the cinquefoil arches. Each side is pierced into beautiful little windows, and the whole terminates in a dome of quatrefoils, surmounted by a pinnacle. This was repeated on the west side. The pitiful brass plate of William Chaworth, 1582, and the kneeling effigies of Lady Dalhousy, 1663, have contributed to the ruin of the east niche; but the huge monumental sarcophagus and effigies, (with an inscription illegible,) have utterly demolished the western. Four staples, for lamp hooks, still remain above the canopies. The present plain mahogany table is inclosed by rails of the same materials; and an oval above is inscribed with the sixth verse of the XXVIth Psalm, and the 23rd and 24th verses of the Vth chapter of St. Matthew. The roof is singular and elegant, and slightly coved over the windows. This part is covered by a number of arched panels. The space between them, the whole length of the chapel, is divided into several hundreds of quatrefoils, whose leaves are circular, and inclose crowns of thorns. Those contain carved emblems, on shields, endless in variety. Many are immediately understood as figurative of the Passion, and other parts of Scripture; but others are not so readily comprehended by Protestants. To particularize them would require pages. Four quatrefoils joined make an irregular figure. Those throughout the roof are formed into lesser quatrefoils, with pointed leaves, terminating in foliage. A gallery at the south end contains a very small organ; and the pulpit is against the west wall. On the above wall, near the north end, is an altar-tomb fronted with three quatrefoils, and an ornamented niche; on the back of which have been effigies, engraved on brass. There is no inscription. Between it and the north-wall a small tablet to Anne Killigrew, 1685; and still higher a kneeling effigy of a lady. But the inscription is too diminutive to read. Another, perfectly plain, to Elizabeth Jenyns, 1684. A very neat tablet to Sir Richard Blake, Knt. 1683. And two others, plain, to Robert Brown, 1709, and John Hewett, 1705. At the south end of this wall are the remains of a niche and broken canopy. On the east wall are the tablets af of Stephen Payce, &c.; and Sir John Jacob; Robert Burch, 1789; and Captain Thomas Browne. A kneeling female, with a scull, without any inscription; and a large monument of the time of Queen Elizabeth, enriched with pillars, a niche, and other ornaments. The effigies of a lady is extended on the pedestal or base of the tomb.* In order to make the communication between the Strand and the New Bridge, all the remains of the ancient buildings in the Savoy will be entirely removed. The Gothic arches of the windows which belonged to the palace of the Duke of Somerset, and part of the wall with buttresses, are now to be seen on the spot which will become the line of ascent to the Bridge. St. Clement's Inn is entered by a handsome archway, supported by lofty Tuscan columns, leading out of Picket Street. This is an inn of Chancery. Here the students of the law had their inns or lodging about the year 1478; it is said to have descended to the Earls of Clare from Sir William Holles, lord mayor of London anno 1539, to whom it passed about the year 1528 from William and John Elyot, having before been demised to them by Sir John Cantlowe, in the year 1486, in consideration of forty marks fine, and yearly rent of 41. 6s. 8d. for eighty years, for students at law. The hall and many handsome chambers form three courts, through which is a passage to Clare Market and New Inn, in the day time, when the gates are open. The hall is a well-proportioned and elegant room, containing a good portrait of Sir Matthew Hale, and five other pictures of small importance. The figure of a naked Moor, in a most cruel and unnatural position, in the garden, supporting a sun-dial, constantly attracts public attention. It possesses considerable merit, and was purchased by Holles, Lord Clare, who presented it to this society.t ،، It There are some curious papers relating to this Hospital in the History of Hinckley, 1790,” pp. 237–239. apud Mal. Lond. The following lines, said to have been found stuck upon the figure of the Moor, the production of some wag, have too much merit to be omitted: It has been conjectured," that near this spot stood an inn, as far back as the time of King Etheldred, for the reception of penitents who came to St. Clement's Well; that a religious house was in process of time established, and that the church rose in consequence. Be this as it may, the holy brotherhood was probably removed to some other situation; the Holy Lamb, an inn on the west side of the lane, received the guests; and the monastery was converted, or rather perverted, from the purposes of the gospel to those of the law, and was probably, in this profession, considered as a house of very considerable antiquity in the days of Shakespeare; for he, who with respect to this kind of chronology, may be safely quoted, makes, in the second part of Henry IV. one of his justices a member of that society: "He must to the inns of Court. I was of Clement's once myself, where they talk of Mad Shallow still."* St. Clement's Inn is governed by a principal and fourteen ancients. The gentlemen are to be a fortnight in commons every term, and longer in Michaelmas term, and to pay a weekly rent, though absent. A pump now covers ST. CLEMENTS' WELL. Fitzstephen, in his description of London, in the reign of Henry II. informs us, "that round the city again, and to'wards the north, arise certain excellent springs at a small distance, whose waters are sweet, salubrious, and clear, and whose runnels murmur o'er the shining stones: among these, Holywell, Clerken PART III. CONTIN. M "In vain, poor sable son of woe, Thou seeks the tender tear; For thee in vain with pangs they flow, For Mercy dwells not here. Lawyers less quarter give; The first wont cat you till you're slain, The last will do't alive." well, Elegant Extracts, in Verse, p. 819. Moser's Vestiges in Europ. Mag. well, and St. Clement's Well, may be esteemed the principal, as being much the most frequented, both by the scholars from the School, (Westminster,) and the youth from the City, when in a summers' evening they are disposed to take an airing." This well was also much resorted to on account of its being supposed of peculiar efficacy in the cure of cutaneous and other disorders, and was consequently a place of importance to devotees. The estimation of its efficacy and sanctity have long ceased. The improvements which have been recently made in the vicinity of St. Clement's, makes the neighbourhood highly respectable; and the houses remarkably large and handsome. A stranger who had visited London in 1790, would, on his return in 1815, be astonished to find a spacious area (with the church nearly in the centre) on the site of Butcher Row, and some other passages undeserving of the name of streets, which were composed of those. of those wretched fabricks, overhanging their foundations, the receptacles of dirt in every corner of their projecting stories, the bane of ancient London, where the plague, with all its attendant horrors, frowned destruction on the miserable inhabitants, reserving its forces for the attacks of each returning summer. that now passes St. Clements' area, and is not grateful to the men who planned, and the parliament who permitted the removal of such streets and habitations, deserves to reside in a lazaretto. He The church is surrounded by an oval railing. The north side forms a semi-circle, and at the entrance of Clement's Inn, the Corporation of London have erected a gate-way of stupendous architecture, to which are added the new almshouses, and vestryroom of the parish; all rebuilt at the expence of the city. The south side of the Strand is also rebuilt with very lofty dwellings, capacious shops of various descriptions; and, St. Clement's, notwithstanding the unlucky twist of the site, has a situation superior to any other church in London. St. Clement's parish (says Mr. Malcolm) certainly contained the residences of many of our most ancient noble families, uay, tradition |