THE CATHEDRAL, THE ABBEY, THE TEMPLE, AND THE TOWER.
“The Saints are there—the Living Dead,
The Mourners glad and strong;
The sacred floor their quiet bed,
Their beams from every window shed,
Their voice in every song.”
KEBLE.
THERE is one burial-ground in London which has received a large share of
attention, and which has really been thought worthy of lengthy and
detailed notices in histories of the metropolis—I mean St. Paul’s
Churchyard. The words convey a very distinct meaning to us now. They
suggest Messrs. Hitchcock and Williams, and a number of other firms with
large premises, a constant stream of vans, carts, omnibuses, cabs, and
bicycles passing between Ludgate Hill and Cheapside or Cannon Street,
and a neat garden with flower-beds, seats, and pigeons under the shadow
of the great Cathedral—Wren’s “monument”—which is so different from any
other cathedral, and yet so suitable for the centre of the largest city
in the world. Just as St. Paul’s Cathedral was not always as it is now,
so St. Paul’s Churchyard is also vastly changed. Underneath the soil are
the graves of Britons, Saxons, and Romans; and I have already referred
to these, and have pointed out how far back into obscure history we can
trace this particular graveyard.
Many books have been written about St. Paul’s; Dugdale’s is the best old
history, and perhaps Dean Milman’s is the best modern one. The stories
of its foundation, of the shrine of St. Erkenwald, the disastrous fire
of 1136, the Boy Bishops, the chained bibles and the commotion they
aroused, the difficulties of the Reformation, and finally the other
“Great Fire” of 1666, which led to the rebuilding of the Cathedral, not
again as a Gothic structure, but somewhat after the style of St. Peter’s
at Rome, have all been told again and again. The crypt of the Cathedral
was the parish church of St. Faith, and that of St. Gregory stood where
the clock tower now is, at the west end. The site of St. Gregory’s
Churchyard is within the posts in front of the west door, where Queen
Anne’s statue stands, while the parish of St. Faith had a piece at the
eastern end of the Cathedral, and, according to Newcourt, another piece
was allotted to St. Martin’s, Ludgate Hill. It is to Dugdale that we are
chiefly indebted for a knowledge of what old St. Paul’s, with its
windows and monuments, was like—and a splendid church it must have been.
He was an eminent antiquary who, thinking that the chief ecclesiastical
buildings in England would suffer from the Civil War, made a most noble
pilgrimage, and drew the monuments, copied the epitaphs, and took notes
of the arms in windows, on walls, &c., in St. Paul’s and Westminster
Abbey first, and subsequently in Ely, Norwich, Peterborough, Lincoln,
and a number of other cathedral, conventual, and parish Churches. The
work he did at St. Paul’s was of exceptional value, owing to the ravages
of the Great Fire.
The Cathedral has been surrounded by such interesting buildings as a
Bishop’s Palace, the Chapter House and Library, a Bell Tower, several
Chantries, a Charnel House, and St. Paul’s School, founded by Dean
Colet, and which, some years ago, was totally destroyed, reappearing as
a meaty-red structure of huge dimensions (where the foundation scholars,
or “fish,” are in a small minority), in the uninteresting district of
East Hammersmith, which is misnamed West Kensington.
St. Paul’s Churchyard extended, especially on its northern side, farther
than it does now. Part of it was known as Pardon Church Yard, or
“Haugh,” in which was a chapel founded by Gilbert Becket, rebuilt by
Dean Moore in Henry V.’s time, and surrounded by a rich cloister with
pictures of “The Dance of Death” painted by Machabre in it, somewhat
like the ones still existing on the bridge at Lucerne, and with very
fine monuments to those buried beneath. In 1549 the cloister, the
chapel, the charnel house, the paintings, and the tombs were all cleared
away by the Protector Somerset, the materials being used for his new
mansion in the Strand, and the bones from the charnel house (Stow says
one thousand cartloads) were reinterred in Finsbury Field. The
churchyard seems to have been first entirely enclosed by a surrounding
wall in 1285.
