ARCHITECTURE. 199 
upon astronomy. Upon his return from his travels through France and 
Italy, he was appointed first Royal Architect, in 1668. In 1666, when the 
old church of St. Paul, in spite of Inigo Jones’s repairs, threatened to fall, 
it had been resolved to build a new church, and Wren began it after his own 
design on the Ist of June, 1675. Originally his idea was to erect a build- 
ing in the basilica style, but the orthodox clergy demanded a new design, 
of which pl. 49, jig. 1, is the ground plan, jig. 2 the western facade, and 
jig. 3 a lateral section west of the dome. 
The length of St. Paul’s is 530 feet, and in some places the foundations 
are more than 40 feet deep. There is a crypt beneath. The ground plan 
forms a Latin cross, with a transept 252 feet long. The middle aisle is 42 
feet wide between the pillars, and each side aisle is 20 feet wide. The 
height of the middle aisle is 90 feet, the inner vault of the dome is 216 feet 
above the church floor, the outer to the foot of the lantern 280 feet. The 
lantern with the cross is 80 feet, so that the whole height is 360 feet. From 
the street, however, as the church has a high substructure, it is 372 feet. 
The outer breadth of the dome is not quite 100 feet, and its height is 56 
feet, whence the dome forms a half ellipsoid. The church is faced with 
Portland sandstone, and was completed in 35 years, for in 1710 Sir 
Christopher Wren had the gratification of laying the last stone of the lantern. 
The church cost £747,954. Upon the landing of the great steps are six pair 
of coupled Corinthian columns 4 feet thick and 40 feet high, which supporta 
complete entablature and an attic 3 feet high, over which again stand four 
pairs of coupled Roman columns 3 feet 2 inches thick and 33 feet high. 
These support a frieze with consoles 2 feet 6 inches high, a few connecting 
mouldings, and finally a lofty gable. Both stories are overloaded with 
coupled pilasters, niches, and gable windows. On each side is a small 
belfry 100 feet high, surrounded by Roman columns. That the facade 
fails to make the grand impression anticipated from its proportions is attri- 
butable to the following reasons: 1. The use of coupled columns on the 
facade, and a slight inequality in the intercolumniations in the two stories. 
2. The intersection of the facade by the lower chief cornice and by the 
attic. 38. The paralysation of the effect of the great architectonic lines in 
the whole facade by the many coupled pilasters, niches, and gable windows. 
And finally, 4. The tasteless details of the two small belfries, and the dis- 
proportionate height of the gable. 
The effect of the interior, however, is weakened by no defects, and its 
grandeur of proportions and neatness of execution are well calculated to 
make a deep and lasting impression on the beholder. It contains a great 
number of noble monuments to England’s great men, among which are 
those of Abercromby, Pitt, Nelson, &c. Sir Christopher Wren, the architect 
of the church, is buried in it. His epitaph, which is in Latin, is short and 
appropriate in every respect except in being in a foreign language; the 
concluding sentiment, though frequently quoted, is worth repeating for its 
felicity of expression : Lector, si monumentum requiris, cirewmspice (Reader, 
if you seek his monument, look around you). 
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