References to the church in literature and elsewhere
Accounts by visitors to St. James's during the eighteenth century stress the fashionable element in the congregation. John Evelyn remarked that a sermon which he had heard elsewhere on the subject of costly apparel would have been more appropriately delivered at 'St. James's or some other of the Theatrical Churches in Lond, where the Ladys and Women were so richly and wantonly dressed and full of Jewells'.
James Macky complained that a stranger had to pay for a convenient seat at the church so that 'it costs one almost as dear to see a Play', but he still thought the church worth a visit 'on a Holiday or Sunday, when the fine Assembly of Beauties and Quality come there'.
The display of wealth tempted undesirable characters to attend services and the payment of ten shillings is recorded in 1693 to 'Simmonds . . for his care in lookeing after and taking pickpocketts in the Church'. In later years James Boswell confessed that his mind was distracted when he attended a service at the church, but excused himself because his 'warm heart and a vivacious fancy' made him 'given to love . . . and to the most brilliant and showy method of public worship'.
The church is visited in Dorothy Sayers' novel Thrones, Dominions. Bunter (valet to Lord Peter Wimsey) is married here.
The interior of the church, which had been admired for its beauty by contemporary writers, owed its brilliance not only to the richness of the congregation's dress but also to the whiteness of the walls, the gilded fittings, and the handsome furniture, all illuminated in winter by scores of candles.
Today the interior is in need of attention (and is part of our restoration plan) and the congregation is, well, a little less glamorous - but every bit as special.
James Macky complained that a stranger had to pay for a convenient seat at the church so that 'it costs one almost as dear to see a Play', but he still thought the church worth a visit 'on a Holiday or Sunday, when the fine Assembly of Beauties and Quality come there'.
The display of wealth tempted undesirable characters to attend services and the payment of ten shillings is recorded in 1693 to 'Simmonds . . for his care in lookeing after and taking pickpocketts in the Church'. In later years James Boswell confessed that his mind was distracted when he attended a service at the church, but excused himself because his 'warm heart and a vivacious fancy' made him 'given to love . . . and to the most brilliant and showy method of public worship'.
The church is visited in Dorothy Sayers' novel Thrones, Dominions. Bunter (valet to Lord Peter Wimsey) is married here.
The interior of the church, which had been admired for its beauty by contemporary writers, owed its brilliance not only to the richness of the congregation's dress but also to the whiteness of the walls, the gilded fittings, and the handsome furniture, all illuminated in winter by scores of candles.
Today the interior is in need of attention (and is part of our restoration plan) and the congregation is, well, a little less glamorous - but every bit as special.