21. Farringdon Ward Within The Walls, So Called To Distinguish It
From Farringdon Ward Without, Was Anciently But One Ward,
And
governed by one alderman, receiving its name of William Farendon,
goldsmith, alderman thereof, and one of the sheriffs of
London who
purchased the aldermanry of John le Feure, 7 Edward I., anno 1279.
It afterwards descended to Nicholas Farendon, son of the said
William, who was four times mayor (and his heirs), from whence some
infer that the aldermanries of London were formerly hereditary.
Farringdon Ward Within contains St. Paul's Churchyard, Ludgate
Street, Blackfriars, the east side of Fleet Ditch, from Ludgate
Street to the Thames, Creed Lane, Ave Mary Lane, Amen Corner,
Paternoster Row, Newgate Street and Market, Greyfriars, part of
Warwick Lane, Ivy Lane, part of Cheapside, part of Foster Lane, part
of Wood Street, part of Friday Street, and part of the Old Change,
with several courts and alleys falling into them.
The public buildings in this ward are, the Cathedral of St. Paul,
St. Paul's School, the King's Printing House, the Scotch Hall,
Apothecaries' Hall, Stationers' Hall, the College of Physicians,
Butchers' Hall, Saddlers' Hall, Embroiderers' Hall, the church of
St. Martin Ludgate, Christ's Church and Hospital, the church of St.
Matthew, Friday Street, St. Austin's Church, the church of St
Vedast, and the Chapter House.
Austin the monk was sent to England by Pope Gregory the Great, to
endeavour the conversion of the Saxons, about the year 596, and
being favourably received by Ethelbert, then King of Kent, who soon
after became his proselyte, was by the authority of the Roman see
constituted Archbishop of Canterbury, the capital of King
Ethelbert's dominions. The archbishop being thus established in
Kent, sent his missionaries into other parts of England, making
Melitus, one of his assistants, Bishop of London; and King
Ethelbert, to encourage that city to embrace Christianity, it is
said, founded the Cathedral of St. Paul about the year 604.
This Cathedral stands upon an eminence in the middle of the town,
disengaged from all other buildings, so that its beauties may be
viewed on every side; whereas we see only one front of St. Peter's
at Rome, the palace of the Vatican, and other buildings contiguous
to it, rendering the rest invisible; and though the riches and
furniture of the several chapels in St. Peter's are the admiration
of all that view them, yet they spoil the prospect of the fabric.
If we regard only the building, divested of the rich materials and
furniture which hide the beauties of the structure, St. Paul's, in
the opinion of many travellers, makes a better appearance than St.
Peter's: nor does the white Portland stone, of which St. Paul's is
built, at all give place to the marble St. Peter's is lined or
incrusted with; for the numerous lamps and candles that are burnt
before the altars at St. Peter's so blacken and tarnish the marble,
that it is not easy to distinguish it from common stone.
As to the outside of St. Paul's, it is adorned by two ranges of
pilasters, one above the other; the lower consist of 120 pilasters
at least, with their entablature of the Corinthian order, and the
upper of as many with entablament of the Composite order, besides
twenty columns at the west and four at the east end, and those of
the porticoes and spaces between the arches of the windows; and the
architrave of the lower order, &c., are filled with great variety of
curious enrichments, consisting of cherubims, festoons, volutas,
fruit, leaves, car-touches, ensigns of fame, as swords and trumpets
in saltier crosses, with chaplets of laurel, also books displayed,
bishops' caps, the dean's arms, and, at the east end, the cypher of
W.R. within a garter, on which are the words Honi soit qui mal y
pense, and this within a fine compartment of palm-branches, and
placed under an imperial crown, &c., all finely carved in stone.
The intercolumns of the lower range of pilasters are thirty-three
ornamental windows and six niches, and of the upper range thirty-
seven windows and about thirty niches, many whereof are adorned with
columns, entablature, and pediments; and at the east end is a sweep,
or circular space, adorned with columns and pilasters, and enriched
with festoons, fruit, incense-pots, &c., and at the upper part is a
window between four pieddroits and a single cornice, and those
between two large cartouches.
The ascent to the north portico is by twelve steps of black marble;
the dome of the portico is supported and adorned with six very
spacious columns (forty-eight inches diameter) of the Corinthian
order. Above the doorcase is a large urn, with festoons, &c. Over
this (belonging to the upper range of pilasters) is a spacious
pediment, where are the king's arms with the regalia, supported by
two angels, with each a palm-branch in their hands, under whose feet
appear the figures of the lion and unicorn.
You ascend to the fourth portico (the ground here being low) by
twenty-five steps. It is in all other respects like the north, and
above this a pediment, as the other, belonging to the upper order,
where is a proper emblem of this incomparable structure, raised, as
it were, out of the ruins of the old church, viz., a phoenix, with
her wings expanded, in flames, under which is the word RESURGAM
insculped in capital characters.
The west portico is adorned and supported with twelve columns below
and eight above, fluted, of the respective orders as the two ranges,
the twelve lower adorned with architrave, marble frieze, and a
cornice, and the eight upper with an entablature and a spacious
triangular pediment, where the history of St. Paul's conversion is
represented, with the rays of a glory and the figures of several men
and horses boldly carved in relievo by Mr. Bird. The doorcase is
white marble, and over the entrance is cut in relieve the history of
St. Paul's preaching to the Bereans (as in Acts xvii.
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