19.]

OF THE

Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.

PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY.

[JULY 21, 1832.

WESTMINSTER HALL..

9 Principal Entrance to Westminster Hall.j 1236, that king assembled a crowd of poor men, woTHE ground now occupied by the Houses of Lords and men, and children, to the number of six thousand, and Commons and the surrounding buildings was the site caused them to be feasted, some in the Hali and the rest of the first palace which the kings of England had in in the other apartments of the palace. If this entertainLondon, or rather in Westminster, which was then a ment, however, was memorable for the multitude of the village entirely disjoined from London. Here the Con- guests, the next was still more so for the quantity of the fessor resided; and here also the Conqueror kept his victuals. It took place in the year 1243, on the mar court, surrounded by his Norman barons and all the riage of his Majesty's brother, Richard, Earl of Cornstern magnificence of feudal state. The first Westmin- wall; and the dishes which were set upon the festive ster Hall was erected by William Rufus, as an addition board are said to have been thirty thousand in numto this palace. It was intended to serve as the royal ber. Maitland, however, the historian of London, who banquetting-room on high festival days and other spe- seems to have investigated this matter with curious ac cial occasions of rejoicing. Rufus held his Whitsuntide curacy, although we cannot conceive how he contrived feast here in 1099, in a style of extraordinary sump- to arrive at so very precise a judgment, demurs to this tuousness and splendour. Several other entertainments account, assuring us that "if we admit the dishes to are mentioned by our old historians as having been have been each but a foot in diameter, the present Hall, given in the same place by succeeding monarchs. which is much bigger than that in the time of Henry Among these, two that were given by Henry III. III., would (exclusive of company) only contain fifteen were especially remarkable. On New-Year's Day, thousand and forty-eight of such dishes!" By way o VOL. I.

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aiding in the settlement of so grave a question, we [tion, the king, even although really absent, was still would suggest, as a mere possibility, that all the dishes may not have been presented at once; there may have been more courses than one.

Rufus' Hall, however, after it had stood for about three hundred years, showed such signs of decay that Richard II. resolved to take it down, and rebuild it almost from the foundation. This accordingly he did, and the work was completed as it now stands in 1398, the money for the purpose having been obtained by a tax, imposed on all foreigners residing in the kingdom. Besides restoring the Hall, Richard made other additions to the royal residence; so that the whole building, on its completion, obtained the name of the New Palace, to distinguish it from the more ancient edifice to the south. Old and New Palace Yards still preserve, after the lapse of between four and five centuries, the memory of Richard's improvements.

supposed to be present. But, in the first instance at least, attempts are always made in these cases, and often at considerable inconvenience, to give the fiction something of the air of a truth; and here it was thought that the pretence of the king being present in court, when he really was not, would not be felt to be so violent a falsehood, if the king, although not present, should yet be in the immediate neighbourhood. So it was arranged, as we have said, that the judges should accompany the king wherever he went, and that the court should always be held in the building which he made his residence. In course of time, however, the inconvenience of this rule was strongly felt; and in the 13th century, soon after the commencement of the reign of Henry III., it was appointed that the courts, which had up to that time always accompanied the movements of the sovereign, should, for the future, be held, during certain specified periods of the year, in the great Hall of the Palace of Westminster, whether his Majesty should be at the time residing there or not*. In this state things have continued ever since. The Palace of West minster ceased to be a royal residence in the year 1532, in the reign of Henry VIII., exactly three centuries ago; but the Courts of Chancery, of King's Bench, of Common Pleas, and of Exchequer, still hold their sittings in its venerable Hall, as they have done for upwards of five hundred years.

