There is a power And magic in the ruined battlement,

To which the palace of the present hour Must yield its pomp, and wait till ages are its dower.

A little to the west of , on ground sloping rather steeply down to the riverside, stood what was originally the [extra_illustrations.3.95.6]  and afterwards the Hospital, of the Savoy. It was built by that all-powerful noble, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, in ; but in the thirtieth year of Henry III. it was granted by the king to Peter of Savoy (from whom it took its name), uncle of his queen, Eleanor of Provence, according to Pennant,

on condition of yielding yearly at the Exchequer

three

barbed arrows for all services.

From the Earl of Savoy the place passed, probably by gift, to the Brethren de Monte Jovis, that is, of the Great St. Bernard in Savoy, who had a priory at Hornchurch, in Essex; and, according to Stow, Queen Eleanor purchased the site from this fraternity and gave it to her son, Edmund, Earl of Lancaster. This gift was confirmed by letters patent by the earl's elder brother, King Edward I., in his year, and

from that time the Savoy was reputed and taken as parcel of the earldom and honour of Lancaster.

John, the French king, was lodged here in , when brought to England as a captive by the Black Prince, after the battle of Poictiers, and here he was often visited by Edward III. and his queen. At this time it bore the reputation of being

the fairest manor in England.

Chronicles,

The

9th day of April

, died John, King of France, at the Savoy, his corpse was honourably conveyed to St. Denis, in France.

In the Savoy stood a narrow chance of being demolished by the citizens of London, who had flocked thither,

evidently bent on mischief,

for the malice

which they bore to John of Gaunt and his principles.

To the number of

thirty-two

,

the rebels entered a cellar of the Savoy, where they drank so much of sweet wines, that they were not able to come out in time, but were shut in with wood and stones, that walled up the doors, where they were heard crying and calling

seven

days after, but none came to help them out until they were dead.

Reverting to the king's hands after this, we next find it beautifully restored and rebuilt by Henry VII., [extra_illustrations.3.96.1] , in , as a hospital for the reception of a poor people. In spite of a report made by the Royal Commissioners in the year of Edward VI., to the effect that there was

no default and no disorder

the ladies of the court and maids of honour .. stored it anew with beds, bedding, and other furniture in a very ample manner.

The hospital, however, fared but badly under Elizabeth. It escaped, indeed, the royal claws, but it was most unfortunate in its master, who

embezzled its revenues exceedingly, and sold away divers chantries belonging to it.

For a number of years the [extra_illustrations.3.96.3]  for both the neighbouring parishioners of St. Maryle-Strand as well as for inmates of the

precinct of the Savoy.

In the time of the plague appearing, the liberty of the Duchy of Lancaster was looked upon as

some security to the Court,

passing constantly with all the constables betwee: the Bars and the Tilt Yard, in both the liberties to see the houses shut in.

The place, too, is not without its literary associations, for Chaucer wrote some of his poems in the Savoy.

It was here that the

Confession of Faith

The Savoy is also famous in connection with the history of the Church of England, having been the place in which Charles II., after the Restoration, ordered the assemblies of the Commissioners for

Mr. Peter Cunningham reminds us that

at this time Fuller, author of the Worthies, was Lecturer at the Savoy, and that the poet Cowley was a candidate at court for the office of Master.

The Savoy has not been exempt from sundry

It is recorded by Roman Catholic historians that in the reign of James II. a colony of Jesuits was established in the Savoy under F. Palmer, as rector. He opened schools which numbered some pupils, half Catholics and half Protestants; and adjoining the schools was a printing-press. Rules were provided for these schools and published in print. It was declared therein that the intention of them was to teach youth virtue and learning; that those that came thither should be taught gratis, and to be at no further charge than of buying of their own pens, ink, paper, and books; that these schools should be common to all, of what condition soever, and none to be excluded when they should be thought fit to begin to learn Latin and wrote sufficiently well.

In these schools to be taught Greek and Latin, poetry and rhetoric. And whether Catholics or Protestants came to these schools, yet in teaching no distinction to be made, yet all to be taught with equal diligence and care; and neither by masters or scholars any tampering or meddling to persuade any

one

from the profession of his own religion. But few there were but did believe --nay, could not believe otherwise than that this pretended charitable project was for the advantages hereby to be compassed for the promoting the Roman religion. These schools were soon dissolved upon the ceasing of the Government of King James; and the clock that was made for the use of the Savoy School was afterwards bought and set up upon a gentleman's house in Low Layton, as was said. In this Savoy were placed by William III. many families of poor French Protestants, and where they that had skill in trade and manufacture wrought to get something for their livelihood; however, they were opposed and complained of by many of the tradesmen of London as hindering and prejudicing them. Here also was, and is, a church for them. The late Bishop of London came hither himself sometimes, and passionately desired their good, and maintained many of their proselytes. The poor French here inhabiting with their families had many of them

three shillings

allowance weekly, and some

four

. To countenance them more, to this church came many of the said king's privy councillors, secretaries of state, and other great officers of the kingdom; and through them and their contributions, the church was chiefly able to subsist. They use the Liturgy of the Church of England turned into French, and their ministers are episcopally ordained.

