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diff --git a/33613.txt b/33613.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e2ec854 --- /dev/null +++ b/33613.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2196 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories of London, by E. L. Hoskyn + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Stories of London + +Author: E. L. Hoskyn + +Release Date: September 3, 2010 [EBook #33613] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF LONDON *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: NO. 1. AN OLD RIVER-WALL OR EMBANKMENT (CHELSEA) _See +page_ 9] + + + + + + +STORIES OF + +LONDON + + +BY + +E. L. HOSKYN, B.A. (LOND.) + +AUTHOR OF "PICTURES OF BRITISH HISTORY," ETC. + + +WITH A PREFACE BY + +SOPHIE BRYANT, D.Sc., LITT.D. + + + +[Illustration: Title page logo] + + + +LONDON + +ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK + +1914 + + + + +{3} + +PREFACE + +There are many kinds of ignorance which, for lack of time and +opportunity, we may rightly tolerate in ourselves. Ignorance of the +stories that cling around and beautify the home-place is not one of +these. A place, indeed, is not a home unless human life has woven a +thread of story through and through it. Happy are those who dwell as +children in a place well clad with racy memories and legendary lore. +The city-home of the London child is just such a place. Here we have a +city with an old old history losing itself in the mists of time, and +preserving itself in the memorials of its ancient sites and the tales +that grow like ivy round its odd place-names. Of all this the careless +city-dweller takes no note, but the London child should be a different +kind of being. London stories are racy of London; they reflect its +life in every age; and the London child is heir to them all. + +The stories of London in this little book are interesting to everybody, +whether young or old; they cannot fail to be so, because London is +interesting, more or less, to everybody in the world. But the book is +written more particularly for the children of London, so that they may +not be careless city-dwellers, as so many are, but may grow up into +real citizens of this great London, loving their old city in all its +nooks and corners for its own dear sake, feeling it in all the twists +and turns of its varied history, as if their life and its life were +bound up in one. + +But this is not all that the study of London's stories may {4} do for +the London child. The natural beginning of interest in +history--including the literature that collects around it--arises out +of interest in the story of the place in which we live. We walk about +the place and picture the events of which we read as happening within +it. The place is transfigured, is filled with life; and the story is +transfigured too as seen against the background to which it really +belongs. In the case of London, moreover, there is a good deal of +useful work for the imagination to do in sufficiently restoring that +background to its primitive simplicity. So the London child who knows +the London stories thoroughly--so thoroughly as to be able to see them +in their real setting, as they happened in that city by the river on +the marshes in the olden time--has learnt to know how every other +story, including the history proper of any other town or country, +should be known. Thus, the study of the home story is for each of us +the true beginning of our education in that exercise of historical +imagination on which our appreciation of history largely depends. + +It is hoped that these _Stories of London_ will be specially +interesting to the London child, but not to him alone. The story of +London is central in the story of England, and appeals to the interest +of every English-speaking child. + +SOPHIE BRYANT. + + + + +{5} + +CONTENTS + + I. SOME VERY OLD STORIES + II. WESTMINSTER ABBEY + III. THE CHARTER HOUSE + IV. TWO FAMOUS CHARITIES + V. THE STORY AND THE HISTORY OF DICK WHITTINGTON + VI. WHEN ELIZABETH WAS QUEEN + VII. THE STORY OF ST. PAUL'S + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +1. AN OLD RIVER-WALL OR EMBANKMENT (CHELSEA) . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +2. PART OF THE OLD BUILDINGS OF THE CHARTER HOUSE SCHOOL, + ITS CHAPEL AND PLAYGROUND + +3. WESTMINSTER ABBEY, THE TOMB OF EDWARD THE CONFESSOR + +4. THE FIRST CORONATION IN THE ABBEY + +5. A ROOM IN THE TOWER WHERE STATE PRISONERS WERE LODGED + +6. SIR THOMAS MORE AND HIS DAUGHTER WATCH THE CARTHUSIAN + PRIORS GOING AWAY TO DIE + +7. OLD PENSIONERS AND SCHOOLBOYS IN THE CHARTER HOUSE CHAPEL + +8. ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHURCH BEFORE IT WAS RESTORED + +9. AN EXCITING GAME; OLD CHRIST'S HOSPITAL, LONDON + +10. ENTRANCES OF THE OLD CHRIST'S HOSPITAL AND OF CHRIST'S + CHURCH, LONDON + +11. AN ARCH OF LONDON BRIDGE, TOWER BRIDGE IN THE DISTANCE + +12. WHITTINGTON SETTING THE KING FREE FROM HIS GREAT DEBT + +13. GREENWICH AS IT IS NOW + +14. PLACENTIA, THE OLD PALACE AT GREENWICH + +15. THE FIRE OF LONDON + +16. ST. PAUL'S FROM THE RIVER + + +_Sketch map of Norman London_ + +_Old St Paul's_ + + + + +{6} + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: NO. 2. PART OF THE BUILDINGS OF THE OLD CHARTER HOUSE +SCHOOL, ITS CHAPEL AND PLAYGROUND. (See p. 28)] + +====================================================================== + + + + +{7} + +STORIES OF LONDON + + +I. + +SOME VERY OLD STORIES + +The first story of London should tell who built it, and when, and why. +But London is old, very old; it began before its builders had even +thought of making books, and so its earliest history is written in the +ground on which it stands, in its hills and valleys, its rivers and +river-beds; and this is a kind of history which, if only we know how to +read it, always tells the truth. Perhaps you are saying to yourself, +"There is only one river in London, and that is the Thames; and there +are no hills,--London is flat; and as for the ground, who has seen the +real ground on which London stands? Is it not all built over, or paved +with wood or stones or cement? How, then, can we learn anything from +it?" Sometimes old worn-out buildings have to be pulled down to their +very foundations so that new houses may be put in their places, or a +tube-railway or a tunnel has to be made, or gas-pipes or electric wires +have to be laid under the roads;--have you not seen navvies digging +deep into the earth to do all these things? Then the secret things +hidden in the ground are brought to light, and they teach us something +of the very old history of the land. + +{8} + +Perhaps you know that the Hampstead and Highgate Hills lie four or five +miles north of the Thames; and at about the same distance south of it +are other hills, on one of which the Crystal Palace stands. Though we +call the land between these hills the Thames Valley, it is not flat; +and long ago, before London was built in it, it was much more uneven +than it is now; for the more level roads are the easier it is for heavy +carriages and carts to be pulled along them, so hollows have been +filled up and hillocks cut down to make the ground as flat as possible. +Even now, as you ride on the top of an omnibus through the long +straight road called Oxford Street, if you watch carefully you may +notice the rise and fall of the land,--a little hill, then a little +valley, and so on. Once through each of these valleys a stream ran +down to the Thames. Where are they now? Some of them are +underground--arched over, built over, buried in the dark, out of sight. +Look at the map on p. 11; there you will find one of these rivers, +which ran from the Highgate Woods southward to the Thames. It was +called the Fleet, and has given its name to Fleet Street. + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: NO. 3. IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY: THE TOMB OF EDWARD THE +CONFESSOR WITH ITS VELVET COVERING _See pages_ 17 _and_ 22] + +====================================================================== + +There were also some low hills quite close to the north bank of the +river. Let us fancy that we have gone back through the ages, many +hundreds of years before ever the Romans came to this country, and that +we are standing--you and I--facing the river on one of those hills, +that on which St. Paul's now stands. What do we see? To our right, +under its steep clay bank, so high it is almost a cliff, the Fleet runs +on its way to the Thames; to our left is the hill; behind us, {9} all +the way up to the hills of Hampstead, are tangled forests, and in the +low ground are wide marshes; and in front is the river. It is +low-water; on either side of the stream are great stretches of mud and +sand, wet marshy places, such as you may have seen at some place by the +sea where the shore is very flat and the tide goes out very far. +Beyond the marsh, on the southern shore, I think there is a wide +shallow lake, for to this day some of the land there is below the level +of the river at high-water. As we watch, look! a little rippling wave +runs over the flats between the sand-banks; the tide has turned,--how +fast it rises, how far it spreads! Before long the wide waste before +us is covered with grey waters; it has become a great lake or sea. +Nowadays embankments, such as you see in picture 1, keep the river in +its place; but in the long-ago times of which we are thinking every +high tide must have spread far and wide over what is now dry land. + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: NO. 4. THE FIRST CORONATION IN THE ABBEY _See page_ 21] + +====================================================================== + +Could any people have wished to live in such a watery place? Yes, +indeed they did; and under the bed of the Fleet River, near its mouth, +traces have been found of their homes. That ancient people must have +had many enemies,--other men who fought them, fierce wild animals, +wolves and other creatures which have not lived in England for hundreds +and hundreds of years; and to defend themselves that people had such +poor weapons, perhaps made only of bronze; so they sought for a very +safe dwelling-place. Down into the muddy bed of the river they drove +great wooden posts, such posts as men drive down now into river or sea +when they are building a pier. The worn {10} tops of those old timbers +have been found showing up through the soil where once the Fleet ran; +and on them once rested a platform of wood on which houses were built. +Is not this a piece of history written in the soil? The first men who +tried to read it understood more easily the meaning of those worn old +posts because to this day the brown people, who live in one of the +great islands to the south-east of Asia, build their houses on just +such platforms out over the water. + +How long did the men of that far-off time live in these strange +river-dwellings? That we do not know; it may have been for very many +years. At last (so some learned men believe) they built for themselves +a fort or stronghold on the high land near-by, perhaps where St. Paul's +now stands, but more likely lower down the river, on the next hill; +this stronghold may have been the beginning of London. If, as some +people think, London means "The Fort of the Waters," or "The Lake +Fort," was it not well named? + +Up the river to this fort ships may sometimes have come, bringing +merchants to buy pearls and skins of wild animals and slaves; and to +pay for them with such things as the fierce Londoners of those days +would like--a sharp axe or a gay necklace. + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: LONDON IN THE TIME OF THE NORMANS.] + +====================================================================== + +The