ouvre, as is duly acknowledged in the
"Parentalia." According to Stephen Wren, it "_is not according to the
usual Mode of the_ Ancients _in their ordinary Temples, which for the
generality were small; but was followed in their Coloss or greater
Works; for instance, in the Portico of the_ Temple of Peace, _the most
magnificent in old_ Rome, _the Columns were very properly and
necessarily doubled to make wider openings._" Italian buildings are
likewise cited. The columns project slightly in advance of the Front;
and as the central part with the great doorway is recessed some twenty
feet, a depth of shadow is produced in the Pronaos.

As the great doorway for "Solemnities" requires a wider opening in
front than the two side ones in daily use, the two central pairs are
placed _Eustyle_--_i.e._, with a supposed space between of two and a
half diameters--while the rest are placed _Pycnostyle_--one and a half
diameters.[85] In the second story, owing to the towers above, the
outside couples are displaced by pilasters; and the eight remaining
columns support the architrave and cornice, and the great triangular
pediment above of seventy-four feet in breadth and eighteen in height.
On this is represented in bas-relief the Conversion of St. Paul. Saul
of Tarsus still seated on his horse, which is crouching on the ground,
looks up at the rays of light; and the alarmed escort are trying to
control their frightened steeds. In the distance is Damascus. The
sculpture is the work of Francis Bird, and he was paid for it the
handsome sum of L650. The statue on the apex is that of the patronal
saint; the two near him are those of St. Peter and St. James, while
the four more remote are those of the Evangelists, with their emblems
taken from Rev. iv. 7.

The Towers, with their Italian details, complete the Facade. They
consist of five stages besides the domes, of which the two lower
correspond with the rest of the front. The third is pierced with
circular openings, which in the southern are filled up with the faces
of the clock. The fourth is transitional between the square and the
octagon; from each angle of the square below spring two pairs of
Corinthian columns, half-concealing, half-revealing the supports of
the small domes. The fifth is an octagon, with two orders of open
arches in each face, and an exterior arcading, urn-shaped pedestals
being freely adopted as in the stage below. The domes, the pine of
which was modelled by Francis