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[Illustration: Old St Paul's and the Three Cranes Wharf.]




OLD ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL


_By_

WILLIAM BENHAM, D.D., F.S.A.

_Rector of St. Edmund the King, Lombard Street, and Honorary Canon of
Canterbury_

[Illustration]

LONDON

SEELEY AND CO. LIMITED, GREAT RUSSELL STREET

NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1902






LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


OLD ST. PAUL'S AND THE THREE CRANES WHARF. Compiled from old Drawings
and Prints. _Frontispiece._

A BISHOP PLACING RELICS IN AN ALTAR. From a Pontifical of the
Fourteenth Century. British Museum, Lans. 451. _P._ 6

A PAPAL LEGATE. From a MS. of the Decretals of Boniface VIII. British
Museum, 23923. _P._ 6

A FUNERAL PROCESSION. From a MS. of the Hours of the Virgin. British
Museum, 27697. _P._10

A PONTIFICAL MASS. From a Missal of the Fifteenth Century. British
Museum, 19897. _P._ 54

BISHOP AND CANONS IN THE CHURCH OF ST. GREGORY-BY-ST. PAUL'S. From a
MS. of Lydgate's _Life of St. Edmund._ British Museum, Harl. 2278.
_P._ 62

Wenceslaus Hollar--to whose engravings of Old St. Paul's we are
indebted for our exceptional knowledge of the aspect of a building
that has perished--was born in Prague in 1607, and was brought to
England by the Earl of Arundel, who had seen some of his work at
Cologne. He soon obtained profitable employment, producing engravings
both of figures and views in rapid succession, and about 1639 he was
appointed drawing-master to the Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles
II. On the outbreak of the Civil War he served as a soldier in the
Royalist ranks, and was taken prisoner at Basing House, but escaped to
Antwerp. Obtaining very poor employment there, he returned to England
in 1652, and was engaged upon the plates for Dugdale's _History of St.
Paul's_ and other works, for which, however, he is said by Vertue to
have received very small pay, about fourpence an hour, "at his usual
method by the hour-glass."

Some years later the Plague and the Fire again threw him out of
employment, and he seems to have sunk deeper and deeper into poverty,
dying in 1677, with an execution in his house, "of which he was
sensible enough to desire only to die in his bed, and not to be
removed till he was buried." He lies in the churchyard of St.
Margaret's, Westminster, but there is no stone to his memory.

In the course of his industrious life he is said to have produced more
than 2000 engravings and etchings. "He worked," says Redgrave, "with
extraordinary minuteness of finish, yet with an almost playful
freedom." His engravings of Old St. Paul's, though not entirely
accurate, undoubtedly give a true general view of the Cathedral as it
was in its last years, after the alterations and additions by Inigo
Jones, and nearly a century after the fall of the spire.

OLD ST. PAUL'S FROM THE SOUTH. After W. Hollar.

OLD ST. PAUL'S FROM THE NORTH. After W. Hollar.

OLD ST. PAUL'S FROM THE EAST. After W. Hollar.

OLD ST. PAUL'S FROM THE WEST. After W. Hollar.

THE CHAPTER HOUSE AND CLOISTER. After W. Hollar.

THE NAVE, OR PAUL'S WALK. After W. Hollar.

THE CHOIR. After W. Hollar.

THE LADY CHAPEL. After W. Hollar.

THE ROSE WINDOW. From a Drawing by E.B. Ferrey.

GROUND PLAN OF OLD ST. PAUL'S. After W. Hollar.

THE SHRINE OF ST. ERKENWALD. After W. Hollar.

THE TOMBS OF SEBBA AND ETHELRED. After W. Hollar.

THE MONUMENT OF JOHN OF GAUNT AND BLANCHE OF LANCASTER. After W.
Hollar.

THE MONUMENT OF BISHOP ROGER NIGER. After W. Hollar.

THE MONUMENT OF SIR JOHN BEAUCHAMP, POPULARLY KNOWN AS DUKE
HUMPHREY'S. After W. Hollar.

BRASSES OF BISHOP BRAYBROOKE, JOHN MOLINS, AND RALPH DE HENGHAM. After
W. Hollar.

ST. FAITH'S CHURCH IN THE CRYPT OF ST. PAUL'S. After W. Hollar.

PORTRAIT OF BISHOP FISHER. From the Drawing by Holbein. British
Museum.

ST. MATTHEW: VIEW OF A MEDIÆVAL SCRIPTORIUM. From a MS. of a Book of
Prayers. British Museum, Slo. 2468.

A REQUIEM MASS. From a MS. of a Book of Prayers. British Museum, Slo.
2468.

SINGING THE PLACEBO. From a MS. of the Hours of the Virgin. British
Museum, Harl. 2971

SEALS OF THE DEAN AND CHAPTER. From Casts in the Library of St. Paul's
Cathedral.

ORGAN AND TRUMPETS. From a Collection of Miniatures from Choral
Service Books. Fourteenth Century. British Museum, 29902.

MONUMENT OF DR. DONNE. After W. Hollar.

PREACHING AT PAUL'S CROSS BEFORE JAMES I. From a Picture by H. Farley
in the Collection of the Society of Antiquaries.

OLD ST. PAUL'S FROM THE THAMES. From Hollar's _Long View of London._

WEST FRONT AFTER THE FIRE. From a Drawing in the Library of St. Paul's
Cathedral.

OLD ST. PAUL'S IN FLAMES. After W. Hollar.






OLD ST. PAUL'S




CHAPTER I.

THE BUILDING.


    _Roman London_--_The Beginning of Christian London_--_The English
    Conquest and London once more Heathen_--_The Conversion_--_Bishop
    Mellitus_--_King Sebert_--_The First Cathedral_--_Its
    Destruction_--_Foundation of the Second Cathedral by Bishop
    Maurice_--_Another Destructive Fire_--_Restoration and
    Architectural Changes_--_Bishop Fulk Basset's Restoration_--_The
    Addition Eastward_--_St. Gregory's Church on the S.W. side_--"_The
    New Work_" _and a New Spire: dedicated by Bishop Segrave_--_How the
    Money was raised_--_Dimensions of the Old Church_--_The Tower
    and Spire_--_The Rose Window at the East End_--_Beginning of
    Desecration._


The Romans began the systematic conquest of Britain about the time
of Herod Agrippa, whose death is recorded in Acts xii. London was
probably a place of some importance in those days, though there is
no mention of it in Cæsar's narrative, written some eighty years
previously. Dr. Guest brought forward reasons for supposing that at
the conquest the General Aulus Plautius chose London as a good spot
on which to fortify himself, and that thus a military station was
permanently founded on the site of the present cathedral, as being
the highest ground. If so, we may call that the beginning of historic
London, and the Romans, being still heathen, would, we may be sure,
have a temple dedicated to the gods close by. Old tradition has
it that the principal temple was dedicated to Diana, and it is no
improbable guess that this deity was popular with the incomers,
who found wide and well-stocked hunting grounds all round the
neighbourhood. Ages afterwards, in the days of Edward III., were
found, in the course of some exhumations, vast quantities of bones
of cattle and stags' horns, which were assumed to be the remains of
sacrifices to the goddess. So they may have been; we have no means of
knowing. An altar to Diana was found in 1830 in Foster Lane, close by,
which is now in the Guildhall Museum.

But not many years can have passed before Christianity had obtained
a footing among the Roman people; we know not how. To use Dr.
Martineau's expressive similitude, the Faith was blown over the world
silently like thistle-seed, and as silently here and there it fell and
took root. We know no more who were its first preachers in Rome than
we do who they were in Britain. It was in Rome before St. Paul arrived
in the city, for he had already written his Epistle to the Romans; but
evidently he made great impression on the Prætorian soldiers. And we
may be sure that there were many "of this way" in the camp in London
by the end of the first century. For the same reason we may take it
for granted that there must have been a place of worship, especially
as before the Romans left the country Christianity was established as
the religion of the Empire. Only two churches of the Roman period in
England can now be traced with certainty. Mr. St. John Hope and his
fellow-explorers a few years ago unearthed one at Silchester, and the
foundations of another may be seen in the churchyard of Lyminge in
Kent.

And this is really all we can say about the Church in London during
the Roman occupation. The story of King Lucius and that of the
church of St. Peter in Cornhill are pure myths, without any sort of
historical foundation, and so may be dismissed without more words.

The Romans went away in the beginning of the fifth century, and by the
end of the same century the English conquest had been almost entirely
accomplished. For awhile the new comers remained heathens; then came
Augustine and his brother monks, and began the conversion of the
English people to Christ. The king of Kent was baptized in 596, and
Canterbury became the mother church. Pope Gregory the Great sent
Augustine a reinforcement of monks in 601. Two of these, Laurentius
and Mellitus, were consecrated by Augustine as missionary bishops to
convert West Kent and the East Saxon Kingdom to the faith. The chief
town of the former district was Rochester, and of the latter London.
This city had much grown in importance, having established a busy
trade with the neighbouring states both by land and sea. The king of
the East Saxons was Sebert, nephew of Ethelbert of Kent, and subject
to him. He, therefore, received Mellitus with cordiality, and as soon
as he established his work in the city, King Ethelbert built him a
church wherein to hold his episcopal see, and, so it is said, endowed
it with the manor of Tillingham, which is still the property of the
Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's. There is no portion of that old church
remaining. It was in all probability built mostly of wood, and it
perished by fire, as so many Anglo-Saxon churches did, on July 7th,
1087. Some historical incidents connected with that early building
will be found on a subsequent page.

In the year before this calamity (April 5th, 1086), Maurice, chaplain
and chancellor to William the Conqueror, had been consecrated
Bishop of London by Lanfranc. Unlike most of William's nominees to
bishoprics, Maurice's moral character was disreputable; but he was a
man of energy, and he set to work at once to rebuild his cathedral,
and succeeded in getting from the king abundance of stone for the
purpose, some of it from the remains of the Palatine tower by the side
of the Fleet River, which was just being pulled down, having been
hopelessly damaged by the fire[1], and some direct from Caen. William
also at the same time gave him the manor and castle of Bishop
Stortford, thus making him a baronial noble. There was need for haste,
for the Conqueror died at Rouen on the 9th of September that same
year.

So began the great Cathedral of St. Paul, the finest in England in its
time, which, witnessing heavy calamities, brilliant successes,
scenes both glorious and sad, changes--some improvements and others
debasements--lasted on for nearly six centuries, and then was
destroyed in the Great Fire. We have first to note the main features
of the architectural history.

Bishop Maurice began in the Norman style, as did all the
cathedral-builders of that age, and splendid examples of their work
are still to be seen in our cities. Bishop Maurice's, as I have said,
was the finest of them all in its inception, but he really did little
more than design it and lay the foundations, though he lived until
1108. He seems to have been too fond of his money. His successor,
Richard Belmeis, exerted himself very heartily at the beginning of his
episcopate, spent large sums on the cathedral, and cleared away an
area of mean buildings in the churchyard, around which his predecessor
had built a wall. In this work King Henry I. assisted him generously;
gave him stone, and commanded that all material brought up the River
Fleet for the cathedral should be free from toll; gave him moreover
all the fish caught within the cathedral neighbourhood, and a tithe
of all the venison taken in the County of Essex. These last boons may
have arisen from the economical and abstemious life which the bishop
lived, in order to devote his income to the cathedral building.

Belmeis also gave a site for St. Paul's School; but though he, like
his predecessor, occupied the see for twenty years, he did not see the
completion of the cathedral. He seems to have been embittered because
he failed in attaining what his soul longed for--the removal of the
Primatial chair from Canterbury to London. Anselm, not unreasonably,
pronounced the attempt an audacious act of usurpation. Belmeis's
health broke down. He was attacked with creeping paralysis, and sadly
withdrew himself from active work, devoting himself to the foundation
of the monastery of St. Osyth, in Essex. There, after lingering four
years, he died, and there he lies buried.

King Henry I. died nearly at the same time, and as there was a contest
for the throne ensuing on his death, so was there for the bishopric
of London. In the interval, Henry de Blois, the famous Bishop of
Winchester, was appointed to administer the affairs of St. Paul's, and
almost immediately he had to deal with a calamity. Another great fire
broke out at London Bridge in 1135, and did damage more or less all
the way to St. Clement Danes. Matthew Paris speaks of St. Paul's as
having been destroyed. This was certainly not the case, but serious
injury was done, and the progress of the building was greatly delayed.
Bishop Henry called on his people of Winchester to help in the
rebuilding, putting forward the plea that though St. Paul was the
great Apostle of the West, and had planted so many churches, this was
the only cathedral dedicated to him. During these years Architecture
was ever on the change, and, as was always the custom, the builders in
any given case did not trouble themselves to follow the style in which
a work had been begun, but went on with whatever was in use then.

Consequently the heavy Norman passed into Transitional, and Early
English. For heavy columns clustered pillars were substituted, and
lancets for round arches. Nevertheless, apparently, Norman columns
which remained firm were left alone, while pointed arches were placed
over them in the triforium. Even in the Early English clustered
pillars there were differences marking different dates, some of the
time of the Transition (1222), and some thirty years later. And
here let us note that the "Gothic" church, as it is shown in our
illustrations, does not indicate that the Norman work had been
replaced by it. The clustered pillars really encased the Norman, as
they have done in other cathedrals similarly treated. At Winchester,
William of Wykeham cut the massive Norman into Perpendicular order,
but at St. Paul's an outer encasement covered the Norman, as Wren
showed when he wrote his account of the ruined church. A steeple was
erected in 1221. There was a great ceremony at the rededication, by
Bishop Roger Niger, in 1240, the Archbishop of Canterbury and six
other bishops assisting.

In 1255 it became necessary for the Bishop of London (Fulk Basset) to
put forth appeals for the repair of the cathedral, and his ground
of appeal was that the church had in time past been so shattered by
tempests that the roof was dangerous. Some notes about these tempests
will be found in a subsequent page. Accordingly this part was renewed,
and at the same time the cathedral church was lengthened out eastward.
There had been a parish church of St. Faith at the east end, which
was now brought within the cathedral. The parishioners were not well
content with this, so the east end of the crypt was allotted to them
as their parish church, and they were also allowed to keep a detached
tower with a peal of bells east of the church. This tower had already
an historic interest, for it had pealed forth the summons to the
Folkmote in early days, when that was held at the top of Cheapside.
This eastward addition was known all through the after years as "The
New Work." It is remarkable to note how much assistance came from
outside. Hortatory letters were sent from the Archbishops of
Canterbury and York, as well as from the greater number of other
bishops, to their respective dioceses. And not only so, but eight
Irish dioceses and one Scotch (Brechin) also sent aid.

There was another parish church hard by, that of St.
Gregory-by-St. Paul. Almost all our cathedrals have churches close to
them, such as St. Margaret's, Westminster; St. Laurence, Winchester;
St. John's, Peterborough; St. Nicholas, Rochester. In all cases they
are churches of the parishioners, as contrasted with those of the
monastery or the cathedral body. St. Gregory's Church was not only
near St. Paul's, but joined it; its north wall was part of the south
wall of the cathedral. Its early history is lost in antiquity, but it
was in existence before the Conquest[2]. The body of St. Edmund, K. &
M., had been preserved in it during the Danish invasions, before it
was carried to Bury St. Edmunds by Cnut for burial. It shared the
decay of the cathedral, and in the last days it was repaired, as was
the west end, by Inigo Jones in his own style, as will be seen by the
illustrations. Of the tombs and chantries which had by this time been
set up, it will be more convenient to speak hereafter, as also of the
deanery, which Dean Ralph de Diceto (d. 1283) built on its present
site.

Before the end of the thirteenth century Old St. Paul's was complete.
In the first quarter of the fourteenth century, a handsome marble
pavement, "which cost _5d._ a foot," was laid down over "the New
Work," eastward, and the spire, which, being of lead over timber, was
in a dangerous condition, was taken down and a very fine one set in
its place, surmounted by a cross and a gilt pommel[3] large enough
to contain ten bushels of corn. Bishop Gilbert Segrave (who had
previously been precentor of the cathedral, and was bishop from
1313 to 1317) came to the dedication. "There was a great and solemn
procession and relics of saints were placed within" (Dugdale). But the
following extract from a chronicle in the Lambeth library is worth
quoting: "On the tenth of the calends of June, 1314, Gilbert, Bishop
of London, dedicated altars, namely, those of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
of St. Thomas the Martyr, and of the Blessed Dunstan, in the new
buildings of the Church of St. Paul, London. In the same year the
cross and the ball, with great part of the campanile, of the Church of
St. Paul were taken down because they were decayed and dangerous, and
a new cross, with a ball well gilt, was erected; and many relics of
divers saints were for the protection of the aforesaid campanile and
of the whole structure beneath, placed within the cross, with a great
procession, and with due solemnity, by Gilbert the bishop, on the
fourth of the nones of October; in order that the Omnipotent God and
the glorious merits of His saints, whose relics are contained within
the cross, might deign to protect it from all danger of storms. Of
whose pity twenty-seven years and one hundred and fifty days of
indulgence, at any time of the year, are granted to those who assist
in completing the fabric of the aforesaid church."

[Illustration: A BISHOP PLACING RELICS IN AN ALTAR.
_From a Pontifical of the Fourteenth Century. British Museum, Lans._
451.]

[Illustration: A PAPAL LEGATE.
_From the Decretals of Boniface VIII. British Museum_, 23923.]


In the Bodleian Library there is an inventory of these relics, amongst
them part of the wood of the cross, a stone of the Holy Sepulchre, a
stone from the spot of the Ascension, and some bones of the eleven
thousand virgins of Cologne.

The high altar was renewed in 1309 under an indented covenant between
Bishop Baldock and a citizen named Richard Pickerill. "A beautiful
tablet was set thereon, variously adorned with many precious stones
and enamelled work; as also with divers images of metal; which tablet
stood betwixt two columns, within a frame of wood to cover it, richly
set out with curious pictures, the charge whereof amounted to two
hundred marks."

Dugdale also tells of "a picture of St. Paul, richly painted, and
placed in a beautiful tabernacle of wood on the right hand of the high
altar _in anno_ 1398, the price of its workmanship amounting to 12_l._
16_s._"

Quoting from a MS. of Matthew of Westminster, he gives the dimensions
of the church, in the course of which he says the length was 690 feet.
This is undoubtedly wrong, as Wren showed. I take the measurements
from Mr. Gilbertson's admirable little handbook, who, with some
modifications, has taken them from Longman's _Three Cathedrals_.

Breadth                                           104 ft.
Height of Nave roof to ridge of vaulting           93 ft.
   "      Choir                                   101 ft. 3 in.
   "      Lady Chapel                              98 ft. 6 in.
   "      Tower from the ground                   285 ft.
   "      Spire from parapet of tower             204 ft.
   "      Spire from the ground                   489 ft.
Length of church (excluding Inigo Jones's porch)  586 ft.


Wren (_Parentalia_) thinks this estimate of the spire height too
great; he reckons it at 460 feet.

The cathedral resembled in general outline that of Salisbury, but it
was a hundred feet longer, and the spire was sixty or eighty feet
higher. The tower was open internally as far as the base of the spire,
and was probably more beautiful both inside and out than that of any
other English cathedral. The spire was a structure of timber covered
with lead. In Mr. Longman's _Three Cathedrals_ are some beautiful
engravings after a series of drawings by Mr. E.B. Ferrey, reproducing
the old building. There is one curious mistake: he has not given at
the base of the spire, the corner pinnacles on the tower, which were
certainly there. They are clearly shown in Wyngaerde's drawing of
London, and on a seal of the Chapter, which we reproduce. Some time
later than the rest of the work, stately flying buttresses were added
to strengthen the tower walls. One special feature of the cathedral
was the exquisite Rose window at the east end, of which we give an
engraving. It had not a rival in England, perhaps one might say in
Europe. Inigo Jones, if he was really the architect of St. Katharine
Cree, made a poor copy of it for that church, where it may still be
seen.

Of great historical events which had occurred during the growth of St.
Paul's cathedral we have to speak hereafter. As the momentous changes
of the sixteenth century drew near, the godlessness and unbelief
which did so much to alienate many from the Church found strong
illustrations in the worldliness which seemed to settle down awhile
on St. Paul's and its services. Clergymen appeared here to be hired
(Chaucer's _Prologue_), and lawyers met their clients. Falstaff
"bought Bardolph at Paul's." But before we come to the great changes,
it will be well to go back and take note of the surroundings of the
cathedral, and also to stroll through the interior, seeing that
we have now come to its completion as a building, except for one
addition, a real but incongruous one, which belongs to the Stuart
period. The accession of Henry VIII. then sees it, with that
exception, finished, and we discern three main architectural features:
there is still some heavy Norman work, some very excellent Early
English, and some late Decorated. And there are also tombs of deep
interest; though they are not to be compared indeed with those of
Westminster Abbey. There are only two Kings to whom we shall come in
our walk. But let us have the outside first.

