CURRENT LITERATURE.
LONDON AFTERNOONS.
London Afternoons. By W. J. Loftie. (Cassell and Co. 10s. 6d. net.)—As there is necessarily no continuity in Mr. Lof tie's " Chap- ters on the Social Life, Architecture, and Records" of London, the reader may very well begin with 21, "The Library of St. Paul's," where he will find something well worth reading about the second and third of these subjects, and indeed, indirectly, about the first. Mr. Loftie gives us an admirable account of Wren's first plan for he Cathedral. Chap. 13, which deals with the existing building, should be studied at the same time. The two will give a very clear idea of the actual and the ideal St. Paul's. This done, he may profitably go back a little further, and see what the old Cathedral was like, and ponder on the question whether the great architect did well to break altogether with the past. Possibly he was confirmed in his decision by the bad quality of the building which he found left after the Fire. Mr. Loftie does not hesitate to say that this was the work of " jerry-builders," built " with the largest possible regard to immediate effect and the least possible concern for the stability of the edifice." To some people this criticism on medireval work may seem almost profane. But the jerry-builder is probably a being as old as the Tower of Babel. He was certainly not unknown in medieval England. Our readers will doubtless remember how when a certain Cathedral front was taken to pieces, after loud protestations from sentimental admirers of the past, it was found to conceal some very makeshift, not to say dishonesty work. However this may be, it can hardly be doubted but that London lost much by the rejection of Wren's first plan. Unhappily, the first mistake has been followed by not a few others. The reader may find them described in incisive language by Mr. Loftie. It is satisfactory to find him expressing an opinion that the last attempt at decorating the Cathedral is, as far as can yet be seen, the most successful. If these hopes are fulfilled, the credit will be largely due to the genius and, we must not forget to add, the personal disinterestedness of Sir William Richmond. It is pleasing in these days, when British industries are, justly or unjustly, so much depreciated, to be told that " English mosaic," set aside in an earlier attempt in favour of the Venetian article, is found to answer its purpose very welL From the Cathedral we naturally pass to the churches of London. Chap. 11, given to this " Older City Churches," is but melancholy
reading. The eternal conflict, waged in every city which has a present as well as a past, has been fought, and is being fought, in London. There is no doubt to which of the two sides Mr. Loftie inclines. Even where he can find nothing to admire in a build- ing, he is unwilling to see it disappear. Among the churches that survived the Fire, and have since escaped restorers and Com- missioners, Mr. Loftie finds the most interesting in St. Giles's, Cripplegate, preferring it in this respect to St. Helen's, Bishops- gate, even though the latter is now enriched by the monuments transported from St. Martin's, Outwich. This chapter, again, is particularly worth reading; when our author is dealing with architectural or quasi-architectural subjects he is at his beet.
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