CONCLUSION (1710-1897)
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, and the
modest man's skill was unknown."[110] 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.[111] 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 aesthetic. 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 their
admiral."[112] 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.[113] 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";[114] 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 remaining Archdeaconry 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 L150,000, have been put to a good and practical use. By
yet another change the mediaeval 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 of HENRY PARRY LIDDON to 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 of
Paul'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.
FOOTNOTES:
[110] _Tatler_, No. 52.
[111] Milman, p. 449.
[112] The account in Dugdale (p. 455) from the _London Gazette_ of
January 18, 1806, fills more than eight folio pages of small print.
[113] A small part of the Surrey side was also in the diocese.
[114] Freeman's "Wells," p. 95.
APPENDIX A.
BISHOPS AND DEANS.
* _Archbishop of Canterbury._ # _Archbishop of York._
BISHOPS BEFORE THE CONQUEST.
* * * *
314. Restitutus
* * * *
604. Mellitus*
* * * *
654. Cedd
666. Wine
675. Erkenwald or Ercourvald
693. Waldhere
706. Ingwald
745. Eggwulf
772. Sighaeh
774. Eadbert
789. Eadgar
791. Coenwalh
794. Eadbald
794. Heathobert
802. Osmund
811. Aethilnoth
824. Coelberht
860. Deorwulf
860. Swithwulf
898. Heahstan
898. Wulfsize
926. Theodred
953. Byrrthelm
959. Dunstan*
961. Aelstan
996. Wulfstan
1004. Aelihun
1014. Aelfwig
1035. Aelfward
1044. Robert
1051. William the Norman
BISHOPS AND DEANS AFTER THE CONQUEST.
--------+-----------------------------+-----------------------------
| BISHOPS. | DEANS.
--------+-----------------------------+-----------------------------
1075 | Hugh de Orivalle |
1085 | Maurice |
? | | Ulstan
1108 | Richard de Belmeis Primus |
1111 | | William
1128 | Gilbert the Universal |
1138 | | Ralph de Langford
1141 | Robert de Sigillo |
1152 | Richard de Belmeis Secundus | Hugo de Marny
1163 | Gilbert Foliot |
1181 | | Ralph de Diceto
1189 | Richard de Ely or Fitzneal |
1198 | William de S. Maria |
1210 | | Alardus de Burnham
1216 | | Gervase de Hobrogg
1218 | | Robert de Watford
1221 | Eustace de Fauconberge |
1228 | | Martin de Pateshull
1229 | Roger Niger |
1231 | | Galfry de Lucy
1241 | | William de S. Maria
1242 | Fulk Basset |
1244 | | Henry de Cornhill
1254 | | William de Salerne
1256 | | Richard de Barton
? | | Peter de Newport
? | | Richard Talbot
1259 | Henry de Wingham |
1263 | Henry de Sandwich | Galfry de Feringes
1268 | | John de Chishul
1274 | John de Chishul | Hervey de Borham
1276 | | Thomas de Inglethorp
1280 | Richard de Gravesend |
1283 | | Roger de la Leye
1285 | | William de Montford
1294 | | Ralph de Baldock
1306 | Ralph de Baldock | Raymond de la Goth
1307 | | Arnold de Cantilupe
1313 | Gilbert de Segrave | John de Sandale
1314 | | Richard de Newport
1317 | Richard de Newport | Vitalis Gasco
1319 | Stephen de Gravesend |
1323 | | John de Everden
1336 | | Gilbert de Bruera
1338 | Richard de Bentworth |
1340 | Ralph de Stratford |
1353 | | Richard de Kilmyngton
1354 | Michael de Northburg |
1362 | Simon de Sudbury* | Walter de Alderbury
1363 | | Thomas Trilleck
1364 | | John de Appleby
1375 | William Courtenay* |
1381 | Robert Braybrooke |
1389 | | Thomas de Evere
1400 | | Thomas Stow
1405 | Roger Walden |
1406 | Nicholas Bubbewich | Thomas Moor