[Footnote 1: On the site of this old tower, Archbishop Kilwardby
afterwards built the house of the Dominicans, or "Black Friars."]

[Footnote 2: Hence old Fuller's racy witticism: "S. Paul's is truly
the mother church, having one babe in her body, S. Faith, and another
in her arms, S. Gregory."]

[Footnote 3: A pommel was a ball made of metal, from Lat., _pomum_:
"an apple." It was not uncommon to surmount church spires with hollow
vessels and to take note of their capability of holding. Sometimes
they were made in form of a ship, especially near ports where corn was
imported.]

       *       *       *       *       *


[Illustration: OLD ST. PAUL'S, FROM THE SOUTH. _After W. Hollar._]

[Illustration: OLD ST. PAUL'S, FROM THE NORTH. _After W. Hollar._]

[Illustration: OLD ST. PAUL'S, FROM THE EAST. _After W. Hollar._]

[Illustration: OLD ST. PAUL'S, FROM THE WEST. _After W. Hollar._]




CHAPTER II.

THE PRECINCTS.


    _The Cathedral Wall, its Course and Gates_--_Characteristic
    Names_--_The North Cloister_--_The Library_--_Pardon Churchyard_
    --_Minor Canons' College_--_Paul's Cross_--_Bishop's House_
    --Lollards' Tower_--_Doctors Commons_--_The Cloister and Chapter
    House_--_The West Front._


A wall was built round the churchyard in 1109, but was greatly
strengthened in 1285. The churchyard had got such a bad character
for robberies, fornications, even murders, that the Dean and Chapter
requested King Edward I. to allow them to heighten this wall, with
fitting gates and posterns, to be opened every morning and closed at
night. From the north-east corner of Ave Maria Lane, it went east
along Paternoster Row, to the end of Old Change, then south to Carter
Lane, thence northwards to Creed Lane, with Ave Maria Lane on the
other side. It will of course be remembered that the Fleet River ran
along at the bottom of the hill, not bearing the best character in
the world for savouriness even then, but crowded with boats as far as
Holborn. It will be remembered that there was also a gate in the City
Wall, on Ludgate Hill, a little to the west of St. Martin's Church.
The gate had a little chapel within it, but the greater part of the
building was used for a prison. Passing under it, and up Ludgate Hill,
you came to the western gate of the Cathedral Close--a wide and strong
one--spanning the street.[1] There were six of these gates; the second
was at Paul's Alley, leading to the Postern Gate, or "Little
North Door"; third, Canon's Alley; fourth, Little Gate (corner of
Cheapside); fifth, St. Augustine's Gate (west end of Watling Street);
and sixth, Paul's Chain. The ecclesiastical names bear their own
explanation: "Ave Maria" and "Paternoster" indicated that rosaries and
copies of the Lord's Prayer were sold in this street. "Creed" was a
somewhat later name. In olden days, it was Spurrier's Lane, _i.e._,
where spurs were sold. But when an impetus was given to instruction
under the Tudors, copies of the alphabet and the Creed were added to
such articles of sale, and this was the place to get them. Paul's
Chain got its name from the chain which was drawn across the gateway
when service was going on, to prevent noise. The other names explain
themselves.

Inside this area ran a cloister along the north side, turning a short
distance southwards at the east end. This cloister was rebuilt by Dean
More (1407-1421) round an enclosure which was a burial ground for
clerics and men of mark in the City. The cloister was decorated by the
series of paintings commonly known as the Dance of Death, such as may
still be seen in the Cathedral of Basel, and in other places. Verses
were appended to each picture, which were translated by Lydgate, the
monk of Bury, and writer of poems on classical and religious subjects.
Over the eastern side of the cloister was the library, a very fine
one, but it perished in the Great Fire. The name "Pardon" applied to
burial grounds, was not uncommon, apparently. The victims of the Black
Death, in 1348, were buried in a piece of ground on the site of the
Charter House, and this ground was known as Pardon Churchyard; and in
the register books of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, there are two entries
of City magnates buried at different times by "the Pardon Door." Does
it indicate that these particular burial grounds were bought with
money paid for indulgences or expiations?

In the middle of the Pardon Churchyard of St. Paul's was a chapel
of rich ornament, built by "Gilbert Becket, portgrave and principal
magistrate in this City in the reign of King Stephen." He was the
great Archbishop's father. The monuments in it and the surrounding
churchyard are said to have rivalled in beauty those inside the
cathedral. How this cloister and chapel fared, we shall see presently.

[Illustration: A FUNERAL PROCESSION.
_From a MS. of the Hours of the Virgin. Fifteenth Century. British
Museum_, 27697.]

North of the Pardon Churchyard was the College of the Minor Canons,
bordering on Paternoster Row; and between it and the cathedral, in an
open space, which in older times was the authorised meeting-place
of the folkmote, was Paul's Cross. There is no doubt of its exact
situation, for during his valuable explorations into the history of
the cathedral, Mr. Penrose discovered its foundations, six feet below
the pavement, and this site is now marked by an inscription. It is all
now laid out as a pleasant garden, and a goodly number of people may
be seen there daily feeding the tame pigeons.

I have shown already (see _Mediæval London_, p. 8) that the Folkmote
was held on a large green, east of the cathedral. There were three
such meetings yearly, to which the citizens were summoned by the
ringing of the great cathedral bell. When the first Cross was erected
on the ground there is no record to show. We may take for granted that
there was first a pulpit of wood. Not only were sermons preached, but
proclamations and State announcements were delivered from it, also
Papal bulls, excommunications, and the public penance of notorious
offenders. In the quaint language of Carlyle, Paul's Cross was "a kind
of _Times_ newspaper of the day." On important occasions, the Lord
Mayor and Aldermen came in state. Sometimes even the King came with
his retinue, and a covered seat was placed for them against the
cathedral wall, which may be noticed in our engraving. If there was an
important meeting, and the weather was unfavourable, the meeting was
adjourned to the "Shrowdes," that is, to the crypt, which, as we have
already seen, was now converted into the Church of St. Faith.

The Cross was damaged by lightning in 1382, and was rebuilt by Bishop
Kempe (1448-1489). It had stone steps, the pulpit was of strong oak,
and it was roofed in with lead. This was the building which was
standing as we closed our account of the cathedral at the beginning of
the Tudor dynasty. We shall see more of it hereafter in our historical
memorials.

On the north side of the Cathedral Nave was the Bishop's residence,
with a private door leading into the cathedral. Of the appearance of
the west front of the cathedral we cannot speak with certainty, as it
disappeared to make way for Inigo Jones's porch, to which we shall
come hereafter. But there were, as usual, three entries, of which the
middle had a fine brazen door-post, and there are two towers to be
noted. That on the north was part of the Bishop's Palace; that on the
south was commonly known as Lollards' Tower. It was the place for
imprisoning heretics, and there are ugly stories about it. For
example, a man named Hunne, who had been found in possession of some
Wycliffite tracts, was confined here by Bonner, and was presently
found hanged. It was said that he had committed suicide. But it was
declared that the appearances rendered this theory impossible, and
Bonner was generally believed to have incited murder; so much was this
believed, in fact, that he was hated by the citizens from that time.

On the south side of the church were St. Paul's Brewhouse and
Bakehouse, and also a house which, in 1570, was handed over to the
Doctors of Civil Law as a "Commons House." These civilians and
canonists had previously been lodged at "a mean house in Paternoster
Row." South of the nave was the Church of St. Gregory-by-Paul's
adjoining the wall up to the West Front. Between that and the South
Transept was a curious cloister of two stories, running round three
sides of a square, and in the middle of this square was the Chapter
House. It was built in 1332, and was very small--only thirty-two feet
six inches in internal diameter. The remains of it have been carefully
preserved on the ground, and are visible to the passers-by. The
Deanery I have mentioned, but we shall have more about it hereafter.
The open space before the West Front was claimed by the citizens,
as well as the east side; not, like that, for a folkmote, but for
military parade. The arms were kept in the adjoining Baynard's Castle.


[Footnote 1: In old times the name Ludgate Hill was given to that part
which ran up from the Fleet to the City Gate. Inside the Gate the
street was called "Bowyer Row," from the trade carried on in it. But
it was also frequently called "Paul's." Ludgate was pulled down in
1760, and then Ludgate Hill became the name of the whole street.]

       *       *       *       *       *




CHAPTER III.

THE INTERIOR OF OLD ST. PAUL'S.


    _Fine_ coup d'oeil _on entering the Nave_--"_Paul's Walk_"--
    _Monuments in Nave_--_Sir John Montacute_--_Bishop Kempe_--_Sir
    John Beauchamp, wrongly called afterwards Duke Humphrey's_--_The
    Choir_--_Shrine of St. Erkenwald_--_Nowell_--_Braybrooke_--_two
    Kings_--_many Bishops_--_Elizabethan Worthies._


The aspect of the Nave, on entering the western door, must have been
magnificent. There were twelve bays to the nave, then the four mighty
pillars supporting the tower, then the screen closing in the choir.
The nave was known as "Paul's Walk," and not too favourably known,
either, under this title. Of this more hereafter. At the second bay in
the North Aisle was the meeting-place of Convocation, closed in as a
chamber. Here, too, was the Font, by which was the Monument of Sir
John Montacute. He was the son of the first Earl of Salisbury, and it
was his mother of whom the fictitious story about the establishment of
the Order of the Garter by Edward III. was told. John de Montacute's
father was buried in the Church of the Whitefriars. The son was
baptized in St. Paul's, and directed in his will, "If I die in London
I desire that my body may be buried in St. Paul's, near to the font
wherein I was baptized."

At the sixth bay came "the Little North Door," and it was answerable,
as till lately was a similar door at St. Alban's Abbey, for much of
the desecration of the church which went on. There was a notice on it
that anybody bringing in burden or basket must pay a penny into the
box at hand. Between the columns of the tenth bay was the Chantry of
Bishop Kempe (1450-1489). It was the finest in the cathedral, built by
Royal licence. He did much for the beautifying of the cathedral, and
rebuilt Paul's Cross, as we have said already. He seems to have kept
clear of the fierce struggles of the Wars of the Roses, for he saw
rival kings in succession ostentatiously worshipping in St. Paul's,
and did not lose the friendship of any of them. So far as one can
judge, he honestly felt that he was not called upon to become a
partisan of any, and this fact was recognised.

It was Edward IV. who gave him licence to erect his chantry. "For
the singular reverence which he bore to God and to the blessed and
glorious Virgin Mary, as also to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and
to St. Erkenwald and Ethelbert, those devout confessors, he granted
license to Thomas Kempe, Bishop of London, for the founding of a
chantry of one priest, who should be the Bishop of London's confessor
in this cathedral, for the time being, to celebrate divine service
daily at the altar of the Holy Trinity in the body thereof, towards
the north side, for the good estate of the said King and Queen
Elizabeth, his Consort; as also of the said Bishop, during their
lives in this world, and for the health of their souls after their
departures hence, and moreover for the souls of the said King's
progenitors; the parents and benefactors of the said bishop and all
the faithful deceased; and to unite it to the office of confessor in
this church for ever, and likewise to grant thereunto one messuage,
one dovehouse, 140 acres of land, six acres of meadow, with eight
acres of wood, called _Grays_, and 10_s._ rent with the appurtenances,
lying in _Great Clacton_ in the county of _Essex_; as also another
messuage, twenty acres of land, two acres of meadow and two acres of
wood, with the appurtenances in the same town, and two acres of land
lying in _Chigwell_, together with the advowson of the Church of
Chigwell, in the same county."

The next monument has a very strange and quaint interest. It was
nearly opposite Kempe's, in the eleventh bay on the south side, that
of Sir John Beauchamp, of Powick, in Worcestershire (son of Guy, Earl
of Warwick), who died in 1374. He settled, out of some tenements in
Aldermanbury, for the payment of 10 marks a year for a priest to
celebrate at his altar, and 50_s._ a year for the special keeping of
the anniversary of his death, December 3rd. There was a very fine
image of the B.V.M. beside this tomb. Barnet, Bishop of Bath and
Wells, gave a water mill, ninety acres of arable and pasture, and
eight acres of wood, all lying at Navestock, in Essex, to the Dean and
Chapter for the saying of certain prayers and a _de profundis_ beside
this image for the souls of the faithful; and there were constant
oblations here. John Westyard, citizen and vintner, founded another
altar at the same place for a chantry priest to say masses for the
soul of Thomas Stowe, sometime Dean of St. Paul's, and for those of
his parents and benefactors. In after years a strange mistake befell
this tomb, one wonders why. It became popularly known as the tomb of
Duke Humphrey, of whom we have more to say hereafter, who was buried
not here but at St. Albans.

Entering within the choir, the first monument--a marble altar
tomb--was that of Thomas Ewer, or Evere, who was Dean for twelve
years, and died in 1400. In a straight line with it, before the steps
of the high altar, lay Robert Fitzhugh, Bishop 1431-1436, who, as the
learned Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, was sent as an
English delegate to the Council of Basel. Whilst he was there he was
elected to the See of London, and consecrated at Foligno. He was an
earnest labourer for the betterment of the poor clergy in his diocese.
Immediately behind the high altar screen was the magnificent shrine of
St. Erkenwald, and beside it the tomb of Dean Nowell, both of which
are described hereafter (see pp. 24, 51). East of this again, at
the entrance to the Lady Chapel, was the beautiful brass of Robert
Braybrooke, Bishop 1381-1405. His was a troublous time, the time of
the evil government of Richard II. The Bishop exerted himself with all
his might to bring about righteous government, and to draw the king
away from evil counsellors. But he also persuaded the citizens to keep
the peace when they would have run into riot, and was all his life
held in honour. He was fierce against the Lollards, hardly to be
wondered at, as they were constantly affixing papers against current
doctrines and doings on the doors of the cathedral. It was this
bishop who rebuked the citizens for their neglect of the Feast of the
Conversion of St. Paul, their patron saint, and he made arrangements
for special services, which from that time were carefully observed.
He also gave directions for more devout observance of St. Erkenwald's
Day, and set aside money from the See for the feeding of 15,000 poor
people on that day in St. Paul's Churchyard. Robert Preston, a grocer,
left a rich sapphire to the shrine, to be used for rubbing the eyes of
persons who were threatened with blindness, and Braybrooke gave orders
that the clergy should appear on all these high festivals in their
copes, that nothing might be lacking to do them honour. He offered
no opposition to the deposition of King Richard II.: it was clearly
inevitable. Braybrooke was a vigorous reformer of abuses, and
denounced the profanation of the church by traffickers, shooting at
birds inside, and playing at ball.

Alongside the Lady Chapel, on the north side, was the chapel of St.
George. We will now pass from it back by the north aisle. By the
pillar north of the altar screen was the tomb of Sir Thomas Heneage.
He was Vice-Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth, and all his life was much
trusted by her in matters of foreign diplomacy, though he sometimes
got into trouble by taking too much on himself. His daughter Elizabeth
was ancestress of the Earls of Winchelsea. He died in 1595.

Opposite this, at the North Wall, was the tomb of Ralph Hengham (d.
1311). Like so many great lawyers of old time he was in Holy Orders,
Chancellor of the Diocese of Exeter, and also Chief Justice of the
King's Bench. He was sent to the Tower for falsifying a document,
which he is said to have done in order to reduce a fine imposed on
a poor man from 13_s._ 4_d._ to 6_s._ 8_d._, and was himself fined
heavily; the money being applied to building a clock tower in Palace
Yard, opposite the door of Westminster Hall. Two judges, on being
urged to tamper with records for beneficent purposes, are said to
have declared that they did not mean to build clock towers! He
was afterwards restored to office. He did good work in his day in
compiling a Digest of the law.

SIR SIMON BURLEY, K.G., tutor and adviser of Richard II., beheaded on
the charge of having corrupted the King's Court, 1388.

[Illustration: THE CHAPTER HOUSE AND CLOISTER, _After W. Hollar_.]

[Illustration: THE NAVE, OR PAUL'S WALK. _After W. Hollar_.]

[Illustration: THE CHOIR. _After W. Hollar._]

[Illustration: THE LADY CHAPEL. _After W. Hollar._]

[Illustration: THE ROSE WINDOW. _From the drawing by E.B. Ferrey in
the Trophy Room, St. Paul's Cathedral._]

[Illustration: GROUND PLAN OF OLD ST. PAUL'S. _After W. Hollar._
_The dotted line shews the position of Wren's Cathedral._]

[Illustration: THE SHRINE OF ST. ERKENWALD. _After W. Hollar._]

[Illustration: TOMBS OF SEBBA AND ETHELRED. _After W. Hollar._]


St. Paul's, as we see, was rich in tombs of mediæval bishops; as to
Royalty it could not be named as compared with Westminster Abbey, for
the City was not a royal residence except in very rare cases. But here
we come to two tombs of Kings. Sebba was buried in the North Aisle in
695. He had been King of the East Saxons, but being afflicted with
grievous sickness he became a monk. His tomb remained until the Great
Fire, as did that of Ethelred the Unready, next to it. On the arches
above were tablets containing the following inscriptions:--

"Hic jacet Sebba Rex Orientalium Saxonum; qui conversus fuit ad fidem
per Erkenwaldum Londonensem Episcopum, anno Christi DCLXXVII. Vir
multum Deo devotus, actibus religiosis, crebris precibus & piis
elemosynarum fructibus plurimum intentus; vitam privatam & Monasticam
cunctis Regni divitiis & honoribus præferens: Qui cum regnasset annos
XXX. habitum religiosum accepit per benedictionem Waltheri Londinensis
Antistitis, qui præfato Erkenwaldo successit. De quo Venerabilis Beda
in historia gentis Anglorum."[1]

"Hic jacet Ethelredus Anglorum Rex, filius Edgari Regis; cui in die
consecrationis his, post impositam Coronam, fertur S. Dunstanus
Archiepiscopus dira prædixisse his verbis: Quoniam aspirasti ad regnum
per mortem fratris tui, in cujus sanguinem conspiraverunt Angli, cum
ignominiosa matre tua; non deficiet gladius de domo tua, sæviens in te
omnibus diebus vitæ tuæ; interficiens de semine tuo quousque Regnum
tuum transferatur in Regnum alienum, cujus ritum et linguam Gens cui
præsides non novit; nec expiabitur nisi longa vindicta peccatum tuum,
& peccatum matris tuæ, & peccatum virorum qui interfuere consilio
illius nequam: Quæ sicut a viro sancto prædicta evenerunt; nam
Ethelredus variis præliis per Suanum Danorum Regem filiumque suum
Canutum fatigatus et fugatus, ac tandem Londoni arcta obsidione
conclusus, misere diem obiit Anno Dominicæ Incarnationis MXVII.
postquam annis XXXVI. in magna tribulatione regnasset."[2]

Certainly in this latter terrible epitaph, it cannot be said that the
maxim _de mortuis_ was observed. But it speaks the truth.

Of a much later date is a royal monument, not indeed of a king, but of
the son and father of kings, namely, John of Gaunt. He died in 1399,
and his tomb in St. Paul's was as magnificent as those of his
father in the Confessor's Chapel at Westminster, and of his son at
Canterbury. It was indeed a Chantry founded by Henry IV. to the memory
of his father and mother, Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster. She was
Gaunt's first wife (d. 1369), and bore him not only Henry IV., but
Philippa, who became wife of the King of Portugal, and Elizabeth, wife
of John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon. It was through Blanche that Gaunt
got his dukedom of Lancaster. She died of plague in 1369, during his
absence in the French Wars, and was buried here. Before his return
to England he had married (in 1371) Constance, daughter of Pedro
the Cruel, and hereby laid claim to the crown of Castile, as the
inscription on his monument recorded. Their daughter married Henry,
Prince of the Asturias, afterwards King of Castile. Constance died in
1394, and was also buried in St. Paul's, though her effigy was not on
the tomb. In January, 1396, he married Catharine Swynford, who had
already borne him children, afterwards legitimised. One of them was
the great Cardinal Beaufort; another, John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset,
was the grandfather of Margaret Tudor, mother of Henry VII. Gaunt's
third wife (d. 1403) is buried at Lincoln. The long inscription on the
monument closed with the words, "Illustrissimus hic princeps Johannes
cognomento Plantagenet, Rex Castilliæ et Legionis, Dux Lancastriæ,
Comes Richmondiæ, Leicestriæ, Lincolniæ et Derbiæ, locum tenens
Aquitaniæ, magnus Seneschallus Angliæ, obiit anno XXII. regni regis
Ricardi secundi, annoque Domini MCCCXCIX."

