Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/868

 838 LONDON [CHURCHES. English sovereigns takes place, is a fine specimen of Early English, with decorations added in the 14th century, and contains among other tombs those of Siebert, king of the East Saxons, Anne of Cleves, and Edmund Oouchback, earl of Leicester. The north transept is occupied princi pally with monuments of warriors and statesmen, and in the south transept the &quot; poet s corner &quot; contains memorials of most of the great English writers from Chaucer to Thackeray and Dickens. The nave, with its clustered columns, its beautiful triforium, and its lofty and finely proportioned roof, is the most impressive portion of the interior. The monuments in its north and south aisles are of a very miscellaneous character, and commemorate musicians, men of science, travellers, patriots, and adventurers. The monuments in the chapels of St Benedict, St Edmund, St Nicholas, St Paul, St Erasmus, St John the Baptist, and the Abbot Islip are chiefly to ecclesiastics and members of tils nobility. Henry YII. s chapel, which is remarkable for the fretted vault work of the roof, with its magical fan tracery, contains besides the monument of Henry VII. the tombs of many English sovereigns and their children, and also of various other personages of historic fame. In the chapel of Edward the Confessor are the shrine of Edward the Confessor in Purbeck marble, the altar tomb of Edward I., the coronation chairs of the English sove reigns, and the stone of Scone, the old coronation seat of the Scottish kings. In the chapter-house (1250) the meetings of the Commons took place before they were transferred to St Stephen s Chapel ; and in the Jerusalem chamber (1376-86), where Edward V. is said to have been born and Henry IV. was brought to die, the sittings of the lower house of convocation of the province of Canterbury are now held. Couven- -Among the conventual churches existing in the time of Fitz- tual Stephen, there were destroyed by the fire three, those of St Thomas churches of Aeon, St John the Baptist, and St Martin-le-Grand, founded of time in 700. Of the other churches there still remain the choir, part of Fitz- of the nave, and portions of the transepts of the old church of Stephen. St Bartholomew the Great dating from the foundation of the monastery by Rahere, minstrel to Henry I., included in the pre sent church, restored 1865-69, which also contains the tomb of its founder; a pointed pier of the old church of St Catherine Crep, which was the conventual church of St Austin s priory of the Holy Trinity, founded in 1108, but was rebuilt by Inigo Jones; the vaults and some of the old monuments of the old church of St James s, Clerkenwell, built in connexion with the Benedictine nunnery 1100, and replaced by the present structure 1788-92 ; the east wall and Norman crypt of the building which in the 15th century replaced the old church of the priory of St John s of Jerusalem, Clerkenwell, founded in 1100, and of which the south fxte in the Perpendicular style, built in 1504, still remains; and the emple church, noticed in the article INNS OF COURT. Of the ancient church of St Saviour s, Southwark, belonging to the priory of St Mary Overy, a few seemingly Anglo-Saxon portions were in corporated in the building in the Early English style erected in the 13th century, which has been much disfigured by reconstructions and additions, although the beautiful choir, lady chapel, and transepts remain almost entire. The church of St Katherine s Hospital was removed in 1825 to make way for St Katherine s docks. Other old Of the other churches which escaped the fire the principal are churches, the Chapel Royal, Savoy, rebuilt by Henry VII. on the site of Savoy Palace in connexion with the hospital of St John the Baptist-, from 1564 till 1717 used as the parish church of St Mary- le-Strand, constituted a chapel royal in 1773, and restored in 186&quot;) by Smirke after partial destruction by fire ; All Hallows, Barking, founded in connexion with the Benedictine convent of Barking, Essex, some time before Richard I., chiefly Perpendicular, and containing several brasses ; St Andrew s Undershaft (1520-32), in the Perpendicular style, with a turreted tower, and containing among other tombs that of Stow the chronicler ; St Giles s, Cripple- gate, founded 1090, rebuilt in the Gothic style after destruction by fire in 1545 (with the exception of the fine tower, added in 1660), where Cromwell was married, and Milton and Fox the martyrologist were buried ; St Helen s, Bishopsgate Street, founded in connexion with a priory of nuns (1216), chiefly in the Third Pointed style, and containing many brasses and monuments of city dignitaries ; St Margaret s, Westminster, founded by Edward the Confessor, re-erected by Edward I., and frequently restored, containing a window originally executed by Gouda for &quot;Waltham Abbey, and possessing a large number of monuments to eminent persons ; St Olave s, Hart Street, in the Gothic style, belonging to the 15th century, but much altered