'*^ GEK. SIR wu!^ u'ik ■ ' / THE TOWER FROM WITHIN BT THE SAME AUTHOR A SOLDIER'S MEMORIES Fourth Thmsand. THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR THE STORY OF THE GUIDES, ETC. ••^•■••^■'^— "■■^iiiO:; X?^ O THE TOWER FROM WITHIN BY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR GEORGE YOUNGHUSBAND K.C.M.G., K.C.I.E., C.B. ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK THE GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY Pint Edition 2500. Septentbo , 1918. Second Edi lion \tfn. January, igiQ. PKIMTED hY WILLIAM BREKDON AND SON ITO., PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND DEDICATED BY KIND PERMISSION TO THE CONSTABLE OF THE TOWER FIELD-MARSHAL SIR EVELYN WOOD, G.C.B.. G.C.M.G., V.C. APOLOGIA IT requires some hardihood to write afresh the story of the Tower of London, whilst so many able and complete accounts are in existence. But perhaps not often before has the tale been told by one who lives within these ancient walls. The literary palate also sometimes requires a change, and those who may pass by a book ot two generations back, are perhaps tempted to take up a new presentment of the same subject ; though it be merely a case of old wine in new bottles. In the hope of thus again interesting the English speaking races in the great past, of which the Tower of London is the symbol and monument, this book is with much diffidence written. GEORGE YOUNGHUSBAND. St. Thomas' Tower, Tower of London, CONTENTS CHAPTER I THE TOWER OF LONDON ,agk The cradle of tlie British race — The oldest palace and fortress ia Europe — On the site of a Roman fortress — William the Con- queror its founder — La Tour Blanche — Julius Caesar's Tower — The moat of Richard Coeur de Lion — Area covered by the Tower — The King's Palace — Tournaments within its walls — A State prison and place of Torture — The Tower in decay — Queen Victoria and the architect Salvin — Restoration — The human history — Royal and Ducal prisoners — Home of the Knights of the Bath — Courts of Justice — The Mint — Dungeons and torture-chamber . • . , , i CHAPTER n THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN La Tour Blanche or the White Tower — The Due d'Orleans a prisoner — An illustration of his life in the Tower — Dimensions of the White Tower — The basement — Sub-crypt of St. John — Dungeon and Little Ease — A curious entrance — The main floor — Military relics — Crypt of St. John — Block and Axe — Tortures — The Banqueting Hall — Ancient arms and equip- ment — St. John's Chapel — The Council,'. Chamber — Apart- ments of the King — Historic trials — Horse armoury — Tower Green — Those executed on it — The scaffold — Distinguished spectators — An' execution described — The ravens — The Lieu- tenant's Lodgings — Gaoler warders' quarters — Lady Jane Grey and Arthur, Earl of Essex — The Bloody, Tower — Its tragic history . . . . . . . . .7 CHAPTER HI THE FORTRFSS FROM WITHIN {cOfltinUed) The Beauchamp Tower— St. Thomas' Tower— The Wakefield Tower — The Devereux Tower — The Martin Tower — Col. Blood's attempt to steal the crown from it — The Bowyer Tower—The Brick Tower— The Constable's Tower— The X THE TOWER FROM WITHIN PAGE Broad Arrow Tower — The Salt Tower — The Well Tower — The Cradle Tower — Waterloo Barracks — Middle and By^vard Towers — The Lion Tower and Menagerie — Taverns within and without — Ghosts — Anne Boleyn — Lord Lovat . 25 CHAPTER IV THE CONSTABLE OF THE TOWER First appointed by the Conqueror — One hundred and thirty-four Constables — And the Lieutenant — Pay and perquisites of the Constable — " Through pride and contempt " — Free oysters and free fishing — Cattle off London Bridge — Swans that swam below — Rushes for his carpet — Carts that fell in the ditch — Sometimes Archbishop as well as Constable — The ceremony of inducting the Constable — The Constable beats the bounds of the Tower Liberties — A procession of one thousand — A cold collation at his Grace's expense — Some distinguished Con- stables — Geoffrey de Mandeville — The Earl of Essex prefers highway robbery — The Duke of Exeter and his daughter — Sir Robert Brackenbury — The murder of the Princes — The Lieutenant's Lodgings built by Henry VHI — The Constable leaves the Tbwer-^The ■ Earl of Essex and the Knights Templar — His coffin hangs between two trees for twenty years — Thomas a Becket, Archbishop and Constable — His military career — His murder by the four knights — A saint dethroned — Other prelates who were Constables — William Longchamp — Hugh de Bigod, Earl of Norfolk — The Iron Duke — Sir John Fox Burgoyne — His sepulture — Field- Marshal Lord Napier of Magdala — Field-Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood 48 CHAPTER V THE LIEUTENANT The Lieutenant's ancient office — His pay ^20 per annum — His emoluments — " Of daynties a certayne quantitie " — Out- witted by Sir William Seymour — Perquisites abolished for fixed pay — Sir Allan Apsley's salary ;^25oo — The Lieutenant's Lodgings — Name changed to " King's House " — Now official abode of the Major and Resident Governor — The Lieutenant in Tudor and Stuart days — Sir John Brydges — Sir John Peyton — Sir George Harvey — Sir William Waad — Sir Gervase Helwyss — Sir Bevil Skelton, the last resident Lieutenant — The Lieutenant's table — And the company thereat — The Deputy-Lieutenant or Lieutenant-Governor — Lord de Ros the last — The Majors of the Towers since 1690 — The Major and Resident Governor ....... 6^ CONTENTS xi CHAPTER VI THE lieutenant's LODGINGS AND THE BELL TOWER PAGE The Lieutenant's Lodgings— Built by Henry VHI— The Bell Tower — Prisoners of distinction — The belfry — The prisoners' rooms — The Council Chamber — Tablets — The Lieutenant's table — Sir Thomas More — His execution — Story of his head — Bishop of Rochester — Old and infirm but executed — Princess Eliza- beth — Her fear at entering — The Prisoners' Walk — Released — Her second entry as Queen — Sir Thomas Wyat — Attacks the Tower — Captured and put to the rack — Hanged, drawn, and quartered — Lady Katherine Grey — Gives birth to a son in the Bell Tower — Christened over the bones of his two grand- fathers — Lady Arabella Stuart — James Duke of Monmouth — Lady Margaret Douglas — Lord Nithsdale's escape — The Scottish Lords — Lord Lovat's body exposed for hire — The last victim of the block — No shadows of the past . . 73 CHAPTER VH THE YEOMEN WARDERS Their ancient origin — The Keepers of the Gate — Incorporated with the Yeomen of the Guard — Kept the door at King George's coronation — On the spot where the Conqueror was crowned — Henry Earl of Richmond — The warder's petition to the Duke of Somerset — All pensioned sergeants of the Army — The Chief Warder — The Ceremony of the Keys — Extracts from the Warder's Order Book — John of London — A varlet at ij'' a day — The origin of the ceremony — A prisoner's uppermost garment as perquisite — The Yeoman Gaoler — Carries the axe — The sign of the axe — The Warder's toast — Ancient fees to become a Warder — The days of pur- chase — The Duke of Wellington's reform — Extracts from orders — An American officer — His joyful imprisonment — A previous American prisoner in 1683 — The historic role of the Yeomen Warders .....,, CHAPTER VIII KNIGHTS OF THE BATH Ancient connection of the Order with the Tower — Its origin — Bodily and spiritual cleansing before|knighthood — The knights and their ventures — ^The King orders a bath — The ancient ceremony — Henry IV makes forty-six knights — Their baths 93 xii THE TOWER FROM WITHIN PAGE ia the White Tower— The oath of a Knight of the Bath— The Icnight goes to bed— His night vigil— Watching his arras— In the King's train to Westminster — ^The ceremony in Henry VI's reign — Described in full — An expensive inclination — Thirteen knights as valets— The Earl Marshal takes his horse as a perqusite — " A newly wedded wife " — ^The white lace — The knight's armour — The procedure of to-day — " Rise, Sir "—£joo share towards a ball — ^^50 for a C.B. — Extension of the Order 105 CHAPTER IX THE TWO QUEENS Queen Anne Boleyn— Record of the trial— The original bag and manuscript—Her personal appearance and charm of manner — A daughter of yeoman stock — Introduced at Court — Marries the King — Three happy years — Ambassadors on the trial — The fete at Greenwich — Imprisoned in the Tower — The indictment— The preliminary enquiry — The King's royal tjody — Its inward displeasure and heaviness — The trial and sentence — To be burned or beheaded as shall please the King — Anne Boleyn's room in the Lieutenant's Lodgings — " Anne " inscribed — Her letter to the King — Found amongst Earl of Essex papers — Her trial more fully described — Her dress and demeanour — The executioner from Calais — By sword rather than by axe — ^Anne Boleyn's last days — Her dress at her execution — Last words and last deeds — Coffined in an arrow chest — Buried in St. Peter's ad Vincula— Queen Katherine Howard — The fifth wife — Honourable, clean, and maidenly — Thirteen months of marriage — The informer Lascelles — The Archbishop's letter to the King— The King's incredulity—' Enquiry ordered — Some unknightly gentlemen — Justly hanged — ^The Queen attainted by Parliament — Sentenced to death — Lady Rochford shares her fate— Otwell Johnson's account of the execution — Queen Katherine Howard buried in St. Peter's ad Vincula . . • • • • • • . 1 20 CHAPTER X THE TWO DUKE = " Between two Queens "—The Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector — Guardian of the boy King — The boy King's admiration for John Dudley— The latter's ambitions— Trial of the Duke of Somerset— The boy King's diary— The' Duke's popularity- Trial — Found guilty of felony — His execution ordered on Tower Hill — A reprieve .'' — Disappointment — His last words —Buried in St. Peter's ad Vincula— The Duke of Northumber- CONTENTS xiii PAGE land — Proclaims Lady Jane Grey Queen — Defeated near Cambridge — Lodged in the Tower — His trial for rebellion — Sentenced to death — His renunciation — The day of execution — Speech from the scaffold — Buried in St. Peter's ad Vincula", next the Duke of Somerset . . . . . • I43 CHAPTER XI THE QUEEN OF NINE DAYS Lady Jane Grey — Her dangerous relatives — Father and father-in-'^ law — Proclaimed Queen — Arrives at the Tower — Dons the robes and jewels of Sovereignty — Deposed and imprisoned in the Tower — " A place not easy to leave " — Lord Guildford Dudley her husband — The Gentleman Gaoler — A dinner party — Converse thereat — Lady Jane tried at the Guildhall — The Duke of Suffolk's insurrection seals her fate — Execution ordered — Sees her husband's liveless corpse carried by — Her own execution follows — Her fearless demeanour — Her prayers and words — " Lord, into thy hands " — Lies before the altar in St. Peter's ad Vincula . . . . . . -157 CHAPTER XH THE KNIGHT ADVENTURER Sir Walter Raleigh three times prisoner in the Tower — His first : misadventure — A maid of honour to the Queen — Marriage leads to the Tower — Queen Elizabeth much displeased — A theatrical fracas — The golden bridge to royal favour — The " Madre de Dios " — Her precious cargo — ^2,500,000 — The Queen's share — Ransom of Raleigh — The Queen dies — James I dislikes Raleigh heartily — Tried for treason — Second imprison- ment in the Tower — Eleven years in the Bloody Tower — The Balsam of Guiana — The Prince of Wales dies of it — James I baits the bears — The potato and tobacco — The second Expedition to Guiana — Failure — Return to the Tower — Tried again — Sentenced to death — Executed in Palace Yard — His head embalmed and taken by his wife .... 169 CHAPTER Xni THE UNCROWNED KING James Duke of Monmouth — His popularity and early days — Marriage and rapid rise to power — Anna Scott, Countess of Buccleugh — Makes a bid for the throne — Defeated at Sedge- moor — Captured by a militiaman — ;^5000 reward — The xiv THE TOWER FROM WITHIN PAGE Duke's rules of life — Interview with the Kiag — Sent to the Tower — King James's letter to William of Orange — Lady Henrietta Wentworth — Public execution ordered — " Man in the Iron Mask " — Gay and debonair on the scaffold — Feels the edge of the axe — His declaration — His harrowing execution — Laid beneath the altar in St. Peter's ad Vincula . . 1 8l CHAPTER XIV LIFE AND DEATH IN THE TOWER Robert Devereui, Earl of Essex — His boyhood — Attracts Queen Elizabeth — Refuses to kiss her — Early a soldier — Rapid rise — Annoys the Queen — Annoys her stiU more by marrjdng — Again in the field — Governor of Ireland — Relinquishes it — The Queen '• with her hair about her face " — Essex tried and condemned, but reprieved — Attempts to seize the Queen — ^A dash for the Tower — Besieged at Drury House — Capitulates — To the Tower as a prisoner — Tried and condemned — The Devereui Tower — Lady Nottingham and the ring — Executed on Tower Green — Buried in St. Peter's ad Vincula — The Duke of Suffolk's head — Still well preserved — The Duke of Norfolk — His many intrigues — Howard House — The letter under the mattress — Sentence and death — ^Another turbulent noble — Lord Grey de Wilton — ^Assaults Lord Southampton — Con- spiracies — ^The farce at Winchester — Death in the Tower — Lady Arabella Stuart — Her career — Escape and capture — Imprisoned in the Tower — Dies Insane — Buried in Westminster Abbey — Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex — Suspicious death in the Tower — ^Lieutenant Lodi — Sir Roger Casement . . .189 CHAPTER XV " By torture strange " — Illegal but allowed — Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth — The rack — The" Duke of Exeter's daughter " —The one-man rack — The " Scavenger's daughter " — The Gauntlets — The bilboes — The Spanish coUar — Thumbscrews — The brakes — A nameless torture — The peine forte et dure — Legal forms of torture — Father Gerard tortured — The Torture Chamber in the Tower — ' Hang thou then, till you rot " — German torture of to-day — Father Gerard's escape — Anne Askew on the rack — The Lieutenant intervenes — Burnt alive — Damport tortured by the brakes — Guy Fawkes — His trial and torture — The King's letter — " Hanged in chains " — ^A Lieutenant of the Tower executed — Abolition of Torture . 217 CONTENTS XV CHAPTER XVI THE CHAVELS IN THE TOWER PAG£ Four chapels or oratories — St. John's the Evangelist in the White Tower — ^Founded by the Conqueror — Enriched by Henry HI — Knights of the Bath and their vigil — Ancient windows — Many historic scenes — Changes of religion — Dismantled as a chapel by Charles H — ^Used as a store-house for records — Restored to public worship by Queen Victoria — St. Peter ad Vincula — The Prisoners' Chapel — Original chapel built by Henry I — Present chapel by Edward I — Improved by Henry III and Henry VIII — Its tragic history — The Committee of 1876 — How the bones of the mighty dead are disposed — Restoration under Queen Victoria — The brass tablet — The three Lords — The organ — Monuments — Communion plate — Register of Births, Deaths, and Marriages — Some noted personages — The bell — The Highland deserters — ^Their fate — Memorial windows, their need — The procession of warders — The oratory in the Wakefield Tower — Murder of Henry VI — The oratory of St. Thomas a Becket . . . . • • -233 CHAPTER XVII ANCIENT ARMS AND ARMOUR IN THE TOWER Ai-moury in the White Tower — How arranged — Horse armour and foot armour — Royal armour — Henry VIII — Charles I — The Earl of Leicester and other nobles and knights — Boy Prince's armour — A baby suit — James II — Japanese armour — Helmets — Mask helmet of Henry VIII — A shrapnel helmet — Steel skull caps — Shields — Pistol shields — Lantern shields — Spurs — With inscription — Henry VIII's walking-stick — Horse- man's hammer — Battle-axes — Swords — Daggers — Bayonets — Bows and cross-bows — Guns and rifles — Henry VIII's breech- loading gun — Charles I's " birding piece " — Flintlocks — Pistols and revolvers ......... 259 CHAPTER XVIII THE JEWEL HOUSE The regalia of old — Kings with their crowns in battle — The regalia at Westminster — Theft by a monk — Permanently placed in the Tower — The crown frequently pawned — James I's list of Jewels — Regalia broken up and destroyed by Commonwealth — Value of the crown — King Alfred's gold XTl THE TOWER FROM WITHIN wire crown — Colonel Blood steals the crown — Receives a pension of ;^500 a year — Safety of the jewels — Practically priceless in value — The King's crowns — The Queen's crowns — The Prince of Wales' crown — The Royal sceptre — Queen Elizabeth's salt cellar — The ampulla — The old horn comb — St. George's spurs — The King's champion — The jewelled sword — The most valuable in the world — Orders of knighthood — Decorations for valour — The Black Prince's ruby — Its history — The Timur ruby — The Koh-i-Nur, the Mountain of Light — Its history — The Star of Africa — Its history — The Stuart sapphire — St. Edward's sapphire — Queen Elizabeth's pearl ear- rings — The Keeper of the Regalia — His rank and privileges— His salary and emoluments — Some distinguished Keepers . 273 CHAPTER XIX THE TOWER IN TRUST Queen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington — Salvin the architect — The Victorian restoration — Sir John Taylor — Lord Redes- dale — Sir Bryan Milman — The red brick barrack — Salvin"? principles — Postern Row — Tower Green — The Bulwark Gate — The Lien Tower — Outside the Tower Liberties — A noble inheritance ......... 298 APPENDICES A. Constables ...... B. Lieutenants . . C. Deputy-Lieutenants or Lieutenant-Governors D. Majors and Major and Resident-Governor . E. Keepers of the Regalia .... F. Complete list of the Regalia 303 307 310 3" 312 313 ILLUSTRATIONS 1. The Tower of London in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Frontispiece FACING PAGE 2. William the Conqueror ....... 7 3. The Singular Execution of the Countess of Salisbury . I2 4. Henry III, the Royal Architect 33 5. Beating the Bounds of the Tower Liberties ... 51 6. Head of Sir Thomas Wyat ...... 81 7. The Yeoman Gaoler with the Axe .... 93 8. The Knight avatching his Arms in St. John's Chapel . 105 9. The Ceremony of the Knights of the Bath : — (1) The Esquire Arrives at Court ..... 106 (2) The Esquire Serving the First Course at the King's Table 106 (3) His Governors lead the Esquire into his Chamber . . 107 (4) The Esquire having his Hair " Rounded " and his Beard Shaved ^oj (5) The Esquire is put into a Bath by his Governors . .108 (6) The Esquire after the Ceremony of the Bath is put to Bed 108 (7) Preceded by Minstrels " making a noise," the Esquire proceeds to the Chapel . . . . . .109 (8) The Esquire gives Wine and Spices to those who attend him 109 (9) The Two Ancient Knights leaving the Esquire to his Vigil in the Chapel no (10) The Esquire holding the Lighted Taper during the reading of the Gospel . . . . . .110 (11) One of the Governors removes the Hood from the Esquire's Head on the Elevation of the Sacrament . in (12) The Esquire presenting to the Priest a Taper with a Penny fixed in it . . . . . . .ill (13) The Esquire riding to the King's Hall, his Sword carried hilt upwards by a " Young Gentle Squire " . 112 (14) The Marshal of England takes the Esquire's Horse as his Perquisite . . . . « . .113 xvii XVlll THE TOWER FROM WITHIN FACING PAGE (15) The King bestowing the Sword and Spurs on the Esquire ........ (16) The King embraces the new Knight . . . " . (17) The new Knight offers his Sword to God and the Holy Church (18) The Master Cook chopping off the new Knight's Spurs (19) The new Knight seated at Table like " a Wife New- Wedded " (20) The new Knight being served with Food in his own Chamber ....... (21) The Emblem of the White Lace (22) The new Knight kneels and thanks the King for the honour done him ...... (23) The two Governors taking leave of the new Knight, on completion of the Ceremonies 10. Queen Anne Boleyn ...... 11. Queen Katherine Howard ..... 12. Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, the Lord Protector 143 13. The Bulwark Gate, a.d. 1550 . . . 14. John Dudley, Duke or Northumberland 15. Lady Jane Grey on her Way to Execution . 16. James Duke of Monmouth .... 17. Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex 18. Water Lane, showing Raleigh's Walk, the Bloody Tower, the Wakefield Tower (Jewel House) on the left ; and St. Thomas' Tower, over the Traitor's Gate, on the right .......••• 273 19. The Black Prince, with the famous Ruby in his Coronet 286 20. A Prisoner's First and Last View of the Traitor's Gate . 302 112 114 114 115 115 116 116 117 117 122 136 147 151 164 181 190 DIAGRAMS Chancel o" the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, showing probable positions of Interments up to a.d. 1685 . . 238 Chancel of the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, showing the present position of Interments . . . . • 240 Chisel and Hammer with which the " Star of Africa '' Diamond was cut ...••••• 292 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN THE TOWER FROM WITHIN - I THE TOWER OF LONDON The cradle of the British race — The oldest palace and fortress in Europe — On the site of a Roman fortress — William the Con- queror its founder — La Tour Blanche — Julius Csesar's Tower — The moat of Richard Coeur de Lion — Area covered by the Tower — The King's Palace — Tournaments within its walls — A State prison and place of torture — The Tower in decay — Queen Victoria and architect Salvin — Restoration — The human history — Royal and ducal prisoners — Home of the Knights of the Bath — Courts of Justice — The Mint — Dungeons and torture-chamber. THE Tower of London is the cradle of the English race. There were Saxons and Scots, Danes and Norsemen, Celts and Cymbrians before, but when William the Conqueror, nearly nine hundred years ago, built the Tower there came into being the great nation, which has since spread its dominion over half the world. As a pillar on the roadside of centuries the Tower is more venerable than any combined palace, fortress, and State prison in Europe. It had stood sentry on the Thames three hundred years before the Doge's Palace shone on the Venetian lagoon, or the Kremlin had reared its minarets over Moscow. The hoary Vatican is a palace of youth beside the ancient Tower. Not till Henry VHI was King of England were laid the foundations of the palace of the Louvre. In the days of Queen Elizabeth the site of Versailles was still a pristine swamp ; and the 2 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN foundations of the Tuileries were but slowly growing. The Tower was already six hundred years old when the Escorial was built, and yet another century elapsed before Sans Souci stood complete. In Europe the only palace which approaches the Tower in antiquity is a portion of the Burg at Vienna ; yet even this fragment of masonry can only claim to have existed in the reign of Henry III of England. As Mecca is to the Mahomedans, so is the Tower of London to the countless millions who speak the English tongue. On the site of an old Roman fortress on the Thames a hasty fortification was first thrown up by the Con- queror, and strongly garrisoned by Normans, both to guard the approaches from the sea and to overawe his new and reluctant subjects ; but soon a permanent fortress, named the Tower of London, took its place. The architect and engineer who designed and fashioned this military work was a prelate, Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester ; for ministers of the gospel in those days were not only sometimes soldiers, but also leading lights in architecture and the building in stone. This they had learnt in erecting monasteries, and churches and cathedrals, finding by experience that stone was more durable than wood or clay. The Bishop of Rochester was in those days perhaps more famed for weeping than for valour or holiness, but as an architect his memory stands clear to this day in the White Tower. Centuries of storms have beat against it ; earthquakes have striven to shake it ; shot and shell have been hurled against it ; twice have attempts been made to blow it up ; the German high-explosive bombs have dropped around it. Yet Gundulph's masterpiece stands to-day unshaken and undismayed ; just as it stood when William the Con- queror first reigned within its halls. The massive walls are fifteen feet thick and ninety feet high ; the foundations go to unknown depths, and on the four corners stand four turrets each different from the other. When first it was built the stone from Caen was new and white, and White became its name. THE TOWER OF LONDON 3 and this appearance was maintained artificially for many centuries. It remained for a later age to discontinue this periodical and costly white-washing ; nor does it lose aught from this economy, for to the eyes of to-day old and weather-worn grey stones seem more in keeping with an ancient fortress than a new and white veneer. The White Tower stands as has been said on the site of a still older fortress built by Julius Cassar, and there was long confusion between the two. Both the Emperor and the Conqueror, with the military eye, chose the same spot, the one best calculated to serve the double problem each had to face, security by sea and land. In proof thereof a portion of the Roman wall may still be seen close to the south-east corner of the White Tower. As king succeeded king they built walls and smaller towers round the central keep, and dug a deep and broad moat. The chiefest of these royal architects was Henry III, and he it was who practically completed the fortress in the form it now stands. It was to his archi- tectural genius amongst other works that we owe the Traitors' Gate, with St. Thomas' Tower standing over it ; a span of sixty feet without a keystone. To William Longchamp, another bishop, under the orders of Richard Coeur de Lion, is attributed such finishing touches as the deepening and widening of the moat ; whilst Edv/ard I, on his return from a crusade to the Holy Land, com- pleted the outer defences. The fortress is roughly square with two lines of defen- sive walls, running round a central keep. The central keep is the White Tower, and the defensive perimetres are known as the Inner and Outer Ballium Walls. On these walls at intervals are placed small Towers as strong points and to give flank defence. How carefully this is arranged may be gathered from the ancient arrow sHts, which enabled the archers to command all approaches. Round the outer ballium wall is King Richard's broad moat. The area covered by the fortress is 12 acres and 5 rods, and the outside circumference, including the 4 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN moat, is 1206 yards. The Tower stands on a slope from Tower Elill to the river, but the appearance of the slope has partly disappeared owing to the digging of the moat, and can only be appreciated by noticing how much Tower Hill, at the site of the scaffold, dominates some of the Tower defences. This was doubtless no great disadvantage in old days when hand to hand fighting and escalade were the means employed for storming a fortress. Even when cannon were invented there was nothing strong enough to batter these sturdy old walls, for we read of a cannonade directed against it at close range which did no harm. Many centuries afterwards these baflfled cannon balls were found amidst the sHme and filth at the bottom of the moat. The Tower buildings and ramparts, and the area within the walls have gone through many vicissitudes, and many adventures. There was a time when it was a purely defensive work, for the personal protection of the sovereign and his sovereignty. A visible sign and portent of his power, much as a sceptre and orb are the more peaceful insignia of British sovereignty. For the accommodation of the king and his nobles grew up State apartments and quarters, and rough shelters under the ramparts for the soldiers. Inside also were stored ammunition and food and stores and treasure, so that it might remain the fount of supphes and money and arms and ammunition, and be capable also of withstanding a siege. As laws and lawyers were grafted on the nation, the Tower in turn became the scene of great trials such as have not been seen before or since. With laws and their penalties came prisons, and the greatest of these was the Tower. It was first, and for long, chiefly a State prison, where only the great offenders were held in bondage. But later it opened its gates much wider, and numbers of all degrees were herded in. In Queen EHzabeth's days the Tower fell from its high degree as a Royal Palace, for that sovereign had spent some early days as a prisoner therein, and felt no desire even as a sovereign to THE TOWER OF LONDON 5 reside in a spot where she had spent months in hideous suspense between Hfe and death. Deprived of royalty the Tower went down the hill rapidly, both morally and architecturally. It became little else than a prison and a torture-house ; the very name became a terror in the land. To be " committed to the Tower " was almost synonymous with death, rude death, often unjust death, tortured death. Inside the place became a hot-bed of disease, dishonesty, and extortion. Even so great a person as the Constable was nothing much removed from a licensed extortioner, on what might be termed somewhat undignified lines. His Lieutenant became little less than a hard-hearted gaoler and grasping licensed victualler, who fleeced the un- happy prisoners exorbitantly for their food, furniture, and lodging, and himself was the landlord and profiteer of taverns within the walls. A relic of one of these tavern signs hangs from the Bell Tower adjoining the Lieutenant's lodgings to this day. Where State apart- ments and Queen's gardens fell into decay, sprang up utilitarian storehouses and workshops ; every road and rampart back was blocked with mean buildings, they even grew along the river front, and almost hid from view the old ramparts. The lesser Towers and walls fell into ruin and decay, and it seemed at one time as if the old place would pass away, bit by bit, and be swallowed up by the surrounding slums, and warehouses. It was not till the reign of Queen Victoria, who employed as architect Salvin, a man of knowledge and sympathy, that definite and sustained efforts were made to restore the Tower to its former state. A very notable success was the result. The place was purged, and swept clear of rubbish and extraneous growths ; the Towers and ramparts were repaired, and where necessary rebuilt, and the whole place was reconstituted in accordance, as far as possible, with the ancient plans which were still on record. It is not, however, in stones and mortar and castellated walls alone that the Tower is the monument of England, 6 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN but equally so in its human interest. Through the great arch of the Traitor's Gate passed to their doom queens, and great nobles ; prelates, soldiers, and statesmen ; innocent and guilty alike. Queen Anne Boleyn, Queen Katherine Howard, the Lord Protector Somerset, Lady Jane Grey, John Dudley Duke of Northumberland ; James Duke of Monmouth ; the Seven Bishops. On through the deep and gloomy portals of the Bloody Tower, they passed one by one up to the Lieutenant's Lodgings. Thence a little journey to the scaffold, and then but a few more steps to their long rest beneath the flags of St. Peter ad Vincula. Not only tragedy held sway in the Tower, for here too kings feasted and held high revelry, and hence set forth for their coronation at Westminster ; here too in days of stress they stood behind rampart and moat. On the parade were held jaunts and tourneys, and here was the ancient home of the Knights of the Bath. Here too assembled the highest Courts of Judicature, before which even queens were tried. Here within the walls was the Mint for the coin of the realm, the treasure, and the regalia ; and here stood the chief armoury and -place d'armes. A State prison too with dungeons deep and dark. Under the same roof a torture-chamber, and a chapel to the Most High. In one great fortress the sovereign, and all the emblems of sovereignty. It was the heart of England. WII.I.IAM THE COMJUKKOU lUNKRR OK THE TOWER OK LONDON II THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN La Tour Blanche or the White Tower — The Due d'Orleans a prisoner — An illustration of his life in the Tower — Dimensions of the White Tower — The basement — Sub-crypt of St. John — Dungeon and Little Ease — A curious entrance — The main floor — Military relics — Crypt of St. John — Block and Axe — Tortures — The Banqueting Hall — Ancient arms and equip- ment — St. John's Chapel — The Council Chamber — Apart- ments of the king — Historic trials — Horse armoury — Tower Green — Those executed on it — The scaffold — Distinguished spectators — An execution described — The ravens — The Lieu- tenant's lodgings — Gaoler warders' quarters — Lady Jane Grey and Arthur Earl of Essex— The Bloody Tower — Its tragic history. The White Tower LA TOUR BLANCHE, as it was first named by the Normans, the White Tower of succeeding . generations and of to-day, despite centuries of -^ London smoke and the dirt and dust of ages, still, as of old, stands clear and bright in the evening sun. One of the earliest presentments of La Tour Blanche is to be found in the British Museum in a book of poems written by Charles due d'Orleans, taken prisoner by Henry V at the battle of Agincourt and held to ransom in the Tower at the handsome figure of 300,000 crowns, a sum which it took no less than twelve years to collect. The Central Tower is shown brilliantly white con- trasting with the deep stone colour of St. Thomas' Tower in the foreground and the Byward Tower to the left, and for the better furtherance of a view into the interior a large arch has been cut, by the artist, in the south face. Through this convenient aperture 7 8 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN may be observed the Duke sitting at a table writing his poems, whilst at the end of the room are grouped his guards and attendants. That there may be no mistake about the Duke he is adorned with a tippet of royal ermine, whilst the men-at-arms in the background wear white cuirasses with a large red cross, or it may be Sifieur de lys, in front. In the same picture may be observed the next episode in the adventure, the Duke looking out of a window on the west front, wearing ermine as before and gazing longingly for the messenger who is to bring his ransom from France. Still in the same picture we are glad to notice the messenger safely arrived, and the Duke embracing him outside the White Tower. A varlet is holding a golden coloured horse apparently of immense size on which the messenger has arrived, whilst two very proud black horses, each as large as St. Thomas' Tower, gaze fiercely at the river. The ransom paid, the party is depicted moving off in procession through the Byward Tower, the Duke still clinging to his ermine tippet and the messenger on the golden horse bringing up the rear, whilst the two black horses have apparently, in excess of joy, swallowed half of each other. At the top of the picture may be seen London Bridge with Westminster Abbey in the distance, and on the river below the bridge the Duke and his followers rowing off in two boats to the ship which is to carry them to France. An eagle eye even at this distance will notice the Duke's attach- ment to his ermine garment. But quaint though this old picture is, its interest is increased in that it shows the White Tower essentially as it is now, looked at from the south. It is described as " a large irregular stone building, no one side answer- ing to another, nor any of its watch towers, of which there are four at the top." The north and south faces measure now as then, Ii6 feet, and the east and west faces 96 feet ; the walls are 90 feet high, and vary in thickness from 15 feet at the base to 11 feet near the summit. The south-east turret is not square with the THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 9 building. It is particularly noticeable that none of the four turrets are alike. The windows in old days were much smaller, and were altered to their present ItaHan style in the eighteenth century. Christopher Wren has been held up to a mild obloquy for this alteration ; but a plan dated 1721 exists in H.M. Office of Works show- ing the old windows. At that date Christopher Wren was ninety-one years of age, and had long given up work. Inside the White Tower first comes the basement, formerly only to be entered from the first floor. It is divided into two large chambers, the end of the eastern chamber being walled off to form the sub-crypt of St. John's Chapel. This basement was in old fortress days probably used for the storage of food and sustenance for the garrison, and there is in the floor an ancient well with good water in unlimited quantity. Later these chambers were used for the storing of gunpowder and warlike impedimenta. The large chamber on the eastern side was the place of torture. The sub-crypt, as well perhaps as the large chambers, were used at one period as dungeons in which consider- able numbers of prisoners were herded together. An old oak door gives access to the Little Ease which lies in the thickness of the wall between the eastern chamber and the sub-crypt. It now looks merely like an archway between the two. Tlie Little Ease was a dungeon four feet by four feet, with a height of nine or ten feet, and must have been quite dark and void of all ventilation except what came under the doors on either side. Sir Thomas More was one of the best-known prisoners in the sub-crypt, and amongst many others from time to time confined in the Little Ease was Guy Fawkes. The basement throughout has been repaved except in the sub-crypt, where remains the same earth on which countless prisoners have lain. Originally, as has been mentioned, entrance to the basement could only be effected from the upper floors of the Tower, but some three centuries ago, for convenience of storage, an 10 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN entrance was knocked through the western wall, and so solid and well built is this ancient wall that no props or arched masonry have been required to hold up the roof of the passage. In the basement are now arranged specimens of breast- plates of various dates and countries, and ancient guns and mortars and the fearsome projectiles which were hurled from these. ^ The floor above the basement, known as the main floor, is one huge hall divided down the middle by a massive arched wall. At intervals throughout great upright beams help to support the weight above. Probably on this floor lived the soldiers on duty guarding the Keep. In this hall are beautifully arranged specimens of the arms used by fighting men in ancient days besides relics of more recent warriors ; the great coat on which General Wolfe lay mortally wounded at Quebec, a uni- form coat of the Duke of WeUington, Lord Wolseley's sword, Lord Roberts' revolver, and Lord Kitchener's sword. At the end of the eastern half of the great hall is the crypt of St. John, which was probably used at one time chiefly as a living room by the monks, whilst doubtless it was also used at periods as a prison. There is a small separate compartment off it which has probably been in turn a place of prayer or seclusion for the monks, and also a secure dungeon for an important prisoner. In the crypt may be seen the block and axe used last at the execution of Lord Lovat in 1747. Here also is a model of one form of rack, and samples of other weapons of torture. 2 On the next floor above is the Banqueting Hall and St. John's Chapel. This hall is of the same shape and design as that below, and was probably used not only for banquets, as we understand them, but was the daily dining-place of the upper grades of officers and oflicials who lived about the Court and King. In this hall are now displayed interesting specimens of ancient arms * For further details see p. 259. * See p. 217. THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN ii and equipment, amongst which is a most valuable sword presented by the Mikado of Japan to Lord Kitchener. The blade, five hundred years old, is of the finest steel and temper and of great historic and intrinsic value. It is stated that it had never been cleaned or sharpened for two hundred years, but only wiped occa- sionally and carefully with a silk handkerchief. St. John's Chapel, the place of devotion of the Norman kings and their successors, which is on this floor, is dealt with in detail later. ^ On the top floor of the White Tower is the Council Chamber, at present one large hall, as are those below, divided down the middle. This in early days was probably portioned off into the personal living apart- ments of the king and his consort, and the hall in which they and high officers about the Court took their meals. In the Council Chamber were held such great and historic trials as that of Queen Anne Boleyn. In the Council Chamber is now displayed a wonderful collection of armour, both of the knights themselves and their chargers. At one end of the room may be seen the colossal figure of Henry VIII, he and his horse in complete armour. At his left hand stands a giant in armour, 6 ft. lo in. in height, the armour weighing 66 lb. Near by are knights on horseback fully equipped in different patterns of armour and of different periods both as regards man and beast. Both the class of horse and the weapons used as here displayed are of special interest to the cavalry soldier. Richly inlaid suits of armour may be seen belonging to boy princes and one to a mere child. In this chamber too are exhibited such interesting items as a breech-loading gun belonging to Henry VIII, a shield through which points a breech- loading pistol, and another shield with a lantern throw- ing a bright fight forward and at the same throwing the holder into deeper shade, the two latter taken from the Spanish Armada 1588.^ It will be noticed that whenever possible stairs in the I See p. 233. - For a fuller description of the Armoury see p. 259. 12 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Tower are spiral with a right-hand turn all the way up This gives great advantage to the defender who might be driven up step by step ; for he would fight with his right hand free, whilst the assailant had only his left hand free. Tower Green and the Scaffold On this Green, close to the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, is the site of the block " within the Tower." Here only the privileged few were executed, whilst the majority of executions took place outside in full publicity on Tower Hill, on a site now paved and railed in, and included in Trinity Garden. According to ancient prints the people of London exercised their privilege to the full, and grand-stands, such as we see at the Derby or at Ascot, were packed with spectators, whilst thousands stood around. Inside in the comparative seclusion of the Tower only six executions are known to have taken place, and these on the spot where the site of the block is marked. These were Queen Anne Boleyn, the Countess of Salisbury,^ Queen Katherine Howard, Viscountess Rochford, Lady Jane Grey, and Devereux Earl of Essex, in the order named. No women are recorded as having been beheaded outside on Tower Hill, which accounts perhaps for the presence of Lady Rochford in such dis- tinguished company. The Countess of Salisbury was a Plantagenet of royal blood. The Earl of Essex was granted this favour by his good friend Queen Elizabeth. The scaffold on the Green is only a few yards distant from the Lieutenant's Lodgings and the Bloody Tower, whilst on the right hand stands the White Tower, and on the left the Beauchamp Tower and the Yeoman Gaoler's quarters. From the windows of all these could the curious gaze on the painful scene. Still is pointed out the window from which Lady Jane Grey saw the lifeless body of her husband carried back from ^ The Countess of Salisbury, though 71 years of age, somewhat up et the usual decorum on such occasions by refusing to submit to the axe. She was pursued and hewn down by the executioner on the scaffold. Siirj^-5j!.'irj'.X'"'-u1Joo niClJii't'niinU'SS of ,S;iii.Nl)Jjrv in i,*.|i. 4 j {Froin the British Miisciiin] THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 13 execution on Tower Hill, before she in her turn faced the ordeal on the Green. From a window in the White Tower Sir Thomas Wyat saw the same sad lady meet her end ; whilst perchance from this sam.e window Sir Walter Raleigh gazed on the death scene of his enemy the Earl of Essex. The scaflold was a temporary erection usually about five feet high, so as to be in full view of those who stood around, and was removed after each execution. It was made of rough planks with a railing round draped in black, and was littered with straw. Some wooden steps gave access at one end. On the scaf old was the block, and by it a basket half filled with sawdust into which the head was to drop. The executioner, generally dressed in some tight- fitting black costume, and with a mask to disguise his features, stood at one side leaning on his axe, whilst an assistant stood opposite. On to the scafTold, besides the priest, two or three near friends were generally allowed to accompany the doomed person. It was open to the Sheriffs or others responsible for the execution to have the prisoner bound, but in all historical cases, except that of the Countess of Salisbury, there was no necessity for this procedure, the prisoner being perfectly resigned and obeying at once any instructions given. In many cases the signal for the descent of the axe was given by the prisoner, either by stretching out his hands or other- wise. A handkerchief was usually bound over the eyes, though this too was omitted, at their own request, by some who had to suffer. After the execution this hand- kerchief was at once torn off by the executioner, and the head held up for all to see, generally with the words " Behold the head of a traitor." A skilled executioner with a sharp axe would perform his duty with one blow, in which case death must have been instantaneous, and practically painless. Some- times, however, from nervousness, or want of skill, the blows had to be repeated, causing undoubted anguish, as in the case of the Duke of Monmouth. ^ After the '■ See p. 187. 14 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN execution the body and head weie usually placed in one chest, and buried hurriedly in St. Peter's ad Vincula. These graves were sometimes only two feet deep. The heads of " traitors " so called were, however, not un- commonly placed on the spikes of the gate on London Bridge as a warning to all ; but those executed on the Green seem to have escaped this indignity. Round and about the site of the ancient scaffold, or sitting silent on a bench near by, may be seen the historic lavens of the Tower. No doubt when forests grew close up to the moat the turrets of the old Tower made an ideal place in which ravens could build their nests, and rear future generations of Tower ravens. But as the city grew around and the forests receded, and with them fields for forage, the ravens would no longer nest or breed in their old haunts. They have therefore since then from time to time had to be replaced by new blood from outside. The present birds were given to the Tower by Lord Dunraven, and one of them is now of considerable age. It would be of historic interest if those whose ancestors have suffered at the Tower would send from their homes successors to the old ravens, as they die off, and thus maintain a very old tradition in a manner well in keeping. To the south of the Green are the Lieutenant's Lodgings of historic fame, about which a whole history might be written, and which is dealt with more in detail later.^ The Yeoman Gaoler's quarters, which are on Tower Green nearly facing the block, have also many historic associations, for here were often imprisoned those for whom accommodation could not be found in the Lieutenant's Lodgings. Of these the most celebrated was Lady Jane Grey,^ and amongst others of note are Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex, in 1683.^ He is said to have occupied the room to the left of the doorway as you 1 See^p. ;.3. " See p. 157. 3 See p. 214. THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 15 enter, whilst Lady Jane Grey very probably had a room on the first floor. On the south side of Tower Green is the entrance to the Bloody Tower. The Bloody Tower^ This Tower of ill omen is chiefly connected in the minds of all with the murder of the young Princes, so long ago as 1483. These were the boy king, Edward V, twelve years old, and his Httle brother Richard Duke of York, their murder being ascribed to Richard of Glou- cester, their uncle. The circanstances connected with this pathetic tragedy are suspicious enough, and one arraigned on existing evidence whose name was already connected with the murder of Henry VI, and the death of George Duke of Clarence, whose uncontested path to the throne lay over the dead bodies of these two boys, would have a meagre chance of acquittal before a modern jury. The Princes had, with due pomp and circumstance, but to the prophetic dread of their mother, been conducted to the Tower, the elder brother for his coronation, and the younger to bear him company. Sir Robert Brackenbury was Constable of the Tower, and to him as he was at his prayers in St. John's Chapel came one John Green, a messenger from Richard, with a letter. This letter contained instructions for the murder of the Princes, but the Constable turned in anger on the messenger, and swore he would have no hand in " so mean and bestial a deed." But Richard was not to be turned from his purpose, and selecting a more wilHng agent sent Sir James Tyrrel, with orders that the Constable was to hand over to him the keys of the Tower for one night. The Constable suspecting foul play reluctantly obeyed. In the dead of that August night Tyrrel's three bloodhounds, WiUiam Slaughter, a warder. Miles Forest, a professional assassin, 1 It is not certain whether the name originated with the murder of the young Princes, or was acquired through the succession of tragedies enacted within its walls. i6 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN and John Dighton, ruffian and horse-keeper, crept in through the western entrance along the narrow passage to the Princes' chamber. There together in one bed they lay peacefully asleep. One man carried a shaded light whilst the other two crept silently on to their quarry. One boy woke and raised a cry and was smothered with a pillow, whilst the other was stabbed to death with a dagger. Sir James Tyrrel, satisfying himself that the work had been well done, ordered the bodies to be buried, and himself hastened oft to Warwick to give the good tidings to Richard. The assassins took thv. bodies down and through a subway to the Wakefield Tower, and there buried them lightly in the basement. When Sir Robert Brackenbury next day took over his duties again he made enquiries, and being told of this hasty burial ordered the bodies to be removed and buried by the priest secretly. This he did under the stairs leading up to the White Tower on the south side and close to the Wakefield Tower. The place of burial was known to Sir Robert Brackenbury, but he told no one, and being himself killed at the battle of Bosworth, the secret was long kept. It was not till two centuries later, in the reign of Charles II, that in the course of some alterations the bones of the young Princes were found in the spot indicated, and were by him ordered to be buried in Westminster Abbey. The reader will be consoled to learn that tardy fate eventually overtook Sir James Tyrrel, and that nineteen years later he was executed on Tower Hill, though not for this crime. The murder of the Princes was the first great tragedy in this building, but it was followed by many others. Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, the martyrs of Queen Mary's reign, were imprisoned in one room in the Bloody Tower, and thence daily found their way along the terrace, known later as Raleigh's Walk, to dine at the Lieutenant's table in the Lieutenant's Lodgings. This official in those days had, it may be remembered, THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 17 the contract for the feed and maintenance of prisoners of distinction ; and as touching the Bishops the records show that the allowance per week for feeding Ridley, Bishop of London, was ^i 13s., whilst 6s. 8d. was allowed him for fire and lighting, and los. for his attendants. Those were indeed evil days for a prelate of either church, for it might blow hot or cold for each in turn, with the change of sovereigns. It was, for instance, the same Archbishop Cranmer who was head of the Church in the days of Henry VIII, and apparently much in his matrimonial confidence, who two reigns later walked to the stake at Oxford. Not indeed because he himself was different, but because change of sovereigns had turned a pillar of the Church into a heretic. Latimer and Ridley, leaving their prison in the Bloody Tower, shared the Archbishop's fate ; for at Oxford may be seen the statues of these three Bishops erected on the spot where they suffered at the stake. Another prelate, John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, was a prisoner for two years in the Bloody Tower, 1570-72, in connection with the Ridolfi Plot, but escaping the scaffold and the fiery ordeal, was banished to France. The death of Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, in the Bloody Tower had the same elements of tragedy as that of the young Princes, and the circumstances were suspiciously alike. This was in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The Earl of Northumberland and Sir Walter Raleigh were friends and fellow-prisoners on the same account, high treason, with Mary Queen of Scots some- where in the background. The Earl had not been brought to trial, but after a year of not too irksome imprisonment came to him the midnight assassin. During the day of Sunday, June 21st, 1585, his three personal servants were removed and placed under arrest on some trumped-up charge by Sir Christopher Hatton, the Lord Keeper, and in their place was sent one Thomas Bailiff to wait upon his lordship. In the middle of that same night the said Bailiff raised the hue and cry, and when the watch hurried to him declared that the Earl had committed 1 8 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN suicide. Sir Owen Hopton, the Lieutenant, was hastily summoned, and found the Earl lying in bed with the bed-clothes drawn up over him in orderly fashion. PulHng them down he found the bed soaked with blood, which had flown from dagger thrusts in the left breast. The Lieutenant immediately went off to report the occurrence, and on his return noticed a pistol lying on the ground which had not been there before. Bailiff" at once volunteered the suggestion that the Earl had first shot himself and then thrown the pistol away. This seemed to Sir Owen Hopton an extraordinary state- ment considering that he had seen the dagger marks himself, nor would he beheve that a dying man would so carefully arrange his bed-clothes over him. These views he apparently gave in his evidence, but this was suppressed and the official announcement made with the aid of a servile coroner's inquest was, that the Earl had died by his own hand. The reason given being that not only had his heart failed him at the thought of the axe, but that suicide saved his estates from the confiscation which was part of the punishment that accompanied execution for high treason. The exact words ascribed to him were " The B [meaning Her Gracious Majesty Queen Elizabeth] shall not have my estates." The tale was little believed at the time, and popular opinion, though muttered with baited breath, was that another political murder had added to the sinister reputation of the Bloody Tower. Of Sir Walter Raleigh and his long imprisonment in the Bloody Tower a fuller account has been reserved for the chapter which describes the career of that historic knight.^ As time went on and civilization progressed so did the art of murder. The old brute days of the dagger gave place to the subtler poison of the Renaissance. To cover up and do away with the traces of murders such as those of the young Princes, and the Earl of Northumber- land, became increasingly difficult ; but Italy had found ' See p 169, THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 19 a new and safer way, and thence it came to the Bloody Tower. Sir Thomas Overbury, who was the first victim to this stride in civihzation, was passed out of the Bloody Tower and through the portals of out and beyond by a woman, whose patron saint might well have been Lucretia Borgia. Sir Thomas was an Englishman of strong sentiments in certain directions, and as such was much opposed to the marriage of his friend Robert Carr^ with Lady Frances Howard, who was married to the Earl of Essex, but was then Hving apart from her husband. Lady Essex was, historically speaking, a distinctly unchaste lady, with manifestly criminal instincts. She took strong and vigorous objection to this interference with her passions and ambitions, and resolved hke an even more celebrated lady to demand " the head of John the Baptist on a charger." Sir Thomas Overbury was the John of this tragedy. Thereupon commenced the famihar procedure. Sir Thomas, at the instigation of the Countess, was com- mitted to the Tower, on the sufficiently vague charge that he was acting contrary to the orders of his Sovereign Lord the King. Parenthetically anyone who disobeys a pohce notice may be held to commit the same crime. Safely in the Tower it was necessary to remove there- from all unwilhng tools ; consequently Sir William Waad,2 the Lieutenant, was induced, on a consideration of ^2,000,3 to retire, and his place was taken by Sir Gervase Helvyy^ss, who was bound by many ties of gratitude to the interested parties, and might so far be rehed upon as to refrain from putting inconvenient restrictions on the execution of further plans. Con- tinuing on established fines the Warder in charge of the Bloody Tower was transferred elsewhere, and in his place was appointed Richard Weston, on the recom- mendation of Robert Carr. Weston was an exceedingly bad character ; by trade a tailor, but open to any "■ Later Earl of Somerset. ^ See p. 68. ' Two payments of ;^i,400 and £600 made ostensibly by his successor. 20 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN lucrative undertaking. With him outside the Tower were associated Lobel a French chemist, Franklin a chemist on Tower Hill, and a Mrs. Turner who kept a brothel, or as it was then euphoniously called, a dis- pensary for love-philtres. To these were added a skilled foreign poisoner named Mayerne, whose English assistant was one Reeve. During the tentative, and it must be acknowledged not very skilled efforts of this gang, Sir Thomas Over- bury was kept strictly secluded from his friends. Even his doctor was committed to the Fleet for making an attempt to see him professionally. As the delectable Mrs. Turner afterwards confessed. Sir Thomas Over- bury was, according to their amateur calculation, induced to swallow enough poison to kill twenty ordinary men. But he was of tough constitution and stomach, and it took much to put him in his grave. In one of the early attempts to poison his wine. Sir Gervase Helw}^ss to his credit intervened, and threw the cup away. But Sir Gervase was not intended to intervene, and probably received a strong hint to remain in his quarters. The gang poisoned the victim's food, they poisoned his wine ; they mixed arsenic with his salt, and added cantharides to his pepper. But though ill, still he lived. Then they tried lunar caustic with his pork, whilst aqua- fortis, mercury, powdered diamonds, and ground spiders were judiciously mixed with other articles of food. But still he lived. Finally on the night of September I4th-I5th, 1 613, they appHed a clyster, and that finished the poor gentleman, for next morning he died in great agony. The real murderess, however, was Lady Frances Howard, Countess of Essex, as assuredly as was Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, on a previous well-known occasion. Sir Thomas Overbury, thus painfully disposed of, was hastily and secretly buried beneath the flags in St. Peter's ad Vincula. But vengeance is the Lord's and mightily He repaid it ! Three years later who do we see approaching the THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 21 Bloody Tower, this time as prisoners, but that same criminal couple, Robert Carr and Lady Essex, now Earl and Countess of Somerset. The Lieutenant hands them up the steps, and with every courtesy points out the very room in the Bloody Tower where Sir Thomas Overbury was murdered, as the future abode of his murderess. The Countess wellnigh had a lit and was so stricken with terror that she shrieked, " Put me not in there, his ghost will haunt me," and refused to enter so fateful a place. The Lieutenant, who was a kind man, gave way, and put her in the Garden House, Raleigh's old laboratory ; the Earl, however, he insisted should take up his abode in the dreaded chamber. Perhaps the more bloodthirsty would wish to hear that the Earl and Countess of Somerset were both eventually hanged, drawn, and quartered ; but the Almighty, who knows best, had reserved for them a fate worse than a swift passage through the portals. After many years of imprisonment in the Tower, where mutual loathing and horror had grown up between them, fate sent them together shorn of their estates, their position, their power, of all that made life worth having, to live together a hell on earth, where each was the other's hell. To Napoleon, it is said, St. Helena was worse than death ; the little house in seclusion where the Somersets ended their days was their St. Helena. Sir Gervase Helwyss, though a minor agent in the crime, was tried, sentenced, and hanged in chains, in full view of the Tower. Mrs. Turner, using, we are told, most unlady-like language, was hanged at Tyburn, as were Weston and Franklin. Amongst Members of Parliament who have been too free of speech to please their Sovereign, was Sir John Eliot, who was by Charles I twice imprisoned in the Bloody Tower for this offence. There he occupied the same cell in which Sir Thomas Overbury had died. On the occasion of his second offence he was fined ^^2,000, a very considerable sum in those days, and ordered to be kept at the Tower during His Majesty's pleasure. Here 22 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN during this enforced leisure he wrote three books^ and many letters. He died of consumption, accentuated by the cold of his cell, four years later in 1632, and was buried in St. Peter's ad Vincula. Another successor to Sir Thomas Overbury's cell in the Bloody Tower v/as the redoubtable John Felton,- a soldier of fortune, who in the spirit of the primitive crusader had murdered " Steenie," Duke of Buckingham, because he thought him a bad man and the world the better without him. As is mentioned elsewhere^ it was Felton's sturdy independence which abolished the rack and other tortures from the Tower. Though he escaped the rack he was tried for murder, sentenced to death, and executed at Tyburn. Flis body was then placed in an iron cage, taken to Portsmouth, the scene of the crime, and there suspended tiU it had rotted away. The Bloody Tower in 1641 received yet another Archbishop as a prisoner.