Close by John of Gaunt, between the pillars of the 6th bay of the
Choir, was the tomb of WILLIAM HERBERT (1501-1569), first Earl of
Pembroke of the second creation, a harum-scarum youth, who settled
down into a clever politician, and was high in favour with Henry
VIII., who made him an executor of his will, and nominated him one of
the Council of twelve for Edward VI. He went through the reign of Mary
not without suspicion of disloyalty, but was allowed to hold his
place at Court, and in the reign of Queen Elizabeth he was accused
of favouring the Queen of Scots, though here also he overcame the
suspicions, and did not lose his place. He married Anne, the sister of
Queen Catherine Parr, and they were both buried in St. Paul's.

JOHN OF CHISHULL, who filled the see from 1274-1280, and was Edward
III.'s Chancellor, held a great number of valuable posts together.
This may have produced the mental incapacity into which he fell.
Archbishop Peckham had to appoint a commission to manage the diocese.
He was buried against the wall of the North Aisle, not far from John
of Gaunt.

ROGER NIGER, bishop from 1228 to 1241, was buried under the fifth
bay of the Choir, between it and the North Aisle. There were three
inscriptions on his tomb, the first on the aisle side:

  "Ecclesiæ quondam Præsul præsentis, in anno
  M bis C quater X jacet hic Rogerus humatus:
  Hujus erat manibus Domino locus iste dicatus:
  Christe, suis precibus veniam des; tolle reatus."

Then we have a short biography in laudatory terms, and below that a
record which one may translate as it stands: "It came to pass while
this Bishop Roger stood mitred [infulatus] before the high altar,
ready to begin the Divine mysteries, there came on such a dense cloud
that men could scarcely discern one another; and presently a
fearful clap of thunder followed, and such a blaze of lightning and
intolerable smell, that all who stood by fled hastily, expecting
nothing less than death. The Bishop and one deacon only bravely
remained, and when the air was at length purified the Bishop completed
the service." We shall have more about this storm hereafter.

SIR JOHN MASON (1503-1566), the son of a cowherd at Abingdon, and
afterwards a great benefactor to that town. His mother was a sister to
the Abbot of Abingdon, and through this relationship he was educated
at Oxford, became a Fellow of All Souls', took orders, and, in
consequence of the skill which he displayed in diplomacy and
international law, received rich Church preferments, among them the
Deanery of Winchester. At the accession of Queen Mary he had to
relinquish this, but as he had been faithful to her, she showed him
much favour, and gave him some secular offices. On the accession of
Elizabeth, he returned to his Deanery, and was all his life one of
the most trusted of the Queen's councillors, especially in foreign
matters.

DR. WILLIAM AUBREY was appointed Vicar-General of Canterbury by
Archbishop Grindal, and was esteemed a great lawyer in his time. He
was the grandfather of the famous antiquary (d. 1595).

Crossing the Choir, and beginning from the west, we will now proceed
eastward along the South Aisle of the Choir. First, we come to two
famous Deans, Donne and Colet, the account of whom belongs to a
subsequent page. In fact, the greater number of monuments in this
aisle are of later date than the others, but it will be more
convenient to take them here, excepting those which are connected with
the subsequent history. The wall monument of WILLIAM HEWIT (arms, a
fesse engrailed between three owls) had a recumbent figure of him in a
layman's gown. He died in 1599.

SIR WILLIAM COKAYNE (d. 1626) was a very rich Lord Mayor; high in the
confidence of James I., who constantly consulted him on business. He
was a munificent contributor to good works. It was said of him that
"his spreading boughs gave shelter to some of the goodliest families
in England." From his daughters descended the Earls of Nottingham,
Pomfret, Holderness, Mulgrave, and Dover; the Duke of Ancaster, and
the Viscounts Fanshawe.

JOHN NEWCOURT, Dean of Auckland, Canon of St. Paul's, Doctor of Law
(d. 1485).

The handsome brass of ROGER BRABAZON, Canon of St. Paul's (d. 1498),
had a figure in a cope. At the foot was the scroll, "Nunc Christe,
te petimus, miserere quæsumus: Qui venisti redimere perditos, noli
damnare redemptos."

Passing into the south side of the Lady Chapel, we come to two
more mediæval Bishops of London: HENRY WENGHAM (1259-1262). He was
Chancellor to Henry III. Close to him was EUSTACE FAUCONBRIDGE, a
Royal Justiciary, and afterwards High Treasurer, and Bishop of London,
1221-1228.

WILLIAM RYTHYN, LL.D., was Rector of St. Faith's and Minor Canon of
the Cathedral (d. 1400).

RICHARD LYCHFIELD, Archdeacon both of Middlesex and of Bath, Canon
Residentiary of St. Paul's (d. 1496).

The tomb of SIR NICHOLAS BACON (1509-1579), Queen Elizabeth's famous
minister, and father of the great philosopher, had his recumbent
figure, and those of his two wives, Jane, daughter of William Fernley,
and Ann, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke. The latter was the mother of
Francis. The Latin inscription on the tomb was most laudatory, and
reads as if it came from the same pen that wrote the dedication of the
_Advancement of Learning_.

Another of the Elizabethan worthies is SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM (d.
April 6th, 1590). The monument to him was placed on the wall, with a
long Latin biographical inscription and twenty lines of English verse.

Two other wall tablets in the same chapel commemorated other heroes
of that period. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY, who died of his wound at Arnhem,
October 15th, 1586, was buried in St. Paul's, with signs of public
grief almost unparalleled. "It was accounted sin for months afterwards
for any gentleman to appear in London streets in gay apparel." The
tablet to him was of wood, and bore the following inscription:--

  "England, Netherlands, the Heavens and the Arts,
  The Soldiers, and the World, have made six parts
  Of noble Sidney; for none will suppose
  That a small heap of stones can Sidney enclose.
  His body hath England, for she it bred,
  Netherlands his blood, in her defence shed,
  The Heavens have his soul, the Arts have his fame,
  All soldiers the grief, the World his good name."

Close to this, on the same pillar, was a tablet to SIR THOMAS
BASKERVILLE, who had also done good service as a brave soldier,
according to the account given in fourteen lines of verse, which, it
must be said, are a great deal more musical than Sidney's.

SIR CHRISTOPHER HATTON (1540-1591) had a finer monument than any of
the other Elizabethan celebrities. Whether he deserved it is another
matter. He was clever and handsome, and got into special favour with
the Queen by his graceful dancing. He even wrote her amorous letters.
The part he took in procuring the condemnation of the Queen of Scots
is well known.

At the extreme end of St. Dunstan's Chapel we come to another Mediæval
worthy.

HENRY DE LACY, EARL OF LINCOLN (1249-1311), "the closest councillor of
Edward I." (Bishop Stubbs), was somewhat doubtful in his loyalty to
Edward II., being divided between his grateful memory of the father
and his disgust at the conduct of the son. His house was on the site
of Lincoln's Inn, which owes its name to him. He was a munificent
contributor to the "new work" of St. Paul's, and was buried in St.
Dunstan's Chapel, on the south side of the Lady Chapel.


[Footnote 1: "Here lieth Sebba, King of the East Saxons, who was
converted to the faith by Erkenwald, Bishop of London, in the year of
Christ 677. A man much devoted to God, greatly occupied in religious
acts, frequent prayers, and pious fruits of almsgiving, preferring
a private and monastic life to all the riches and honours of the
kingdom, who, when he had reigned 30 years, received the religious
habit at the hands of Walther, Bishop of London, who succeeded the
aforesaid Erkenwald, of whom the Venerable Bede makes mention in his
History of the English People."]

[Footnote 2: "Here lieth Ethelred, King of the English, son of
King Edgar, to whom, on the day of his hallowing, St. Dunstan, the
archbishop, after placing the crown upon him, is said to have foretold
terrible things in these words: Forasmuch as thou hast aspired to the
Kingdom through the death of thy brother, against whom the English
have conspired along with thy wretched mother, the sword shall not
depart from thy house, raging against thee all the days of thy life,
destroying thy seed until the day when thy Kingdom shall be conveyed
to another Kingdom whose customs and language the race over whom
thou rulest knoweth not; nor shall there be expiation save by
long-continued penalty of the sin of thyself, of thy mother, and of
those men who took part in that shameful deed. Which things came to
pass even as that holy man foretold; for Ethelred being worn out and
put to flight in many battles by Sweyn, King of the Danes, and his son
Cnut, and at last, closely besieged in London, died miserably in the
year of the Incarnation 1017, after a reign of 36 years of great
tribulation."]

       *       *       *       *       *




CHAPTER IV.

HISTORICAL MEMORIES TO THE ACCESSION OF THE TUDORS.


    _The First Cathedral_--_Mellitus and his Troubles_--_Erkenwald_
    --_Theodred_ "_the Good_"--_William the Norman, his Epitaph_
    --_The Second Cathedral_--_Lanfranc and Anselm hold Councils in
    it_--_Bishop Foliot and Dean Diceto_--_FitzOsbert_--_King John's
    Evil Reign, his Vassalage_--_Henry III.'s Weak and Mischievous
    Reign_--_The Cardinal Legate in St. Paul's_--_Bishop Roger_ "_the
    Black_"--_The three Edwards, Importance of the Cathedral in their
    Times_--_Alderman Sely's Irregularity_--_Wyclif at St. Paul's_
    --_Time of the Wars of the Roses_--_Marriage of Prince Arthur._


I have already said that the buildings of the ancient cathedral, with
a special exception to be considered hereafter, were completed before
the great ecclesiastical changes of the sixteenth century.

Our next subject will be some history of the events which the
cathedral witnessed from time to time during its existence, and for
this we have to go back to the very beginning, to the first simple
building, whatever it was, in which the first bishop, Mellitus, began
his ministry. He founded the church in 604, and he had troubled times.
The sons of his patron, King Sebert, relapsed into paganism, indeed
they had never forsaken it, though so long as their father lived they
had abstained from heathen rites. One day, entering the church, they
saw the bishop celebrating the Sacrament, and said, "Give us some of
that white bread which you gave our father." Mellitus replied that
they could not receive it before they were baptized; whereupon they
furiously exclaimed that he should not stay among them. In terror he
fled abroad, as did Justus from Rochester, and as Laurence would have
done from Canterbury, had he not received a Divine warning. Kent soon
returned to the faith which it had abandoned; but Essex for a while
remained heathen, and when Mellitus wished to return they refused him,
and he succeeded Laurence at Canterbury. Other bishops ministered to
the Christians as well as they could; but the authority of the See and
the services of the cathedral were restored by Erkenwald, one of the
noblest of English prelates, son of Offa, King of East Anglia. He
founded the two great monasteries of Chertsey and Barking, ruled the
first himself, and set his sister Ethelburga over the other. In 675 he
was taken from his abbey and consecrated fourth Bishop of London by
Archbishop Theodore, and held the See until 693. He was a man, by
universal consent, of saintly life and vast energy. He left his mark
by strengthening the city wall and building the gate, which is called
after him Bishopsgate. Close by is the church which bears the name of
his sister, St. Ethelburga. He converted King Sebba to the faith; but
it was probably because of his beneficent deeds to the Londoners
that he was second only to Becket in the popular estimate, all over
southern England. There were pilgrimages from the country around to
his shrine in the cathedral, special services on his day, and special
hymns. In fact, as in the case of St. Edward, there were two days
dedicated to him, that of his death, April 30, and that of his
translation, November 14, and these days were classed in London among
the high festivals. His costly shrine was at the back of the screen
behind the high altar. The inscription upon it, besides enumerating
the good deeds we have named, said that he added largely to the
noble buildings of the cathedral, greatly enriched its revenues, and
obtained for it many privileges from kings. His name, so far as its
etymology is concerned, found its repetition in _Archibald_, Bishop of
London, 1856-1868, the founder of the "Bishop of London's Fund."

Another bishop of these early times was Theodred, who was named "the
Good." We cannot give the exact dates of his episcopate, further than
that he was in the See in the middle of the tenth century, as is shown
by some charters that he witnessed. There is a pathetic story told of
him that on his way from London to join King Athelstan in the north he
came to St. Edmund's Bury, and found some men who were charged with
robbing the shrine of St. Edmund, and were detected by the Saint's
miraculous interference. The bishop ordered them to be hanged; but the
uncanonical act weighed so heavily on his conscience that he performed
a lifelong penance, and as an expiation reared a splendid shrine over
the saint's body. And further, he persuaded the King to decree, in a
Witanagemote, that no one younger than fifteen should be put to death
for theft. The bishop was buried in the crypt of St. Paul's, and the
story was often told at his tomb, which was much frequented by the
citizens, of his error and his life-long sorrow.

Another bishop who had been placed in the See by Edward the Confessor,
who, it will be remembered, greatly favoured Normans, to the
indignation of the English people, was known as "William the Norman,"
and, unpopular as the appointment may have been, it did the English
good service. For when the Norman Conquest came the Londoners, for a
while, were in fierce antagonism, and it might have gone hard with
them. But Bishop William was known to the Conqueror, and had, in fact,
been his chaplain, and it was by his intercession that he not only
made friends with them, but gave them the charter still to be seen at
the Guildhall. His monument was in the nave, towards the west end, and
told that he was "vir sapientia et vitæ sanctitate clarus." He was
bishop for twenty years, and died in 1075. The following tribute on
the stone is worth preserving:--

  "Hæc tibi, clare Pater, posuerunt marmora cives,
  Præmia non meritis æquiparanda tuis:
  Namque sibi populus te Londoniensis amicum
  Sensit, et huic urbi non leve presidium:
  Reddita Libertas, duce te, donataque multis,
  Te duce, res fuerat publica muneribus.
  Divitias, genus, et formam brevis opprimat hora,
  Hæc tua sed pietas et benefacta manent."[1]

To his shrine also an annual pilgrimage was made, and Lord Mayor
Barkham, on renewing the above inscription A.D. 1622, puts in a word
for himself:

  "This being by Barkham's thankful mind renewed,
  Call it the monument of gratitude."

We pass on to the time of the "second church," the Old St. Paul's
which is the subject of this monograph.

The importance of London had been growing without interruption ever
since its restoration by King Alfred, and it had risen to its position
as the capital city. This largely showed itself when Archbishop
Lanfranc, in 1075, held a great council in St. Paul's, "the first full
Ecclesiastical Parliament of England," Dean Milman calls it. Up to
that time, secular and Church matters had been settled in the same
assembly, but this meeting, held with the King's sanction, and
simultaneously with the Witan, or Parliament, established distinct
courts for the trial of ecclesiastical causes. It decreed that no
bishop or archdeacon should sit in the shiremote or hundred-mote, and
that no layman should try causes pertaining to the cure of souls.
The same council removed some episcopal sees from villages to towns,
Selsey to Chichester, Elmham first to Thetford, then to Norwich,
Sherburn to Old Sarum, Dorchester-on-Thame to Lincoln.

Another council of the great men met in St. Paul's in the course of
the dispute between Henry I. and Anselm about the investitures, but it
ended in a deadlock, and a fresh appeal to the Pope.

In the fierce struggle between Henry II. and Archbishop Becket,
Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of London, while apparently quite honest in his
desire to uphold the rights of the Church, also remained in favour
with the King, and hoped to bring about peace. Becket regarded Foliot
as his bitter enemy, and, whilst the latter was engaged in the most
solemn service in St. Paul's (on St. Paul's Day, 1167), an emissary
from the Archbishop, who was then in self-imposed exile abroad, came
up to the altar, thrust a sentence of excommunication into his hands,
and exclaimed aloud, "Know all men that Gilbert, Bishop of London,
is excommunicated by Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury." When Becket
returned to England, December 1st, 1170, after a hollow reconciliation
with the King, he was asked to remove his sentence of excommunication
on Foliot and the Bishops of Salisbury and York, who had, as he held,
usurped his authority. He refused, unless they made acknowledgment
of their errors. The sequel we know. The King's hasty exclamation on
hearing of this brought about the Archbishop's murder on the 29th
of the same month. During the excommunication, Foliot seems to have
behaved wisely and well. He refused to accept it as valid, but
stayed away from the cathedral to avoid giving offence to sensitive
consciences. After Becket's murder, he declared his innocence of
any share in it, and the Bishop of Nevers removed the sentence of
excommunication.

It was at this period that the Deanery was occupied by the first
man of letters it had yet possessed, Ralph de Diceto. His name is
a puzzle; no one has as yet ascertained the place from which it is
taken. Very probably he was of foreign birth. When Belmeis was made
Bishop of London in 1152, Diceto succeeded him as Archdeacon of
Middlesex. His learning was great, and his chronicles (which have been
edited by Bishop Stubbs) are of great historical value. In the Becket
quarrel Diceto was loyal to Foliot, but he also remained friendly with
Becket. In 1180, he became Dean of St. Paul's. Here he displayed great
and most valuable energy; made a survey of the capitular property
(printed by the Camden Society under the editorship of Archdeacon
Hale), collected many books, which he presented to the Chapter,
built a Deanery House, and established a "fratery," or guild for the
ministration to the spiritual and bodily wants of the sick and poor.
He died in 1202. He wrote against the strict views concerning the
celibacy of the clergy promulgated by Pope Gregory VII., and declared
that the doctrine and the actual practice made a great scandal to
the laity. Dean Milman suspects that he was much moved herein by the
condition of his own Chapter.

In 1191, whilst King Richard I. was in Palestine, his brother John
summoned a council to St. Paul's to denounce William de Longchamp,
Bishop of Ely, to whom Richard had entrusted the affairs of
government, of high crimes and misdemeanours. The result was that
Longchamp had to escape across sea. At length the King returned, but
the Londoners were deeply disaffected. William FitzOsbert, popularly
known as "Longbeard," poured forth impassioned harangues from Paul's
Cross against the oppression of the poor, and the cathedral was
invaded by rioters. Fifty-two thousand persons bound themselves to
follow him, but Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, met the citizens in
the cathedral, and by his mild and persuasive eloquence persuaded them
to preserve the peace. FitzOsbert, finding himself deserted, clove the
head of the man sent to arrest him, and shut himself up in the church
of St. Mary-le-Bow. His followers kept aloof, and a three-days' siege
was ended by the church being set on fire. On his attempt to escape he
was severely wounded by the son of the man he had killed, was dragged
away, and burned alive. But his memory was long cherished by the poor.
Paul's Cross was silent for many years from that time.

In 1213, a great meeting of bishops, abbots, and barons met at St.
Paul's to consider the misgovernment and illegal acts of King John.
Archbishop Langton laid before the assembly the charter of Henry I.,
and commented on its provisions. The result was an oath, taken with
acclamation, that they would, if necessary, die for their liberties.
And this led up to Magna Charta. But it was a scene as ignominious as
the first surrender before Pandulf, when Pope Innocent accepted the
homage of King John as the price of supporting him against his barons,
and the wretched King, before the altar of St. Paul, ceded his kingdom
as a fief of the Holy See. The Archbishop of Canterbury protested both
privately and publicly against it.

Henry III. succeeded, at the age of ten years, to a crown which his
father had degraded. The Pope addressed him as "Vassallus Noster," and
sent his legates, one after another, to maintain his authority. It was
in St. Paul's Cathedral that this authority was most conspicuously
asserted. Before the high altar these legates took their seat, issued
canons of doctrine and discipline, and assessed the tribute which
clergy and laity were to pay to the liege lord enthroned at the
Vatican. But the indignation of the nation had been waxing hotter and
hotter ever since King John's shameful surrender. Nevertheless, in the
first days of the boy King's reign, the Papal pretensions did good
service. The barons, in wrath at John's falseness, had invited the
intervention of France, and the Dauphin was now in power. In St.
Paul's Cathedral, half England swore allegiance to him. The Papal
legate, Gualo, by his indignant remonstrance, awoke in them the sense
of shame, and the evil was averted. Then another council was held in
the same cathedral, and the King ratified the Great Charter.

