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 are 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, affords 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 
