=The West Front.=--The best view is that from the direct front; but by looking from the north or south-west the conjunction of the chapels comes in sight, and the spectator can judge for himself whether or no, so far as the exterior is concerned, they are any improvement. A few additional dimensions are necessary. The summits of the towers are 222 feet high; the statue of St. Paul above the apex of the pediment is 135 feet. I have already given prominence to the cause of the defeat of Wren's original conception of one main order and an attic, namely, that he could not get blocks of stone of a sufficient size. The Approved Design, so far as the colonnade is concerned, seems to have been borrowed from the portico of Inigo Jones. The dimensions of the blocks had been discovered, yet there was only one order of columns, with a second story of three windows, and supported by Inigo Jones' harp-shaped buttresses; the only buttresses that Wren even wished to have visible. Now, the old portico was not cleared away until 1686; and the west front was built after Wren's taste and judgment had been given time to ripen. In consequence we have a complete revolution, so far as the Approved Design is concerned, and something infinitely more noble and dignified; and we may congratulate ourselves that his blocks of stone were no larger, so that he produced two orders of columns. At St. Peter's, where marble of 9 feet (8-1/4 only according to more recent accounts) was used, the pillars have a shaft of 74 feet, not including capital or base, and the highest statue is 175 feet from the base, as compared with the 135 feet of St. Paul's.[84] Yet Wren, by resorting to two orders of columns, has so increased his apparent height, that those who have compared the two, assert that the west front of St. Paul's _appears_ to be as high as St. Peter's. In the lower order the columns are twelve in number, fluted and in pairs. Claude Perrault had recently adopted this method of coupling in the eastern facade of the Louvre, as is duly acknowledged in the "Parentalia." According to Stephen Wren, it "_is not according to the usual Mode of the_ Ancients _in their ordinary Temples, which for the generality were small; but was followed in their Coloss or greater Works; for instance, in the Portico of the_ Temple of Peace, _the most magnificent in old_ Rome, _the Columns were very properly and necessarily doubled to make wider openings._" Italian buildings are likewise cited. The columns project slightly in advance of the Front; and as the central part with the great doorway is recessed some twenty feet, a depth of shadow is produced in the Pronaos.