as
anything but enthusiastic, and only a small sum was contributed, which
went in the purchase of stone. Matters came to a complete standstill;
and shortly prior to his assassination the elder Villiers is reported
to have stolen part of the stone for a watergate for his new town
house.

[Illustration: INIGO JONES' PORTICO.
_After Hollar._]

The Commission died with the king, and Laud, becoming bishop,
persuaded Charles to issue a new one. This time a handsome sum was
collected, and work was commenced. As regards the exterior, the nave
and west sides of the two transepts were cased throughout, and some
repairs made to the east end.[29] The chief alteration in the interior
was the adornment and restoration of the choir screen, at the expense
of Sir Paul Pindar, and with the laudable object of putting an end to
desecration. Inigo Jones added a noble classical portico to the West
End as a successor to Paul's Walk. We forgive the lack of harmony with
the Norman nave, when we recall the truly religious motive.

But evil days for the cathedral were approaching. In the House of
Commons (February 11, 1629), Oliver Cromwell, Member for Huntingdon
town, made his maiden speech in a Grand Committee on Religion. He
complained that Dr. Alablaster had preached flat Popery at Paul's
Cross, and that the Doctor's bishop, Neile of Winchester, would not
have it otherwise.[30] Alablaster was High Church, and the Third
Parliament of Charles was not.

=The Civil War.=--The outbreak of the Civil War put an end to the
Commission, and the moneys were confiscated.[31] The Long Parliament
acquired the supremacy in the City, and from 1643 Inigo Jones ceased
to act as surveyor, dying before the Restoration. The whole staff was
expelled, and their revenues sequestrated; and Dr. Cornelius Burgess
was appointed preacher, some of the more eastern bays of the choir
being walled in by a brick partition as his chapel or conventicle. The
chief fault to be found with Burgess is that he was out of place in a
cathedral, otherwise there is much to be said in his favour. Even in
those times, when religious fanaticism went mad, he behaved with
discretion, and courageously headed the petition of London ministers
against the execution of the king. Hugh Peters figures in the crypt,
and other parts were assigned as meeting-houses. It is better to pass
over as quickly as may be the behaviour of the soldiery and populace.
"Paul's Cathedral," says Carlyle, "i