"What you last whispered in my ear is
now come to pass. A pillar has fallen, and the rest threatens to
follow." The letter concludes thus: "You are so absolutely necessary to
us, that we can do nothing, resolve on nothing, without you." There was
plenty of zeal in London still; but, nevertheless, after all, nothing
was done to the rebuilding till the year 1673.

CHAPTER XXI.

ST. PAUL'S (_continued_).

The Rebuilding of St. Paul's--Ill Treatment of its Architect--Cost
of the Present Fabric--Royal Visitors--The First Grave in St.
Paul's--Monuments in St. Paul's--Nelson's Funeral--Military Heroes
in St. Paul's--The Duke of Wellington's Funeral--Other Great Men in
St. Paul's--Proposals for the Completion and Decoration of the
Building--Dimensions of St. Paul's--Plan of Construction--The Dome,
Ball, and Cross--Mr. Homer and his Observatory--Two Narrow
Escapes--Sir James Thornhill--Peregrine Falcons on St. Paul's--Nooks
and Corners of the Cathedral--The Library, Model Room, and
Clock--The Great Bell--A Lucky Error--Curious Story of a
Monomaniac--The Poets and the Cathedral--The Festivals of the
Charity Schools and of the Sons of the Clergy.

Towards the rebuilding of St. Paul's Cathedral, Charles II., generous as
usual in promises, offered an annual contribution of L1,000; but this,
however, never seems to have been paid. It, no doubt, went to pay Nell
Gwynne's losses at the gambling-table, or to feed the Duchess of
Portsmouth's lap-dogs. Some L1,700 in fines, however, were set apart for
the new building. The Primate Sheldon gave L2,000. Many of the bishops
contributed largely, and there were parochial collections all over
England. But the bulk of the money was obtained from the City duty on
coals, which (as Dean Milman remarks) in time had their revenge in
destroying the stone-work of the Cathedral. It was only by a fortunate
accident that Wren became the builder; for Charles II., whose tastes and
vices were all French, had in vain invited over Perrault, the designer
of one of the fronts of the Louvre.

The great architect, Wren, was the son of a Dean of Windsor, and nephew
of a Bishop of Norwich whom Cromwell had imprisoned for his Romish
tendencies. From a boy Wren had shown a genius for scientific discovery.
He distinguished himself in almost every branch of knowledge, and to his
fruitful brain we are indebted for some fifty-two suggestive
discoveries. He now