Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/371

 346 WESTMINSTER HALL.

Here are the various courts of Themis dome, I ve entered all, yet paid no lawyer s fees ;

High-Chancery, and Admiralty too,

Queen s Bench, Exchequer, and the Common-Pleas,

And heard their varied eloquence, who wear

Such curious flaxen wigs, to hide unfrosted hair.

��And I have seen them pass in robes of state, Those noble Judges of this ancient clime,

On, through this hall, by the wild Norman reared, To ope their session at the autumn prime ;

While in close ranks the assembled people rose,

To give them honor due, in whom their rights repose.

And sure, the heartfelt reverence of a land Is justly paid to those, whose lore profound

Maintains the sacred majesty of Law,

And throws a shield the lowliest home around,

Guarding the hearth-stone from the robber s broil,

And bringing shame to vice, and gain to virtuous toil.

Westminster Hall, which traces back its antiquity to William Rufus, is one of the largest apartments unsup ported by pillars, being 270 feet in length and 74 in breadth. History names it as the scene of one of the grand revels of the unfortunate Richard Second, when ten thousand guests shared his banquet. It was ren dered memorable to me by a different, and more majestic

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