CHAPTER VIIToC

[89]Ground-plan of Interior of First Design in Fergusson's "Modern Architecture," p. 260; and in Longman, p. 110, where the scale, though not given, is 1-1/2 inches to the 100 feet.

[90]"Parentalia," p. 290. The Temple of Peace is now known as the Basilica of Constantine or Maxentius.

[91]Fortnightly Review, October, 1872.

[92]"Handbook," p. 495.

[93]Tract II. in "Parentalia," p. 357. His mathematical demonstrations with their diagrams, wherein he works out the centre of gravity, are too technical for insertion. The Tract is incomplete.

[94]"Parentalia," p. 291.

[95]The two others on the west wall represent Melchisedek blessing Abraham, and David as a man of war praising God. On the eastern wall the central piece illustrates the texts, "Righteousness and peace have kissed each other"; "Young men and maidens, old men and children, praise the name of the Lord." At the sides the words of Job, "Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel"; and of the Centurion, "I also am a man set under authority, having under myself soldiers."

[96]Gwilt's "Edifices of London," vol. i., p. 33, quoted by Longman, p. 178.

[97]Nevertheless it is not correct to say that the massive pillars of the octagon leave the vista along the side aisles unimpaired. I have satisfied myself that there is an interruption similar to St. Paul's.

[98]See the half-section, half elevation, in Fergusson, p. 271, or section p. 90 above.

[99]So far as I can calculate. St. Peter's, according to Fergusson, is 333 feet high internally, and the diameter 130 feet, giving a ratio of five to two: St. Paul's gives a ratio of two to one. Stephen Wren gives the ratios differently in the "Parentalia."

[100]"Parentalia," p. 291.

[101]"St. Paul's and Old City Life," p. 279.

[102]I think it needless to repeat the evidence I gavein extensoin theTimes, May 22, 1899. But see the "Parentalia," p. 292, note (a), and Mr. William Longman's remarks.

[103]I presume that this gave rise to the idea that this particular kind of mosaic is only suited for churches of the Byzantine style of architecture, like St. Sophia. Yet these old mosaics are found in churches which are not of this style, although situated at one time in the Eastern Empire.

[104]My sister, Mrs. Curry, saw these mosaics on August 30, 1899, and helped me to bring the account up to date.

[105]I am indebted to Ralph's successor, Archdeacon Thornton, for this information. These "Psalmi Ascripti" are found in theConsuetudinesof Ralph de Baldock. I am ignorant of Newcourt's sources of information.

[106]Registrum Statutorum, Appendix i.

[107]Longman, p. 112.

[108]Further information may be found inThe Journal of the Society of Arts, June 21, 1895 (Sir W. Richmond);Magazine of Art, Nov., 1897 (Alfred Lys Baldry);Sunday Magazine, Jan. and Feb., 1898 (Canon Newbolt, who mentions "A Small Lecture on Mosaic," by Sir W. Richmond, given at the "Arts and Crafts").

Wren's great friend and supporter on the Commission, John Evelyn, was long since dead; and in 1718, thanks to an intrigue, the Surveyor was dismissed in favour of an incompetent successor, chiefly famous for figuring in the Dunciad. Fortunately, says his grandson, "He was happily endued with such an Evenness of Temper, a steady Tranquillity of Mind, and Christian Fortitude, that no injurious Incidents or Inquietudes of human life, could ever ruffle or discompose." He continued for a time superintending at the Abbey, but soon took a house from the Crown at Hampton, where he could look upon another of his innumerable designs, and from time to time came up to see his cathedral, and, as the story goes, was wont to sit under the dome. Thanks to the regularity and temperance of his habits, for he profited by his medical studies, and his happy disposition, he lived five years longer, occupying his leisure with a variety of mathematical and scientific studies, and above all "in the Consolation of the Holy Scriptures: cheerful in Solitude, and as well pleased to die in the Shade as in the Light." A visit to London brought on a cold he failed to shake off. He was accustomed to take a nap after dinner; and on February 25, 1723, his servant, thinking he had slept long enough, entered the room. The good old man had passed quietly to his well-earned rest. His wife had long pre-deceased him. Steele declared that Wren was absolutely incapable of trumpeting his own fame, "which has as fatal an effect upon men's reputations as poverty; for as it was said—'the poor man saved the city, and the poor man's labour was forgot'; so here we find the modest man built the city, andthe modest man's skill was unknown."[109]But Wren did not build only for the Commission who dismissed him, but for posterity; and posterity more impartial will yet pronounce that he belongs to the great men of two centuries ago, and accord him a place beside Marlborough and Addison and Newton.

