hoped to rebuild London on a magnificent scale; but
it was not to be. Even in the plans for the new cathedral Wren was from
the beginning thwarted and impeded. Ignorance, envy, jealousy, and
selfishness met him at every line he drew. He made two designs--the
first a Greek, the second a Latin cross. The Greek cross the clergy
considered as unsuitable for a cathedral. The model for it was long
preserved in the Trophy Room of St. Paul's, where, either from neglect
or the zeal of relic-hunters, the western portico was lost. It is now at
South Kensington, and is still imperfect. The interior of the first
design is by many considered superior to the present interior. The
present recesses along the aisles of the nave, tradition says, were
insisted on by James II., who thought they would be useful as side
chapels when masses were once more introduced.

The first stone was laid by Wren on the 21st June, 1675, but there was
no public ceremonial. Soon after the great geometrician had drawn the
circle for the beautiful dome, he sent a workman for a stone to mark the
exact centre. The man returned with a fragment of a tombstone, on which
was the one ominous word (as every one observed) "Resurgam!" The ruins
of old St. Paul's were stubborn. In trying to blow up the tower, a
passer-by was killed, and Wren, with his usual ingenuity, resorted
successfully to the old Roman battering-ram, which soon cleared a way.
"I build for eternity," said Wren, with the true confidence of genius,
as he searched for a firm foundation. Below the Norman, Saxon, and Roman
graves he dug and probed till he could find the most reliable stratum.
Below the loam was sand; under the sand a layer of fresh-water shells;
under these were sand, gravel, and London clay. At the north-east corner
of the dome Wren was vexed by coming upon a pit dug by the Roman potters
in search of clay. He, however, began from the solid earth a strong pier
of masonry, and above turned a short arch to the former foundation. He
also slanted the new building more to the north-east than its
predecessor, in order to widen the street south of St. Paul's.

Well begun is half done. The Cathedral grew fast, and in two-and-twenty
years from the laying of the first stone the choir was opened for Divine
service. The master mason who helped to lay the first stone assisted in
fixing the last in the lantern. A great day was chosen for the opening
of St. Paul's. December 2nd, 1697, was the thanksgivin