Paul's, St, cathedral of

Pauls, St., Cathedral of.

I. 166. Letter from the Lord Mayor to the Lords of the Council, reporting the steps taken by the Committee appointed to consider what should be done in the matter of re-edifying the steeple of St. Paul's Cathedral, (fn. 1) and requesting the advice of Her Majesty and the Council as to the form of the building, the manner of proceeding, and the amount necessary to be collected for carrying out the work.
3rd December, 1580.

I. 262. Letter from the Lords of the Council to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, complaining that, although Her Majesty's pleasure had several times been made known to them touching the re-eifying of St. Paul's steeple, nothing had been done, and desiring that certain Aldermen or others should attend the Council, and explain what had been determined in the matter. About two years since Her Majesty had issued a Proclamation, prohibiting the building of any new tenements in and within a certain limit of the City, whereby idle poverty and infection had increased, and victuals and provisions been made scant, yet sundry new houses had been erected. The Council required the Lord Mayor to cause a view and certificate to be made in each ward and precinct of all new buildings erected contrary to the meaning of the Proclamation, and at the next sessions of the Peace to cause a jury to be empanelled, of such persons as had not so offended, to inquire and indict all those found to have disobeyed the Proclamation, and to order that a true certificate of their names and the nature of their offences be made and delivered to the Star Chamber at the beginning of the next term.
10th September, 1581.

I. 278. Letter from John (Aylmer) Bishop of London, to the Lord Mayor, stating that, upon view of the report of the Surveyors touching the decay of the Church of St. Paul, he found that the ruin was very great; more, he supposed, than they estimated. In his opinion it would be well that an account should be called for of the last great collection for repairing the Church after the burning thereof by fire, to see how that collection was bestowed. Some of the officers of the Church seemed to guess that the bulk of the Church ought to be repaired by the Bishop; he had never heard that to be true, nor did he think it reasonable, for in divers other cathedral churches (of the old foundation, as St. Paul's was,) the Bishop had no such charge, neither would almost the whole revenue of the bishopric serve for it. He thought rather that the building was a public work, at the alms of the whole realm, and that the Bishops had made general collections from time to time for its repair, and so it might have been thought the Bishop's charge, whereas it was the donation of the people. He requested his lordship and the rest not to urge him any further than his predeccssors in the matter.
Fulham, 12th October, 1581.

I. 286. Letter from the Lord Mayor to the Lord Bishop of London in reply. The reason the report of such as had surveyed the Church of St. Paul and the defects in its reparation had been forwarded to him, was their good will to him, not to increase his burdens, but rather friendly to prepare him against a communication which he might receive from the Lords of the Council. He begged him to cause his Registrars, officers and accountants to look into such records, accounts, and rememberance as would inform him and the Council in that behalf, not for his discharge only, but to ascertain to whom the charge belonged. Among other notes he would find in the report of Bishop Bonner's proceedings against Mr. Phillpott, in the Book of Acts and Monuments of the Church, an account by that Bishop of the yearly charge to him for the reparations. As for the accounts of the former contributions and the employment thereof, which he advised should be taken, they were ready to be shown. Being particularly advised by the Lord Treasurer, and also admonished by Her Majesty and the Council, to use all good means for the stay of the infection, they requested that he would give advice to the preachers to publicly confute the indiscreet error of tempting God by the whole resorting to the sick where no special office, charge, or duty, required them to do so.
17th October, 1581.

