London In 1731, By Don Manoel Gonzales









































































































 -   Nor does the white Portland stone, of which St. Paul's is
built, at all give place to the marble St - Page 27
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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.

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