“The Burning of St. Paul's” by John Franklin (circa 1806

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The Burning of St. Paul's

Artist: John Franklin (circa 1806 – circa 1881/91)

Engraver: John Franklin

1841; 1847 edition

Steel-plate etching

14.1 cm high by 9.6 cm wide

Nineteenth illustration by this artist for W. H. Ainsworth’s historical romance, Old St. Paul’s: A Tale of the Plague and the Fire, facing p. 414 for Book the Sixth, "September 1666," Chapter VII, "The Burning of Saint Paul's."

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Scanned image and caption by Philip V. Allingham. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.

Passage Illustrated

Further conversation was here interrupted by the sudden breaking out of the fire from the magnificent rose window of the cathedral, the effect of which, being extraordinarily fine, attracted the monarch's attention. By this time Solomon Eagle had again ascended the roof, and making his way to the eastern extremity, clasped the great stone cross that terminated it with his left hand, while with his right he menaced the king and his party, uttering denunciations that were lost in the terrible roar prevailing around him. The flames now raged with a fierceness wholly inconceivable, considering the material they had to work upon. The molten lead poured down in torrents, and not merely flooded the whole interior of the fabric, but ran down in a wide and boiling stream almost as far as the Thames, consuming everything in its way, and rendering the very pavements red-hot. Every stone, spout, and gutter in the sacred pile, of which there were some hundreds, added to this fatal shower, and scattered destruction far and wide; nor will this be wondered at when it is considered that the quantity of lead thus melted covered a space of no less than six acres. Having burned with incredible fury and fierceness for some time, the whole roof of the sacred structure fell in at once, and with a crash heard at an amazing distance. After an instant's pause, the flames burst forth from every window in the fabric, producing such an intensity of heat, that the stone pinnacles, transom beams, and mullions split and cracked with a sound like volleys of artillery, shivering and flying in every direction. The whole interior of the pile was now one vast sheet of flame, which soared upwards, and consumed even the very stones. Not a vestige of the reverend structure was left untouched — its bells — its plate — its woodwork — its monuments — its mighty pillars — its galleries — its chapels — all, all were destroyed. The fire raged throughout all that night and the next day, till it had consumed all but the mere shell, and rendered the venerable cathedral — "one of the most ancient pieces of piety in the Christian world"—to use the words of Evelyn, a heap of ruin and ashes. [Book the Sixth, "September 1666," Chapter VII, "The Burning of Saint Paul's," pp. 412-13]

Comment

The illustration is actually positioned within the next chapter, when Leonard tries to save Lady Isabella, as flames break from the eastern windows.

Related Material: Phiz's Frontispiece and Title-page Vignette (1847)

Drink the Plague! Drink the Plague: frontispiece
The Dead Cart: title-page & vignette

References

Ainsworth, William Harrison. Old Saint Paul's: A Tale of the Plague and the Fire. London: Parry, Blenkharn & Co., 1847. This was a one-volume reprint of the three-decker published by Hugh Cunningham in 1841. Routledge re-issued the single volume with the Franklin illustrations prefaced by two additional engravings by Hablot Knight Brown.

Vann, J. Don. "William Harrison Ainsworth: Old Saint Paul's in the Sunday Times, 3 January-26 December 1841." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1985. Pp. 21-22.

Last modified 4 November 2018