We must not omit one munificent donor who came forward now: Sir Paul
Pindar, who had made a large fortune as a Turkey merchant, and had
been sent by King James as Ambassador to Constantinople, gave over
L10,000 to the restoration of the cathedral. He died in 1650, and his
beautifully picturesque house remained in Bishopsgate Street (it had
been turned, like Crosby Hall, into a tavern) until 1890, when it was
pulled down. Some of the most striking portions of its architecture
are preserved in the Kensington Museum.
That the alterations and additions of Inigo Jones, under King James,
were altogether incongruous with the old building everybody will
admit. But there are excuses to be made. He knew very little about
Gothic architecture. The only example now remaining of his attempts in
this style is the Chapel of Lincoln's Inn. St. Katharine Cree in the
City has been attributed to him, but with little probability. And if
he had essayed to work in Gothic at St. Paul's, it would not have been
in accordance with precedent. Nearly all our great cathedrals display
endless varieties of style, because it was the universal practice of
our forefathers to work in the style current in their own time. We
rejoice to see Norman and Perpendicular under one roof, though they
represent periods 400 years apart. In the case before us Gothic
architecture had died out for the time being. Not only our Reformers,
who did not require aisles for processions nor rich choirs, but
the Jesuits also, who had sprung suddenly into mighty power on the
Continent, repudiated mediaeval art, and strove to adapt the classical
reaction in Europe to their own tenets. Nearly all the Jesuit churches
abroad are classical.
It was, no doubt, fortunate that Inigo Jones confined his work at St.
Paul's to some very poor additions to the transepts, and to a portico,
very magnificent in its way, at the west end. He would have destroyed,
doubtless, much of the noble nave in time; but his work was abruptly
brought to an end by the outbreak of the Civil War. The work had
languished for some years, under the continuance of causes which I
have already adduced. But Laud, as Bishop of London, had displayed
most praiseworthy zeal, and King Charles had supported him generously.
When the troubles began, the funds ceased. In 1640 there had been
contributions amounting to L10,000. In 1641 they fell to less than
L2000; in 1643 to L15. In 1642 Paul's Cross had been pulled down,
and in the following March Parliament seized on the revenues of the
cathedral.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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