churchyard are said to have rivalled in beauty those inside the
cathedral. How this cloister and chapel fared, we shall see presently.

[Illustration: A FUNERAL PROCESSION.
_From a MS. of the Hours of the Virgin. Fifteenth Century. British
Museum_, 27697.]

North of the Pardon Churchyard was the College of the Minor Canons,
bordering on Paternoster Row; and between it and the cathedral, in an
open space, which in older times was the authorised meeting-place
of the folkmote, was Paul's Cross. There is no doubt of its exact
situation, for during his valuable explorations into the history of
the cathedral, Mr. Penrose discovered its foundations, six feet below
the pavement, and this site is now marked by an inscription. It is all
now laid out as a pleasant garden, and a goodly number of people may
be seen there daily feeding the tame pigeons.

I have shown already (see _Mediæval London_, p. 8) that the Folkmote
was held on a large green, east of the cathedral. There were three
such meetings yearly, to which the citizens were summoned by the
ringing of the great cathedral bell. When the first Cross was erected
on the ground there is no record to show. We may take for granted that
there was first a pulpit of wood. Not only were sermons preached, but
proclamations and State announcements were delivered from it, also
Papal bulls, excommunications, and the public penance of notorious
offenders. In the quaint language of Carlyle, Paul's Cross was "a kind
of _Times_ newspaper of the day." On important occasions, the Lord
Mayor and Aldermen came in state. Sometimes even the King came with
his retinue, and a covered seat was placed for them against the
cathedral wall, which may be noticed in our engraving. If there was an