Henry III. grew to manhood, and gave himself up to the management of
foreign favourites, and in 1237, instigated by these, who were led by
Peter de la Roche, Bishop of Winchester, he invited Pope Gregory
IX. to send a Legate (Cardinal Otho "the White") to arrange certain
matters concerning English benefices, as well as some fresh tribute.
They called it "promoting reforms." Their object was to support him in
filling all the rich preferments with the Poitevins and Gascons whom
he was bringing over in swarms. The Cardinal took his lofty seat
before the altar of S. Paul's, and the King bowed before him "until
his head almost touched his knees." The Cardinal "lifted up his voice
like a trumpet" and preached the first sermon of which we have any
report in St. Paul's. His text was Rev. iv. 6, and he interpreted "the
living creatures" as the bishops who surrounded his legatine throne,
whose eyes were to be everywhere and on all sides. The chroniclers
tell how a terrific storm burst over the cathedral at this moment, to
the terror of the whole congregation, including the Legate, and lasted
for fifteen days. It did much harm to the building. The bishop, Roger
Niger, exerted himself strenuously in repairing this. Edmund Rich, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, indignantly protested against the intrusion
of foreign authority, and was joined by Walter de Cantelupe, the
saintly Bishop of Worcester, but for a long time they were powerless.
Besides direct taxation, wealth raised from the appropriation of
rich canonries was drained away from church and state into the Papal
treasury. The Legate remained for four years in power. The Archbishop,
in despair, retired abroad, and died as a simple monk at Pontigny. The
Bishop of London, Roger Niger, was so called from his dark complexion,
and people whimsically noted his being confronted with the Cardinal
Otto Albus. Bishop Roger, before his episcopate, was Archdeacon of
Rochester, a very wise and energetic administrator. He was now on the
side of Rich, bent on defending his clergy from being over-ridden by
the foreigners. He exerted himself as bishop not only to repair the
mischief done by the storm, but to enlarge and beautify the still
unfinished structure. Fourteen years later King Henry was offering
devotion at the shrine of Rich, for he had been canonised, and that
on the strength of his having resisted the King's criminal folly in
betraying the rights of his people; for by this time the nation was
aroused. The Londoners rose and burned the houses of the foreigners.
Bishop Roger, though he, of course, declared against the scenes of
violence, let it be seen that he was determined, by constitutional
methods, to defend his clergy from being plundered. On his death,
in 1241, there was a long vacancy, the King wanting one man and
the canons determined on another, and they carried their man, Fulk
Bassett, though he was not consecrated for three years. Pope Innocent
IV., in 1246, sent a demand of one-third of their income from the
resident clergy, and half from non-resident. Bishop Fulk indignantly
called a council at St. Paul's, which declared a refusal, and even the
King supported him. The remonstrance ended significantly with a call
for a General Council. But he was presently engaged in a more serious
quarrel. The King forced the monks of Canterbury, on the death of
Edmund Rich, to elect the queen's uncle, Boniface of Savoy, to the
primacy. He came and at once began to enrich himself, went "on
visitation" through the country demanding money. The Dean of St.
Paul's, Henry of Cornhill, shut the door in his face, Bishop Fulk
approving. The old Prior of the Monastery of St. Bartholomew,
Smithfield, protested, and the Archbishop, who travelled with a
cuirass under his pontifical robe, knocked him down with his fist.[2]
Two canons, whom he forced into St. Paul's chapter, were killed by the
indignant populace. The same year (1259) brave Bishop Fulk died of the
plague. For years the unholy exactions went on, and again and again
one has records of meetings in St. Paul's to resist them.

When Simon de Montfort rose up against the evil rule of Henry III. the
Londoners met in folkmote, summoned by the great bell of St. Paul's,
and declared themselves on the side of the great patriot. They are
said to have tried to sink the queen's barge when she was escaping
from London to join the King at Windsor.

King Edward I. demanded a moiety of the clerical incomes for his war
with Scotland. The Dean of St. Paul's (Montfort) rose to protest
against the exaction, and fell dead as he was speaking. Two years
later, the King more imperiously demanded it, and Archbishop
Winchelsey wrote to the Bishop of London (Gravesend) commanding him to
summon the whole of the London clergy to St. Paul's to protest, and to
publish the famous Bull, "clericis laicos," of Pope Boniface VIII.,
which forbade any emperor, king, or prince to tax the clergy without
express leave of the Pope. Any layman who exacted, or any cleric who
paid, was at once excommunicate. Boniface, who had been pope two
years, put forward far more arrogant pretensions than Gregory or
Innocent had done, but times were changed. The Kings of England and
France were at once in opposition. The latter (Philip IV.) was more
cautious than his English neighbour, and in the uncompromising
struggle between king and pope, the latter died of grief at defeat,
and his successor was compelled, besides making other concessions, to
remove the papal residence from Rome to Avignon, where it continued
for seventy years, the popes being French nominees. King Edward, with
some trouble, got his money, but promised to repay it when the war was
over, and the clergy succeeded in wresting some additional privileges
from him, which they afterwards used to advantage.

We pass over the unhappy reign of Edward II., only noting that the
Bishop of Exeter, Stapylton, who was ruling for him in London, was
dragged out of St. Paul's, where he had taken sanctuary, and beheaded
in Cheapside. He was the founder of Exeter College, Oxford.

The exile of the popes to Avignon, so far from diminishing their
rapacity, increased it, if possible, and Green shows that the immense
outlay on their grand palace there caused the passing of the Statute
of Provisors in 1350, for the purpose of stopping the incessant
draining away of English wealth to the papacy. During that
"seventy years' captivity," as it was called, Italy and Rome were
revolutionised, and when at length the popes returned to their ancient
city (1376) the great "papal schism" began, which did so much to bring
on the Reformation. It arose out of the Roman people's determination
to have an Italian pope, and the struggle of the French cardinals to
keep the dignity for Frenchmen. The momentous results of that fierce
conflict only concern us here indirectly. We simply note now that the
year following the return to Rome saw John Wyclif brought to account
at St. Paul's.

But before following that history, it will not be out of place to
take another survey of our cathedral during these years, apart
from fightings and controversies. St. Paul's had been most closely
connected with the continually growing prosperity of the city.
The Lord Mayor was constantly worshipping there in state with his
officers. On the 29th of October each year (the morrow of SS. Simon
and Jude) he took his oath of office at the Court of Exchequer, dined
in public, and, with the aldermen, proceeded from the church of St.
Thomas Acons (where the Mercers' Chapel now is) to the cathedral.
There a requiem was said for Bishop William, as already described,[3]
then they went on to the tomb of Thomas Becket's parents, and the
requiem was again said. This done they returned by Cheapside to the
Church of St. Thomas Acons, where each man offered a penny. On All
Saints' Day (three days later) they went to St. Paul's again for
Vespers, and again at Christmas, on the Epiphany, and on Candlemas Day
(Purification). On Whitsun Monday they met at St. Peter's, Cornhill,
and on this occasion the City clergy all joined the procession, and
again they assembled in the cathedral nave, while the _Veni Creator
Spiritus_ was sung antiphonally, and a chorister, robed as an angel,
waved incense from the rood screen above.[4] Next day the same
ceremony was repeated, but this time it was "the common folk" who
joined in the procession, which returned by Newgate, and finished
at the Church of St. Michael le Querne.[5] And once more they went
through the ceremony, the "common folk of Essex" this time assisting.
There could not be fuller proof of the sense of religious duty in
civil and commercial life. The history of the City Guilds is full of
the same interweaving of the life of the people with the duties of
religion. There is an amusing incident recorded of one of these
Pentecostal functions. On Whitsun Monday, 1382, John Sely, Alderman of
Walbrook, wore a cloak without a lining. It ought to have been lined
with green taffeta. There was a meeting of the Council about this, and
they gave sentence that the mayor and aldermen should dine with the
offender at his cost on the following Thursday, and that he should
line his cloak. "And so it was done."

At one of these Whitsun festivals (it was in 1327) another procession
was held, no doubt to the delight of many spectators. A roguish baker
had a hole made in his table with a door to it, which could be opened
and shut at pleasure. When his customers brought dough to be baked he
had a confederate under the table who craftily withdrew great pieces.
He and some other roguish bakers were tried at the Guildhall, and
ordered to be set in the pillory, in Cheapside, with lumps of dough
round their necks, and there to remain till vespers at St. Paul's were
ended.

[Illustration: MONUMENT OF JOHN OF GAUNT AND BLANCHE OF LANCASTER.
_After W. Hollar._]

[Illustration: MONUMENT OF BISHOP ROGER NIGER. _After W. Hollar._]

[Illustration: MONUMENT OF SIR JOHN BEAUCHAMP, POPULARLY KNOWN AS DUKE
HUMPHREY'S. _After W. Hollar._]

[Illustration: BRASS OF BISHOP BRAYBROOKE.]

[Illustration: BRASS OF JOHN MOLINS.]

[Illustration: BRASS OF RALPH DE HENGHAM.]

[Illustration: CHURCH OF ST. FAITH IN THE CRYPT OF ST. PAUL'S. _After
W. Hollar._]


We return to the religious history, in which we left off with the name
of Wyclif. The Norman despotism of the Crown was crumbling away, so
was the Latin despotism of the Church. On both sides there was evident
change at hand, and Wiclif gave form to the new movement. He was born
about 1324, educated at Oxford, where he won high distinction, not
only by his learning, but by his holiness of life. The unparalleled
ravages of the plague known as the "black death," not only in England
but on the Continent, affected him so deeply that he was possessed by
the absolute conviction that the wrath of God was upon the land for
the sins of the nation at large, and especially of the Church, and he
began his work as a preacher against the abuses. His first assault was
upon the Mendicant Friars, whom he held up, as did his contemporary,
Chaucer, to the scorn of the world. Then he passed on to the luxury
in which some of the prelates were living, and to their overweening
influence in the Councils of State. Edward III., after a reign of
great splendour, had sunk into dotage. John of Gaunt had been striving
for mastery against the Black Prince, but the latter was dying, July,
1376, and Gaunt was now supreme. He hated good William of Wykeham, who
had possessed enormous influence with the old king, and he was bent
generally on curbing the power of the higher clergy. At this juncture
Wyclif was summoned to appear at St. Paul's to answer for certain
opinions which he had uttered. It is not clear what these opinions
were, further than that they were mainly against clerical powers and
assumptions; questions of doctrine had not yet shaped themselves. He
appeared before the tribunal, but not alone. Gaunt stood by his side.
And here, for a while, the position of parties becomes somewhat
complicated. Gaunt was at this moment very unpopular. The Black Prince
was the favourite hero of the multitude, an unworthy one indeed, as
Dean Kitchin has abundantly shown, but he had won great victories, and
had been handsome and gracious in manners. He was now at the point of
death, and Gaunt was believed to be aiming at the succession, to the
exclusion of the Black Prince's son, and was associated in the popular
mind with the King's mistress, Alice Ferrers, as taking every sort of
mean and wicked advantage of the old man's dotage. Added to this the
Londoners were on the side of their Bishop (Courtenay) in defence,
as they held, of the rights of the City. So on the day of Wyclif's
appearance the cathedral and streets surrounding it were crowded, to
such an extent indeed that Wyclif had much trouble in getting through,
and when Gaunt was seen, accompanied by his large body of retainers, a
wild tumult ensued; the mob attacked Gaunt's noble mansion, the Savoy
Palace, and had not Courtenay intervened, would have burnt it down.
The Black Prince's widow was at her palace at Kennington, with her
son, the future Richard II., and her great influence was able to
pacify the rioters.

Soon came an overwhelming change. The succession of the Black Prince's
son was secured, and then public opinion was directed to the other
question, Wyclif's denunciation of the Papal abuses. Relieved from
Gaunt's partisanship, he sprang at once into unbounded popularity. His
learning, his piety of life, were fully recognised, and the Londoners
were now on his side. He had preached at the very beginning of the
new reign that a great amount of treasure, in the hands of the Pope's
agent, ought not to pass out of England. Archbishop Sudbury summoned
him not to St. Paul's, but to Lambeth. But the favour with which he
was now regarded was so manifest that he was allowed to depart from
the assembly a free man, only with an injunction to keep silence "lest
he should mislead the ignorant." He went back to Lutterworth, where he
occupied himself in preaching and translating the Bible. He died in
1384. A wonderful impetus was, however, given to the spread of his
opinions by the schism in the Papacy which was filling Europe with
horrified amazement.

From that time till the accession of the Tudors, two subjects are
prominent in English history: the spread of Lollardism, _i.e._, the
Wycliffite doctrines, and the Wars of the Roses. Both topics have some
place in the history of Old St. Paul's.

Richard II. on his accession came in great pomp hither, and never
again alive. But his body was shown in the cathedral by his victorious
successor, Henry IV., who had a few days before buried his father,
John of Gaunt, there, who died at Ely House, Holborn, February 3rd,
1399, and whose tomb was one of the finest in the cathedral, as
sumptuous as those of his father, Edward III., at Westminster, and his
son, Henry IV., at Canterbury.

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the youngest son of Henry IV., was
appointed guardian of his infant nephew, Henry VI., on his father's
death; but partly though the intrigues and squabbles of the royal
family, partly by his own mismanagement, he lost the confidence of the
nation. His wife, Jacqueline, had been persuaded by a sorcerer that
her husband would be king, and she joined him in acts of witchcraft
in order to bring this about. She was condemned (October, 1441) to do
penance by walking three successive days in a white sheet and carrying
a lighted taper, starting each day from St. Paul's and visiting
certain churches. Her husband, says the chronicler Grafton, "took all
patiently and said little." Still retaining some power in the Council,
he lived until 1447, when he died and was buried at St. Albans. He was
an unprincipled man, but a generous patron of letters and a persecutor
of Lollards; and hence, in after years, he got the name of "the good
Duke Humphrey," which was hardly a greater delusion than that which
afterwards identified the tomb of Sir John Beauchamp in St. Paul's as
Duke Humphrey's. But the strange error was accepted, and the aisle in
which the said tomb lay was commonly known as "Duke Humphrey's Walk,"
and it was a favourite resort of insolvent debtors and beggars, who
loitered about it dinnerless and in hope of alms. And thus arose
the phrase of "Dining with Duke Humphrey," _i.e._, going without; a
phrase, it will be seen, founded on a strange blunder. The real grave
is on the south side of the shrine of St. Alban's.

Richard, Duke of York, swore fealty in most express terms to Henry VI.
at St. Paul's in March, 1452. He had been suspected of aiming at
the crown. But the government grew so unpopular, partly through the
disasters in France, partly through the King's incapacity, that York
levied an army and demanded "reformation of the Government." And on
May 23rd, 1455, was fought the battle of St. Albans, the first of
twelve pitched battles, the first blood spilt in a fierce contest
which lasted for thirty years, and almost destroyed the ancient
nobility of England. York himself was killed at Wakefield, December
23rd, 1460. On the following 3rd of March his son was proclaimed
King Edward IV. in London, and on the 29th (Palm Sunday) he defeated
Henry's Queen Margaret at Towton, the bloodiest battle ever fought on
English ground. A complicated struggle followed, during which there
was much changing of sides. Once King Henry, who had been imprisoned
in the Tower, was brought out by the Earl of Warwick, who had changed
sides, and conducted to St. Paul's in state. But the Londoners showed
that they had no sympathy; they were on the Yorkist side in the
interest of strong government. Hall the chronicler makes an amusing
remark on Warwick's parading of King Henry in the streets. "It no more
moved the Londoners," he says, "than the fire painted on the wall
warmed the old woman." That is worthy of Sam Weller. In May, 1470,
Henry died in the Tower, and his corpse was exhibited in St. Paul's.
It was alleged that as it lay there blood flowed from the nose as
Richard Crookback entered, witnessing that he was the murderer.
Richard afterwards came again to offer his devotions after the death
of his brother, Edward IV., and all the while he was planning the
murder of his young nephews.

Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VII., married Catharine of
Aragon in St. Paul's, November 14th, 1501. He died five months later,
at the age of 15. The chroniclers are profuse in their descriptions of
the decorations of the cathedral and city on that occasion. The body
of Henry VII. lay in state at St. Paul's before it was buried in
Westminster Abbey.

This brings us to a new epoch altogether in our history. The stirring
events now to be noted do not so much concern the material fabric of
the cathedral as in the past, but they were of the most momentous
interest, and St. Paul's took more part in them than did any other
cathedral.

[Footnote 1:

  "This humble tomb our citizens placed here
  Unequal to thy merits, father dear;
  For London's people know how wisely thou
  Didst guide their fate, and gladly feel it now.
  Under thy guidance freedom was restored,
  And noble gifts through thee on us were poured.
  Riches and earthly honours cease to be,
  But thy good deeds abide in memory."]

[Footnote 2: See _Mediæval London_, p. 62.]

[Footnote 3: Page 25.]

[Footnote 4: There was a special order in the first year of Edward VI.
that instead of this censing a sermon should be preached.]

[Footnote 5: It stood where the Peel statue now is, at the top of
Cheapside.]

       *       *       *       *       *




CHAPTER V.

HISTORICAL MEMORIES OF THE TUDOR PERIOD.


    _Good Dean Colet_--_Accession of Henry VIII._--_Papal Favour_
    --_Cardinal Wolsey at St. Paul's_--_Bishop Fisher's Preaching at
    Paul's Cross_--_Fall of Wolsey_--_Alienation of the King from the
    Pope_--_The English Bible in the Cathedral_--_Edward VI._
    --_Ridley's Strong Protest against the Images_--_Progress of the
    Reformed Doctrines_--_Somerset's Evil Deeds_--_Destruction of the
    Cloisters_--_Re-establishment of the Roman Mass under Mary_
    --_Cardinal Pole at St. Paul's_--_The Lord Mayor's Proclamation_
    --_Alienation of the Nation from Romanism_--_Death of Mary and
    Accession of Elizabeth_--_The Reformed Liturgy Restored_--_Growth
    of Puritanism_--_Destruction of the Steeple by Lightning_
    --_Continued Irreverence_--_Retrospect, the Tudor Monuments._


It seems fitting that we should open the chapter of a new era in the
history of St. Paul's with the name of its most famous Dean, a great,
wise, good man. His name was John Colet. He was born in London, in
the year 1466, within three months of his famous friend, Erasmus. His
father, Sir Henry Colet, was twice Lord Mayor, one of the richest
members of the Mercers' Company. John, who was his eldest son, had ten
brothers and eleven sisters, all by the same mother, who outlived
the last of them. The young man was presented to livings (it was no
unusual thing then) before he took Orders, and gave himself to
study, both mathematical and classical, and in his zeal for learning
travelled much abroad, where he saw much of ecclesiastical life,
which startled him greatly. Returning, at length, to England, he was
ordained at Christmas, 1497, went to Oxford, and began to lecture with
great power on the Epistle to the Romans. It must be remembered that
this was the epoch when the fall of Constantinople had driven the
Greek scholars westward, the epoch of the revival of "the new
learning" in Europe, the discrediting of the old scholastic philosophy
which was now worn out and ready to vanish away. Colet stands before
us then as the representative of the new learning in England, and as
keen to reform the abuses in the Church which were terrifying all
earnest and thoughtful men. He carried on his lectures with such
energy that his lecture-room was crowded, the most distinguished
tutors there being among his audience. And one day there came the
great Erasmus, who had heard of him, and from the day of their first
meeting they were fast friends for life. In 1504, Henry VII. made
Colet Dean of St. Paul's, and he showed at once that he had lost none
of his zeal. He carried on his lectures in the cathedral and preached
constantly, and another warm friend made now was Sir Thomas More,
who earnestly helped him in his strenuous endeavours to improve the
cathedral statutes, to reform abuses, and to increase the preaching
power. He was a rich man, and in 1509 he employed much of his
wealth--about £40,000 present value--in the foundation of St. Paul's
School. He wrote some simple precepts for the guidance of masters and
scholars, and drew up prayers and an English version of the Creed. He
appointed William Lilly first master, and called on Linacre to write
a Latin grammar. The school became famous; it was burnt down in the
Fire, rebuilt in 1670, and removed to Hammersmith in 1884. It is not
to be wondered at that many of the churchmen of the day regarded Colet
as a most dangerous innovator. Complaints were made to Archbishop
Warham that he was favouring the Lollards, which was absolutely
untrue. He would in all probability, had he lived, have been found
on the same side as More and Fisher, that is, intensely desirous to
preserve the Church and its doctrines, but to cleanse it from the foul
scandals, the sloth, greed, immorality, which were patent to all
the world. There was a meeting of Convocation in February, 1512, to
consider how to extirpate the Lollard heresy which was reviving.
Warham appointed Colet to preach the sermon, which he did with
wonderful energy, denouncing the simony, the self-indulgence, and the
ignorance of the bishops and clergy. The Lollards were there in great
numbers, attentive, silent listeners. He was as plain and honest with
the King himself, who, recognising his goodness of purpose, made him
a Royal Chaplain. In 1514, he went with Erasmus on pilgrimage to
Becket's tomb and ridiculed the accounts which the vergers gave of the
healing power of the relics. When Wolsey was installed as Cardinal,
Colet preached, and warned him against worldly ambition. And all
through his time at St. Paul's the aged Bishop Fitzhugh was in active
hostility to him. He died September 16th, 1519, and, although he had
requested that only his name should be inscribed on his grave, the
Mercers' Company erected a handsome tomb, for which Lilly wrote a long
inscription. Lilly and Linacre were both buried near him.

