llery is a geometrical staircase of 110 steps, which was
constructed by Wren to furnish a private access to the library. In
crossing thence to the northern gallery, there is a fine view of the
entire vista of the cathedral. The model-room used to contain Wren's
first design, and some tattered flags once hung beneath the dome. Wren's
noble model, we regret to learn, is "a ruin, after one hundred and forty
years of neglect," the funds being insufficient for its repair. A
staircase from the southern gallery leads to the south-western campanile
tower, in which is the clock-room. The clock, which cost L300, was made
by Langley Bradley in 1708. The minute-hands are 9 feet 8 inches long,
and weigh 75 pounds each. The pendulum is 16 feet long, and the bob
weighs 180 pounds, and yet is suspended by a spring no thicker than a
shilling. The clock goes eight days, and strikes the hours on the great
bell, the clapper of which weighs 180 pounds. Below the great bell are
two smaller bells, on which the clock strikes the quarters. In the
northern tower is the bell that tolls for prayers. Mr. E.B. Denison
pronounced the St. Paul's bell, although the smallest, as by far the
best of the four large bells of England--York, Lincoln, and Oxford being
the other three.

The great bell of St. Paul's (about five tons) has a diameter of nine
feet, and weighs 11,474 pounds. It was cast from the metal of Great Tom
(Ton), a bell that once hung in a clock tower opposite Westminster
Hall. It was given away in 1698 by William III., and bought for St.
Paul's for L385 17s. 6d. It was re-cast in 1716. The keynote (tonic) or
sound of this bell is A flat--perhaps A natural--of the old pitch. It is
never tolled but at the death or funeral of any of the Royal Family, the
Bishop of London, the Dean, or the Lord Mayor, should he die during his
mayoralty.

It was not this bell, but the Westminster Great Tom, which the sentinel
on duty during the reign of William III. declared he heard strike
thirteen instead of twelve at midnight; and the truth of the fact was
deposed to by several persons, and the life of the poor soldier,
sentenced to death for having fallen asleep upon his post, was thus
saved. The man's name was Hatfield. He died in 1770 in Aldersgate, aged
102 years.

Before the time of the present St. Paul's, and as long ago as the reign
of Henry VII., there is on record a well-attested story of a young girl
who, going to confess, was importuned by the m