CHAPTER VI

ABOUT THE INNS OF COURT AND CHANCERY

"This same starved justice hath done nothing but prate to me of the wildness of his youth.-I do remember him at Clements' Inn like a man made after supper of a cheese paring."

SHAKESPEARE, King Henry IV. Part II.

THE division of our book into chapters is one mainly of convenience, for the various subjects referred to are sometimes so intimately connected that it is difficult to classify them. Thus incidentally we are now about to describe two old buildings both in or by Fleet Street, and both long used as taverns, but also very much connected with the great legal Societies of the Temple.

Most of those who care for the architectural relics of old London are familiar with No. 17 Fleet Street, extending over the Inner Temple Gate, which, through the energetic action of the London County Council, aided by the City authorities, has been secured, in part at least, from de

struction. With the exception of Crosby Hall (unless we include part of the Charterhouse buildings) it is perhaps the oldest house in the City and, from its artistic features alone, well worthy of preservation. Besides it has an interesting history, and one not easy to unravel. I shall therefore venture to repeat to some extent what was said by me on the subject in articles contributed to vols. i. and ii. of the Home Counties Magazine.

First as to the actual structure. The house, until a few years ago, occupied a considerable space along the east side of Inner Temple Lane, but the back portion with one staircase had already been pulled down before it was suggested that there should be an attempt to save the far more interesting part that remains. The massive rusticated arch, facing the end of Chancery Lane, with the Pegasus of the Inner Temple on the spandrels, is thoroughly Jacobean in character, as are the carved wooden panels between the first and second floor windows, two of which are ornamented with plumes of feathers; but all the rest of the front, as it now appears, is of comparatively recent date. Inside, fortunately, there are fragments which prove to us what was the appearance of the original building. The front of the first story,

overhanging the ground floor and archway to some extent, but not so much as at present, had carved pilasters at the sides, and two bay windows with transoms, which were divided in the middle by a similar pilaster. The second story projected 9 inches beyond the first, the bay windows being carried up. Here again a fragment of a carved pilaster has been found, and remains of the other two are probably in existence behind the modern house front. There is a view of the building with the windows unaltered, which appears on a map or plan engraved by George Vertue in 1723, and on another issued by Bowles late in the eighteenth century.

When the house was remodelled, now long ago, the old front was completely covered and concealed by a new one, brought slightly forward and projecting equally before the rooms of the first and second floors, the bays being removed. The present flat windows were inserted, and the original panels rearranged. On the first floor there is a space of about 1 foot 9 inches between the old front and the present one The top story or attic, structurally but little changed, consists of two gables with their tiled roofs slightly hipped. This hipping back, however, is a modern alteration, as is proved by an engraving of Prattent's in the

European Magazine for 1786, where the bay windows have already disappeared, but the points of the gables are not hipped. The gables stand back about 7 feet from the frontage of the second floor; thus there is a platform, which in Prattent's view is shown protected by a railing with turned balusters, and must have formed a pleasant adjunct to the house; but all this is now concealed by a screen of a more or less temporary nature, covered in so as to form a small front room. old gabled houses near St. Dunstan's Church, numbered 184 and 185 Fleet Street, had platforms of a similar kind. The platform or gallery of the wooden house in Bishopsgate Street Without was mentioned in our second chapter.

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Passing through the shop, from which all trace age has been eliminated, one mounts by a staircase with large turned balusters to the first floor, where is a room facing the street and occupying the whole width of the house. It is nearly square, being about 23 feet in length from east to west, about 20 feet in breadth and 10 feet 6 inches high. This room contains two features of very great interest. The west end has fine oak panelling, while its frieze or cornice, and two carved pilasters of the same material, are good

examples of early seventeenth-century design, but the glory of the room is the plaster ceiling elaborately decorated. Ornament of the kind so well exemplified in this ceiling did not come into fashion in England until the time of Henry VIII., being first produced by Italians at his palace of Nonsuch, the external plaster work of which is mentioned by John Evelyn in his diary, and is also shown in a view by Hoefnagel. The first Englishman, I believe, who is known to have practised this art was Charles Williams, who in 1547 offered his services at Longleat to supply internal plaster decorations "after the Italian fashion," he may have been employed at Nonsuch. Our English plasterers soon learned to excel; they travelled about the country, and most houses of importance built during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. were partly adorned with their work. Some of the late Gothic roofs of Henry VII.'s reign, with their radiating ribs and pendants, at first no doubt helped to give suggestions. In the ceilings, however, geometric patterns of projecting ribs as a rule formed the basis of the designs, which soon became highly varied, emblems, armorial bearings, and personal devices being used to fill up vacant spaces. At first the ribs were plainly