'402 LON 
doed,” is the following defcription of S. Patties Church. “ Oh 
domus antiqua, a fit object for pity, for charity ; further 
reported of than knowne : it is a compleat body, for it 
hath the three dimenfionsof longitude, latitude, and pro¬ 
fundity, and.as an excellent over-plus famous for height. 
It was a maine poynt of wifedome to ground her upon 
Faith, for fhee is the more likely to ftand fure : the great 
croffe in the middle certainly hath bin, and is yet, omi¬ 
nous to this churches reparation. S. Paul called the 
church the pillar of truth ; and furely, had they not beene 
found, they had fallen before this time. The head of 
this church hath been twice troubled with a burning fever, 
[alluding to the fteeple having been twice burnt 5} and fo 
the city, to keep it from a third danger, let it Hand with¬ 
out a head. I can but admire the charity of former times, 
to build fuch famous temples, when as thefe ages cannot 
find repaire to them ; but then the world was all church, 
and now the church is all world : then charity went be¬ 
fore, and exceeded preaching; now there is much preach¬ 
ing, nay more than ever, yet leffe charity : our forefathers 
advanced the church, and kept their land ; thefe times 
loofe their lands, and yet decay the churches. I honour 
antiquity fo much the more, becaufe it fo much loved the 
church. There is more reafon to fufpedt the precife pu- 
ritaine devoyd of charity, than the fimple ignorant fraught 
with good workes. I thinke truly in this one point, the 
ends of their aXions were for good, and what they aimed 
at was God’s glory and their owne happines. They builded 
temples; but our degenerating age can fay, Come let us 
take them into our hands and pofiefs them. Amongft 
many others, this cannot be fayd to be the rareft, though 
the greateft. Puritaines are blown out of the church 
with the loud voice of the organs; their zealous fpirits 
cannot endure the muficke, nor the multitude of the fur- 
plices, becaufe they are relickes (they fay) of Rome’s fu- 
perftition. Here is that famous place for fermons, not by 
this feX frequented, becaufe of the title the Crofte. The 
middle ile is much frequented at noone with a company 
of Hungarians, not walking fo much for recreation as 
neede ; (and, if any of thefe meete with a yonker that 
hath his pockets well lined with filver, they will relate to 
him the meaning of Tycho Brahe, or the North Star; and 
never leave flattering him in his own words, and fticke as 
clofe to him as a bur uppon a travailer’s cloake; and never 
leave til he and they have faluted the Greene Dragon, or 
the Swanne behind the fhambles—where I leave them.) 
Well, there is fome hope of reftoring this church to its 
former glory ; the great fummes of money bequeathed, are 
fome probabilities; and the charity of fome good men al¬ 
ready, in cloathing and repayring the infide, is a great 
encouragement; and there is a fpeech that the houfes that 
are about it mud be pulled down, for Paules church is old 
enough to ftand alone. Here are prayers often, but finifter 
fufpition doubts more formal than zealous; they fhould 
not be worldly, becaufe al church-men ; there are none 
dumbe, for they can fpeake loud enough. I leave it and 
them, wifhing all might be amended.” 
It feems that, in thofe times, little or no religious re- 
fpeft was paid to the bafilica; for butchers’ boys, porters 
of all forts, and any body who wilhed to Ihorten their 
way, ufed to crofs the church moft indecoroufly; and 
the cuftom went fo far, that the clergy thought that the 
heft remedy would be to turn it to the profit of the poor. 
The following quatrain was therefore engraved upon a 
fmall iron-box near the northern entrance : 
All thofe that (hail enter within the church dore 
With burthen or balket muftgive to the poore : 
And, if there be any afxe what they mult pay 
To this bar, ’tis a penny ere they paffe away. 