I. 326. Letter from the Lord Mayor to the Archbishop of Canterbury, (fn. 2) informing him that of late the Church of St. Paul, especially the body thereof, had been viewed by discreet citizens appointed by the City upon the command of the Privy Council. The viewers had reported that where the Church had been newly repaired and wholly covered and leaded, at the public charge of the realm, and especially by this City's benevolence, it had since been so ill looked after that the walls were laid open and greatly spoiled with rain, the gutter leads cut off, and other defaults permitted, whereby great ruin had ensued, and more would follow. Though it pertained not to the charge of the City, yet being in the nature of a public monument, and seeing that the burden by delay would grow so great, on account of the insufficiency of those that ought to repair it, and that the City and the whole realm, or at least the whole province of Canterbury, especially the clergy, would be drawn in by necessity to contribute towards the reparation, they had, at divers times, sent and written to the Bishop (of London), praying him to do the repairs which belonged to him, or to inform the City to whom it appertained to prevent the ruin, that, by the advice of Her Majesty and her Council, means might be taken to supply their inability. The Bishop, in his answers, removed the whole charge from himself in part to the common state, and in part to the Archbishop and his other predecessors. The City understood that his grace, while Bishop of London, not only gave largely of his own, but, like his predecessors, had liberally borne some ordinary and yearly charge. In order to place the matter clearly before the Council, it would be very advantageous if his grace would give the City a speedy answer, with his opinion to whom the charge of reparation belonged, and what he had bestowed, and how the yearly accounts of himself, his predecessors, and their officers, might be seen for the City's information.
— April, 1582.

I. 327. Letter from the Lord Mayor to the Lord Bishop of London, stating that, having considered the great ruin of St. Paul's Church likely to ensue, and the desirability of causing it to be repaired at once, he thought it right again to remind him of the advice given to him by the late Lord Mayor, and to acquaint him that the City would be obliged to bring the subject to the notice of the Privy Council, when it might be that they, finding the body of the church had been repaired, and newly covered and leaded at the public charge, especially of the City, would report that those to whose charge it pertained should have kept it from any notable decay, by the daily oversight of their officers; this not having been done, it had grown into a great peril, both to the building and Her Majesty's subjects walking there. He prayed him to examine the officers and accountants of his predecessors, and the rest of the accounts, in order that some light might be thrown upon the question as to whom the charge of the repairs belonged, and if it should be to him, and more than he could surmount (which might perhaps be thought otherwise), that the Privy Council might take means to supply the deficiency, and ordain a future remedy.
— April, 1582.

I. 328. Letter from John (Aylmer) Bishop of London, to the Lord Mayor, in reply, stating that he had informed the late Lord Mayor that he could not find any records to show why the Bishop of London should be called upon to repair a public monument, and especially by the Lord Mayor, who by no law could intermeddle as a competent judge in matters of dilapidations which were merely ecclesiastical. Such notable public monuments had at first been erected not by private individuals, but by common charity and devotion of cities and countries, and so they should be maintained and repaired at common charge of the same. It could not be found throughout all England that the Bishop had been charged with any such matter, for if such persons and pastors were charged at all in common benefices, it would be only with the Chancel, and not with what was called the Navis Ecclesice, as appeared by divers statutes. He did not see why bishops, being the chief pastors, should be charged with the body of the chief church. He denied the right of the Lord Mayor to call for the accounts. If the Privy Council should deem it good to call for them, the matter should be moved to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the then incumbent, and the executors of his agent, Dr. Watts. (fn. 3)
28th April, 1582.

I. 336. Letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Lord Mayor, stating that the Church had been burned by fire from heaven, and rebuilt at the public charge of the Prince, the City, and others, and that therefore the re-edifying of the present decay of the body of the Church, and all other parts, ought still, in his opinion, to be done at the public charge, until it should be perfectly finished, the want of which finishing had been the cause of the present decay. As for the accounts of the former charges bestowed upon the Church, they should be demanded of the late surveyors and auditors of the works who were appointed by order from former Lord Mayors and Aldermen of the City. As to the answer of the Bishop of London, removing the charge from himself to the writer, and to his successor the Archbishop of York, he would only answer for himself, that the did in his time as much, or more, than either by law or reason he was bound. The law could not bind the province of Canterbury to contribute to the re-edifying of St. Paul's, —Canterbury being the Metropolitan Church, and St. Paul's only a cathedral. That which the province contributed last time was their own free benevolence, and the present charge not being so great, it ought to be borne by the City. When all the decayed works had been completed, then, in his opinion, the Bishop of London for the time being ought to preserve the steeple and body of the Church in good repair, and the Dean and Chapter the upper part and the Choir.
Dated from Lambeth, 2nd May, 1582.

