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Post Olympism Questioning Sport in the Twenty First
Century Global Sport Cultures 1st Edition John Bale
Digital Instant Download
Author(s): John Bale, Mette Krogh Christensen
ISBN(s): 9781859737149, 1859737145
Edition: 1st
File Details: PDF, 1.02 MB
Year: 2004
Language: english
Post-Olympism?
Global Sport Cultures
Eds. Gary Armstrong, Brunel University, Richard Giulianotti, University of Aberdeen,
and David Andrews, The University of Maryland

From the Olympics and the World Cup to extreme sports and kabaddi, the social
significance of sport at both global and local levels has become increasingly clear in
recent years. The contested nature of identity is widely addressed in the social
sciences, but sport as a particularly revealing site of such contestation, in both
industrializing and post-industrial nations, has been less fruitfully explored. Further,
sport and sporting corporations are increasingly powerful players in the world
economy. Sport is now central to the social and technological development of mass
media, notably in telecommunications and digital television. It is also a crucial
medium through which specific populations and political elites communicate and
interact with each other on a global stage.

Berg Publishers are pleased to announce a new book series that will examine and
evaluate the role of sport in the contemporary world. Truly global in scope, the
series seeks to adopt a grounded, constructively critical stance towards prior work
within sport studies and to answer such questions as:

• How are sports experienced and practised at the everyday level within local
settings?
• How do specific cultures construct and negotiate forms of social stratification
(such as gender, class, ethnicity) within sporting contexts?
• What is the impact of mediation and corporate globalisation upon local sports
cultures?

Determinedly interdisciplinary, the series will nevertheless privilege anthropological,

historical and sociological approaches, but will consider submissions from cultural
studies, economics, geography, human kinetics, international relations, law,
philosophy and political science. The series is particularly committed to research
that draws upon primary source materials or ethnographic fieldwork.

Books already published in the series:

Fear and Loathing in World Football, edited by Gary Armstrong and
Richard Giulianotti
Mud, Sweat and Beers: A Cultural History of Sport and Alcohol, by Tony Collins
and Wray Vamplew
Sport and Postcolonialism, edited by John Bale and Mike Cronin
Football in France: A Social History, by Geoff Hare
GLOBAL SPORT CULTURES

Post-Olympism?
Questioning Sport in the Twenty-first Century

Edited by
John Bale and Mette Krogh Christensen

Oxford • New York

First published in 2004 by
Berg
Editorial offices:
1st Floor, Angel Court, 81 St Clements Street, Oxford OX4 1AW, UK
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA

© John Bale and Mette Krogh Christensen 2004

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form
or by any means without the written permission of Berg.

Berg is the imprint of Oxford International Publishers Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 1 85973 714 5 (Cloth)

ISBN 1 85973 719 6 (Paper)

Typeset by JS Typesetting Ltd, Wellingborough, Northants

Printed in the United Kingdom by Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn

www.bergpublishers.com
 Contents

Acknowledgements xi
Notes on Contributors xiii
Introduction: Post-Olympism?
John Bale and Mette Krogh Christensen 1
Writing the Games 3
A Global Currency 4
After the Event 7
Citius, Altius, Fortius 9
Post-Olympism and Postmodernism 10
1 Post-Oolympism?
X Questioning Oolympic
X
Historiography
Douglas Booth 13
Models of Olympic History 14
Explanatory Paradigms 19
Conclusion 32
2 ‘What’s the Difference between Propaganda for
Tourism or for a Political Regime?’ Was the 1936
Olympics the first Postmodern Spectacle?
Arnd Krüger 33
Perspective 33
Introduction 34
Olympic Games under a Dictatorship 35
Olympic Education and the Peace Mission of
the IOC 37
The Historical Perspective 37
General Sherrill and the Change of Policy 40
Hans Fritsch 43
Official Propaganda 44

v
 Contents

The Olympic Torch Relay 45

Coubertin’s Political Economy 46
Brohm versus Bernett 48
Conclusion 49
3 China and Olympism
Susan Brownell 51
What Comes after the -Isms? Postmodernism,
Postcolonialism, and Post-Olympism (but not
Post-Nationalism) 51
The Power of the Host City 54
He Zhenliang 57
Will Olympism Change China? 58
Will China Change Olympism? 61
4 The Global, the Popular and the Inter-Popular:
Olympic Sport between Market, State and Civil
Society
Henning Eichberg 65
The Boomerang 65
Contradictions of Movement: The Case of Jumping 66
Contradictions of Identity: Saying ‘We’ in Sports 67
Production, Integration and Encounter by
Movement 69
National Identity is not One 70
How to Analyse Olympism? 72
Historical Shifts between Civic, Public and
Commercial Logics 74
Scenarios of Olympism . . . 75
. . . and Post-Olympism 76
Identity on the Agenda 78
Whose Cathy – and which People? 80

5 Cosmopolitan Olympism, Humanism and the

Spectacle of ‘Race’
Ben Carrington 81
Introduction 81
Humanism and the Spectacle of ‘Race’ 82
Cosmopolitanism and Planetary Humanism 85

vi
 Contents

Re-imagining the Race: Eric the Eel and the

Non-white White Athlete 88
The Politics of Cosmopolitan Olympism 93
Conclusion 96
6 Post-Olympism: Olympic Legacies, Sport Spaces
and the Practices of Everyday Life
Douglas Brown 99
The Space 101
The Sport 104
The Skaters 106
‘Olympians Amongst Us’ 112
Conclusion 115
Postscript One 116
Postscript Two 116
7 The Future of a Multi-Sport Mega-Event: Is there
a Place for the Olympic Games in a ‘Post-Olympic’
World?
Richard Cashman 119
The Contemporary Global Sports System 120
Increased Competition 122
Alternative Visions of Sport 126
The Pragmatic and Loose Definition of the
Olympic Programme 128
The Changing Geography of World Sport 130
Copying Olympic Ceremonies 132
Review of the Olympic Programme, August 2002 133
Conclusion 133

8 Making the World Safe for Global Capital: The

Sydney 2000 Olympics and Beyond
Helen Jefferson Lenskyj 135
Olympic Resistance, Past and Present 136
Sydney 2000 Protests 140
More Resistance: Vancouver and Whistler 142
Resistance in Salt Lake City 143
Conclusion 145

vii
 Contents

9 The Disneyfication of the Olympics? Theme Parks

and Freak-Shows of the Body
Alan Tomlinson 147
Introduction: Survival and Transformation 147
Disneyfication: Process and Outcome 150
Scenes from Sydney 152
A Disneylimpics? Challenging Stale Olympic
Ideals 160
Conclusion 162
10 Essence of Post-Olympism: A Prolegomena of Study
Synthia Sydnor 165
Proem 165
Cultural Adaptation 167
Classic Olympism 168
Transcendence 169
Aesthetics 169
Performativity 170
Acceleration 171
Coming Community/Whatever 174
11 Sportive Nationalism and Globalization
John Hoberman 177
Early Globalization and Olympic Sport 177
Globalization as International Competition 181
Sportive Nationalism and International
Competition 184
Denationalizing Global Competition 187
12 The Vulnerability Thesis and its Consequences: A
Critique of Specialization in Olympic Sport
Sigmund Loland 189
Introduction 189
Athletic Performance 190
Specialization 191
The Vulnerability Thesis 192
The Underlying Premise: Sport as Moral Practice 195
Policy Implications 196
Conclusion 197

viii
 Contents

13 Doping and the Olympic Games from an Aesthetic

Perspective
Verner Møller 201
14 Post-Olympism and the Aestheticization of Sport
Søren Damkjær 211
What is Olympism? 213
The Meaning of Sport 213
Modern Critiques 214
The Historico-Sociological Critique 215
The Forms of Critique 217
Post-Olympism 219
Postmodern in Olympism 219
Deconstruction 220
The Ethics of Sport 222
A Model of Postmodern Sport 222
Sport and Art 223
Art 224
The Aesthetics of Sport 224
Aesthetics at the Olympic Games 227
The Philosophy of Olympism 228
Post-Olympism Reconsidered 229
Conclusion 230

