went first up the scaffold, and protested that he died a true Catholick: with a very pale face and dead colour, he went up the ladder, and after a swing or two with the halter, to the quartering block was drawn, and there quickly despatched.

'Next came Rookewood, who protested to die in his idolatry a Romish Catholick, went up the ladder, hanging till he was almost dead, then was drawn to the block, where he gave up his last gasp.

'Then came Keyes, who was so sturdy a villain that he would not wait the hangman's turn, but turned himself off with such a leap that he broke the halter with the swing; but after his fall he was drawn to the block, and there his bowels withdrawn, and he was divided into four parts.

'Last of all came the great devil of all, Guy Faukes, alias Johnson, who should have put fire to the powder. His body being weak with the torture and sickness, he was scarce able to go up the ladder, yet with much ado, by the help of the hangman, went high enough to break his neck by the fall. He made no speech, but with his crosses and idle ceremonies made his end upon the gallows and the block, to the great joy of all beholders that the land was ended of so wicked a villainy.'-The Weekeley Newes, Munday, 31st Jan. 1606.

'The men who contrived, the men who prepared, the men who sanctioned, this scheme of assassination were, one and all, of Protestant birth. Father Persons was Protestant born. Father Owen and Father Garnet were Protestants born. From what is known of Winter's early life, it may be assumed that he was a Protestant. Catesby and Wright had been Protestant boys. Guy Faukes had been a Protestant, Percy had been a Protestant. The minor persons were like their chiefs--apostates from their early faith, with the moody weakness which is an apostate's inspiration and his curse. Tresham was a convertMonteagle was a convert-Digby was a convert. Thomas Morgan, Robert Kay, and Kit Wright, were all converts. The five gentlemen who dug the mine in Palace-yard were all of English blood and of Protestant birth. But they were converts and fanatics, observing no law save that of their own passions; men of whom it should be said, in justice to all religions, that they no more disgraced the Church which they entered than that which they had left.'-Hepworth Dixon.

Here, October 29, 1618, being Lord Mayor's Day, Sir Walter Raleigh was led to execution at eight o'clock in the morning, and said, as he playfully touched the axe, 'This is a sharp medicine, but it will cure all diseases.'

'His death was managed by him with so high and religious a resolution, as if a Roman had acted a Christian, or rather a Christian a Roman.'-Osborne.

Sir Walter's head was preserved by Lady Raleigh in a glass case during the twenty-nine years through which she survived him, and afterwards by her son Carew: with him it is believed to be buried at Horsley in Surrey.

In front of the Palace stands the equestrian statue of Richard Cour de Lion by Marochetti-a poor work, the action of the figure being quite inconsistent with that of the horse.

The Church of St. Margaret, Westminster, is the especial church of the House of Commons, and, except the Abbey and St. Paul's, has the oldest foundation in London, having been founded by the Confessor, and dedicated to Margaret, the martyr of Antioch, partly to divert to another building the crowds who inundated the Abbey church, and partly for the benefit of the multitude of refugees in Sanctuary.

The church was rebuilt in the time of Edward I., again was reedified in the time of Edward IV. by Sir Thomas Billing and his wife Lady Mary, and, after many minor alterations, was completely

remodelled internally, 1877-78, with the usual vulgarities of glazed tiles, &c., and with ludicrous disregard to the historic interest of its monuments, the greater portion of which are let into the wall close to the roof, where of course their inscriptions cannot be read. The pleasing but incongruous porch was added in 1891. In this church the Fast Day Sermons were preached in the reign of Charles I.; and here both Houses of Parliament, with the Assembly of Divines and the Scots Commissioners, met Sept. 25, 1643, and were prepared by prayer for taking the Covenant.

'Then Mr. Nye in the pulpit read the Covenant, and all present held up their hands in testimony of their assent to it; and afterwards in the several Houses subscribed their names in a parchment roll, where the Covenant was written: the Divines of the Assembly, and the Scots Commissioners likewise subscribed the Covenant, and then Dr. Gouge in the pulpit prayed for a blessing upon it.’— Whitelocke.

Here Hugh Peters, 'the pulpit buffoon,' denounced Charles as 'the great Barabbas at Windsor,' and urged Parliament to bring the King to condign, speedy, and capital punishment.' 'My lords,' he said, 'and you, noble gentlemen of the House of Commons, you are the Sanhedrim, and the great Council of the nation, therefore you must be sure to do justice. Do not prefer the great Barabbas, Murderer, Tyrant, and Traitor, before these poor hearts (pointing to the redcoats), and the army, who are our Saviours.'1

Amongst the Puritans who preached here were 'Calamy, Vines, Nye, Manton, Marshall, Gauden, Owen, Burgess, Newcomen, Reynolds, Cheynell, Baxter, Case (who censured Cromwell to his face, and when discoursing before General Monk, cried out, " There are some who will betray three kingdoms for filthy lucre's sake," and threw his handkerchief into the General's pew); the critical Lightfoot; Taylor, "the illuminated Doctor;" and Goodwyn, "the windmill with a weathercock upon the top.'