Strype, writing in , thus describes the then existing state of the Savoy :

This Savoy House is very great, and at this present a very ruinous building. In the midst of its buildings is a very spacious hall, the walls three feet broad at least, of stone without and brick and stone inward. The ceiling is very curiously built with wood, and having knobs in due places hanging down, and images of angels holding before their breasts coats of arms, but hardly discoverable; for one is a cross gules between four stars, or else mullets. It is covered with lead, but in divers places perished, where it lies open to the weather. This large hall is now divided into several large apartments. A cooper hath a part of it for the stowing of his hoops and for his work; other parts of it serve as two marshalseas for keeping prisoners--as deserters, men pressed for military service, Dutch recruits, &c. Towards the east end of this hall is a fair cupola with glass windows, but all broken, which makes it probable the hall was as long again, since cupolas are wont to be built about the middle of great halls.

In the Savoy, of how ruinous soever is, are divers good houses. First, the king's printingpress, for proclamations, Acts of Parliament, gazettes, and such-like public papers; next, a prison; thirdly, a parish church and three or four other churches and places for religious assemblies, viz., for Dutch, for High Germans, and Lutherans, and lastly, for Protestant Dissenters and Quakers. Here are also harbours for many refugees and poor people.

The old hall, as stated above, had the usual louvre in the centre of the roof; this roof was of fine timber, with pendants supposed to have resembled those in Crosby Hall. Images of angels at the corbels bore on their breasts shields with coats of arms, as in the roof at Hall.

According to a map or ground-plan of the Savoy in , the part between the present chapel and the river was a prison, between which and the Lutheran Church were

barracks

gardens,

water-gate,

barracks,

officers' houses

the Friery.

Nutt, the printer,

Vaillant, bookseller, his warehouse.

Nearly where now are South and Lancaster Buildings, were a

French Church,

Green Tree Court,

Dutchy Houses.

Prints of the [extra_illustrations.3.99.2]  in and show a few of the walls of the Hospital of St. John the Baptist still standing. They were, apparently, of the Tudor, or latest Gothic style, as was also the

prison,

this part of the Savoy is now occupied by the army as a place of confinement for their deserters and transports.

Henry VII. helped to rebuild the Savoy, as a hospital for a distressed people. This building was in the form of a cross, and Pennant adds that its walls were entire down to his time (). The Records of the Duchy of Lancaster were formerly kept in a building close by, in .

A considerable part of the old Savoy was standing at the beginning of the present century; but it was demolished to form the approach to .

The present

Chapel of St. Mary in the Hospital, or of St. John the Baptist in the Savoy

It has a rich reredos over the altar, which faces the north, having niches with domed canopies at either extremity. The window over the altar is of lights, with vertical mullions of the Perpendicular or Tudor style. There are sedilia, with a piscina between them and the east, or rather, north wall; the oak roof is coved at the sides, and divided with quatrefoil panels, showing the emblems of the Passion, the sacred monogram, the Lamb and Flag, the pelican in her piety, the types of St. John the Baptist, and sundry heraldic ornaments. It is richly painted throughout, and the prevailing colour is blue. Among the

memorial

In the Savoy were buried many distinguished personages; among others, Gavin Douglas, the poet-Bishop of Dunkeld, son of Archibald

Bell the Cat,

Marmion

A bishop at the altar stood-

A noble lord of Douglas blood ;

sleeps the sleep that knows not waking.

Chronicles of the Franciscan Order,

reconciled Anne, Duchess of York, to the church which her husband had joined.

Among the persons who have either been buried or had monuments erected to them here are Mrs. Killigrew, the actress, daughter of Dr. Killigrew, of the Masters of the Savoy; George, Earl of Cumberland, of the old line of Clifford; Richard Lander, the African traveller; George Wither, the poet and satirist; and the Earl of Feversham, who commanded King James's troops at Sedgemoor. In the burial-ground attached to the church is the tomb of William Hilton, many years Keeper of the Royal Academy.

The precinct of the Savoy was made into a parish by Bishop Grindal, in the reign of Elizabeth, when the Protector Somerset demolished the old Church of St. Mary, to make room for his new palace, and it is probably the smallest parish in the metropolis or its suburbs west of .

A very distinguished man became the Master of the Savoy in the reign of James I. We refer to Antonio de Dominis, ex-Archbishop of Spalatro, who, adopting strong anti-papal tenets, came to England, where he published a learned treatise,

De Republica Ecclesiastica,

Machyn, in his

Diary,

at his house beside the Savoy,

till they came to the hill above St. James's, when some turned back.

All were mounted on horseback.

First

, there rode

one

in black bearing a silver cross; then came priests in surplices; then came the standard; then the gentlemen and chief officers; then the heralds, with the helmet, mantle, and crest, the armour and insignia; then came the funeral car with painted banners; then the saddle-horse; then the mourners, chief of them Lord Russell's son; then the Lord Treasurer, the Master of the Horse, and various members of the nobility, all clad in black. Everywhere on the courss of the procession the clergy came forth to meet it, and alms were distributed among the poor.

In speaking of the parish of St. Mary-in-the- Savoy, the , published in , says that it was the head-quarters of

the Worshipful Company of Upholders,

A number of dingy coal-wharves was all that, during the half of the present century, and, indeed, until the formation of the Thames , stood by the river-side to mark the site of a palace which had been the residence of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and of the poet Chaucer. Some of the coal-sheds, indeed, stand there still; but between the Savoy and now is a space laid out as a garden, where green shrubs and pleasant flowers delight the eye of the weary Londoner.

[extra_illustrations.3.95.6] Palace

[extra_illustrations.3.96.1] who dedicated it to St. John

[extra_illustrations.3.96.3] Savoy Chapel served

[extra_illustrations.3.99.1] Lady Arabella's monument in St. Mary le Savoy.

[extra_illustrations.3.99.2] remains of the Savoy

[extra_illustrations.3.99.3] Its interior