written history of London does not begin until the Romans had +conquered and were ruling the land, more than a hundred years after +their great general, Julius Caesar, had first come here. They found +London only a little group of huts, very likely made of wickerwork +plastered over with mud, and surrounded by a poor wall and ditch. How +much they did for it! They {12} built round it the great walls which +you see marked in our little map; so strong were they that parts of +their foundations and of the walls themselves have been found even of +late years. And many other traces of the Romans have been found in +London--coins, and weapons, and carvings. Near the Strand is a bath +which once, perhaps, belonged to some Roman gentleman's fine house. +There were many such houses in and about London; and many a time the +beautiful pavements of these houses, and even the pavements of the old +Roman streets, have been found in the City down below the present +streets and houses. The Romans made great roads which stretched out +north, south, east, and west, from London; and they built a bridge over +the Thames. In those days the people across the English Channel, the +Gauls and Italians, were far wiser than the wild people of Britain; and +roads and bridges made it possible for their trade, skill and wisdom to +come to the people of London. A flourishing city it became under the +Roman rule. + +The years passed on and evil days befell the Roman Empire; the wild +fierce northern races attacked it, and the Roman soldiers had to leave +Britain and go back to defend Italy. Then there came to this country +also sad days of war and trouble, for the English came over the North +Sea, fought and conquered the Britons, and at last settled here. Then +came the Danes, and there was more war, more fighting. During these +dreadful times we hear little of London. + +At last Alfred became King. Do you remember how many good things he +did for England? One of the best of them was that in the year 886, as +the {13} ancient Chronicle or history of our country tells us, he built +London Town,--that is, he built again her walls and towers, and made +her once more a strong city. Thus, with Alfred as her founder and +protector, her later history begins. Year by year she grew greater and +more important, until she became the greatest of all English cities and +the capital of the land. + +There is another and a very different story of Old London, and this is +how it begins:--"Brute, about the yeare of the world 2855 and 1108 +before the nativitie of Christ" (that is, before Christ was born,) +"builded this city neare unto the riuer (river) now called Thames, and +named it Troynouant"--that is, 'New Troy.' Now, this Brute belonged to +the very same family as Romulus who built Rome; and he and his +followers came across the sea to this island, in which then only a few +giants were living, and he conquered them and took the land, and named +it Britain after his own name, and his companions he called Britons. + +There were more giants in Cornwall than in any other part of the land. +One of them was called Goemagot; he was so strong that he could pull up +an oak-tree as if it were only a hazel-wand. Now there was a great +fight between the Britons and the Cornish giants, and all the giants +were killed but Goemagot. Then he and a famous Briton fought together, +and all men stood by to watch. At first it seemed that the giant would +win for he wounded the Briton sorely; but, wounded as he was, the +Briton heaved Goemagot up on his shoulders, ran with him to the shore, +and flung him headlong into the sea; and (so says the story) the rock +from which he fell is called "The Giant's Leap" unto {14} this day. +All this happened near the place where Plymouth now stands. What has +it to do with London? In the Guildhall, which is the Council Hall of +London, are many statues of great and famous men, and here are also two +great wooden giants called Gog and Magog; they are the City's giants. +Once they used to be carried in the Lord Mayor's Show and in +processions to make the people wonder. The older giant is said to be +Goemagot; the other, the Briton who hurled him headlong into the sea. + +Long after Brute died, Belinus became King. Of all his wonderful +history I can tell you only this,--he placed a great building in +Trinovantum (that is, London,) upon the banks of the Thames, and the +citizens called it, after his name, Billingsgate. Over it he built a +huge tower, and under it a fair haven or quay for ships. "At last, +when he had finished his days, his body was burned, and the ashes put +up in a golden urn, which they placed with wonderful art on the top of +the tower" which he himself had built. Have you ever heard of +Billingsgate? It is the chief fish-market of London, and its wharf is +the oldest on the Thames, so old that no one knows when fish were first +landed and sold there. + +Many years after Belinus built his great tower, Lud became King. He +"not only repaired this Cittie" (that is, Trinovantum,) "but also +increased the same with faire buildings, Towers and walles; and after +his own name called it Caire Lud, as Lud's towne." And about sixty-six +years before Christ was born he built a strong gate in the west part of +the city, and he named it, in his own honour, Ludgate; and when he {15} +died his body was buried by this gate. Turn back to the little map of +London on p. 11; there you will find Ludgate marked. St. Paul's +Cathedral stands just to the east of it, on Ludgate Hill. + +These stories were first written down by a Welsh priest called Geoffrey +of Monmouth, who lived in the days of King Stephen; and long ago +everyone believed they were true. Then came a time when people said +what, perhaps, you are thinking, "These stories are only fairy-tales. +Who made them up?" Well, Geoffrey of Monmouth said, in his book +written nearly 800 years ago, that he had read them in a still older +book which came out of Brittany. Who else had read this old book? No +one, so Geoffrey said; so people left off believing them; they were put +aside and forgotten. Now wise men think that they are really the old +stories of our nation which have been passed down from father to son, +and that perhaps the heroes of which they tell are the gods the people +once worshipped, that Lud was a God of the Waters. If so, was it not +very natural that he was worshipped in Old London on the shores of the +Thames and the Fleet Rivers? + +There is another hero, Bran the Blessed, of whom I must tell you. He +too was King of the Isle of the Mighty, as Britain was called. He was +so big no ship could contain him for he was like a mountain, and his +eyes were like two lakes. In the end of his days he fought with the +Irish in their own land until only he and seven of his followers were +left alive, and he was wounded unto death. And he said to his +followers, "Very soon I shall die; then cut off my head, and {16} take +it with you to London, and there bury it in the White Mountain looking +towards France, and no foreigners shall invade the land while it is +there." Much more he told them of the manner of their coming to +London, and all that he said came true, so that many years passed away +before in the White Mount, where the Tower now stands, they buried the +head. There it lay until Arthur dug it up, for he said, "The strong +arm should defend the land." He meant that the men of a nation should +be its defence. + +Arthur himself was proclaimed King in London. Perhaps you remember the +old story of the child who was brought up so secretly that, when the +King, his father, died, no one knew who was now the rightful King or, +indeed, if there was one. Then, as Merlin the Magician had advised, +the Archbishop of Canterbury called on all the great lords of the +kingdom to come together in London; and there, one day, outside the +greatest church in the City (was it St. Paul's, I wonder?) they saw a +great stone with a sword sticking in it; and round about the stone, +written in letters of gold, were these words:--"Whoso pulleth out this +sword of this stone is right wise born King of England." The great +lords tried to pull it out, and not one of them could do so; but young +Arthur, who had come to town with his foster-father and foster-brother, +pulled it out easily, not because he wanted to show that he was the +King,--he does not seem to have known about this,--but because his +foster-brother had sent him to fetch a sword and he could get no other. +Thus, all men knew that he was "right wise born King of England." + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: NO. 5. A ROOM IN THE TOWER WHERE STATE PRISONERS WERE +LODGED.] + +====================================================================== + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: NO. 6. SIR THOMAS MORE AND HIS DAUGHTER WATCH THE +CARTHUSIAN PRIORS GOING AWAY TO DIE. _See page_ 26] + +====================================================================== + + + + +{17} + +II. + +THE STORY OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY + +Turn to the picture facing p. 8. If you have ever been in London, I +think you will know that this is a picture of part of Westminster +Abbey. Even if you have never seen the Abbey, perhaps you know that it +is a very old and beautiful church near the River Thames in London. +Imagine that you are standing near it now, and that you can see its old +grey walls, and the grass and railings which separate it from the busy +street with its motors and omnibuses, its carriages and carts. Now, +with the roar of the streets in our ears, with the tall London +buildings all around us, and busy people constantly hurrying past us, +let us try to fancy what this spot was like in the very early times +when we first hear of it. + +Then the Thames was clear and fresh and full of fish, and many a red +deer and other wild animal wandered along its banks and drank of its +waters. About a mile and a half above London, where the river was wide +and shallow, one of those little brooks of which I have told you ran +into it; and here, where the waters of the brook and of the river met, +was a bank of sandy gravel, which at high tide was an island, so it was +called Thorney or Thorn Ey--the Island of Thorns--for it was all +overgrown with thorn-bushes. Very lonely, very quiet, Thorney must +have been. + +{18} + +Who first lived there, what kind of a dwelling-place they had, we do +not really know. In later days the monks, whose home it then was, said +that once the temple of a Roman god had stood there, and that when the +Britons became Christians a good King built in its place a Christian +church called the Abbey of St. Peter. Do you remember that, after the +Romans left Britain, the English, who were still heathen, came over the +North Sea and conquered the Britons and settled on their lands? The +monks said that in those days of war and trouble the little Abbey of +St. Peter was destroyed. Early in the seventh century, when the +English also had learnt the Christian Faith, Sebert, King of the East +Saxons, rebuilt the little abbey, and when he died he was buried there. +So said the monks, and to this very day there is a grave in Westminster +Abbey which is said to be Sebert's. + +There is a strange story told about this ancient church. It was just +finished, and the first Bishop of London, Mellitus, was to come on a +certain Monday to consecrate it--that is, to set it apart for the +service of God. The evening before a man called Edric was fishing in +the river. Suddenly, on the southern bank, he saw a bright light; he +pulled his little boat towards it, and saw standing by the water a +strange-looking stately man, who pointed towards Thorney and said, +"Ferry me, I