The Walls Are Of Stone, The Windows Of The Gothic
Form, The Floor Stone, And The Roof Of Timber Covered With Lead; And
Having Not One Pillar In It, Is Supported By Buttresses.
It is
usually observed that there are no cobwebs ever seen in this hall,
and the reason given for
This is, that the timber of which the roof
is composed is Irish oak, in which spiders will not harbour; but I
am inclined to believe that this is a fact not to be depended on,
for I find the timber for rebuilding and repairing the Palace of
Westminster in the reign of Richard III. was brought from the
forests in Essex; and as there is no colour from history to surmise
that the timber of this hall was Irish oak, so is there no
imaginable reason why timber should be fetched from another kingdom
for the repair of the hall, when the counties of Middlesex and Essex
were great part of them forest, and afforded timber enough to have
built twenty such places; and we find that the timber of the Essex
forests was in fact applied to the repairs of this palace; for it
cannot be pretended that the present roof is the same that was
erected by William Rufus when it was first built, it appearing that
Richard II., about the year 1397, caused the old roof to be taken
down and a new one made (as has been observed already) and this is
probably the same we now see. Here are hung up as trophies, 138
colours, and 34 standards, taken from the French and Bavarians at
Hochstadt, anno 1704.
The House of Lords, or chamber where the peers assemble in
Parliament, is situated between the Old Palace Yard and the Thames.
It is a spacious room, of an oblong form, at the south end whereof
is the King's throne, to which he ascends by several steps: on the
right hand of the throne is a seat for the Prince of Wales, and on
the left another for the princes of the blood, and behind the throne
the seats of the peers under age.
On the east side of the house, to the right of the throne, sit the
archbishops and bishops; on the opposite side of the house sit the
dukes, marquises, earls, and viscounts; and on forms crossing the
area, the barons under the degree of viscounts.
Before the throne are three wool-sacks, or broad seats stuffed with
wool, to put the Legislature in mind, it is said, that the right
management of this trade is of the last importance to the kingdom.
On the first of these wool-sacks, next to the throne, sits the Lord
Chancellor, or Keeper, who is Speaker of the House of Peers; and on
the other two, the Lord Chief Justices and the rest of the judges,
with the Master of the Rolls, and the other Masters in Chancery:
about the middle of the house, on the east side, is a chimney, where
a fire is usually kept in the winter; and towards the north, or
lower end of the house, is a bar that runs across it, to which the
commons advance when they bring up bills or impeachments, or when
the King sends for them, and without this bar the council and
witnesses stand at trials before the peers. The house is at present
hung with tapestry, containing the history of the defeat of the
Spanish Armada, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, anno 1588.
The house or chamber where the commons assemble is to the northward
of the House of Lords, and stands east and west, as the other does
north and south. The room is pretty near square, and towards the
upper end is the Speaker's armed chair, to which he ascends by a
step or two; before it is a table where the clerks sit, on which the
mace lies when the Speaker is in the chair, and at other times the
mace is laid under the table. On the north and south sides, and at
the west end, are seats gradually ascending as in a theatre, and
between the seats at the west end is the entrance by a pair of
folding-doors. There are galleries also on the north, south, and
west, where strangers are frequently admitted to hear the debates.
This room was anciently a chapel, founded by King Stephen about the
year 1141, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin; however, it obtained
the name of St. Stephen's Chapel. It was rebuilt by King Edward
III., anno 1347, who placed in it a dean, twelve secular canons,
thirteen vicars, four clerks, five choristers, a verger, and a
keeper of the chapel, and built them a convent, which extended along
the Thames, endowing it with large revenues, which at the
dissolution of monasteries in the reign of Edward VI. amounted to
near eleven thousand pounds per annum. Almost ever since the
dissolution, this chapel has been converted to the use we find it at
present, viz., for the session of the Lower House of Parliament,
who, before that time, usually assembled in the chapter-house
belonging to the Abbey, when the Parliament met at Westminster. The
Painted Chamber lies between the House of Lords and the House of
Commons, and here the committees of both houses usually meet at a
conference; but neither this nor the other remaining apartments of
this Palace of Westminster have anything in them that merit a
particular description.
The open place usually called Charing Cross, from a fine cross which
stood there before the grand rebellion, is of a triangular form,
having the Pall Mall and the Haymarket on the north-west, the Strand
on the east, and the street before Whitehall on the south. In the
middle of this space is erected a brazen equestrian statue of King
Charles I., looking towards the place where that prince was murdered
by the rebels, who had erected a scaffold for that purpose before
the gates of his own palace.
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