* trees in the Coneygarth or Cottrell Garden was made, and in 15 Car. II. A.D. 1663 the garden was enlarged, a terrace-walk made on the west side, and the wall raised higher towards Lincoln's Inn Fields. In the passage before cited (p. 68) from Mr. Pepys' Diary, 27th June 1663, mention is made of this enlargement of the Garden. In the erection of the garden-wall, probably on that part which separated the garden from Chancery Lane, which has since been displaced by other buildings, it is said Ben Jonson was employed in the early part of his life, assisting his father-in-law in his business, and working, as Fuller imagines, with a trowel in his hand, and a book in his pocket. The play of "Every Man out of his Humour" is dedicated by Ben Jonson to "the noblest nurseries of humanity and liberty, the Inns of Court." At the south end of the gardens, memorial gates were erected in 1872 by subscription of the Inns of Court Rifle Volunteers, in honour of the late Colonel Brewster (son of the ex-Lord Chancellor of * The name of Coneygarth was derived from the quantity of rabbits found here, and by various ordinances of the Society in the reigns of Edw. IV. Hen. VII. and Hen. VIII. penalties were imposed on the students hunting them with bows and arrows or darts. It is said that this garden had been given to the knights of St. John of Jerusalem in the year 1186 by William Cotterell. See Parton's Account of St. Giles in the Fields, p. 181. 4to, 1822. G Ireland), who had been the commander of that corps. They were designed in Belgium, and consist of a large central gate and two similar side ones; the fabric is light and elegant, and the screen-work represents memorial flowers. On the top of the central gate are the colonel's arms, with his name and the date of 1863; and on each of the other gates is the monogram of the Inns of Court Volunteers. In the view of the remaining buildings, the visitor will scarcely have occasion to regret the failure of Sir Robert Taylor's grand project for the reconstruction of the whole Inn. Here the decided advantage of recurring to ancient models has not been overlooked, and the effect of good taste is abundantly apparent in the result. The four Inns of Court were once pleasantly characterised in the following distich : Gray's Inn for walks, Lincoln's Inn for wall, The Inner Temple for a garden, and the Middle for a hall. But it will now doubtless be admitted that the architecture of Lincoln's Inn is deserving of notice for something beyond its wall; and in the splendour of its noble hall is enabled not merely to vie with, but to surpass the Middle Temple. The New Hall, Library, and Council Rooms must now be regarded as the principal front of the Inn, and have obtained perhaps the most felicitous site for architectural effect which London affords. CHAPTER III. THE NEW HALL AND LIBRARY. T the commencement of the year 1843, the Benchers of Lincoln's Inn having determined upon the erection of a new Hall and Library on a scale commensurate with the requirements of the age, adopted the masterly designs submitted to them by Mr. Hardwick, an architect who had given evidence of talents of a superior order in the erection of the noble Doric propylæum at the Railway Terminus in Euston Square,* Goldsmiths' Hall, and other edifices. By the skill of this gentleman, combined with the munificence of the Benchers, a magnificent structure has arisen within the precincts of Lincoln's * Since that time at the same terminus has been erected, from Mr. Hardwick's designs, the magnificent hall, or vestibule, one hundred and thirty feet in length, sixty-two feet in width, and sixty-four in height, with decorations of corresponding grandeur. Inn, which forms one of the chief ornaments of the metropolis, and the style of which is in accordance with the venerable associations belonging to the early history of the Society, and the character of the more ancient buildings of the Inn. The foundation stone of the new building was laid on the 20th of April 1843, by the Right Hon. Sir J. L. Knight Bruce, Vice-Chancellor, then Treasurer of the Society. On this occasion the Benchers, with the dignitaries who attended as visitors to witness the ceremony, formed a procession, which consisted of the Lord Chancellor (Lord Lyndhurst); Sir J. L. Knight Bruce, Vice-Chancellor ; the Bishop of Durham (Dr. Maltby, formerly Preacher to the Society) Archdeacon Lonsdale (afterwards Bishop of Lichfield, at that time Preacher); the ViceChancellor of England (Sir Lancelot Shadwell); Vice-Chancellor Sir James Wigram; some of the Judges; a large body of Benchers; the Rev. Charles Browne Dalton, the chaplain; Mr. Hardwick, the architect; Mr. Baker, the contractor for the works, &c. At the southern extremity of the garden, where a great number of barristers and students had assembled, the Treasurer took his position at the head of the stone prepared for the foundation, and briefly addressed the visitors, observing that the Benchers, finding that further accommodation was necessary, in consequence of the increasing number of their members and the continued additions made to their collection of books, and with a view to supply these wants, and at the same time to have due regard to the associations connected with the older structures, determined to preserve these buildings and to erect a new Hall and Library. After this address, the chaplain offered a prefatory prayer. A glass box was then deposited in the stone, containing specimens of the current coins of the realm, over which was laid a brass plate with the following inscription in old English characters : Stet lapis arboribus nudo defixus in horto Fundamen pulchræ tempus in omne domûs xii Cal. Maii. MDCCCXLIII. Mr. Hardwick then presented to the Treasurer a silver trowel, on which the following words were inscribed : Hâc trullâ usus vir amplissimus J. L. Knight Bruce, Hospitii Lincolniensis xii Cal. Maii. MDCCCXLIII.* Having laid the stone, the Treasurer congratu *The inscriptions were written by the Vice-Chancellor of England. |
