Antiquaries of London possesses an interesting painted
diptych, showing two views of Old St. Paul's on one side, and another,
in which the cathedral church occupies only a minor place, on the other
side.

One of those three pictures is of peculiar value for the present purpose
inasmuch as it gives a vivid and, in a way, realistic representation of
Paul's Cross and its surroundings in the year 1620. There are certain
features in the picture which are obviously inaccurate. The view which
is taken from the north-west of the cathedral is, for example, made to
include the great east window of the choir by, as Sir George Scharf
remarked, "an unwarrantable straining of the laws of perspective."
Again, the nave and choir are improperly made to appear shorter than the
north and south transepts. But with regard to the cross itself, which
forms the chief object in the foreground, the details are represented in
a manner and with a completeness which suggest accuracy.

The representation of the actual cross is probably the best in
existence, and has furnished the data upon which artists have largely
depended in the various attempts to reconstruct the great historical
scenes which took place long ago at Paul's Cross. The pulpit proper was
covered by a rather gracefully shaped roof of timber covered with lead
and bearing representations of the arms of Bishop Kempe at various
points. Above the roof, and indeed rising out of it, was a large and
slightly ornamental cross. The brickwork enclosing the cross, which is
known to have been erected in 1595, is clearly shown in the picture.

So numerous are the great public events which have taken place at Paul's
Cross that it is not possible to give details of them in this article.

[Illustration: OLD WOODEN HOUSES, NEAR THE TEMPLE GATE, FLEET STREET.]

The date of the demolition of Paul's Cross is stated by Dugdale to have
been 1643, but the late Canon Sparrow Simpson produced evidence which
clearly proves that it was pulled down before 1641, and probably
before 1635. In the charge-books of the cathedral there is an entry
under June, 1635, which shows that labourers were employed in carrying
away "the lead, timber, etc., that was pull'd downe of the roomes where
the Prebends of the Church, the Doctors of the Law, and the Parishioners
of St. Ffaith's did sett to heare sermons at St. Paul's Crosse."
Succeeding entries in the same volume render it highly probable that the
cross had previousl