Page:ChroniclesofEarlyMelbournevol.1.pdf/162

(Murray), i.e., a total of ,£200. A resolution was also passed guaranteeing the erection of a school-house, and a committee appointed to give effect to the stipulations. T h e Bishop held another confirmation at St, James', Melbourne, on the 27th March, when he had the hitherto unusual number of five assistants, viz, the Revs. N e w h a m , Strong, Brickwood, Bloomfield, and Chase. A fortnight after, a subscription was c o m m e n c e d to raise funds for a church, to be built " somewhere between the Prince of Wales' Hotel (Little Flinders Street) and the wooden bridge over the Yarra, to be known as St. Lawrence's Cathedral;" and in two hours eleven persons put down their names for ,£100 each, one for ,£50 and one for ,£25. T h e list soon reached ,£1400, and the site selected and granted by the Government, was an abandoned Market Reserve between Flinders and Little Flinders Streets, and abutting on Swanston Street. But it was not intended to c o m m e n c e the building until the opening of the following year, and as St. James' was a cathedral, and St. Lawrence a n a m e not generally approved, it was determined to abandon it, and that the coming ecclesiastical structure should be known as St. Paul's Church. St. James' was every day growing more insufficient for the accommodation of increasing numbers, and many and anxious were the deliberations thereupon. It wasfinallyresolved to negotiate a loan of ,£1600 at 8 per cent, to be applied to putting in n e w foundations, constructing a gallery and transepts, one of which was to serve as a vestry room, the other a registry office, and, though last, not least, to replace the unsightly deformity that topped it, facetiously called a tower. This church, never an agreeable-looking pile, was originally a positive eyesore to the town, and as, after Batman's Hill, it was the second sight that met the gaze of strangers coming up the river, people looked from one to the other, and asked in astonishment what on earth was the uncouth object in the distance? If built, as primarily designed by M r . Robert Russell, it would be surmounted by a neat, symmetrical steeple; but from want of funds, the plan was mutilated in every conceivable way, and the future cathedral was "bonneted" with an abortion of no k n o w n order of architecture in existence. It was therefore placed in the hands of Mr. Charles Laing, an architect of repute, to rehabilitate it; but it was so muddled by the well-meaning, though ignorant oflficiousness of Dr. Palmer, the ruling spirit of the Building Committee, that another abortion, not quite so bad as thefirst,was the consequence. In fact, the old tower was raised a little, crowned with a pepper-pot and embellished with some circular enrichments, only two of which could be seen from any given point of view, and so like spectacles were these eyeletholes, that a facetious Scotch lady used to declare " O h , St. James' has taken to wearing glasses!" Bishop Perry and Dr. Palmer were delighted with the change, which was laughed at by the church worshippers, some of w h o m spoke of it jeeringly as an erection for which the Bishop was responsible. It remains in m u c h the same state to-day, about the most dismal-looking picture in the whole city of Melbourne. Another ordination was held on the 26th May, when Messrs. Bloomfield, Tanner and Gregory were enrolled in the priesthood. T h e Bishop was assisted in the ceremonial by the Archdeacon and the Rev. Mr. Chase ; Mr. H . J. Chambers acting as pro tern. Chancellor in the absence of Mr. H . Moor. T h e movement organised for the erection of a place of worship at Richmond was prosecuted so vigorously that, towards the end of the year, such progress had been m a d e as warranted an actual commencement of the work. June the 20th, 1850, the period fixed for the initial ceremony, was a fine, bracing, mid-winter day, and a large number went out from Melbourne to be present. Church Street was then very different from what it is now, as it was far out of town, and no h u m a n habitations to be seen except a few comfortable home-nooks of country villas dotted on both sides of the river, and some brickmakers toiling in the distance. There could not be found a more picturesque or brighter-looking locality—a pleasant suburban break in the surrounding forest. Amongst thefirstto arrive were His Honor Mr. Latrobe and his wife, who resided at Jolimont, the then half-way station to Richmond. Bishop Perry was accompanied by the Rev. Messrs. N e w h a m , Kloomfield, Strong and Gregory, and at the appointed hour there were several hundred persons in attendance. Prayers were offered, a couple of hymns chanted, and the stone was laid by the Bishop. In the proverbial cavity was placed a bottle, containing some coins of the realm, and a scroll of vellum thus inscribed :—