either side are sections of spheres, ornamented with festoons. These are the ends of elliptic cylinders in connection with the vaulting.

The Vaulting.—The great arches overhead divide the vault as the greater pilasters and their continuations do the walls. Between these arches are the small saucer-shaped domes, 26 feet in diameter. The reason for these and their accessories, the pendentives, may best be understood from Wren's own words. He says that his method of vaulting is the most geometrical, and "is composed of Hemispheres, and their Sections only; and whereas a Sphere may be cut all Manner of Ways, and that still into Circles ... I have for just Reasons followed this way in the Vaulting of the Church of St. Paul's.... It is the lightest Manner, and requires less Butment than the Cross-vaulting, as well that it is of an agreeable View.... Vaulting by Parts of Hemispheres I have therefore followed in the Vaultings of St. Paul's, and with good reason preferred it above any other way used by Architects."[93] The saucer-shaped domes are sections of spheres, as are both the pendentives and the sides of the clerestory windows. He set to work something in this way. After satisfying himself that he had hit on a better plan than the plain cylindrical or the cross-vaulting of the Romans, or the other forms of intersecting vaults, he seems to have taken a hemisphere as a plan to work upon, and fixed his imaginary centre about the level of the top of the triforium. In the great square western severy of the nave this was easier, but the other severies are oblong. Here he stretched his sections out, so as to include the clerestory windows and their much-needed light. The usual way of expressing this is to say that the vault is intersected across by an elliptic cylinder. The wreaths, garlands, and festoons, and the various conventional patterns with which the edges and surfaces of the various parts of the vaulting is adorned cannot be estimated from the pavement. We may add here that the pendentives were purposely constructed of "sound Brick invested with Stucco of Cockle-shell lime," and not of Portland stone, for further ornament if required.[94] So are the circular sections.

The nave is connected with the dome by the space between the great piers or walls of more than 30 feet in length. These piers are also broader at their ends than those which support the arcading, the latter covering a square of about 10 feet. The greater massiveness is owing to their assistance being required in supporting the dome. They have large pilasters at the angles, and their coffered wagon vaulting, adorned with geometrical patterns, is very striking.

The Nave Aisles.—We will first point out an unnoticed feature in the great piers at either end. Their inner faces as seen from the aisles have recesses or niches for the reception of monuments, and other recesses are generally found in the wall opposite. At the west of the aisles there are eight of these altogether, just behind the coupled columns. They are repeated in all the great piers leading to the dome, but although of sufficient height to permit of the introduction of life-sized effigies, still remain unoccupied. The coupled columns are repeated at the entrances to the chapels. At both ends the perspective is narrowed; at the west by the chapels, at the east by the breadth of the great piers. The windows stand in recesses which are segments of circles. Their sides are made to represent piers with concave surfaces. These latter carry an entablature from which spring the round window arches. Festoons run below the actual windows, the concave side piers have panels, and the round arches above diamond-shaped patterns. There are only three windows on either side—the chapels taking the place of a fourth—and the depth of their recesses points out the thickness of the walls. Between each recess are Composite pilasters in couples, with others opposite against the piers. These correspond with the lesser pilasters of the arcading, and from them spring transverse arches, as in the great central aisle. The vaulting, owing to the severies being nearly square, is regular; in other respects similar to that already described. The height is much less than that of the greater aisle, reaching only to the first stage of the latter.

The West Chapels.—They may best be described as squares of 26 feet, with apses or tribunes at either end which increase the length to 55 feet. They suffer sadly from want of light, the one window in each being altogether insufficient; but Wren had to do what he could. He panelled them with oak, and made them of the same height as the aisles, with vaulting of his favourite kind, drawn out to meet the windows.

The North Chapel is called the Morning Chapel, from its original use for morning prayer on weekdays. The mosaic above the altar is in imitation of a fresco by Raphael. That at the west end, by Salviati, is in memory of William Hale Hale, a voluminous writer and editor of the "Domesday of St. Paul's," who was a Residentiary, Archdeacon of London and Master of the Charterhouse. He died in 1870. The stained-glass window is in memory of the metaphysician, Henry Longueville Mansell, Dean of the Cathedral, who died suddenly, after a rule of three years, in 1871. It is by Hardman, and represents the Risen Christ and St. Thomas.

