A little north of St. Andrew's, , and running parallel to , stand rows of houses known as Ely Place. To the public it is of those unsatisfactory. streets which lead nowhere; to the inhabitants it is quiet and pleasant; to the student of Old London it is possessed of all the charms which can be given by centuries of change and the long residence of the great and noble. The present Ely Place, and a knot of neighbouring tenements, streets, and alleys, occupy the site of the town house, or

hostell,

The earliest notice of Ely Place belongs to the close of the century. John de Kirkeby, Bishop of Ely, died in the year , and left to his successors in the see a messuage and cottages in . His intention was to found a London residence for the Bishops of Ely, suitable to their rank. Previous to this time they had their London residence in the Temple, but things do not seem to have gone smoothly with them there. In Bishop Balsham was denied entrance there by the master, when Hugh Bigod was Justiciary of England. He insisted, however, on the rights which his predecessors had enjoyed, from the Conquest, of using the hall, chapel, chambers, kitchen, pantry, buttery, and wine-cellar, with free ingress and egress, by land and water, whenever he came to London, and he laid his damages' at . The master not being able to overthrow the claim, the bishop won the case. But this was not an agreeable way of obtaining town lodgings, so no wonder John de Kirkeby was induced to bequeath the property for the benefit of his successors. The next bishop, William de Luda, probably built the chapel of St. Etheldreda, and we find him adding a further grant to the bequest of John de Kirkeby, accompanied by the condition that

his next successor should pay

one thousand marks

for the finding of

three

chaplains

well beseeming bishops to live in; for which they are beholden to John de Hotham, Bishop of Ely under King Edward III.

gate-house or front,

In the reign of Elizabeth, Sir Christopher Hatton was the occupant of Ely Place; and we shall tell in a few words the interesting story of his coming in, and the bishop's going out. Meanwhile-pursuing our rapid notice of the history of the house-let us only say that Sir Christopher died, in Ely Place, in , and was succeeded in his estates by his nephew, Newport, who took the name of Hatton. When he died, his widow,

the Lady Hatton,

Laney, Bishop of Ely, died here in

1674

-

5

, and in Bishop Patrick's time (

1691

-

1707

) a piece of ground was made over to the see for the erection of a new chapel, and the Hatton property saddled with a rent-charge of

£ 100

per annum, payable to the see. In this way matters stood till the death, in

1762

, of the last Lord Hatton, when the Hatton property in

Holborn

reverted to the Crown. An amicable arrangement was now effected, the see, in

1772

, transferring to the Crown all its right to Ely Place, on an act (

12

. Geo. III., c.

43

) for building and making over to the Bishops of Ely a spacious house in

Dover Street

,

Piccadilly

, still in possession of the see, with an annuity of

£ 200

payable for ever.

In Ralph Aggas's map of London, in the reign of

During the imprisonment of Bishop Wren by the Long Parliament, most of the palatial buildings were taken down, and upon the garden were built , Great and Little Kirby Streets, , , and . The present Ely Place was not built till about . We find a fragment of the old episcopal residence preserved in, and giving its name to, , which leads from Ely Place to . Here, worked into the wall of a tavern known as

The Mitre,

which probably,

once adorned

Ely Palace

, or the precinct gateway.

A writer in Knight's has been at the pains to put together, from existing material, a description of Ely Place as it existed immediately before the bishop's residence was levelled to the ground.

Let us imagine ourselves,

entering the precincts from Holborn. The original gate-house, where the bishop's armed retainers were wont to keep watch and ward in the old style, is now gone, and we enter from Holborn at once upon a small paved court, having on the right various offices, supported by a colonnade. and on the left a wall, dividing the court from the garden.

Passing from the court, we reach the entrance to the great hall, which extends along in front, and to our left. This fine edifice, measuring about 30 feet in height, 32 in breadth, and 72 in length, was originally built with stone, and the roof covered with lead. The interior, lighted by six fine Gothic windows, was very interesting. It had its ornamental timber roof, its tiled and probably originally chequered floor, its oaken screen at one end, and its dais at the other; and when filled with some of the brilliant and picturesque-looking crowds that have met under its roof, must have presented a magnificent spectacle.

