In Memory of George Whitby, Architect

Si monumentum requiris … the church in which we are sitting,

Its firm square ceiling supported by fluted Corinthian columns

In groups of three at the corners, its huge semi-circular windows

Lighting the elegant woodwork and plaster panels and gilding:

Look around you, behold the work of Nicholas Hawksmoor.

Si monumentum requiris … not far away and behind us

Rises the dome of Saint Paul’s, around it a forest of steeples

In Portland stone and in lead, a human and cheerful collection,

Mostly by Christopher Wren, Nicholas Hawksmoor’s master.

Si monumentum requiris … at the western gate of the City

Behold the Law’s new fortress, ramparting over the Bailey

In cream-coloured clear-cut ashlar on grim granitic foundations—

But, like all good citizens, paying regard to its neighbours,

Florid baroque on one side, plain commercial the other.

This is your work, George Whitby, whose name to-day we remember:

From Donald McMorran and Dance to Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor,

You stand in a long tradition; and we who are left salute you.

 

[Delivered at Saint Mary Woolnoth, 29 March 1973.]