* This was Archbishop Laud who was arrested by the Commons at Lambeth Palace, in the face of Charles I, and sent by water to the Traitor's Gate. His crime was, what seemed to the Puritans, a leaning towards Popery, the savage cry which had sent many a good man and woman to the stake. After three years' imprisonment in the Bloody Tower, during which the Archbishop wrote much, he was tried in West- minster Hall. He was found guilty of " attempting to subvert Rehgion and the fundamental laws of the Realm " and sentenced to death. His execution took place on Tower Hill, January loth, 1644, whilst a loud and hostile crowd surrounded the scaffold. The body and head were immediately conveyed to the Church of All Hallows, Barking, which lies within a stone's throw of the scaifold and there remained till after the Restoration. In July, 1663, Archbishop Laud's coffin was disinterred and removed to St. John's College, ^ Jure Magistratis, Apology for Socrates, and The Monarchy of Men. * See p. 231. ' See p. 232. * Williams, Archbishop of York, was also a prisoner in another part of the Tower at the same time. THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 23 Oxford, a college he had founded, and where his remains still rest. But the Bloody Tower is celebrated not only for its tragedies, for two great inventions were made here. It was Sir Walter Raleigh who, during his imprisonment, discovered the principle of distilling fresh water from salt water; and though the secret died with him it came to life again in a later age. It need hardly be added that this discovery has been of countless value, not only to those who go down to the sea in ships, but in many an arid spot like Aden, where life without a good supply of water would be hard indeed. The other inventor was Edward Somerset, Marquis of Worcester and Earl of Glamorgan, who whilst a prisoner of war in 1652 discovered from the boiling of a kettle in the Bloody Tower the principle of the steam engine, which George Stephenson in a later age turned to so great account. The Devil gets his due, on some occasions, and so did Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys when, on December 12th, 1688, he entered the Bloody Tower as a State prisoner. Soon after the flight of James II, Jacobite prisoners began to flow into the Tower, and at the head of these was the Unjust Judge. So incensed were the populace against him of the Bloody Assize that the city trained bands, now the celebrated regiment known as " The Buffs," had to turn out and guard his conveyance as he was conducted to the Tower. And a sorry spectacle he made for a Lord Chief Justice. He had tried to escape by sea, and hunted from one vessel to another, had shaved off his eyebrows, and was covered with coal-dust. Thinking he had eluded the search parties, he went ashore to the Red Cow Inn in Anchor and Hope Alley, and was drinking a tankard of ale, when one who had faced him in Court as a prisoner recognized the never- to-be-forgotten features. To the Guildhall they hurried him, and the warrant signed the city trained bands pushed him through the hostile crowd to the Tower. He was only forty-two years old, but sodden with drink 24 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN and vice — a decayed vessel. Brandy, the craven spirit, and the diseases likely to spring therefrom killed him in three months ; a human being who was a pollution even to a building with the name and history of the Bloody Tower. The nearest burial-ground was St. Peter's ad Vincula, and there with mistaken perspective the Lord Chief Justice was laid in the holiest of holies, next to the bones of James, Duke of Monmouth, and within a few feet of those of Queen Anne Boleyn and Queen Katherine Howard. Four years later, however, the decency of his relatives removed him to the less ambitious surroundings of St. Mary, Aldermanbury, where his cofhn, inscribed " Lord Chancellor Jeffreys," was seen as late as 1810. The Bloody Tower stands over the main entrance to the inner defences and, unlike most of the Towers, is square and had probably a basement and two storeys. For long after its tragic period it was used as Warders' quarters, but is now again in process of being rearranged as it used to be in ancient days and is open to visitors. Outside this Tower, in the south-east corner of Tower Green, was the Lieutenant's Garden in which privileged prisoners were allowed to take exercise. The whole of Tower Green and the Lieutenant's Garden are now paved over with cobble stones. From the Bloody Tower falls the great portcullis, still in working order, which closes the main entrance to the inner defences. Ill THE FORTRESS FROM WlTHm—(co7ttinued) The Beauchamp Tower — St. Thomas' Tower — The Wakefield Tower — The Devereux Tower — The Martin Tower — Col. Blood's attempt to steal the crown from it — The Bowyer Tower — The Brick Tower — The Constable's Tower — The Broad Arrow Tower — The Salt Tower — The Well Tower — The Cradle Tower — Waterloo Barracks — Middle and Byward Towers — The Lion Tower and Menagerie — Taverns within and without — Ghosts — Anne Boleyn — Lord Lovat The Beauchamp Tower ON the west side of Tower Green and facing the site of the block is the Beauchamp Tower, which in human interest remains one of the most enthraUing in the Tower. For though its history is not quite so tragic as that of the Bloody Tower, it has harboured as many, perhaps even more, prisoners of distinction. It was thus named after Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who was here imprisoned as far back as 1397, and the walls are rich with ancient inscriptions. Many, probably the majority of these, rightly belong to this Tower, but others were removed from more exposed places within the fortress and let into these walls for better protection and pre- servation. The Beauchamp Tower is built on the same pattern as most of the other minor towers ; that is more or less semi-circular in design, with a basement and two storeys. Most of the ancient inscriptions have been collected on the walls of the first floor, which at one time served as an officers' mess for the battalion of the Guards stationed at the Tower. There are in all 25 26 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN ninety-one inscriptions on the walls, some very beauti- fully engraved, and all of pathetic interest. Perhaps the two most celebrated of the prisoners in this Tower through many centuries were the great rivals, the Duke of Somerset^ and the Duke of Northum- berland,^ who have left no inscriptions. Indeed this matter of inscriptions often doubtless depended on fellow-prisoners, or servants who had the art. A Princess or a Duke, who could perhaps only with difh- culty write a letter, are not likely, even during the tediousness of imprisonment, to have become skilled engravers in stone. As bearing this out it may be noted that almost exactly the same words are engraved by T. Miagh in the Beauchamp Tower as are engraved in the Bell Tower where T. Miagh was not, as far as can be gathered, ever imprisoned. Thus in the Bell Tower we have " Bi tortyre straynge my troyth was tried, yet of my liberty denied," and in the Beauchamp Tower : " By tortyre straynge mi troyth was tryed yet of my libertie denied 1581 Thomas Myagh," which leads to the suggestion that both inscriptions were made by one hand, or possibly the spelling being sHghtly different, the one copied by memory from the other. But done how they were the inscriptions are each and all without doubt contemporaneous, and record the presence of actual prisoners. There is a very full and interesting account of all the inscriptions in this Tower^ which can be dbtained from the Warder on duty, but it may be well to give here a few of the best, or the most interesting. Above the fireplace in the upper chamber we see a Latin inscription which may be translated : " The more suffering for Christ in this world the more glory with Christ in the next. Thou hast crowned ^ See p. 143. 2 Seep. 151. 2 Short Sketch of the Beauchamp Tower, by W^ R. Dick. THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 27 Him with honour and glory, O Lord ! In memory ever- lasting He will be just.' ARUNDELL June 22nd, 1587," In another part of the room is another inscription by the same hand which reads : " It is a reproach to be bound in the cause of sin ; but to sustain the bonds of prison for the sake of Christ, is the greatest glory. ARUNDEL 26th May, 1587." It may be noticed that only one final " L " is used, instead of two, as in the other inscription. This was Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, son of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, who had himself been beheaded fourteen years before, for aspiring to the hand of Mary Queen of Scots. Philip Howard's trouble, however, was not matrimonial but religious ; religion of the fanatical type, which led an otherwise harmless nobleman into dynastic intrigues whilst so autocratic a sovereign as Queen Elizabeth was on the throne. He escaped the block, but died a prisoner in the Tower. ^ On the right of the same fireplace we find an elaborate design with the Dudley crest, a lion, and a bear and ragged staff, in the centre, and beneath it on a scroll " John Dudley." This appertains to John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, eldest son of John Dudley, Duke of Northum- berland. He and his four brothers, Ambrose, Robert,^ Guildford, and Henry, were all here incarcerated. The Earl of Warwick was sentenced to death for treason, but reprieved, and died in the Tower October 21st, 1554. Of Guildford Dudley there is no separate inscription, but the word " JANE " is, according to tradition, his handiwork. His wife. Lady Jane Grey, it will be remem- bered, was at the same time a prisoner in the Gentleman Gaoler's quarters, within a few yards of the Beauchamp Tower. Those were days when little lightness of conduct was ^ See p. 252. ^ xA.fterwards released and later created Earl of Leicester by Queen Elizabeth. 28 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN allowed, matrimonial or otherwise, where Her Majesty was concerned ; thus amongst other prisoners may be found " Ro. Bainbridge," who above his name has depicted himself kneeling in an attitude of prayer. His offence was that he had made remarks in the House of Commons displeasing to Queen Elizabeth. The more cynical might to-day remark, " O for the days of Queen Elizabeth!" On the left-hand side of the second recess is an inscrip- tion thus translated : " Grief is overcome by patience G. GYFFORD Avgvst S^^ 1586" This was probably a pensioner of Queen Elizabeth. His brother, who was involved in the Babington con- spiracy, being a prisoner at the same time. G. Gyfford also left another well-carved memorial of more ambitious design on these walls. It depicts a closed hand holding what may be a bouquet. Beneath is a shield on which are ten torteaux placed in rows of four, three, two, and one. On each side of the shield is the letter " G " ; and beneath the date 1586. The inscription translated reads : " An evil conscience makes men fear even security G. GYFFORd » There are several inscriptions by " Charles Bailly," who was evidently fond of the work and did it exceed- ingly well. He was Flemish by birth, but whilst engaged as a courier, in the interests, it was said, of Mary Queen of Scots, was intercepted with his despatches, and com- mitted to the Tower. There, in the intervals of being racked, he engraved the walls of his prison with many words. His best and most apfibitious effort is to be found on the left of one of the recesses. It is beautifully engraved in tablet form, and is partly in Latin and partly in Enghsh. Translated it reads : " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." " I.H.S. X.P.S." " Be ennemye to none." " Be frend to one." " Anno. THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 29 D. 1 5 71 10 Sept." " The most vnhapy man in the world is he that is not pacient in adversities ; For men are not killed with the adversities they have bvt with ye im- pacience which they svffer." " All who comes to attend." " The sighs are the true testimonies of my anguish " " Act 29^11 Charles Bailly." " Hope to the end, and have pacience." The family of de la Pole, or Poole as they engrave their name, had at least three representatives amongst the prisoners of the Beauchamp Tower, Geffry, Edmund, and Arthur. They were descendants of George, Duke of Clarence, of malmesey butt remembrance, and were thus of the blood royal. Having been, one and the other, mixed up with dynastic intrigues, they were com- mitted to the Tower, and all three died there. They did not indulge in long inscriptions, generally only their names and dates. Arthur, however, has two short inscriptions. The one is : " A. Poole 1564 I.H.S. To serve God — to endure penance — to obey fate — is to reign." And the other : " I.H.S. A passage perillus makethe a port pleasant. Ao. 1568 Arthur Poole At. sue 37 A.P." Outside one of the window-jambs is a mysterious inscription which reads " To whom you tell the secret, is at liberty. Richard Blovnt 9 July A. 1553." No prisoner of that name can be traced, but Sir Richard Blount was Lieutenant of the Tower at this date, and possibly these words contained either a warning, or an invitation, to the prisoners within. The Pilgrimage of Grace furnished many prisoners, for in the upper room of the Beauchamp Tower were herded together nine principal persons. The Abbots of Rievaulx, Fountains and Jervaulx ; the Prior of Bridling- ton ; Sir Ingram Percy and Sir Thomas Percy, sons of the 5th Earl of Northumberland ; Sir William Bulmer, Sir John Bulmer, and Sir Ralph Bulmer. The Abbot of Jervaulx left just his name inscribed " Adam Sedbar, Abbas Jorevalle." He was executed at Tyburn June, 1537. Sir Ingram Percy also left a few words on the 30 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN wall: " Wm be faithful INGRAM PERCY 1537." Sir Thomas Percy was executed at Tyburn the same year ; but Sir Ingram was reprieved and died the follow- ing year. The Bulmers have left only one inscription — " RAVLEF BVLMAR 1537." Sir Ralph was released after a short imprisonment. His father, Sir John, was hanged at Tyburn with Sir Thomas Percy ; but Sir William Bulmer was released and eventually pardoned. Of the prelates the Abbots of Jervaulx and Fountains were tried and hanged at Tyburn with the others. Dr. Thomas Abel, who was domestic chaplain to Queen Katherine of Aragon, has left rather a curious memento. Above is engraved ^' THOMAS," and below this is represented a large bell with a capital " A " on its side ; which pictorial acrostic is easily enough deciphered when one knows the doctor's name, but for long puzzled seekers after knowledge. This worthy priest went the way of all flesh that opposed itself to Henry VIII's progressive matrimonial projects ; the end thereof being Tower Hill or Tyburn. Both William Rame and Thomas Clarke were evidently skilled in the art of engraving on stone, for both have left beautifully carved inscriptions. Nothing is known of William Rame, and there is no mention of him in the Council records. His inscription, which is in English, reads : " Better it is to be in the howse of mornyng than in the howse of banketing : the harte of the wyse is in the morning howse : it is better to have some chastening then to have over moche liberte. Tere is a tyme for all things, a tyme to be borne and a tyme to dye : ande the daye of deathe is better then the daye of berthe : there is an ende of all things, and the ende of a thing is better then the begenin : be wyse ande pacyente in treble, for v^sdom defendethe as well as mony : use well the tyme of prosperite, ande remember the tyme of mis- fortewn xxii die Aprilis Ano 1559. William Rame." THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 31 Thomas Clarke was a Roman Catholic, long confined, but who afterwards recanted, and preached to that effect at St. Paul's Cross. His very neat inscription in English runs : " T.C. I leve in hope and I gave credit to mi frinde in time did stande me moste in hande, so wovlde I never do againe, excepte I hade hime sver in bande, and to al men wishe I so vnless ye svssteine the leke lose as I do. Vnhappie is that man whose actes doth procver the miseri of this hovs in prison to indvre. 1576. Thomas Clarke." An Italian inscription of 1541 is very well done by William Tyrrel, a knight of Malta, who was imprisoned for treasonable correspondence. The inscription is framed as a shield, and translated reads : " Since fortune hath chosen that my hope should go to the wind to complain, I wish the time were de- stroyed : my planet being ever sad and unpropitious Willim Tyrrel. 1541." Tliere is a small but very elaborate piece of armorial carving, the only words distinguishable being " Arma " with "T.P." below, " 1570" and " Peverel." In the centre is a shield with three sheaves of corn on it, and below a skull. To the right is a crucifix with a heart pendant and the word " Peverel " below. Outside this is a human skeleton to the waist. Above the central shield are three emblems which may be crusader's shells or mere ornamentation. To the left is represented a sack, or gourd, or basket with an open mouth, with " Arma " beneath it and below that " T.P." Below " T.P." is an ornamental device of ivy leaves. Nothing is known of any Peverel imprisoned in the Beauchamp Tower, but Sir Walter Scott weaves the name into one of his romances, and in the course of it imprisons him in the Tower. There are Peverels of Derbyshire, and doubtless this was one of their ancestors, for there is some connection between the present armorial bearings of the family and those on the prison walls. 32 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN The roughly engraved " ThoMAS Talbot 1462 " recalls a curious story. King Henry VI, a fugitive after the battle of Level's Plain, Hexham, was dining at Waddington Hall, Lancaster. Thomas Talbot hearing of this entered, seized the King and placed him on horseback, tying his legs under the horse's belly, and thus escorted him to the Tower of London ; where he was later murdered by Richard of Gloucester. Thomas Talbot had previously been engaged in the Wars of the Roses, and when the tide turned against his side, found himself temporarily a prisoner in the Beauchamp Tower, when he engraved his name as above. The plain words " THOMAS FITZGERALD " re- call another ancient tragedy. The 9th Earl of Kildare, when Lord Deputy of Ireland, being called to England to answer certain charges, left his son and heir Thomas, aged twenty, to reign in his stead. The Earl of Kildare was seized and sent to the Tower of London, and his son deeming this treachery, called his five uncles to his assistance, and raised a rebellion in Ireland. The King had to send troops over to quell the rebellion, and in due course Thomas Fitzgerald and his five uncles were taken prisoners, brought to England, and committed to the Tower. They were all six hanged and quartered at Tyburn in 1538. The Earl of Kildare died of grief in the Tower, and is buried in St. Peter's ad Vincula. Such are a few of the four score and ten tragedies in stone which make the Beauchamp Tower a lasting monument to the memory of the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners of many centuries. The basement and upper chambers of the Beauchamp Tower are now Warders' quarters ; whilst the middle floor where are to be found most of the inscriptions is open to the public. From this middle storey opens a door on to Princess Elizabeth's walk, a narrow track which leads along the high ramparts to the Bell Tower. Along this walk many a State prisoner has taken his last evening stroll and gazed his last on the city of London and the distant Palace of Westminster. HKNRY III WHO BUII.T THE TRAITORS' GATK AND ST. THOMAS' TOWKK THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 33 St. Thomas' Tower On the outer ballium wall and facing the Bloody- Tower is the castellated edifice which for many cen- turies has been known as St. Thomas' Tower. It stands over the Traitor's Gate, and both are the work of Henry III. The Gate was built as the main and only entrance to the Tower from the river and the massive fortified towers on either side were erected to support and guard it. In the walls of these towers may be observed the arrow slits through which the defenders shot ; and it will be noticed how carefully these are arranged, so as to meet not only direct attack, but to enfilade both the entrance, and the moat to right and left. A portion of the roof has been strengthened with great beams, possibly to support heavy mortars or cannons in later days, when Sir John Gage the Constable fired cannon balls across the river at the Wyat rebels in 1554- The great arch of the Traitor's Gate has a span of sixty feet and is without a keystone, but was not built without great difl^iculty. Twice it fell down and twice King Henry ordered the attempt to be renewed. " Build it stronger," he said, and so strong was it built that it stands unmoved to this day. To give the succour of the unseen hand he called to the aid of the workman the spirit of Thomas a Becket, and named the supporting towers after him. Inside too he built an oratory to the departed saint, and dedicated it to him. This oratory is still preserved in the south-eastern turret. At all times, except at low tide, the water from the Thames flowed through the arch up to the steps at the foot of the great gateway which passes under what is now known as the Bloody Tower, but then was merely a defensive work, and boats passed under the arch and tied up at the foot of the steps. To the left of the gateway may be seen the original ring to which the boats of many a king and queen were tied for many a century. When the moat 34 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN was drained by the Duke of Wellington the river was blocked out, and now no longer is there a waterway under the Traitor's Gate. In St. Thomas' Tower were originally quarters for the soldiers on guard, and a large banqueting-hall, besides kitchens, and the aforementioned oratory. Later, in the days of Henry VIII, the interior was divided up into smaller chambers, and used as quarters either for officials or for prisoners. Sir Walter Raleigh was married to EHzabeth Throg- morton, probably in the oratory of this Tower, and amongst other noted prisoners confined in it were Lord Grey de Wilton, for a time Lady Arabella Stuart, and her husband Wilham Seymour, afterwards Duke of Somerset. Lord Grey de Wilton was sentenced to death and taken out to be executed, but was there re- prieved and after a long imprisonment died in the room over the Traitor's Gate. WiUiam Seymour was the same facetious gentleman who caused the rooms in St. Thomas' Tower to be very expensively furnished, hung with tapestry, and adorned with silver plate ; and then ordered the bill to be sent in to the Lieutenant of the Tower. He apparently was not very closely guarded and escaped to France, whence in due course he returned, and eventually became a Duke, as is duly set forth in a later page.^ St. Thomas' Tower could never have been a very secure place of imprisonment, situated as it is close to the river ; for this reason Sir Walter Raleigh who in his later imprisonment asked to be transferred there from the Bloody Tower was refused permission. Being found unsafe it returned therefore to its original role of a residence for ofHcers or men of the garrison, and later still was turned into an Infirmary and warders' quarters. For several generations now it has been the official residence of the Keeper of His Majesty's Regaha. From St. Thomas' Tower to the W^akefield Tower, where the Crown Jewels now are, a bridge spans the * See p. 208. THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 35 roadway somewhat in the fashion of the Bridge of Sighs. This gave access from the Palace to the banqueting-hall in St. Thomas' Tower. The bridge fell into decay and for a time disappeared, but has been replaced according to the original design. There was also a subterranean passage leading into the Wakefield Tower. The question of the site of the gruesome dungeon into which the water flowed at high tide has been much discussed ; but it is clear that it could not have been in the White Tower or any of the smaller towers on the higher level, for the tide could not reach these. Such a dungeon would therefore more probably have been in one of the lower sited towers, and not improbably beneath St. Thomas' Tower. According to a quaint old guide-book printed in 1815, the parapet between St. Thomas' Tower and the Byward Tower was known as the Ladies' Line, " from its being much frequented on summer evenings by the ladies." It is painful to notice that owing to the dis- tressing height of the parapet not much more than their hats could have been visible to the gallants pacing the wharf outside. The Wakefield Tower Opposite St. Thomas' Tower and to the west of the Bloody Tower is the Wakefield Tower, which, built by William Rufus, was at one time an entrance into the Royal Palace. It may be noted that to arrive at this entrance one has to turn a sharp corner after passing through the great gateway in the inner ballium wall, and further that after entering the actual door again a sharp turn has to be made. In modern mansions or palaces the doorway straightly faces the approach, and inside the door is a large and open hall. But in old days these odd turnings and twistings were made of set pur- pose so as to prevent a straight rush at a door, or the full use of a battering-ram. This Tower was given the name of Wakefield alter William de Wakefield, King's Clerk, who was Custodian of the Exchanges in 1344 ^^^ 36 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN probably resided here.^ In the Wakefield Tower is to be seen the oratory in which Henry VI was kneeling in prayer when, according to historians, he was stabbed by Richard of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III. The piscina, ombra, and sedela are still to be seen, but the oratory has lost somewhat of its original character owing to a large Northumbrian-Gothic window having re- placed the small ancient windows, for the better lighting of the interior of this Tower. In the Wakefield Tower, which was long used as a repository for records, are now displayed to great advantage the Imperial Regalia,^ whilst in the window bays are exhibited the insignia of the various Orders of Knighthood, as well as decorations, such as the Victoria Cross, bestowed for valour in the field. In the vaults below the Wakefield Tower, it will be remembered, were first buried the two murdered Princes, before being removed to the spot under the stairs lead- ing to the White Tower. It may be interesting to remember in future years that the only injury done by the bombing of the Tower of London by the German aircraft was a small window broken at the entrance to the Wakefield Tower. The only living casualty which resulted from the same being one pigeon, found dead close by. The Devereux Tower The Devereux Tower, earlier known as the Develin Tower, changed its name in 1601 after Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, had been imprisoned in it, and has since retained that name. It consists of two storeys with walls eleven feet thick, and has an ancient kitchen with a vaulted roof. Beneath is a dungeon, and secret passages led away from this Tower. One of these ran to the Flint Tower, and another significantly enough to the vaults under St. Peter's Chapel. There is a winding ^ Some authorities, however, maintain that the name was derived from prisoners having been here incarcerated after the battle of Wake- field in 1460 ; but the above is the more probable origin. ' See p. 273. THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 37 staircase leading to two forbidding dungeons con- structed in the thickness of the wall. The Develin or Devereux Tov/er dates from the reign of Richard II, if not earlier.^ It is now the official residence of the officer commanding the Royal Artillery at the Tower of London. The Martin Tower The Martin Tower was at one time the Jewel House, and it was thence that Colonel Blood stole the Crown in the reign of Charles 11. It was originally built in the days of Henry III, but it was modernized by Christopher Wren, and suffered from the fire of 1841. There is a tradition that Anne Boleyn suffered part of her im- prisonment in this Tower, and certainly there is an inscription including the word " BoUeyn " in one room. Possibly it was her brother George Boleyn, who is known to have been imprisoned, here, who cut these words. On the south wall is a sun-dial made by Heriot, the astronomicr and mathematician, when a prisoner in Queen Elizabeth's reign. Henry Percy the " Wizard," Earl of Northumberland, was one of the notable prisoners at the same time in this Tower, and the rampart walks on either side of the Martin Towers are still called Northumberland's Walk. This Vv'as a son of the Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, murdered in the Bloody Tower. He was from his fiery nature known as " Hotspur " amongst his northern neighbours, and was proud of being a Percy amidst parvenu peers, and upstart kings. Flis ances- tors had been kings long before William of Normandy came to England. Thus when he w^as granted his freedom through the efforts of his son-in-law, whom he thought a low fellow, and not fit to marry his daughter, he refu3ed for long to leave the Tower, \yhen at length he was persuaded to come out in semi-triumph, v/ith cannons roaring salutes and trumpets blaring welcome, he noticed incidentally some of those whom he described as parvenu peers, driving in coaches with six horses. Arrived * Dave)^, 38 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN at Northumberland House (near the site of the present Northumberland Avenue), he sent for his Master of the Horse, and asked who these persons were. On being told, he used the strong language of the age, and ordered that never was his own coach to be driven forth with less than eight horses ! Ambrose Rookwood, one of the Guy Fawkes con- spirators, has also carved his name on one of the walls. The Seven Bishops^ were imprisoned in one room of the Martin Tower in the reign of James II, and em- ployed their leisure in carving several pious inscriptions. This scurvy treatment was accorded to them because they refused to pay the usual fees to the Lieutenant of the Tower, for their maintenance and accommodation. The origin of the name " Martin " given to this Tower is not known, but probably it was named after a prominent though now long- forgotten ofRcial who lived in it. In early times the Tower, now known as the Middle Tower, was called Martin. It may therefore be that the said Martin was so well known and so long in residence that the quarters he successively occupied bore his name, the last one retaining it permanently. The Bowyer Tower The Bowyer Tower derives its name from the fact that it was originally the abode of the royal bow-maker, or as he was called the Bowyer ; and therein he plied his craft, and stored bows for the king's archers. It was originally built in the days of Edward I, but was greatly damaged by the fire of 1841, and has been almost completely rebuilt, the original outward form and appearance having been maintained. It is now used for the accommodation of a portion of the garrison. It was in this Tower that George, Duke of Clarence, whilst a prisoner, was found drowned in a butt of ^ (i) Archbishop Sancroft ; (2) Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells ; (3) William Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph ; (4) John Lake, Bishop of Chichester ; (5) Thomas White, Bishop of Peterborough ; (6) Jonathan Trelawny, Bishop of Bristol ; (7) Francis Turner, Bishop of Ely. THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 39 malmsey on February i8th, 1478. Some historians, however, suggest that the Duke was either encouraged to drink himself to death, or else that poison was intro- duced into the wine. By lifting a flagstone on the ground floor of the Bowyer Tower a portion of the old Roman Wall may be seen, which hence runs due north through America Square and Crutched Friars till it reaches the city street still known as I^ondon Wall. The Brick Tower The Brick Tower is of considerable antiquity, but received its present name at a later date from brickwork additions that were made in the reign of Edward IV or Richard III. The interior is now modernized and used as a workshop for the repair and upkeep of the ancient armour in the Tower. On two occasions it is mentioned that Sir Walter Raleigh spent portions of his long im- prisonment in the Brick Tower. ^ Lord Grey de Wilton spent some years here before being transferred to St. Thomas' Tower ; whilst the latest person of note to be imprisoned here was Sir William Coventry, a dis- tinguished statesman in 1669.^ In the time of Henry VIII this was the official residence of the Master of the Ordnance, and probably continued to be so for many centuries. When necessity and a great influx of prisoners occurred the Master of the Ordnance, occasionally under protest, had to lodge, feed, and be responsible for the safety of prisoners, till accommodation was vacant in the more recognized prison quarters of the Tower. The Constable's Tower The Constable's Tower has fallen from its high degree and is no longer the residence of the Constable. Indeed it is quite understandable why he fled to more com- modious quarters as ideas regarding domestic accom- ^ Davey, abridged ed., pp. 238, 261. - Ibid., p. 290. 40 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN modation grew, for the quarters consist only of a kitchen and three small circular rooms, one above the other, and all must have been very dark. The Lieu- tenant's Lodgings w^hen built was a palace in comparison. So the Constable fled from his Tower and has never since lived there. Its historic interest lies in having been the official residence of many celebrated Constables in ancient days, but no record of them remains within. It is now used as a quarter for an officer of the garrison or a Tower official. The Broad Arrow Tower The name Broad Arrow as applied to a Tower naturally suggests the Government Broad Arrow mark. But though no records can be found on the subject, and as there is nothing structural to suggest a broad arrow, about this Tower, the name possibly had its origin in the use of the broad arrow which bowmen shot from the Tower defences. The name may, on the other hand, be due to this Tower having been used, conjointly with the Constable's Tov/er, by the Constable, whence official letters and orders were issued. The connection between the broad arrow m^ark, which is the Government sign, and the place of issue of these orders, letters, or even stores, may thus have become intermixed. There are many inscriptions on the old walls mostly cut during the reigns of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, but none are of great interest. Though we make a minor reservation in favour of "John Daniell 1556," who had the distinction of being both hanged and beheaded on Tower Hill for insurrection in Queen Mary's reign. The Broad Arrow contains also some very " straight " dungeons in the thickness of the wall, one being only three and a half feet wide, that is six inches narrower than the more celebrated " Little Ease " in the White Tower. Though not in the immediate vicinity of the Broad Arrow it may be interesting to mention that in digging THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 41 out an unexploded bomb from the moat in 191 7, a plain silver button with a broad arrow engraved on it was found about six feet below the surface. The Salt Tower The Salt Tower, together with the Wakefield Tower, are, next to the White Tower, the most ancient in the fortress. It was in ancient days called Julius Caesar's Tower, but was only so by tradition ; it was, however, undoubtedly built in the reign of William Rufus.^ The origin of the name is obscure, but as it was at one time used for the storage of saltpetre the connection may lie there. Some give the seemingly obvious explanation that salt, pure and simple, was here stored ; but it is held that salt in those days was such a scarce commodity that the available quantity would not have required a separate Tower wherein to store it. On the other hand, it is argued that it was so precious that it was placed in a stronghold, like gold or precious stones. There are very interesting and clearly cut inscriptions in this tower, notably one or more by Hugh Draper, who was imprisoned for sorcery in 1561, as well as a very curious graphite by the same hand. There are three storeys connected by a winding staircase. On the ground floor is a vaulted dungeon, whilst on the first floor may be seen a very fine old fireplace. The Well Tower The origin of the name Well Tower is also somewhat obscure. There are only three known ancient wells within the Tower and none of these are near the Well Tower. Possibly it may have been named after some well-known personage named Well, or Wall, or Will, who long lived there ; just as the Middle Tower used once to be known as the Martin Tower, probably after some official who happened to have lived in it for some time. The Well Tower was from time to time used as a prison » Davey, 42 THE TOWER EROM WITHIN for less important prisoners, priests and laymen. Being close to the river it was thought unsafe for rich in- fluential prisoners. There are several inscriptions on the walls. A somewhat cryptic one reads " As for the vicious such they are as is the needles flye.'' A Warder now has his quarters in this tower. The Cradle Tower The Cradle Tower has no connection with the nursery, but was named after a cradle or slip by means of which boats were slung from the moat, through the arch beneath, to the roadway which runs inside the outer defences. It was used as a prison for less im- portant prisoners, and from it was made a famous escape which is narrated elsewhere.^ At present it is one of the Warder's quarters. The Lanthorne Tower The Lanthorne Tower, which now stands separate on the inner ballium wall, was once connected both with the Cradle Tower to the south, and with the Queen's Lodgings to the north and formed part of the Royal residence. Here in Henry VIII's time was the king's bedchamber and privy closet. Later the lower storey was used as a prison and the upper storey as a guard- room. From the castellated roof rises a small turret from which was shown a lantern or flare, to guide ships at night on the river. Hence the name of this Tower. It was originally built by Henry HI, and was at one time very richly embellished with tapestries representing the story of Antiochus. These ancient tapestries were added to by the personal skill in needlework of Katherine of Aragon, Katherine Parr, and Queen Mary. The upper storey was completely destroyed by fire in 1788, whilst the lower was turned into a military canteen. This ancient ruin was, however, completely restored in Queen Victoria's days, and may now be seen outwardly an exact facsimile of the original building. * See p. 225. THE FORTRESS FROM WTTHTN 43 The Middle and Byward Towers The entrance to the Tower is through two old gate- ways which pass under the Middle Tower and the Byward Tower. The former was so called as it was the middle tower between the Lion Tower, now no more, and the Byward. The latter name came to it from being the gate where the " by-word " or " password " was demanded from those who wished to pass in to the Tower. A postern leads from the Byward to the Queen's steps. This postern could only be used by the king and queen and those specially privileged to pass in and out without giving the password. An ancient portcullis still in working order drops from the Byward Tower. The Lion Tower The Lion Tower was to the west of the Middle Tower and was so called as it stood close to the Royal Menagerie. Edward VI built the Lion Tower, a menagerie then being considered one of the emblems of regal State. Henry I indeed had a private menagerie at Wood- stock, where he kept " lions, leopards, lynxes, and several other uncommon beasts." These were afterwards re- moved to the Tower, where, it is mentioned, the King ordered the Sheriffs of London to supply fourpence a day for the maintenance of his white bear and his keeper. They were also to provide " a muzzle and an iron chain to hold the said bear out of the water." It was also ordered that they should supply " a long cord to hold the said bear the time it was fishing in the Thames." Further they were instructed to build a small house in the Tower for the King's elephant, and to make pro- vision both for the beast and his keeper. Edward II in his turn ordered the Sheriffs of London to pay the keepers of the King's leopards sixpence a day for the sustenance of the leopards, and threepence a day for the diet of the keeper. ^ Later in the reign of Henry VII 1 Madox, Antiq. Excheq., i. 376. 44 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN we find no less a person than a belted Earl and Constable of the Tower made keeper of the King's lions. This was John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, and he was allotted, with appointment, the salary of twelve pence per diem, and was in addition allowed sixpence a day for the feed of each beast. ^ The menagerie at the Tower was long one of the sights of London. People from the country used to flock to see the strange beasts and especially the lions. This was the origin of a term which long survived its first meaning, and was applied to any new or remarkable sight. Thus people talked of going to London " to see the lions," meaning as often as not the smart persons riding and walldng in Rotten Row, or in Pall Mall or St. James' Street. A somewhat quaint notice appeared in the Su?iday Times in 1827 regarding the Royal Mena- gerie, Tower of London : " Few objects are calculated to throw a greater lustre on our national character, in an emulative point of view, than the splendid specimens of savage nature which the resources of Government have succeeded in collecting. Birds, Beasts and Reptiles, in endless variety, press on the spectator's view, and lead him through a labyrinth of wonderment superior to any ever before exhibited." In the early part of the nineteenth century the lions and other beasts which were in a very poor and neglected condition were transferred to a more salubrious site, and formed the nucleus of the present Zoological collection in Regent's Park. The removal is recorded in the following letter from the Deputy-Governor to the Duke of Wellington, who was then Constable : Tower, AT T T-. 28 AU^., 1835. My Lord Duke, ^ ' ^^ I enclose a letter from Mr. Cops expressing his readiness to comply with the wishes of the King in 1 Rymer, xii. 276, THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 45 shutting up his menagerie in the Tower, and I have the honour to acquaint your Grace that it has been shut up this day accordingly. j, Elrington. The Waterloo Barracks On the site of the old Armouries, which were burnt down in the middle of the nineteenth century, there now stand the Waterloo Barracks, built in the castel- lated style, of grey stone to be in keeping with the surroundings. The officers' mess and quarters built in the same style stand to the west of these. Taverns, Within and Without The inside of the fortress is, as before mentioned, swept and garnished and freed of all mean structures, as well as of the taverns that used to flourish within its walls. It will be noticed elsewhere^ that as late as 1843 " The Gold Chain " flourished, besides at least one other public-house. Though not within the Tower there were several of historic interest outside the gates, and used by prisoners coming and going, and by their friends. Close to the site of the old Bulwark Gate is " The Tiger," now renovated but claiming to have existed since 1550, and to have supplied meals to the Princess Elizabeth when she was a prisoner in the Tower. The sign of " The Tiger " is the old leopard to be seen on the Royal Standard. At the " London Tavern," then known as " Y^ Kinge's Head," the same Princess had dinner on the day she was released, and the pewter dish and cover used by her are still preserved. The dish is very curious, having holes through which the grease and gravy must have drained into a receptacle beneath. The cover which is much indented looks like the shrapnel helmets worn by our troops in the Great War, only much larger. In Great Tower Street, within a few yards of the Tower, is the " Czar's Head." This used to be the * See p. 52. 46 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN " Czar of Muscovy's Head," but a later generation abbreviated the title. It was this tavern which Peter the Great frequented, during the four months he was working as a dock hand in London docks, learning how the English built their ships. According to common repute, though he worked hard all day, he drank hard all night, and mostly patronized the tavern later named after him. At the corner a few doors off the Czar's Head, is the " Old King's Head " ; which old king is not clear, but very possibly King Charles I. This house is not at present occupied. In the Minories a few hundred yards oft' may be seen " The Three Lords," so named after the three Scottish lords who came to the scaffold in 1746-47. Ghosts Those who live in the Tower are often asked whether they ever see ghosts, and they invariably answer that they never do. Even those who have slept in Queen Anne Boleyn's bedroom, or in the Bloody Tower, or other places of tragedy have no disturbing experiences to record. The only authentic case, if so it may be called, is that of a rifleman belonging to the 60th Rifles who in 1864 was sentry at the door of the Lieutenant's Lodgings practically under the window leading into Queen Anne Boleyn's room. This sentry was found by the visiting round lying on the pavement on his beat, and was court- martialled for being asleep on his post. His defence was that a figure in white had approached his post ; that he had challenged but the figure came on ; that he charged it with his bayonet and meeting no resistance fell in a dead faint, in which condition the visiting rounds found him. At the court-martial two witnesses gave evidence that on the night in question they were looking out of the window of the Bloody Tower before going to bed. It was a bright moonlight night, and they saw a white figure approach the sentry, heard the sentry challenge, saw him charge the figure with his bayonet, and then fall to the ground. On this evidence the sentry was THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN 47 acquitted. The same figure is said to have been seen by other sentries on the same spot for several years after- wards. The evil repute w^hich this spot got made it for long a very unpopular post and men tried to avoid it. This story came to the author as told by the late Major- General J. D. Dundas, then a Captain in the 60th Rifles quartered at the Tower, and is corroborated very closely by Field-Marshal Lord Grenfell, who was also in the 60th Rifles. A curious though quite unimportant incident occurred to the author soon after taking over his quarters in St. Thomas' Tower. He was dressing in the room over the Traitor's Gate where Lord Grey de Wilton died after being reprieved on the scaffold. The door, which was securely shut, opened gently half-way and so remained for a few seconds. It was thought that the dog had pushed it open, but no dog was about, and was after- wards found to be in the kitchen. The door then slowly closed. This happened twice during the first two weeks of residence, but has not occurred since. The story is given just as it happened, and claims no relation to Lord Grey de Wilton or any other prisoner in these rooms, for no figure or presence of any sort was seen. For long the ghost of Lord Lovat was said to have been seen but not in the Tower. This apparition was said to be clad in a monk's robe with the cowl thrown back, and carrying Lord Lovat's head under its arm. There is an engraving of this ghost in the British Museum. Not improbably the Tower is free of ghosts, or the visible spirits of those who suffered here, because these have long since lost any interest in the place. Some of them died more than four hundred years ago, and reasons for haunting their old prison must long since have departed. Anne Boleyn might well appear with her head under her arm to Henry VIII when alive, or Sir Walter Raleigh to Sir William Waad ; but neither have any particular interest in those who live to-day, or have any reason for appearing to them. IV THE CONSTABLE OF THE TOWER First appointed by the Conqueror — One hundred and thirty-four Constables — And the Lieutenant — Pay and perquisites of the Constable — '' Through pride and contempt " — Free oysters and free fishing — Cattle off London Bridge — Swans that swam below — Rushes for his carpet — Carts that fell in the ditch — Sometimes Archbishop as well as Constable — The ceremony of inducting the Constable — The Constable beats the bounds of the Tower Liberties — A procession of one thousand — A cold collation at his Grace's expense — Some distinguished Con- stables — Geoffrey de Mandeville — The Earl of Essex prefers highway robbery — The Duke of Exeter and his daughter — Sir Robert Brackenbury — The murder of the Princes — The Lieutenant's Lodgings built by Henry VIII — The Constable leaves the Tower — The Earl of Essex and the Knights Templar — His coffin hangs between two trees for twenty years — Thomas a Becket, Archbishop and Constable — His military career — His murder by the four knights — A saint dethroned — Other prelates who were Constables — William Longchamp — Hugh de Bigod, Earl of Norfolk — The Iron Duke — Sir John Fox Burgoyne — His sepulture — Field- Marshal Lord Napier of Magdala — Field-Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood. THE office of Constable of the Tower is one of the oldest in England, dating back to within a few years of the Conquest, and has always been one of great honour and dignity. There have been in all no less than one hundred and thirty- four Constables, from Geoffrey deMandeville^ to Field-Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood.- Nor has the holder of this proud and ancient title always been a soldier, indeed in earlier days the Church militant appears to have furnished many a prelate to fill the post. Then came a period * Originally spelt Magnaville, ^ See Appendix A for full list. 48 The constable of the tower 49 when sometimes in days of storm and stress it was held hy a miHtary chief, but more often by a man of poHtical prominence in the prevaiHng turmoil. Later still, when the Tower became more of a State prison, the Constable appears to have delegated the unpleasant duty of head gaoler to his Lieutenant, who acted for him and with his authority. He then removed himself from the Constable's quarters in the Tower, and has never since occupied them. For many years now the Constable has been a soldier of high rank and distinguished service, the most celebrated of these being the first Duke of Wellington. The pay of the Constable in old days was ^loo a year, but in accordance with the custom of the age he was allowed to add to this income in various curious ways Thus every prisoner who came into the Tower, and only those of high rank were admitted, had to pay the Con- stable certain fees. A Duke had to pay ;^20, an Earl twenty marks, ^ a Baron £io, and a Knight ^5, all high sums in those days. The Treasury also made a certain allowance per week for the sustenance of prisoners^ and their retinue, according to rank ; and should any prisoner, " through pride and contempt," refuse to take the Government grant, it became the perquisite of the Constable. Again he was allowed to take toll in various ways ; to wit, two flagons of wine from every ship arriving from Bordeaux, the merchants bringing the same ashore and depositing them as toll on the Tower Wharf. In the same way all fishing boats bringing oysters, mussels, and cockles to the London market had to present the Constable with one maund^ of the same. Other fishing boats that passed the Tower paid him a ^ A mark was worth presumedly fifteen shillings in those days. * In the time of Richard II, for a Duke five marks a week, for an Earl forty shillings, for a Baron twenty shillings, and for a Knight ten shillings. A Duke's chaplain six shillings and eight pence, his gentleman the same, his yeoman three shillings and four pence. All other servants three shillings and four pence, and all other yeomen one shilling and six- pence. These fees were raised as gold declined in value. — Hepwor-i-h Dixon. ^ This word is still used in India, and now represents 80 lb. so THE TOWER FROM WITHIN fee. He had the valuable fishing rights between London Bridge and the Tower, for in those days salmon amongst other fish abounded in these waters. All cattle that fell off London Bridge were also the Constable's perquisite, and doubtless when short of provender he would send up a few varlets to encourage this form of suicide ; all swans too that floated below the same bridge were his. He would not make much profit out of derelict cattle nowadays, but the swans would keep his table well supplied in summer. All flotsam and jetsam on the river was his, which often included valuable timber. From all boats bringing rushes to the city the Constable could take as toll " such a quantity as a person could hold between his arms " ; and as rushes were used instead of carpets and had often to be renewed, this was a useful economy. He also received a fee on all skins dried at East Smithfield, which then was vvithin the Tower Liberties. All carts that fell into the Tower ditch, which was quite unguarded and, needless to say, unlighted at night, and dropped steeply, became the absolute property of the Constable. With these and other little economies in addition to his ;£ioo a year the Constable was passing rich ; but in addition he usually lield some other lucrative appointment, some- times so high as Archbishop of Canterbury, at others so modest as keeper of the lions " with extra salary of one shilling a day and sixpence for each beast." The Constable was, and is, inducted with much ceremony. The garrison, usually consisting of a battalion of His Majesty's Foot Guards, parades before the White Tower. A procession, headed by the Yeoman Gaoler with the axe on his shoulder, and consisting of all the officers of the Tower and the Yeomen Warders, then issues from the " King's House " and conducts the Constable to the spot where the troops are drawn up. Here they are met by the Lord Chamberlain, who on behalf and in the name of the Sovereign presents the Tower keys to the new Constable. The Constable suitably acknowledges the honour, whilst the Chief z s '■'^ — . -'C id ^ ? 2 " z 5 ? - S ^^ i i - il> " ^ :3 r — — "' ''^ "r z. < 5 z ? - IT THE CONSTABLE OF THE TOWER 51 Warder steps to the front, takes oit his hat, and loud and clear proclaims "God preserve King " (naming the reigning monarch). All the Yeomen Warders together answer " Amen." The troops at the same time present arms, and the band plays the opening bars of the National Anthem. The Constable is then formally presented to the officers of the garrison as their new chief. After this the troops march past and are dis- missed, whilst the Constable is conducted with formality into the White Tower, and such other parts of the fortress as he may wish to visit. Another picturesque ceremony falls to the Constable or his substitute every three years, when he leads the pro- cession which "beats the bounds" of the Tower Liberties. An account of this occasion when the first Duke of Wel- lington was Constable is to be found in the Yeoman Warder's Order Book, and is of much interest. In 184.3 after Divine Service had been performed in the ancient chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, the pro- cession for " beating the bounds " ^ was formed on the parade as follows : The High Constable of the Tower Hamlets. The Headsman, bearing the axe of execution. A painter to m.ark the " bounds." Yeomen Warders in full dress with halberds, walk- ing two and two abreast. Children of the Tower National School with wands. Children of Welcome School. The Deputy-Governor of the Tower (Col. Gur- wood). The Fort Major of the Tower (Major Elrington, mounted on horseback). The High Bailiff of the Tower (Mr. J. W. Lush). The Chaplain (Rev. Henry Melville). The Master Gunner of the Batteries. • 'The origin of the term apparently is that at each boundary mark a small boy was beaten, so as to impress on his memory as well as his person the exact position of the boundary pillar. 52 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN The Vestry Clerk of the Tower precincts (Mr. H Altham). Officers of the Royal Engineers. Criers of the Royal Court. Beadles of the Liberties with their staves of office. Peace Officers — Jurymen of the Court-leet. Inhabitant householders. The procession thus formed, consisting of about one thousand persons, then moved forward, stopping at the different boundary stations where the " broad arrow " was painted in red on a white ground as a boundary mark, whilst the Chaplain said : " Cursed be he who removeth his neighbour's land- mark." The ceremony lasted about one hour, and on its conclusion " in the afternoon the Q-entlemen who accom- panied the procession sat down to an elegant cold colla- tion at the Gold Chain Tavern within the Tower at the expense of his Grace the Duke of Wellington, Constable of the Tower. "^ William the Conqueror, who made Geoffrey de Mande- ville the first Constable, apparently intended that the office should be hereditary, for Geoffrey was succeeded by his son William, and by his grandson another Geoffrey. This latter, who afterwards became Earl of Essex, how- ever, resigned the appointment, as a historian quaintly remarks, " to take up the more lucrative profession of highway robbery," ^ and since then all claim to heredity in one family has ceased. There have, however, been instances where a son has succeeded his father, as in the case of John Holland, fourth Duke of Exeter, who held the Constableship in the reigns of Henry V and Henry VII for twenty-five years, and then arranged that his son should be appointed joint constable, with a view to succeeding him. The former was that Constable who introduced the rack into the Tower, known then and for long after as the " Duke of Exeter's Daughter." All through the Plantagenet, and early Tudor periods, ^ This ceremony was in due course held in 191 8. ^ Davey. THE CONSTABLE OF THE TOWER 53 the Constable of the Tower was a very great personage, for he held not only the most powerful fortress in Eng- land strongly garrisoned, but one which dominated the capital and contained all the vital sinews of sovereignty. He who held the Tower, at any rate in popular imagina- tion, held England. Therefore the king in being chose his Constable with much care, and changed him at will when occasion needed. Sometimes these appointments and changes were dictated by policy, sometimes even with criminal intent. There is little doubt, for instance that Sir Robert Brackenbury was removed, though only temporarily, and replaced by Sir James Tyrrel, to enable that complacent official to carry out the behest of Richard of Gloucester, by putting no obstacle in the way of the murder of the young Princes in the Bloody Tower. As the military value of the Tower decreased ; as the engines of war im.proved ; and men, not only stone walls, began to betoken the strength of a cause, it became by degrees, as we have seen, partly a palace and partly a State prison, and later still wholly a prison. The Con- stable had now handed over most of his current duties, which greatly, if not solely, were connected with prisoners, to the Lieutenant, and leaving the Constable's Tower migrated to a private residence in London or elsewhere. For the Lieutenant, his locum tenens, was built by Henry VHI what in those days were considered the very spacious lodgings, now known as " King's House." These Lieutenant's Lodgings were intended not only for the accommodation of himself and his family, but also to provide confinement, either temporarily or for a period, to prisoners of distinction. Apart from other things the Tower in those days was not a desirable place to live in, it was damp, cold, overcrowded, and filthy ; surrounded by a foetid ditch, half water half slime, filled with the refuse and dirt of ages. Plague, pestilence, and fevers were endemic within its walls. So the Constable severed his residential connection with what was then an unsavoury spot and has never returned. Now that the 54 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Tower is bright, clean, and wholesome again, and one of the most healthy garrisons in England, and in these modern days of motor-cars, underground railways, and telephones, as accessible as any part of London, per- chance some future Constable will once more reside within its ancient walls. The first Constable of the Tower, Geoffrey de Man- deville, was a stout Norman soldier who came over with William the Conqueror, and behaved with great and distinguished gallantry at the battle of Hastings ; but perhaps his grandson of the same name, though a less worthy person, was the more prominent of the two. This second Geoffrey, who was an ambitious turbulent knight somewhat symbolic of the times, first thrusting along the legitimate road to honour and advancement was made Earl of Essex, and held the Constableship of the Tower for thirteen years. But his was a wild and lawless nature and he must be for ever lighting, some- times legitimately, sometimes merely thinly guised as a highwayman, and finally as a rebel against the King. In a minor conflict with King Stephen's troops he was mortally wounded, and died at Mildenham in Suffolk. Having previously been excommunicated by the Pope for sacrilege and other high crimes, none would bury him, and there he may have lain for the ravens to devour, had not the Knights Templar come to the rescue. To this Order the Earl of Essex had in the past performed some signal service, so in gratitude for the same the Knights Templar clothed him in the habits of their Order, and brought his body to the Temple. There they enclosed the remains in a leaden cofiin, and sus- pended it between two trees in the Temple garden, for they too obeyed the Pope, and could not bury one on whom lay the ban of the Church. It remained for another Pope, some twenty years later, to remove the ban of excommunication, thus allowing the cofiin to be buried. Whether it hung all those twenty years between the two trees is not stated, but it is recorded that Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, was eventually THE CONSTABLE OF THE TOWER 55 " buried in front of the west door of the Church."^ His effigy clad as a Knight Templar may now be seen on the floor of the Temple Church, inside the western door. One of the most famous of the earlier Constables of the Tower was Thomas a Becket. Some are a little doubtful about this connection, but on the other hand it is recorded in the course of his endless quarrels with Henry H, regarding money matters, that he claims to have spent " far more than ^^300 in repairing the Tower of London, etc.," and we may safely conclude that he would not have spent so large a sum in pure philanthropy, or if he had so done would not have laid claim to it as an asset. In further support of his connection with the Tower of London, it will be remembered that Henry HI posthumously named one of the lesser Towers after him. Moreover, it must be remembered that appointments carrying certain valuable privileges of a monetary nature which were in the King's gift, were bestowed as guerdons for good service, and did not necessarily entail residence, or the performance of any but perfunctory duties con- nected with the appointment. These latter were en- trusted to a paid substitute, whilst the Constable attached the greater part of emoluments, regarding it as a species of Royal grant towards the enlargement of his income. Thomas a Becket was not only Archbishop of Canter- bury, but had been a soldier and an ambassador as well. For it is recorded that in the war of Toulouse in 1159, when he was forty-one years of age, he figured promi- nently at the head of a picked troop of knights, and was foremost in every fight. As a special ambassador he was sent to France to negotiate a marriage between the eldest son of Henry H and a daughter of Louis VH ; and later after the Tou- louse War he negotiated the treaty of peace between the English and French monarchs. But after he had been made Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry H began ^ Dictionary of National Biography and The Tozver of London, by Lord de Ros. S6 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN to find this soldier priest somewhat too powerful, and commenced to put pressure on his subject in what to us may seem a somewhat undignified manner, not unconnected with pounds sterling. Thomas a Becket, though comparatively powerless as a subject, could as Archbishop of Canterbury exercise very considerable spiritual pressure ; for in those days the Pope of Rome was a very great personage indeed, not only in things spiritual, but also in world politics, and Thomas a Becket was the representative of the Vicar of Christ in England. Therefore, though for corporeal reasons he had to flee the country, he could and did from the safe vantage ground of France excommunicate his enemies, a very serious weapon in those days. He even threatened to excommunicate his King. However, after some six years of exile his soul pined lor Canterbury and the soothing shades of its cathedral ; he therefore made grace of necessity and sending his submission to the King was allowed to return. The Archbishop was received with joy by the populace ; but there were some who disliked him intensely, and determined to kill him. Amongst these were four knights, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy, Reginald Fitzurse, and Richard de Breton. These therefore carried out their purpose and slew the Archbishop on the steps of the choir in Canterbury Cathedral on December 29th, 11 70. The Pope, who was naturally very indignant, canonized Thomas a Becket in 11 73, and in the following year Henry II, whose hands were held to be not quite clean of the martyr's blood, did pubHc penance at his tomb. But Thomas a Becket did not remain a saint for-ever, for when Henry VIII thi'ew off his allegiance to the Pope and proclaimed himself head of the English Church, amongst other acts of spoliation he confiscated the great heap of treasure which four centuries of pious pilgrims had laid on the tomb of the martyred saint ; de-canonized him, and ordered that he should again become known as simple Bishop Becket. It is further reported that the King ordered the bones of the Archbishop to be burned. THE CONSTABLE OF THE TOWER 57 Nor was Thomas a Becket the only high prelate who was also Constable of the Tower, for amongst the holders may be found another Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton, in the reign of King John. Previous to that Richard Coeur de Lion had appointed William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, to be Constable, whilst Henry HI bestowed it on no less than three prelates, Randulph Bishop of Norwich, William Archbishop of York, and Walter also an Archbishop of York. William Longchamp was, by Richard Coeur de Lion, made Bishop of Ely and Chancellor of the Kingdom as well as Constable of the Tower.