"Fig-tree, or fountain-side, or learned shade Of King's Bench Walk, by pleadings vocal made; Samuel Lysons, the author of "Magna Britannia," occupied chambers at No. 6, King's Bench Walk. Besides the eminent men we have mentioned, there remain to be recorded several others, who, having been members of one or other of the two Inns of Court, must frequently have passed along the classic courts and shady groves of the Temple, if they were not actual residents within its walls. Of the Inner Temple, the following may be mentioned as among the most eminent members:— The great lawyer, Sir Thomas Littleton, who died in 1481. The accomplished Lord Chancellor, Sir Christopher Hatton; died in 1591. Thomas Lord Buckhurst, the poet, and successor to Lord Burleigh as Lord High Treasurer; died in 1608. Francis Beaumont, the dramatic writer; died in 1615 Sir Edward Coke; died in 1634. William Browne, author of "Britannia's Pastorals;" died circ. 1645. The infamous Judge Jeffreys; died in 1689. Henry Fielding, the great novelist; died in 1754. The list of illustrious men who were students of the Middle Temple is more numerous:— Sir Edward Montague, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench; died in 1556. The learned lawyer, Sir James Dyer; died in 1581. Edmund Plowden, author of the famous "Commentaries;" died in 1584. Sir Thomas Overbury; poisoned in the Tower in 1613. Sir Walter Raleigh; said to have been a resident in the Temple in 1576; beheaded in 1618. Sir John Davies, the poet, and author of the "Reports:" expelled, though afterwards re-admitted, for having beaten in the hall Mr. Richard Martin, afterwards Recorder of London: died in 1626. John Marston, the dramatic poet; died circ. 1633. Sir Simonds d'Ewes; died in 1650. Henry Ireton, the republican general; died in 1651. The Lord Chancellor Clarendon; died in 1674. Bulstrode Whitelocke, the author of the "Memorials;" died in 1676. Thomas Shadwell, the dramatic poet; died in 1692. John Evelyn; died in 1706. William Wycherley, the dramatic poet; died in 1715. The great Lord Somers; died in 1716. William Congreve, the dramatic writer; died in 1729. Thomas Southerne, the dramatic writer; died in 1746. Sir William Blackstone; died in 1780. Edmund Burke ; died in 1797. Richard Brinsley Sheridan; died in 1816. Gower and Chaucer, the fathers of English poetry, are presumed to have been members of the Temple; but in neither case, we believe, has the fact been substantiated. THE STRAND. BAD STATE OF THE ROADS BETWEEN THE CITY AND PALACE THROUGH THE STRAND.-STRAND FORMED INTO A REGULAR STREET.--TEMPLE BAR.PALSGRAVE PLACE.-BUTCHER ROW.-DEVEREUX COURT AND ESSEX STREET. -STRAND LANE.-CHURCH OF ST. CLEMENT DANES.-CLEMENT'S, NEW, AND LYON'S INNS.-ARUNDEL, NORFOLK, AND HOWARD STREETS.- ST. MARY-LE-STRAND.-MAYPOLE IN THE STRAND.-EXETER 'CHANGE.-SOUTHAMPTON STREET.-NEW EXCHANGE, STRAND. THE ADELPHI.—GARRICK'S DEATH.-PETER THE GREAT.-HUNGERFORD MARKET. IN N the days when our Saxon and Norman monarchs held their court at Westminster, the Strand constituted, as it does at the present day, the direct land thoroughfare between their Palace at Westminster and the City of London. Nevertheless, as late as the year 1315, we find the road rendered almost impassable from its deep ruts and holes, while the foot-passengers were scarcely less inconvenienced by the brambles and bushes which interrupted their progress. At this period, it should be mentioned, the Strand was merely a suburban highway, the only buildings between Westminster and London being the small village of Charing; the great palace of the Savoy which had only recently been built; the old Church of St. Mary-le-Strand, and perhaps here and there to the north a scattered farmhouse or cottage. On the south side, the Thames was to be seen gliding silently between its shady banks, while on the north rose the high and well-wooded grounds of Hampstead and Highgate. At this time also, and indeed till a much later date, no fewer than three small streams, having their source in the high-grounds to the north of London, crossed the Strand in their way to the Thames. These streams were spanned by as many bridges, the remains of one of which, consisting of a single stone arch about eleven feet in length, was discovered in 1802, during the construction of a new sewer a little to the eastward of St. Clement's Church. The two others were severally known as Strand Bridge and Ivy Bridge; the site of both bridges being pointed out by Strand Lane and Ivy Bridge Lane, which anciently formed the channels through which the two rivulets flowed to the Thames. Although by degrees the progressive erection of new buildings altered the aspect of the Strand, it is not till 1532 that we find it forming into a regular street, when an act was passed for paving the "streetway between Charing Cross and Strand Cross," at the expense of the owners of the land. Within eleven years from this period there had arisen, on the north side of the Strand, an almost continuous row of houses extending from Temple Bar to the church of St. Mary-le-Strand. The south, or river side, was occupied principally by Somerset House, the Savoy Palace, Durham House, York House, and St. Mary's Hospital, the site of the present Northumberland House. Here also, with their fair gardens extending to the river, stood the mansions of more than one dignitary of the Church. "Anciently," writes Selden, "the noblemen lay within the City for safety and security; but the Bishops' houses were by the water-side, because they were held sacred persons whom nobody would hurt." There were in fact, at one period, no fewer than nine Bishops who had "inns," or palaces, on the south side of the Strand. Temple Bar-the point from which we start on our stroll from Fleet Street to Charing Cross-derives its name from a bar or chain which anciently formed the line of demarcation between the cities of London and Westminster. At a later period, according to Strype, "there was a house of timher erected across the street, with a narrow gateway, and an entry on the south side of it under the house." In 1670, a few years after the destruction of this clumsy edifice, the present gateway was erected by Sir Christopher Wren. The statues on the east side are those of Queen Elizabeth and King James the First; those on the west side, of Charles the First and Charles the Second. It was through Temple Bar, after the battle of Poictiers, that Edward the Black Prince made his triumphal entry into Westminster, and through it also, after his great victory at Agincourt, in 1415, that Henry the Fifth-attended by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen "apparelled in grained scarlet," and "well mounted and gorgeously horsed with rich collars and great chains"—rode in triumph to the palace of the Confessor. Through Temple Bar Edward the Fourth led his beautiful bride, Elizabeth Woodville, to her coronation at Westminster; and here, also on her way to her coronation, Elizabeth of York, the interesting young queen of Henry the Seventh, was greeted by "singing children-some arrayed like angels, and others like virgins -who sang sweet songs as her grace passed by." Here Anne Boleyn, on a like occasion, was gorgeously welcomed by the citizens of London; and lastly, here, twenty-five years afterwards, her daughter, Queen Elizabeth, was received with similar pageantry and rejoicings to those which had greeted her ill-fated mother. On the occasions when the sovereign pays a visit to the City, there still exists the ancient custom of closing the gates of Temple Bar, when admission is formally demanded |