File:The Argosy (1865) (14777094032).jpg

Identifier: argosythe47wood (find matches)
Title: The Argosy
Year: 1865 (1860s)
Authors: Wood, Henry, Mrs., 1814-1887 Wood, Charles W. (Charles William), b. 1850?
Subjects:
Publisher: London (etc.) R. Bentley (etc.)
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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the decoration; which evennecessitates this vivid colouring and gilding. How cold and lifelessour own St. Pauls appears for want of it. It needs decoration; itv/as Sir Christopher Wrens intention that it should have it; and itj,seems strange that our own metropolitan cathedral should be leftcomparatively neglected and unadorned : and that the one recent^step in the right direction should have been unfortunately carriedout, and given rise to unhappy controversy and dissension. There is no mistake of this sort in St. Peters. It is a greatRoman Catholic Church, and its design is carried out to perfection.A great deal of the decoration is in very bad taste, but this is counter-balanced by the vastness of the building, and the splendour of its-effect, and the subdued light which is thrown upon all. Nevertheless, of all the criticisms that have been passed uporthis mighty triumph, I most agree with Fredrica Bremer. She fallJinto no raptures and rhapsodies, whilst admitting the grandeur anc
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4i6 ^ Ecco Roma ! magnificence of the building, but says that it produces upon herrather the effect of a Christian pantheon than a Christian church.So have I ever felt towards St. Pauls in London, and so did I feeltowards St. Peters at Rome. The beauty and refinement of Gothicarchitecture is so adapted to the spirit and influence of rehgiousworship that the mind once accustomed to these outlines refusesto be satisfied with any other. One feels, for instance, as if it musthave required a more sublime, more devotional frame of mind toraise Westminster Abbey than to erect St. Pauls. But the dome of St. Peters, resting upon its four colossal pillars,is above all praise. The spectator pauses beneath it and looks \upwards in silence, lost in boundless admiration. The summit seems !too distant for the eye to reach. And beyond this there is yet J,another cupola. In design and proportions the cupola seems to have \attained perfection. Even the decoration, with all its gilding, seems ■chaste,

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