Note 28 — March 20.] GOOD FRIDAY.

Respecting the age of St. Paul’s Cross, Stow declares himself ignorant. Dugdale, however, records, on the authority of Ingulphus, that its prototype, a cross of stone, was erected on the same spot, A.D. 870, to induce the passers-by to offer prayers for certain monks slain by the Danes. St. Paul’s Cross consisted of some steps, on which was formed a wooden pulpit, covered with lead, whence sermons were preached to the people every Sunday morning. It was not, however, specially reserved for this purpose; since from this place, at times, the anathema of the Pope was thundered forth, or the ordinances of the reigning king were published, heresies were recanted, and sins atoned for by penance.

So early as 1256, we find John Mancell calling a meeting at Powly’s Crosse, and showing the people that it was the king’s desire that they should be “rulyd with justyce, and that the libertyes of the cytie shulde be maynteyned in every poynt.” In 1299 the Dean of St. Paul’s proclaimed from the Cross that all persons who searched for treasure in the church of St. Martin-le-Grand, or consented to the searching, were accursed; and it was here that Jane Shore, with a taper in one hand, and arrayed in her ‘kyrtell onelye,’ was exposed to open penance. After 1633, sermons were no longer preached at the Cross, but within the cathedral; and in 1643 it was altogether taken down.—Godwin and Britton, Churches of London, 1839; Pennant, Account of London, 1793; Brayley, Londiniana, 1829.