CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



6-39 



Talcing 

 down the 

 lii edifice. 



Practice, are objectionable. If there had been niches, with sta- 

 ^"V"' ' cues ii.ntead of windows, in the lower order, and the 

 windows of the upper order made as large as the space 

 would admit, and of uniform shape, the whole would 

 have been more conformable to the character of a tem- 

 ple. We are aware, that this would have required a 

 considerable change of the interior arrangement. The 

 drawings we have given, will convey a distinct idea of 

 the plan and elevation. For much of the interior we 

 must refer to the building itself, and to the very mas- 

 terly section made and published by Messrs Gwyn and 

 Wale ; but the following particulars, respecting the con- 

 struction, cannot fail of being acceptible to the reader. 



" Of the Itiiini: down the vn.it Iluins of the Old Cathe- 

 dral, (fit Piml't) and of the 1'oundatioiis afthr Old and 

 ffetv Structure. The pulling down the walls, being about 

 80 feet high, and live feet thick, was a great and trouble- 

 some wort. The men stood above, and worked them 

 down with pickaxes, whilst labourers below moved away 

 the materials that fell, and dispersed them into heaps. 

 The want of room made this way slow and dangerous, 

 and some men lost their lives. The heaps grew steep 

 and large, and yet this wa* to be done before the ma- 

 sons could begin to lay the foundations. 



" The city having streets to pave anew, bought, from 

 the rubbish, most of the stone called Kentish rag, which 

 gave some room to dig and to lay foundations ; which 

 yet was not easy to perform with any exactness, but by 

 this method : 



" The surveyor placed scaffolds high enough to ex- 

 tend his lines over the heaps that lay in the way, and 

 then by perpendiculars set out the places below, from 

 the lines drawn with care upon the level plan of the 

 scaffold. 



" Thus he proceeded, gaining every day more room, 

 till he came to the middle tower that bore the steeple. 

 The remains of the tower being near 200 feet high, the 

 labourers were afraid to work above, thereupon he con- 

 cluded to facilitate this work by the use of gunpowder. 



" He dug a hole of about four feet wide, down by 

 the side of the north-west pillar of the tower, the four 

 pillars of which were each about fourteen feet diameter. 

 When he had dug to the foundation, he then, with 

 crows and tools made on purpose, wrought a hole two 

 feet equare, level into the centre of the pillar. There 

 he placed a little deal box, containing eighteen pounds 

 of powder, and no more. A cane was fixed to the 

 box, with a quick-match (as gunners call it) within the 

 cane, which reached from the Sox to the ground above ; 

 and along the ground was laid a train of powder, with 

 a match. After the mine was carefully closed up again, 

 with stone and mortar, to the top of the ground, he then 

 observed the effect of the blow. 



" This little quantity of powder not only lifted up 

 the whole angle of the tower, with two great arches 

 that rested upon it, but also two adjoining arches of 

 the aisles, and all above them ; and this it seemed to 

 do somewhat leisurely, cracking the walls to the top ; 

 lifting visibly the whole weight about nine inches, which 

 suddenly jumping down, made a great heap of ruin in 

 the place without scattering. It was half a minute be- 

 fore the heap, already fallen, opened in two or three 

 placet, and emitted some smoke. By this description 

 may be observed thr incredible force of powder: 18 

 pounds only of which lifted up above 3000 tons, and 

 saved the work of 1000 labourers. 



" The fall of so great a weight, from a height of '_'<'() 

 fret, gave a concussion to the ground, that the inhabi- 

 tants round about took for ar, earthquake. 

 . " Encouraged by this success, he thought to proceed 



Uwd 



poUrr. 



this way j but being obliged to go out of town in the Prtetlrft 

 king's service, he left the management of another mine 1 ~^V * 

 begun to the care of his next officer, who, too wise in 

 his own conceit, put in a greater quantity of powder, 

 and neither went low enough, nor sufficiently fortified 

 the mouth of the mine; and though it had the effect, 

 yet one stone was shot out to the opposite side of the 

 church-yard, through an open window, into a room of a 

 private house, where some women were sitting at work, 

 without any harm done. This accident frightened the 

 neighbours to that degree, that he was importuned to 

 use no more powder, and was so directed also by his 

 superiors ; though, with due caution, it might have been 

 executed without any hazard, and saved much time and 

 money. 



" He then turned his thoughts to another method, to 

 gain time, prevent much expence, and the endangering 

 of men's lives ; and that was, to make an experiment of 

 that ancient engine in war, the battering ram. 



" He took a strong mast, of about 40 feet long, arm- A ttrong 

 ing the bigger end with a great spike of iron, fortified mast at .1 

 with bars along the mast, and ferrcls. This mast, in battering 

 two places, was hung up to one ring with strong tackle, r * m> 

 and so suspended level to a triangle prop, such as they 

 weigh great guns with. Thirty men, fifteen on a side, 

 vibrated this machine to and again, and beat in one place 

 against the wall the whole day. They believed it was 

 to little purpose, not discerning any immediate effect. 

 He bid them not despair, but proceed another day. On 

 the second day, the wall was perceived to tremble at the 

 top, and in a few hours it fell. The reason to be given 

 for it may be this : It is not by any present violence the 

 ram is able to overturn a wall of such bulk and compac- 

 turc, but incessantly vibrating by equidistant pulses, it 

 makes a small intestine motion through all the insensible 

 parts of the wall, and by degrees loosens all the bond of 

 the mortar, and moves every stone from its bed ; and 

 though not the hundredth part of an inch every blow, 

 yrt this motion, once begun, hath it* effects more and 

 more, till at length it is quite loose, and falls. He made 

 good use of this machine in beating down all the lofty 

 ruins, and pleased himself that he had recovered this not- 

 able engine, of so great service to the ancients in beieg- 

 ing of towns, though great guns have now put them out 

 ofuse, as more expeditious, and requiring fewer men to 

 manage. 



" ft has been before observed, that the graves of scve- oeseiip- 

 ral ages and fashions, in strata, or layers of earth, one turn of 

 above another, particularly at the north side of St Paul's, ground 

 manifestly shewed a great antiquity from the British and ani ! '"""- 

 Roman times, by the means whereof the ground had been 

 raised. But, upon searching for the natural ground be- 

 low these jjravcs, the surveyor observed, that the foun- 

 dation of the old church stood upon a layer of very close 

 and hard pot earth; and concluded, that the name 

 ground which had borne so weighty a building, might 

 reasonably be trusted again. However, he had the cu- 

 riosity to search farther, and accordingly dug well* in 

 several places, and discerned this hard pot earth to be on 

 the north side of the church-yard about six feet thick, 

 and more, but thinner and thinner towards the south, till 

 it was, upon the declining of the hill, scarce four feet. 

 Still he searched lower, and found nothing but dry sand, 

 mixed sometimes unequally, but loose, so that it would 

 run through the fingers. He went on till he came to 

 water and sand mixed with periwinkles and other sea 

 shells : theie were about the level of low water-mark. 

 He continued boring till he camo to hard beach ; and 

 still under that, till he came to the natural hard clay, 

 which lies under the city and country, and Thamti 