[Illustration: PAUL’S CROSS and Preaching there
_Paul’s Cross or preaching place, was erected in the form it appears in
the plate, about the year 1449, by Thomas Kempe, then Bishop of London,
on the site of a more antient cross, which had been destroyed by an
earthquake in 1382. Its name first occurs in the year 1259, when Hen.
III commanded the Mayor of London to oblige all the city youth of a
certain age to take the oath of allegiance at Paul’s Cross, to him and
his heirs. From this period it was, for several centuries, used for
almost every purpose political as well as ecclesiastical, and is
continually noticed in history. It was destroyed by the Lord mayor of
London, Isaac Pennington, in consequence of a vote of Parliament, in the
year 1643._
PAUL’S CROSS.]
But perhaps the most interesting object in the churchyard was Paul’s
Cross, which existed as far back as the reign of Henry III., if not
earlier. From that time until 1643, when it was ruthlessly destroyed by
order of Parliament, it formed a notable monument, round which the
religious history of London and of England centred itself. Paul’s Cross
was an outdoor pulpit at the north-east corner of the Cathedral—“a
pulpit cross of timber, mounted upon steps of stone covered with lead,”
from which “announcements and harangues on all such matters as the
authorities in Church or State judged to be of public concern were
poured into the popular ear and heart.” It seems to have been used to
preach sermons from as early as 1299, and men professing all shades of
the Christian faith have discoursed there, miscreants have done penance
there, bishops and clergy have renounced heresies, excited throngs have
gathered round excited preachers, and tricks and delusions, called
miracles, have been exposed there. Latimer and Ridley frequently
occupied the pulpit, and “proclaimed to crowds of eager listeners that
testimony which they both afterwards sealed with their blood.” During
the time of the reforming struggles of our Church the pulpit at Paul’s
Cross played an active part, and those who preached there in the reign
of Mary had to be protected from the populace by the Queen’s guard. In
1628 James I. came in state to hear a sermon from Bishop King, and
Charles I. listened to another discourse from Paul’s Cross in 1630. It
is said that after its demolition an elm-tree marked its site, but even
this has long since disappeared.
[Illustration: ELM ON SITE OF PAUL’S CROSS.]
Yet the Churchyard was not only a religious centre, but was also a very
worldly one. Many unseemly scenes used to take place there, and the
ground was walled in because it was becoming the resort of those who did
not behave themselves properly. The following account from Maitland
gives us a sad, if a lively, picture of the times: “In the year 1569 a
Lottery was set on Foot in St. Paul’s Churchyard, where it was begun to
be drawn at the West Door of the Church on the 11th of January, and
continued incessantly drawing Day and Night till the 6th of May
following.” The Cathedral itself was put to a variety of unsuitable
uses, and was made a judgment-hall for foreign heretics who were
condemned to be burnt at Smithfield. The author of a tract written in
the second half of the sixteenth century describes the south aisle as
being used “for usury and popery, the north for simony, and the
horse-fair in the midst for all kinds of bargains, meetings, brawlings,
murthers, conspiracies; and the font for ordinary payments of money.”
Traffic in benefices was largely carried on there, and the middle aisle
(Paul’s Walk) was a rendezvous, every morning and afternoon, for a
fashionable and eccentric medley. Thus was the chief temple in London
treated as vilely as the Temple at Jerusalem, and there are those now
living amongst us who wish to see our English churches used for secular
purposes!
With one mighty blow the whole building was destroyed, and the beautiful
Gothic Cathedral became a heap of cinders. It is told in “Parentalia”
how, under the direction of Wren, the new St. Paul’s arose like a phœnix
from the ashes of the old church. From an interesting print of 1701 it
appears that the churchyard was even then a fashionable promenade, but
it is improbable that the building itself, in its new form, was ever
subjected to such abuses as the old one had been. I have heard Wren’s
churches described as “religious rather than Christian,” but as time
goes on the architecture seems to be more appreciated. Wordsworth has
said:—
“They dreamt not of a perishable home
Who thus could build,”
but he has also told us that the Cathedral is—
“Filled with mementoes, satiate with its past
Of grateful England’s overflowing Dead”—
and herein lies its chief interest.
