ing before her, and denounced certain "Popish
superstitions," among them the use of the sign of the Cross. Her
Majesty called out to him sternly to "stick to his text." The next day
he sent her a humble apology.

Paul's Cross was silent for some months; when at length it was again
occupied the Reformed faith was reasserted. Bonner was sent to the
Tower, and the English Communion service was again in use. In the
following August, the Queen's Commissioners held a Visitation in St.
Paul's, at which all who refused to conform with it were pronounced
contumacious and deprived. The rood was again turned out, as were the
images, and now it was with the approval of the people at large. In
many places there was much violence displayed in the destruction,
but not in St. Paul's. All was done there without tumult, and with
discrimination. On December 17th, 1559, Parker was consecrated
Archbishop at Lambeth, and four days later he consecrated Grindal
Bishop of London. Bonner was sent to the Marshalsea Prison, which
Strype declares was done to screen him from the popular detestation.
He was well fed and housed there, and had "much enjoyment of his
garden and orchards," until his death in 1569.

Grindal had been warmly attached to Ridley, and still loved his memory
dearly. Moreover, he had himself been an exile for his opinions. He
was not, therefore, likely to look favourably upon the old ceremonial,
even in its modified form of stately solemnity and grace, such as
Tallis and Merbecke would have preserved to it. And his Dean, Nowell,
had the same distrust. Had they favoured it, in all probability the
moderate and beautiful rendering of the Liturgy, as it is heard in the
cathedral in our day, would not only have won the affections of the
people at large, but would have arrested the strong tide of Puritanism
and iconoclasm which was now rising. In Convocation, the Puritans
nearly carried the removal of all organs from churches. They lost it
by a majority of one, and Dean Nowell was in the minority.

Whilst the controversy was at its fiercest, on the 3rd of June, 1561,
a violent thunderstorm burst over London. The Church of St. Martin's,
Ludgate, was struck by lightning, and great masses of stones came down
upon the pavement. Whilst people were looking dismayed at this,
the steeple of St. Paul's was discovered to be on fire. The timber
framework had got ablaze, the lead which covered it poured down like
lava upon the roof, the very b