Old Saint Paul's

Old Saint Paul's is a historical novel written by William Harrison Ainsworth. The story is set in London during the reign of King Charles II in the 17th century. The novel revolves around the Great Fire of London, which destroyed much of the city in 1666. The main character is a young man named Leonard Holt, who is a carpenter and a member of the Brotherhood of the Holy Cross. He falls in love with the beautiful daughter of a wealthy merchant, but their relationship is complicated by the events of the fire, which threatens to destroy everything they hold dear. Along the way, the reader is introduced to a wide cast of characters, including the infamous thief Jack Sheppard, who becomes a key player in the story. Old Saint Paul's is a thrilling tale of love, loss, and survival in a time of great upheaval and change.Having passed so much of his time of late in the cathedral, Leonard began to regard it as a sort of home, and it now appeared like a place of refuge to him. Proceeding to the great western entrance, he seated himself on one of the large blocks of stone left there by the masons occupied in repairing the exterior of the fane. His eye rested upon the mighty edifice before him, and the clear sparkling light revealed numberless points of architectural grandeur and beauty which he had never before noticed. The enormous buttresses and lofty pinnacles of the central tower were tinged with the beams of the rising sun, and glowed as if built of porphyry.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.