It will be seen, I think, at once that Colet is a great representative
of the thoughtful and earnest men of his time, one of the greatest
precursors of the Reformers, or rather, in full sense, a great
reformer himself. We have now to take up the course of secular events.
In 1514, Pope Leo X. sent young King Henry VIII. a "sword and cap of
maintenance" as a special honour, and he, "in robe of purple, satin,
and gold in chequer, and jewelled collar," came to the Bishop's
palace, and from thence there was a grand procession of
gorgeously-arrayed nobles and clerics round the church, with joyous
hymns.

Four years later came Wolsey, and sang High Mass to celebrate eternal
peace between England, France, and Spain. The King's beautiful
sister, Mary, was betrothed at the same time to Louis XII., who was
fifty-three years old, while she was sixteen. Within three months he
died, and she married Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and became
grandmother of Lady Jane Grey. Again one comes on a full description
of the gorgeous ceremonial. A year later, the accession of Charles V.
was announced by the Heralds in St. Paul's, and Wolsey pronounced a
benediction. The great Cardinal was now in full hopes of the papal
tiara; the same year he came in state (May 12th, 1521) with the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Warham, to hear Bishop Fisher denounce
Luther at Paul's Cross, with accompanying appropriate ceremonies. An
account on a broad-sheet in the British Museum tells how Wolsey came
with the most part of the bishops of the realm, "where he was received
with procession and censed by Mr. Richard Pace, Dean of the said
church." Pace was a native of Winchester, who had won the favour of
two successive bishops of that See, and been educated by them. One of
them sent him to the Continent to complete his course. He took Orders
in 1510, and his evident ability induced Wolsey to employ him in more
than one delicate and difficult case of foreign diplomacy, and also
brought him to the favourable notice of the King, who, after many
other preferments, made him Dean of St. Paul's on the death of Colet.
He was held to be the very ablest of diplomatists, was a friend of
Erasmus, and followed Colet in favouring "the new learning." It was he
and Sir T. More who persuaded the King to found Greek professorships
at Oxford and Cambridge.

But to return to the ceremony at St. Paul's. "After the Dean had duly
censed him, the Cardinal, while four doctors bore a canopy of gold
over him, went to the high altar, where he made his obligation; which
done, he went, as before, to the Cross in the churchyard, where was a
scaffold set up. On this he seated himself under his cloth of estate,
his two crosses on each side of him; on his right hand, sitting on the
place where he set his feet, the Pope's ambassador, and next him the
Archbishop of Canterbury; on his left hand, the Emperor's ambassador,
and next him the Bishop of Durham (Rusthall); and all the other
bishops, with other noble prelates, sat on two forms out right forth,
and then the Bishop of Rochester made a sermon by the consenting of
the whole clergy of England, by the commandment of the Pope, against
one _Martinus Eleutherus_ and all his works, because he erred sore,
and spake against the Holy Faith; and denounced them accursed which
kept any of his books; and there were many burned in the said
churchyard of his said books during the sermon. Which ended, my Lord
Cardinal went home to dinner with all the other prelates."

The Bishop of Rochester was, of course, Fisher. He was both learned
and pious. Burnet says he strongly disliked Wolsey, because of the
latter's notoriously immoral life. Fisher, though in his unflinching
conservatism he regarded the proceedings of Luther with hostility,
was anxious, as were More and Erasmus and Colet, for reformation on
Catholic lines. He, like them, favoured the new learning, and even
declared that the Continental reformers had brought much light to
bear upon religion. But he opposed the King's divorce, and refused to
acknowledge his supremacy over the Church, and was beheaded on Tower
Hill, June 22nd, 1535. There was no act of Henry which more thoroughly
excited popular horror.

When Charles V. came to England, in 1522, Wolsey again said Mass at
St. Paul's, with twenty bishops to cense him. It was on this occasion
that he changed the meeting-place of Convocation from St. Paul's to
Westminster, that it might be near his own house. Skelton, the poet,
who hated Wolsey, thereupon wrote the following distich:--

  "Gentle Paul, lay down thy sword,
  For Peter, of Westminster, hath shaven thy beard."

In 1524, Francis I. was taken prisoner at the battle of Pavia,
whereupon the sympathy of England for his successful rival was shown
by a huge bonfire in front of St. Paul's, and the distribution of many
hogsheads of claret. On the Sunday following, Wolsey sang Mass, and
the King and Queen, with both Houses of Parliament, were present. Once
more (Shrove Tuesday, 1527) the great Cardinal came in dignity; it was
to denounce the translation of the Bible and to condemn the Lutherans.
Certain "heretics" were marched through the cathedral in penitential
dresses, and carrying faggots, which they threw into the fire by the
great rood at the north door, in which Testaments and Lutheran tracts
were also burned. On this occasion, also, Fisher preached the sermon.
A few years later (1530), there was a similar holocaust, at which the
Bishop (Stokesley) presided.

But now came an event of momentous importance. Wolsey fell into
disgrace with the King, and, after some preliminary attacks, was
charged with high treason. From trial on this charge he was delivered
by death (November 28th, 1530). But he had brought the clergy
unwittingly into trouble. The law of _Præmunire_ forbade a man to
accept the office of papal legate in England, or the clergy to
recognise him. Wolsey had obtained a patent under the Great Seal to
exercise legatine authority, and for fifteen years no objection had
been taken. When he was indicted for the infringement of the law,
he refused to plead royal permission, fearing to incur yet greater
displeasure of the King. So judgment went by default. And now the
clergy were likewise impeached. They met in St. Paul's Chapter House,
and in their terror offered £100,000 fine, under the advice of the
Bishop. The King refused to accept this unless they recognised him
as "supreme head of the Church." Three days' discussion of this
proposition followed, then, on the proposal of Archbishop Warham, they
agreed to the following:--"of which Church and clergy we acknowledge
his Majesty to be the chief protector, the only supreme lord, and,
as far as the law of Christ will allow, the supreme head." Such a
compromise meant nothing, for it did not attempt to define what
the law of Christ on the subject was. But it was evident that the
Reformation had begun in earnest. Though nineteen Anabaptists were
condemned in St. Paul's to be burned, and on fourteen of them the
sentence was carried out, Paul's Cross echoed with renunciation of the
Pope's authority. The miraculous rood of Bexley, in Kent, having been
exposed as a fraud there, was brought up to Paul's Cross, February,
1538, and the mechanism having been shown to the indignant audience,
it was committed to the flames.

A more significant indication of the coming change was witnessed in
1541. In May of the previous year, King Henry issued a proclamation
that every parish in England should provide itself with a copy of the
English Bible by All-hallow-tide next, under a penalty of 40_s._ He
explains that the object is that "the power, wisdom, and goodness of
God may be perceived hereby," but the people are not to expound it,
nor to read it while Mass is going on, but are to "read it meekly,
humbly, and reverently for their instruction, edification, and
amendment." Accordingly, Bishop Bonner had six of these great Bibles
chained to pillars in different parts of St. Paul's, as well as an
"advertisement" fixed at the same places, "admonishing all that came
thither to read that they should lay aside vain-glory, hypocrisy, and
all other corrupt affections, and bring with them discretion, good
intention, charity, reverence, and a quiet behaviour, for the
edification of their own souls; but not to draw multitudes about them,
nor to make exposition of what they read, nor to read aloud in time of
divine service, nor enter into disputes concerning it."

There was no mistake as to the eagerness of the people to take
advantage of the opportunity. They assembled in crowds to hear such as
could read, and even, so says Burnet, sent their children to school
that they might carry them with them and hear them read.

It is not to be wondered at that Bonner soon found that his
Advertisement was powerless to check what he dreaded. Not only did
expounders dwell upon such words as "Drink ye all of it," but they
compared the clergy to the Scribes and Pharisees, and identified them
with the generation of vipers, and with priests of Baal. Accordingly,
he put forth a fresh advertisement, in which he said that "diverse,
wilful, and unlearned persons, contrary to all good order and honest
behaviour, have read the Scriptures especially and chiefly at the time
of divine service in this right honourable Catholic church, yea, in
the time of the sermon and declaration of the Word of God, in such
sort as was both to the evil and lewd example of the rest of the
multitude, and also to the high dishonour of the Word of God, over and
beside the great disturbance and unquietness of the people repairing
hither for honest purposes." And he declares that if this friendly
admonition be not attended to he will have the Bibles removed, but
that he shall do so very unwillingly, seeing that he "will be, by
God's grace, right glad that the Scripture and Word of God should be
well known."

There is a painful story in "Foxe's Martyrs," that one John Porter was
thrown into Newgate by Bonner for thus "expounding," and that he died
there of the ill-treatment he received.

In the short reign of Edward VI., great destruction was wrought in the
structure and ornamentation of St. Paul's, and no thanks are due to
the "Protector" that the mischief was not greater. There was no sign
for a month or two. Edward ascended the throne on January 28, 1547,
and just two months later the French king, Francis I., died. On that
occasion, Cranmer, attended by eight bishops, sang a Requiem Mass in
Latin at St. Paul's, and Gardiner preached a funeral sermon before the
Lord Mayor and Aldermen, eulogising this persecutor of the Reformed
Faith. But now came unmistakable signs of change. Ridley, then Master
of Pembroke College, Cambridge, soon to be Bishop of London, preached
a somewhat violent sermon at Paul's Cross against the adoration of
saints, the use of holy water, and the reverence done to pictures and
images. We may note that on the day of the King's Coronation, amid all
the splendid pageantry and decorations, a cable was fastened to the
top of St. Paul's steeple, the other end attached to an anchor by the
Deanery door, and a sailor descended "swift as an arrow from the bow."

It was in September following that the order from the Council
commanded the destruction of images in churches and the discontinuance
of all processions. The Bishop, Bonner, protested against the
alterations and was sent to the Fleet for contumacy, made submission,
and was released after eight days, during which the alterations were
made. The images were all pulled down, as were the rood, the crucifix,
and its attendants, St. Mary and St. John.

The "Grey Friars Chronicle"[1] (published by the Camden Society),
describes all this, and takes care to note that two of the men engaged
in the sacrilegious work were killed. The almsboxes shared the general
confiscation, and doubtless not only the services of the church, but
the poor who came for food, suffered thereby.

Protector Somerset had wide ideas. He aspired to build himself a
magnificent palace and to attach a park to it along the banks of the
Thames. The palace was on the site of the present Somerset House; the
park was to extend from it to St. Paul's. The cloister and chapel in
Pardon Churchyard were destroyed, and five hundred tons of bones were
carted away to Finsbury Fields (it is said there were more than a
thousand cartloads) and piled up into a mound, which got the name of
the "Bone Hill," and this has come in our day to "Bunhill." On this
hill three windmills were erected. The mound has long since been
trodden down, and the windmills are gone, but the name "Windmill
Street" remains. The chapter house and the small cloister round it, of
which we have already spoken, were also destroyed, and the materials
were used for the new Somerset House. Within the last few years the
bases of parts of this cloister have been uncovered under the skilful
supervision of Mr. Penrose, and may be seen on the south side of the
present cathedral.

As our subject is only the cathedral itself, we pass by the
controversies and changes in creed and practice which the reign of
Edward VI. witnessed. The Protector Somerset fell the victim of his
own inordinate covetousness, and died on the scaffold, January 22nd,
1552, to the great satisfaction of the "Grey Friar" chronicler. But
the Reformation went on; Bonner was imprisoned all through the reign,
Ridley was made Bishop of London (1550), and the sacrament was
administered according to the Reformed use. Rood-loft, altars,
crucifixes, images, all disappeared. The Dean, William May, gave
orders for the removal of the organ, but they were not carried out. It
pealed out the _Te Deum_ on the accession of Mary, July 6th, 1553. The
nation certainly rejoiced at this change. Not merely the rapacity of
the ruling powers at court had alienated public sympathy, but the
people at large at this time resented the loss of their ancient
worship, and had not as yet learned the greater spirituality and
reality of the Reformed service. We may note that in the exuberance of
popular delight in London whilst the cathedral bells were ringing, a
Dutchman went to the very top of the lofty steeple, waved a flag, and
kindled a blaze of torches.

But a fierce contest was inevitable. Paul's Cross for a little while
gave forth most conflicting views. Before the year was out the mass
was re-established in St. Paul's. On St. Catharine's Day there were
splendid processions and stately ceremonial, with special thought of
the Queen's mother, Catharine of Aragon. In a word, it was in St.
Paul's Cathedral that the recovery of Roman Catholicism was specially
manifested in England. William May was deprived of the Deanery, he
being a hearty supporter of the Reformed doctrines, and Feckenham
succeeded him, but in 1556 was made Abbot of Westminster. He was so
holy and kindly a man that he won great respect, though he was an
uncompromising Papist. He is said to have so exerted himself with
Queen Mary to procure the liberation of her sister Elizabeth as to
offend the Queen, and it is further said (Fuller) that Elizabeth
on her accession sent for him and offered him the Archbishopric of
Canterbury if he would conform to the Reformed Faith. He refused, and
was deprived, and went into retirement, and at St. Paul's May was
restored to the Deanery.

At the time of his deprivation, as I have said, St. Paul's at once
furnished proof of the restoration of the Roman faith. The great rood
was set up with stately ceremonial, in preparation for the visit of
the Queen and her husband, Philip of Spain, they having been married
at Winchester, July 29th, 1554. On their state visit to St. Paul's,
September 30th following, the greatest congregation that had ever
yet assembled there was gathered to see them. But as great, so says
Machyn[2], assembled again on the first Sunday in Advent to receive
Cardinal Pole as Papal Legate. Three days before, on the Feast of St.
Andrew, he had absolved England at Westminster Hall, and received it
back to Communion. Now, having landed at Baynard's Castle Wharf, he
was conducted by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, Lord Chancellor and
Bishops, all in splendid procession, followed by a retinue of nobles
and knights, with the legate's cross carried before him, King Philip
and Queen Mary walking by his side on the right hand and the left.
Gardiner preached at Paul's Cross, the first part penitent, the latter
exultant, and ending with the words, "Verily this is the great day of
the Lord."

Of one passage in the history of this time we can speak with
unqualified approval. On August 5th, 1554, the Lord Mayor (White)
issued the following Proclamation:--

    "Forasmuch as the material temples or churches of God were first
    ordained and instituted and made in all places for the lawful and
    devout assembly of the people there to lift up their hearts and to
    laud and praise Almighty God and to hear His Divine Service and
    most holy Word and Gospel sincerely said, sung, and taught, and
    not to be used as market places or other profane places, or common
    thoroughfares with carriage of things; and that now of late years
    many of the inhabitants of this City of London, and other people
    repairing to the same, have and yet do commonly use and accustom
    themselves very unseemly and unreverently; the more is the pity to
    make the common carriage of great vessels full of ale and beer,
    great baskets full of bread, fish, fruit, and such other things,
    fardels [bundles] of stuff and other gross wares through the
    Cathedral Church of St. Paul within the said City of London, and
    some in leading of horses, mules, or other beasts through the same
    unreverently, to the great dishonour and displeasure of Almighty
    God, and the great grief also and offence of all good and
    well-disposed persons. Be it therefore for remedy and reformation
    thereof ordained, enacted, and established by the Lord Mayor,
    Aldermen, and Commons in this present Common Council assembled
    and by the authority of the same, according to the privileges and
    customs of this ancient city that no manner of person or persons,
    either free of the said city or foreign, of what estate,
    condition, or degree soever he or they be, do at any time from
    henceforth carry, or convey, or cause to be conveyed or carried
    through the said Cathedral Church of St. Paul any manner of great
    vessel or vessels, basket or baskets, with bread, ale, beer,
    flesh, fruit, fish, fardells of stuff, wood billets, faggots,
    mule, horse, or other beasts, or any other like thing or things,
    upon pain of forfeiture and losing for every such his or their
    offence iii_s._ iiij_d._, and for the second like offence vi_s._
    viij_d._, and for the third offence x_s._, and for every other
    offence after such third time to forfeit and lose like sum, and
    to suffer imprisonment by the space of two whole days and nights
    without bail or mainprise. The one moiety of all which pains and
    penalties shall be to the use of the poor called Christ's Hospital
    within Newgate for the time being, and the other moiety thereof
    shall be to the use of him or them that will sue for the same in
    any Court of Record within same City by bill, original plaint,
    or information, to be commenced and sued in the name of the
    chamberlains of the said city for the time being, wherein none
    essoyne [exemption] or wages of law for the defendants shall be
    admitted or allowed.

    "God save the King and Queen."

(Guildhall Records.)


We have had the grand ceremonial at the Reconciliation to Rome.
Another procession--oh! the pity of it--was held on St. Paul's Day,
1550, of 160 priests, with Bishop Bonner at the head, singing their
thanksgiving that the Queen was about to become a mother, and on the
following April 30th, came the report that a prince was born. Again
the bells rang out, and solemn _Te Deum_ was sung! Machyn tells of the
disappointment which followed, and expresses his hope for the future,
hope not to be fulfilled.

What was it turned the tide of religious opinion? The answer admits of
no doubt. John Rogers, the proto-martyr of the English Reformation,
was a prebendary of St. Paul's, a man of saintly life. He had given
much help to Tyndale, the translator of the Bible, had brought the MS.
to England, and published it. He was sentenced to be burned only three
days after the reception of Pole, and died with dauntless courage,
even his wife and children encouraging him. In the following October,
his Bishop and patron, Ridley, also died the same fiery death. Machyn
records, with apparent callousness, the burnings which went on in
Smithfield day after day, along with trifling incidents and stately
ceremonials at St. Paul's. He does not realise that these things were
horrifying the English people, and turning their hearts steadfastly
to the persecuted faith. The greater number of the martyr fires took
place in London, and St. Paul's was the place of trial. On the 13th of
November, 1558, the Queen issued a brief to Bonner, giving him command
to burn heretics without mercy, and four days later she died, as, on
the same day, did Cardinal Pole.

The heart of England was alienated from a religion which had resorted
to such brutalities, and the doctrines of the Reformation were
everywhere received. Queen Elizabeth, however, would not be
incautious. There was no immediate interference with the Marian
ceremonial. There was a solemn Requiem Mass sung at St. Paul's after
the death of Henry II. of France, July, 1559, but by this time the
restored images had again been removed. One day, when she came to St.
Paul's, Dean Nowell placed in her pew a prayer-book richly illuminated
with German scriptural engravings. She was very angry, and demanded to
know who had placed "this idolatrous book" on her cushion. The poor
Dean explained, and her Majesty was satisfied, but "prayed God to give
him more wisdom for the future." She expressed her satisfaction that
the pictures were German and not English. Some years later the same
Dean offended her in the opposite direction. It was on Ash Wednesday,
1572; he was preaching before her, and denounced certain "Popish
superstitions," among them the use of the sign of the Cross. Her
Majesty called out to him sternly to "stick to his text." The next day
he sent her a humble apology.

Paul's Cross was silent for some months; when at length it was again
occupied the Reformed faith was reasserted. Bonner was sent to the
Tower, and the English Communion service was again in use. In the
following August, the Queen's Commissioners held a Visitation in St.
Paul's, at which all who refused to conform with it were pronounced
contumacious and deprived. The rood was again turned out, as were the
images, and now it was with the approval of the people at large. In
many places there was much violence displayed in the destruction,
but not in St. Paul's. All was done there without tumult, and with
discrimination. On December 17th, 1559, Parker was consecrated
Archbishop at Lambeth, and four days later he consecrated Grindal
Bishop of London. Bonner was sent to the Marshalsea Prison, which
Strype declares was done to screen him from the popular detestation.
He was well fed and housed there, and had "much enjoyment of his
garden and orchards," until his death in 1569.

Grindal had been warmly attached to Ridley, and still loved his memory
dearly. Moreover, he had himself been an exile for his opinions. He
was not, therefore, likely to look favourably upon the old ceremonial,
even in its modified form of stately solemnity and grace, such as
Tallis and Merbecke would have preserved to it. And his Dean, Nowell,
had the same distrust. Had they favoured it, in all probability the
moderate and beautiful rendering of the Liturgy, as it is heard in the
cathedral in our day, would not only have won the affections of the
people at large, but would have arrested the strong tide of Puritanism
and iconoclasm which was now rising. In Convocation, the Puritans
nearly carried the removal of all organs from churches. They lost it
by a majority of one, and Dean Nowell was in the minority.

Whilst the controversy was at its fiercest, on the 3rd of June, 1561,
a violent thunderstorm burst over London. The Church of St. Martin's,
Ludgate, was struck by lightning, and great masses of stones came down
upon the pavement. Whilst people were looking dismayed at this,
the steeple of St. Paul's was discovered to be on fire. The timber
framework had got ablaze, the lead which covered it poured down like
lava upon the roof, the very bells melted. For four hours the whole
cathedral was in danger, but happily, with the exception of the
roof of the nave, the church was saved. As soon as the flames were
extinguished, Pilkington, whose works are published by the Parker
Society, furiously declared that it was all owing to the retention of
Popery, and the other side, with equal vigour, attributed the disaster
to the desecration by the Puritans.[3]

The steeple was never rebuilt, but the nave roof was begun without
loss of time. Queen Elizabeth sent letters to the Lord Mayor,
commanding him to take immediate steps, gave him 1000 marks from her
own purse, and warrants for 1000 loads of timber from her woods. £7000
were raised at once by the clergy and laymen of London, "very frankly,
lovingly, and willingly," says the Guildhall record. Before a month
had elapsed a temporary roof was made, and in five years the lead roof
was complete.