This thoughtless and unfortunate monarch was not destined to enjoy many days of revelry under the splendid roof which he had thus reared. He kept only one Christmas feast in his new Hall-that of the year 1398, The old Chronicles generally notice the holding of this and two other feasts in the course of the year. Matthew Paris seldom omits to mention where they were held in the years of which he records the events. The importance of such meetings was great under the feudal system; all the prelates, earls, and barons were, by their tenures, obliged, at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, The courts, however, are not now actually under to attend their sovereign at the celebration of such fes- the roof of the Hall as they used formerly to be. tivals, to deliberate on the affairs of the kingdom, and to Those of Chancery and King's Bench were held, until assist in the administration of justice. At the Christ- within the last twelve years, in the Hall, at its upper mas feast of Richard II. the festivities lasted for several end, on each side of the door leading to the houses of days, on each of which were slain and served up eighty Lords and Commons; and in times not very far back oxen and three hundred sheep, besides a countless number they were neither covered in from view nor even enclosed. of fowls, and other minor articles. The guests amounted A plate of the appearance of the Hall during term time, to ten thousand persons, and the cooks to two thousand. which was first published about a hundred years ago, Before another year he was led into the same Hall de- represents them in this state. From this plate, also, a graded and in captivity, to make a formal resignation of copy of which is given in Mr. Brayley's Londiniana, his crown, before the assembled nobles of the land, into it may be seen that the sides of the Hall used in the hands of Henry of Bolingbroke. Shakspeare has those days to be lined by shelves containing books, given us this scene, worked up so as to afford a fine ex-prints, mathematical instruments, and even articles of hibition of the character of the fallen king. It is in di- haberdashery and millinery, which were sold to purrect allusion to the magnificence in which he had been chasers, by both male and female dealers, from desks or wont to live within the very walls that now looked down stalls fixed before them on the floor below. It was in upon his changed estate, that he exclaims, on contem-fact what we should now call a sort of bazaar. Some plating his features in the mirror which he had ordered to be brought to him—

"O flattering glass,

Like to my followers in prosperity,

'Thou dost beguile me! Was this face the face
That every day under his household roof
Did keep ten thousand men ?"

booksellers, and even publishers, appear to have had no other shops than those which they kept here. These establishments, however, including even those of the seamstresses, with their "turnovers" and "ruffles," could scarcely have deformed the noble old Hall so much as the huge wooden erections which had occupied its Since this period the Coronation feasts of our English east side for several years, until they were removed kings have been commonly held in Westminster Hall.only a few months ago. Now that these incumbrances Parliaments have also occasionally sat here-and it is still the usual place for conducting such criminal trials as take place before the House of Peers. The trials of Warren Hastings and of Lord Melville are the latest instances of its having been employed for this purpose. Several persons condemned for high treason have also been executed in this Hall.

Westminster Hall, however, has been especially famous in modern times as the chief sanctuary of English justice, the place in which the supreme courts of law hold their ordinary sittings. Anciently the courts used to follow the king, and to be held wherever he happened to have his residence. It is in this way that the term, the Court, in one of its common acceptations, has come to signify the abode of the monarch. The old principle of the law was, that causes should be decided by the king in person: hence the Court of King's Bench was so called from its being distinguished by a bench, raised above the seats of the judges, on which the king took his place. Afterwards, by what lawyers call a fic

have been got rid of, the recent restoration of the grand northern entry, and the clearing away of the coffeehouses and other buildings which had been run up against it, have left little more to be done in order which it presented when it was first erected by Richard to bring back the Hall to nearly the appearance H. Its magnificent roof, especially, formed of ribs of and imposing effect, is still as entire as ever, with the chesnut so interlaced as to produce the most ornamental exception that slates have been substituted for the lead by which it was anciently covered, and the weight of elevated to the majestic height of ninety feet from the which it was thought might be injurious. This roof, floor, is two hundred and seventy feet in length by dimensions by any other in the world. There is one cirseventy-four in breadth, and is not exceeded in its cumstance which prevents the fine proportions of the Hall being seen, as they were originally conceived by the

*This was done by Magna Charta with regard to the Court of Common Pleas.

architect. The floor has been considerably raised to keep out the tide; and thus a sacrifice of beauty has been unavoidably made to utility.

The first step on the road of improvement is to choose reading lessons for the children, that shall contain plain and correct descriptions of the natural phænoIn front of the entry to Westminster Hall there stood mena of most ordinary occurrence, of the arts and in New Palace Yard, till it was pulled down about a manufactures of their own country, geographical and century ago, a lofty stone bell-tower, of the erection topographical descriptions, with little dramatic pieces, of which the following curious account is given: "A and tales that shall inculcate the value of industry, the certain poor man," says Maitland, referring to Coke's love of truth, and an honourable desire of improving Institutes as his authority, "in an action of debt, their condition. We disapprove of that plan which being fined the sum of thirteen shillings and four- makes the Bible the sole text in many charity-schools; pence, Randolphus Ingham, Chief Justice of the King's for while we think the Holy Scriptures ought to form a Bench, commiserating his case, caused the court-roll part of the school course, we believe that the exclusive to be erased, and the fine reduced to six shillings and use of them, particularly in the way in which they are eightpence; which being soon after discovered, Ingham often read, sometimes produces an effect very different was amerced in a pecuniary mulct of eight hundred from that which the benevolent supporters of the system marks; which was employed in erecting the said bell- anticipate. We are glad to learn that it is now becoming tower on the north side of the said enclosure, opposite the practice in many well-conducted schools, to question Westminster-Hall gate; in which tower was placed a the children on the meaning of what they read; to make bell and a clock, which, striking hourly, was to remind them relate in their own words the lesson they have the judges in the Hall of the fate of their brother, in gone over with the master; to give the explanation order to prevent all dirty work for the future. However, of the more difficult words; and to collect examples this fact seems to have been forgot by Catlyn, Chief of various words, which in shape and signification reJustice of the King's Bench in the reign of Queen Eliza-semble those they have met with in the lesson. beth, by his attempting the razure of a court-roll; but Southcote, his brother judge, instead of assenting to this, plainly told him that he had no inclination to build a clock-house."

