ST. ANDREW, WARDROBE. THIS church is a rectory of very antient foundation, and was originally known by the name of St. Andrew, near Baynard's Castle; but that castle being afterwards destroyed, and the king's wardrobe built near the church, its name was changed to St. Andrew Wardrobe. From the above circumstance it may be presumed of equal antiquity with Baynard's Castle, and that it might have been founded by the same nobleman; for the patronage of it descended to the family of the Fitz-Walters, who were constables of Baynard's Castle after the attainder of its founder. From this family, after having passed into many hands, it came at length to the crown, and the kings of England have been patrons of this living from the reign of king Charles II. by the lord chancellor, who alternately presents with the patrons of St. Anne's Blackfriars, annexed to it. The old church having been destroyed by the fire of Lon. don, the present structure was erected and finished in 1692, at the expence of 7060l. It is a plain, but neat building of brick and stone; the body well enlightened by two rows of windows, and supported by twelve Tuscan pillars. The roof is divided into five quadrangles, within each is a circle; richly ornamented with fret work. The church is handsomely pewed and wainscoted, and the pillars cased. There are very good galleries, but no organ. The tower is also plain, except that at the top it is decorated with an open balustrade. The most remarkable monument is to the memory of the Rev. WILLIAM ROMAINE. It is one of the excellent performances of BACON. The pedestal of dark veined marble, the tablet and pyramid white. A bust of the deceased is accompanied by a spirited alto relievo, representing Re- ligion and Faith, pointing with a telescope to the Rcdeemer, seated on a rainbow, and shewing his wounds. One of the females bears the cross, and a book, on which is inscribed, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world!" Other emblems are a sacrificed lamb, the chalice and bread, and a fountain issuing from rock. The tablet is thus inscribed: of In a vault beneath lies the mortal part of the Rev. WILLIAM ROMAINE, A. M. thirty years rector of these united parishes, and forty-six lecturer of St. Dunstan's in the West. Raised up God for an important work in his church; a scholar of extensive learning, a Christian of eminent piety, a preacher of peculiar gift and animation, consecrating all his talents to the investigation of sacred truth, during a ministry of more than half a century. He lived, conversed, and wrote only to exalt the Saviour. Mighty in the Scriptures, he ably defended, with eloquence and zeal, the equal perfections of the Triune Jehovah, exhibited in man's redemption; the Father's everlasting love; the atonement, righteousness, and complete salvation by the Son; the regenerating influence of the Eternal Spirit; with the operation and enjoyment of a purifying faith. When displaying these essential doctrines of the Gospel, with a simplicity and fervour rarely united, his enlivened countenance expressed the joy of his soul. God owned the truth; and multitudes raised from guilt and ruin to the hope of endless felicity, became seals to his ministry, the blessings and ornaments of Society. Having manifested the pu rity of his principles in his life, to the age of eighty-one, July 26, 1795, he departed in the triumph of faith, and entered into glory. Many witnesses of these facts, uniting with the grateful inhabitants of these parishes, erected this monument. RECTORS OF EMINENCE. THOMAS MERKES, afterwards bishop of Carlisle, in the reign of Richard II. and the only peer who execrated the deposition of that unfortunate monarch*. WILLIAM ROMAINE, M. A. The parish church of St. Anne, Blackfriars, stood on the east side of Church Entry, Shoemaker Row, on the site formerly occupied by the priory church of THIS order of friars was distinguished by four different names, Dominicans, Preaching Friars, Black Friars, and Jacobins. The first name was derived from Dominic, a Spaniard of the noble family of Guzman, who died in 1221, and was canonized by Pope Gregory in 1233, the founder of the order. He classed it into the three divisions; preaching friars, who made it their business to apply themselves to the conversion of heretics; nuns, who lived inclosed in monasteries; and a military order, established by him against the Albigenses, named the Militia of Jesus Christ, or Brethren of St. Dominic. They were called Preaching Friars from their office; which title was first bestowed on them by pope Innocent III. and confirmed by popes Honorius III. and Gregory IX. Their name Black Friars was derived from their habit, a black weed or garment with a white cassock, over