Beyond the hall, and touching it at the northwest corner, were the cloisters, enclosing a quadrangle nearly square, of great size, and having in the midst a small garden-made, perhaps, after the grant of the principal garden to Hatton. Over the cloisters were long, antique-looking galleries, with the doors and windows of various apartments appearing at the back; in the latter, traces of painted glass--the remnants of former splendour-were still visible. Lastly, at the north-west corner of the cloisters, in a field planted with trees and surrounded with a wall, stood the chapel-now all that remains of what we have described, and of the still more numerous buildings that at one time constituted the palace of the Bishops of Ely.

Having now got an idea of the appearance of Ely Place, and a notion of, at least, the skeleton of its history, we may proceed to add to our information, and to tell of the characters who have lived in it, and the incidents of which it has been the scene.

A famous character in English history-

Old John of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster

So it fell that, about the feast of Christmas, Duke John of Lancaster--who lived in great displeasure, what because the king had banished his son out of the realm for so little cause, and also because of the evil governing of the realm by his nephew, King Richard--(for he saw well, if long persevered, and were suffered to continue, the realm was likely to be utterly lost)-with these imaginations and others, the duke fell sick, whereon he died; whose death was greatly sorrowed by all his friends and lovers.

Shakespeare, in his play of ., Act ii., sc. i, represents the dying nobleman in Ely House admonishing with his last breath his dissipated nephew, the king:--

A thousand flatterers sit within thy crown,

Whose compass is no bigger than thy head

And yet, incaged in so small a verge,

The waste is no whit lesser than thy land.

Oh, had thy grandsire, with a prophet's eye,

Seen how his son's son should destroy his sons,

From forth thy reach he would have laid thy shame,

Deposing thee before thou wert possessed,

Which art possessed now to depose thyself.

Why, cousin, wert thou regent of the world

It were a shame to let this land by lease:

But, for thy world, enjoying but this land,

Is it not more than shame to shame it so?

Landlord of England art thou, and not king.

Another nobleman who at time resided in Ely Place was Henry Radclyff, Earl of Sussex. We find him writing to his countess

from Ely Place, in

Holborn

,

The pleasant gardens which surrounded Ely House rejoiced in the growth of fine strawberries, and it is in connection with this fruit that the name of Ely Place has' been enshrined in the memory of all readers of Shakespeare. No needs to have recalled the scene in the Tower which ended in the execution of Hastings. Buckingham, Hastings, the Bishop of Ely, and others, are talking together

My lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn,

I saw good strawberries in your garden there;

I do beseech you, send for some of them!

Ely.Marry, I will, my lord, with all my heart.

Ely.Where is my lord the Duke of Gloucester? I have sent for those strawberries.

Hastings.His grace looks cheerful and smooth this morning. There's some conceit or other likes him well, When that he bids good morrow with such spirit.

Ill-judging Hastings! Little did he guess that a few minutes after he would hear the Lord

Thou'rt a traitor! Off with his head!

How closely in this scene Shakespeare followed the historical truth we may see in this passage from Holinshed :--

On the Friday (being the 13th of June, 1483) many lords were assembled in the Tower, and there sat in council, devising the honourable solemnity of the king: (the young Edward V.'s) coronation, of which the time appointed then so near approached, that the pageants and subtleties were in making day and night at Westminster, and much victuals killed therefore, that afterwards was cast away. These lords so sitting together, communing of this matter, the Protector (Gloucester) came in amongst them, just about nine of the clock, saluting them courteously, and excusing himself that he had been from them so long, saying merrily that he had been a sleeper that day. After a little talking with them, he said unto the Bishop of Ely, My lord, you have very good strawberries at your garden in Holborn; I require you let us have a mess of them. Gladly, my lord, quoth he. Would God I had some better thing as ready to your pleasure as that And therewithal, in all haste, he sent his servant for a mess of strawberries.

