their treasury, "for a perpetual memorial of that renowned monarch." On the establishment of the Commonwealth, Dr. Wren, who was then dean of Windsor, in order to preserve them from falling into the hands of the republicans, buried them under the floor of the treasury, and placed in the hands of a trusty friend, a sealed note intimating where they might be found, in the event of his decease. Here they lay concealed till 1645, when they were discovered by Cornelius Holland, a regicide, and sold among the other crown jewels.

THE ROLLS.

The master of the Rolls is ex officio lord of one of the pleasantest domains within the scope of a lawyer's ambition. It is a liberty of itself, exempt from the power of the sheriff of Middlesex, and of every other officer, except with leave of the master. Here he has a splendid house to reside in, from which he can pass into the court where he officiates, as from one room into another; and behind it there is a large garden, where, in the midst of a crowded city, he may enjoy something of the pleasures of rural retirement. Here also he has a chapel of his own, the minister of which is of his own nomination.

The Liberty was anciently the site of an Asylum for converted Jews, established and endowed by Henry III. For a time it was crowded with pretended converts; but after the universal expulsion of the sons of Israel from England, in the 18th of Edward III. there were so few claimants for the sweets of apostacy, that, in 1377, the king assigned the house and precincts to the first master in Chancery

for the time being, as a place for the preservation of the Rolls in Chancery, whence it took the name of the ROLLS CHApel.

The master has a clerk and other officers under him, who take care of the rolls, and attend at suitable hours for the purpose of making searches for those who wish to consult them.

The chapel is an ancient structure, of a mixed character, and is supposed to have been designed by Inigo Jones. It contains several monuments to the memory of persons who have filled the office of master; one by Torregiano, in honour of Dr. Yong, who died in 1616, is particularly admired.

In 1717, Sir Joseph Jekyll, on being appointed master, found the houses belonging to the Liberty in so ruinous a condition, that he was induced to rebuild no less than thirty-nine of them at his own expense; although, by an act of parliament, the master is restrained from granting leases for a longer period than forty-one years. The cost of these erections was not less than 30,000l. When the first plans and estimates were laid before Sir Joseph, he inquired how long the houses, if erected according to these estimates, would stand? The surveyors answered, that they would stand out the forty-one years at least. Sir Joseph, much to his honour, replied, that he would have them built as strong and as well as if they were his own inheritance." With this view he caused 3601. more to be expended on each house than was at first proposed.

The total amount of the rents of houses in the Liberty of the Rolls, as charged to the poor rates some years ago, was 7,2821.

The master of the Rolls has the appointment of six clerks to the Court of Chancery, each of whom has fifteen assistants under him, called clerks of court. The office of the Six Clerks is a spacious stone building at the head of Chancery-lane, on the west side. Formerly they occupied an inn called Herflet Inn, belonging to the priors of Nocton's Park, opposite the Rolls Chapel. The revenue of these clerks is derived almost entirely from fees for copies of proceedings in the Court of Chancery; nor has it been sufficiently attended to, when complaints have been made of the extravagance of these fees, that they were established rather as a mode of payment for most of the business transacted in the office, than as a recompence for the copies themselves. The six head clerks receive three-eighths of the proceeds, and the remaining five-eighths are divided among the under clerks. For the five years preceding 1811, the average amount of the three-eighths was 3,2881. which, divided among the six clerks, yielded an income to each of little more than 5001.

The Percy Histories.

LONDON.

This City is honoured with her men, graced with her arms, and peopled with a multitude of inhabitants.

Fitzstephen

MILITARY DEFENCE.

THE spirit of freedom was never yet preserved long amongst a people, unless accompanied by a large share of military renown. In London, the two have been united from a very early period of our history. The Britons were trained to the use of arms from their infancy, and their very diversions were of a warlike cast. As far back as the reign of Alfred, the citizens of London were so imbued with the national spirit, that they were known amongst their fellow countrymen by the name of "the brave Londoners." When the patriot king was opposing a great body of the East Anglian Danes, who had thrown off his authority, and landed in the west of England from the north; the English army left London, accompanied by a body of citizens, attacked the Danes under Hastings who had fortified Bamflete, overpowered the garrison, and VOL. II.]

R

carried off the wife and two sons of this celebrated chief.

In the reign of Ethelred, the Londoners successfully resisted three attacks by the Danes; and thrice also was Canute repulsed when he laid siege to the city, nor did he ultimately gain possession of it, until, by a compromise with his rival, a division of territory was agreed upon. With equal spirit did the citizens refuse to admit William the Conqueror, when his arms had been victorious over Harold's army, until the clergy and the men of rank set the example of submission. It is true that Domesday Book, the oldest record of military service extant, does not mention the Londoners, but the reason of this is to be found in the peculiar nature of their civic privileges. The citizens did not, like other persons under the feudal system, hold their possessions by the tenure of military service; London was the "king's own chamber," where all were free, and all service was spontaneous. But though not bound to furnish any particular quota of fighting men, the Londoners always mustered in great force, when an enemy was in the field; indeed it would seem from their numerous arrays, and the indiscriminate manner in which they turned out at every call to arms, that in early times every citizen was a soldier. We know that playing at bucklers, and practising feats of arms, was one of the most ancient and favorite amusements of the London apprentices. The Ludus Troja or Troy game, practised by the Roman youths, so called, because it is said to have been derived from the Trojans, was also a favorite exercise with the citizens in the reign of Henry II. "Every Sunday in Lent," says