CHAPTER II. SITES OF THE INNS OF COURT. THE situation of the Inns of Court was admirably chosen with reference to the objects of those institutions; being fixed in a locality free from the noise and bustle of the town, adapted for healthful retirement and uninterrupted study, at the same time in the "neighbourhood" of the city of London, and at a convenient distance from Westminster Hall. "For this place of study," observes Sir John Fortescue, writing in the reign of Henry VI., " is situate nie to the king's court, where the same laws are pleaded and argued, and judgements on the same given by judges, men of gravity, ancient in years, perfect and graduate in the same laws; wherefore every day in court the students in those laws resort by great numbers into those courts, wherein the same laws are read and taught, as it were in common schools. This place of study is set between the place of the said courts and the city of London, which of all things necessary is the plentifullest of all the cities and towns of the realm. So that the said place of study is not situate within the city, where the confluence of people might disturb the quietness of the students, but somewhat several in the suburbs of the same city, and nigher to the said courts, that the students may dayly at their pleasure have access and recourse thither without weariness." In early times the western boundary of the city of London extended no farther than Ludgate, which was one of the gates or bars of the city; the wall extending, on one side, to a fort near the present Blackfriars Bridge, and on the other side sweeping from Lud Gate to New Gate; from thence to Creple Gate; from Bishop Gate to Ald Gate; the eastern wall running from thence to a fort on the banks of the Thames. A river separated the Inns of Court from the city, flowing from Battle Bridge, past the foot of Holborn Hill, and joining the Thames at Blackfriars. This river was called the Fleet, or Swift River, and gave their names to Fleet Street and the Fleet Prison. It was called 'The River of Wells,' in a charter granted by William the Conqueror to the College of St. Martin-le-Grand. It appears from a record of a parliament held at Carlisle in the 35th Edward I., A. D. 1307, that a complaint was preferred to the king by the Earl of Lacy, complaining of encroachments on this river, and that in times past ten or twelve ships laden with merchandise had been wont to be at the Bridge of Fleet,* and some to come as far as Old Bourne (Holborn) bridge. *One of the editions of Littleton, printed by Machlinia, has the imprint of the city of London, "juxta pontem qui vulgariter dicitur Flete Brigge." The two societies of the Temple were located on the banks of the river Thames : "Those bricky towers The which on Themmes brode aged back doe ride, It would have been impossible to have selected a more delightful or more dignified situation, with that majestic river in its original purity, a free atmosphere, open country, and a line of palaces stretching from the Temple to Whitehall. Gray's Inn enjoyed more elevated ground, and what it wanted in the view of the river, it gained in the extent of its gardens, its proximity to the fields, and its prospect of the hills of Hampstead and Highgate. Lincoln's Inn, with its spacious grounds, was also well situated; the adjacent fields, called the Coneygarth, being well stocked with rabbits and game. Even now the gardens of the Temple are exceedingly beautiful, and are deservedly admired by all strangers; what must they have been in the time of Queen Elizabeth, when but one bridge spanned the Thames, when there were no buildings on the opposite banks of the river, and when Essex House, Somerset House, the Savoye, Durham House, York House, and Whitehall, were the only connecting links between the Temple and Westminster. Shakspeare has laid the scene of the first * Spenser. quarrel of the factions of the red and white roses in the Temple Gardens :— "Plantagenet. Let him that is a true-born gentleman, And stands upon the honour of his birth, If he suppose that I have pleaded truth, From off this briar pluck a white rose with me. "Somerset. Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer, But dare maintain the party of the truth, Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me." "Warwick. This brawl to-day Grown to this faction in the Temple Garden, The possessions of the Inner and Middle Temples extend from White Friars eastward, to Essex Street, west of Temple Bar. They command a general view of every object moving on the Thames. The prospect includes two of the bridges, to the west Lambeth and Westminster Abbey, and to the east the cathedral of St. Paul's. In ancient times, Holborn was a quiet, suburban village, watered by a little rivulet which descended to the river Fleet, with an extensive prospect of the adjacent country. It was called Old Bourne, from which is derived the modern name. It was a favourite residence of the nobility, and was much resorted to by the professors of the law. The community of Knights Templars, before their settlement in the Temple, had originally their house in Holborn; and besides Gray's Inn, there were four lesser inns in this quarter,-Furnival's Inn, Thavie's Inn, Barnard's Inn, and Staple Inn; there was also an inn for serjeants, called Scroope's Inn, at Ely Place. In Strype's map, A. D. 1633, there are no buildings described north of Gray's Inn, all being marked as "pasture land." In Bacon's time, Gray's Inn Gardens commanded a fine prospect of Hampstead and Highgate Hills. In the 40 Eliz., at a pension of the bench, "the summe of 77. 15s. 4d. laid out for planting elm trees" in these gardens, was allowed to Mr. Bacon (afterwards Lord Verulam and Lord Chancellor). On the 14th November, in the following year, there was an order made for a supply of more young elms; and it was ordered "that a new rayle and quickset hedges" should be set upon the upper long walk, at the discretion of Mr. Bacon and Mr. Wilbraham; the cost of which, as appeared by Bacon's account, allowed 20th April, 42 Eliz., was 607. 6s. 8d. Mr. Bacon, erected a summer-house on a small mount on the terrace, in which, if we may be allowed to conjecture, it is probable he frequently mused upon the subjects of those great works which have rendered his name immortal. How much he loved gardens, he tells us in his essays, which are dated from his "chamber in Graies Inn." "God Almighty first planted a garden, and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures; it is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man, without which, buildings and palaces are but gross handy works." He gives directions how to have "ver perpetuum" in gardens, and with the ardour of a true |