pray thee, across to yonder place"; and Edric did so. As +the stranger landed and went to the new church the air was filled with +heavenly light, the church was "without darkness or shadow," and +through the light angels came flying from the skies, and with their +help the stranger held the solemn service of {19} consecration. All +this Edric heard and saw. Do you wonder that he forgot all about his +fishing? + +When the service was ended and, I suppose, the heavenly light had faded +away and darkness again covered the place, the stranger came to Edric +and asked for food. "Alas!" he answered, "I have none. I have not +caught a single fish." + +Then said the stranger, "I am Peter, Keeper of the Keys of Heaven. +When the Bishop comes to-morrow, tell him that I, St. Peter, have +consecrated my own church of St. Peter. Go thou out into the river; +thou wilt catch many a fish, whereof the most part will be salmon. +This I grant thee if thou wilt promise two things;--first, that never +again wilt thou fish on Sunday; and, secondly, that thou wilt give +one-tenth of thy fish to the Abbey of St. Peter." + +Next day King Sebert and the Bishop of London came to Thorney. There, +by the new church, with a salmon in his hand, Edric, the fisherman, was +waiting to tell his story. Did they believe it? How could they help +believing? for he showed them the marks of twelve crosses on the +church, and the traces of the sacred oil and of the candles which the +angels had held! There was nothing left for the Bishop to do but to +declare that the church had been well and truly consecrated. + +These are the wonderful stories the monks used to tell of their abbey. +I suppose they loved it so much that they wanted people to think it as +old and as wonderful as it could possibly be. + +But now we have come to real history which we know to be true. In 1042 +Edward, called the {20} Confessor, became King of England. Englishmen +long remembered him and what he looked like; his hair and beard were +milky white, and his cheeks were red; he loved hunting and long +services in church; and his people believed that the touch of his hand +would heal the sick, and that God spoke to him in dreams and visions. + +His father had been driven out of England by the Danes, and Edward had +grown up in Normandy; so it came about that he loved the Normans, who +were more courteous than the rude rough English. Yet I think he loved +England too, for we are told that he made a vow to St. Peter that if +ever he returned there in safety he would make a pilgrimage to the +saint's grave in Rome. + +He did not keep this vow; his people would not let him, for they said, +"The journey to Rome is long and dangerous, and our King is very +precious to us. We cannot let him go." But a man, even if he is a +King, may not break a solemn vow, so Edward asked the Pope what he must +do, and the Pope answered, "Stay at home and rule thy people; yet, as +thou hast vowed to make a pilgrimage to Rome, do some other costly +thing instead. Build a new church, or rebuild an old one in honour of +St. Peter." And King Edward determined to rebuild the little church at +Thorney, or Westminster as we must now call it; for the thorns had long +since been cleared away, the sandy bank was no longer an island even at +high-water, and pleasant meadows lay on either side of the river. + +For fifteen years the work went on; Edward was so interested in it, so +loved it, that he watched over and {21} cared for every part of it. +Now at last, at Christmas-time of the year 1065, the east end was +finished. How eagerly the King looked forward to its consecration! It +was indeed consecrated three days after Christmas, on the Feast of the +Holy Innocents, but the King was not there; he was very ill, and within +a few days he died. The first great service held in the new Abbey was +his funeral; he was buried before the high Altar. After this there was +no peace or happiness in England for many a day. Edward left no son, +so the greatest of the English Earls, Earl Harold, was made King. But +William, Duke of Normandy, declared that Edward had promised him the +crown; and he came across the sea, and fought and killed Harold on the +Sussex Hills at the Battle of Hastings. Thus the Norman Duke became +William I., King of England, and he was crowned in Westminster Abbey on +Christmas Day, 1066. Inside the church with him were the Norman +nobles; outside crowded the poor English. + +When he was proclaimed King at the Altar, the English shouted, as was +their custom, "God save the King!" The Normans within the Abbey heard +and wondered. What could the shouts mean? Were the English rising +against them? Full of fear and anger they rushed out to find +everything in confusion, the houses ablaze, and their men, who had been +left outside on guard, killing the poor English. In the Abbey William +and the Bishops and monks were left almost alone; and thus, in the +gloom and darkness of the winter's day, with the sound of tumult and +fighting ringing in their ears, the Conqueror was {22} crowned. This +was the first coronation in the Abbey; facing p. 9 is a picture of it. + +Two hundred years later King Henry III. pulled down Edward the +Confessor's Abbey, and built in its place the Abbey we still have. In +it the Confessor's tomb is behind the altar; for Henry had his body +reverently moved from its first grave to a chapel which he had +especially prepared for it. When you go to the Abbey you will see that +this chapel is higher than any of the others; some people say the +reason is that, to do more honour to the Confessor, King Henry sent +ships to bring earth from the Holy Land, and this sacred earth was +piled up into a mound behind the high Altar, and on it the Confessor's +chapel was built. This is the part of the Abbey shown in picture 3; +turn back and look at it again. Do you see that the old tomb is +covered with purple velvet? Are not the pillars and arches about it +beautiful? + +I have told you only the beginning of the Abbey's history. Not only +are all our Kings crowned there but many of them lie buried there too; +so also do some of the best and wisest men who have served our country, +some of our bravest sailors, and of our greatest poets. Thus it comes +about that the history of the Abbey is as long as the history of our +country--indeed, it _is_ the history of our country. + + + + +{23} + +III. + +THE STORY OF THE CHARTER HOUSE + +In 1347 Edward III. was besieging Calais; he was at war with France, +and but the year before had won the great victory of Crecy. The siege +lasted a whole year, and then at last the men of Calais could hold out +no longer, for the French King could not help them and they had no food +left. When King Edward heard this he sent to them one of his knights, +Sir Walter Manny, with this message, "Give yourselves up to me that I +may do with you what I will." This was a hard thing to ask, so hard +that Edward's lords pleaded with him to show mercy; and the King gave +way and said he would be content if six citizens came to him, barefoot, +in their shirts, with ropes about their necks, and bearing the city's +keys. "On them," he said, "I will do my will." So the Captain of +Calais gave up six of the citizens to Sir Walter Manny, and he brought +them to the King and begged him to spare their lives--begged, but +begged in vain. Then Queen Philippa, Edward's wife, weeping bitterly, +fell on her knees, and prayed the King for love of our Lord to have +mercy; and the King's heart was moved to pity, and he answered her, +"Though I do it against my will--take them! I give them to you." Can +you not fancy how well she treated them, and how happy she was when she +sent them home to Calais? + +In those days, outside the walls of London towards {24} the north-west +was a pleasant land of fields and trees, of streams and clear sweet +springs, a lonely land with few houses except three great monasteries. +Here Sir Walter Manny and the Bishop of London of that time founded +another monastery for twenty-four monks and a Prior or chief monk. It +was called the London Charter House, for it was one of several Charter +Houses which all belonged to the same kind of monks, who all obeyed the +same rules and wore the same dress, and so they are said to belong to +the same Order. This new Charter House stood on land which had been +given (some by Sir Walter Manny, some by a former Bishop of London,) to +be used as a burial-ground for people who had died in the great +sickness, called the Black Death, in the year 1349. + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: NO. 7. OLD PENSIONERS AND SCHOOLBOYS IN THE CHARTER +HOUSE. _See page_ 28] + +====================================================================== + +Let us fancy what the life of the monks of the Charter House was like. +Their day began at an hour when you are sound asleep in bed; at eleven +o'clock the convent bell rang, and at midnight the monks met in chapel +for Matins, their first service, which often lasted two hours, or even +longer, so slowly, so solemnly, did they chant the psalms and prayers. +When it was over the monks went back to their beds until five o'clock, +when they rose and went about the business of the day. What did they +find to do? They were busy all day long, for they had to take part in +the many services of the chapel; and each monk had his own little house +and garden, called his "cell," where he passed most of his time alone. +Here he read and prayed; here he worked,--perhaps at carpentering or +some such trade, perhaps he copied or wrote books; here he ate his +solitary meal, the only meal {25} of the day, which might be of eggs, +fish, fruit and vegetables, but never of meat; sometimes it was of +bread and water only. By seven o'clock his day was ended and he was +asleep in bed. One of the strictest rules of this Order of monks is +that they shall be silent except in Chapel. They only meet together +twice a week; once when they all dine together, and again on Sundays, +when they all go for a long walk in company. + +This has been the life of every Carthusian monk (so the Charter House +monks are called,) ever since the Order was founded in the eleventh +century; and this was the life of the London Charter House from the +days of Edward III. until the reign of Henry VIII. Do you remember +that he and his Parliament broke the links which bound together the +Churches of Rome and England? In 1534 a law was made which said that +the King, not the Pope, should henceforth be the Head of the English +Church, and that anyone who would not agree to this was a traitor. +Some people in England were very glad of this, for there were things in +the Church which seemed to them altogether wrong; "Now," they thought, +"these wrong things can be set right." But other people were very +sorry; they believed the Pope was indeed Head of the whole Church, that +God had made him so, and what God had willed man cannot alter. Amongst +those who thought so were the monks of the Charter House. + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: NO. 8. ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHURCH BEFORE IT WAS RESTORED. +_See page_ 30] + +====================================================================== + +It is hard to wait day by day for some dreadful thing which we know is +surely coming to us, so these were sad days for the monks. Were they +frightened, I wonder, when they heard what was going on in the {26} +world outside their walls, and knew that soon, very soon, they must +tell the fierce King that for them the Pope was and must always be Head +of the Church? What would happen to them? Did their prayers and +solemn services strengthen and comfort them then? Yes, indeed they +did. And their Prior, John Houghton, was a brave true man, as men have +need to be in such times; and not only by his words, but by his deeds, +he taught his monks to choose rather to die than to give up what they +believed to be true; for in the spring of the next year he and two +other Carthusian Priors told Thomas Cromwell, the King's great +Minister, that they could not change their Faith. They were sent to +the Tower, tried as traitors in Westminster Hall, and found guilty. +Turn to picture 6; here you see Sir Thomas More, in this month of May +himself a prisoner in the Tower for the same reason, watching the three +Priors and another monk going away to die. As he watched, More said to +his daughter, "Lo, dost thou see, Meg, that these blessed fathers be +now as cheerful going to their deaths as bridegrooms to their +marriages?" + +At Tyburn Tree, where the Marble Arch now stands, John Houghton laid +down his life for his Faith. + +Two sad years followed; then all but ten of the monks yielded to the +King and promised to "forsake the Bishop of Rome." These ten were sent +to Newgate Prison. There they would very soon have died, for in those +days life in a prison was a dreadful thing, but they were helped by a +brave woman, called Margaret Clement, whom Sir Thomas More had brought +up with his own daughter Margaret. "Moved {27} with a great compassion +of those holy Fathers, she dealt with the gaoler ... and withal did win +him with money that he was content to let her come into the prison to +them, which she did, attiring and disguising herself as a milkmaid, +with a great pail upon her head full of meat, wherewith she fed that +blessed company, putting meat into their mouths, they being tied and +not able to stir, nor to help themselves." + +Soon orders came that the monks were to be kept very strictly, and the +gaoler could not allow Margaret Clement to visit them; then, one after +another, all but one died. + +In 1538 the rest of the monks were turned out of the Charter House. +Sorrowfully they passed out under its great archway, and went their +different ways to places of safety. + +And was the Charter House left empty to fall into ruins? No; it became +the property of first one great lord and then of another. They altered +it to meet their needs; the monks' cells disappeared; it became a grand +mansion. Queen Elizabeth and James I. both stayed there. + +At last it was sold to Thomas Sutton, a merchant who had made a large +fortune by mining for coal near Newcastle and selling it in London. He +must have been a good old man, for we are told he used often to go into +his quiet garden to pray, "Lord, Thou hast given me a large and liberal +estate; give me also a heart to make use thereof." + +He had no children, and when he died, in 1611, he left his great wealth +to found a free school, and a "hospital" where eighty old +men--"soldiers who had {28} borne arms by land or sea, merchants who +had been ruined by shipwreck or piracy, and servants of the King or +Queen,"--could spend their last days in peace. They are called the +Charter House Pensioners. Turn back to picture 7; these two old men +are Pensioners. At first there were to be but forty boys in the +school, but the numbers grew larger and larger; and many a great man +has been educated in the famous Charter House School. + +As the years passed on and London spread beyond its walls, the pleasant +fields about the Charter House were covered with streets and houses. +At last, about fifty years ago, the Governors of the school thought it +would be wise to move it to a more open place; so they built a new +school at Godalming in Surrey, and the boys moved into it in 1872. +Into the old buildings they had left came a great day-school, the +Merchant Taylors', so there are still about 500 boys as well as the old +pensioners in the London Charter House. + +What a strange history the Charter House has! What changes it has +seen! The convent with its silent monks, the great house with its +state and royal visitors, the noisy school, the peaceful home of the +old pensioners,--the Charter House bears traces of them all. For here +are still the courts and cloisters and the chapel of the monks, and the +stateroom of the great noble; the boys' playground (picture 2 shows us +a little bit of it,) is the square round which once stood the monks' +quiet cells; in the chapel we may see the tomb of the Founder, Sir +Thomas Sutton; indeed, both the Founders, Sir Thomas Sutton and Sir +Walter Manny, lie buried there. + + + + +{29} + +IV. + +TWO FAMOUS CHARITIES + +Turn to picture 8; this is the ancient church of St. Bartholomew the +Great. In it, on the north side of the altar, is an old old tomb on +which lies a stone figure in a quaint dress; it is the tomb of Rahere, +said to be the founder of the church and of the great Hospital of St. +Bartholomew near-by. + +This is the story of Rahere:--He was born in France in the reign of +William the Conqueror. Early in the twelfth century he was in England, +and he was often at the Courts of the Red King and of Henry I. We are +told that he was "a pleasant-witted gentleman, and therefore in his +time called the Kinge's Minstrell"; indeed, the old chronicler seems to +think he led an idle foolish life. If this is true, he certainly +repented before long, for he became a pilgrim and made the long and +difficult journey to Rome to visit there the places where the Apostles +St. Peter and St. Paul were martyred. In Rome he fell ill, and when he +was getting better he vowed he would make a hospital "yn re-creacion +(that is, re-creation or healing) of poure men." + +And now wonderful things happened. In a dream or vision Rahere saw the +Apostle Bartholomew, who said to him such words as these:--"Build not +only a {30} hospital but also a church, and build them in Smithfield by +the City of London." So Rahere went home, called together the citizens +of London, and told them what he meant to do. And they answered, "This +is a hard thing to compass for Smithfield lieth within the King's +market." + +Rahere then went to King Henry I. and told him his story, and the King +gave him the land he needed,--such land! wet and marshy, "moorish +land," an old writer says, "heretofore a common," where the Londoners +used to fling out the rubbish and dirt of their city. On this land, in +the year 1123, Rahere began to build his hospital, which he called +after the Apostle who had appeared to him; and later, as that Apostle +had bidden him, he built a Priory; the church you see in picture 8 is +part of its church. + +Who helped Rahere to do all this? The citizens of London. We are told +that he gathered together a crowd of people by pretending to be mad, +and then he made them work; they drained the wet marshy soil, they +carried great stones, they laboured hard. Thus the hospital was built. + +Rahere was its first master. A friend of his, called Alfune, "went +himselfe dayly to the Shambles and other markets, where he begged the +charity of devout people for their" (that is, the poor sick people's) +"reliefe." Now, the charity he asked for was food for them to eat. + +Rahere's last years were quietly spent in his own Priory, where he died +in the year 1144. This is his story, but it was first written down +when writers loved rather to tell wonderful things about great men {31} +than to seek out the exact truth about them. Now some people think he +did not found the hospital, but both hospital and church are far older +than his day; and that the Priory was built for the monks who managed +the hospital. + +However this may be, the monks of the Priory certainly had great +privileges; one of them was that every year, at the Festival of St. +Bartholomew, for three days they might hold a fair in the "smooth +field" or Smithfield. Have you ever been to a country fair, and seen +its funny little stalls of sweets and chinaware and its quaint shows? +If you have, you must know that most English fairs are not at all +important nowadays; but in the times of which I am writing most of the +buying and selling in England was done at them. And so the old writer, +Stow, tells us that to St. Bartholomew's Fair "the Clothiers of all +England and Drapers of London repayred and had their boothes and +standings within the churchyard of this priorie, closed in with walles, +and gates locked every night, and watched for safetie of men's goodes +and wares"--so rich and valuable was its merchandise. Year by year it +was held until 1855; then it was done away with, for serious buying and +selling were no longer carried on at such fairs, and "Bartlemy Fair," +as it was called, was now famous only for its shows of wild beasts, +dwarfs and giants, for its ox roasted whole, and for its scenes of wild +merry-making. + +For four hundred years the monks of St. Bartholomew's tended the poor +people of London. Then came the days when Henry VIII. broke up the +monasteries; in 1539 he turned the monks out of the Priory and closed +{32} the hospital. Presently I will tell you what afterwards happened +to it. + + +For the beginning of our second charity we must go far away from London +to the little town of Assisi in Italy. There, on a spring day of the +year 1209, a young man kneeling in a little church heard the priest +reading the Gospel for the day:--"As ye go, preach, saying, 'The +Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers.... +Provide neither silver nor gold nor brass in your purses, neither scrip +nor two coats, nor shoes nor staff." The young man felt as though +Christ Himself was speaking to him. "From henceforth," he said, "I +shall set myself with all my might to live thus." + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: NO. 9. AN EXCITING GAME: OLD CHRIST'S HOSPITAL, LONDON] + +====================================================================== + +If you had asked the people of Assisi about him, they would have +answered you in some such words as these, "Yonder man? He is Francis, +the spendthrift son of the cloth-merchant, Pietro Bernardone. He to +make such a vow! he, the idle companion of the foolish young nobles of +Assisi, the waster of his father's wealth! It is true he has changed +of late, but his new way of life pleases his father not at all, for he +has given away all he possessed, and says he has taken Poverty as his +bride. He visits the lepers, and labours to repair some of the poor +churches of the town." + +Yet Francis kept his vow. Dressed in a simple grey gown, he went in +and out amongst the poorest of the people, preaching to them and +tending the sick. In return they could give him but a scanty meal or a +night's lodging; money he would not take; it was, he {33} said, of no +use to him. And wherever he was, whatever he was doing, no matter what +hardships he had to bear--and he had many--he was always full of +happiness. + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: NO. 10. ENTRANCES OF THE OLD CHRIST'S HOSPITAL AND OF +CHRIST CHURCH, LONDON] + +====================================================================== + +In those hard cruel days men thought little of pain and suffering; but +Francis had love and sympathy, not only for men, but for animals and +for all things. In one of his poems he calls the moon his sister, and +the sun his brother; and he gives thanks for "our sister water, who is +very serviceable unto us and humble and precious and clean," and for +"our brother fire; he is bright and pleasant and very mighty and +strong." We hear of him preaching to the birds, and bidding them be +thankful for their feather-clothes and wings. + +Soon other men joined themselves to him to live and teach as he did, +and they were called Franciscans, the Monks of St. Francis; and +sometimes the Grey Friars, because, like St. Francis, they wore grey +gowns; and they are also