Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/279

 12 s. ii. SEPT. so, 1916.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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LINCOLN'S INN HALL (12 S. ii. 210). The old Hall, where the Lord Chancellor sits in the first chapter of ' Bleak House,' dates from the early part of the sixteenth century.* The new Hall against Lincoln's Inn Fields was built by Philip Hardwick in 1843-5. See Spilsburv's ' Lincoln's Inn,' second edition, 1873, chap, iii., and W. J. Loftie, ' The Inns of Court,' 1893, pp. 54 sqq., and the new Hall itself. The date 1843 is over the great south window. EDWARD BENSLY.

The new Hall of Lincoln's Inn was com- pleted in the Tudor style in 1845 under the supervision of Hardwick. It contains a large fresco of the School of Legislation, by G. F. Watts (1860), and a statue of L'jrcl Eldon by Westmacott. The Library-, founded in 1497, is the oldest in London, and rich in books and MSS.

The new Inner Temple Hall, opened in 1870, possesses a fine open-work roof, and is adorned with statues of Templars and Hospi- tallers by Armstead. A. R. BAYI/EY.

Mr. Underhill's statement is correct. I saw the Hall from time to time as it was being rebuilt in the forties of last century, and I took part in a public dinner therein, the only one, so far as I know, held there, on behalf of the funds of King's College Hospital, probably in the year 1850.

I have never entered the Inner Temple Hall, but I was often in the Temple during the rebuilding, which was about the year 1855. JOHN P. STILWELL.

SEM, CARICATURIST ^12 S. ii. 49, 215). Close on half a century ago, the original " Sem " (may we style him Sem I. ?) had a reputation as a portrait-caricaturist some- what similar to Alf. Brym or " Ape." A Frenchman by birth, he won his spurs in London. He first came into notice in, or about, 1868, by a series of big-head celebrities of the time, displayed for sale in a Wych Street shop-window. They were ill-drawn and crude, but undoubtedly clever. The price was, I think, one shilling each ; but it may have been more. Three years later he was cartoonist on The London Figaro. Here he proved, to some extent, a failure. In the very early days of " process," rough chalk drawings on zinc plates did not make good prints, and poor Sem's work was simply ruined. James Mortimer is said to have frequently expressed the wish to " got rid of that conceited Sem." Whether Mortimer,

Lincoln's Inn, says that the old Hall " seems to have been rebuilt in whole or in part about 1489-91."
 * Mr. H. J. Douglas Walker, K.C., in his Lecture on

one of the kindest of men, really said so, is more than doubtful, but towards the close of 1873 Sem was replaced on the paper by Faustin and Frederick Waddy. As he seems to have given up artistic work altogether, at least so far as London was concerned, about this time, it is probable that he went back to France, or fell into a decline. He was not of sufficient importance to leave a big reputation behind him, so it was not long before he was entirely forgotten.

I do not know whether the modern " Sem," the talented artist who is so well to the front at the present time, is related to his earlier namesake. He is certainly a far superior artist to his predecessor.

HERBERT B. CLAYTON.

ST. PETER AS THE GATEKEEPER OF HEAVEN (12 S. ii. 90, 177, 217).

" Julius, dialogue entre Saint Pierre et le Pape Jules II. a la Porte du Paradis (1513). Attribue a Erasme, a Fausto Andre liui et plus commune - ment a Ulrich de Hutton."

This was published in Paris with a French translation from the Latin text, side by side, in the year 1875. Froude quotes it in his ' Life and Letters of Erasmus,' and says that "the MS. passed through ^the hands of Faustus Anderlin, who was a friend of Erasmus, and Erasmus may have seen it before it was printed; but when you appeal to the style, there were plenty of clever men in. Paris, who could have imitated Erasmus's manner."

I fear it is too long for ' N". & Q. in its entirety, but I will give a portion of it which those interested can follow up in Froude's work :

On the Stage in Paris, 1514. Scene : the Gate of Heaven.

Julius. What the devil is this ? The gates not opened ! Something is wrong with the lock.

Spirit. You have brought the wrong key per- haps. The key of your money-box will not open the door here. You should have brought both keys. This is the key of power, not of knowledge.

'Julius. I never had any but this, and I don't see the use of another. Hey there, porter ! I say, are you asleep or drunk ?

Peter. Well that the gates are adamant, or this fellow would have broken in. He must be some giant, or conqueror. Heaven, what a stench ! Who are you ? What do you want here ?

Julius. Open the gates, I say. Why is there no one to receive me ?

Peter. Here is fine talk. Who are you. I s.-iy ;

Julius. You know this key, I suppose, and the triple crown, and the pallium :-

Peter. I see a key, but not the key which < 'hn-t gave to me a long time since. The crown ? I don't recognize the crown. No heathen king ever wore such a thing, certainly none who expected to be let in here. The pallium is strange too. And see, there are marks on all three of that rogue and