No one has done his duty by St. Paul’s who has not been in the crypt.
Dr. Donne’s monument, which dates from before the fire, has been brought
up and placed in the south aisle of the choir, amongst those of bishops
and deans, but some fragments of other tombs from old St. Paul’s are
still in the crypt, besides many tablets and monuments of later date.
There was for many years a prejudice against admitting memorial
monuments in the Cathedral at all, but one being erected to the memory
of John Howard, the reformer, the spell was broken. Several old stones
on the floor of the crypt have no graves below them, those they
commemorate having been buried outside in the churchyard, but now the
few internments that take place are under the floor of the building, Sir
Frederic (Lord) Leighton’s being the newest grave. Here also lie Sir
Nicholas Bacon, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir
Christopher Wren, Dean Colet, George Cruikshank, Opie, West, Turner,
Lord Napier of Magdala, Lord Mayor Nottage (who died in office in 1885),
Bishop Piers Claughton, and many other notable persons. There is one
division where there are gravestones in memory of past vergers of the
Cathedral. Directly under the dome are the remains of Nelson, in a
coffin made from wood of the _Victory_, enclosed in a sarcophagus
originally intended for Cardinal Wolsey, but put aside as he was not
considered worthy of it, and subsequently brought out and altered to
suit Lord Nelson. Close by is a larger sarcophagus containing the
remains of the Duke of Wellington.
[Illustration: ST. MARGARET’S AND THE ABBEY CHURCHYARD ABOUT 1750.]
The Churchyard is no longer a fashionable resort, but it has been a very
useful one since 1879, and many are the visitors who may always be found
sitting there, while the pigeons fly amongst the tall and smoky columns.
The Rev. H. R. Haweis says the Cathedral should be washed. He is right,
no doubt, but “stately Paule” still remains black.
Neither the graveyard of the Knights Templars, the great rivals of the
Knights Hospitallers at Clerkenwell, nor the garth of the Abbey of St.
Peter, have had a record so varied as that which clings round St. Paul’s
Churchyard. The Temple Church, especially the round portion of it, is
most ancient and interesting, but it has been much injured by the modern
representatives of the Templars who have denuded the walls of many rich
old monuments. The part of the churchyard which is immediately round the
church is closed and turfed and has some fine old stone coffins in it.
The northern part is paved and gravelled and is added to the public
thoroughfare, the chief object in it of general interest being the grave
and monument of Oliver Goldsmith.
We go on, along the Strand, past Charing Cross, until we reach the
“minster in the west,” or the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, which was
built in the Island of Thorney. It is probable that the whole space now
occupied by the Abbey and St. Margaret’s and their churchyards was at
one time used for interments. At present the Abbey Churchyard and that
of St. Margaret’s (where at times a fair used to be held) are in one.
They are neatly turfed and open to the public, and they form a simple
but suitable base for the glorious old buildings which rise from them.
On the south side of the Abbey are the large and small cloisters, with
their grass plots and their ancient stones, while, according to Brayley,
a part of Covent Garden Market is on the site of what used to be the
burial-ground of the Westminster Convent. Portions of the cloisters are
among the most ancient and interesting corners of the Abbey buildings,
and the sight of them carries us back in thought to the days of the
abbots and monks, who used to pace to and fro under the vaulted roof.
It is not, however, the burial-places outside the Abbey, but the church
itself, round which the most thrilling associations gather. Here again
the story has been often repeated, and if there are any of my readers
(though I doubt if there can be one) who do not know what venerable
tombs are contained there, they would do well to visit the Abbey, and
not to rest until they have been carefully shown the treasures in Henry
VII.’s Chapel. Beaumont sang—
“Think how many royal bones
Sleep within these heaps of stones....
Here’s an acre sown indeed
With the richest, royallist seed.”
From the shrine of Edward the Confessor and the tomb of Edward III. to
the tablet in memory of Charles Dickens and the stone over the grave of
Charles Darwin, they are one and all of the deepest interest, and it is
perfectly needless for me to refer to the monuments here. Every
Englishman is—or should be—proud of these relics, of the beautiful
Chapel, the Poets’ Corner, and the hallowed nave and aisles.
