There is a great fight going on about the restoration
of St. Paul's Cathedral. As usual, in England, when money is to be expended, there are Committees, and as usual also, they fight. As far as we can gather, the Executive Committee, having raised £40,000 by subscription, pledged themselves to adhere to Sir C. Wren's ideas, and appointed Mr. Burges to carry out the work. Mr. Burges is a man of genius, but he wants to carry out a plan of ornamentation which Sir C. Wren never thought of, and which, it is asserted by the Fine Arts Committee of the Executive Committee—a body which includes Mr. Fergusson- will cost £400,000. The Fine Arts Committee remonstrate, whereupon the Executive Committee dissolve the Fine Arts Committee, and Mr. Burges is apparently to go on. We do not venture to give, or to have, an opinion on Mr. Burges's scheme, but three points seem to be clear. To finish a corner of a building at a price which makes the finishing of the remainder impossible is silly. To alter the idea of a great architect, by intro- ducing the ideas of another architect, whether through his superior or inferior, is to spoil- architecture as a development of genius altogether. And to raise money by promising Sir C. Wren's plans, and spend it on Mr. Burges's plans, is breach of faith.
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