[83] "Who among the crowds that gaze upon the building ever pause to admire the flowerwork of St. Paul's?... It is no part of it. It is an ugly excrescence. We always conceive the building without it, and should be happier if our conception were not disturbed by its presence. It makes the rest of the architecture look poverty-stricken, instead of sublime; and yet it is never enjoyed itself" ("Seven Lamps," iv. 13). All I can say is I have enjoyed studying it. Mr. Edward Bell also sends me the following: "We have a familiar instance in the flower-work of St. Paul's, which is probably, in the abstract, as perfect flower sculpture as could be produced at the time; and which is just as rational an ornament of the building as so many valuable Van Huysums, framed and glazed, and hung up over each window" ("Stones of Venice," I., xxi. 3). In my humble opinion this criticism is overdrawn; and, after all, Mr. Ruskin commends the sculpture. [84] Dugdale, p. 191; but some authorities give double that of St. Paul's. [85] Fortunately for effect the technical distances are slightly exceeded. The "Parentalia" says "alternately," but the central is wider than the remaining four, which are similar. [86] The objection that the exterior of the West Front does not correspond with the interior is not accurate. The west end inside contains (_a_) the lower stage, with the great arch and doorway, and (_b_) the upper, with the window. [87] "Parentalia," p. 292. [88] A curious instance of how words change their meaning, (_a_) A building--domus; (_b_) the most important building; (_c_) the most important and striking feature of the building. As everybody now speaks of the "Dome" of St. Paul's, I have adopted the word instead of "Cupola." [89] "Tholobate" means what its derivation implies, "the base of a cupola." Why should this part be called the attic? How can an attic, properly speaking, have a gigantic hemisphere above it? CHAPTER VI. INTERIOR. The measurements show a marked diminution from the exterior--viz., 460 feet in length, a little under a hundred feet in breadth without reckoning the recesses underneath the windows, and 240 feet across the transepts.