In the time of Richard III., it may be added, strawberries were an article of ordinary consumption in London. In Lydgate's poem of we learn as much:--

Then unto London I did me hie,

Of all the land it beareth the prize;

Good peascod one began to cry-

Strawberry ripe! and cherries in the rise.

To make clear the connection existing between Lord Chancellor Hatton and Ely Place, to which we alluded at the beginning of this chapter, it will be necessary to give a short sketch of that worthy man who, says Malcolm, was

the cause of infinite loss and trouble to the Bishops of Ely for upwards of an

hundred

years.

No,

I will not see your man; it is his trade.

But it can hardly be said that by dancing alone he skipped up to position and influence. He had many good mental qualities, and his advancement is of the numerous proofs the queen gave of her penetration in the choice of great State officers. On his becoming Lord Chancellor, the lawyers were unable to stifle their indignation. Some of the serjeants-at-law even refused to plead before him. But Hatton, though deficient in reading and practice as a lawyer, had common sense enough to hold his place, and at the same time to prove himself qualified for it. In all doubtful cases he was in the habit of consulting or learned legal friends, and the result was that his decisions were by no means held in low repute in the courts of law.

In , to oblige Queen Bess, Richard Cox, Bishop of Ely, granted to her Majesty's handsome Lord Chancellor the gate-house of the palace (excepting

two

rooms used as prisons for those who were arrested or delivered in execution to the bishop's bailiff, and the lower rooms used for the porter's lodge

Once in possession of this property, Hatton began building and repairing, and soon contrived to expend (about of our money), part of which amount, we may as well say here, was borrowed from his royal mistress. As he went on, his views expanded, and, not satisfied with what he had, he petitioned Queen Elizabeth to alienate to him the whole house and gardens. This, in days when sovereigns laid greedy hands on so many acres of rich Church property, was no unusual request, and the queen wrote to the bishop. requesting him to demise the lands to her till such time as the see of Ely should reimburse Sir Christopher for the money he had laid out, and was still expending, in the improvement of the property. The bishop wrote an answer befitting the dignity of his position.

In his conscience,

he could not do it, being a piece of sacrilege. When he became Bishop of Ely he had received certain farms, houses, and other things, which former pious princes had judged necessary for that place and calling; that these he had received, by the queen's favour, from his predecessors, and that of these he was to be a steward, not a scatterer; that he could not bring his mind to be so ill a trustee for his successors, nor to violate the pious wills of kings and princes, and, in effect, rescind their last testaments.

But arguments and moral reflections were thrown away on the queen, and the bishop had to consent to a conveyance of the property to her Majesty, who was to re-convey it to Hatton, but on condition that the whole should be redeemable on the payment of the sum laid out by Sir Christopher.

On the death of Dr. Cox, his successor, Dr. Martin Heton, seemed extremely unwilling to carry out this agreement, and in a fit of fury the queen sat down and wrote him of her most characteristic epistles :--

Proud Prelate

!--I understand you are backward in complying with your agreement: but I would have you know that I, who made you what you are, can unmake you; and if you do not forthwith fulfil your engagement, by-- I will immediately unfrock you.

Elizabeth.

According to some writers, this letter was addressed to Bishop Cox; but it is of no great consequence: the sender is of more interest here than the receiver.

The debt of the Lord Chancellor to the Queen had now reached some . His prudence had fallen asleep when he allowed her Majesty to become his principal creditor. She required a settlement of their account, and poor Hatton was unable to produce the necessary funds. It killed him. There is something pathetic in the

It broke his heart,

Worthies,

that the queen, which seldom gave loans, and never forgave due debts, rigorously demanded the present payment of some arrears which Sir Christopher did not hope to have remitted, and did only desire to have forborne : failing herein in his expectation, it went to his heart, and cast him into a mortal disease. The queen afterwards did endeavour what she could to recover him, bringing, as some say, cordial broths unto him with her own hands; but all would not do. There's no pulley can draw up a heart once cast down, though a queen herself should set her hand thereunto.