3 r> fact, the evil had long grown fo glaring and fo fcanda- 
lous, that an act of common-council, which had palled 
in the beginning of the reign of Philip and Mary, ftated, 
that of late years “the inhabitants of London, and other 
people repairing to Paul’s church, have (and yet doe) 
D O N. 
commonly ufe and accuftome themfelves very unfeemty 
and unreverently (the more the pity) to make their com¬ 
mon carriage of great veffels full of ale and beere, great 
balkets full of bread, fi.Hi, flelh, and fruit, and fuch other 
tilings, fardels of ftuffe and other groffe ware of things, 
thorow the cathedral church of St. Paul’s; and fome in- 
leading moyles (mules), horfes, and other beafts, thorow 
the fame unreverently, to the great dilhonotir and dif- 
pleafure of Almighty God, and the great griefe alfo and 
offence of all good people.” In confequence of which it 
w’as ordained, “that no perfon, either free or forraigne, of 
whateftateor condition foever, doe at any time from hence¬ 
forth carry or convey, or caufe to be carried or conveyed,, 
thorow the faid cathedrall, any manner of great veflel, or 
balket, with bread, ale, beere, fifh, flelh, &c. upon paine of 
forfeiture or loling, for every fuch his or their firft of¬ 
fence, 3s. 4d. for the fecond, 6s. 8d. for the third, ios„ 
and, for every offence after the third time, to forfeit eight 
fliillings, and to ftiffer two days and two nights iraprilon- 
ment without baile or mainprife.” It appears, by the na¬ 
ture of this ordinance, as if fome difficulty was expected 
in putting the law into execution, as the poffible repeti¬ 
tion of offences is fo minutely fpecified, But indecencies 
did not end here; for near one of the church-gates was 
the following caution in Latin: Hiccc locus facer ejl ; hie nulli 
mingere fas ejl. 
This houfe is holy: here unlawful ’tis 
For any one agaiuft the walls to #***! 
To feveral of the munificent contributions offered to 
the church in order that it might ftand the undermining 
hands of time for many years, we mult add the particular 
attention of fir Paul Pindar, knt. fometime amballador for 
king James at Conftantinople, who expended nineteen 
thoufand pounds in the repairs of St. Paul’s. He built 
the beautiful fereen which feparated the nave and tran- 
fept from the choir; and indeed it was juftly admired as 
a piece of excellent workmanlhip. On each fide of the en¬ 
trance-door, which was wide, lofty, and groined inlide in 
an elegant manner, were four divifions ending in pinna¬ 
cles, with as many ftatues of the Saxon kings, with focies 
and canopies moft mafterly wrought. The whole had a 
very folemn appearance, and drew much of its majefty 
from a large parvis of twelve ftone fteps leading from the 
chequered pavement of the nave up to the door of the 
choir—as faithfully reprefented in Dugdale’s Hiftory of 
St. Paul’s. 
Sir Paul Pindar had brought over with him from the 
Levant a diamond valued at 30,000!. The king, James I. 
wilhed to buy it on credit; this the fenfible merchant, one 
of the wife men of the eaft, moft politely declined ; but 
ufed to trufl his majefty with it on gala-days. Charles I. 
however, could not reft till he got poffeffion of this pre¬ 
cious trifle, and bought it. James had appointed fir Paul 
farmer of the cuftoms; and the citizen frequently fup- 
plied the monarch’s wants. He did the fame under the 
troublefome reign of his fucceffor. Befides what we have 
mentioned before as fpent for the repairing and embellilh- 
ing St. Paul’s, his charities were great; but our aftonifh- 
ment at his expenditure will ceafe when we confider that, 
in 1639, he was elteemed worth 236,000k excluiive of bad 
debts. He was ruined by his connexions with his unfor¬ 
tunate king ; and it is reported that he fuffered imprifon- 
ment for debt. It is faid, that Charles owed him, and 
the reft of the old commiffioners of the cuftoms, 300,cool, 
for the fecurity of which, in 1649, they offered the par¬ 
liament ioojoool. but the propofal was rejected. He died 
Auguft 22, 1650, aged 84. He left his affairs in fuch a 
perplexed ftate, that his executor, William Toomes, un¬ 
able to bear the difappointment, deltroyed himfelf, and 
underwent the ignominy of the now almoft-obfolete ver¬ 
dict of Felo de fe. 
The houfe where fir Paul lived is now Handing in Bi- 
{hopl'gate-ftreet, a little below the church, on the fame fide 
of the way. It is remarkable for its antiquated look, by 
the 