^ When Richard em- barked on his crusades he left William Longchamp ensconced in the Tower to look after his affairs and kingdom. That prelate immediately set about improving and completing the defences, and under Richard's instruc- tions dug a broad and deep moat round the Tower, which later was flooded from the River Thames and constituted a very formidable barrier against the assaults of those days. Nor were these precautions vain, for the very next year John, who had usurped his absent brother's throne, besieged the Tower, and after three days' blockade, whether by force or treachery, the fortress fell. Longchamp was taken prisoner, and formally deposed from all secular offices, including the Con- stableship of the Tower. He also gave up Windsor Castle which he still held, protesting against the illegality in both cases. He was then, after giving hostages, allowed to " depart the realm." Once abroad he wandered about, and we next hear of him actively engaged in arranging for the ransom of his King, Richard Coeur de Lion, who had been captured by the Germans, on his way back from the Crusades, and held up to ransom ; the German code of honour being no higher in those days than in these. A few years later, when employed by Richard on a mission to Rome, he fell sick at Poitiers and died there January 31st, 1 1 97. Of Hugh de Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, there is not much ^ A.D. 1189-90. 58 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN to trace as Constable, though one incident in his career remains on record which shows that he feared no man. Being ordered by Henry III to lead an expedition abroad he flatly refused to do so. The King was naturally somewhat annoyed, and angrily exclaimed, " Fore God, Sir Earl, you shall go or hang," to which the Earl with equal warmth replied, " Fore God, I will neither go nor hang." And as the historian laconically remarks " nor did he."i Reluctant as we must be to pass over generations and centuries of Constables without giving their biographies the limits of space unhappily intervene. To write even briefly the lives of a hundred and thirty-four Constables would be a monumental work ; but many of them will appear incidentally in the course of future chapters. As complete a list of the Constables as it has been found possible to make will be found later,- and those who are interested in all, or any, may spend many profit- able hours in the British Museum following their careers. Having thus reluctantly passed by some hundreds of Constables, we will make a considerable stride to more modern times, and cannot perhaps do better than take up the thread with the Iron Duke. It may seem almost superfluous to mention more than the name of the first Duke of Wellington, for his fame is universal ; yet would a roll of the Constables be in- complete without a brief sketch of this great soldier. Born in 1769, he became Constable of the Tower in 1826, and in the interval, amongst many achievements, won the battle of Assaye, came victorious through the Peninsular War, and defeated Napoleon at the Battle of W^aterloo. Such in four lines would be the Duke's career, but perhaps it may be slightly extended. A poor man, but with influential friends and relations, at the age of twenty-four he was a Lieutenant-Colonel and commanding the 33rd Foot, now the Duke of Welling- ton's Own. In India he saw much service in high com- ^ Tower oj London, by Lord de Ros. ^ See Appendix. THE CONSTABLE OF TETE TOWER 59 mand, won the battles of Seringapatam and Alimcd- nagar, and became a Major-General after fifteen years' total service. For the victory of Assaye he was made a K.C.B., and became Sir Arthur Welleslcy. ^ As a Lieu- tenant-General, with twenty-one years' service only, he embarked in command of the British division to take part in the Peninsula War, and a year later, after the battle of Talavera, Sir Arthur Wellesley was raised to the peerage as Baron Douro of Wellesley and Viscount Wellington of Talavera, with an annuity of £2,000. In 1 814 at the victorious end of the Peninsular War he was created Marquis of Douro and Duke of WelUngton with an annuity of £13,000, or in Heu a sum of £400,000 wherewith to purchase an estate. In 181 5 he won the battle of Waterloo, and Napoleon was driven into final captivity. For this signal service the Duke received a grant of £200,000 ; the estate of Strathfieldsaye which cost £263,000, and also Apsley Elouse, were presented to, him by the nation. He was at the same time made Prince of Waterloo with a large estate in Belgium. To these great heights, to riches and glory, his military genius had led him at the early age of forty-six. It was eleven years after Waterloo that the Duke was made Constable of the Tower, and at once brought^ to bear his influence and practical experience in making the Tower of London once again a historic gem in the Enghsh crown. As a fortress it had now outlived its day, for the growing power of artillery, the weight of projectiles, and inventions in explosives would make it untenable ; but it was possible to arrest decay, to repair and reconstruct, to clean what had become an augean stable, and to give the old Tower a new Hfe as a monu- ment of the past. It was the Duke's influence and personal interest that set these reforms in progress, and so impressed Queen Victoria that the work was carried on step by step long after the ducal Constable had been gathered to his fathers. Amongst the later Constables comes Field-Marshal Sir John Fox Burgoyne, a Royal Engineer, and one of So THE TOWER FROM WITHIN the Duke of Wellington's veterans of the Peninsula. This old soldier, born in 1782, had as a subaltern been with Sir John Moore in the retreat from Corunna ; and he it was who blew up the bridges that saved the army. He served in nearly all the great battles in the Peninsula, and also took part in the American War. In later life, now a G.C.B. and Lieutenant-General, he was employed in the Crimean War ; for his services being later created a Baronet. In 1865 he became Constable of the Tower, and in 1868 a Field-Marshal. So obscure in the course of centuries had become the burial-places of the great ones of the past that a some- what unfortunate mistake accompanied the sepulture of this gallant old soldier. When in ancient days Queen Anne Boleyn, or Lady Jane Grey, or any other now historic personage, was after execution buried in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, the ceremony was brief and secret, the graves sometimes were but two feet deep, the earth hastily stamped down, and the flagstones, without name or mark or number, replaced. Thus for long their resting-places became completely lost and forgotten. When it was decided to bury Sir John Fox Burgoyne in the chancel of the Chapel it was naturally not for a moment thought that any desecration was being com- mitted. The Field-Marshal was therefore duly buried in that spot, but during the construction of his resting- place it became at once apparent that a disturbance of older bones had taken place. This was one of the discoveries which led Queen Victoria to order the assembly of the committee of experts in 1876, to whose careful research and reverent rearrangement the present satisfactory solution of the very difficult and delicate problem is due.^ Field-Marshal Lord Napier of Magdala was the first officer of the Indian Army to be made Constable of the Tower. Born in 18 10 he entered the service of the Honourable East India Company as an engineer, and ^ See also chapter xvi. THE CONSTABLE OF THE TOWER 61 during the greater part of his early career was employed in civil engineering work. His first employment was in the construction of canals, and later in laying out and building cantonments for the troops. Darjeeling and the road to it, the cantonments of Amballa, Kasauli, Sabathu, and Dagshai were all planned by him. During the Sikh Wars he was employed as a field engineer and also as a staff officer. Again reverting to civil work he constructed the Grand Trunk Road from Lahore to Pershawur, as well as inaugurating a canal system of 250 miles in the Punjab. During the Indian Mutiny he took an active part ; first having command of troops towards the end of that campaign, when sent in pursuit of Tantia Topi, for which service he was made a K.C.B. In the China War of i860 he commanded a Division, and as a reward was promoted to the rank of Major- General. Later when Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army he was entrusted with the conduct of the Abyssinian Expedition of 1868 ; which was brilhantly and speedily brought to a victorious conclusion. His services on this occasion were liberally rewarded with a peerage, a G.C.B., and a G. C.S.I. In 1870 he was made Commander-in-Chief in India, and six years later Governor of Gibraltar. In 1883 he became a Field- Marshal, and in 1886 was appointed Constable of the Tower. He died in 1890 and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. Field-Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood, the one hundred and thirty-fourth, and present Constable of the Tower, has had a more varied and distinguished career than many of his predecessors. He is not, nor has been, a prelate, but he has been a member of several professions which were graced by neither Geofi'rey de Mandeville, Thomas a Becket, nor Wilham Longchamp. So far back as 1852, as a small boy of fourteen he entered the Royal Navy, and two years later was fighting with the Naval Brigade in the Crimea. There he was severely wounded, was mentioned in despatches, and made a Knight of the Legion of Honour. 62 TPIE TOWER FROM WITHIN Sir Evelyn then transferred to the cavalry, and was first in the 13th Light Dragoons, ^ and later in the 17th Lancers. With this latter regiment he served during the Indian Mutiny, and there earned the soldier's highest distinction, the Victoria Cross. First a sailor then a cavalryman, he now took promotion to the infantry, and joined the 90th Foot. Not content with this wide field of experience. Sir Evelyn next read for the law, ate his dinners, and was called to the Bar of the Middle Temple. And many a time must he have passed the bones of Geoffrey de Mandeville lying buried near the western entrance of the Temple Church. Still on study bent he passed through the Staff College, whilst in every war he took a part — Ashantec, Katlir, Zulu, Transvaal, and Egypt. A brigade, a division, an army corps he in turn commanded ; and was first Quarter- master-General and then Adjutant- General of the army. His long and distinguished military career led to a Field- Marshal's baton, whilst as Constable of the Tower he became a worthy successor to many a great and illus- trious predecessor. The Constable's connection with the Tower of London has been, except in name, for many centuries but a slender one. True the Duke of Wellington, in his tight white overalls and blue coat, made the Tower a frequent object for his morning rides from Apslcy House ; but centuries have elapsed since the Constable resided in the ancient stronghold. Architecturally the old Tower of London has been rescued from the decay of ages, and stands nov/ as it did in the days of the great monarchs of the historic past. But it still needs the human touch to restore and preserve it, as the revived centre of the most entrancing and glorious, as well as tragic history, which perhaps the world can produce. ' Now 13 th Hussars. V THE LIEUTENANT I'he Lieutenant's ancient office— His pay [7.0 per annum — His emoluments — " Of daynties a certaync quantitic " — Out- witted by Sir William Seymour — Perquisites abolished for fixed pay— Sir Allan Apsley's salary ^2,500— The Lieutenant's Lodgings — Name changed to " King's House " — Now official abode of the Major and Resident Governor — ^The Lieutenant in Tudor and Stuart days — Sir John Brydges — Sir John Peyton — Sir George Harvey— Sir William Waad— Sir Gervasc Helwyss — Sir Bevil Skelton, the last resident Lieutenant — The Lieutenant's table— And the company thereat — The Deputy-Lieutenant or Lieutenant-Governor — Lord de Ros the last— The Majors of the Towers since 1690— The Major and Resident Governor. SCARCELY less famous, and almost as ancient as the Constable, is the office of Lieutenant of the Tower. Probably there was a Lieutenant de jacto in the days of the Conqueror, but the first to be mentioned are Giles dc Oudenarde in 1274 and Ralph Bavant about 1 33 1 . In the reign of Richard II it was ordained that the Constable should, out of his pay, which was then ;£ioo per annum, give to the Lieutenant fjio. Without the least doubt too the Lieutenant was not expected to live on £20 a year, but had recognized perquisites wherewith to increase his income. Indeed in the halcyon days of the Lieutenancy his emoluments possibly exceeded those of the Constable. They were both on much the same lines, but the Lieutenant being of a lower grade could use his powers of pecuniary persuasion without excessive delicacy. Amongst his chief emoluments was a regulated tax on all prisoners, calcu- lated on their reputed incomes. This was allowed at the 63 64 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN rate of ^z on every hundred marks ^ of income, which in the case of a rich prisoner reaHzed a considerable sum. From the ships bringing wine from abroad, he claimed a " roundlett of wine," and out of all arriving ships " of daynties a certayne quantitie."^ The Lieutenant also took his share of the fish caught between London Bridge and the Tower, and no doubt took toll of the cattle that fell off that bridge, before they reached the Constable. To him also accrued all articles of furniture purchased by prisoners to furnish their quarters, and left by them as was obligatory, when they were executed or released. This in the case of rich or extravagant prisoners was no mean acquisition, though doubtless occasionally, as in the case of Sir William Seymour, the Lieutenant was left lamenting. This astute and extravagant gentleman, afterwards Duke of Somerset,^ was lodged in St. Thomas' Tower, and ordered for the furnishing thereof expensive tapestries, plate, and furniture, for which he failed to pay, and for which after Sir William's escape the Lieu- tenant was sued. That indignant official might per- chance by sale have got his money back, but unfortun- ately the prisoner had, with regal prodigality, cut the most valuable tapestries so as to fit the fire-places. Later in the sixteenth century these various and dubious means of earning a salary were discountenanced, and a fixed income of two hundred marks a year was allotted to the Lieutenant. In the sumptuous days of Charles II, although the Exchequer was chronically bare, and all officials found difficulty in getting any pay at all, the salary of the Lieutenant, Sir Allan Apsley, was fixed at the princely rate of [z^^oo a year, but it is doubtful whether he received it even spasmodically, for he died very deeply in debt. Later, in the eighteenth century the pay of the Lieutenant was fixed at ^^700 per annum. ^ A mark was apparently worth fifteen shillings. * Davey. ' This is the Duke of Somerset, who, as Sir William Seymour, married the Lady Arabella Stuart, and is not to be confounded with his pre- decessor in the title, the Lord Protector. THE LIEUTENANT 65 From the time when the Constable gave up his resi- dence in the Tower, and used the Lieutenant more permanently as his representative, he became the most prominent official connected with the Tower. This was in the reign of Henry VHL The Constable's Tower was vacated and turned into a prison or quarter for officers, and a new house, known as the Lieutenant's Lodgings, was built for the Lieutenant.^ In the long list of Lieutenants there are many celebrated and distinguished officers, others who are known in the history of the Tower as the custodians of famous men and women ; some even are stamped with the mark of Cain. As in the case of the Constables it might try the reader's patience if a full biography of each Lieutenant were given, but perhaps it may be permissible to touch lightly on a few of the more prominent who have held this historic title. Sir Richard Cholmondeley, Kt., is one of the oldest Lieutenants of whom there is a record ; though possibly if he had not in his lifetime provided himself with a very massive and expensive sarcophagus, we might never have heard of him. He was Lieutenant of the Tower during the reign of Henry VII, and long before he died had a costly casket in alabaster made in which he and his lady were to lie. Outside this their Hfe-sized effigies in marble sleep peacefully, but inside of it their bodies never lay, for they died and were buried elsewhere. This monument remains in very good preservation to this day in St. Peter's ad Vincula. In 1876 when it was being moved from one part of the Chapel to another it was found to contain portions of an ancient font dating to early Tudor days ; this has now been put together and erected in the Chapel. Sir Richard, who belonged to an old Cheshire family, served under the Earl of Surrey at Flodden Field in 15 13, but his claim to military fame seems to rest on his having been the first to fire cannons on the city of London. There was apparently a periodical riot in process, this time between 1 See p. 73. F 66 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN the Londoners and the Lombards, the forerunner of centuries of ante-aUen agitations ; and Sir Richard, who highly disapproved of popular demonstrations especially where aliens were concerned, thought this a useful occasion for trying the effect of his new cannons. There- fore, according to the ancient chronicler, " whilst this ruffling continued Syr Richard Cholmley, Knight, Lieutenant of the Towre, no great frende to the citie, in a frantyke fury losed certayn peces of ordinance, and shot into the citie, which did little harmc, howbeit his good wyll apeered." Sir Leonard Skeffington, who succeeded him, is chiefly known to fame as the inventor of a form of torture known as the " Scavenger's Daughter," the title being a rude corruption of the inventor's surname. The lady may be seen in the Tower to this day.^ Sir John Brydges was Lieutenant of the Tower when Lady Jane Grey was first made a prisoner, and she lodged with him for a few days till moved to the Gentlemen Gaolers' quarters next door. Sir John was an old soldier who had distinguished himself and earned his spurs in the wars with France in Henry VIII's reign. He seems to have been a kind and courteous gentleman, and treated the unfortunate lady with every consideration. The reason is not recorded for the transfer of Lady Jane from the Lieutenant's Lodgings, which were built for the accommodation of like prisoners of distinction, to the humbler abode ; but perhaps the queen of a few days preferred the seclusion she there enjoyed to the em- barrassing company that might be met at the Lieutenant's table. It was Sir John Brydges' sad duty first to conduct her husband, Lord Guildford Dudley, to the scaffold on Tower Hill, and then Lady Jane herself to the place of execution on Tower Green. Amongst other notable prisoners in his charge were Archbishop Cranmer, as well as Bishops Latimer and Ridley, the three martyrs afterwards burnt at Oxford. ^ See p. 219. THE LIEUTENANT 6-] It was Sir John too who received at the Traitor's Gate the Princess EHzabeth, afterwards Queen ; and he it was who consoled and supported her, as weeping bitterly she made her way up to the Lieutenant's Lodgings and the Bell Tower. His last duty as Lieutenant was to arrange for the execution of Sir Thomas Wyat, the chief figure in the Wyat rebellion against Queen Mary. In 1554 Sir John was made a peer under the title of Lord Chandos of Sudeley and handed over the Lieu- tenancy to his brother Thomas. Sir Owen Hopton has not left a very good impression. He is described by a contemporary as a " serpentine person," one who will commit any meanness to curry favour. It was he who when Lieutenant dressed himself as a priest, and impersonating Dr. Story, under seal of confession, obtained from Charles Bailly^ all the informa- tion he was possessed of regarding the Ridolii Plot. It was during his Lieutenancy that Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, was murdered in the Bloody Tower. - The blame for this crime is laid on the shoulders of Sii" Christopher Hatton, but it seems doubtful if it could have been committed without the complacency at least of the Lieutenant. He was a hard gaoler too as many a prisoner found, and has recorded. One of his most d.is- tinguished prisoners was Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, who was imprisoned in the Beauchamp Tower \^ and that nobleman's name appears in the list of those handed over to his successor. Sir- Michael Blount. Sir Richard and Sir Michael BLjunt, father and son, arc chicHy held in memory by the monument the}- erected to themselves and their families in St. Peter's Chapel.* The Earl of Arundel complained bitterly of the severity of l.is treatment by Sir Michael ; but on his death-bed wlien the Lieutenant expressed his sorrow and asked for forgiveness he frankly gave it. The Earl, however, took the occasion to add " when a prisoner comes hither to this Tower, he bringeth sorrow with him ; then ^ See p. 28. ' bee p. 17. ' See p. 252. * See p. 246. 68 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN do not add affliction to affliction. Your commission is only to keep with safety not to kill with severity." We read that the Lieutenant went out of the chamber weeping. Sir John Peyton was Lieutenant during the latter part of Queen Elizabeth's reign and at the commencement of that of James I. Many distinguished prisoners were in his charge, the chiefest being those accused of being engaged in the Arabella Plot. Amongst these were Lord Cobham and Sir Walter Raleigh, both of whom dined at his table. There is little doubt that he was expected to play the complacent role followed by some of his predecessors, and allow Sir Walter to be murdered ; and he was led to understand that on the death of that inconvenient person the rich appointment of Governor of Jersey would fall to him. Sir John, however, was an honest man and would have none of this ; under pretext therefore that he had been neglectful of his duties he was dismissed, and Sir George Harvey was appointed in liis place. This Lieutenant also proved a disappointment ; he seems to have treated his prisoners with some con- sideration. Lady Harvey helped Sir Walter Raleigh to obtain chemicals for his experiments, whilst young Harvey was very useful to the distinguished prisoner in carrying messages for him. This would not do at all, so Harvey went and Sir William Waad became Lieutenant. Sir William Waad bears a somewhat mixed reputation. Sir Walter Raleigh labelled him " that beast Waad," which opprobrious epithet has clung to him as a mantle. Yet it must not be forgotten that though severe as a gaoler, grasping as a Lieutenant, and a merciless torturer, he was at least no murderer or accessor to murder, and lost his post for not coming up to expectation in this respect. Many celebrated prisoners were under his charge, and many besides Sir Walter dined at his table, tlic most exalted perhaps being the Lady Arabella Stuart. His chief prominence, however, as Lieutenant THE LIEUTENANT 69 was in connection with the trial and torture of Guy Fawkes and his fellow-conspirators.^ It was over the matter of Sir Thomas Overbury that he received his dismissal. That Knight was doomed and it being thought doubtful whether Sir William Waad would connive at his murder it was considered advisable to get rid of him. He was, therefore, under threat of being accused of stealing Lady Arabella Stuart's jewelry and plate, induced to resign in favour of Sir Gervase Helwyss, the consideration paid being _£i,400, with ;^6oo to follow if he held his counsel. His successor in the Lieutenancy was Sir Gervase Helwyss,- appointed through the influence of the Somersets, and held to be a willing tool. He and his descendants have denied that he was directly implicated in the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury, but two years later he was tried by a Court of Justice, and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn. He pleaded, however, that the sentence might be carried out in the less felonious surroundings of Tower Hill, and there in due course a Lieutenant of the Tower met his fate, in full view of his late command. Sir Allan Apsley, who came next, though somewhat an adventurer, especially in the marriage market, where he had made three successful coups,^ was not an assassin nor a complacent onlooker at nefarious practices. Sir Walter Raleigh was doubtless a troublesome person ; he was too very popular outside, and difficult to dispose of judicially. It would therefore be highly convenient if, like the young Princes, or Sir Thomas Overbury, he were to die suddenly in the Tower. Disappointed in any hope of Sir Allan Apsley's complacency in this nefarious design, a special agent. Sir Thomas Wilson, was intro- duced, who was to intervene between the Lieutenant and his prisoner and was to have sole charge of Sir * See p. 228. 2 This name is spelt in various ways even by tlie holder. The modern spelling is Elwes. ' Only two are recorded on his monument, 70 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Walter, with a view to bringing about the desired con- summation. Raleigh, however, proved too old a soldier for Wilson, and escaping secret assassination met his death on the scaffold on the sentence of a Court held fifteen years before.^ Sir John Robinson became Lieutenant in 1660 on the accession of Charles II, following a period of seventeen years, during which there appears to have been no one appointed officially to the post. Sir John combined also the duties of Constable, and during two years was Lord Mayor of London as well. Amongst the celebrated prisoners in his charge were George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and William Penn the founder of Pennsyl- vania. Sir John Robinson was succeeded as Lieutenant by Captain Tom Cheek, whose name came prominently into the history of the Tower in connection with the murder, or suicide, of Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex,^ in the reign of James 11. Whether Check had anything to do with the crime, if crime it was, is not clear, but when a very junior officer is put into an appointment usually held by those of considerable rank, and immediately after a suspicious tragedy occurs, it is no matter for surprise that popular sentiment of the time was inclined to condemn him. Sir Edward Hales was Lieutenant during the brief imprisonment of James Duke of Monmouth, and had him as a lodger. Sir Edward was himself committed to the Tower for treason a few years later. The last of the Lieutenants to live permanently in the Tower was Sir Bevil Skelton, for we find it recorded, when Lieut.-General Hatton Compton was Lieutenant a little later, that " since the flight of James II the Lieutenant was not expected to reside in the Tower, his duties falling upon either a Deputy-Governor, or Major of the Tower." So the Lieutenant in 1689, or there- abouts, followed the Constable to the more salubrious surroundings of a private residence outside the Tower. i See p. 178, * See p 214. THE LIEUTENANT 71 Both these migrations may probably be traced to the same cause, the unhealthiness of the Tower in those days, and the perennial diseases and squalor that pre- vailed, both within its walls and amidst its environments. Sir Bevil, it may be mentioned, was not only Lieu- tenant, but had himself been a prisoner in the Tower for high treason, so he knew it from both aspects. The Lieutenant, when he resided at the Tower, kept a table at which the distinguished prisoners from the Bell Tower and the Bloody Tower joined the company. A weekly allowance was made by the Treasury to the Lieutenant for the feed and maintenance of such prisoners, this amount being debited to their estates. The company at the Lieutenant's table must often have made a bright hour in the day both for him and his prisoners, for in the days when the Tower was full to overflowing with State prisoners his table must have been crowded with many of the most interesting characters of the period. The history of the Tower might almost have been written round it. Since the Lieutenant ceased to reside permanently at the Lieutenant's Lodgings there have been some twenty- five who have held that appointment, and amongst these may be found many officers of high distinction.^ The appointment is now for three years only, and is given as a reward to general officers with distinguished service. When the Lieutenant towards the end of the seven- teenth century gave up residing permanently in the Tower, his work mostly devolved on an officer appointed as his deputy. The first we find mentioned is Lieut.- Colonel John Farwell, who was appointed in 1690 and held the post for nineteen years. There appear to have been in all twelve Deputy-Lieutenants, or Lieutenant-Governors, 2 the last being Colonel Lord de Ros, who was appointed in 1852, The occupant appears generally to have been a Colonel or Lieut.-Colonel in the Army, and the appointment seems to have been for ^ For the List of Lieutenants of the Tower see Appendix B. "^ See Appendix C. 72 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN life. Colonel Williamson held it for twenty-six years, Colonel Charles Rains forth for twenty-eight years, and Colonel Yorke for thirty-one years. There came also to be appointed a Major of the Tower, the first found mentioned being Major Thomas Hawley in 1690. This is very possibly the same " Mr. " Hawley who was gentleman gaoler when the Earl of Essex " cutt his throat " in his house in 1683. Hawley was placed in custody, but after enquiry released. The Major of the Tower was occasionally promoted to be Deputy-Lieutenant or Lieutenant-Governor, as in the cases of Major Robert D'Oyly and Major Richard White. The former was six years Major and nine years Deputy- Lieutenant, whilst the latter was fifteen years in the lower appointment and one year in the higher. In 1771 occurred a break of several years, during which the Deputy-Lieutenant probably performed both duties. The appointment of Major of the Tower was appar- ently for hfe, for we find that Major Charles H. Collins held it for twenty-one years, whilst Colonel J. H. Elrington was Major for no less than forty-one years. Sir Bryan Milman, who died in 1 908, held it for thirty- nine years. This latter officer was also styled Resident Governor, but the change in designation was not formally gazetted till 1911. In the nineteenth century the office of Deputy- Lieutenant or Lieutenant-Governor was merged into that of Major of the Tower, and in 1911 the title was officially changed to Major and Resident Governor. There have been in all, as far as can be ascertained, sixteen Majors of the Tower from 1690 to 1911, and one Major and Resident Governor.^ The Major and Resident Governor has an official residence in the " King's House," the old Lieutenant's Lodgings. From this and the previous chapter it will be gathered that the Tower is now under the control of three officers, the Constable, the Lieutenant, and the Major and Resident Governor. ^ See Appendix D, VI THE LIEUTENANT'S LODGINGS AND THE BELL TOWER The Lieutenant's Lodgings— Built by Henry VIII— The Bell Tower — Prisoners of distinction — The belfry — The prisoners' rooms — ^The Council Chamber — Tablets — The Lieutenant's table — Sir Thomas More — His execution — Story of his head — Bishop of Rochester — Old and infirm but executed — Princess Eliza- beth — Her fear at entering — The Prisoners' Walk — Released — Her second entry as Queen — Sir Thomas Wyat — Attacks the Tower — Captured and put to the rack — Hanged, drawn, and quartered — Lady Katherine Grey — Gives birth to a son in the Bell Tower — Christened over the bones of his two grand- fathers — Lady Arabella Stuart — James Duke of Monmouth — Lady Margaret Douglas — Lord Nithsdale's escape — The Scottish Lords — Lord Lovat's body exposed for hire — The last victim of the block — No shadov/s of the past, THESE historic buildings, which structurally are joined together, have a combined history which makes them perhaps of greater human interest than any other in the Tower. They have not such an ancient history as the White Tower, nor the same cruel records as the Bloody Tower ; they have not the wealth of inscriptions which make the Beauchamp Tower famous ; but in these Lodgings and the adjoining Tower have lived their days of imprison- ment a great and illustrious succession of the brave, the noble, and the fair. As is the Tower of London to the history of England, so are the Lieutenant's Lodgings and the Bell Tower to the human history of the Tower of London. The Lieutenant's Lodgings consist of a block of Tudor buildings standing at the south-west corner of 7.3 74 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Tower Green, with one wing facing north and the other cast. At the apex stands the Bell Tower, a much older edifice to which these wings were added. The Bell Tower was probably built as far back as the reign of Richard Cceur de Lion, but its human interest became greatest after it formed a portion of the Lieutenant's Lodgings in the days of Henry VIII. The walls of this Tower are sohd for ten feet or more from the ground, and above are two storeys used as State prisons. The upper storey is known as the " Strong Room " where prisoners of great importance were imprisoned — a Princess of the Blood, a Pretender to the Throne, a Prince of the Church. It is roughly circular in shape, and about eighteen feet across. The walls are eight feet thick, with small windows at the end of deep em- brasures. The ceihng is arched and groined, and a large open fireplace stands at one side. The only ap- proach to this room is through the Lieutenant's Lodgings, but there is also a small exit from it which leads on to the Prisoners' Walk, which runs along the high ramparts from the Bell Tower to the Beauchamp Tower. After her imprisonment this name was changed to Princess Elizabeth's Walk, for she used it much. The lower chamber in the Bell Tower is of the same size and shape as the Strong Room, with a groined roof and immensely thick walls. Here also prisoners of the first importance were imprisoned, the only entrance or egress being through the Lieutenant's Lodgings. But there was probably originally a rampart running the whole way from the Bloody Tower to the Bell Tower, the eastern portion of which still remains, and is known as Raleigh's Walk. On the top of the Bell Tower stands the ancient wooden belfry whence rang and still rings the evening curfew. Engraved on the bell is " W. B.^ 165 1," probably a successor to the much older bell which in days of chivalry summoned the Knights of the Bath to their all- night vigil. ^ Probably the initials of the maker. THE LIEUTENANT'S LODGINGS 75 The western wing of the Lieutenant's Lodgings consists of two upper floors, divided up into small rooms, for the accommodation of prisoners of distinc- tion, whilst on the ground floor lived their servants, retainers, and guards. I'he basement, now known as Henry VIII's cow-house, covers the whole area of this wing. In the south wing are to be found the larger rooms in which the Lieutenant and his family were accommodated, the Council Chamber, and the dining-room where his enforced guests dined at the Lieutenant's table. Of these the Council Chamber, which is on the top floor, is the most prominent, chiefly due to the inscriptions placed there by Sir William Waad, and the bust of James I, all of which commemorate directly and in- directly the Gunpowder Plot. In this room Guy Fawkes was tried and from that time, now more than three hundred years ago, it has more generally become known as Guy Fawkes' Room. The chief inscriptions which are couched in inferior Latin are to the honour and glory of King James and his family, and also serve separately and incidentally as a memorial to the Lieu- tenant himself. The first may thus be translated : " James the Great, King of Great Britain, Illustrious for Piety, Justice, Foresight, Learning, Hardihood, Clemency, and other Regal Virtues ; champion and patron of the Christian faith, of the public safety, and of universal peace ; author most subtle, most august, and most auspicious." " Queen Ann, the most serene daughter of Frederick the Second, invincible King of the Danes." " Prince Henry, ornament of Nature, strengthened with learning, blest with grace, born and given to us from God." " Charles, Duke of York,^ divinely disposed to every virtue." " Elizabeth, full sister of both ; most worthy of her parents." ^ Afterwards Charles I. ^e THE TOWER FROM WITHIN " Do thou, All-Seeing, protect these as the apple of the eye, and guard them without fear from wicked men beneath the shadow of Thy wings."" The second inscription is a gracefully veiled, but no less obtrusive tablet to commemorate the existence of Sir William Waad himself. It reads : " To Almighty God, the guardian, arrester and avenger, who has punished this great, and incredible conspiracy against our most merciful lord the King, our most serene lady the Queen, our divinely-disposed Prince, and the rest of our Royal House, and against all persons of quality, our ancient nobility, our soldiers, prelates, and judges ; the authors and advocates of which conspiracy, Romanized Jesuits, of perfidious. Catholic and serpent- like ungodliness, with others equally criminal and insane, were moved by the furious desire of destroying the true Christian religion, and by the treasonous hope of over- throwing the Kingdom, root and branch ; and which was suddenly, v/onder fully, and divinely detected, at the very moment when the ruin was impending, on the fifth day of November in the Year of Grace 1605 — William Waad, whom the King has appointed his Lieutenant of the Tower, returns, on the ninth of October in the sixth year of the reign of James ist, 1608, his great and everlasting thanks." The trial commenced on November 6th, 1605, the day after the attempt to blow up the Houses of Parlia- ment, and is described more fully elsewhere.^ Both the Council Chamber and the Lieutenant's dining-room, which is on the floor beneath, in those days stretched across the breadth of the building. Direct communication from the Bloody Tower whence prisoners came to dine at the Lieutenant's table, to judge from a model of the Tower of that period, led along the high rampart known as Raleigh's Walk. Venerable as is the Bell Tower, and interesting as it is to the archaeologist, the many notable prisoners who ^ See p. 228. THE LIEUTENANT'S LODGINGS 77 have eaten the bread of affliction within its massive v^^alls give an added and Hving lustre to its ancient history. As far back as 1534 a Lord Chancellor of England groped his w^ay into its gloomy recesses. His name was Sir Thomas More, and he entered this dungeon for con- science' sake. This was at the period when Henry VIII began to combine religious intolerance with connubial exuberance. Greatly enraged with the Pope for not granting his infallible sanction to the divorce of Queen Katherine of Ai-agon, King Henry determined to do without the Pope, and declared himself head of the English Church. This was too sudden a revolution, and made on too equivocal grounds, to be acceptable to all, but Henry VIII was a despotic monarch of the old- fashioned sort, who brooked no opposition, and there- fore promptly consigned to the Tower, and other prisons, those who did not subscribe to the royal edict. Sir Thomas More, perhaps the greatest man of his age, was one of these. Apart from his high official position he had been a personal and intimate friend of the King, and during that intimacy he had learnt sufficient concerning the carnal affairs of his sovereign to make it difficult for him to conscientiously acknow- ledge him to be worthy of so high and holy a position as head of the Church. After an imprisonment of a year and three months Sir Thomas More was on July ist, 1535, tried at West- minster, and was condemned and sentenced on the main charge, which was that, " He had behaved maliciously and traitorously against the crown and regal dignitie of his sacred majestic." His return journey to the Tower was made on foot, the axe turned towards him. The execution took place on Tower Hill on July 6th, the sentence including that his head should be exposed on Tower Bridge. After the execution the body was buried in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, and the head, as ordered, was exposed on lower Bridge. Whether it was blown off 78 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN into the river, as some say, or whether it was obtained by feeing the custodians of the gate, is not certain ; but the head undoubtedly came into the possession of Sir Thomas More's daughter, Margaret Roper. According to the story this lady hired a boat and had it rowed under London Bridge, and the head fell into the water, and was picked up by her. It was by her_ pre- served, and is now in the vault of the Roper family at St. Dunstan's Church, Canterbury. Here it was seen as late as 1835 by the Reverend J. Bowes Bruce of Canterbury " in a niche in the wall, in a leaden box, something of the shape of a beehive, open in the front, and with an iron grating before it." Bishop Fisher of Rochester, who came to the Bell Tower, at the same time and in the same cause as Sir Thomas More, was an old man of seventy-nine, reputed for his humihty and sanctity. But he was too holy,_ and not humble enough, to accept Henry VIII as his spiritual head. He was a poor old man and suffered much from lack of clothes, and warming, and food ; all of which required a rich purse in the Tower in those days. After a year and two months' imprisonment he was taken to his trial on June 17th, 1535, and condemned to death. Five days later came the day of his execution, but so old and infirm was he that he had to be carried in a chair to the Bulwark Gate, where he was handed over to the Sheriffs. A message from the King had reached him that he was to make no long speech ; he spoke, therefore, only a few words, repeated the Te Dcum and the 31st Psalm, and then " without more ado, lay down and so entered into Heaven." His body with the head was first buried in All Hallow's, Barking, but seven years later was removed to St. Peter's ad Vincula in the Tower, and buried beside Sir Thomas More.^ When Queen Ehzabeth was twenty-one years of age, and four years before she came to the throne, the Bell Tower received her as a prisoner. A letter written by her to the French King, together with despatches from ' Arundel MSS. 152, f. ijj, and Stowe. THE LIEUTENANT'S LODGINGS 79 Noailles, the French Ambassador, were intercepted and brought to Queen Mary. From these it appeared that a conspiracy was on foot to marry the Princess EHzabeth to Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire, and to place her on the throne. Courtenay was made a prisoner at the same time, and placed also in the Bell Tower. Sir Thomas Wyat, the old friend and admirer of Queen Anne Boleyn, the Princess Elizabeth's mother, was the hot- headed leader of this rebellion. He was taken in arms after attacking the Tower of London, and put to the rack. The Princess Elizabeth was brought to the Tower on Palm Sunday 1554, ^7 water, for fear of a popular demonstration, and entered the same gloomy Traitor's Gate, through which her mother had passed to return no more.i Naturally the forbidding augury greatly upset her, and she could with difficulty be induced by Sir John Brydges, the Lieutenant, to ascend to the apart- ments prepared for her and her attendants in the Bell Tower, and the Lieutenant's Lodgings. When she had been at last induced to enter, the Constable, Sir John Gage, took the precaution " to loke the dorcs \'cry straytly," Confinement made the Princess hysterical, she fancied that she was to be executed immediately, and she even went so far as to ask that she might be despatched in the French fashion with a sword, as had been her mother. She also asked whether the scaffold, on which Lady Jane Grey had been beheaded, had been removed ; and seemed greatly relieved when she was told that it had.^ Yet this is the same Princess, who as a Queen made the historic speech to the troops at Tilbury, which has oft been quoted, yet bears repeating : "... I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England too ; and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realms ; to which rather than any dishonour should grow by me, I myself will take up arms. . . ." ' For Queen Anne Boleyn's imprisonment in the J./ieu tenant';. Lodgings see p. 127. 2 D^vey, p. 209 (Abb. Edition). 8o THE TOWER FROM WITHIN During the first month or so the imprisonment was very close, and the Princess was not allowed out of her rooms ; but later she was permitted to take exercise in the narrow promenade which runs from the Bell Tower to the Beauchamp Tower. This promenade, probably made originally as a banquette for the soldiers defending the wall, runs past the upper windows of the Lieutenant's Lodgings. It was therefore strictly enjoined that not only was the Princess to be accompanied in her walk by the Lieutenant, the Lord Chamberlain, and three of the Queen's ladies ; but that the shutters of all the windows looking on the walk were to be closed, so that no one might even cast eyes on her, much less hold converse. A procession of six persons in this narrow way must have been a very restricted form of exercise. Later, however, the Princess was still further enlarged, and allowed to walk in the Lieutenant's Garden, but here she was surrounded by a guard of soldiers, and the Constable was added to the cortege. Queen Mary, who was sincerely attached to her sister, ' had a hard fight to save her head ; but Bishop Gardiner and others were her implacable and fanatical enemies, and left no stone unturned to ruin her. The Constable, Sir John Gage, taking his orders from the Council, according to the Princess's account, treated her with great harshness. The Queen distrusting the Constable's integrity, and fearing lest something untoward might happen, placed Sir Henry Bedingfield, a man in whom she had confidence, in immediate charge of her sister. In April a body of Commissioners was sent to the Tower to examine the Princess, but nothing incriminating being found, either in her own statements, or in those of Sir Thomas Wyat, or of Edmund Tremaine, who were racked to disclose them, it was decided to remove her from the Tower, and place her in the more open confinement of Woodstock. When, accompanied by Sir Henry Bedingfield who remained in charge, her barge pushed of! from the Tower wharf all the principal city churches burst into a peal of rejoicing. The w .omM'-'S:-- Mf^ SIR THOMAS WYAT LEADER OK THE WYAT REBELLION AGAINST QUEEN MAR', EXECUTED ON TOWER HILL, APRIL IITH, 1554 THE LIEUTENANT'S LODGINGS 8i Princess was greatly touched with this glad welcome, and many years afterwards in grateful remembrance presented some of these churches with silken bell ropes. Four years later, now a Queen about to be crowned, Elizabeth again entered the Tower, but this time by road and on horseback. When she came to the entrance by way of the Middle Tower she dismounted and kneel- ing there thanked God for His goodness in her past deliverance, and prayed for His divine Grace in the coming years. It would be gratifying for history to be able to record that Queen Ehzabeth's own nightmare imprisonment had permanently softened her heart towards others even more lightly accused. Unhappily the annals of the Tower will not support this kindly hope. Sir Thomas Wyat, the old friend and admirer of Queen Anne Boleyn, was twice imprisoned in the Tower ; on the first occasion in connection with the events which led to the death of that unhappy Queen. It was indeed his sad privilege to see the final act in that drama from the window of his prison, and on the scaffold Anne Boleyn gave her prayer-book to her waiting woman, Mistress Lee, with the whispered instruction that it was to be given to Sir Thomas Wyat. This prayer-book remained in the possession of the Wyat family for many generations. Sir Thomas was shortly after released, but his old attachment for Queen Anne Boleyn was trans- ferred to the cause of her daughter Ehzabeth. Personal attachment apart he was a strong Protestant and favoured a Protestant succession, and being a man of action rather than intrigue headed an armed rebellion against Queen Mary. He with his force encamped in Bermondsey on the river bank facing the Tower, with a view to crossing and attacking it. Here he was bombarded by guns from the roofs of the White Tower, St. Thomas' Tower, and the Iron Gate Tower. Seeing that a crossing was here difficult he moved up- stream, and there crossing, moved on London from the west. But his force was tired, wet, hungry, and dis- couraged, and was easily defeated; Sir Thomas Wyat 82 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN himself being taken prisoner on Ludgate Hill. There was naturally but one end for a rebel taken in arms, but before his trial Sir Thomas was put to the rack in the Tower, in the endeavour to extort confession of the complicity of the Princess Elizabeth in the rising. In this his questioners failed. During the intervals of being racked Sir Thomas was a prisoner in the Bell Tower, very possibly with the intent that incriminating corre- spondence might pass between him and the Princess, who was also at the time a prisoner there. The trial took place at Westminster on March 15th, 1554, and Sir Thomas was executed on Tower Hill on Wednesday, April nth, 1554. '^^^^ sentence included being drawn and quartered, and his head was fixed on a pike at Hay Hill, Mayfair. Some of his friends, how- ever, by judicious bribery, procured the head and had it decently buried. Lady Katherine Grey, sister of Lady Jane Grey, was a prisoner in the Bell Tower, having incurred the exceed- ing wrath of Queen Elizabeth for having secretly married Lord Hertford, son of the late Duke of Somerset, the Lord Protector. Lady Katherine was a possible successor to the throne, and it was amongst the Queen's fancies to keep such persons unmarried, or married only to men of Her Majesty's choice. Great therefore was her further indignation when Lady Katherine added to her iniquities by giving birth, on September 21st, 1561, to a son in the Bell Tower. The child was christened in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, and named Edward after the late King. During the ceremony beneath the unconscious infant lay buried the mutilated remains of his two grandfathers, the Dukes of Somerset and Suffolk ; his aunt Lady Jane Grey ; and his great-uncle the Duke of Northumberland, all of whom had perished by the axe. Young Lord Hertford was captured in France, and also brought to the Tower, with strict injunctions that he was to have no access to his wife, or even word with her. Perhaps he had better have been left in France, for to the speechless indignation of Queen Elizabeth the THE LIEUTENANT'S LODGINGS 83 incorrigible Countess gave birth to yet another child in the Bell Tower on February loth, 1563. This child was also christened in St. Peter's, two Warders standing as sponsors. This little escapade cost her husband 15,000 marks, which was tantamount to the confiscation of his estates ; and the Lieutenant of the Tower, Sir Edward Warner, was dismissed from his post and imprisoned in the Tower. With the cold eye of Queen Elizabeth upon them, ecclesiastical courts obediently proclaimed the marriage invalid, and the children ihegitimate. The Countess might now go free with her bastards, and they were released in 1563, but her husband was still kept prisoner in the Tower. After living for four years on the charity of her friends Lady Katherine Grey, Countess of Hert- ford, was gathered to her fathers. Two years later her husband was released, and never rested till he had legally procured the legitimacy of his children. Lady Arabella Stuart, a cousin of James I, and with him of equal descent from Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VII, was long a prisoner and spent most of it in the Bell Tower. A fuller account of her life, imprison- ment, and death is reserved for a later page.^ James Duke of Monmouth, who was committed in 1685, was one of the most famous prisoners in the Bell Tower; his story is more fully related in another chapter. 2 Lady Margaret Douglas^ was first imprisoned in the Lieutenant's Lodgings in the Tower July, 1531, for contemplating marriage with Lord Thomas Howard, youngest brother of the aged Duke of Norfolk, whose own head was saved by the timely death of Henry VIII. Lord lliomas Howard died in the Tower six years later, when Lady Margaret was released. She again, however, returned to lier old quarters in the J lieutenant's Lodgings in 1566, this time for allowing her son Henry Stuart, Earl of Darnley, to marry Mary Queen of Scots. Her husband was also at the same time imprisoned separately ^ See p 208. ^ See p. l8i. ^ Afterwards Countess of Lennox. 84 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN in the Tower. To them whilst prisoners was brought the news of the murder of their son the Earl of Darnley. The third imprisonment of this somewhat ambitious lady was a few years later, when she again returned to the Lieutenant's Lodgings. Her offence was again matri- monial, in that again privily and without the Queen's consent she married her youngest son to the Lady Ehzabeth Cavendish, the parents eventually of Lady Arabella Stuart. Lady Margaret was after some time released and ordered to reside at her country house at Hackney. Here she died, and was buried in Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey. In the room occupied by her in the Lieutenant's Lodgings she left an inscription prob- ably carved by one of her attendants. It reads : " Upon the twenty dale of June xx in the Yere of our Lord a thousande five hundred three score and five, the Right Honorable Countes of Lennox Grace commyted prysner to this logynge for the marege of her sonne my lord Henry Darnle and the Qvene of Scotlande here is there nams that do wayte upon her noble grace in thys clase ^ M. Ehzabeth Husey M. Jhon Baily M. Elizabeth Chambrlen M. Robart Portynger ^ . M. Edward C. Veyne Anno Domini 1566." One of the best-known escapes from the Tower took place from the Lieutenant's Lodgings in 1716, and was very cleverly managed by a lady. After an ineffectual Jacobite rising in favour of " James HI," Lords Derwent- water, Kenmure, and Nithsdale were taken prisoners at the battle of Preston, and sent to the Tower as prisoners. All three lords were tried at Westminster on February 19th, 1 716, and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. THE LIEUTENANT'S LODGINGS 85 This sentence was mitigated, however, in favour of execution by beheading on Tower Hill. The date fixed was February 24th, and Lords Derwentwater and Ken- mure suffered on that date, but the night before Lord Nithsdale made his escape, through the courage and resource of his wife, aided by two women. Lord Nithsdale was confined in a small upper room in the Lieutenant's Lodgings next to the Council Chamber, up several flights of stairs from the interior, and with a drop of forty feet from the window on the side facing the river. As the poor nobleman was to die next day, the authori- ties were somewhat lenient in allowing his friends and old servants to come and say farewell to him. Thus Lady Nithsdale and Miss Hilton first went in ; and Miss Hilton shedding a garment departed. Enter Mrs. Mills who apparently parted with her hood and several more articles of clothing, and then in her turn took an affec- tionate farewell. A few minutes later Lord Nithsdale, disguised in the female clothes left for him, with a wig like that of Mrs. Mills, a hood well drawn over his face, and bitterly weeping into a large handkerchief held to his face, was led sorrowfully forth by Lady Nithsdale, and handed over to the maid whom they met at the door. Lady Nithsdale then returned to the room upstairs, and walking up and down, carried on a double conversation with herself, even imitating the rumble of her husband's voice. When she felt sure the fugitive was clear of the fortress, she opened the door, and as she stood close to it entered into further parting converse with the imaginary person within. On the way down the stairs she met a servant going up with lights for his lordship's room, but him she turned back saying that Lord Nithsdale was busy with his prayers, and must not be disturbeci. Directly she was out of the Tower, Lady Nithsdale drove to the residence of her devoted friend the Duchess of Montrose, and through her influence succeeded in getting her husband engaged as a servant in the train of the Venetian Ambassador, who was about to leave London. Thus disguised the Earl reached the Continent 86 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN in safety, and eventually travelled to Rome where he died in 1749. Amongst the last prisoners in the Lieutenant's Lodgings, and the last to be executed on Tower Hill, were the Scottish lords concerned in the Stuart rising of 1746. There were many others implicated in this rebellion, but the three to suffer were William Boyd, Earl of Kilmarnock, Arthur Elphinstone, Lord Balmerino, and Simon, Lord Eraser of Lovat. This rebellion was the final effort of the Stuarts, and was considered of some importance. Indeed, so serious was it deemed by George II, who was perhaps not the bravest of the brave, that he kept his private yacht moored at the Tower wharf for several weeks, ready to fly to Hanover. The citizens of London too were greatly perturbed, and fed by idle rumours, were in hourly dread of the arrival of an army of bare-legged Northerners to sack their quiet homes ! Even thus late in the centuries the Tower of London was still looked upon as the centre and emblem of the sovereignty of these Isles, and many an anxious citizen hurrying to his warehouse cast a glance to see whether the English flag still flew, and the English red coats still mxanned the parapets. There were many great Scotsmen engaged in this last desperate enterprise in favour of the lost dynasty of the Stuarts. The battle of Culloden settled the matter finally, and there came into the Tower and other English prisons a great throng of prisoners. Besides those men- tioned above were George Earl of Cromarty, the Marquis of Tullibardine, the Earl of Traquair, Lord McLeod, and other Scotch and north-country gentlemen of influence. Lord Tullibardine died in the Lieutenant's Lodgings before he was tried, and " by his Brother the Duke of Athol's request he was decently but at as small expence as could well be, interd in the West end of our Chappie in the Tower. "^ Lord Cromarty, who had an attractive ^ Diary of Lieut.-General Adam Williamson, Deputy-Lieutenant of the Tower. Edited by F. C. Fox, f.r.h.s. THE LIEUTENANT'S LODGINGS 87 wife with persuasive manners, secured a pardon. Lord McLeod, a boy of nineteen, after two years' imprison- ment was released, and having served with the Swedish army for some years, came back and raised a Highland regiment, afterwards numbered the 73rd Foot, and now the 2nd Battalion of the Black Watch. Lords Cromarty, Kilmarnock, and Balmerino were tried together by their peers at Westminster. All were found guilty and sentenced. Lord Cromarty was as above mentioned reprieved ; but the Tower authorities received orders to hand over Lords Kilmarnock and Balmerino to the Sheriffs of London for execution on Tower Hill on the morning of August i8th, 1746. The account of w^hat followed may well be given in the Deputy-Lieutenant's own words :^ " The Stage, Rooms of the house,- and the stairs Leading to the scaffold, being covered with black, all prepared at the Expence of the Sheriffs they came at 10 a clock precisely and knockt at the Outward Gate, which with all others was kept close shut, and demanded the Prisoners. I had appointed the Major to be there to attend their call and the Lords to be ready to go at the shortest Notice, and went to them to wait for the Major's summons from the gate, which came exactly at the hour appointed. We immediately set out from their appartements and I had the doors Lockt after them and the Keys given to Me, that if any Valluable thing was left in them I might secure it as My Perquisite. " When we came into the Street we went on foot in the following manner. " First went their four Warders two and two, then I followed singley, after Me followd Lord Kilmarnock the Prisoner with the Major, then followed the Chaplains and two friends, then Lord Balmerino attended by the Gentleman Gaoler after him two friends but no Chaplin, his nojuring Chaplin having taken leave of him the night ^ General Williamson's Diary. " The Transport Office close to the scaffold, afterwards No. 14 Trinity Square, now demolished and replaced by other buildings. 88 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN before, then foUowd an Officer and fifteen men, after them the two Herses, with the Coffins for the two Lords, then a Sergent with fifteen men more, all with their Bayonets fixd ; thus we marchd to the Gate which being opened we deliverd the Lords there to the Sherrifs, who conducted them in the same order on foot to the house of the Scaffold." The day was bright and fine, and immense crowds assembled to see the execution. On the edge of the moat facing west and just outside the Bulwark Gate was a large grand-stand for spectators, part of it in two tiers. Close to The Tiger Inn, and facing north, was another great stand partly in two tiers, and partly in three, with canopies ; evidently erected for dis- tinguished onlookers. At the corner of Great Tower Street was a four-tiered stand, three of the tiers with head cover. Alongside was yet another stand, raised so as to look over the roof of an intervening house. At the corner of what is now By ward Street were two more stands, erected on the roofs of houses. On the roof of the Transport Office were two or three small stands for the privileged few. All the Tower walls and turrets from which a view could be held were filled with spec- tators, and even the masts of ships on the river held curious observers. From the Bulwark Gate extended a double " haye " of soldiers, horse and foot, which lined both sides of the road followed by the prisoners, and also formed a wide circle round the scaffold to keep off the crowd. This " haye " consisted of a double rank of infantry and behind them a single rank of cavalry, all shoulder to shoulder, and knee to knee. Outside the soldiers an immense crowd of people estimated by some at one hundred thousand stood around. Every window looking even distantly on the scaffold was fully occupied. The procession with the two lords in the centre moved slowly to the Transport Office, where apparently there was a long delay, the execution being fixed to take place at noon. The two lords with their friends, in inner rooms, had talked together, and prayed at intervals for THE LIEUTENANT'S LODGINGS 89 some time, before Lord Kilmarnock was called forth. He stepped out resolutely and mounted the scaffold steps, but at first seemed dazed with the number of spectators, and was heard to mutter " This is terrible." He did not make a speech, but handed a long written statement to the Sheriff. Then taking off his wig, coat, and waistcoat very composedly, he " after some trouble put on a napkin-cap and then several times tried the block, the executioner, who was in white with a white apron, out of tenderness concealing the axe behind himself. At last the Earl knelt down with visible un- willingness to depart, and after five minutes dropped his handkerchief, the signal, and his head was cut off at once and received in a scarlet cloth by four of the undertaker's men kneeling, who wrapped it up and put it into the coffin with the body, orders having been given not to expose the heads as used to be the custom."^ Meanwhile Lord Balmerino had remained in the Transport Office conversing with his friends, and twice partook of some bread, and a glass of wine. When the Sheriffs returned for him he said, " I suppose Lord Kilmarnock is no more," and asked how the executioner had performed his duty. He then cheerfully took leave of the company, and walking out with undaunted air, mounted the scaffold, and bowed to the people on all sides. He approved of the inscription on his cofl[in, and putting on his glasses read to the Sheriffs his dying state- ment, afterwards wiping the glasses and returning them to his pocket. " Then he went to the corner of the scaffold and called very loud for the warder and gave him his periwig, which he took off and put on a night-cap of Scotch plaid, and pulled off his coat and waistcoat and lay down ; but being told he was on the wrong side vaulted round immediately and gave the sign by tossing up his arm, as if he were giving the signal for battle. He received three blows but the first certainly took away all sensa- tion. He was not a quarter of an hour on the scaffold, ^ Letter from Sir Horace Walpole to Sir H. Mann. 90 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Lord Kilmarnock above half a one. Balmcrlno certainly died with the intrepidity of a hero."^ The bodies of the two lords having, with their heads, been placed in the cofEns were conveyed back to the Tower, and buried in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula at the west end.- The Earl of Kilmarnock was forty- two years old, and Lord Balmerino fifty-eight, but looked older. After the battle of Culloden, Lord Lovat, a man of eighty years of age, and one of the " rebel lords," escaped to Cawdor Castle, thence to a refuge on the Lake of Tvluilly, and thence to an island in the Lake of Morar, hoping to make his way eventually to France. But he was captured by a party of sailors from H.M.S. Furnace and brought to London for trial, arriving at the Tower in November or December, 1746. His trial did not take place till March of the following year, when he was found guilty by his peers, and sentenced to death. Lord Lovat, though old, was of quick wit and ready in retort. The Major of the Tower was visiting him a day or two before his execution and asked him how he faired : " Why, I am doing very well," he rephed, " for I am pre- paring myself. Sir, for a place where hardly any Majors and very few Lieutenant-Generals go."