worthy of the Company's rapidly developing
South Indian possession. He headed the list with a subscription of a
hundred pagodas (Rs. 350), a sum which represented much more than it
does now; for it was more than Mr. Streynsham Master's pay for a whole
month as Governor of Madras. Subscriptions from the Councillors, as
well as from the factors and writers and apprentices, were
proportionately big; and on the 28th of October, 1680, St. Mary's
Church was solemnly opened, and the guns of the Fort roared forth loud
volleys in honour of the event. The steeple and the sanctuary were
added later; but, for the rest, the present church, except for
details, is the very same church that was built some two hundred and
fifty years ago, in the reign of Charles II.

[Illustration: ST. MARY'S, FORT ST. GEORGE.]

It is interesting to note that the church at Madras was built during a
period when in London a great many churches were being built--or
rebuilt--after the Great Fire. Church-building was in vogue, with the
distinguished Sir Christopher Wren as the builder in chief; and it is
not unlikely that what was being done so energetically in London was
one of the influences that inspired Mr. Streynsham Master to be so
earnest over a scheme for building a church in Madras. It may be
noted, moreover, that St. Mary's Church within the Fort at Madras is
of a style that was very much in fashion in London at the time.

In deciding to build a new church, the Governor and his colleagues
realized that if ever the Fort should be bombarded, a shot from the
enemy's guns was as likely to fall upon the church as upon a fortified
bastion; so the roof of the church was made 'bomb-proof,' in
preparation for possibilities. Events proved the reasonableness of the
measure; for on more than one occasion the church was a factor in war.

In 1746, when the French were besieging Fort St. George, the British
defenders lodged their wives and children and their domestic servants
in the bomb-proof church, and they took refuge there themselves in the
intervals of military duty. During the three years that they occupied
Madras, the French, fearing that they might be besieged in their turn,
used the bomb-proof church as a storehouse for grain and as a
reservoir for drinking-water. The church organ they sent off to
Pondicherry as one of the spoils of war.

At the end of the war Madras was restored to the Company, but a few
years later the Fort was besieged by the Fr