Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Saint Paul: An Account of the Old and New Buildings with a Short Historical SketchDimock, Arthur
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Saint Paul: An Account of the Old and New Buildings with a Short Historical Sketch
Dimock, Arthur
St. Paul's Cathedral (London, England)
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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