^ When the Lieutenant came to see him on the day before his execution he rose to receive him. The Lieutenant politely deprecated that his lordship in his infirmity should trouble to rise. To which the old nobleman replied, " I hope you would not have me be unmannerly the last day of my hfe." The execution was to take place on April 9th, 1747, " the head of the said Simon Lord Lovat then and there forthwith upon the said scaffold at Tower Hill aforesaid to cause to be cut and stricken off and clearly severed from his body."* As in the case of Lords Kilmarnock and Balmerino he was escorted to the Bulwark Gate and there handed over > Sir Horace Walpolc to Sir H. Mann. » See p. 245. 3 Howell's State Trials. « State Papers, Domestic, April, 1747. THE LIEUTENANT'S LODGINGS 91 to the Sheriffs of London, but being old and infirm, he travelled in a coach to the Transport Office. There he sat in a chair and conversed with his friends, and being helped by a Warder knelt and prayed. He handed a state- ment to the Sheriff", and was then assisted out and up the steps of the scaffold. Arrived there he presented ten guineas to the executioner, and felt the edge of the axe, and said it would do well. Being too infirm to stand long, a chair was again provided for him. From tliis he rose to look at the inscription on his coffin and remarked, " Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori." Then taking leave of his friends he handed his hat, wig, and clotlies to Mr. William Eraser, ordered his cap to be put on, and unloosing his neck-cloth and collar, kneeled down at the block. One blow severed his neck, and the head together with the body were placed in the waiting cofiin, and eventually buried beside Lord Kilmarnock, and Lord Balmerino, in St. Peter's Chapel. Before, however. Lord Lovat's remains came to rest they had some curious adventures. He had left in- structions to his relatives that he was to be buried in the family vault at Kirkhill in Scotland, and apparently both they and the Tower authorities were under the im- pression that this had been sanctioned. The body was first taken to St. Peter's, and kept there till the crowd round the scaff'old had dispersed; for Lord Lovat was not popular. It was then handed over to Mr. Stevenson the undertaker for disposal, in accordance with the wishes of the family. Mr. Stevenson, however, who, like most people in those days, looked to perquisites to enhance his income, took the coffin to his house in the Strand, opposite the Exeter Exchange, and there exhibited the body to the curious for a money payment. This scandal coming to the ears of the Deputy-Governor of the Tower, he at once reported to the Duke of Newcastle " the great indignity as well as the indecencie of it — a thing never before heard of." Meanwhile William Eraser, who was a relative, had arranged with the master of a ship sailing the next week, for the transport 92 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN of the body by sea to Scotland. But during the delay, and in consequence of the pubhc scandal, the Cabinet decided that Lord Lovat should be buried in the Tower, and issued orders to that effect. The block used at the execution of Lord Lovat, as well as the axe, are still preserved at the Tower, and two deep incisions made by the axe on the hard wood are still visible. Thus hes in the old Chapel in the Tower the last of the long procession of those who century after century, noble and brave, criminals and martyrs, have laid their heads on the historic block on Tower Hill. The first person who suffered on Tower Hill, " the more honor- able death of the ax," was Sir Simon de Burley, k.g.,i in 1388, and the last was Simon Eraser, Lord Lovat, in 1747. Simons both. Thus it may be seen that not only in stones and mortar, but in blood and anguish, the Lieutenant's Lodgings and the Bell Tower rank high in the absorbing history of the Tower of London. If sorrow and suffer- ing could leave their stain, then indeed would these walls be deeply dyed ; but happily no traces of anguish' or sorrow remain save a few sad inscriptions. Swept and garnished, and no longer a prison, or step to the scaffold, changed in name and status, the King's House is now the Tudor residence of the Major and Resident Governor of the Tower of London. 1 Tutor of Richard IT. ^ THE VEOMAN (lAOI.RR WITH THE PKOCESSIONAI. AXE STANDING OUTSIDE THE YEOMAN CAOI.ER's QUARTERS WHEKR LADY JANE GREY WAS IMPRISONED, AND WHENCE SHE SAW HER husband's BODY CARRIED FROM EXECUTION TO BURIAL VI [ THE YEOMEN WARDERS Their ancient origin — Tlic Keepers of the Gate — Incorporated with the Yeomen of the Guard — Kept the door at King George's Coronation — On the spot where the Conqueror was crowned— Henry Earl of Richmond — The warder's petition to the Duke of Somerset — All pensioned sergeants of the Army — The Chief Warder — The Ceremony of the Keys — Extracts from the Warder's Order Book — John of London — A varlet at ij^ a day — The origin of the ceremony — A prisoner's uppermost garment as perquisite — The Yeoman Gaoler — Carries the axe — The sign of the axe — The Warder's toast — Ancient fees to become a Warder — The days of pur- chase — The Duke of Wellington's reform — Extracts from orders — An American ofhcer — His joyful imprisonment — A previous American prisoner in 1683 — The historic role of the Yeomen Warders jA LMOST as famous as the Tower itself, and /% perhaps as ancient, are the Yeomen Warders ; r — % and their renown and old-world uniform are -^ A^ -vvell in keeping with their majestic surround- ings. Centuries before the Yeomen of the Guard, of which they now form part, came into being, there was in the Tower a permanent body of royal retainers, who performed the duties of warders over prisoners, gate keepers, and armed defenders of the fortress. From these keepers of the gate, or warders, the Yeom^en Warders of to-day claim direct and unbroken descent ; their " fellowship " being the oldest of any known association of men carrying on the same duties from century to century up to the present day. It was the misfortune of an iUiterate age that none of the earliest records, or pipe rolls, of the warders have survived, so that the earhest warder who can be traced by name is " John of London " in the fourteenth century. 93 94 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN It was not till nearly four centuries after the Tower Warders had come into existence that they were formally incorporated with the then newly raised Yeomen of the Guard, their previous existence being emphasized by according to them the seniority in the new corps. The continuity of this office of warders and keepers of the gate was symbolized as recently as at the corona- tion of George V. There, no soldiers, but Yeom^en Warders of the Tower, held the entrance to Westminster Abbey during the ceremony. In their picturesque and ancient uniform they stood guard on the actual spot where took place at the coronation of William the Conqueror a curious conflict that might have ended in much bloodslicd. As is recorded in history when those assembled -within the minster were asked whether they would have the Norman Duke as King, they shouted with a loud voice " Yea," " Yea." The Norman soldiers on guard at the door, and the crowd outside, both heard the shout. The soldiers thought some harm was being done to their Duke, the populace pressed closer in curiosity. The soldiers took this to be a com- bined attack from within and from without, and promptly charged the crowd. A free fight ensued, nobody quite knowing what it was all about, and in the course of it some neighbouring houses were set on fire, and a few heads broken. The order incorporating the Tower Warders with the Yeomen of the Guard reads thus : " On the 22nd day of August, 1485, Henry Earl of Richmond was by public acclamation saluted on the battlefield of Bosworth, King over England,^ and was crowned on the 30th October following. In the first year of his reign the Yeomen of the Guard w^as first ordered of which the Yeomen waiters or warders of the Tower hath the seniority." - When the Tower v/as a royal palace and the king frequently lived there the Yeomen Warders were in constant evidence as his bodyguard, but as these visits and ^ Henry VII. - Extract from the Tower Warders' Order Book. THE YEOMEN WARDERS 95 residences became less frequent there was some danger of the Yeomen Warders losing their ancient privileges and rights. When therefore the Duke of Somerset, the Lord Protector, was first a prisoner in the Tower in the reign of Edward VI, the Warders made a petition to him asking that their ancient dress and privileges might be restored to them. This was in 1551. The Duke of Somerset promised to see to the matter on his liberation, and was as good as his word. " And caused the warders of the Tower to be sworn extraordinary of the guarde, and to wear the same livery they do, which had the beginning by this meanes."^ The Yeomen Warders are erroneously sometimes called " Beefeaters " ; this is a name they do not acknowledge, having no connection, except as regards uniform, with the Yeomen who in times past served the " buffet " at St. James' Palace, from whence the word was possibly derived. The Yeomen Warders of the Tower are selected from sergeants of the Army of long and distinguished service, and rank as Sergeants-Major. They are taken impartially from every branch of the service and appointed by the Constable of the Tower. A certain number hve in the numerous smaller Towers within the fortress, and some for whom accommodation is wanting, outside. The chief dignitary amongst the Warders is the Chief Warder,^ also called at one period the Gentleman Porter, but more generally the Yeoman Porter, who is in the relative position of a Regimental Sergeant-Major to a Squadron or Company Sergeant-Major. It is one of the picturesque duties of the Chief Warder nightly to lock the gates of the fortress, and to deliver the keys to the Constable, or his representative. Few who do not live in the Tower have seen this ancient and interesting ceremony. At the hour lixed for the locking of the gates the Chief 1 Communicated (to ihc Conslablc ?) hy I'ho. Asdc, Esq., British Museum MS. 2 It is not clear why the ancient title was in recent years chatigjd from Yeoman Porter, which had been in use for five hundred years. 96 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Warder with the keys approaches the main guard of the regiment in garrison and demands an escort. The Officer of the Guard places his guard under arms, and details an escort of one N.C.O. and four men, who then march off with fixed bayonets, and carrying a lantern, closely guarding the Chief Warder and the keys. Here comes in a curious point in military etiquette. In ordinary times the Chief Warder would salute an officer, but when he carries the king's keys an officer salutes him, or rather the king's keys, and a civilian takes off his hat. The Spur guard turns out and presents arms to the keys as they pass out. The Chief Warder and his escort march thus to the outer barrier, near which once stood the Bulwark Gate, being joined en route by a second Warder who assists in shutting the gates. During the process of closing and locking the gates the escort turns inwards and is ordered to " present arm-S." The procession then reforms, and marches back to the Middle Tower, where the Spur guard again presents arms. The escort, turned inwards as before, comes to the "present," whilst the gate is locked. Then the keys and escort march back across the bridge over the moat, which in ancient days was a drawbridge, to the Byward Tower, where the same ceremony is repeated. Here the Warder who was assisting leaves the procession, and remains on guard all night at the Gate. The procession then passes along between the " King's House " and St. Thomas' Tower, and when opposite the Traitor's Gate turns in under the deep and frowning arch beneath the Bloody Tower. Directly the party is observed the sentry on the main guard lowers his bayonet to the charge, and challenges : " Halt, who comes there ? " The Chief Warder replies stentorially, " The keys." The sentry then calls, " Whose keys ? " " King George's keys," replies the Chief Warder. " Pass, King George's keys. All's well " ; and the sentry lifts his bayonet point. Thus permitted the Chief Warder, with the keys, and THE YEOMEN WARDERS 97 his escort, advances, and when opposite the main guard halts facing the guard, whereupon both guard and escort " present arms." The Chief Warder then steps to his front, takes off his hat, and in a deep and reverent voice pronounces the words : " God preserve King George ! " And the officer and men of the guard, and escort, together answer " Amen." The keys are then handed over to the Constable, or his representative, who is usually the Major of the Tower and Resident Governor. An interesting extract from the Warder's Order Book gives the origin of this quaint and interesting ceremony : " In King Edward Ill's day^ there was one John of London an handy craftsman and an armourer, that had the custody of the Gates, Portculhses, and Drawbridges of the Tower, with the wages of iiij'^ per diem and ij** for a varlet to carry his keys after him, and also ij'^ a day during the time that he should be employed in scouring the harness in the Armoury within the Tower, and had the same clothes and a Rugg Gown and a halbert allowed him as the rest of the Yeomen had. He had to see the main gates of the Tower daily opened and locked at the usual hours, and to shake the bars and search the locks at the shutting in of the same, and then in his own person to bring up the keys with the rest of the Warders who waited at the gates, and deliver them to the Lieutenant. . . ." Amongst the Yeoman Porter's perquisites we find it laid down in 1555 that " the Porter shall have of every prisoner condemned by the King and Queen's Majesty to the said Tower for treason, his uppermost garment, or he agree with him for it." Next in dignity to the Chief Warder comes the Yeoman Gaoler, at one period called the Gentleman Gaoler, whose duty it is to carry the axe. In the days when the capital punishment on the higher classes of prisoners was by beheading, " the more honorable 1 A.D. 1327-77. 98 TtlE TOWER FROM WITHIN meanes " as it was called, the Yeoman Gaoler marched in front of the prisoner, on his way to trial, holding the axe erect with the edge turned away from the prisoner. If the prisoner was convicted and sentenced to death the Yeoman Gaoler on the return journey carried the axe again erect but with the edge turned tow^ards the doomed man. If, however, the prisoner had been found not guilty, or had not been sentenced to death, the Yeoman Gaoler carried the axe, as on arrival, with the edge turned away from the prisoner. By this sign the populace learnt which way the verdict had gone. This axe, which is of huge size and of considerable antiquity, is kept in the " King's House " at the Tower. Death by beheading having been abolished this axe is no longer used before or after the trial of prisoners, the last time it was so used being in 1747. But the Yeoman Gaoler with his axe still forms one of the most interesting features in State processions. This axe must not be confounded with the implement actually used for execution ; the latter is a much smaller weapon and may be seen with the block in the White Tower. The Yeoman Gaoler's axe is purely emblematical. There are in all forty Yeomen Warders ; they are sworn in as special constables, and their duty it is to patrol the Tower precincts, to take duty at the gates, and also at various parts of the Tower. They are well learned in the history of the Tower, and readily assist visitors who are seeing the sights. The position of Yeoman Warder at the Tower is one of great dignity and honour, and is eagerly sought after by soldiers whose services are sufficiently distinguished to procure them a chance of selection. At convivial meetings of the Yeomen Warders it was customary, and was a standing toast when drinking to each other to say, " Warder So-and-so, your health and may you never die a W^arder." The origin of this curious toast lay in the fact that in ancient days each Warder had paid in fees a sum of about ^300 to his predecessor for his place ; and counted on THE YEOMEN WARDERS 99 selling it again to a successor at the same price. If, how- ever, he died a Warder his money was lost, as the incoming Warder's fees were the perquisite of the Constable. These fees were all laid down, and it may be of interest to mention one of the later occasions on which a Con- stable of the Tower has left them on record. 1 The Earl of Northampton, Constable of the Tower, ordered this day the 17'^ February, 171 3, that the following shall be the fees paid by any person on suc- ceeding a Yeoman Warder who surrenders his office : £ s. d. To the Warder who surrenders . 262 10 Constable • • .21 Secretary ... 6 Gentleman Porter Yeomen Warders Gentleman Gaoler Clerk of the Cheque Stamp for the Warrant Parchment . The Governor's servant .£309 H ^ And that the following shall be the Fee paid by any person on succeeding a Yeoman Warder who may die : o o o o o o o o 6 o To the Constable Secretary Gentleman Porter Yeomen Warders Gentleman Gaoler Clerk of Cheque Stamp of Warrant Parchment . Governor's servant L 262 6 5 5 5 2 o o 10 6 5 5 o 2 o I 5 d. o o o o o o o 6 o ^288 14 6 J Extract from the Yeoman Warder's Order Book. 100 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN From the comparison of which two Hsts may be gathered the inner meaning of the Warder's toast " May you never die a Warder." The Constable pre- sumably drank the opposite toast. Those were the days of " purchase," exactly in the same way as officers in the army purchased their commissions, and were able to purchase each further step in promotion. A W^ardership was the Warder's purchased property, and it was open to him to sell it to anyone passed fit by the Constable to succeed him. We find also instances of a W^ardership instead of being sold becoming almost hereditary, a father relinquishing his appointment in favour of his son. At various periods a physical standard was exacted, and at one time only those of exceptional physique, as is required for the Guards, were eligible, but there were at that time no obligations as regards having first served in the Army. It was only when the first Duke of Wellington was Constable of the Tower that an order was brought in closing the Warderships to aU but old soldiers. The Duke's order in 1826 reads, " No person should be admitted to be a Warder of the Tower of London but deserving, gallant, and meritorious sergeants from the Army." The physical standard was also removed, on the very sensible grounds, that a small soldier might have performed as gaUant or meritorious service as a grenadier. The Warders' Order Book has many quaint entries, and perhaps some of them may be read with interest : " Orders agreed and subscribed to y« 25th Oct. 1693 by all or the maj'" parte of y« fellowPP^ of y^ Yeomen Warders of the Tower of London and by and with y« consent and commands of my Lord Lucas our Chief Governor and Captain to be observed and kept for the better regulating of y^ said fellowshippe for the future and to the restitution and consurvacion of Unity, Equity, Love, Order and Concord in the said fellow- shippe and are as followith : — It is agreed and ordered that no person nor persons that is or shall hereafter be THE YEOMEN WARDERS loi admitted into y* fellowshippe of the Yeomen Warders of the said Tower of London nor any fellowe or fellowes that shall officiate for him or them soe admitted shall receive no divident of money nor any part thereof on his or theire days wait or night watch or any Box money Collected at Xmas unless he or they herein concerned doe wash the Stauffe^ and make his dinner for all and every one of our fellowshippe to be invited, or else depose and pay in money and good money to the Stewards then in being the full and entire value or sume of money equivalent to the cost and charges of his or their dinner which is three pounds for y^ dinner and twenty shillings y^ Stauffe which was a very ancient custom as appears by this book." In 1 71 3 " when a Warder began his duty for the first time he paid what was called his dinner money of ten shillings, consisting of Bread, Cheese, and Beer to the days wait." This practice continued until the year 1870, when the Warders abolished it by general consent. In 1723. "No beggars or shabby rascals to be admitted into the Gates and fellows like such must tell the persons' names to the Warders that they would speak with, before they have entrance." In 1724. "Ordered by the Governor that no woman be suffered to lie in the barracks without leave nor no woman that be big bellied to enter in at the gate." In 1752. "The Warder at the Byward Gate will take care that the way leading to the drawbridge is kept clear according to orders and that the Grenadiers posted there nor no one else do not^ * * * * there or anywhere near his post." In 1725. "The Governor orders that every sentinel keep peace and quietness upon his post especially in the night-time, and that every soldier found roaring and ^ This is possibly the old twisted staff kept in the Warder's Hall. It was used in ancient days by the Warder on duty who was sent on to the Wharf to demand the Constable's dues from passing ships. He produced it as his authority for the demands made. '^ A terra now by common consent restricted to the Bible, 102 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN making a noise when on sentry will be sent a prisoner to the Main Guard." There are many old Warder's stories which have been handed down from mouth to mouth, but as many of these arc apocryphal and others based on slender evidence it has been thought better at the request of the Warders themselves to omit these. Those who have any further curiosity may consult a friendly Warder when they visit the Tower of London, and doubtless he will oblige them with any stories that have come to his knowledge. It is, however, permissible to give a modern story : Soon after the Americans joined the Allies in the Great War a party of some fifty non-commissioned officers, with three or four commissioned officers were quartered at the Tower of London for a week or more, on their way to France. The rules regarding entry into the Tower are at all times strict, specially so at night- time, and more especially in time of war. It so happened that one night an American officer of this party, probably unaware of these rules and regulations, arrived after the gates had been locked, and asked for admission to his quarters. The sentry on the Gate, in accordance with his orders, called the Yeoman Warder on night duty, to interview the American officer and explain the situation. " Say, Warder, I want to get through and to bed and the sentry says I can't anyhow." " No, sir, I am afraid you can't," replied the Yeoman Warder. " No one is allowed through after the Gate is shut." " But I'm an American officer and quartered here time being and ain't going to steal the Crown Jewels or anything, only just go to bed like a good boy." " Very sorry indeed, sir, I can't let you in. If you was King of England^ I couldn't let you in." " Wal, I ain't King of England. But say, sonny, what'd the King of England do if he was shut off his bed Hke this ? " 1 This was poetic licence. The King of England can enter at any hour. THE YEOMEN WARDERS 103 " Well, sir, I don't know what the King of England would do, but what the officers does when locked out is either to sleep in their cabs, or in the guard room, till the gates are opened in the morning." " Wal, I ain't going to tick up half dollars all night in a taxi-cab, so I'll sleep in the guard room." And so he did. Next morning at breakfast he burst into the Officers' Mess, where he was an Honorary Member, simply beaming. " My ! It was just Bully ! I wouldn't have missed it for worlds. Locked up hke Lady Jane Grey and all that lot in the old Tower of London ! Snakes, it was fine, the greatest adventure of my hfe. There's hundreds of folks over in the States would give fifty dollars for that ex- perience." Many a subaltern of the Guards has had the same adventure, and possibly did not rehsh it with the same fervour as his American cousin. It may perhaps be of interest to this American officer to learn that the last previous American prisoner at the Tower, of whom there is a record, was " Edward Grove, late of Hampton, New England," who was committed to the Tower on June 6th, 1683, " for levying war against the King," and was ordered " to be confined during His Majesty's pleasure."^ There is no record to show when the Ravens at the Tower became one of its historic features, but according to tradition it is a matter of considerable antiquity. One of the Yeomen Warders has charge of the Ravens, and there is a grant for their feed twice a day. They each have names, and an attestation card hke a soldier, on which is entered the usual particulars. Thus one is named James Crow, and under the heading " profession " appears the laconic description " thief." One of the Ravens recently became so attached to the officers of the regiment in garrison, that when they in their turn went to the Great War, he disappeared ; whether to fight the 1 Tower of London, by Ricliard Davey, p. 302 footnote. 104 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Germans, or because he could not bear to part with his friends has not been ascertained. To a large proportion of those who visit the Tower the human touch given by the Yeomen Warders, these old warriors, dressed much as their ancestors were in the days of Henry VIII, adds greatly to the historic realism of the scene. Like men received Queen Anne Boleyn and the Duke of Monmouth ; Yeomen Warders such as these guarded Sir Walter Raleigh and the Seven Bishops ; their forbears marched before the Duke of Somerset and the Earl of Essex on their way to the fatal block. But looking at these men in happier days, visions of dungeons, the rack, and the scaffold disappear, and instead upon them shines the honest light of soldiers who have fought and bled for their King and country on many a battle- field in many a land, and through the reigns of three monarchs of the Empire. < c VIII KNIGHTS OF THE BATHi Ancient connection of the Order with the Tower — Its origin — Bodily and spiritual cleansing before knighthood — The knights and their ventures — The King orders a bath — The ancient ceremony — Henry IV makes forty-six knights — Their baths in the White Tower — The oath of a Knight of the Bath — The knight goes to bed — His night vigil — Watching his arms — In the King's train to Westminster — The ceremony in Henry VI's reign — Described in full — An expensive inclination — Thirteen knights as valets — The Earl Marshal takes his horse as a perquisite — " A newly wedded wife " — The white lace — The knight's armour — The procedure of to-day — " Rise, Sir " — £700 share towards a ball — ^50 for a C.B. — Exten- sion of the Order THE Order of the Bath has a very close and early connection with the Tower of London, for it was here that the quaint ceremonies in connection with the initiation of Knights took place. As the Order of the Garter owes its origin to a lady's garter, so does the Order of the Bath to the bodily and spiritual purification of the Knight before he took the oath of chivalry. Both these Orders are of great antiquity, but they came into recognized being, with statutes, rules, and regulations within about fifty years of each other in the fourteenth century. Hundreds of years before that, however, there were many bold warriors who wore armour as their daily garb, and rode about the country succouring distressed maidens, and even widows ; and entering into mortal combat with other stray and gallant knights who, if the truth were known, were possibly similarly engaged. 1 The author is much indebted in this chapter to The Most Honour- able Order of the Bath, by Canon Jocelyn Perkins. 105 io6 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Indeed they were each and all out for fighting, who- ever and whatever they encountered, knights, or dragons, or despotic parents ; and often on what seems to more prosaic days somewhat slender causes of offence, slew them or held them to ransom. Thus one knight, according to romance, would place the glove of the Ladye Ermyntrude in his helmet, and ride about the roads and forests maintaining that she was the fairest, and also the most virtuous ladye in the land. It would not be long before he would meet another knight with another ladye's glove, that of the Ladye Ethelberga no doubt, in his helmet, who also was considered by this champion as the fairest, and most virtuous in the land. Whereupon the two knights, neither having seen the other's lady, or knowing anything for or indeed against her virtue, would set to work to charge and perchance kill each other on this delicate and debateable point. The greater knights rode in companies, with retinues of armed retainers ; freelances all, who placed their services at the disposal of any monarch, or potentate, who required armed assistance. The quarrel was none of theirs, but fighting was their trade, and they lived by fighting where, and when, it could be found. They were fine fellows, but undoubtedly they fought for shekels as well as for knightly honour, and they held to ransom those whom they overthrew for adequate, and some- times princely sums. Many knights too, apart from gain and glory, followed with fiery zeal the red cross against the crescent, which shone over the Holy Sepulchre for many centuries till the flag of England replaced it in 1 91 7. But employed how or where they might be armour was their daily garment. This being so, it happened that one day, in the dark and misty ages, a doughty warrior, who shall be name- less, was for great and consistent bravery brought before the King, who shall also be nameless, to be knighted. And the King, though himself brave and inured to hardships, could not but be aware that a very penetrating odour arose from the brave warrior ; indeed so potent 'i'c - H W < o ^ ■-. o — CG - < Z 33 ■z < KNIGHTS OF THE BATH 107 was it that the King felt that even with his sword he could barely cleave a way through it. Turning there- fore to the Lord of his Privy Closet he said : " Per- adventure this brave fellow requires rest, and refresh- ment, after his great and prolonged heroism. Therefore take him away and give him a Bath, and fresh raiment, and sustenance, and then bring him before me again to be Knighted." And so he did, and that was the origin of the Order of the Bath. But the Bath had also a symboHc meaning typefying the spiritual, as well as bodily, cleanhness of the Knight before he took his oath. The most noble Order did not, however, become statutory till the year 1399. And it is in the reigns of the earlier Kings of England that we read chiefly of the quaint and ancient ceremonies connected with initiation into the Order. Those who were to be admitted to the Order were selected beforehand by the King, the ceremony of initiation taking place on the eve of the coronation. This followed a generally laid down ancient ritual, and to find an early description of it we may turn to the coronation of Henry IV. Round one of the large halls in the White Tower on the eve of the King's coronation were ranged forty-six baths, filled with warm water, and draped within and without with clean sheets ; over each bath was a canopy spread. Into these forty-six baths stepped the forty-six knights- to-be, and performed their ablutions. When these were completed a distinguished train, headed by the King, and consisting of nobles and prelates, entered the hall with all pomp and ceremony. The King then slowly approached each aspirant, as he sat in his bath, and, dipping his finger in the water, made the sign of the cross on his bare back. At the same time His Majesty pronounced the solemn words which made an esquire into a Knight of the Bath. " You shall honor God above all things ; you shall be steadfast in the faith of Christ ; you shall love the King your Sovereign Lord, and him and his right defend to your power ; you shall defend maidens, widows, and io8 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN orphans in their rights, and shall suffer no extortion, as far as you may prevent it ; and of as great honor be this Order unto you, as ever it was to any of your progenitors or others." When each in his turn had thus been knighted the King w^ith his retinue slowly passed out of the hall. The Knights then rose from their baths and were by their esquires each put into a bed with rich hangings, which stood behind each bath. After the Knights had rested for some time in these beds and were warm and dry, the old bell on the Bell Tower, which still rings nightly at the curfew hour, summoned them to rise again. As each arose his esquire robed him in a long brown woollen cassock with a cowl, such as is worn by monks and hermits, and in procession the Knights, preceded by music, made their way to St. John's Chapel, in the White Tower. Round the chapel on the pillars, and about the high altar were arranged the helmets, and armour, and swords, and spurs of the new Knights, and before these each Knight knelt in devotion, and watched his armour all night. There is a picture called " The Vigil," by Petitt, in the Tate Gallery in which the spirit of the scene is faithfully portrayed ; the young Knight in his long vigil dedicating his sword to the service of the Almighty. A very beautiful panel by Aumonieri giving the same idea is reproduced in these pages. When the day dawned the Knights donned their armour, and, mounting their chargers, joined the great procession of the King through the streets of London to the coronation at Westminster. It was not, however, till a later reign, that of Henry VI, that the ritual was laid down in writing, probably from notes dating back to the reign of Edward IV. Though this follows with some closeness the ceremony as per- formed in previous reigns it may be of interest, especially to members of the Order of the Bath, to give the pro- ^ W. Auraonier, 34 Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, where repHcas may be obtained. iiMnhiMMifiiiijlii)b!lK!LJKjiiiil!^liLiit|]{lillll,. Hi|llliialiliiiii!Jimil'y!iilM KNIGHTS OF THE BATH 109 cedure in some detail, more especially as it is accompanied hy contemporary illustrations portraying many interest- ing features. 1 First may be seen arriving at Court the aspirant to knighthood, accompanied by " two worshipful squires, wise, and well nourished in courtesy and expert in the deeds of Knighthood," whose duty it was to support and assist him in the series of ceremonies which were associated with the Order. These were known as his Governors, and their duties, as may be gathered from what follows, were by no means light. Being conducted into the banqueting hall, the aspirant's duty was to serve the King with water, or with a dish only of the first course ; thus performing his last duty as a squire, for as a Knight he would be exempt from such service. The King may be observed seated alone at the high table ; and apparently he dined with his crown on his head, and with a tippet of royal ermine round his shoulders. The two Governors then showed the aspirant to the chamber, where he was to be made ready for the ceremony of the Bath. Towards evening they sent for the barber, who in those days appears to have combined many duties, being a leche or doctor, as well as a barber as we understand it, and apparently a professional bathman as well. The barber first shaved the aspirant with mani- festly a very formidable weapon, and then " rounded his head," that is cut his hair so that it hung short to the neck. His next duty was to " make ready a bath, in the best wise that he can ; within and without wrapped with linen cloth, clean and white, and covered with thick carpets, or mantles, for cold of the night." These carpets or mantles, as may be seen from the engraving, formed a sort of pavilion over the bath. All being now ready the two worshipful squires or Governors went to the King and informed His Majesty ^ De Studio Militari, by Nicolaus Upton about a.d. 1428, translated from the Latin by Canon Jocelyn Perkins in his Most Honourable Order of the Bath. no THE TOWER FROM WITHIN that their master was " ready unto the Bath, when it pleaseth unto your Royal Majesty." The King then ordered his Chamberlain, who was to be accompanied by the most worthy and most wise Knights, and to be pre- ceded by minstrels singing and dancing, to proceed to the squire who is to be knighted, " to the intent that they shall the same Squire truly counsel, and teach wisely of the Order of Knighthood." The two Governors on hearing the approach of the minstrels " shall make naked their master, and all naked shall be put into the Bath." The minstrels having thus served their purpose remained outside, " leaving their noise for the time " ; whilst the Chamberlain, accom- panied by the aforesaid most worthy and most wise Knights, entered the chamber. Having performed mutual salutations, one of the most worthy and most wise Knights knelt before the Bath, whilst the two worshipful squires " kept the sides of the Bath," and secretly to the squire in the Bath thus said : " Right dear Brother, great worship be this Order unto you, and Almighty God give you the praise of all Knighthood ; lo ! this is the Order : Be ye strong in the faith of holy Church ; and Widows and Maidens oppressed relieve, as right commandeth : give ye to each one his own, with all thy mind, above all things love and dread God ; and above all other earthly things love the King the Sovereign Lord, him, and his right defend unto thy power, and before all worldly things put him in worship, and things that be not to be undertaken beware to begin ; In this wise or better, etc." The wording of the oath it will be noticed is very much the same as in the days of Henry IV. The old Knight next took some water from the Bath in his hand and poured it on the back of the occupant. The procession then left the hall " without noise," presumably from the minstrels. After this the worshipful squires took their master out of the Bath, " and lay him softly in his Bed, to dry ; and the Bed shall not be of great value but without celour or < w c o ^ H W O X H O z a o " s ^ H a S^ o - r I KNIGHTS OF THE BATH in curtains, and when the Squire is well dried, he shall rise out of his bed, and shall clothe him warm for the watch of the night," He wore such clothes as seemed good to him beneath, and over these a cape of black russet with long sleeves with the hood sewed into the cape, in the manner of an hermit. And when the Squire was thus arrayed and made ready, the Barber is directed to " put away the Bath, and all that pertains to it, as well within as without : and the Barber shall take all these for his fee." In addition he was to receive a guerdon for shaving and hair cutting, according to the rank and means of the candidate, " be he a Duke, an Earl, a Baron, or a Bachelor." The doors were then thrown open by the Governors to give admission to the two old Knights who had pre- viously assisted at the ceremony of the bathing ; these on this occasion were accompanied by their squires, and the minstrels. A procession being formed the minstrels led the way making noise, apparently on large French horns, and singing, and dancing; and, thus conducted, the Knight-aspirant arrived at the Chapel door. Into the Chapel entered only the two old Knights with their squires and the Knight-aspirant with his two Governors. To these were there served spices and wines at the expense of the Knight-aspirant, but he himself remained fasting. Having thus refreshed themselves the old Knights and their squires prepared to depart leaving the Knight- aspirant to his vigils. And he kneeling with a taper in his hand "silently thanked them for their labours and worships." The Governors then locked the doors of the Chapel ; within remainin,^ only, in the dim light of candles, the Knight-aspirant with his two Governors, the Officers of Arms, and the Watch. Through the long night the new Knight knelt and watched his arms, " ever in his prayers praying and beseeching Almighty God that this passing temporary dignity might be worthily worn by him to the glory of God and the honour of the 112 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Order." Thus he continued till dawn was near approach- ing, and happy was he whose vigil fell in the summer solstice. When dawn was near a priest knocked at the door, and, being admitted, proceeded to the altar and there heard the young Knight's confession, and if he wished it gave him the Sacrament. During the celebration of the Mass one of the Governors held a lighted taper before the young Knight, and this he placed in his hand when the priest commenced reading the Gospel. And so he held it till the Gospel was finished. When it came to the Elevation of the Host one of the Governors put back the hood off the young Knight's head, and so kept it till after the sight of the Sacrament, when it was replaced. The service in the Chapel concluded with a still more curious ceremony in which a lighted taper played a part. The young Knight stood before the altar, and into his hands was placed by one of the Governors another taper, whilst the second Governor again put off the hood. In this taper was fixed a penny, and when the priest pro- nounced the words ^''Verhum caro factum est^'' the young Knight knelt and offered the taper and the penny to him. " The taper to the worship of Almighty God, and the penny to the worship of him that shall make him a Knight." The vigil was now over, and as day dawned the Governors conducted the young Knight back to his chamber, and there put him to bed ; that he might take rest, being weary with the watch of the night. But the rest was not for long, for as soon as it was broad daylight, at the King's command, a company of Knights together with their squires and the minstrels, again making a noise, proceeded to the door of the chamber. There the serenade suddenly ceased, and the company of Knights entered the chamber softly and without noise, and, approaching the bed, did say, " Sir, good day, it is time to arise." Hearing which the two worshipful Squires took and raised their master in their arms. TKK KSQUIKK K 1 1) I M ; Tu THE KIMTS HALL, HIS SWORD CARKIKI) HU.T I'l'WAKDS l;Y A "YOUNCi GENTLE SQUIRE" 15. ■[]]]■: kim; i;ks I dwim; thk sword and si'UKS on the ES()riRE KNIGHTS OF THE BATH 113 The clothing and apparelling of the young Knight was a matter of much ceremony and was undertaken entirely by the attendant Knights. To the most worthy and the most wise of these was entrusted the duty of placing his shirt on the new Knight. The next most worthy and most wise assisted him into his breeches : whilst the third put on his doublet. The fourth Knight in this honourable list of precedence had the privilege of placing round the shoulders of the new member of the Order a surcoat of red tartan. So far he had been dressed in bed, and the duty of the next two Knights was to lift their future brother in arms off the bed. Thus disposed, two more Knights stepped forth, to do on his hose, which must be of black silk, or of black cloth, with soles of leather sewed to them. This was in the days before slippers were invented. The next two Knights were assigned a simple duty ; they merely buttoned his sleeves. Then came a Knight who girded the aspirant with a girdle of white leather, " without harness of any metal," of the breadth of an inch. Followed after, one who combed his hair, and another who put the coif upon his head. After all these somewhat trivial services it appears to have been left to the least worthy and least wise Knight to add the historic touch ; for it was he who placed on the new Knight the red robe of the Order, " the mantle of the suit of the curtell of red tartan fastened with a lace of white silk with a pair of white gloves hanging at the end of the lace." In all it will be seen that thirteen Knights were thus employed in the ceremony of apparelling the candidate for the golden spurs. To descend somewhat from the heroic, it is definitely laid down that the Chamberlain shall supply the coif, the girdle, and the gloves, but indeed it was a good investment. For in return he received all the garments, and all the array, and all the necessaries, which the Knight-aspirant wore when he arrived at Court ; indeed one of the illustrations discloses this high official removing 114 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN the young Knight's coat whilst he was in bed after his bath. To the Lord Chamberlain too went the bed itself, together with the gold embroidered coverlet, and all other necessaries touching the said bed. To him also came as a perquisite the first robe in which the young Knight was clothed after he was admitted into the Order. It will doubtless occur to a more cynical age that whilst the aspirant to knighthood was required to take oaths of unexceptional virulence and excellence against extortion in various forms, he himself was made a victim of the same without remorse. So far we have seen that he has been systematically relieved of his bath with its caparisons, his bed with its rich appointments, his clothes and necessaries ; yet, as this plain record will unfold, he is yet far from the end of the drain on his tolerance, and resources. Now being fully equipped the Knight elect was led forth, and mounted his horse, that he might ride to the King's Hall, which when the King lived in the Tower of London can only have been a few yards distant. The saddle and bridle, breastplate, reins, and stirrups were all of black leather. With him rode a young "gentle squire," who bare-headed bore the new Knight's sword, hilt upwards, and with his spurs hanging from it. Before them went the Officers of Arms, and " the minstrels making their minstrelsy." At the door of the King's Hall the procession was met by the Marshals and Ushers, who " in the most honest wise " invite the young Knight to dismount saying " Cometh down." Whereupon having come down, the Marshal of England took his horse as his perquisite, or allowed him to ransom it for one hundred shillings. Conducted into the King's Hall the old Knights grouped themselves round the new Knight, whilst before him, between the two Governors, stood the young squire, still holding the sword by the point, hilt upwards. All being ready the King entered the Hall, and asked for the sword and spurs. These the King's Chamberlain 9 K a o fc. ;^ o a KNIGHTS OF THE BATH 115 took from the young squire, and presented to His Majesty. Calling forth two of the most worthy of those present the King bade them buckle the spurs on to the new Knight, the first on his right heel, and the second on his left. And these in turn kneeling placed the new Knight's foot on his own knee, and first strapping the spur on made the sign of the cross on the new Knight's knee, and kissed it. "Then the King in the meekness of his high might, taking the sword into his hands " girt with it the new Knight. The King then put his arms about the neck of the new Knight and, lifting up his right hand, smote him on the neck, saying, " Be ye a good Knight," and kissed him. In the engraving the Knight appears to be holding an empty gauntlet, or glove, over his head, but no mention of this is made in the script. The procession now leaves the King's presence, and preceded by melody, wends its way again to the Chapel, and to the high altar. Here the new Knight ungirdles his sword, and with prayers and devotions offers it to the service of God and the Holy Church. This done he is allowed his first refreshment, " a sop of wine." Issuing from the Chapel a very curious fate awaited him. There he found the Master Cook with a great knife such as was used for dressing meat, and with this he made as if to chop off the new Knight's spurs, and did in fact take them as his fee. Considering that these spurs had, by the King's order, just been strapped on by two high Barons or Knights of the Bath, it seems curious that they should be thus ignominiously confiscated. The explanation given is, that this was a symbol and a warn- ing that should the new Knight ever be guilty of an unknightly deed his spurs would be indeed, and with ignominy chopped off by the Master Cook. Spurless and attended by Knights and squires, the new Knight now proceeded to the banqueting hall, where a feast was spread for all. Seated now at the Knight's table in the place of honour, the new Knight may not eat nor drink, nor may he move. Nor is he " to ii6 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN look hither nor thither, more than a wife new wedded," and we are left to infer that that is not at all. The only element of relaxation allowed during this spartan feast is supplied by one of the Governors, who is permitted to stand by him with a kerchief should he have need of it. After this unsatisfactory meal the new Knight was led to his chamber "with great multitude of Knights, Squires, and Minstrels, joying, singing, and dancing." Here, alas ! the spoliation of the new Knight was renewed. The array which he had so lately donned had to be given to the Kings-of-Arms and Heralds, as well as a fee of at least twenty shillings. His grey cope went to the Watch, or a noble as fee instead. He then had to don a new costume consisting of a robe of blue with strait sleeves, and upon the left shoulder a white lace of silk hanging. This white lace was an interesting emblem, for the Knight of the Bath had always to wear it till he had done some knightly deed the fame of which having reached the ears of the worthy Prince who had made him a Knight that Prince ordered it to be removed. It was also open to some noble lady to take away the white lace from his shoulder, saying, " Right, dear lord, I have heard so much of your worships, and renown, that ye have done in divers parts unto the great worship of Knighthood, to yourself, and to him that made you Knight, that desert and right will, that this lace be put and take away." In the engraving the noble lady, of no remarkable beauty, may be observed removing the white lace, whilst the worthy Prince aforesaid looks on from the gallery. This emblem of the white lace has survived to this day, though possibly few know its origin. It may be seen on the shoulder of the red robe worn by Knights Grand Cross of the Bath, but by no knightly deed can the wearer now earn its removal ; it has become part of his costume. The long and it must be confessed somewhat strenuous ceremonial is now nearly at an end. It remained only for the Knight in his new robes to be again conducted r 3: - ? S o y. z (■/ Ui I a f Si td UL. O O Cij K > r-4 ri: U. ^ o z 2 S o c u O c z o ^ o KNIGHTS OF THE BATH 117 before the King that he might kneel and thank His Majesty for the honour bestowed upon him. " Most dread and most mighty Prince of my httle power I thank you for all the worships, courtesies, and goodness which you have done unto me." And so saying he took leave of His Majesty. All the ceremonies now being completed, and the new Knight finally back in his chamber, he was allowed to partake of some food. After this meal the two worshipful squires who have been his Governors, and have safely conducted him through the intricate mazes of his initia- tion as a Knight of the Bath, now approach to take leave. But before doing so they have a request to prefer. " Worshipful Sir, by the King's command, we have served you to the best of our power, and if we have failed in any thing we beg pardon for our negligence. Further- more as is the custom at the King's Court we ask and require of you Robes and fees suitable for a Knight's squires, and to remain in your service for the rest of your days." Before leaving the Knights of old it may be of interest to notice their armour, of which many very fine sets may be seen in the Tower. ^ There is a good deal of glamour thrown over the Knights and their heroic deeds which an examination of their armour somewhat tends to diminish. One point which immediately strikes a cavalry soldier is that the Knights in the lists engaged each other left hand to left hand. Charging right hand to right hand they could not possibly have missed each other, for an expert lancer thus charging at speed will knock a florin off a cleft stick. Next it will be noticed that the helmets are blind on the left side, probably to save the eye from splinters, the result being that the Knight had not only to charge left hand to left hand, but was blind that side. Next came the question of speed. A horse of the modern stamp and breeding, unhampered with armour, and with a light weight in the saddle, would charge at great speed, but a heavily armoured horse * See p. 260. ii8 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN with a Knight in armour on his back could move but slowly, a modest canter at most. The tilting lance used by the Knights, too, though large and formidable looking, was made of very friable wood and easily splintered. Indeed we must put aside all idea that tournament fighting was anything but a fairly harmless amusement, not nearly so dangerous as a modern game of polo. This view is emphasized by the scoring sheets of the sixteenth century which still are preserved showing that the combatants received so many marks according to the parts of the opponent's armour which they hit. The highest marks being scored for a point on the helmet, the next highest for one on the breast, and so on ; the Knight who scored the greatest number of marks in the tournament was proclaimed champion, and crowned with laurels by the Queen of Beauty. In Edward VI reign, owing it is said to want of time, the ceremonies of initiation into the Order were held in abeyance. The elected Knights were merely called in turn, by the Garter Principal King of Arms, before the King wearing his crown, and knighted. This indulgence, however, appears to have cost the Knights dear, for they were ordered to pay double the fees usually charged, according to their degrees and estates. A delicate situation arose when a Queen, in the person of Queen Mary, came to the throne, for she manifestly could not officiate at the bathing operations of a large number of young Knights. The difficulty was, however, surmounted, both in her reign and in that of Queen Elizabeth, by a deputy of high rank being appointed to conduct the ceremonies in place of the Sovereign. The ancient ritual of the Order of the Bath, as associated with the Tower of London, has undergone many changes and abbreviations since it passed out of its history. At the present day the ceremony has reached a very brief and to the Knight most welcome simplicity of procedure. The Knight elect enters the Royal presence and bows, he then advances a few steps and bows again ; a third time he bows as he arrives close to the KNIGHTS OF THE BATH 119 King. He then kneels on his right knee, and the King places the ribbon of the Order over his neck, and, taking a sword, strikes him on each shoulder, and says " Rise, Sir Thomas " (or whatever his Christian name may be). The new Knight then rises, kisses the King's hand, and backs out the way he came, making three bows as before. Nor does any cost now fall on a Knight of the Bath, unhke in the olden days. Even in the reign of George I, besides all other expenses, the share of a Knight was £joo towards the ball given at Ranelagh, or elsewhere, by the new Knights to from 2000 to 2500 guests. As late even as Queen Victoria's reign a Companion of the Bath was, with the insignia, handed by the Treasury a bill for £^0. This sum could, however, be recovered by his heirs if they returned the Order. This fee also was abohshed owing to an incident which arose in connection with a foreign officer. The Queen bestowed the C.B. on him as a mark of honour, and with the insignia came the usual bill for ^50. The foreign officer had not ^50, or did not care to spend it thus ; he therefore very politely returned the Order. This brought matters to a climax and the fee was abohshed. The insignia of the Order now becomes the absolute property of the officer who receives it and his heirs, free of cost. The Order of the Bath still retains its pre-eminence as an Order of chivalry, and until recent years could as a rule only be earned by service in the field ; one of the quahtications being that the recipient must be a Field Officer, and must have been mentioned by name in despatches. With the institution of the Civil Com- panionship of the Order the doors were opened to diplomatists and civil servants of the Crown, as well as to soldiers and sailors. This, whilst admitting many dis- tinguished members, removed the purely fighting qualifi- cation. Before the Great War probably there were more members who had been received into the Order for duties in peace time than for distinction on the battle- field, but the balance should now be the other way. IX THE TWO QUEENS Queen Anne Boleyn — Record of the trial — The original bag and manuscript — Her personal appearance and charm of manner — A daughter of yeoman stock — Introduced at Court — Marries the King — Three happy years — Ambassadors on the trail — The fete at Greenwich — Imprisoned in the Tower — The Indictment — The preliminary enquiry — The King's royal body — Its inward displeasure and heaviness — The trial and sentence — To be burned or beheaded as shall please the King — Anne Boleyn's room in the Lieutenant's Lodgings — " Anne " inscribed — Her letter to the King — Found amongst Earl of Essex papers — Her trial more fully described — Her dress and demeanour — The executioner from Calais — By sword rather than by axe — Anne Boleyn's last days — Her dress at her execution — Last words and last deeds — Coffined in an arrow chest — Buried in St. Peter's ad Vincula — Queen Katherine Howard — The fifth wife — Honourable, clean, and maidenly — Thirteen months of marriage — The informer Lascelles — The Archbishop's letter to the King — The King's incredulity — Enquiry ordered — Some unknightly gentlemen — Justly hanged — The Queen attainted by Parliament — Sentenced to death — Lady Rochford shares her fate — Otwell Johnson's account of the execution — Queen Katherine Howard buried in St. Peter's ad Vincula. Anne Boleyn {b. 1507; d. May 13th, 1536) OF Henry VHI's six wives two ended their days on the scaffold on Tower Green, and rest together before the altar in the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula. Both young, both beautiful, and both condemned for the same crimes against His Majesty's regal dignity. These were Queen Anne Boleyn and Queen Katherine Howard, and perhaps few at this day would be prepared to justify, or even extenuate, these extreme examples of the un- tempered power of despotic monarchy. When one reads that the charges against Queen Anne THE TWO QUEENS 121 Boleyn were so indelicate that they are not fit tor present day pubHcation, it is only natural that one should wish to see what these high crimes and misdemeanours might have been, which brought a gentle lady to the block, before passing judgment. In Chancery Lane is the Record Office, presided over by the Master of the Rolls, and in that office is pre- served a record of every trial of importance, which has taken place in England, since law became an estabhshed institution. The building is an enormous one, as well it may be, and the number of records therein contained must be as sand on the seashore, or as the stars of heaven. Naturally therefore the historical searcher is prepared to await several days, or possibly weeks, before so ancient a document as the Indictment of Queen Anne Boleyn can be produced from around and beneath tons of legal documents. Such was indeed the anticipation in the present case, but with the assistance of a most courteous and obliging secretary, in the course of ten minutes the identical bag, containing the original manuscript con- nected with the trial of Anne Boleyn was placed on the table. The bag is of thin white leather or parchment, very roughly made, and drawn together at the mouth with a primitive thong. Inside just loosely threaded together, probably by some casual clerk after the great trial, are several pieces of manuscript of various sizes and shapes, which at first sight might be odd receipts, or bills, from an old-time merchant's office. The largest and longest of these loose sheets is the Indictment of Queen Anne Boleyn, written in Latin, and as fresh and clear as it was when inscribed on the 15th day of May, 1536, nearly four hundred years ago. Before, however, we come to her trial let us see the Queen in her prosperity. Anne Boleyn was not of royal, or even noble, birth. Her direct ancestor was a yeoman of Norfolk, apprenticed to a silk mercer in London ; her father was a Knight, indeed, but not of the sword ^ ^ Afterwards made Earl of Wiltshire. 