CHAPTER II 
LAMBETH PALACE 
HE vicissitudes in the fortunes of England, political as 
well as ecclesiastical, may be followed in the story of 
Lambeth Palace with scarcely less completeness than in 
that of the Tower of London itself. So truly is this the case, 
that a series of pictures by a competent brush, of events of which 
Lambeth has been the scene—from the time of the building of 
the chapel about 1270, up to the Gordon Riots in 1780—would, 
if they could be executed, be almost a sufficient substitute for a 
text-book for the use of the previously well-instructed student 
of English history, inasmuch as they would suffice to recall to him 
the entire course of his studies. 
Such a sequence of pictures in their right order would be es- 
pecially serviceable in the regrettable absence of a really complete 
history of the building. This, as Mr. Arthur Sheppard, secretary 
to the present Archbishop, says, has ‘“‘ yet to be written ’—and 
to write it the historian will require much help from within—and 
access to all the archives. 
Dr. Ducarel, who was Librarian at Lambeth in 1758, is the 
‘chief authority on its early history. His account is interesting 
but confused ; he gives undue prominence to events comparatively 
unimportant, and omits mention of some of greater interest. 
The ‘“‘ Lambeth Palace ” of the Rev. Cave-Brown is an admirable 
paraphrase of Ducarel’s work, but fails to throw much new light 
on the subject. In the short account offered in the present chapter 
I acknowledge considerable indebtedness to both writers, and 
fill up the gaps in their evidence with data gleaned from general 
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