In later times the rival divines Burnet and Sprat preached here before Parliament in the same morning.

'Burnet and Sprat were old rivals. There prevailed in those days an indecent custom when the preacher touched any favourite topic in a manner that delighted his audiences, their approbation was expressed by a loud hum, continued in proportion to their zeal or pleasure. When Burnet preached, part of his congregation hummed so loudly and so long, that he sat down to enjoy it, and rubbed his face with his handkerchief. When Sprat preached, he likewise was honoured with a like animating hum, but he stretched out his hand to the congregation, and cried, "Peace, peace, I pray you, peace!"'— Dr. Johnson.

Sir John Jekyl told Speaker Onslow, in proof of Burnet's popularity, that one day when he was present the Bishop preached out his hourglass before exhausting his subject. 'He took it up, and held it aloft in his hand, and then turned it up for another hour; upon which the audience set up almost a shout of joy!'

1 Evidence of Beaver in the trial of Hugh Peters.
2 Walcott's Westminster.

It was in St. Margaret's that Dr. Sacheverell preached his first sermon after his suspension, on Palm Sunday, 1713.

The most important feature of the church is the east window, justly cited by Winston, the great authority on stained glass, as the most beautiful work as regards harmonious arrangement of colouring with which he is acquainted. It is said to have been ordered by Ferdinand and Isabella to be executed at Gouda in Holland,1 and was intended as a gift to the new chapel which Henry VII. was going to build, upon the marriage of their daughter Katherine with his eldest son Arthur. But the execution of the window occupied five years, and before it was finished Prince Arthur was dead (in 1502). The chapel, only begun in 1502, was not ready to receive it, and, as the window contained a representation of Prince Arthur, Henry VIII. gave it away to Waltham Abbey. Thence, on the Dissolution, the last abbot sent it for safety to his private chapel at New Hall, an estate which was afterwards purchased by Sir Thomas Boleyn, father of Queen Anne. The window remained at New Hall till the place became the property of General Monk, who took down the window and buried it, to preserve it from the Puritans, but replaced it in his chapel at the Restoration. After his death the chapel was pulled down, but the window was preserved, and was eventually purchased by Mr. Conyers, of Copt Hall in Essex, by whose son it was sold in 1758 to the churchwardens of St. Margaret's for £400.2 Even then the window was not suffered to rest in peace, as the Dean and Chapter of Westminster looked upon it as a superstitious image and picture,' and brought a lawsuit for its removal, which, after having been fought for seven years, happily failed in the end.3

The window represents-on a deep blue background-the Crucifixion. As in many old Italian pictures, angels are catching the blood which flows from the Saviour's wounds; the soul of the penitent thief is received by an angel, while the soul of the bad thief is carried off by a demon. At the foot of the cross kneels on one side Arthur, Prince of Wales, and his patron St. George, and the red and white roses of his parents over his head; on the other, Katherine of Arragon, with St. Catherine of Alexandria above her, and the pomegranate of Granada.

Over the altar is the Supper at Emmaus, executed in lime-wood, in 1735, by Alken of Soho, from the Titian in the Louvre. South of the altar is the tomb of Dame Mary Billing (1499) and her husband, Sir Thomas, Lord Chief Justice of England, by whom the church was 'reedified' in the reign of Edward IV. Near the north-western entrance was, till 1878, a beautiful carved sixteenth-century seat, where a loaf of bread and sixpence were given every Sunday to sixteen poor widows, in accordance with the will of Mrs. Joyce Goddard, 1621.

1 Although Gouda only attained its fame in consequence of the work of the Crabettes, executed after the middle of the sixteenth century.

2 Walcott's Westminster.

3 In memory of this triumph the then churchwarden presented to the parish the beautiful 'Loving Cup of St. Margaret.'

II

This noble specimen of old woodwork, nearly the finest in London, and one of the most remarkable pieces of church furniture in England, was wantonly broken up and used to eke out some indifferent work at the re-modelling of the church, in spite of the local interest attached to it! At this angle of the church is the mural monument of Mrs. Elizabeth Corbett (who died of cancer), with Pope's famous epitaph

'Here rests a woman, good without pretence,
Blest with plain reason, and with sober sense :
No conquest she but o'er herself desired,
No arts essayed, but not to be admired:
Passion and pride were to her soul unknown;
Convinced that virtue only is our own:

So unaffected, so composed a mind,

So firm yet soft, so strong yet so refined,
Heaven, as its purest gold, by tortures tried ;-
The saint sustain'd it, but the woman died.'

