INNS OF COURT 275 



flower. The turf, well rolled (for a new stone roller has 

 just been purchased), stretches down to the river between 

 straight lines of quaintly cut box, yews, and hollies. 

 He sees Surrey hills clear in the early evening light, and 

 the barges sail by, and boats pass up and down the river. 

 He may linger on one of the seats in the garden-house 

 overlooking the river, or wander back under the stately 

 elms of King's Bench Walk, to rest awhile in the Privy 

 Garden, where the air is scented with mezereum, and 

 cooled by the drops that fall from the metal leaves 

 hanging over the basin of the fountain. 



The Middle Temple, too, had its Benchers' Garden, 

 and part of it survives to this day in the delightful 

 Fountain Court. The Benchers' Garden was larger, 

 covering the ground where Garden Court now stands, 

 up to the wall of the famous gardens of Essex House. 

 A garden covered the space where the library has been 

 built, and the terrace and steps in front of the fountain 

 reached right across to the Essex House wall. Below 

 the beautiful old hall which Queen Elizabeth opened in 

 person, and where Shakespeare's contemporaries witnessed 

 " Twelfth Night," lay the rest of the Garden, with green 

 lawns and shady trees down the water's edge. The 

 fountain, once the glory of the Benchers' private garden, 

 is still one of the most delightful in all London. Sir 

 Christopher Hatton, whose garden of Ely Place— wrung 

 by Queen Elizabeth from the unwilling Bishop — was 

 not far off, was an admirer of the Middle Temple 

 fountain. It was kept, he says, "in so good order as 

 always to force its stream to a vast and almost incredible 

 altitude. It is fenced with timber palisades, constitut- 

 ing a quadrangle, wherein grow several lofty trees, 

 and without are walks extending on every side of 