The South Chapel is called the Consistory Chapel, because the Consistory Court has been held here excepting during the time that it sheltered the Wellington monument. The reliefs in white marble at the ends—the east by Calder Marshall, and the west by Woodington—have to do with this monument. Certainly the most appropriate of the six subjects is that on the west wall which illustrates the Baptist admonishing the soldiers. "Do violence to no man ... and be content with your wages." Wellington earned his name of the Iron Duke for the firmness and sternness with which he punished pillaging and outrage.[95] The stained-glass window by Mr. Kempe has been lately put in to the memory of James Augustus Hessey, Archdeacon of Middlesex (1875-93), whose Bampton Lectures, "Sunday," still remain for theologians the standard treatise upon the Day of Rest. The Font of veined Carrara marble, another work of Bird, rather resembles the round basins resting on stands of the ancient Greek baths than any of our usual models. As St. Paul's is one of those cathedrals with no parish annexed, only those connected with it have any claim for baptisms.

The Geometrical Staircase.—This is in the South Tower, and leads from the Crypt to the Library. It is circular, of a diameter of twenty-five feet, and so constructed that eighteen steps, each nearly six feet broad at the outside, lead from the outside entrance to the interior. The ironwork is worthy of the choir.

The three remaining limbs differ only on the plan; in the other features of their architecture they are essentially similar to the nave. While the Pointed architecture suggests upward lines, and the Greek entablature horizontal lines, the round arch suggests a neutral position between the two. The great span of the arches and the general largeness of the different parts diminish the apparent size. The uniformity in the details produces that symmetry which is a peculiarity of the Renaissance.

THE DOME.

The Dome rises from its foundation in the Crypt of a square of 190 feet, and of this the solid parts are more than equal to the vacant spaces, and are of a thickness of 20 feet.[96]

Coming to the level of the church, these solid parts are represented by twelve supports. The chief of them are the bastion-like piers at the angles of the transepts. They are hollow at the pavement level; and the south-west is used as a staircase, the north-west as the Lord's Mayor's vestry, the north-east the Minor Canons', and the south-east the Dean's. It gives some idea of their massiveness to reflect that these rooms inside them are nearly twenty feet across. The eight other supports are the huge wall-like piers, thirty-five feet by ten, at the entrances from the four limbs.

The Arcading.—When Wren planned his dome interior he had the difficulty caused by the four limbs and their side aisles to overcome. It was easy enough for the architect of such a church as St. GeneviÈve (or the Pantheon) at Paris to construct one, as he had neither this complicated arcading nor so heavy a superincumbent mass to consider.

Wren's path, then, was beset with difficulties, and he must have turned to his uncle's cathedral at Ely for enlightenment. In the earlier years of the fourteenth century the central tower at Ely collapsed: and the Sacrist, Alan de Walsingham, who acted as architect, seeing that the breadth of his nave, choir, and transepts happened to agree, took for his base this common breadth, and cutting off the angles, obtained a spacious octagon. The four sides terminating the main aisles are longer than the four alternate sides at the angles of the side aisles; but at Ely this presents no difficulty, owing to the use of the pointed arch. As you stand in the centre of the octagon under the lantern you see eight spacious arches of two different widths, all springing from the same level and rising to the same height of eighty-five feet, the terminal arch of the Norman nave pointed like its opposite neighbour of the choir. Amongst Gothic churches the interior of Ely reigns unique and supreme, certainly in England, if not in Europe.[97] Wren was familiar with this cathedral, and even designed some restorations for it; and he adopted the eight arches in preference to any possible scheme of four great arches of sixty feet: but the use of the round arch, as distinct from the pointed, deprived him of Sacrist Alan's liberty, who without incongruity made his intermediate arches of the shorter sides, springing from the same level, rise to the same height as the others. Wren was compelled to make use of some expedient to reconcile his two different spaces between piers of forty feet and twenty-six feet, and accordingly arched these four smaller intermediate spaces as follows. A smaller arch, rising from the architrave of the great pier, spans each shorter side of the octagon, and has a ceiling or quarter dome in the background, coming down to the terminal arches of the side aisles. A blank wall space above is relieved by a section of an ornamental arch of larger span, resting on the centre of the cornice; and above this a third arch, rising from the level of the triforium cornice, rests more upon the outer side of the great supporting pier, and thereby obtains the required equal span of forty feet, and equal height of eighty-nine feet from the ground. This also has a quarter dome; and the platform beneath on a level with the clerestory is railed.