The scenes in Ely Place during Hatton's days must often have been gay enough.

Full oft within the spacious walls,

When he had fifty winters o'er him,

My grave lord-keeper led the brawls-

The seal and maces danced before him.

His bushy beard and shoe-strings green,

His high-crowned hat and satin doublet,

Moved the stout heart of England's queen,

Though Pope and Spaniard could not trouble it.

It was in Ely House that Sir Edward Coke courted the rich widow, Lady Hatton, relict of the nephew of Sir Christopher, Queen Elizabeth's Lord Chancellor. The lady was young, beautiful, eccentric, and, it would seem, possessed of a most vixenish temper. As she was rich, she had no scarcity of wooers, and among them were celebrated men, Coke and Bacon. Many a curious scene must Hatton House have witnessed, as those rivals in law pursued their rivalry in love, and cherished their long-felt enmity towards each other. Bacon's ever-faithful friend, the unfortunate Earl of Essex, pled his cause hard with the enchanting widow and with her mother. To the latter he says, in of his letters,

If she were my sister or my daughter, I protest I would as confidently resolve to further it as I now persuade you;

If my faith be anything, I protest, if I had

one

as near me as she is to you, I had rather match her with him than with men of far greater titles.

That the marriage was not a happy we have already told when speaking of thee entries in the register-books of St. Andrew's Church, . After her quarrel with her husband, Lady Hatton betook herself again to Ely House, and there she effectually repelled the entrance of Sir Edward. In Howell's we catch a sight of her in of her peculiar humours. He is speaking of Gondomar, the Spanish Ambassador.

He hath waded already very deep,

and ingratiated himself with divers persons of quality, ladies especially: yet he could do no good upon the Lady Hatton; whom he desired lately, that in regard he was her next neighbour [at Ely House], he might have the benefit of her back-gate to go abroad into the fields, but she put him off with a compliment: whereupon, in a private audience lately with the king, among other passages of merriment,. he told him that my Lady Hatton was a strange lady, for she would not suffer her husband to come in at her fore-door, nor him to go out at her back-door, and so related the whole business.

The

strange lady,

dyed in London on the

3rd January, 1646

, at her house in Holborne.

During the anxious period of the civil war, Ely Place was turned to good account, and made use of both as an hospital and a prison. We may show this by the following extracts from the Journals of the :--

1642

-

3

.

Jan. 3

. The palace was this day ordered to be converted into a prison, and John Hunt, sergeant-at-arms, appointed keeper during the pleasure of the House. He was at the same time commanded to take care that the gardens, trees, chapel, and its windows, received no injury. A sufficient sum for repairs was granted from the revenues of the see.

1660

.

March 1

. Ordered, that it be referred to a committee to consider how and in what manner the said widows, orphans, and maimed soldiers at Ely House may be provided for and paid, for the future, with the least prejudice, and most ease to the nation, and how a weekly revenue may be settled for their maintenance; and how the maimed soldiers may be disposed of, so as the nation may be eased of the charge, and how they may be provided of a preaching minister.

March 13

.

£ 1,700

was voted for the above purpose, and for those at the Savoy, and certain members of the committee were named to inquire into the receipts and expenditures of the keepers of the

hospitals.

Malcolm gives a lamentable account of the inconvenience and mortification to which the bishops were in succession subjected in consequence of the unfortunate lease given to the Hatton family.

The gate-house, was taken down, and great part of the dwelling, and their lordships were compelled to enter the apartments reserved for their use by the old back way; several of the cellars, even under the rooms they occupied, were in possession of tenants; and those intermixed with their own, all of which had windows and passages into the cloisters.