called the Begging Friars, because they too +had taken Poverty for their bride, and might own neither houses nor +lands; even food they must earn by the labour of their own hands, or +kindly people must give it to them. All their time, all their thoughts +must be given to helping the poor, the sick, and the wretched; and +where they were, there the Friars must go, so they made their homes +chiefly in the towns; and at first, while they kept the rules of St. +Francis very strictly, even these homes did not really belong to them. + +In 1224 nine Franciscans came to England--the very first to come here. +Four of them went straight {34} to London. There the poorer people +lived on the marshy land near the Thames, huddled together in huts +built of mud and wattle; and in such homes there must have been plenty +of sickness and misery. For a short time the four Grey Friars lived on +Cornhill. Perhaps they thought they had no right to live in so +pleasant a place when there was such great misery down by the river; +certainly, soon so many people came about them that this first home was +too small for them. Now, a London citizen had some property "in +Stynkyng Lane and in the parish of St. Nicholas Shambles." Do you know +what shambles are? In them animals are killed for food; they cannot be +nice places to live in. This property the citizen gave to the Friars, +and there they made their new home. By their good deeds they must very +quickly have won the respect of the Londoners, for some gave them more +lands, and others helped in building a church and monastery for them. +This monastery was close to the place where the London General Post +Office now stands. + +In those days the monasteries did most of the work which is now done by +schools, libraries, hospitals, hotels, and workhouses; no doubt the +Franciscans did their full share of it in London. But as the years +passed on and the first monks died, the younger men who took their +places became less strict in keeping the rules of St. Francis; many +people gave money and lands to the Order, and it became rich and great, +and changed very much. Before a hundred years had passed away, in +place of their first church, a new one had been built for them, one of +the grandest in the {35} land; its floor and pillars were all of +marble. St. Francis told his followers that they needed no books but a +Prayer-Book; before long the Grey Friars not only had books, but two +hundred years after they settled in London Richard Whittington gave +them a library. They no longer gave all their time to caring for the +poor and wretched, for we hear of some of them teaching at Oxford and +Cambridge; indeed, one of the most learned men of the age, Roger Bacon, +was a Grey Friar. + +Thus the years passed on until Henry VIII. became King. Do you +remember how he treated the monks of the Charter House? I have no such +story to tell you of the Grey Friars, for they gave up to the King +their monastery and all they possessed when he called on them to do so. + +Were the monks missed? Who did the work they had once done? At first +much of it was left quite undone. Here is a little bit of a letter +which the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Richard Gresham, wrote to the King, +in 1538, on this very subject:--Someone, he says, must come to the +"ayde and comfort of the poor, syke [sick], blynde, aged and impotent +persons beyng not able to help themselffs, nor havyng no place certen +where they may be refreshed or lodged at, tyll they be holpen and cured +of their diseases and sickness." And he goes on to ask that three +ancient hospitals may be given over to the Mayor and Aldermen of the +City to carry on once more their old work. King Henry thought this was +a wise plan, and in 1546 he gave to London Rahere's old hospital, St. +Bartholomew's, and the Grey Friars' monastery. + +{36} + +Nothing more seems to have been done for five years. Yet the poor +needed help greatly; and under Henry's son, Edward VI., we hear of +sermons being preached, of the King, the Bishop of London, and the +Mayor consulting together and making a new plan--that the house of the +Grey Friars should be set aside as a hospital or home for "fatherless +children and other poore mens children," where they should be fed, +clothed, taught, and properly looked after. Thus Edward VI. is often +spoken of as the chief founder of the new charity, but I think Henry +VIII. and Sir Richard Gresham had more to do with it; don't you? Yet +it was the City's charity, and the citizens provided the money needed +for it. Before the next winter set in nearly 400 boys and girls were +lodged in the old Grey Friars; the next Christmas Day (1552), the +children, 340 in number, "all in one livery of russet cotton," lined +the road as the Lord Mayor and Aldermen passed in procession to St. +Paul's Cathedral. "The next Easter they were in blew [blue] at the +Spittle [hospital], and so have continued ever since"; and from these +"blew" clothes the school has taken one of its names--the Blue-Coat +School. Its other name is Christ's Hospital. + +Hundreds of boys have worn the long blue gown and yellow stockings, and +some of them have become famous men. I will tell you the name of only +one of these, Charles Lamb; for he has written about the school as he +knew it, and perhaps you have read Lamb's "Tales from Shakespeare"; he +and his sister Mary wrote them. + +Facing page 32 is a picture of Blue-Coat boys, with {37} their gowns +tucked up, playing football. Until a short time ago, people in the +busy street called Holborn could look through the bars which separated +the playground from it, and watch the boys at play. They can do this +no longer, for the old buildings have been pulled down, and part of the +ground they stood on has been bought for the General Post Office; and +in the year 1902 the school, like the Charter House School, moved away +into the country, to Horsham. + +From the beginning it was meant for girls as well as boys; old papers +about it always speak, not of the _boys_, but of the "_children_ of +this House." Boys and girls seem to have lived there, to have dined +together in Hall, and even at one time to have shared a classroom for +writing-lessons; part of the girls' work was to learn to make their own +and the boys' clothes. They too wore a quaint dress with white caps +and wide collars, but they gave it up long ago; and long ago, in 1778, +they left London; their school is at Hertford. It has never been as +famous as the boys' school. + + +Now I must tell you a little about King Henry's other gift to London, +St. Bartholomew's Hospital. It is now one of the largest of the London +hospitals, and has become very famous as a school where young men are +taught and trained to be doctors; perhaps your doctor was once a +student there. + +A great part of the Priory church was pulled down as soon as it fell +into the hands of Henry VIII., and for many years the rest of it was +neglected and allowed to fall almost into ruins. Even in the +nineteenth {38} century, stables, coach-houses, and store-rooms stood +where once were the monks' old cloisters. In one part of the church +was a blacksmith's forge, a fringe factory had taken possession of +another, and in still another the boys of the parish school did their +lessons. Now all this has been changed. For more than fifty years +much care, thought and money have been spent in restoring the building +and in getting rid of stables, forge, factory, and school; and now +Londoners have every reason to be proud of their beautiful old church. + + + + +{39} + +V. + +THE STORY AND HISTORY OF DICK WHITTINGTON + + "Turn again, Whittington, + Lord Mayor of London!" + + +Bow bells sang these words on All-Hallows Day many years ago, and on +Highgate Hill a boy stood listening to them. If I ask you who the boy +was, I am sure you will answer, "Dick Whittington." + +The story of Dick Whittington can be told in two very different ways: +there is, first, the old tale which long ago men told their children, +and these children told their children. Thus it was passed on from +father to son, and we do not know that it was ever written down until +the days of James I., nearly two hundred years after Whittington died. +Of course, everyone who told this tale wanted to make it as interesting +as possible, so little bits were added to it, and it gradually grew +more and more wonderful. It is not surprising, then, that learned men +have not been satisfied with it, and they have searched the Chronicles +and Records of London to find out what they tell us of Richard +Whittington, and thus a second story has been made. Now I will tell +you first the older story. + +Dick Whittington was born in the West of England. While he was still +only a little boy his father and mother died, and left him so poor that +he had no home, and was thankful to do even the hardest work {40} for +just his bare food. One day someone told him that the streets of +London were paved with gold. "Can it be true?" he thought to himself. +"Is there so much gold in London that it is trodden underfoot? Then it +is my own fault if I starve here in the West Country, for am I not big +enough and brave enough to tramp all the way up to London? Who could +prevent me from picking up some of that gold which surely no one needs, +or they would not pave the streets with it? And I need it so much! +Courage, Dick Whittington; off with you to London!" So off he set, and +tramped all the weary way to the great city. + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: NO. 11. AN ARCH OF LONDON BRIDGE; TOWER BRIDGE IN THE +DISTANCE.] + +====================================================================== + +When he reached it, up and down its streets he went,--streets far +narrower than those of to-day, and darkened by the overshadowing +houses, for often each of their stories stood out a little beyond the +story below. Very dirty we should have thought those streets, for +people often threw out into them their rubbish and refuse. And what of +the gold? Dick saw none. At last, utterly wearied out, utterly +disappointed, so weak from hunger that he could hardly stand, he sank +down to rest on the doorstep of one of the houses. Now the story says +that presently the cook of this house caught sight of him sitting +there. She was a bad-tempered woman. She flung open the door and +scolded Dick well for an idle fellow, and bade him be off. Dick begged +her to give him work so that he might earn some food, but she would not +listen to him, and only scolded the more; and while this was going on +up came the master of the house, a rich merchant, whose name was Hugh +Fitzwarren. He asked the meaning of all these angry words, and {41} he +too was vexed to see a boy sitting idly on his doorstep, and bade him +go to his work. + +"Ah," said Dick, "I have no work, and I have had nothing to eat for +three days. I am a poor country lad, and here no one knows me, no one +will help me." And he rose up to wander away again, but he was so +tired, so weak, he could hardly stand. The merchant saw this, and said +to the cook, "Take him in; feed him well, and set him to work to help +thee in thy kitchen." + +Now, she was, as I said, a bad-tempered woman. Her master's orders she +must and did obey, but if Dick now had work and food and a +resting-place, he had also many a sharp word, many a sour look, many a +cruel blow. Though he worked hard he could not please her. Indeed, in +all the household--and it was a large one--the only person who was +friendly to him was the merchant's little daughter, Mistress Alice, who +not only spoke kindly to him herself, but tried to make his +fellow-servants treat him better. + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: NO. 12. WHITTINGTON