LONDON. 



the magnitude of the building, tliat neither Maurice, nor his 

 fuccefTor Dc Belmcis, were able to complete the under- 

 taking, though each of them prefided twenty years, and 

 expended great funis in the profecution of it ; the latter pre- 

 late appropriated the w^olc revenue of his birtiopric to car- 

 rying on the work, and fupported himfelf and family by 

 other means. After his death the building was for fome 

 time fufpended, Hnd the ealtern part, or choir, was burnt in 

 the year 1 1 3 j. At what period it was i-eftored is uncer- 

 tain ; the grand ceremony of confccratiou was performed in 

 1240; large additions were afterwards made to the flruc- 

 tUre, and it was not till the year 1315 that the church was 

 entirely completed ; being 22J years from the time of its 

 foundation by Maurice. This ancient cathedral mud al- 

 ways be regarded as one of the great works of architefture 

 of the middle ages ; in dimcnlions it far exceeded every 

 other rehgious edifice in this country ; and it is reprefented 

 by hillorians as equally pre-eminent in magnilicence and 

 fplcndour of ornament. (For an account of this edifice, fee 

 Dugdale's Hiftory of St. Paul's.) In the reign of .lames I., 

 the cathedral liaving fallen to decay, a royal commiflion was 

 ifl'ued for its repair; but nothing of confcquence was^done 

 till the advancement of Laud to the fee of London, in the 

 fucceeding reign. This prelate exerted himfelf zealoufly in 

 favour of the neglefted building ; a fubfcription was col- 

 lected to the amount of 101,330/. 4J. 8^/. ; and Inigo Jones 

 was appointed to fuperintcnd the undertaking. He com- 

 menced his operations in 1633 ; and the work went rapidly 

 OH till the breaking out of the civil war threw all things 

 into confuiion, and the parhament confifcated the unex- 

 pended money and materials. After tlie reftoration, the 

 repairs were again commenced ; but after muv;h labour and 

 expence, the great conflagration in 1666, deftroyed the 

 chief part of the building, and irreparably damaged the 

 remainder. Still, however, the magnitude of the work, 

 and the contemplation of the vaft expence of building a 

 new cathedral, occafioned a lapfe of feveral years before it 

 was finally determined that all attempts at rep?.ration were 

 hopelefs. The impradlicability of reftoring the ancient 

 church being now apparent. Dr. (afterwards lir) Chrifto- 

 pher Wren, was ordered to prepare plans for a new cathe- 

 dral. The pulling down the rem'aining walls of the old 

 ftrudure, and the removal of the rubbifh to the amount of 

 47,000 loads, proved exceffively laborious as well as danger- 

 ous, and feveral men were ki:led in the progrefs of the 

 work. This being completed, the firft ftone of the Hew 

 edifice was laid June 21, 1675 > """^ ''^^ defign was profe- 

 cuted with fuch diligence and fuccefs, that within ten years 

 the walls of the choir and fide aifles were finiflied, together 

 with the circular porticoes on the north and fouth fides. 

 The laft or highell ftone of the building was laid at the top 

 of the lantern in the year 1710 ; and (hortly afterwards the 

 queen and both houfes of parliament attended divine fervice 

 in the new cathedral. The whole -Irufture was thus com- 

 pleted in ihiity-five years, by one architeft, fir Chriftopher 

 Wren, and one mailer mafon, Mr. Thomas Strong, and 

 Vhile one prelate, Dr. Henry Compton, filled the fee of 

 London. 



The general form or ground plan of St. Paul's cathedral 

 is that of a Latin crofs, with an additional arm or tranfept 

 at the weft end, to give breadth to the principal front, and 

 a femicircular projeftion at the eatt end f"r the altar. At 

 the extremities of the principal tranfept are alfo femicircular 

 projeclions for porticoes ; and at the angles of the crofs are 

 fquare projeftions, which, befides containing ftaircafes, 

 Tfeftries, &c. fcrve as irameufe buttreffes to the dome, which 



rifps from the interfeftion of the nave and tranfept, and is 

 terminated by a lantern, furmounted by a ball and crofs of 

 copper gilt. The weft front of this fabric confifts of a noble 

 portico of two orders, the Corinthian and the Compofite, 

 reftinc; on a bafement formed by a double flight of Heps, 

 of black marble, and furmounted by a fpacious pediment. 