122 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN To judge by some of the uncompromising engravings of her handed down to posterity she was not even good looking, but we prefer to accept a more favourable presentment to be found in the British Museum, here reproduced. Contemporary historians are, however, by no means universally uncritical ; and one mentions that she had an " Adam's apple " which was considered a great disfigurement, whilst another emphasizes that one of her fingers was split so that it looked like two. On the other hand, all writers universally commend her beautiful teeth, soft black eyes, and raven locks ; and agree in giving her grace, wit, and charm of manner. She also dressed to perfection, and was held up as a model, even by the French ladies of those days. She danced with great grace and spirit, and was in all manifestly a bright and joyous lady. Birth and lineage were nothing to Henry VIII, he had sufficient of his own. He was in search of pleasure, and a son, and in a fortunate, or unfortunate, moment this gay and lightsome lass drifted into the polygamaniacal procession of the great King. It may perhaps be wondered how the daughter of a Knight, and no great Knight, came within the magic circle wherein the King might see and know her. But though of yeoman stock themselves the Boleyns, with the silk mercer's fortune, had married into good families, and Anne's mother was the sister of no less a personage than the Duke of Norfolk. This then was the golden gate through which an unknown girl entered the royal palace, and in due course took her place on the throne beside the King. In the month of May, 1533, this unknown maid reached that giddy eminence ; in 1536, and again in the month of May, she laid her head upon the lowly block. Three years of splendour and all that the world could give, and then under flags of St. Peter ad Vincula. Yet in those three years she left a great and priceless legacy, a little daughter, one day to be the great and glorious Queen Elizabeth. A Queen of England, indeed, who knew how straight to deal with QUrCEN ANNE BOI-EYN \Ficii)i t/ie British Museum^ THE TWO QUEENS 123 Spanish Armadas, as well as with German marauders disguised as Hanseatic merchants. It is pleasant to think of those three happy years, whilst the sun shone and all was gay and bright. Dancing, and tourneys, and gay journeyings by land and water Gallant Knights, gay ladies, music and mirth. Doubt- less the wine of life got a little to the young Queen's head, and both ways she became a little reckless, con- sidering the narrowness of the plank she trod, and the depth of the abyss below. On the one hand she un- doubtedly made enemies with her quick and ready retorts ; and possibly she forgot that a Queen thus hits a man, or woman, who cannot return the barbed shuttle- cock. The verbal barb sticks and makes a sore, and that is dangerous. Such an open sore had Chapuys the Imperial Ambassador, and begot of it was a deadly hatred of the Queen, and a festering intent to bring about her downfall. For Ambassadors of those days were not necessarily, or even as a rule, elderly and amiable gentlemen, bedecked with stars and garters, whose business it was to keep the peace. Quite the contrary, they were not unusually intriguers of the deepest dye, who interfered, in what we should con- sider the most outrageous manner, with the domestic affairs of the country to which they were accredited. Their ambition appeared to be to stir up as much troubled water as possible, so that they and their own masters might profit thereby to the full extent. To read the reports to their own Sovereigns of some of these pernicious high plenipotentiaries is to read a com- bination of gossip, scandal, and malicious reports sufficient to sink a battleship, and certainly enough to drown a Queen and her reputation. Erring thus in worldly wisdom, apart from statecraft, the young Queen in her joyous exuberance assuredly gave handle to the malice of those who went about to ruin her. According to the Indictment, there was undoubtedly considerable opening for criticism in these frohcs, indeed most of the accusations are such as we are 124 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN accustomed to read, less bluntly worded, in modern Divorce Court proceedings. But much difference lies in these centuries. To-day we should not hang a dog without the most conclusive evidence of his guilt. In the sixteenth century it was possible for a Queen to be brought to the scaffold on a simple statement of offences unsupported by evidence, and for that Queen to be arraigned without any counsel for her defence. There was nothing criminal in eight out of the nine offences brought before the Court, they were at the most, if proved, sufficient to procure a divorce. The ninth however alleged treason, for it stated that the Queen was reported to have said that she would marry one or other of these young gallants, when the King died. That is a remark which may have been made in jest ; it may even have been made in a moment of sentimental aberration ; but it seems hardly conceivable that any sane woman, who had achieved so high an estate, would dehberately cast her crown to the ground to become plain Mrs. Noreys, the wife of a groom of the chambers. Anne Boleyn may, or may not, have been a flippant dame, but she has undoubtedly gained her place amongst posterity as an ill-used woman, if not a martyr, from the inherent feehng of justice and chivalry which illuminate later ages. There was chivalry in those days, and a rude sense of justice, but chivalry and justice were somewhat warped by the unpopularity of the Queen. She was a usurper and upstart ; she was held to have ousted by ignoble means her predecessor in the royal couch ; she was not of royal blood ; she was nobody and nothing but the temporary whim of the King. However woven, the net was closing round her, and was drawn tight the day after a tournament at Green- wich, which took place on May ist, 1536. During that tournament the Queen was said to have dropped a handkerchief, which one Hen. Noreys of Westminster, gentleman of the privy chamber, picked up and pressed to his Hps. Next day she was arrested at Greenwich ; THE TWO QUEENS 125 and still wearing the magnificent garments she had dined in, was conveyed by river to the Tower ; and so through the historic Traitor's Gate, never to see the bright world again. Apparently a preliminary enquiry was held by a magistrate of the name of Sir John Baldwin and reads : — " Indictment made before Sir John Baldwin by the oaths of Giles Heron, Roger More, Ric. Awnsham, Thos. Byllinton, Gregory Lovell, Jo. Worsop, Will. Goddard, Will. Blakwall, Jo. Wylford, Will. Berd, Hen. Hubbyl- thorn. Will. Hunnyng, Rob. Walys, John England, Hen. Lodysman, and John Avery, who present that whereas Queen Anne has been the wife of Henry VHI for three years and more, she, despising her marriage and enter- taining malice against the King and following daily her frail and carnal lusts, did falsely and traitorously " Here follow the rude words of the sixteenth century which the reader can supply in modern cloak from any Divorce Court proceedings. The co-respondents named are Hen. Noreys, the same indiscreet gentleman who picked up the handkerchief at Greenwich ; the Queen's brother Geo. Boleyn, lord Rocheford, gentleman of the privy chamber ; Will. Bryerton, late of Westminster, gentleman of the privy chamber ; Sir Francis Weston of Westminster, gentleman of the privy chamber ; and Mark Smeaton of the privy chamber. " And further the said Queen, and those other traitors, 31 Oct. 27 Henry VHI, at Westminster conspired the death and destruction of the King, the Queen often saying she would marry one of them as soon as the King died, and affirming that she would never love the King in her heart. And the King having a short time since become aware of the said abominable crimes and treasons against himself, took such inward displeasure and heaviness, especially from his said Queen's malice 126 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN and adultery that certain harms and perils have befallen his royal body." All of which is very sad and pathetic, and the inward displeasure and heaviness, which introduced certain harms and perils into the royal body, no doubt have our respectful sympathy. But this may perhaps be some- what mitigated when we are faced with the undoubted fact that the royal body was heartily sick of the lady, and had another in waiting to take her place. Be the faults or crimes of Anne Boleyn what they may, she was un- doubtedly the victim of a judicial murder of the most callous description ; hence the sympathy of the ages is with her. At the preliminary investigation before Sir John Baldwin, neither was the Queen present herself, nor was she represented by counsel. The witnesses were such as you may read. They may have been estimable persons of the highest integrity, or they may have been spies and paid informers, or domestic servants, or professional expert witnesses. And of this latter class a judge once opened his heart " there are liars, damned liars, and expert witnesses." Or, to take an extreme view, this imposing array of witnesses may not have existed at all. However, with this indictment drawn up by Sir John Baldwin before them the manuscript continues : — " And afterwards Monday 15 May, 1536, Queen Anne comes to the bar before the Lord High Steward^ in the Tower in the custody of Sir Will. Kingston pleads not guilty, and puts herself on her peers ; whereupon the said Duke of Suffolk, Marquis of Exeter and other peers, ^ are charged by the High Steward to say the truth : and being examined from the lowest peer to the highest each of them severally saith that she is guilty. " Judgement : To be taken to prison in the Tower : and then, at the King's command, to the Green within ^ The Duke of Norfolk, uncle to Queen Anne Boleyn on her mother's side. ^2 There were twenty-six peers, entitled " lord triers." THE TWO QUEENS 127 the Tower, and there to be burned or beheaded as shall please the King." When Queen Anne Boleyn came to the Tower she came, as we have seen, by water from Greenwich through the Traitor's Gate, and the boat tied up at the same old ring in the wall which still exists and to which so many boats carrying prisoners, great and small, both before and since, have been made fast. Through the great gateway with its portcullis, to this day in working order, raised to give her passage she ascended to the Lieutenant's Lodgings. Here in a little bedroom facing west she slept her last night on earth. The bedroom, which is still preserved much as she left it, is roughly fourteen feet square, panelled with oak throughout, but the ceiling is white. It is a low room only eight feet high, and on the west side is a large open fireplace, and close by it a small window looking out on to the prisoner's walk, now known as Princess Ehzabeth's Walk. This, as has been mentioned, is a narrow open air passage which passes the window running between the wall of the Lieutenant's Lodgings and the rampart, and extends from the Bell Tower to the Beauchamp Tower. On the stone work above the fireplace, roughly and not very deeply engraved, is the word " ANNE." Whilst in this little chamber Anne Boleyn wrote a most touching letter to the King, which was afterwards found in the portfolio of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex. " Sir — Your Grace's displeasure and my imprison- ment are things so strange unto me as what to write or what to excuse I am altogether ignorant. " Whereas you send unto me (willing me to confess a truth, and so to obtain your favour) by such an one whom you know to be mine antient professed enemy. I no sooner conceived this message by him than I rightly conceived your meaning : and if, as you say, confessing a truth indeed may procure my safety, I shall with all willingness and duty perform your command. 128 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN " But let not your Grace ever imagine that your poor wife will ever be brought to acknowledge a fault where not so much as a thought thereof proceeded. And to speak a truth, never prince had a wife more loyal in all duty and in all true affection, than you have ever found in Anne Boleyn ; with which name and place I could willingly have contented myself, if God and your Grace's pleasure had been so pleased. Neither did I at any time so far forget myself in my exaltation or received queenship, but that I always looked for such an alteration as now I find : for the ground of my preferment being on no surer foundation than your Grace's fancy, the least alteration, I knew, was fit and sufficient to draw that fancy to some other subject. You have chosen me from low estate to be your queen and companion, far beyond my desert or desire. If then you found me worthy of such honour, good your Grace, let not any light fancy or bad counsel of mine enemies, withdraw your princely favour from me ; neither let that stain, that unworthy stain, of a disloyal heart towards your good Grace, ever cast so foul a blot on your most dutiful wife and the infant princess your daughter. " Try me good King, but let me have a lawful trial ; and let not my sworn enemies sit as my accusers and my judges ; yea, let me receive an open trial, for my truth shall fear no open shame. Then shall you see either my innocency cleared, your suspicions and conscience satis- fied, the ignominy and slander of the world stopped, or my guilt lawfully declared ; so that whatsoever God or you may determine of me, your Grace may be freed from an open censure ; and mine offence being so openly proved, your Grace is at liberty, both before God and man, not only to execute your worthy punishment on me, as an unlawful wife, but to follow your affection already settled on that party for whose sake I am now as I am, whose name I could some good while since have pointed unto ; your Grace not being ignorant of my suspicion therein. " But if you have already determined of me ; and that THE TWO QUEENS 129 not only my death, but an infamous slander, must bring you the joying of your desired happiness ; then I desire of God that He will pardon your great sin therein, and likewise mine enemies, the instruments thereof ; and that He will not call you to a straight account for your unprincely and cruel usage of me, at His general judg- ment seat, where both you and myself must shortly appear ; and in whose judgment I doubt not, whatever the world may think of me, mine innocence shall be openly known and sufficiently cleared. " My last and only request shall be, that myself may only bear the burden of your Grace's displeasure, and that it may not touch the innocent souls of those poor gentlemen, who, as I understand, are likewise in straight imprisonment for my sake. H ever I have found favour in your sight, if ever the name of Anne Boleyn hath been pleasing in your ears, then let me obtain this request ; and I will so leave to trouble your Grace any further ; with mine earnest prayers to the Trinity to have your Grace in His good keeping, and to direct you in all your actions. From my doleful prison in the Tower, this 6th of May. Your most loyal and ever faithful wife, " Anne Boleyn." It is generally accepted that this letter never reached the King, and perhaps it was not an altogether unfriendly hand that withheld it. From what we know of Henry Vni's character it may with fair certainty be assumed that it would have had far from a soothing effect on him, and might have weighed the beam in the wrong direction. As events proved it would not have mattered one way or another whether the letter had been delivered or not ; the Queen was doomed and the King only impatient to replace her by a new fancy. Anne Boleyn also made vain endeavours to see the King, feeling confident that she could at once disarm his suspicions. To the last she did not give up the hope that she might be allowed to retire to a nunnery, or at most be sentenced to suffer banishment. 130 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Her demeanour at the trial was in all respects dignified and beautiful. She went through this ordeal in one of the great halls of the Tower which was fitted up as a Court of Justice. A series of wooden stands were therein erected for the accommodation of the officials ; whilst at the farther end of the hall was a platform on which was a chair of State covered with purple velvet, on which the accused Queen sat. In a gallery sat the judges in their robes, as well as the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London, also in their official robes. With these sat four citizens from each of the twelve principal merchant companies. The Lord High Steward, the Duke of Norfolk, sat under a cloth of State, supported by his son, the young Earl of Surrey, who acted as Deputy Earl Marshal, bearing his wand of office. A large number of spectators were also present, and we read that amongst them were Mrs. Orchard, the Queen's nurse, and her old friend and retainer Mrs. Margaret Lee, who was " at a small window peeping into the haU heartily." On the Court being declared open, a gentleman usher called for " Anne Boleyn." The Queen forthvidth entered, having on the one side of her Sir William Kingston the Constable of the Tower, and on the other Sir Edward Walsingham the Lieutenant, whilst behind her followed the ladies in attendance. She wore a robe of black velvet over a petticoat of scarlet brocade, and on her head was a small cap, on which was fastened a black and white feather. Thus robed and attended, she moved with great grace and dignity to her appointed place, and bowing gravely to the Court, took her seat on the State chair or throne. The indictment was read out, and then Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, and Sir Christopher Hales spoke for the prosecution. But no v^dtnesses were called. The Queen who was allowed no counsel pleaded " not guilty," and defended herself in a few weU chosen words. These made so profound an impression on the audience, that when in spite of them she was finaUv condemned there was considerable THE TWO QUEENS 131 murmuring, and the Duke of Norfolk who passed sentence wept so " that the water roune in his eyes." There was indeed considerable confusion, but the Queen alone remained unmoved, and according to Sir John Allen, the Lord Mayor, never had man or woman behaved with greater courage under such appaUing circumstances. Dignified as had been her entrance into the hall of trial, her demeanour and bearing on her departure was little short of heroic. Her face was deadly pale, but her steps never faltered, nor her eyes quivered, as she slowly made her way between the Con- stable and his Lieutenant, and followed by her ladies, to her apartments in the Lieutenant's Lodgings. The date of the execution was fixed for May i8th, only sixteen short days from the Queen's arrest at Green- wich. At her special request she was to be executed with a sword instead of with the axe generally used ; and she further petitioned that an executioner skilled in the use of the sword might be brought over from France, a request which was also granted. But the poor lady's anxiety and suspense were not yet over. On the night of the 17th the Queen ate a hearty supper and was un- usually " merry." At two o'clock in the morning of the 1 8th, after a brief slumber she rose, dressed herself hastily, and passed into her oratory where the Blessed Sacrament was exposed. There she found her confessor, Father Thirlwall, a Franciscan Friar, with whom she spent some hours in prayer. She then heard three masses, at the last of which she received communion. Before this final rite she had summoned Sir William Kingston into the room, and there, in the presence of the Host, protested her innocence before God, and " begged the Constable to be witness of her solemn asseveration." She made the same solemn declaration to Lady Kingston, the wife of the Constable, praying that lady to be seated whilst she knelt before her. As the morning wore on, and no summons to execution arriving, she sent for the Constable and asked the reason for this delay. The Constable did not know, but would 132 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN enquire ; and later was able to inform the waiting lady, that the agony of her suspense must be stretched for another twenty-four hours. That was indeed a cruel thrust ; but historians are agreed that it was not inten- tionally so, and some give one good reason, and some another. Possibly the true cause was either the late arrival of the executioner from Calais, or possibly the non-completion of his costume. For it is on record that this costume was made in London, the bill for the same being still preserved in the Record Office. The French executioner's costume consisted of a tight-fitting black suit, a half-mask hiding the upper part of the face ; and a high horn-shaped cap, also black. The bill paid " to the executioner of Calays for his reward and apparail " was one hundred French crowns, or j/^23 6s. 8d. of English money. Another day and night of prayer, and waiting for the inevitable, passed, till early on the morning of Friday, May 1 9th, the Constable came to the Queen and warned her to be prepared for her end. At the same time he placed in her hands ^20 to be distributed between the headsman and his assistants, as was the custom of the day. Just before eight o'clock the Constable again knocked at the door, and announced that all was now ready. It is but a few yards from the door of the Lieutenant's Lodgings to the scaffold, but in this hmited space was found room for an imposing procession. First came two hundred Yeomen of the Guard, dressed much as they are to this day, with their halberds. Next came the executioner with his sword. Then a group of officials marching in front of Sir Wilham Kingston the Constable ; behind the Constable walked Queen Anne Boleyn accompanied by her ladies and Father Thirlwall. The Queen was dressed in a loose robe of grey damask, over an underskirt of red. Round her neck was a deep white collar fringed with ermine ; her splendid black hair was hidden by a small black cap or hat. Under this she wore a white coif. At her girdle hung a gold chain and cross. It was observed that she looked extremely THE TWO QUEENS 133 handsome ; her usually pale cheeks were flushed with a hectic colour, and her beautiful black eyes, though reddened with weeping, shone with extraordinary bril- liancy. Her step was firm, even elastic ; but it was noticed she looked back constantly, as if she sought some one in the crowd ; or perhaps with a last dying hope that a reprieve might arrive. The scaffold, the site of which is now marked by a brass plate, was about five feet high, so that the execu- tion might be in the view of all. Facing it was a raised tribunal, on which was enthroned the Duke of Norfolk as Lord High Steward, now apparently recovered from his emotion, and prepared heroically to see his niece die ; and seated at his feet the young Earl of Surrey. Other occupants of the tribunal were Charles Brand, Duke of Suffolk ; the young Duke of Richmond, the King's illegitimate son, a handsome boy of seventeen ; Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex ; Chancellor Audley ; Master Rich, and a few other officials. To the right of the scaff'old stood the Lord Mayor and several Aldermen of London, also a group of merchants from the city, and several foreigners of distinction. From a neighbouring window Sir Thomas Wyat, who was also a prisoner, and the old nurse Mary Orchard, were allowed a distant view of the distressing scene. Just before the procession reached the place of execu- tion, the prisoner was handed over by the Constable to the Sheriff's of London and Middlesex, whose duty it became to see the matter through. It was now six minutes past eight, and the sun shone brightly. The Queen took a final leave of her women, clasping each to her heart, kissing them, and imploring them not to give way to grief, but to be brave for her sake, till all was over. She gave her prayer book to Mrs. Lee, and was observed whispering very earnestly for some seconds to this faithful friend. She was probably telling her to give the book to Sir Thomas Wyat, for it remained with his descendants for many generations. Sir William Kingston then helped the Queen to 174 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN mount the scaffold. At first she seemed confused and dazed, and looked round at the upturned faces with an air of bewilderment. But she quickly regained her self- possession, and following the custom in like cases, made a brief statement to the assembled people. Her words are described as short, terse, and sensible, pronounced in a clear and unfaltering voice, so that even those farthest removed could hear her. She solemnly declared her entire innocence of the dreadful charges brought against her. She declared that she had always been a true wife to the King, and asked that posterity might do her the simple justice of believing words spoken thus on the threshold of eternity. Having concluded this little speech she asked all present to pray for her, at this last moment when she was about to appear before her Creator and Judge. Her own httle prayer distinctly audible was " Mother of God ! pray for me ! Lord Jesus ! receive my soul ! " The sun shone on the bright uniforms of the yeomen of the guard, the rich robes of the peers, on the white upturned faces, on the black and forbidding scaffold and on the fair lady who stood on it. A breathless silence reigned over the solemn scene. Even the ravens of the Tower sat silent and immovable on the battlements and gazed eerily at the strange scene. A Queen about to die ! For what ? Mistress Lee now approached the Queen, and re- moved her ermine cape, and handed her a white linen cap. The Queen herself removed her head-dress, and coiled her hair under this cap. The collar of her dress was then lowered so as to bare her neck for the stroke that was to come. Then again and for the last time she knelt in prayer, and the Lord Mayor, who was a decent Knight, knelt too, and all followed his example save only the Dukes of Suffolk and Richmond, Cranmer and some other officials, though these had the decency to stand up. It was a short but earnest prayer, and we may feel sure reached High Heaven along that shaft of light the fluttering soul would so soon follow. The Queen then THE TWO QUEENS 135 rose, and gave to Mistress Lee her last kiss on earth ; and by that good woman were her eyes bound with a Hnen handkerchief. Sir Edward Walsingham, the Lieutenant, then led her by the hand close to the block, and reaching it she immediately knelt down, softly murmuring, " In manus tuas, Domine. (Into thy hands O Lord !) " Behind her the ladies of her retinue re- mained kneeling, and silently weeping. The French executioner, who with commendable delicacy had remained in the background, his sword hidden under the straw with which the scaffold was thickly strewn, now seized his weapon, and slipping off his shoes, swiftly approached. Under his instructions the English assistant who was on the other side then made an audible movement which caused the Queen instinctively to turn her head in that direction. In a flash the executioner seized his opportunity, and what was a moment before Queen Anne Boleyn, lay a huddled heap of blood-drenched clothes. So swift and clean was the stroke, that when the executioner, as in duty bound, held up the head, so that all might see, the eyes were still moving, the hps still framing that last httle prayer. No wonder women fainted, and men were sick with horror. The crowd silently and sorrowfully dispersed, and the dead Queen was left with her women, and the holy men of her choice. And then happened a curious thing. Though great preparations had been made for so impor- tant and unique an event as the execution of a Queen, and though an executioner had been specially brought from France for the occasion, it had occurred to no one to prepare a cofhn. The distracted ladies looking around for some decent casket in which to place the remains of their dear mistress, could find none. Then some kindly yeoman warder, noticing their distress, hastily procured an old arrow chest from the neighbouring armoury. In this arrow chest Mistress Lee placed the dead Queen's head wrapped in a kerchief, whilst three other ladies, "sobbing woefully," Hfted the body into 136 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN the same humble casket. The Hd was fastened down, and the rude coffin was borne into the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, and there hastily and lightly buried before the altar. As we stand on the " saddest spot on earth " and look towards the altar we can see in the floor near the left- hand corner of the altar, a hexagonal marble flagstone on which another Queen, three hundred and forty years after, inscribed " Queen Anne Boleyn." It is now nearly four hundred years since that brief gay life ended under the shadow 'of the old Tower, for nearly four hundred years that tormented soul has rested in peace. Let her own little verse remain her lullaby : " Oh Death ! rock me to sleep |! Bring on my quiet rest, ■ Let pass my very guiltless ghost Out of my careful breast." For his fifth wife Henry VIII took Katherine Howard, the daughter of Lord Edmund HoM^ard, a young woman of twenty-one years. Henry VIII was now fifty-one, but looking much older, " corpulent and fat " ; and had just satisfactorily pensioned oft" this fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. This highly unprepossessing princess, married chiefly if not solely for political reasons, after sharing the King's throne and couch for a few months returned, as she came, a maid, to pensioned security and oblivion. Henry with well staged reluctance, yet with remarkable promptness again placed his head under what he was wont, in moments of pessimism, to term the yoke. Thus observing " a notable appearance of honour, cleanness (apparently in welcome contrast to his late consort), and maidenly behaviour, i,n Mistress Catherine Howard, his Highnesse was finally contented to honour that lady with his marriage, thinking in his old days, after sundry troubles of mind which has happened to him by marriage, to have obtained such a jewel for woman hood and very perfect love towards him as should not only have been W*' QUEEN KATIIERINE HOWARD [From the liritish MmeuwX THE TWO QUEENS 137 to his quietness, but also have brought forth the desired fruits of marriage. "1 The marriage was not an unhappy one ; but after it had lasted for only thirteen months the familiar cloud arose. When such untoward happenings occur once, or even twice, in a lifetime, they may or may not be accepted. But when the fifth matrimonial venture of the same man, be he a king or a peasant, turns to disaster, a spirit of scepticism must perforce arise in the mind of the least critical. To the ordinary observer it transcends belief that any woman thus lately raised to regal rank could be so injudicious, in order to please a passing fancy, to risk a sure catastrophe. Had she any doubts on the subject she had only to remember the fate of those who went before her. There seems to have been so painful an atmosphere of intrigue and malicious dealing about this whole epoch, such plots to make marriages and counter- plots to undo them, that one approaches this fresh matrimonial episode with some misgiving. However, here is the story of the climax, and how it arose. During the King's absence on his northern tour a pernicious person named Lascelles, by Froude styled a gentleman, came to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and like the low cur he undoubtedly was, recounted to him a story he had heard from his sister. This virtuous lady declared to her brother, that she would not take service with Queen Katherine, because she knew she had mis- conducted herself before marriage with two gentlemen, one named Francis Derham and the other Mannock. The Archbishop instead of behaving like a sensible person, and instructing a flunkey 'carefully to kick Mr. Lascelles into the river, got into a fluster, and went babbling the story about. First confiding it to the Chancellor, and then to Lord Flertford, and would have proceeded doubt- less to a dozen more Councillors, had they happened to be in town. 1 he Chancellor and Lord Hertford in their turn, instead of putting the Archbishop straight, and advising him to observe the rules of Christian charity, ^ Acts of the Privy Council. 138 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN and the discretion a prelate of his standing might well possess, jumped at the new scandal, and advised him to tell the King. The Archbishop professed some diffidence, being not quite sure enough of the grounds he stood on to appreciate the honour of making a personal state- ment of this character to so formidable a monarch and husband as Henry VIII. He decided therefore to communicate the matter hy letter. This he accordingly did, and we are invited to believe that the King received the letter with utter incredulity. That is perhaps stretching the credulity of this critical and practical age to a dangerous extent. Knowing the times and the people concerned, whether kings, prelates, or ministers, it would seem inconceivable that such a letter would be written on such flimsy premises, unless it was fairly well assured beforehand that the despotic monarch to whom it was addressed would be not altogether displeased to receive it. The further exploitation of the case still further confirms such a premise. Henry VIII, instead of keeping the matter to himself, as most sensible men in his position would, immediately handed the letter round to all the ministers who happened to be present ; and Lord Southampton was forthwith sent to London to interview the informant Lascelles. Meanwhile Derham and Mannock^ were arrested on the picturesque charge of piracy on the Irish Seas. LasceUes adhered to his story, as undoubtedly he had to, or swing for a Har. And the two " pirates," whether under persuasion, physical, moral, or pecuniary, or whether cajoled by subtle appeals to their vanity, admitted the soft impeachment. Truly those were days far removed from the old knightly code of honour ! We may pass over the nauseous scene of the reception by the monarch of many wives, of Lord Southampton's report on the unworthiness of his fifth queen. But the case was not strong enough yet for pubHc consumption ; ' Davey gives the names of the culprits as Derham, Culpepper, and Damport. THE TWO QUEENS 139 the good people of England were becoming somewhat sceptical about their sovereign's matrimonial affairs. Moreover, what a lady does, or does not do, before marriage, short of contracting a previous alliance, does not affect the legality of the later contract. But wit- nesses could be bought in England in those days as easily as they can be bought in Germany or the Far East in this year of grace, more especially when it was a high potentate who required them. Therefore it is in no way surprising that witnesses came forward to assert that the Queen's conduct had been as free after marriage as before. This is not a treatise on morals and marriage, but it must strike the most superficial student of human nature that it is passing strange that two young women raised from comparatively low degree to the same regal throne should, even before the novelty of this great position had worn off, be guilty of behaviour which meant not only the loss of all, but an ignominious death on the scaffold. Two of the gentlemen who had claimed familiar rela- tions with the Queen were hanged, as they richly deserved ; and the Queen herself together with Lady Rochfort, who was said to be her confederate, were removed as State prisoners to Sion House. Here they remained for three months whilst the case was being worked up against them, and a bill of attainder passed through Parliament. Both Houses of Parliament, with due servility, passed these curious resolutions, which read much like valetudinarian prescriptions, for the King's favourable consideration. " First that he would not vexe himself with the Queene's offence, and that she and Lady Rochford might be attainted by Parhament. Secondly, and because protractynge of tyme, which the more should be to his unquietnesse, that he would under his great scale give his royall assent, without tarrying the ende of the Parliament." The Privy Council also hurried the matter through, not from any consideration one way or the other for the wretched lady who lay in prison, under the direst HO THE TOWER FROM WITHIN suspense ; but in consideration of " the case the King was in, by the Queen's ill-carriage," and incidentally it may be inferred to remove the existing obstacle in the way of his obtaining his sixth wife. The Bill was hastened through both Houses, and the Chancellor brought it down already signed by the King, and with the Great Seal attached, so that there should be no delay. Lady Rochford who was to suffer with the Queen was far from being a blameless lady. It was through her testimony, generally believed to be false, that her husband George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, brother of Anne Boleyn, had come to the scaffold. On the present occa- sion her crime as stated was that she had aided and abetted Queen Katherine in her froward conduct. Lady Rochford was taken to the Tower on February 9th, and on the following day " the Queene was had by water from Syon to the Tower of London, the Duke of Suffolke, the Lord Privie Scale, and the Lord Chamber- layne, havinge the conveyance of her."^ She was prob- ably accommodated in the Lieutenant's Lodgings, as had been Queen Anne Boleyn, and the execution was fixed for February 13th, 1542. No official records can be traced, either of this short imprisonment, or of the execution of the Queen ; these evidently having been destroyed for good and sufficient reasons. The whole matter was evidently rushed through as rapidly as possible and kept as quiet as could be, for fear of outraging public sentiment. There were few witnesses, and these all held their tongues, and restrained their pens. The scaffold was however we know, put up on Tower Green, on the same spot where Queen Anne Boleyn was beheaded. By chance, however, or by order, a merchant of London named Otwell Johnson was present, and writing to his brother at Calais, which perhaps accounts for its escaping the censorship, gave the following account of the execution :^ " From Calleis I have harde nothing as yet of your * Wrottesley's Chronicle. * Ellis's Orig. Letters. THE TWO QUEENS 141 sute to my Lord Gray ; and for news from hens, know ye, that even, according to my writing on Sonday last, I se the Quene and the Lady Rotcheford suffer within the Tower the day following, whos sowles (I doubt not) be with God, for they made the moost godly and chris- tyan's end, that ever was hard tell of (I thinke) sins the world's creation : uttering thayer lively faeth in the blode of Christe onely, and with goodly words and sted- fast countenances thay desyred all christen people to take regard unto thayer worthy and just punishment with death for thayer offences, and agenst God, hainously from thayer youth upward, in breaking all his com- m.andements, and also agenst the King's royall majesty very dangeriously : wherfor they being just condempned (as thay sayed) by the lawes of the realme and parlement, to dye, required the people (I say) to take example at them, for amendement of thayer ungodly lyves, and gladdly to obey the King in all things, for whos preserva- tion thay did hartely pray : and willed all people so to do : commending thayer sowles to God and ernestly calling for mercy upon him ; whom I besieche to geve us grace, with suche faeth hope and charitie at our departing owt of this miserable world to come to the fruytion of his Godhead in joy everlasting." Little did honest Otwell Johnson know what an historic letter he was writing to his brother, in that far- off day nearly four centuries ago ; for it seems to be the sole remaining record of one of the most tragic stories of the Tower. The Grey Friars Chronicle gives this brief account : " The xiij day February was the Qwene Kateryne and Lady Rocheford beheddyd within the Tower & there burryd." Queen Katherine Howard and Lady Rochford were buried both before the high altar in St. Peter's ad Vincula, where their resting place may be seen marked as is that of Queen Anne Boleyn. And the King who had thus 142 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN laid them low went forth to his new nuptials. In heaven, as we know on the highest authority, there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage, but still the meeting of Henry VIII with his six wives must have been a unique occasion, even in the experiences of the heavenly host. It is to be hoped that in the scale of divine com- pensations the tyrant on earth felt the full force of the tyranny of the six in the regions above. EDWARD SKYMOUK. DUKP: OV SOMERSF.T THK I.ORU PROTECTOR X THE TWO DUKES " Between two Queens "—The Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector — Guardian of the boy King — The boy King's admiration for John Dudley — The latter's ambitions — Trial of the Duke of Somerset— The boy King's diary— The Duke's popularity — Trial — Found guilty of felony — His execution ordered on Tower Hill — A reprieve ? — Disappointment — His last words — Buried in St. Peter's ad Vincula — The Duke of Northumber- land—Proclaims Lady Jane Grey Queen— Defeated near Cambridge — Lodged in the Tower — His trial for rebellion — Sentenced to death — His renunciation — The day of execution — Speech from the scaffold — Buried in St. Peter's ad Vincula — Next the Duke of Somerset. Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset {b. ; d. January 22nd, 1552) John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland {b. 1502 ; d. August 22iid, 1553) " T^ETWEEN the two Queens, before the high ■ ^ altar, he buried two Dukes." I ^ And so they lay for many centuries till M ^ their sepulchre was forgotten, and their resting place disturbed by less distinguished bones. The two Dukes were Edward Seymour, Duke of Somer- set, and John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland ; and the two Queens between whom they lay were Queen Anne Boleyn and Queen Katherine Howard. The two Dukes no longer he exactly thus, but still within a few feet of each other, and looking over the ramparts of heaven they must often have smiled at their silent neighbourhood, for on this plain below they had been deadly rivals. It was during the brief reign of the boy 143 144 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN King Edward VI that these two great adventurers fought their duel for sovereignty to the bloody end, and one went down then, and one later. Both Edward Seymour and John Dudley were amongst the executors and guardians named in the will of Henry VIII to take charge of his son Edward VI, and of the kingdom, during his minority. But amongst these at first, at any rate, the whole power was concentrated in the hands of Somerset, who by virtue of being uncle to the King took a commanding position and secured the title of Lord Protector. Yet not far behind, running a waiting race was Sir John Dudley, now Earl of Warwick, and later Duke of Northumberland. Somerset, according to the standard of that age, was a kind, just, and benevo- lent regent ; beloved of the people, and void of religious intolerance. But he possessed the puritanical strain which makes life grievous to a boy, and led him to lay a man's strain and restraint on a sickly child ; one who wanted rather to play and be merry like other children. Probably the boy King frankly disliked his conscientious and worthy uncle, much as other boys generically dis- approve of their guardians and tutors. In strong con- trast came the gallant and distinguished soldier and sailor, who had been knighted on the field of battle in France ; had carried out a very brave defence of Boulogne against 50,000 Frenchmen. Who had performed valiant deeds in the battle of Musselborough, and as Lord High Admiral had gained renown in command of English fleets. He was fine, and kind, and debonair with the boy ; and the boy liked him better than uncle Somerset. Had John Dudley remained at that, a distinguished warrior and plenipotentiary, he would probably have escaped the block, and certainly have lived in history as an entirely desirable person. But Hke nearly all who rose to eminence in those days he was infected with the microbe of high intrigue ; so that his later misdeeds have to a great degree washed out in the estimate of posterity the undoubted brilliancy of his early career. THE TWO DUKES 145 Yet in extenuation we must remember that those were days not far removed from the age when might was right ; an era when the great game of pohtics was played for kingdoms, and kingly power. Those same ambitions have in the course of centuries diluted in England down to almost domestic hmits ; and the fiercest politicians of this day are content to break their lances over less ambitious schemes. To head armed rebellions, or to place the King in the Tower, or to reign in his stead, are far removed from the inchnations or ambitions of a modern politician, be he a duke, or a lav^er. Urged therefore by the spirit of the times, he who had been plain John Dudley,^ set out on the high road to ruin. The chief obstacle in his way was the Lord Protector, the Duke of Somerset ; he therefore must be removed. The first attempt failed, for though he " drew about eighteen of the Privy Council to knit with him against the Lord Protector " ; and succeeded in getting him imprisoned in the Tower, and to be arraigned on various charges. Yet the Duke of Somerset managed to make good his defence and was released, and again after a short interval resumed his position as Lord Protector. A short truce intervened, and the marriage bells rang for the wedding between Dudley's eldest son Lord Lisle and the Lord Protector's daughter Lady Anne Seymour. But in little more than a year Dudley, now Duke of Northumberland, returned to the attack, and on his instigation the Duke of Somerset was committed to the Tower on a charge of high treason and felony. The Duke was tried at Westminster, and in the boy King's diary we find : " The duke of Somerset cam to his triall at West- myster halle. The lord treasourour sat as high stuard of England the cloth of Estate, on a benche betwene tow 1 To the ancient family of Percy belonged, and belongs again, the Northumberland title, but this together with great possessions John Dudley in due course temporarily took unto himself. 146 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN postes, 3 degrees high : al the lordes to the number of 26, videHcet : Dukes. Southfolke Northumberland Marquesse. Northampton EtUs. Derby, Bedford, Huntingdon, Rutland, Bath, Sussex, Worcetour, Pembroke „* Viscount. Hereford Barons. Bargeiney, Audley, Wharton, Euers, Latimer, Bourough, Souch, Stafford, Wentworth, Darcy, Sturton, Windsore, CrumweU, Cobham, Bray." Three of these judges, Northumbeiland, Pembroke, and Northampton, were the Duke of Somerset's bitter enemies, and had compassed his downfall. The Court found the Duke not guilty of treason, but guilty of felony ; in that he had conspired to murder one of the King's ministers, to wit the Duke of Northumberland ; for by a recent law such act was a felony. There were no witnesses to support the charge, nor was the prisoner allowed to be confronted with those who had ostensibly made the charge. He was sentenced to be hanged. As showing the popularity of the Duke of Somerset a curious misconception on the part of the Yeoman Gaoler gave a sufficient indication. When a prisoner was taken from the Tower for trial for high treason the Yeoman Gaoler, as is well known, walked in front carrying the axe with its edge away from the prisoner. After the trial, on the return journey to the Tower, if the prisoner had been found guilty the edge of the axe was turned towards him ; if found not guilty it was away from him as before. The Yeoman Gaoler and those with him, hearing that the Duke had been acquitted of high treason, jumped to the conclusion that he was acquitted in full, and therefore the axe was carried with the edge away from the prisoner. The populace seeing this sign went wild with joy, and threw their caps into the air. p § THE TWO DUKES 147 It was only later that rumours spread that the Duke was to die. It required some little management still to bring the young King to the point of signing his uncle and guar- dian's death warrant. It was therefore arranged to keep his mind off the subject by a constant round of gaiety, till a favourable moment should be found. This oppor- tunity came on January i8th, 1552, when at a Council in the King's own handwriting it is recorded : " The matter for the Duke of Somerset and his con- federates to be considered as aperteineth to ourself and quietnes of our realme, that by their punishment and execution, according to the lawes, example may be shewed to others."^ This order for the execution, which was to take place four days later, is testified by the signatures of the Privy Councillors present. The Duke was not, however, to suffer the ignominy of being hanged as a felon, but was to be beheaded on Tower Hill. Fearing a popular uprising in favour of the Duke, orders were issued that none of the citizens were to leave their houses before 10 a.m., when the execution it was calculated would be over. But the populace completely disregarded this order, and " by seven of the clocke, the Tower hill was covered with a great multitude." At eight o'clock, the hour appointed, the Duke walked from his quarters in the Tower under charge of the Lieutenant as far as the Bulwark Gate^ where, in accord- ance with custom, he was handed over to the Sheriffs for execution. With great composure, and in a perfectly natural manner as if he had been in his own chamber, the Duke mounted the scaffold, and kneehng down, " lifted up his hands, erected himself unto God." After saying a few short prayers he moved to the east end of the 1 Cotton MSS. ^ This gate has now disappeared, but stood a little way up Tower Hill on the edge of the moat. 148 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN scaffold and addressed the people, according to the Cottonian MSS., in these words : " Masters and good fellows, I am come hither for to die : but a true and faithful man as any was unto the King's majesty, and to his realme : but I am con- demned by a law whereunto I am subject, and as we aU are : and therefore to show obedience I am content to die : wherewith I am well content, being a thing most heartily welcome unto me : for the which I do thank God, taking it for a singular benefit as ever might come to me any otherwise. For as I am a man, I have de- served at God's hands many deaths : and it hath pleased his goodness, whereas he might have taken me suddenly, that I should neither have known him nor myself, thus now to visit me and call me with this present death as you do see, when I have had time both to remember and knowledge him, and to know also myself : for which thing I do thank him most heartily. And, my friends, more I have to say unto you as concerning religion. I have been always, being in authority a furtherer of it to the glory of God, to the uttermost of my power, whereof I am nothing sorry, but rather have cause and do rejoyce most gladly that I have so done for the greatest benefit of God that ever I had, or any man might have in this world : beseeching you all to take it so, and to follow it on still, for if not there v/ill follow and come a great plague." As he finished this speech a great commotion was observed, and some thought it was a pardon that was arriving in haste, and some with delicate consciences remembered that by the King's orders they were out of their houses before the given hour. One way and another a temporary panic and disorder arose, in the course of which many were injured, and over one hundred were jostled into the moat of the Tower, which was full of water and sHme, and well-nigh drowned. The cause of the disturbance was twofold ; on the one hand a party of city halbardiers who had come late to the execution attempted to force a way from the east ; and on the THE TWO DUKES 149 other hand Sir Anthony Browne, a sheriff of Surrey, also late, arrived in hot haste from the west with a few followers on horseback, and pressed through the crowd. The multitude, whose entire sympathies were with the Duke, concluded that one way or the other a pardon had come, and began shouting, " Pardon, pardon, pardon, hurlying up their cappes and clokes wythe. these wordes saying God save the Kynge, God save the Kynge." But the Duke of Somerset was little moved, though for a moment a bright flush of hope spread to his cheeks. From his raised position he could see that no one likely to be carrying the King's pardon was approaching ; and therefore at once with his cap in his hand, he soothed the people with these words : " And once agayne derely beloved in the Lord I require you that you will keepe yourseles quiet and still, least thorowe your tumult you might cause mee to have trouble, which in this case would nothing at all profite me, neyther be any pleasure unto yow. For albeit the spirite be wylling and readie, the fleshe is frayle and wavering, and through your quietnesse, I shall be much more the quieter : but if that you fall into tumult it will be great trouble and no gayne. Moreover I desire you to beare me witnesse that I die here in the fayth of Jesu Christ : desiring you to helpe me with your prayers, that I maye persevere constant in the same unto my hfe's end."i " Then he turning himselfe about kneeled downe upon hys knees, unto whome Doctor Coxe,^ which was there present to counsayle and advertise him, delivered a certaine scroll unto his hande, wherein was conteyned a briefe confession unto God, which beyng read he stood up agayne on his feete, without any trouble of minde as it appeared, and first bade the Sherifes farewell, then the Lieutenant of the Tower and certayne other that were on the scaffolde, taking them all by the handes. Then he gave the executioner certayne money, which done, he 1 Grafton. ^ Later Bishop of Ely. 150 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN put off his gowne, and kneling downe agayne in the strawe, untyed hys shirt strings, and then the executioner coming to him, turned down his coUer rounde about his necke, and all other things which did let and hinder him. Then he covering his face with his owne handkerchiefe, lifting up hys eyes unto heaven, where his onely hope remained, laid himselfe downe along, and then suffered the heavie stroke of the axe, which dissevered the head from his bodye, to the lamentable sight and griefe of thousands that heartily prayed God for him, and entirely loved him. "^ Another account of the execution says : " He showed no manner of trouble or feare ; neither did his countenance change, but that before his eyes were covered, there began to appear a red colour in the midst of his cheeks ; and thus the most meeke and gentle duke lying along and looking for the stroke because his doublet covered his neck he was commanded to put it off ; then laying himselfe down again upon the block, and calling thrice upon the name of Jesus saying, " Lord Jesu, save me " ; he was the third time repeating the same, even as the name of Jesu was in uttering, in a moment he was bereft both of head and life ; and slept in the Lord Jesus, being taken awaie from aU the dangers and evils of this life and resting now in the peace of God ; in the preferment of whose truth and Gospell he alwaies showed himselfe an excellent instrument and member, and therefore hath received the reward of his labours. Thus, gentle reader, thou hast the true historye of this worthie and noble duke, and if anie man report it other- wise, let it be counted as a lie."^ " And shortely ys body was putt into a coffin and carryed into the Towre and ther bered in the chyrche on the north syd of the gwyre of St. Peters : the wyche I beseeche God have mercy on ys sowUe. Amen."^ The Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector, was buried near the altar in St. Peter's ad Vincula, and there ^ Gra£ton. * Holinshed. * Machyn's Diary. J()[[N DIDI KV, HrKK OV NORTH T M BEKI. AM) THE TWO DUKES 151 the flagstone showing where his bones now rest may- be seen. The only epitaph he received from his nephew, Edward VI, was the entry in that boy's diary : "22 Jan. 1551-2. The Duke of Somerset had his head cut off upon Towre Hill between eight and nine a cloke in the morning." His chief rival now safely buried the Duke of Northum- berland took the helm, and for the brief remainder of Edward's reign steered the bark of State. But with the young King's death new ambitions rose. The Duke's son, Guildford Dudley, an inoffensive and somewhat uninspiring youth, had married Lady Jane Grey, daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, and cousin to the King. On his death-bed the Duke of Northumberland persuaded Edward to pass over his two half-sisters, Mary and Ehzabeth, and to bequeath the crown to his cousin Lady Jane. Northumberland kept the news of the King's death secret for two days, so that he might consohdate his position, and on July 9th, 1553, proclaimed Jane Grey, Queen of England, and led her in State to the Tower. Meanwhile a faction had arisen in favour of the Princess Mary, the legitimate successor to the throne, and armed forces as well as the fleet at Yarmouth sup- ported her. Northumberland and his sons left London to meet and overcome with armed force this opposition. But his nerve failed him, the soldiers had no heart in the enterprise, and it ended miserably. With great prompt- ness the Duke changed his coat, and riding into the market place at Cambridge himself proclaimed Queen the Princess Mary. But Queen Mary was a lady of some shrewdness, and knew well the man she had to deal with ; she therefore ignored the Duke's professed allegiance, and sent the Earl of Arundel to arrest him. Tlie Duke thereupon behaved in a very abject manner, and " fell on his knees, and desired him to be good to him for the love of God." This must have been a sweet 152 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN moment for Arundel, for the Duke had treated him none too well. Under escort Northumberland was brought south, and lodged in the Bloody Tower of the Tower of London. After a delay of some weeks the Duke was brought to trial at Westminster, and his demeanour does not make very inspiring reading. He debased him- self before the Court, over which presided the Duke of Norfolk, or to put it in ancient language, " used great reverence to his judges " ; and then suggested an easy road out of the dilemma, both for them and him. He invited their opinion as to whether a man could be guilty of high treason who acted under orders given under warrant of the Great Seal. And next whether it was permissible for those under whose orders he had acted and were therefore equally responsible, to be amongst his judges. Receiving a straight answer and straight rebuff, the Duke at once stood down " using a few words declaring his earnest repentance in the case, and moving the Duke of Norfolk to be his meane to the Queene for mercy." The indictment against the prisoner was then read, that he " by machinating and compassing to depose the Queen from her crown and dignity, did with arms and artillery, levy war against the Queen." The Duke of Northumberland pleaded guilty to the charge and made request to the Court, " I beseech you my Lords all to bee humble suters to the Queene's majestic to graunt me iij requestes." The first of these was that he might be accorded the death of a nobleman and not of a felon. The second implored the Queen to be good to his children. The third (and this was a subtle stroke) that a holy man might be sent him for instruction " and quieting of my concyence." He added a fourth, also a shrewd request, asking that two Privy Councillors might be sent to him, to whom he w^ould impart " matters as shal be expedyent for hir and the comonwelthes."^ The Duke of Norfolk, Lord High Steward, then ^ Stow. THE TWO DUKES 153 passed sentence, and broke his wand of office in token that the Court was dissolved. The Duke of Northumber- land was escorted back to the Tower with the edge of the axe towards him ; no man sympathising with him, for he was universally feared and hated by the citizens. But the Duke died hard. He moved heaven and earth, and used every guile and wile to escape his fate. To the " Hon'Jie lord," the Earl of Arundel his " especiall refuge," he wrote a letter of deep abasement ; but this and other representations on the temporal side failing, he turned to the spiritual ladder of escape ; for knowing the Queen's almost fanatical adherence to the Roman Church, he perceived here a possible gleam of hope. To Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, he confided his willing- ness to abjure the Protestant faith, and to embrace the religion of the Queen, asking in return that his life should be spared. The stroke was a clever one, for Northumberland was a great figurehead, and his lead might well be calculated to influence many. Gardiner evidently pressed this view on the Queen ; but she was a subtle lady, for she not only secured the apostasy of the Duke for what it was worth, but took his head as well. The execution was delayed a day for this ceremony of apostasy to be accomplished. The Duke walked across from the Beauchamp Tower to St. John's Chapel, " and the Lady Jane^ loking throughe the windowe saw the Duke and the rest going to the Churche." An eye- witness thus describes the ceremony : " On Mondaye the xxi^t of August, it was appoynted the Duke with others should have suffered, and all the garde were at the Tower, but howsowever it chanced he did not : but he desired to heare masse and to receave the Sacrament, according to the old accustomed manner. So about ix of the cloke, the alter in the Chappell was arraied, and eche thing prepared for the purpose : then Mr. Gage (Sir John Gage, the Constable) went and fetched the Duke : and Sir John a Bridges (Sir John Brydges, Lieutenant of the Tower) and Mr. John a Bridges (his ^ Lady Jane Grey. 154 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN son) dyd fetche the Marques of Northampton, Sir Androwe Dudley (Lord Ambrose Dudley), Sir Harry Gates, and Sir Thomas Palmer, to masse, which was sayde both with elevation over the hed, the paxe geving, blessinge, and crossinge on the crowne, breathinge, towrninge aboute, and all the other rytes and accydentes o£ olde tyme appertayning : and when the tyme came the prysoners shoulde receive the sacrament, the Duke tourned himselfe to the people and saide, first, theis wordes, or suche like : " * My masters I lett you all to understande that I do most faithfuUie belyve this is the right true waie, oute of the which true religion you and I have been seduced theis xvi yeres past, by the false and erronyeous preching of the new prechers, the which is the onelie cause of the great plagges and vengeaunce which hathe lighte upon the holye realme of Englande, and now likewise worthely falne apon me and others here presente for owr unfayth- fulnesse. And I do believe the holye sacramente here most assuredlye to be owr Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christe ; and this I praye you all to testifye, and praye for me."^ His apostasy accomplished, arrangements for the execution followed quickly. The next morning, August 22nd, 1553, in the fifty-first year of his age, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, was led forth to die on Tower Hill. Outside the Beauchamp Tower he met Sir John Gates, a fellow transgressor, and at first some heated words passed between the two, as to who was responsible for the trouble they had come to. But after explanations they parted with courtesy ; each saying he forgave the other. Standing by were the sons of the Duke of Somerset, who had been directed to attend both during the service of renunciation in the Chapel, and on this the day of execution ; that they might see the humiliation of the man who had been the chief cause of their father's downfall and death. At the ^ Chron. of Queen Jane and Queen Mary. THE TWO DUKES 155 Bulwark Gate the Lieutenant of the Tower handed over the prisoners to the Sheriffs of London for execution. It was here that out of the crowd burst a woman who flourished in the Duke's face a handkerchief dipped in the blood of the Duke of Somerset, and cursed the author of his death. Amongst those on the scaffold was the Bishop of Worcester to give ghostly comfort. The Duke first " puttinge off his gowne of swane coloured damask " walked to the east end of the scaffold and leaning on the railing addressed the people : " Good people, all of you that be heere present to see mee die, though my death bee odious, and horrible to the flesh, yet I pray you judge the best in God's workes, for hee doth all for the best, and as for mee, I am a wretched sinner, and have deserved to die, and most justly am condemned to die by law : and yet this act wherof I dye, was not altogether of me (as it is thought) but I was procured and induced thereunto by other : Howbeit, God forbid that I should name any man unto you, I will name no man unto you, and therefore I beseeche you looke not for it. I, for my part, forgive all men, and pray God also to forgive them. And if I have offended any of you here, I pray you, and all the world to forgive me ; and mostly, chiefly I desire forgiveness of the Queen's highnesse, whom I have most grievously offended. And I pray you all to witness with me, that I departe in perfect love and charitie with all the world, and that you will assist me with your prayers at this hour of death. "^ Having said these words the Duke kneeled down, and called on those about him to witness that he died in the true Cathohc faith. He then repeated some verses of the Psalms and ended with " into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit." Then the executioner approached and kneehng asked his forgiveness, to which the Duke answered, " I forgive thee with all my heart, and doe thy part without feare." The Duke made the sign of the cross on the sawdust at his feet and kissed it, saying, " I have deserved a thousand deathes." Then he laid his ^ Stow. 156 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN head upon the block and was instantly beheaded. " Whose body with the head was buryed in the Tower, by the body of Edward, late Duke of Somerset : so that there lyeth before the high altar of St. Peter's Church, two Dukes betweene two Queenes, to wit, the Duke of Somerset, and the Duke of Northumberland between Queen Anne and Queene Katherine, all foure be- headed."! ^ Stow. XI THE QUEEN OF NINE DAYS Ioiii the Rritisli Museum] THE QUEEN OF NINE DAYS 165 the Lorde Guilforde Dudley, sone of the late Duke of Northumberland, husbande to the Lady Jane Grey, daughter to the Duke of Suffolke, who at his going out tooke by the hande Sir Anthony Browne, Master John Throgmorton, and many other gentyllmen, praying them to praie for him ; and without the bullwarke, Thomas Offeley the sheryve, receyved him and brought him to the scaffolde, where after a small declaration, having no gostlye father with him, he kneeled down and said his praiers ; then holding upp his eyes and handes to God many tymes with teares, at last after he had desired the people to pray for him, he laide himself along, and his hedd upon the block, which was at one stroke of the axe taken from him. Note, the lorde marques (the Marquis of Northampton) stode upon the Devyl's Tower (Devereux Tower) and saw the execu- tyon. His carcas throwne into a carre and his hed in a cloth, he was brought into the chappell within the Tower, wher the Lady Jane, whose lodging was in Master Partridge's house, dyd see his ded carcase taken out of the cart, as well as she dyd see him before alyve going to deathe, a sight to hir no less than deathe."^ The welcome moment had now come for the long- suffering lady. One sharp agony and she would be through the gates of Paradise, leaving behind all toil, and trouble, and anguish. " By this time was ther a scaffolde made upon the grene over against the White Tower for the saide Lady Jane to die upon. Who with hir husband was appoynted to have been put to deathe the Fryday before, but was staled till then, for what cause is not knowen, unless yt were because hir father was not then come into the Tower.^ The saide Lady being nothing at all abashed, neither with feare of her own death, which then approached, neither with the sight of the ded carcase of hir husbande, when he was brought into the chappell, came fourthe, the Leveten- aunt^ leading hir, in the same gown wherein she was ^ Stow. ^ More probably because of Feckenham's intercession. ' Sir John Brydges, later Lord Chandos of Sudeley. i66 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN arrayned, hir countenance nothing abashed, neither her eyes any thing moysted with teares, although her ij gentylwomen Mistress Ehzabeth Tylney and Mistress Eleyn wonderfully wept, with a boke in her hande, wheron she praied all the way till she cam to the saide scaffolde, wheron when she was mounted, this noble young ladie, as she was indued with singular gifts both of learning and knowledge, so was she as patient and mild as any lambe at hir execution."^ The book which was in her hands she returned, through his brother, to Sir John Brydges, from whom she had borrowed it. In it she had written on a spare leaf a pious exhortation and signed it " Youres as the Lord knowethe, as a frende Jane Duddeley." The book is a small square volume, in vellum, a manual of prayers, and is now in the British Museum. Lady Jane's speech from the scaffold has been variously rendered, but the following is generally accepted as correct, inasmuch as any document can be, when the hearer has to trust mostly to his memory. " Fyrst whan she mounted on the scaffolde, she sayd to the people standynge thereabout, good people, I com hether to die, and by a lawe I am condemned to the same. The facte, indede against the Queene's Highness was unlawful, and the consenting thereunto by me, but touching the procurement and desyre therof by me, or on my halfe, I doo wash my handes therof in innocencie before God and the face of you christian people this day, and therwith she wrong her hands, in which she had her booke. Then she sayd, I pray you all good christian people to bear me v^tnes that I dye a true Christian woman, and that I looke to be saved by none other meane but only by the mercy of God, in the merites of the bloud of his onlye sonne Jesus Christe, and I confesse when I dyd know the word of God, I neglected the same, and loved myselfe and the world, and therefore this plague or punyshment is happely and worthely happened ' Chronicles of Queen 'jane and Oueen Mary. THE QUEEN OF NINE DAYS 167 unto me for my sinnes. And yet I thanke God of his goodnes that he hath thus geven me a tyme and respet to repent. And now good people, while I am alyve I pray you to assyst me with your prayers."