Six

house. It was asserted that, having escaped from a watery grave, he made his way to a place of concealment with which he was familiar, where, either by the negligence or the treachery of the person to whom he had confided his secret, he was kept immured in his hiding-place and starved to death. The probability of there being some truth in these rumours is borne out by a story related by John second Duke of Rutland, in 1728. years before (he said), there being occasion to raise a new chimney at Minster Lovel, there was discovered a large subterranean apartment, in which there was the entire skeleton of a man in the attitude of sitting at a table, with a book, paper, and pen before him. before him. In another part of the room lay a cap; all the articles being in a state of great decay. These were supposed to be the last remains of the gallant and ill-fated Lord Lovel. His vast inheritance was lost to his family by his attainder, and is now, we believe, chiefly in the possession of the Marquises of Salisbury and Northampton.

In the last century, Alderman Bridgen, the intimate friend of Richardson, the author of "Pamela" and "Sir Charles Grandison," had a large house and garden in Lovell's Court; and it was in an alcove in the latter that the celebrated novelist is said to have written more than one of his works.

Between Amen Corner and Ludgate Street stood Abergavenny House, the residence, in the reign of

Edward the Second, of John de Dreux, Earl of Richmond, and Duke of Brittany, and grandson of King Henry the Third. It subsequently became the town mansion of the chivalrous John Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, who married the Lady Margaret Plantagenet, fourth daughter of King Edward the Third; it was then styled "Pembroke's inne," near Ludgate. From the Hastings family it passed to the Nevilles, Earls of Abergavenny, and as late as the year 1587, was in the possession of that ancient race. From having been successively the residence of the three great baronial families of the De Dreux, the Hastings, and the Nevilles, it passed into the quiet possession of the Stationers' Company, from which they still issue their "Almanacks" and "Latin Gradus." The old mansion was destroyed by the great Fire of 1666, shortly after which the present unpretending edifice was erected on its site. Some interesting portraits, however, which it contains of Prior and Steele; of Richardson, the novelist, and his wife; of Bishop Hoadley, and Alderman Boydell, render it worthy of a visit.

In Warwick Lane, between Paternoster Row and Newgate Street, stood the princely mansion, or "inne," of the "King-maker," Richard Earl of Warwick, where he exercised that splendid hospitality for which he was so famous. A bas relief of Guy Earl of Warwick may still be seen at the entrance into Warwick Lane.

At the Bell Inn, Warwick Lane, in 1684, died

the pious and gentle Robert Leighton, Archbishop of Glasgow. In his old age, at the united and earnest request of Lord Perth and Bishop Burnet, he came to London. Burnet met him on his arrival. "I was amazed," he says, "to see him, at above seventy, look so fresh and well, that age seemed as it were to stand still with him: his hair was still black, and all his motions were lively: he had the same quickness of thought, and strength of memory; but above all, the same heat and life of devotion that I had ever seen in him." Burnet congratulated him on his good looks; but the venerable prelate shook his head, observing that "he was very near his end for all that, and that his work and journey were now almost done." He died the following day. He had more than once been heard to express a wish that he should breathe his last at an inn, and the desire was gratified. "He used often to say," says Burnet, "that if he were to choose a place to die in, it should be an inn; it looked like a pilgrim going home, to whom this world was all as an inn, and who was weary of the noise and confusion in it. He added, that the officious tenderness and care of friends was an entanglement to a dying man; and that the unconcerned attendance of those that could be procured in such a place, would give him less disturbance. And he obtained what he desired, for he died at the Bell Inn, in Warwick Lane." Burnet was with him to the last. "Both speech and sense," he says, "went away of a sudden; and he continued

panting about twelve hours, and then died without pangs or convulsions. I was by him all the while."

Under the shadow of St. Paul's Cathedral is the celebrated school which bears its name. It was founded in 1512, by Dr. John Colet, Dean of St. Paul's, who endowed it out of his private fortune for the education of one hundred and fifty-three boys, in allusion to the number of fishes caught by St. Peter. The celebrated grammarian, William Lily, was selected to be the first head-master. Although Dr. Colet survived the accomplishment of his noble work scarcely ten years, he had the satisfaction of seeing his school flourish, and his labours rewarded. Among others, Sir Thomas More wrote to congratulate him on the success which he so well merited; comparing the new school "to the wooden horse of Troy, out of which the Grecians issued to overcome the city;-and so," he adds, "out of this your school, many have come that have subverted and overthrown all ignorance and rudeness." Erasmus also was amongst the first to do justice to the pious work of the founder. In a letter to Justus Jonas, speaking of Dr. Colet, he writes:— Upon the death of his father, when, by right of inheritance, he was possessed of a good sum of money, lest the keeping of it should corrupt his mind, and turn it too much towards the world, he laid out a great part of it in building a new school in the churchyard of St. Paul's, dedicated to the child Jesus, a magnificent fabric; to which he added two dwelling-houses for the two several masters,

66

and to them he allotted ample salaries, that they might teach a certain number of boys free, and for the sake of charity. He divided the school into four apartments. The first, the porch and entrance, is for catechumens, or the children to be instructed in the principles of religion, where no child is to be admitted but what can read and write. The second apartment is for the lower boys, to be taught by the second master or usher; the third for the upper forms, under the head-master; which two parts of the school are divided by a curtain, to be drawn at pleasure. Over the master's chair is an image of the child Jesus, of admirable work, in the gesture of teaching, whom all the boys, going and coming, salute with a short hymn; and there is a representation of God the Father, saying, 'Hear ye Him,' these words being written at my suggestion. The fourth, or last apartment, is a little chapel for divine service. The school has no corners or hiding places, nothing like a cell or closet. The boys have their distinct forms or benches, one above another. Every form holds sixteen, and he that is head or captain of each form has a little kind of desk, by way of preeminence. They are not to admit all boys of course, but to choose them according to their parts and capacities." To this account we may add, that the admirable regulations for the government of the school were drawn up by Dean Colet himself.

Many great and eminent persons have received their education at St. Paul's School. Among these