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! 8ioners for building, pursuant to the late act, fifty morechurches in London and Westminster, I shall presume toi communicate briefly my sentiments, after long experience ;i ftnd without farther ceremony, exhibit to better judgmentI what at present occurs to me in a transient view of thiswhole affair ; not doubting hut that the debates of the worthy| . commissioners may hereafter give me occasion to change orj ; add to these speculations.

[ ; “ First, I conceive that the churches should he built not

i ! where vacant ground may he cheapest purchased in thei extremities of the suburbs, but among the thicker inhabitants,j j for convenience of the better sort, although the 'Site of them; should cost more ; the better inhabitants contributing mostto the future repairs, and the ministers and officers of thechurch, and charges of the parish.

“ 2. I could wish that all burials in churches might bedisallowed, which is not only unwholesome, but the pave-ments can never be kept even, nor pews upright; and if thechurch-yard be close about the church, this also is incon-, venient, because the ground being continually raised by thej graves, occasions in time a descent by steps into the church,

! which renders it damp and the walls green, as appears evi-! dently in all the old churches.

i “3. It will be inquired, where then shall be the burials ?I answer, in cemeteries, seated in the outskirts of the town ;j and since it is become the fashion of the age to solemnize' funerals by a train of coaches, though the cemeteries shouldi be half a mile or more distant from the church, the chargei need be little or no more than usual; the service may be■ first performed in the church. But for the poor, and such, as must be interred at the parish charge, a public hearse of: two wheels and one horse may be kept at small expense ; the; j Usual bearers to lead the horse, and take out the corpse at the! grave. A piece of ground of two acres in the fields will bepurchased for much less than two roods among the buildings.This being enclosed with a strong brick wall, and having aWalk round, and two cross walks, decently planted with yewtrees, the four quarters may serve four parishes, where the, dead. need not be disturbed at the pleasure of the sexton, or, piled four or five upon one another, or the bones thrown out! to gain room. In these places beautiful monuments may beJ erected; but yet the dimensions should be regulated by an| architect, and not left to the fancy of every mason, for thus| the rich, with large marble tombs, would shoulder out thei Poor, when a pyramid, a good bust or statue on a properPedestal, will take up little room in the quarters, and betnore proper than figures lying on marble beds. The walls"'ill contain escutcheons and memorials for the dead, and thearea good air and walks for the living. It may be considered,farther, that if the cemeteries be thus thrown into the fields,

I they will bound the excessive growth of the city with a

j graceful border, which is now encircled with scavengers’

fiungstalls.

“ 4. As to the situation of the churches, I should propose,they be brought as forward as possible into the larger andtnore open streets, not in obscure lanes, nor where coaches' v ill be much obstructed in the passage. Nor are we, I think,

I f°o nicely to observe east or west in the position, unless it; fulls out properly. Such fronts as shall happen to lie most

’ I °Pen in view should be adorned with porticoes, both for

j beauty and convenience ; which, together with handsomes P>res, or lanterns, rising in good proportions above the| l,; ighbourin^ houses, (of which I have given several examplesthe city, of different forms,) may be of sufficient ornamentto the town, without a great expense for enriching the out-ward walls of the churches, in which plainness and duration0 tight principally, if not wholly, to be studied. When aVOL. II. 6 u

parish is divided, I suppose it may be thought sufficient if the [mother-church has a tower large enough for a good ring of jbells, and the other churches smaller towers, for two andthree bells ; because great towers and lofty steeples are some- Jtimes more than half the charge of the church.

“ 5. I shall mention something of the materials for public jfabrics. The earth about London , rightly managed, willyield as good bricks as were the Roman bricks, and willendure in our air beyond any stone our island affords ;which, unless the quarries be near the sea, are too dear forgeneral use; the best is Portland or lloch Abbey stone ; butthese are not without their faults. The next material is thelime. Chalk lime is the constant practice ; which, wellmixed with good sand, is not amiss, though much worsethan hard stone lime. The vaulting of St. Paul’s is becom-ing as hard as stone ; it is composed of cockle-shell lime, wellbeaten with sand : the more labour in the beating, the betterand stronger the mortar. I shall say nothing of marble, forthis will prove too costly for our purpose, unless for altar-pieces. In windows and doors, Portland-stone may be used,and with good bricks and stone quoins. As to roofs, goodoak is certainly the best, because it will bear some negligence.The churchwardens’ care may be defective in speedily mend-ing drips ; they usually whitewash the church, and set uptheir names, but neglect to preserve the roof over their heads.

It must be allowed, that the roof being more out of sight, i3still more unminded. Next to oak is yellow deal, which is atimber of length, and light, and makes excellent work at first,but if neglected, will speedily perish ; especially if gutters(which is a general fault in builders) be made to run uponthe principal rafters, the ruin may be sudden. Our tiles areill made, and our slate not good ; lead is certainly the bestand lightest covering ; and being of our own growth andmanufacture, and lasting, if properly laid, for many hundredyears, is, without question, the most preferable.

“ 6. The capacity and dimensions of the new churches maybe determined by a calculation. They must be large, butmust be fitted for auditories. I can hardly think it practi-cable to make a single room so capacious, with pews and gal-leries, as to hold above 2000 persons, and all to hear theservice, and both to hear distinctly and see the preacher.

I endeavoured to effect this in building the parish church ofSt. James, Westminster, which, I presume, is the most capa-cious, with these qualifications, that hath yet been built ; and |yet, at a solemn time, when the church was much crowded,

I could not discern from a gallery that 2,000 were present.

In this church I mention, though very broad, and the middlenave arched up, yet there are no walls of a second order, norlanterns, nor buttresses, but the whole roof rests upon thepillars, as do also the galleries. I think it may be foundbeautiful and convenient, and as such, the cheapest of anyform I could invent.

“7. Concerning the placing of the pulpit, I shall observe,a moderate voice may be heard 50 feet distant before thepreacher, and 20 behind the pulpit; and not this, unless thepronunciation be distinct and equal, without losing the voiceat the last word of the sentence, which is commonly empha-tical, and if obscured spoils the whole sense. A Frenchmanis heard farther than an English preacher, because he raiseshis voice instead of sinking it at his. last words. I mention !this as an insufferable fault in the pronunciation of some ofour otherwise excellent preachers, which schoolmasters mightcorrect in the young, as a vicious pronunciation ; and not asthe Roman orators spoke, for the principal verb is, in Latin ,usually the last word ; if that be lost, what becomes of thesentence ?

“ 8. By what I have said, it may be thought reasonable,