which the Georgian glories of the University Church passed away.
Before the time of Laud, when so many departures from mediaeval custom
had taken place, we learn, from information furnished during the
revival brought about by the over-zealous archbishop, that the church
was arranged much on the lines of a theatre, with a pulpit in the
centre, which went by the name of the Cockpit, that the service was
cut as short as "him that is sent thither to read it" thought fit, and
that during sermon-time the chancel was filled with boys and townsmen
"all in a rude heap between the doctors and the altar." But this
concentration on the University sermon and disrespect for the altar
went further, for, with the legacy of Mr. William Worts, the existing
galleries were put up in 1735, the Cockpit was altered, and other
changes made which Mr. A.H. Thompson has vividly described:

... the centre of the church was filled with an immense
octagonal pulpit on the "three-decker" principle, the
crowning glory and apex of which was approached, like a
church-tower, by an internal staircase. About 1740 Burrough
filled the chancel-arch and chancel with a permanent
gallery, which commanded a thorough view of this object. The
gallery, known as the "Throne," was an extraordinary and
unique erection. The royal family of Versailles never
worshipped more comfortably than did the Vice-Chancellor and
heads of houses, in their beautiful armchairs, and the
doctors sitting on the tiers of seats behind them. In this
worship of the pulpit, the altar was quite disregarded....
The church thus became an oblong box, with the organ at the
end, the Throne at the other, and the pulpit between them.

Of all this nothing remains besides the organ and the side galleries,