The tower from within

Front matter

I

HI

CO

Chapter I

The cradle of the British race — The oldest palace and fortress in Europe — On the site of a Roman fortress — William the Conqueror its founder — La Tour Blanche — Julius Caesar's Tower — The moat of Richard Cceur 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 • • . • .

Chapter II

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 equipment— St. John's Chapel — The Council J Chamber — Apartments of the King — Historic trials — Horse armoury — Tower Green — Those executed on it — The scaffold — Distinguished spectators — An^execution described — The ravens — The Lieutenant's Lodgings — Gaoler warders' quarters — Lady Jane Grey and Arthur, Earl of Essex — The t Bloody /Tower — Its tragic history .........

CHAPTER III THE FORTRESS FROM WITHIN — (continued)

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

A 2 ix x THE TOWER FROM WITHIN

FAQE

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 . 25

Chapter IV

Fir it 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 Constables— Geoffrey de Mandeville — The Earl of Essez 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 . 48

Chapter V

The Lieutenant's ancient office — His pay £20 per annum — His emoluments — " Of daynties a certayne quantitie " — Outwitted by Sir William Seymour — Perquisites abolished for fixed pay — Sir Allan Apsley's salary £2500 — 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 63

CONTENTS xi

Chapter VIII

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

PACK

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 Elizabeth— 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 grandfathers— 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 VII

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 ijd 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 purchase— 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 xii THE TOWER FROM WITHIN

PAGE

in the White Tower— The oath of a Knight of the Bath— The knight goes to bed — His night vrgil — Watching his arms — In the King's train to Westminster — The ceremony in Henry VTs reign — Described in fall — 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 " — £700 share towards a ball — £50 for a C.B. —

Extension of the Order 105

Chapter IX

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 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 'u 1 20

CHAPTER X c c 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

I'AGB

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 . . . . . 143

Chapter XI

Lady Jane Grey — Her dangerous relatives — Father and father-inlaw — 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 XII

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 imprisonment 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 XIII

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 Sedgemoor — Captured by a militiaman — £5000 reward — The bv THE TOWER FROM WITHIN

PAGR

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 . .181

Chapter XIV

Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex — His boyhood — Attracts Queen Elizabeth — 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 — 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 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 — Howard House — The letter under the mattress — Sentence and death — Another turbulent noble — Lord Grey de Wilton — Assaults Lord Southampton — Conspiracies— 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 collar — Thumbscrews — The brakes — A nameless torture — The peine forte et dure — Legal forms of torture — Father Gerard tortured — The Torture Chamber in the Tower — c 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 Pagi

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 windows — Many historic scenes — Changes of religion — Dismantled as a chapel by Charles II — 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

Armoury 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 — Horseman'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 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 xvi THE TOWER FROM WITHIN l'AGE 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 earrings— The Keeper of the Regalia — His rank and privileges — His salary and emoluments — Some distinguished Keepers . . 273

Chapter XIX The Tower In ~t Rust

Queen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington — Salvin the architect — The Victorian restoration — Sir John Taylor — Lord Redesdale — Sir Bryan Milman — The red brick barrack — Salvin's principles — Postern Row — Tower Green — The Bulwark Gate — The Lion Tower — Outside the Tower Liberties — A noble inheritance ......... 298

APPENDICES A. Constables' 303

307 310

3" 312

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

ILLUSTRATIONS

i. 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 o? Salisbury . 12

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 watching 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

1 ' Table 106

(3) His Governors lead the Esquire into his Chamber . . 107

(4) The Esquire having his Hair " Rounded " and his Beard

(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

(9) The Two Ancient Knights leaving the Esquire to his

Vigil in the Chapel . . . . . .110

(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 . 1 1 1

(12) The Esquire presenting to the Priest a Taper with a

Penny fixed in it . . . . . . .111

(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

xv ii xviii THE TOWER FROM WITHIN

FACING PAGE

(15) The King bestowing the Sword and Spurs on the

(16) The King embraces the new Knight . . . .114

(17) The new Knight offers his Sword to God and the Holy

Church 114

(18) The Master Cook chopping off the new Knight's Spurs 115

(19) The new Knight seated at Table like " a Wife New-

Wedded " 115

(20) The new Knight being served with Food in his own

Chamber 116

(21) The Emblem of the White Lace . . . .116

(22) The new Knight kneels and thanks the King for the

honour done him . . . . . . 117

(23) The two Governors taking leave of the new Knight, on

completion of the Ceremonies

10. Queen Anne Boleyn

11. Queen Katherine Howard

117 122 136

12. Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, the Lord Protector 143

14. John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland . . . 151

15. Lady Jane Grey on her Way to Execution . . . 164

16. James Duke of Monmouth . . . . . .181

17. Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex ..... 190

iS. 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

DIAGRAMS

Chancel of 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 cradle of the British race — The oldest palace and fortress in Europe — On the site of a Roman fortress — William the Conqueror its founder — La Tour Blanche — Julius Caesar's Tower — The moat of Richard Cceur 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 VIII 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 foundations of the Tuileries were but slowly growing. The Tower was already six hundred years old when the Escorial was btrffr, 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 Conqueror, 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 Conqueror 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, 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 architectural 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 Cceur de Lion, is attributed such finishing touches as the deepening and widening of the moat ; whilst Edward I, on his return from a crusade to the Holy Land, completed the outer defences.

The fortress is roughly square with two lines of defensive 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 slits, 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 S rods, and the outside circumference, including the moat, is 1206 yards. The Tower stands on a slope from Tower Hill 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 baffled cannon balls were found amidst the slime 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 supplies 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, ar>d 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 Elizabeth'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 reside in a spot where she had spent months in hideous suspense between life 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 unhappy 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 apartments 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.