[58] Mr. Longman seems to think that the cathedral rests on the loam. The following shows that the strata are irregular, and that in some places the loam is very thin. Edward Strong the younger "also repaired all the blemishes and fractures in the several legs and arches of the dome, occasioned by the great weight of the said dome pressing upon the foundation; the earth under the same being of an unequal temper the loamy part thereof gave more way to the great weights than that which was of gravel; so that the south-west quarter of the dome, and the six smaller legs of the other quarters of the dome, having less superficies, sunk into the thinner part of the loamy ground, an inch in some places, in others two inches, and in other places something more; and the other quarters of the dome, being on the thicker part of the loamy ground and gravel, it did not give so much way to the great weights as the other did, which occasioned the fractures and blemishes in the several arches and legs of the dome." (Clutterbuck, "History of Hertfordshire," vol. i., pp. 167-168; quoted in Dugdale, note, p. 173) Clutterbuck has a great deal to say about the Strongs, father and son, and their family.
[59] "Parentalia," pp. 298, 304, et seq. Wren did not approve of, though he used, the term "Gothic." "The Goths were rather destroyers than builders; I think it [the Gothic] should with more reason be called the Saracen style" (Ibid., p. 297). "The Saracenick Architecture refined by the Christians" (Ibid., p. 306). Cf. Freeman, Fortnightly Review, October, 1872.
[60] Wren estimated that a preacher of average voice might be heard fifty feet in front, twenty behind, and thirty on either side, provided he did not drop his voice at the end of the sentence. He contended that the French preachers were heard further than the English, because they raised their voices at the end of the sentence, just where the words often required particular emphasis to express the meaning. The omission of this was a fault even of capable preachers, was "insufferable," and ought to be corrected at school. After two centuries his criticism still holds good ("Parentalia," p. 320). His remarks upon architecture ought to be reprinted from the "Parentalia," and made compulsory for every student and candidate.
[61] "Parentalia," pp. 281-282, shows how questions of finance entered into Wren's conception of his famous First Design.
[62] "Parentalia," p. 282.
[63] Wren's numerous designs and drawings are undated, and the "Parentalia" is anything but clear. In consequence there has been a certain amount of confusion as to the identity both of the First Design and of the approved Warrant Design.
[64] Some say by the Bishop Humphrey Henchman, who died in the October following; some by the surveyor, and others by the master-mason, Strong. There seems to have been no religious service or great ceremony.
[65] Macaulay, followed by others, speaks merely of the "opening"; the prayer I have quoted from Dugdale shows that the opening was a consecration service. I am unaware that the rest of the cathedral has ever been consecrated; and if not, it resembles Lincoln and many another mediæval church (Freeman's "Wells," p. 77).
[66] June 27, 1706; December 31, 1706; May 1, 1707 (for the Union); August 19, 1708.
[67] Harleian MS. 4941, quoted in Dugdale, p. 140, note. This was at the beginning.