the last century was used as a Presbyterian Meeting-house. The next purpose to which it was converted was a packer's warehouse, in which condition it remained for many years, when, public attention was called to its dilapidated state, and sufficient funds were raised by subscription to restore it, as we now view it, to its pristine state of beauty and magnificence. The work of restoration commenced on the 27th of June, 1836. Besides Crosby Place, Bishopsgate Street in the olden time could boast more than one magnificent mansion. On the west side stood Gresham House, the princely palace of Sir Thomas Gresham, the founder of the Royal Exchange and of Gresham College. His vast wealth, his munificent charities, the pleasure which Queen Elizabeth took in his society, and his having been constantly employed in transacting the commercial affairs of the Court, obtained for him the name of" the Royal Merchant." Not only was he the greatest merchant of his age; not only were his energies employed in extending our trade over the world, and in extricating the crown from its pecuniary trammels, but he has also the merit of having introduced into the kingdom the manufacture of small wares-such as pins, knives, hats, ribands, and other articles. Queen Elizabeth was frequently his guest, not only at his country seat, Osterly, near Brentford, but also at his palace in Bishopsgate Street; since more than once we read, in the parish annals of the period, of the "ringing of the bells" on the occasion of the Virgin Queen having been entertained under his hospitable roof. By his will, dated in 1579, the year of his death, Sir Thomas Gresham ordained that his house in Bishopsgate Street should be converted into a college; to comprise habitations and lecture rooms for seven professors, who were required to lecture on divinity, astronomy, music, geometry, SIR PAUL PINDAR. 405 civil law, physic, and rhetoric. Here, in 1658, was founded the Royal Society, of which the great philosopher Robert Boyle, and the great architect Sir Christopher Wren, were among the original members. When Sir Kenelm Digby lost his beautiful wife, Venetia Stanley, it was in Gresham College that he excluded himself from the world, amusing himself with the study of chemistry, and with the conversation of the professors. Here this extraordinary man was daily to be seen pacing the secluded court of the College; his dress consisting of a long mourning cloak and a high-crowned hat; and his beard, which he had allowed to grow in testimony of his grief, flowing at full length on his breast. Let us not omit to mention, that at his apartments in Gresham College the celebrated mathematician and philosopher, Robert Hooke, breathed his last in March, 1702-3. Another stately mansion which stood in Bishopsgate Street, was that of the eminent merchant, Sir Paul Pindar, who, like Sir Thomas Gresham, was distinguished alike by his vast wealth, his splendid charities, and literary taste. He is said at one period of his life to have been worth no less a sum than £236,000, exclusive of bad debts. As an instance of his munificence, it may be mentioned that he gave £19,000 in one gift towards the repair of St. Paul's Cathedral. In the reign of James the First he was appointed ambassador to the Grand Seignior, on which occasion he successfully exerted his talents and sound sense in extending British commerce in Turkey. At his return he brought with him a diamond valued at £30,000. The arrival of this costly bauble in England created an extraordinary sensation; and King James the First, eager to place it in the regal coronet, offered to purchase it on credit. This overture, from prudential motives, was rejected by its owner, though he allowed his sovereign the loan of it, and 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 EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH. ITS FOUNDED THERE. LERY GROUND. NOR OLD ARTIL ORTH of Crosby Square is an insignificant thoroughfare, leading us at once from the noise and turmoil 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 tessere, 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 |