Stranica 250 [250]
OCR
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 Jonson is said to have worked as a bricklayer at the building 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 distinctive 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