About this time Parliament vested the fabric in three trustees—the Primate, the Bishop, and the Lord Mayor. With them rests the appointment of the surveyor, the examination and audit of his accounts, and in general the charge and maintenance of the cathedral.[110]This trust is unique, and has its origin in the large sums provided from taxation, whereas the other cathedrals were raised by voluntary offerings. The eighteenth century does not call for more than a passing notice. Wren's intentions continued to be delayed or frustrated in at least four important respects. The high railings shut out any complete view of the exterior: the dome area, isolated from the choir by the organ, was not used for the very purpose it was designed: the interior lacked mosaics: no monuments to the great dead filled the recesses ready for them. Reynolds headed a body of artists anxious to execute a scheme of adornment not in accordance with the architect's views, and was defeated by Bishop Terrick on grounds other than æsthetic. George III. gave thanks in 1789 for his recovery, and again eight years later for naval victories. On this latter occasion Nelson attended as one of the representatives of the Fleet; and as his one remaining eye rested on the Howard monument, did he think that the time was near at hand when he would be brought there, and when another monument would be erected to himself? For at last the cathedral was being put to its intended use; and the first memorial was accorded to a self-sacrificing philanthropist, who was not even a member of the Anglican communion. Another eight years, and amidst all that was high and distinguished, under the very centre of the dome, Dean Pretyman-Tomline, Bishop of Lincoln, committed to the ground the maimed body of the greatest of our sea captains. "As a youth," says Dean Milman, "I was present, and remember the solemn effect of the sinking of the coffin. I heard, or fancied that I heard, the low wail of the sailors who bore and encircled the remains of theiradmiral."[111]During the short peace before the return from Elba Wellington carried the sword of state before the Regent at the Thanksgiving service (July 9, 1814), and Dean Milman was called upon to officiate at the funeral of Wellington (November 18, 1852), which the Prince Consort attended, when the length of the procession may be estimated from Henry Greville's statement that it took one and three-quarter hours to pass Devonshire House.

The earlier Parliaments returned by the first Reform Bill brought about sweeping and ill-considered changes, both diocesan and capitular. Essex and the small archdeaconry of St. Alban's were separated from the diocese, and instead of being formed into a new one, were annexed to Rochester.[112]The capitular changes were chiefly the work of one sweeping Act which applied to the Chapters as a body (3 and 4 Vict. c. 113). The obligation of residence was removed from the prebends; four new resident canonries were created, and the revenues of the prebends alienated. By this scheme the greater part of the authority was entrusted to the dean and the residentiaries, and the thirty prebends became almost honorary, excepting that the old fees had still to be paid on installation. Thirty benefices—sinecures most of them in the modern sense and of large and increasing value—had become an anomaly and out of date; but were residents, officially non-resident for three-fourths of the year, the happiest method of reform? What Sydney Smith, one of the last of the old resident prebendaries, thought of these changes may be read in his life. A more competent authority on matters capitular than Sydney Smith, and like him in other respects an admirer of the first Victorian ministry, roundly declared, "The three months system is a mockery and worse";[113]and as a matter of fact the residentiaries prefer to discharge their duties by a more regular attendance. The patronage of three of these coveted stalls was reserved to the Crown; the fourth was left to the Bishop; but although the Archdeaconry of London was annexed to this fourth, one-third of the revenue was deducted for the remainingArchdeaconry of Middlesex. Since then the income of this fourth stall has been raised to the level of the others, and the prebendal stall of Cantlers re-endowed, the occupant being the diocesan inspector in religious knowledge. The one satisfactory feature in these changes is that the alienated revenues, estimated at £150,000, have been put to a good and practical use. By yet another change the mediæval college of the petty canons has been dissolved, and the minor canons reduced from twelve to six.