[Illustration: GREAT CLOISTER, WESTMINSTER.]
It is true that there are too many monuments in Westminster Abbey; a
memorial chapel in which some of them (especially the huge statues from
the north transept) could be put, would be very advantageous. But, at
any rate, they are not likely now to be much further added to, and from
the old, royal tombs, there is not one fragment of mosaic or one
splinter of stone which we should not grieve to lose. Sir Godfrey
Kneller, the painter and the friend of Pope, did not wish to be interred
in the Abbey because “they do bury fools there.” But his monument is not
missed amongst the tombs of England’s greatest children, her kings and
queens, her bishops and deans, her statesmen, her soldiers, her poets,
her artists, and her philosophers. The whole building is one grand
memorial. There may be “fools there,” but they sink into utter
insignificance, for “saints are there, the living dead.”
[Illustration:
_The South East Prospect of the Chapel Royal of St. Peter in the Tower._
ST. PETER’S CHAPEL IN THE TOWER ABOUT 1750.]
To pass from the Abbey to the Tower is like passing from honour to
shame, and yet amongst those who were imprisoned, executed, and buried
in the great fortress and palace which became the state prison of
England, many were innocent of the crimes for which they were punished,
and many deserved to rest in Westminster even more than some of those
who were interred there. There were four recognised burial-places
connected with the Tower, the churchyard of St. Peter ad Vincula, the
vaults under the church, the vaults “behind the church,” and the outer
graveyard. The last named was a narrow strip by the eastern wall,
probably used for the burial of the humbler members of the numerous
households which composed the Tower precinct. This ground was demolished
when the Tower Bridge was made, being required for the wide approach
thereto. It is also probable that burials took place in a somewhat
promiscuous fashion in other parts of the fortress. We know, for
instance, that the young Princes, after they had been smothered, were
buried at the foot of the staircase of the White Tower, “meetly deep in
the ground, under a great heap of stones,” from whence their remains, or
what was supposed to be their remains, were moved to Westminster Abbey
in 1674 by Order of King Charles II.
In St. Peter’s Church were buried the headless bodies of many a noble
prisoner who was executed close by, with the remains of others who died
during their confinement in the Tower—the Earl of Arundel, the Dukes of
Somerset, Monmouth, Norfolk, and Northumberland, Queen Katherine, poor
innocent Anne Boleyn, her brother, Lord Rochford, the Countess of
Salisbury, Catherine Howard, and a great many more whose names are
recorded in English history. The chapel is not as beautiful as it might
be, and the graveyard attached to it is little more than a part of the
great Tower courtyard, but the sad memories connected with it will
always hallow this spot. In the quaint little church of Holy Trinity,
Minories, supposed by some to be a survival of the Abbey of the
Minoresses of St. Clare, there is still shown what is said to be the
head of the Duke of Suffolk, the father of Lady Jane Grey. It is in a
glass case, preserved like leather, some hair still clings to the scalp,
while the false blow of the executioner can be clearly seen just above
the place where the head was severed from the trunk. The verger keeps
this marvellous relic locked up in a pew; it is a sort of detached
fragment of the history of the Tower.
[Illustration: THREE COFFIN LIDS FROM THE TOWER.]
I feel that I have done but very scant justice to those London
burial-places which contain the ashes of the most illustrious dead. But
I have no wish to go over ground already trodden by far worthier
chroniclers than myself, and I therefore commend to all who desire to
know more about the Cathedral, the Abbey, the Temple, and the Tower, the
many excellent books which have been written upon their history, such as
Dean Milman’s “Annals of St. Paul’s Cathedral,” Dean Stanley’s
“Memorials of Westminster Abbey,” and a number of more ancient and more
modern works which especially relate to these buildings and to the
monuments they contain. The Kyrle Society has recently published a
capital little guide to the Cathedral, which can be bought with the
tickets to view the crypt, the whispering gallery, &c., and which also
serves as a handbook to the monuments in the nave and aisles.
“Death lays his icy hands on kings:
Sceptre and crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.
All heads must come
To the cold tomb,
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.”
J. SHIRLEY.
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