406 SIR PAUL PINDAR. accordingly it was worn by him on more than one occasion of state and ceremony. It was afterwards purchased by Charles the First, and likely enough shared the fate of the other crown jewels which Henrietta Maria carried with her to Holland in 1642, for the purpose of purchasing arms and ammunition to enable her husband to carry on the war with his subjects. Probably no individual ever lent such vast sums to his sovereign as Sir Paul Pindar. Charles the First was his debtor to a vast amount, and involved Sir Paul in his own ruin. So great indeed is said to have been the revolution in his fortunes, that for a short time he was a prisoner for debt. When he died, so bewildered was his executor, William Toomes, at the confused state in which he found his friend's affairs, added to the multiplicity of his engagements and responsibilities, that it is said to have been the cause of his putting an end to his existence. A part of the princely residence of Sir Paul Pindar (No. 169), though strangely metamorphosed by time and paint, may still be seen nearly opposite to Widegate Street. In the immediate neighbourhood is the church of St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, in which may be seen the monument of the princely merchant, bearing the following inscription: "Sir Paul Pindar, Kt., His Majesty's Ambassador to the Turkish Emperor, He died the 22nd of August, 1650, Aged 84 years." : CHURCH OF ST. HELEN'S THE GREAT. ANTIQUITY OF ST. HELEN'S CHURCH. PRIORY OF BENEDICTINE NUNS FOUNDED THERE. - EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH. ITS STRIKING MONUMENTS: SIR JULIUS CÆSAR'S, -MARTIN BOND'S, -SIR JOHN CROSBY'S, SIR WILLIAM PICKERING'S, - SIR THOMAS GRESHAM'S, FRANCIS BANCROFT'S.-HOUNSDITCH.-HAND ALLEY.-DEVONSHIRE COURT. -ST. BOTOLPH'S CHURCH. CURTAIN THEATRE.SHOREDITCH.-HOXTON.-SPITALFIELDS.-BETHNAL GREEN. -OLD ARTIL LERY GROUND. PERSIAN'S TOMB. TORTH of Crosby Square is an insignificant thoroughfare, leading us at once from the noise and turmoil NOR of Bishopsgate Street into an area of considerable size, in which stands the ancient and interesting church of St. Helen's the Great. Were it from no other circumstance than that it contains the mouldering remains and costly monuments of more than one princely possessor of Crosby Place, St. Helen's would be well worthy of a visit. But it has other and far more interesting associations. It was probably not long after the time when the conversion of Constantine the Great to Christianity had the effect of bursting the fetters of the primitive Christians, and of drawing them from their caves and hiding-places to adore their Redeemer in the open face of day, that a place of religious worship was raised on the site of the present St. Helen's Church. Everything around us, indeed, breathes of antiquity. Long before the days of Constantine the ground on which we stand was the site of the princely palace, either of some Roman Emperor, or of one of his 408 ST. HELEN'S CHURCH. lordly delegates. In 1712, a tesselated pavement, composed of red, white, and grey tesserce, was discovered on the north side of Little St. Helen's gateway, and as late as 1836 a similar pavement was found at the north-west angle of Crosby Square. From the ruins of the ancient palaces and temples which the Romans erected in England, not unfrequently arose the altars and churches of the early Christians. Among these, not improbably, was St. Helen's Church; although we have no certain information of its having been a place of Christian worship till 1010, in which year Alweyne, Bishop of Helmeham, removed hither from St. Edmondsbury the remains of King Edmund the Martyr, in order to prevent their being desecrated by the Danes. The very name of the saint to whom the church is dedicated carries us into far antiquity. The patron saint was Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, who is said to have been born at Colchester in Essex. Her piety has immortalized her name. The inscriptions, which describe her as Piissima, and Venerabilis Augusta, show in what veneration she was held, not only by her contemporaries, but by succeeding ages. When a pilgrimage over the sandy and hostile plains of Palestine was an undertaking from which even the boldest often shrank, the mother of the Emperor, despising alike all danger and privation, journeyed to the Holy City. Persuaded by the enthusiasts and antiquaries of the fourth century that she had discovered not only the exact site of the Crucifixion, but the true Cross, she built a church over the presumed site of the Redeemer's interment, and by this, and other acts of piety, obtained for herself not only an extraordinary reputation for sanctity during her lifetime, but canonization after death. Putting tradition, however, out of the question, St. He ST. HELEN'S CHURCH. 409 len's is undoubtedly one of the most interesting churches in London. Here, in 1210, a priory of Benedictine, or Black Nuns, was founded by William Fitz-William, a wealthy and pious goldsmith of London. The establishment appears to have been of considerable size, having its hall, hospital, dormitories, cloisters, and offices. The nuns rest calmly beneath the green and level sward in front of St. Helen's Church, but, with the exception of the pile in which they offered up their devotions, no trace of the ancient nunnery remains. Their refectory was for many years used as the hall of the Leathersellers' Company; nor was it till 1799 that it was pulled down, in order to make room for the houses now known as St. Helen's Place. Together with the hall perished the ancient crypt beneath it, which was of great antiquity, and possessed no inconsiderable architectural merit. The exterior of St. Helen's presents the singular aspect of a double church, or rather of two naves, running parallel with and united to each other; a circumstance to be accounted for from the fact of one having been the original church, and the other, now forming the northern nave, having been the church attached to the nunnery. In the northern nave were till recently to be seen the long range of carved seats which were occupied by the nuns when at their devotions. These seats have now been placed near the altar, and form stalls for the choristers. At the restoration of the church, commenced in 1866, some steps were discovered against the northern wall. These lead to a door partly below the level of the present flooring, and beyond which is a portion of a flight of stone stairs, which no doubt led up from the church to the nunnery. But what is still more striking, is the beautiful niche, with its row of open arches beneath, known as the "Nun's Grat 410 ST. HELEN'S CHURCH. ing," through which, when suffering imprisonment for their misdemeanours in the crypt below, the nuns might view the high altar, and witness the performance of mass. The care which the Romish Church took of the spiritual welfare of those who offended against her precepts is exhibited, in a like manner, by a small and gloomy cell which still exists in the Temple Church, through an aperture in which the prisoner could listen to, and join in the services of the Church. Probably in the gloomy crypt of St. Helen's has languished many a fair girl, whom the feelings natural to youth may have tempted to steal from her convent walls, and to transgress the rules of her order. There is extant a curious lecture read to the nuns of St. Helen's by Kentwode, Dean of St. Paul's, on the occasion of his visitation to the convent in 1439. His hints to them about keeping within the walls of the convent, lest" evil suspicion or slander might arise”—his injunctions to close the cloister doors and to intrust the keys to some "sad woman and discreet "-excite suspicions that the nuns were a pleasure-loving, if not a frail sisterhood. The appearance of the interior of St. Helen's Church is more striking, and at the same time far more picturesque, than that of the exterior. At the east end is a transept, and also a small chapel, dedicated to the Holy Ghost, part of which has been converted into a vestry-room. Altogether, notwithstanding the violation of all artistical rules, the air of antiquity which pervades the building, added to the number of altar-tombs which meet the eye and the general beauty of the architectural details, produce an effect at once solemn and impressive. There is perhaps no church in London, of the same dimensions, which can boast so many striking monuments as St. Helen's the Great. In the transept at the east end is a beautiful table-tomb, of black and white marble, to the |