s (who studied in Italy under Palladio), and continued by Sir
Christopher Wren, soon swept everything before it.

Our most remarkable church in this style is S. Paul's Cathedral, which
in style has two very adverse circumstances to struggle against. In the
first place, it bears so great a similarity to the great church of
S. Peter, at Rome, that one cannot help comparing it with that fine
example, and secondly, it is the only English cathedral which is not in
the Gothic style. It must, of course, be acknowledged that S. Paul's
falls far short of S. Peter's, especially in its lighting, but it does
not deserve the condemnation of a great German critic, who said, "It is
a building marked neither by elegance of form nor vigour of style."
Although the interior of its dome and clerestory of the nave and choir
are extremely gloomy when compared with those of S. Peter's, the church
is generally acknowledged to be far superior to the latter in its
architectural details, and few, if any, Italian churches can be said to
surpass it, either in general composition or external effect, although
it must be admitted that everything having been sacrificed to attain the
latter quality, S. Paul's taken as a whole, is neither worthy of its
fine situation nor of its great architect.

Other churches which are excellent examples of this style are S.
Stephen's, Walbrook, and S. Mary Abchurch, London. Both show remarkable
skill. The former is divided into a nave and four aisles, transepts, and
a shallow chancel, by four rows of Corinthian columns, with a small dome
over the intersection. The interior is very beautiful, and this church
is generally considered to be Wren's masterpiece. S. Mary Abchurch, is
nearly square in plan, has no columns and is covered with a domical
ceiling, but so skilfully treated that the effect is singularly
pleasing.

[Side note: Hawkesmore.]

Of the Elizabethan and Jacobean buildings it is necessary to say little,
as at best they are but clumsy imitations of the Flemish, French and
Italian Renaissance, while the style which we now call Queen Anne came
in towards the close of the XVIIth century, and belongs of right to the
reign of Charles II. Hawkesmore, a pupil and follower of Wren, was a
strong architect who has left us Christ Church, Spitalfields, and S.
Mary Woolnoth. He also designed the western towers of Westminster Abbey,
often wrongly ascribed to Wren, and the second quadrangle of All Souls'
College, Oxfor