drink, and bread unto such as by reason of age or sickness were not able to fetch alms at his gate-and to send money, meat, apparel, &c., to such as he thought wanted the same and were ashamed to beg. But of all other he was wont to take the greatest compassion upon those that by any misfortune were decayed, and had fallen from wealth to poor estate."* In Archbishop Parker's regulations for the officers of his household we meet with a pleasant, because kind and thoughtful, provision for the comfort of those depending in a great measure upon his bounty. He gave particular orders, not only that there should be no purloining of meat from the tables, "but that it be put into the alms-tub, and the tub to be kept sweet and clean before it be used from time to time." Custom has also established another small claim upon the bounty of the occupier of the palace. When Archbishop Tenison possessed the see, a very near relation of his, who happened to be master of the Stationers' Company, thought it a compliment to call at the palace in his stately barge, during the annual aquatic procession of the Lord Mayor from London to Westminster; and the Archbishop, in return, sent out a pint of wine for each liveryman, with new bread, old cheese, and plenty of strong ale, for the watermen and attendants. Next year the Stationers' barge was found again stopping at Lambeth Stairs, and with a similar result; and from that time the thing has become a settled custom. The Company, in return for this hospitality, present to the Archbishop a copy of the several almanacs they publish.

Passing through the gateway, we find ourselves in the outer court, with a fine old wall covered with ivy on our left, dividing the palace demesnes from the Thames and the favourite promenade we have mentioned, known as the "Bishop's Walk;" the Water Tower (attached to which, and beyond, is the Lollard's Tower) in front; and the great hall and the Manuscript-room on the right extending down to the gateway. Walking through a narrow pass around the base of the towers, we perceive, by the difference of the style, and the state in which they remain, that one is older than the other. The Water Tower is of brick, the Lollard's of stone; the workmanship of the windows of the latter, too, appears in a great measure eaten away by time, although some portions of the ornaments of the beautiful niche that we perceive high up on its walls still seem sharp and exquisite as ever: but the statue of Thomas à Becket which formerly adorned it is utterly gone. The exterior of the great hall presents to us the characteristics of a not very noble style-the style of the days of Charles II. The buttresses, large enough in their real dimensions, are frittered away in effect by the fantastic appearance of their white stone facing; and the roof does not derive any powerful attractions from the round balls which surmount the frieze,-a poor substitute for the fretted pinnacles of a more artistical period. The windows, however, are numerous and very fine; they are in all probability the restorations of an earlier structure of this subject more presently. From the centre of the roof rises a lantern, evidently also of Charles's time. The Manuscript-room has been built of late years, and rendered fire-proof for the better security of its valuable contents; among which may be mentioned the manuscript of 'The Notable Wise Dictes and Sayings of Philosophers,' translated from the French by Anthony Woodville, Earl of Rivers, in the reign of Edward IV. It is written in a fair, regular

* Godwin's De Præsulibus Angliæ Commentarius.'

hand, and has prefixed a fine illumination of the Earl presenting Caxton the printer to the King, in the presence of the Queen, the Duke of York, and a brilliant court. The Dictes and Sayings' was published by Caxton, with a preface in which he mentions a curious liberty he had taken with it, and which is interesting from the covert humour of the great printer. “I find," he writes, "that my said Lord hath left out certain and divers conclusions touching women; whereof I marvelled that my said Lord hath not writ on them, nor what hath moved him so to do, nor what cause he had at that time. But I suppose that some fair lady hath desired him to leave it out of his book; or else he was amorous on some noble lady, for whose love he would not set it in his book; or else, for the very affection, love, and good-will that he hath unto all ladies and gentlewomen, he thought that Socrates spared the sooth, and wrote of women more than truth; which I cannot think that so true a man and so noble a philosopher as Socrates was, should. *** But I perceive that my said Lord knoweth verily that such defaults be not had nor found in the women born and dwelling in these parts nor regions of the world. *** I wot well, of whatsoever condition women be in Greece, the women of this country be right good, wise, pleasant, humble, discreet, sober, chaste, obedient to their husbands, true, secret, steadfast, ever busy and never idle, temperate in speaking, and virtuous in all their works; —or at least should be so." Accordingly, Caxton gathers up all the missing fragments, and publishes them together at the end of the book,—a process not likely to decrease their effect. Among the other treasures of this room are a finelyblazoned missal which belonged to Archbishop Chicheley, an illuminated Chronicle of St. Albans,' and a most splendid MS. on the Apocalypse of St. John,' with seventy-eight illuminations, rich beyond description in gold and brilliant colours. A curiosity of another kind is also preserved here, the shell of a tortoise, which was placed in the gardens of the palace by Laud in 1633, and lived there till 1753, when it was killed by the negligence of the gardener. Beneath the Manuscript-room is a gateway leading from the outer to the inner court, where we find, on the left, ranges of buildings extending round two sides of the square, and a lofty wall enclosing the remainder, over which, in front, appear the stables, and in the corner on the right the tower of the church. Following with our eye the course of the buildings we have mentioned, we perceive, first, the back or less ornamented side of the great hall, with a low but elegant modern porch leading into it, on the west, or the side parallel with the Thames; then the Guard-room beyond, with its curious but beautiful gable window; and lastly, the very splendid new buildings erected by Mr. Blore within the last few years, including the principal palace front, on the south. On a little green in the centre of the court is a kind of ornamental cross, supporting lamps; and here and there round the area the walls are overhung by lofty trees.