1407 | Richard Clifford |
1421 | | Reginald Kentwoode
1422 | John Kempe*# |
1426 | William Grey |
1431 | Robert Fitz-Hugh |
1436 | Robert Gilbert |
1441 | | Thomas Lisieux
1450 | Thomas Kempe |
1456 | | Laurence Booth#
1457 | | William Say
1468 | | Roger Radclyff
1471 | | Thomas Wynterbourne
1479 | | William Worseley
1489 | Richard Hill |
1496 | Thomas Savage# |
1499 | | Robert Sherbon
1501 | William Wareham* |
1504 | William Barnes |
1505 | | John Colet
1506 | Richard Fitz-James |
1505-32 | | Richard Pace
1522 | Cuthbert Tunstall |
1530 | John Stokesley |
1536 | | Richard Sampson
1539 | Edmund Bonner |
1540 | | John Incent
1545 | | William May
1550 | Nicholas Ridley |
1553 | Edmund Bonner |
1554 | | John Howman de Feckenham
1556 | | Henry Cole
1559 | Edmund Grindal*# | William May
1560 | | Alexander Nowell
1570 | Edwin Sandys# |
1577 | John Aylmer |
1595 | Richard Fletcher |
1597 | Richard Bancroft* |
1602 | | John Overall
1604 | Richard Vaughan |
1607 | Thomas Ravis |
1610 | George Abbot* |
1611 | John King |
1614 | | Valentine Carey
1621 | George Monteigne# | John Donne
1628 | William Laud* |
1631-41 | | Thomas Winniff
1633 | William Juxon* |
1660 | Gilbert Sheldon* | Matthew Nicolas
1661 | | John Barwick
1663 | Humfrey Henchman |
1664 | | William Sancroft*
1675 | Henry Compton |
1677 | | Edward Stillingfleet
1689 | | John Tillotson*
1691 | | William Sherlock
1707 | | Henry Godolphin
1714 | John Robinson |
1723 | Edmund Gibson |
1726 | | Francis Hare
1740 | | Joseph Butler
1748 | Thomas Sherlock |
1750 | | Thomas Secker*
1758 | | John Hume
1761 | Thomas Hayter |
1762 | Richard Osbaldeston |
1764 | Richard Terrick |
1766 | | Frederick Cornwallis*
1768 | | Thomas Newton
1777 | Robert Lowth |
1782 | | Thomas Thurlow
1787 | Beilby Porteous | George Pretyman-Tomline
1809 | John Randolph |
1813 | William Howley* |
1820 | | William Van Mildert
1826 | | Charles Richard Sumner
1827 | | Edward Coplestone
1828 | Chas. Jas. Blomfield |
1849 | | Henry Hart Milman
1856 | Archibald Campbell Tait* |
1868 | | Henry Longueville Mansel
1869 | John Jackson |
1871 | | Richard William Church
1885 | Frederick Temple* |
1891 | | ROBERT GREGORY
1896 | MANDELL CREIGHTON |
--------+-----------------------------+-----------------------------
As regards the earlier periods, some of the dates are only
approximate, and certain names are inserted and others omitted with
hesitation.
APPENDIX B.
COMPARATIVE SIZE OF ST. PAUL'S.
AREA IN SQUARE FEET OF SOME OF THE LARGEST CHURCHES.
Square Feet
S. Peter's, Rome 227,000
Milan 108,277
Seville 100,000(?)
Florence 84,802
_St. Paul's_ 84,311
Cologne 81,464
York 72,860
Amiens 71,208
Antwerp 70,000(?)
St. Isaac's 68,845
Chartres 68,261
Rheims 67,475
Lincoln 66,900
Winchester 64,200
Paris, Notre Dame 64,108
Westminster 61,729
Canterbury 56,280
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.
DIMENSIONS.
EXTERIOR.
LENGTH:
Nave with Portico 223 feet.
Dome area 122 feet.
Choir 168 feet.
---------
Total length 513 feet.
Length of Transepts 248 feet.
Breadth of Nave 123 feet.
Breadth of West Front with Chapels 179 feet.
HEIGHT:
Summit of balustrade 108 feet.
Statue of St. Paul, west front 135 feet.
Base of hemisphere 220 feet.
Golden Gallery 281 feet.
Cross (top) 363 feet.
Western Towers 222 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.
CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
[Illustration: GROUND PLAN of ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL showing the
position of the Monuments.]
* * * * *
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