The victory over the Armada, in 1588, sent all England wild with
delight. The Queen came in State to offer thanks at St. Paul's,
attended by all the nobility, and after the sermon dined with the
Bishop in his palace.

But the signs of irreverence and neglect are continually before us.
We have already given extracts from sermons denouncing it. It was
now that the raising of money by Government lotteries began, for the
purpose of repairing the harbours, and a great shed was set up at the
west door of St. Paul's for the drawing (1569). In 1605, four of the
Gunpowder conspirators were hanged in front of the west door, and in
the following May, Garnet, the Jesuit priest, shared the same fate on
the same spot.

Let us before closing this chapter take note of the monuments of four
Deans not mentioned in our last survey. They are Thomas Wynterbourne
(Dean 1471-1478), William Worsley (1479-1499), a fine brass. William
May we have already spoken of, Dean under Edward VI., deprived by
Mary, restored by Elizabeth, elected Archbishop of York, but died
the same day, August 8th, 1560. There were twelve Latin lines on his
grave. His successor, Alexander Nowell, who died in 1601 at the age of
ninety, was a zealous promoter of the Reformation. There was a fine
monument to him, a bust in fur robe, and very long Latin inscriptions
in prose and verse.

Before coming to the last chapter in the history of the great
cathedral, a chapter of decay, of zealous attempts at restoration, of
profanation, of one more attempt to restore, and of total destruction,
it becomes necessary to take one more retrospect.

[Footnote 1: The Grey Friars Monastery was on the site of Christ's
Hospital, this year removed. The Chronicler was one of the expelled
monks, and, naturally enough, was shocked at the whole business.]

[Footnote 2: Robert Machyn was an upholsterer of Queenhithe, whose
business, however, was chiefly in the way of funerals. He kept a
diary, which is much used by Strype in his _Annals_, but has been
reprinted in full by the Camden Society. It is very amusing, very
illiterate, and full of gossip. He was a hot partisan of the Roman
faith, and so never loses the opportunity of a fling at the Reformers.
He died of the plague in 1563.]

[Footnote 3: Milman's _Annals of St. Paul's_, pp. 280-1.]

       *       *       *       *       *




CHAPTER VI.

THE CLERGY AND THE SERVICES.

    _St. Paul's a Cathedral of the_ "_Old Foundation_"--_The Dean_
    --_The Canons_--_The Prebends_--_Residentiaries_--_Treasurer_
    --_Chancellor_--_Archdeacons_--_Minor Canons_--_Chantries_
    --_Obits_--_Music in Old St. Paul's_--_Tallis_--_Redford_--_Byrd_
    --_Morley_--_Dramatic Performances_--_The Boy Bishop_--_The Gift
    of the Buck and Doe._


We have recorded the building of the Cathedral and some of the
principal national events of which it was the scene. But it is also
necessary, if our conception of its history is to aim at completeness,
to consider the character of its services, of its officers, of its
everyday life.

We speak of St. Paul's as "a Cathedral of the Old Foundation," and
of Canterbury and Winchester as of "the New Foundation." What is
the difference? The two last named, along with seven others, had
monasteries attached to them. Of such monasteries the Bishop was the
Abbot, and the cathedral was immediately ruled by his subordinate, who
was the Prior. Other monasteries also had Priors, namely, those which
were attached to greater ones. Thus the "Alien" houses belonged to
great monasteries at a distance, some of them even across the sea, in
Normandy. These houses became very unpopular, as being colonies of
foreigners whose interests were not those of England, and they were
abolished in the reign of Henry V. When Henry VIII. went further
and dissolved the monasteries altogether, it became needful to
reconstitute those cathedrals which were administered by monks. St.
Paul's not being such, remained on the old foundation; Winchester, of
which the Bishop was Abbot of the Monastery of St. Swithun, was placed
under a Dean and Canons, as was the great Monastery of Christchurch,
Canterbury. The last Prior of Winchester became the first Dean. It is
clear, therefore, that the Dean of Winchester stands on a somewhat
different historical footing from the Dean of St. Paul's, and it
becomes necessary to say something about the latter.

The word Dean belongs to the ancient Roman law, _Decanus_, lit. one
who has authority over ten, as a centurion was one who had authority
over a hundred. The Deans seem originally to have been especially
concerned with the management of funerals. Presently the name became
adopted to Christian use, and was applied in monasteries to those who
had charge of the discipline of every ten monks. When the Abbot was
absent the senior Dean undertook the government; and thus it was that
in cathedral churches which were monastic it gradually became the
custom to have one who acted as Dean, and this system was gradually
adopted in secular cathedrals, like St. Paul's. In monasteries,
however, the Dean was so far subordinate to the Prior that he had
charge of the music and ritual, while the Prior had a general
superintendence.

The clergy of St. Paul's then were seculars. There were thirty of
them, called Canons, as being entered on the list ([Greek: kanôn]) of
ecclesiastics serving the church. Each man was entitled to a portion
of the income of the cathedral, and therefore was a "Prebendary," the
name being derived from the daily rations (præbenda) served out to
soldiers. There were thirty Canons or Prebendaries attached to St.
Paul's, and these with the Bishop and Dean formed the Great Chapter.
To them in theory belonged the right of electing the Bishop; but it
was only theory, as it is still. The real nominator was the Pope or
the King, whichever happened at the crisis to be in the ascendant.

In early days the Bishop was the ruling power inside the cathedral. At
its first foundation, as we have seen, it was the Bishops who exerted
themselves to raise the money for the building. But as time went on
the Bishops, finding their hands full of affairs of state, stood aside
in great measure, retired to their pleasant home at Fulham, and left
to the Dean greater power. And thus it was that, as we have already
told, Dean Ralph de Diceto built the Deanery. And thus gradually the
Dean became practical ruler of the cathedral--the Bishop had no voice
in affairs of the Chapter, except on appeal. And it is a curious fact
that the Canons attempted to exclude the Dean from the managing body,
as having no Prebend. He could expel from the choir, and punish the
contumacious, but they contended that he had no power to touch the
revenues. It was because of this that Bishop Sudbury (1370), in order
to prevent the scandal of the Dean being excluded when the Chapter
were discussing business, attached a prebendal stall to the Deanery,
and thereby enabled him to preside, without possibility of cavil, at
all meetings of the Chapter.

As the Canons, or at any rate many of them, had other churches, they
had each his deputy, who said the service in the Cathedral. Each
Prebendary had his own manor, and there were other manors which
belonged to the common stock, and supplied the means of carrying on
the services and paying the humbler officials. The Canons, it will be
remembered, were secular, not monks; but they had a common "College,"
with a refectory, kitchen, brewhouse, bakehouse, and mill. Archdeacon
Hale computed that the manors comprised in all about 24,000 acres,
three-eighths of which were managed by the cathedral body, and the
rest let to tenants, who had protecting rights of their own. In
addition to these were the estates attached to the Deanery.

But with the changes which Time is always bringing, it came to pass
that some of the Canons, who held other benefices (and the number
increased as the years went on), preferred to live on their prebendal
manors, or in their parishes; to follow, in short, the Bishop's
example of non-attendance at the cathedral. And thus the services
devolved on a few men who stayed on and were styled Residentiaries.
These clerics not only had their keep at the common College, which
increased in comfort and luxury, but also came in for large incomes
from oblations, obits, and other privileges. At first it seemed
irksome to be tied down to residence, but as time went on this became
a privilege eagerly sought after; and thus grew up, what continues
still, a chapter within the chapter, and the management of the
cathedral fell into the hands of the Residentiaries.

[Illustration: A PONTIFICAL MASS. 'Ad te levavi animam meam.' _From a
Missal of the Fifteenth Century. British Museum_, 19897.]

The Treasurer was a canon of very great importance; the tithes of four
churches came to him. He was entrusted with the duty of providing the
lighting of the cathedral, and had charge of the relics, the books,
the sacred vessels, crosses, curtains, and palls. The Sacrist had
to superintend the tolling of the bells, to see that the church was
opened at the appointed times, that it was kept clean, and that
reverence was maintained at times of service. Under him were four
Vergers (wand-bearers), who enforced the Sacrist's rules, and took
care that bad characters were not harboured in the church, and that
burden-bearers were kept out. We have seen that these duties fell
largely into abeyance at certain times. Every Michaelmas Day the
Verger appeared before the Dean to give up his wand, and to receive it
back if his character was satisfactory. The Verger was bound to be a
bachelor, because, said the statute, "having a wife is a troublesome
and disturbing affair, and husbands are apt to study the wishes of
their wives or their mistresses, and no man can serve two masters."

The Chancellor kept charge of the correspondence of the Chapter, and
also superintended the schools belonging to the cathedral.

The Archdeacons of London, Middlesex, and Colchester had their own
stalls in the cathedral, but had no voice in the Chapter.

The Minor Canons, twelve in number, formed a separate college, founded
in the time of Richard II. They were, of course, under the authority
of the cathedral, though they had independent estates of their own.

The Scriptorium of St. Paul's was an important department, and was
well managed. Much of the work produced in it perished in the fire;
but there are some of its manuscripts still happily preserved, notably
the _Majora Statuta_ of the cathedral, in the Library there, and a
magnificent folio of Diceto's History, now in Lambeth Library.

Incidental notice has been taken in the preceding pages of Chantries
in St. Paul's, but we have to speak more fully of these, for they
formed a very large source of income, especially to the Residentiary
Canons. These Chantries were founded for saying masses for the souls
of the departed, even to the end of the world. St. Paul's was almost
beyond measure rich in them. The oldest was founded in the reign of
Henry II., after which time they multiplied so fast that it would
be impossible to enumerate them all here. There is a return of them
(quoted at length by Dugdale), which was made by order of King Edward
VI. Take the description of the second of them as he gives it. "The
next was ordained by Richard, surnamed Nigell [Fitzneal], Bishop of
London in King Richard I.'s time, who having built two altars in this
cathedral, the one dedicated to St. Thomas the Martyr, and the other
to St. Dionis, assigned eight marks yearly rent, to be received out
of the church of Cestreheart, for the maintaining of two priests
celebrating every day thereat; viz., one for the good estate of the
King of England and Bishop of London for the time being; as also for
all the congregation of this church, and the faithful parishioners
belonging thereto, and the other for the souls of the Kings of England
and Bishops of London, and all the faithful deceased: which grant was
confirmed by the Chapter." This is a fair specimen; they go on page
after page in Dugdale's folio. William de Sanctæ Mariæ ecclesia (he
was Dean 1241-1243) leaves 120 marks for bread and beer yearly to
a priest who shall celebrate for his soul and for the souls of his
predecessors, successors, parents, and benefactors. Sometimes special
altars are named at which the Mass is to be said, "St. Chad, St.
Nicholas, St. Ethelbert the King, St. Radegund, St. James, the twelve
Apostles, St. John the Evangelist, St. John Baptist, St. Erkenwald,
St. Sylvester, St. Michael, St. Katharine." I take them as they
come in the successive testaments. The following passage is worth
quoting:--"In 19 Ed. II. Roger de Waltham, a Canon of this church,
enfeoft the Dean and Chapter of certain messuages and shops lying
within the city of London, for the support of two priests to pray
perpetually for his soul, and for the souls of his parents and
benefactors, within the chapel of St. John the Baptist in the south
part of this cathedral; as also for the soul of Antony Beck, Patriarch
of Jerusalem, and Bishop of Durham. And further directed that out
of the revenue of these messuages, &c., there should be a yearly
allowance to the said Dean and Chapter, to keep solemn processions in
this church on the several days of the invention and exaltation of the
Holy Cross, as also of St. John Baptist; wearing their copes at those
times in such sort as they used on all the great festivals; and
likewise out of his high devotion to the service of God, and that it
should be the more venerably performed therein, he gave divers costly
vestments thereto, some whereof were set with precious stones,
expressly directing that in all masses wherein himself by particular
name was to be commended, as also at his anniversary, and in those
festivals of the Holy Cross, St. John Baptist, and St. Laurence the
Deacon, they should be used. And, moreover, out of his abundant piety
he founded a certain Oratory on the south side of the Choir in this
cathedral, towards the upper end thereof, to the honour of God, our
Lady, St. Laurence, and All Saints, and adorned it with the images
of our blessed Saviour, St. John Baptist, St. Laurence, and St. Mary
Magdalene; so likewise with the pictures of the celestial Hierarchy,
the joys of the blessed Virgin, and others, both in the roof about
the altar, and other places within and without; in which Oratory the
chantry before mentioned was placed, and the said anniversary to be
kept. And, lastly, in the south wall, opposite to the said Oratory,
erected a glorious tabernacle, which contained the image of the
said blessed Virgin, sitting as it were in childbed; as also of our
Saviour, in swaddling clothes, lying between the ox and the ass, and
St. Joseph at her feet; above which was another image of her, standing
with the child in her arms. And on the beam, thwarting from the upper
end of the Oratory to the before-specified childbed, placed the
crowned images of our Saviour and his mother sitting in one
tabernacle; as also the images of St. Katharine and St. Margaret,
virgins and martyrs; neither was there any part of the said Oratory,
or roof thereof, but he caused it to be beautified with comely
pictures and images, to the end that the memory of our blessed Saviour
and His saints, especially of the glorious Virgin, His mother, might
be always the more famous: in which Oratory he designed that his
sepulture should be."

[Illustration: JOHN FISHER, BISHOP OF ROCHESTER. _After Holbein_.
_British Museum_.]

[Illustration: ST. MATTHEW. _View of a Mediæval Scriptorium. _From a
MS. of a Book of Prayers. 15th Century._ _British Museum, Slo. 2468._]

[Illustration: A REQUIEM MASS. _From a MS. of a Book of Prayers, 15th
Century._ _British Museum, Slo. 2468._]

[Illustration: SINGING THE PLACEBO. _From a MS. of Hours of the
Virgin, &c. Fifteenth Century. British Museum, Harl. 2971._]

[Illustration: SEALS OF THE DEAN AND CHAPTER. _From Casts in the
Library of St. Paul's Cathedral._]

[Illustration: ORGAN AND TRUMPETS. _From a Collection of Miniatures
from Choral Service Books. Fourteenth Century. British Museum,
29902._]


Bishop Richard of Gravesend (d. at Fulham, 1306) made his will at his
Manor House of Haringay, in 1302. It is written with his own hand, and
the opening words are: "Imprimis, Tibi, o pie Redemptor, et potens
Salvator animarum, Domine Jesu Christe, animam meam commendo; Tibi
etiam, o summe Sacerdos et vere Pontifex animarum, commendo universam
plebem Londonensis civitatis et diocæsis; obsecrans te, per medicinam
vulnerum tuorum, qui in cruce pependisti, ut mihi et ipsis, concessa
perfecta venia peccatorum, concedas nos ad tuam misericordiam
pervenire, et frui beatitudine, tuis electis perenniter repromissâ."
After which he goes on to direct that he shall be buried close to his
predecessor, Henry de Sandwiche, whom he calls his special benefactor,
and that the marble covering his grave shall not rise higher than
the pavement; that out of his personal estate, consisting of books,
household goods, corn and cattle, which together is valued at 2000
marks, 140_l_. shall be given to the poor, 100 marks to the new fabric
of the cathedral, and that lands of the value of 10_l_. a year shall
be bought for the founding of a chantry here for his soul, and for the
keeping of his anniversary.

In the Inventory of his goods we have interesting information about
values: wheat is reckoned at 4_s_. the quarter, peas at 2_s_. 6_d._,
and oats at 2_s._ Bulls are worth 7_s._ 4_d._ each, kine 6_s._, fat
muttons 1_s._, ewes 8_d._, capons 2_d._, cocks and hens 1_d._ His
nephew, Stephen, who succeeded him thirteen years later, allows only
100 marks for the expenses of his funeral, quoting St. Augustine that
funeral parade may be a certain comfort to the living, but is of no
advantage to the dead. He disposes of 140_l._ to the poor tenants on
his manors. Bishop Michael Northburgh (d. 1362) left the rents of
certain houses which he had built at Fulham for a chantry priest, who
was to be appointed by the Bishop of London. He also desired to be
buried on the same day he died, with his face exposed to view, outside
the west door of the cathedral. His endowment of the chantry being
judged to be insufficient, one of the nominated chantry priests gave a
further endowment for it. This Bishop Northburgh left 2000_l._ for
the completion of the house of the Carthusians (Charter House) in
co-operation with Sir Walter Manny. He also left 1000 marks to be put
into a chest in the Cathedral Treasury, out of which any poor layman
might, for a sufficient pledge, borrow 10_l._, the Dean and principal
Canons 20_l._ upon the like pledge; the Bishop 40_l._; other noblemen
or citizens 20_l._ for the term of a year. If at the year's end the
money was not repaid, the preacher at Paul's Cross was to notify the
fact, and to announce that the pledge would be sold within fourteen
days if it were not redeemed, and any surplus from the sale would be
handed to the borrower, or his executors. If there were no executors
then the money was to go back to the chest, and be spent for the
health of his soul. There were three keys to the chest, one was kept
by the Dean, another by the oldest Canon-resident, and the third by a
Warden appointed by the Chapter.

One keeps on finding benefactions of this sort. In 1370 one John
Hiltoft's executors handed over some money which the Chapter employed
in repairing some ruined houses; but they took care to establish a
chantry of one chaplain to celebrate Divine service daily in St.
Dunstan's Chapel for the soul of the said John.

We have already made mention of the chantry which Henry IV. founded
to the memory of his father and mother. Bishop Braybrooke on that
occasion gave a piece of ground, part of his palace, 36 feet by 19
feet, for the habitation of the priests attached to this chantry. And
King Henry, we are told, "gave to the Dean and Chapter, and their
successors, for ever, divers messuages and lands, lying within
the City of London, for the anniversary of the said John, Duke of
Lancaster, his father, on the 4th day of February, and of Blanch,
his mother, on the 12th day of September yearly in this church, with
Placebo and Dirige, nine Antiphons, nine Psalms, and nine Lessons, in
the exequies of either of them; as also Mass of Requiem, with note, on
the morrow to be performed at the high altar for ever; and moreover to
distribute unto the said Dean and Chapter these several sums, viz.,
to the Dean, as often as he shall be present, three shillings and
fourpence; to the principal canons, twenty pence (to the sum of 16_s._
8_d._); to the petty canons, ten shillings; to the chaplains, twenty
shillings; to the vicars, four shillings and eightpence; to the
choristers, two shillings and sixpence; to the vergers, twelvepence;
to the bell-ringers, fourpence; to the keeper of the lamps about
the tomb of the said duke and duchess, at each of their said
anniversaries, sixpence; to the Mayor of London for the time being, in
respect of his presence at the said anniversaries, three shillings and
fourpence; to the Bishop of London, for the rent of the house where
the said chantry priests did reside, ten shillings; and for to find
eight great tapers to burn about that tomb on the day of the said
anniversaries, at the exequies, and mass on the morrow, and likewise
at the processions, masses, and vespers on every great festival, and
upon Sundays at the procession, mass, and second vespers for ever. And
lastly, to provide for those priests belonging to that chapel on the
north part of the said tomb, a certain chalice, missal, and portvoise
[Breviary] according to the Ordinale Sarum; as also vestments, bread,
wine, wax, and glasses, and other ornaments and necessaries for the
same, and repairs of their mansion." A few years later another chantry
was founded at the same altar for the soul of Henry IV. himself.

As years went on, the provision for all these Chantries being found
inadequate to maintain them, some were united together, and thus, at
their dissolution in the first year of Edward VI., it was found that
there were only thirty-five, to which belonged fifty-four priests.

In addition to the Chantries were the _Obits_ held by the Dean and
Canons, particular anniversaries of deaths. They varied in value
according to the donors' endowment from 4_l._ to 10_s._ Dugdale gives
a long list of them.

This cathedral was wonderfully rich in plate and jewels, so much so
that, as Dugdale says, the very inventory would fill a volume. To take
only one illustration: King John of France when he was brought here by
the Black Prince "gave an oblation of twelve nobles at the shrine of
St. Erkenwald, the same at that of the Annunciation, twenty-six floren
nobles at the Crucifix by the north door, four basins of gold at the
high altar; and, at the hearing of Mass, after the Offertory, gave to
the Dean then officiating, five floren nobles, which the said Dean
and John Lyllington (the weekly petty canon), his assistant, had. All
which being performed, he gave, moreover, in the chapter-house, fifty
floren nobles to be distributed amongst the officers of the church."

