The Middle Temple comprises -1. Buildings in the Middle Temple Lane. 2. Brick Court. 3. Essex Court. 4. New Court. 5. Garden Court. 6. Pump Court. 7. Part of Church-yard Court. 8. Lamb Buildings. 9. The Cloisters. 10. Elm Court. 11. Plowden Buildings. 12. The Hall, Library, &c. 13. The Garden. The present gate of the Middle Temple was erected in 1684, from a design, it is said, by Sir Christopher Wren. Over the gate-way are the arms of the society, and the following inscription: "Surrexit impensis Societat. Med. Templi. 6 The old gate, which was then removed, was built by Sir Amias Paulet, who filled the offices of Reader of this Society, and Treasurer of the Middle Temple, 12 Hen. VIII. The story is, that when Wolsey was a curate at Lymington, in Somersetshire, Sir Amias Paulet, then a justice of peace,' put Wolsey in the stocks, for being drunk and disorderly. The Cardinal did not forget this indignity, and about the seventh year of Henry VIII., ordered Sir Amias not to quit London without a licence. Paulet took up his abode in the Gate-house of the Middle Temple, which he re-edified and 'sumptuously beautified' on the outside, with the cardinal's arms, hat, cognisance, badges, and other devices, in a glorious manner;' hoping by this show of respect, to conciliate the offended churchman. In the ninth year of the reign of James I., some brick buildings adjoining the east side of the Middle Temple Gate, were erected by Sir Walter Cope and Sir Arthur George. Brick Court, originally called Brick Buildings, was erected in the eleventh year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, towards the charge of which Thomas Daniel, sometimes Treasurer of the Middle Temple, liberally contributed. This Court suffered from fire, in the beginning of the last century, as appears by the inscription:- Phænicis instar revivisco; Mar tino Ryder Thesaurario, 1704. Oliver Goldsmith lived at No. 2, Brick Court, for some time, and here composed his "History of the Earth and Animated Nature." His chambers were on the second floor, on the right-hand side; and here he was often visited by Burke, Boswell, Garrick, Reynolds, Percy, Sir Philip Francis, and others of his distinguished contemporaries. On the first floor of No. 2, Brick Court, underneath Goldsmith, Sir William Blackstone, had his chambers, and here, probably, he arranged the materials for his 'Commentaries.' In this court, there is a sun-dial, with the inscription, 'Time and Tide tarry for no man.' It appears from the London Spy, that the inscription formerly was 'Begone about your business.' Elias Ashmole, the founder of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and sonin-law of Sir William Dugdale, who seems to have derived some of the information for his Chronica Series' from him, had chambers in the Middle Temple Lane; where Anthony à Wood mentions that he found the two antiquaries in conversation. The east side of the Middle Temple Lane, was erected in the early part of the reign of Charles I.; some of the houses being described as 'fair brick buildings.' There are several other sun-dials in the Middle Temple-one on a pedestal in the garden, one opposite the entrance to the hall, one in Pump Court, and another in the Middle Temple Lane, over the entrance to Elm Court, with the inscription: -Pereunt et imputantur. Essex Court derives its name from its neighbourhood to Essex House, which formerly stood near the present Essex Street, and which was anciently called the Utter or Outer Temple. Essex House derived its name from Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, the last favourite of Queen Elizabeth :— "Great England's glory and the world's wide wonder, Whose dreadful name late through all Spaine did thunder, And Hercules two pillars standing near, Did make to quake and fear." Devereux Gate, which opens from the Temple into Devereux Court, also derives its name from this nobleman. John Evelyn, the author of Sylva, &c., lived in Essex Court, for some time, being a member of the Middle Temple, to the customs of which, he frequently alludes, in his Diary. During the Christmas of 1642, Evelyn was chosen one of the Comptrollers of the Middle Temple Revels; "as the fashion of y young students and gentlemen was, the Christmas being kept this year with great solemnity." In 1668, he writes" went to see the Revels at the Middle Temple, which is also an old but riotous custom, and has relation neither to virtue nor policy." Evelyn mentions that his brother, from Trin. Coll. Oxon., also came to the Middle Temple, "as gentlemen of the best quantity did, but without intention to study the law as a profession." Edward Capell, lived in Essex Court, in 1767. 'The Cloisters' are built upon the ruins of the Cloisters, which, there can be little doubt, adjoined the Temple Church, and were similar to the Cloisters of Westminster Abbey, Norwich Cathedral, and others of our ancient churches and monastic edifices. It appears from the tablet on the existing buildings, that the ancient structure on this site, was destroyed by fire, in the year 1678: "Vetustissima Templariorum porticus igne consumpta, anno 1678, nova hæc, sumptibus Medii Templi, extructa anno 1681, Gulielmo Whitelocke, armigero, thesaurario.” Elm Court is distinguished as the place where the illustrious Lord Somers had his chambers. The Water Gate, at the bottom of the Middle Temple Lane, has existed from a very remote period; and it appears that, prior to the reign of Edward III., the Justices, Clerks of the King's Courts, and others, engaged in the administration of the law at Westminster, had been accustomed to go from the gate by water, to Westminster. The Lord Mayor of London having closed the gates, Edward addressed the following mandate to that functionary, ordering the gates to be kept open to allow a free passage from the Temple to Westminster, to the parties named:— "Rex Majori Londoniæ et Escatori suo in eadem civitate, salutem.* Quia intelleximus quòd, per medium Curiæ Novi Templi Londoniæ, usque aquam Tamisiæ, communis transitus, pro justiciariis et clericis nostris, ac aliis, negotia sua apud Westmonasterium prosequentibus, et per aquam * Rymer's Fœdera, tom. iv. p. 40 6. |