I. 340. Letter from Sir Christoper Hatton, Knight, to the Lord Mayor, informing him that Her Majesty had appointed himself and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, (fn. 4) to take steps for redressing and building up again that ancient and famous monument, the church and steeple of Paul's Her Majesty being much offended that the finishing of so good a work had been so long protracted, and requesting his Lordship to appoint four Aldermen, and such other persons as had been acquainted with the former proceedings, to attend upon Tuesday next, at his house in Holborn, to confer with them thereon.
Holborn, 19th May, 1582.

VII. 88. Letter from the Lords of the Council to the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, expressing their regret at the smallness of the contributions towards the repair of St. Paul's, and that only a collection from one of the Wards had been received, and requiring them to see that the contributions from the other Wards were speedily paid over to the Chamberlain.
23rd April, 1633.

VII. 105. Letter from the Lords of the Council to the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, requesting them to give directions to the collectors to call upon all persons for their contributions in arrear for the repair of St. Paul's, and to pay the same into the Chamber as speedily as possible; and forward a list of all who had not contributed, in order that the Board might take steps for receiving such contributions as they should be willing to advance towards the work.
24th January, 1633.

VII. 110. Same as No. 125, Vol. VIII.

VII. 113. Order in Council for the attendance of the Lord Mayor and the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's at the Council on the 3rd May next, for settlement of the dispute as to the carrying up of the sword before the Lord Mayor in St. Paul's.
17th April, 1633.

VII. 114. Same as No. 126, Vol. VIII.

VII. 117. Order of the Star Chamber upon some differences lately arisen between the Lord Mayor and the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's concerning the carrying up of the Lord Mayor's sword within the Cathedral, and especially within the choir; and also concerning arrests made within the Cathedral churchyard and the liberties and precincts thereof, under colour of the Lord Mayor's authority; directing counsel on both sides to meet and peruse the privileges and charters of both parties, and in case they could not amicably settle the matter, to return it to the Board for their further assistance and directions.
3rd May, 1633.

VII. 122. Letter from William (Juxon) Lord Bishop of London, (Sir) Henry Martin, and (Sir) Henry Spiller, to the Lord Mayor, with reference to the contributions for the repair of St. Paul's. They found no books or particulars thereof delivered into the Chamber lain's Office from several of the Wards, and requested that they might be delivered with convenient speed.
London House, 5th July, 1634.

VIII. 85. Letter from the King to the Lord Mayor, with respect to the Commission lately issued (fn. 5) for the repair of St. Paul's, and exhorting the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs to assign out of their own purses, and out of the public treasure of the City, an honourable proportion to the work. The money should be sent to the Chamber, there to be kept and disposed of as directed by the Commission.
26th June, 1631.

VIII. 110. Same as No. 117, Vol. VII.

VIII. 114. Same as No. 88, Vol. VII.

VIII. 117. Same as No. 113, Vol. VII.

VIII. 122. Letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, exhorting them to make additions to their former gifts for the repair of St. Paul's; and requesting that, as many of the Aldermen the first time gave but 10l., which had prevented many citizens from giving a greater sum, they would make their gifts, whatever they might be, annual.
(Circa 1632–3.)

VIII. 123. Same as No. 105, Vol. VII.

VIII. 125. Letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury (Laud) to the Lord Mayor, &c., forwarding, by desire of the King, copy of His Majesty's letter, in which he had signified his intention of taking upon himself the cost of the repair of the whole west end of the Cathedral; and expressing his hope that the King's great munificence would stir them up to extend their charity.
28th April, 1634.

VIII. 126. Copy of the King's Letter above referred to.
23rd April, 1634.