One half of the crypt under the chapel, which had been used for interments, was then frequented as a drinking place, where liquor was retailed; and the intoxication of the people assembled often interrupted the offices of religion above them. Such were the encroachments of the new buildings, that the bishop had. his horses brought through the great hall, for want of a more proper entrance.

Some of the most memorable of feasts have been held here, the Bishops of Ely, in the true spirit of hospitality, having apparently been in the habit of lending their hall for the festive gatherings of the newly-elected serjeants of law. No doubt the halls of the Inns of Court were often too small to accommodate the number of guests. We shall notice of these serjeants' merry-makings. The took place in Michaelmas Term, , and is noticeable for the fact that the Lord Mayor took great offence at a slight which the learned gentlemen unthinkingly put upon him. He came to the banquet, and found a certain nobleman- Grey of Ruthin, then Lord Treasurer of England --preferred before him, and sitting in the seat of state. That seat, by custom, he held, should have been occupied by himself; so, in high dudgeon, his lordship marched off, with his following of aldermen, to his own house, where he compensated his faithful adherents by a splendid entertainment, including all the delicacies of the season. He was wonderfully displeased, says Stow, at the way in which he had been treated,

and the new serjeants and others were right sorry therefore, and had rather than much good (as they said) it had not so happened.

Another banquet took place in and on this occasion Henry VII. was present, with his queen. This was of the occasions, it has been pointed out, when the victor of Bosworth strove to correct a little the effect of his sordid habits, his general seclusion, and his gloomy, inscrutable nature, which altogether prevented him from obtaining the popularity which is agreeable to most monarchs-even to those the least inclined to purchase it at any considerable cost.

The king,

to honour the feast, was present with his queen at the dinner, being a prince that was ever ready to grace and countenance the professors of the law; having a little of that, that as he governed his subjects by his laws, so he governed his laws by his lawyers.

But the last feast we shall mention was the most splendid of all. serjeants had been created in , and it was resolved to celebrate the event on an unparalleled scale of magnificence. The entertainment lasted days, and on the day the proceedings were graced by the presence of Henry VIII. and his queen, Catherine of Aragon; but these dined

in

two

chambers,

It would be tedious,

the preparation of fish, flesh, and other victuals, spent in this feast;

great beefs,

fat muttons,

great veals,

porks,

capons of Greece of

one

poulter (for they had

three

),

capons of Kent,

capons course,

wanted little of a feast at a coronation.

No doubt it was at Ely Place that a ludicrous scene took place between the Bishop of Ely and bailiffs, about the close of the century--the conclusion of an adventure with the celebrated comedian, Joe Haines. Haines (who died in ) was always indulging in practical jokes and swindling tricks, and meeting with

Gentlemen, here is my cousin, the Bishop of Ely; let me but speak a word to him, and he will pay the debt and costs.

My lord, here are a couple of poor waverers, who have such terrible scruples of conscience that I fear they will hang themselves.

Very well,

You

two

men, come to me to-morrow, and I will satisfy you.

Well, my good men,

what are your scruples of conscience?

Scruples!

we have no scruples ; we are bailiffs, my lord, who yesterday arrested your cousin, Joe Haines, for

twenty pounds

. Your lordship promised to satisfy us to-day; and we hope you will be as good as your word.

A scene almost without a parallel was once arranged in Ely Place. This was a famous masque, with its attendant anti-masque, which came off during the brilliant part of the reign of the ill-fated Charles I.

Not the least interesting circumstances,

attending the splendid pageant, are the character and position of the men who had the management of the affair, and of him who has made himself its historian.

The year before this gorgeous display, the irrepressible Mr. Prynne had published his in which he discharged a perfect broadside of abuse against plays and players, masques and masquers, and generally against all kinds of sport and pastime. The Queen Henrietta Maria, not long before, had engaged in some sort of theatrical performance with her maids of honour. The book was therefore offensive to the whole court, and no doubt to this circumstance the writer owed in part the infamous severity of his punishment. But before he took his turn in the pillory, and lost his ears, the members of the Inns of Court designed a masque,

as an expression of their love and duty to their majesties.