15 Laying Olympism to Rest

Kevin B. Wamsley 231
Introduction 231
Olympism 234
Post-Olympism 234
Conclusion 240
Notes 243
Bibliography 251
Index 273

ix
 Acknowledgements

The chapters in this book were originally presented as papers at a conference

(bearing the same title as the book) held in Aarhus, Denmark, in September
2002. The conference was organized by the Department of Sports Science and
the Centre for Cultural Research at Aarhus University and we must thank
colleagues for collaborating in this project. We therefore acknowledge the support
of Jens-Ole Jensen, Jens Behrend Christensen, Thorsten Hansen, Ole Høiris
and Ulla Rasmussen. Ulla’s secretarial and general organizational skills were
soon recognized as being second to none.
For help in funding the conference we must thank the Department of Sports
Science and the Faculty of Science at Aarhus University, the Danish Sports
Federation, the Danish Ministry of Culture and Team Denmark. Without the
support of these organizations, the production of this interdisciplinary and
international collection would have been impossible.
We are extremely grateful to our authors for submitting their chapters (more
or less) on time and for providing excellent manuscripts which required the
minimum of editing. At Berg we would like to thank Kathryn Earle, Anne
Hobbs, Jenny Howell and Felicity Howlett for their patience, help and support
in transforming what started off as a set of conference papers into a coherent
text.

John Bale
Mette Krogh Christensen

xi
 Notes on Contributors

John Bale teaches and researches at Aarhus University, Denmark and Keele
University, UK. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Jyväskylä,
Finland, the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and the University of
Queensland, Australia. His most recent books are Imagined Olympians (University
of Minnesota Press, 2002) and Running Cultures (Frank Cass, 2004). He has
also edited (with Mike Cronin) Sport and Postcolonialism (Berg, 2003).
Douglas Booth is a professor at Waikato University, New Zealand and teaches
courses on the history of sport. He is the author of The Race Game: Sport and
Politics in South Africa (1998) and Australian Beach Cultures: The History of Sun,
Sand and Surf (2001). Professor Booth is currently undertaking research into
knowledge and methods in the history of sport.
Douglas Brown is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the
University of Calgary. His research is both historical and ethnographic. He
attempts to reorient the critical eyes of researchers and students on the physical
experience of movement rather than merely the spectating experience. In the
past, he has examined the aesthetic imperative that Pierre de Coubertin
envisioned for modern sport and the Olympic Games. He also studies the culture
of mountaineering in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
Susan Brownell was a nationally ranked athlete in the US before winning a
gold medal in the heptathlon at the 1986 Chinese National College Games,
while studying at Beijing University. Her experiences are recounted in her book
Training the Body for China: Sports in the Moral Order of the People’s Republic
(1995). She is an associate professor and Chair of the Department of
Anthropology at the University of Missouri, St Louis.
Ben Carrington teaches sociology and cultural studies at the University of
Brighton, England. He has edited (with Ian McDonald) ‘Race’, Sport and British
Society (Taylor and Francis, 2001).

Richard Cashman is an Associate Professor in History and Director of the Centre

for Olympic Studies at the University of New South Wales and is also the

xiii
 Notes on Contributors

President of the Australian Society for Sports History. His special interests are
Australian and Asian sports history, including colonization and decolonization,
the Olympic Games and mega-events. Some recent books include Sport in the
National Imagination: Australian Sport in the Federation Decades (2002) and
Staging the Olympics: The Event and its Impact (1999), edited with Anthony
Hughes.
Mette Krogh Christensen teaches and researches at the Department of Sport
Science, Aarhus University, Denmark. Her research interests lie in the fields
of life histories of physical education teachers and sports participants and in
educational aspects of sports. She has published several books and academic
papers.
Søren Damkjær studied at Dartmouth College, University of Copenhagen,
the Sorbonne and Moscow State University. He is associate professor of Cultural
Sociology and Sports Sciences at the University of Copenhagen. His present
research interests comprise general sociology, the sociology and philosophy of
the body, philosophy (in particular, aesthetics) and the theory of movement
and dance.
Henning Eichberg is a cultural sociologist and historian. He is research fellow
at the Research Institute of Sport, Culture and Civil Society (IFO) in Gerlev,
Denmark. His fields of study are the history and cultural sociology of body
culture and sport; the cultural ecology of movement, the history of early modern
military technology; Indonesian studies and studies in democracy, ethnic
minorities and national identity.
John Hoberman is a professor of Germanic languages at the University of Texas
at Austin. He is author of several books on various aspects of sports. These include
Sport and Political Ideology (1984), Mortal Engines (1992) and Darwin’s Athletes
(1997). He is a visiting professor at the University of Southern Denmark at
Odense.
Arnd Krüger is a professor of sport science and head of the Sport and Society
Section at George-August Universität in Göttingen. He is the author of more
than twenty books. He has served three terms as Dean of the Social Science
Faculty of his university. His most recent publications include The Nazi Olympics
(edited with William Murray, University of Illinois Press, 2003). He is also a
former Olympian and has served as president of the European Committee for
the History of Sports.

xiv
 Notes on Contributors

Helen Jefferson Lenskyj is a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in

Education, University of Toronto. As a sport sociologist, she has specialized
in gender and sexuality issues since 1980, and in Olympic industry critiques
since 1992. Her two most recent books are Inside the Olympic Industry: Power,
Politics and Activism (SUNY, 2000) and The Best Olympics Ever? Social Impacts
of Sydney 2000 (SUNY, 2002).
Sigmund Loland is professor of sport philosophy at the Norwegian University
for Sport and Physical Education in Oslo. His research interests include ethics
of sport, epistemological issues in sport and sport science, sport and ecology,
and the history of ideas of sport. His latest book is Fair Play in Sport – A Moral
Norm System (Routledge, 2002).
Verner Møller is associate professor at the Institute of Sport Science and Clinical
Biomecanics in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Southern
Denmark. He has edited and written books on sports, health and doping and
has co-edited (with John Nauright) the anthology The Essence of Sport (2003).
His main field of research is body culture, health, drugs and elite sports.

Synthia Sydnor is an associate professor at the University of Illinois where she

has appointments in kinesiology, criticism and interpretive theory, cultural studies
and interpretive research and the John Henry Newman Institute of Catholic
Thought. She has been a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow, book
review editor of the Journal of Sport History and is currently an assistant editor
of Journal of Sport and Social Issues.
Alan Tomlinson is professor of sport and leisure studies at the University of
Brighton, UK, where he leads the Sport and Leisure Cultures research group
and heads the Chelsea School Research Centre. He studied humanities and
sociology at the University of Kent, took master’s and doctoral degrees at the
University of Sussex, has written many articles, and authored or edited more
than thirty books/volumes, on the social history and sociology of sport, popular
culture, leisure and consumption.
Kevin B. Wamsley is a sport historian at the University of Western Ontario,
where he is Director of the International Centre for Olympic Studies. He has
published in the areas of Canadian Sport History and on the Olympic Games,
particularly in the areas of politics and gender. He is also co-editor of
OLYMPIKA: The International Journal of Olympic Studies.