With regard to the character of the services before the Reformation,
we have but few data to go upon. In 1414 Bishop Richard Clifford, with
the consent of the Dean and Chapter, ordained that from the first day
of December following, the use of Sarum should be observed. Up to that
time there had been a special "Usus Sancti Pauli."

There was an organ in the church, or rather, to use the old phrase, a
"pair of organs," for the instrument had a plural name like "a pair of
bellows." Organs were in use in the church at any rate in the fourth
century, and were introduced into England by Archbishop Theodore. In
old times there was no official organist; the duty was taken by the
master of the choristers or one of the gentlemen of the choir. In
churches of the regular foundation a monk played.

English Church music, in its proper sense, began with the Reformation.
In the Roman Church, the great genius of Palestrina had produced
nothing less than a revolution as regards the ancient Plain Song; and
with the English Liturgy we associate the honoured names of Tallis,
Merbecke, Byrd, Farrant in the early days, and a splendid list of
successors right down to our time, wherein is still no falling off.
Tallis is supposed by Rimbault to have been a pupil of Mulliner, the
organist of St. Paul's, but there is no evidence to support this. It
must be confessed that his service in the Dorian mode, which heads the
collection in Boyce's Cathedral Music, and which is indeed the first
harmonised setting of the Canticles ever composed for the English
Liturgy, is very dull, but his harmony of the Litany and of the
Versicles after the Creed, has never been equalled for beauty. His
Canon tune, to which we sing Ken's Evening Hymn, is also unsurpassed,
and his anthem, "If ye love Me," is one of wonderful sweetness and
devout feeling. John Redford was his contemporary, and was organist
of St. Paul's, 1530-1540. His anthem, "Rejoice in the Lord," is as
impressive and stately as Tallis's that I have just named. It is
frequently sung at St. Paul's still. William Byrd was senior chorister
of St. Paul's in 1554. I hold his service in D minor to be the finest
which had as yet been set to the Reformed Liturgy--the Nicene Creed
in particular is of marvellous beauty. Tallis had not attempted
"expression" in his setting of the Canticles. The meaning seems to
breathe all through Byrd's harmonies. I did not know until I read Sir
George Grove's article upon him, that Byrd secretly remained a Roman
Catholic, but I long ago made up my mind, on my own judgment, that his
most pathetic anthem, "Bow thine ear," was a wail over the iconoclasm
in St. Paul's. He died in extreme old age in 1623. Morley was another
organist of St. Paul's, the author of a fine setting of the Burial
Service. Paul Hentzner, who visited St. Paul's in 1598, says in his
_Itinerary_, "It has a very fine organ, which at evensong, accompanied
with other instruments, makes excellent music."

Concerning the dramatic performances which went on in the cathedral at
certain times, there is nothing peculiar to St. Paul's that I know
of to mention. These performances were originally intended for
instruction, pictorial representations of scenes from the Bible and
Church History, but often degenerating into coarse buffoonery and
horseplay. The "Boy Bishop" was for many generations an established
institution. One ceremony there was, peculiar to St. Paul's, namely,
"The Offering of a Buck and Doe." Sir William le Baud in 1328 made a
yearly grant to the Dean and Canons of a doe to be presented on the
Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, and of a fat buck to be offered
at the midsummer commemoration of the same Apostle.

These were to be offered at the high altar by Sir William and his
descendants, and afterwards to be distributed among the Canons
resident. This gift was in acknowledgment of a grant which they had
made him of twenty-two acres of land adjoining his park in Essex.
There was a grand ceremonial on each occasion, the Canons wore their
best vestments and garlands of flowers, and there was a procession
round the church, with the horns of the buck carried on a spear, and
a great noise of horn-blowers. Camden describes it all, as an
eye-witness. This festivity came to an end in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth.

[Illustration: BISHOP AND CANONS IN THE CHURCH OF ST. GREGORY-BY-ST.
PAUL. _From a MS. of Lydgate's Life of St. Edmund. British Museum,
Harl. 2278._]

Our illustration, showing the costume of the clergy of St. Paul's, is
taken from a MS. of Lydgate's _Life of St. Edmund_, written in the
fifteenth century, and decorated with many miniatures. It represents
the coffin of St. Edmund temporarily deposited in the church of St.
Gregory-by-St. Paul's (having been brought up from Bury for safety
during an incursion of the Danes), and an attempt by the Bishop and
Canons to secure so precious a relic for the cathedral. Here is
Lydgate's metrical version of the story, telling how the attempt was
frustrated by the Saint himself.

  He cam to Londene toward eve late,
  At whos komyng blynde men kauhte syht.
  And whan he was entred Crepylgate
  They that were lame be grace they goon upryht,
  Thouhtful peeple were maad glad and lyht;
  And ther a woman contrauct al hir lyve,
  Crying for helpe, was maad hool as blyve.

  Thre yeer the martir heeld ther resydence,
  Tyl Ayllewyn be revelacion
  Took off the Bysshop upon a day licence
  To leede Kyng Edmund ageyn to Bury town.
  But by a maner symulacion
  The bysshop granteth, and under that gan werche
  Hym to translate into Powlys cherche;

  Upon a day took with hym clerkis thre,
  Entreth the cherche off seyn Gregory,
  In purpose fully, yiff it wolde be,
  To karye the martir fro thenys prevyly.
  But whan the bysshop was therto most besy
  With the body to Poulis forto gon,
  Yt stood as fyx as a gret hill off ston.

  Multitude ther myhte noon avayle,
  Al be they dyde ther fforce and besy peyne;
  For but in ydel they spent ther travayle.
  The peple lefte, the bysshop gan dysdeyne:
  Drauht off corde nor off no myhty chayne
  Halp lyte or nouht--this myracle is no fable--
  For lik a mount it stood ylyche stable.

  Wherupon the bysshop gan mervaylle,
  Fully diffraudyd off his entencion.
  And whan ther power and fforce gan to faylle,
  Ayllewyn kam neer with humble affeccion,
  Meekly knelyng sayde his orysoun:
  The kyng requeryng lowly for Crystes sake
  His owyn contre he sholde not forsake.

  With this praier Ayllewyn aroos,
  Gan ley to hand: fond no resistence,
  Took the chest wher the kyng lay cloos,
  Leffte hym up withoute violence.
  The bysshop thanne with dreed and reverence
  Conveyed hym forth with processioun,
  Till he was passid the subarbis off the toun.

       *       *       *       *       *




CHAPTER VII.

FROM THE ACCESSION OF THE STUARTS TILL THE DESTRUCTION OF THE
CATHEDRAL.


    _Fresh signs of Decay and Neglect_--_Visit of James I._--_Bishop
    Earle's Account of Paul's Walk_--_Laud's Letter to the Citizens_
    --_Sir Paul Pindar's Munificence_--_The Rebellion_--_Monuments
    of the Stuart Period:_ _Carey_, _Donne_, _Stokesley_, _Ravis_,
    _King_, _Vandyke_--_Attempts at Restoration:_ _Inigo Jones_,
    _Wren_--_The Great Fire:_ _Accounts of Pepys and Evelyn_,
    _Eye-witnesses_--_Sancroft's desire to Restore the Old Cathedral
    found quite impossible_--_Final Decision to Build a New One._


We saw how, in the reign of Elizabeth, a great calamity befell the
cathedral in the falling of the spire, and through this the great
injury to the roof, and further how the Queen, as well as the
citizens, endeavoured to repair the damage. The spire was not rebuilt,
but the roof was renewed. But fifty years later it was discovered that
the work had been fraudulently done, and the church was falling to
pieces. James I. came with much ceremony, in consequence of the
importunities which he received, to survey the cathedral,[1] and in
consequence of what he saw he appointed a commission to consider what
steps should be taken. At the head of it was the Lord Mayor, and
amongst the names is that of "Inigo Jones, Esquire, Surveyor to his
Majesty's Works." This remarkable man, though he was born in the
parish of St. Bartholomew the Less, Smithfield, was educated in Italy,
through the generosity of Herbert, third Earl of Pembroke.

[Illustration: MONUMENT OF DR. DONNE. _After W. Hollar._]

[Illustration: PREACHING AT PAUL'S CROSS BEFORE JAMES I. _From a
painting by H. Farley. Collection of the Society of Antiquaries._]

[Illustration: OLD ST. PAUL'S FROM THE THAMES. _After W. Hollar._]

[Illustration: WEST FRONT AFTER THE FIRE. _From a drawing in the
Library of St. Paul's Cathedral._]


He now took the lead in the restoration of St. Paul's. It must be
acknowledged that after the first outburst of zeal following the
fire of 1561, St. Paul's was much neglected for many long years. The
authorities were lukewarm, the services were dead and unattractive,
and all manner of irreverence was seen there daily. Bishop Earle's
_Microcosmography_ (1628) often gets quoted, but his description
of "Paule's Walke" ought to find place here. I take it from a
contemporary MS. copy. Paul's Walk was the whole nave of the
cathedral:--"Paule's Walke is the lande's epitomy, or you may call it,
the lesser Ile [Aisle] of Greate Brittayne. It is more than this,
the whole woorlde's map, which you may here discerne in its perfect
motion, justling and turning. It is an heape of stones and men, with
a vast confusion of languages, and were the steeple not sanctified,
nothing liker Babell. The noyse of it is like that of bees, an humming
buzze mixed with walking tongues, and feet. It is a kind of still
rore, or loude whisper. It is the greate exchange of all discourse,
and noe business whatsoever but it is here stirring and on foote. It
is the Synode of all pates politicke, jointed and layed together
in most serious postures; and they are not halfe soe busy at the
Parliament. It is the anticke of tayles to tayles, and backes to
backes, and for vizzards you neede goe noe further than faces. Tis
the market of young lecturers, which you may cheapen at all rates and
sizes. It is the generall mint of famous lyes, which are here (like
the legendes of Popery) first coyned, and stamped in the church. All
inventions are emptied here, and not few pockettes. The best signe of
a temple in it, is that it is the thieves' sanctuary, whoe rob here
more safely in a crowde than in a wildernesse, whilst every searcher
is a bush to hide them in. It is the other expence of a day after
playes and the taverne ... and men have still some othes left to
swear here.... The visitants are all men without exception, but the
principall inhabitants are stale knights and captains out of servis,
men with long rapiers and breeches, who after all turne merchant here,
and trafficke for news. Some make it a preface to dinner and travell
for a stomache, but thriftier men make it their ordinary, and boarde
here very cheape. Of all such places it is least troubled with
hobgoblins, for if a ghost would walk here he could not." Of "the
singing men" he draws a most unfavourable picture, accuses them of
drunkenness and shameful looseness of life; says that they are
earnest in evil deeds and that their work in the cathedral is their
recreation. Bishop Pilkington also speaks of the profanity and
worldliness of the daily frequenters. The carrying merchandise into
the building seems to have been the custom in many of the cathedrals,
and so it is not wonderful that the building went to ruin. The Bishop
of London, Laud, sent round exhortations to the City Companies to
contribute to the restoration. Here is his letter to the Barber
Surgeons, dated January 30th, 1632:--

"To the right worshipful my very worthy friends the Master Wardens and
Assistants of the Company of Barber Surgeons, London, these:

    "_Salus in Christo._ After my very hearty commendations you cannot
    but take notice of his Majesty's most honest and pious intention
    for the repair of the decay of Saint Paul's Church here in London,
    being the mother church of this City and Diocese, and the great
    Cathedral of this Kingdom. A great dishonour it is, not only to
    this City, but to the whole state to see that ancient and goodly
    pile of building so decayed as it is, but it will be a far greater
    if care should not be taken to prevent the fall of it into ruin.
    And it would be no less disgrace to religion, happily established
    in this kingdom, if it should have so little power over the minds
    of men as not to prevail with them to keep those eminent places of
    God's service in due and decent repair, which their forefathers
    built in times, by their own confession, not so full of the
    knowledge of God's truth as this present age is. I am not ignorant
    how many worthy works have been done of late in and about this
    City towards the building and repairing of churches, which makes
    me hope that every man's purse will open to this great and
    necessary work (according to God's blessing upon him), so much
    tending to the service of God and the honour of this nation. The
    general body of this City have done very worthily in their bounty
    already, also the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Sheriffs severally,
    for their own persons. These are, therefore, according to their
    examples, heartily to pray and desire you, the Master Warden and
    other assistants of the worthy Company of Barber Surgeons to
    contribute out of your public stock to the work aforesaid, what
    you out of your charity and devotion shall think fit, and to pay
    the sum resolved on by you into the Chamber of London at or before
    our Lady Day next, praying you that I may receive by any servant
    of your Company a note what the sum is which you resolve to give.
    And for this charity of yours, whatever it shall prove to be, I
    shall not only give you hearty thanks, but be as ready to serve
    you, and every of you, as you are to serve God and His Church. So,
    not doubting of your love and forwarding to this great work, I
    leave you to the grace of God, and shall so rest,

  "Your very loving Friend,
  "GUL: LONDON."


The Court considered this letter on the 9th of April following, and
agreed to pay £10 down, and the same sum each year for the next nine
years.

We must not omit one munificent donor who came forward now: Sir Paul
Pindar, who had made a large fortune as a Turkey merchant, and had
been sent by King James as Ambassador to Constantinople, gave over
£10,000 to the restoration of the cathedral. He died in 1650, and his
beautifully picturesque house remained in Bishopsgate Street (it had
been turned, like Crosby Hall, into a tavern) until 1890, when it was
pulled down. Some of the most striking portions of its architecture
are preserved in the Kensington Museum.

That the alterations and additions of Inigo Jones, under King James,
were altogether incongruous with the old building everybody will
admit. But there are excuses to be made. He knew very little about
Gothic architecture. The only example now remaining of his attempts in
this style is the Chapel of Lincoln's Inn. St. Katharine Cree in the
City has been attributed to him, but with little probability. And if
he had essayed to work in Gothic at St. Paul's, it would not have been
in accordance with precedent. Nearly all our great cathedrals display
endless varieties of style, because it was the universal practice of
our forefathers to work in the style current in their own time. We
rejoice to see Norman and Perpendicular under one roof, though they
represent periods 400 years apart. In the case before us Gothic
architecture had died out for the time being. Not only our Reformers,
who did not require aisles for processions nor rich choirs, but
the Jesuits also, who had sprung suddenly into mighty power on the
Continent, repudiated mediæval art, and strove to adapt the classical
reaction in Europe to their own tenets. Nearly all the Jesuit churches
abroad are classical.

It was, no doubt, fortunate that Inigo Jones confined his work at St.
Paul's to some very poor additions to the transepts, and to a portico,
very magnificent in its way, at the west end. He would have destroyed,
doubtless, much of the noble nave in time; but his work was abruptly
brought to an end by the outbreak of the Civil War. The work had
languished for some years, under the continuance of causes which I
have already adduced. But Laud, as Bishop of London, had displayed
most praiseworthy zeal, and King Charles had supported him generously.
When the troubles began, the funds ceased. In 1640 there had been
contributions amounting to £10,000. In 1641 they fell to less than
£2000; in 1643 to £15. In 1642 Paul's Cross had been pulled down,
and in the following March Parliament seized on the revenues of the
cathedral.

With the Rebellion the history of the cathedral may be said to be a
blank. It would have been troublesome and expensive to pull it down,
so it was left to decay; the revenues were seized for military uses,
and the sacred vessels sold. There is a doubtful tradition that
Cromwell tried to sell the building to the Jews for a stately
synagogue. Inigo Jones's portico was let out for shops, the nave was
turned into cavalry barracks. An order, quoted by Sir Henry Ellis,
of which there is a copy in the British Museum, came out in 1651
prohibiting the soldiers from playing at ninepins from nine p.m. till
six a.m., as the noise disturbs the residents in the neighbourhood,
and they are also forbidden to disturb the peaceable passers by. At
the Church of St. Gregory by St. Paul, towards the latter part of
Cromwell's life, it is said that the liturgy of the Church was
regularly used, through the influence of his daughter, Elizabeth
Claypole, and not only so, but that he used sometimes to attend it
under the same auspices.

Once more before the catastrophe let us pause and see what monuments
had been erected in the Cathedral since the Stuarts mounted the
throne. Dean VALENTINE CAREY was also Bishop of Exeter, d. 1626, a
High Churchman, He "imprudently commended the soul of a dead person to
the mercies of God, which he was forced to retract." There was a brass
to him with mitre and his arms, but no figure.

Then we come to a monument which has a very great and unique interest,
that of Dr. John Donne, who was Dean from 1621 to 1631. It is hardly
needful to say that his life is the first in the beautiful set of
biographies by his friend, Izaak Walton. But it seems only right to
quote Walton's account of this monument. The Dean knew that he was
dying, and his friends expressed their desire to know his wishes. He
sent for a carver to make for him in wood the figure of an urn, giving
him directions for the compass and height of it, and to bring with
it a board, of the just height of his body. "These being got, then
without delay a choice painter was got to be in readiness to draw his
picture, which was taken as followeth:--Several charcoal fires being
first made in his large study, he brought with him into that place his
winding-sheet in his hand, and, having put off all his clothes, had
this sheet put on him, and so tied with knots at his head and feet,
and his hands so placed as dead bodies are usually fitted to be
shrouded and put into their coffin or grave. Upon this urn he thus
stood, with his eyes shut, and with so much of the sheet turned aside
as might show his lean, pale, and death-like face, which was purposely
turned towards the East, from whence he expected the second coming of
his and our Saviour Jesus." In this posture he was drawn at his just
height; and when the picture was fully finished, he caused it to be
set by his bedside, where it continued, and became his hourly object
till his death, and was then given to his dearest friend and executor,
Dr. Henry King, then chief Residentiary of St. Paul's, who caused
him to be thus carved in one entire piece of white marble, as it now
stands in that church; and, by Dr. Donne's own appointment, these
words were affixed to it as an epitaph:--

  JOHANNES DONNE
  Sac. Theol. Profess.
  Post varia studia, quibus ab annis
  Tenerrimis fideliter, nec infeliciter
  incubuit;
  Instinctu et impulsu Spiritus Sancti, monitu
  et hortatu
  Regis Jacobi, ordines sacros amplexus
  Anno sui Jesu, MDCXIV. et suæ ætatis XLII
  Decanatu hujus ecclesiæ indutus,
  XXVII. Novembris, MDCXXI.
  Exutus morte ultimo die Martii MDCXXXI.
  Hic, licet in occiduo cinere, aspicit eum
  Cujus nomen est oriens.


[Transcriber's Note: Below is the inscription, as it appears in the
Illustration.]

  IOHANNI DONNE
  SAC: THEOL: PROFESS:
  POST VARIA STVDIA QVIBVS
  AB ANNIS TENERIBVS FIDELI
  TER NEC INF[OE]LICITER INCVBUIT
  INSTINCTV ET IMPVLSV SPIR SCTI:
  MONITV ET HORTATV REGIS IACOBI
  ORDINES SACROS AMPLEXVS
  ANNO SVI IESV 1614 ET SVE ÆTAT 42
  DECANATVS RVTVS ECCLES: INDVTVS
  27° NOVEMB. 1621.
  EXVTVS MORTE VLTIMO DIE
  MARTII A 1631.
  HIC IACET IN OCCIDVO CINERE
  ASPICIT EVM
  CVIVS NOMEN EST ORIENS.


The unique interest attaching to this monument is in the fact that it
was saved from the ruins of the old cathedral and now adorns the wall
of the south choir aisle.

There are three more Bishops of this later period.

JOHN STOKESLEY (1530-1539) distinguished himself by his zeal in
burning Bibles, and using all his influence on the side of Henry VIII.
on the divorce, by his burning of heretics, and by his desire to burn
Latimer. Froude tells the whole story with vivid pen. Stokesley was
buried in St. George's Chapel in the N.E. corner of the cathedral. He
was the last of the pre-Reformation bishops buried in St. Paul's.

THOMAS RAVIS (1607-1610) was buried in the N. Aisle, with simply
a plain grave-stone telling that he was born at Malden in Surrey,
educated at Westminster and Oxford, Dean of Christ Church and Bishop
of Gloucester. But a most vigorous epitaph of him was written by his
friend and successor at Christ Church, Bishop Corbet, namely, a poem
in which extolling his virtues and his piety, he declares that it is
better to keep silence over his grave, considering the profanation
which is daily going on in the cathedral, the "hardy ruffians,
bankrupts, vicious youths," who daily go up and down Paul's Walk,
swearing, cheating, and slandering. And he sums up thus:--

  "And wisely do thy grievèd friends forbear
  Bubbles and alabaster boys to rear
  On thy religious dust, for men did know
  Thy life, which such illusions cannot show."

