6] The stained-glass window by Mr. Kempe has been lately put
in to the memory of James Augustus Hessey, Archdeacon of Middlesex
(1875-93), whose Bampton Lectures, "Sunday," still remain for
theologians the standard treatise upon the Day of Rest. The Font of
veined Carrara marble, another work of Bird, rather resembles the
round basins resting on stands of the ancient Greek baths than any of
our usual models. As St. Paul's is one of those cathedrals with no
parish annexed, only those connected with it have any claim for
baptisms.

=The Geometrical Staircase.=--This is in the South Tower, and leads
from the Crypt to the Library. It is circular, of a diameter of
twenty-five feet, and so constructed that eighteen steps, each nearly
six feet broad at the outside, lead from the outside entrance to the
interior. The ironwork is worthy of the choir.

The three remaining limbs differ only on the plan; in the other
features of their architecture they are essentially similar to the
nave. While the Pointed architecture suggests upward lines, and the
Greek entablature horizontal lines, the round arch suggests a neutral
position between the two. The great span of the arches and the general
largeness of the different parts diminish the apparent size. The
uniformity in the details produces that symmetry which is a
peculiarity of the Renaissance.

THE DOME.

The Dome rises from its foundation in the Crypt of a square of 190
feet, and of this the solid parts are more than equal to the vacant
spaces, and are of a thickness of 20 feet.[97]

Coming to the level of the church, these solid parts are represented
by twelve supports. The chief of them are the bastion-like piers at
the angles of the transepts. They are hollow at the pavement level;
and the south-west is used as a staircase, the north-west as the
Lord's Mayor's vestry, the north-east the Minor Canons', and the
south-east the Dean's. It gives some idea of their massiveness to
reflect that these rooms inside them are nearly twenty feet across.
The eight other supports are the huge wall-like piers, thirty-five
feet by ten, at the entrances from the four limbs.

=The Arcading.=--When Wren planned his dome interior he had the
difficulty caused by the four limbs and their side aisles to overcome.
It was easy enough for the architect of such a church as St. Genevieve
(or the Pantheon) at Paris to construct one, as he had neither this
complicated arcading nor so heavy a superinc