xv
 Introduction: Post-Olympism?
John Bale and Mette Krogh Christensen

This book raises questions about the nature and future of achievement sport
in the twenty-first century by focusing specifically on sport’s high altar, the
Olympic Games. The Olympics has become achievement sport in extremis. In
this book we seek to look beyond Olympism, hence our title, Post-Olympism?
(note the all-important question mark). We take ‘post-Olympism’ both literally
and metaphorically. Some chapters do look towards the future, offering suggestive
scenarios, but others look back (to the future?) to past Olympic events in order
to evaluate their post-Olympic-ness, or to explore the effects that the Games
have had on the places and spaces they have previously occupied. Additionally,
several chapters reappraise the ways in which the Olympics has been
conventionally written and researched.
A vast amount has been written about the modern Olympic Games. A
bibliography of written works about the subject would turn out to be a tome
in itself. Representations of the Olympics range across a huge spectrum – from
statistical gazetteers to sensitive biographies of Olympic heroes; from staid
histories to sensational exposés; and from status quo reviews to neo-marxist
critiques. The Olympics has been read as the global event where, by using the
global currency of sports, lasting friendships are forged. The Games have also
been interpreted as a modern version of ‘bread and circuses’ where athletes and
spectators are duped by rampant commercialization (Brohm, 1978). Given the
many and varied ways of representing the Olympics, it is hardly surprising that
the interdisciplinary array of authors, whose writings feature in the following
chapters, do not nail their flags to any single or particular philosophical mast.
Some chapters support the Olympic ideal in principle but all are broadly critical,
their critiques coming from various disciplinary, philosophical and ideological
sources. More important, perhaps, is that each chapter has something thought-
provoking to say about the Olympic Games as we enter the third millennium
of their existence in modern form. And as befitting a post-Olympic book we
also feel that it asks some new questions.
The prefix ‘post’, applied in recent decades to (at least) modernism, feminism
and colonialism, is ambiguous. Several of this book’s authors seek, in their

1
 John Bale and Mette Krogh Christensen

respective chapters, to define what they understand by ‘post-Olympism’. Drawing

on a categorization of forms of postmodernism proposed by geographer Michael
Dear (2000), ‘post-Olympism’ can first be understood as a time period, an era
or epoch. For example, post-Olympism could be applied to the problematical
period following the (re)formulation of the Olympic Games in the final decade
of the nineteenth century – an example of a break with precedent. It could also
be used to describe a time in the future when some kinds of body cultural practice
will post-date what we today know as the Olympics. Additionally, it could be
seen as the time period following each Olympic Games in which their legacies
are explored and evaluated. Furthermore, an age of post-Olympism might be
read as a time when the ideals of Olympism, as adumbrated by Pierre de
Coubertin, appeared to have been changed in some way – corrupted, exploited
or ignored, for example.
Second, post-Olympism can be interpreted as a type or style. Are late-modern
Olympics something fundamentally different from those of the early twentieth
century? Are they more predictable, more standardized, more kitsch-like? It
could be argued that since, say, 1936, the Olympics has been driven by different
ideologies from those perceived by the founding fathers of Olympism, William
Penny Brookes and Pierre de Coubertin, or that recent Olympic Games have
become kitsch and commercial, bland and banal forms of what preceded them.
Post-Olympism as a process could clearly be linked to the processes of colonialism
and postcolonialism. After all, Olympism has been a prosletyzing religion, a
movement that its modern founder wished to diffuse to all parts of the world.
In many senses Olympism formed part of the colonial project, something that
we are forcefully reminded of by several authors in this book. Additionally, the
post-Olympic might be read as privileging aesthetics over results.
A third way of reading post-Olympism is as a method by which the Olympic
Games can be explored, interpreted, written and researched. The Olympics has
been studied and written (that is, re-presented) by scholars from a variety of
academic disciplines (with, we suggest, historians leading the way), as well as
by journalists and enthusiasts, propagandists and apologists. However, following
the ‘linguistic turn’ in the humanities and social sciences, explorations of how
the Olympics has been written and might be represented, seem long overdue.
Indeed, we regard this as our starting point in ordering the contents of this
book, recognizing that our knowledge of the Olympics is overwhelmingly the
result of how the Games are explored and mediated. True, John MacAloon (1992)
has questioned the ways in which the Olympics is represented, stressing the
need for much more ethnographic work in Olympic research, but little has been
done that examines the actual writing of the Games. There is a case for exploring
the rhetorical modes that serve to transform the multi-sensual experiences of

2
 Introduction: Post-Olympism?

competing and spectating at the world’s major sports event into representations
that we consume in mediated form.
Writing the Games
Several chapters in Post-Olympism? focus on issues of textual (and to a lesser
extent, visual) representation and in Chapter 1 Douglas Booth makes an
important start in this direction by scrutinizing the writing of the Olympics.
Drawing on literary theory and revisionist historians, Booth examines several
styles of tackling the writing of the Games, and deconstructs the different
approaches they take. Driving home the significance of the way the Olympics
is written, he self-consciously adopts the textual tactic of refusing to privilege
the ‘Olympic Games’ as a proper noun. Elsewhere, Booth and Tatz (2000) explain
this textually subversive move – their lack of ‘veneration of capital letters’:

The ancient Olympic games were held at Olympia, hence the use of upper case as a place name.
The modern versions of these super sports festivals bear no resemblance to the ancient version
or to the place called Olympia – thus the small ‘o’. There may well be – or rather, there may
well have been – a case for talking about a philosophy of olympism, but that gives it no greater
claim to a capital letter than liberalism, humanitarianism, authoritarianism, fascism or
utopianism. (Booth and Tatz 2000, p. xv)

Drawing on the work of Benedict Anderson (1983, p. 5), we can argue that
Olympism-with-a- capital-O has a tendency to deny its status as an ideology
and instead, to hypostatize it, to present it as something substantial or
unchanging. As has been noted, ‘there is no immutable code of Olympism’ –
what is acceptable has been modified over time and is interpreted differently
from place to place (Tomlinson and Whannel, 1984, p. ix). While we have not
insisted that all authors adopt Booth’s textual ploy, his intervention into the
conventional writing of the very word ‘Olympic’ does illustrate the problem
of re-presenting the Olympics. We are dependent mainly on written work for
our knowledge and senses of the Games, and of what they are. Booth’s way
of writing the ‘olympics’ is no trendy textual trick. In his own way he shows
that words do matter. Thinking beyond the transparency of writing might be
said to mark the first step in scripting post-Olympism.
Booth’s historiography is followed by Arnd Krüger’s interrogation of the record
of the 1936 Olympics. Krüger’s implication, in Chapter 2, is that the Berlin
‘Games’ were, in a sense, illustrative of a postmodern condition (perhaps several
postmodern conditions), a theme exemplified in later chapters which meld post-
Olympism with postmodernism (see Damkjær’s wide-ranging Chapter 14).
Krüger stresses the impossibility of obtaining anything but an opaque image

3
 John Bale and Mette Krogh Christensen

of the Olympics. Since 1936 (if not before), the writing of the Olympics has
been postmodern in the sense that it is impossible to record ‘the truth’ of the
Games. At the same time, the ‘Nazi Olympics’, and subsequent Games, can
be read as simulations of what the Olympics might (be intended to) be. They
are rather like Baudrillard’s view of the first Gulf War: they did not take place.
It is the gloss, the cosmetic and the aesthetic that are important (see chapters
13 to 15 by Møller, Damkjær and Wamsley respectively). What we see and read
are flickering images of the Olympics. Other chapters that focus (at least
tangentially) on writing are exemplified by those by Brown (Chapter 6) with
his impressionistic and collage-type style, Tomlinson (Chapter 9) with his
experiential encounter (fieldwork, ethnography) with the landscape of the Sydney
Olympics, and Sydnor (Chapter 10) with her ‘thought exercise’.
Additionally, in writing the Olympics it has been rare to read the various,
traditionally muted, ‘voices’ from individuals and nations historically beyond
the full embrace of the modern Olympic movement, though a notable exception
is the stunning compilation of materials relating to the 1936 Olympics by
Reinhard Rürup (1996). Susan Brownell, Henning Eichberg and Ben
Carrington, in Chapters 3 through 5, provide a voice for muted groups such
as Chinese Olympic leaders, indigenous Australian athletes and those from
tropical Africa respectively. Furthermore, Brown, in Chapter 6, represents the
voice of the non-elite sportsperson who utilizes a former Olympic facility. And
Helen Lenskyj (Chapter 8) recognizes the voices of those who oppose the presence
of such Olympic facilities in their back yards. The chapters noted above, and
others in this book, are post-Olympic in the sense that they tend to write beyond
the canon of Olympic studies.
A Global Currency
The Olympic Games can be read as one of the few cultural forms that bond
(to a degree, at least) the world’s peoples together. The universal nature of the
rules and records of sport make the Olympics a global phenomenon par excellence.
But the Games can, at the same time, be seen as divisive, racist, elitist,
homophobic and sexist. While the Games can be read as sources of urban and
regional regeneration, they can also be seen as contributing to environmental
degradation. From 1896 onwards, the Olympics has presented a wide range
of problems. Critiques of the Games have come from a variety of sources. De
Coubertin himself was enraged by the so-called ‘Anthropology days’ of the St
Louis Olympics in 1904, which featured native peoples (‘savages’ in the parlance
of the Olympic report) who were made to compete in Olympic events such
as sprinting, jumping and throwing (Goksøyr, 1990). It was predicted by certain
members of the committee who organized these events that the ‘savage’ would

