CUPID'S CHURCH

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 151, 30 June 1925, Page 15

CUPID'S CHURCH

ST. GEORGE'S, HANOVER

SQUARE

WHERE MANY FAMOUS PEOPLE

HAVE MAOTUED

London has several ■ churches dedicated to St. George, all founded about two hundred years ago. From that it must not be inferred that an unusual wave of enthusiasm for England's patron Saint was sweeping over the metropolis at that particular moment. Such enthusiasm as there' was was. not for Qeorge of Cappadocia but for Geprgo of Hanover and the Protestant Succession, de^ clares the "'Daily .Telegraph." So we have St. '-George's in. the East, and St. George's, Bloomsbury, where a statue of George L, given by Hucks, the brewer", surmounts -a . slightly ridiculous and wholly.incongruous . steeple,. and St' George's, Hanover square, whose bicentenary was celebrated recently.' This! was one of the fifty churches for which j the piety, of Queen Anno and her Mm- j isters persuaded Parliament to |)ass a special Act.; London was growing fast to. the westward. Houses were building, mansions^ rising, streets and fine; squares being hud out, but' no steeples "were, pointing . heavenwards. Sir Boger de Covbvley, it. may be'remembered., drew Mr. Spectator's attention to the con-j trast between the, forest of spires east of the Strand and their total absence to the west. It'looked "heathenish," he said, and added sagely to. rhis friend, "Church work is slow; Church work-is slow. I'-,-.That gave the good Queen her opportunity.- If the new and fashionable quarter of the town; was backward in subscribing money for", new churches, Parliament should come to the rescue, and London therefore really has Parliament—and the taxpayer—to thank for the group of fine churches in the Strand —designed, as a- satirist of the period drily remarked, to redeem the sinners of DIW Jane—St.:,; Martin?s-in-the-Fields, and St. George's, Hanover square. The two latter bear a distinct family likeness to this unprofessional eye, owing to their Corinthian porticos: and theiri steeples above.- : Gibbs's work is incomparably; the finer of the pair, but John James s Church' in Hanover square is V tery x o<^ of its kind, •and. if - only the street from Grosyenor square, had been carried out as originally designed, his ?mposmg facade would not suffer the fate of so many: other- London buildings, but would close a worthy vista. ' It requires; some, imagination to think of the new parish'of St.: George's, Hanover square, being carved put pf 'the old vast .parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields especially, as the new one extended 'to the Thames at Chelsea,' and,-included: the Duke of Buckingham's Housef now Buckingham Palace) and the whole of Hyde Park. They built the church, too, at a very leisurely, stroke, for it took twelve years to finish, but when at length good Dr. Gibson, Bishop of London, preached at the opening service his heart must have been cheered, by - the fashionable throng which filled : the building'and set the: tone' which has ■lasteaV-though with

an observable diminuendo of recent years —down to the_ present time. v At St. George's the list of rectors is not so interesting as the list o£ churchwardens. The latter,' through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, form almost a special edition of the peerage, and the names till space gave 'but were blazoned round the gallery, beginning with General Stewart, who gave the site, and the gallant Lord Carpenter--his father had fought at Naseby—who had covered' himself s with glory in Spain under Lord Peterborough, as a pattern Quarter-mastqr-General, and .in the North of England against the '' Old Pretender." An ideal figure for a, churchwarden in London's most fashionable church! And many an equally gallant soldier followed his lead in days when there was perhaps rather a severer competition for the honour of being rector's or people's warden than there is 'to-day. ' "_: ■ St. George's, Hanover square, has been famous for its marriages, as others -for their eloquence, their ritual, or,, their music. The registers in the warm but dignified Georgian vestry exhale the faint perfume of faded: orange blossoms. The older hymn-books still: open ; automatically at "The Voice that Breathed O'er Eden.'.'. : As if prophetically the carven face in the centre.of the beautiful Grin-" ling Gibbons carving, qver the altar is that of a cherub, whose baptismal name might almost be Cupido,_ smiling 'benignly at the brides and bridesmaids "of the endless processions which have' passed up the centre aisle, and theri up the stairs to sign' their, names in the book. The old volumes pf. the •' .'-'• Gentleman's Magazino "^n. the "'.pages;.''at' tlie end of the number .■": where the: pick o,f- tlie news is "—tellthe familiar story in brief .half-sentences, which the sentimentalist, the romantic, and the cynic can embroider their commentary to' their liking— especially if he knows hpiv ih.e. marriage turned out: At one period of its history St." George's,seemed -to be,-celebßat-ing a perpetual Valentine's" Day : "' .-

She passed up ..the aisle on tho aim of her sire, . ■■'■;•,'-,.;. T. A delicate lady in bridal attii-e. . „ . . . Fair emblem" of virgin simplicity. ■■■■: . Half London was -there,, and,, my word ! ..■::.-';.;. there were few . '■■" :'■ -:'" ,: '■'■'! .-■,■•'■ Who stood by the altar or hid in a pew But envied Lord Nigel's felicity.

The catalogue of. famous people joined here in holy matrimony would : fill- a volume. " All that beauty, air that rank e'er gave " have met Here; too.- •■■•Fashion has: here paraded its. beauty, "its emptir ness, its vanity, its lure, and': its • trans--itoriness, .. and the gorgeous .parade of high-sounding names Is ironically mocked by the. postscript And Lola,Moritei'f Yet the last word is not. with the'-cynicj else St. George's were but a glorified Registrar's Office, which it:never was. The church which has seen most weddings in London: must also have i.seen the. mostradiant smiles'' and stored up enough blessed, sunshine to brighten its outlook pri the next hundred years,' even though, rank removes, mansipn by mansion, from the parish;, and, fashion takes light wing and brides :jare; ; fewer- and;; the organ is heard on week-days; less frequently than^ before. .. v '.' .'-■■■:;; »;: .r 1 ■■■'■■ :-;■;"■•■■■"';-',-