Practice 



General 

 otxem 



Practice. 



" In the 9th year of the reign of Queen Anne, 1708, 

 an act of Parliament passed to erect 50 new additional 

 parish churches in the cities of London and Westmin- 

 ster. The surveyor, being appointed one of the com- 

 missioners for carrying on the works, attended that ser- 

 vice with all the application hit other offices would per- 

 mit ; and preparatory thereunto, took occasion to im- 

 part his thoughts to this effect, in a letter to a friend in 

 that commission." Pareutalia, pp. 309 318. 



" The capacity and dimensions of the new churches may 

 be determined by a calculation. It is, as I take it, pretty 

 certain, that the number of inhabitants, for whom the 

 churches arc provided, are 5 times as many as those in 

 the city who were burnt out, and probably more than 

 400,000 grown persons that should come to church, for 

 whom these 50 churches are to be provided, (besides 

 some chapels already built, though too small to be made 

 parochial. ) Now, if the churches could hold each 2000, 

 it would yet be very short of the necessary supply. The 

 churches therefore must be large ; but still, in our re- 

 formed religion, it should seem vain to make a parish 

 church larger, than that all who are present can both 

 hear and see. The Romanists, indeed, may build larger 

 churches ; it is enough if they hear the murmur of the 

 mass, and see the elevation of the host ; but ours are to 

 be fitted for auditories. I can hardly think it practicable 

 to make a single room so capacious, with pews and gal- 

 leries, as to hold above 2000 persons, and ell to hear the 

 service, and both to hear distinctly and see the preacher. 

 I endeavoured to effect this in building the parish church 

 of St James's, Westminster, which, I presume, is the 

 most capacious with these qualifications that hath yet 

 been buiit ; and yet at a solemn time, when the church 

 was much crowded, I could not discern from a gallery 

 that 2000 were present. In this church I mention, 

 though very broad, and the middle nave arched up, yet 



aa there are no walls of a second order, nor lanterns, nor 

 buttresses, but the whole roof rests upon the pillar-, at 

 do also the galleries, I think it may be found beautiful 

 and convenient, and, as such, the cheapest of any form I 

 could invent. 



"Concerning the placing of the pulpit, I shall observe, 

 a moderate voice may be heard 50 feet distant before 

 the preacher, 30 feet on each side, and 20 behind the 

 pulpit, and not this unless the pronunciation be distinct 

 and equal, without losing the voice at tiie last word of 

 the sentence, which is commonly cmphatical, and, if ob- 

 scured, spoils the whole sense. A Frenchman is heard 

 further than an English preacher, because lit- raises his 

 voice, and not sinks his last words. I mention this as an 

 insufferable fault in the pronunciation of some of our 

 otherwise excellent preachers, which schoolmasters might 

 correct in the young as a vicious pronunciation, and not 

 as the Roman orators spoke ; for the principal verb is in 

 Latin usually the last word, and, if that be lost, what 

 becomes of the sentence ? 



" By what I have said, it may be thought reasonable, 

 that the new church be at least 60 feet broad, and 90 

 feet long, besides a chancel at one end, and the belfry 

 and portico at the other. These proportions may be varied; 

 but to build more room than that every person may conve- 

 niently hear and see, is to create noise and confusion. A 

 church should not be filled with pewe, but that the poor 

 may have room to sit and stand in the alleys, for to them 

 equally is the gospel preached. It wpre to be wished 

 there were to be no pews but benches ; but there is no 

 stemming the tide of profit, and the advantage of pew- 

 keepers." Pp. 320, 321. 



Having given an account of sundry churches in the 

 metropolis, we shall now describe one lately erected in a 

 small provincial town, and another in a country village, 

 from both designs made by Mr Tclford. The former 