The reduction of the octagon to the circle is facilitated by giving the spandrels between the arches the necessary concave surface; and this stage is finished off with a cantilever cornice, the work (at least in part) of one Jonathan Maine. The eight great keystones of the arches by Caius Gabriel Cibber are seven feet by five, and eighteen inches in relief.

The Whispering Gallery is almost exactly a hundred feet from the pavement, and curiously enough about the same distance across. We are still, be it understood, below the level of the apex of the exterior roof, and the Cross is quite two hundred and sixty feet above us. The gallery projects so that the lectern steps and the pulpit are underneath. The attendant whispering across the whole area can be distinctly heard, an acoustic property seemingly caused by the nearness of the concave hemisphere above.

The Drum.—The actual bend inwards now begins, but for this part only in straight lines.[98] First comes the plain band or Podium, panelled and of a height of twenty feet. On this stand thirty-two composite pilasters, in reality, as well as in appearance, out of the horizontal. Three out of each four intervening spaces are pierced with square-headed windows; and from them such light as the dome possesses, streams down through the windows of the exterior colonnade. The alternate fourth recesses, apparently nothing more than ornamental niches, conceal the supports which bear the weight above. In the recent scheme of decoration they have been filled with statues of Early Fathers—the four eastern, SS. Chrysostom, Gregory Nazianzen, Basil, and Athanasius; and the four western, SS. Ambrose, Augustine of Hippo, Jerome, and Gregory. If the light allows, the Podium, at present bare, is a suitable place for mosaics.

The Cupola.—So, for want of a better name, we will call the topmost section or inner roof of brick, two bricks thick. Here the straight lines bearing inwards give way to the sphere; and here, too, the three separate coverings, which constitute the dome, begin. The circular opening below the lantern coincides with the lower edge of the fluting of the exterior shell, and is about two hundred and fifteen feet from the pavement.[99]

These upper regions, hidden in an almost perpetual gloom, were decorated in monochrome by Sir James Thornhill; but his work has failed to resist the chemical action of the surcharged atmosphere. Yet a word or two about it may interest. Concentric circles surround the opening; and the remaining surface is ingeniously divided into eight compartments by designs of piers and round arches; the piers coinciding with the eight recesses below. In these compartments are scenes from the life of the patronal saint: (1) The Conversion, (2) Elymas, (3) Cripple at Lystra, (4) Jailer at Philippi, (5) Mars Hill, (6) Burning Books at Ephesus, (7) Before Agrippa, (8) Shipwreck. We have all of us heard from the days of our boyhood or girlhood the story of the painter, on a platform at a great height, who stepped back to get a better view of his work. As he did so, an assistant, standing by, brush in hand, observed with alarm that the slightest further backward step would entail his falling headlong and being dashed to pieces. He deliberately daubed the painting; and the artist, stepping instinctively forward to prevent this, saved his life. The painter is said to be Thornhill: the scene, the giddy height under the dome.

The interior height of two diameters will always be a disputed question. Stephen Wren[100] seemed to think that his grandfather hit the happy medium of a diameter and a half; but this only reaches to the windows and Early Fathers. He probably gives us the Surveyor's intention. Afterwards, when Wren was compelled to raise the height of the exterior, he increased the interior. St. Sophia and the Invalides are both less than two diameters, and give the idea of greater area. While it is difficult to see what Æsthetic advantage is gained by a roof and upper regions immersed in perpetual gloom, the acoustic properties and the light might both have been improved by a more modest elevation. Yet the advocates of a smaller ratio injure their case by writing about "a great disproportioned hole in the 'roof.'"