by restoration, containing a large number of brasses and monuments ; the small church of Trinity in the Minories, formerly connected with a convent founded by Blanche, wife of Edmund Plantagenet, second son of Henry III., containing in a state of complete preservation the head of the duke of Suffolk, father of Lady Jane Grey. That the only important external feature of Wren s churches is Wren s the tower or steeple is a peculiarity to be explained by the fact churches that the merit of his style consisted more in beauty of general out line than in elaboration of details, that from the amount of money placed at his disposal he was generally compelled lo concentrate his chief attention on a special part of the building, and that on account of the crowding of surrounding buildings the steeple was often the only part of the church that could be made effective. His interiors, however, are finely proportioned. Among his more important churches are St Bride s, Fleet Street, which possesses one of his finest steeples, and contains the grave of Richardson the novelist ; St Dunstan s-in-the-East, of which the only portion by Wren now remaining is the steeple, resting on quadrangular columns with a mural crown copied from St Nicholas s, Newcastle ; St James s, Piccadilly, only remarkable for its elaborate interior and a white marble font by Gibbons ; St Lawrence, Jewry ; St Mary-le-Bow, containing the Norman crypt of the old building, which was the first church in the city built on arches (hence the name), and adorned with one of the finest of Wren s steeples, in which are the proverbial &quot;Bow Bells&quot; ; St Michael s, Cornhill, with Perpendicular tower imitated from that of Magdalen College, Oxford ; St Mary, Aldermary, rebuilt by Wren on the Gothic model of the old church ; St Stephen s, Walbrook, with an interior similar to St Paul s ; St Swithin s, Cannon Street, in a wall of which the famous &quot;London Stone&quot; is built; and St Clement Danes, in which Dr Samuel Johnson was accustomed to worship. Of the churches of the period succeeding that of Wren, the most Later notable are St George s, Hanover Square (1724), by James, with churches Classic portico and tower, and three painted windows of the 16th century made at Mechlin; St Giles-in-the-FielJs (1734), by Flit- croft, with tapering spire, and containing the graves of Flaxman the sculptor and Andrew Marvel ; St Martin-in-the- Fields (1726), by Gibbs, with a fine Corinthian portico, behind which the spire is awkwardly placed; St Mary-le-Strand (1717), by Gibbs, occupy ing the site of the old Maypole ; St Mary-le-Bone (1817), by Hardwicke, in the Classic style, containing altarpieee presented by Wren to the old church ; St Pancras (1822), with a steeple in imitation of the Temple of the Winds, and a very elaborate interior copied from the Erectheum at Athens ; St Paul s, Covent Garden, originally designed by Inigo Jones, and restored after a fire in 1795. The more modern churches are chiefly in the Gothic style. Of the religious buildings connected with the numerous denomina- Other tions and nationalities, few possess exceptional interest either of churches an antiquarian or architectural character. St George s Cathedral, and Southwark (1848), designed by Pugin, is said to be the largest chapels. Roman Catholic building erected in England since the Reformation ; and Ely Chapel, Holborn, the only remaining relic of the palace of the bishops of Ely, has lately been purchased and restored by the Roman Catholics. Among the chapels belonging to the Protestant dissenters the best known are perhaps Mr Spurgeon s Tabernacle, the City Temple, and Christ Church, Newington. The Dutch Church in Austinfriars was presented by Edward VI. to Dutch residents in London in 1550 ; the nave is in the Decorated style of the 13th century. Lambeth Palace, situated near one of the old hitlies or landing- Lambeth places of the Thames, came into the possession of the archbishops Palace, of Canterbury in 1197. The oldest portion of the present building, including the chapel in the Early English style, was erected by Archbishop Boniface (1244-70), but the Lollards Tower, in which the Lollards were tortured and the earl of Essex was imprisoned, was built in 1434, and the great hall with an elaborate timber roof in 1663. The inhabited portion was erected 1828-48 from the designs of Blore. The adjoining church of St Mary, the oldest part of which dates from the 14th century, contains the tombs of several archbishops, as does also the palace chapel. The library is noticed in LIBRARIES, p. 516. ROYAL PALACES AND GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS. Stow mentions that in his time there was a large building called the Old Wardrobe in the Old Jewry, very ancient, but of which all that be knew was that it had been alluded to by Henry VI. as his principal palace in the Old Jewry. The palace of Westminster existed at least as early as the Palace reign of Canute, but the building spoken of by Fitzstephen of West- as an &quot; incomparable structure furnished with a breastwork ni