 On each fide is a tower, with columns, &c. ; one ferving 

 as a belfrey, the other as the clock-tower. In the tym- 

 pan of the pediment is a very large piece of fculpture, 

 in baflo-rclievo, of the converfion ot St. Paul ; and on 

 the apex a gigantic ftatue of the fame apoftle ; whilft 

 on either hand, along the fummit of the front, are other 

 colofTal ftatucs of St. P^cter, St. .Tames, and the four 

 evangelifts. Lar^ llatues of the other apollles are placed 

 upon pediments on the fide walls of the fabric. The 

 dome is the moft remarkable and magnificent feature of 

 the building. It rifes from a circular bafement, which, 

 at the hciglit of about twenty feet above the roof of the 

 church, gives place to a Corinthian colonnade, formed by 

 a circular range of thirty columns. Above the colonnade, 

 but not refting upon it, rifes an auic ttory with pilafters 

 and windows, from the entablature of which fprings the 

 exterior dome, which is covered with lead, and ribbed at re- 

 gular intervals. Round the aperture, at its fummit, is 

 another gallery ; and from the centre rifes the ftone lantern, 

 which is furrounded with Corinthian columns, and crowned 

 by the ball and crofs. 



In its interior form, this edifice is entirely conftrufted on 

 the plan of the ancient catliedrals, viz. that of a long crofs, 

 having a nave, choir, tranfepts, and fide aifles ; but, in place 

 of the lofty tower, the dome in this building rifes in elevated 

 grandeur from the central interfettion. The architectural 

 detail is in tlie Roman ftyle, fimple and regular. The piers 

 and arches, which divide the nave from the fide aifles, arc 

 ornamented with columns and pilafters of the Corinthian and 

 Compofite orders, and are further adorned with fliield?, fef- 

 toons, chaplets, cherubim, &c. l"he vaulting of this part 

 of the church merits great praife for its light and elegant 

 conftruftion : in this, each fevery forms a low dome, fup- 

 ported by four fpandrils ; the bafe of the dome being en- 

 circled by a rich wreath of artificial foliage. The central 

 area below the dome dcferves particular attention : this is 

 an oftagon, formed by eight maflive piers, with their cor- 

 rellative apertures, four of which, being thofe that termi- 

 nate the middle aifles, are forty feet wide, while the others 

 are only twenty-eight ; but ihis difparity only exifts as high 

 as the firft order of pilafters, at which level the fm.all.r 

 openings are expanded in a peculiar manner, fo that the main 

 arches are all equal. The fpandrils between the arches 

 above form the area into a circle, which is crowned by a 

 large cantilever cornice, partly fnpporting by its prrjeftion 

 the *' whifpering gallery." At this level commences the 

 interior tambour of the dome, which confills of a high pc- 

 dettal and cornice, forming the l-.afement to a range of 

 apparently fluted pilafters of the Compofite order, the in- 

 tervals between which are occupied by twenty-four windows 

 and eight niches ; all this part is incline^ forward, fo as to 

 form the fruftum of a cone. Above, from a double plinth, 

 over the cornice of the pilafters, fprings the internal dome ; 

 the contour .being compofed of two fcgments of a circle, 

 which, if not interrupted by the opening beneath the lan- 

 tern, would have interfered at the apex. The dome, the 

 idea of which was confeflTedly taken from the pantheon at 

 Rome, is of brick, two bricks thick ; but, as it rifes, at 

 every five feet has a courfe of brick, of eighteen inches 

 long, bending through the whole thicknefs : for greater fe- 



curity 



Hif. 



