OLD ST. PAUL'S

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 122, 19 November 1932, Page 19

OLD ST. PAUL'S

TEOFMM^ BT THE ; . :;:;;;iTjSiTANS ~ : ■

AND GENTURIES BEFORE

;;;.;■;. (By "Ajax."), ■;.' 1 concluded my notes on Old St. Paul's last week;with a quotation from Archdeacon...Sinclair's "Memorials of St... Paul's Cathedral," describing the desecration"and destruction to which i&e "wiis:exposed at the hand of •rCtbmweii's/soldiers.; \ The passage>-as ';apparently; based .on Sir H. Ellis's Jeditiott-pf. pugdale's ."History of St. jPaiii's.' .'■-: ;Th^: following notice. from ; a printed japer/'in the British Museum "^presiuhably.^a'ynilitary order—dated ;ihes27th;;; ilay, 1651; is: .'taken by Dr. •Si&c|air"froni'the'same source. ■;V::''-:*:.; '■-;■-■'■'* -:.:'* •':. *; v.•• •* ■.. ;;.■.- -

>'Forasmuch »as, the inhabitants- of St. .Paul's Churchyard are much disturbed by !the:soldiers and-others,-calling put to pasfs^ngers, and examining them, though they go ■■ peaceably , !and civilly along, and by "playing'at ninepins; at unseasonable 'hom-s^ These-are- therefore to command'all soldiers and ' others, that hereafter there shall be no examining and calling out to persons that go peacefully on their way, unless they do approach the guards; -and likewise to forbear playing at ninepins and other, sports from, the hours of 9 o'clock in the evening till 6-in the morning, that so. persons, as are weak and. indisposed to rest'inay; not'be disturbed.

.''lt is well to remember in these days of, noise that the simpler life of three ce.nturies ago also provided ample opportunity fpr:it., v Neither inside nor outside St. Paul's does' the occupation byvthe;Puritan, troopers seem, to have teen to the neighbourhood. JAs I mentioned last week, their piety Iwas so far.from mitigating the normal vandalism of the soldier that it served as an aggravation.. . .

', •Barrack-rooms are very much the same at _ all times, says*' Dr. Sinclair: smoking, drinking, joking," the.cleaning of accoutreSnentSj the combined smell of steaming joints and of "vegetables, and of pipe-clay j strict'discipline and a certain amount of order. The Parliamentary soldiers were :sternly reh'gious, according to their, standr.ards;. but this-sacredness of a'Cathedral ;«id not enter into the circle, of ; .their .religious.ideas any more than modern Chfisrtians would respect the old-world sanctity '<of a,ruined pagan temple* ' St. Paul's vwaslto them a thing of the past, an an{achronism. from which all interest-, life, and importance had for ever" departed. • ■

:l But though the profanation of the JCathedraT took a peculiarly pronounced rand destructivo;;,f6;rm: under the Com> .-;in6iiwea.lthy ; itr was by no means the invtu^tamsm, or even of the Reformed .^religion;- In Ms "St. Paul's ;;t!athedra^n| jtJi© City,". Dr. Sparrow .Bimpsga.'fjfefSirs-iro less^violent'but pertaps gross:.'prbf anation as h,ay,<ing beM' : 'for;.cent&riQßi'a source of. serious anxiety tothe Bishops and Deans. Even in medieval time's the middle aisle of"Oia'St.''Pa'ttl rs^Had^bfecbme thse 'favourite resort of the idle and the pr'ofli- ■ gate, -of >.' gulls and gossipers,'' of traders, lawyers, and~ other, men of business, of sharpers and pickpockets; and all- attempts at suppression had failed.