4
Other documents randomly have
different content
 A second trial of the same kind, was made by a person appointed
by Dr. Wren, who being too wise in his own conceit, disobeyed the
orders he had received, put in a greater quantity of powder, and
omitted to take the same care in closing up the hole, or digging to the
foundation; but though this second trial had the desired effect, yet
one stone was shot as from the mouth of a cannon to the opposite
side of the church yard, and entered a private room where some
women were at work; but no other damage was done, besides
spreading a panic among the neighbours, who instantly made
application above against the farther use of gunpowder, and orders
were issued from the council board accordingly.
The Surveyor being now reduced to the necessity of making new
experiments, resolved to try the battering ram of the ancients, and
therefore caused a strong mast forty feet long to be shod with iron at
the biggest end, and fortified every way with bars and ferrels, and
having caused it to be suspended set it to work. Thirty men were
employed in vibrating this machine, who beat in one place against the
wall a whole day without any visible effect. He however bid them not
despair, but try what another day would produce; and on the second
day the wall was perceived to tremble at the top, and in a few hours
it fell to the ground.
In clearing the foundation, he found that the north side had been
anciently a great burying place; for under the graves of these latter
ages, he found in a row the graves of the Saxons, who cased their
dead in chalk stones; tho’ persons of great eminence were buried in
stone coffins: below these were the graves of the ancient Britons, as
was manifest from the great number of ivory and wooden pins found
among the mouldered dust; for it was their method only to pin the
corpse in woollen shrouds, and lay them in the ground, and this
covering being consumed, the ivory and wooden pins remained
entire.
At a still greater depth he discovered a great number of Roman
potsheards, urns, and dishes, sound, and of a beautiful red like our
sealing wax; on the bottoms of some of them were inscriptions, which
denoted their having been drinking vessels; and on others, which
resembled our modern sallad dishes, beautifully made and curiously
wrought, was the inscription DZ. PRIMANI. and on others, those of
PATRICI. QUINTIMANI. VICTOR. IANUS. RECINIO, &c. The pots and
several glass vessels were of a murrey colour; and others resembling
urns, were beautifully embellished on the outsides with raised work,
representing grey hounds, stags, hares, and rose trees. Others were
of a cinnamon colour, in the form of an urn, and tho’ a little faded,
appeared as if they had been gilt. Some resembling juggs formed an
hexagon, and were curiously indented and adorned with a variety of
figures in basso relievo.
The red vessels appeared to have been the most honourable; for on
them were inscribed the names of their deities, heroes, and judges;
and the matter of which these vessels were made, was of such an
excellent composition, as to vie with polished metal in beauty.
There were also discovered several brass coins, which by their long
continuance in the earth were become a prey to time; but some of
them that were in a more favourable soil, were so well preserved as
to discover in whose reign they were coined: on one of them was
Adrian’s head, with a galley under oars on the reverse; and on others,
the heads of Romulus and Remus, Claudius and Constantine.
At a somewhat smaller depth were discovered a number of lapilli or
tesselæ, of various sorts of marble, viz. Egyptian, Porphyry, Jasper,
&c. in the form of dice, which were used by the Romans in paving the
prætorium, or General’s tent. Conyers M. S. in the Sloanian library, in
the Museum.
On searching for the natural ground, Dr. Wren perceived that the
foundation of the old church stood upon a layer of very close and
hard pot earth, on the north side about six feet deep, but gradually
thinning towards the south, till on the declivity of the hill, it was
scarce four feet; yet he concluded that the same ground which had
borne so weighty a building before, might reasonably be trusted
again. However, boring beneath this, he found a stratum of loose
sand; and lower still, at low water mark, water and sand mixed with
periwinkles and other sea shells; under this, a hard beach; and below
all the natural bed of clay that extends far and wide, under the city,
country, and river.
The foundations appeared to be those originally laid, consisting of
Kentish rubble stone, artfully worked and consolidated with exceeding
hard mortar, after the Roman manner, much excelling what he found
in the superstructure. What induced him to change the scite of the
church, and eraze the old foundations which were so firm, was the
desire of giving the new structure a more free and graceful aspect;
yet after all, he found himself too much confined; and unable to bring
his front to lie exactly from Ludgate. However, in his progress he met
with one misfortune that made him almost repent of the alteration he
had made; he began the foundation from the west to the east, and
then extending his line to the north east, where he expected no
interruption, he fell upon a pit, where the hard crust of pot earth,
already mentioned, had been taken away, and to his unspeakable
mortification, filled up with rubbish: he wanted but six or seven feet
to complete his design, yet there was no other remedy but digging
thro’ the sand, and building from the solid earth, that was at least
forty feet deep. He therefore sunk a pit eighteen feet wide, tho’ he
wanted at most but seven, thro’ all the strata, that has been already
mentioned, and laid the foundations of a square pier of solid good
masonry, which he carried up till he came within fifteen feet of the
present surface; and then turned a short arch under ground to the
level of the stratum of hard pot-earth, upon which arch the north east
coin of the choir now stands.
This difficulty being surmounted, and the foundations laid, he for
several reasons made choice of Portland stone for the superstructure;
but chiefly as the largest scantlings were to be procured from thence:
however, as these could not be depended upon for columns exceeding
four feet in diameter, this determined this great architect to make
choice of two orders instead of one, and an Attic story, as at St.
Peter’s at Rome, in order to preserve the just proportions of his
cornice, otherwise the edifice must have fallen short of its intended
height. Bramante in building St. Peter’s, though he had the quarries of
Tivoli at hand, where he could have blocks large enough for his
columns of nine feet diameter, yet for want of stones of suitable
dimensions, was obliged to diminish the proportions of the proper
members of his cornice; a fault against which Dr. Wren resolved to
guard. On these principles he therefore proceeded, in raising the
present magnificent edifice.
The general form of St. Paul’s cathedral is a long cross: the walls
are wrought in rustic, and strengthened as well as adorned by two
rows of coupled pilasters, one over the other; the lower Corinthian,
and the upper Composite. The spaces between the arches of the
windows, and the architrave of the lower order, are filled with a great
variety of curious enrichments, as are those above.
The west front is graced with a most magnificent portico, a noble
pediment, and two stately turrets, and when one advances towards
the church from Ludgate, the elegant construction of this front, the
fine turrets over each corner, and the vast dome behind, fill the mind
with a pleasing astonishment.
At this end, there is a noble flight of steps of black marble, that
extend the whole length of the portico, which consists of twelve lofty
Corinthian columns below, and eight of the Composite order above;
these are all coupled and fluted. The upper series supports a noble
pediment crowned with its acroteria. In this pediment is a very
elegant representation in bas relief, of the conversion of St. Paul,
which was executed by Mr. Bird, an artist, who, by this piece, has
deserved to have his name transmitted to posterity. Nothing could
have been conceived more difficult to represent in bas relief than this
conversion; the most striking object being naturally the irradiation of
light, but even this is well expressed, and the figures are excellently
performed. The magnificent figure of St. Paul, also on the apex of the
pediment, with St. Peter on his right and St. James on his left, have a
fine effect. The four Evangelists with their proper emblems on the
front of the towers, are also very judiciously disposed, and well
executed: St. Matthew is distinguished by an angel: St. Mark, by a
lion; St. Luke, by an ox; and St. John, by an eagle.
 To the north portico, there is an ascent by twelve circular steps of
black marble; and its dome is supported by six large Corinthian
columns, forty-eight inches in diameter. Upon the dome is a large and
well proportioned urn, finely ornamented with festoons; and over this
is a pediment supported by pilasters in the wall, in the face of which
is the royal arms, with the regalia, supported by angels. And lest this
view of the cathedral should appear void of sufficient ornament, the
statues of five of the Apostles are placed on the top at proper
distances.
The south portico answers to the north, and is placed directly
opposite to it. This, like the other, is a dome supported by six noble
Corinthian columns: but, as the ground is considerably lower on this,