'I have always considered this as the most valuable of all Pope's epitaphs; the subject of it is a character not discriminated by any shining or eminent peculiarities; yet that which really makes, though not the splendour, the felicity of life, and that which every wise man will choose for his friend and lasting companion in the languor of age, in the quiet of privacy, when he departs weary and disgusted from the ostentatious, the volatile, and the vain. Of such a character, which the dull overlook, and the gay despise, it was fit that the value should be made known, and the dignity established. Domestic virtue, as it is exerted without great occasions or conspicuous consequences, in an even tenor, required the genius of Pope to display it in such a manner as might attract regard and enforce reverence. Who can forbear to lament that this amiable woman has no name in the verse?'-Dr. Johnson.

Also at the west end of the church are the monuments of James Palmer, 1566, and Emery Hill, 1677, founders of the Almshouses which are called by their names. In the north aisle is the curious but much-injured Flemish monument and bust of Cornelius Van Dun of Breda, 1577, builder of the almshouses in Petty France-'souldier with King Henry at Turney, Yeoman of the Guard, and Usher to King Henry, King Edward, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth: a careful man for poore folk, who in the end of this toune did build for poore widowes twenty houses, of his owne cost.' Another monument, with quaint verses, commemorates 'the late deceased virgin, Mistris Elizabeth Hereicke.' Near the north-east door is the monument of Mrs. Joane Barnett, 1674, who sold oatmeal cakes by the church door, and left money for a sermon and the maintenance of poor widows. In the north-eastern corner are many monuments with effigies offering interesting examples of costume of the time of James I., and that to Lady Dorothy Stafford, 1604, whose mother Ursula was daughter of the famous Countess of Salisbury, the only daughter of George, Duke of Clarence, brother of King Edward IV. -She served Queen Elizabeth forty years, lying in the bedchamber, esteemed of her, loved of all, doing good all she could, a continual remembrancer of the suite of the poor.' 1 Blanche Parrye,

1 Sir Edward Stafford, son of Lady Dorothy, married Douglas, Lady Sheffield, who was supposed at that time to have already contracted a secret marriage with Elizabeth's Earl of Leicester, and who was the mother of a son by Leicester.

A

chief gentlewoman to Queen Elizabeth, has a monument, 1589. tablet, with a relief of his death, commemorates Sir Peter Parker, 1814. Here also are the 'State Arms' put up in the church under Puritan rule, but a crown has been added.

In the chancel is buried John Skelton, 1529, the satirical poetlaureate, called by Erasmus 'Britannicarum literarum lumen et decus,' who died in Sanctuary, to which he was driven by the enmity of Wolsey, excited by his squibs on bad customs and bad clergy. Near him (not in the porch) rests another court poet of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth-Thomas Churchyard, 1604, whose adventurous life was one long romance. His best work was his 'Legende of Jane Shore.' 'He was one of those unfortunate men who wrote poetry all his days, and lived a long life, to complete his misfortune."1 Camden gives his epitaph, which has disappeared.2 Near these graves is that of James Harrington, 1677, author of the republican romance called 'Oceana.' Here also was buried Milton's beloved second wife, Catherine Woodcocke (Feb. 10, 1658), who died in childbirth fifteen months after her marriage to the poet.3

Near the south-eastern entrance even a nineteenth-century ' restoration' has spared the stately tomb of Marie, Lady Dudley, 1600:-'She was grandchilde to Thomas Duke of Norfolke, the second of that surname, and sister to Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham, Lord High Admiral of England, by whose prosperous direction, through the goodness of God in defending his handmaid Queen Elizabeth, the whole fleet of Spain was defeated and discomfited.' She married first Edward Sutton, Lord Dudley, and secondly Richard Mountpesson, who is represented kneeling beside her. A tablet by Westmacott, erected in 1820, commemorates William Caxton, the printer, 1491, who long worked in the neighbouring Almonry and is buried in the churchyard. A brass plate was put up here in 1845 to Sir Walter Raleigh, beheaded close by, and buried beneath the altar. A window at the west end in memory of Sir Walter Raleigh was presented in 1882 by American citizens, for which the American poet Lowell wrote the inscription :

'The New World's sons, from England's breast we drew
Such milk as bids remember whence we came;
Proud of her past, wherefrom our future grew,
This window we inscribe with Raleigh's fame.'

At the same time the printers and publishers of London presented a window over the south-east entrance in memory of Caxton, for which Tennyson founded on Caxton's motto 'Fiat lux' the lines:

'Thy prayer was "Light-more Light-while Time shall last!"'
Thou sawest a glory growing on the night,

But not the shadows which that light would cast,
Till shadows vanish in the Light of Light.'

1 Disraeli, Calamities of Authors.

2 Come, Alecto, lend a torch,

To find a Churchyard in a church porch;
Poverty and poetry this torch doth enclose,
Therefore gentlemen be merry in prose.'

3 At St. Mary, Aldermanbury, November 12, 1656.