The Pulpit was one of the additions suggested in Dean Milman's time, when the dome area was used for service. It is a memorial to Captain Robert Fitzgerald, designed by Mr. Penrose; and the marbles come from various places. It stands on columns, of which the gray are from Plymouth, the "dark purplish" from Anglesea, and the red from Cork. In the panels and elsewhere the green is from Tenos, and the yellow chiefly from Siena, with a little of the ancient Giallo Antico from Rome.[101] Alike in the design, and in the combination of these different marbles, the pulpit is a fitting and judicious adornment. The Lectern takes the familiar form of an eagle, and is of bronze. This fine piece of work was finished in 1720 by Jacob Sutton, at a cost of £241 15s.

The Mosaics.—Stephen Wren tells us that his grandfather intended his great building to be adorned with mosaic work, and that one of his numerous disappointments was his inability, thanks to the ignorant opposition of the Commission, to carry out this intention. The categorical statement of the grandson is corroborated by (a) the text of various Acts of Parliaments, (b) other Renaissance Churches and notably St. Peter's, (c) the use of material softer than Portland stone for various surfaces.[102] Bishop Newton, who was Dean a hundred and twenty years ago, roundly accused the authorities of filching the decoration funds for William's wars. Queen Anne's wars would have sounded more probable. It was not until our own day that in this respect, as in others, the Surveyor's ideas have been carried out.

The eight spandrels of soft and suitable stone have designs of the four Greater Prophets, and the four Evangelists, executed by Dr. Salviati of Venice. For the designs of St. Matthew and St. John the authorities were fortunate enough to secure the services of that wonderful Academician, Mr. G.F. Watts. He thoroughly understood and overcame the difficulty of the great distance of the spectator on the pavement below. These designs are in every way worthy of the painter of the Rider on the White Horse, and its fellows. The other Evangelists were designed by Mr. Brittan, and the Prophets by Mr. A. Stevens. The smoke should never be allowed to mar the colouring, and so injure the good effect, of this part of the scheme of decoration.

Subsequently the authorities and their committee turned to Mr. (now Sir William) Richmond, R.A., whose veneration for St. Paul's dates from childhood. His interest in mosaic work caused him to study carefully the principles of design which obtained in Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, during the best times of the Byzantine Empire.[103] Sir William has adopted the old plan of glass tesserÆ or cubes, and of four shapes—the cube, double cube, equilateral triangle, and a longer form with sharp points. They are of eight to ten tones of colour, and are put into position on the spot, being joined together by a mastic cement which resembles that used by Andrea Tafi in restoring the mosaics in the Baptistery at Florence. This cement in time becomes quite hard. The cubes with their complex facets are not joined close together, but separated by one-sixteenth to one-fourth of an inch, the better to reflect the light, so as to give a rich and soft texture. They are made at Messrs. Powell's workshops. Sir William has done a great deal more than design. He has, so far as this country is concerned, caused us to acquire a new art, while he has restored an old one. The workmen, who are all natives, have been trained by him. Accustomed only to the smooth, pictorial mosaics of thin plates of glass put together in the workshop, he had to teach the Messrs. Powell and their staff both how to make the glass cubes, and how to put each one separately into its place in the cement on the wall or roof. As our cathedrals are sermons in stone, so these adornments are intended to be illustrated sermons in glass. Beginning with the Creation, and including those, Pagans as well as Israelites, who prepared the way and led up to the Fulness of the Time, we are here taught the leading features of that progressive truth which has been revealed.

The difficulty in dealing with the lofty blank spaces of the dome will be not to go too high up, and not to come too far down. At the time of revising these lines (August, 1899) the decoration of this part of the cathedral has advanced no further than the quarter domes of those alternate arches which tested so severely the genius of the Surveyor. In the four, taken as a whole, the general subject illustrated will be St. Paul's Gospel of the Resurrection from the early verses of 1 Corinthians, XV.

