Duo. 1. 1855.] j 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



425 



ture be removed, and if royalty must be stopped 

 on its next visit to the city. R. W. Hackwood. 



" To the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, the Aldermen, and 



Commms of the City of London, in common council a»- 



sembted. 

 " The petition of the undersigned merchants, bankers, 

 traders, and others, of the city of London, ad- 

 vocating the removal of Temple Bar, humbly 

 showeth — 



" That while your petitioners rely with every confidence 

 and satisfaction on the care taken by j'our hon. Court in 

 the preservation of the several rights and privileges se- 

 cured to them by your forefathers, as also of the limits 

 and liberties of their ancient city ; yet do they at the same 

 time look to j'ou with a just expectation that prompt and 

 efficient redress may be afforded them in the removal of 

 whatever is calculated to operate prejudicially to the 

 trading and commercial interests of the citizens at large. 



" That your petitioners regard the retention of Temple 

 Bar any longer on its present site as prejudicial to those 

 trading interests ; and, farther, that the attention of your 

 petitioners is, with some concern, drawn to the subject at 

 the present juncture, more particularly from having been 

 informed that the City Lands Committee of your hon. 

 Court recommend for your adoption a proposal to spend 

 some 1,500/. in the beautifying and repairing of that 

 structure, which, from its position in the narrowest part 

 of the most crowded thoroughfare into the city of London, 

 as your petitioners consider, tends very materially to im- 

 pede the enormous and daily increasing traific, and thereby 

 altogether prevents business that might otherwise be ad- 

 vantageously cultivated by citizens with the residents at 

 the western end of London, were Temple Bar removed to 

 another locality, and some light structure erected in its 

 Stead, sufficient to mark the boundaries of the city in that 

 quarter, as well as preserve, in all its integrity and sig- 

 nificance, the ancient ceremonial of receiving the Sove- 

 reign on entering the gates of the city. 



" Your petitioners would also humbly submit for the 

 consideration of your hon. Court — 



" That Temple Bar, as a structure, is comparatively 

 modern, having been erected so late as'tlie years 1670-2, 

 and therefore possesses little or no interest for the anti- 

 quary. 



".That Temple Bar, moreover, was built at a period 

 when the privileges of the citizens were by the Sovereign 

 lightly regarded, or set at naught ; and, therefore, is but 

 an imperfect symbol of corporation privileges and char- 

 tered rights, as it has been elsewhere styled. 



" That as an architectural elevation, it is equally un- 

 worthy of consideration, and, though built by Sir Christo- 

 pher Wren, it is little calculated, in an artistic point of 

 view, to add to his otherwise great reputation. 



" That Temple Bar is not, and does not even stand on 

 the site of, one of the ancient city gates, though it marks 

 the limits of the liberties of the city on the western fron- 

 tier, yet, as your petitioners have ascertained, were such 

 liberties in olden times sufficiently indicated by ' posts, 

 rails, and a chain.' It may also be here remarked, such 

 impediments to public convenience and commercial neces- 

 sity did the ancient gates of the city (among which 

 may be enumerated Ludgate) prove some hundred years 

 ago, that the corporation was induced at that period, and 

 on that account, to demolish those really interesting relics 

 of ancient London. How much rather does it seem to 

 your petitioners desirable at the present time to remove, 

 but not necessarily destroy. Temple Bar, which, answer- 

 ing no intellectual or practical purpose, offers a convenient 

 ambuscade for pickpockets, impedes by its presence the 

 proper ventilation of the neighbourhood, besides retarding 

 No. 318.] 



improvements of a desirable character, and the clearance 

 of a district lying to the northward of that edifice, which, 

 on moral and social grounds, is greatly to be desired. 



" Finally, your petitioners would point out to your hon. 

 Court, that the majority of the historic reminiscences be- 

 longing to Temple Bar are of so fearful a character that 

 the very contemplation of them tends to degrade human 

 nature. Your petitioners would, therefore, were it pos- 

 sible, willingly consign the dark page of history describing 

 them to oblivion ; at all events, they trust the prayer of 

 this petition may be granted, and Temple Bar — the 

 visible record of such bloody scenes — be, for the several 

 reasons herein enumerated, removed. 



" And your petitioners will ever pray," &c. 



NERO S GAME OF CHARIOTS. 



The most learned scholars of the seventeenth 

 and eighteenth centuries were occasionally led 

 into error by too hastily adopting theories 

 which a more careful inquiry would have en- 

 abled them to confute. Among these theories 

 is the favourite one (chiefly due to Salmasius) 

 of considering the classical game of latrunculi^ 

 the same as the European chess. Montfaucon, 

 among others, suffers himself to be deceived 

 by this delusion ; and in a chapter of his .471- 

 tiquite expliquee, fol. Par., 1719. torn. iii. pt. 2. 

 ch. X. p. 336., in speaking of the various games of 

 dice, &c., he not only expressly declares that the 

 game of latrunculi was nearly the same as chess, 

 but adds, that the Emperor Nero was accustomed 

 to play at the game of latrunculi with ivory chariots, 

 as Suetonius in Nerone testifies. So singular a 

 statement seemed to merit verification, since it 

 appeared incredible that the game could possibly 

 have been at any time so played. On turning, 

 however, to Suetonius, it at once became obvious, 

 that the passage in question merely refers to the 

 fondness of Nero for horses and the Circensian 

 games, so that when he first became emperor, 

 " eburneis quadrigis quotidie in abaco luderet," 

 i. e. he played with small ivory chariots on au 

 abacus divided by lines, so as to imitate in minia- 

 ture the sports of the circus. It has nothing to 

 do with tlie game o? latrunculi, nor with the abacus 

 ordinarily used for playing at it. The reference, 

 therefore, in Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and 

 Roman Antiquities, ip v. abacus, fifth signification, 

 to the above passage in Suetonius, I consider to 

 be erroneous. F. IMaddeit. 



DugdaWs " Monasticon." — Having had oc- 

 casion lately to visit the Public Record Offices, in 

 search of documents relating to Roche Abbey in 

 Yorkshire, I discovered, inter alia, two interesting 

 memoranda; the one an account of the pensions 

 granted to the abbot and monks at the time of the 

 dissolution of the monasteries, the other, an in- 



