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and the climate appear to have been fickle in their attacks on this venerable edifice; they are not invariably the most prominent parts, nor seemingly those most exposed that are thus bleached; nor are they the most secluded that are dingy and dirty. The general effect, however, of the discolouration is highly imposing. It is said, that "mansions may be built, but not oak trees;" and certain it is, that if another St. Paul's could be erected, equal in all other respects, it must, of necessity, be inferior in that time-worn and venerable appearance, which the present truly magnificent edifice pos sesses. Old people are usually sticklers for things ancient in appearance, and I would not willingly part with what the finger of time has inscribed on St. Paul's.

I have entered the church by the northern door: it is the hour of prayer; the minister, the choristers, and the congregation are assembled; and as I sit on one of the benches in the vast area of the church, the shrill and harmonious chaunt of youthful voices is rising round me, and the deep diapason of the solemn organ, like thunder modulated and rendered musical, is impetuously bursting from the choir, pouring irresistibly along through the elevated arches, and long-drawn aisles, and filling, with awful melody, the mighty dome above my head.

If, clothed and clogged with the infirmity of human nature, such soul-transporting sounds, and rapturous emotions are permitted us, what will be the music of heaven! and what the unimaginable transports of glorified spirits!

While the visionary and devotee consider these sublime choruses as of themselves constituting devotion; and while some condemn them as inconsistent with the

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simplicity of Christian worship; enough for me if I feel that they give a passing fervour to my faith, and carry my affections onward to that eternal world, that is represented to us as resounding with hallelujahs. So long as music is content to be the handmaid of devotion. she is well worthy of regard; but when she sets up herself to be worshipped, down with her, down with her, even to the ground!

The service is now ended, and the congregation are thronging the space between the choir and the northern door, while, here and there, small parties are seen walking from one monument to another.

I look up at the capacious dome with wonder. What a pigmy I am, compared to this stupendous structure, which is itself but a speck in creation! The oppressive vastness of the church is increased by its absence of ornament. Not that the columns, the arches, and the vaultings of the cupola are altogether without decoration; but the grotesque and elaborate carvings that frequently enrich Gothic edifices are here looked for in vain. The magnificence of St. Paul's is rather felt in its influential whole, than seen in the costliness of its individual parts.

Those who have seen the scaffolding erected here on the first Thursday in June, occupied by seven thousand children, have gazed on a spectacle that they are not likely to forget.

Here are the works of the Bacons, Chantrey, Flaxman, Westmacott, and Rossi; Baily, Tollemache, Hopper, and Gahagan. Here are the monuments of Nelson, Howe, St. Vincent, Heathfield, Collingwood, and Duncan; Abercrombie, Cornwallis, and sir John Moore; sir Joshua Reynolds, Barry, Opie, West, and

sir Thomas Lawrence; Dr. Johnson, sir William Jones, Howard the philanthropist, and the architect of the place, sir Christopher Wren.

The flags, in both dome and nave, are motionless; but they have waved amid the stormy fight. Many a death-grapple took place before the French, and Dutch, and Spanish standard-bearers were despoiled of them.

Observe that family group of spectators: they are from the country; the fatner takes the lead, with a boy of five years old, dressed in his new buttoned clothes; the mother holds by the hand her little daughter. The father has told them already, before they quitted home, of the wonders of the place, and they regard his words as the voice of an oracle. He has been here before, and he shows them one monument after another, with an emotion very like that of pride; for how could they manage to see all without him? what would they know of the place without his descriptions? He is the master of the ceremonies; the family head and guide; the London directory; the every thing to them in their visit to this wonderful city. Perhaps, while I am making my remarks on the stranger, he may be commenting on mė. He may be saying to himself, "Yonder greyheaded old gentleman looks about him. I wonder whether he is as much in earnest after the things of a better world, as he appears to be after the things in this. It is high time for him to be setting his affections on things that are above, bearing in mind that 'our days upon earth are a shadow.'

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The finely wrought and imposing figures of Nelson, with the lion beneath him; sir John Moore wounded and dying; and sir Ralph Abercrombie falling from his horse into the arms of a Highland soldier, by turns

attract the attention and secure the admiration of the several visitors of the cathedral. The soldier and the sailor, on entering this much frequented place, must fee. an additional enthusiasm. They see the homage that is paid to the hero, and forget the wounds and deathgrapples, the cries and groans, the widow's sighs and orphans' tears that are required to make up a victory. Look at the awe-struck little urchins, that are gazing with timid air on the monument of Howard. Their attention has already been directed to the diminutive figures in bas-relief, representing the stern jailor with his key, and the poor famished prisoner, who is being supplied with food by the philanthropist. At another time their little hearts will feel sensible of compassion, but now, while they lift up their eyes to the cold marble, the gigantic and motionless figure of Howard, they are rather frozen with awe than melted with pity.

The colossal figure of doctor Johnson, on the opposite monument, represents the intellectual gladiator, the mighty lexicographer, in a standing attitude. Unlike the graven bust, in the title-page of his dictionary, he stands erect, habited as a Roman, with a majestic mien, fixing the regard, and commanding the admiration of the spell-bound visitor. The man of letters comes here, a pilgrim to the shrine of talent, and pays a willing homage to departed intellect.

And these, then, are the most enduring records of this world's admiration! What a tale of humiliation is told by the disfigured effigy, the mutilated marble, and the time-worn monument of the hero!

"These mouldering records make one feel ashamed
That fame and glory have so little power

To hand their greatness down to future times."

It is said that St. Paul's was first built by Ethelbert, king of Kent, A. D. 619. And that kings Kenred, Athelstan, Edgar, Ethelred, and Canute, Edward the Confessor, and William the Conqueror, all contributed largely to its support.

There is, indeed, abundant reason to believe, that a Christian church occupied the same site at a very early period; and that this, when destroyed by the Dioclesian persecution, was agar rebuilt in the time of Constantine the Great. It was after the demolition of this church that Ethelbert undertook its re-erection.

Two or three times it was destroyed by fire, and more than once the spire was struck by lightning. Among the names of those who were, at different periods, the most zealous in its preparation, may be mentioned, William de Belmois, Osbert de Camera, Maurice Belmois, and Roger Niger, bishops of London. To these must be added, Henry Lacy, earl of Lincoln; Ralph Baldock, bishop of London; and queen Elizabeth. The latter gave out of her own purse, a thousand marks of gold; and added also to her gift a thousand loads of timber.

From the year 1631 to 1643, more than a hundred thousand pounds was received to repair St. Paul's; and the work was begun by sir Inigo Jones. The chapels and altars of St. Paul's, before the Reformation, were very numerous, and the rites of the Romish religion were celebrated with great pomp and pageantry. With rich treasures, and two hundred officiating priests, it abounded in what was alluring and imposing to the eye: statues of the Virgin Mary, with huge tapers burning before them continually: caskets decorated with jewels,

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