patience with men who allow their wives to receive alms, while they have health and strength to work for them; I have still less patience with those who compel both them and their children to go a begging of their richer neighbours. It is not acting like English peasants. Go a begging, indeed! That would be a bitter day for Job Moody, when he sent out his wife and children on such an errand, and may the daisy grow over his head before they are so degraded. May they all repose there with him, rather than thus disgrace the name of Moody!" If, Job (I returned), example and precept prove effectual to the formation of character, then your children will perpetuate your worth in living language on some future day." That day has arrived! Silver hairs are fast gathering over the honest weather-beaten forehead of Job Moody; and while he still remains the character described, his sons resemble him, and bid fair to be considered, with him, as so many specimens of the good old English peasantry. Treading in his steps, they will be both honoured and happy. 66 OBSERVATOR. THE VENDEAN MAIDEN'S LAMENT. BY ROBERT NEWTON LEE, ESQ., M.A. WAR TO THE THRONE-PEACE TO THE COTTAGE," WAS ONE OF THE EARLY MANIFESTOS OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC. YES, "Peace to the cottage, and war to the throne!" Who led the gay dance in the lovely Vendee. Aye," Peace to the cottage, and war to the throne !" Where, where are the beautiful, loyal, or brave, Every once happy vale of the lovely Vendee. S Yes," Peace to the cottage, and war to the throne!” THE TEMPLE CHURCH. It would be difficult to point out, in England, any monument of ccclesiastical antiquity in which so many features of interest are concentrated as those which belong to the Temple Church. Not only are its charms, to the lovers of our national architecture, manifold and unique; this venerable edifice is pre-eminently distinguished, by its association with the pious chivalry of the Crusades, with that most illustrious fraternity of Crusaders, the Knights of the Temple-the soldier champions of the cross, and by its connection with events highly important, and persons eminently famous in the history of England and the middle ages. The Temple Church, therefore, has always afforded rich sources of instruction and enjoyment to the Christian and philosopher, the antiquary and historian; while the architect has recognized in it one of the very finest specimens of early pointed architecture in Europe. The re-opening of this august structure, after the extensive repairs and complete restorations which have been in progress there for the last two years, has, in a remarkable degree, revived the interest with which the Temple Church has ever been regarded: and to our friends at a distance the following rapid sketch of its history will probably be acceptable. Several round churches were erected by the renowned order of Knights Templars in England, being constructed of the circular form, in honour of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. Of these peculiar edifices (some of which are yet wholly or partially existing in this kingdom), none can boast either the historical importance or the architectural perfection of the Temple Church in London. In point of antiquity, however, the round church in the town of Cambridge appears to be the oldest edifice of this form in England; and the circular churches, built by the Templars, or held in possession by their order, at Northampton, Baldock in Hertfordshire, and Maplestead in Essex, also indicate a degree of antiquity perhaps as great as that of the far-famed Temple Church. That antiquity is very considerable, the circular portion of the present edifice in the Inner Temple having been erected in the year 1185. The model upon which the Temple Church and the other round churches of the Templars were built, viz., the Church of the Resurrection or Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, seems to have been originally built by the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, and to have been rebuilt by Charlemagne, with permission of the then caliph, in 813. This church having afterwards been defaced by the Saracens, it was restored in the year 1049. Many churches in the round form were built in various parts of Europe by the Christians, so early as the fourth and fifth centuries, "in honour of the Holy Sepulchre," and dedicated accordingly, retaining to this day (as in the case of the church and parish of St. Sepulchre in London) a name indicative of their original dedication. In the year 1185, the order of Knights Templars, who are said to have taken that name from their monastery having adjoined the porch where the old Temple of Solomon was supposed to have stood, built the circular church in London-the very edifice of which the exterior wall, with the great western door (the church having escaped the great fire), still remain to us. It would seem, however, that an older church existed here. About the year 1700, on pulling down some old houses adjoining its site, part of the first Temple Church is said to have been discovered, and it is stated to have been built of Caen stone, and circular, like the present church. Weever (who wrote in 1630) was of opinion that a religious structure had existed on the spot from a still earlier period, and even tells us that a temple was said to have been built here by a personage of whom he writes, Dunwallo Mulmatius, probably identical with Dyfynwal Moelmad, recorded in the bardic Triads as a great king and legislator, who flourished in Britain 400 years before Christ; that its precincts were made a sanctuary, or place of refuge (a privilege which it certainly still enjoyed in the time of Pope Innocent); and that this early lawgiver was buried here, with other of the British kings. Norden, who had written previously (1593), may have furnished the authority for this traditional statement, for he refers to it, but says, eiting Geoffrey of Monmouth, that some take the temple built by Moelmatius to be that called Blackwell Hall. Into these conjectures it would be profitless to enter. It is sufficient to remark, that we have no record of any earlier Christian or other edifice that may have occupied the site of the present Temple Church. There is no actual proof that a Christian church hallowed this spot (for the discovery in 1700, already noticed, does not prove the point) till the year 1185, when the church was dedicated, like other churches of the Templars, to the blessed Virgin, by Heraclius, patriarch of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, as appeared by an inscription cut in the stone-work of the porch, which, with the stone, was destroyed by the workmen during the repairs in 1695. The inscription, however, is preserved in transcript, and is given, from Pegge's "Sylloge of Inscriptions," in Britton's "Architectural Antiquities." This patriarch visited England to sue King Henry II. for aid