London . have seen dwelt on sufliciently. To a large number of persons—the intelligent poor, who have no money to buy books, nor leisure to read them,in particular—these national memorials have a peculiar value. They are not tothem merely objects of interest as the local habitations of men and deedsalready made familiar by history ; they are visible history itself. To adduce noother example than that afforded by the subject before us, here in this very lowand dark passage, through which crowds are hurrying, some to the chambers ofthe men of law who are in this part so thickly clustered togethe
London . have seen dwelt on sufliciently. To a large number of persons—the intelligent poor, who have no money to buy books, nor leisure to read them,in particular—these national memorials have a peculiar value. They are not tothem merely objects of interest as the local habitations of men and deedsalready made familiar by history ; they are visible history itself. To adduce noother example than that afforded by the subject before us, here in this very lowand dark passage, through which crowds are hurrying, some to the chambers ofthe men of law who are in this part so thickly clustered together, some to makea shorter cut from Temple Bar to Blackfriars, and inhale the pleasant breezefrom the Temple Garden in their way—in this very passage how often may wenot see the artisan, with his basket of tools on his shoulder, pausing to gaze onsome peculiar expression that has caught his eye in one of tiie faces of the beau-tiful Norman gateway before us. and then, by a natural process, on the gate. [Kutrancc Doorway.] THE TEMlLE CHURCH. 307 itself—the church within—into which lie jiccjjs curiously ; whilst, lastly, histhoughts revert to the Knights Templars, whose church he has heard it was, andas he connects the skill, the courage, and the rank conveyed in the idea ofknights, with what he sees, the peaceful and holy temple before him, so gloriouslyadorned with all the braveries of architecture, sculpture, painting, and yet sosimple, almost austere in its general effect, he arrives, perhaps unconsciously, toa very fair notion of that extraordinary and interesting class of men. Pending the completion of the church, according to the splendid designs for itsrestoration, we shall not attempt a description of the edifice; but in the meantime let us imagine ourselves entering the interior as it was till recently, andcall up some of the historical associations in which it is so rich. The church, asno doubt most of our readers know, is divided into two portions, opening, ho
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