iece,
_King Lear_. So that in this area near the Row the great poet must have
paced with his first proofs in his doublet-pocket, wondering whether he
should ever rival Spenser, or become immortal, like Chaucer. Here he
must have come smiling over Falstaff's perils, and here have walked
with the ripened certainty of greatness and of fame stirring at his
heart.

The ground-plot of the Cathedral is 2 acres 16 perches 70 feet. The
western area of the churchyard marks the site of St. Gregory's Church.
On the mean statue of Queen Anne a scurrilous epigram was once written
by some ribald Jacobite, who spoke of the queen--

"With her face to the brandy-shop and her back to the church."

The precinct wall of St. Paul's first ran from Ave Maria Lane eastward
along Paternoster Row to the old Exchange, Cheapside, and then
southwards to Carter Lane, at the end of which it turned to Ludgate
Archway. In the reign of Edward II. the Dean and Chapter, finding the
precinct a resort of thieves and courtesans, rebuilt and purified it.
Within, at the north-west corner, stood the bishop's palace, beyond
which, eastward, was Pardon Churchyard and Becket Chapel, rebuilt with a
stately cloister in the reign of Henry V. On the walls of this
cloister, pulled down by the greedy Protector Somerset (Edward VI.), was
painted one of those grim Dances of Death which Holbein at last carried
to perfection. The cloister was full of monuments, and above was a
library. In an enclosure east of this stood the College of Minor Canons;
and at Canon Alley, east, was a burial chapel called the Charnel, from
whence Somerset sent cart-loads of bones to Finsbury Fields. East of
Canon Alley stood Paul's Cross, where open-air sermons were preached to
the citizens, and often to the reigning monarch. East of it rose St.
Paul's School and a belfrey tower, in which hung the famous Jesus bells,
won at dice by Sir Giles Partridge from that Ahab of England, Henry
VIII. On the south side stood the Dean and Chapter's garden, dormitory,
refectory, kitchen, slaughterhouse, and brewery. These eventually
yielded to a cloister, near which, abutting on the cathedral wall, stood
the chapter-house and the Church of St. Gregory. Westward were the
houses of the residentiaries; and the deanery, according to Milman, an
excellent authority, stood on its present site. The precinct had six
gates--the first and chief in Ludgate Street; the second in Paul's
Alley, leading to Paternoster