I cannot describe, or even intimate, the
effect of this transparent glory, glowing down upon us in that gloomy
depth of the hall. The screen at the lower end was of carved oak, very
dark and highly polished, and as old as Queen Elizabeth's time. The
keeper told us that the story of the Armada was said to be represented in
these carvings, but in the imperfect light we could trace nothing of it
out. Along the length of the apartment were set two oaken tables for the
students of law to dine upon; and on the dais, at the upper end, there
was a cross-table for the big-wigs of the society; the latter being
provided with comfortable chairs, and the former with oaken benches.
From a notification, posted near the door, I gathered that the cost of
dinners is two shillings to each gentleman, including, as the attendant
told me, ale and wine. I am reluctant to leave this hall without
expressing how grave, how grand, how sombre, and how magnificent I feel
it to be. As regards historical association, it was a favorite
dancing-hall of Queen Elizabeth, and Sir Christopher Hatton danced
himself into her good graces here.
We next went to the Temple Church, and, finding the door ajar, made free
to enter beneath its Norman arches, which admitted us into a circular
vestibule, very ancient and beautiful. In the body of the church beyond
we saw a boy sitting, but nobody either forbade or invited our entrance.
On the floor of the vestibule lay about half a score of Templars,--the
representatives of the warlike priests who built this church and formerly
held these precincts,--all in chain armor, grasping their swords, and
with their shields beside them.
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