Memorials of Old London. Volume 2 (of 2) — John Shaqi
Memorials of Old London. Volume 2 (of 2)
History
Memorials of Old London. Volume 2 (of 2)
London (England) -- Antiquities; London (England) -- History
Beyond Goldsmiths' Row was the old Change; the name and the street both
still exist. Beyond old Change were seven shops; then St. Augustine's
Gate, leading into St. Paul's Churchyard; and then came Paternoster
Row. Between Paternoster Row and Newgate Street stood the Church of
St. Michael-le-Querne, stretching out into the middle of Cheap, where
the statue of Sir Robert Peel now stands. Stretching out from the east
end of the church, still further into the street, was a water conduit,
which supplied all the neighbourhood hereabout, called "The Little
Conduit," not because it was little, but to distinguish it from the
great conduit at the other end of Cheap.
* * * * *
We are concerned in this place not with the history of old St.
Paul's, nor with the technique of its architecture, but with the
great cathedral as a religious and social institution, the centre of
Elizabethan London. Here the streams of life were gathered, and hence
they radiated. It was the official place of worship of the Corporation;
the merchants of the city followed. The monarch on special occasions
attended the services; the nobility followed the royal example. The
typical Elizabethan made the middle aisle his promenade, where he
displayed the finery of his attire and the elegance of his deportment.
The satirists found a grand opportunity in the humours of Paul's
Walk; but the effect of the cathedral is not to be derived from such
allusions in the literature of the time. All classes were attracted by
the beautiful organ and the anthems so exquisitely sung by the choir.
The impressive size and noble proportions of the building, the soaring
height of the nave, the mystery of the open tower, where the ascending
vision became lost in gathering obscurity, and where the chords from
the organ died away; these spiritual associations, these appeals to the
imagination, were uplifting influences so powerful that the vanities of
Paul's Walk were negligible by comparison. As with the gargoyle on the
outer walls, the prevailing effect was so sublime, that it was merely
heightened by this element of the grotesque.[2]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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