618° Retrospect of Domestic Literature—Topography, Ke. 
in the title of this work, the real author 
of the letter-press was Mr. Hawkins. A 
private quarrel induced the latter gentle- 
man to withdraw his name, and as au- 
thors expect that the public should be 
patient listeners to all which interest 
themselves, we are presented with state- 
ments of the case on both sides. Mr. 
Smith tells Aes story in an advertisement; 
Mr. Hawkins Ais in an octavo pamphlet. 
The ancient state of Westminster forms 
the first subject of inquiry in the volume; 
and the reader, having been made ac- 
quainted with its former limits, is accome 
panied by the pen of the author from 
Temple Bar to Privy Gardem; and briefly 
instructed in the history of the different 
mansions and religious buildings by which 
the Strand and its neighbourhoad were 
once occupied. The more curious para- 
graphs in this portion of introductory 
matter are probably those which relate 
to the busts of Henry VIL. Henry VIII. 
and Bishop Fisher, originally placed in 
Whitehall Gateway. 
On the subject of the Old Palace, Mr. 
Smith’s information is extremely copious. 
He seems to have obtained it from every 
atithentic source he could arrive it; and 
has illustrated his remarks, not only with 
sketches of the different ruins which are 
now remaining, but with copies of many 
old and valuable drawings. Among the 
relics at present in existence, he has 
pointed gut a few remnants of the pa- 
lace, at least as old as the time of Ed- 
ward the Confessor; although we are not 
willing to include the Painted Chamber 
in the number, as that was certainly 
erected in the reign of Henry UI, On 
the difierent offices and appendayes, the 
injuries, the alterations, and the re-build- 
ings of the Palace, we have all that is 
supplied by ancient documents, arriving 
in the seventy-second page at Si. Stephen’s 
Chapel, the principal object of the vo- 
lume. 
The assertion of Hatton, in the New 
View of London, that St. Stephen’s Cha- 
pel was originally erected by King Ste- 
phen in 1141, appears to have been 
acquiesced in by the generality of subse- 
quent writers who have written on its 
history. On better evidence, however, 
Mr. Smith assures us, it is known to have 
been existing as early as the time of 
John, who in the seventh year of his 
reign, 1206, granted to Baldwin de Lon- 
don the chapelship; and, in the 20th, 
24th, 27th, 2th, 32d, and S4th-years of 
his successor, we find it an object of 
elegant and expensive decoration, in the 
extracts fromthe clause rolls cited im 
Lord Orford’s Anecdotes of Painting. 
The alterations and improvements 
which were made in it during the reign 
of Edward the First, are given in trans- 
lated transcripts from eleven ancient 
rolls which remain in the Exchequer. 
They relate principally to the wages of 
the masons, smiths, squarers of stcne, 
carpenters, plumbers, painters, and other 
workmen employed about the building. 
There are also many charges which ex- 
plain the cost of the materials; and 
some which, by the enumeration of. par- 
ticular items, decidedly prove the use of 
oil in painting so early as the 20th of 
Edward the First. In this state, as re- 
paired by Edward I. the chapel seems 
to have remained till the beginning of the 
reign of Edward the Third, when, pro- 
bably, more with a view of enlarging and 
rendering it more splendid, than because 
it stood in need of any thing more than 
a slight repair, that prince determined to 
pull it down, and erect one far more 
sumptuous on the spot. Mr. Smith car- 
ries the commencement of re-building in 
the present instance as far back as 13303. 
correcting Stow in various particulars, 
and observing, that, for the necessary 
supply of artists, commissions were is- 
sued to various persons, authorizing them 
to procure such as were wanted; and. 
reciting powers for arresting and keeping 
in prison all such as should oppose the 
execution of the different mandates, 
The charter of endowment, however, 
was not granted till 1348. - Having enu- 
merated the different temporal and spiri- 
tual possessions by which the dean and ~ 
canons were supported, as well as all 
the benefactions which are recorded of a 
minor kind, we come to a list of the” 
deans, followed afterwards by some re- 
marks arising out of the use to which 
the chapel has been since applied. The 
description of the building, as it stood 
at the time the late repairs were under- 
taken, is too long and too curious to 
admit of an abridgment here; though 
we must not pass entirely unnoticed the 
particulars which are recorded of the first 
progress of its erection, In one of the 
earliest rolls of expences, commencing 
with the 4th year of Edward the Third, 
it seems that models and designs were 
prepared by the principal mason, whose 
name was Thomas of Canterbury. Of 
the rolls themselves which relate to this 
reign, the value and importance will 
suthciently appear from their supplying 
us with intelligence, not only as to the 
prige 
