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Illustrations of the Public Buildings of London (1838)
Illustrations of the Public Buildings of London - 1838 Author:John Britton Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ST. JAMES'S, WESTMINSTER. Who would conceive that the harbarous brick-cased and ill-shapeu pile which stands on the south side of Piccadilly, encloses one of ... more »the choicest and most elegantly formed interiors which this metropolis can boast?—one which displays, in the highest degree, the extraordinary talents of our great architect, Sir Christopher Wren ? Yet this is the fact, and we can account for its beauties being, except to professional men, unknown, only by its grim and forbidding aspect, which does not invite the spectator to close inspection: it is like the toad, " ugly and venomous, yet wears a precious jewel in its head." Before describing it, a brief view of its history and foundation will be necessary. The church, as well as the district for which it served, which latter was formerly part of the parish of St. Martin- in-the-Fields, was constituted parochial by the authority of parliament, in the first year of James II., on account of the great increase of buildings in these parts, which rendered another church necessary for the accommodation of the inhabitants. The church was, however, built in the reign of Charles II.; and, though of no small dimensions, was considered only as a chapel of ease to St. Martin's till the year 1684. The gallant Earl of St. Alban's (who was supposed to have been privately married to the Queen-Dowager HenriettaMaria), at the head of the chief persons of distinction in the neighbourhood, was founder of this church, the expense of which amounted to somewhat less than £8,000. On the death of the earl, letters patent issued, May 31, 1684, to Thomas, Lord Jermyn, his nephew, granting the church and cemetery in trust to him and his heirs for ever. He assigned it over to Sir Walter Clarges, Bart., and others, in trust, as a chapel of ease, ...« less