In 1847 he was again employed to examine and report on the drawings of the competitors for the erection of the Glasgow College.
In December 1852 the Town Council of Leeds requested him to undertake the office of professional arbiter in the competition for the erection of their Town Hall. He went into the matter with his usual care and energy, and satisfied himself that the design of Mr. Brodrick, then comparatively a young man, was decidedly the best. On this occasion he had to meet some considerable efforts of local interest in behalf of other competitors; and at one time thought, that he might be obliged to throw up his office, and publish the correspondence. But he stood firm in what he considered to be his duty, and succeeded in securing the erection of a building, which has been since very generally admired.
On all such occasions he showed remarkably his characteristic power of throwing himself, heart and soul, into the work before him. On the process of forming his judgment he bestowed infinite pains, and usually spent some considerable time. But his judgments, when formed, were usually positive and decisive, inclining perhaps occasionally to consider the capacities of a design, more than the standard of its performance, and valuing imperfect promise more highly than finished mediocrity. This is a tendency, which doubtless may be pushed even to the verge of injustice. Still it must be considered as that which has on the whole, more than any other, the double merit of rewarding real talent, and of securing men, who are capable of carrying out and perfecting, in the process of their accomplishment, buildings of real artistic excellence. It is almost needless to add, that he maintained his judgments unflinchingly, and defied all influences which tended to interfere with their independence and effectiveness.
St. Paul’s Committee.—In 1858 Sir Charles was placed upon the Committee for administering the St. Paul’s Cathedral Fund, a fund raised to assist the Dean and Chapter, first, in the maintenance of the Special Evening Services, and next in carrying out, if possible, some worthy system of decoration of the Cathedral. He took the warmest interest in the work. Admiring, as he did, enthusiastically the genius of Sir C. Wren, he felt it a privilege to contribute in the slightest degree to the embellishment of his great work, and its adaptation to the needs of our own time. Here, as in other cases, his only difficulty was to persuade himself to rest contented with that which was immediately practicable, instead of stretching on towards the ideal conceived in his own mind. To some of the changes actually made he gave in consequence but a doubtful acquiescence.
In fact, to the position chosen for the new organ, and the arrangements for the nave congregations depending on that position, he was very strongly opposed—so much so, that at one time he thought of resigning his place on the Commission, and, when he refrained from this, considered it his duty to protest formally against the scheme adopted. His own view was to place the great organ over the western entrance (as is done in some foreign cathedrals), and to have only a small choir organ for use at the eastern end of the church. The great organ in the south transept he considered to interfere with the simplicity, spaciousness, and grandeur of the central area of the Cathedral.
It is needless to say that his objections were most courteously received, and carefully considered, although the Dean and the Committee did not feel able to yield to them. As usual, he took up and expressed his views pretty strongly, but he did not at all lose interest in the proceedings of the Committee, because they were not adopted. In any case it was much to co-operate in throwing open the Cathedral for the first time to an use worthy of its dignity and its magnificence of scale, and (what with him was a great, though, of course, a secondary consideration) in drawing public notice and admiration to the noblest work of our great English architect. He was present at almost every meeting of the Committee, and ventured to offer to Mr. Penrose, the architect of the Dean and Chapter, practical suggestions which were kindly and cordially received.
Only four days before his death (on May 8th, 1860) he had written a paper to the Dean, on the subject of the proposed arrangements;—its handwriting as firm, and its style as vigorous as ever.[118] It is interesting to remember that this, which is (so far as is known) his last professional paper, should have had for its object the preservation and the adornment of a work, which he regarded as one of the finest in the world. To him, as to others, it seemed inexplicable and disgraceful, that, while elaborate restoration is going on of every cathedral and abbey, almost of every remarkable parish church, the cathedral of the metropolis should be neglected, and the appeals for its decoration left almost unanswered. He had no sympathy with the intolerant Gothicism, which would pass over all that is classical, nor could he understand that the absence of the strong local feeling, which has rebuilt Chichester Cathedral, in great measure, by the contributions of Sussex alone, could be a sufficient reason for the neglect of the grandest building in London. He naturally thought of the magnificence of St. Peter’s, and he longed to replace the dreary coldness of St. Paul’s by a splendour which mutatis mutandis should rival its Italian anti-type. Sooner or later it must be that these longings will be realised.
Such is a brief record of the chief of his general public actions; many others there must have been, which have left no trace. He was one of those busy men, who can always find time and thought for subjects cognate to their own special work, though not directly connected with it. When, therefore, he was gone, his loss was felt, in this as in other relations of life, as removing one influence of suggestive originality and of practical soberness of judgment.
CHAPTER X.
PRIVATE LIFE AND DEATH.
Leading events of his life—General habits of work—Domesticity and privacy of life—Acquaintances and friendships—Distaste of publicity—Leading features of character—Personal appearance—Failure of health—Death—Funeral in Westminster Abbey—Erection of Memorial Statue—Conclusion.