SINCE St. Paul's is a national heritage ranking among the
world's great, if not wholly satisfactory, buildings of its period, this book by the Dean should have been written to catch a wide public. As it is it falls between two stools. Much is of general interest, but much has the parish-magazine touch. The ordinary reader will welcome the history at the beginning, though possibly he should have known it already—the account of the old St. Paul's, with its tower and spire standing on the site of a Saxon church ; then its ruin by the Great Fire of 1666 and Wren's plans for the new building. Allied to this is the section at the end by Mr. W. Godfrey Allen, Surveyor to the Fabric, who deals with Wren's faults of construction, his too shallow foundations and use of unsatisfactory methods and material (including rubble from the whole church), so that repair had to begin in 1706, three years before the building was completed, and continued at intervals till 1930. And in the actual description of the war Dean Matthews clearly brings back those early days of preparation when nobody knew quite what was going to happen and had exaggerated fears of raids (though not so exaggerated now). An officer in charge of the City's A.R.P. arrangements told him : " If there is a raid tonight we expect 30,000 casualties." And there are odd amusing touches in the Dean's picture of London in wartime, including a pair of wild duck that nested on one of the water-tanks. There is also a lively description of the great fire attack of December 29, 1940.
But Dean Matthews gives far too many details of preparations and organisation. " The cry ' water on,' water off ' sounded in the crypt and elsewhere. . . .'The moving of ladders was another subject of practical study." He also provides a cinema-like background of the war itself. " The triumphant German armies have swept through Belgium. . . . By a daring stroke, assisted by treachery from within, they have become masters of Norway." "Yes, yes," we are tempted to reply, " we all know about A.R.P. preparations, and we remember enough of events on the Continent." Everywhere in the book is this over-wordiness and even in some parts repetition, since both Dean Matthews and Mr. Allen tell us of the steps taken to preserve the memorials—which, incidentally, told once is an inter- esting story, including the vaselining of the horse on the Wellington monument. No doubt the brave watch who guarded the cathedral will be proud to see their names listed at the end and to read in full the speeches that the Dean and Mr. Allen made to them at their dinner in 1945. But it is all too much for the general reader. If the book were a third of the length and better arranged it would be far more palatable.
Nevertheless, it is a heroic story. That such heroism was being shown all over Britain and in other parts of the world does not detract from it. It is noteworthy that services went on with little change ; and there is something moving in the fact that on August 24, 1944, the bells rang for a great service to mark the liberation of Paris. The book is illustrated with many photographs (including some of damage), one of the most beautiful showing the dome rising above smoke in December, 1940. Royalties from the sale will be given to
the Cathedral Restoration Fund. GWENDOLEN FREEMAN.
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