before we find any trace of such a structure. The "Apostle of the English," as Augustine was called, found a patron in Ethelbert, king of Kent, and it appears to have been this monarch, who, in 1619, first founded a cathedral here, dedicated it to St. Paul, and endowed it with the manor of Tillingham and other lands.

What might have been the character of the building in its primitive state, is not known. That it was of wood is certain, since stone buildings, which William of Malmsbury tells us were deemed miraculous by the Britons, had not yet formed a part of ecclesiastical architecture; and that it became for the period no mean structure we may infer, since Dugdale assures us, that in 675, Erkenwald, then Bishop of London, "bestowed great cost on the fabrick thereof, augmenting its revenues very much with his own estate."

During the Saxon heptarchy, this church flourished much. Kenred, king of Mercia, declared it to be as free in all its rights, as he himself desired to be at the day of judgement. Athelstan endowed it with one hundred and six farms, messuages, &c. Edgar gave it twenty-five mansions, besides a considerable sum in money, and his wife, Egleflede, two lordships. All these grants were confirmed by the charters of Ethelred and Canute, which solemnly denounce curses on all who dare to violate this place of worship. Edward the Confessor, also, endowed it liberally, so that "great was the esteem that this cathedral then bad."

On the landing of William the Norman, he seized on some of the revenues of St. Paul's; but no sooner VOL. II.]

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was he seated on the throne, than he restored them, and confirmed all its privileges.

In 1086, the wooden cathedral was laid in ashes by a conflagration which destroyed the greater part of the city; but this event made way for a more magnificent building than had ever been raised for the purposes of devotion in this kingdom. To the pious zeal of the bishops, Maurice and De Belmeis, London was chiefly indebted for this new edifice. The latter is said to have devoted the whole of his revenue to the undertaking. The steeple, which was of timber, was finished in 1221; the quire in 1240; and, in 1283, the cathedral, nearly as it stood in point of magnitude, previous to the great fire, was finally completed, with the exception of the pavement, which was not made until the year 1312, when the whole was paved with "good and firm marble, which cost five-pence the foot."

About this period, an exact survey was made of the church; and its dimensions, according to Dugdale, were stupendous. In length, it measured six hundred and ninety feet; and in breadth, one hundred and thirty feet; the height of the body of the church was one hundred and fifty feet; and the space of ground comprehended within the walls was three acres and a half, one rood and a half, and six perches. The height of the tower and spire from the level ground was five hundred and twenty feet; the ball, above the head of the spire, was so large, that it would contain within it ten bushels of corn; the length of the cross, above the ball, or pomel, was fifteen feet; and the traverse of the cross, six feet.

The number of chapels, chantries, shrines, and

monuments included within this sacred fane, serves to give a still higher idea of its magnitude. Dugdale enumerates no less than seventy-six chantry chapels, and sixty endowed anniversary obits; and not fewer than two huudred priests are supposed to have been required to perform the various duties of these establishments.

The building was in the Norman style, and is supposed to have presented one of the earliest and finest examples of the use of pointed arches in this country.

The decorations, within the walls, corresponded in richness and splendour with the magnificence of the exterior. The high altar shone all over with precious stones, and was surrounded with images," beautifully wrought." At the right side of it, there was an oil painting of St. Paul," placed in a tabernacle of wood," which is said to have been a masterly performance, and must have been at least curious for its great antiquity, having been executed in 1398, at a cost of 12l. 6s. Near the altar was the shrine of St. Erkenwald, which was for many ages a favorite resort of the pious, and is described to have been quite a prodigy of splendour. In 1392, the dean and chapter employed three goldsmiths for a whole year in gilding and decorating it. Among the precious stones with which the votaries of the saint had enriched it, were "the best sapphire stones" of Richard Preston, of London, grocer; who, confiding in the reputed virtues of this class of gems, ordered that they should "there remain for curing diseases of the eyes." Another shrine, nearly as celebrated, was that of Roger Niger, who was made bishop in 1229; Mathew Paris records, that miracles were frequently wrought at it. In the body of the church,

there was, says Dugdale, "a glorious image of the Blessed Virgin ;" and, that due honour might be done it, John Burnett, bishop of Bath and Wells, bequeathed a good estate for the purpose of keeping a lamp perpetually burning, and having an anthem sung every day before it. The Blessed Mary had, besides, two chapels within the cathedral, dedicated to her; one called the Lady's chapel, at the east end, was remarkable for a rose window of extraordinary size and magnificence. The dial of the clock was also splendid, and an angel, pointing to the hour, seemed a fit memento to the passenger, of the value of time.

Among the uncanonized, but perhaps not less truly eminent personages, to whom monuments were erected in this cathedral, were "old John of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster:" the gallant Sydney, author of the " Arcadia ;" Dean Colet, the founder of St. Paul's school; and Vandyke, the painter. Here too reposed the ashes of that great statesman, Sir Francis Walsingham, but without a stone to mark the spot. He died so poor, that his body was buried by stealth, to prevent its being arrested.

The celebration of obsequies for persons of rank, once formed a peculiar and a very profitable privilege of St. Paul's. "The state and order," says Dugdale, "observed, on these occasions, was little inferior to that used at the funerals of those great personages; the church and choir being hung with black and escutcheons of their arms; their herses set up in wonderful magnificence, adorned with rich banner rolls, &c. and environed with banners; having chief mournners and assistants, accompanied by several bishops and abbots in their proper habits; the ambassadors of

foreign princes, many of our nobility, the knights of the garter, the lord mayor, and the several companies of London, who all attended with great devotion at these ceremonies."

The cathedral is said to have been encompassed by a wall, as early as the year 1109; but, if so, it had been suffered to fall to decay, since Edward I. complained, that by the lurking of thieves in the churchyard, various robberies and homicides were committed there, and he ordered it to be enclosed with a wall on every side, with falling gates and posterns, which were to be opened every morning, and closed at night.

On the north side of the inclosure, stood the chancel, in which the bones of the dead were piled, until they had so accumulated, that a thousand loads were, in the reign of Edward VI. removed to Finsbury fields, where however they were not suffered to corrupt the air with their pestiferous exhalations, but covered with earth. On the mound thus formed three windmills were erected.

The ceremonies observed in the cathedral were very splendid, particularly at the anniversaries of the conversion and commemoration of St. Paul, the consecration of the church, and the canonization of St. Erkenwald. The first of these was attended with a singular observance. In the third year of the reign of Edward the First, Sir William le Baud, knight, settled property for an offering on behalf of himself and his heirs, of a doe yearly in winter, on the day of the conversion of St. Paul, and a fat buck in summer on the day of the commemoration of the same saint, to be presented at the high altar in St. Paul's, and