than on the other side of the church, the ascent is by a flight of
twenty-five steps. This portico has also a pediment above, in which is
a phœnix rising out of the flames with the motto RESURGAM
underneath it, as an emblem of the rebuilding the church after the
fire. This device had perhaps its origin from an incident, which
happened at the beginning of the work, and was particularly
remarked by the architect as a favourable omen. When Dr. Wren
himself had set out upon the place the dimensions of the building,
and fixed upon the center of the great dome, a common labourer was
ordered to bring him a flat stone, the first he found among the
rubbish, to leave as a mark of direction to the masons; the stone
which the fellow brought for this purpose, happened to be a piece of
a grave stone with nothing remaining of the inscription but this single
word in large capitals, RESURGAM; a circumstance which Dr. Wren
never forgot. On this side of the building are likewise five statues,
which take their situation from that of St. Andrew on the apex of the
last mentioned pediment.
At the cast end of the church is a sweep or circular projection for
the altar, finely ornamented with the orders, and with sculpture,
particularly a noble piece in honour of his Majesty King William III.
The dome which rises in the center of the whole, appears
extremely grand. Twenty feet above the roof of the church is a
circular range of thirty-two columns, with niches placed exactly
against others within. These are terminated by their entablature,
which supports a handsome gallery adorned with a balustrade. Above
these columns is a range of pilasters, with windows between; and
from the entablature of these the diameter decreases very
considerably; and two feet above that it is again contracted. From this
part the external sweep of the dome begins, and the arches meet at
fifty-two feet above. On the summit of the dome is an elegant
balcony; and from its center rises the lanthorn adorned with
Corinthian columns; and the whole is terminated by a ball, from which
rises a cross, both elegantly gilt. These parts, which appear from
below of a very moderate size, are extremely large.
This vast and noble fabric, which is 2292 feet in circumference, and
340 feet in height to the top of the cross, is surrounded at a proper
distance by a dwarf stone wall, on which is placed the most
magnificent balustrade of cast iron perhaps in the universe, of about
five feet six inches in height, exclusive of the wall. In this stately
enclosure are seven beautiful iron gates, which, together with the
banisters, in number about 2500, weigh two hundred tons and eighty-
one pounds, which having cost 6d. per pound, the whole, with other
charges, amounted to 11,202l. and 6d.
In the area of the grand west front, on a pedestal of excellent
workmanship, stands a statue of Queen Anne, formed of white marble
with proper decorations. The figures on the base represent Britannia
with her spear; Gallia, with a crown in her lap; Hibernia, with her
harp; and America with her bow. These, and the colossal statues with
which the church is adorned, were all done by the ingenious Mr. Hill,
who was chiefly employed in the decorations.
The north east part of the church yard is conferred by the Dean
and Chapter upon the inhabitants of St. Faith’s parish, which is united
to St. Austin’s, for the interment of their dead; as is also the south
east part of the cemetery, with a vault therein, granted to St.
Gregory’s parish for the same use.
On ascending the steps at the west end, we find three doors
ornamented on the top with bas relief; the middle door, which is by
far the largest, is cased with white marble, and over it is a fine piece
of basso relievo, in which St. Paul is represented preaching to the
Bereans. On entering this door, on the inside of which hang the
colours taken from the French at Louisbourg in 1758, the mind is
struck by the nobleness of the vista; an arcade supported by lofty and
massy pillars on each hand, divide the church into the body and two
isles, and the view is terminated by the altar at the extremity of the
choir. The above pillars are adorned with columns and pilasters of the
Corinthian and Composite orders, and the arches of the roof enriched
with shields, festoons, chaplets and other ornaments.
In the isle on one hand is the consistory, and opposite to it on the
other is the morning prayer chapel, where divine service is performed
every morning early, Sunday excepted: each of these have a very
beautiful screen of carved wainscot, that is admired by the best
judges, and each are adorned with twelve columns, arched pediments
and the royal arms, finely decorated.
On proceeding forward, you come to the large cross isle between
the north and south porticos; over which is the cupola. Here you have
a view of the whispering gallery, of the paintings above it, and the
concave, which fills the mind with surprise and pleasure. Under its
center is fixed in the floor a brass plate, round which the pavement is
beautifully variegated; but the figures into which it is formed can no
where be so well seen as from the whispering gallery.
You have now a full view of the organ, richly ornamented with
carved work, with the entrance to the choir directly under it. The two
isles on the sides of the choir, as well as the choir itself, are here
enclosed with very fine iron rails and gates.
The organ gallery is supported by eight Corinthian columns of blue
and white marble, and the choir has on each side thirty stalls, besides
the Bishop’s throne on the south side, and the Lord Mayor’s on the
north. The carving of the beautiful range of stalls as well as that of
the organ, is much admired.
Here the reader’s desk, which is at some distance from the pulpit, is
an enclosure of very fine brass rails gilt, in which is a gilt brass pillar
supporting an eagle of brass gilt, which holds the book on his back
and expanded wings.
The altar piece is adorned with four noble fluted pilasters painted
and veined with gold in imitation of lapis lazuli, and their capitals are
double gilt. In the intercolumniations are twenty-one pannels of
figured crimson velvet, and above them six windows, in two series.
The floor of the choir, and indeed of the whole church, is paved
with marble: but within the rails of the altar with porphyry, polished
and laid in several geometrical figures.
But to be more particular: as the disposition of the vaultings within
is an essential beauty, without which many other ornaments would
lose their effect, so the architect was particularly careful in this
respect. “The Romans,” says the author of the Parentalia, “used
hemispherical vaultings, and Sir Christopher chose those as being
demonstrably lighter than the diagonal cross vaults: so the whole
vault of St. Paul’s consists of twenty-four cupolas cut off semicircular,
with segments to join to the great arches one way, and which are cut
across the other, with eliptical cylinders to let in the upper lights of
the nave; but in the isles the lesser cupolas are both ways cut in
semicircular sections, and altogether make a graceful geometrical
form, distinguished with circular wreaths which is the horizontal
section of the cupola; for the hemisphere may be cut all manner of
ways into circular sections; and the arches and wreaths being of
stone carved, the spandrels between are of sound brick, invested with
stucco of cockle-shell lime, which becomes as hard as Portland stone;
and which having large planes between the stone ribs, are capable of
the farther ornaments of painting, if required.
“Besides these twenty-four cupolas, there is a half cupola at the
east, and the great cupola of 108 feet in diameter at the middle of
the crossing of the great isles. In this the architect imitated the
Pantheon at Rome, excepting that the upper order is there only
umbratile, and distinguished by different coloured marbles; in St.
Paul’s it is extant out of the wall. The Pantheon is no higher within
than its diameter; St. Peter’s is two diameters; this shews too high,
the other too low; St. Paul’s is a mean proportion between both,
which shews its concave every way, and is very lightsome by the
windows of the upper order, which strike down the light thro’ the
great colonade that encircles the dome without, and serves for the
abutment of the dome, which is brick of two bricks thick; but as it
rises every way five feet high, has a course of excellent brick of
eighteen inches long banding thro’ the whole thickness; and
moreover, to make it still more secure, it is surrounded with a vast
chain of iron strongly linked together at every ten feet. This chain is
let into a channel cut into the bandage of Portland stone, and
defended from the weather by filling the groove with lead.
“The concave was turned upon a center; which was judged
necessary to keep the work even and true, though a cupola might be
built without a center; but it is observable that the center was laid
without any standards from below to support; and as it was both
centering and scaffolding, it remained for the use of the painter. Every
story of this scaffolding being circular, and the ends of all the ledgers
meeting as so many rings, and truly wrought, it supported itself. This
machine was an original of the kind, and will be an useful project for
the like work, to an architect hereafter.
“It was necessary to give a greater height than the cupola would
gracefully allow within, tho’ it is considerably above the roof of the
church; yet the old church having before had a very lofty spire of
timber and lead, the world expected that the new work should not, in