^ Then she kneeled down and asked the priest whether she might repeat a Psalm, and being given perniission, " said the psalm of Miserere niei Deus in Enghsh, in most devout maner to the end." Having finished her devotions, this child of seventeen, for that was all her age, stood up and prepared to undress for the sacrifice. To her maid Tylney she gave her gloves and handker- chief, and proceeded to undo her dress. The executioner with kindly, though excessive zeal, offered to help ; but she turned to her women for such assistance as was necessary. She next removed her head-dress, and the kerchief about her neck, and was handed a bandage with which to bind her eyes. " Then the hangman kneled down, and asked her forgevenes, whom she forgave most wiUingly. Then he willed her to stand upon the strawe, which doing she sawe the blocke. Then she sayd I pray you despatche me quickly. Then she kneled downe saying ' Will you take it of before I lay me downe ? ' And the hangman answered her ' No, madame.' She tied the kercher about her eyes. Then feehng for the block, saide ' What shal I do, where is it ? ' One of the standers by guyding her therunto, she layde her head downe upon the block, and stretched forth her body, and said ' Lord unto thy handes I commend my spirite,' and so she ended."- A brave and gallant lady, than whom no man could have borne himself braver, and few so brave ; she hes in a nameless grave in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London. Her only epitaph is the simple word JANE engraved so deep in the ancient walls of the ^ Chronicles of Queen Jane and Oueen Mary. • Archceoloo'ia, Vol. XII. i68 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Beauchamp Tower, that after nearly four centuries it stands as clear as at that day. It remained for a far- distant age in the reign of Queen Victoria to piece together the pathetic story, and to place side by side in everlasting memory the names of those two who spent together a few stormy years on earth, and together passed through to eternal peace in the great Beyond. XII THE KNIGHT ADVENTURER Sir Walter Raleigh three times prisoner in the Tower — His first misadventure — A maid of honour to the Queen — Marriage leads to the Tower — Queen Elizabeth much displeased — A theatrical fracas — The golden bridge to royal favour — The " Madre de Dios " — Her precious cargo — ^2,500,000 — The Queen's share — Ransom of Raleigh — The Queen dies — James I dislikes Raleigh heartily — Tried for treason — Second imprison- ment in the Tower — Eleven years in the Bloody Tower — The Balsam of Guiana — The Prince of Wales dies of it — James I baits the bears — The potato and tobacco — The second expedition to Guiana — Failure — Return to the Tower — Tried again — Sentenced to death — Executed in Palace Yard — His head embalmed and taken by his wife. SIR WALTER RALEIGHi was one of the most famous men who have been imprisoned in the Tower, and he must have known the place well, for first and last he lived there for upwards of thirteen years. His first incarceration was due to a shght error of judgment in making love to one of Queen Elizabeth's maids of honour, at a time when that august sovereign considered him her own private property. He was at this time and had been for some years, the Queen's favourite, whatever that may mean ; but it evidently precluded making love to anybody else. The maid of honour in question was Ehzabeth Throgmorton, a god- daughter of the Queen, and the daughter of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, who had died when she was an infant. There seems little doubt that Sir Walter was, as may be the way with soldiers and sailors, perhaps a little too 1 Sir Walter spelt his name " Rawely " in an early document, which gives an indication as to the pronunciation. 169 170 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN impetuous in this matter, so that an early marriage became of some importance, at any rate to the lady. Sir Walter was on the eve of sailing on his great Panama Expedition, indeed he had actually sailed and was well at sea, when he was overtaken by a fast ship with orders for him to hand over command to Frobisher, and to return to England at once. The reason for recall was no great State crime or misdemeanour, but the discovery by Queen Elizabeth of the clandestine corre- spondence between Raleigh and Elizabeth Throgmorton. Sovereigns were absolute in those days, and could without tedious formalities, or much legal justification, commit to the Tower persons who had incurred their displeasure. Thither therefore went Sir Walter Raleigh for his first period of imprisonment. It was not onerous, and he was allowed freedom to walk about within the Tower walls, and to dine at the table of the Lieutenant. He was also permitted, not, we may imagine, by Queen Elizabeth, but by those who saw therein a deadly certainty of undermining his influence with Her Majesty, to marry Elizabeth Throgmorton. This ceremony, according to tradition, took place in St. Thomas' Tower, and prob- ably in St. Thomas' Oratory, which forms part of that building. This was in 15 91. In spite, however, of this very seemly marriage, Sir Walter, knowing his sovereign's weaknesses, still professed unbounded admiration for her. With the intent doubtless of impressing this view on the bystanders, and hoping that thus it would reach the notice of the Queen, he on one occasion engaged in a melodramatic brawl with Sir George Carew, the Master of the Ordnance, in whose care he was. Having selected a prominent position, probably in the Lieutenant's Lodgings, which is very visible from the river, he took the occasion when the Queen was passing beneath by boat to fall upon Sir George Carew, and to wrestle and strive with him, in the ostensible effort to break forth, and cast himself at his mistress's feet. Sir Arthur Gorges, Raleigh's cousin, who was standing by, quaintly describes the scene. THE KNIGHT ADVENTURER 171 According to him Sir George Carew " the trusty jailer would none of that ; for displeasing the higher powers, as he said, which he more resented than the feeding of his humour, and so flatly refused to permit him. Upon this dispute they fell flat to choleric outrageous words, with straining and strugghng at the doors, and in the fury of the conflict, Carew he had his new periwig torn off his crown, and yet here struggle ended not, for at last they had gotten out their daggers. Which when I saw, I played the stickler between them, and so pur- chased such a rap on the knuckles that I wished both their pates broken, and so with much ado they stayed their brawl to see my bloody fingers. At first I was ready to break with laughter to see them two scramble and brawl like madmen. ... Sir Walter swears that he shall hate Carew for so restraining him from the sight of his mistress. . . . Thus they continued in malice and snarling." Raleigh also wrote respectfully amorous letters to the Queen, which, however, there is no evidence to show he first submitted to the inspection of his lawful spouse. But the Queen felt deeply injured, not perhaps so much in the matter of the heart as in the more sensitive centre, which in the French language is known as amour frofre. To be supplanted, and that secretly, under her own royal nose, by her maid of honour, and not a great beauty at that, was indeed a wound that could not easily be healed. How long the Queen would have remained obdurate one cannot say ; probably only until her next quarrel with the Earl of Essex warmed her middle-aged heart towards her old admirer. But for- tunately for Raleigh a golden bridge, which made an arch straight to the Queen's cupidity, suddenly shortened his imprisonment. Great Queen though she was, Ehza- beth was not only a lady with a large heart, but also it must be confessed singularly fond of money ; she might even by the more critical have been termed avaricious. The single great prize of the Panama Expedition, 172 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN which had now returned, was the Spanish galleon the Madre de Dios. She was of 600 tons burden, and had seven decks, whilst her cargo, which consisted of spices, musk, amber, ebony, precious stones, and pearls, was valued at ^500,000, equal to £2,500,000 at the present day. The prize crew, who were mostly ruffians of the piratical type, insisted on taking the ship into several ports before returning to England, and there disposed, for their own benefit, of a goodly portion of this valuable cargo. Even after the ship came to anchor at Dartmouth the pillaging continued, and the officers could in no way stop it. Queen Elizabeth after the manner of the times had a considerable sum privately invested in this venture, and was sorely annoyed that her dividends should thus be squandered. In this dilemma Raleigh, who was beloved of the sailors, was called in to settle matters, and to divide the booty. For this purpose he was condition- ally released from the Tower, and sent to Dartmouth. There he found that depredations, and the purloining of easily removable articles, such as pearls and precious stones, had reduced the value of the prize to £150,000 or £750,000 of our money. The Queen's share had been calculated at one-tenth of all booty taken, but Raleigh determined to forgo entirely his own share and to award to Her Majesty half the total sum realized. This in the blunt habits of the age was a direct bribe to the Queen, though ransom it was called. In Raleigh's own words, " Four score thousand pounds^ is more than ever a man presented Her Majesty as yet. If God hath sent it for my ransom I hope Her Majesty of Her abundant goodness will accept it." Perhaps it is needless to say that Her Majesty gladly accepted the offer. Raleigh was consequently released from the Tower, and allowed to retire to Sherborne Castle, his country seat. On Raleigh's great and stormy career we can here only touch but Hghtly, for our business is with the 1 j^400,ooo of our money. THE KNIGHT ADVENTURER 173 Tower of London, and those who came and went. When Queen EHzabeth died in 1603 and Sir Walter Raleigh was iifty-one there came to the throne his bitter and implacable enemy, James I. What the original cause of the enmity may have been is difhcult to dis- cover ; but what is easily to be understood is that the brave but half piratical sea dog, who might shine in the spacious days of Queen Elizabeth, would not be a persona grata with a sovereign of entirely dissimilar views and habits. Raleigh was coldly received by the new monarch, who showed his peculiar sense of humour by making an atrocious pun on the celebrated knight adventurer's name. The cat was playing with the mouse before the King definitely arraigned Sir Walter for treason, the charge being that he was concerned in the two plots known as the " Main " and " Bye." These plots, originated purely by the priests, were a clerical affair connected with the Roman Catholic Church ; but into them as a side and auxiliary issue were introduced the somewhat distant claims of Lady Arabella Stuart to the throne. It seems highly improbable, and is stoutly denied by himself, that Raleigh, who was not a Roman Catholic, and had no political connection whatever v^th Arabella Stuart, should have been involved. He had only once seen this lady, when she was twelve years old, and had then cordially disliked her ; nor does it seem likely that he would enter into a plot to further the Roman Catholic cause, the object of which was to place a Roman Catholic sovereign on the throne. However, in those days, whom the King wanted to destroy he generally did ; not necessarily by knife or prison as in still earlier ages ; but equally effectively by the subversion of legal procedure. Thus Raleigh was tried on a multiplicity of charges, the kernel of all being that he had conspired to dethrone and murder the King, and to place thereon Arabella Stuart. Owing to the prevalence of plague in London the trial was held at Winchester, and is one of the most 174 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN shocking travesties of legal procedure which the history of any country can produce. The demeanour and language of the Judge, as well as of the Counsel for the prosecution, towards one of the greatest men of the age, is such that unless we had the documentary evidence before us, it would be difficult to believe. The days of chivalry had indeed passed when it was possible for a lawyer, even under protection of the Court, to use such language to a prisoner of distinction. The leader in this dastardly affair of the Courts was one Sir Edward Coke, the Attorney-General, a lawyer of considerable repute, but of deplorable manners and language. Before a packed bench, refused counsel for the defence, faced by the three best, and apparently three of the most unscrupulous lawyers of the day. Sir Walter Raleigh's fate was decided before he en- tered the Court. Such was justice, in the days of James I. Nevertheless the prisoner was not to be trampled upon without a fight. For with such abihty did he conduct his defence, and with so noble a mien, that there is not a shadow of a doubt that any impartial Court would have acquitted him. But the Court was not impartial, it was merely giving legal expression to the wishes of the King. On the evidence of one witness only, who was not even called, and who was known to be a rascal of the deepest dye. Sir Walter Raleigh was condemned to death. The sentence was, however, held in abeyance, and the prisoner on December i6th, 1603, was sent back to the Tower. His place of detention this time was the Bloody Tower, but he appears to have enjoyed considerable freedom. His -wife and son lived with him, he dined frequently at the Lieutenant's table, he was made free of the Lieutenant's garden. His chief exercise was, however, taken on the ramparts between the Bloody Tower and the Lieutenant's Lodgings, known to this day as Raleigh's walk. Here he could not only see the river and all that passed up and down, but could be seen THE KNIGHT ADVENTURER 175 of the citizens of London, who of an evening would gather on the Tower wharf, and gaze on the richly clad celebrity. Sir George Harvey, the Lieutenant, also placed at his disposal a chicken house in his garden, which Sir Walter had improved into a diminutive laboratory, where he delighted to labour at his chemical researches. It was here, as before mentioned, that he discovered the art of distilling fresh water from salt water, an art afterwards lost for many years ; and here it was that he invented his celebrated Balsam of Guiana, which was reputed, and faithfully believed by many to have all the virtues claimed by patent medicines of the present day. A more critical age has, however, pronounced that the Balsam of Guiana was " an appalhng concoction con- taining amongst other nauteous ingredients the flesh of vipers." It seems to have taken instantaneous effect on the young Prince of Wales, for after taking two drops of it, he preferred death to another dose. The death of this young Prince was a heavy blow to Sir Walter, which at once removed the smallest suspicion that the Balsam was treacherously administered. Both Queen Anne and Henry, Prince of Wales, were warm friends of Raleigh ; and both, especially the Prince, strove continuously to influence the King in his favour. On one occasion in 1604, Raleigh was temporarily transferred to the Fleet prison, the occasion being a visit of King James to the bear pit at the Tower, which formed part of the Royal menagerie near the Lion Tower. It was this sporting monarch's pleasure to see dogs baiting the bears, and as his presence by custom included the amnesty of all prisoners confined in the Tower, the simple expedient was resorted to of re- moving elsewhere those whom it was not desired to amnesty during the King's visit. Hence Raleigh, whom it was not desired to release, was removed elsewhere for the time being. On his return plague again broke out in the Tower, in consequence of which Lady Raleigh and her son Walter, then ten years old, were removed to lodgings outside. 176 TPxE TOWER FROM WITHIN The following year Sir George Harvey, who was deemed too humane a jailer, was replaced by Sir William Waad as Lieutenant, and the prisoner's privileges were restricted. Sir Walter was not allowed to walk so that he could be seen of the citizens, and he was obliged to withdraw to his quarters for the night when the afternoon bell rang. Wives of prisoners were no longer allowed to reside in the Tower, and it was forbidden for them to drive into the fortress in their coaches as hitherto. In 1606 Raleigh's state of health was such that the medical men advised his removal to drier and better quarters than the Bloody Tower. St. Thomas' Tower, which stands just opposite over the Traitor's Gate, where Raleigh was married, was suggested as a suitable change. But this residence was considered too much in the public eye, being close to the wharf where the public were admitted, and also deemed not very safe keeping for an important State prisoner. The washes of the doctors were, however, met by allowing Sir Walter to occupy a little shed, which must have been run up adjoining his hen-house laboratory in the Lieutenant's garden. In passing let us remember that Sir Walter Raleigh introduced two great blessings to Europe. The one was the potato, and the other tobacco. He also invented a patent wine, but how it was decocted history does not relate. That it was a popular beverage may be judged from the fact that Lady Raleigh later complained that her husband lost " £6,000 and _£3,ooo,"i when the patent was summarily transferred by James I to Lord Howard of Effingham. It was during this long imprisonment that Sir Walter Raleigh wrote many treatises ; his most celebrated being The History of the World. This book, which was pub- lished in 1 614, ran through eleven editions in the course of the next hundred years ; a rare testimony to one who, am.ongst his other accomplishments, is described as a master of English prose. 1 Equivalent to ^^30,000 and ^15,000 at this day. THE KNIGHT AVDENTURER 177 By a liberal use of the wealth still remaining to him Sir Walter Raleigh at length bought his release in 161 7, but only on condition that he was to lead the second expedition to Guiana. This expedition was planned on the Tudor lines encouraged by Queen Elizabeth. That is to say the undertaking was partly financed and aided by the King, on the tacit understanding that if it suc- ceeded the greater part of the profit and glory were to be his ; whilst if it failed, or embroiled him with foreign powers, he could at once disown it, and punish those whom he had sent forth. Under these not too favour- able conditions the expedition set forth ; but whereas in Elizabeth's reign a venture of this description could count on some share of fair play, under James it had none whatever. It is somewhat difficult to get hold of the exact atmo- sphere which allowed of these undertakings in times of international peace ; and which allowed of their prose- cution without precipitating a European War. We can- not, for instance, at this day conceive the possibility of a fleet of privateers, supported by a couple of H.M.'s ships of war, steaming off to Sumatra or Java, and there after effecting a forcible landing to prospect for gold mines, without involving a declaration of war. Yet so it was in those times, and thus it was with the second expedition to Guiana. Where this British expedition had fewer chances of success than its prede- cessors lay in the fact that there was a traitor within the gates, and that traitor was James I, King of England. Where secrecy was of vital importance, James sold his people, if not for cash, from sheer poltroonery to the Spaniards. The morality of the whole venture is doubt- ful, but the immorality of James I blazes to the heavens. The expedition ending in failure and disaster, Raleigh sailed home to face the music. The Spaniards at first demanded that he should be handed over to them, that they might hang, draw, and quarter him in the public square of Madrid ; and this ultimatum James was perfectly prepared to accept. But on second thoughts 178 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN the Spaniards merely demanded that the great and hated Enghshman should be done to death in his own country. It seems difficult to think that a nation, which in those days could so dictate to England, can now be coerced into an undignified impotence by a few German sub- marines. Landing at Plymouth, Sir Walter Raleigh was by the King's orders arrested, taken to London and in August, 1618, found himself for a third time a prisoner in the Tower. During this final incarceration Raleigh was first accommodated in the Lieutenant's Lodgings, Sir Allan Apsley being Lieutenant of the Tower ; and both he and Lady Apsley appear to have been specially kind to the prisoner, the latter especially helping with the means to carry on his experiments in his old laboratory in the Lieutenant's garden. Shortly afterwards he was transferred to the Wardrobe Tower, and placed in the separate charge of Sir Thomas Wilson, a hireling knave of the King, who combined the functions of jailer, spy, and informer- According to some writers he was suppHed with secret instructions to poison his illustrious captive, or even to do away with him as had been the young Princes in a previous reign. Sir Allan Apsley, who appears to have been an upright man, had grave suspicions of the miserable Wilson, and at first stoutly refused to give up to him the key of Sir Walter's room, or allow him access thereto at unauthorized hours. Wilson, however, prevailed, so that an order from the Star Chamber compelled Sir Allan Apsley to hand over the keys to Wilson, and to transfer Sir Walter to the Brick Towner. Wilson having, however, failed in his nefarious designs, whatever they were, resource was had to a prostitution of the law. King James was advised that no legal case could be made out against the prisoner, which would not equally apply to His Majesty himself ; it was therefore decided to rake up the old charge of fifteen years back, and again arraign Sir Walter on that. Afraid lest he should escape, if tried by judge and jury, the King decided that his THE KNIGHT ADVENTURER 179 fate should be decided by a picked body of commissioners. To justify in some way this new trial certain additional charges were made in connection with the Guiana expedition. This was apparently to pacify public opinion, which was much confused, and much in the dark. To avoid further delay the Justices of the King's Bench were, however, directed to give execution to the old sentence of 1603. On October 28th, 161 8, Raleigh, shivering with ague, was brought from the Tower to receive his sentence, which Chief Justice Montague pro- nounced with feeling and courtesy. Sir Walter Raleigh was to be beheaded next day in Palace Yard, in front of the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. Sir Walter Raleigh, who was now sixty-six years of age, spent the last night of his life in the Gate House at Westminster. His last hours were in all respects those of a great man, and a great knight. After a most touching farewell with his wife, who for six-and-twenty years had been his faithful and devoted partner, he spent the night in drawing up two testaments. In the one he endeavoured to do justice to any possible wrong he may inadvertently have done to a former agent named Pyne. In the other he formally and solemnly declared his innocence of the charges brought against him. Early on the morning of October 29th the Dean of Westminster, Dr. Robert Tounson, gave him his last sacrament, after which he expressed his forgiveness to all those who had injured him, and again solemnly declared his innocence. Then he breakfasted and smoked his last pipe of tobacco. As he still smoked the summons came, and as he passed out of the door he drank a cup of sack which was offered to him. Round the scaffold in Palace Yard an immense multitude had assembled to see the great Englishman die. In Sir Randolph Carew's balcony hard by, were his friends Arundel, Northampton, and Doncaster ; and these being too far off to hear his words came down, and approaching the scaffold, shook him warmly by the i8o THE TOWER FROM WITHIN hand. His dying declaration took twenty-five minutes to deliver, and could plainly be heard by the multitude. In it he again and at length refuted all the charges brought against him. Having thus concluded his justification he added, " And nov^ I entreat that you will all join with me that great God of heaven whom I have grievously offended, that He will of His almighty good- ness extend to me forgiveness, being a man full of vanity, and one who hath lived a sinful life in such callings as have been most inducing to it ; for I have been a soldier, a sailor, and a courtier, all of them courses of vdckedness and vice ; but I trust He will not only cast away my sin, but receive me into everlasting life." Then he added with a calm and pleasant smile, " I have a long journey to take, and must bid the company farewell." As he was about to kneel before the block the Dean suggested that he should kneel so as to face the east. Sir Walter complied, remarking as he did so, " What matter which way the head lie so the heart be right." He re- fused to have his eyes bandaged as was the custom, but told the executioner that he would himself give the signal by stretching out his hands when the blow should fall. After one last brief prayer he stretched out his hands, and another great Englishman passed through the bitter portals of the scaffold to undying fame. Wrapped in his cloak his body was buried in St. Margaret's, Westminster, whilst his head, embalmed, was taken away by Lady Raleigh, kept by her during the twenty-nine years of her widowhood, and it is believed was buried with her. In the Bible which he had read that last night on earth Sir Walter Raleigh had written these verses : Even such is time, that takes on trust Our youth, our joys, our all we have And pays us but with age and dust ; Who in the dark and silent grave When we have wandered all our ways Shuts up the story of our days ! But from this earth, this grave, this dust, The Lord shall raise me up, I trust. I JAMI'.^., DLIKK Ol- MoNMoriH XIII THE UNCROWNED KING James, Duke of Monmouth — His popularity and early days — Marriage and rapid rise to power — Anna Scott, Countess of Buccleugh — Makes a bid for the throne — Defeated at Sedge- moor — Captured by a militiaman — ;^500o reward — The Duke's rules of life — Interview with the King — Sent to the Tower — King James's letter to William of Orange — Lady Henrietta Wentworth — Public execution ordered — " Man in the Iron Mask " — Gay and debonair on the scaffold — Feels the edge of the axe — His declaration — His harrowing execution — Laid beneath the altar in St. Peter's ad Vincula. CHARLES II may have been a good king, or a bad king, but as the Merry Monarch he was undoubtedly popular with his contemporaries, and has remained popular with posterity. For, despite foreign quips and cranks to the contrary, the English have always loved merry people, be they monarchs or monks. He may be good and merry, or even moderately bad and merry, but merry he must be to catch the English fancy. The cloak of the father descended upon his son, for no more popular figure than that of James, Duke of Monmouth, appears in English history. His romantic birth, his lightning rise to fame and honours the highest, his tragic end at thirty-six, would alone make his story arresting. But added to these his personal beauty, his charm of manner, his gay and gallant bearing won all hearts, and wins them to this day. Without entering into ancient scandals, this James was the son of Charles II and Lucy Walters ; at the age of fourteen he was married to a rich young lady aged twelve, and was created Duke of Monmouth. The little girl, 1 82 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Anna Scott, was Countess of Buccleugh in her own right, and this title was on her marriage enlarged to ducal dignity, and added to that of Monmouth. The Dukes of Buccleugh of the present day are descended from Anna Scott, and bear her surname. Anna's mother though a Countess, apparently had great difficulty about her spelling, as indeed had Anna herself, possibly because she left school so early to enter the bonds of matrimony. Thus the mother, in writing to propose the marriage, addresses Charles II as her " Dried Souerain " ; whilst the daughter later wrote of her husband as the " Duck " and anon " Jeams." She also fell orthographically over " the whole Hows of Pears " ; whilst to another she wrote that she " valow verie much " his friendship. James, Duke of Monmouth, would have been no son of Charles II if he had remained faithful to this early mariage de convenance ; nor did he delay long in emphasizing this inheritant trait. The handsome boy and man, idolized by his father, whose frank and engaging manners and gallantry as a soldier endeared him to all, rose rapidly. He became, as year succeeded year, Lord Great Chamberlain of Scotland, Chancellor of Cambridge, Master of the Horse, Knight of the Garter, a Privy Councillor, and finally Captain-General of the Forces. And thus he prospered with a few slight sets back as long as Charles II Hved. But in 1685, when James II came to the throne, ambition seized him to reign himself, despite the bar sinister. He was abroad under a cloud at the time ; but being promised good support landed at Lyme Regis, and fought the battle of Sedgemoor, hoping to gain a crown. Here he was signally defeated by the Royal troops under the Earl of Faversham. Before daylight the next morning the Duke of Monmouth, with Lord Grey de Wark and three others, rode from the disastrous field, making for the coast. That night he slept in the house of Edward Strode, Esq., one and a half miles from Shepton Mallet, Next morning riding as far as Cran- bourne Chase the Duke found, that with ^5000 on his THE UNCROWNED KING 183 head, he was too conspicuous thus. Therefore at Wood- yates Inn he abandoned his horse, and disguised as a shepherd wandered off with one retainer Busse by name, " the Brandenburger," as he was called. A party of Dragoons, under Lord Lumley and Sir W. Portman, who were scouring this part of the country, heard of two strangers who had been seen by Amy Farrant, a cottager, climbing over the hedge into a wood. Next morning both were captured ; the Duke was discovered by a militiaman named Henry Perkin, concealed in a ditch at the foot of an ash tree, and covered over with ferns and brambles. Little was found on him ; the only item of interest was his diary, which, still showing how it had been soaked with rain, may be seen in the British Museum. The diary is as diaries may be, but contains one entry of considerable interest, as throwing a light on the Duke of Monmouth's rules of life. These are thirty in number and are culled from Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero, as well as including some original inspirations. They are written in French, and may thus be translated : The Duke of Monmouth's Faith 1. Share thy secrets with no one. 2. Speak little and to the point. 3. Beware of wine and women. 4. Be courteous to all, 5. — familiar with few. 6. Flatter no one. 7. Reconnoitre well before falling in love (Connois avant que d'aimer). 8. Be not quick to blame. 9. Remember always who thou art. 10. Rejoice not in others' misfortunes. 11. Be not rash. 12. Be true in word and deed. 13. (Partly illegible). 14. Nothing is permanent (Rein n'est permanent). 15. (Partly illegible). i84 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN 1 6. Be steadfast in adversity. 17. In prosperity be calm and unelated. 18. Be in all things moderate. 19. Honour the great. 20. Despise not the poor and needy. 21. By your deeds shall they know you, rather than by your words. 22. (Missing). 23. Be content with your lot. 24. Despise not thine enemy. 25. Beware of ingratitude and dissimulation. 26. Be merciful. 27. Beware of flattery, avarice, and pride. 28. Be diligent in thy vocation. 29. Avoid extremes of exuberance, or of depression. 30. Remember that all must one day die. These rules of life are exemplary, and if the Duke had observed them he would not have found himself in a wet ditch, covered with ferns and brambles, at the mercy of a solitary militiaman. It is with some concern too that we read that Henry Perkin only received twenty guineas, out of the bounteous £5000 which had been dangled before his eyes. The remainder of the tragedy came quickly enough. The Duke of Monmouth and Busse were taken before a local magistrate, Anthony Etterick, Esq., of Holt Lodge, and by him remanded, and sent under escort towards London. Thus by way of Ringwood, Farnham Castle, and Guildford were the prisoners conveyed to Vauxhall. Here the Duke met again Lord Grey de Wark, who had been separately captured. Thence barges and troops awaited to conduct the prisoners to Whitehall. They dined at the house of Thomas Chifiinch, son of Thomas Chifhnch, who was Keeper of the Jewels to Charles II, and who had been of the King's closet. After dinner the Duke of Monmouth obtained an audience of the King. His hands were loosely bound behind him, more as a token than as a restraint ; and present also were THE UNCROWNED KING 185 two Secretaries of State, Charles Earl of Sunderland and Middleton. The interview lasted for forty minutes ; the Duke's chief plea being that he had been led into this rebellion by the Duke ot Argyll and the Scottish preacher Ferguson. This may well be worthy of some belief, for Monmouth was of the easy-going, generous type, who are readily influenced. In conclusion he asked for pardon, or at least that his life might be spared. James IPs autograph letter concerning this interview is interesting. It is addressed to his son-in-law William, Prince of Orange, afterwards William III. Whitehall, July i^th, 1685. " I have had yours of the 17th, and now the Duke of Monmouth is brought up hither with Lord Grey and the Brandenburger. The two first desired very earnestly to speak with me, as having things of importance to say to me ; which they did, but did not answer my expecta- tion in what they said to me. The Duke of Monmouth seemed more concerned and desirous to live, and did behave himself not so well as I expected, nor do as one ought to have expected from one who had taken upon him to be king. I have signed the warrant for his execution to-morrow." James II was as good as his word. In the evening, after the interview, the Duke of Monmouth and Lord Grey were taken by water to the Tower in the King's barge, closely guarded by other barges filled with soldiers. To the Lieutenant of the Tower was handed the warrant of committal. " James, Duke of Monmouth, 13 July, for high treason in levying war against the King and assuming a title to the Crown. "1 He was placed in the Bell Tower, and occupied the same circular vaulted room which was occupied by ^ Tower MS. Records 1 86 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Queen Elizabeth when, as a Princess, she was a prisoner in the Tower. The Duke's imprisonment lasted only two nights and one day before his execution. He was allowed to see his wife, for whom he had no great affec- tion, and his children ; and four divines were in con- stant attendance, and remained with him to the end. These appear to have been chiefly concerned in endeavour- ing to persuade him to repent of his affection for Lady Henrietta Wentworth, who was the great passion of his life. One historian relates that these good, if somewhat tactless, prelates kept wrangling with the Duke on this subject all the way, as he walked up Tower Hill to the block. The execution was to be public for political reasons ; for many doubted whether it was in truth the Duke who had been captured and imprisoned. Personages of the Duke of Monmouth's rank and birth might, in accord- ance with precedent, have been beheaded in the com- parative privacy of Tower Green, where Queen Anne Boleyn, Queen Katherine Howard, and Lady Jane Grey suffered ; but the greater publicity of Tower Hill without the walls was considered advisable. How great was the concourse on such an occasion may be judged from the ancient prints. Rows of grand stands such as may be seen at the Derby or at Ascot were erected which held thousands of people, whilst tens of thousands stood round or occupied coigns of vantage. The walls and roofs of the Tower were also covered with spectators. Yet in spite of the publicity thus ensured there were many who for years afterwards refused to believe that the Duke of Monmouth was dead, and averred that a condemned malefactor had taken his place at the block. So long did this legend last that some firmly believed that the " Man of the Iron Mask " imprisoned in the Bastille was none other than the Duke of Monmouth. Whatever may have been his bearing whilst still he had hopes of saving his life by softening the heart of the King, he rose manfully to the occasion on this his great and last day. He was again the Duke of Monmouth THE UNCROWNED KING 187 whom the people loved, and some almost worshipped ; brave, gay, and debonair. On the way up the hill he chatted pleasantly with those about him, and buffeted good-naturedly the assaults of the clergy. When he mounted the scaffold a groan of compassion and sorrow arose from the assembled thousands, but the Duke was quite unmoved. He chatted with the executioner, asked if the axe was sharp, felt the edge of it, and bade the man do his work well and cleanly ; gave him a present of six guineas, and told his servant to give him six more if he did his work well. The Duke made no set speech, such as was customary and expected, but spoke a few sentences about Lady Henrietta Wentworth, who was evidently his last thought on earth. To his servant, Marshall, he gave his gold toothpick, saying, " Give this to the person to whom you are to deliver the other things," the person being the lady he loved. He also handed to the Sheriff's a short letter to the King : " I declare that the title of King was forced upon me, and that it was very much contrary to my opinion, when I was proclaimed. For the satisfaction of the world, I do declare, that the late King told me he was never married to my mother. Having declared this, I hope that the King, who is now, will not let my children suffer on this account. And to this I put my hand, this fifteenth day of July, 1685. « Monmouth." The Duke then took off his coat and his peruke, and having said a short prayer knelt down, and with great composure and deliberation fitted his neck to the block. He then raised his head and asked the executioner to let him feel the edge of the axe again, and remarked, only too truly as it proved, that he did not think it was sharp enough. He had no cap, or bandage over his eyes, nor was he bound. Whether truly the axe was not sharp enough, or the executioner's nerve failed him, he assuredly made a sorry exhibition. Three blows he 1 88 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN made, and failed to sever the head ; and then throwing down the axe offered forty guineas to anyone who would complete the work. But he was ordered to take the axe again, and with two more blows completed his gruesome task. It may be some consolation to the tender-hearted, and who is not in face of such tragedy, that the second blow probably struck the Duke sense- less, and the rest was more painful to the onlookers than to the victim. The Duchess, perhaps somewhat naturally, did not claim his body, and his head being sewed to it, the Duke was buried lengthways, north and south under the communion table in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula within the Tower. Here his remains were found in Queen Victoria's reign. The coffin had turned to dust and the legs were found partly resting on the concrete foundations of the eastern wall. There, rearranged, the bones remain to this day, buried close to the two Queens and the two Dukes. In the Chapel register, distinct and clear, may be read under the heading 1685, " James, Duke of Monmouth, beheaded on Tower Elill y* 15^^^ and buryed y« 16*^ July-" XIV LIFE AND DEATH IN THE TOWER Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex — His boyhood — Attracts Queen Elizabetl| — Refuses to kiss her — Early a soldier — Rapid rise — Annoys the Queen — Annoys her still more by marrying — Again in the field — Governor of Ireland — Relinquishes it — The Queen " with her hair about her face " — Essex tried and condemned, but reprieved — xA.ttempts to seize the Queen — A dash for the Tower — Besieged at Drury House — Capitulates — To the Tower as a prisoner — Tried and condemned — The Devereux Tower— Lady Nottingham and the ring — Executed on Tower Green — Buried in St. Peter's ad Vincula — The Duke of Suffolk's head — Still well preserved — The Duke of Norfolk — His many intrigues — Eloward House — The letter under the mattress — Sentence and death — Another turbulent noble — Lord Grey de Wilton — Assaults Lord Southampton — Con- spiracies — The farce at Winchester — Death in the Tower — Lady Arabella Stuart — Her career — Escape and capture — Imprisoned in the Tower — Dies insane — Buried in Westminster Abbey — Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex — Suspicious death in the ' Tower — Lieutenant Lodi — Sir Roger Casement. IN the Tower of London during the centuries of its existence there have doubtless been thousands of prisoners, and of these many hundreds have died there, or only left it for the scaffold, the gallows, or the stake. The records of the great majority of these human tragedies have been lost or destroyed, so that there remain only a few of the more prominent. Of these some have already appeared with some fullness of detail in these pages, whilst others have hitherto only been referred to incidentally. It may therefore be of advantage, as throwing more light on the history of the Tower, to give some further account of the fate, within and without its walls, of some of these human landmarks. 189 190 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex Whether born, bred, or acquired, undoubtedly a hot and hasty temper, impatience of control, and unyielding stubbornness of character, brought a bright, brave, and attractive nobleman, at the early age of thirty-four, to the blood-stained block on Tower Green. Left an orphan at the age of nine, Robert Devereux became Earl of Essex ; but so impoverished a peer that only by the generosity of his guardian, Lord Burghley, was he educated and clothed. At this seeming tender age he was sent as an undergraduate to Trinity College, Cambridge. A bright and good-looking little lad, he was the following Xmas when ten years old invited by Queen Elizabeth to spend his holidays with her. It was thus early that there became evident a certain haughty independence, which accounted for much of his after troubles. " On his coming the Queen meeting with him offered to kiss him, which he humbly altogether refused." No great harm was done on this occasion, and despite this rebuff the Queen made much of the boy during his visit. But similar and growing disregard for the sentiments of a Queen, who was not to be lightly disregarded, later had disastrous results. The young Earl was a quick, clever, and studious boy, burning young with the high-born spirit of adventure and distinction. At the age of eighteen he procured permission to take part in the campaign in the Nether- lands, and though this was no great success, the young Earl, for distinguished gallantry at the battle of Zutphen, earned his spurs, and a knight-banneret. W^ith this early warlike record and the favour of the Queen, honours and promotion came to him like a shower from heaven. When only twenty he was made Master of the Horse, which in those days carried the privilege of walking at the Queen's bridle rein whenever she rode in State. A year later he became General of Cavalry. Shortly afterwards he was appointed a Privy Councillor ; then in rapid sue- ROHKKT DKVKRKUX, KAKl. OK KSSKX LIFE AND DEATH IN THE TOWER 191 cession he became Master of the Ordnance, Earl Marshal, and Chancellor of Cambridge University. With all these cards in his hands, though be it allowed in a true and honourable spirit, he risked the displeasure of his Queen and benefactor by disobeying her explicit orders, and secretly joined the fleet of Sir Francis Drake in the expedition to Portugal. When he was discovered on board it was too late to send him back, and as a volunteer he served with great bravery. Returning with these added laurels on his young brow, he was readily forgiven by a Queen whose heart was his. Having thus happily escaped out of one trouble, he immediately fell into another. If there was one thing that Queen Elizabeth resented more than another it was that persons near to the throne, either lineally or officially, should marry without her previous consent and blessing. Greatly was such an offence enhanced when the favourite of the period committed this misdemeanour. Sir Walter Raleigh had already thus sinned, and had tasted of the rigours of the Tower in consequence ; and now this boy of twenty-two openly flouted his Royal mistress, by secretly marrying the widow of Sir Philip Sidney. The Queen was furious, and, if we are to believe contemporary historians, used a fine flow of Elizabethan epithets when she heard the news. They were out- spoken people in those days. But the boy Earl had an extraordinary fascination for the more than middle-aged Queen, and she again forgave him. Two years later Henry IV of France being besieged in Paris by the Spaniards, under the Duke of Parma, sent and asked help of Queen Elizabeth. The Earl of Essex, now twenty-four, after kneeling for three hours before the Queen obtained command of the British Force, but couched in the following terms : " Although the Queen has great cause to forbear at this time sending valiant and experimented captains and soldiers out of the realm, yet the thing required has been so importune, and her regard for him (the Earl) so great, 192 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN that she has yielded so to do ; and sends 4000 footmen under the Earl's guidance for the space of two months after landing." On his way to Paris he passed the besieged town of Rouen, and, in accordance with ancient knightly custom, by sound of trumpet summoned the Governor Villars to come out and light him in single combat. But the days of single combat had gone, and Villars came not forth, no doubt for good and sufficient reasons ; so the Earl passed on. From this expedition the Earl of Essex returned with an increased military reputation, and in great favour with the Queen. But his restless and high-spirited nature chafed at the golden bars of his cage at Court, so that a few years later we find him in command of the land forces at the capture of Cadiz. Here his extreme personal gallantry made him again conspicuous, and he gained high praise for his conduct of the military operations. The following year he was given command of a second expedition against the Spaniards ; and returning prayed for, and was given, the government of Ireland, with instructions " to reduce the rebels." That was more than three hundred years ago, and yet might have been written in a very recent year of grace. Like many before and since he failed, and with that failure came the short steep decline to the block on Tower Green. Worried and distressed, with ill success here and intrigue there, in a fit of temper he threw up the Government of Ireland, and without the Queen's consent returned to England. This was a very grave oftence indeed, but trusting to his personal influence with the Queen, he hurried post haste to her presence. Arriving at the Palace in the early morning he had the assurance to thrust his way un- announced into the royal bed-chamber, " where he found the Queen newly up, with her hair about her face." As the Queen was then sixty-five she might well have resented an intrusion, which to a young and LIFE AND DEATH IN THE TOWER 193 beautiful woman might have been not altogether dis- pleasing. Yet so great was the magic charm that the Queen forgot her own unfavourable neglige, and received the Earl cordially. They parted amicably for the nonce, the Queen to complete her toilet, and his lordship to change his shift. Again meeting an hour or two later all was still well ; but before evening the glass fell. Sir John Harrington fills the interval. He says, " When I came into her presence, she chafed much, walked fastly to and fro, looked with discomposure in her visage, and I remember catched at my girdle when I kneeled before her, and swore ' by God's son, I am no queen ; that man is above me. Who gave him command to come here so soon ? I did send him on other business.' She bid me go home. I did not stay to be bidden twice. If all the Irish rebels had been at my heels I should not have made better speed. "^ The Earl was now coldly requested to explain before a Council his justification for leaving his government without orders. This was on Michaelmas Eve. In answer to the examination of the Council, Essex acquitted himself well ; but was nevertheless detained in confine- ment, being placed in charge of the Lord Keeper, at York H^ouse in the Strand. Thus he remained till the following June, when he was called before another Court on the same charges ; the chief of which was again the leaving of his government without authority, lie was found guilty of these misdemeanours, and sentenced to lose all his offices and emoluments, except that of Master of the Horse, and to remain in confine- ment during Her Majesty's pleasure. At first the Earl was permitted to live at his own house under the charge of Sir Richard Berkley ; later, however, even this restriction was withdrawn, and he was allowed to retire to the country. But his restless spirit would not remain content, or learn wisdom from past experi- ences. It was the Earl of Essex's firm impression, possibly with some justice, that only his enemies had the 1 Harrington's Nugce Antiquce. 194 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN ear of the Queen, and that if he could clear away this obstacle all would be well, and he would return to power and influence. Brooding therefore with congenial and hot-blooded friends, he conceived the idea of kidnapping the Queen ; thus at one stroke cutting her off from his enemies, and placing himself at the right ear of sovereignty. Knowing his Queen and her vanity, he may too have counted on the psychological and flattering effect on a very elderly lady at finding herself in the position of the Sabines, captive to the bow and spear of a dashing young gallant. History has had no opportunity of judging, for the plot failed, and no rape of the aged Queen matured. The story of these few days is soon told. The plotters were assembled at Drury house,^ the residence of the Earl of Southampton, with some three hundred followers on February 8th, when news of the conspiracy having reached the Queen, she at once sent the Lord Keeper, the Earl of Worcester, Sir William Knolles, Comptroller of the Queen's household, and Popham, Lord Chief Justice, to ask the reason of this concourse. Through a wicket these chief personages, as well as the bearer of the Great Seal, were admitted, but their escort and retinue were shut out. Having thus secured valuable hostages, Essex locked them up, and himself with two hundred followers issued forth to raise the city with the cry " For the Queen ! for the Queen ! there is wait laid for my life." He hoped that his personal popularity, which was great, combined with the name of the Queen, would give him a sufficient following to seize the Tower, then the great emblem of sovereignty in English eyes. In this he was disappointed, for as he pushed his way down Fleet Street and Cheapside few followed him. Thence " he made all haste to Smith's house, the Sheriffe by Fenchurch St.," presumably a prearranged rendezvous, before pro- ceeding to the Tower. But Sheriff Smith, gauging by the coldness of the crowd that this was a sorry venture, ' In the present Druiy Lane. This site was in 1876 occupied by the Olympic Theatre. LIFE AND DEATH IN THE TOWER 195 slipped out at his backdoor, the postern exit as then called, and hied him to the Lord Mayor. The Earl of Essex finding not the support he had expected, decided to return the road he came. But his way was now barred, for under orders received. Lord Burghleyi and Sir Gilbert Dethicke, Garter King-at- Arms, had during his absence entered the city, and by beat of drum and sound of trumpet had proclaimed the Earl of Essex and " his complices " to be traitors. Where- upon the Bishop of London barred the road " nearest the West gate of Pauls," that is at the top of Ludgate Hill, with armed men. Essex tried to cut his way through, but after a brief scufHe during which there were a few casualties on either side, and the Earl received a bullet through his hat, he with the few remnants of his followers made a flank movement down Queenehithe to the river. There taking boat he rowed up the river and safely reached Drury house. Arrived there, to his great annoyance, he found that his noble hostages had been allowed to depart ; he there- fore at once gave orders for the house to be placed in a state of siege. Almost immediately the Earl of Notting- ham, Lord High AdmiraP, arrived with troops to demand the surrender of the turbulent Earl. Certain parleying went on, during which it was agreed that the ladies, and women of the household, should be allowed to depart unmolested. At 6 p.m. the battering train arrived from the Tower, and the besieged refusing to surrender the assault commenced. After a short fight in which a few were killed, further resistance seeming useless the two Earls, Essex and Southampton, capitulated, and they and their followers were sent off to " their severall commit- ments." It being now 10 o'clock at night, and the water under London Bridge not serving, Essex was sent to the house of the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth. The next 1 Son and successor of Essex's guardian. - Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham and Earl of Nottingham, Lord High Admiral from 1585 till 1619. 196 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN day both he and Southampton were conveyed by water to the Tower, and entered in through the Traitor's Gate. Apparently the Queen took this uprising very calmly ; she felt she had the situation well in hand, " she was not more amazed than she would have been to have heard of a fray in Fleet Street." The news was brought to her whilst she was at dinner ; nothing moved there- with she continued her meal vv^ithout " showing any fear or distraction of mind."^ Ten days later the two Earls were brought to trial at Westminster Hall, which was turned into a court of justice. " A platform 6 feet high and 36 feet square was erected at the upper end of the hall ; the seat of the Lord Steward on the west side towards the King's Bench : on each side seats covered with green cloth for the Peers : in the middle a table covered with green cloth after the manner of the Exchequer, with seats round it for the Judges and counsel : on the north side a little square space was cut out for the Sergeant of the Mace : at the east end was the bar where the prisoners stood."2 Lord Buckhurst, afterwards Earl of Dorset, was Lord High Steward ; he was preceded by the King-of-arms bearing the white staff, and was followed by seven Sergeants bearing maces. The two Earls on meeting each other at the bar embraced cheerfully, and kissed each other's hands. The charges were that the prisoners had conspired against the Queen's life and liberty, and to seize her person : that they had imprisoned the high functionaries whom the Queen had sent to interview them : that they had made a warUke entrance into London, and attempting to capture the Tower by surprise. The Court consisted of twenty-four peers, eight earls, one viscount, and fifteen barons. There were also present " divers others of right honorable rank and quallitie besides the reverend judges of the law." The prisoners pleaded " Not Guilty." The two chief prose- ^ Doyne Bell. * Devereux's Earl oj Essex , Vol. II. LIFE AND DEATH IN THE TOWER 197 cutors were Yelverton and Sir Edward Coke ; who apparently carried out their task with the brutahty which was then permissible in a court of justice. But Essex, who conducted his own defence, could give thrust for thrust, and taunted these high legal luminaries. " Rhetoric," he said, " was the trade of those who valued themselves on the knack of pleading innocent men out of their lives." The trial lasted till 6 p.m., when after an hour's deliberation the peers unanimously- pronounced both prisoners " Guilty " ; and they were in due course as traitors condemned to be hanged, drawn^ and quarterea. Through the dark streets, with the axe turned towards them, they were hurried back on foot to the Tower. Thomas, Lord Howard de Walden, was then Con- stable, and Sir John Peyton, Lieutenant of the Tower. The Earl of Essex was confined in the Develin Tower, which, as before mentioned, from that time forth changed its name and has ever since been known as the Devereux Tower. Lord Southampton was reprieved, but kept a close prisoner till the reign of James I, when he was released, and his title and estates restored to him. The Earl of Essex had been earnestly enjoined, by the peers who tried him, to pray for the Queen's mercy ; and there is some conflicting testimony as to whether he did so, or not. Certainly no written document, or record, of any such appeal is in existence, but on the other hand there is the story of the ring, which appears to have some foundation. According to this story, Queen Elizabeth had in the days of his greatest favour given him a ring, and had sworn, quite bluntly we may be assured, that in whatever peril the Earl might be, or whatever crime committed, he need only send her that magic ring, and all would be well. It is stated that the Earl of Essex, when he found his doom Vvas certain, sent this ring through Lady Scrope, who was one of the ladies-in-waiting, to Queen Elizabeth. By mischance instead of reaching Lady Scrope, it was delivered to her sister, the Countess of Nottingham. This lady, it is 198 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN said, consulted her husband, who advised keeping the ring, and saying nothing about it. It is further stated that Lady Nottingham later confessed having kept back the ring, and that the Queen exclaimed " God may forgive you, but I never can." It may be of interest to record that this identical ring w^as sold for £6,'/oo to an American in 191 3. Apart from this no direct appeal was made to the Queen, though there seems little doubt that if it had been it would have been successful. As it was the Queen was pitiably distracted, and torn both ways ; her affec- tion and admiration for the Earl drew strongly one way ; plain justice, the finding of the Court, and the advice of those about her, pulled in the contrary direction. Sir Walter Raleigh, who had been supplanted by Essex in the Queen's regard and affection, and hated him cor- dially, declared bluntly that he might have rebelled a dozen times, and would have been pardoned, but that he would never be forgiven for having said that the Queen's " mind was as crooked as her body " ; a saying which had come to Her Majesty's ears. There were only five clear days between the sentence and its execution, during which the Queen suffered agonies of indecision. Even at the last moment she decided to reprieve the Earl, and sent Sir Edward Carey to announce the fact ; but barely had he left her presence than she changed her mind, and sent Lord Darcy in haste to cancel the order, and to direct that the law was to take its course. The execution it had been decided was to be by beheading in the comparative seclusion of Tower Green ; and the date fixed was Ash Wednesday, February 25th, 1601. The night before, when his settled doom was an- nounced to him, Essex opened his window and addressed the guard beneath : " My good friends pray for me, and to-morrow I shall leave an example behind me you shall all remember. "1 The hour fixed was eight o'clock in the morning, at which hour a scaffold had been prepared ^ MS, account in European Magazine^ LIFE AND DEATH IN THE TOWER 199 on the site where Queen Anne Boleyn, Queen Katherine Howard, and Lady Jane Grey had suffered. On a form close by sat the Earls of Cumberland and Hertford, Lord Bindon, Lord Howard de Walden the Constable, Lord Darcy, and Lord Compton. Also present were some of the Aldermen of London, and some knights ; whilst Sir Walter Raleigh looked on from a neighbouring window.^ Sir John Peyton, with sixteen " partizans of the guard,"- escorted forth the prisoner the few yards which lead from the Devereux Tower to the place of doom. The Earl was dressed quietly, but richly, in a black satin suit over which was a gown of wrought velvet. Round his neck was a small ruif , and on his head a black felt hat. He was accompanied by three divines. One of these, Ashton, an old friend, he had enjoined to " recall him if eyther his eye, countenance or speech should betray anything which might not beseeme him for that time."^ He meant to die bravely as he had told the soldiers. Arrived on the scaifold the Earl walked to the rail and, taking off his hat, addressed those around. " My Lords, and you, my Christian brethren, who are to be witnesses of this my just punishment, I confesse, to the glory of God, that I am a most wretched sinner, and that my sinnes are more in number than the hayres of my head. I confesse that I have bestowed my youth in wantonnesse, lust, uncleannesse, that I have been puffed up with pride, vanitie, and love of this world's pleasures, and that, notwithstanding divers good motions inspired into mee by the spirit of God ; the good which I would, I have not done, and the evill which I would not, that have I done. For all of which I humblie be- seech my Saviour Christ to be a mediatour to the eternall Majestic for my pardon ; especially this my last sinne, ^ Either in the Armoury or the White Tower. ^ The ancestors of the present Yeomen Warders of the Tower^ ^ Stow. 200 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN this great, this bloudie, this crying, this infectious sinne ; whereby so many have for love of mee beene drawne to offend God, to offend their Soveraigne, to offend the world : I beseech God to forgive it us, and to forgive it me, most wretched of all. I beseech her Majestic, and the state and ministers thereof to forgive it us ; and I beseech God to send her Majestic a prosperous raygne, and a long, if it be his will. O Lorde, graunte her a wise and understanding heart. O Lorde, bless her, and the nobles, and the ministers of the Church and State. And I beseech you and the world to hold a charitable opinion of me for my intention towards her Majestic, whose death I protest I never meant, nor violence towards her person. I never was, thanke God, Atheist not believing the Word and Scriptures ; neither papist, trusting in mine owne merits, but hope for salvation from God onely by the mercie and merites of my Saviour Christ jesus. This faith was I brought up in, and herein I am now readie to die ; beseeching you all to joyne your soules with me in prayer, that my soule may be lifted uppe by faith above all earthly things in my prayer : for nowe I will give myself to my private prayer : yet for that I beseech you to joyne me. I will speake that you may heare me." The unhappy Earl seems to have been somewhat officiously persecuted by the clergy on the scaffold, for they kept on pressing him to say more prayers for this one or that ; to say the Creed, to repeat a Psalm ; all of which delay must have much prolonged the agony, both for the victim and the onlookers. At length throwing aside his cloak and taking off his doublet, under which was a scarlet waistcoat, he lay down flat with his neck fitted to the block ; this apparently being constructed so low as not to admit of the kneeling position. Again another delay, the little ruff round his neck was in the way of the executioner, so he had to get up and take it off. Then lying down again he adjusted himself, and spreading his arms abroad bid the executioner strike home. LIFE AND DEATH IN THE TOWER 201 It took three blows to complete the severance, but according to eye-witnesses the Hrst blow killed the Earl, for " his bodic never stirred, neither anie part of him more than a stone." Yet when the executioner held up his head " his eyes did open and shut as in the time of his prayer." 1 The head with the body were placed in a cofhn and buried in the chancel of St. Peter's ad Vincula, beside the Earl of Arundel and the Duke of Norfolk.