A committee was formed, consisting of members from each House; among the committee-men being Whitelock himself, Edward Hyde (who afterwards became Lord Clarendon), and the famous Selden. They set to work, and Whitelock's part in the arrangements was to superintend the music. This he did with energy.

I made choice,

of Mr. Simon Ivy, an honest and able musician, of excellent skill in his art, and of Mr. Lawes (a name familiar to every lover of Milton) to compose the airs, lessons, and songs for the masque, and to be master of all the music, under me.

English, French, Italian, German, and other masters of music;

forty

lutes at

one

time, beside other instruments in concert.

the masquers, horsemen, musicians, dancers, and all that were actors in this business, according to order, met at Ely House, in

Holborn

; there the grand committee sat all day to order all affairs; and when the evening was come, all things being in full readiness, they began to set forth in this order down

Chancery Lane

to

Whitehall

.

The first that marched were twenty footmen in scarlet liveries, with silver lace, each one having his sword by his side, a baton in one hand, and a lighted torch in the other; these were the marshal's men, who made way, and were about the marshal, waiting his commands. After them, and sometimes in the midst of them, came the marshal-then Mr. Darrel, afterwards knighted by the king: he was of Lincoln's Inn, an extraordinary handsome proper gentleman. He was mounted upon one of the king's best horses and richest saddles, and his own habit was exceeding rich and glorious, his horsemanship very gallant; and besides his marshal's men, he had two lackeys who carried torches by him, and a page in livery that went by him carrying his cloak. After him followed one hundred gentlemen of the Inns of Court, five-and-twenty chosen out of each house, of the most proper and handsome young gentlemen of the societies. Every one of them was mounted on the best horses, and with the best furniture that the king's stables, and the stables of all the noblemen in town, could afford; and they were forward on this occasion to lend them to the Inns of Court. Every one of these hundred gentlemen was in very rich clothes-scarce anything but gold and silver lace to be seen of them; and each gentleman had a page. and two lackeys waiting on him, in his livery, by his horse's side; the Ely Chapel. (From A View By Malcolm.) lackeys carried torches, and the page his master's cloak. The richness of their apparel and furniture, glittering by the light of a multitude of torches attending on them, with the motion and stirring of their mettled horses, and the many and various gay liveries of their servants, but especially the personal beauty and gallantry of the handsome young gentlemen, made the most glorious and splendid show that ever was beheld in England.

After the horsemen came the anti-masquers, and, as the horsemen had their music--about a dozen of the best trumpeters proper for them, and in their livery-sounding before them-so the first anti-masquers, being of cripples and beggars on horseback, had their music of keys and tongs, Ely House. (From A Drawing Made In 1772.) and the like, snapping; and yet playing in a concert, before them. These beggars were also mounted, but on the poorest, leanest jades that could be gotten out of the dirt-carts or elsewhere; and the variety and change from such noble music and gallant horses as went before them unto their proper music and pitiful horses, made both of them more pleasing. The habits and properties of these cripples and beggars were most ingeniously fitted (as of all the rest) by the committee's direction, wherein (as in the whole business) Mr. Attorney Noy, Sir John Finch, Sir Edward Herbert, Mr. Selden, those great and eminent persons, and all the rest of the committee, had often meetings, and took extraordinary care and pains in the ordering of this business, and it seemed a pleasure to them.

After the beggars' anti-masque came men on horseback playing upon pipes, whistles, and instruments sounding notes like those of birds of all sorts, and in excellent concert, and were followed by the anti-masque of birds. This was an owl in an ivy-bush, with many several sorts of other birds in a cluster, gazing, as it were, upon her. These were little boys put into covers of the shapes of those birds, rarely fitted, and sitting on small horses, with footmen going by them with torches in their hands; and there were some, besides, to look unto the children; and this was very pleasant to the beholders.