The best vindication of the new order of things is to look at results. It was left to Dean Milman and his Chapter, originally at the suggestion of Bishop Tait, to endeavour to carry out Wren's designs and Wren's ideas. The high exterior railings are gone: the organ removed to its proper position and the organ screen taken away, so that dome and choir are connected for congregational purposes: the system of decoration by mosaics well advanced. The absolute necessity of using the dome was emphasised, not only by the Sunday evening services, but by the appointment ofHenry Parry Liddonto a resident's stall. Competent judges have asserted that Henry Melvill, though not the greater thinker, was the greater preacher of the two; but Melvill was almost past his best on his appointment in 1856, and he is rather associated with the choir than the dome. Be this as it may, Wren would have been gratified indeed to have seen the favourite offspring of his genius filled from arch to arch, and to have listened to the clear and melodious high-pitched voice of the great preacher, always articulate, and with an articulation after Wren's own heart that did not drop the last words of the sentences. Wren would have been further gratified to have seen his dome used, in addition to weekday services, three times each Sunday, as he would have been to have worked under those successive Deans—Milman, Mansel, Church, Gregory—who, in conjunction with their Chapters, have loyally endeavoured to put the cathedral to the use he wished from the day he first began to design his short Greek cross; and finally, he would have been gratified at Gounod's statement that the services are rendered to the finest music in the world, and to have seen the free facilities offered to the public for studying his architecture, and would have contrasted the orderly behaviour of the visitors from every quarter of the globe with the old-time swashbucklers and rowdies ofPaul's Walk; and any objection to the lengthening westward would have been removed, had he lived to have seen his great cathedral filled from door to door with a congregation of from ten to twelve thousand at the special musical services.

This all too short summary must close by recording that the Queen attended the Thanksgiving service in February, 1872 for the recovery of the Prince of Wales; and on Queen Victoria's Day, Tuesday, June 22, 1897, again proceeded in state from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's, where a Thanksgiving service was held at the West Front on occasion of the Diamond Jubilee, her Majesty returning by way of London and Westminster Bridges.

[109]Tatler, No. 52.

[110]Milman, p. 449.

[111]The account in Dugdale (p. 455) from theLondon Gazetteof January 18, 1806, fills more than eight folio pages of small print.

[112]A small part of the Surrey side was also in the diocese.

[113]Freeman's "Wells," p. 95.

*Archbishop of Canterbury.§Archbishop of York.

* * * *772. Sighaeh898. Wulfsize314. Restitutus774. Eadbert926. Theodred* * * *789. Eadgar953. Byrrthelm604. Mellitus*791. Coenwalh959. Dunstan*d* * * *794. Eadbald961. Aelstan654. Cedd794. Heathobert996. Wulfstan666. Wine802. Osmund1004. Aelihun675. Erkenwald or Ercourvald811. Aethilnoth1014. Aelfwig693. Waldhere824. Coelberht1035. Aelfward706. Ingwald860. Deorwulf1044. Robert745. Eggwulf860. Swithwulf1051. William the Norman898. Heahstan

