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._]