ON THE MEANINGS OF WORDS.
No. I.-INTRODUCTORY.

Thus,

for instance, when the word to quicken occurs, the words to deepen, to lengthen, to sharpen, may be compared with it, from which it will be seen that these verbs respectively signify to make the thing, of which we are speaking, quick, deep, long, or sharp. When the boy meets with the word unsafe, he will be directed to compare with it such words as, untrue, uneven, unworthy; and he will readily perceive and remember that all those words have a signification exactly the reverse of safe, true, even, and worthy. It is our object to show how this kind of instruction may be extended and successfully adopted even by the most humble teacher; and for this purpose we have prepared a short series of articles in which our sole aim will be to make ourselves understood by all, without presuming to add in the slightest degree to the knowledge of the learned few.

It has often occurred to us, in considering the subject of elementary education, that a great national benefit would be effected, if any way could be contrived of teaching children the meaning of what they read. We allude more particularly to that class of children whose instruction is confined to the English language. The exact appreciation of the meanings of words is indeed not very generally acquired even by those who receive a more expensive education; but still, from the practice of learning a little Latin and Greek, or a modern language, such as French or German, they are naturally led to compare many words and modes of expression in the acquired language with corresponding terms in their own. And this practice of comparing words in different languages, even if carried only to a small extent, tends to form a habit of more carefully investigating the pre-cestors in many instances, were either misapplications of cise signification of words, and of exercising a more sound and critical judgment on all that a man reads or hears. In short, it is one of the preservatives against our being deceived by superficial instruction, or wordy sophistry, whether found in books, or proceeding from the mouth of one invested with authority.

We do not intend to say that a study of the meanings of words can be considered as a substitute for the study of things. But we think that young children, and even boys of a more advanced age, may be often led to a careful consideration of all that they hear and see, by being trained to a comparison of words one with another, and by being required to define the meanings of such as occur in their regular lessons. The youthful studies of this country are in general only a superficial study of words; and this assertion is equally true of those who can afford to learn Latin and Greek, and of those who never advance beyond their native tongue.

Our object at present is simply to improve the education of the latter class, by recommending some changes in the present modes of instruction, which may possibly lead in time to a considerable alteration in the whole system. Instead of attempting a complete change at once, it is often a more practical mode to take things as they are and to try to mend them. As words, then, and words only are the material on which most children are now employed, we will endeavour to show how the study of words may be turned to some account.

In surveying the great works of antiquity, such as the pyramids of Egypt and other ancient monuments of art, careless observers are apt to consider the works of modern times as puny and insignificant. They are under a mistake the works of the ancients, and of our an

labour and capital, or ignorance of the objects on which to employ them usefully. London has been paved, for the last fifty years, with granite brought from Scotland. If the stones and labour employed in that useful work had been applied in the erection of pyramids, would not those of London have been as stupendous as the Egyp tian? and yet we daily tread our pavement without re flecting what a work it has been to form and keep it in repair. A calculation of the number of acres in our vast metropolis, covered with pavement, and of the quantity of stone necessary for its formation and repair during the above period, would present a very curious result.

three manufactures, as Cloth, Silk, and Iron, supplying Trade and Manufactures. --Suppose a country, X, with three other countries, A, B, C, but is desirous of increasing the vent, and raising the price of cloth in favour of her

own clothiers.

In order to this she forbids the importation of foreign cloth from A.

A, in return, forbids silks from X.

Then the silk-workers complain of a decay of trade.
And X, to content them, forbids silks from B.

B, in return, forbids iron ware from X.
Then the iron-workers complain of decay.

And X forbids the importation of iron from C.
C, in return, forbids cloth from X.

What is got by all these prohibitions?

Answer. All four find their common stock of the enjoy. ments and conveniences of life diminished.

FRANKLIN.

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