Bishops.Deans.1075Hugh de Orivalle1085Maurice?Ulstan1108Richard de Belmeis Primus1111William1128Gilbert the Universal1138Ralph de Langford1141Robert de Sigillo1152Richard de Belmeis SecundusHugo de Marny1163Gilbert Foliot1181Ralph de Diceto1189Richard de Ely or Fitzneal1198William de S. Maria1210Alardus de Burnham1216Gervase de Hobrogg1218Robert de Watford1221Eustace de Fauconberge1228Martin de Pateshull1229Roger Niger1231Galfry de Lucy1241William de S. Maria1242Fulk Basset1244Henry de Cornhill1254William de Salerne1256Richard de Barton?Peter de Newport?Richard Talbot1259Henry de Wingham1263Henry de SandwichGalfry de Feringes1268John de Chishul1274John de ChishulHervey de Borham1276Thomas de Inglethorp1280Richard de Gravesend1283Roger de la Leye1285William de Montford1294Ralph de Baldock1306Ralph de BaldockRaymond de la Goth1307Arnold de Cantilupe1313Gilbert de SegraveJohn de Sandale1314Richard de Newport1317Richard de NewportVitalis Gasco1319Stephen de Gravesend1323John de Everden1336Gilbert de Bruera1338Richard de Bentworth1340Ralph de Stratford1353Richard de Kilmyngton1354Michael de Northburg1362Simon de Sudbury*Walter de Alderbury1363Thomas Trilleck1364John de Appleby1375William Courtenay*1381Robert Braybrooke1389Thomas de Evere1400Thomas Stow1405Roger Walden1406Nicholas BubbewichThomas Moor1407Richard Clifford1421Reginald Kentwoode1422John Kempe*§1426William Grey1431Robert Fitz-Hugh1436Robert Gilbert1441Thomas Lisieux1450Thomas Kempe1456Laurence Booth§1457William Say1468Roger Radclyff1471Thomas Wynterbourne1479William Worseley1489Richard Hill1496Thomas Savage§1499Robert Sherbon1501William Wareham*1504William Barnes1505John Colet1506Richard Fitz-James1505-32Richard Pace1522Cuthbert Tunstall1530John Stokesley1536Richard Sampson1539Edmund Bonner1540John Incent1545William May1550Nicholas Ridley1553Edmund Bonner1554John Howman de Feckenham1556Henry Cole1559Edmund Grindal*§William May1560Alexander Nowell1570Edwin Sandys§1577John Aylmer1595Richard Fletcher1597Richard Bancroft*1602John Overall1604Richard Vaughan1607Thomas Ravis1610George Abbot*1611John King1614Valentine Carey1621George Monteigne§John Donne1628William Laud*1631-41Thomas Winniff1633William Juxon*1660Gilbert Sheldon*Matthew Nicolas1661John Barwick1663Humfrey Henchman1664William Sancroft*1675Henry Compton1677Edward Stillingfleet1689John Tillotson*1691William Sherlock1707Henry Godolphin1714John Robinson1723Edmund Gibson1726Francis Hare1740Joseph Butler1748Thomas Sherlock1750Thomas Secker*1758John Hume1761Thomas Hayter1762Richard Osbaldeston1764Richard Terrick1766Frederick Cornwallis*1768Thomas Newton1777Robert Lowth1782Thomas Thurlow1787Beilby PorteousGeorge Pretyman-Tomline1809John Randolph1813William Howley*1820William Van Mildert1826Charles Richard Sumner1827Edward Coplestone1828Chas. Jas. Blomfield1849Henry Hart Milman1856Archibald Campbell Tait*1868Henry Longueville Mansel1869John Jackson1871Richard William Church1885Frederick Temple*1891Robert Gregory1896Mandell Creighton

As regards the earlier periods, some of the dates are only approximate, and certain names are inserted and others omitted with hesitation.

AREA IN SQUARE FEET OF SOME OF THE LARGEST CHURCHES.

Square FeetSquare FeetS. Peter's, Rome227,000St. Isaac's68,845Milan108,277Chartres68,261Seville100,000(?)Rheims67,475Florence84,802Lincoln66,900St. Paul's84,311Winchester64,200Cologne81,464Paris, Notre Dame64,108York72,860Westminster61,729Amiens71,208Canterbury56,280Antwerp70,000(?)

The Basilica of Constantine was 68,000 square feet.

St. Paul's is not so long as Winchester, Ely, York, and Canterbury.

Old St. Paul's was a trifle less in area than its successor, but counting St. Gregory's and the Chapter House, my estimate from Dugdale's plan is that it exceeded it. In length it exceeded every church the dimensions of which I have been able to ascertain, with the solitary exception of the 680 feet of St. Peter's.

EXTERIOR.

LengthNave with Portico223 feet.Dome area122 feet.Choir168 feet.Total length513 feet.Length of Transepts248 feet.Breadth of Nave123 feet.Breadth of West Front with Chapels179 feet.Height:Summit of balustrade108 feet.Statue of St. Paul, west front135 feet.Base of hemisphere220 feet.Golden Gallery281 feet.Cross (top)363 feet.Western Towers222 feet.

INTERIOR.

Length, 460 feet, of which the Nave is a little over 200.Breadth (excluding recesses underneath the windows), about 100 feet.Length of Transepts, 240 feet.Height of Central Vaulting, 89 feet.Height of Whispering Gallery about 100 feet, and same diameter.Opening at apex of Dome, about 215 feet.Area, 59,700 square feet.

Ground Plan of St. Paul's CathedralGROUND PLAN of ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL showing the position of the Monuments.ToList

GROUND PLAN of ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL showing the position of the Monuments.ToList

Typographical error corrected in text:Page 86: colonade replaced with colonnade

Typographical error corrected in text:

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