Volume II 1603-1660 - The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple

xxxvi INTRODUCTION.
Bench Office was built at a cost to the inn of £1,302 6s. It had
chambers over it, was railed off from the walk, and gravelled in front
at a further cost of Li 16s. Towards this expenditure the Marquis
of Buckingham, being then the master of the office and the recipient
p. 141 of the fees, paid ‘400. The crown for the use of the office, paid
P. 133
to the inn a yearly rent of £5. The solicitor-general, Sir John
Walter, and Mr. Bridgman were the first tenants, occupying " three
p.o chambers upon the next floor over the office." New buildings were
also erected in Figtree Court in 1623-4 at a cost of £682 9s. 5d.
Scrne attention was also paid to the garden and the outdoor
comforts of the society. Money was spent on mending and providing
P. 24 seats round the trees in Hare Court and those near Ram Alley.
1). 3 New seats were also made for the large garden, a new pump was
p. 6 erected, and a pond excavated and inclosed by rails at a cost altogether
of £28 los. Payments were made from time to time for
" wire to nail up the rose trees in the garden." In 1610 a fig tree
P. 45
P. 54 was bought, and in 1611 a mulberry tree was planted in Tanfield
63 Court at a cost of 4s. A sundial, set in the garden in 1619, cost
P . 70
i5s. Ten young elm trees in the garden walks cost 6s. 6d. In
1621 a new stone roller in an iron frame cost Li 9s. 6d. The
p. r o pegasus of this inn, and the griffin of Gray's, with whom at this
period we were much allied, were painted and gilded in 1618, and
formed part of a bill of £20 for garden work. These two badges
still appear on the respective garden gates of the Inner Temple and
Gray's Inn. In 1618 the carver was paid for carving four figures,
p. io ; and in 1623 John James, the carver, received 35. for carving
" one beast at the garden gate," probably either the pegasus or the
griffin. Two seats " in the walk before the King's Bench," with
iron work, etc., in 1623-4 cost ,4.5 18s., and painting the rails in the
P
. 140
P. 146 garden and the walks at the same time cost £8 TOS.
One of the most permanently beneficial undertakings of this
period was the procuring of a regular supply of good water to the
inn. The Thames, which formed the southern boundary, supplied
water for ordinary purposes, though not for drinking or cooking.
Nor was it obtained without some inconvenience. The water from
the conduit in Fleet Street, used for drinking and cooking was, like
all other water at that time used in London, irregular in supply
and unsatisfactory in quality. This deficiency of water had been