been devised with a view to the general effect, and could not well be otherwise than it is without positive injury. Single columns, I am convinced, would seem weak and unequal to the task these have to perform. The tradition of Portland says, that stones could not be shipped large enough for the freize of a portico with single columns, while another story points to the desire of the clergy to have a column for each apostle within a space which could not contain the number without having them coupled. The recessed portico of the second story is a portico for doves and angels, for no earthly being without wings can approach it; but this criticism affects nearly all the architecture of modern times, and the error, if such it be, must be ascribed partly to the object in view, and partly to the nature of the materials. The perpendicular portion of the dome, which rises over roof and tower, and can be seen as far as Windsor one way, and the sea another, has been more justly complained of as much too plain-it is deficient in light and shade. As Wren has borrowed not very sparingly from the designs of Inigo Jones, he might have found a dome of a richer pattern. I am afraid to mention what I suspect to be true, that he was alarmed at adding abutments to the dome, lest the increase of weight might be injurious; yet to secure it he cut a deep groove or channel in the stone all round, and laid in this a double band or chain of massy iron, strongly linked together at every ten feet, and run flush with lead and hammered smooth and fair. This, though perfectly solid and firm, and employed in Salisbury steeple and St. Peter's dome, is upon his own principles a defect in the construction. The

entire structure may be accused of want of massiveness, and of that severe dignity which prevails in so many of the classic fabrics. It is an union of small parts, and relies more upon its geometrical combinations for keeping it together, than on the solid strength of its masonry and the gravity of its materials. The chief fault, however, is an invisible one; though the stones are hewn with the greatest nicety, and the masonry seems all firm and compact, yet the mortar, which should unite the whole into one solid mass, is in many places decayed and become as dust. This is the case even with some of those massive piers against which the public monuments are erected; when the outer line of stone is cut through, the mortar comes gushing out in dust at the aperture-the sand is sharp and good, but the lime, like too much of the lime used in London, has been deficient in strength.

If in exterior magnificence St. Paul's surpasses all our other buildings, the interior, however, from many causes, is not so beautiful. You enter and the naked loftiness of the walls, and the cold and barren stateliness of every thing around, would induce one to believe that an enemy-were such a thing possible in Britain—had taken London and plundered the cathedral of all its national and religious paintings, together with a world of such rare works of curiosity or antiquity as find a sanctuary in the great churches of other countries. A few

statues, some of them of moderate worth, are scattered about the recesses, and certain coloured drawings, done by the yard by Sir James Thornhill, may be distinguished far above-but all. between is empty space, save where some tattered

banners, pierced with many a shot, the memorials of our naval victories, hang dusty half-pillar high. This nakedness, however, is not so much the fault of the architect as of the clergy, who ought to have adorned this noble pile more largely by the hand of the painter and the sculptor. It was the wish of Wren to beautify the inside of the cupola with rich and durable Mosaic, and he intended to have sought the help of four of the most eminent artists in Italy for that purpose; but he was frustrated by the seven commissioners, who said the thing was so much of a novelty that it would not be liked, and also so expensive that it could not be paid for. The present work, too, over the communion table was intended only to serve till something more worthy could be prepared; and, to supply its place, Wren had modelled a magnificent altar, consisting of four pillars wreathed of the finest Greek marbles, supporting a hemispherical canopy, richly decorated with sculpture. But marble, such as he liked, could not readily be procured-dissensions arose, and the work remained in the models. The interposition of the Duke of York-the malevolence of the commissioners-the Puritanic, for I will not call them Protestant, prejudices of the clergy, and, I must add, the tastelessness of the nation at large, have all conspired to diminish the interior glory of St. Paul's, and render it less imposing on the mind than many a cathedral of less mark and reputation. George III. saw what was wanting, and would have endeavoured to supply it; but all his efforts to overcome the ecclesiastical objections were unavailing. Let us hope that some of that truly good and English king's descendants may have better

success.