After this anti-masque came other musicians on horseback, playing upon bagpipes, hornpipes, and such kind of northern music, speaking the following anti-masque of projectors to be of the Scotch and northern quarters; and these, as all the rest, had many footmen, with torches, waiting on them.--First in this anti-masque rode a fellow upon a little horse with a great bit in his mouth, and upon the man's head was a bit, with headstall and reins fastened, and signified a projector, who begged a patent that none in the kingdom might ride their horses but with such bits as they would buy of him. Then came another fellow, with a bunch of carrots upon his head, and a capon on his fist, describing a projector who begged a patent of monopoly as the first inventor of the art to feed capons fat with carrots, and that none but himself might have use of that invention, and have the privilege for fourteen years, according to the statute. Several other projectors were in like manner personated in this anti-masque; and it pleased the spectators the more because by it an information was covertly given to the king of the unfitness and ridiculousness of these projects against the law; and the Attorney Noy, who had most knowledge of them, had a great hand in this anti-masque of projectors.

Other anti-masques followed, and then came chariots with musicians, chariots with heathen gods and goddesses, then more chariots with musicians,

playing upon excellent and loud music,

was not so large as those that went before, but most curiously framed, carved and painted with an exquisite art, and purposely for this service and occasion,

it was all over painted richly with these colours, even the wheels of it, most artificially laid on, and the carved work of it was as curious for that art, and it made a stately show. It was drawn with

four

horses, all on breast, and they were covered to their heels all over with cloth of tissue, of the colours of crimson and silver, huge plumes of red and white feathers on their heads and buttocks; the coachman's cap and feather, his long coat, and his very whip and cushion, of the same stuff and colour. In this chariot sat the

four

grand masquers of

Gray's Inn

, their habits, doublets, trunk-hose, and caps of most rich cloth of tissue, and wrought as thick with silver spangles as they could be placed; large white silk stockings up to their trunk-hose, and rich sprigs in their caps, themselves proper and beautiful young gentlemen. On each side of the chariot were

four

footmen, in liveries of the colour of the chariot, carrying huge flambeaux in their hands, which, with the torches, gave such a lustre to the paintings, the spangles, and habits, that hardly anything could be invented to appear more glorious.

incomparably performed, in the dancing, speeches, music, and scenes; the dances, figures, and properties; the voices, instruments, songs, airs, and composures; the words and actions were all of them exact, and none failed in their parts.

The last

mystery

performed at Elie House, in Holborne, when Gondomar lay there, on Good Friday, at night, at which there were thousands present.

This incident suggests or facts relating to the performance in England of miracle-plays and mysteries. These were founded on the lives of the saints, and on those parts of the Scriptures best represented by the latter term. About the earliest mention of a miracle-play is of the date of , when was performed in the Abbey of St. Albans. Whether Geoffrey, a learned Norman, who composed this religious drama, then introduced the custom of acting such pieces, is by no means certain. London had plays representing the working of miracles and the sufferings of the saints about the year ; so we learn from the monk Fitz-Stephen. That these exhibitions

were well attended,

we cannot doubt for a moment, as there was a double inducement, compounded of curiosity and devotion. Piers Plowman and Chaucer both confirm the fact of the general approbation with which they were received.

As an interesting specimen of the

mysteries,

hold her tongue,

blue,

The chapel of Ely Place, still standing, was dedicated to St. Etheldreda. And who was she? She was the daughter of Anna, King of the West Angles, and was born in Suffolk, about the year . She took part in the erection of the cathedral of Ely, and in course of time was elected to fill the position of its patron saint. She died, in , the abbess of the convent of Ely. Sometimes St. Etheldreda is called by the more homely name of St. Audry; and from this appellation is derived the familiar adjective . It is a digression, but we may as well tell how this came about. At the fair of St. Audry, at Ely, in the olden time, a description of cheap necklaces used to be sold, which under the name of were long very popular. In process of time the epithet came to be applied to any piece of glittering tinsel or shabby magnificence.

