Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Saint Paul: An Account of the Old and New Buildings with a Short Historical SketchDimock, Arthur
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Saint Paul: An Account of the Old and New Buildings with a Short Historical Sketch
Dimock, Arthur
St. Paul's Cathedral (London, England)
We have now arrived at the north side of the transept, and inside the
angle formed by chancel and transept stood =Paul's Cross=, in St.
Faith's parish. It was an octagon of some thirty-seven feet, and stood
about twelve feet from the old cathedral. Mr. Penrose excavated for
the site, and found it just at the north-east angle of the present
choir. The last structure--of wood on a stone foundation, and with an
open roof--was the gift of Thomas Kemp; but a pulpit cover existed in
1241. Above the roof rose the cross from which the name was derived;
and from 1595 the whole was surrounded by a low brick wall, at the
gate of which a verger was stationed. Against the choir wall was a
gallery of two tiers: in the upper was the projecting royal box or
closet, below the Lord Mayor's; and the parishioners of St. Faith had
a right to seats. In very bad weather an adjournment was made to the
crypt; but our sturdy forefathers endured alike stress of weather,
length of discourse, and undiluted frankness of speech, after a manner
that altogether puts us, their degenerate descendants, to shame.
From a rude picture, painted in 1620 at the instance of Henry Farley,
we can see the preacher for the day with a sand-glass at his right
hand. King James, in his state box, has his Queen on his right, and
his unhappy son on his left, with the Lord Mayor below. These are to
the left of the preacher, who faces the transept. The congregation,
partly composed of parishioners of St. Faith, is seated on forms; and
the men wear their steeple-crowned hats. A dog-whipper is vigorously
belabouring a poor animal with a cat-o'-nine-tails; but the cries of
the victim do not in the least disturb either preacher or audience;
and two led horses are behind the preacher. A well-dressed youth, a
late arrival, bows and accosts a grave-looking citizen with "I pray,
sir, what is the text?" and the citizen answers, "The 2nd of Chron.
xxiv." A second citizen is dropping a coin into a large money-box by
the transept door. The subject of the sermon, judging from the text,
was the much-needed restoration; and perchance the preacher was none
other than the diocesan, James' "king of preachers."[50]
In 1633 the preaching was removed into the choir "for the repaire of
the Church," though we cannot quite see in what way this could help
the repairing. Those who shortly afterwards obtained control of the
City could tolerate neither the name nor the actual cross, and were
afraid of disturbances as well. The structure came down, and although
it was said at the time only to make way for another "fairer and
bigger," was never restored again. The endowments out of which the
preachers were paid went to the Sunday morning preachers, and these
latter are the legitimate successors of the old-time divines.
[Illustration: THE CHAPTER HOUSE AND CLOISTER.
_After Hollar._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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