given to that
city a building worthy to rank with its cathedral. As it is, his fame
rests chiefly on his work in London, although the masterly scheme he
drew up for the rebuilding of the whole town had to be considerably
modified.

[Illustration: Portion of Greenwich Hospital]

S. Paul's Cathedral, that dominates the vast agglomeration making up the
modern capital, reflects, in its solemn and dignified beauty, almost as
clearly as did a mediaeval ecclesiastical Gothic edifice, the spirit of
its age, during which the Puritan replaced the Roman Catholic ideal, and
a rigid Protestantism became the religion of the people. Of noble and
most harmonious proportions, S. Paul's is cruciform in plan, every
portion of its exterior and interior subordinated to the great central
dome, that, consisting as it does of an outer and inner vault, is
equally impressive whether seen from within or from without. From
whatever point of view, the dome, with its graceful lantern surmounted
by a cross, remains the central feature of a structure at unity with
itself, consistent in every detail, the western towers and the great
central portico with their appropriate classic pilasters and columns all
being in complete and satisfying accord.

The Churches of S. Stephen, Walbrook, S. Andrew, Holborn, S. James,
Piccadilly, S. Clements Danes, S. Bride's, Fleet Street, and Bow are
amongst the finest designed by Wren. The steeples of the last three are
especially noteworthy as the earliest examples in England of the use of
that feature in Renaissance buildings.

Sir Christopher did not pass away until the 18th century, which was to
witness a rapid decline of architecture in England. His influence had
begun to wane even before his death, and few of his immediate
successors, with the exceptions of his pupils, Nicholas Hawkesmoor,
architect of S. George's, Bloomsbury, and other London churches of
similar design, and Sir John Vanburgh, who designed Castle Howard and
Blenheim Palace, rose to eminence. James Gibbs, designer of the
Ratcliffe Library at Oxford, also did some good work; the brothers Adam
successfully imitated classic forms in certain London and Edinburgh
buildings, and Sir Robert Taylor won some distinction by the Halls
erected by him in Herefordshire and Essex.

Towards the close of the century a classic revival inaugurated by Sir
William Chambers, designer of Somerset House, took place in England, and
it became the fashion to add a Greek