or simony; and the horse fair in the midst for all kind of
bargains, meetings, brawlings, murders, conspiracies. The font for
ordinary payments of money as well known to all men as the beggar knows
his dish.... So that without and within, above the ground and under,
over the roof and beneath, from the top of the steeple and spire down to
the low floor, not one spot was free from wickedness."

The practice here alluded to, of making the nave of St. Paul's a kind of
exchange for the transaction of all kinds of business, and a place of
meeting for idlers of every sort, is frequently referred to by the
writers of this and the two succeeding reigns; and when or by what means
the custom was put an end to, does not appear. It was here that sir
Nicholas Throgmorton held a conference with an emissary of Wyat's; it
was here that one of the bravoes engaged in the noted murder of Arden of
Feversham was hired. It was in Paul's that Falstaff is made to say he
"bought" Bardolph.

In bishop Earl's admirable little book called Micro-cosmography the
scene is described with all the wit of the author and somewhat of the
quaintness of his age, which was that of James I.

"_Paul's walk_ is the land's epitome, or you may call it the lesser isle
of Great Britain. It is, more than this, the whole world's map, which
you may here discern in its perfectest motion, justling, and turning. It
is the great exchange of all discourse, and no business whatsoever but
is here stirring and afoot. It is the synod of all pates politic, joined
and laid together in most serious posture, and they are not half so busy
at the parliament.... It is the market of young lecturers, whom you may
cheapen here at all rates and sizes. It is the general mint of all
famous lies, which are here, like the legends of popery, first coined
and stamped in the church. All inventions are emptied here, and not a
few pockets. The best sign of a temple in it is, that it is the thieves
sanctuary.... The visitants are, all men without exception, but the
principal inhabitants and possessors are, stale knights, and captains
out of service, men of long rapiers and breeches which, after all, turn
merchants here, and traffic for news. Some make it a preface to their
dinner, but thriftier men make it their ordinary, and board here very
cheap."

The vigilant ministers of Elizabeth had now begun to alarm themselves
and her with apprehensions of plots against her life from the malice of
the p