North-East, the Crucifixion. Christ stands on the Tree of Life, branches on either side and the cross behind. The water of life issues from below the tree, making a silver flood; these silver tones, the result of many experiments, when flashing, expand and give more light than gold. The holy women are on either side, and Adam and Eve kneeling in the two corners. The world is represented as a harvest-field. The inscription below runs, "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." South-East, the Resurrection. The Risen Christ is standing at the entrance of the open sepulchre, and is supported on either side by an angel in blue and white. He wears a long mantle of white, shaded to red, probably to prevent the white rays spreading too much. On either side in the corners are placed the sleeping soldiers: and above is a canopy of clouds, lifting on the horizon. A scroll-work, which looks like pomegranates, takes the place of the silver flood of the companion across the choir arch. Inscription, "Behold! I am alive for evermore." South-West the Entombment. A winged angel, sitting, holds the reclining Body. On the right, standing figures of women, and on the left two angels. Continuing round are two other figures on either side; and these, as I am instructed, are symbolical of our four nationalities. Trees and foliage are above the figures. This section is still incomplete, and the text wanting; but the scroll-work looks like leaves and acorns. Years hence, when the dome as a whole is finished, we shall be in a position to judge. So far everything is rich and promises well.[104]

THE TRANSEPTS.

These short limbs consist of only one arch beyond the great dome piers. There is no arch at the ends like that by the west door. Instead, the wall space shows four single pilasters with their entablature supporting the gallery. The gilded copy of the well-known inscription on Wren's tomb is over the north doorway. The great windows, the gift of the late Duke of Westminster, and designed by Sir William Richmond, illustrate early Church history. The North represents twelve primary bishops who introduced, or restored after lapse, Christianity, after the coming of the English, and include Augustine, Mellitus, Cedd, Birinus, Theodore of Tarsus (the originator of the parochial system), and Erkenwald. The South represents twelve kings who co-operated and supported the prelates, including Ethelbert, Cynegils, Coinwalch, Sabert, Sigebert, and Sebbe. In the south transept aisles the Thanksgiving service in 1872 for the recovery of the Prince of Wales is commemorated by a window, the subject being the Raising of the Son of the Widow of Nain, and a tablet performs the like service.

THE CHOIR.

The plan consists of the great piers and chancel arch, three arches, other great piers which support the triumphal or reredos arch and are pierced for doorways, and finally the apse. The side aisles do not extend beyond the reredos arch. The main aisle, formerly isolated from the dome by the organ and organ-screen, is now separated only by a low railing, and the space underneath the chancel arch has been included. By uniting choir and dome for the purposes of congregational worship the intention of the architect has been carried into effect. The ironwork of the gates, both at the west end of the aisles and in the doorways of the reredos arch, is part of Tijou's work, restored and replaced as occasion arose.

The Stalls.—They all now face uniformly on opposite sides. They are the work of Grinling Gibbons, and originally cost over £1,300. The best plan is to see them both from the choir and the aisles, as their general conception and details are alike creditable to the wood-workers of their day. The canopies have galleries above; and those in the centre on either side, as also over the throne at the end of the south side, have turrets. But it is not only their artistic merits. More than anything else they carry us back to the days of Old St. Paul's, since they reproduce the seats of the dignitaries for ages past. Numbering thirty-one on either side, the Latin inscriptions over fifteen on either side call for notice. These are the headings of the Psalter divided into thirty parts.

In the days of Bishop Maurice and Dean Ulstan, according to Newcourt, a division was first made, so that each prebendary should say the Psalter through in a month, while the whole Psalter should be said each day. Under Ralph de Baldock, in succession Archdeacon of Middlesex, Dean, and finally Bishop (1276-1313), the present and more equal division was made.[105] The Archdeaconries of Essex and Colchester are now in the Diocese of St. Alban's, and the Archdeaconry of St. Alban's, consisting of a few parishes in Herts and Bucks, created after the dissolution of the abbey, though for a time in the diocese, never had a stall. The stalls and seats have been added to from the designs of Mr. Penrose. For the sake of convenience I have numbered the thirty-one stalls on either side: the other numbers, in brackets, to the right, represent the traditional positions in Old St. Paul's. Each dignitary's stall has the name inscribed. Neither from the position of the stalls, nor from the order of the allotment of the Psalter is it possible to discover any priority. Perhaps both were arranged according to the then seniority of the canons.