SETTING THE KING FREE FROM THE +GREAT DEBT.] + +====================================================================== + +Dick slept in a garret which was overrun with rats and mice; they were +so bold that they even crept about over him when he was in bed, and +prevented him sleeping. What could he do about this? In all the world +he had but one penny; how he came by this penny I do not know, but I +feel sure he earned it by doing some extra work. With it he bought a +cat and took her up to his garret, and there she lived and made war on +the rats and mice. Henceforth Dick slept in peace. + +Whenever the merchant, Hugh Fitzwarren, sent a ship to trade with +foreign countries, he allowed each {42} of his servants to have some +little share in her; each might send out in her some silk or cloth, or +even a very little thing, whatever he had or could afford to buy; and +the money for which this thing was sold was the servant's own. This +the merchant did that "so God might give him greater blessing." Thus +it came about that one day Dick was called with all the other servants, +and each was asked what he would send out in the good ship _Unicorn_, +which was now ready for sea. When it came to Dick's turn, he said, "I +have nought to send." "Think again," said his master; "hast thou no +little thing thou canst spare? Hast thou nought to venture?" "Nought, +nought," answered Dick, "except my cat, and thou wilt not take her." +"Nay, why not?" said the merchant. "Send thy cat by all means." So, +though his fellow-servants laughed and mocked, Dick's cat was sent on +board the _Unicorn_. + +Now he was lonely indeed; so lonely that the cook's angry words and +cross tempers were harder to bear than ever, and Dick made up his mind +to run away. Very early one morning--it was the Feast of +All-Hallows--while his fellow-servants were still fast asleep, he +slipped out of Master Fitzwarren's house and made his way northward out +of London. On Highgate Hill he sat down to rest. Hark! what was that +he heard? Now the wind brought the sound to him more clearly; now it +died away again. It was the chime of Bow bells, and this is what it +said to him:-- + + "Turn again, Whittington, + Lord Mayor of London!" + + +{43} + +Lord Mayor of London! Was he to be Lord Mayor? If so, must he not +work faithfully, and, if need be, endure hardships--yes, even such +little hardships as the cruel words and blows of the bad-tempered cook? +Up he jumped, and hurried back so fast that he reached Master +Fitzwarren's house before the cook had missed him. + +The _Unicorn_ had sailed to the Barbary Coast of Africa. The King of +this country was rich and great, yet he was most miserable and +uncomfortable, for his kingdom simply swarmed with rats and mice. They +were everywhere, even in the beds and on the King's table, where they +ate the food which had been prepared for him. When the men of the +_Unicorn_ came to the Court to show the King the goods their ship had +brought, fancy how surprised they were to see rats and mice here, +there, and everywhere! "That cat we have on board," said they, "would +soon stop this." "Then let the cat be sent for at once!" cried the +King. So Dick's cat was brought, and now in the palace, as once in +Dick's garret, she made fierce war on the rats and mice, and before +long she had driven them all away. The King was so delighted that he +bought the cat for ten times more money than he paid for all the +_Unicorn's_ rich merchandise. + +When the ship came home, here was fine news for Dick,--no more +kitchen-work for him; he was a rich man now. He became a merchant like +his master, Hugh Fitzwarren, and by-and-by he married Mistress Alice; +and, as Bow bells had promised him, he was made Mayor of London, not +once, but three times. He was a good Londoner and a good Englishman, +for {44} the story says that when King Henry V. came home after he had +conquered France, Whittington entertained him at a great banquet. Look +at the picture of this which faces page 41; near the table a fire is +burning, and Whittington is just going to throw something into it. How +eagerly everyone is watching him, and well they may; for before the +King went to France he had borrowed great sums of money from the City +and its merchants to pay the cost of his wars, and now Whittington is +flinging into the fire the papers in which the King had promised to pay +back 37,000 crowns--that is, L60,000 in our money. Thus he set the +King free from his debt, or, in other words, gave him all this money. +Was not this a princely gift for the great merchant to give the great +King? + +Now I must tell you what the Chronicles and Records of London tell us +about Richard Whittington. He was indeed born in the West of England, +but he belonged to a good family. We do not know why and when he came +to the City. In those days it was certainly no disgrace for the +younger sons of good families to be London merchants; for the City was +great and prosperous, able to raise large sums of money to help the +King in his wars; and we read that at a council held at the Guildhall +about this very matter, to which came the Archbishop of Canterbury and +the King's brothers, the Lord Mayor was given the seat of honour above +them all, so greatly was he respected because he was London's chief +officer. + +All the workmen, according to their trades, had to belong to companies +called "guilds." Each guild had its own officers and made its own +rules for looking {45} after its members; and it had to see not only +that these members knew how to do their work, but also that they did it +properly and charged a fair price for it. We may still read the rules +about all this made by the Guilds of the Blacksmiths, the Plumbers, the +Glovers, and many others. Truly, the merchants and workmen of London +were honourable and upright, and turned out good honest work. No +wonder, then, that Richard Whittington became a London merchant. + +He was a mercer--that is, he sold cloth and silk and velvet and such +things; and so we hear of him providing velvet for the servants of that +Earl of Derby who afterwards became King Henry IV. + +Whittington became a great man in the City, was Alderman and Sheriff, +and from June, 1397, until November, 1399, he was Mayor. Mayor for a +year and five months? Are not Mayors appointed every year in October? +and do they not rule only for one year, from November to November? +Yes, but the Mayor chosen in October 1396 died during his year of +office, and the King, Richard II., appointed Whittington to take his +place; and at the year's end the Aldermen chose him to be Mayor again +for the next year. + +He was still carrying on his business, and when Henry IV. became King, +and the Princesses, his daughters, were to be married, Whittington sold +to them the cloth of gold and other things necessary for their +weddings. He often lent great sums of money to Henry IV., and in later +days to his son, Henry V., and in the reign of this King he was Mayor +twice. He died in the year 1423; on his gravestone were carved some +Latin words which mean that he was the {46} Flower of Merchants. His +wife's name was certainly Alice Fitzwarren, but she was the daughter of +a Dorsetshire Knight. + +So you see the real Richard Whittington was a very great and rich +merchant. But many another has been as rich and great, yet no stories +are told of them; what makes Whittington different from all others? + +First of all, he was Lord Mayor three times, or, rather, may we not say +three and a half times? And then he was very wise and generous; he +gave, as I have already told you, a library to the Grey Friars; and he +arranged that after his death a great deal of his money should be used +to help London. His friends, who had to see to this, knew that good +water is one of the things most necessary for a great city, so they +arched over a spring to keep it clean and sweet, and they placed +"drinking-bosses," or taps, in the conduits or channels and pipes which +brought the water from country springs and streams into London. +Newgate Prison was "feble, over-litel, and so contagious of eyre [air] +yat [that] hit caused the deth of many men," so Whittington's money was +used to rebuild it. It was also used to repair St. Thomas's Hospital, +and to make a new hospital or almshouse where always thirteen old men +should live, who were to pray for Dick Whittington's soul, and the +souls of his father and mother and wife. These almshouses are no +longer in the City; they have been moved out to Highgate, and stand not +far from the stone which marks the place where Whittington heard the +chime of Bow bells; and through them Dick Whittington's wealth is still +doing good to the poor of London. + + + + +{47} + +VI. + +WHEN ELIZABETH WAS QUEEN + +In the reign of Henry VI., Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the King's +uncle, built himself a palace at Greenwich, and he called it +"Placentia" or "Plaisance," which means a pleasant thing or place. +(Turn over this page and the next, and you will find a picture of it.) +I think the Tudor Kings really found it a pleasant place, for they +lived there a great deal; here Henry VIII. and his daughters, Mary and +Elizabeth, were born, and here Edward VI. died. + +In those days the road we now call the Strand led from the City to the +village of Charing Cross; and all along it stood great and beautiful +houses with gardens which stretched down to the river. Each house, +most likely, had its water-gate or landing-place, where the master of +the house and his guests could step on board their barges, which might +take them up the river to Westminster and the royal palace near +Richmond, or down to London and beyond it to Greenwich; for in those +days the river was London's greatest and most stately highway. Very +stately were the barges, very gay, too, with flags and the fine +liveries of servants; and very often people on the banks or in little +boats near-by heard music sounding from their decks as they moved +swiftly along. How beautiful, how stately, must Queen Elizabeth's +barge have been, when at her Coronation she came by water to the Abbey! + +{48} + +She often stayed in her palace called Plaisance; how grandly she lived +there! One who saw her there tells of the "gentlemen, barons, earls, +Knights of the Garter, all richly-dressed and bareheaded," who went +before her; one of them carried the sceptre, another the sword of +state. The ladies of her Court followed her, and she was guarded on +each side by fifty gentlemen who carried gilt battle-axes. She was +herself magnificently dressed, and "wherever she turned her face as she +passed along, everybody fell down on their knees." + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: NO. 13. GREENWICH AS IT IS NOW.] + +====================================================================== + +Sometimes, when she wanted to be amused, plays were acted in the great +hall of the palace, and she sat in her chair of state with her ladies +about her and looked on. I wonder if any of these plays were written +by Shakespeare? Perhaps they were; it is even possible that +Shakespeare himself may have acted before her, for he had come to +London from his country home two years before the Spanish Armada sailed +up the English Channel to conquer England; and during the last five +years of her reign, whenever Elizabeth went up the river in her barge, +she passed the round wooden theatre, called the Globe, where his plays +were acted, for it was in Southwark on the south bank. There is no +sign of it now; a great brewery has been built over the place where +once it stood. + +These were the days when English sailors fought the Spanish on the high +seas, because they claimed all the New World as their own and strove to +keep