Page images
PDF
EPUB

leigh was, in this house, honoured by a visit from queen Elizabeth, who, knowing him to be subject to the gout, would always make him sit in her presence; which, it is probable, the lord treasurer considered a great indulgence from so haughty a lady, inasmuch as he one day apologized for the badness of his legs. To which the queen replied, "My lord, we make use of you not for the badness of your legs, but for the goodness of your head." When she came to Burleigh House, it is probable she had that kind of pyramidical head-dress then in fashion, built of wire, lace, ribands, and jewels, which shot up to a great height; for when the principal domestic ushered her in, as she passed the threshold he desired her majesty to stoop. To which she answered, "For your master's sake I will stoop, but not for the king of Spain."

Lord Burleigh died here in 1598. Being afterwards possessed by his son Thomas, earl of Exeter, it assumed that title which it has retained till the present period. After the Fire of London, it was occupied by the doctors of civil law, &c. till 1672; and here the various courts of arches, admiralty, &c. were kept.. Being deserted by the family, the lower part is now converted into shops of various descriptions; and the upper, like Babylon of old, is a nest of wild beasts, birds, and reptiles.

The SAVOY. This precinct takes its name from Peter, Extra earl of Savoy, who built a large house here, 1245, and Pales gave it to the fraternity of Mountjoy, of whom queen 840 Eleanor, wife of Henry III. purchased it for her son, the duke of Lancaster. When it came into the hands of Henry VII. he founded here an hospital, and called it the hospital of St. John Baptist: and Mr. Weaver says, that the following inscription was over the great gate:

Hospitium hoc inopi turba Savoia vocatum,

Septimus Henricus fundavit ab imo Solo.

This hospital consisted of a master and four brethren, who were to be in priests orders, and officiate in their turns, and they were to stand alternately at the gate of the Savoy, and

if they saw any person who was an object of charity, they were obliged to take him in, and feed him. If he proved to be a traveller, he was entertained for one night, and a letter of recommendation, with as much money given him, as would defray his expences to the next hospital.

The Savoy has been reduced to ashes several times, particularly by Wat Tyler and Jack Cade; and at other times by accident.

This hospital was suppressed in the seventh year af Edward VI. and the furniture given to the hospitals of Bridewell, St. Thomas, &c. but falling afterward into the hands of queen Mary I. she new founded and endowed it pientifully, and it was under the care of a master and four brethren in holy orders, and a receiver of the rents, who was also the porter, and locked the gates every night; and he chose a watchman.

But

The original rents amounted to 22,000l. per annum, which being deemed too large an endowment, an Act of Resumption was obtained in the fourth and fifth of Philip and Mary, so that the lands reverted to the crown. they who had taken leases from the master of the Savoy, had their leases confirmed to them for ever, upon the payment of twenty years purchase; a reserve being made of 8001. or 1000l. a year, in perpetuity for the master and four brethren, &c.

The chapel in the Savoy (which is very erroneously called St. Mary le Savoy) is properly the chapel of St. John the Baptist. It is all stone work, and seems to be of great antiquity by its aspect. It was repaired, anno 1721, at the sole charge of his majesty George I. who also enclosed the burial ground with a strong brick wall, and added a door to it, half of which consists of iron work.

The interior is a mixture of simplicity and decoration; its elegant roof is coved over the windows, and the spaces are divided into quatrefoils, containing an infinity of emblems; a gallery at the south end has a small organ, and the pulpit is fixed against the west wall.

There

[graphic][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

There are several monuments to the memory of William Exa Chaworth, 1582; Lady Dalhousie, 1663; Anne Killigrew, plates 1685; Sir Richard Blake, knight, 1683; Sir John Jacob;432 Robert Burch, 1789; Capt. Thomas Browne, &c.*

The chapel is situate by the churchyard of the Savoy, which stands between the south side of the Strand, and the Thames, and in the county of Middlesex. It is in the gift of the lord high treasurer, or commissioners of the treasury for the time being. The value is uncertain, but computed to be worth by fees, dues, &c. 80l. per annum. The vestry consists of fourteen inhabitants. The officers are, two

chapel wardens, and two overseers.

The remarkable places are, two German churches, one

کی رے

of which is a Calvinist, and the other a Lutheran. Bar Exha, racks for five hundred soldiers; the Savoy prison for de- plates serters and other delinquents of the army, and for securing 4 the recruits. Here is also an handsome infirmary for such of the guards as fall sick, and for three or four officers.

"Few places in London," says Mr. Malcolm, "have ungone a more complete alteration and ruin than the Savoy hospital. According to the plates published by the Society of Antiquaries in 1750, it was a most respectable and excellent building, erected on the south side literally in the Thames. This front contained several projections, and two rows of angular mullioned windows. Northward of this was the Friery; a court formed by the walls of the body of the hospital, whose ground plan was the shape of the cross. This was more ornamented than the south front; and had large pointed windows, and embattled parapets, lozenged with flints. At the west end of the hospital is the

In the first year of the reign of queen Anne, commissioners were appointed to visit the hospital, who were seven lords spiritual, and as many lords temporal: the commission was opened by Sir Nathan Wright, then lord-keeper of the great seal; and three of the brethren, or thaplains, were discharged, because they had other benefices, as was also the fourth, by reason he was a teacher of a separate congregation; and the hospital dissolved.

VOL. IV. No. 85.

Ce

present

« PreviousContinue »