Papal Favour_
--_Cardinal Wolsey at St. Paul's_--_Bishop Fisher's Preaching at
Paul's Cross_--_Fall of Wolsey_--_Alienation of the King from the
Pope_--_The English Bible in the Cathedral_--_Edward VI._
--_Ridley's Strong Protest against the Images_--_Progress of the
Reformed Doctrines_--_Somerset's Evil Deeds_--_Destruction of the
Cloisters_--_Re-establishment of the Roman Mass under Mary_
--_Cardinal Pole at St. Paul's_--_The Lord Mayor's Proclamation_
--_Alienation of the Nation from Romanism_--_Death of Mary and
Accession of Elizabeth_--_The Reformed Liturgy Restored_--_Growth
of Puritanism_--_Destruction of the Steeple by Lightning_
--_Continued Irreverence_--_Retrospect, the Tudor Monuments._

It seems fitting that we should open the chapter of a new era in the
history of St. Paul's with the name of its most famous Dean, a great,
wise, good man. His name was John Colet. He was born in London, in
the year 1466, within three months of his famous friend, Erasmus. His
father, Sir Henry Colet, was twice Lord Mayor, one of the richest
members of the Mercers' Company. John, who was his eldest son, had ten
brothers and eleven sisters, all by the same mother, who outlived
the last of them. The young man was presented to livings (it was no
unusual thing then) before he took Orders, and gave himself to
study, both mathematical and classical, and in his zeal for learning
travelled much abroad, where he saw much of ecclesiastical life,
which startled him greatly. Returning, at length, to England, he was
ordained at Christmas, 1497, went to Oxford, and began to lecture with
great power on the Epistle to the Romans. It must be remembered that
this was the epoch when the fall of Constantinople had driven the
Greek scholars westward, the epoch of the revival of "the new
learning" in Europe, the discrediting of the old scholastic philosophy
which was now worn out and ready to vanish away. Colet stands before
us then as the representative of the new learning in England, and as
keen to reform the abuses in the Church which were terrifying all
earnest and thoughtful men. He carried on his lectures with such
energy that his lecture-room was crowded, the most distinguished
tutors there being among his audience. And one day there came the
great Erasmus, who had heard of him, and from the day of their first
meeting they were fast friends for life. In 1504, Henry VII. made
Colet Dean of St. Pa