Stranica 46 [46]
24 ORIGIN OF THE CITY
hgure of St. Lucius with more interest than I should have bestowed
upon personages who, hierarchically, are, I daresay, his superiors.”
It will be remembered that 65 Cornhill, which was at that time the
office of the Cornhill Magazine, in the first number of which this paper
of Thackeray’s was written to appear, is exactly opposite the church of
St. Peter. Not very long ago the ecclesiastical authorities celebrated
in this church the 1700th anniversary of the foundation. The exact
place of Lucius in the story is disputed. According to some the church
was founded in 179 A.D., after the death of Lucius, who, as Thackeray
tells us, was stoned at Chur “on account of theological differences.”
Theanus, or Theonus, was the first archbishop of London, aided by
Cyran, who had been chief butler to Lucius. Theanus was succeeded
by a long line of archbishops before the coming of the heathen Saxons.
It seems hardly worth while to refute such a tale as this. According
to Harry, King Lles sent for Christian teachers to Pope Elutherius
or Eleutherus. I am not going to stray into ecclesiastical history,
and it will be sufficient here to have given the legend, and to have
pointed out that Lles or Lucius is among the mythical predecessors
of King Cole.
In dealing with these stories we may remember a few facts.
There may have been
a British ofpidum
on the hill above the
Wallbrook before
Aulus Plautius, in the
autumn of the year
43 A.D., founded a
Roman fort some¬
where in the neigh¬
bourhood. The whole
~~, 4
— a ale 4 vet új
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