Bois, who, in 1699, preached in
the old Church in the Fort.

[Illustration: "O BEAUTIFUL, LONG, LOVED AVENUE, SO FAITHLESS TO TRUTH
AND YET SO TRUE"--JOAQUIN MILLER]

Then St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was conceived, in 1850, by Bishop
Hughes of the Diocese of New York, the cornerstone was laid in 1858, and
the Cathedral dedicated in 1879 by Cardinal McClosky. It was designed by
James Renwick, the architect of Grace Church and St. Bartholomew's. The
Cathedral is three hundred and thirty-two feet in length and one hundred
and seventy-four feet in breadth, the spires rise three hundred and
thirty feet above the ground, and the seating capacity of the edifice is
two thousand five hundred. But its full capacity is eighteen thousand,
and it is eleventh in point of size among the cathedrals of the world.
Considering St. Patrick's in its artistic aspect Miss Henderson, in "A
Loiterer in New York," has said: "Renwick considered it his chief work;
and the cathedral holds high rank as an example of the decorated, or
geometric, style of Gothic architecture that prevailed in Europe in the
thirteenth century, and of which the cathedrals of Rheims, Cologne,
and Amiens are typical.... The modern French and Roman windows, which,
to the eye of the later criticism, impair the beauty of the simple
interior, were considered something most desirable in their day, and
their completion was hurried in order that they might be shown at the
Centennial Exhibition, of 1876, where they were a feature much admired.
One of them--the window erected to St. Patrick--has at least an
antiquarian interest. It was given by the architect, and includes, in
the lower section, a picture of Renwick presenting the plans of the
Cathedral to Cardinal McClosky. The rose window is said to be a
fac-simile of the rose window at Rheims, recently destroyed by German
bombs; a _provenance_ that may be the more securely claimed since the
original has been immolated. As a matter of fact, it too bears the
stigma of the Centennial period, of which it is a characteristic
example. The only windows of aesthetic interest in the church are the
recent lights in the ambulatory, made by different firms in competition
for the windows of the Lady Chapel, which is to be treated in the same
rich manner."

Massive and splendidly Gothic is St. Thomas's. The church dates from
1823. In 1867 the present site was secured, and the brown-stone edifice
of the early seventies, designed by Richard