The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-03 00:00:00

ST. PAUL'S CA TIIEbRAL.

Yesterday, being the first Sunday in Advent,
was appropriately selected for reopening the great
metropolitan Cathedral for Divine service after an
interval of five months, which has been spent in
making extensive and costly changes and decora-
tions in the interior of the edifice. The most
notable alteration is the entire removal of the
screen and organ at the entrance to the choir, by
which an uninterrupted vista of the building from
end to end is obtained. The whole interior of the
dome has undergone a process of renovation, and
portions of its architectural embellishments as well
as of those in the chancel have been richly gilded.
The pulpit has been removed back some distance
towards the left of the chance!, on the high level of
which it now stands in a commanding position, and
the reading-desk is withdrawn in the same direction.
The organ is now placed beneath the first arch
from the altar, on the north side of the choir, where
it has been put up in all its integrity, as it left the
hands of Father Smith, its famous builder, upwards
of 160 years ago, with some additions made at very
considerable cost, in order to adapt it in some degree
to the present stage of the art, by Messrs. Hill, the
eminent builders, under the superintendence of
Mr. Goss, the organist of the Cathedral. An im-
pression obtains among those well able to form a
just opinion on the subject, that the result of the
change, as respects the organ, has been to confine,
to a sensible extent, the diffusion of sound, which
was admirably effected by its former position ; but
immediate communication between the organist and
the choir, which did not formerly exist, is acknow-
ledged to have been secured by the alteration. The
choristers' seats have been removed to the upper part
of the choir ; and the organ, is now played from a
seat on tie same level. The decoration of the inte-
rior of the building is by no means complete; but
there hes been a growing dissatisfaction at the ces-
sation of Divine service in the cathedral on Sundays
for so long an interval, and Dr. Milman, the dean,
has made a graceful concession to that feeling by
opening the edifice for purposes of worship, choos.
ing for the occasion the recurrence of the first Sun-
day of the Christian year, and preaching in the
morning an appropriate sermon. Beneath the dome
an organ of commensurate power is being erected
for the Sunday evening services in that part of the
building, which are to be resumed towards the end
of January. This stupendous instrument, which
was built for the Alhambra, has been purchased at
a sum, it is understood, of about £1,000; £lOO is
said to have been expended in the removal of it to
its present site ; another £lOOO is estimated as the
cost of putting it up, exclusive of a suitable case,
which of itself will require an expenditure almost
incredibly large. The interior embellishment of this
noble pile, on a scale commensurate with its gran-
deur, and in realisation of the views and intentions
of its founder, has long been an object dear to the
heart of Dr. Milman, and for some time past he has
devoted himself to its gradual fulfilment. But it
should be known and remembered that it is a work
depending almost entirely on public munificence;
for the current of ecclesiastical legislation of late
years has diverted almost every source of income
from the cathedrol revenues which might have been
regarded as available for such a purpose ; so that to
a great extent up to this time, and as must be the
else in future, the necessary funds, and notably
those incident to the Sunday evening services be-
neath the dome, have been furnished by the pious
munificence of persons of affluence, and by some of
the more wealthy civic fraternities. The Bishop of
London has appointed the following gentlemen the
special preacherg at St. Paul's Cathedral for the
present month :—Sunday, Dec. 9, the Rev. C.
Packe, M.A. of Worcester College, Oxford, vicar
of Ruislip, Middlesex ; Sunday, Dec. 16, the Rev.
Dr. E. M. Goulburn, of Merton College, Oxford,
incumbent of St. John's Church, Paddington • Sun-
day, December 23, the Rev. William Aldwin
Soames, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, vicar
of St. Alphege, Greenwich ; Sunday, December 30,
the Rev. Dr. J. A. Hessey, of St. John's College,
Oxford, Head Master of Merchant Taylor's School,
the newly appointed Prebendary. The Dean of St.
Paul's will preach on the morning of Christmas
Day, and the Rev. Canon Champneys in the after-
noon.