The Project Gutenberg EBook of Old St. Paul's Cathedral, by William Benham

Title: Old St. Paul's Cathedral

Author: William Benham

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Lesley Halamek and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

[plate 1]

Old St Paul's and the Three Cranes Wharf

OLD ST. PAUL'S
CATHEDRAL

WILLIAM BENHAM, D.D., F.S.A.

Rector of St. Edmund the King, Lombard Street,
and Honorary Canon of Canterbury

CONTENTS
(Link to the CHAPTER, or to the PAGE)

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Some Illustrations may be enlarged by clicking on them - Use the Back button to return to the text.

Plate 1. - Frontispiece OLD ST. PAUL'S AND THE THREE CRANES WHARF.
Compiled from old Drawings and Prints.

Plate 2. - P. 6 A BISHOP PLACING RELICS IN AN ALTAR.
From a Pontifical of the Fourteenth Century. British Museum, Lans. 451.

Plate 3. - P. 6 A PAPAL LEGATE.
From a MS. of the Decretals of Boniface VIII. British Museum, 23923.

Plate 8. - P.10 A FUNERAL PROCESSION.
From a MS. of the Hours of the Virgin. British Museum, 27697.

Plate 22. - P. 54 A PONTIFICAL MASS.
From a Missal of the Fifteenth Century. British Museum, 19897.

Plate 29. - P. 62 BISHOP AND CANONS IN THE CHURCH OF ST. GREGORY-BY-ST. PAUL'S.
From a MS. of Lydgate's Life of St. Edmund. British Museum, Harl. 2278.

Wenceslaus Hollar—to whose engravings of Old St. Paul's we are indebted for our exceptional knowledge of the aspect of a building that has perished—was born in Prague in 1607, and was brought to England by the Earl of Arundel, who had seen some of his work at Cologne. He soon obtained profitable employment, producing engravings both of figures and views in rapid succession, and about 1639 he was appointed drawing-master to the Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles II. On the outbreak of the Civil War he served as a soldier in the Royalist ranks, and was taken prisoner at Basing House, but escaped to Antwerp. Obtaining very poor employment there, he returned to England in 1652, and was engaged upon the plates for Dugdale's History of St. Paul's and other works, for which, however, he is said by Vertue to have received very small pay, about fourpence an hour, "at his usual method by the hour-glass."

Some years later the Plague and the Fire again threw him out of employment, and he seems to have sunk deeper and deeper into poverty, dying in 1677, with an execution in his house, "of which he was sensible enough to desire only to die in his bed, and not to be removed till he was buried." He lies in the churchyard of St. Margaret's, Westminster, but there is no stone to his memory.

In the course of his industrious life he is said to have produced more than 2000 engravings and etchings. "He worked," says Redgrave, "with extraordinary minuteness of finish, yet with an almost playful freedom." His engravings of Old St. Paul's, though not entirely accurate, undoubtedly give a true general view of the Cathedral as it was in its last years, after the alterations and additions by Inigo Jones, and nearly a century after the fall of the spire.

Plate 4. OLD ST. PAUL'S FROM THE SOUTH. After W. Hollar.

Plate 5. OLD ST. PAUL'S FROM THE NORTH. After W. Hollar.

Plate 6. OLD ST. PAUL'S FROM THE EAST. After W. Hollar.

Plate 7. OLD ST. PAUL'S FROM THE WEST. After W. Hollar.

Plate 9. THE CHAPTER HOUSE AND CLOISTER. After W. Hollar.

Plate 9a. THE CHAPTER HOUSE AND CLOISTER - Detail of Arms and Inscription. After W. Hollar.

Plate 10. THE NAVE, OR PAUL'S WALK. After W. Hollar.

Plate 11. THE CHOIR. After W. Hollar.

Plate 11a. THE CHOIR - Details of Arms and Inscription. After W. Hollar.

Plate 12. THE LADY CHAPEL. After W. Hollar.

Plate 13. THE ROSE WINDOW. From a Drawing by E.B. Ferrey.

Plate 14. GROUND PLAN OF OLD ST. PAUL'S. After W. Hollar.

Plate 15. THE SHRINE OF ST. ERKENWALD. After W. Hollar.

Plate 16. THE TOMBS OF SEBBA AND ETHELRED. After W. Hollar.

Plate 16a. THE TOMBS OF SEBBA AND ETHELRED- Details of Inscriptions. After W. Hollar.

Plate 17. THE MONUMENT OF JOHN OF GAUNT AND BLANCHE OF LANCASTER. After W. Hollar.

Plate 18. THE MONUMENT OF BISHOP ROGER NIGER. After W. Hollar.

Plate 19. THE MONUMENT OF SIR JOHN BEAUCHAMP, POPULARLY KNOWN AS DUKE HUMPHREY'S.
After W. Hollar.

Plate 20a. BRASS OF BISHOP BRAYBROOKE. After W. Hollar.

Plate 20b. BRASS OF JOHN MOLINS. After W. Hollar.

Plate 20c. BRASS OF RALPH DE HENGHAM. After W. Hollar.

Plate 21. ST. FAITH'S CHURCH IN THE CRYPT OF ST. PAUL'S. After W. Hollar.

Plate 21a. ST. FAITH'S CHURCH IN THE CRYPT OF ST. PAUL'S - Detail of Arms. After W. Hollar.

Plate 21b. ST. FAITH'S CHURCH IN THE CRYPT OF ST. PAUL'S - Detail of Inscription. After W. Hollar.

Plate 23. PORTRAIT OF BISHOP FISHER. From the Drawing by Holbein. British Museum.

Plate 24. ST. MATTHEW: VIEW OF A MEDIÆVAL SCRIPTORIUM. From a MS. of a Book of Prayers.
British Museum, Slo. 2468.

Plate 25. A REQUIEM MASS. From a MS. of a Book of Prayers. British Museum, Slo. 2468.

Plate 26. SINGING THE PLACEBO. From a MS. of the Hours of the Virgin. British Museum, Harl. 2971.

Plate 27. SEALS OF THE DEAN AND CHAPTER. From Casts in the Library of St. Paul's Cathedral.

Plate 28. ORGAN AND TRUMPETS. From a Collection of Miniatures from Choral Service Books.
Fourteenth Century. British Museum, 29902.

Plate 30. MONUMENT OF DR. DONNE. After W. Hollar.

Plate 30a. MONUMENT OF DR. DONNE - Detail of Inscription. After W. Hollar.

Plate 31. PREACHING AT PAUL'S CROSS BEFORE JAMES I. From a Picture by H. Farley
in the Collection of the Society of Antiquaries.

Plate 32. OLD ST. PAUL'S FROM THE THAMES. From Hollar's Long View of London.

Plate 33. WEST FRONT AFTER THE FIRE. From a Drawing in the Library of St. Paul's Cathedral.

Plate 34. OLD ST. PAUL'S IN FLAMES. After W. Hollar.

OLD ST. PAUL'S