which they wore a hood of the same colour; but in processions, and on public occasions, they covered these with a black cloak and hood. They received the name of Jacobins, in France, because their first convent was in the street of St. James, in Paris. The order has afforded to the church of Rome several popes, cardinals, and lesser dignitaries; and that cursed tribunal, the Inquisition, arose among and still continues in VOL. III. No. 70. See Vol. I. p. 89. this this order. In the year 1494, there were no less than four thousand one hundred and forty-three Dominican convents. Their first appearance in England was about the year 1221, when twelve, with their prior Gilbert de Fraxineto, in company of Peter de la Roche, bishop of Winchester, came to Canterbury, where, presenting themselves before archbishop Steven, he commanded the prior to preach, and was so well pleased with his discourse, that he respected the order, and promoted their interest. They very soon made their way to London, and had their first establishment in Oldbourne, where, in 1250, the friars of the order of Preachers throughout Christendom, and from Jerusalem, to the number of four hundred, assembled in convocation, at Whitsuntide; having meat and drink found them in alms, because they had no estate of their own. On the first day Henry III. was their guest, and found them in provision; the next day the queen did the same; and afterwards the hishop of London, the abbots of Westminster, St. Alban's, Waltham, and others in turn. This old house was given by Edward I. to Henry Lacy, earl of Lincoln, and from him was called Lincoln's Inn. The Black Friars increasing in numbers and power, obtained, as we have before mentioned, a grant of the site on which they built a stately priory near the Thames. To this new priory Edward I. and his queen were great benefactors; but it was with difficulty that the king obtained a grant from the bishop, dean, and chapter of London, for leave to erect a church and other buildings within their precincts. The priory church, when built, was a spacious and richly ornamented fabric, in which, afterwards, many parliaments and other great assemblies were held, In 1450, Henry VI. commenced the parliament at Westminster, adjourned it to Blackfriars, and thence to Leicester. In the year 1522, it was appropriated to be a lodging for the emperor Charles V. A parliament was begun at Blackfriars, on the 15th of April 1524, when a subsidy of 800,000l. was demanded to be be raised on goods and lands, at four shillings in the pound; but which was lowered and granted to the amount of two shillings in the pound upon the goods and lands of those who were worth 201. or might dispend 207. in the year, and so increased according to the value of the estates, to be paid in two years. This parliament was adjourned to Westminster, among the black monks, and ended in the king's palace, on the 14th day of August, at nine o'clock at night; it was on account of these various circumstances called THe BLACK PARLIAMENT. Here also was held the parliament in the year 1529, in which cardinals Wolsey and Campeius, commenced their judicial scrutiny respecting the divorce of Henry VIII. from his queen Catharine of Arragon. Stow's account of this assembly and its process, as extracted from Hall's Chronicle, is very curious. It seems that to obtain the favourable opinion of cardinal Campeius; or, as he is sometimes called, Campeggio, Henry had bestowed on him the bishopric of Bath. The Chronicle then goes on: "The good will of the same cardinall obtained to travell into England, the pope granted to their suit, and the cardinall arrived. "Now after deliberation and consultation in the ordering and using of the king's matters, and his commission, and the articles of his ambassage seen and read, and digested, it was determined, that the king and queen his wife should be lodged at Bridewell. And then in the Black Friars a certain place was there appointed most convenient for the king and queen's repair to the court, there to be kept for the disputation and determination of the case, whereas these two legates sate as judges before whom the king and queen were ascited and summoned to appear: which was a strange sight, and the newest devise that ever was read or heard of before in any region, story, or chronicle, a king and a queen to be constrained by process compellatory to appear in any court as common persons within their own realm and dominion, to abide the judgements and decrees of their own subjects, being the royal diadem and prerogative thereof. Ye shall understand, as I have said before, that there was a court erected in the Black Friars in London, whereat sate these two cardinals for judges in the same, 3 P 2 in |