LONDON CHURCHES, ANCIENT AND MODERN.
London Churches, Ancient and Modern. By T. Francis Bumpus. 2 vols. (T. Werner Laurie. Gs. per vol.)—After an" Introductory Sketch of London Church Architecture," Mr. Bumpus proceeds to divide his subject into sections determined by date and style. These begin with the Norman and Early English Period, of which there are five examples,—St. John's Chapel in the Tower, St. Bartholomew the Great, St. John's, Clerkenwell (as to its crypt), the Temple Church, and the Chapel of Lambeth Palace. Then follow the " Churches of the Decorated and Perpendicular Periods," the " Riverside and Suburban. Mediaeval Churches," "Churches of the Early Renaissance Period," "Sir Christopher Wren's Churches." Thus far Vol. I. takes ns. In the second we have the Era. of Classicism, of which St. Pancras may be taken as the type, and the Gothic Revival. Mr. Bumpus is a strong partisan, as he never loses an opportunity of showing, but this need not hinder the reader from availing himself of the great architectural knowledge, general good taste, and careful observa- tion of which these volumes are a proof. Is it not a somewhat strange expression when Mr. Bumpus says that after the Bryan King riots, "St. George's-in-the-East sank into that obscurity from which it has never since emerged " ? A. place where God is worshipped either is never obscure, or never ought to be anything else. If the personality of the minister has to be considered, we may remind Mr. Bumpus that St. George's was for ten years the scene of the ministrations of one of the most accomplished and admirable of English clergymen.
Previous page
