BURIAL-GROUNDS 253 



Doe, seasonable and sweete, and upon the Feast of the 

 Commemoration of St. Paul in Summer, a good Buck, 

 and offer the same at the high Altar, the same to bee 

 spent amongst the Canons residents." On the appointed 

 days the keeper who had brought the deer carried it 

 through the procession to the high altar. There the 

 head was severed, and the body sent off to be cooked, 

 while the horns, stuck on a spear, were carried round the 

 cathedral. The procession consisted of the Dean and 

 Chapter in their copes — special ones for the two occa- 

 sions — one embroidered with does, the other with bucks, 

 the gift of the Baud family, and on their heads garlands 

 of roses. Having performed the ceremony within the 

 church, the whole procession issued out of the west 

 door, and there the keeper blew a blast upon his horn, 

 and when he had " blowed the death of the Bucke," 

 the " Homers that were about the City presently answered 

 him in like manner." The Dean and Chapter paid the 

 blowers of horns fourpence each and their dinner, while 

 the man who brought the venison got five shillings and 

 his food and lodgings, and a " loafe of bread, having the 

 picture of Saint Paul upon it," to take away with him. 

 What a strange picture of mediaeval life and half-pagan 

 rites ! yet all conducted with perfect good faith, in all 

 seriousness. It is just one of the great charms of know- 

 ing London and its traditions, that one is able to clear 

 away in imagination the growth of centuries, and throw 

 back one's mind to the past — to stand at the top of 

 Ludgate Hill and to remove Wren's building and to 

 see the Gothic pinnacles ; to blot out the garden and 

 fountain and modern seats, and see Paul's Cross ; on 

 the left to see the arches of the cloisters, and on the 

 right the high wall and timbered houses ; then to open 