against the Saracens, and urged the monarch to leave his dominions to join in the holy war. The king, however, was advised by his council of lords, assembled at Clerkenwell, that he might not safely leave his realm; but he accompanied the patriarch to Normandy, promised him fifty thousand marks in silver, and sanctioned the appeal of Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, in favour of the crusade. Stow says that the patriarch, before his departure, consecrated also "the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem, by Smithfield." It appears, from Dugdale's history, that so soon as sixty years afterwards, being in the year 1240 (temp. Hen. III.), the church was again dedicated. Mr. Grose states that it was about the same time re-edified. There is no record of a second dedication; at all events, it is probable that the church was then enlarged, by the erection of the square or eastern portion of the edifice; the circular church, perhaps, receiving the re-edification alluded to by the antiquary. The earliest records of the Temple having been burnt by Wat Tyler's rabble (1381), the precise extent of the restoration then effected cannot be ascertained. Mr. Britton considers the clustered columns, arches, and the whole of the square church, to be of the period of Henry III., and remarks on its obvious similarity to the architecture of Salisbury Cathedral, and other sacred edifices of the period. The church was extensively repaired, as already noticed, about 1695; the eastern portions underwent considerable repairs in 1726 and 1736; and the church was again repaired early in the present century. The edifice exhibits, as Mr. Britton remarks, the different features of the semicircular, the pointed, and intersecting arches, all being probably erected at or about the same time. Some of the more ancient portions are certainly in the Anglo-Norman style. In the round church, a circular window over the western door was uncovered during the repairs now lately completed, and found to be formed of Anglo-Norman wheel-formed tracery, in design resembling that at Barfreston, in Kent, and Castle Hedingham, in Essex, which latter building is probablyc oeval with that once magnificent structure, Rochester Castle, namely, between 1088 and 1107. Circular windows were used at a very early period; and this wheel-window helps to fix the true date of portions of the church. It was probably closed up about the year 1700, when the unsightly brick buildings on the north side were erected. The window is in a wall three feet six inches in thickness, and is a master-piece of masonry. Mr. Cottingham considers the design of this window to have been suggested by the wheel of one of the sculptured chariots which adorned Roman buildings; and the Norman style being "a rude imitation of the Roman," such wheels were closely imitated in some of our early circular windows. The elder or western portion of the church may briefly be described as a complete rotunda, divided into three stories, the lower having six arches-fine specimens of the early pointed style-resting on pillars composed of four others. This lower story of the circular nave (naos of the early Christian writers, figurative of the Church as the ship of Christ) may represent the side aisle, while the upper story corresponds to the centre of the nave. This story has aisles with dental arches on the walls, and over them round windows, corresponding with the principal arches. The middle story is adorned with interlaced round arches, and in the upper are six single round arches, above which a plain wall supports the roof. The west door is richly charged, as Gough expresses it, with ornaments, in the same style as those at the ancient Norman edifice of Castle Hedingham, as are also its pillars and capitals, and the pillars and arches which range round under the windows. Of the restorations began in 1840 in the circular nave, and also in the choir, descriptions have already appeared; as also have sketches of the decorative restorations, carried out with so much antiquarian taste and ability on the designs of Mr. Willement. The devices on stained glass which he has introduced are well calculated to restore the splendid and appropriately solemn effect which must have been attained in the pristine days of this august structure, where the "Storied windows richly dight" the frescoes of the vaulted roof: the walls and the minutest decorations awoke reverential feelings in the soldiers of Christ, who of old assembled to worship in this sacred Temple, "as pilgrims who, with God's word to guide and his sacraments to strengthen them, were journeying onwards to a better country." As connected with the history of the edifice, it may here be mentioned, that among the rich and effective designs in stained glass introduced by Mr Willement, are figures of four knights, who were grand priors of the order of Templars in England, viz., Geoffrey Fitz-Stephen, 1180; Americ de St. Maur, 1203; Alan Marcel, 1224; and Robert Mountforde, 1234. Many names distinguished in medieval history adorn the roll of members, as well as priors of this order, which numbered kings, princes, and nobles in its illustrious ranks. Some of these Templars having been interred in the Temple Church, it contained several monuments, remarkable not only for their great antiquity and unique character, but on account of the persons commemorated. The most ancient of these are effigies of Crusaders, all of whom, however, were not members of the order of Templars. In the period of the Crusades, all effigies of persons who had "taken up the cross," or, in other words, fought in the holy wars, were sculptured with the legs crossed. Of this interesting class of monumental effigies, several are preserved in different parts of the country, and fine specimens in the Templars' habit may be seen in Salisbury and Gloucester Cathedrals, Westminster Abbey, Hatfield Church, the Abbey Church of Shrewsbury, and some other sacred edifices. The effigy in the latter church is supposed to be in memory of Robert, the great Norman Earl of Shrewsbury; it is in the religious habit, and seems to belong, in sculpture, to the reign of King John. This, however, is by no means the earliest specimen; some of the effigies in the Temple Church are in earlier style; and in Gloucester Cathedral is the effigy of Robert Duke of Normandy, eldest son of William the Conqueror, who joined the first crusade in 1096. The duke is represented in complete armour, over which is thrown the white habit; the legs are crossed. The white habit was not assigned to the Templars till some years afterwards. The recumbent effigies in the Temple Church, however, stand alone in point of antiquity and peculiar character; indeed, some (as, for example, the effigy with the hands crossed on the breast) are not even appropriated, and possess, on this account, the additional degree of interest, which (as a modern writer remarks) every |