^ Thus died another great Englishman. Rash, impetuous, and overbearing he may have been, yet was he one of those who during his brief lifetime bore full share in the evolution of the English race from its island im- potence to empiric dominion ; a commanding figure in one of the greatest reigns, and most renowned eras, in English history. The Duke of Suffolk's Head A very long time ago, in fact nearly four hundred years, was brought to execution one Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk. He had without doubt committed a great offence in stirring up factions against Queen Mary ; but he was unfortunately also the father of Lady Jane Grey, and it was customary in the time of the later Tudors to wipe out whole families, any members of which had been, or might be, troublesome. Indeed they were a turbulent lot in those days ; so that a King or Queen never felt quite safe until the heads of all of doubtful loyalty lay on Tower Hill. The record of the time shows that the high sense of honour, which has grown up amongst Englishmen in all these succeeding generations, did not exist in those days. The times were changing ; the days of the honour of a knight and knightly troth were passing away ; and law and religion had not quite taken their place in building up a new code of honour. The old knight stood armed to uphold his plighted troth, and anyone who doubted his word or cast any aspersion on his honour, had forthwith to draw his sword and defend himself. But the introduction of ^ MS, account in European Magazine, ^ Stow, 202 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN law and order, as it was called, seems to have dulled the perceptions, so that men of the highest rank and posi- tions were given to perpetual intrigue, and often to base ingratitude and treachery. Leniency and kindly dealing were lost on such as these ; for no sooner were they pardoned for one grave offence than they set about plotting again. The Duke of Suffolk was not one of the great offenders in this respect, and, like many other cases which occurred in those days, it appears to the more lenient eyes of this age to have been one that might have been dealt with less severely. His relationship to Lady Jane Grey was as fatal to him as it proved to that unfortunate lady. However, here we are dealing not with the rights and wrongs of the Duke's execution, but with the history of his head, after he had parted with it. At about nine of the clock on the morning of Friday the twenty- third of February, 1554, the Duke of Suffolk was brought to the Bulwark Gate of the Tower, and there handed over to the Sheriffs of London for execu- tion. He made a speech from the scaffold, as was the custom, acknowledging the lawfulness of his fate, asking for the Queen's forgiveness, and abjuring the people to be loyal and take warning by his end. After a few prayers, he bound a handkerchief over his eyes, knelt and prayed again, then stretched out his hands as a sign to the executioner. With one or two blows his neck was severed, and after being held up by the executioner with the customary declaration, " Behold the head of a traitor," was placed in the basket. Now this basket was filled with sawdust, as was usual ; but it so happened that the sawdust on this occasion was from old oak, much impregnated with tannin ; this being a strong preservative. The Duke's body was buried in St. Peter's ad Vincula ;^ but as was not un- common in those days a little judicious bribery could save the head from the ignominy of being impaled on the gate of London Bridge. Very possibly this was effected by members of the family, for the Duke had a mansion 1 Doyne Bell. LIFE AND DEATH IN THE TOWER 203 close by in the Minories. The Minories, now a street in the east end of London, is hy some supposed to liavc obtained that name from the Convent of the Sorores Minores,'^ and these probably still had a home in these parts. To them, still closely covered with clotted blood and sawdust, was entrusted the Duke's head, and by them it was buried in a small vault near the altar of their chapel. On the site of this chapel when it fell into decay was built the small church of Holy Trinity in the Minories, and whilst this was in use the head was dis- covered in an extraordinary state of preservation. Holy Trinity in its turn fell into decay, and is now used as a parish room ; but the Duke of Suffolk's head was re- moved to St. Botolphs, Aldgate. It was examined by experts some fifty years ago, measurements taken, and the features compared with the contemporary portrait of the Duke in the National Portrait Gallery. The report of the experts, though naturally guarded, leaves little doubt that this is the head of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk. It is at least evident that this must be the head of some very important person to have been thus preserved for so many centuries, and both tradition and evidence point to its being that of the Duke. By the courtesy of the Vicar it is possible to see the head and the contemporary portrait side by side, and though it is perhaps presumptuous for laymen to give an opinion, most people come away strongly impressed with the extreme probability of the story. When first found the hair of the head and beard were still on, but owing to its very brittle state, and from being handled by several people, these broke off, though in a strong light the bristles may still be seen. There is no shrink- age of the face, the eyes are Vv^ide open, and the eye- balls and pupils perfectly preserved, though of a parch- ment colour. The skin, too, all over is of the same yellowish hue. The nose is not quite perfect, but the ^ Another authority considers that the name was derived from'^the Abbey of St. Clare, called the Abbey of the Minoresses of St. Clare of the Order of St. Clare, 204 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN ears are practically as in life. The head has evidently been severed by two heavy blows, and loose skin, jagged and looking like thick parchment, demonstrates where the severance occurred. The head is now carefully preserved in an air-tight glass cubicle, and thus may remain unimpaired for many centuries to come. The point that strikes one as most remarkable is that little or no shrinkage has occurred, as is the case with Egyptian mummies ; nor is the discoloration so pronounced as with these. The 4TH Duke of Norfolk As an example of the difficulty of dealing with high personages in those days less drastically than by cutting off their heads, the case of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, may be related. Already thrice a widower, though not on Henretic lines, at the age of thirty-two, partly through personal ambition but chiefly pushed by the CathoHc party, the Duke conspired secretly, and of set dynastic purpose, to procure the hand of Mary Queen of Scots. This intrigue came to the ears of Queen Elizabeth, who at first only gave him warning " to be careful on what pillow he laid his head." On further evidence, however, that this advice was not being taken the Queen roundly tackled the Duke with his want of candour, and definitely required him to renounce, on his oath of allegiance, all pretensions to the hand of the Scottish Queen. The Duke, who certainly does not appear in a very pleasing light in this episode, at once made " a very hearty and cheerful promise " that he would have nothing more to do in the matter ; and to further lull the Queen's suspicions proceeded to decry the mundane value of the match by pointing out to his sovereign that he himself was a much richer and more considerable person than any king of Scotland. He also further asserted that he was no seeker after such a match. Having thus soothed his sovereign he withdrew dis- creetly from Court, and set to work intriguing again in, LIFE AND DEATH IN THE TOWER 205 the same matrimonial market. The correspondence being intercepted, the Duke was very rightly lodged in the Tower, for evidently nothing short of stone walls could bind him to his engagements. After a short incarceration the Duke having entered into a bond not to concern himself further with the Queen of Scots, without Queen Elizabeth's consent, was released, and allowed to live at his own residence. This was Howard House, later known as Charter House in Smithfield, which the Duke had bought five years before from Lord North for £2,500. Yet again the Duke could not keep his word, and in the following year was found afresh intriguing treason- ably with Mary Queen of Scots. From that engaging lady indeed several love letters, written in cipher to his Grace, were intercepted. The Duke, who very possibly could not decipher them himself, employed his secretary Higford to do so, and bade him afterwards of a surety to burn the letters. Higford, whether from tender emotion, or carelessness, or ulterior motive, instead of burning them hid them under the bed mattress of his master. Other intrigues, connecting Higford with the Queen of Scots, coming to light he was put to the rack and con- fessed everything, including the whereabouts of the incriminating documents, and the cipher that made them clear. The Duke was then arrested, and, thinking the letters were burnt, denied the whole intrigue with great haughtiness. He was, however, committed to the Tower, and being confronted with the documentary evidence made full confession, was tried, sentenced, and executed on Tower Hill, June 2nd, 1572. He lies buried with the Dukes of Somerset, Northumberland, Suffolk, and Monmouth before the high altar in St. Peter's ad Vincula. Lord Grey de Wilton Another of the turbulent and high spirited noblemen of those days was Thomas Grey, Lord Grey de W'ilton, who is described as the fifteenth and last baron of that 2o6 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN line.^ Though a Puritan, he in some mysterious way got mixed up, together with Sir Waher Raleigh, in what were known as the Arabella Stuart plots, against James I. These plots were purely Roman Catholic in origin, and aimed at deposing the King, and placing a Roman Catholic princess on the throne. Through his hasty temper, and lack of restraint. Lord Grey de Wilton made many enemies, and amongst these some powerful personages. Thus when in Ireland, serving under the Earl of Southampton, he charged with his cavalry when it was against the commander- in-chief's explicit orders that he should do so. To uphold discipline, he was as a punishment placed under arrest for one night, and then released. But he treated this as a personal affront, and shortly after proceeded to assault Lord Southampton on horseback in the street. For this crime Lord Grey de Wilton was committed to the Fleet prison. He had also quarrelled with another powerful person, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, who w^as at the time entrusted mth the government of Ireland by Queen Elizabeth. In the first year of the reign of James I, Lord Grey de Wilton was wnth others arrested for complicity in the Arabella Stuart Plot, and committed to the Tower. With Sir Walter Raleigh and the other prisoners, owing to the plague in London, he was conveyed to Winchester for trial. There he was arraigned, on November 17th, 1603, on the following charge : " That on the 14th day of June he had held a meeting at Westminster with George Brooke and Sir Griffin Markham, when they declared their intention to seize the King's person, and that of Prince Henry, and to im- prison them in the Tower, in order to extract three promises from them ; viz. their own pardon for this im- prisonment, a toleration of the Romish religion, and the exclusion of certain lords from the council ; and that on the 1 8th June, Lord Grey stipulated that after the * The second title of the present Earl of Wilton is Viscount Grey de Wilton, but the family name is Egerton. LIFE AND DEATH IN THE TOWER 207 King's imprisonment he should be made Earl Marshal and Master of the Horse. "^ Lord Grey de Wilton admitted the plot to seize the King, but treated with derision any connection with the Papist party. He defended himself with great spirit and skill before the Court, but nevertheless was found guilty and condemned to death. The execution was to take place at Winchester, the second week in December. Lord Cobham, Lord Grey de Wilton, and Sir Griffin Markliam, were to suffer on the same day, " on Friday at ten of the clock." That day, as it proved, vvas, however, not to be a day of bloodshed, but more closely resembling the baiting of the bears at the Tower ; a form of sport or amusement which apparently appealed to the curiously constituted mentality of James I. The stage being set. Sir Griffin Markham was first led forth to execution. Ai'rived at the scaffold a whispered conversation ensued between the Sheriff, and a Scotch groom of the Chamber to the King. The result of this was that the Sheriff directed Sir Griffin Markham to stand back for two hours, to make place for the execution of the others. The next to be brought out was Lord Grey de Wilton, who came forth gay and debonair, and won the hearts of all. Before kneeling down on the scaffold he turned up the straw with his foot, to make sure that he was not kneeling in the blood of his friend, and predecessor. Then aided by his priest he made long supplication to Heaven, so long indeed that one of the spectators com- plained, that he had " held them in the rain " for half an hour. Even the Sheriff' had lost his patience and invited his lordship to continue his devotions elsewhere ; adding that he had now decided he would take Lord Cobham first for execution. Lord Grey de Wilton was accordingly removed, and Lord Cobham was brought on the scaffold. By this time, what with the cold and rain, the Sheriff determined to cut short the third act of the play ; he therefore called ' Baga dc Secretin, pouch 58, in the Record Office. '2o8 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN out all three prisoners, and informed them that, by the King's clemency, they were all reprieved. Lord Grey de Wilton on December 15th was sent back to the Tower, there to be detained during His Majesty's pleasure, and as it proved for life. At first he was lodged in the Brick Tower, much to the in- dignation of the Master of the Ordinance, who found the quarters straight enough for himself and his family, without taking in a lord and his retinue. After some stay here Lord Grey de Wilton was transferred to St. Thomas' Tower, and there died in the " room over the Gate" in 1614. His body lies in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula. The Lady Arabella Stuart The Lady Arabella Stuart was, like Lady Jane Grey, a victim to perilously high birth ; her end, though not so tragic, was in some respects as sad. One died under the axe, the other died mad, and a prisoner in the Tower. Lady Arabella was the only child of Charles, Earl of Lennox, the younger brother of the ill-fated Earl of Darnley, and of direct descent from Margaret, Queen of Scotland, the daughter of Henry VII. If she died a maid she died innocuous ; if she married and had a son, that son would be a possible pretender to the throne. Both Queen Elizabeth and James I therefore decided to keep the lady single till she was past a marriageable age. In those days women married young, and grew prematurely old ; therefore when the Lady Arabella reached the age of thirty-five, James I, with the delicate humour for which he is justly famed, told her she might now go and get married, if she could. Tlie King thought this a safe jibe, and had Httle intention that the permission should be taken literally. Some time before, this mature damsel, plain of feature but pleasant in converse, had in the leafy glades near Oxford met a young undergraduate named William LIFE AND DEATH IN THE TOWER 209 Seymour. This young man could claim descent from such great personages as Edward, Duke of Somerset, the Lord Protector, and Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk ; and his dream was to mount as high as they. The lady loved the boy, and the boy saw in the lady the fairy godmother who would help him mount the steps of his ambition. King James heard of this faint flutter, and at once, as he thought successfully, put a stop to it. As an inducement towards future compliance to his wishes the King, who had hitherto treated Lady Arabella with characteristic economy, now made her a present of ^1,000 to pay her debts, and obligations to her servants ; gave her a set of plate valued at £200, and settled on her a yearly income of £1,600. He further consigned to her the licence to " sell wines and usque- baugh "1 in Ireland for a period of twenty-one years, a grant considered to be worth ^100,000. This was royal treatment indeed, but the lady took the money, and then secretly married the young man. Assisted by Rodney, a young cousin of William Seymour, the couple entered the holy state at Greenwich on July 9th, 1610 ; an indigent priest named John Blague officiating at the ceremony. King James was naturally greatly incensed ; which meant the Tower, and that promptly for WiUiam Sey- mour ; whilst the Lady Arabella was placed in strict restraint under the charge of Sir Thomas Parry at Vauxhall. Wilham Seymour seems to have taken his imprisonment, and the separation from his bride, very philosophically. Indeed he treated the matter, and the lady, very lightly. He demanded and secured very spacious quarters in St. Thomas Tower, sent up to Lady Arabella's house for such furniture as he required, ordered in tapestries to adorn the walls, and plate to decorate his table and sideboard. The lady's love letters he rarely answered, and then briefly. Being on the river, and only a few miles up stream, Lady Arabella conceived the plain idea of dropping down with 1 Whiskey. 210 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN the tide and holding converse with her swain ; the more easily since the windovv's of his prison looked on the river. This assignation was successfully accomphshed, but as was only natural it at once came to King James' ears. To make such meetings less possible the King placed Lady Arabella in charge of WiUiani James, Bishop of Durham, and bade that prelate take his charge to his northern episcopacy. A king and a bishop may be most wise and potent beings, but a woman desperately in love is not unlikely to be able to defeat them, as did the Lady Arabella. She got ill, and remained ill, and became still more ill every mile the kind Bishop took her ; so that they travelled only as far as East Barnet, which is but a short ride from London. Here it was necessary by the doctor's orders to hire a cottage, and take a complete rest. During convalescence Lady Arabella got into com- munication with her rich and very influential aunt, the Countess of Salisbury. That great dame at once warmly espoused the cause of the young couple, and raised no less than ^£20,000 to finance their escape. For ships at any time are expensive to hire, and many people betwixt and between had to be suborned. Moreover, the young people must have something to live on, when arrived across the water, till better times came. The main outhne of the plan was that Wilham Seymour should . escape from the Tower, and Lady Arabella ride from East Barnet : that the two should meet at 6 p.m. on a certain date at an inn at Blackwall, on the Thames. Thence they were to row to a French ship, lying in attendance down at Leigh Roads, and thus escape to France. The Lady Arabella, whose task was the easier, though in delicate health, performed it to the minute. Dressed as a man, with French fashioned hose and doublet, large peruke with long locks surmounted by a black hat, russet boots with red tops, a black cloak and a rapier at her side, she strolled forth from her cottage at East Barnet, accompanied by Markham, one of her retainers. They LIFE AND DEATH IN THE TOWER 211 walked a mile and a half to a wayside inn, where Courtney, another of her men, met them with horses. The un- accustomed attire, the long boots, and her recent indis- position, drev/ from the groom, who helped Lady Arabella to mount, the rem.ark " that young gentleman won't ride far." But affairs of the heart carry people a long way, and certainly carried this lady in good time to the trysting place at Blackwall. William Seymour, whose task was more difficult, was more than two hours late ; so that after waiting that time Lady Arabella was constrained to depart. The plan for her husband's escape was much more elaborate, for he had not only to break out of a fortress, but get clear aw^ay. A black wig, a false beard, and a carter's hat and smock, had been smuggled into St. Thomas' Tower ; and a carter had been suborned who had free entry to deliver in the fortress, hay, faggots, and the like. As this cart at the agreed hour passed along Water Lane it came to a standstill outside St. Thomas' Tower. W^hereupon Avilliam Seymour slipped out and mounting the box took charge of the team. The carter concealed himself and the cart was then driven out through the Byward Gate, along Tower W^harf, and so out of the Tower. In a house near St. Katherine's Wharf, Seymour's friend, young Rodney, was awaiting with change of raiment, a horse, and a boat. Hastily changing WiUiam Seymour took to the boat, wdiilst Rodney rode down the bank. Arrived at Blackwall, more than two hours late, they found that Lady Arabella had departed, and pushed off in search of the French ship. Meamvhile Lady Arabella had found the chartered ship, and after waiting till the last moment in which the tide would serve, had reluctantly set sail. William Sey- mour therefore failed to find the French ship, but, haihng a barge, bribed the skipper to take him to Calais. The casual barge, with the equally casual William Seymour on board, after dawdling here and dawdling there, and putting in at this port and that, found she could not make Calais, so drifted off to Ostend, where i\i THE TOWER FROM WITHIN the fugitive was safely landed, and escaped, to one day become Duke of Somerset. The Lady Arabella, who was certainly born under no fortunate star, was captured and brought back to England, and this time to the Tower. The story of her capture reads like some uncanny tale. A half-pay Admiral, Monson by name, happened, as is not un- common with old sea-faring folk, to be down at the Tower Wharf chatting to the watermen, when one of them chanced to mention a yarn about two young galants, who had pushed off in rather mysterious manner, and rowed down stream. Admiral Monson, with the most extraordinary luck or prescience, divined that these were fugitives from justice, and perhaps important. He therefore hired a boat, and also dropped down the river ; Again in the most astonishing manner he hit off, in aU this long and wide river, the exact inn at Blackwall which had been the trysting place. Here he got hot foot on the scent, and hearing that a French barque had recently sailed, rowed across to H.M.S. Adventure, and using his authority as an Admiral, commandeered her for the chase. He himself, however, did not wait for her, but set sail at once in a fast light oyster boat. H.M.S. Adventure in due course got clear and made straight for Calais, where just as she was entering the harbour and within a few cable lengths of safety, she came up with a French barque answering the description of the quarry she was after. In those days the three-mile limit did not exist, and anyway Britannia ruled the waves. His Majesty's ship therefore ordered the foreigner to hove to. Owing to lack of wind and an adverse tide the man- of-war was unable to come up with the French ship, and so put off a boat to enforce the order. As the French- man was still trying to escape, the English boat com- menced a musketry fusillade, but after receiving thirteen shots the foreigner came up into the wind, and was boarded. Lady Arabella immediately came forv/ard and gave herself up, and was thereupon transferred to H.M.S. Adventure, and taken back captive to England. LIFE AND DEATH IN THE TOWER 213 On being brought to the Tower, Lady Arabella Stuart was confined in the Lieutenant's Lodgings, occupying the same room as that in which was imprisoned Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, the common grandmother both of herself and the King. The same lady whose matrimonial activities had been so displeasing to Queen Elizabeth, as elsewhere related. For five years Lady Arabella lived in the Lieutenant's Lodgings, being per- mitted a certain amount of freedom for the sake of health and exercise, but sadly decaying both bodily and mentally, till it came to be reported that " the Lady Arabella is far out of frame, this midsummer moon." In the end she died insane September 25th or 27th, 161 5. A post-mortem was held, the verdict being that death was due to chronic disease, increased by negligence, and hurried on by constantly lying in bed and " extreme leanness."^ The body was embalmed, and at dead of an autumn night it was taken by river to Westminster, and there buried in the Stuart vault, over the remains of Mary Queen of Scots. In verse she passed away with the two lines : — " Now do I thank thee, Death, and bless thy power That I have past the guard and 'scaped the Tower." Nor must we pass on without a parting reference to William Seymour. A callous, and not very attractive character when young ; it was nevertheless the same who later, as Earl of Hertford, offered the great sacrifice, and prayed that he might be executed in place of his sovereign, Charles I. And he it was, who later still, made a request that must have brought a gleam of gladness, even in her celestial home, to the Lady Arabella. For the love of her earthly life, now Duke of Somerset, and long married to another, asked to be buried by her side. ^ Davev. 214 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Arthur Ca?el, Earl of Essex Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex, was committed to the Tower for being implicated in the " Rye House Plot," the object of which was to secure the succession of the Duke of Monmouth to the throne. He came into custody on July loth, 1683, and was first placed in the Lieutenant's Lodgings, Captain Check then being Lieutenant of the Tower. Next day, however, he was transferred to the Gentleman Gaoler's quarters. Major Hawley being Gentleman Gaoler, as he was then called. Only three days later the Earl came to his death, either by suicide or by foul means ; regarding which there is much controversy. He w^as certainly in a very depressed condition, and the coroner's jury found the case one of " self-murder " ; whilst the Chapel register in St. Peter's records that he " cutt his throat." On the other hand there were many suspicious circumstances ; and the evil reputation which the Tower had gained from past murders committed within its walls caused the popular sentiment to lean towards the opinion that foul play had been employed. At a judicial enquiry held later two children declared that they, had seen a bloody razor cast out of the window, and that a maid ran out, picked it up, and took it in again. The sentry at the door declared that two men had gone into the house just before the crime. And there history leaves the story, for Lady Essex asked that the matter might be dropped, she and her relations having decided to accept the verdict of the jury. But beliefs die hard ; probably nine-tenths of the populace at that day were convinced that the Earl had been murdered, and that belief is very prevalent to this day. The Earldom of Essex, held by several families, has had a curious and fatal connection with the Tower of London. There have been mentioned in these pages, and always in the tragic circle, first Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex ; then Thomas CromweU, Earl of Essex ; next that Earl of Essex, husband of the notorious LIFE AND DEATH IN THE TOWER 215 Lady Francis Howard ; then there was Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex ; and lastly Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex. ^ Modern Prisoners The two most notable prisoners in the Tower during the Great War which commenced in 1914 were Lieu- tenant Lodi of the German Navy, and Sir Roger Case- ment, an Irishman, who had long served under the British Colonial Office. Lodi by means of a passport stolen by the German Foreign Office from an American in Berlin, who had handed it in to be vise, came to England in August or September, 1914, to spy for the German Government, more especially with regard to the British Navy. Mr. Gerard the American Ambassador at Berlin relates in his book,^ how the passport was missed in Berlin, and how it was found on Lodi. Lieu- tenant Lodi was a brave man, v/ho took his life in his hands to serve his country, and met his death with becoming fortitude. He was tried by court-martial and shot in the Tower. Several other spies have been shot in the Tower during the War, but all miserable specimens, mostly neutrals out for what money they could make, and probably working both ways. Indeed it was a maxim of no less a person than Napoleon, that no man could be a really successful spy unless he played the double game, that is spied for both sides, turn and turn about. Sir Roger Casement was an out and out rebel of the most despicable class. Being in Germany, or getting there soon after the W^ar, he threw himself heart and soul into the German cause against his own King and country ; a country which had well treated him and whose pensioner he was, and a King who had raised him to an Order of Knighthood. The Germans used him first as a propagandist amongst ^ The present Earl of Essex is the eighth in succession to Arthur Capel, but by Royal licence spells his name Capell. 2 Four Tciirs i?i Germany, by Mr. Gerard, late American Ambassador in Berlin. 2i6 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN those Irish soldiers who were prisoners of war in Ger- many, with instructions to endeavour to persuade them to take up arms against their own Empire. A few fanatics, or weak persons, ostensibly joined him ; but the large majority treated his overtures with the greatest scorn, and but for the German guards he would have fared badly at their hands. Next, encouraged and aided by the German Government, he effected a landing in Ireland, probably being conveyed across in a submarine ; his mission being to raise a rebellion in Ireland. He was, however, caught red-handed, brought over to England, and imprisoned in the Tower. Thence he was removed to Brixton Gaol, and after a fair trial was sentenced to death, and hanged at Pentonville. An ignominious death worthy of a traitor. XV TORTURES (this chapter may well be passed over by those OF TENDER HEARt) " By torture strange " — Illegal but allowed — Henry VIII and QueenElizabeth — The rack — The "Duke of Exeter's Daughter" — The one-man rack — The " Scavenger's Daughter "—The gauntlets — The bilboes — The Spanish collar — Thumbscrews — • The brakes — A nameless torture — The peine forte et d.re — Legal forms of torture — Father Gerard tortured — The Torture Chamber in the Tower — " Hang thou then, till you rot " — German torture of to-day — Father Gerard's escape — Anne Askew on the rack — The Lieutenant intervenes — Burnt alive — Damport tortured by the brakes — Guy Fawkes — His trial and torture — The King's letter — " Hanged in chains " — A Lieutenant of Tower executed — Abolition of torture. BI • TORTVRE * STRAVNGE • MY • TROVTH • WAS • TRIED • YET • OF * MY • LIBERTY • DENIED : THER • FOR • RESON • HATH • ME • PERSWADED • THAT * PAYSENS * MUST • BE • YMBRASYD • THOGH • HARD • FORTVNE • CHASTYTH • ME • WYTH ' SMART • YET • PASYENS • SHALL • PREVAYL • THIS pathetic inscription is engraved on the wall of the Bell Tower, by whose hand it is not known. Though torture has never been authorized by the laws of England, yet in the Middle Ages, by the special permission of the King, or his Council, it was constantly employed ; generally in the endeavour to extract confessions from those sus- pected of being engaged in plots, and sometimes as a 217 2t8 the tower from WITHIN terrible aid to religious persecution. Prisoners were also tortured to disclose the whereabouts of hidden treasure, or to procure evidence against some person whom it was desired to incriminate or do away with. Though illegal there was a regular torture chamber at the Tower, sup- plied with several devices for causing pain. These tortures took the place of the older method of ordeal and trial by battle, and as early as 1310, in the reign of Henry II, the Templars were ordered by Royal Warrant to be tortured. That the system was then new in England is evidenced by the fact that though the warrant was given, it Vv^as found impossible to procure any skilled torturers in the realm. But it was in Tudor and Stuart days that torture, and especially the rack, were in con- stant use. Henry VIII was a firm believer in its efficacy, whilst in Elizabeth's later days the rack at the Tower seldom stood idle.^ The most drastic forms of torture used at the Tower were the rack, the " Scavenger's Daughter," the gauntlets and the brakes ; whilst somev/hat less grievous devices, such as the thumbscrews and the bilboes, were reserved for lesser cases. The rack, as an implement of torture, was introduced into the Tower by John Holland, 4th Duke of Exeter, in the reign of Henry VI, and was known for long as the " Duke of Exeter's Daughter." This pattern of rack consisted of a strongly framed wooden trough, much the shape of a horse trough, but large enough to contain a human body. In this trough the prisoner was laid. At each end of the trough, and beyond its edge, were fixed windlasses, on which were coils of rope. These ropes were fastened by loops to the wrists and ankles of the victim. The windlasses v/ere then turned outwards, thus stretching the arms back above the head, whilst the legs were dragged in the opposite direction. So powerful were these windlasses that sufficient pressure could be brought to dislocate the shoulders, and even the knee joints and hips. The refinement in this class of torture 1 Hallam. TORTURES 219 lay in the advantage that whilst it did not kill the victim, unless he had a weak heart or other organic disease, it caused the most excruciating suffering. There were doubtless other patterns of racks, but the principle in each was the same. The model shown in the Tower has a wooden frame with three thick wooden rollers, one across each end, and one across the middle. The two end rollers revolve outwards, and have ropes wound round them with loops for the feet at one end and for the wrists at the other. A crank in the middle, which can be worked hy one man, causes the two end rollers to revolve outwards. The victim Vv^as placed with the middle of his body across the middle roller, his wrists and ankles being thrust into the loopholes ; the ropes were then tightened up till he was fully stretched. If more pressure were required the man at the crank applied it, spoke by spoke. The advantage of this one-man rack was, that only one operator was present during the revelation of the important matters that might be wrung out of the victim. The " Scavenger's Daughter " was so named after the inventor. Sir L. Skevington or Skeffington, Lieutenant of the Tower in the reign of Henry VIII. One pattern consisted of a wide iron hoop which by means of screws could be tightened round the victim's body until the blood was forced from the nose and ears, and sometimes even from the hands and feet,^ apparently'on the lines of an iron straight jacket. The pattern in the Tower is different, and does not appear to be a very grievous form of torture though doubtless irksome. The head was thrust through an iron loop, from which straight iron rods about three feet long ran to shackles which fitted round the ankles. On the iron rods are, half-way down, other shackles for the wrists. The victim was thus held in a bent condition, but there is no method for shortening the rod and thus increasing the discomfort. That some such contrivance existed in a more perfected form is inferred from historical records, which state that whilst the arck 1 Encyclopaedia Britmnica, nth edition, Vol. XXVII, pp. 72-78. 220 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN stretched the body more and more, the " Scavenger's Daughter " contracted it in an increasing degree. Tlie gauntlets was a form of torture first invented by the North American Indians. As applied at the Tower it consisted of thrusting the victims hands through iron gauntlets or bracelets, which were attached by a rope to a beam, or hook, overhead. The stool, on which the prisoner had been made to stand during this adjustment, was then removed, and he was left to hang by his wrists. The " bilboes " as seen at the Tower does not appear to be a very formidable form of torture, and was in common use on ships of war, and doubtless on ships in general, for the better security and punishment of mutinous seamen. The term " bilboe " is believed to be a corrup- tion of Bilboa in Spain, whence this form of restraint, or torture, came. The form of restraint is much the same as exercised by the stocks, though the " bilboes " are made of iron. There is an iron bar, which might be of any length, one end of which may be screwed, and locked, to the deck or floor, whilst the other end may lie loose. On this bar at intervals are iron rings running loose. These iron loops were opened, and then riveted round the prisoner's ankles, who then lay or squatted on the floor or deck. The torture stage was arrived at when the punishment was extended to days, and even weeks. It is mentioned that many chests full of bilboes were found on ships of the Spanish Armada, their purpose being to fetter together in couples the captured English ! The iron, or Spanish collar, is another form of torture, a pattern of which may be seen at the Tower. The collar is of massive iron, large, and roomy enough, but inside it is studded all round with thick sharp spikes. The collar, which opens on a hinge, was put round the prisoner's neck, and locked. How long the collar re- mained on the victim, history does not relate, but if for days and weeks as probable, it must have caused great torture. One of the minor forms of torture was that of the thumbscrews. This consisted of placing two fingers, TORTURES 221 preferably one from each hand, into a small iron device, somewhat like a diminutive ox yoke. A screw at the top, which could be turned with the thumb and finger, whence the name, then drew together the top and bottom sides of the diminutive yoke, and thus crush the fingers to any desired degree. To add to the torture, there is a short chain with a ring at the end, which is attached to the thumbscrew. The torturer could give this a sharp tug to emphasize a question ; or it could be fastened to a bolt, or peg, high up on the wall or beam, so that the victim's arms were stretched above his head ; and if desirable might be so arranged that a considerable portion of the weight of the body hung from the two imprisoned fingers. About the same period as the rack came also to the Tower the " brakes," a horrible device for forcing out, or breaking, one by one, a prisoner's teeth ; a question, or the same question, being asked between each application. This is a form of torture which most of us can, from personal experience, appreciate, and can in imagination picture the feelings of the victim, without the alleviation afforded to us by the kindly skill of the operator, and the deadening effect of opiates. There is no pattern of this device now to be seen at the Tower ; indeed a common hammer would suffice. Another form of torture used in the Tower consisted of tying tightly together with whipcord the two thumbs of the victim, these being probably attached by a rope to a hook in the wall. The body and legs were then lifted outwards by a beam so that the greater part of the weight fell on the thumbs. Little John the servant of Friar Garnet was thus tortured, " his thumbs tied to- gether and his body raised by a beam." Although, as before mentioned, these tortures of the Tower were never legal according to English law, yet there was a penalty very closely allied which was per- missible under that law. This punishment was usually reserved for recalcitrant witnesses, or those who refused to plead. It was called the feine jorte et dure^ and certainly 222 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN would be considered so in English. The stubborn person was stretched on his back on the ground, and iron weights were laid upon him, '' as much as he could bear, and more, and so to continue." During this process, which apparentl}^ might last for days, he was fed on bad bread and stagnant water, on " alternate days, until he pleaded, or died." Though perhaps a degree less painful, there does not seem to be any great dividing line between this legal form of torture and the illegal rack and brakes. Another form of legal torture was the tying of the thum_b tight around with whipcord, the effect of which if persevered with is to rot it off. This w^as a common form of torture at the Old Bailey up to the eighteenth century. The -peine forte et dure was not abolished till so recently as the reign of George III. A somewhat curious and interesting sidelight on the dividing line between tortures in the Tower, which were illegal, and those without, which were legal, is instanced by the case of Christopher Layer who in 1722 was committed to the Tovv^er. He was " ordered to be chained and weighted," in other words to suffer the fehie jorte et dure ; but Colonel D'Oyly, the Deputy- Governor of the Tower, was in the curious position of not being able to comply, " such things " never having been used in the Tower ; he had therefore to send to Newgate for these vulgar accessories. Turning from the general subject to particular instances, it may be of historic interest to describe some of the carefully recorded cases where torture was em- ployed in the Tower. Father Gerard was a Roman Catholic priest in the days of Queen Elizabeth, and was suspected of being concerned in what were known as the Popish plots against the life of the Queen. He was seized and taken before the Lords of the Council, ^vho sat in the Council room at the Lieutenant's Lodgings. 1'his is the same room where Guy Fawkes was later interrogated. Amongst others present were Sir Edward Coke the eminent lawyer and Attorney-General, but a brutal person ; Sir Francis TORl'URES 223 Bacon ; the Lieutenant of the Tower, Sir WiUiam Waad, the same whom Sir Walter Raleigh described as " that beast Waad." The object of the enquiry was to induce Father Gerard not only to confess his own participation in the plot, but to inculpate others who might be in it. If this information could be extracted by fair means, well ; but if not illegal means were to be employed. The Council produced a special permission allowing them to use their discretion in this matter ; failing persuasion therefore they proceeded to more stringent measures. First they tried the erfect of threats, and told the prisoner that unless he confessed they had power not only to torture him, but " to prolong the torture from day to day as long as life lasted." Undismayed the priest held his peace, and as a next step was led down and shown the implements of torture ; but still he remained silent. His own record is extant and reads, " We went in a sort of solemn procession, the attendants preceding us with lighted candles because the place was underground and very dark, especially about the entrance. It was a place of immense extent, and in it were ranged divers sorts of racks, and other instruments of torture. Some of these they displayed before me, and told m^e that I should have to taste them. They led me to a great up- right beam or pillar of wood, which was one of the sup- ports of this vast crypt." He was indeed in the torture chamber in the basement of the White Tower, whence neither w^ord nor sound could be heard by those outside. He was told to stand on a stool and lift his hands above his head that he might undergo the torture of the gauntlets. Over his wrists were clapped two iron bracelets attached by short chains to a ring above. The stool was then removed and he was left to hang, and he being a heavy man the pain soon became intense. Meanwhile tlic members of the Council stood by and phed him with questions, but he answered not a word. Several times he fainted from anguish, but still held out. Later in the afternoon Sir 124 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN William Waad returned and again interrogated the wretched priest, but with no result. Baffled, the Lieu- tenant turned to go, exclaiming, " Hang thou then, till you rot." It was only when the tolling of the bell on the Bell Tower announced that all strangers must leave the Tower, that the Council, defeated, retired. The wretched priest, half dead with pain and anguish, tottered between his guards to his dungeon in the Salt Tower. Though the form of torture suffered by Father Gerard three hundred years ago has long been extinct in all civilized countries, it apparently still survives in Germany, and is applied to prisoners of war. An escaped British prisoner has recorded that the Russian prisoners of war " were strapped to a post with their hands tied above their heads. A brick was placed for them to stand on, and then kicked away when they were fastened, leaving them hanging by their wTists." Next day Father Gerard was again taken to the Council Chamber, and arraigned before Sir \yilliam Waad, who tried another line. He informed the prisoner that Cecil, the Secretary of State, had certain proof that the prisoner was concerned in this plot, with other conspirators, against the Queen's life, and invited him to make a clean breast of it. But Gerard was proof against this guile, and refused to compromise anyone. Again recourse was had to torture. Sir William Waad, summon- ing the chief superintendent of the tortures, handed over the prisoner to him, saying, " I deliver this man into your hands. You are to rack him twice a day until such time as he chooses to confess." Forming the same procession as on the previous day the dismal party again descended to the torture chamber, and again the torture of the gauntlets was applied, and this day it was double torture, from the maimed con- dition of the wretched priest's wrists. As he hung the enraged Lieutenant stormed up and down the chamber hurling abuse at him, cursing him, and ordering him to confess. Yet was Father Gerard still dauntless, and still held out. Often he swooned from sheer agony and TORTURES 225 could with difficulty be revived, but he swore that they might kill him, but he would not utter a word of con- fession. At length Waad desisted, for he was afraid of the public scandal if he killed a man under torture. So the prisoner crept away again to his prison in the Salt Tower. Here, nothing daunted, and though his hands were useless, Father Gerard made plans for escape. Over the way, in the neighbouring Cradle Tower, was imprisoned another Roman Catholic priest, by name John Arden. The two priests could easily see each other, and Gerard persuaded his gaoler to allow him to go across the corner of the Queen's garden to visit his fellow-prisoner. The two thereupon concocted a plan of escape from the Cradle Tower which hes quite close to the Thames. Father Gerard wrote a letter with invisible ink made of orange juice, and managed to get this conveyed to a friend outside. This was to ask for a long thin string with a leaden weight attached to it. Arrangements were also made that on a certain dark night a boat was to hover close under the wharf near the Cradle Tower. All went well on the fateful night. Gerard obtained leave to stay a little later with his friend, and both climb- ing to the roof slung the lead out on to the river. Their friends caught it and attached thereto a stout rope. This the two priests hauled in and made fast to a turret on the Cradle Tower. Then Gerard going first, in spite of his maimed hands, painfully worked his way down, and was joyfully received in the boat ; next came Arden, and not a cat stirred nor dog barked. WilHng arms now bent to the oars, and the escape was perfected. Nor were the priests again taken. This is one of the very few successful attempts made to escape from the Tower, in all its long history. It took three weeks before absolute paralysis left Friar Gerard's hands, and it was five months before the sense of touch returned. Right or wrong he was a brave fellow, and no one now, or even then, except perchance Sir William Waad, would regret his successful escape. 226 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN It is not often that we read of a woman being tortured in the Tower, but the well-known case of Anne Askew occurred towards the end of the reign of Henry VIII. This lady was a violent Reformer, of the type made famihar to us in the warhke days of the Suffragettes. She even deserted her husband in order the better to carry on her propaganda. She may have been a good woman, or only out for notoriety, but anyway she was a brave woman. At last she became so troublesome that she was arrested for heresy, in June 1546, and com- mitted (word of ill omen) to the Tower. Some historians suggest that her imprisonment was a subtle blow at Katherine Parr the new Queen, whose friend she was, and who herself was perhaps somewhat injudiciously loquacious on religious subjects, at an era when all had to walk warily, and especially so a wife of Henry VIII. There is some ground for this opinion, for we find that after her examination, which ehcited nothing, she was ordered to be put to the rack, candidly " in order to incriminate certain high ladies." The inquisitors appointed to thus examine the poor lady were Wriothesley, the Lord Chancellor ; Rich, an eminent lawyer ; and the Lieutenant of the Tower, Sir A. Knyvett. Apparently the rack was not at once apphed, merely the terror of this gruesome instrument and its hideous surroundings, in that deep and dark chamber of horrors beneath the White Tower, were first tried. For a whole hour the victim sat on the edge of the rack, and argued religious doctrines with her judges, but confess, or coni- promise any, she would not. So eventually she was laid on the rack, and the screws turned at first mildly and then more harshly, but still though closely pressed by the inquisitors she would reveal nothing. It is related that at length Wriothesley became so exasperated with the woman's obstinacy, that he gave the rack an additional wrench with his own hand, whereupon she fainted with utter agony. This was too much for Sir A. Knyvett, who seems to TORTURES 227 have been a decent enough person ; so that he angrily protested, and insisted that the woman had borne enough, and should be released. This he accordingly ordered, for the torturers were under his command, to the wrath and indignation of Wriothesley, who hotly insisted that the woman could, and should, have borne more. The two then, leaving Anne Askew to the minis- trations of the surgeon, dashed oif, each to tell his own tale to their master Henry VIII. Wriothesley mounted his horse and rode off to Westminster, but Knyvett, knowing well the bad state of the roads even in the Metropolis, and seeing the tide favourable, jumped into his boat at the Traitor's Gate and sped up stream. Happily for Anne Askew, Knyvett won the race and first obtained the monarch's car. By good fortune the King was in pleasant mood, and had already thoroughly agreed with Sir A. Knyvett's more human views, when in rode the Lord Chancellor, much be- spattered with mud, and in wrathful mood, to inform His Majesty that the Lieutenant of the Tower was no man for his job, being too lenient and tender-hearted. Henry VIII took quite the opposite view, gave the Chancellor a severe rebuff, and " straightway dismissed him." And it was reported later that the Council which took its cue from the King was " not a little displeased at its being reported that she was racked at the Tower." Publicity on such occasions was a thing not to be courted, especially where a woman was concerned. But Anne Askew, though she was not racked again, did not live long ; for that same year she, together with three men, was burnt as a heretic at the stake at Smitli- lield. A case of torture by the " brakes " is recorded in the reign of Henry VIII. This was an implement for forcing out or breaking the prisoner's teeth, the rudest form of dentistry as the least imagination will demonstrate. One who suffered under this form of torture was Damport, who together with Derham and Culpepper were accused of misconduct with Queen Katherine Howard. All 228 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN three were tried at the Guildhall on December ist, 1541, under the orders of Henry VIII, and Damport when they returned to the Tower was subjected to torture " having his teeth forced out in the brakes." Presumably his inquisitors thus obtained such evidence as they re- quired to incriminate the others, for we find that Dam- port was released, having apparently turned King's evidence ; whilst Derham and Culpepper were executed at Tyburn, the former being hanged, whilst the latter was drawn and quartered, and both their heads were exposed on London Bridge. A well-known case of torture in the Tower is that of Guy Fawkes, who was implicated in the Gunpowder Plot, which aimed at blowing up the King and Queen, and the Houses of Parliament whilst the members sat. Tlie trial of Guy Fawkes was an occasion of considerable importance, and took place not in an ordinary Court of Justice, or before Judges of the High Court, but before a special Commission assembled in the Council Chamber in the Lieutenant's Lodgings in the Tower. The Commission consisted of Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, Secretary of State, in the chair ; Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham, Lord High Admiral ; Charles Blount, Earl of Devon, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ; Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, Lord Privy Seal. It is of considerable interest that King James' instructions in his own handwriting to the Commission are still preserved, and those v/ho despair of their own orthography may well take courage. The instructions read : " This examinate wolde now be maid to ansoure to formall interrogatours 1. as quhat he is, for I can neuer yett heare of any man that knowis him 2. quhaire he uas borne 3. quhat uaire his parents names 4. quhat aage is he of 5. quhaire he hath liued 6. hou he hath liued and by quhat trade of lyfe TORTURES 229 7. hou he ressaued those woundes in his breste 8. if he uas euer in seruice uith any other before percie, and quhat they uaire, and hou long 9. hou came he in percics seruice by quhat meanes, and at quhat tyme 10. quhat tyme uas this house hyred by his maister 11. and hou soone after the possessing of it did he beginne to his deuillishe preparations 12. quhen and quhaire Icrnid he to speake frenshe 13. quhat gentle womans lettir it uas that uas founde upon him 14. and quhairfor doth slie giuc him an other name in it then he giues to him selfe 15. If he uas euer a papiste and if so quho brocht him up in it 16 he uolde also be asked in quhat company and shippe he went out of Englande and the porte he shipped at, and the like quoestions wolde be asked anent the forme of his retourne, as for these tromperie waires found on upon him the signification and use of euerie one of thaime wolde be knov/in if he will not other wayes confesse, the gentler tortours are to be first usid unto him et sic per gradus ad ima tenditur, and so god spede youre goode ^°^^^ James R." Having deciphered this document the Commission set to work, and failing to elicit by questioning the evidence they required to get out of Guy Fawkes, they on the second day proceeded with their victim to the torture chamber in the White Tower. There he was first threatened with the rack, and shown other modes of torture, but remaining obdurate was subjected to the torture. Being laid on the rack, and the strain taken, he was further questioned, but again without avail. Turn by turn the rack was stretched, till after thirty minutes of agony the wretched prisoner gasped out faintly that he would tell all he knew. He confessed a certain amount, 230 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN and then on further pressure he said, that if the Earl of SaHsbury were sent for, he would privily make a clean breast of all he knew to him. A messenger was immediately despatched by Sir WilHam Waad, the Lieutenant of the Tower, who was superintending the torture, and in response the Earl of Salisbury arrived, as fast as his horse could carry him, from his residence in the Strand. The examination then continued, and at the end the prisoner was ordered to sign his confession, but so shaken was he by torture that he could only scrawl the one word " Guido." Guy Fawkes was eventually hanged, drawn, and quartered in Palace Yard at Westminster, without undergoing further torture. It is often recorded regarding the execution of a prisoner on Tower Hill, or at Tyburn, that he was to be " hanged in chains." Such was the fate amongst others of Sir Gervase Helw}'ss, a Lieutenant of the Tower, who two years after the crime was tried and sentenced for complicity in the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury, a prisoner under his charge in the Bloody Tower. The general impression might be that to be hanged in chains meant to be hanged with a chain instead of with a rope ; or more generally that the prisoner before being hanged was loaded with chains. These, however, are wrong impressions. When a prisoner was sentenced to be hanged in chains, he was first hanged in the ordinary way ; that is, he was driven in a cart under the gallows, the noose was placed round his neck, and when all was ready the cart was driven away, leaving the culprit hanging. When life was extinct the body was taken down, clothed in black if not already so, and tarred all over, face, head, and hands included, as a rough preservative. The body was then placed upright in a closely fitting iron cage, and thus suspended in some prominent situation in full view of all passers-by. The name and crime of the culprit were attached to the cage, so that all might take warning thereby. These cages used some- times to hang for long periods, as much as twenty years TORTURES 231 on occasions, till the body had decayed away and the smaller bones had dropped through the bottom of the cage. Incidentally the whole deterrent effect had also departed : for who cared for what had happened to an obscure criminal twenty years before. We may, howev^er, well understand the citizens on dark nights hastening past these ghastly relics as the wind shrieked through them, and the clank of metal sounded as they banged about. Ghostly sounds they might well be called. To be beheaded was always considered even from Roman times " the more honorable death," and only those of high rank were so privileged. Beheading was introduced into England by William the Conqueror, the first Englishman thus to suffer being Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland, in 1076. ^ To a stout-hearted soldier, whatever else his faults may have been, is due the abolition of the tortures in the Tower. There was a certain Lieutenant Felton, a soldier brave in action, and about to be promoted to Captain, who had served with much distinction in France, but who was by nature a fanatic. This fanaticism led him to murder " Steenie," Duke of Buckingham, against whom he had neither a professional, nor personal ani- mosity. He merely thought him a bad man, and one to be removed from God's earth, which accordingly he proceeded with his own right hand to accomplish. This was in the days of Charles I, when Laud was Archbishop, and Keeper of the King's conscience. As was the habit of thought in those days, any murder of this description was suspected of having political or religious motives, the handiwork of a body, large or small, of conspirators. When therefore Felton was being questioned by Archbishop Laud with a view to extracting incriminating evidence against others, he stoutly maintained that the deed was a personal one, and denied that he had any confederates. The Archbishop, in accordance with the principles of the times, threatened the prisoner, and exclaimed impatiently, " You must * For first and last executions on Tower Hill, see p. 92. 232 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN confess, or go to the rack." But Felton was not to be intimidated, and made a reply which undermined the whole structure of confessions extracted by torture. Quoth he, " If I am racked, my lord, I may happen in my agony to accuse your lordship." The Archbishop, somewhat taken aback by this bold and embarrassing utterance, went to the King and asked for orders. The King, who was even then feeling a little insecure on his hrone, replied guardedly that Felton was to be " tor- tured to the furthest stretch allowed by law," thereby throwing the onus of an illegal operation on the law officers of the Crown. The bench of Judges having assembled could come to but one conclusion, which was, that " torture could not be applied according to the English law." From that day forth all racks, screws, ropes, hooks, and other agents of torture were relegated to holes and passages in the Tower,i where they gradually fell into decay, and disappeared. There remain only the few which long after were recovered, and are now exhibited as historical curiosities. * Encyclopcedia Britanntca, XVI THE CHAPELS IN THE TOWER Four chapels or oratories — St. John's the Evangelist in the White Tower — Founded by the Conqueror — Enriched by Henry III — Knights of the Bath and their vigil — Ancient window's — Many historic scenes — Changes of religion — Dismantled as a chapel by Charles II — Used as a storehouse for records — Restored to public worship by Queen Victoria — St. Peter ad Vincula — The Prisoners' Chapel — Original chapel built by Henry I — Present chapel by Edward I — Improved by Henry III and Henry VIII — Its tragic history — The Committee of 1876 — How the bones of the mighty dead are disposed — Restoration under Queen Victoria — The brass tablet — The three Lords — The organ — Monuments — Communion plate — Register of Births, Deaths, and Marriages — Some noted personages — The bell — The Highland deserters — Their fate — Memorial windows, their need — The procession of warders — The oratory in the Wakefield Tower — Murder of Henry VI — The oratory of St. Thomas a Becket. THERE are four chapels, or oratories, in the Tower, all very ancient, and each with an interesting history. The two principal chapels are those of St. John the Evangelist in the White Tower, and of St. Peter ad Vincula on Tower Green. The lesser chapels, or oratories, are to be found in the Wakefield Tower, and in St. Thomas' Tower. St. John's was used by the kings and their consorts, and by the great nobles and royal retinue. To St. Peter's went the soldiers and warders, and the prisoners. To which latter circumstance by some is attributed the singular name " ad vincula," that is " in chains." The smaller chapels, or oratories, were used more for private devotion by the kings and their courtiers. The chapel of St. John the Evangelist is probably 233 234 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN the oldest, and certainly the largest and most perfectly preserved memorial of Norman ecclesiastical architecture in England. Unlike the majority of chapels and churches it is not built on the ground level, but occupies portions of the two top storeys of the White Tovi^er. It was built in the reign of William the Conqueror, and im- proved by William Rufus. Under Henry III it was decorated with various works of art and rich tapestries, and a beautiful mosaic floor was added ; whilst at the west end was placed a gilded throne to form a royal pew for the sovereign. It was a Chapel Royal then, as it still is, and was bedecked accordingly. When, however, kings no longer lived in the Tower its glories gradually departed ; its rich caparisons were removed elsewhere or stolen, till it came about that in the reign of Charles II it was, by an Order in Council, dismantled as a chapel. For some centuries after this it was used as a storehouse for State records, and in the middle of the nineteenth century it narrowly escaped becoming an adjunct of the Army Clothing Depart- ment. From this last indignity it was rescued by Queen Victoria, who with the helpful guidance of the Prince Consort restored the ancient edifice to its sacred use ; and though austerely plain and bare, as indeed it was in the Conqueror's days, it has been properly equipped, is again used as a chapel, and is open to worshippers and visitors. This chapel is 551 feet long and 31 feet wide, and consists of a nave and two side aisles. At the east end is the altar before which knelt many a sovereign as well as the Knights of the Bath in their long night vigil. The ceiling, which is arched, is supported by twelve pillars, symbolical of the twelve apostles. The gallery, which is on the same level as the main floor above, known as a triforium, runs round the chapel. It was in this gallery that the Queens and their ladies sat and knelt, whilst Mass was being performed beneath. The rich glass windows which used to adorn the Chapel, from time to time through the centuries, got broken and were THE CHAPELS IN THE TOWER 235 not replaced, but whilst the restoration of Queen Victoria was in progress some broken glass was found, it is not stated where, and this having been very skilfully pieced together has been replaced in some of the windows. Some of these, which are of considerable antiquity, arc sufficiently quaint. One, for instance, represents the Roman soldier dressed in Enghsh armour awaking with horror and surprise to notice that the sepulchre, repre- sented by a stone box with the lid half off, is empty. Another depicts Joshua with one hand on the sun and the other on the moon, holding them still till he has com- pleted the slaying of the Amalekites. Another window, known as the Henry VH window, shows the hawthorn bush in which the King found his crown on the battle- field of Bosworth, with the initials H. R. underneath. Several other windows have the royal escutcheons of different kings, and on one are the initials M. R., being those of the Tudor Queen Mary. The old chapel of St. John, besides being the house of prayer of many kings and queens, has seen many a strange and historic scene. Before the altar was kneehng Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the reign of Richard I, when the rebels with Wat Tyler at their head burst in and dragged him forth to instantaneous execu- tion. Here lay the body of Henry VI, murdered in the Httle oratory in the Wakefield Tower, for one night before it was taken out and exposed at the Cross in Cheapside, that the people might know the King^ was dead. Sir John Brackenbury was engaged in his orisons in this chapel when the messengers came from Richard of Gloucester suggesting that he should connive at the murder of the young Princes in the Bloody Tower. Surrounded by eight hundred tapers set in candlesticks lay in state for two days the dead body of Ehzabeth of Vork, wife of Henry VII, who died in the Tower in child-birth. It was here, perforce, at Queen Mary's bidding, that her sister the Princess Ehzabeth attended Mass. On these stones knelt Lady Jane Grey during her nine days' reign ; and on this spot John Dudley, Duke 236 THE TOWER EROM WITHIN of Northumberland, publicly changed his faith in hopes of saving his head, his example followed by the Earl of Warwick and Sir John Gates. Like St. Peter's on the Green this chapel has seen constant changes in the form of its services. Sometimes the worship has been in accordance with the practice of the Church of Rome, and sometimes with that of the Church of England. Monks and priests have been in possession for a time, and then have been driven forth as outcasts. A turn of the wheel, a few years of affliction, and again their turn came round. And so on through the Middle Ages, till the Church of England was firmly established in these isles. But through all these changes, and lights and shades of tragedy and glory, the old chapel has stood firm and unshaken as the master hand of Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester, fashioned it. Of St. Peter's ad Vincula, Macaulay has written, " In truth there is no sadder spot on earth than this little cemetery " ; and he who visits it will echo with reverence these simple words. Standing on the edge of Tower Green, this chapel is in itself a history and an inspiration. Beneath the flags on which to-day soldiers kneel and pray, lie buried hundreds of the legion of the lost, and blest. Queens and their courtiers, dukes more powerful than kings, great leaders, great statesmen, soldiers, and prelates, last bowed the head and took the cup and eat the bread of sacrament, at these altar rails. Then passing out for a few brief hours, returned again through the bitter portals of the block. The chapel of old was built by Henry I, son of the Conqueror, eight hundred years ago, but the hand of ages, the ravages of fire, the improver and the destroyer, led to its gradual decay. So that the building as we now see it is the work of Edward I, embellished by Henry III, repaired and restored into its present architectural con- dition by Henry VIII. The chestnut beams of the roof, and most of the windows and arches, are therefore of this last period. That the older chapel lay outside the THE CHAPELS IN THE TOWER 237 northern wall of the present structure is indicated ; for the crypt, in which is a very ancient Norman arch, lies there, and the crypt was always built directly beneath a church. The north wall of the present chapel may therefore well have been the south wall of the older building. Queen Anne Boleyn and her brother Lord Rochford are the first recorded as having been buried close to the High Altar, nearly four hundred years ago ; and during those four hundred years many strange things have happened to the narrow spot where so many great people now lie buried. The old chapel, and its tragic history, seems to have been forgotten for generations and centuries at a time, and it remained for Queen Victoria to bring back to memory the historic past. By Her Majesty's command in 1876 a Committee, suitably composed,^ was assembled at the chapel to give its recommendations. The work of this Committee was of great value, not only historically, but in making it im- possible for future interference with this hallowed place. It seems scarcely conceivable to us that through ignorance, certainly in no spirit of vandalism, some nameless iconoclast had in 1750 dug through the bones of Queen Anne Boleyn, and buried Hannah Beresford beneath her. Again in 1816 a rude disturbance of inter- vening sepulture had been made in order to bury Colonel Maclean. As late as 1870 the bones of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, had been accidentally shifted for the interment of Sir John Fox Burgoyne. Such seeming desecration would appear to be incredible, but without doubt the explanation lies in the fact that the bodies of the famous and historic persons were from reasons of pohcy buried " in great obscurity," and thus I The Right Hon. Gerard J. Noel, First Commissioner of Her Majesty's Works ; Mr. A. B. Mitford (afterwards Lord Redesdale) ; Col. G. Bryan Milman, c.b., Resident Governor of the Tower ; The Hon. Spencer Ponsonby Fane, c.b.. Comptroller Lord Chamberlain's Department ; Dr. Frederic J, Mouat, f.r.c'. ; Mr. Doyne C. Bell, Secretary to Her Majesty's Privy Purse. 