Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1889-02-23
"PAUL'S WALK"
Description of This Resort of the
Seventeenth Century.
Queer Conglomsratlon of People Who zoo
Years Ago Were Found at All Hours
Of the Day In This Famous
Cathedral.


We find in the literature OF the earlier
part of the seventeenth century con-
slant illusions to St. Paul's Cathedral
under the abbreviated title of Paul's,
or as it was then commonly spelt,
"Powle's." These illusions seldom
refer to the sacred or ecclesiastical
character of the building; they are for
the most part in connection with the
everyday affairs of secular business or
pleasure. Indeed, it is clearly evil
dent that business of every possible
description was regularly carried on
in "Powle's Walk" as the nave and
aisles of the great cathedral were
called, not even excluding the some
what scandalous traffic in church liv-
ings and benefces. There is we'll
known passage of Dryden in his
Character of Good Parsonn which
says of the subject of the poem:
'rJor rode himself to Paurs, that public fair,
To chatter for preferment with his gold,
Where bishoprics and sinecures are sold."
PauPs Walk was general exchange
for business men, and public resort
for oilers whether fashionable or the
reverse. Even the font itself was i'm
pressed into the service of business,
and appears to have been used as a
kind of counter or telling-table. This
appears in the writings of another
author, who, referring to loan or
proposed loan, says: 81 should ere this
hour have seen a good piece Of money
told here upon the font" st. Paul's
was also the common resort of people
seeking employment:
Get thee gray cloak and hat,
And walkin Pauls among thy cashiered mates"
But quotations might be multiplied
to show the many different kinds OF
business, and the different classes Of
people who were to be found in Paul's.
Suffice it to say that it was the resort
of all the idle, prohigate or necessi-
tOus people in London; but it was in
addition the chosen haunt of all the
young men of fashion or the "gal-
lants" Of the day. In connection with
this fact there is celebrated allusion
to prominent object in the Cathedral
contained in the well-known words,
'dining with Duke Humphrey" Per-
haps the origin of that expression is
not so well known as to render an ac-
count of it superhuous. There stood
in the church a monument to the men,
DRY of one Sir Guy Beauchamp- but
which was enormously supposed to be
the tomb of Humphrey, Duke of Glou-
ccster, who was in fact buried at st. AL
bans. From this mistake, the part OF
the Cathedral in which the monument
stood was called Duke Humphreys
Walk" and here the gallant who had
not the means to procure a dinner
fingered, in the hope Of an invitation
to dine with some more fortunate
friend. Failing this, he spent the din
ner hour in company with the inhos-
pitable monument, or, as the vulgar
expressed it, "dined with Duke Hum
phrey." Here, then, in Paul's the gall
liant was accustomed to show himself
and his fnery daily for certain length
OF time.
The Cathedral itself was at this pc
riod in a somewhat dilapidated state.
In 1861 it had been struck by light
ming, and the magnificent spire and
part of the nave were destroyed, Not
until 1888 we're steps taken for resto-
ration; but, as is well known, the
whole Cathedral persisted in the great
fire of 1866.
OF the character and habits of some
OF the frequenters of st. Paul's, very
good description is given in a curious
little work written by Thomas Decker,
the celebrated dramatist. This book,
which perhaps may not be very we'll
known to the general reader, is called
the "Gull's Horn Book" and was pub
lished in 1909. 1t professed to be
guide to the fashionable follies of that
not very refined but pleasure-loving
age. Although it is written in satir-
ical spirit. it has nevertheless no small
value for the light it throws upon the
and customs of bygone En-
glish life There is in this book an
chapter entitled How a
gallant should behave himself in
Fowle's Walk" which gives minute
description Of how a young man should
best parade himself and his finery, and
pose before onIookers as an undoubted
man of fashion. He is assured that If
he walk by the rules given in this
book, and there is no reason why he
should not, Paul's may well be proud
OF him. Having chosen the door by
which he intends to enter, he must in
the first place be careful on entering
TO avoid the pillar where the serving
men congregate, and TO bend his
course directly to the middle line OF
the church with an air as il The whole
body Of the building belonged to him;
there he may show off his clothes to
the best advantage Ono other warm
ing Is. given. that BY no means should
he remain too long in the church at
one time, By which proceeding many
are made cheap and ordinary, on &c