this respect, fall short of the old; the architect was therefore obliged
to comply with the humour of the age, and to raise another structure
over the first cupola; and this was a cone of brick, so built as to
support a stone lanthorn of an elegant figure, and ending in
ornaments of copper gilt.
“As the whole church above the vaulting is covered with a
substantial oaken roof, and lead, the most durable covering in our
climate, so he covered and hid out of sight the brick cone, with
another cupola of timber and lead; and between this and the cone,
are easy stairs that ascend to the lanthorn. Here the spectator may
have a view of such amazing contrivances as are indeed astonishing.
He forbore to make little luthern windows in the leaden cupola, as are
done out of St. Peter’s, because he had otherwise provided for light
enough to the stairs from the lanthorn above, and round the pedestal
of the same, which are now seen below; so that he only ribbed the
outward cupola, which he thought less Gothic than to stick it full of
such little lights in three stories one above another, as is the cupola of
St. Peter’s, which could not without difficulty be mended, and, if
neglected, would soon damage the timbers.”
As Sir Christopher was sensible, that paintings, tho’ ever so
excellent, are liable to decay, he intended to have beautified the
inside of the cupola with mosaic work, which strikes the eye of the
beholder with amazing lustre, and without the least decay of colours,
is as durable as the building itself; but in this he was unhappily over-
ruled, tho’ he had undertaken to procure four of the most eminent
artists in that profession from Italy; this part is however richly
decorated and painted by Sir James Thornhill, who has represented
the principal passages of St. Paul’s life in eight compartments, viz. his
conversion; his punishing Elymas, the sorcerer, with blindness; his
preaching at Athens; his curing the poor cripple at Lystra, and the
reverence paid him there by the priests of Jupiter as a God; his
conversion of the jailer; his preaching at Ephesus, and the burning of
the magic books in consequence of the miracles he wrought there; his
trial before Agrippa; his shipwreck on the island of Melita, or Malta,
with the miracle of the viper. These paintings are all seen to
advantage by means of a circular opening, through which the light is
transmitted with admirable effect from the lanthorn above.
The highest or last stone on the top of the lanthorn, was laid by Mr.
Christopher Wren, the son of this great architect, in the year 1710;
and thus was this noble fabric, lofty enough to be discerned at sea
eastward, and at Windsor to the west, begun and compleated in the
space of thirty-five years, by one architect, the great Sir Christopher
Wren; one principal mason, Mr. Strong; and under one Bishop of
London, Dr. Henry Compton: whereas St. Peter’s at Rome, the only
structure that can come in competition with it, continued an hundred
and fifty five years in building, under twelve successive architects;
assisted by the police and interests of the Roman see; attended by
the best artists of the world in sculpture, statuary, painting and
mosaic work; and facilitated by the ready acquisition of marble from
the neighbouring quarries of Tivoli.
he curiosities in this cathedral which strangers pay for seeing. On
entering the south door, there is a pair of stairs within a small door on
the right, leading to the cupola, and the stranger by paying two pence
may gratify his curiosity with a prospect from the iron gallery at the
foot of the lanthorn, which in a clear day affords a fine view of the
river, of this whole metropolis and all the adjacent country,
interspersed with pleasant villages.
The ascent to this gallery is by 534 steps, 260 of which are so easy
that a child may without difficulty ascend them; but those above are
unpleasant, and in some places very dark; but the little light that is
afforded is sufficient to shew amazing proofs of the wonderful
contrivances of the architect. But as the first gallery, surrounded by a
stone balustrade, affords a very fine prospect, many are satisfied, and
unwilling to undergo the fatigue of mounting higher.
On the stranger’s descent he is invited to see the whispering
gallery, which will likewise cost two pence; he here beholds to
advantage the beautiful pavement of the church, and from hence he
has the most advantageous view of the fine paintings in the cupola.
Here sounds are magnified to an astonishing degree; the least
whisper is heard round the whole circumference; the voice of one
person softly speaking against the wall on the other side, seems as if
he stood at our ear on this, though the distance between them is no
less than an hundred and forty feet: and the shutting of the door
resounds through the place like thunder, or as if the whole fabric was
falling asunder. To this gallery there is an easy ascent for persons of
distinction, by a most beautiful flight of stairs.
The stranger is next invited to see the library, the books of which
are neither numerous nor valuable; but the floor is artfully inlaid
without either nails or pegs, and the wainscoting and book cases are
not inelegant.
 The next curiosity is the fine model Sir Christopher first caused to
be made for building the new cathedral. It was not taken from St.
Peter’s at Rome, as is pretended; but was Sir Christopher’s own
invention, and the model on which he set the highest value; and it is
a great pity, that what was performed as the utmost exertion of the
abilities of this great architect, should be suffered to run to decay.
He is next shewn the great bell in the south tower, which weighs 84
c. weight. On this bell the hammer of the great clock strikes the hour,
and on a smaller bell are struck the quarters.
The last thing shewn, are what are vulgarly called the geometry
stairs, which are so artfully contrived as to hang together without
visible support; but this kind of stairs, however curious in themselves,
are neither new nor uncommon. Parentalia. Historical account of the
curiosities of London, &c.
The cathedral church of St. Paul’s is deservedly esteemed the
second in Europe, not for magnitude only but for beauty and
grandeur. St. Peter’s at Rome is undoubtedly the first, but at the same
time it is generally acknowledged by all travellers of taste, that the
outside, and particularly the front of St. Paul’s, is much superior to St.
Peter’s. The two towers at the west end, though faulty in some
respects, are yet elegant, and the portico finely marks the principal
entrance. The loggia, crowned with a pediment, with its alto relievo
and statues, make in the whole a fine shape, whereas St. Peter’s is a
straight line without any break. The dome is extremely magnificent,
and by rising higher than that at Rome, is seen to more advantage on
a near approach. The inside, though noble, falls short of St. Peter’s.
The discontinuing the architrave of the great entablature over the
arches in the middle of the isle, is a fault the architects can never
forgive. Notwithstanding, without a critical examination, it appears
very striking, especially on entering the north or south door. The side
isles though small are very elegant, and if it does not equal St.
Peter’s, there is much to be said in defence both of it and the
architect, who was not permitted to decorate it as he intended,
through a want of taste in the managers, who seemed to have forgot
that it was intended a national ornament. St. Peter’s has all the
advantages of painting and sculpture of the greatest masters, and is
encrusted with a variety of the finest marbles, no cost being spared to
make it exceed every thing of its kind. The great geometrical
knowledge of the architect can never be sufficiently admired, but this
can be come at only by a thorough inspection of the several parts.
For the farther satisfaction of the curious reader, we shall conclude
this article with an account of the dimensions of St. Paul’s cathedral
compared with those of St. Peter’s at Rome, from an account
published some years ago: the measures of the latter being taken
from the authentic dimensions of the best architects of Rome,
reduced to English measure.
Feet. Feet.
The Plan, or Length and Breadth. St. St.
Peter. Paul.
The whole length of the church and porch 729 500
The breadth within the doors of the porticos 510 250
The breadth of the front with the turrets 364 180
The breadth of the front without the turrets 318 110
The breadth of the church and three naves 255 130
The breadth of the church and widest chapels 364 180
The length of the porch within 218 50
The breadth of the porch within 40 20
The length of the platea at the upper steps 291 100
The breadth of the nave at the door 67 40
The breadth of the nave at the third pillar and 73 40
tribuna
The breadth of the side isles 29 17
The distance between the pillars of the nave 44 25
The breadth of the same double pillars at St. 29
Peter’s
The breadth of the same single pillars at St. Paul’s 10
The two right sides of the great pilasters of the 65:7½ 25:35
cupola
The distance between the same pilasters 72 40
The outward diameter of the cupola 189 145
The inward diameter of the same 138 100
The breadth of the square by the cupola 43
The length of the same 328
From the door within the cupola 313 190
From the cupola to the end of the tribuna 167 170
The breadth of each of the turrets 77 35
The outward diameter of the lantern 36 18
The whole space, upon which one pillar stands 5906 875
The whole space, upon which all the pillars stand 23625 7000

