Persons of Revival Gothic mind have been much troubled in conscience by the “falsity” of this treatment, though it has the admitted result of giving an absolutely right effect inside and out, and has been followed in nearly all the subsequent domes of this scale. The provision of an inner and an outer dome is held nowadays to be justified abundantly by the result. The brick cone that triumphantly carries the lantern, which is as high and large as many a church tower, is one of the many evidences of Wren’s engineering skill. The architect was fortunate in the men who carried out his work. Edward Strong, the master-mason, and Richard Jennings, the master-carpenter, were faithful servants in carrying out the bones of the great structure; and such artists as Grinling Gibbons in the choir stalls, and Tijou in the wonderful iron screens served Wren’s turn to perfection. At St. Paul’s there is none of that carelessness of detail which defaces many of the City churches. There is little doubt that Wren was constantly on the works, watching everything in detail, revising and directing on the spot the great fabric as it grew under his hand. [Illustration: PLAN OF ST. PAUL’S AS BUILT. The dotted lines show the alinement of railings as intended by Wren.] The cost of rebuilding was borne by the “coal-money,” a duty of 1s. 6d. a chaldron on all coal imported into London, of which four-fifths were allocated to St. Paul’s. Even so the works were often in danger for lack of funds, and money had to be borrowed in advance of the coal-money receipts. [Illustration: PLATE VI THE WEST FRONT OF ST. PAUL’S.] The funds received from all sources, including borrowings, amounted in 1700 to £1,167,474, but part of this went in interest paid out and in repaying loans and part in acquiring neighbouring property. The net cost is given by Longman as £746,661. The choir was opened for Divine Service on December 2, 1697, on the Thanksgiving Day for the Peace on the Treaty of Ryswick. By 1708 the dome was ready to be covered. The Committee wanted copper to be used. Wren held out for lead, and lead it was and is. In 1710 young Christopher Wren was deputed by his father to lay the top-stone of the lantern which surmounts the dome, and did it in the presence of Sir Christopher and Edward Strong and other workmen who had been engaged on the building. It was a proud day for the old man of seventy-eight who had carried through a unique task despite every difficulty. He was treated with incredible meanness. From the start of the work he had received the meagre salary of £200 a year, and in 1696-7 an Act “for the completing and adorning the Cathedral Church” was passed which included the miserable provision “to suspend a moiety of the Surveyor’s salary until the said Church should be finished, thereby the better to encourage him to finish the same with the utmost diligence and expedition.”