HISTORY, ETC.

OF THE

TOWER OF LONDON.

THERE is not, in this country, a building so replete with historical associations as the TOWER OF LONDON. Its early character as a palace, a prison, and a fortress, immediately connected with the metropolis, has rendered an acquaintance with its annals indispensable to a knowledge of the history of our great nationannals which frequently supply, in their detail, those secret springs of political action, in the absence of which, the historian too frequently substitutes fancy for truth, and consequently produces, in the result of his labours, a mere tale founded on facts.

The opinions of antiquaries have been somewhat divided as to the origin of the Tower of London: by some it is supposed to have been erected by Julius Cæsar; but the majority have attributed the undertaking to William the Conqueror. The former conjecture was strengthened by a discovery made in 1777: it appears, that while employed in digging the foundations of a new office for the Board of Ordnance, the workmen at a considerable depth, came to some foundations of ancient buildings, below which were found three gold coins and a silver ingot: one of the coins was of the time of the emperor Honorius; the others of Arcadius, his brother, who reigned over the Eastern, as Honorius did over the Western Empire. The ingot was in the form of a double wedge, four inches long, weighing 10 oz. 8 gr. troy, and on the centre was impressed "EX. OFFIC. HONORII. But the short time that the Roman conqueror remained in Britain, together with his total silence upon the subject of any such work on his part, are circumstances which have been deemed sufficiently strong to throw considerable doubt upon the Roman origin of these poetically-styled "Towers of Julius:" indeed, antiquarians have become nearly unanimous in ascribing the foundation of this citadel to the policy of the bold Norman.

It is, however, somewhat remarkable, that the earliest describer of the Tower, Fitz-Stephen, who lived in the twelfth century, has not ventured to suggest who laid its foundations: "London (says this ancient chronicler) hath on the east part, a Tower

Palatine, very large and very strong, whose court and walls rise up from a deep foundation. The mortar is tempered with the blood of beasts." Whether the writer intended the latter expression to bear a literal meaning, or to convey thereby a bold: metaphor of the dark purposes to which the Tower of London was devoted, must of course be left to the judgment or fancy of the reader: but although in the course of its annals as a palace, its royal tenants have "welcom'd shout and revelry"-yet as a prison must it chiefly be regarded by posterity; calling up, in our recollections connected with its annals, tales of fearful and melancholy interest; associating it but too closely with the idea of a structure whose walls have indeed been cemented with blood! "To those who remember (says Hallam) the annals of their country, that dark and gloomy pile affords associations, not quite so numerous and recent as the Bastile, yet enough to excite our hatred and horror. But standing, as it does, in such striking contrast to the fresh and flourishing constructions of modern wealth, the proofs and the rewards of civil and religious liberty, it seems like a captive tyrant, reserved to grace the triumph of a victorious republic; and should teach us to reflect in thankfulness, how highly we have been elevated in virtue and happiness above our forefathers."*

We now proceed to relate, as far as our limits will admit, particulars connected with the above subject in its historical point of view; and will also submit to the reader in the course of our task, a list of the Tower Curiosities open to public view.

The lofty square building with white turrets, so conspicuous from Tower-hill and the surrounding neighbourhood, is that White Tower, which we have before remarked as the reputed work of William the Conqueror, who appointed Gundulph, then Bishop of Rochester, as principal supervisor and surveyor in this undertaking. But in the time of its founder, the Tower presented a naked and isolated appearance; and in the succeeding reign (that of William Rufus) is said, "by the injury of the heavens and violence of tempest" to have been "sore shaken :' our ancient chroniclers further tell us, and with much feeling, that the said Rufus "challenged the investiture of prelates, and piil'd the people pitifully, to spend the treasure about the Tower of London and the great Hall at Westminster." In this reign and that of Henry I. it appears that needful repairs were executed; and Stow in describing the improvements made by these monarchs, says "they also caused a castle to be builded under the said Tower, to wit, on the south side towards the Thames, and also encastelated the same round about."

Hallam's Constitutional History of England, vol. i. chap. 3

The first four Constables of the Tower are stated to have held, as by virtue of the office, a portion of land that had formerly appertained to the priory of the Holy Trinity; which land, situate in East Smithfield, they turned into a vineyard; an asumption which in Stephen's time was relinquished in favour of the church. Under Geoffrey de Magnaville, its fourth constable, the Tower was fortified against Stephen: but the struggle with the usurper proved ineffectual, and the intrepid constable was ultimately compelled to surrender.

In the reign of Henry I. Ralph Flambard, Bishop of Durham and favorite of William Rufus, was committed to custody in the Tower-seemingly as a peace-offering, on the part of Henry, to the citizens, whom he wished to conciliate; for the part which Flambard had taken in the tyranny and exactions of the preceding reign had rendered him highly unpopular. But our national fortress does not appear in this instance to have possessed the character for strength which it soon after attained: for during a most jovial imprisonment, the light-hearted captive received a rope, concealed in a vessel of wine: with the wine he held an extra carouse, in which his jailors joined with such hearty good will, that they were soon reduced to a state of insensibility; upon which, the crafty prelate fastened the rope to the middle column of his window, let himself down, and escaped to Normandy.