Feet. Feet.
The HEIGHT. St. St.
Peter. Paul.
From the ground without to the top of the cross 437½ 340
The turrets as they were at St. Peter’s and are at 289½ 222
St. Paul’s
To the top of the highest statues on the front 175 135
The first pillars of the Corinthian order 74 33
The breadth of the same 9 4
Their basis and pedestals 19 13
Their capital 10 5
The architrave, frize, and cornice 19 10
The Composite pillars at St. Paul’s and Tuscan at 25½ 25
St. Peter’s
The ornaments of the same pillars above, and 14½ 16
below
The triangle of the mezzo relievo, with its cornice 22½ 18
Wide 92 74
The basis of the cupola to the pedestals of the 36½ 38
pillars
The pillars of the cupola 32 28
Their basis and pedestals 4 5
 Their capitals, architrave, frize, and cornice 12 12
From the cornice to the outward slope of the 25½ 40
cupola
The lantern from the cupola to the ball 63 50
The ball in diameter 9 6
The cross with its ornaments below 14 6
The statues upon the front with their pedestals 25½ 15
The outward slope of the cupola 89 50
Cupola and lantern from the cornice of the front 280 240
to the top of the cross
The height of the niches in the front 20 14
Wide 9 5
The first windows in the front 20 13
Wide 10 7

