23 December 1878 – 29 December 1878

Carlyle and I in omnibus. Rain, so we did not alight at Charing Cross, and I suggested our going into St. Paul's — to which, to my surprise, he agreed. He h^"n6t been there for many years. We ascended the west steps and went in by right-hand door. C. immediately pulled off his broad hat and we soon, arm-in-arm, turned into centre aisle. The Cathedral was lighted up and a sermon going on under the Dome. C. said, ' Ah, this is a fine place ! ' I found seats on the edge of the seated congregation, where we had a good view up into the dim dome and along the vista of the choir. We could hear the preacher's voice but not the words. I tried to keep him till the end and the organ music. ' There is no doubt a very fine organ,' he said, ' and the Amen comes like nothing else in the world.' But by and by he became impatient : ' We can hear nothing — let us go.' So we glided out of our places, and went to look at the Wellington Monument, but he declared he could make out nothing of it. He was full of praises of Wren and his work — ' the grandest Cathedral he had ever seen,' — and spoke of his first day in London. He arrived by water from Leith, and went up to Islington to Edward Irving whose guest he was. In the evening he found himself in view of St. Paul's, and has never forgotten the sight of it rising above the crowd of little houses. We walked up and down St. Paul's Churchyard, and looked up at the dome—' Ay, it's a bonny thing.' ' Wren — a grand man — I lived for many years beside this Hospital of his before I took much notice of it. and then I began to perceive that it was a building of most thorough adaptation for its purpose — well con- trived, well built in every particular.' I remarked and C. agreed it was odd there should be no street in all London called after the great Architect. When we parted he said, ' You have brought me along in a most beautiful manner to-day — many thanks.'