The builder of the chapel is unknown, but Malcolm conjectures that it is to Thomas Arundel that we are indebted for this beautiful but solitary fragment,

now left for the admiration of the antiquary and man of taste--the product of an architect familiar with the rich fancy of the Edwardian style, fully indulged in the grand east window.

In spite of patchings and modernisings,

St. Etheldreda's Chapel retains much of its original aspect. On looking at the exterior, if we shut our eyes to the lower portion, where a part of the window has been cut away, and an entrance made where evidently none was ever intended to exist, we perceive the true stamp of the days when men built the cathedralsworks which no modern art has rivalled, and which yet seemed so easy to them, that the names of the architects have failed to be preserved. And in the interior the effect of the

two

windows, alike in general appearance, yet differing in every respect in detail, is magnificent, although the storeyed panes, which we may be sure once filled them, are gone. The bold arch of the ceiling, plain and whitewashed though now be its surface, retains so much of the old effect, that, though we miss the fine oak carvings, we do not forget them. The noble row of windows on each side are in a somewhat similar condition. All their exquisite tracery has disappeared, but their number, height, and size tell us what they must have been in the palmy days of Ely Place; and if we are still at a loss, there is fortunately ample evidence remaining in the ornaments which surround the upper por-

Holborn from Middle row

Church of St. Alban

tions of the windows in the interior, and divide them from each other. We scarcely remember anything more exquisite in architecture than the fairy workmanship of the delicate, pinnacle-like ornaments which rise between and overtop these windows. Of the original entrances into the chapel

one

only remains, which is quite unused, and is situated at the south-west corner of the edifice. Stepping through the doorway into a small court that encloses it, we perceive that it has been a very beautiful, deeply-receding, pointed arch, but now so greatly decayed that even the character of its ornaments is but partially discoverable. Here, too, is a piece of the wall of

one

of the original buildings of the palace--a stupendous piece of brickwork and masonry; and on looking up,

one

of the octagonal buttresses, with its conical top, which ornamented the angles of the building, is seen. Descending a flight of steps, we find a low window looking into the crypt. It is now filled with casks, and we can but just catch a glimpse of the enormous chestnut posts and girders with which the floor of the chapel is supported.

November 14th, 1668

. In London. Invited to the consecration of that excellent person, the Dean of Ripon, Dr. Wilkins, now made Bishop of Chester. It was at Ely House: the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Cosin (Bishop of Durham), the Bishops of Ely, Salisbury, Rochester, and others, officiating. Dr. Tillotson preached. Then we went to a sumptuous dinner in the hall, where were the Duke of Buckingham, Judges, Secretaries of State, Lord Keeper, Council, noblemen, and innumerable other company, who were honourers of this incomparable man, invariably beloved by all who knew him.

27th April, 1693

. My daughter Susanna was married to William Draper, Esq., in the chapel of Ely House, by Dr. Tenison, Bishop of Lincoln (since Archbishop). I gave her in portion

£ 4,000

. Her jointure is

£ 500

per annum. I pray God Almighty to give her his blessing on this marriage.

The chapel was at time leased to the National Society for a school-room, after which it remained for a while untenanted; but on the , it was opened for the service of the Established Church in the Welsh language, being the service of the kind ever attempted in London. In it was bought by the Roman Catholic Church.

An amusing incident took place in Ely Chapel on the arrival of the news of the defeat of the young Pretender by the Duke of Cumberland, in . The clerk allowed his loyalty to overcome his devotion, and struck up a lively ditty in praise of the reigning family. Cowper thought this worthy of notice in his -

So in the chapel of old Ely House,

When wandering Charles, who meant to be the third,

Had fled from William, and the news was fresh, :The simple clerk, but loyal, did announce,

And eke did roar, right merrily, two staves

Sung to the praise and glory of King George.

[extra_illustrations.2.515.1] Ely Place