some repairs on the building after a fire, in 1695; but an accurate copy of the inscription had been taken a short time before, and it has lately been replaced in its old situation.

The Temple church contains many sepulchral monuments; but the most remarkable are a number of figures in stone, disposed in two groups of five each. Five of these figures are cross-legged, from which it has been usual to consider them as the effigies of warriors who had fought with the infidels in the Holy Land. It does not appear, however, that the attitude in question really has that import; it being usual so to represent persons on their tombs who had merely formed the design or made a vow of performing a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, whether they had fulfilled it or not.

The figure of the knights in the Temple church are supposed to have been collected from various places, and to have been laid in their present position long after the deaths of the persons whom they represent. Antiquaries have formed various conjectures with regard to the individuals for whom these figures are intended; but they have not been able to offer anything on the subject beyond conjecture, and in reference to several of the monuments not even that.

The Temple church very nearly fell a sacrifice to the great fire in 1666. It was the stonework of this building, indeed, by which the flames were first effectually resisted. It suffered much injury, however, in 1695, from another fire, which entirely destroyed a considerable part of the Temple. On that occasion, and also in 1811, it underwent extensive repairs; but it has within the last few years been still more completely renovated under the direction of Mr. Smirke, who has shown great taste in his restoration of the decayed parts of the building. The Temple church has generally been considered as having been built on the model of the Basilica, or Metropolitan temple of Jerusalem, from which the knights by whom it was founded, derived their name. The following is the architectural description of the edifice, as given by Mr. Brayley in his Londoniana:

"All the exterior walls, which are five feet in thickness, are strengthened by projecting buttresses. In the upright, the vestibule (that is the round part) consists of two stories, the upper one being about half the diameter of the lower story, which measures fifty-eight feet across the area. The lower part of the upper story is sur rounded by a series of semicircular arches, intersecting each other, and forming a blank arcade; behind which, and over the circular aisle (if it may be so termed), there is a continued passage. The staircase leading to the latter is on the northwest side; and about halfway up, in the substance of the wall, is a small dark cell, most probably intended as a place of confinement. Over the arcade are six semicircular headed windows. The clustered columns which support the roof are each formed by four distinct shafts, which are surrounded, near the middle, by a triplicated band.

Capitals of Pillars of the Porch of the Temple Church.

and have square-headed capitals ornamented in the Norman style. The principal entrance is directly from the west, but there is a smaller one on the southwest side: the former opens from an arched porch, and consists of a receding semicircular archway, having four columns on each side, supporting archivolt mouldings, which, like the capitals and jambs, are ornamented with sculptured foliage, busts, and lozenges." Highgate church is built on the summit of Highgate hill. It is a beautiful edifice, with a fine Gothic spire, which is an honorable monument to the taste of Mr. L.

Vulliamy, its architect. It is impossible to imagine a more beautiful site than that chosen for the church, or a style of building better adapted to the situation. The inte rior is extremely neat and commodious.

The church of St. Martin's is perhaps, next to St. Paul's, the finest building in the Grecian style, of which the metropolis has to boast. It is accounted the happiest effort of the eminent architect, James Gibbs, a native of Scotland, by whom it was erected, and who is also well known as the designer and builder of the senate-house at Cambridge, the Radcliffe library at Oxford, and various other public edifices. The portico, in particular, consisting of very lofty Corinthian columns, to which there is

an ascent by a long flight of steps, has been greatly admired. The beauty and grandeur of this noble elevation, however, have only been lately rendered visible by the removal of the old buildings by which it used to be so closely surrounded; and its effect will not be properly appreciated till the completion of the magnificent improvements in progress in this quarter of the metropolis. The spire also of St. Martin's is one of the most beautiful in London; and the interior of the church, and especially its richly-ornamented ceiling, may be fairly described as altogether worthy of its external architecture. Its length is one hundred and forty feet, its breadth sixty, and its height forty-five. The curve of the ceiling is elliptical.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

PUBLIC WALKS.

THE parks of London lie on its western side. St. James's extends from behind the Horse Guards and government offices in Whitehall and Downing street to the new palace; its adjunct, the Green park, reaches thence to Piccadilly and Hyde park corner. The chief western entrance into the metropolis (the road from Bath, &c.), which runs into Piccadilly, separates the western extremity of the Green park from the southeast side of Hyde park; and at this particular spot the stranger, who is entering London for the first time, will receive a favorable impression of the grandeur of the metropolis. On either side of the road or street, which is spacious, are handsome gateways, that on the right leading into the Green park, and those on the left into Hyde park. The central and side gateways leading into Hyde park are connected by a fine screen; and the bronze gates in these and in the Green park gateway on the opposite side are beautiful specimens of art.

St. James's park is the oldest of the metropolitan parks. It appears to have been a waste marshy piece of ground till the reign of Henry VIII.: it was partly drained and enclosed by him. He built a gateway in 1532 at the north end of King street and corner of Downing street, over which he had a passage from Whitehall palace into the park. The park was much improved in the reign of Charles II., and it has been since that time a favorite resort; but it did not assume its present picturesque appearance till 1828, when Mr. Nash, the designer of Regent's park, converted it from being a formal and almost swampy meadow into a beautiful and luxuriantlooking garden.

St. James's park received its name from being connected with the palace of St. James, which Henry VIII. built on the site of St. James's hospital. Hyde park is so called, from the ground having formed a chief portion of the manor of Hyde, belonging to Westminster abbey. This park comprises nearly 400 acres. On its western side are Kensington gardens, attached to the palace. Kensington palace was purchased by William III., whose queen took much pleasure in improving the gardens. They were, however, laid out in their present form by Queen Caroline, the wife of George II. The gardens are about three miles and a half in circumference, and contain a number of magnificent trees. On fine evenings—especially Sunday evenings-in spring and summer, they are thronged with visiters.

Regent's park was formed in 1814. The ground was the property of the crown, and was let to various persons-but the leases having expired, the property was converted into its present handsome and ornamental form, from the designs of Mr. Nash. The name, as the reader is doubtless aware, was given in compliment to George IV., then prince regent. The park is circular, and comprises about 450 It contains a sheet of water; several handsome villas have been built in its interior; and round it is a spacious drive, or road, the exterior side of which is occupied by a number of fine terraces, or ranges of building, highly ornamented, some with colonnades and pillars, and others with allegorical groups and figures. As mentioned formerly, the Zoological gardens occupy a portion of the park.

acres.