everyone else out of it. From the windows or the terrace of her +palace did the Queen ever watch ships sailing down the river to take +part in this struggle, or in another,--a struggle with winds and waves, +ice and {49} snow, as the sailors tried to explore the unknown coasts +of America? Once at least we know she did, for Admiral Frobisher's two +little ships fired a salute to her as they dropped down the river. He +was going to search for gold and for the North-West Passage round the +north of America to the Pacific. He found no passage and no gold +though he went again and yet again to the cold North. How often +Englishmen searched for that passage; how hard they found it to believe +that there is no way for ships through those icy seas! + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: NO. 14. PLACENTIA, THE OLD PALACE AT GREENWICH.] + +====================================================================== + +Those were stirring times. Often sailors came home with wonderful +tales to tell; and thus, in September, 1580, a ship, called the +_Pelican_, sailed into Plymouth Sound, and all England rang with the +news of her coming, for she was Admiral Drake's ship. Nearly three +years before he and his sailors had left England in her; they had +fought the Spanish, they had taken great treasure, money and jewels, +and they had sailed round the world. Now they were safe home again. +Do you wonder that the Queen wanted to see the ship which had made such +a voyage? She told Drake to bring the _Pelican_ round to Deptford, +which is very near Greenwich; and she went on board and took part in a +great feast which was given in her honour; and she knighted Drake on +the deck of his own ship. How proud Englishmen were of him! One of +them said the _Pelican_ ought to be hoisted up to the top of the tower +of St. Paul's Cathedral, to take the place of the spire which had been +destroyed by lightning some time before. Was not this a mad plan? Of +course, it was never carried out. For many a year the old ship lay in +Deptford {50} Dockyard just as the Victory lies now in Portsmouth +Harbour; and people used to visit her, and even have supper on board +her. When she was very old she was broken up; out of some of her +timbers a chair was made and presented to Oxford University. + +Do you remember what happened in 1588? This was the year of the +Invincible Armada, when England had to prepare ships and sailors and +soldiers to protect herself from the Spanish. What help did London +give? She was asked for fifteen ships and five thousand men. "Give us +two days," said her citizens, "to consider what we can do"; and in two +days they answered, "We will send thirty ships and ten thousand men to +serve our country." + +London, then, had certainly plenty of ships; and many a sea-captain +besides Frobisher sailed down the river past Placentia on his way to +some far-off port; for London merchants were eager to trade with all +parts of the world; and after the defeat of the Spanish Armada they +knew that the wide ocean, east and west, lay open before them. No +Spaniard now could forbid English ships to sail on any sea. + +Drake had seen for himself and had brought home word of the spices and +great wealth of the East Indies. But they were very far off, and the +cost of fitting out ships for so long a voyage was very great; great, +too, were the dangers these ships would have to face--dangers of sea +and storm, of savage people and an unknown land; could any one merchant +risk so much? The Lord Mayor called together some London merchants to +consider this question, and they answered, "The losses which would ruin +one would hardly be felt if {51} borne by many; let us, then, form a +company to trade with the East." Thus began the East India Company; +its birthday was the very last day of the sixteenth century. It had at +first only four ships and less than five hundred men; before it came to +an end, two hundred and fifty-eight years later, it was ruling nearly +all India. + +I have another story to tell you which began nearly twenty years before +the East India Company's birthday. In December, 1581, a young man came +to Placentia, bringing letters to the Queen from her soldiers in +Ireland, where there had been war and great trouble. He was carefully +dressed and wore a new plush cloak, for this was, I think, his first +visit to Court, and the Queen loved to see everyone about her well and +beautifully dressed. Perhaps he had only just arrived; perhaps the +Queen had been out in her barge and was coming up from the riverside to +her palace; however it may have been, she came to a very muddy place in +the road, which is not at all surprising, since in December there is +often a great deal of rain. The Queen looked at the puddles and +stopped, and the young man sprang forward, swept his plush cloak from +his shoulders and spread it over the mud for her to step on that so she +might pass on without soiling her shoes. I feel sure you know the +young man's name--it was Walter Raleigh. Is it any wonder that he +became a great favourite with the Queen? An old story says that soon +after this he wrote with a diamond on the glass of a window in the +palace:-- + + "Fain would I climb, yet fear to fall." + + +{52} + +And the Queen saw it, and wrote beneath it:-- + + "If thy heart fail thee, climb not at all." + + +His heart did not fail him; he became captain of her Guard, and he rose +higher and higher in her service. + +Raleigh was the first Englishman to think how splendid it would be if +some of his countrymen would go to America and make homes for +themselves there, and so build up a greater England beyond the seas. +He sent out ships to explore, and twice he sent out men to settle in +the new land. Some the Indians killed; some found the work of building +houses and clearing away the forests far harder than they had expected; +and the Indians often attacked them, and food was sometimes so scarce +they almost died of hunger. Do you wonder they lost heart and came +back to England? Thus it seemed that Raleigh's plan quite failed; but +it did not really, for about twenty years later, a company, like the +East India Company, was formed, called the Virginia Company. It sent +out some settlers who sailed from London in the year 1606, and they did +what Raleigh's men had failed to do--built themselves homes, and +cleared and tilled the land. Thus began the British Dominions beyond +the Seas. + +One thing Raleigh did which must not be forgotten. The men he sent to +explore in America saw potatoes and tobacco growing there, and learnt +from the Indians how to use them. When they came home they showed +Raleigh the plants they had brought back with them. He tried smoking +tobacco, and I {53} think he must have liked it very much, for he used +to give his friends pipes with silver bowls and teach them how to +smoke. And he planted potatoes in the garden of a house he had in +Ireland; his were the very first Irish potatoes. A few years later +both potatoes and tobacco were growing in the garden of one of those +fine houses in the Strand of which I have told you; people thought them +very rare and curious plants. + +Eight years before the great Queen died, Raleigh went himself to South +America, and sailed far up the River Orinoco. He found a fertile land +and friendly Indians, who told him wonderful stories of the great "city +of Manoa" which was (so they said,) rich beyond the dreams of man; El +Dorado, the Golden City, the Spanish called it. Raleigh never forgot +these stories; more than twenty years later they helped to bring him +back to America. + +When Elizabeth died and James I. came to the throne he fell into +disgrace, for some people said he had plotted against the King; so he +was tried, found guilty, and condemned to death. But he was not +killed; year after year he was kept a prisoner in the Tower of London. +How did he pass his days there? was he very dull and sad? I think not. +Part of the time his wife and son lived with him; he was very much +interested in the new science of chemistry, and he worked at it and +tried experiments in his cell; he began to write a wonderful History of +the World; and I think he thought and dreamed much about Manoa, his +Golden City, and the riches which lay hidden in South America. The +Spanish said these riches were {54} all theirs; but Raleigh did not +believe this, and he thought Englishmen could so easily get possession +of some of them. After many years he tried to persuade King James to +let him cross the Atlantic and sail up the Orinoco to find a gold-mine +he had heard of there; he said if only he might go and open it up, it +would bring great wealth to the King. Had he another hope, I wonder, +hidden away in his heart, of which he did not speak--that he might also +search for and find his Golden City? However this may be, he certainly +tried to persuade the King, and he succeeded, for James said, "Yes, you +may go," though he well knew that Raleigh could not go to South America +and bring home gold without offending the Spanish, and England was then +at peace with Spain. So Raleigh sailed away. After fifteen months he +came home with a sad tale to tell;--everything had gone wrong, the +Spanish had killed many of his men, and he had found no gold. James +sent him back to the Tower; and four months later, in the year 1618, he +was beheaded, because (so he was told,) he had once plotted against the +King. Thus died the last of the great men of Queen Elizabeth's Court +who had done so much for England. + +How different London is now from the London of Queen Elizabeth's reign! +Old St. Paul's and its high tower,--I will tell you in the next story +what became of them. The Globe Theatre, too, has quite disappeared. +Busy shops have taken the places of the beautiful old houses in the +Strand; nothing now reminds us of them except the names of some of the +streets which turn off it; and Somerset House, the great building where +{55} now some of the business of the nation is carried on, is so called +because it stands on the place where the Duke of Somerset, who lived in +Edward VI.'s reign, began to build a palace for himself. + +If you go down the river to Greenwich, will you see Queen Elizabeth's +pleasant palace? Ah, no. Sixty years after she died it was so out of +repair that Charles II. ordered it to be pulled down and a new one +built in its place. This new palace was not finished until William and +Mary's reign. Then there was a great war with France, and the Queen +begged the King to finish the palace and to turn it into a hospital for +sailors who had been wounded or crippled in one of the great +sea-fights. So it came to pass that, instead of Placentia, we now have +Greenwich Palace; you will find a picture of it facing p. 48. + +Perhaps you are thinking, "At any rate the Tower has not changed, and +London still has a Lord Mayor." But even the Tower has changed, for in +Queen Elizabeth's time it was a royal palace as well as a prison. She +did not use it often; perhaps she did not like it, for she had been a +prisoner there herself when her sister Mary was Queen. Now our Kings +never live there; and prisoners are not kept there; and for more than a +hundred and fifty years no one has been beheaded there. I must tell +you of one other change, for I am sure it will interest all children. +In Queen Elizabeth's reign, if you had gone to see the Tower, you would +have been shown also the lions and other wild animals which, from very +early times, had been kept there in dens near the part which is called, +after them, the Lion Tower. Now you must go to the Zoological Gardens +{56} to see wild animals; there are none in the Tower; they were all +sent away to the Zoo not long before Queen Victoria began to