steps. The public are not allowed to ascend this monu ment. York Street. This street was constructed in 1636 and named after James, Duke of York, afterwards James II. In a little back room in No. 4 De Quincey wrote his "Confessions of an Opium Eater" and here he was often visited by Charles Lamb and Thomas Hood. SPECIAL SECTIONS LONDON CHURCHES 1. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. (a) Old St. Paul's. (b) Wren's St. Paul's. II. WESTMINSTer Abbey. III. SOUTHWARK CATHEDRAL. IV. ALPHABETICAL ACCOUNT OF THE CITY CHURCHES. LONDON CHURCHES ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL OLD ST. PAUL'S. HE present church is the third cathedral of St. times by Mellitus, the first bishop of London. It was probably destroyed by fire in 1087. The second church, which took 200 years to complete, was begun by Bishop Maurice in 1087, soon after the Norman Conquest. The part played by St. Paul's Cathedral in the old city life was most important. Its situation on the crest of the low hill, overlooking the Fleet Ditch on the W. and the Walbrook on the E., was peculiarly well suited to the adequate setting off of a large and imposing building such as was Old St. Paul's, as the former cathedral church is still affectionately called. The whole area of the city is now so much crowded with lofty warehouses and other structures that it is impossible to judge what the heart of London looked like in the Middle Ages, but fortunately pictures and engravings which help to show this still remain. One of the most interesting, probably, too, one of the most valuable, sources of information is an ancient wooden diptych in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries, now preserved at Burlington House. It bears on three sides paintings depicting parts of old London, one of the best known being that which represents Paul's Cross, where the Bishop of London is preaching before the King and his Court. This is the right-hand sinister picture, when the diptych is open. At the back, however, is a very remarkable picture showing the city 151 'or with its great mass of red-tiled roofs, and St. Paul's Cathedral standing well above them. Although every principle of perspective is disregarded, the artist has managed to record an extremely pleasing, and doubtless substantially accurate, impression of what the surroundings of St. Paul's once looked like. In 1136, Old St. Paul's was much damaged by a fire; indeed, according to the accounts of Matthew Paris and Matthew of Westminster, the cathedral was entirely destroyed. There is reason, however, to consider these accounts as somewhat exaggerated. Old St. Paul's was not really completed until nearly 200 years after the date of its foundation. St. Paul's Cathedral must have been magnificent at the period of its greatest glory, say about the fifteenth century. Its precincts were enclosed by a wall which had a twofold purpose. It was intended to exclude beggars and other undesirable people who would otherwise infest the precincts of the church, and also to form a means of security from robbers by night. There were six gates giving access from the city, the chief being that which stood in Ludgate Street, near the end of Creed Lane, opening on to the W. end of the church. Another, on the N. side, was in Paternoster Row, at Paul's Alley, a way which still exists. There was a third gate at Canon Alley. A fourth entrance, called the Little Gate, gave admission from Cheapside. The fifth, or St. Augustine's Gate, led from Watling Street into the precincts by a thoroughfare known as High Street. The sixth gate led directly to the southern front of the church by a thoroughfare which is now practically represented by Paul's Chain, a name which had its origin in the great chain which was formerly hung across the entrance. These gates were opened in the daytime and closed at night.. " |