Besides the monuments already described, there are several others of much interest in this Church, as well as many inscriptions for persons of talent and notoriety; these, as may well be supposed, are chiefly in commemoration of the Lawyers and professional men who have been connected with the Inner and Middle Temples. The more ancient inscriptions are recorded in Dugdale's "Origines Juridiciales," and many others are inserted in Strype's Stow. One of the last that was placed here, commemorates the late Lord Chancellor Thurlow, who died in 1806, and is represented by a fine Bust in white marble, executed by Rossi. In the north aisle is the recumbent effigy of the learned Plowden, who was treasurer of this Society, in 1572, and died in 1584; this figure has been recently re-painted in the style of former ages.

Against the east wall is an inscription for Anne Littleton, wife of Edward Littleton, of the Inner Temple, Esq. and grand-daughter of Sir Thomas Bromley, Knt. Lord Chancellor; she died in 1623, The following epitaph on this Lady is given by Strype:

Here She lies, whose spotless fame
Invites a stone to learn her name.

The rigid Spartan that deny'd
An Epitaph to all that dy'd
Unless for War or Chastity,
Would here vouchsafe an Elegy.
She dy'd a Wife, but yet her Mind,
Beyond Virginity refin'd,

From lawless fire remain'd as free
As now from heat her ashes be.

Her Husband, yet without a Sin,

Was not a Stranger, but her Kin;

That her chaste Love might seem none other,
Unto a Husband, than a Brother.

Keep well this Pawn thou Marble Chest,

Till it be call'd for let it rest;

For while this Jewel here is set

The Grave is but a Cabinet.

HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE PARTICULARS OF THE INNER AND MIDDLE TEMPLES.

At the time of the suppression of the Order of the Knights Templars, in the reign of Edward the Second, the number of Knights in England, Scotland, and Ireland, amounted to about 250. Their possessions in England were seized by the King, who, in the year 1314, granted the TEMPLE in Fleet Street, and its appurtenances, to Aymer, or Audomar de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, by the description of "the whole place and house called the New Temple, at London, and the ground called Fiquet's Croft, and all the tenements and rents, with the appurtenances, that belonged to the Templars in the city and suburbs of London; and the land called Flete Croft, part of the possessions of the said Temple."-About two years afterwards, the King, having otherwise satisfied the claims of the above Earl, re-granted the premises to his uncle, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, on whose attainder they reverted to the crown. In the 17th of the same reign, all the unappropriated estates of the Knights Templars in England were, in compliance with the injunctions of the second Council, assembled

at Vienna, in 1324, granted by the King and Parliament to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem; whose Order had been instituted for nearly similar purposes to that of the Templars, and was then held in very high repute, in consequence of the extraordinary valour which the Knights had displayed in expelling the Turks from the Isle of Rhodes.

The Knights Hospitallers had been settled in England in the reign of Henry the First, and had a large establishment at Clerkenwell, including the spacious Church of St. John, and its extensive precincts. Shortly after the above grant, the Prior and his brethren were compelled by undue influence, to convey the New Temple and its appurtenances to Hugh le Despencer, the younger, but on his attainder and execution they reverted to the crown. Edward the Third, in his 2nd year, granted the custody and revenues of the Temple possessions to William de Langford, for ten years, at an annual rent of 241. but the next year, "the Church and places sanctified and dedicated to God," were restored to the Knights Hospitallers, "by reason whereof William Langford was abated 121. 4s. Id. of his said rent." After Langford's interest had expired, the King in his 12th year, restored the whole of the Temple property to the "Priors and Friers of the said Hospital of St. John, for 1001. promised by the Prior towards his expedition into France."

Some years afterwards, the Knights Hospitallers granted a lease of the Temple and its appurtenances, for an annual rent of 101. to " a Society of Students of

the Common Lawe," who removed from Thavies Inn, in Holborn. The members, having greatly increased in number, formed themselves, early in the reign of Richard the Second, into two Societies, namely, of the Inner Temple, and of the Middle Temple,-yet still retaining a general interest in the premises. About the same period, anno 1381, according to Stow, the insurgents under Wat Tyler, "destroyed and plucked downe the houses and lodgings of this Temple, tooke out of the Church the bookes and records that were in hutches, of the Apprentices [students] of the law, carried them into the streetes, and burnt them the house they spoiled and burnt, for wrath that they bare Sir Robert Halles, Lord Prior of St. John's," at Clerkenwell.

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After the dissolution of the Order of the Knights Hospitallers, in the 32nd of Henry the Eighth, the Temple reverted to the Crown, but it was still continued to be held on lease by the Law professors till the time of James the First. That sovereign, by his Letters Patent dated at Westminster, in his 6th year, (August the 13th,) granted the whole premises, by the description of "Hospitalia et Capitalia Messuagia cognita per nomen de Inner Temple, sive Novi Templi," &c. to Sir Julius Cæsar, Knt., and the trea surers, benchers, and others of this House, and their Assigns for ever, for the reception, lodging, and education of the Professors and Students of the Laws of this Realm," at a rent of 101. annually, from each the above Societies.

It must be remarked, that the original possessions

of the Knights Templars, on this spot, extended from White Friars to Essex Street, but after their demesne was seized by Edward the Second, about one-third part, called the Outer, or Outward Temple, that is the division extending westward to Essex Street, was granted by the King to Walter Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter, and becoming his Inn, has altogether descended in a different manner from that of the Inner and Middle Temples.

Except the Church (which has been described in the preceding article) not any portion remains of the edifices belonging to the Knights Templars. The present Temple, which, independently of the Halls and Libraries, consists principally of squares, courts, and rows of brick houses and offices, has been almost wholly erected since the reign of Queen Elizabeth; but, until a very recent period, not any alterations nor particular improvements had been made here for upwards of a century past. This will be exemplified by the annexed print, which exhibits a bird's-eye view of the Temple Buildings, as they appeared in the year 1720, when seen from an elevation over the river Thames.

In the Inner Temple, improvements upon an extensive scale are now in progress, under the direction of that eminent architect, Robert Smirke, Esq. whose late renovation of the decayed parts of the Temple Church (as noticed in page 282) is deserving of great praise. The following inscription relating to it, has been recently sculptured on the south side of the round part: