The Town: Its Memorable Characters and EventsHunt, Leigh
History
The Town: Its Memorable Characters and Events
Hunt, Leigh
London (England) -- Description and travel; London (England) -- History
While some of the extraordinary operations above-mentioned were going
on (the intriguing, picking of pockets, &c.), the sermon was very
likely proceeding. It is but fair, however, to conclude, that in the
Catholic times, during the elevation of the host, there was a show of
respect. We have heard a gentleman say, who visited Spain in his
childhood, that he remembered being at the theatre during a fandango,
when a loud voice cried out "_Dios_" (God); and all the people in the
house, including the dancers, fell on their knees. A profound silence
ensued. After a pause of a few seconds, the people rose, and the
fandango went on as before. The little boy could not think what had
happened, but was told that the host had gone by. The Deity (for so it
was thought) had been sent for to the house of a sick man; and it was
to honour him in passing, that the theatre had gone down on their
knees. Catholics reform as well as other people, with the growth of
knowledge, especially when restrictions no longer make their
prejudices appear a matter of duty. We know not how it is in Spain at
this moment, with regard to the devout interval of the fandango; but
we know what would be thought of it by thousands of the offspring of
those who witnessed it on this occasion; and certainly in no Catholic
church now-a-days can be seen the abominations of old St. Paul's.
The passenger who now goes by the cathedral, and associates the idea
of the inside with that of respectful silence and the simplicity of
Protestant worship, little thinks what a noise has been in that spot,
and what gorgeous processions have issued out of it.
Old St. Paul's was famous for the splendour of its shrine, and for its
priestly wealth. The list of its copes, vestments, jewels, gold and
silver cups, candlesticks, &c., occupies thirteen folio pages of the
_Monasticon_. The side aisles were filled with chapels to different
saints and the Virgin; that is to say, with nooks partitioned off one
from another, and enriched with separate altars; and it is calculated,
that, taking the whole establishment, there could hardly be fewer than
two hundred priests. On certain holidays, this sacred multitude, in
their richest copes, together with the lord mayor, aldermen, and city
companies, and all the other parish priests of London, who carried a
rich silver cross for every church, issued forth from the cathedral
door in procession, singing a hymn, and so went through Cheapside and
Cornhill to Leadenhall, and back again. The last of these spectacles
was for the peace of Guisnes, in 1546; shortly after which Henry the
Eighth swept into his treasury the whole glories of Catholic
worship--copes, crosses, jewels, church-plate, &c.--himself being the
most bloated enormity that had ever misused them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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