of the latter still remains. The exterior of the building has been sadly modernized, and the interior has been subdivided by intermediate roofs and ceilings, but still sufficient remains to recal vividly to our imaginations the days when this noble apartment was the scene of ecclesiastical hospitality, and brilliant with all the splendid paraphernalia of the Church of Rome.

The refectory stands on the south side of the church, near the end of the south transept, and is immediately connected with the beautiful eastern cloister, which, with its clustered columns and carved bosses, is now the only one which remains. Beneath the refectory is the ancient crypt, which, notwithstanding the beauty of its architecture, and its rare state of preservation, is but seldom visited, and but little known. It is of great length, with a double row of finely-proportioned aisles. At the extremity of this gloomy and vaulted crypt, is a door, which, according to tradition, opens into a subterranean passage extending to Canonbury, formerly a rural appendage of the Priors of St. Bartholomew, at Islington. Similar idle stories are not unfrequently attached to old monastic ruins, as in the cases of Malmsbury, Netley, and Glastonbury. That the door in question, however, was formerly used as a means of escape in the hour of danger, there is reason to believe. Till very recently, it opened into a cellar which extended beneath a chapel, known as St. Bartholomew's Chapel, which was destroyed by fire in 1830. This

chapel is known to have been secretly used by the Reformers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; the passage we have referred to having afforded them the ready means of escape, in the event of their being disturbed by the officers of the law.

Consequent on the accumulation of the dust of centuries, the ground which encompasses the Church of St. Bartholomew has gradually risen three or four feet, and consequently the foundations of the nave, and the entrances to the edifice, are now sunk considerably below the soil of the churchyard. As regards the eastern cloister also, to such an extent has the soil accumulated, that the spring of the arches is now level with the ground.

At the south side of the church was the great Close of the old priory, the site of which is now occupied by modern buildings, but which still bears the name of Great Bartholomew Close. The lesser Close, in which stood the Prior's stables, the kitchens, and offices, was situated at the east end of the church, and also still preserves its designation of Little Bartholomew Close. The former is especially interesting from its connexion with the fortunes of Milton. At the Restoration of Charles the Second, the prominent part which the great poet had acted during the civil troubles, as well as under the Protectorate, had rendered him a proscribed man; and, accordingly, we find him seeking a refuge in the house of a friend, in Bartholomew Close, where he remained concealed till he found himself included in the general amnesty.

Dr. Johnson thinks, and with some reason, that his escape was secretly favoured by the Government. That he was in the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms, at least for a short time, is proved by the following curious entries in the books of the House of Commons:-"Saturday, December 15th, 1660, ordered that Mr. Milton, now in custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms, attending this House, be forthwith released on paying his fees." And again, on Monday the 17th,-"A complaint made that the Sergeant-at-Arms had demanded excessive fees for the imprisonment of Mr. Milton: ordered that it be referred to the Committee for Priviliges to examine this business, and to call Mr. Milton and the Sergeant before them, and to determine what is fit to be given the Sergeant for his fees in this case." After his liberation, Milton took up his abode in Holborn, near Red Lion Fields.

In Bartholomew Close resided that classical artist, Hubert Le Sour, to whom we owe the beautiful statue of Charles the First, at Charing Cross. He had a son, Isaac, who was buried on the 29th of November, 1630, in the neighbouring church of St. Bartholomew. Here, too, Benjamin Franklin carried on his vocation of a journeyman printer for nearly a year.

The most interesting monument in St. Bartholomew's Church is that of the founder of the

Priory, Rahere. It is a fine specimen of the pointed style of architecture; representing the effigy of the founder, in his prior's dress, recum

bent beneath a canopy, with an angel kneeling at his feet, and monks praying by his side. The monument is inscribed,―

Hic jacet Raherus,

Primus Canonicus, et primus Prior hujus Ecclesiæ.

It bears no date, but from its style of architecture, it must have been erected many years after the death of the founder.

Another interesting monument in St. Bartholomew's Church is that of Sir Walter Mildmay, founder of Emanuel College, Cambridge, who acted a prominent part as a courtier and a statesman, during the reigns of Henry the Eighth, Edward the Sixth, and Queen Elizabeth. He was one of the Commissioners who was sent to Fotheringay Castle, to conduct the trial of Mary Queen of Scots, and it was to him, personally, that the unfortunate Queen addressed herself, when she pleaded her innocence of the crimes with which she was charged, and denied the right of Elizabeth to bring her to trial. The monument to Sir Henry is finely executed in marble, and is of great size; displaying a mixture of the Gothic and Classic styles of architecture, the union of which was then for the first time coming into vogue.

The circumstances which led to the foundation of the Priory of St. Bartholomew,-comprising the personal history of its founder, Rahere,—are full of interest. Rahere was a man of mean lineage; but nature had endowed him with those graceful qualities of mind and body, which make up for the

deficiences of birth. Witty and lively in his disposition, an accomplished libertine and a finished musician, he was gifted with all those arts which render their possessor welcome to the tables of the great, and which, in the days when literature was almost entirely confined to the priesthood, were a certain pass-key to the bower of the lady and the revels of her lord. His sovereign, Henry the First, delighted in his society. Rahere charmed him by his songs, and fascinated him by his wit. According to an old monkish writer," he often haunted the King's palace, and among the noiseful press of that tumultuous court, conformed himself with polity and cardinal suavity, by the which he drew to himself the hearts of many a one. There, in spectacles, in meetings, in plays, and other courtly mockeries and trifles, he led the business of the day. This-wise to the king and great men gentle and courteously known, familiar and fellowly he was.'

The story of Rahere, as regards the profligacy of his youth, and his subsequent repentance, not a little resembles that of Bouthillier de Rancé, the famous Abbot of La Trappe. De Rancé, a man of gallantry and pleasure, had formed a devoted attachment to the beautiful Duchess de Montbazon.

His

love was returned, and, to secure secrecy to their guilty meetings, the Duchess was in the

*Cottonian MS. British Museum, quoted in Knight's "London." Stow styles him "a pleasant witted gentleman, and therefore in his time called the King's minstrel."-Stow's "Survey," p. 140.