The City of London Seen from the National Liberal Clubdetails

But over the crowded mass of the busy City the blackened dome of St. Paul’s rises, like a colossal angel, beautifying, elevating, idealising. A guardian angel it seems rather, brooding with outstretched wings over the heart of the vast metropolis. The great cathedral, its grimy dome, seen grey-blue in the shimmering mist of distance, overshadowing the myriad network of surrounding streets, dominating the fused mass of the enormous city—is not this ever the typical view of London that occurs to the heart of the absent Englishman? (p. 44)