Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

Mylne, clerk of the works, and carved by Edward Wyatt; it was erected about the year 1802. The reader's desk, representing an eagle with expanded wings, supported by a pillar, and enclosed within a railing, is a fine example of the kind, entirely brass, richly gilt. The apsis, or tribune, at the eastern end of the choir, is enriched with pilasters painted in imitation of lapis lazuli, with capitals, and ornaments of the entablature, richly gilded. The intercolumniation is paneled with marble.

In the year 1773 a design was formed for decorating the Cathedral with the works of our most eminent painters and sculptors, when the presidents and members of the Royal Academy offered to fill some of the compartments with pictures without charge; but the scheme, although approved of by his majesty, was discouraged by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London as savouring of "Popery." About the year 1793 another suggestion to break the monotonous uniformity of the architecture in the interior of the Cathedral, was the admission of national monuments raised in commemoration of eminent characters. The two first monuments erected in this building were those of John Howard, the philanthropist, who died at Cherson, in Russian Tartary, in 1790, and Dr. Samuel Johnson, one of the most highlydistinguished critics of the eighteenth century, who died in 1784; both statues were the work of John Bacon, R. A.," and occupy corresponding situations in the angles in the front of the smaller piers of the dome. In another angle is a third statue by the same sculptor, erected to the memory of Sir William Jones, an accomplished scholar, who died at Bengal, in 1794. The fourth statue in a corresponding angle of the dome is that of Sir Joshua Reynolds, who died in 1792.24

All the monuments in the church are of white marble, with the exception of the plinths, of those which stand upon. the pavement.

The expences attending the erection of the Cathedral were defrayed by an imposition on sea coal imported into London, the

23 This eminent sculptor died in 1790; there are few of our cathedrals without some specimen of his skill, but one of his grandest efforts is the monument of Lord Chatham, in Westminster Abbey, completed in 1783.

24 In the vaults of the Cathedral were also buried the following members of the Royal Academy: James Barry, R. A., who died in 1806. John Opie, R. A., who died in 1807. Benjamin West, President of the Royal Academy, who died in 1820; and Sir Thomas Lawrence, President of the Royal Academy, who died in 1830.

annual proceeds of which were sometimes less than the yearly charges, for materials and labour; the deficiency was supplied by the contributions of the king, the nobility, the clergy and gentry, and by the sale of some of the old materials. The whole expence of erecting the edifice, deducting the money expended in attempts to repair the old cathedral, was £736,752. 2s. 3d., in addition to which, the stone and iron inclosure which surrounds it's cost £11,202. Os. 6d. ; total, £747,954. 2s. 9d.

It appears that the dean and chapter of St. Paul's are in no way responsible for the neglect or preservation of the building. When the Cathedral was rebuilt, a fund was provided for its preservation, called The Fabric Fund, and appropriated by Act of Parliament to the repairs of the Cathedral. It is placed under the direction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and the Lord Mayor, as trustees of the Fabric Money, and all business relative to the repairs or improvement of the building is solely under their management and control.

A detail of the origin of one of the abuses at St. Paul's is given in Mr. Gwilt's account of the Church, in which it appears that the master carpenter levied a toll called stairfoot money, on all strangers who were desirous of ascending to view the works from 1707 to 1711; with laudable humanity he applied the proceeds to the relief of those artificers who were disabled by accidents on the works, and to the assistance of their families. The monies arising from this source were too strong a temptation for the dean and chapter; without compunction they put a stop to the charitable disposition of the monies, and directed the future application of them for the benefit of the officers of the Church.

25 The superb iron balustrade which environs St. Paul's Cathedral cost about 6d. a pound, and was cast at Gloucester Furnace, about two miles from Lamberhurst, in Sussex; this was for a length of time the principal iron furnace in England, and was supplied with iron stone dug in the immediate neighbourhood.

[graphic][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors]
« AnteriorContinua »