INNS OF COURT 279 



damask, and cinnamon roses in several varieties ; and as 

 the old records show, the Temple Garden was well supplied 

 with roses. All these probably flourished there in the 

 days of Shakespeare, and would readily suggest the scene 

 he immortalised. 



Among the spirits that haunt the Temple Garden, 

 there is none that seems to cling to it more than that of 

 Charles Lamb. It should be a pride of these peaceful 

 gardens that they helped to mould that lovable and 

 unselfish character. A schoolfellow, who describes his 

 ways as a boy at Christ's Hospital, recalls how all his 

 young days were spent in the solemn surrounding of the 

 Temple, and how, while at school, " On every half holiday 

 (and there were two in the week), in ten minutes he was 

 in the gardens, on the terrace, or at the fountain of the 

 Temple. Here was his home, here his recreation ; and 

 the influence they had on his infant mind is vividly 

 shown in his description of the old Benchers." 



"Shadows we arc and like shadows depart," suggests 

 the sun-dial on the wall of Pump Court, but shadows of 

 such gentle spirits as Charles Lamb leave something 

 behind, and those "footprints on the sands of time" 

 are nowhere more traceable than in these solemn 

 precincts of law with their quiet, restful gardens. 



The attractions of the Temple are so great, one feels 

 loth to cross the noisy thoroughfare and plunge 

 through the traffic till the stately old gateway out of 

 Chancery Lane, on which Ben Jonson is said to have 

 worked, affx)rds an opening towards the spacious gardens 

 of Lincoln's Inn. 



Lincoln's Inn Gardens have a special claim to 

 antiquity as they are partly on the site of the famous 

 garden of the Earl of Lincoln, of which some of the 



