The Opelousas courier., 1889-03-02
"PAUL'S WALK"
DESCRIPTION of This Resort Of the
Seventeenth Century.
ouser conglomdpa tlon of People Who 200
Years Ago We're Found at All Hours
Of the Day In This Famous
Cathedral

We find in the literature of the earlier
mart Of the seventeenth century con-
Giant illusions to St. Paul's Cathedral
nnder the abbreviated title of Paul's,
n as it was then commonly spelt,
spoyle's.n 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
sisles Of the great cathedral were
called, not even excluding the some
what scandalous traffic in church liv-
ines and benefiees. There is a WELL
known passage of Dryden in chis
aCharacter of a Good Parson" which
says Of the subject of the poem:
aNor rode himself to Paurs, that public fair,
30 chatter for preferment with his gold,
where bishoprics and sinecures are sold"
paul's Walk was a general exchange
for business men, and a public resort
for idlers 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 a loan or a
proposed loan, says: II should ere this
hour have seen a good piece of money
told here upon the font" st. Paul's
Vas also the common resort of people
seeking employment:
Get thee a gray sleak and hat,
And Walki In Pauls among tiny 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 1t to say that it was the resort
dall the idle, profiigate or n~ecessi-
tuus people in London; but it was in
addition the chosen haunt of all the
young men of fashion or the ''gal-
lsntsn Of the day. In connection with
this fact there is a celebrated allusion
toa appointment object in the Cathedral
contained in the well-known Words,
dining with Duke Humphrey Per-
haps the origin OF that expression is
not go well known as to render an ac-
count Of It superiuous. There stood
N the church monument to the mem
ory Of n Sir Guy Beauchamp. but
which was enormously supposed to be
the tomb Of Humphrey, Duke, of Glou-
eester. who was in fact buried at ST. AL
bans From this mistake, the part of
tae Cathedral in which the monument
stooa was called "Duke Humphreys
Walk and here the gallant who had
not the g to procure a dinner
fingered, in the hope of an invitation
2 din with some more fortunate
friend. Failing this, he spent the din
aer hour IN company with the inhos-
paaDle monument, or, as the vulgar
expressed it, .dined with Duke Hum
phregn Here, then, in Paul's the gall
lant was accustomed to show himself
aad ais inery daily for a certain length
81 time.
Inc Cathedral itself was at this pc
ilou u q somewhat dilapidated state.
- 1901 IT had been struck by light
alng, and the magnificent spire and
part q the AVE were destroyed, Not
ansaA 1888 were steps taken for resto-
ration; but, as is well known, the
anole cathedral persisted In the great
are of 1866.
w me character and habits OF some
y re i~requenters of ST. Paul's, a very
sepa description is given in q curious
wye work written by Thomas Decker,
re ~celebrated dramatist. This book,
knleh perhaps may not be very well
an0Nn to the general reader, is called
sae 'Asull'8 Horn Book" and was pub
sssaea 10 1909. 1t protested to be a
salae 70 the fashionable follies of that
ags yery refined but pleasure-loving
sse Although 1t Is written in a satir-
~ EEA rX&
1aa spirit. ithas nevertheless no small
ssaae Ior the light it throws upon the
ssaaners and customs OF bygone En-
s1sn lie There is in this book an
saeEeseing chapter entitled How q
ss1lant should behave himself In
ss8iess Walk which gives a minute
sssnption Of how q young man should
sh parade himself and his finery, and
pose before onlookers as ain undoubted
s''sa q fashion. He is assured that if
= 1alk by the rules given in this
s'aR and there Is no reason why he
ssseia not, Paul's may well be proud
assa. having chosen the door by
49, ne intends to enter, he must In
s~s aks1plaee be careful on entering
q 100 the pillar where the serving
eongregate, and to bend his
'asse directly to the middle line of
81 enarch with an air as IL the whole
IVY y ne building belonged to him;
81 ae may show off his clothes to
80 auvanfage. One other warn
sayen, that by no means should
81 saaan too long in the church at
W saaae, BY which proceeding many
''sas sheap and ordinary. On 60