JOHN KING (1611-1621) was the last bishop buried in Old St. Paul's.

Some of the greatest English painters are buried in the present
cathedral. In Old St. Paul's rested the bones of Van Dyck, who may
almost be called the founder of English portrait painting, though he
was a foreigner by birth, and only an adopted Englishman. He was born
in Antwerp in 1599, became a pupil of Rubens, and, by general consent,
surpassed him in portrait painting. In this branch of art he is
probably unrivalled. He took up his residence in England in 1632, and
was knighted by Charles I. He died at a house which that King had
given him at Blackfriars, December 9th, 1641, and was buried close by
John of Gaunt.

We must not omit mention of John Tomkins, Organist of the Cathedral.
He died in 1638. His epitaph says that he was the most celebrated
organist of his time. He succeeded Orlando Gibbons at King's College,
Cambridge, in 1606, and came to St. Paul's in 1619. His compositions,
though good, are not numerous, but he is said to have been a wonderful
executant.

But we must now approach the final scenes of Old St. Paul's. At the
Restoration, Sheldon was made Bishop of London, and two years later,
on his translation to Canterbury, was succeeded by Humphrey Henchman,
a highly respectable man, who owed his elevation to his loyalty to the
Stuarts during the Commonwealth. He took no part in public affairs,
but was a liberal contributor to the funds of the cathedral. The Dean,
John Barwick, was a good musician, and restored the choir of the
cathedral to decent and orderly condition. But it was soon found that
the building was in an insecure, indeed dangerous condition, and it
became a pressing duty to put it in safe order. Inigo Jones had died
in 1652, and the Dean, Sancroft, who had succeeded Barwick in 1664,
called on Dr. Christopher Wren to survey the cathedral and report upon
it.

This famous man was the son of the Rector of East Knoyle, in Wilts,
and was born in 1632. His father had some skill in architecture, for
he put a new roof to his church, and he taught his son to draw, an art
in which he displayed extraordinary skill and taste. He was sent
to Westminster School, and, under the famous Busby, became a good
scholar. Then he went to Wadham College, Oxford, the Master of which,
Wilkins, aftewards (sic) Bishop of Chester, was a great master of
science. Wren took advantage of his opportunities, and became so
well known for his acquirements in mathematics and his successful
experiments in natural science that he was elected to a Fellowship at
All Souls'. A few years later he was appointed to the Professorship of
Astronomy at Gresham College, and his brilliant reputation made his
rooms a meeting-place of the men who subsequently founded the Royal
Society. A fresh preferment, that to the Chair of Savilian Professor
of Astronomy at Oxford, did not hinder him from pursuing a fresh line.
His father, as we have said, taught him to draw, his mathematical
skill guided his judgment in construction, and these two acquirements
turned him more and more towards architecture, though even now he was
held second only to Newton as a philosopher. His first appearance
as an architect was his acceptance of the post of Surveyor of King
Charles II.'s public works. This was in 1661. He lost no time in
starting in his new profession, for in 1663 he designed the chapel of
Pembroke College, Cambridge, which his uncle Matthew gave, and the
Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford. This, then, brings him down to the
survey of St. Paul's above named. It was carefully made, and presented
in May, 1666. How he designed to rebuild some portions which were
decayed, to introduce more light, to cut off the corners of the cross
and erect a central dome--all this boots not now to tell. The plans
were drawn, and estimates were ordered on Monday, August 27th, 1666.

But before another week had passed an effectual end was put for many a
day to all plans for the "repair of the cathedral." Pepys begins his
diary of September 2nd with the following words:--"Lord's Day.--Some
of our maids sitting up late last night to get things ready against
our feast to-day, Jane calls us up about three in the morning to tell
us of a great fire they saw in the City; so I rose and slipped on my
night-gown and went to her window, and thought it to be on the back
of Mark Lane at the farthest." He thought this was far enough off and
went to bed again. But next day he realises that it is all a terrible
business, and so he goes on to tell how he walked about the streets
and in some places burned his shoes; went on the river, where the
hot fiery flakes pursued him; went to the King and gave advice and
received instructions; met the Lord Mayor who seemed out of his
senses. So he goes on with his well-known description until September
7th, when he was "Up by five o'clock, and blessed be God! find all
well, and by water to Paul's Wharf. Walked thence and saw all the town
burned, and a miserable sight of Paul's Church, with all the roof
fallen, and the body of the choir fallen into St. Faith's; Paul's
School also, Ludgate, and Fleet Street."

Evelyn's note of the disaster is written in a higher key. "September
3rd ... I went and saw the whole south part of the City burning from
Cheapeside to the Thames, and all along Cornehill (for it likewise
kindl'd back against the wind as well as forward), Tower Streete,
Fen-church Streete, Gracious Streete, and so along to Bainard's
Castle, and was now taking hold of St. Paule's Church, to which the
scaffolds contributed exceedingly. The conflagration was so universal,
and the people so astonish'd, that from the beginning, I know not by
what despondency or fate, they hardly stirr'd to quench it, so that
there was nothing heard or seene but crying out and lamentation,
running about like distracted creatures, without at all attempting to
save even their goods--such a strange consternation there was upon
them, so as it burned both in breadth and length, the churches, public
halls, Exchange, hospitals, monuments, and ornaments, leaping after
a prodigious manner from house to house and streete to streete, at
greate distances one from the other; for the heate, with a long set of
faire and warme weather, had even ignited the aire and prepar'd the
materials to conceive the fire, which devoured after an incredible
manner, houses, furniture, and everything. Here we saw the Thames
cover'd with goods floating, all the barges and boates laden with what
some had time and courage to save, as, on the other, the carts, &c.,
carrying out to the fields, which for many miles were strew'd with
moveables of all sorts, and tents erecting to shelter both people
and what goods they could get away. Oh, the miserable and calamitous
spectacle, such as haply the world had not seene the like since the
foundation of it, nor be outdone till the universal conflagration of
it. All the skie was of a fiery aspect, like the top of a burning
oven, and the light seene above forty miles round about for many
nights. God grant mine eyes may never behold the like, who now saw
above 10,000 houses all in one flame; the noise and crackling and
thunder of the impetuous flames, the shreiking (sic) of women and
children, the hurry of people, the fall of Towers, Houses, and
Churches, was like an hideous storme, and the aire all about so hot
and inflam'd that, at the last, one was not able to approach it, so
that they were forc'd to stand still and let the flames burn on, which
they did for neere two miles in length and one in bredth. The clowds
also of smoke were dismall, and reach'd, upon computation, neer
fifty-six miles in length. Thus I left it this afternoone burning, a
resemblance of Sodom or the last day. It forcibly call'd to my mind
that passage--_non enim hic habemus stabilem civitatem:_ the ruines
resembling the picture of Troy--London was, but is no more! Thus I
returned home.

"September 7th.--I went this morning on foote from White-hall as far
as London Bridge, thro' the late Fleete-streete, Ludgate Hill, by
St. Paules, Cheapeside, Exchange, Bishopsgate, Aldersgate, and on
to Moorefields, thence thro' Cornehill, &c., with extraordinary
difficulty, clambering over heaps of yet smoking rubbish, and
frequently mistaking where I was....

"At my returne I was infinitely concern'd to find that goodly Church
St. Paules now a sad ruine, and that beautifull portico (for structure
comparable to any in Europe, as not long before repair'd by the late
King) now rent in pieces, flakes of vast stone split asunder, and
nothing now remaining intire but the inscription in the architrave,
shewing by whom it was built, which had not one letter of it defac'd.
It was astonishing to see what immense stones the heate had in
a manner calcin'd, so that all the ornaments, columns, freezes,
capitals, and projectures of massie Portland-stone flew off, even to
the very roofe, where a sheet of lead covering a great space (no less
than six akers by measure) was totally mealted; the ruines of the
vaulted roofe falling broke into St. Faith's, which being fill'd with
the magazines of bookes belonging to the Stationers, and carried
thither for safety, they were all consum'd, burning for a weeke
following. It is also observable that the lead over the altar at the
East end was untouch'd, and among the divers monuments, the body of
one Bishop remain'd intire. Thus lay in ashes that most venerable
Church, one of the most antient pieces of early piety in the Christian
world."

Sancroft, who was Dean at the time of the fire, and who afterwards
became Archbishop, was anxious to restore the cathedral on the old
lines. Henchman was Bishop, but he left the matter for the Dean to
deal with, though he not only rebuilt the Bishop's Palace at his own
expense but contributed munificently to the new building. Sancroft
preached within the ruined building before the King on October 10th,
1667, from the text, "His compassions fail not," and the sermon is
really eloquent. The congregation was gathered at the west end, which
had been hastily fitted up. The east end was absolute ruin.

Wren had already declared that it was impossible to restore the old
building, and in the following April, Sancroft wrote to him that he
had been right in so judging. "Our work at the west end," he wrote,
"has fallen about our ears." Two pillars had come down with a crash,
and the rest was so unsafe that men were afraid to go near, even to
pull it down. He added, "You are so absolutely necessary to us that
we can do nothing, resolve on nothing without you." This settled the
question.

There is a little difficulty with regard to the drawing, preserved
in the library of the cathedral, of the West Front after the Fire.
Evelyn, as we have seen, seems to describe it as far more ruinous than
the picture before us shows. Perhaps the artist filled up some of the
details from his memory, for the drawing hardly looks so desolate a
ruin as Evelyn implies. The gable of the nave roof is striking
enough, and evidently exactly according to fact; and the tower of St.
Gregory's preserves its external form, though it is inwardly
consumed, as is the whole nave. I am inclined to judge that this is
substantially the appearance of the porch after the west end had
been fitted up for worship as Sancroft described. However, Wren had
condemned the structure as unsafe, and the Dean had acquiesced, and
the new cathedral was resolved upon.

There was delay, which was inevitable. Not only was the whole city
paralysed with the awful extent of the ruin, but there were questions
which had to be referred to Parliament, as to the method of raising
the funds. Happily the whole voice of the people was of one accord in
recognising that it was a paramount duty for the nation to build a
splendid cathedral, worthy of England and of her capital city. It
was not until November 1673 that the announcement was made of the
determination of the King and his Parliament to rebuild St. Paul's.
The history of that rebuilding belongs to New St. Paul's. The King
wanted to employ a French architect, Claude Perrault, who had built
the new front of the Louvre, but this was objected to. Then Denham,
whose life may be read in Johnson's Poets, and who wrote one poem
which may still be met with, _Cooper's Hill_, was appointed the King's
Surveyor, with Wren for his "Coadjutor." Denham held the title to his
death, but had nothing to do with the work. He died next year, and
Wren then held unquestioned possession. His account of the old
building, the principal features of which have been borrowed in the
foregoing paper, is given in his son's book entitled _Parentalia_.
Our plan shows a change which Wren made as to the orientation. In all
probability this arose out of his scrupulous care as to the nature of
the foundation. The clearing away was most difficult. Parts had to
be blown up with gunpowder. It is said that when he was giving
instructions to the builders on clearing away the ruins, he called on
a workman to bring a great flat stone, which he might use as a centre
in marking out on the ground the circle of the dome. The man took out
of the rubbish the first large stone that came to hand, which was a
piece of gravestone, and, when it was laid down, it was found to have
on it the single word "RESURGAM." He took this, and there was no
superstition in such an idea, as a promise from God.

[Illustration: St Paul's in Flames. _W. Hollar fecit. A° 1666._]

[Footnote 1: There is a very amusing little book by one Henry Farley,
written in 1621, on the subject of this visit. In one paper he
personates the Cathedral, and expresses his rejoicing, "I have had
more sweeping, brushing, and cleaning, than in forty years before.
My workmen looke like him they call Muldsacke after sweeping of a
chimney." An oil painting by Farley in the collection of the Society
of Antiquaries, which we reproduce by permission, shows the houses
built against the cathedral, and blackening it with wreaths of smoke,
to which attention is drawn by this legend across the picture:--

  Viewe, O King, howe my wall creepers
  Have made mee work for chimney sweepers."]

       *       *       *       *       *




INDEX

Alfred, King
Altars
Anabaptists
Archdeacons
Architecture of Old St. Paul's
Arthur, Prince of Wales
Athelstan
Augustine
Aulus Plautius
Ave Maria Lane

Barber Surgeons
Barkham, Lord Mayor
Baud, Sir William le
Baynard's Castle
Beaufort, Cardinal
Becket, Archbishop
Becket, Gilbert
Bible, The, in St. Paul's
Bishops of London:--
  Mellitus;
  Maurice;
  Belmeis;
  Basset;
  Segrave;
  Baldock;
  Kempe;
  Bonner;
  Erkenwald;
  Fitzhugh;
  Braybrooke;
  John of Chishull;
  Roger Niger;
  Wengham;
  Fauconbridge;
  Theodred;
  William the Norman;
  Foliot;
  Montfort;
  Gravesend;
  Courtenay;
  Ridley;
  Grindal;
  Sudbury;
  Fitzneal;
  Henry de Sandwiche;
  Northburgh;
  Clifford;
  Laud;
  Stokesley;
  Sheldon;
  Henchman;
  Cranmer;
  Ravis;
  King.
Bishop's Palace, The
Black Death, The
Black Friars, The
Black Prince, The
Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster
Blois, Henry de, Bishop of Winchester
Bodleian Library, The
Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury
Boniface VIII, Pope
Bonner, Bishop
Bowyer Row
Boy Bishop, The
Brandon, Charles
Buck and Doe, The Offering of a
Bunhill Fields
Burnet, Bishop
Busby, Dr.
Byrd, William

Camden, the Antiquary
Canons, The
Cantelupe, Walter de, Bishop of Worcester
Catharine of Aragon
Cathedral of the Old Foundation, St. Paul's a
Ceremonies
Chancellor, The
Chapter, The
Chantries
Charles I.
Charles II.
Charles V.
Chaucer
Cheapside
Christ's Hospital
Churchyard, The
Civil War
Claypole, Elizabeth
Clergy, The
Cnut
Colet, Dean
College of Minor Canons, The
Constance of Castile
Convocation
Creed Lane
Cromwell, Oliver
Crosby Hall

Dance of Death, The
Dean, The
Dean and Chapter
Deans of St. Paul's:--
  More;
  Stowe;
  Ewer;
  Nowell;
  Ralph de Diceto;
  Henry of Cornhill;
  Pace;
  May;
  Wynterbourne;
  Worsley;
  Carey;
  Barwick;
  Sancroft;
  Donne;
  Colet.
Deanery
Denham, Sir John
Diana, Temple of
Doctors Commons
Dominicans
Donne, Dr.
Dramatic Performances
Dugdale
Duke Humphrey's Walk

Earle's _Microcosmography_
Edward the Confessor
Edward I.
Edward II.
Edward III.
Edward IV.
Edward VI.
Elizabeth, Queen
Erasmus
Erkenwald
Ethelbert
Ethelburga
Ethelred, Tomb of
Evelyn's Account of the Fire

Farrant, Richard
Feasts
Ferrers, Alice
Finsbury Fields
Fire, The Great
Fisher, Bishop of Rochester
Fleet River, The
Folkmote, The
Foster Lane
Foxe's _Book of Martyrs_
Francis I.
Fuller, Thomas

Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester
Garnet, the Jesuit
Grafton, the Chronicler
Gregory the Great
Gregory VII.
Gregory IX.
Grey, Lady Jane
Grey Friars, The
Gualo

Henry I.
Henry II.
Henry III.
Henry IV.
Henry V.
Henry VI.
Henry VII.
Henry VIII.
Henry II. of France
Hentzner, Paul
Herbert, William, third Earl of Pembroke
Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
Hunne, Richard, the Wycliffite

Innocent III.
Innocent IV.

Jacqueline, Duchess of Gloucester
James I.
John, King
John, King of France
John of Gaunt
Jones, Inigo
Justus of Rochester

Kilwardby, Archbishop
King, Dr. Henry

Lanfranc, Archbishop
Langton, Archbishop
Laud, Archbishop
Laurentius, Archbishop of Canterbury
Leo X.
Lilly, William
Linacre, Thomas
Lincoln's Inn Chapel
Lollards, The
Longchamp, William de
Longman's _Three Cathedrals_
Lucius, King
Ludgate Hill
Luther
Lydgate

Machyn, Robert
Magna Charta
Margaret Tudor
Mary, Princess, Duchess of Suffolk
Mary, Queen
Mellitus
Merbecke
Mercers' Company, The
Milman, Dean
Monuments:--
  Sir John Montacute;
  Bishop Kempe;
  Sir John Beauchamp;
  Bishop Barnet;
  John Westyard;
  Thomas Ewer;
  Robert Fitzhugh;
  Dean Nowell;
  Bishop Braybrooke;
  Robert Preston;
  Sir Thomas Heneage;
  Ralph Hengham;
  Sir Simon Burley;
  Sebba;
  Ethelred;
  John of Gaunt;
  William Herbert;
  John of Chishull;
  Roger Niger;
  Sir John Mason;
  William Aubrey;
  William Hewit;
  Dr. Donne;
  Dean Colet;
  Sir William Cokayne;
  John Newcourt;
  Roger Brabazon;
  Henry Wengham;
  Eustace Fauconbridge;
  William Rythyn;
  Richard Lychfield;
  Sir Nicholas Bacon;
  Sir Francis Walsingham;
  Sir Philip Sidney;
  Sir Thomas Baskerville;
  Sir Christopher Hatton;
  Henry de Lacy;
  Dean Wynterbourne;
  Dean Worsley;
  Dean May;
  Dean Nowell;
  Bishop Fitzneal;
  Roger de Waltham;
  Bishop Gravesend;
  Dean Carey;
  Bishop Stokesley;
  Bishop Ravis;
  Bishop King.
More, Sir Thomas
Mulliner, Thomas
Music

_Obits_
Offa
Old Change
Old St. Paul's:--
  Founded by Lanfranc;
  Architecture and building;
  Dimensions;
  Injured by fire in 1135;
  Images destroyed;
  Destroyed by the Great Fire;
  The Spire;
  The High Altar;
  The Rose Window;
  The Cathedral Wall;
  The Churchyard;
  The Cloister;
  The Library;
  Paul's Cross;
  The Crypt;
  College of Minor Canons;
  The Bishop's House;
  The Deanery;
  The Brewhouse and Bakehouse;
  The Chapter House;
  The West Front;
  The Lollards' Tower;
  The Nave;
  The Font;
  Monuments;
  Doors;
  The South Transept;
  The Lady Chapel;
  Inigo Jones' Portico;
  The Scriptorium;
  Altars;
  St. Dunstan's Chapel;
  St. George's Chapel.
Organ, The
Otho, Cardinal

Papal Legates
Pardon Churchyard, The
_Parentalia_, Wren's
Paris, Matthew
Parr, Catherine
Parr, Anne
Paternoster Row
Paul's Chain
Paul's Cross
Paul's Walk
Pepys' account of the Fire
Philip IV. of France
Philip IV. of Spain
Pickerill, Richard
Pilkington, Bishop of Durham
Popes, Pretensions of the
Pindar, Sir Paul
Pole, Cardinal
Porter, John
Prebendaries
Precincts, The

Redford, John
Reformation
Rich, Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury
Richard, Duke of York
Richard II.
Richard III.
Rogers, John
Roman Churches
Romans in London
Rusthall, Bishop of Durham

Sacrist, The
Sancroft, Archbishop
St. Alban's Abbey
St. Albans, Battle of
St. Edmund
St. Ethelburga
St. Faith's Church
St. Gregory-by-St. Paul
St. Katharine Cree
St. Martin's, Ludgate Hill
St. Mary-le-Bow
St. Michael Querne
St. Osyth, Monastery of
St, Paul's Cathedral, the Anglo-Saxon Church
  The second Cathedral, _see_ 'Old St. Paul's.'
St. Paul's School
St. Peter's, Cornhill
St. Thomas Acons
Sebba
Sebert
Services
Skelton
Simon de Montfort
Somerset, The Protector
Spurriers' Lane
Stapylton, Bishop of Exeter
Statute of Provisors
Stephen, King
Sudbury, Archbishop
Sweyn
Swynford, Catherine

Tallis, Thomas
Tomkins, John
Treasurer, The
_Three Cathedrals_, Longman's

Van Dyck
Verger, The

Wakefield, The Battle of
Walton, Izaak
Warham, Archbishop
Warwick, The Earl of
White, Lord Mayor
White Friars, Church of the
Whitsun Festivals
Wilkins, Bishop
William I.
Winchelsey, Archbishop
Wolsey, Cardinal
Wren, Sir Christopher
Wyclif, John
Wykeham, William of
Wyngaerde's drawing of London









End of Project Gutenberg's Old St. Paul's Cathedral, by William Benham