The Tower was further improved by the celebrated Thomas a Becket, chancellor to Henry II. In the succeeding reign, during the absence of Richard I. in the Holy Land, an important addition was made by Longchamp, Bishop of Ely: that warlike and ambitious churchman maintained this position against John and his partisans, and "enclosed the Tower of London with an outward wall of stone embattailed, and also caused a deep ditch to be cast about the same, and thought to have environed it with the Thames." Longchamp was ultimately dispossessed of the Tower, but was permitted to retire to the priory of Bermondsey; from thence he stole to Canterbury, and in the disguise of a female hawker, escaped from that place to Dover; where, sitting by the sea-side, and waiting for a boat, he is said to have been accosted by some fishermen's wives, enquiring the price of his wares: he could only answer with a burst of laughter: this Chancellor of England-this Bishop of Ely, said to have been even born in England, could not speak a single word of English!-a curious instance of the extinction of the native language amongst the rude nobility of that period.

In the year 1215, the great struggle ensued between John and his barons: the city surrendered to the latter, and siege was laid to the Tower, which held out until the signing of the great

CHARTER, but was then delivered in trust to the Archbishop of Canterbury for a given time, as security for the royal fulfilment of certain conditions attached to the celebrated code. John, in the mean time, conciliated the pope, and used the power thus regained, in endeavouring to shake off the yoke imposed upon him by the barons: a fierce civil war ensued; the aid of the French was called for against the royal party, and the Tower placed in the possession of Prince Lewis: but the death of John, the loyalty of the English to his youthful successor, with a series of disasters, induced Lewis to give up this and other fortresses.

Henry III. now in possession of the Tower, perceived its weakness as a fortress: he therefore directed his attention to the strengthening of its bulwarks, especially towards the west; operations which were regarded with considerable jealousy by the citizens of that period. As Henry made the Tower his chief residence, he also added to its internal comfort and beauty as a palace; indeed, in the subsequent years of this monarch's reign, he had frequently to resort thither for safety, until the result of the battle of Evesham crushed the power of those who had opposed him. This monarch appears to have possessed a taste for the fine arts; as it is in connection with his reign that mention is made of the Chapel in the White Tower, which he decorated with paintings, sculpture, &c.

But although the Tower was thus invested with the splendour of a palace, it became more than proportionately formidable as a state prison; and for ages after the commencement of the thirteenth century, scarcely a year transpired that did not witness the incarceration of some distinguished individuals within its walls. In this reign, the faithful servant and adviser of preceding monarchs, the high-minded Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, underwent a course of the most cruel persecution. Twice was he dragged from the altar to which he had fled for sanctuary, to be immured in the dungeons of this fortress: and although succeeding events did enable him to close his days in peaceful obscurity, yet the affecting story of his misfortunes stamps the character of Henry with infamy. In this reign Griffin, the unfortunate Welsh prince, delivered (with others) as a hostage into the king's hands, broke his neck in an attempt to escape from the Tower.

Edward I. is supposed to have made the last additions of importance to the Tower: he added to its fortifications and enlarged the ditch by which they are surrounded. Of this period we shall have occasion to speak hereafter.

Edward II. shewed no partiality for the Tower as a residence although he occasionally retired to it for security; and upon

that principle, in 1322, when he marched towards the borders of Wales, he placed his queen, children, and household in this fortress, during which time, the queen gave birth to a princess, who from that circumstance was named Jane of the Tower.

Upon the deposition and murder of this ill-fated monarch, his son, Edward III. was carefully secluded from public affairs, by the policy of his mother, the infamous Isabella, and her coadjutor Mortimer. But Edward soon proved himself superior to their control: he inherited the spirit of his grandsire, and this future scourge of France burst forth in thunder on his foes, and Lord Mortimer, the partner in Isabella's guilt, expiated his treasons upon the gallows. The glories of this monarch's reign, filled the Tower prisons with illustrious chiefs and princes, Scottish and French; amongst whom were David, king of Scotland, and John, king of France.

The succeeding reigns, those of Richard II. and the usurper Henry IV. afford but a melancholy contrast to that of their victorious predecessor: the accession of a minor to the throne, upon the decease of Edward, opened the flood-gate of rebellion; and a protracted scene of civil strife ensued, which threw into shade the memory of former glories; and the Tower, instead of continuing a palatine-prison of the kings, princes and nobles of foreign enemies, became crowded with the partisans of rebellion, and ultimately afforded a dungeon to the unfortunate Richard himself. In the fourth year of this unhappy reign, on the insurrection headed by Wat Tyler, the insurgents possessed themselves of this citadel, burst into the royal chambers, offering outrage to the king and his mother; seized upon the Archbishop of Canterbury, (Simon of Sudbury) dragged him to Tower-hill, where they cruelly slaughtered him. Stow thus relates the horrid deed:"The archbishop seeing death at hand-with comfortable words, (as he was an eloquent man, and wise beyond all wise men of the realm) spake fairly to them. Lastly, after forgiveness granted to the executioner that should behead him, he kneeling down, offered his neck to him that should strike it off; being stricken in the neck, but not deadly, he putting his hand to his neck, said thus, "Aha! it is the hand of God!" He had not removed his hand from the place where the pain was, but that being suddenly stricken, his fingers' ends being cut off, and part of the arteries, he fell down, but yet he died not, until being mangled with eight strokes in the neck and in the head, he fulfilled most worthy martyrdom."

The crown, obtained "more by force than lawful succession or election," sat but uneasily on the head of Henry IV. and the turbulent spirit of the times, consequent upon his usurpation,