Dr. Sparrow-Simpson assigned the psalms to Consumpta and Oxgate as I have put them in brackets.[106]

The Organ.—In Old St. Paul's the organ was considered to have but two peers, Canterbury and York; and the present instrument is worthy of its predecessor. Grinling Gibbons executed the older part of the case, with its foliage, figures, and imitations of the architecture. Bernard Schmidt, a German, was the builder; and in 1802 "a most industrious Swede and his partner" took it to pieces, cleaned it, and improved the tone of many of the notes. When the choir was opened out, at the suggestion of Dr. Sparrow-Simpson the instrument was enlarged by Mr. Willis, divided between the two sides, and placed above the stalls at the west end, the old carved work being chiefly on the north side. Whether Jeremiah Clark (1695-1707) lived long enough to preside is uncertain; but if not, Richard Brind (1707-1718) was the first to play the present instrument. Neither Sir John Stainer nor Sir George Martin need any mention. The organist is seated on the north side, and communicates by electricity.

The Reredos.—Advantage has been taken of the space between the great eastern piers to bring forward the altar and crown it with a lofty reredos. Would Wren have approved of the breaking of the vista by shutting out the windows of the apse? As he himself designed an unexecuted Baldachino "of rich marble columns writhed" somewhat after the style of his favourite St. Peter's,[107] and as this was not so high, and was to stand against the east wall, the answer to this question is doubtful. The impression left is that for the present altar-piece he would have designed his east front somewhat differently. Be this as it may, upon this magnificent specimen of modern art it is waste of time to lavish praise, and the names of the designers, Messrs. Bodley and Garner, will always be associated with it. The symbolism is expressed in the frieze above the Crucifixion, "Sic Deus dilexit mundum" ("God so loved the world"). The lower part is pierced with doors on either side: and "Via Electionis" ("A chosen vessel") over the north door refers to St. Paul, and "Pasce oves meos" ("Feed my sheep") over the other to St. Peter; and here the crossed swords are the arms of the diocese. The section above has the Entombment in the centre, and the Nativity and Resurrection on either side. A Crucifixion occupies the central position. The framework is of Roman design, with pilasters and a round arch; and remembering Wren's conception, it is interesting that the columns of Brescia marble, supporting the entablature above, are twisted. This is flanked with a colonnade; the figure on the north being the Angel Gabriel, and to the south the Virgin. Above the pediment is a canopy with the Virgin and Child, and St. Peter and St. Paul to the north and south; and above all, and nearly seventy feet from the ground, the Risen Christ completes this most reverent design.

The altar cross is adorned with precious stones and lapis lazuli; and the massive copper candlesticks are imitations of those, four in number, sold during the Protectorate, and now, with the arms of England, in Ghent Cathedral.

The Apse.—Although the side aisles require no particular mention, unless it be of certain relics from Jerusalem in the south aisle, the iron gates leading to the reredos are well worthy of attention. When the choir was opened out, the ironwork was brought here; but there was not sufficient. Recourse was had in vain to modern coal-smelted metal: it split, and proved useless for the finer work. Searching the records, it was discovered that Tijou used only charcoal-smelted iron; and a supply was procured from Norway. Comment is needless. The vaulting comes down to the upper tier of windows. The windows in the lower tier, by Mr. C.E. Kempe, in harmony with the mosaics, have for their general subject the Last Judgment.

Isolated by the great Reredos behind from the rest of the church, the apse now forms a separate chapel, and is called the Jesus Chapel. Why borrow the name from the east end of the crypt below? The Liddon Chapel would be a suitable name. Here, against the south wall is his monument; and the altar-piece, in its marble framework, forms part of his memorial. It is a copy of a painting by Giovanni Battista da Conegliano, otherwise Cima. The original, now in the National Gallery, was painted for the Fraternity of the Battuti at Portogruaro. The subject is the incredulity of St. Thomas.

THE CHOIR, ALTAR AND REREDOS.ToList