The needful sum for covering in the dome of S. Paul's was voted by Parliament in 1708. The question of using copper or lead was greatly discussed; lead was finally chosen; it does not clearly appear which way Sir Christopher's judgment inclined. Probably to the lead, as he considered it susceptible of much ornament, and the lead covering of S. Paul's dome is peculiarly beautiful. Bird in this year finished the statue of Queen Anne, which is in the fore court of the Cathedral, and is not without merit. He also carved the relief of the Conversion of S. Paul above the western portico: the height is too great for it to be possible to judge of the goodness of the sculpture. [_FIFTY NEW CHURCHES._] The Act known as 'Queen Anne's Act for building Fifty New Churches' was passed in this year, and Wren was of course one of the commissioners. At the age of seventy-six he could not undertake the designing of these new churches. They were principally built by Gibbs, Hawksmoor, Vanbrugh and others. S. George's, Hanover Square, S. Anne's, Limehouse, S. George's, Bloomsbury, S. Leonard's, Shoreditch, are some of those built under this Act. Perhaps the best specimen is the beautiful S. Mary-le-Strand, built by Gibbs, on an old site stolen from the Church by the Duke of Somerset in the reign of Henry VIII. Recent careful painting and gilding and the removal of pews have made S. Mary's a charming example of the amount of decoration which can be advantageously bestowed on a Paladian church. Wren wrote on this occasion a letter to a friend on the Church-building Commission in which he gives the result of his great experience in building town churches. The letter is given with a few omissions. I fear that few of the Queen Anne churches were built strictly on the principles he here lays down; certainly the hint as to pews was disregarded, and grievous indeed have been the results of such disregard. It has been a common fallacy that all Wren's churches were built for pews, and that anything but high pews would ruin the architectural effect. What was Wren's own opinion is manifest from the letter; the actual effect can be seen, for instance, in a print of S. Stephen's, Walbrook, where this gem of all his churches is represented, just after its completion, with the area clear; or in S. Mary's, Bow, where the pews have lately been diminished into just such 'benches' as the great architect desired.