danger, how is it credible that she should so adventure herself? King James, who was as harmless a king as any was in our age, and consequently had as few enemies, yet wore quilted doublets, stiletto-proof: the Queen had many enemies; all her wars depended upon her life. She had likewise very fearful examples: the first Duke of Guise was shot; Henry III., the French king, was stabbed; the Duke of Orange was pistoled; — and these might make the Queen take heed." Charles Howard, Earl of Effingham, above named, was a great favourite of Queen Elizabeth. He was the only person who had influence sufficient to persuade the Queen to go to bed in her last sickness; she having an apprehension of some prediction, as it was thought, that she should die in it. ROMANCE OF THE BEAUCHAMP TOWER. Ir has been fancifully said that "walls have ears." The walls of the "prison-lodgings" in the Tower of London, however, bear more direct testimony of their former occupants; for here the thoughts, sorrows, and sufferings of many a noble soul and crushed spirit are literally cut in stone. The Beauchamp or Cobham Tower, a curious specimen of the military architecture of the 12th and 13th centuries, is the most interesting portion of our ancient prison fortress; and in its recent repair, the records of many noteworthy persons confined within its walls have been carefully preserved. The Tower originally derived its name from Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who was imprisoned here in 1397. It consists of three apartments, one above the other, besides a few small passages and cells. The lower room is partly below the ground, and must have been a dismal place of imprisonment. A circular staircase leads to the other apartments, in which have been confined so many eminent individuals. Many of these have here endeavoured to shorten the tedious hours by records on the stone walls of their names and sentiments; and hard must be the heart which could look unmoved at many of the inscriptions. These memorials have been cleansed by an ingenious chemical process from dirt and paint. During this operation many new names have been brought to light which have been for long hidden from plaster, &c. Amongst these is a sculptured rebus-a bell inscribed TA. and Thomas above, the memorial of Dr. Abel, chaplain to Queen Catherine of Arragon. Thomas Abel was a man of learning, a great master of instrumental music, and well skilled in modern languages. These qualifications introduced him at Court, and he became domestic chaplain to Queen Catherine of Arragon, wife of Henry VIII., and served her Majesty in the above-mentioned capacity. When the validity of the marriage of the Queen and Henry VIII. became a question, the affection which Dr. Abel bore towards his mistress, led him into the controversy to which it gave rise, and he opposed the divorce both by words and writings. By giving in to the delusion of the Holy Maid of Kent" he incurred a misprision, and was afterwards condemned and executed in Smithfield, together with others, for denying the King's supremacy, and affirming his marriage with Queen Catherine to be good. " Another sculpture-a kneeling figure-portrays Robert Bainbridge, who was imprisoned for writing a letter offensive to Queen Elizabeth; James Gilmor, 1569; Thomas Talbot, 1462. This is the oldest inscription which has been found in the prison: this gentleman here was in 1464, and had kept Henry VI. prisoner at Waddington Hall, in Lancashire. In the State Prison room is IANE. IANE cut in letters of the Elizabethan style,which attract more attention from visitors than memorials of more elaborate design and execution, These letters are supposed to have been cut by Lord Guildford Dudley, as a solace, when he was confined in a separate prison from his unhappy wife. This is the only memorial preserved of Lady Jane Grey in the Tower. One of the most elaborate devices is that of John Dvdle, Earl of Warwick, tried and condemned in 1553 for endeavouring to deprive Mary of the crown; but being reprieved, he died in his prison-room, where he had wrought upon the wall his family's cognizance, the lion, and bear, and ragged staff, underneath which is his name; the whole surrounded by oak-sprigs, roses, geraniums, and honeysuckles, emblematic of the Christian names of his four brothers, as appears from this unfinished inscription: Yow that these beasts do wel behold and se, May deme with ease wherefore here made they be The names of the brothers were Ambrose, Robert, Guildford, and Henry: thus, A, acorn; R, rose; G,, geranium; and H, honeysuckle: others think the rose indicates Ambrose, and the oak Robert (robur). In another part is carved an oak-tree bearing acorns, signed R.D.; the work of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Here are several devices of the Peverils, on a crucifix bearing a heart, wheatsheaves, a portrait, initials, &c. A reference to Sir Walter Scott's novels of the Fortunes of Nigel and Peveril of the Peak, shows that their distinguished author had made himself acquainted with the various portions of the Tower. The lower right-hand inscription is one of several bearing the name of Peveril. The wheatsheaves are the armorial bearings of the Peverils of Derbyshire. It is by no means unlikely that, on the sight of these stones, Sir Walter Scott formed the plan of his novel. The room, above the entrance of the Bloody Tower, in which the young Princes are said to have been murdered by Richard III., agrees with the account of the place of meeting between Georgina Harriet, his god-daughter, and Nigel. There is here a secret closet near the roof, of no seeming use, except to conceal an observer from the prisoners, which may have afforded the idea of the "lug" in which James I. ensconced himself. These inscriptions tell their own sad stories: 66 "O. Lord. whic. art. of. heavn. King. Graunt. gras. and. lvfe. everlastig. to. Miagh. thy. servant . in. prison. alon. with * * * * Tomas Miagh." Again : Thomas Miagh, whiche lieth here alon, That fayne wovld from hens be gon, By tortyre straunge mi troth was tryed, yet of my libertie denied. 1581, Thomas Myagh. He was a prisoner for treason, tortured with Skevington's irons and the rack. Next is the inscription of Thomas Clarke : "Hit is the poynt of a wyse man to try and then trvste, for hapy is he whome fyndeth one that is ivst. T. C." Again: "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 him sver in bande, and to al men wiche I so vnles, ye svssteine the leke lose as I do. Vnhappie is that mane whose actes doth procvre the miseri of this hovs in prison to indvre. 1576, Thomas Clarke." "Thomas Willyngar, goldsmithe. My hart is yours tel dethe." By the side is a figure of a bleeding "hart," and another of "dethe;" and "T. W." and "P. A." By those to whom he did no wrong. May 8th, 1666. The figure of man, praying, underneath "Ro. Bainbridge" (1587-8). "Thomas Bawdewin, 1585, Jvly. As vertve maketh life, so sin cawseth death." "J. C. 1538." "Learne to feare God." "Reprens. le. sage. et. il . te armera. Take wisdom, and he shall arm you.' The memorial of Thomas Salmon, 1622, now let into the wall of the middle room, was formerly in the upper prison-lodging: it records a long captivity, and consists of a shield surrounded by a circle; above the circle the name "T. Salmon;" a crest formed of three salmons, and the date 1622; underneath the circle the motto Nec temere, nec timore-"Neither rashly nor with fear." Also a star containing the abbreviation of Christ, in Greek, surrounded by the sentence, Sic vive vt vivas—“ So live that thou mayest live." In the opposite corner are the words, Et morire ne morieris— "And die that thou mayest die not." Surrounding a |