238 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN HI O vj <^ o »3' 1^ •y . jT^ 3, iS- 'V , "^ a. _ -^ Jj_ tv ''^i /-.-iS ^--ij_ul •^j d p ^J - a t»~^ 5 'i 5;« J «>» < ^ '^ 5^ /:; /S t<; 'fid sr -^ »^^ •ft 5FT3/0 >»^ 0^ 3 JC >o 'ii JC •^" -i- ^' i^ O 3 "^' c^ ^ rj t: ^vi; o \D -^ ^ ^ ^» S P k5 r> By the cuuiteoy of H.M. Office of V.'oiks. THE CHAPELS IN THE TOWER 239 through the lapse of centuries all trace had temporarily- been lost of their places of interment. For long periods indeed St. Peter's ad Vincula and its vicinity had been used as a parish burial ground, and thus hundreds of perfectly worthy, but entirely uninteresting persons, lie buried above and below and on each side of men and women who were landmarks in the great history of England. Out of fifteen celebrated persons, who from historical research it was established had been buried near the high altar, the Committee were only definitely enabled to recognize the remains of seven, and with becoming reticence refrained from committing them- selves to asserting that other small and scattered re- mains belonged to any one historic person. It will therefore be observed that in the present arrangement (see diagram B), only those stones bear inscriptions which commemorate the known remains of certain people, whilst others are left bare, and a general list made on one stone. During their investigations it became evident to the Committee that the whole flooring of the chapel, as well as the chancel, required examination, for owing to shallow or imperfect sepulture the flagstones were in several places sinking. On further examination it became evident that the wisest course was to remove all the remains under the flagstones in the nave, and to collect them in cofiins and re-bury them in the crypt. This was accordingly done, and the flagstones with their inscriptions replaced on a surer foundation. When the pavement within the altar rails was removed by the Committee in 1876, the plan (diagram A), pre- pared with much care and historical research by Mr. Bell, was taken as a basis, and at once proved its correctness. After excavating only two feet at the spot where Queen Anne Boleyn was judged to have been buried, the bones of a female neatly piled together were found, and these had been so placed by those who had centuries later delved a deeper grave for Hannah Bcresford.^ Happily ^ Buried in 1780. ^240 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN t>4 3 C ;> ' -J 5 E 3 * ■£ f 5 : 9 !; t 3 S ^ c Bj the courtesy of H.M. Office of Works. THE CHAPELS IN THE TOWER 24! (See diagram B.) 1. James, Duke of Monmouth. Born 1649. Beheaded on Tower Hill July 15th, 1685. Aged 36 years. 2. Queen Anne Boleyn. Born 1507. Beheaded on the Green within the Tower May 19th, 1536. Aged 29 years. 3. Queen Katherine Howard. Born 1520. Beheaded on the Green within the Tower February 13th, 1542. Aged 22 years. 4. Jane, Viscountess Rochford. Date of birth not known. Beheaded at the same time, and place, as Queen Katherine Howard. 5. Sir Allan Apsley, Lieutenant of the Tower of London. Buried May 24th, 1630. 6. Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, the Lord Protector. Date of birth not known. Beheaded on Tower Hill January 22nd, 1552. 7. Field-Marshal Sir John Fox Burgoyne, Constable of the Tower of London. Born July 24th, 1782. Died October 7th, 1871. Aged 89 years. 8. John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. Born 1502. Beheaded on Tower Hill August 22nd, 1553. Aged 51 years. 9. Margaret Clarence, Countess of SaUsbury. Born 1470. Beheaded on the Green within the Tower May 27th, 1541. Aged 71 years_ ID. Lord Guildford Dudley, husband of Lady Jane Grey, and son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. Date of birth not known. Executed on Tower Hill February 12th, 1554. 11. Lady Jane Grey, the Queen of nine days. Born 1537. Executed on the Green within the Tower February 12th, 1554. Aged 17 years. 12. Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, father of Lady Jane Grey. Date of birth not known. Beheaded on Tower Hill February 22nd, 1554. 13. Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk. Born 1536. Beheaded on Tower Hill June 2nd, 1572. Aged 36 years. 14. PhiHp, Earl of Arundel, only son of the 4th Duke of Norfolk. Born June 28th, 1557. Died a prisoner in the Tower October 19th, 1595. Aged 38 years. 15. Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. Born November loth, 1567. Be- headed on the Green within the Tower February 25th, 1601. Aged 33 years, 16. Sir Thomas Overbury. Born 1581. Died a prisoner in the Tower September 15th, 1613. Aged 32 years. 24^ THE TOWER FROM WITHIN one of the Committee was a scientific surgical expert, Dr. Mouat, who after carefully measuring the bones and skull, came to the conclusion that they were " all con- sistent vnth. the published descriptions of the Queen (Anne Boleyn), and the bones of the skull might well belong to the person portrayed by the painting by Holbein in the collection of the Earl of Warwick." As demonstrating the scientific exactitude of Dr. Mouat, as apart from opinion or bias in any direction, it is interest- ing to note that when the portions of another female skeleton were unearthed, at the spot which might reason- ably have been the burying place of Queen Katherine Howard, Dr. Mouat declared that they " were those of a woman probably forty years of age of larger frame than Katherine Howard." There was little difficulty in establishing the remains of James, Duke of Monmouth, for he lay north and south by himself under the Altar. Close in front of him, and six inches deeper, was found a large male skeleton lying face downwards with the head north-east and the feet south-west, probably disturbed by later interments ; notably that of the notorious Judge Jeffreys, who was buried " by the Duke of Monmouth," but afterwards removed to St. Mary, Aldermanbury. The large skeleton has not yet been identified, but it is judged that he was buried there after the Countess of Salisbury, 1541, and after Sir Allan Apsley, 1630, as the remains of the latter probably, and the former possibly, had been dis- turbed thereby. A broken tobacco pipe of the seven- teenth century, reminiscent of Sir Walter Raleigh, ^ was found close to this body. The remains of those who had been identified were carefully placed together in lead-lined caskets, re-buried, and marked by tablets, as shown in the diagram, within the altar rails. Outside the altar rails is a plain stone giving the names of those buried within the rails, but the exact location of whose bones is not known. The '^ Sir Walter Raleigh was, however, not buried in the Tower but in St. Margaret's, Westminster. THE CHAPELS IN THE TOWER 243 diagram shows the present position of the memorial stones. 1 On a brass tablet fixed to the western wall of the chapel are inscribed the names of thirty-four personages of renown who were executed, or died in the Tower, and were buried in the chapel. Amongst these will be found included those already mentioned, who are buried within the altar rails. The complete list on the brass tablet reads : 1. Gerald Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare a.d. 1534 2. John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester 1535 3. Sir Thomas More 1535 4. George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford 1536 5. Queen Anne Boleyn 153^ 6. Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex _ 1540 7. Margaret of Clarence, Countess of Salisbury 1 541 8. Queen Katherine Howard i54^ 9. Jane, Viscountess Rochford I54^ 10. Thomas, Lord Seymour of Sudeley 1549 11. Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset 1551 12. Sir Ralph Vane I55^ 13. Sir Thomas Arundell 155^ 14. John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland 1553 15. Lord Guildford Dudley 1554- 16. Lady Jane Grey ^554 17. Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk 1554 18. Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk 1572 19. Sir John Perrott 15 9^ 20. PhiHp, Earl of Arundel {a) 15 95 {a) Died and buried in the Tower, but removed to Arundel in 1624. 21. Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex 1601 22. Sir Thomas Ovcrbury (b) 1613 (/?) Poisoned. 23. Thomas, Lord Grey de WiUoii (r) 1614 if) Reprie\ed on the scaffold and died in St. Thoniab' Tower, To^ver of London. ^ It may be noticed that whereas the Committee records that the remains were replaced in the order in which they were found, that is " the two dukes between two queens," the memorial stones are not so placed. 244 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN 24. Sir John Eliot {d) a.d. 1263 {d) Died " not without suspicion of foul play." 25. William, ViscouiTt Stafford 1680 26. Arthur, Earl of Essex ( '^ CuUinan," tut al j.Il on f'ebruaiy loth, 1908. THE JEWEL HOUSE 293 Star of Africa are set, one in the band of the Queen's Crown, and the other in the cross pate on top of the same ; these weigh respectively 96 and 64 carats. At the back of the King's State Crown, in the band, is a large sapphire which in Queen Victoria's Crown held the prominent position now occupied by the Star of Africa. This stone, known as the Stuart sapphire, is 1+ inches in length and i inch in width, and was be- queathed, amongst other Stuart treasures, to George HI by Cardinal York. It was worn in his crown by Charles H, but being the personal property of the Stuarts, appar- ently was bequeathed, or sold away, till it came into the possession of Cardinal York. At one end the stone is pierced, suggesting, as in the case of other jewels, an Oriental origin. It is probably, apart from its historic interest, not of great value, having one very marked flaw in it, whilst the right-hand upper part is clouded. A very fine sapphire which, though not so large, is both historically and intrinsically of greater value than the Stuart sapphire, is the sapphire of St. Edward. This stone is of very line colour and without flaw, and is set clear in the cross-pate on top of the King's State Crown. According to tradition this sapphire was set in the ring of Edward the Confessor, and was buried with him in his shrine at Westminster. It was reputed to have the miraculous power of curing the cramp, which power the owner could use at will. How it was extracted from Edward the Confessor's tomb history does not relate, but to an expert it is apparent that the stone was recut, in its present form of a " rose " sapphire, probably in the time of Charles II. Under the arch of the King's State Crown are pendant four very fine pearls. These magnificent and priceless gems were the ear-rings of Queen Elizabeth ; a Queen as we know from her pictures very partial to pearls, and doubtless a good judge of them. They are as large as small bird's eggs. Henry III, it would appear, appointed the first ofiicial Keeper of the Regalia in 12 16, but the regalia never- 294 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN theless seems to have travelled backwards and forwards from the Tower to Westminster, on several occasions, and sometimes remained at Westminster for prolonged periods. Very possibly this happened after the corona- tions of various kings ; the Regalia would on these occasions have been taken from the Tower to West- minster for the ceremony, and may have subsequently remained there for longer or shorter periods ; the ecclesiastical authorities very possibly thus gently assert- ing their ancient rights to have the custody of these emblems of royalty. It was not apparently till the reign of Henry VIII that the Regaha was permanently located at the Tower, where it remains to this day. The Keeper of the Regaha in ancient days was a personage of considerable dignity and importance, and in times when honesty was less matured than now, had to be of outstanding integrity and loyalty. Indeed so carefully were his rights and privileges guarded, that he alone was entitled to place the crown on the King's head, whenever on any occasion of State he wore it, and likewise he alone was allowed to take it off after- wards. Thus was emphasized the Keeper's sole responsi- bihty for the crown, to the extent of not allowing it out of his personal custody, except when it was actually on the King's head. The Keeper was also by virtue of his ofhce a Privy Councillor, ranked as a Baron, and had his place reserved at the Baron's table. The title borne by this ofhcer has been changed from time to time. In some reigns it was " Master and Treasurer of the Jewel House," in others " Keeper of the Crown Jewels " ; sometimes it has been " Keeper of the Regaha," and at others, as now, " Keeper of the Jewel House." Amongst the earlier Keepers are to be found the Bishop of Carlisle in 1230; John de Flete in 1337, with the wages of twelve pence per diem ; and Robert de Mildenhall in 1347; whilst Henry VIII appointed Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex. During the reign of Edward VI, and through the nine days' assumption of Lady Jane Grey, the Marquis of Winchester was Keeper THE JEWEL HOUSE 295 of the Regalia, for he it was who handed over the royal jewels to that unhappy lady. The Keeper was at that time entitled the Master and Treasurer of the Jewel House, and besides the care of the regalia in the Tower, he had the custody and purchasing of the royal plate. He also had the furnishing of plate to ambassadors and the great officers of State, and appointed the King's jewellers. Accommodation was reserved for him in all the King's houses, and conveyance was supplied for his own household and servants, as well as for the Crown Jewels and plate, whenever the Court moved from one place to another. The salary of the appoint- ment was only ^50 per annum, but there were very valuable perquisites attached to it. Thus the Earl of Essex received ^£300 a year as his share of the New Year's gift money; and about another ;^300 a year came to him as a fee for carrying gifts to ambassadors 1 Also small presents sent to the King were his perquisite ; as well as the purses wherein the lords presented their gold. These purses were of fine workmanship, and probably studded with precious stones, for they were valued at from ^30 to ^40 each.i His table was also supplied free, the allowance of food being fourteen dishes ; with beer, wines, and other liquid refreshment at his pleasure. Plate was allowed him at the rate of twenty-eight ounces of silver gilt yearly. When not living free, he was allowed thirty-eight shillings per diem table money in lieu. These and other privileges, emoluments, and perquisites were en- joyed also by Sir Henry Mildmay, who was Master and Treasurer of the Jewel House during the interregnum. On the restoration of Charles H Sir Henry was, however, attainted for high treason, and Sir Gilbert Talbot was appointed in his place, with the historic Talbot Edwards as his Deputy. The old emoluments of the Master and Treasurer were abolished or transferred to others, but the salary of Sir Gilbert Talbot was fixed at the very handsome figure of ^1,300 per annum. 1 Harleian MSS. 296 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN The crowns and other emblems of royalty having been broken up and sold by the Commonwealth, it was necessary to make a completely new set ; this work being entrusted to the Court Jeweller, Sir Robert Vyner. In design they were to be made as nearly as was possible, with the aid of such drawings and descriptions as existed, replicas of the emblems which had been destroyed. These are they which are nov/ to be seen at the Tower. The regalia, which, from the reign of Henry III until 1644, had been kept in the Jewel House, a two- storied embattled building situated to the south of the White Tower, and which has now disappeared, was in that latter year placed in the Martin Tower. Talbot Edwards, the Deputy Keeper, and his family lived in the upper storeys, whilst the jewels, in an iron cage, were kept in a chamber on the ground floor. In the days of Charles II it was one thing to be assigned an official salary of ^1,300 a year, and quite another to receive it. So found Sir Gilbert Talbot ; but on his representing the matter it was agreed by the King that he should fill this void in his purse by placing the Crown Jewels on exhibition, and charging fees to those who wished to see them. There were no fixed fees, Talbot Edwards the Deputy charging what seemed good unto him, according to the rank and quality of the visitors. After taking his own percentage out of the money thus received the rest was handed on to Sir Gilbert Talbot. There is no record as to how much was annually collected in this vicarious manner. When Sir Gilbert Talbot was about to resign, the profits of this exhibition were, however, considerable, for he was offered 500 crowns by a candidate desirous of succeeding him. Charles II, however, who undoubtedly had a kind heart, refused to allow this, and appointed old Talbot Edwards to the post, as a reward for his part in saving the crown from Colonel Blood's marauding effort. This veteran in his turn was succeeded by his son, known as young Talbot Edwards, a soldier who had served with (iistinction in Flanders, THE JEWEL HOUSE 297 From the time of Charles H, however, the office of Keeper of the Regaha gradually decreased in importance and dignity till 1795, when it again began to emerge from obscurity. Before that date rarely had soldiers been appointed, but with the appointment of Lieutenant- Colonel Charles Wyndham early in the nineteenth century a new era was commenced, and since that time the ap- pointment has invariably been held by officers of the Army.i At first Captains, Majors, and Lieutenant- Colonels held the post, but now for several generations only General Officers have been appointed. The Keeper has an official residence in St. Thomas' Tower on the outer ballium wall of the Tower, and is under the direct orders of the Sovereign, issued through the Lord Chamberlain. He is a member of His Majesty's Household, but is no longer a Privy Councillor, or a Baron, by virtue of his office. Formerly the appointment was apparently for life, but now it is for five years, capable of extension at His Majesty's pleasure. The exhibition of the regalia is entrusted to an old soldier, the official descendant of Talbot Edwards. The Exhibitor, as he is now called, for the past eighteen years has been an old colour-sergeant of the Coldstream Guards, Mr. Charles Webb, who resides in the Martin Tower, as have his predecessors for many centuries. The Exhibitor was at one time a woman, and curiously enough a German. This was Sarah Wernher, the wife or v^dow of the Prince Consort's courier, who held the post for upwards of thirty years, engaging a Warder to perform the actual duties. The above gives a brief description of the Jewel House, and the more interesting portions of the Royal Regalia, all of which can be seen at any time by His Majesty's loyal subjects at the Tower of London. ^ For those more interested in the subject, a very full treatise is being compiled by Mr. Cyril Davenport and the present author. * See Appendix E, ^ poj. complete list see Appendix, XIX THE TOWER IN TRUST Queen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington — Salvln the architect — ^The Victorian restoration — Sir John Taylor — Lord Redes- dale — Sir Bryan Milman — The red brick barrack — Salvin's principles — Postern Row — ^Tower Green — The Bulwark Gate — The I/ion Tower — Outside the Tower — Liberties — A noble inheritance. TO Queen Victoria and the first Duke of Wellington is due a great debt of gratitude by all English-speaking people for initiating the restoration of the Tower of London. It was probably the Duke, when he became Constable, who first drew Her Majesty's attention to the crumbling monument of England's great and glorious past ; where- upon aided by the Prince Consort an extensive scheme was inaugurated, which lasted long after those who planned it had passed away. Fortunate as was the inception, equally so was the selection of the architect, a man of great skill, historic understanding, and sym- pathy. As long as the Tower stands, with it will be coupled the name of Salvin, the designer and part executor of the Victorian restoration. The old fortress had gradually fallen into disrepair and disrepute ; mean and shabby structures blocked its ways, store-houses, and record offices, usurped the decayed palaces of kings. The moat was filled with stagnant unsavoury slime, in which lay the filth of ages. Inside, the Tower was a hotbed of disease, overcrowded and unclean. The soldiers of the garrison were in a bad state of health, and their military efiFiciency threatened by their squalid and unsavoury surroundings. It was this matter which first impressed 298 THE TOWER IN TRUST 299 the Duke of Wellington, and as an initial step towards better conditions he had the moat drained, filled in with six feet or so of rubble, and made into a parade ground for the garrison. When the old armoury was burnt down in 1843 new and sanitary barracks, architecttirally in keeping with the surroundings, were built for the garrison, and named the Waterloo Barracks. Happily, in this mid- Victorian era, those in close con- nection with the Tower in their official position were also imbued with its historic interest. Sir John Taylor, who was an architectural adviser to the Board of Works, cordially supported and assisted in the great revival. Fortunate too was the Board in having on its staff at the time Mr. A. B. Mitford, afterwards Lord Redesdale, who placed not only his world-wide knowledge of archi- tecture and history at the disposal of the nation, but brought to his work the studied enthusiasm of the expert. Fortunately too within the Tower, as Major and Resident Governor, was Colonel, afterwards Sir Bryan, Milman, who heartily supported and took an active part in the work of restoration. Under Sir John Taylor's directions, and the designs of Salvin, the half-ruined walls and lesser towers were repaired or reconstructed, so that gradually the old fortress assumed much of its old appearance. The ancient chapel of St. John, which had become a store- house for records, was purged and repaired and again appears much as it did when knights of old watched their armour all night. St. Peter's was refloored and re- arranged, whilst the bones of the mighty dead that lay beneath were decently disposed. For wellnigh eighty years the work has been going gradually on, and it remains for a new age and a new reign to complete the task so ably and understandingly commenced by Queen Victoria. Nor compared with what has been accomplished does much remain. As many a writer and every observer notices, when he passes through the ancient and massive archway beneath the Bloody Tower, one is confronted by a high 300 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN modern red brick building, which blots out everything, even the great White Tov^er. This is a barrack built not very long ago and probably with admirable intention. Salvin laid it down as a general principle that whilst the ballium walls and towers and turrets should follow the castellated style of the earhest days, the buildings wdthin the fortress might most suitably be in the Tudor style as is the King's House, and he mentions the old houses in the city of Chester as a model. There are without doubt red brick Tudor houses in England, having much the architectural appearance of this barrack, but its misfortune here is that it is too big for the site, and blocks a fine approach. In the view of the Tower dated 1597 there are certainly buildings shown on this same site, including the Cold Harbour Tower, which might very fitly be rebuilt. There would perhaps be few dissentient voices if this were done ; thus not only removing a building which is out of keeping with its surroundings, but opening up a view of the White Tower, the central attraction of the fortress, in a very striking manner. If this proposal were decided upon, it is probable other sites within the fortress could be found where barracks in the Tudor style would provide the accom- modation thus lost. An alternative has, however, been suggested, which is to build the required accommodation outside the Tower where Postern Row now stands. This is a somewhat mean row of houses, which probably could be acquired at no great cost, and in their place could be erected barracks architecturally in keeping with the Tower. Tower Green of historic fame has within the last few generations been paved over with cobble-stones, and some approve of this innovation, whilst others consider that this space should be grassed over again, and a portion of it, as of old, made into the Lieutenant's garden. If the aim, as probably it is, is to conserve as far as possible ancient traditions, then it would seem that Tower Green should become a green again. THE TOWER IN TRUST 301 Before the war, plans were being matured for making a somewhat more dignified entrance to the Tower than is afforded by a wooden pahsade. It may be assumed that in due course these plans will be revived, and that a replica of the old Bulwark Gate, where prisoners were handed over to the Sheriffs for execution, may be erected in its place. There is a proposal too that the old Lion Tower, between the Bulwark Gate and the Middle Tower, should be re-erected, and the circular ditch round the western side of the Middle Tower again excavated. These works would bring back the entrance to the Tower to the condition and appearance it bore in the plan of 1597. It has been suggested by one authority that historic rooms like the Council Chamber in the " King's House " and the oratory in St. Thomas' Tower, should be restored to their exact former condition and furnished as they were at their most historic periods, and that they should thus be maintained in ferfetuum. Some too are in favour of building free quarters for a certain number of the Warders outside the Tower ; thus not only giving them better accommodation than they enjoy at present in mediaeval towers and gate-houses, but enlarging the opportunities of inspection to those interested in ancient buildings. Outside the boundary of the Tower Liberties, to the west, stands a massive square block of brick warehouses, which not only completely overshadows the Tower, but shuts off the ancient and very interesting church of All Hallows Barking. If this block of warehouses were removed, by the courtesy and kindly consent of the owners, the surroundings of the Tower would be greatly improved. Possibly this project may form a portion of the general scheme for the improvement and beautifying of the capital of the Empire ; and assuredly nowhere could such an improvement be more suitably effected than in connection with London's most historic monu- ment. It has further been suggested that the site thus cleared might be used for erecting a plain and simple 302 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN colunan, to commemorate for all time the heroism of the men and women of the Empire who have laid down their lives in the Great War, fighting the same great fight for freedom which has been the English watchword. In the course of ages, old ceremonies and customs are liable to gradually die away and become forgotten ; till a periodical awakening occurs, and after much research they are restored. The rebuilding of walls and parapets and turrets gives the material touch, but for complete restoration the human element cannot be neglected. A modern policeman's uniform, for instance, is not much in keeping with the surroundings, and as police are necessary it would in no way detract from their value if they were dressed as Yeomen Warders whilst on duty in the Tower. The Tower of London is a noble inheritance, built with the stone of ages and watered with the blood of England's noblest sons, and daughters. Monarchs of old built it, and dying passed on their heritage ; sorrow and mourning bowed it low ; decay and neglect laid their heavy hand on it ; till there came the day of a great Queen, and the Tower raised again her hoary head. Kings may come and kings may go, but the people of England die not. The Tower is their inheritance, the trust of ages, and them it behoves, loyally under their Sovereign, to continue to maintain the old fortress with its customs and ceremonies, as they have been handed down through the long centuries. Si < H APPENDIX A CONSTABLES OF THE TOWER FROM THE REIGN OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO THE REIGN OF GEORGE V 1. Geoffrey de Mandevillc, appointed by William the Con- queror, about 1078. 2. William de Mandeville, son of above, in the reigns of William II and Henry I. 3. Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, son of above, in the reign of Stephen, 1140. Resigned after three years. (There is no record of Constables betw^een 11 43 and 115 3.) 4. Richard de Lacy, in the reign of Stephen, 1153. 5. Garnerius de Isenei, in the reign of Henry II. 6. Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the reign of Henry II, about 1162. 7. William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, in the reign of Richard I, 11 89. 8. Walter de Coutances, Archbishop of Rouen, in the reign of Richard I, 1192. 9. Roger Fitz Ren f red. ID. Roger de la Dane, in the reign of King John. 11. Geoffrey de Mandeville, great grandson of the first Con- stable, in the reign of King John. 12. Eustace de GreinviUe, in the reign of King John. 13. Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, present at the signing of the Great Charter by King John. 14. Walter de Verdun, in the reign of Henry HI. 15. Stephen de Segrave, do. do. 16. Hugh de Wyndlesorc, do. do. 17. Randulph, Bishop of Norwich, in the reign of Henry Hi. 18. John de Boville, in the reign of Henry HI. 19. Thomas de Blunvill, do. do. 20. Thomas Fitz Archer, do. do. 21. Ralph de Gatel, do. do. 22. Hubert de Burgh, a distinguished soldier and statesman, 1232, in the reign of Henry HI. 303 304 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN 23. W. de St. Edmund, in the reign of Henry III. 24. Geoffrey de Crancumb, do. do. 25. Hugh Giffard, 1236, do. do. 26. William, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bertram de Crioyl, in joint charge, in the reign of Henry HI. 27. Peter de Vallibus, in the reign of Henry III. 28. John de Plessitus, do. do. 29. Peter de Blund, do. do. 30. Aymon Thorimberg, do. do. 31. Imbert Pugeys, do. do. 32. Richard de Culworth, do. do. 33. Richard de Tilbury, do. do. 34. Hugh de Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, 1258, in the reign of Henry III. 35. John Mansel, 1261, in the reign of Henry III. 36. Hugh leDespenser, 1262, do. do. 37. Roger deLeyburn, 1264, do. do. 38. Hugh FitzOtho, 1264, do. do. 39. Hugh Walerand, John de la Lind, jointly, 1265, in the reign of Henry HI. 40. John de la Lind, 1265, in the reign of Henry HI. 41. Alan la Zouch had also the custody of the city as well as the Tower, 1266, in the reign of Henry HI. 42. Thomas de Ippegrave, 1 267, in the reign of Henry III. 43. Stephen deEddeviUe, 1267, do. do. 44. Hugh FitzOtho, 1268, do. do.^ 45. Walter, Archbishop of York, 1272, in the reign of Edward I. 46. John de Burgh, 1273, in the reign of Edward I. 47. Philip Basset, 1273, do. do. 48. Anthony of Bek, Bishop of Durham, 1274, in the reign of Edward I. 49. Ranulph de Dacre, 1283, in the reign of Edward I. 50. Ralph de Sandwich, 1286, do. do. 51. Ralph de Berners, 1289, do. do. 52. Ralph de Sandwich II, 1289, do. do. 53. John de Crumwell, 1289, do. do. 54. Guy Frere, 1320, do. Edward II 55. Roger de Sywnnertcn, 1321, do. do. 56. Stephen de Segrave, 1322, do. do. 57. Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter, 1323, in the reign of Edward II. * It will be noted that no less than thirty Constables were appointed during the fifty-six years of the reign of Henry III. • APPENDICES 305 58. John de Weston, 1323, in the reign of Edward II. 59. John de Gisors, 1326, do. do. 60. Thomas de Wake, 1326, do. do. 61. Richard de Bretaigne, 1326, do. do. 62. Maurice de Berkeley, 1327, do. Edward III 63. WiUiam La Zouche, 1327, do. do. 64. John de Crumwell, 1329, do. do. 65. WilHam de Monte Acuto, 1335, do. do. 66. Nicholas de la Beche, 1335, do. do. 67. Robert de Datton, 1341, do. do. 68. John Darcy, 1346, do. do. 69. John Darcy, son of above, 1347, do. do. 70. Bartholomew deBurghersh, 1355, do. 71. Robert de Morley, 1355, do. * do. 72. John de Beauchamp, 1360, do. do. 73. Richard de la Vache, 1361 do. do. 74. Alan Buxhill, 1365, in the reigns of Edward III and Richard II. 75. Sir Thomas Murrieux, 1 381, in the reign of Richard II. 76. Edward, Earl of Rutland, 1 391, do. do. 77. Ralph de Nevill, 1397, do. do. 78. Edward, Duke of Albemarle, 1397, do. do. 79. Thomas de Rempston, 1397, was drowned whilst passing under London Bridge, in the reign of Richard II. 80. Edward, Duke of York, 1407, killed at the battle of Agin- court, in the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV. 81. Robert de Morley, 141 3, in the reign of Henry V. 82. John Dabrichcourt, 141 3, do. do. 83. SirWilliamBourghchier, Kt., 1415, do. 84. Sir Roger Aston, Kt., 1420, do. do. 85. John Holland, Duke of Exeter, 1446, in the reign of Henry VI. 86. James Fienes, Lord Say, 1446, in the reign of Henry VI. 87. John, Lord Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, 1461, in the reign of Edward \V . 88. John, Lord Dudley, 1473, in the reign of Edward IV. 89. Richard, Lord Dacre, 1473, do. do. 90. John Howard, Lord Howard, 1478, do. 91. Marquis of Dorset, do. do. 92. Sir Robert Brackenbury, 1483, killed at the battle of Bos- worth Field, in the reign of Richard HI. 93. John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, 1485, also Keeper of the Lions at the Tower, in the reign of Henry VII. 3o6 THE TOWER EROM WITHIN 94. Sir Thomas Lovel, 1509, in the reign of Henry VIII. 95. Sir William Kingston, Kt., 1524, attended Queen Anne Boleyn to the scaffold, in the reign of Henry VIII. 96. Sir John Gage, 1540, in the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Queen Mary. 97. Lord Chnton, 1553, during Lady Jane Grey's brief reign. 98. Sir Edward Bray, Kt., 1556, in the reign of Queen Mary. 99. Sir Robert Oxenbridge, 1557, do. do. (There are no Constables recorded in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.) 100. Lord Howard de Walden, in the reign of James I. loi. Lord Cottington, 1640-47, in the reign of Charles I, when the Earl of Stafford was executed. 102. General Sir Thomas Fairfax, 1649, under the Common- wealth. 103. Sir John Robinson, 1660, appointed by Charles II on his restoration, it is not clear whether as Constable or Lieutenant. He apparently performed the duties of both. 104. James, Earl of Northampton, 1674, iu the reign of Charles II. 105. Lord Allington, 1679, in the reign of Charles II. 106. George, Lord Dartmouth, 1684, in the reigns of Charles II and James II. 107. Lord Lucas, 1688, in the reign of Wilham and Mary. 108. Montague, Earl of Abingdon, 1702, in the reign of Queen Anne. 109. Lieut.-General Algernon, Earl of Essex, 4th Dragoons, 1707, in the reign of Queen Anne. no. Lieut.-General, Richard, Earl of Rivers, 3rd Horse, 1710, in the reign of Queen Anne. 111. George, Earl of Northampton, 1712, in the reign of Queen Anne. 112. Charles, Earl of CarHsle, 1715, in the reign of George I. 113. Henry, Earl of Lincoln, 1724, do. do. 114. Lieut.-General, Charles, Duke of Bolton, 1724, in the reign of George I. 115. Henry Lord, Viscount Lonsdale, 1726, in the reign of George I. 116. John, Earl of Leicester, 1731, in the reign of George II. 117. General, Charles, Lord CornwaUis, 1741-62, in the reigns of George II and George III. In the reign of Queen Victoria. APPENDICES 307 118. Lord Berkeley, 1762-70, in the reign of George III. 119. Charles, Earl CornwaUis, 1770, do. do. 120. Lieut.-General Lord George Henry Lennox, 1783, in the reign of George III. 121. General the Marquis Cornwallis, 1785, in the reign of George III. 122. General Francis, Earl of Moira and Marquis of Hastings, 1806-26, in the reigns of George III and George IV. 123. Field-Marshal the Duke of WeUington, 1826-52, in the reigns of George IV, William IV, and Queen Victoria. 124. Field-Marshal Viscount Combermere, 1852-65. ^ 125. Field-Marshal Sir John Fox Burgoyne, 1865-71. 126. Field-Marshal Sir George Pollock, 1871-72. 127. Field-Marshal Sir William Gomm, 1872-75. 128. Field-Marshal Sir Charles Yorke, 1875-81. 129. General Sir Frederick Williams, 1881. 130. General Sir Richard Dacres, 1881-87. 131. Field-Marshal Lord Napier of Magdala, 1887-90. 132. General Sir Daniel Lysons, 1890-98. 133. General Sir Frederick Stephenson, 1 898-1 911, in the reigns of Queen Victoria and Edward VII. 134. Field-Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood, 191 1, in the reign of George V. APPENDIX B LIEUTENANTS OF THE TOWER 1. Giles de Oudenarde, 1274, in the reign of Edward I.^ 2. Ralph Bavant, about 1331, in the reign of Edward III. 3. Sir Richard Cholmondeley, Kt., 1513-34, in the reign of Henry VIII. 4. Sir Leonard Skeffington, Kt., 1534, introduced the "Scaven- ger's Daughter," in the reign of Henry VIII. 5. Sir Edward Walsingham, in the reign of Henry VIII. 6. Sir William Sidney, do. do. 7. Sir A. Knyvett, Kt., 1546, do. do. 1 There were probably Lieutenants before this date, but no records of them can be found. 3o8 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN 8. Sir John Murcham, in the reign of Edward VI. 9. Sir Arthur Davey, do. do. 10. SirEdward Warner, Kt., 1552, do. do. 11. Sir Owen Hopton, Kt., 1553, in the reign of Queen Mary. 12. Sir John Brydges, Kt., 1553, present at execution of Lady Jane Grey, in the reign of Queen Mary. 13. Sir Thomas Brydges, Kt., 1554, brother of above, in the reign of Queen Mary. 14. Sir — Bomfield, in the reign of Queen Mary. 15. Sir Robert Oxenbridge, do. do. 16. Sir Edward Warner, in the reign of Queen EHzabeth. 17. Sir Richard Blount, Kt., 1558-64, in the reign of Queen EHzabeth. 18. Sir Francis Jobson, in the reign of Queen EHzabeth. 19. Sir Owen Hopton, 1585, in the reign of Queen EHzabeth. 20. Sir Michael Blount, Kt., 1588-92 (son of Sir Richard), in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 21. Sir Drut(?) Drury, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 22. Sir Richard Barkley, do. do. 23. Sir John Peyton, 1603, in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and James I. 24. Sir George Harvey, 1603-05, in the reign of James I. 25. Sir William Waad, 1605-13, do. do. 26. Sir Gervase Helwyss, 161 3-1 5, do. do. 27. Sir George More, 1615-17, do. do. 28. Sir AUan Apsley, Kt. 1617-30, in the reigns of James I and Charles I. (Interval during which the Gentleman Porter carried on the duties of the Lieutenant.) 29. Sir William Balfour, 1631-41, in the reign of Charles I. 30. Colonel Sir Thomas Lunsford, 1641, do. do. 31. Sir John Bivan, do. do. 32. Sir John Conyers, 1642, Parliamentarian, in the reign of Charles I. 33. Sir Isaac Pennington, 1643, Parliamentarian, in the reign of Charles I. (An interval of 17 years.) 34. Sir John Robinson, 1660-79 (^^^° acted as Constable, and was Lord Mayor of London, 1662-63), in the reign of Charles II. 35. Captain Thomas Cheek, 1679-85 (was Lieutenant in 1683 when the Earl of Essex was murdered, or committed suicide), in the reign of Charles II. APPENDICES 309 36. Sir Edward Hales, 1685-88, in the reign of James II. 37. Sir Bevil Skelton, 1688, do. do. (After Sir Bevil Skelton the actual appointment of a separate Lieutenant seems to have been in abeyance for some years. In the Tower records during this period Lord Lucas is shown as both Constable and Lieutenant, and Lieut.-Colonel John Fare- well is shown both as Lieutenant and Deputy-Lieutenant.) 38. Charles Churchill, Esq., in the reign of Queen Anne. 39. Brigadier-General Cottingham, do. do. 40. Lieut.-General William Cadogan, 1709-15, in the reign of Queen Anne and George I. 41. Lieut.-General Hatton Compton, 1715-41, in the reigns of George I and George II. 42. Lord Henry Paulet, 1742-54, in the reign of George II. 43. Charles, Marquis of Winchester, 1754-60, in the reign of George II. 44. George Paulet, Esq., 1760-63, in the reign of George III. 45. Lieut.-General Vernon, 1763-18 10, do. do. 46. Lieut.-General Loftus, 1810-1831, in the reigns of George III and George IV. 47. Colonel George, Earl of Munster, 1831-33, in the reign of William IV. 48. Lieut.-General Sullivan Wood, 1833-185 1, in the reigns of William IV and Queen Victoria. 49. Major-General Sir G. Bowles, 1851-76, in the reign of Queen Victoria. 50. Lieut.-General Charles L. Maitland, 1876-84, in the reign of Queen Victoria. 51. Lieut.-General Lord Chelmsford, 1884-89, in the reign of Queen Victoria. 52. Lieut.-General Sir George Higginson, 1889-93, in the reign of Queen Victoria. 53. Lieut.-General Hugh Rowlands, 1893-94, in the reign of Queen Victoria. 54. Lieut.-General John Dunne, 1894-97, in the reign of Queen Victoria. 55. Lieut.-General Sir Godfrey Clerk, 1897-1900, in the reign of Queen Victoria. 56. Lieut.-General Sir William Stirling, 1900-02, in the reigns of Queen Victoria and Edward VII. 57. Lieut.-General Lord William Seymour, 1902-05, in the reign of Edward VII. 310 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN 58. Lieut.-General Sir George Luck, 1905-07, in the reign of Edward VII. 59. Lieut.-General Sir Robert MacGregor Stewart, 1907-09, in the reign of Edward VII. 60. Lieut.-General Sir Henry Grant, 1909-12, in the reigns of Edward VII and George V. 61. Lieut.-General the Hon. Sir Frederick Stop ford, 191 2-1 7, in the reign of George V. 62. General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, 191 7, in the reign of George V. 63. General Sir Ian Hamilton, 1918, in the reign of George V. APPENDIX C DEPUTY-LIEUTENANTS, OR LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS, OF THE TOWER 1. Lieut.-Colonel John Farewell, 1 689-1 709 (this officer appears also to have been Lieutenant of the Tower under Lord Lucas), in the reigns of Wilham and Mary, and Queen Anne. 2. Colonel James Pendlebury, 1709-15, in the reigns of Queen Anne and George I. 3. Colonel Robert D'Oyly, 1715-22,^ in the reign of George I. 4. Colonel Williamson, 1722-49, in the reigns of George I and George II. 5. Colonel Richard White, 1749-50, in the reign of George II. 6. Colonel Charles Rainsforth, 1750-78,1 in the reigns of George II and George III. 7. Colonel John Gore, 1778-88, in the reign of George III. 8. Colonel John Gale, 1788-94, do. do. 9. Colonel Yorke, 1 794-1 826, in the reigns of George III and George IV, 10. Colonel Francis H. Doyle, 1826-39, in the reigns of George IV, William IV, and Queen Victoria. 11. Lieut.-Colonel John Gurwood, 1839-45, in the reign of Queen Victoria. 12. Colonel the Hon. G. Cathcart, 1846-52, in the reign of Queen Victoria. 13. Colonel Lord de Ros, 1852. (After Lord de Ros there have been no Deputy-Lieutenants, or Lieutenant-Governors.) 1 Previously Major of the Tower. APPENDICES 311 APPENDIX D MAJORS OF THE TOWER 1. Major Thomas Hawley, 1690-97, in the reign of William and Mary. 2. Major Marmaduke Soull, 1697-1709, in the reigns of WilHam III and Queen Anne, 3. Major Robert D'Oyly (later a Deputy-Governor), 1709-15, in the reigns of Queen Anne and George I. 4. Major Joseph Mason, 1715-24, in the reign of George I. 5. Major Richard White, 1724-39, in the reigns of George I and George II. (There is a break here of ten years, during which possibly the Deputy-Governor performed both duties.) 6. Major Charles Rainsford (later a Deputy-Governor), 1749-50, in the reign of George II. 7. Major Charles H. Colhns, 1750-71, in the reigns of George II and George III. (There is a break here of seven years, during which possibly the Deputy-Governor performed both duties.) 8. Major John Parr, 1778-82, in the reign of George HI. 9. Major John Shrimpton, 1782-88, do. do. 10. Major Lloyd Hill, 1788-93, do. do. 11. Colonel Matthew^ Smith, 1793-18 12, do. do. 12. Lieut.-Colonel Maclean, 181 2-16, do. do. 73. Major, later Colonel, J. H. Elrington, 1816-57, in the reigns of George HI, George IV, William IV, and Queen Victoria. 14. Lieut.-Colonel F. C. Whimper, 1857-70, in the reign of Queen Victoria. 15. Colonel (later Lieut.-General) Sir G. Bryan Milman, 1870- 1909, in the reigns of Queen Victoria and Edward VII. 16. Major-General H. Pipon, 1909 (present holder), in the reign of Edward VIT. Major and Resident-Governor. 312 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN APPENDIX E KEEPERS OF THE REGALIA^ 1. Abbot and Monks of Westminster, 1042-66, in the reign of Edward the Confessor. 2. First official Keeper of the Regalia, 1216, in the reign of Henry III. 3. Bishop of Carlisle, 1230, in the reign of Henry III. 4. John de Flete, 1337, in the reign of Edward HI. 5. Robert deMildenhall, 1347, do. do. 6. Thomas Chitterne, 1418, in the reign of Henry VI. 7. Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, in the reign of Henry VIII. 8. Marquis of Winchester, 1553, in the reign of Edward VI. 9. Sir Henry Mildmay, interregnum. ID. Sir Gilbert Talbot, 1660, in the reign of Charles II. 11. Talbot Edwards, Assistant Keeper in the reigns of Charles II and James II, died 1674. 12. Talbot Edwards (son of above), died 1719, in the reigns of WiUiam III and Queen Anne. (No recorded names of Keepers for 100 years.) 13. Lieut.-Colonel Charles Wyndham, 1850 (?) to 1872, in the reign of Queen Victoria. 14. Colonel John Cox Cawler, in the reign of Queen Victoria. 15. Captain Arthur John Loftus, in the reign of Queen Victoria. 16. Lieut.-General George Dean-Pitt, 1882-3, in the reign of Queen Victoria. 17. Lieut.-General Sir Michael Biddulph, in the reign of Queen Victoria. 18. Lieut.-General Sir Frederick Middleton, to 1898, in the reign of Queen Victoria. 19. General Sir Hugh Gough, from 1898 to 1909, in the reigns of Queen Victoria and Edward VII. 20. Lieut.-General Sir Robert Low, from 1909 to 1911, in the reigns of Edward VII and George V. 21. General Sir Arthur Wynne, 1911 to 191 7, in the reign of George V. 22. Major-General Sir George Younghusband (present holder), 1 91 7, in the reign of George V. 1 Named at various periods " Master and Treasurer of the Jewel House," " Keeper of the Crown Jewels," " Keeper of the Regalia," now named *' Keeper of the Jewel House." APPENDICES 313 APPENDIX F LIST OF THE REGALIA IN rHE KlilGN OF GKORG?: V I. Crowns, Coronets, and Diadems : — (i) King Edward the Confessor's Crown. (2) The Imperial State Crown. (3) The Imperial Indian Crown. (4) Crown of Queen Mary of Modena. (5) Crown of Queen Mary, Consort of King George V. (6) Diadem of Queen Mary of Modena. (7) Crown of the Prince of Wales. II. Sceptres and Rods : — (i) The King's Royal Sceptre, (2) The King's Sceptre with the Dove, or Rod of Equity. (3) The Queen's Sceptre with the Cross. (4) The Queen's Sceptre with the Ivory Dove. (5) James I's Sceptre with the Dove. (6) St. Edward's Staff. III. Orbs:— (i) The King's Orb. (2) The Queen's Orb. IV. Swords : — (i) The King's Jewelled State Sword. (2) The King's Sword of State. (3) The Sword Spiritual. (4) The Sword Temporal. (5) Curtana, or the Sword of Mercy. V. Spurs and Bracelets : — (i) St. George's gold spurs. (2) Gold bracelets. 314 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN VI. Maces : — (i) Charles II. (2) do. (3) James IT. (4) do. (5) William and M.axj. (6) do. (7) do. (8) George I. VII. Ecclesiastical Plate : — (i) The Ampulla. (2) The Anointing Spoon. (3) The Royal Baptismal Font. (4) Alms Dish. (5) Flagon. VIII. State Trumpets and Banners : — (i) Fifteen State Trumpets. (2) Twenty Bannerets. IX. Royal Plate :— (i) Queen Ehzabeth's Salt -Cellar. (2) King Charles IPs Salt Cellar. (State Cellar.) (3) do. (4) do. (5) do. (6) do. (7) do. (8) do. (9) do. (10) do. (II) do. (12) do. (13) do. (14) Kmg Charles IPs Wine Fountain (15) Twelve Salt Spoons. (16) Two Tankards (George IVO. APPENDICES 315 X. Other Plate and Valuables : — (i) The Maundy Dish. (2) King George IV's Monde. (3) Model of Koh-i-Nur Diamond with original setting. (4) Model of Cullinan Diamond as found. (5) Steel hammer and chisel, used in cutting the Cullinan Diamond. XI. Insignia of Orders : — (0 Order of the Garter. (2) do. Thistle. (3) do. St. Patrick. (4) Order of Merit (Civil and Military). (5) Order of the Bath. (6) do. Star of India. (7) do. St. Michael and St. George (8) do. Indian Empire. (9) Royal Victorian Order. (10) Order of the British Empire. (II) Imperial Order of the Crown of India. (12) Royal Red Cross. XII. Decorations for Valour : — (i) Victoria Cross (Naval). (2) Victoria Cross (Military). (3) Distinguished Service Order (Naval and Military). (4) MiHtary Cross (Military). (5) Distinguished Service Cross (Naval). (6) Conspicuous Gallantry Medal (Naval). (7) Distinguished Conduct Medal (Military). (8) Distinguished Service Medal (Naval). (9) Military Medal (Military). INDEX Abel, Dr. Thomas, 30 Apsley, Sir Allan, Lieutenant of Tower, 64, 69, 178, 242, 253 Aragon, Katherine of, 42 Arden, John, 225 Arundel, PhiHp Howard, Earl of, 27,67, 151, 153,252 Askew, Anne, 226, 227 B Bailiff, Thomas, 17, 18 Bailly, Charles, 28, 29, 67 Bainbridge, R., 28 Baldwin, Sir John, 125, 126 Balmerino, Arthur Elphinstone, Lord, 86-91, 245, 255 Bavant, Ralph, Lieutenant of Tower, 63 Becket, Thomas a, Archbishop of Canterbury and Constable of Tower, 33, 55, 56 Bedingfield, Sir Henry, 80 Berkley, Sir Richard, 193 Beresford, Hannah, 237, 239, 248 Blood, Colonel, 37, 249, 278-280, 287 Blount, Sir Richard, Lieutenant of Tower, 29, 6"], 246 Blount, Sir Michael, Lieutenant of Tower, kf, 246 Boleyn, Anne — Burial place of, 24, 120, 143, 237, 239 Charges against, 124-126 Description of, 121-123 Boleyn, Anne — Execution of, 132-136 Last days of, 131, 132 Letter to Henry VHI, 127-129 Passed through Traitor's Gate, 6, 127 And Sir Thomas Wyat, 81 Trial of, 11, 130, 131 Boleyn, George, Viscount Roch- ford, brother to Anne Boleyn, 37, 125, 140, 237 Brackenbury, Sir Robert, Con- stable of Tower, 15, 16, 53, 235 Bridlington, Prior of, 29 Bruce, Rev. J. Bowes, 78 Brydges, Sir John, Lieutenant of Tower, 66, d"], 79, 153, 166 Buhner, Sir John, 29, 30 Bulmer, Sir Ralph, 29, 30 Bulmer, Sir William, 29, 30 Burgoyne, Sir John Fox, Constable of Tower, 59, 60, 237, 249 Burley, Sir Simon de, 92 Carew, Sir George, 170, 171 Casement, Roger, 215, 216 Charles I, 21, 232 Charles H, 181, 182, 245 Cheek, Captain Tom, Lieutenant of Tower, 70, 214 Cholmondeley, Sir Richard, Lieu- tenant of Tower, 65, dd, 246 Clarence, George, Duke of, 38, 39 Clarke, Thomas, 30, 31 317 3i8 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Clinton, Lord, Constable of Tower, 158 Cobham, Lord, 68, 207 Coventry, Sir William, 39 Cranmer, Archbishop of Canter- bury, 16, 17, 66, 134, 137, 138,161 Crespigny, Sir Claude Champion de, 284 Cromarty, George, Earl of, 86, Cullinan diamoiul or St;ir of Africa, 291-293 D Daniell, John, 40 Darnley, Henry Stuart, Earl of, 83, 84 Derwentwater, Lord, 84, 85 Devonshire, Edward Courtenay, Earl of, 79 Dighton, John, murderer of two young Princes, 16 Dorset, Earl of, 196 Douglas, Lady Margaret, 83, 84, 213 Drake, Sir Francis, 191 Draper, Hugh, 41 Dudley, Lord Guildford, 27, 66, 151, 158, 159, 161, 163-165 Dundas, Major-General J. D., 47 Dunlop-Smith, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John, 287, 288 Dunraven, Lord, 14 Edward I, 3, 236 Edward H, 43 Edward V, 15, 16 Edward VI, 43, 144-151, 157 Edward VH, 280, 284, 287 Edwards, Talbot, 248, 249, 253, 278, 295-297 Edwards, Talbot, Junior, 255, 279 Eliot, Sir John, 21 Elizabeth, Queen — Clemency to Sir John Perrott, 251 Committed to Tower, 6"], 78-80 Constrained to attend Mass in Chapel of St. John, 235 And Earl of Essex, 190-201 Enters Tower to be crowned, 81 And 4th Duke of Norfolk, 204, 205 And Lady Arabella Stuart, 208 Released from Tower, 80 And Sir Walter Raleigh, 170-172 Her wrath with Lady Katherine Grey, 82, 83 Essex, Earl of, 19 Essex, Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of, third Constable of Tower, 52, 54, 214 Essex, Thomas Cromwell, Earl of, 127, 133, 214, 294 Essex, Robert Devereux, Earl of — Commands expedition to France, 191, 192 Committed to Tower, 196 Disgrace of, 193 Early days of, 190 Execution of, 199-201 Favoured by Queen Elizabeth, 190 Forsakes Irish post without leave, 192, 193 Governor of Ireland, 192 Imprisoned in Develin Tower, 36 Marriage of, 191 Plots against Queen Elizabeth, 194-196 Quarrel with Lord Grey de Wilton, 206 Trial of, 196, 197 Essex, Arthur Capel, Earl of, 14, 70, 214, 215, 254 Essex, Frances Howard, Countess of, later Countess of Somerset, 19-21, 215 Exeter, John Holland, 4th Duke of, 52,218 INDEX 319 Fawkes, Guy, 9, 69, 75, 228-230 Felton, John, murderer of Duke of Buckingham, 22, 231, 232 Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, 78 Fitzgerald, Thomas, 32 Forest, Miles, murderer of two young Princes, 15 Fountains, Abbot of, 29, 30 Foxley, William, 251 Franklin, chemi«!t, 20, 2T Gage, Sir John, Constable of Tower, 33, 79, 80, 153 Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, 80, 153 Gates, Sir John, 154, 236 George II, 86 George V, 94, 281, 287 Gerard, Father, 222-225 Gerard, Mr., late American Am- bassador in Berlin, 215 Grenfell, Field-Marshal, T.ord, 47 Grey, Lady Jane — Execution of, 165-168 Imprisonment of, 159-165 liodged in Gaoler's quarters, 14, 27, 159-161 Marriage of, 151 Passed through Traitor's Gate, 6 Reign of, 158 Relatives of, 157, 158 Trial of, 161, 162 Grey, Lady Katherine, 82, 83 Grey de Wark, Lord, 182, 184, 185 Grey de Wilton, Lord, 34, 39, 47, 205-208, 253 Griffin, Lord Edward, 255 Grove, Edward, 103 Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester, 2, 236 Gurwood, Colonel John, 247 Gyfford, G., 28 H Hales, Sir Edward, Lieutenant of Tower, 70 Harvey, Sir George, Lieutenant of Tower, 68, 175, 176 Hatton, Sir Christopher, 17, 67 Helwyss, Sir Gervase, Lieutenant of Tower, 19-2 T, 69, 230 Henry I, 43, 236 Henry II, 55, 56 Henry III, 3, 33, 42, 55, 57, 236, 256, 274 Henry IV, 107 Henry V, 273, 274 Henry VI, 32, 36, 235, 274 Henry VII, 273 Henry VIII— And Anne Boleyn, 122-136 Built " King's House " at Tower, 53 Confiscates treasure at tomb of Thomas a Becket, 56 Fifth marriage of, 136 Firm believer in torture, 218, 227 And Katherine Howard, 138-142 Leniency to Anne Askew, 227 Restored St. Peter's ad Vincula, 236 Henry Prince of Wales, son of James I, 175, 206, 262 Heriot, astronomer, 37 Hertford, Lord, 82 Hilton, Miss, 85 Hopton, Sir Owen, Lieutenant of Tower, 18, 67 Howard, Katherine, 6, 12, 24, 120, 136-141, 143 Howard, Lord Thomas, 83 Howard de Walden, Thomas, Lord, Constable of Tower, 197, 199 J James I, 75, 173, 176-178, 208, 209, 275 James II, 23, 38, 182, 184 320 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Jeffreys, Chief Justice, 23, 24, 242, 254 Jervaulx, Abbot of, 29, 30 John, King, 57 Johnson, Otvvell, 140, 141 JuUus Caesar, 3 K Kenmure, Lord, 84, 85 Kildare, Earl of, 32 Kilmarnock, WiUiam Boyd, Earl of, 86-91,245,255 Kingston, Sir William, Constable c f Tower, 130-133 Knyvett, Sir A., Lieutenant of Tower, 226, 227 Koh-i-nur diamond, 288-291 Langton, Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, Constable of Tower, 57 Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, 16, 17,66 Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, 22, 231, 232, 245 Lee, Mrs. Margaret, 130, 133-135 LesUe, John, Bishop of Ross, 17 Lodi, Lieutenant, 215 Longchamp, WiUiam, Bishop of Ely, Constable of Tower, 3, 57 Lovat, Simon, Lord Eraser of, 10, 47, 86-92, 245, 255 M Mandeville, Geoffrey de, first Con- stable of Tower, 48, 52, 54 Mary, Queen, 79, 80, 118, 151, 158, 159, 163 Mary, Queen of Scots, 83, 204, 205 McLeod, Lord, 86, 87 Miagh, T., 26 Milman, Colonel Sir Bryan, 299 Mills, Mrs., 85 Monmouth, James, Duke of — Attempt to seize throne, 182, 1 83 Burial in St. Peter's ad Vincula, 24, 188 Execution of, 186-188 Imprisonment in Bell Tower, 83, 185 Marriage of, 181, 182 Passed through Traitor's Gate, 6 Personal characteristics of, 181 Rapid rise of, 182 Rules of life of, 183, 184 Monmouth, Duchess of, 181, 182 Monson, Admiral, 212 More, Sir Thomas, 9, 77, 78 N Napier of Magdala, Field-Marshal Lord, Constable of Tower, 60, 61, 249 Nithsdale, Lord, 84, 85 Nithsdale, Lady, 85 Noreys, Henry, 124, 125 Norfolk, Hugh de Bigod, Earl of, 57,58 Norfolk, Duke of, 122, 126, 130, 131, 133, 152, 162 Norfolk, Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of, 204, 205 Northampton, Earl of, Constable of Tower, 99 Northumberland, Waltheof, Earl of, 231 Northumberland, Henry Percy, Earl of, 17, 18,67 Northumberland, Henry Percy, Earl of, " The Wizard," 37, 38 Northumberland, John Dudley, Duke of — Ambitions of, 144, 145 Apostasy of, 153, 159, 160, 236 Arrest of, 151 Buried between two Queens, 143 Execution of, 153-156 Forsakes Lady Jane Grey for Mary, 151 INDEX 321 Northumberland, John Dudley, Duke of — As guardian of Edward VI, 144 Intrigues against Duke of Somerset, 145, 146 Lodged in Bloody Tower, 152 Passed through Traitor's Gate, 6 Proclaims Lady Jane Grey Queen, 151 Prisoner in Beauchamp Tower, 26, 153 Renown of, 144 Succeeds to Duke of Somerset's position, 151 Trial of, 152, 153 Nottingham, Earl of, 195 Nottingham, Countess of, 197, 198 O Orleans, Duke Charles of, 7, 8 Oudenarde, Giles de, Lieutenant of Tower, 61 Overbury, Sir Thomas, 19, 21, 69, 253 Oxford, John de Vere, Earl of, 44 Partridge, Nathaniel, Gentleman Gaoler, 159, 250 Penn, William, 70 Percy, Sir Ingram, 29, 30 Percy, Sir Thomas, 29, 30 Perkin, Henry, 183, 184 Perrott, Sir John, 251 Peter the Great, 46 Peyton, Sir John, Lieutenant of Tower, 68, 197, 199 Poole (de la Pole or Pole), Arthur, 29, 250 R Raleigh, Sir Walter — Accused of compUcity in Arabella Stuart Plot, 173 Raleigh, Sir Walter — Asks to be transferred from Bloody Tower to St. Thomas' Tower, 34, 176 Considerately treated by Sir George Harvey, 68 Discovers principle of distilling fresh water, 23, 175 Dishke of Sir Wm. Waad, 68 Escapes assassination by Sir Thomas Wilson, 70 Execution of, 179, 180 First imprisonment in Tower, 170-172 Friend and feUow-prisoner of Earl of Northumberland, 17 Hated by James I, 173 Imprisoned in Brick Tower, 39, 176 Invents Balsam of Guiana, 177 Leads disastrous expedition to Guiana, 177 Marriage of, 34, 169, 170 Ransom of, 172 Second imprisonment in Tower, 174 Supplanted by Essex, 198 Third imprisonment in Tower, 178 Writes History of the World, 176 Raleigh, Lady, 169, 170, 174-176, 179, 180 Rame, Wm., 30 Randulph, Bishop of Norwich, Constable of Tower, 57 Roper, Margaret, 78 Redesdale, Lord, 299 Richard I, 3, 57 Richard III, 15, 16, 36, 39 Ridley, Bishop of London, 16, 17, 66 Rievaulx, Abbot of, 29 Robinson, Sir John, Lieutenant ol Tower, 70, 257 Rochford, Lord. See George Boleyn 322 THE TOWER FROM WITHIN Rochford, Viscountess, 12, 1 39-141 Rookwood, Ambrose, 38 Ros, Colonel Lord de, 71 Rotier, John, 254 Salisbury, Robert Cecil, Earl of, 228, 230 Salisbury, Countess of, 12, 13, 242 Salvin, architect, 5, 298, 299 Skeffington, Sir Leonard, Lieu- tenant of Tower, 66, 219 Skelton, Sir Bevil, Lieutenant of Tower, 70, 71 Slaughter, Wm., murderer of two young Princes, 15, 16 Somerset, Robert Carr, Earl of, 19-21 Somerset, Edward Seymour, Duke of. Lord Protector — Buried between two Queens, 143, Characteristics of, 144 Committed to Tower, 145 Downfall attempted by Duke of Northumberland, 145 Execution of, 147-151 As guardian to Edward VI, 144 Passed through Traitor's Gate, 6 Popularity of, 146, 147, 149 Prisoner in Beauchamp Tower, 26 Restores dress and privileges of Yeomen Warders of Tower, 95 Trial of, 145, 146 Somerset, William Seymour, Duke of, 34, 64, 208-212 Southampton, Earl of, 194-197 Stafford, William Howard, Vis- count, 254 Stuart, Lady Arabella — Attempted escape of, 210-212 Committed to Tower, 213 Death of, 213 Illness of, 210 Imprisonment at Vauxhall, 209 Stuart, Lady Arabella — Marriage of, 209 Proximity to throne of, 208 Visits her husband in Tower, 209 Suffolk, Henry Grey, Duke of, 151, I57> 1585 162, 163, 201-204, 209 Talbot, Sir Gilbert, 277, 295, 296 Talbot, Thomas, 32 Taylor, Sir John, 299 Throgmorton, EHzabeth. See Lady Raleigh. Traquair, Earl of, 86 Tremaine, Edmund, 80 Tullibardine, Wm. Murray, Mar- quis of, 86, 255 Turner, Mrs., 20, 21 Tyrrel, Sir James, 15, 16, 53 Tyrrel, WiUiam, 31 Victoria, Queen, 5, 60, 119, 234, 237, 288, 298 Vyner, Sir Robert, 277, 280, 296 W Waad, Sir Wm., Lieutenant of Tower, 19, 68, 75, 76, 176, 223-225, 230 Wakefield, WiUiam de, 35 Walsingham, Sir Edward, Lieu- tenant of Tower, 130, 135 Walter, Archbishop of York, Con- stable of Tower, 57 Walters, Lucy, 181 Warner, Sir Frederick, Lieutenant of Tower, 83 Warwick, Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of, 25 Warwick, John Dudley, Earl of^ 27 Webb, Mr. Charles, Exhibitor of Regalia, 297 INDEX 323 Wellington, Duke of, Constable of Tower, 44, 49, 51, 52, 58, 59, 62, 100, 298, 299 VVentworth, Lady Henrietta, 186, 187 Wernher, Sarah, 297 Weston, Richard, 19, 21 Williaml, 2, 3, 52,94, 231 William II, 35 William, Archbishop of York, Con- stable of Tower, 57 Wilson, Sir Thomas, Lieutenant of Tower, 69, 70, 178 Wolfe, General, 10 Wood, Field-Marshal Sir Evelyn, Constable of Tower, 48, 61, 62 Worcester, Edward Somerset, Mar- quis of, 23 Wren, Sir Christopher, 9, 37 Wriothesley, Lord Chancellor, 226, 227 Wyat, Sir Thomas, 13, d"], 79-82, 133, 162 York, Richard, Duke of, 15, 16 ,j(^ SOUTHERN RFniONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A 000 030 589 6