Stranica 250 [250]
228 THE GIL ESZA A eas
an older Serjeants" Inn is on the north side of the street behind St.
Dunstans Church. ‘The last Serjeants sold their inns when the “ order
of the coif” was abolished a few years ago. A similar fate has befallen
the Inns of Chancery, of which at one time we might have reckoned
up more than half a dozen—Lyon’s, Clement's, New, Clifford s, Staple,
Barnard’s, and Furnival’s. There are Some remains of all these except
Lyon’s Inn to be seen, but we feel that their continued existence is
unlikely. The Inns of Chancery were looked upon as the poor relations
of the Inns of Court, these latter being Gray’s, which lies outside the
city boundary, on the north side of Holborn; Lincoln’s, and the two
Temples. Of Lincoln’s Inn there are no ancient remains except the
gateway in Chancery Lane, which has been so often condemned that
it seems to have a charmed
life. The famous Ben Jon¬
son is said to have worked
as a bricklayer at the build¬
ing of this court. The chapel
was by Inigo Jones, but the
Society was so ill advised as
to hand it over to the tender
mercies of an amateur for
improvement, and he speedily
improved away the more dis¬
tinctive traces of Inigo which
time had spared. The Hall
is now the most satisfactory
part of Lincoln's Inn. It
was designed by Hardwick,
and was built in 1843 in a
surprisingly good style of