CHAPTER VI.

"There is given

Unto the things of earth, which Time hath bent,
A spirit's feeling; and where he hath leant
His hand, but broke his scythe, there is a power

And magic in the ruin'd battlement,

For which the Palace of the present hour

Must yield its pomp, and wait till ages are its dower."

CHILDE HAROLD.

EAR as the Palatine, with its neighbouring Capitol the temple of her gods-was to ancient Rome, dear as the Acropolis, and its sun-lit Parthenon, chiselled out against the deep blue skies, to the devotion of Athens,-dear as their Isle de la Cité, with its solemn Church of Notre Dame, to the French,-is that, which was once Thorney Island, now to this great country-its soil and palaces rendered immortal in the dramatic pages of its great chief of bards. We shall not enter beneath the venerable twin-towers of St. Peter's, which, through the "clear obscure," seem to rise like the outspread wings of some archangel of peace above the slumbering City, we shall not meditate, moving with a slow soft footstep, along the aisles dim with misty purple light, which imagination, while each far sculptured form seems instinct with life, repeoples with a mighty presence, since round this mighty temple our native land more immediately concentrates her history, fortunes, and glory, and to its keeping, as to that of a loving mother, for long centuries has commended the dust of the chief of her great and good. We pass on to the seat of her sovereign government, and her chambers of legislation,-that central heart, whose pulse and

working is felt in the furthest dependencies of a dominion, which in vastness of extent, power, and importance outvies the grandest empires of the past: we shall linger in halls of state, where those great counsels were held which have added new lands to the globe-have animated our forefathers with the spirit that has elevated our navies and armies into a glory and a boast, which enforce respect in the most potent kingdoms of the world, and on the utmost seas, where the red-cross standard of England waves alone, the harbinger, as the hearts which love our Mother-Church are ever fondly hoping, to prepare the way before missions, which break off the yoke from the bondslave, and bring all lands into subjection to a dominion higher and mightier than that of earth.

NEW PALACE-YARD

derived its name from having been the great court in which King William Rufus intended to build a new palace, of which Westminster Hall formed no mean part. It was enclosed upon the west side by a wall pierced with the High-gate, so called from its stateliness and beauty, erected by King Richard II., A. D. 1484, on the east of Union-street, and at the entrance of the Broad Sanctuary, but never completely finished: it was used, for a short time, as a prison before its demolition in 1706. Towards the north, in the midst of a line of houses, stood another gate, under which was a passage to Canon-row and the Long Wool-staple. The south side was occupied by the north front of the Hall and adjacent Government buildings, with a gateway opening into the lane which led to St. Margaret's Church: it was destroyed in 1731, as obstructing the passage of the Members on their way to Parliament. Upon the east side stood portions of the Palace, which likewise had a gate beyond the Star-chamber, close to the King's-stairs, upon the bank of the Thames, and leading to the stairs. This water-gate was pulled down in 1741, to make room for the south-west abutment of the Bridge.

In Palace-yard were anciently pales about five feet high, put up to protect foot-passengers from danger and mud. Within these rails and St. Stephen's Chapel and the private Palace were two messuages called "Paradise" and the "Constabulary," both of which (13 Hen. VI.) were granted to John Duke of Bedford. A beautiful fountain, which fell in large cascades, and on jubilee-days was made to pour forth streams of choice wine, stood rather towards the west, and on the north side of the Court. Permission to make use of the surplus water which flowed from this conduit was granted, on February 3, 25 Hen. VI., to the parish. Under the date 1524 the Churchwardens for the time being note, "Memm the King's Charter for the Condett at the Pales'-gate remayneth in the custody of the Churchwardens." The fountain was removed in the reign of King Charles II.

Close to the gate on the north side of the yard, in the reign of King Edward I., Sir Ralph Hengham, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1278 to 1290, built a large stone clock-tower, 24 feet long and 17 feet broad, opposite Westminster Hall gate, and in front of a house upon the terrace bearing a dial with the apt quotation "Discite justitiam moniti." The expense was defrayed out of a fine of 800 marks, in which he was amerced for carrying his compassion to such a length as to alter a court-roll in a poor man's favour, who in an action of debt was sued for 12s. 4d., and to reduce the payment to 6s. 8d. In it a clock was afterwards placed; and the bell, chiming from it every hour, spoke in audible warning tones to all who sat upon that Bench, admonishing them "to minister true judgment indifferently" to all. Even in the reign of Queen Elizabeth the solemn sound had not wholly lost its import, though another Justice had wellnigh forgotten its meaning. "Brother Cattlyn," drily observed Judge Southcote, who sat beside him, "I have no mind to build a new clock-tower."

In the time of King Henry VI. the Wardenship of the Clochard, the disposal of which was vested in the Sovereign, was granted to William Walesby, Dean of St. Stephen's, with the wages of 6d. a day paid out of the Exchequer. The bell