reign. + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: NO. 15. THE FIRE OF LONDON] + +From the Fresco by Stanhope A. Forbes, R.A., in the Royal Exchange + +_By permission of the Artist and the Sun Insurance Office_ + +_See page_ 61 + +====================================================================== + +As for the Lord Mayor, he is still the first magistrate of London, and +he still takes the leading place in all London's affairs, just as he +did in Queen Elizabeth's reign. No, his work and duties have not +changed, except that, as London has grown greater and more important, +they have grown greater and more important also. + + + + +{57} + +VII. + +ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL + +The Cathedral of the City of London is called St. Paul's. In the +picture beside this page you can see its great dome and golden cross, +the top of which is nearly as many feet above the ground as there are +days in the year. For more than thirteen hundred years God has been +worshipped on the spot where St. Paul's now stands; before that, many +people think, a Roman temple stood there; and before that, again, +perhaps the ancient Londoners worshipped there the God Lud, of whom I +have told you; since that time the number of the years has grown from +hundreds to thousands. + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: NO. 16. ST. PAUL'S FROM THE RIVER] + +====================================================================== + +Let us fancy what this country was like more than thirteen hundred +years ago. The English had conquered it and given it their name and +language. The Christian Faith, which the Britons had learnt while the +Romans were ruling them, had been almost quite forgotten except in the +western part of the land; for in the east very many of the English had +settled, and they were heathen. Do you remember that Pope Gregory the +Great, when he was still just a simple priest, had seen some English +children in the slave-market at Rome, and thought they were fair as +angels? He never forgot these children, and when he became Pope he +sent his friend, Augustine, and some priests to England to teach its +people the Christian Faith. {58} These missionaries landed in Kent and +were kindly received by its King, Ethelbert, whose wife, Bertha, was +already a Christian. In time he was baptized; and the old historian +Bede tells us that he "builded in the Citie of London St. Paules +Church"; and its first Bishop was that Mellitus to whom the fisherman +Edric brought the message that St. Peter had consecrated his own abbey +on Thorney. + +In time Ethelbert died, and Mellitus was made Archbishop of Canterbury; +then the men of London became heathen again. There is a curious old +tale about this, and though it is just a story, not real history, I +will tell it to you. Do you remember that the monks said Sebert, King +of the East Saxons, rebuilt St. Peter's Abbey? Do you not think, then, +that he must have cared enough about the Christian Faith to teach it to +his sons? Yet after his death they went back to the old Faith. It +chanced that one day, when Mellitus was holding the solemn service of +the Mass, they broke open the door of the church, rushed in and ordered +him to give them "white bread" such as he used to give their father; +they meant the Bread used in the Mass. How could Mellitus give it to +men who did not believe the Faith in which such Bread is a holy thing? +He refused, and in their anger they turned him out of London; and, as I +said, the Londoners went back to their old religion. Truly it took a +long time and much teaching to make them really Christians. + +Near the end of the seventh century we hear of another Bishop of +London, called Erkenwald. He did much to make St. Paul's beautiful and +splendid. {59} And he cared for his people too,--the men, women and +children, who lived scattered about in the wild forests which then lay +round London; and in order that he might visit, help and teach them, he +used to drive in a cart from place to place over rough roads, and often +where there were no roads. He was so good that people said he was a +saint; and so when he died and his body was buried in St. Paul's, his +grave there was greatly honoured,--it was even said that miracles were +worked there. Is it there still? Ah, no; it was destroyed long ago, +as you shall hear presently. Yet London ought not to forget this old +Bishop since it is said that one of her streets is called after him, +for in his days it seems that the old Roman walls had fallen into +ruins, and it is said that Erkenwald built a new city-gate ever since +called, after him, Bishopsgate. If you look at a map which shows the +streets of London, you will find Bishopsgate and Bishopsgate Street +near Liverpool Street Station. This story shows us that Erkenwald was +a good citizen as well as a good Bishop. + +The years passed on; the Normans came and conquered England; and now we +have come to real history. + +Near the end of William I.'s reign, St. Paul's was burnt down, and the +Bishop of London of that day began to build in its place a cathedral so +grand and large that men thought it would never be finished, "it was to +them so wonderful for height, length, and breadth." Yet little by +little it grew until--but not for more than two hundred and twenty-five +years--it stood complete with its great steeple, {60} the highest in +Europe, towering up 520 feet into the air. This is the Cathedral to +which in later days Queen Elizabeth came to return thanks to God for +the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Here Sir Philip Sidney was buried. +Perhaps you remember that, as he lay dying on a battlefield in the +Netherlands, someone brought him a drink of cold water which seemed to +him the most delicious thing in all the world, so thirsty was he +because of his wounds. Then he saw a poor soldier looking at it with +longing eyes, and he would not drink it, "for," he said, "his need is +greater than mine; give it to him." + +In the days of Oliver Cromwell the poor Cathedral was used as a barrack +for soldiers and as a stable for their horses. There is now in the +British Museum a printed paper ordering the soldiers not to play +nine-pins and other games there between nine o'clock at night and six +in the morning, because their noise and shouts while they played +greatly disturbed the people who lived near the churchyard. Long +before this the great steeple had been struck by lightning and burnt +down, and the whole Cathedral had fallen out of repair; thus, when +Cromwell died and Charles II. became King, there was much talk as to +what was to be done for it. + +[Illustration: OLD ST. PAUL'S. Burnt down in 1666.] + +The summer of the year 1666--the year after the Great Plague--was very +hot; an east wind blew for weeks together, so the old crowded wooden +houses of the City must have been as dry as tinder, when, on September +2, a fire broke out in a baker's shop in Pudding Lane. At first, I +suppose, the neighbours watched it and thought it just such a fire as +they had {61} seen many a time before; but how could they have felt +when it spread from house to house, and leapt from street to street? +when days passed and still it spread? Some people ran about like +distracted creatures, not even trying to save their possessions; others +fled away to the fields outside the City, carrying with them all they +could. Imagine them huddling under the hedges for shelter and looking +back at the crimson sky, for an old writer tell us "all the sky was of +a fiery aspect like the top of a burning oven, and the light" was "seen +above forty miles round about for many nights." The melting lead of +the roof of St. Paul's ran "down the streets in a stream, and the {62} +very pavements were glowing with a fiery redness, so as no horse or man +was able to tread on them." + +Five days the fire raged. When at last it died out, London lay in +ruins; 400 streets, 89 churches and 4 of the city-gates had been burnt, +besides the Cathedral, and in it the shrine of St. Erkenwald. Has any +city, I wonder, ever suffered so great a loss? Were the Londoners sad +and miserable when they looked at the ruins? For a time, perhaps, they +were; but soon they set themselves to build a new London with wider +streets and houses made of stone, which would not burn so easily; and +the man who advised and helped them most to do this was Sir Christopher +Wren. He drew the plans for, and saw to the rebuilding of, many of the +city churches, and above all of the Cathedral. Look again at its +picture facing page 57. The first of its stones was laid in June, +1675, and the last and highest in 1710; but it is not finished even +yet; month by month the work goes on. If you go into it, you will see +men busy covering its great walls and pillars with beautiful rich +colours. + +Wren lived to be a very old man. Towards the end of his life he used +to come to London once a year to sit for awhile under the great dome +which he had planned and built, for he loved it, and I think it was to +him not only a beautiful, but also a solemn and a holy thing. When he +died his body was buried in the Cathedral; his name and what he did are +written over the north door, and also some Latin words which mean, +"Reader, if thou seekest his monument, look around." + +St. Paul's has taken part in our life as a nation ever {63} since. +Here some of our greatest men are buried. Nelson and Wellington both +lie here, and so do some other great British sailors and soldiers, some +also of our statesmen and painters; and monuments have been put up here +in memory of others whose graves are far away. Here Queen Victoria +came in 1897 to return thanks to God for her long reign; and here every +day, and especially on Sundays and on all great national occasions, +solemn services of prayer and supplication, or of praise and +thanksgiving, are held. + + + + +BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD + + + + +Black's Historical Series, + +By E. L. HOSKYN, B.A. + +PICTURES OF BRITISH HISTORY + +MORE PICTURES OF BRITISH HISTORY. + +Each containing 60 Illustrations, of which 32 are in colour. + +Crown 4to. Price 1/6 each. Bound in cloth. + + +"More Pictures of British History" is a series of stories arranged so +as to follow after and enlarge the survey of history given in "Pictures +of British History." The same methods have been followed in both +hooks, but whereas "Pictures of British History" deals mainly with men +of action, the new one treats chiefly of those whose thoughts and +ideals have made history. It is hoped that this has been done simply +and vividly enough to bring the stories well within the grasp and to +arouse the interest of children of nine or ten years of age. + + + +By M. W. KEATINGE, M.A., and N. L. FRAZER, M.A. + +A HISTORY OF ENGLAND FOR SCHOOLS. + +WITH DOCUMENTS, PROBLEMS, AND EXERCISES. + +Price 5/-; or in Two Parts, price 2/6 each. + +PART I., B.C. 55 TO A.D. 1603. + +PART II., A.D. 1603 TO PRESENT DAY. + +"A gallant and successful effort to solve a difficult problem and to +introduce a real and great improvement into the teaching of +history."--_Times_. + +The "Documents, with Problems and Exercises" are also published +separately under the title of + +DOCUMENTS OF BRITISH HISTORY. + +In one Volume, Large Crown 8vo., cloth, price 3/6; or in six Sections, +Limp Cloth, price 8d. each. + + + Section I.--A.D. 78-1216 | Section IV.--A.D. 1603-1715 + " II.--A.D. 1216-1399 | " V.--A.D. 1715-1815 + " III.--A.D. 1399-1603 | " VI.--A.D. 1815-1900 + +The last-named Section does not appear in "A History of England for +Schools." + +A. & C. BLACK, 4, 5 & 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories of London, by E. L. 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