The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-12-19
A QUEER OLD LONDON CHURCH

Londoners who had not heard of it: vet.
Shakespeare is likely to have worshipped
in it, for he lived in the parish at one
time. This queerest of the old churches
in London has its history begin iu fog
OF myth and tradition. 1t is named for
the mother of the Emperor Constantine,
and one rumor is that she ordered it
built. 1t is generally believed to date
from A. d. 1910, and certainly in 1912 a
convent and priory were established be-
side it for the BLACK Nuns" In Henry
Wills time these nuns we're driven out
and their property was confscated. and
in the early half of the sixteenth century
the Leather-sellers' Company met in
the Nuns Hall. The convent and all
except the church have long since dis
appeared, but the church is quite as
sound as when new. and exceedingly in
terestipg. 1t is small-a mere box with
a mean little turret on the roof, and with
walls OF broken stone coated with &C.
ment, yet within its walls time seems to
have stood still for centuries, and age
asserts itself as it does nowhere else in
London. Small as it seems from with
out by reason its lowness, it surprises
the visitor by its internal dimensions. II
contains strange confusion of the ar
chitectures of many centuries but il ia
in its memorials that its hold upon the
mind and the eye is the strongest. One
sees there crowding of quaint ancient
tombs and tablets; carved nuns stalls
and screen-work; rich pulpit; sadly
comical Inscriptions; Roman sibyl.
long mistaken for the Blessed Virgin or
the Lady Helena; niche for the Lord
Mayors mace when he came to worship;
gaudy and beautiful windows; an an.
Gent helmet of iron; figures of knights
cross-legged and in armor, and of alder
men in antique clothes carried beside
figures of their long wasted ladies and
demure-looking daughters, all accurately
habited in the costumes of the remote
past.
10 happen in Great Saint Helens
when the old woman in charge is there is
to have history, fact, myth, fable, super
stltlon. and guess work all inextricably
mixed. 1t is much the best time to go
there, for she never tells anything un-
lees it is more interesting than the truth.
When she shows you the carved nuns
chairs. hinged in the center SO that the
nuns might appear to be standing, yet
might partly rest at the same time, this
modest novelist remarks that these
seats were thus made so that if any nun
fell asleep at her devotions the seat
would fall with a clashing noise. Above
the tomb of Sir Thomas Gresham. a
once great city merchant, is helmet on
bracket. 1t was borne before the
corpse at the funeral. but the old woman
says, so solemnIy. That's the helmet of
King Richard" She will show you
Julius Caesars tomb also, if you wish
her to, and tell you there is no doubt
that the dust Of the great warrior, histo
Jldu anu OTdLOE lbs there,
But there are things in that church
too queer for even this old woman to i'm
prove upor. Among the tombs is
twelve-foot square stone box in the body
OF the church. 1t is the resting place
OF one Francis Bancroft who purchased
the ground inside the church and settled
part OF his estate for identifying and
keeping it in order. He caused himself
to be buried in coffin whose lid was
hinged and not locked, and be arranged
that the key of the tomb, together with
Undertook and bread and cheese, be
Kept 10 the tomb for one hundred yeare.
He was a sad rascal, junior officer Of
one of the Lord Mayors. and he made a
grand fortune as an informer, taking
half the fines he caused to be levied.
Three times he was promoted from that
post, and each time he bought it back.
When he was buried his funeral was
mobbed and his coffin upset.
Some inscriptions in the church are
Foiy Ho1aoio. IAl5 is Oh Tue tOmD OF
William Kerwin, who died in 1884,
1.-THE fates have afforded this narrow
box to me who have adorned London with
noble buildings BY me royal palaces
were built for others. BY me this tomb
was erected for my bones''
On the tomb of one great lawyer, Sir
Julius Caesar, whom the guide to the
church thinks was the Roman Emperor,
is carving of parchment deed of his
soul, or contract for its delivery when
called for" His true name was Julius
Caesar Aldemere, but he abandoned his
surname. He was a politician, Judge,
and general place holder in Elizabeth's
time. He bought Office and waxed rich.
Once, when the Queen visited him, he
gave her "gown OF cloth of silver richly
embroidered, a black network mantle
with pure gold. white taffeta hat with
flowers, and jewel of gold set therein
with rubies and diamonds" She re-
moved from his house with good con.
tentment," but the visit cost e7OO, ex.
elusive of provisions. In his memoirs
he says that an ancestor of his, being
asked how he attained such great age
as to have lived in the reigns of seven
monarchs. replied as follows:
ct ate sunnino 7 forhear.