We may add to this general view of the appearance of the principal court or quadrangle, that between the buttresses on this side of the great hall are growing some small shoots of the fig-tree; these are all the remains of the trees planted by Cardinal Pole in the gardens of the palace, and one of which, when cut down about nine years ago, overspread the whole of the east end of the buildings then standing where the new buildings stand now. The trees were of the white Marseilles sort, and bore the most delicious fruit. It would be difficult to praise

too highly the pure taste which reigns throughout these erections by Mr. Blore. To have built them in entire accordance with the remains of the old pile would have been impossible, for the very sufficient reason, that those remains, being erected at very different times, present very different styles. Yet an air of fine harmony pervades the entire palace, the best proof of the skill that has presided over the recent erections: The front, before which we are now standing, is irregular, embattled, with turret towers in the centre, mullioned windows on the left, and a fine oriel window on the right. The entrance-hall is a model of exquisite beauty. It is of great height and noble proportions. At the top of the staircase, with its elaborately worked open balustrade, which ascends directly from the door, in the centre, a screen of three arches admits into the corridor running away to the right and the left. Above the screen is a gallery, its floor formed by the roof of the corridor,-overlooking the whole. The exquisitely panelled walls on the ground round the staircase must not be overlooked. On the right the corridor leads to the principal private apartments of the new buildings; on the left, to the more ancient remains of the old. We shall, however, find it convenient to visit the latter by a different route. We recross the square therefore to the great hall.

It is very probable that the foundation-walls of this magnificent room were built by Boniface, for since his time we find no notice of its erection as an entirely new structure. It was repaired or refounded by Chicheley, and in the years 15701571 the roof was covered with shingles by Archbishop Parker. During the Commonwealth Lambeth was granted to Scot and Hardyng, two of the judges who sat on Charles's trial, and who, it is said, pulled down the noble hall, and sold the materials. On the Restoration Archbishop Juxon rebuilt it, as nearly as possible on the ancient model, and we have no doubt partly on the original walls.

