" The first stone of this Basilica was laid in the year 1675, and the works carried on with such care and indus try, that by the year 1685 the walls of the quire and side aisles were finished, with the circular north and south porticos ; and the great pillars of the dome brought to the same height ; and it pleased God in his mercy to bless the surveyor with health and length of days, and to enable him to complete the whole structure in the year 1710, to the glory of his most holy name, and promotion of his divine worship, the principal ornament of the im perial seat of this realm.
highest or last stone on the top of the lantern, was laid by the hands of the surveyor's son, Sir Chris topher Wren, deputed by his father, in the presence of that excellent artificer Mr Strong, his son, and other free and accepted masons, chiefly employed in the execution of the work.
Thus was this mighty fabric, the second church for grandeur in Europe, in the space of 35 years, begun and finished by one architect, and under one Bishop of Lon don, Dr Henry Compton." The piers of the vestibule stand upon an octagonal plan. They have archivolts thrown over them, resting upon every two adjacent piers, and forming eight ar cades. The spandrels are filled with spheric portions to the level of the summits of the archivolts, and there form a complete circle. Upon this an entablature is laid, and the projections, being protected at the outer edge by an iron railing, constitutes what is termed the whispering gallery. Above this, the cylindric wall is raised to the bast, or springing of the dome. The dome is formed of eighteen inch brick-work, and has a course of long bricks inserted through its whole thickness at every five feet in height. It was turned upon a centre, laid with out standards or supports from below, every story of this scaffolding being circular, and the ends of all the ledgers meeting as so many rings, and truly wrought, it supported itself. The exterior dome is constructed of oak timber, supported by timbers which rest upon a brick cone, two bricks in thickness. This cone springs from the same base with the exterior dome, and supports the stone lantern or cupola, which is equal to 700 tons. This dome rises higher than a semicircle ; and the sides of its section, which arc struck from centres in the base line, would, if continued, meet in an angle in its axis. Sec CAILPF,NTRY, Plate CXX1X. Fig. 8.
In order to render the dome, cone, and cupola or lan tern, secure, immediately under where the cone comes in contact with the extrados of the interior dome, a chan nel is cut in a curbing of Portland stone, in which is laid a double chain of iron, strongly linked together at every ten feet, arid the whole channel filled with lead. There is a similar pooping behind the frieze of the pedestal which supports the exterior dome ; anA also four others, at different heights, surround the cone which supports the cupola or lantern.
The extreme length of this edifice is 530 feet ; its breadth, exclusive of the two circular porches, 250 feet ; and its height, from the pavement to the top of the cross, , is 366 feet. Height of the central nave to the crown of
the arch 85 feet. height to the top of interior dome 218 feet. Diameter of ditto, at whispering gallery, 112 feet. Diameter of exterior dome 140 feet. The total expcnce is stated at 736,752/.; of which 126,000/. was raised by contribution, 1000/. a year was paid by the king, and the remainder was raised by a tax upon coals brought into the port of London.
Old St Paul's Church was first built in the year 610. It was burnt down in 964, and rebuilt in 1240. The steeple was struck with lightning in 1443, and rebuilt in 163I. The whole was totally destroyed by the great fire in 1666.
Of the other numerous churches erected during the restoration of the city of London, after the before men tioned great fire, under the direction of Sir C. Wren, we shall only select that of St Stephen's, \Valbrook, which stands near the Mansion-house, We have fixed upon this, on account of the variety of forms it exhibits, and the ingenuity and taste displayed in the arrangement and decorations. The ground-plan, as will he seen, (Plate CLXXV. Fig. 1.) is a parallelogram, 75 feet in length, and 56 in breadth, which affords room for two rows of scats, with a passage along each wall and in the middle ; and this is the space judged convenient for an English church, to enable an audience to hear the ser vice, if distinctly performed. The columns arc placed along the outer passages, so as also to form a parallelo gram ; but within these, at each end, two others arc in troduced, by which a column is placed upon each angle of an octagon. The entablature, supported by the co lumns, is upon a rectangular plan ; but upon it, the ar chivolts, rising upon every two of the before mentioned inner columns, complete an octagon, as in Fig. 2; and between these archivolts, spheric spandrels, being car ried up to the level of the top of them, form a circle, as in Fig. 3. Over the top of the archivolts, a piece of plain wall is carried up, equal in breadth to the margins which surround the panuels in the spheric spandrels. Upon the cornice, which is laid upon the top of this, rises a dome 44 feet diameter, and 22 feet high, upon the apex of which stands a small cupola. The dome is de corated with enriched sunk pannels. The ceiling, sup ported by the columns, is fiat adjacent to each angle of the great. parallelogram ; but the roof is supported by groin arches, with archivolts springing from the top of the entablature, and both the soffits and faces of the ar chivolts arc enriched. By the columns being raised upon pedestals, and being of the Corinthian order, they appear rather too diminutive for the support of the dome. If the whole light had been procured from the upper part, and if the face of the walls had been divided by pilasters, and the spaces between them filled with niches, paintings, and sculptured tombs, this beautiful and ingenious piece of architecture would have been rendered still more per fect.