THE MIRROR
OF
LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
| Vol. 14. No. 405.] | SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1829 | [PRICE 2d. |
NEW BUILDINGS, INNER TEMPLE.
"The Temple," as our readers may be aware, is an immense rangeof buildings, stretching from Fleet-street to the River Thames,north and south; and from Lombard-street, Whitefriars, toEssex-street, in the Strand, east and west. It takes its name fromhaving been the principal establishment, in England, of the KnightsTemplars; and here, in the thirteenth century they entertained KingHenry III., the Pope's Nuncio, foreign ambassadors, and other greatpersonages. The king's treasure was accustomed to be kept in thepart now called the Middle Temple; and from the chiefofficer, who, as master of the Temple, was summoned to Parliamentin the 47th of Henry III., the chief minister of the Temple Churchis still called Master of the Temple. After the suppressionof this once celebrated order,1 theprofessors of the common law purchased the buildings, and they werethen first converted into Inns of Court, called the Innerand Middle Temple, from their former relation to EssexHouse, which as a part of the buildings, and from its situationoutside the division of the city from the suburbs formed by TempleBar, was called the Outer Temple.
The principal part, or what we might almost call the nucleus ofthe Inner Temple, is the Hall and Chapel, which were substantiallyrepaired in the year 1819. Thence a range of unsightly brickbuildings extended along a broad paved terrace, to the south,descending to the Garden, or bank of the Thames. These buildingshave lately been removed, and the above splendid range erected ontheir site, from the designs of Robert Smirke, Esq., R.A. They arein the Tudor, or to speak familiarly, the good Old English schoolof architecture, and combine all the picturesque beauty of ancientstyle with the comfort and elegance of modern art in the adaptationof the interior. Our succinct sketch of the origin of the Templewill sufficiently illustrate the appropriateness of Mr. Smirke'schoice. Over the principal windows, on escutcheons, are thePegasus, the Temple arms, and the respective [pg 418] armsof Henry III. and George IV. At the end immediately adjoining theChapel, is a Latin inscription with the date of the repairs, 1819,and at the eastern extremity of the present building is anotherinscription with the date of 1828, in which the last improvementswere commenced. Viewed from the Terrace, the whole range has ahandsome and substantial appearance, sufficiently decorated, yetnot overloaded with ornament. From another point, Whitefriars Gate,the end of the building, with its fine oriel window, is seen toconsiderable advantage. Against the old brick house on this spotwas a sun-dial, with the quaint conceit, "Begone about yourbusiness." The cast-iron railing of the area appears to usextremely elegant and appropriate.
The interior is not yet completed, but, by the courtesy of thearchitect we have obta