The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-04-21
ST. PAULs CATHEDRAL.


st. PauI's Cathedral. in London, has been
burned five times. thrice by FIRE, from
Heaven. 1t attained its inal magnidcence
when, in the thirteenth century, it was n
vista OF Gothic arches. seven hundred feet in
length. The interior was full of noble his
Joric tombs, amid which was conspicuous
the. Of John of Gaunt, son,
uncle, and father of kings. But, early in
the sixteenth century, the building had been
decorated to such a II extent as to have
become known rather as al exchange and a
house OF merchandise than as a church.
The south alley" says Decker, writing in
1907, was the place for usnTy and POpery,
the north for simony, the horse fair in the
midst for all kinds of bargains, meetings,
drawings, murtheTs, cOnspirlcies, and the
foot for ordinary payments of money"
A Corinthian Portico, of which the first
stone was laid by Laud, was built, by lingo
Jones, being intended, says Dryden, Us an
ambulatory for such "a usually walking in
the body of the Church, destroyed the
solemn service of the choir" II is believed
that Charles /. meant this portico merely
as the first instnlment of n new Cathedral,
but his attention was otherwise occupied,
and under the Commonwealth the soldiers
of Cromwell stabbed their horses in the
nave. With the Restoration it was intended
W ANhboAC NlC NAN hAANi Nbo Va
Dryden
1.-THE daring flames rcep'd in, and saw from far
The awful beauties OF the sacred quire;
And Gncc It vas profnncd by ciyil war
Heaven thought It 1T to have 1t purged by fire.
Christopher Wren, son of q Dean of
Windsor, was chosen rs the architect OF the
now church, and on June 81, 1875, was
laid the first stone of the new st. Paul's,
which was finished in thirty-fve years.
While he was occupied on st Paul's, Wren
was consulted as to the repairs of Ely Cathe-
dral, and in spite of the difference of styles,
III architect will detect many points Of
resemblance in the construction of the two
churches TO which he wal led by his admir-
alton, for the great church of the eastern
countries. and which were not always to the
advantage of st. Paul's as in the case of the
meaningless arches which break the sim
plicity of the cornice in the pillars of the
dome. The whole cost Of st. Pauls, e747,.
054 IS ID, was paid by n tax on every
chaldron of coal brought into the port Of
London, on which account it is said that
the cathedral has n special claim of its own to
its smoky exterior. II will be admitted
though in general effect there is moth
ing in the same style of architecture which
the exterior of st. Paul's it has not
q single detail deserving of admiration
the Phoenix over the south portico,
which was executed by Gibbons, and com
the curious fact narrated in the
PdrsHtaitd that the very first stone which
Sir Christopher Wren directed a mason to
bring from the rubbish of the old church to
serve as n mark for the centre of the dome
in his plans was Inscribed with the sing.e word
h~tsUtgIm-l shall rise again. The othei
ornaments and statues are chiefly by Bird.
4 most inferior sculptor. Those who find
greater faults must. however rememhe,
that st. Paul's MS it now stands is not
according TO the first design of Wren, thu
rejection of which cost him bitter tears.
Even III his after work he met with so many
rubs and r%utiles, and was so insutIicientiy
paid. Int the Duchess Of Marlborough salt
IN allusion to his scaffold labors " He i
ragged up and down in i basket two O.
three times n a week for al Insignificant
e20J a year"