The whole expence of erecting this edifice, on deducting the sums

expended in fruitless attempts to repair the old cathedral, amounted
to 736,752l. 2s. 3d.
t. Paul’s Bakehouse court, Godliman’s street.
t. Paul’s chain, a lane on the south of St. Paul’s Church yard.
t. Paul’s Church yard, 1. The area round St. Paul’s cathedral,
surrounded on the north and west chiefly by booksellers and toy-
shops, and on the south side by the makers of chairs, screens and
cabinets. 2. Behind Covent Garden church.
t. Paul’s College court, St. Paul’s Church yard.
t. Paul’s Covent Garden, a very noble edifice built by Inigo Jones for a
chapel, but now a parish church. See Covent Garden.
Paul’s court, 1. Huggen lane, Thames street. 2. Wood street, Cheapside.
Paul’s Head court, Fenchurch street.
t. Paul’s School, at the east end of St. Paul’s Church yard, was founded
by Dr. John Collet Dean of St. Paul’s in the year 1509, for a Master, an
Usher and Chaplain, and an hundred and fifty-three scholars; for the
teaching of whom the founder appointed a salary of 34l. 13s. 4d. for
the upper Master; for the under Master 17l. 6s. 8d. and for the
Chaplain or third Master, 8l. per annum. He appointed the company of
Mercers trustees of this school, and by the improvement of the estate
since that time, the good management of the company, and some
additional sums left to this foundation, the salaries of the Masters are
become considerable; the upper Master having 300l. a year, besides
the advantage of additional scholars and boarders, by which he
generally makes about 200l. a year more; the second Master has
250l. a year, and the third 90l. a year.
The original building was consumed by the fire of London, and soon
after the present structure was raised in its place. It is a very singular,
and at the same time a very handsome edifice. The central building in
which is the school, is of stone; it is much lower than the ends, and
has only one series of windows, which are large, and raised a
considerable height from the ground. The center is adorned with
rustic, and on the top is a handsome pediment, in which are the
founder’s arms placed in a shield; upon the apex stands a figure
representing Learning. Under this pediment are two windows which
are square, and on each side are two circular windows crowned with
busts, and the spaces between them are handsomely ornamented by
work in relievo. Upon a level with the foot of the pediment runs on
either side a handsome balustrade, on which is placed on each side a
large bust with a radiant crown, between two flaming vases.
The buildings at the ends of this elegant structure are narrow, and
rise to a great height. They are of brick ornamented with stone, and
have each a small door, and are crowned at the top with a small
balustrade.
t. Paul’s Shadwell, owes its existence to the increase of buildings.
Shadwell, though now joined to London, was anciently a hamlet
belonging to Stepney; but being greatly increased in the number of its
inhabitants, Thomas Neale, Esq; erected the present church in the
year 1656 for their accommodation; and in 1669, this district was by
act of parliament constituted a distinct parish from that of Stepney,
 and 120l. per annum was granted for the maintenance of the Rector
in lieu of tithes, besides a considerable glebe, oblations and church
dues, so that the living is worth about 324l. a year. Maitland.
This church, which is but a mean edifice built with brick, is eighty-
seven feet long, and sixty-three broad; the height to the roof is
twenty-eight feet, and that of the steeple sixty. The body has a few
windows with rustic arches, and some very mean ones in the roof. At
the corners of the building are balls placed on a kind of small
pedestals. The tower is carried up without ornament, and is
terminated with balls at the corners in the same manner as the body
of the church, and is crowned with a plain low turret.
Paul’s wharf, near Bennet’s Hill.☐
Paul’s wharf stairs, Paul’s wharf.☐
Pay Office of the Navy, a plain building in Broad street near London wall,
under the direction of the Treasurer and Paymaster, who pay for all
the stores for the use of the royal navy, and the wages of the sailors
in his Majesty’s service.
The Treasurer, who is the principal officer, has a salary of 2000l. per
annum, and the Paymaster, who is also accomptant, has 500l. a year;
under this last are eight clerks who attend the payment of wages;
three, who have 80l. a year; and five who have 40l. a year each:
besides two extra-clerks, who have each 50l. a year. There are also
five clerks for paying bills in course, and writing ledgers, viz. three
who have 80l. a year; and two who have only 40l. a year each;
besides an extra-clerk who has 50l. a year.
In this office there is likewise a Cashier of the victualling, who has a
salary of 150l. per annum, and has three clerks under him, one of 70l.
one of 50l. and one of 40l. a year.
Peachtree court, Butcher row, without Temple Bar.‡
Peachy court, Sheer lane, within Temple bar.
Peacock alley, Milford lane, in the Strand.*
Peacock court, 1. Fleet market.* 2. Giltspur street, without Newgate.* 3.
Whitechapel.*
Peacock lane, Newington butts.*
Peacock yard, 1. Islington.* 2. Porter’s street.* 3. Whitecross street,
Cripplegate.* 4. Whitehorse alley, Cowcross, Smithfield.*
Pead’s yard, Bankside, Southwark.†
Peak street, Swallow street.†
Peal alley, Upper Shadwell.†
Peal yard, Mint street.†
Pearl court, Little Pearl street, Spitalfields.* 2. White Friars.*
Pearl street, 1. Grey Eagle street, Spitalfields.* 2. Silver street,
Bloomsbury.*
Peartree alley, 1. Cinnamon street.‡ 2. Shoreditch.‡ 3. Wapping.‡
Peartree court, 1. Aldersgate street.‡ 2. Clerkenwell close.‡ 3. Hockley in
the Hole.‡
Peartree street, Brick lane, Old street.‡
Peascod court, St. John’s street, Smithfield.
Peas Porrige alley, Gravel lane.‖
Peas yard, Nightingale lane.
Peckham, a pleasant village in Surry, in the parish of Camberwell. Here is
the seat of the late Lord Trevor, built in the reign of King James II. by
Sir Thomas Bond, who being deeply engaged in the pernicious
schemes of that imprudent Prince, was obliged to leave the kingdom
with him, when the house was plundered by the populace, and
became forfeited to the crown. The front of the house stands to the
north, with a spacious garden before it, from which extends two rows
of large elms, of considerable length, through which the Tower of
London terminates the prospect. But on each side of this avenue you
have a view of London; and the masts of vessels appearing at high
water over the trees and houses up to Greenwich, greatly improve the
 prospect. Peckham, which lies on the back side of the gardens, is shut
out from the view by plantations. The kitchen garden and the walls
were planted with the choicest fruit trees from France, and an
experienced gardener was sent for from Paris to have the
management of them; so that the collection of fruit trees in this
garden has been accounted one of the best in England.
After the death of the late Lord Trevor, this seat was purchased by
a private gentleman, who began to make very considerable
improvements, and had he lived a few years longer, would have
rendered it a very delightful retreat.
There are also at Peckham several other villas, and neat houses of
retirement, inhabited by the tradesmen of London, and those who
have retired from business.
Peckham Rye, a village in Surry, on the south side of Peckham.
Pedlars street, New Bond street.
Peel court, Glasshouse yard, Goswell street.
Peel yard, near Peel court, Glasshouse yard.
Peerless Pool, near Old street road, was formerly a spring that
overflowing its banks, caused a very dangerous pond, which from the
number of persons who lost their lives there, obtained the name of
Perilous Pool. To prevent these accidents it was in a manner filled up,
till in the year 1743, Mr. Kemp converted it into what may perhaps be
esteemed one of the compleatest swimming baths in the world; and
as it is the only one of the kind in Christendom, it may deserve a
particular notice.
You enter from a bowling-green on the south side, by a neat arcade
thirty-feet long, furnished with a small collection of modern books for
the entertainment of those subscribers who delight in reading.
Contiguous are many dressing apartments; some of which are open,
and others rendered private, all paved with purbeck stone; and on
each side of the bath is a bower divided into apartments for dressing.
At the other end is placed a circular bench, capable of
accommodating forty gentlemen at a sitting, under the shelter of a
 wall. One side is inclosed by a mount 150 feet long, planted with a
great variety of shrubs, and on the top is an agreeable terrace walk
planted with limes. The pleasure bath is 170 feet long, and above 100
broad; it is five feet deep at the bottom in the middle, and under four
feet at the sides, and the descent into it is by four pair of marble
steps to a fine gravel bottom. Here is also a cold bath, generally
allowed to be the largest in England, it being forty feet long, and
twenty feet broad, with two flights of marble steps, and a dressing
room at each end; at four feet deep is a bottom of lettice work, under
which the water is five feet deep. To these the ingenious projector
has added a well stocked fish pond 320 feet long, for the diversion of
those subscribers who are fond of angling, and adorned on each side
with arbours, and with a terrace, the slopes of which are planted with
many thousand shrubs, and the walks one of gravel, and the other of
grass, are bordered with stately limes. The east end the garden
extends to a genteel public house, and the westward is terminated by
another garden, and a well-built private house inhabited by Mr. Kemp,
the son of the ingenious projector, who after having made these
improvements, changed the name from Perilous to Peerless Pool.
Peght’s yard, Castle lane.†
Pelham street, Brick lane, Spitalfields.†
Pelican court, Little Britain.*
Pelican stairs, Wapping.*
Pelican yard, Butcher row, East Smithfield.*
Pemberton’s rents, 1. Hand alley.† 2. New street.†
Pemberton row, Fetter lane.†
Pemell’s Almshouse, at Mile-end, was founded by Mr. John Pemell,
citizen and draper, in the year 1698, for four poor drapers widows,
and the same number of seamen’s widows, to be presented by the
Churchwardens of Old Stepney parish. Each of these almswomen
have an allowance of 1s. 8d. per week, half a chaldron of coals every
year, and a gown every other year. Maitland.
Pemlico, near Buckingham House, St. James’s Park.
Pennington street, Old Gravel lane.†
Pennybarber’s alley, Stony lane.‖
Pennyfield street, Poplar.
Penny Post Office, an office unknown in other countries, was projected
by Mr. David Murray, an upholder in Pater noster row in the year
1683, who by this admirable and useful project, deserves to be
considered as a benefactor to the city, and to have his name
transmitted down to posterity. He communicated the scheme to Mr.
William Dockwra, who carried it on for some time with great success,
till the government laid claim to it as a royal prerogative; Dockwra
was obliged to submit, and in return had a pension of 200l. per
annum allowed him by the King during life.
It was erected for carrying letters not only of one sheet but of
several, to any part of this great metropolis, or the adjacent villages,
on paying only one penny on delivering the letter to be thus carried:
but at some of the more distant villages, an additional penny is
demanded of the person to whom the letter is delivered.
This office is under the direction of the Postmaster-general; who
appoints, as managers, a Comptroller, an Accomptant, a Receiver and
Comptroller’s clerk; who have under their management six sorters,
and eight subsorters of letters, seventy-four messengers, or letter-
carriers, and 334 houses within the bills of mortality, for receiving or
taking in letters, which are divided among the six offices following;
the general office in St. Christopher’s Church yard, and the five offices
called the sorting houses, one at Westminster, one at Lincoln’s Inn, St.
Paul’s office, in Pater noster row, St. Mary Overy’s in Southwark, and
the Tower hill office: besides these there are 500 shops and coffee-
houses, from whence the messengers collect and carry the letters to
their proper offices every hour, where being sorted, they are sent out
again to be delivered. But as each of the six offices has a number of
villages under its peculiar direction, those letters that require great
speed should be sent to that office, whose peculiar province it is to
forward them to the village to which you would have them sent. This
renders it necessary to give a list of these villages and places,
peculiarly under the care of each office: but we shall not attempt to
follow the other writers, who have prefixed to the names of these
villages the number of times to which letters are carried to, and
returned from each; because that is entirely uncertain, and it is
sufficient that letters are carried and returned from each at least once
a day; since this is all that can be depended upon.
In the map we have given of the environs round London, the extent
and limits of the Penny Post are shewn by a circular coloured line
drawn round the city.
The chief office in St. Christopher’s alley, Threadneedle street, to
which belong, one sorter, two subsorters, twenty messengers, and
seventy-three receiving houses. This office collects, receives, conveys,
and delivers letters to and from the following places, besides what it
delivers in its own proper district in London.
Aldersbrook
Avery-hatch
Barking
Bednal green
Bishops-hall
Bow
Bromley in Middlesex
Bush-hall
Cambridge heath
Chigwel
Chigwel row
Dalston
Edmonton
Green-man
Green-street
Hackney
Hagerstone
Ham East and West
Hoxton
Jenkins
Ilford
Kingsland
Layton-stone
Loughton-hall
Low-layton
Locksford
Mile-end
Newington green
Newington stoke
Oldford
Palmer’s green
Plaistow in Essex
Rippleside
Ruckfolds
Southgate
Stepney
Stratford
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