It cost him in all 10,500/., and was not finished at his death; but so anxious was he in the matter, that he left the following direction in his will:—" If I happen to die before the hall at Lambeth be finished, my executors to be at the charge of finishing it according to the model made of it, if my successor shall give leaye." On entering the hall, the first object that catches the eye is the lofty and beautiful painted window immediately opposite, full of interesting memorials collected from different parts of the old palace buildings that have been destroyed; in particular, a portrait of Chicheley, who, as we have said, repaired the hall, and crected a part of the palace which does less honour to his name the Lollard's Tower. Juxon's arms here form a conspicuous object; and those of Philip of Spain, the husband of Mary, as a Knight of the Garter, are very brilliant and splendid: they are supposed to have been painted by order of Cardinal Pole, as a compliment to his royal mistress. From the window the eye roams along the great space comprised within those lofty walls, and then upwards to the roof, which is a most extraordinarily elaborate work, in some respects like the roof of the great hall of Eltham Palace; only that, in the latter, the series of broad semicircular arches, which more particularly characterize the pendant timber frame-work of Lambeth, are wanting.. The lantern skylight is also peculiar to the latter. Oak, chestnut, and other woods, constitute the materials of the roof, which is covered with beautiful carvings, the effect of which, however, is lost from the great height. The dimensions of the hall are, in length, about ninety-three feet, breadth thirtyeight feet, and height above fifty. We need not, however, wonder at the size of this or similar halls, when we consider the magnificence of the feasts given in them, -the unbounded hospitality which rendered such vast places necessary. Let us look, for instance, at the list of the officers of Cranmer's household. It comprised a steward, treasurer, comptroller, gamators, clerk of the kitchen, caterer, clerk of the spicery, yeoman of the ewry, bakers, pantlers, yeomen of the horse, yeomen ushers, butlers of wine and ale, larderers, squilleries, ushers of the hall, porter, ushers of the chamber, daily waiters in the great chamber, gentlemen ushers, yeomen of the chamber, carver, sewer, cup-bearer, groom of the chamber, marshal, groomushers, almoner, cooks, chandler, butchers, master of the horse, yeoman of the wardrobe, and harbingers. The state observed of course corresponded with such a retinue. There were generally three tables spread in the hall, and served at the same time, at the first of which sat the Archbishop, surrounded by peers of the realm, privy councillors, and gentlemen of the greatest quality; at the second, called the Almoner's table, sat the chaplains and all the other clerical guests below the rank of diocesan bishops and abbots; and at the third, or Steward's table, sat all the other gentlemen invited. The suffragan bishops by this arrangement sat at the second, or Almoner's table; and it was noted as an especial aggravation of the ingratitude of Richard Thornden to Cranmer in conspiring against him, that the Archbishop had invited Thornden, his suffragan, to his own table. Shortly after the thorough establishment of the Church of England these suffragan, or rather assistant, bishops, were discontinued. Cardinal Pole had a patent from Philip and Mary to retain one hundred servants, so that we may judge that, in his hands, the magnificence and hospitality of Lambeth Palace had not degenerated. With an interesting passage descriptive of the order observed in dining here in Archbishop Parker's time, in the reign of Elizabeth,

we dismiss this part of our subject. "In the daily eating this was the custom : the steward, with the servants that were gentlemen of the better rank, sat down at the tables in the hall on the right hand; and the almoner, with the clergy and the other servants, sat on the other side, where there was plenty of all sorts of provision, both for eating and drinking. The daily fragments thereof did suffice to fill the bellies of a great number of poor hungry people that waited at the gate; and so constant and unfailing was this provision at my Lord's table, that whosoever came in either at dinner or supper, being not above the degree of a knight, might here be entertained worthy of his quality, either at the steward's or almoner's table. And moreover, it was the Archbishop's command to his servants, that all strangers should be received and treated with all manner of civility and respect, and that places at the table should be assigned them according to their dignity and quality, which redounded much to the praise and commendation of the Archbishop. The discourse and conversation at meals was void of all brawls and loud talking, and for the most part consisted in framing men's manners to religion, or to some other honest and beseeming subject. There was a monitor of the hall; and if it happened that any spoke too loud, or concerning things less decent, it was presently hushed by one that cried Silence. The Archbishop loved hospitality, and no man showed it so much, or with better order, though he himself was very abstemious."

The hall now affords food and hospitality of another kind: it is used as the library of the palace. Along the walls on each side are projecting bookcases, containing some thirty or thirty-five thousand volumes, valuable chiefly for their works on controversial divinity, though not deficient of those belonging to general literature. Persons properly introduced are allowed to borrow from these extensive stores—a circumstance too honourable to the liberality of their owner to be overlooked. The history of this library is somewhat curious. It was formed by Archbishop Bancroft, who, dying in 1610, left “unto his successors the Archbishops of Canterbury for ever a great and famous library of books of divinity, and of many other sorts of learning." Security was to be given for its preservation to the see, by his successors, in failure of which the whole was to be given to Chelsea College, if erected within the next six years after his death (which it was not), and otherwise to the University of Cambridge. On the execution of Laud, in 1644, Selden, fearing for the preservation of the books in such troubled times (already they were in process of dispersion, having been first granted for the use of Dr. Wincocke, then given to Sion College, and many lent to private individuals), wisely suggested to the University to claim them, which it did with success in 1649. On the Restoration, Juxon demanded their return; but it was not until the time of his successor, Sheldon, who repeated the demand, that it was acceded to. An ordinance of parliament had then also to be obtained, to enforce the restoration of the books in private hands; among others, in the hands of John Thurloe and Hugh Peters. Bancroft's original gift was increased by donations, bequests, or purchases of the books of Abbot, Laud, Sheldon, Tenison, Secker, and Cornwallis, which are respectively known by their arms on the covers.

Between the little porch and the great hall is a kind of vestibule, with a staircase leading to the gallery and Guard-room. The gallery is modern, elegant,