John'Colet, the greatest of the Deans of St. Paul's, was one of the strongest of pre-Beformation reformerc, a stern disciplinarian,, and a man of iiidqmitable'Vcourage '" energy, _ and had a ■vvonderful:,way;;: di getting ithings done. He staTtled Qbnvocatipn- in 1512; by a slashing attack on the vices. of the clergy, in' whicK he declared that ■

allthatis'in'the Church is either the lust oTtlie flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the j>nde o£ "life: ;: '-!> ;-:.■.■■•■'•■■ '.- ■>*■>

•Pc denounced the evils of war," so severely that Henry VIH twice sent tfor him, but not for the purpose of punishment or rebuke but "for the ease of his conscience," and to give assurances .of his confidence,;. He.was not afraid Ao declare the: Biblical story of Genesis ■to be-an allegory, and he successfully Resisted the , attempt :of his - Bishop ,to have himcondemned for a series ;.of heresies. All this Colet was able to do but he was not able to clear St. ■Paul's of the advertisements which •placarded its pillars'and the walls of its nave, or to eject the multitudes who .crowded in for the purposes of baiter and .salej 'of - entertainment \or of '■ crinie.

What Colet had failed to do was at- . tempted by the'- Corporation of London .'in 1554, possibly under the stimulus of ■the Boman Catholic revival which had :beguu in the previous year under Mary. In the work above mentioned Dr. Simpson gives :the full text of. " V.,A •Proclamacion for the Carynge'of Stufie ,or Suche Other v Thinges .Through the Cathedrall Churche of S. Pawle-\', :,'.'. ... which was issued by the Lord Mayor for that purpose. It opens with'a. reference to the unseemly and unreverent 'use of the churches ■ x ■as markett-places or other prophane jPlaces of ,-comen thuroughe ffakes with ; earyage of, thinges, \ [ .•and^theii proceeds as-follows:— ■.■■ The more is the pitye to make the ..comen earyage of greate vessells full ,o£ ale, and Beare, great Basketts full ■of Bread f yshe -f ruy te and such other tbynges ferthalls . [burdens] of stufie and other "\ grosse wares and things thurouglie the Cathedrall Churche o£ , Sayhte Pawle within the saide, Cytie o£ v London, and some' in leadynge of Moylls [Mules]" horses' or other beastes thuroughe unreventlye to the greate dyshonerrand dyspleasure' oi Almyghtie God and the .great grefe also and offence ofair good-and well'dysposed persones. "The Lord Mayor and the Aldermen "and .^Councillors/-; accordingly proceed to "prohibit: the "carrying or conveying 'thrbugE the' Cathedral Church of St.' •Paul,- of- "eny- maner of greate vessell, baskett or'basketts with breadj ale," •'etc.,.■'.'pte.j ' substantially, as set out •abbye. - This:'well;inteiidea and charmingly ,' .spelie"d/:. proclamation seems, however, to have : had little effect, for .whenj 'in, June;' '1561, the beautiful ;spiTewas_struck by lightning and burnt, TBishop Pilkington, preaching at Paul's Cross "on^the following Sunday, ascribed tl^i'disaster' to the continued desecra-' iion.". '■■ .'.-• ■[ ;■ • ' - j

..-It is difficult joins to understand, writes 'tile ;Rev. Arthur- Dimoek, in liis "Cathedral Church, of-St. Paul/ why -this de-: secration was allowed to go on. A pillory ! was indeed set u^> outside near the Bishop's' •Palace, and,a-man: convicted of fighting nailed there by his ears; which were afterwards cut off;' but this must have been an-offence exceptionally outrageous. "What sweat-ing ■is • there," says Dekker, "what shouldering,, what jostling, what jeering, what biting'of thumbs to beget quarrels."

At Bishop Bancroft's Visitation a verger complained that colliers with coal-sacks, butchers' men with meat, and others made the interior a short cut. Bishop Corbet, of Norwich, wrote:r-r

When I past Paules, and travelled in that ■.Walke . '. ■ Where all our Brittaine-sinners sweare and talke,; - - : Ould Hai-ry-ruffians, bankrupts, suthesayers, ' . • ' And youthj whose cousenage is.as ould as ■ theirs. . ' ' '.■•-■'

After references to other authorities, which I omit because I hope to deal with them next week, Dr. Simpson concludes as follows :—

John Evelyn called the Cathedral a den of thieves. Before, we have mentioned that this abuse existed in medieval times; the above authorities show that it still went on right up .to' the Fire. Doctrine might be purified, and rites reformed; Paul's Walk was neither purified nor reformed.: •..■•..,:■■.